CH 1

“Halloween is almost here.”

As October was nearing its end, I was out buying various things for the upcoming Halloween.

You may be wondering what I’m doing in my second year of high school, but I don’t intend to do anything noteworthy. I was just going to dress up and eat with my friends.

“Lightsaber and pumpkin headgear… Perfect.”

I have a friend who likes to cosplay, and he said he would prepare a serious costume this Halloween, but for someone like me, this should be enough.

“… Hm?”

It was on my way home after being satisfied with my purchase when my eyes fell on one house in particular.

“Shinjo-san’s house?”

The Shinjo siblings, two beautiful sisters in the same grade from the same high school I attend. Both of them are stunning beauties and have styles that no idol could ever compete with. They have received countless confessions of love, but they were so ironclad that they turned down all of them.(E/N:If ur confused about the ironclad, it is something along the lines of being strict or cautious or idk.)

My house is just down the street from there, so it was not uncommon for me to meet and greet the siblings on my way to school.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

That’s the kind of a relationship we have as neighbors, I don’t really mind being greeted even if it’s only like that since they are a pair of beautiful girls. Of course, we never went to school together, and we never talked at school, but I was sure that we are acquaintances.

“Well, they’re real beauties. And of course, their mother is also pretty too… Anyways, why is their front door open like that?”

It was after 3:00 p.m. when I went shopping. It was quite dark now because I had played around for a bit before going home.

I saw their front door was not lit and the it was open all the way, I had a bad feeling about it.

“… It can’t be a robbery or something, right?”

I laughed and tried to pass by, but I was still curious. I approached the house with such a light-hearted feeling and thought that I should apologize if they got angry, but what reached my ears when I was near was the voice of a man I had never heard before.

“Kukuk, I don’t care about the money anymore, there’s a handful of nice women here. Hey brats! if you don’t want your mother to be killed, take off your clothes.”

“Sniff—”

It seems I’ve run into a situation that’s about to go drastically bad.

I managed to peek inside, taking great care not to be noticed. Then I saw a huge man holding Shinjo-san’s mother in his arms, he was squeezing her b*****s and telling the sisters to get undressed quickly.

The mother is in tears and seems unable to speak out of fear, while the two sisters, on the other hand, follow the man’s order even though they should be able to run away and scream for help by now. I heard that their father died early, but the family had a reputation for being close so they managed. I guess the sisters are trying to help their mother somehow as she is their only parent left.

“……………”

I decided to call the police for now, and I checked my belongings.

All I had on hand was a lightsaber and a pumpkin helm that I had bought to dress up in for Halloween.

The sisters are already in just their underwear, and if this continues, it will surely make his disgusting imagination come true.

“… F**k.”

I muttered quietly and put the pumpkin helm on my head.

I have always been able to show my ability better when I hide my face like this. That’s also why I had a record of winning a national kendo tournament when I was in junior high school.

“Okay, here I go.”

Normally I don’t want to get involved in someone’s affairs but there’s no way I can overlook something like this.

Second-year at Akagi High School, Hayato Doumoto, here I come!

*POV changed

“……”

“Nee-san…”

How it could be?

I never thought I would be the one to go through this…

It was late October, close to Halloween when I came home with my sister as usual. The door was unusually open, which bothered me, but we both stepped inside the house without thinking about it much.

I thought it was frighteningly quiet and I had no idea that my mother was being strangled by a man.

My mother, who was being held by the man’s thick arms who had a body that seemed much tougher than us women, seemed to be struggling to get out of his grasp.

Then when the man saw us coming home, he pointed a knife at my mother and threatened to kill her if we moved from where we were. I was scared, I wanted to run away, I wanted to shout and call for help, but I was afraid that if I did so, he would really kill my mother.

“… Will you really release her?”

“If you do what I tell you to do then yes.”

……

If I could save my mother’s life by getting naked, it would be a small price to pay. So I took off my clothes, and my sister followed my lead and took off hers. The man demanded that we take off our clothes, and even though it was horrifying to think about what would happen next… I wanted to save my mother somehow. But I wanted my sister to escape somehow too.

“If she escaped, it would be troublesome. Hey, you tie up her arms and legs.”

The man then handed the rope to my sister.

My mother is bound at the feet and wrists as well, so I guess he doesn’t intend to let us escape easily. His grinning face full of wickedness, watching my sister tie me up makes me want to vomit. I feel sorry for my sister who’s terrified and is almost about to cry as she does what he ordered.

“This is why all men are such…”

It has always been so. Men are nothing but savage, vulgar, vile creatures.

The only man I ever wished to have by my side was my father who married my mother. He loved my mother until the last moment of his death and cherished us as his daughters.

“Kukuk, okay, that’s about right. Let’s have some fun then.”

It seems that the man chose my sister as his first target when he saw that I was tied up.

“Wait! Don’t you dare to touch my sister!”

“I’ll deal with you later, so shut up!”

The man yelled at me and thrust his blade against the wall.

Mother and sister let out a small scream as the blade pierced deeply with a dull thud. I can’t shout out loudly, what if he hurts them…

I was about to cry… No, I was already crying.

After all, this is how we always end up being unreasonable. The accident that caused my father’s death was also the result of such unreasonableness.

“… F**k… f**k f**k f**k!”

I clenched my fists tightly and my fingernails dig in.

I gnash my teeth so hard that my tongue cuts out … my sister is about to be raped by a man in front of me while being able to do nothing. In the face of such absurdity, tears begin to drop from my eyes.

“…… help.”

It was a small murmur.

It was at that moment that I wished that if someone is here, please help us, help us…

Something made a noise and rolled into the center of the living room. It was a tennis ball that was supposed to be left at the entrance.

“An? Tennis ball?”

The man looked at it as it rolled by and he tried to pick it up.

But then, someone jumped into the room with great momentum, not missing the moment when the man’s attention was completely away from my sister.

“What the—?”

Faster than the man could react, a stick-like object glowing red was swung down on his shoulder. The man dropped the blade he was holding, feeling the pain, and a follow-up strike was immediately delivered to his body.

“Cough… Who the h**l are you…?

“……!?”

“…… Pumpkin?”

That person looked down at the man crouching in pain, he was wearing a pumpkin helm. It was probably a man because of his physique, but why was he wearing a pumpkin helm?

Such a question wirled inside me, even though I had been so terrified just a moment ago.

“I don’t know if you’re a robber or a rapist, but for now, you’re done here.”

Just as the pumpkin man said this, the sound of sirens echoed from far away. He tied up the man’s hands and feet firmly so that he could not move, and he also untied the ropes that had bound my mother and me.

“F**k you… Let go of me!”

“Of course, you don’t like it. But criminals should be on the ropes.”

The glare that peeked out from the gouged eyes was sharp and enough to dishearten the man.

“Here, put your clothes on. It’s all right now.”

“…Ah.”

It’s all right now, that’s what he said, and I was already at the end of my patience.

Forgetting to get dressed, I crouched there and cried out loud. My sister cried as she followed me, and my mother clutched at us and wept as well.

“…There’s the blanket in just the right place.”

He then draped a blanket over our bodies.

Although I was close to him at that time, I did not feel any of the disgust I always felt for men.

“… Thank God. Truly.”

“……”

Those words, which seemed to be spoken unknowingly, seemed to be filled with a certain gentleness.

I felt my cheeks rapidly heat up… and so did my sister.

During this incident, the man was arrested and we were all safe. And the one who saved us from this horrifying situation was a man wearing a pumpkin helm.

What can I say, it couldn’t have been more fateful, I felt…nope, we all felt the same.