An Xiao: I'm Afraid I Might Use Too Much Force

Help, help.

Anyone, please, someone come and save me.

Sakura kept backing away, her body trembling violently. The bag she had been clutching had long since fallen to the ground, spilling a stack of envelopes and a series of photographs.

If anyone were present to see them, they would realize that these photos were candid shots of Sakura taken from various angles, including even the photo of An Xiao accompanying Sakura to the electronics store yesterday.

And these photos all shared one common trait—the subject never once looked toward the camera.

Watching the man closing in on her step by step, Sakura felt a sense of despair.

How did things end up like this?

Thirty minutes ago.

Sakura was holding a bag, standing at an alley entrance behind the electronics store, looking around with some unease.

Maybe I should just contact An Xiao.

Sakura held her phone in her hand, bit her lip, and then put it back away.

Forget it, I shouldn't trouble him this time; I've already received too much help from him.

Besides, this place is quite close to the commercial street, so nothing should go wrong.

Sakura thought this to herself with her head lowered, but suddenly the light in front of her dimmed. Subconsciously, she took a few steps back and looked up, only to find that the electronics store clerk she had seen earlier was now standing right in front of her.

"Is it you, Shizuku? Did you come to find me?" The clerk looked at Sakura, who was within arm's reach, with an obsessed gaze, his feet moving forward involuntarily.

Sakura was startled, took a few more steps back, took a deep breath, and shouted at the clerk in front of her.

"Please stop contacting me! And please stop this stalking and secret photography!"

"I don't know how you found out where my room is, and I don't know why you're doing this, but please, just stop!"

"Your behavior has caused me a great deal of distress."

After shouting, Sakura gasped for air, waiting for a long time, but the person opposite her said nothing.

Just then, Sakura's phone rang. As she reached to take it out and check, a hand slammed forcefully against her hand, knocking the phone she hadn't yet gripped firmly flying away.

What followed was a burst of shouting.

"How could this be? It can't be like this. We are a match made in heaven; even our meeting was an arrangement of fate. How can you say such things?"

"You are the most important person to me. Don't you feel the same way about me?"

"No, don't! Please don't come any closer!"

Sakura wanted to run away, but because she had retreated several times, she was already some distance from the intersection.

"Stay away from me!"

Sakura threw the bag in her arms at the man with all her might.

Although it hit him, it was of no use.

The man gradually closed the distance between them, muttering incessantly.

"Yes, it must be that the distance between us isn't close enough yet. Wait, Shizuku, I will convey this love of mine to you now... If I do this, surely you will be able to understand, right, Sakura?"

As the man spoke her name, Sakura collapsed to the ground.

Save me, anyone, please.

Watching the figure closing in, Sakura used her hands and feet to keep backing away, but despair welled up in her heart.

Who would ever come to save me?

"Heh, playing some twisted games, are we? How about you come and play with me instead?"

Following these words came a burst of rapid footsteps.

The clerk turned his head to look, only to find An Xiao holding a wooden stick he had pulled from somewhere, running toward him while swinging it to strike his head.

He instinctively tried to block it with his hands, but just as the stick was about to hit him, An Xiao dropped it and took something from his jacket, thrusting it forward fiercely.

Zzzzt~

Crackle, pop.

After a flash of blue and white light, the clerk collapsed onto the ground.

Watching the clerk fall, An Xiao weighed the stun gun in his hand, feeling a bit disgusted. He walked over to the clerk's side and kicked him hard in a fleshy area.

Regardless of whether the man could hear him or not, he cursed while kicking. "You don't act like a human, you act like an animal. Do you know that with this kind of behavior, even if you're thrown into prison, you'll be at the very bottom of the hierarchy?"

"A fanatic fan, are you?"

"Feeling pretty good about yourself, are you?"

After kicking him for several minutes, until his clothes were covered in gray footprints, An Xiao finally stopped and kicked him aside like trash.

"Tch, if I wasn't afraid of causing you permanent damage, I would have just used that stick earlier instead of letting you pass out so easily."

"And you, should I call you stupid or what? Didn't I tell you before to take the long way around? Why did you still take the initiative to..."

Before An Xiao could finish his sentence, Sakura lunged forward and hugged him tightly.

An Xiao's face flushed instinctively, but Sakura's voice reached him a moment later.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much."

"I was so scared, it was truly terrifying just now."

"I really am useless... I can't do anything on my own."

"I knew he had been following me for a long time, yet I was naive enough to think that just talking it out would be enough."

Listening to the girl's tearful confession, the words of reproach that had been in An Xiao's throat could no longer be spoken, and he didn't dare move, simply leaning down and letting the girl's tears soak into his clothes.

I don't know how much time passed, but Sakura's voice gradually faded into whimpers, until finally, there was complete silence.

"Well, I didn't expect what they say in anime to be true; this really does make you fall asleep faster."

Looking at Sakura, who was now resting limply in his arms, An Xiao smiled helplessly.

Turning around, he hoisted the sleeping Sakura onto his back, while simultaneously gathering up the items scattered on the ground one by one.

As he passed by the shop clerk, An Xiao paused, thought for a moment, and gave him another zap with the stun baton before walking out, satisfied.

Just as he reached the mouth of the alley, he saw Ichinose walking over from the side. Looking at Sakura on An Xiao's back, she asked with some concern, "Is Sakura-san... alright?"

"She's fine. I arrived just in time; she was just a bit too emotionally overwhelmed. She'll wake up in a little while."

"But thanks to you, no one else came this way."

"After all, when something like this happens, you wouldn't want too many people to know about it."

If the gossipy shopkeepers in the area found out, then given Sakura's personality, it would certainly be difficult for her to stay at school in the future.

"Yeah, and this too."

Ichinose walked over to a corner and handed back the phone that had been recording there to An Xiao.

"Thanks."

An Xiao glanced at the phone, then tucked it back into his pocket.