Read Boogiepop Returns VS Imaginator Part 1 for Free Online Page B

us at once. Both the attackers and little ol' me -- the victim.
    “That looks boring.”
    Surprised, we turned and found a girl just standing there.
    The first thing I noticed was her unruly hair, which seemed to have been just left there at a sort of arbitrary length. It seemed to flow out of her.
    We were in a dirty back alley that stank of piss and ditch water. The sky was dark and cloudy, and I was hunched down like a sad frightened rabbit.
    No matter how you looked at it, my first meeting with Orihata Aya was. . . anything but perfect.

    ***

    “. . . . . . . . .”
    I gaped at her for what seemed like an eternity.
    The girl with her arbitrary hair never even glanced at me. She just walked briskly towards us.
    “Wh-who are you? Study Abroad's girlfriend?” one snarled.
    She didn't even blink. “What is your purpose? What failing of his caused this behavior?” Her voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
    “Hunh? You don't know this guy?”
    “What do you think you're doing here?” asked another classmate.
    “I asked for a reason,” she insisted.
    “Hey, this guy thinks he's Don Juan. Looking like this, tricking girls into falling for him.”
    Obviously lies, but I fought back the anger.
    “Hunh. . .” she said, and at last looked at me.
    For some reason, I found myself glaring back at her.
    She frowned. She looked at me like I puzzled her.
    I thought she was pitying me, which made me angrier. I could tell my expression was growing harsher as I fought against my feelings.
    She frowned harder, put her head to one side, then sort of drooped before looking back at the group around me.
    “So, he stole your girlfriends, then? The cause of your anger is sexual frustration?”
    She didn't even bat an eye at what she was saying.
    It was so out there that we all just sort of stared.
    “Uh. . . what? What did she say?”
    “I'm asking if this attack is a way of forgetting that your sexual partners all hate you.”
    Her tone was so level, it couldn't be taken as deliberate provocation. She was just throwing the words out there.
    They stood silently for a moment, but then their faces turned red, their fists shook. They were getting angry.
    “You. . . bitch!” They all went for her, reaching out to grab her. And she did something none of us could have predicted.
    She grabbed her own shirt, and tore it off.
    Her bare chest hit the chilly night air.
    It was pale and beautiful, as if it was drinking in all the light that shone around it.
    “If you have frustrated desires, I can fulfill them,” she said, still completely calm. The thing is, there was much more expression on her face just moments before when she had looked at me. At this moment, it was like she was wearing a mask.
    “Uuuum. . .”
    “H-hey. . .”
    The boys froze in mid-lunge, bug-eyed.
    “Whoa, wait a minute -- !” I said, flustered. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but I was not about to stand by and let them do as they pleased with her.
    But at that moment, a loud voice came from the far end of the alley.
    “Well, this is easy to figure out!”
    We spun around, and there was a young man in white clothes standing there.
    He strode towards us confidently.
    “ -- Wh-who are you?!”
    “Just to make sure, I'd better ask. You there,” he pointed at me. “Do you want to save this girl?”
    I quickly nodded, “Y-yes.”
    “Then take her and run!” he snapped, strode right over to her, and took the bare-chested girl by the arm.
    “Hey!” one of the boys said, and moved towards him, but with blinding speed he reached out to the boy's chest. . . and that alone sent him flying.
    Even I couldn't see what he'd done. This guy was something else.
    While I was still stunned, he shoved the girl towards me.
    “Go! Get out of here!!”
    I managed to say, “Th-thank you,” as I took the girl's arm and ran. She followed, unresisting.
    When we were almost on the main street, I quickly shrugged off my jacket and covered her body with it.
    “Are you