28-Grandpa's teachings were right

"That's it, now we've got all the animals. Next, let's take all the vegetables."

I glanced toward the barn through the corner of my eye. I couldn't see Pyonkichi anywhere. Maybe he'd escaped by himself.

"What're we gonna do with this dirty wool? It's gone black from all the straw and dirt on it."

"Idiot, we ain't beggars so don't go carrying trash around. Just leave it."

Oh, that's right. Pyonkichi was currently using that piece of wool as his bed. So that was why they hadn't found him.

Pyonkichi, keep hiding just like that.

I had to find my chance and save everyone.

It might be difficult with five opponents, but there was no one else who could save them except for me.

Honestly, I was scared. My legs were almost shaking.

But I was sure that Brian and the others who were about to be taken away were more scared than me.

I watched the man holding the blade in front of me with a completely different emotion than before.

Before, I'd been so afraid that I couldn't take my eyes off him, but now, I looked so that I could watch his every movement.

Once this man turned his back to me......

I raised the point of my feet and moved my ankles. I bent my knees towards each side, and discretely moved my wrists and elbows in such a way as to avoid notice.

I had to be prepared to burst into action at any moment.

What was it that grandpa had said to do when in a fight?

Since I was smaller than other people, he'd always been worried that I would be surrounded by delinquents, or called out to by a suspicious individual.

"Shinobu, when you're in a fight, you should never take your eyes off your opponent."

That's right, I shouldn't close my eyes. I couldn't look down in fear either. I had to watch closely so that I would be able to notice as soon as possible if they were about to do something.

"Use whatever you can, whether it's a pebble or a stick. Don't think of it as cheating. After all, you don't need to hold back against people who want to hurt you."

There were tons of pebbles lying around, but there wasn't anything else that I could use as a weapon. Grandpa, what should I do?

"This farm is amazing. It's crammed with vegetables! Is the land that fertile?"

"Oi, stop playing around. Get to loading 'em up, we need to scram soon."

The men pushed their way through to the farm field and started carelessly uprooting and tearing off all the vegetables.

Those were the vegetables I was going to send to Couge tomorrow. I didn't grow those things for you people!

There was only one man who was standing near me. It would have been a good opportunity, however, he wouldn't take his eyes off me.

He'd just been ordering the others around, so he might be the leader of the group.

Thump.

At that moment, a small noise sounded from the direction of the barn. It was loud enough to get my attention, so of course the leader also noticed it. He moved just his gaze towards that direction, keeping his blade pointed towards me. "Hey, there's another one over there. And it's a tasty one, too!"

From the entrance of the barn, Pyonkichi's face appeared, nose twitching and expressionless as usual.

"Pyonkichi, don't come out!!"

I'd told him not to, but perhaps he thought I was calling him that he shuffled forward, inching his way towards me.

"A ravi, huh. This is great. Let's barbecue this guy at tonight's party."

One man left the farm field and headed towards Pyonkichi. He took a knife out of his pocket and licked its blade.

I felt my blood draining.

These people were planning on dealing with Pyonkichi right here and now!!

"It's all round and fat; I bet it's delicious."

The man's feet were a hundred times faster than Pyonkichi's.

Stop. Pyonkichi couldn't walk fast. His hind legs were too weak; there's no way he could escape.

I wish Pyonkichi was as fast as the rabbits of my world. I wish he could jump easily and be fast enough that no human could catch him. Then he at least would be able to escape.

"We struck gold tonight."

As the man reached a hand towards Pyonkichi, the leader grinned. Distracted as he was, the tip of the blade he was pointing at me lowered.

My body moved faster than I could think. Now, it had to be now.

"If your opponent is bigger than you, then aim for the vitals. There's the eyes and the nose, of course, but for men, there's an easier spot to hit. Shinobu, you're a man too, so you know it well, right?"

I took two steps forward. I should be able to reach it from here.

"Don't hesitate. Concentrate on destroying them, and swing your leg as hard as you can!!"

I hate you!! Go to hell!!

Whack!

"Ungh!!"

The leader froze as if time had stopped and let out a pitiful scream, eyes rolling up. Then with his hands holding on to his crotch, he fell down to the ground and curled up.

It had felt gross when my knee hit something strangely soft, but now wasn't the time to think about it.

I took the lantern by the man's feet and swung it around as I ran at the man who had Pyonkichi by the ears.

"You should try yelling out to scare the opponent, too. Showing your spirit can also be a weapon."

"Waaahhhh!!"

"What?!"

I forcefully swung the heavy lantern as I let out a strange yell. Grandpa was always right. He'd never once lied to me.

Look, the man was so surprised that he'd let go of Pyonkichi's ears.

"Kiii!" Pyonkichi let out a high noise as he plopped down onto the ground. Even at such a tense moment, I couldn't help but be moved that Pyonkichi made a sound. This was the first time I'd ever heard it.

Run away, Pyonkichi. It's fine even if you can only crawl, as long as you head into the grass, you'd be able to hide.

But Pyonkichi didn't move and stayed right where he was.

He only turned into a ball as if to protect his body. Even his ears were drooping as he kept crying out, "Kiii, kyuu!!"

"Pyonkichi, run! Run away!!"

I wasn't telling you to jump just like your name, but please move and run away.

"Oi, stop it, that's dangerous!!"

The man used his arm as a shield as I swung the lantern at him. But perhaps because I'd been waving it around, the lantern struck his arm with force and broke with a crack.

The liquid fuel inside it splattered and got onto the man's clothes, igniting it.

"Uwah! Hot!!"

He dropped his knife as he tried to snuff out the flames. However, the fuel-strengthened fire wasn't that easy to put out, so the man could only run around screaming.

But I couldn't relax yet. Because it was raining.

It wouldn't take long for the fire to disappear.

"Oi, what are you doing! Stop being pathetic, it's just a kid!!"

Besides, two of the three people who were ransacking the field went to help their buddy when they heard the commotion. The other one went running for their leader who was twitching on the ground, hands still on his crotch.

This was bad, there was no time for Pyonkichi to hide in the grass.

I lifted Pyonkichi, who was as large as an adult dog, and put him inside the barn. "Y-you're so heavy, Pyonkichi. Don't come out of here, okay?"

The lock on the door had been broken, so I drew myself up to full height in front of it and stood firm. I glared at the men intensely; I absolutely wouldn't let them pass.

I didn't have any weapons other than pebbles. I gripped one in each hand as I braced myself. If they came nearer, I'd throw the pebbles in their faces.

"Getting ahead of yourself because I was being nice to a kid like you? I won't let you off anymore even if you cry.

"Didn't your parents teach you to listen to what adults tell you?"

Even as I panted for breath, chest heaving up and down, I never once looked away from the man who was coming nearer. Just like grandpa had taught me.

Unfortunately, my parents had never been around me long enough to teach me anything.

The ones who'd taught me a lot of things were my grandparents, my babysitter, and my teachers from kindergarten to high school.

My parents would always be rushing to work when I woke up in the morning, and rarely returned home before I'd already gone to sleep at night.

But even though they were always busy, they'd never told me any nonsense like what this guy had said.

Instead, they'd patted my head and told me, "Listen to your teachers and your grandparents." But you guys are neither my teachers nor my grandparents, so they wouldn't be mad at me for not listening to you at all.

"Oh, but since a kid like you is living here all alone, then maybe you've been abandoned. Or maybe they've already died.

"Oh well. Then we'll just have to teach you a lesson."

Though his mouth was smiling, his eyes weren't. With a sharp glare, he looked at me from head to toe, a cruel look on his face, as if he were contemplating how exactly he would 'teach me a lesson'.

They'd probably been taking it easy on me earlier. Now I'd made them completely mad with my actions.

But I didn't regret it. If I hadn't done anything, Pyonkichi probably would have been skinned and turned into grilled skewers right about now.

"I won't let you have Pyonkichi. And Brian, Hanako, Hanayo, my sheep and chickens, and Pochi too—they're all my family. Give them back."

"Haha! Did you all hear? This brat, he named his livestock!"

"The little boy was probably lonely living all alone. Poor boy~"

With a smirk on his face, he reached out with his large hand and went to grab me. I threw the rock in my right hand at his face.

"!! You fucking brat!!"

The rock had only grazed his ear. I'd forgotten. I had really bad aim.

Whenever I'd played catch with my friends, the ball would fly into the day after tomorrow, and they'd always scold me for having no control.

It couldn't be helped. I'd never played catch with my dad unlike everyone else, so I never had enough practice.

When the man raised his arm, it was like I could see it in slow motion. But my body couldn't move. It was probably that I might have seen it moving slowly, but in truth, it was moving faster than me.

Slap! The sound loudly reverberated in the air. At that moment, I didn't feel any pain, only the shock of the impact. I'd only realized that he'd slapped me in the face when I hit the barn door and fell to the ground.

Stars burst in my eyes, and my vision turned into white noise.

If he'd hit me with his fist, I'd most likely be dead.

The leader had told me that they weren't murderers. That was probably true.

He might look like he'd lost all his reason, but in fact, he'd probably held back.

My cheek felt hot as if it had been set on fire, stinging until it gradually went numb. I somehow lifted my body off of the ground. Liquid flowed down my nose and dripped onto the floor.

My head spun and I could barely move. Slowly, I rested my back on the barn door. It took my all just to be able to complete the motion.

"Did I put in too much strength?"

"I don't have any children, so I don't know how to control my strength. Hey kid, you alive?"

He poked me in the stomach with his foot. The groan that left my mouth didn't sound like my voice.

I couldn't put any power into my arm, but I pushed the man's foot away anyway.

I hadn't lost yet. Pyonkichi was still inside the barn.

"I won't let you have Pyonkichi. Give everyone back."

"Still so defiant? Geez, what an uncute brat."

I couldn't remember clearly what happened after that. I only knew that I was hit many times and that he tried to get past me to the door.

When he did, I hit him back with the rock in my left hand and bit at his arm.

I tasted blood; it seemed that I'd bitten in the same place that Pochi had bitten.

When I heard him cry out, "OW!! This brat bit me in the same place that shitty dog did!!" I felt a little bit like I'd gotten revenge for Pochi.