"Do you like sitting on the ground?"
Xiao Xiao smiled faintly.
"Not getting up?"
Huh?
The man froze.
He looked down.
Oh, right.
He was still sitting on the ground,
making Student Xiao squat down to talk to him, too.
The man sprang to his feet.
At first, his decisive roll across the ground had left him stunned.
He hadn't expected to react so quickly, either...
Maybe all the bad luck he'd been having lately had trained his reflexes?
Thinking about it...
For a moment, the man didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
Then he'd seen Student Xiao and frozen.
Later, he'd heard the woman scream and seen how fierce she was, and frozen again.
As he stood there, dazed...
He'd forgotten he was still sitting on the ground.
"Careful."
Xiao Xiao lightly steadied the man by the elbow.
The man had stood up too quickly and was swaying, but he immediately found his balance.
"Th-thanks."
The man gave Xiao Xiao an embarrassed smile.
He was supposed to be the older, more experienced one, yet he'd made a mess of things in front of his junior.
He didn't want to think about what kind of impression he'd made anymore.
He even pessimistically wondered whether he had any image left to ruin.
"Ah!"
Someone cried out.
The man looked up.
The woman, who'd had the upper hand and been beating up the thief, had somehow fallen onto the ground.
The bag in her hand had also dropped beside her.
The thief, who'd been covering his head, raised his face.
His features twisted.
The dagger in his raised hand flashed with a chilling gleam.
"You stinking hag!"
The thief's mouth curled into a smile.
It was a sinister one.
"Sure enjoyed beating me up,