Special District Special Bodyguard Kukon Kyoka was filled with rage.
No — it was a far more intense, fierce emotion burning inside her.
The cause was the boy in front of her — Kasumi Masanojo.
A high school student living in the Special District.
He should have been able to experience many things, learn many things, and enjoy his youth.
In his long life, that irreplaceable, brilliant period — the precious time known as youth.
He had been robbed of it.
A man had been assaulted within the Special District.
The news sent shockwaves through the Protection Agency.
A man was assaulted?
In this Special District?
At first, Kyoka couldn’t even comprehend the meaning of those words.
But she quickly understood their gravity and sprang into action.
She carefully examined the information gathered at the agency.
The victim’s name was Kasumi Masanojo.
A high school student who had just turned sixteen — in other words, a minor.
Blood rushed to Kyoka’s head in an instant.
She was so angry it felt like her blood was boiling.
A boy of only sixteen had been subjected to sexual assault by a deranged criminal.
Kyoka nearly lost her mind with rage, but she clenched her teeth and somehow calmed herself.
She read through the report.
According to the investigation team that arrived at the scene, it was a horrific sight that made one want to look away.
Just reading the description of the scene, Kyoka covered her mouth with her hand as tears flowed endlessly from her eyes.
She didn’t know whether it was from anger toward the perpetrator or sadness for the despair the boy must have felt.
She wanted to tear the criminal apart with her own hands right now.
She wanted the perpetrator to atone for their sins through every kind of pain imaginable.
But what Kyoka needed to do right now wasn’t to condemn the criminal.
The Special Tactical Unit had already been deployed to apprehend the perpetrator.
That part should be left to the specialists.
What Kyoka had to do was protect the male.
Kyoka personally volunteered to guard the boy.
She was originally an elite Special Bodyguard in the Protection Agency.
Conveniently, she currently had no assigned protectee.
The higher-ups quickly approved her request.
And so, Kyoka became Kasumi Masanojo’s temporary bodyguard.
She rushed to the hospital immediately, but upon learning the current state of her protectee, the boy Masanojo, Kyoka nearly collapsed on the spot from the shock.
He was suffering from PTSD — post-traumatic stress disorder — which had caused memory impairment.
Dissociative amnesia.
His mind unconsciously protected itself by locking away the painful memories so he couldn’t recall them.
And to maintain mental peace, it was filling the gaps left by those lost memories with fabricated ones.
In the boy’s current mind, the gender ratio of this world was supposedly 50-50.
Ah, what a wonderful world that would be.
If it were true, men could live freely without fearing women.
A world with no distinction between men and women — true equality.
A paradise.
In the boy’s heart, the world had become such a wonderful place.
But reality was cruel.
From the moment they were born, men were forced into restrictions, and their paths in life were limited.
The word “equality between men and women” did not exist.
Both men and women had no choice but to live unhappily.
Such a paradise did not exist.
Kyoka found herself crying without realizing it.
The boy’s heart had been so broken that he had come to believe such a nonexistent fantasy was reality.
He had despaired of this world that deeply.
Once she realized this, Kyoka could not stop the tears from falling.
Kyoka was currently waiting inside the hospital room where Masanojo was staying, dressed as a nurse.
This wasn’t a disguise — she actually held a nursing qualification.
She had decided that being close to him as a nurse would cause the boy less stress than being near him in her bodyguard uniform.
She had already explained this to Masanojo and his mother, Kasumi Emika.
However, from his reaction at the time, Masanojo didn’t seem to fully understand.
He had looked absent-minded while listening to the doctor’s explanation.
Even after that, the boy kept asking the doctor all sorts of questions, showing nothing but confusion as he tried to reconcile his own sense of truth with the reality of the world.
Kyoka silently watched over the boy from behind.
The sun had set, the hospital lights were dimmed, and only the emergency lights glowed faintly.
In the middle of the night, Kyoka received a radio transmission.
It was from the personnel guarding Masanojo’s room.
The boy wanted to go to the bathroom.
“Mr.
Kasumi, are you alright?”
Kyoka rushed over and noticed that Masanojo looked exhausted.
She spoke to him with concern.
He said he was fine, but he didn’t look it at all.
Supporting the unsteady Masanojo by the shoulder, Kyoka accompanied him to the bathroom.
Once there, she guided him to a stall and waited outside until he finished.
“…”
From behind the door, she could faintly hear Masanojo’s pained groaning.
“Mr.
Kasumi, are you okay? This story is hosted at g.com.
Did something happen?”
Kyoka hurriedly called out to him.
But Masanojo only replied that he was fine and everything was okay.
Kyoka almost cried.
There was no way he was fine.
He had let out such a pained voice.
Perhaps memories of the assault had resurfaced and were tormenting him.
She wanted to kick the door down right now, rush in, and protect him — to treat him somehow.
She wanted to save Masanojo.
But she couldn’t do that.
Breaking into the men’s bathroom would make her no different from a criminal.
Doing something like that might plant even more trauma in the boy.
She could only watch silently.
There was nothing else Kyoka could do right now.
Kyoka accompanied Masanojo back to his room after he finished.
The boy looked even worse than before.
His hips were pulled back awkwardly, and his steps were unsteady.
Kyoka supported his body with her own as they walked.
At that moment, she didn’t miss the slight trembling of Masanojo’s body.
After escorting Masanojo back to his room, Kyoka returned to the waiting area and thought about the boy.
His body had been trembling so much.
He must have remembered something and had a flashback of terror.
How scared must he have been?
How sad?
How resentful?
As a woman, Kyoka could never truly understand what was in the heart of a man like Masanojo.
She couldn’t know how much pain he had endured.
Kyoka felt pathetic at her own incompetence.
What kind of Special Bodyguard was she?
She couldn’t even protect one frail boy.
She clenched her teeth and squeezed her fists tightly.
After some time had passed, Kyoka noticed faint blood seeping from her palm where she had been gripping too hard.
Just as she loosened her grip, a radio transmission came into the waiting room.
Upon receiving it, Kyoka’s expression broke at the unexpected order.
“Special Bodyguard Kukon Kyoka.
Your protectee, Kasumi Masanojo, is calling for you.
Proceed to him immediately.”