— — — — — —
After saying goodbye to Kazuma, Enju, Kayano, and the others left the Outer Area and headed toward the inner city to find their client.
As they walked through the streets, the girls couldn't help feeling uneasy.
It was hard to ignore the stares—they could feel every passerby's eyes on them.
"Don't be scared," Kayano said firmly. "Remember what Kazuma Onii-Chan told us? We'll face all kinds of danger on this trip, but when danger comes, we shouldn't freeze up!"
Her red eyes gleamed as she continued, "We strike first. Take out the threat, and we're safe. If anyone tries to bully us—then we deal with them!"
Kayano squeezed her little sister's hand. It was her first time leading them alone, and inside she was just as nervous and lost. But she couldn't let it show. If even their big sis looked scared, who would make the others feel safe?
"Got it, Kayano-nee!"
The little girls' eyes flared red in unison—their combat state. Their earlier fear melted away, replaced by a sharp, determined glint, like they were ready to draw their weapons at any second.
"Red eyes... cursed children!"
"What are this trash doing here? Should've stayed in the ruins of the Outer Area."
"Great, just what I needed to see this early in the morning."
People glared at them in disgust and quickly stepped aside, whispering among themselves.
Enju's glow dimmed. She clenched her fists, holding back tears. The world really hadn't changed at all.
People like Kazuma—people who saw them as human—were rare. Maybe he was the only one. Everyone else still looked at them with hatred for no damn reason.
"If you're angry," Kayano said quietly, "then hit them. But don't be sad about it."
"Remember what Kazuma said: if you think you're someone who'll always be hated, then you'll live like that. But if you see yourself as something precious, then no one else's opinion matters."
Kayano squeezed Enju's hand tighter, watching as the light slowly returned to the girl's eyes. She couldn't let her fall back into despair—not again.
"Yeah… Kayano-nee, wait here."
Enju nodded, her eyes glowing even brighter. Dust swirled around her feet as she vanished from sight—reappearing right in front of the gawking crowd.
"You called me trash? I didn't do anything to you!" she shouted.
"We try so hard every day just to survive. No matter how tough it gets, we never give up!"
"So why do you look at us like we're monsters?! Well... I'll just kill you then."
She lunged at them, fists flying. Years of anger, fear, and humiliation came pouring out all at once.
"The cursed one's attacking!"
"Call the police!"
"Grab those freaks!"
"Shut up, or you're next!" Enju snapped, eyes blazing like fire.
The onlookers froze as she glared at them—her fear completely gone. If the world insisted on treating them like monsters, then maybe it was time to act like ones.
Even a rabbit bites when cornered.
"Eep!"
"S-she's terrifying!"
"W-we won't say anything! Please don't hurt us!"
The crowd stumbled back, trembling. For the first time, they realized the "little rabbits" they used to torment weren't prey anymore—they were predators.
Enju snorted proudly, watching their terrified faces. These people who had always stood above her, sneering and cursing—now they couldn't even look her in the eye.
Now she finally understood what Kazuma had meant. She didn't need to care about their opinions. She was nothing like these cowardly fools.
"Kayano-nee, it's handled. Let's go." Enju rejoined the group, smiling faintly.
"Enju, that was amazing!"
"I wanna be brave like Enju too!"
"Those people didn't even dare talk back!"
The girls chirped excitedly around her. For the first time, they'd fought back—and won.
The people they'd always thought of as terrifying suddenly didn't seem so strong anymore. Compared to their Onii-Chan, they were pathetic—weak enough to be taken down in a single hit.
"Hehehe."
Enju's red glow faded as she placed her hands on her hips, grinning proudly, her head tilted high.
"Let's go…" Kayano sighed, though she couldn't hide her smile. She took Enju's hand, and the girls continued forward.
...
A few minutes later, the police arrived—but the place was already deserted.
There wasn't a single sign of life left behind.
Then, dark shapes stirred within the shadows. In the blink of an eye, the officers vanished too.
Silence reclaimed the scene once more.
"Kids will be kids," Kazuma's voice murmured from the nearby alley. "Can't even clean up after themselves. Guess I'll dock their allowance for that."
He shook his head, then paused. "…Wait, I haven't even given them an allowance yet."
He chuckled to himself. "Alright, once this mission's over, I'll fix that. We'll go out for a fancy dinner, buy them some new clothes… can't let their sense of happiness fade, after all."
Two shadow soldiers appeared behind him. With a wave, Kazuma stepped back into the darkness, disappearing once more.
---
Meanwhile, Kayano and the others finally reached the tall skyscraper where their client was waiting—on the very top floor.
But the little group soon hit a new problem.
"This thing's called… an elevator, right? Um, how do we use it?"
Kayano stared at the metal doors in confusion. She knew it was supposed to take people where they wanted to go, but how exactly…?
"It's not moving," Enju said, squinting. "Maybe it's broken. Should I kick it a few times? That might fix it."
She looked ready to do exactly that.
"No, no! I heard these things are fragile. If you kick it, it might break!"
"Hmm… maybe if we tell it where we want to go, it'll take us there?" Sanae quickly grabbed Enju before she could unleash a flying kick.
Sanae—the same girl who first learned "Iron Body" and immediately got punched for it—was gentle and timid by nature. If there was ever a child born with a natural gift for getting hit, it was her.
"Um… Mr. Elevator, we'd like to see our client. Could you please take us up there?" Sanae asked sweetly.
A moment passed.
"..."
"…It's not working," Enju said. "Let me just kick it once—"
Before she could move—
Ding!
The doors slid open. A woman in her twenties stepped out, dressed neatly in a business suit.
"Eh? Oh—you girls wanted to use the elevator?"
She blinked in surprise, recognizing them as cursed children. But instead of disgust, her eyes filled with sympathy.
They hadn't done anything wrong. It was the Gastrea Beasts that were the monsters, not these poor kids who suffered because of them.
"Yes," Kayano said quickly. "We're looking for our client. He's at the top floor, but… we don't know how to get there."
She glanced back nervously—Enju was already shifting her weight like she might kick the newcomer next, and Sanae was hiding behind her.
Taking a deep breath, Kayano stepped forward with her best polite smile.
"The top floor? I can help with that," the woman said kindly. "You see these buttons here? Each one has a number on it. You just press the one for the floor you want."
She smiled patiently, guessing they were from the Outer Area. No elevators out there, after all.
The girls tilted their heads in confusion. None of them had ever gone to school—they didn't even know what "numbers" were.
"These things right here…" she began gently.
"Um… what's a number?" one of the girls asked.
The woman froze, then felt a pang in her chest.
Such sweet, innocent faces—and yet they'd been treated so cruelly by the world.
She forced herself to stay calm, afraid that any hint of pity or unease might frighten them.
"Numbers are like these—see, one, two, three, four, right here." She pointed at the elevator buttons with a soft smile. "But you probably haven't learned them yet, huh? That's okay. I can show you an easy way to remember."
"See the top button? That one takes you to the very top floor. The bottom one's where we are right now. Later, if you want to go back down, just press this button, and the elevator will stop for you."
She explained everything patiently, making sure to keep her tone gentle and reassuring. By the time she finished, the elevator had already reached her floor.
"Ah, sorry, this is where I get off," she said with a small wave. But as she looked back at the kids, a worry tugged at her. Had she explained clearly enough? Would they really understand?
"Thank you for helping us, big sister!" one of the girls said brightly. "I hope you have a wonderful day!"
"Goodbye, big sister!" another chimed in.
Then one of them, the slightly older girl—Mika—looked up at her seriously. "Sister, please don't look at us with pity. We're not pitiful. We have our own home and our own family."
The woman froze. Mika didn't sound angry, just... tired. Honest.
She didn't hate the woman for caring—she just didn't want sympathy. All she wanted was to be treated like anyone else.
"I understand," the woman said quietly. "Take care of yourselves, okay?"
"Oh, and when the doors open, make sure you step out right away," she added quickly, worried again. "Don't get caught in the doors, okay? Be careful!"
The kids all waved and smiled as the doors closed. But as the elevator ascended and their laughter faded, the woman couldn't hold back her tears anymore.
All they wanted was a home. A family. Something so small, yet so out of reach for them.
When the elevator doors finally shut, she wiped her eyes and sighed. She was so small, so powerless. All she'd done was help them press a button. She wasn't brave, or selfless—her kindness felt so tiny, so insignificant.
Ding!
Just as she turned to leave, a sharp metallic clink caught her attention. A golden coin had appeared out of nowhere and fallen to the floor.
"Huh?"
She bent down to pick it up, frowning at the strange markings on its surface. She'd never seen currency like this before—it definitely didn't belong to this world.
As her fingers brushed the coin, a strange chill ran through her. She looked back toward the elevator.
For a brief moment, she saw a handsome young man standing in the shadows, smiling at her.
But in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Only a potted plant remained where he'd been. She blinked, shaking her head. Maybe she'd just imagined it—the plant's shadow playing tricks on her tired mind.
---
Meanwhile, at the top floor, the elevator doors slid open. The little girls remembered every word the young woman had said and immediately ran out together.
"Wow, elevators are amazing!" one of them exclaimed.
"It brought us all the way up here so fast!" another giggled.
"It's so high! Everything down there looks tiny!"
They crowded around the window, faces pressed to the glass, eyes wide with wonder. It was their first time seeing the city from this high up.
"Alright, everyone, don't get too distracted," said Kayano, their slightly older leader. She glanced outside too, curiosity flickering in her eyes, but quickly forced herself to focus.
"Hey, Kayano, can we come back and look again after we finish our job?" one of the girls asked in a sing-song voice, smiling up at her.
"You can try asking Kazuma Onii-Chan," Kayano said with a pout. "He's soft-hearted. If you act cute with him, maybe he'll bring us."
Lately, Kazuma had been spoiling them nonstop, constantly praising how adorable they were. Now the girls had gotten used to weaponizing their cuteness.
"Onii-Chan will definitely say yes!"
"When he does, I'm going to stare out that window forever!"
"Me too!"
Laughing and humming, the girls made their way toward their client's office. Everything went smoothly—well, almost.
A bald bodyguard in sunglasses tried to stop them at the door. Before he could say a word, Mika darted forward and drop-kicked him square in the chest. The man collapsed instantly.
"Uh… that guy's called a bodyguard, right?" one of the girls asked uncertainly. "He's supposed to protect the client?"
"Yeah, I think so," another said. "Wait, did we do something wrong?"
"Of course not," Mika said proudly. "Guild Master always told us—if something looks dangerous, take it out first. And this guy? Bald head, scary face, sunglasses indoors—total bad guy vibes."
The others nodded in agreement. "Makes sense."
They walked up to the office door, knocked politely... then kicked it open with one synchronized move. Kazuma had also taught them that. Doors, according to him, were meant to be kicked. Using your hands was just wrong.
"W-what the hell?! Who are you?! Bodyguard—wait, where's my bodyguard?!"
The client panicked at first, but once he saw who had kicked down his door—half a dozen cute little girls—his fear turned into confusion.
What kind of assassin squad looked this adorable?
"We're from Fairy Tail Guild," Kayano announced confidently. "You hired us to deal with the Gastrea creatures attacking your property, right?"
"Oh, uh, yes… that's me," the man said, still staring. "One of my facilities got attacked, so I put out a request. But barging into my office and kicking down my door? That's not exactly professional. Forget it, I'm not giving you the job."
His tone hardened, trying to reassert authority now that he wasn't afraid.
"Hmm, he says he's not giving us the job," one girl whispered. "What do we do now?"
"I don't know. Guild Master never covered this part," another murmured.
Mika frowned in thought. "But Guild Master did say, 'If you don't know what to do—use firepower!'"
A second later, the room filled with the metallic clicks of loaded weapons. Each of the cute little girls summoned a magical submachine gun, pointing them straight at the client.
"Our guild's rule is simple," Kayano said sweetly. "If someone asks for help, we always respond. But we never work for free."
"Right," another girl nodded solemnly. "No exceptions."
"..."
"Y-you're absolutely right!" the man stammered, hands raised high above his head.
Were they cute? Absolutely.
Were they terrifying? Also yes.
With six muzzles aimed at his face, he wouldn't have refused if they'd asked him to call them Mommy. Survival came first.
Once he agreed to everything, Kayano and the others cheerfully packed up their weapons, got the mission details, and headed out.
It didn't take long before they arrived at the site of the attack.
.
.
.