"I know you're sneaking a cat in, Rindou."

Rindou stopped in his tracks when his older brother suddenly spoke out. The blonde blue-haired boy never expected him to talk when he was lazily resting on their living room sofa. He thought his brother wouldn't notice him since the living room was facing away from the door. Meaning that Ran didn't even take a glance at him and he can only see the back of Ran's long black golden hair from afar.

Maybe it was an older sibling's instinct or he was just predictable. But it startled him that Ran could predict that he had an orange-coloured kitten snuggling in his forearms and sleeping soundly. The cat remained silent and behaved well. Making its presence unnoticeable.

Does Ran have two eyes at the back of his head?

"That movie? Again?"

"Don't try to change the topic, you brat." Ran said in an annoyed tone. He turned his head to Rindou and glared at the sight of the orange kitten. Making Rindou subconsciously cover the little one with his hands, protecting it from Ran's murderous glares.

Please.

Don't let that 'thing' near Ran.

"You know I had to stuff tissues in my nose when fighting later on.... if you let that little devil in here?"

It's misfortunate indeed when a cat lover (an obsessed one to be specific) and a cat-allergic person are living under the same roof. So that's why in the Haitani household, there were no pets. It's just the brothers only.

One of the rules in the household, don't ever let a cat inside because Haitani Ran is going to get the most intense flu that he will ever endure, just because of a single fur of that being. Maybe it's hyperbole but the lanky guy sure rather get his face stepped on than get that 'cat-allergy' flu. Yeah, that's how horrendous it was.

But what makes it more terrible is that his little brother loves cats. Of course, Ran sometimes gives in with Rindou's shenanigans but this time...he's not having it anymore.

This was the last straw.

When Ran was about to open his mouth, Rindou quickly cut him off by saying, "I'll send him back where it belongs, tomorrow." with a small pout.

"Why can't you just let it-

"Him." Rindou corrected his brother, offended by him not using the kitten's pronouns properly.

Ran rolled his eyes and gave in (again) with his little brother, "Him...outside?"

"......You see...Nii-chan..."

Ran waited for his brother to continue his words by entering the potato chips in his hand aggressively. Ran that most likely known by his suave personality, sure is out of character now. Not calm at all.

Rindou then started to explain what happened before he arrived home.

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A few minutes before...

Finally, after all that searching, he found the 'stuff' that he was looking for. Even though he was the one to blame for not taking care of it, still, he blamed the 'stuff' for disappearing from him. What a lunatic.

He beamed to see that the 'stuff' was looking good as new, even if it was stuck between the seats of the empty circus section(the place where most of them will gather).

He was on the top of the entrance, specifically, the clown's head, and it must be weird to think about why he is on that thing, right?

There's a gate and all that is left to do is open it.

And that's where the truth comes.

Even the Haitani Brothers, who were the owners of the hideout, don't have the key for the gate.

The key is non-existent in the first place.

So it was stupid of you, right? For trying to unlock the damn rusty padlock when even the owners can't open it.

Goodness. You know for sure you're not deranged enough to climb that motherfucking clown. Because it was so high up, it was on the same level as your school's third floor.

But that height is not a big deal for Rindou. I mean with that lifestyle of his, is there anything scaring him?

Nothing does.

Well, except for cockroaches. Because that boy will shit his pants if he sees a single one of those disgusting creatures near him.

He climbed down slowly from the clown's head and landed at ease, it was child's play for him. And to make it clear, he has done this shit every day, so it's not life-threatening for him.

He continued his steps back to his motorbike that was just parked beside the nearest tree.

The vehicle roared throughout the neighbourhood and most likely pushing away the serenity of the silent street. Rindou doesn't care. How much noise will he make, how many people are pissed off with him, being nonchalant and ignorant are his major traits.

As he put the 'stuff' into the giant pockets of his sweater, he gave the 'stuff' a little pat and said, "You better not disappear again from me...

....Ayuzawa." Then, he started driving his motorbike.

Yeah, Misaki Ayuzawa.

The name of the main character of "Kaichou wa Maid-Sama!", one of the recently hottest shoujo manga in the past few weeks. The manga just had 1 volume published but its popularity skyrocketed quickly, due to the beautiful manga style and funny storyline.

Top it all off, with an overly gorgeous love interest for the main character, Usui Takumi, of course, the book makes girls chase it or rather sell their organs if they can't afford it.

It's a shoujo manga we're talking about, the manga writers intended to attract young girls...

So we're pretty sure that Haitani Rindou doesn't fit the category...he's not even the targeted audience, to say the least...

Heck, he had to compete with most girls that were in the shoujo manga section, since the stock was limited. But thanks to his reputation, he can get it easily since most of the girls scrammed away from the section when they saw him, just because of his intense gaze at everyone there that dares to get near the manga. He had started being possessive of it, even if he hadn't bought it yet.

He heard from one of his 'underlings' (that knows that he is a sucker for shoujo mangas), there was a new one coming out recently and most people said that the storyline was good.

Rindou doesn't know anything about that manga at all but his instincts said that he should grab it when he had the chance.

Even if the mangas are sealed with plastic, we all know that Rindou has no fucks to give because he ripped the plastic off and throw the plastic to the floor. One of the employees tried to scold him but as they met those amethyst eyes that were glaring, they realised that he was one of the Haitani Brothers. They can't mess with him.

So, they let him be. That's how privileged Rindou is in this city.

He can get away with anything.

Even if he tried to dance in the middle of the street like an idiot, no one will dare to judge or laugh at him (most of them will support him because they don't want to get murdered).

It was just a small part of Rindou's influence in the city.

As he started to read the manga...

Then, he knew...that manga is coming home with him. He won't let a single human being try to grab it away from him.

Why actually?

It was only because he had fallen in love with Ayuzawa just by reading a few pages of her in the manga. There ain't no way he's going to let this chance slip, it's hard to find an amazing female lead from a shoujo manga (maybe he's the one that's bad at finding good shoujo in the first place).

How did Ayuzawa manage to steal his heart?

Easy.

It's because Rindou likes strong-willed women.

And that's where he suddenly thought of you. He knows for sure you are one because he can already predict people warning you to not ever get near or find him (well, especially when you don't have interest in him) like everyone will keep on saying, he's someone dangerous.

But it seems like you don't give a damn about it at all and hell, you insulted him for goodness sake like you have known him for the longest time. He doesn't know where you get the nerve from but damn, it was bewildering him.

Most likely, you were trying to knock the hell out of him from a delirium he has about him being above others.

Rindou was so confused about it. It's not like he's hurt with your words (he is actually but he doesn't want to admit it), but he was not expecting it at all. It was like a smack in the face (I mean, you smacked him with that clipboard of yours). Maybe he was just surprised? Maybe not? He doesn't know what emotion he is feeling.

But it was strange.

That girl-

The sound of a kitten whimpering softly interrupted Rindou's train of thoughts. It was a reflex for him indeed as he stopped his motorbike rapidly. Making his body jolted forcefully to the front due to inertia.

He stabilized his motorbike and went off the vehicle, not bothering to turn the engine off.

He was at the edge of the street and his left side was a roadside that was filled with grasses and it leads to a forest. He followed the sound of the kitten since it was dark, so it was difficult to find the little one.

As the kitten noise got louder, he panicked when he saw the orange-coloured kitten.

He never expected to witness this at all.

He thought that the little creature was hungry or calling for its parent.

But no.

The little one's leg was crushed with a medium-sized rock. The rock was painted with the kitten's blood and it splattered on the grass like they were water sprinkles.

This can't be an accident.

It must be someone's doing.

Someone cruel and merciless had done it.

Who the fuck will be this horrible? Rindou knows that he is not a saint or an angel but there's no way he would hurt an innocent animal, especially a vulnerable one.

What is it on this person's mind? Why do they need to commit animal cruelty? To feel satisfied? To let out their rage? What the hell will they gain from all of this? Rindou doesn't get it.

So the male removed the rock slowly from the cat's leg and he could see how the leg had bent oddly, with a huge wound that was bleeding intensely. The little one sure can't walk properly anymore after this. It was still young, it could be that it was born a few weeks ago.

That means that it didn't live a long life yet and had recently seen this world with its own eyes but somehow a vile human being made it suffer.

"It's okay, little one." He whispered softly. His voice has always been calm and collected. So him softening his voice, even more, it sounded like a lullaby and mellifluous to anyone's ears.

He gently stroked the kitten's head and it only responded with a soft 'meow', it was in so much pain and didn't have any energy to make a sound anymore.

"I'll take you home...alright?" Rindou was a man of his words. He started to lift up the kitten delicately as it was in its fragile state and secured it between his forearms.

Some of the kitten's blood smeared on his sweater (a white one by the way), but Rindou didn't mind. It's not that the little one wanted this to happen to it in the first place.

He went back to his motorbike and this is where Rindou needs to use that 'useless talent' (according to Ran) that he kept on showing off to his brother.

What is that useless talent that he kept bragging about?

Precisely.

Driving his motorbike with only one hand.

Since his motorbike doesn't have a basket on it, it was expensive and eye-catching but you can't put shit there so it was a good-for-nothing motorbike.

Rindou then started his motorbike again and this time he drove at a slow speed. Usually, he will just exceed the speed limit since he acts like he owns this lively city but now it's not the right time.

He was driving like it was an old motorcycle and if it was a race, even a sloth could outrun him. That's how slow he was going.

But it doesn't matter, as long as the kitten is comfortable snuggling in his left forearm. His other hand was holding on to the throttle tightly, making his veins pop out because all of his strength to keep the motorbike stable depended on it.

"If I ever find the person that did this to you...

...I'll crush their face, just like they did to your leg." Such threatening words Rindou had blurted out.

Rindou's mind was only occupied with the kitten and trying his best to find a way to treat its broken leg.

He was too preoccupied about it, that he even forgot to continue his words about you before.

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"Fine." Ran finally gave in with his little brother.

Sometimes Ran does feel like he is a pushover when it comes to Rindou, he never knew why. Maybe he was just too lazy to fight back or he just really loves his younger brother. Well, it could be both.

Rindou gave him a stupid grin, he felt satisfied when he achieved in convincing Ran. Although he can trample on his older brother easily, he doesn't want to take advantage of it and he still did feel guilty. It even takes like a week for Ran to recover from the flu later on.

As Rindou was on his way to his room that was upstairs, Ran shouted "You better vacuum the whole house tomorrow!"

Rindou only responded with a hum because he was rushing to treat the kitten. There is a first aid kit in the house but Rindou and Ran would never remember where did they put it.

Of course, they don't need it in the first place. They rarely get injured anyways, but hurting others is common for them. They should just gave the first-aid kit to their opponents since they needed it more than them.

Rindou finally found the first-aid kit after he searched the entire house. It was in the attic all along (it was useless in the Haitani household anyways).

Rubbing the kitten's wound with antiseptic and iodine solution, Rindou clearly looked like he was a veterinarian. All he had left to do was open a clinic on his own if he wanted to.

He wrapped the white bandage around the kitten's leg gently and a smile crept upon his face. Finally, he was done. It was frightening because he thought he might hurt the little one because of his rough nature but he managed to be gentle (surprisingly).

The kitten was half asleep because there ain't no way it can sleep soundly with Rindou putting on ointments on its wound.

Rindou had laid the kitten on his bed and he was sitting on the floor so that his eyes could be on the same level as the kitten. With his 'Kaichou wa Maid-Sama!" manga on his lap, he then laid his head on the bed, made his face close to the kitten.

He tapped the little one's nose gently and said "Your leg is good as new!" A closed eye smile etched on his handsome face.

"But you're not going to walk the same anymore." His smile faded instantly, imagining the kitten had to limp to move around.

This is all the doer's fault. What will they even gain from doing that to the little one? Are they out of their mind? Because Rindou knows for sure that it wasn't a normal thing for someone to do.

But it was quite ironic because Rindou's fighting style is breaking people's bones but that's not the same as hurting animals. His opponents and he are in a consensual fight, which means that Rindou only fight people that messed with him and he never initiates any fight. So, yeah, that's not wrong for Rindou.

To top it all off, every delinquent knows that he deadass breaks peoples joints, and if you don't want to be a victim of him, just don't pull the wrong strings and your safe.

Rindou and the orange kitten stayed quiet for a while because his mind was somewhere else. He was thinking of something abruptly. Not sure if he should do it or not. He was indecisive.

Should he or should he not?

"Hey, buddy...do you think I should go?" Rindou asked the little one for its opinion like it can give a response in the first place.

For goodness sake....

... Rindou is such a dingus.

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