After the Kaisers had left for home, Rika decided to head home as well. But as she took her first step away from school, she whispered in a sad voice, "Home…" The wind blew through her beautiful hair, carrying away the sound of her voice like a fleeting echo.
As she walked along the side of the street, two unknown female students stopped her. Though they seemed to know her well, Rika had no memory of them. She hesitated, scanning their faces while thoughts ran through her mind. *Who are they? What do they want? Are they from Class B?*
"Why are you stopping me?" she asked, her voice firm but cautious.
The girls did not answer her question but told her to follow them, looked at them and began to walk away, so instead of calling her again, one of them grabbed her by the hair and yanked her forcefully into a secluded alley. Rika let out a small cry of pain, clutching her scalp. Panic settled into her chest. "What are you doing? What do you want from me?" she pleaded.
One of the girls leaned in close, a cruel smirk on her lips. "Your secret," she whispered, her tone dripping with malice. "We're going to expose everything."
Rika's heart pounded violently. Fear gripped her body like a vice. She staggered back, shaking her head. "No… please, don't… I'll do anything! Anything you want! Just please—don't do this," she begged, her voice breaking.
The girls exchanged amused glances before one of them sneered, "Fine. Then all you have to do is to stay away from Kaiser."
The moment she heard those words, Rika's pleading stopped. Her fear was momentarily replaced with stubborn defiance. "No! I can't!" she shouted.
Their expressions darkened. One of them grabbed her by the collar and slammed her against the cold, hard brick wall. Pain shot through her spine as she collapsed to the ground, coughing. The girls didn't stop. They kicked her stomach, stomped on her hands, and yanked at her hair. Blood dripped from her nose onto the pavement, mixing with her tears.
One of the girls crouched beside her and whispered, "Last chance, Rika. Do you want your secret to stay hidden?"
She replied " Yes ", and they told her for the last time " stay away from Kaiser ".
Her body trembled. Her voice was barely a whisper. "…No…"
A sharp slap echoed through the alley as the girl smacked Rika's head against the wall again. More blood trickled down her forehead. She felt lightheaded, her vision blurring. Then came the words she dreaded.
"Well, then, we're going to expose it."
Terror twisted Rika's features. Her once-beautiful face now held nothing but pure fear. She tried to run, but her body refused to move. She was pinned down to the ground, her arms held above her head.
**Above them, on the rooftop of a nearby building, Sora and his two knights watched.**
One knight hesitated. "Aren't we going to stop this?"
Sora, his face unreadable, simply replied, "No. Leave her be."
The knights exchanged looks but obeyed.
Then, a scissors appeared.
Sora's expression shifted ever so slightly as he realized what was about to happen. He turned his back. "Face the other way," he instructed his knights. Without question, they did as they were told.
Below, the girls sneered as they took out a pair of scissors from their bag. Rika struggled weakly, but she had no strength left. She barely had the energy to speak.
And then—
**SNIP.**
The fabric of her uniform was sliced apart. Cold air touched her skin as the carefully crafted illusion of her beauty was stripped away.
The truth was revealed.
Rika was not the flawless, perfect girl everyone believed her to be. Her left leg—gone. A prosthetic took its place. The curvaceous figure she flaunted? Nothing more than extra layers of clothing. Her so-called "perfect" body? Thin. Too thin. Almost skeletal. Her bones jutted out unnaturally from under her pale skin.
Her once-beautiful, confident face was nothing but an illusion of makeup. Beneath it, scars stretched from the side of her head to the edges of her ears.
The girls gasped before breaking into cruel laughter. "You… You're pathetic!" one of them mocked. "You really thought you could fool everyone?"
Rika's face burned with shame. She tried to cover herself, tried to hide from their eyes, but there was nowhere to run. The humiliation was unbearable. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps. *Not like this. Not like this…*
And then—pain.
A sharp, searing pain exploded in her left eye as one of the girls stabbed her with the scissors.
A scream tore from Rika's throat. Her body convulsed on the ground as blood gushed from the wound, pooling around her. The girls fled, their laughter fading into the distance.
---
**A shadow loomed over her.**
Rika's vision was failing. The blood from her head blurred her sight, and with only one working eye, she could barely make out the figure standing in front of her.
She tried to speak. "…Who…?"
Darkness swallowed her whole before she could hear the answer.
---
**When she woke up, she was in a bed.**
The ceiling above her was luxurious—too luxurious. The sheets beneath her felt softer than anything she had ever slept on before.
She tried to sit up, but pain shot through her body, pinning her down.
The door creaked open.
Kaiser stepped inside. His golden eyes locked onto her. "You're finally awake."
"…Where am I?" she croaked.
"My home," Kaiser replied simply.
She turned her head slightly and caught sight of a mirror. The moment she saw herself, horror crashed over her like a tidal wave.
Her lips quivered. Her body trembled. And then—she screamed.
She had never seen herself like this. Her body—weak, frail, ugly. She was hideous.
She wept.
Kaiser didn't move. He simply sat beside her, waiting for her to let it all out.
When her sobs finally quieted, she asked Kaiser how he knew about her destination, Kaiser told her that he was informed by Saro, and she said in a soft voice " oh.. " she whispered, "Hey… do you want to hear about me?"
Kaiser nodded. "Sure. Why not?"
She chuckled weakly. And then, with a heavy heart, she began " Here's a revised version of your text with corrections for grammar, punctuation, and clarity:
"My family runs multiple businesses; my father is a businessman, and my mom is deceased," Kaiser recalled. She mentioned that her mother had been a fashion business owner. "She died when I was five years old. My dad was already cheating on my mom at that time; that's how I got my younger sister. When my mom died, my life went from bad to worse. My stepmom and sister didn't accept me as their own, and my dad was never around. He said he was going on a business trip when I was six years old, and he has not returned since. Though he calls often, he never calls me.
Ever since my mom died, I have been suffering. My stepmom and stepsister refused to feed me, sometimes I'm left with whatever they ate remain, so I often ate remnants of food left on the dishwasher or food I could find in the trash. They didn't care about my well-being or where I was getting my food from. They moved me from my room to the basement, which was dirty and messy. That was my only home in the house, and I could barely sleep there. The pain, hunger, and sadness were overwhelming.
One night, I decided to go for a walk because I was hungry. I ended up stealing from a convenience store, but the store owner chased me. In my panic, I ran into the street without realizing it and was hit by a truck. I was rushed to the hospital, but the injuries I sustained cost me my left leg. While I expected my stepmom to call the hospital, come to my aid, or pay the bills, she did none of those things. Instead, she called the hospital and told them that I should return home at once because her assistant was needed urgently. My heart skipped a beat; I had just been hit by a truck, but that was all she cared about.
I pleaded with the doctor that I would find the money to pay for my treatment, but my stepmom's foolish request interrupted me. I went back home with one leg. She looked at me and threw a shoe at me, asking why I would come into her house looking like that. At that moment, I was exhausted by life. I asked her why she had called me, and she told me to go get her food. I was silent—broken and destroyed. I couldn't cry; all I knew was that life was hell.
The next day, I tried to call my dad to ask for money for my treatment, but I couldn't reach him. I decided to find a job through my mom's connections. I started working at her place; it hadn't even been a whole day since I lost my leg, but I was already working to pay for my treatment. As a child, I was vulnerable, and since everyone knew how evil my stepmom was, they couldn't side with me or protect me from her.
My suffering only worsened. My dad called and gave my stepmom money to buy blood that he needed for something. My stepmom was greedy; she kept the money and didn't buy the blood. Instead, she took me to the hospital to take my blood instead—every day. That's how life was. Every day, she kept draining my blood. I lost so much weight and became nothing but skin and bones, and this started when I was six years old.
After finishing my payments, which took four months, I asked my boss to use the money to buy me blood every day because my mom was draining me. I was always on the brink of death, and I had no idea what my dad was using the blood for."
By the time she was done, Kaiser's face was unreadable. His hands trembled slightly.
And then, silently, he wiped his eyes.
Rika blinked in surprise. "You're… crying?"
"…Yeah," Kaiser admitted. His voice was hoarse. "For you."
Rika felt her chest tighten.
And then, as if she had no control over her body, she threw herself into his arms.
Kaiser held her close.No words were spoken. No explanations were needed.
For the first time in a long, long time—
**Rika was no longer alone.**