"No," Lisa replied.
"I'm good thanks," said Liam as he folded his arms.
D continued looking at them, giving off no actual implication that he was observing them. Then-
"Can you explain your reasoning?"
Lisa answered almost immediately: "I have no reason to trust someone like you, and my Venma, whether I like it or not, is a part of me. I refuse to accept anything from you, so I'll get stronger myself."
Liam waited for a moment to see if she was finished, then brought up his calmer argument.
"I agree with Lisa. And though I understand the significant potential risk in refusing, I can't accept. My father once told me that accepting a gift can only be acceptable if the parties involved are being sincere, and I can't say either side here is sincere.
I've already resigned myself to having this power. Getting rid of it would be like willingly giving up my own limbs, and that's if whatever procedure you have planned even works.
Also, how exactly will you get rid of our Status? They're social judgements authenticated by the government, and have been around for years. Do you somehow have the ability to wipe those records clean?
Your offer isn't exactly tempting, so I'll have to decline."
There was silence as both sides stared off. Then-
"Was it necessary to give that long explanation?" Lisa turned towards Liam, "You could have just told him you didn't trust him, and no. Is that too hard for you?"
"Calm down. He asked for our reasoning. You gave yours, I gave mine."
"Ugh, whatever."
Liam looked at Lisa in mild concern. I can't stop her anger, but is it alright for it to drag on?
"Good judgement. Now I know you two are good enough to trust. Come with me."
After his words, D began to walk away, seemingly unperturbed by their denials.
Both Liam and Lisa froze, confused.
This... was a test?! they thought at the same time. Both their eyes narrowed, but Lisa sneered whilst Liam frowned.
Ugh, I despise this guy!
Why is he testing us?
Nevertheless, they followed him.
As they got closer, D began to talk.
"It was definitely a security risk bringing both of you here, but I wished to solidify my image of both of you, since I know you through one of my few real friends, Hiroshi.
And in testing you, I have also prepared a little something as an apology."
"An apology?" Lisa asked, still suspicious, "If you're my Dad's friend, then why... ugh right. Your disgusting curiosity."
D glanced backwards. Then he continued.
"Yes. I used the necessary methods to test both of you. For Lisa, I tested patience, observation, suspicion, and boundaries-"
"If you tested boundaries then you should know when to cross the line," Lisa growled.
"-while Liam's involved curiosity, questioning, what information he pursued and probably how he responded when denied access to something. Both of you admirably passed the second test of desire-"
"Why all this, Mr. Daniel? What the hell is this all about?" Lisa asked quietly.
Liam put his hand on her shoulder, "Lisa, calm down."
"I am ca-"
She stopped, realizing she was about to push off his hand, then looked up at his eyes. She looked away and sighed.
"...Alright geez, sorry for worrying you. Now get your hand off me."
"Sure," Liam smiled.
D observed the exchange quietly, then spoke:
"If Liam Paxton hadn't saved your life that day, can you confidently say you would be here today, Lisa Manabe?"
They both stared at D, wide eyed in shock.
Then Lisa, first to recover, looked down and muttered:
"No. No I can't."
****
Liam and Lisa had been standing at their school gates for half an hour waiting for either Liam's father or Lisa's chauffeur.
They had already played several matches of rock-paper-scissors, tic-tac-toe, and hot potato with a pencil case. Liam had the most wins, but had then been subjected to a slight physical beatdown.
"This is so~ boring!" Lisa whined.
"You're being loud. Geez, what a brat," Liam rolled his eyes.
"If I'm a brat then so are you! You're the same age as me!" Lisa pointed at him.
"No. My uncle said a brat is a kid who's a loud whiner," Liam stated stubbornly. As Lisa reached out to pinch him, he continued without looking in her direction:
"He also said brats always resort to 'violet measures' when they are wrong."
Lisa paused in confusion. "What are 'violet measures'?"
Liam shrugged, "I dunno, but maybe it has something to do with those blue-black things that came on my arm the last time you pinched me... Uncle did say some dead people have those..."
"Sniff..."
Liam turned in horror at Lisa's sniff. Her eyes were wide and teary, and she had grabbed his sleeve.
"Liam I'm sowwy! I didn't mean it! Please don't die!"
Before she could start bawling, Liam patted her short, silver hair.
"D-don't cry! I forgive you so please don't cry! I won't die okay?!" he exclaimed.
My little sis liked it when I patted her head, so it might work on Lisa, right?! Please work! She gets too loud and sticks to me when she cries! It's annoying and embarrassing!
Lisa began blinking away the tears, and as Liam awkwardly patted her head, she gave a wide, goofy smile.
"I'm okay!"
Liam wiped his forehead with a quiet sigh.
Phew. I thought I was done for.
"Hey Trashton!"
Liam flinched at the voice, then looked back at the schoolyard. Standing there were a group of five grinning boys of varying sizes. The lead one was rather big for his age, and had been picking on Liam since they were in kindergarten.
Liam had turned to see where the provocation had started from, but he turned once more, ignoring them.
And it wasn't exactly out of maturity either.
Lisa can't get involved with those bullies, Liam thought as his palms began to sweat, And those guys shouldn't clash with an angry Lisa. The bullying I'll get from both groups if they meet each other is too much! I can handle Lisa, but not them!
"Liam, who are these guys?" Lisa asked before Liam grabbed her hand and ran off to the curb.
"No time to explain! Just run!"
Lisa began running as well, "Was that Bruno? The guy who always called you smelly?" she yelled.
Liam didn't reply, he simply tightened his grip on her wrist, reached out to a lamp post on the street corner, and used it to throw themselves into the curve. Lisa exclaimed as she was launched forward, but the force pulled Liam as well, and they kept running side by side.
"Liam that was awesome!" she beamed, "Let's do it again!"
"Get your head on straight," Liam sighed as he began slowing down. Lisa followed suit, and he continued as they came to a full stop at the entrance of a dark alley, "We should have lost them, so let's wander around a bit before going back."
Lisa looked at the various vehicles traversing the road, the zebra crossing, and the sky above.
She then pumped her fists with a grin.
"Let's go!"
Liam smiled a bit and took a step forward to grab Lisa's wrist, since she had stopped in front of him. Just as his hand was about to grab on, he glanced into the alleyway as something caught his eyes.
A huge black hand had reached out to grab them.
Liam's body began moving even as his eyes widened. The next thing he knew, he had grabbed Lisa by the midsection and jumped into traffic.
Huh?
...WHAAAAAAT?!
Liam rushed through the slow moving traffic, his heart pounding wildly in his chest as cars honked loudly and screeched to a halt as they tried to avoid the running child.
"Liam what are you-!"
Lisa's voice caught in her throat as she saw a man with two huge black hands walk out of the alleyway...
And grin at her.
Then a car passed by, and he disappeared.
Liam's foot landed on the sidewalk, and when he dropped Lisa-
"Look out!" she shouted before spearing him out of the way.
A large man dropped onto the spot he'd been standing in.
"Hm... Lisa Manabe, daughter of growing entrepreneur Hiroshi Manabe-"
The man paused his monologue as he realized that the kids had vanished.
"Don't look back Lisa!" Liam yelled as they ran through an alley into another street, "Just focus on running!"
Liam's grip tightened on her wrist as his body screamed in fear.
I can't show her that I'm scared! Or she'll be terrified!
"Lisa, listen to me it'll be okay-"
"FOUND YOU!"
Liam looked back to see... everything happening at once.
As his heart went a mile a minute, his entire body feeling as if it was on fire, and his eyes ached, Liam registered the man and his huge hands in the air, Lisa scared out of her mind and a tear falling, and an alley to their right.
We're dead... he thought as his body stopped for a moment, caught Lisa running into him, and rolled right.
A loud crash filled the air, and Liam blinked in confusion of how they weren't mush, and immediately got up as fear and instinct overrode the thoughts.
"Lisa, we have to get up," he said as she grabbed him, trembling violently. Liam himself was shivering, and his entire body felt heavy. Not only that, his shoulder was numb from the fall, and his head ached terribly.
But Lisa wasn't doing any better.
She was faced with an actual terror of a man who had called her out specifically. In her eyes, her minor injuries were nothing. She barely registered it, but she could tell that the whole situation was somehow her fault.
The guilt coupled with fear was so crushing she couldn't form a single coherent thought.
"Lisa, we have to move," a voice cut into her fear, "We have to move!"
She was suddenly pulled along, but her legs gave out on her.
"Please," the voice appealed as something dragged her up, "We can't stay here..."
Lisa recognized the voice, and she slowly looked in front of her to see dark blue hair.
Is Liam... carrying me?
"No..." he whispered, and she looked up at the desperate tone in his voice and saw a wall.
"A dead end, kid. That's how you're gonna end up if you don't hand the little girl over."
Before Lisa could turn around, Liam walked up to the wall, dropped her, and stood in front of her.
"Y-y-y-y-y-y-you c-can't have-have her!" he tried to yell. It came out more like a slightly raised voice, and a trembling voice at that.
"Well," the man laughed, "Look at the little knight guarding his princess. How sweet."
Then he grinned, so repulsively that neither child could move.
"Too bad you don't seem to know your princess' worth. A kidnapping job for a quick million? Easy money!"
He laughed, head raised and holding his belly, "Who would've thought that the target-! Gack!"
The man grabbed his throat and coughed.
As he had been talking, Liam had pulled out an eraser from his pocket and chucked it into his mouth. How it landed was beyond him, but Liam clenched his fists, drew in a breath, and yelled:
"Shut up you ugly monster!"
"Monster...?" The man coughed once more, and the eraser finally fell out, "You want to see a monster little knight?!"
Liam suddenly found himself lying on the ground, his abdomen and right arm completely numb, and blood coming from his nose, mouth, and other minor cuts.
The man had kicked him into the wall, and he had fallen beside Lisa, who couldn't take her eyes off the man at first. Now however...
"Liam!" she screamed as tears streamed down her face. She rushed in front of him and tried to pick him up and protect him at the same time.
"Come on boy!" the man spat, "I hate it when people refuse to face reality! You think you can protect her?! Fat chance! If you're that determined, come and stand here before m-"
The loud blare of sirens cut through the air, and the man grunted in irritation.
From their proximity, I have roughly twenty seconds left. I should have known they would keep their sirens quiet. The sound are coming from all sides too... Eh, I've already planned my getaway route, so it doesn't matter.
When he looked back down, he was met with the sight of the battered boy on one knee before him, his working arm pushing the protesting girl back. He glared up at the man with eyes not absent from fear, but filled with so much fear there was no room for any more. He had become temporarily numb to pain due to a minor concussion as well.
"I don't have time for this," the man grunted as he pushed Liam away and grabbed Lisa.
She immediately tried biting his hand.
"OW!" She exclaimed as she grabbed her mouth in pain.
"Heh," he chuckled as he grabbed her with his transformed hand, "How about-"
"-you die," a deep voice growled.
The man was jerked back by the neck so fast he almost got whiplash, and the world flipped upside down...
Huh?
...Right before getting choke slammed into the ground.
Lisa looked up through tears as a tall burly man appeared before them, his colourful eyes soft with concern.
"UNCLE JULIUS!" she wept.
"D-dad..." Liam whispered.