The man looked at the boy who had been stopped.
He held out his hand.
"Hand it over."
His expression and tone were both unpleasant.
He was in a terrible mood.
He'd finally gotten out of the house...
And then this happened.
Was it a bad time for him to go out lately?
Was he doomed to have bad luck every time he left home?
And on top of that...
He'd actually let a kid bully him...
Wasn't that a little too embarrassing?
Even more embarrassing was the fact that he'd nearly failed to catch the little brat...
Had his physical fitness really gotten that bad?
He hadn't graduated that long ago.
All those emotions piled up inside him, and after running as hard as he could, his chest was tight and he was short of breath...
The man felt almost suffocated.
Then there were the people around him, pointing and whispering.
He knew they weren't talking badly about him.
They were just discussing the commotion.
But he hadn't been in the public eye for a long time, and he felt distinctly uncomfortable being the center of attention.
He made himself focus on the boy.
That was easy enough.
He was truly angry about what the boy had done.
But there was a girl standing nearby... and the boy was only a child...
He struggled to rein in the fury that threatened to make him lose control.
All he wanted now was to get his things back.
Once the boy apologized, he'd send the annoying brat on his way as quickly as possible.
He didn't want to look at him for another second.
It made his heart ache.
The boy paid the man no attention at all.
He kept struggling, his face stubborn and defiant.
He