A knock at the door

Bang! A bullet fired.

It flew past the men trying to grab Richie and, before everyone's eyes, struck a little cloth pouch hanging from the light.

The two men ordered to seize Richie knocked the gun out of his hand and hoisted him up.

Dangling in midair, Richie flailed his limbs and grinned as the chili powder spilled out after the bullet hit.

The others had no idea what had happened and all tilted their faces up to look.

The chili powder showed no mercy, falling straight into the eyes of those lucky souls.

They howled, clutching their eyes as tears streamed down their faces.

Unfortunately, the villain leading them hadn't gotten any in his eyes.

Their boss was furious. "Useless! Useless! What are you running for-"

Then his gaze shifted to Richie, who was dangling in midair, laughing his head off. "You little brat! This has to be your doing! Tell me, what's going on-"

The leader raised his gun and aimed it at Richie. "Talk, or I'll shoot you dead-"

Richie quieted down and stopped laughing so gleefully. He wasn't the protagonist; he had no plot armor. If he died, that was it. He had to be careful and protect his own precious life.

"Uh, sir, have a heart! I'll tell you how to treat the poison."

The boss looked vicious. "Spit it out. How?"

Richie pondered for a moment, then solemnly told the leader, "Um, I forgot how."

The villain fired a shot beside Richie's feet, scaring him into loud, wailing sobs.

"Are you going to talk or not? If you don't, I'll kill you."

Richie's eyes had turned into cartoon fried eggs. Looking utterly wronged, he sniffled and stammered, "Actually, actually, I... I really don't know. It's just chili powder. I really don't know how to treat the poison."

The villain let out a breath of relief and ordered his men to wash their eyes. "You'd better not try anything."

Richie put on a sincerely adorable face and nodded solemnly. "Wow, you're so handsome! I really admire you. Will you take me as your apprentice? I'll help you catch Twilight, so please don't kill me. I can really help you a lot."

Outwardly, Richie wore the face of a shameless bootlicker, but inside, he snickered wickedly. I'll make your lives hell.

Knock, knock, knock. Someone knocked on the door.

Everyone went on alert, turning their guns toward the door.

Held aloft by his collar, Richie folded his arms. Twilight's coming back already? That can't be right!

The leader of the group sent to catch Twilight said, "Twilight. Finally delivering himself right to us."

Knock, knock. Two more knocks followed. "Mr. Loid Forger, are you home? What's going on in there? You're making such a racket."

Richie recognized the voice. It was the old lady, their neighbor.

Oh no. I can't let her get dragged into this.

Richie waved frantically. "Boss! Boss! That's our neighbor. She's a good person."

The leader looked shrewd. "How do I know the person outside isn't Twilight?"

"Open the door. Let her in and arrest her."

Watching the plot get more and more ridiculous and veer off in a bizarre direction, Richie felt his head about to explode.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind. "Ah! Boss, she really isn't Twilight. If it were Twilight coming back to his own home, would he knock?"

The boss considered this and stopped the man going to open the door for the old lady. "You seem to have a point."

Richie breathed a sigh of relief.

"But we can't rule out Twilight being in disguise. He's a crafty bastard, after all. Better to arrest a thousand innocent people than let one target escape. Open the door. We'll trap him inside." The boss's eyes shifted, and he raised his gun.

Richie was stunned by the man's reasoning. Still, he wasn't wrong to think that way.

Just as one of the henchmen reached the door and was about to open it, Richie shouted, "Wait! Let me do it."

The old lady outside thought Richie was talking to her and replied, "All right, I'll wait a moment."

The leader pointed his gun at Richie and threatened him in a low voice. "What are you shouting for? Do it again and I'll shoot you."

Richie smiled triumphantly and answered quietly, "Boss, suppose the person outside is Twilight. He's heard me talking now. If you don't let me answer him again before opening the door, he'll get suspicious and run away."

"And if the person outside isn't Twilight, just an ordinary person, there's no reason to arrest her."

A cruel, bloodthirsty look filled the gun-wielding leader's eyes. He raised his gun, chambered a round, and approached Richie step by step.

"You're a sneaky little brat, with all these clever arguments. So I'll send you to the afterlife first, then catch Twilight."

Richie swallowed, cold sweat beading on his forehead. "Wait, boss! I'll make up for what I did. I'll help you lure Twilight inside. Please don't kill me."

Richie blinked his big eyes, pleading with him.

"Fine. Go open the door and lure him in. If we don't catch Twilight, I'll go bang and shoot you dead first."

They set Richie on the floor, and he shakily ran to the door. Standing on tiptoe, his little hand just reached the handle.

Click.

The door opened. No one was outside.

Richie looked back. The men behind him watched hungrily, like wolves that hadn't eaten in ten days. Their mouths hung open, determined to devour the little lamb at the door.

Richie's eyes turned into pools of egg-drop soup, tears pouring down his face.

"I don't know why the person outside isn't here anymore! Why did she leave? Waaah!"

With that, Richie pulled the door shut with his little hand and pattered away on his short legs.

Unfortunately, those short legs were no match for the villains. He hadn't made it more than a few steps down the stairs before they picked him up and carried him back.

Once the door was shut, the leader waved his gun in front of Richie. "Talk. Did you pass information to the person outside?"

Richie shook his head frantically. He wanted to cry, but no tears came.

"Boss, we caught another little runt." A voice came from Anya's room.

Like him, Anya had a wounded look in her eyes and wanted to cry but couldn't.

"Boss, this kid was a real handful. She scattered chili powder everywhere. Several of our men's eyes got..."

"Enough. Just rinse your eyes with plenty of clean water. Do I really have to teach you that too?" the villains' leader said.

"Yes, boss."

"Bundle these two kids up and take them with us. They definitely know Twilight. They might even be his children. We'll take them back and hand them over to the big boss. Then Twilight will have to come."

At the leader's command, men began tying up Richie and Anya.

Anya looked at Richie. "They're bad guys."

Before they taped his mouth shut, Richie reassured her. "Anya, don't be scared. Someone will come save us."

Anya nodded. "Mmph, mmph."

Richie had spoken fairly loudly, partly to comfort Anya and partly to tell these men that the children were useful and couldn't simply be killed on a whim.

Anya was the protagonist, so she certainly wouldn't be killed. But Richie was a different story. He had to watch out for his own life at every moment.

Just as the leader was preparing to withdraw and return to their boss, leaving some men behind to ambush Twilight, another knock came at the door.

Knock, knock, knock.

Who was it this time?

Sweeties, move those little fingers and tap the update reminder button to let the author know you're here.

Only when people ask for updates does the author have the motivation

To write faster (ﾉ*･ω･)ﾉ