Seraphim is a Bystander

Night City

 
I walked alongside Sou through a city lit only by streetlamps and the glowing windows of tall buildings. The streets were full of people—those who looked like they were coming home from work, street performers holding instruments, and folks heading out for a night of drinking.
“Been a while since I’ve walked around this late.”

Way, way back—back when I was still human—I used to be one of those dead-eyed workers shuffling home from work.
I stared at the city that had changed so much from what it was back then, wondering what I used to think about on those walks.
“Woof!”
“Hm? Are you saying it’s getting dangerous and we should head back?”

From the way Sou barked and looked at me, I could more or less read his thoughts. But…
“I’m not going back.”
“Ruff?”

Sou tilted his head in confusion at my response.
That’s right—I have no intention of returning to my original self. Or more precisely, I can’t go back.
There are many reasons, but the biggest one is that I want to establish “Seras” not as Aoi’s alter ego, but as an individual who exists independently in this world.
“I’ve got a lot to do from here on out. And, well… I want to enjoy this world to the fullest, too.”
“...”

Sou drooped, as if exasperated by my response.
Anyway, I should send him home soon.
My original self can hear all my thoughts anyway, so if I just slip into a secluded alley…
Oh, here it comes.
“Ruff?!”

A hole opened in midair, and peering through it was me—relaxing at home.
“Thanks for your hard work, me~! I’ll take Sou back now. Good luck with the rest.”
“Gotcha. I’ll handle things over here. If anything happens, I’ll give you a call.”

I handed Sou over through the portal, which then closed behind him.
After watching it shut completely, I sat down on a trash can in the alley and exhaled deeply.
“Now then… what should I do next?”
Looking up at the starless night sky, so different from the world when I was human, I let my thoughts drift.
As I was reminded all too clearly today, there are a lot of things I can’t do in this body.
Since I modeled it off a human body from this world, it includes all the limitations and biological functions of a normal human.
I need to eat. I need to sleep. If I don’t, I’ll get dizzy.
But the biggest difference from my original self is that right now, aside from Destruction, I can’t use any supernatural abilities.
I can’t read minds, can’t see the future, can’t teleport.
Sure, my predictive thinking can get close to foresight, and I can jump about 100 kilometers if I really try—but that’s about it.

“This really is a pain…”
At the moment, I don’t even have a place to sleep tonight.
Normally, I’d just make a little extra-dimensional space to use as a room, but I can’t do that now.
“For now, I guess I’ll gather information… Haah!”

With a sigh and some resolve, I hopped off the trash can and brushed off the dirt on my skirt.
Scanning my surroundings, I looked for the tallest building nearby.
“Oh! That one looks good.”
I locked onto the tallest building in the area and began hopping from rooftop to rooftop, threading through blind spots in the buildings’ security until I reached the top of my target building.

“Whoa, this is actually a great view!”
There were bright spots teeming with people and darker, emptier areas.
Some buildings were dimly lit while others were in bustling residential zones.
No nature to speak of, but a clear sign of developed civilization.
As I gazed at the patterns of human life, I spotted something strange down in a quiet alley.

“…Ah, right.”
An idea popped into my head.
I started calculating if it was even feasible, what the potential benefits were… and then abandoned all logic after a few seconds.
“Eh, sounds fun—let’s ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) do it!”

Maybe it was the heat of the city at night getting to me, but for once I decided to follow the fun path instead of weighing risk versus reward.
I calculated the route toward the location I spotted and took off in a sprint across the rooftops.
Where I was headed, according to my projections, was a wild scene: a high school girl being chased by obviously shady men.
I had no idea why she was in that situation, but the idea that had popped into my head was:
“Let’s help her and then ask her for a place to crash.”
Yeah, it made no sense, even to me.

“Well… I’m sure it’ll work out somehow!”
If my calculations were right, after the next building—yep, there she is!
I spotted the high school girl frantically trying to shake her pursuers, but she was about to corner herself in a dead end.
“Haa… haa… Wha—?!”

My enhanced hearing picked up her panicked breathing and shout.
She was scanning around for an escape route, but it was a perfect dead end—no way out, nowhere to hide.
And then the thugs caught up.
“Tch… You really made us work for this. If you’d just given up and let us take you hostage, we wouldn’t have had to rough you up, y’know?”

“No! Stay away!”
Yeah, they’re definitely the bad guys.
Now I can act without holding back.

I leapt off the nearby building and landed softly between the girl and the approaching thugs.
“Kyaa!”
“Huh?! Who the hell are you?!”

Ignoring the angry shout from the thugs, I turned to the girl.
“Hey, miss. Want me to help you out?”
“Huh? What do you mean? Where did you even come from…?”

“If you let me crash at your place tonight, I’ll save you.”
“What the hell is this brat talking about?!”
The girl was clearly confused and didn’t know how to respond, but when one of the thugs barked from behind me, she flinched and let out a scream.

“F-Fine! I’ll do whatever you want—just help me!”
“Okay~!”
Got the promise.
I turned back to face the thugs and walked toward them casually.

Even though I looked like a child, they sensed something was off and didn’t approach recklessly.
“Tch… Listen kid. If you run now, we won’t hurt—”
“…”

I didn’t let him finish.
Starting with the closest one, I punched each of them in the stomach—just hard enough to knock them out for half a day.
“Wha…? What is even happening?!”
As I brushed off my fists—which felt a little gross—I turned back to the girl.

“Okay then. Time for you to uphold your end of the bargain.”
Even after hearing me say that, she stood frozen, completely stunned.