and all for a pin

Mio walked through the college doors with relief. Finally, a safe place. That clumsy psychopath with the knots couldn't follow her here. She felt safe.

But it was a naive thought.

As Mio walked down the crowded hallway, her peace lasted exactly twelve seconds. As she turned a corner, one of her classmates, the same one who had made the cotton candy comment, was waiting for her with a cruel smile and a bucket in her hand. Before Mio could process what was happening, a torrent of ice-cold water hit her in the chest, soaking her from head to toe.

Water dripped from her pink bangs, sticking her clothes to her body. The laughter of the girl and her group of friends echoed down the hallway. Some students stopped to stare, but most simply quickened their pace, avoiding the trouble.

Mio fell silent. Completely still, she stared at the wet ground. She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she didn't move. Her mind, however, was a lonely echo repeating a single, devastating question.

"...Why?"

There was no response. With his dignity shattered and the cold penetrating his bones, he walked to his classroom and sat down, enduring the stares and whispers throughout the entire class.

The walk home was miserable. Her damp clothes clung to her skin, and every gust of night wind made her shiver. She was so tired, so fed up with everything, that when she saw the tall, dark figure waiting for her on a dimly lit corner, she no longer felt the acute panic she had felt before. She just felt infinitely exhausted.

" Not again. I don't have the energy for this. " She decided to ignore him. With her head down, she walked past him, hoping that this time he would leave her alone.

"You... Your name is Mio, right?" The voice was so low it was almost a whisper, but it stopped her in her tracks. She turned around, surprised and with a new chill that had nothing to do with the cold.

 " How... how do you know my name? " asked Mio, his voice barely audible with fear.

The man remained silent, motionless in the darkness. And that silence was the spark that lit the fuse. All the fear, humiliation, and frustration of the day exploded.

" Why are you chasing me?! " Mio shouted, her voice louder and stronger than he had heard it in years, and with tears in her eyes about to overflow, she said to him, " What do you want from me?! Can't you just leave me alone?! "

As soon as the words left her mouth, terror flooded her. "You fool, you fool, what have you done? Now he's really going to kill you. You provoked him. You should have kept quiet."

She braced herself for the worst. But the stranger didn't move, didn't scream, didn't do anything. He simply reached out his hand slowly toward her. In the palm of his hand, under the dim light of a distant streetlamp, something small glistened.

It was a bunny pin. Her pin. She must have dropped it when they met in that alleyway.

The guy just wanted to give her back her pin. All that chasing, all that clumsiness, just for that.

"What kind of weirdo would think of giving a pin in such a creepy way?" thought Mio, as a strange relief fought against confusion.

Stammering, she took the pin from his hand, her fingers brushing his for a moment. " Th-thank you..." she murmured.

He was about to turn around and flee to the safety of his apartment when three shadows emerged from a nearby alley, blocking their path. They were three surly-looking men, much larger and more threatening than the boy in the cap.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said one of them, with a nasty smile. "Look at the lovebirds. A girl with weird hair and her boyfriend."

El pánico se apoderó de Mio una vez más "this time more real and visceral than ever. It's a trap! He brought me here! It was all a trap!, Help me, Mom!"

But then something happened that didn't fit in with this catastrophic moment. The weird kid, the one who had been harassing her, moved. With a fluidity and confidence he hadn't shown before, he stood in front of her, protecting her with his body.

Mio stood there, gaping, staring at the back of the stranger who now stood between her and the real danger they were facing.