The Destruction of the World by Fire by Shiden Kanzaki Read Free Book Online Page A

hair’s so smooth and pretty!”
    “I want to touch it!”
    “Her eyes are blue!”
    “She’s like a doll!”
    When Rentaro forcibly slipped through the opening in the crowd with difficulty and got to the front, he saw an uncomfortable Tina standing in the middle of the curious stares.
    “Oh, do you want some candy?” and then more slowly, “
Do you eat candy?
” A group of three girls nervously offered Tina wrapped candies, representing the group.
    “I do not want any.”
    “She talked!” they exclaimed.
    Of course she can talk.
“Sorry I’m late,” Rentaro said aloud, using a loud voice on purpose, waving his hand as he got closer.
    “Big Brother!” Tina rushed over to him and hugged him around the waist with both arms.
    “Big Brother?” the three girls exclaimed in unison. Looking at the little chorus, Rentaro thought he had seen them before somewhere and then suddenly realized that they were his classmates. He couldn’t remember their names, though.
    “Satomi, don’t you keep another young girl at home, too? Did you get another one?”
    “I don’t
keep
her, she’s a freeloader!”
    “Hey, introduce me to this girl.”
    Everyone in the crowd around them seemed to be murmuring the same thing. Everyone wanted to meet Tina.
    Rentaro sighed. He couldn’t stay here. “Tina, let’s go.” Withoutwaiting for a response, he pulled Tina’s hand and ignored the cries of, “Hey, wait!” from the female students trying to stop them. He escaped with haste.
    “They were interesting.”
    “Sorry I was late. How was school?”
    “Today was fun, too.” Tina looked shyly at Rentaro. “Did you call Mr. Matsuzaki?”
    He glanced at Tina, who was walking next to him. Thinking there was no use hiding it, he nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
    A few days had passed since the news report, but rather than calming down, the situation had turned into an even bigger deal. The Stolen Generation finally had a target for their anger, and their actions were quick, and their grudges deep. There was criticism against the Seitenshi, a supporter of the Children, and demonstrations at the Seitenshi’s palace. The news gathered fervor, and groups that had been dying down—like the anti-Children citizens group and ones even more extreme—instead increased their activities.
    There were even groups that started interfering with the Outer District, which had been left alone by silent agreement before, so Rentaro could not just stand by quietly. And so, whenever he had a free moment, he would call Matsuzaki to ask about the conditions in the Outer District, because based on the report, it could directly affect the safety of Enju and Tina, who were going to school out there.
    Rentaro and Tina went to Magata Station together, and Rentaro inserted coins into the ticket machine and bought two tickets. In the short time before the change and tickets were spit out, Rentaro glanced at Tina, who gazed at the train map as if everything she looked at was strange.
    Tina had started addressing her nocturnal sleep cycle the day after sleeping over at Rentaro’s house. Even though it was the middle of the day, she did not seem sleepy at all, so she must have achieved some success.
    Rentaro asked himself if he should tell her. Earlier, when he sawTina surrounded by a crowd of people at the statue in front of the school, his heart almost stopped for a moment with worry.
    In the past, he had seen a similar sight. Back then, it was Enju who had been surrounded, and it was because she had been exposed as one of the Children with the Gastrea virus inside her and was about to be expelled from school.
    Rentaro did not know how Initiators were treated in America, but he knew they were not worshipped as gods. Which meant that even Tina must understand that she needed to hide her red eyes. It wasn’t something worth mentioning specifically, but because of the current situation, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.
    “Rentaro, what is the matter?” Before