Rine couldn't admit it, but those trepidations he is sustaining resonates within this man. Thoughts of dread flung into his thoughts once more and prevented him to flee.

Suddenly, he felt a familiar vibe from the man's appearance. It somehow resembles another person he had met before.

He tried to move his fingers apart from each other, thus look closely at his aspects before striking up a conversation.

Rine scanned him through from the upper and lower half, until a little bell rung from his ears, confirming the classifications of his identity.

"Those thin cards, A brown coat, The cowboy hat, and his beard... You must be..."

"Twisted Fate!" he strongly yelled.

The old man did not understand what he is implying, but wondered why of all names, "Twisted Fate" was the one he came up with his outfit, and at the same time, it is kinda offensive for his side.

Rather than show his displeasure, he chuckled sarcastically. "Haha. Such a joker you are, little guy."

It is indeed a formed jest by Rine to thaw out the dread which covers the entire being of this strange old man. Though, he cannot see any auras slipping out to his body, nor any traces of magic itself to any of his possessions, thus clarified his suspicions about him as another Holder himself.

Carrying on his motives, Rine took his smartphone, swiping up and down until the Camera application showed on the panel.

"Hey Hey, Sir! Can I take a picture with you? This is the first time that I am seeing a person cosplaying Twisted Fate of League of Legends. He is one of my favorite champions though, so may I?"

Though puzzled about it, The man nodded and cluelessly closed the spaces they attained with a clueless grin on his lips. Rine then took the camera upwards and captured a snap of him with the one he called his one of the favorite characters of the said game.

While reviewing the photo, Rine requested another shot to be taken as the first capture was kind of blurry, then took a number of shots before proceeding further.

The man was completely baffled, thus scratched the back of his head. Meanwhile, Rine kept the pictures in a folder and put the smartphone back to his pocket.

He did not noticed the guy, still standing right in front of him with such perplexed expression on his cheeks.

"O-Oh, My bad. I was too eager to had these pictures, so I did neglected your presence." said Rine with an uncertained smile.

The man slightly grinned. "No, No, It's alright. I oftenly mistaken for doing a Cosplay, whenever I go to public places like this, but this is the first time that I saw such a fanboy who had the courage in asking me to take a Pic."

"Haha. I guess you exceeded your expectations from me." Rine replied.

"Well, its is indeed a Yes."

"Certainly." he said in an ominous tone.

Rine immediately felt an intense amount of dread flooding back into his shoulders. A certain matter forces his spine to chill out from that tone of voice, as if that voice have sundered countless souls by its hands.

He gulped out of severe discomposure and stepped back a little.

"This old man is dangerous." he thought.

On the other hand, the unnamed person noticed a slight disposition on him and look thoroughly at his eyes directly.

From his eyes, Rine have foreseen the true nature of the man. Those eyes- The same eyes which have sustained the sight of bloodshed over decades of its existence. But somehow, the puddle of blood into his vision traces a certain path towards two people that seems relevant to him.

Setting those things aside, Rine tried to continue conversing to him without giving an obvious clue regarding his trepidations.

His mouth drew another uncertain smile as the fear of the unknown propelled him on the ground. He tried to speak normally as he could but it turns to become difficult as the darkness he envisions grows near.

"A-Ah. Anyway. What's with the getup? You seem kinda formal though." he asked.

"Oh. You noticed huh. Well I was going for a stroll earlier when I saw this strange piece of art in the sky, so I stood by to have a little gaze. Then I saw you going out on the store and thought you were a familiar fellow." explained him, turning his eyes on the odd scenery.

"Familiar Fellow?"

"Yeah. You look exactly like him, actually. So I did not hesitate to give an approach. However, it seems you are not him after all."

Rine nodded. "Hm. Hm. I see."

Usually in this type of situations, his lack of sociability takes over in just a few lines in conversing. But at this moment, Rine did not spew out any obvious signs of his fear on the man itself, thus a vast selection of words helped him to cope up. Though, his instincts told him to run away, yet it will make his choices more narrow. Therefore, he followed up the statements to became a proxy.

However, the limit of his endurance began to waver as time progress inevitably. The wide range of sentences jumbled inside his mind, leading to a near destruction of his plan.

He withdrew his next words as he sweats profusely.

"I-I should go now. My coworkers might wonder if I take too long. H-Hehe."

His charisma's effect will eventually wear off at any minute. The only chance he could make is to pack up and immediately escape him as soon as he can. And so he ended up leaving the old man without saying his farewells.

"Wait, young one. " the man halted Rine on his tracks.

"Can I alteast know your name."

He did not look back and answered. "It's Rine, sir. Rine Ishida."

Thus he ran back to the store, never gazed behind. And so is the old man walked away.

"Guess you are doing great huh." uttered himself from thin air as he took a cigarette under his coat.

"Make sure to entertain me more, young one."

Then he fled out the scene, to be never found again.

Back on the bookstore, Rine was panting heavily on his run, although his recent locations isn't far from here. He entered the shop in such condition which alarmed Shinji and the other two after seeing him in ragged breathing and bathing himself in perspiration.

Shinji hurriedly approached him by the shoulders. "Yo. What happened to you? You're too drenched with sweat Rine.

Rine spews denial to his mouth."No I'm fine, I'm fine. Just got sandwiched between the people.

"You sure? But it's looks like you are running away from something." Kenji queried.

And for the second time, he refuted. "Nah. I told you, it's fine." then proceeded to the locker room.

Even if he declined their concerns, there is no mistake that Rine fled from a great terror. His sweat dripped down on his body- from the nose and chest, turned his shirt into a mess.

He took a little rest from the couch, hence settled down while letting his liquids drip on the floor.

"Just who is that man!? I have never felt such dreadful presence from a human before, but that person is ready to kill on the spot." he spoke to himself, wiping the sweat with a towel out of his face.

"I'd better be careful next time." he continued.

After a short break, he decided to go out the room with his condition stabilized over time. He then explained things to his coworkers in a false statement to prevent the exposure of his identity on the public. Though, not all the information he have given is not factual, yet half of them was yet to be seen.

Continuing his weekend schedule, he went back to surveil the counter, thus kept a great work until closing. The manager frequently stays at the store to watch over, yet in certain circumstances, his absence let Rine slip away from the small issue he had made earlier. Instead, he came before closing time and give their payment for the day.

"I am really sorry for my late arrival. The other branches nearby has their numbers underhanded lately, so I had to go from the main branch to give some notice. Now I forgot to watch over my branch instead."

The manager politely bowed for making such negligence as their superior.

"We understand you sir, managing three different branches at the same time must've been hectic for your schedule everyday." tapped Shinji in his back as it cheers him up.

He smiled. "Then, It seems, I should not be worried after all. It seems my employees were reliable enough to handle these alone.

Shinji replied with another grin. "That's right!"

These traits of Shinji has bugged Rine since the first time he met the guy. Such positivity covers his ego while at work and have lots of determinations in his heart. Though sometimes when the things are going down, he won't let any frustration stay longer in an hour and stood up bright again. And so at the second thought, Rine have always admired this thinking.

Everyday, every night of his life journey, he always have his trusty brightness on his face. Sadness never shown up since then, but him being alone at the house is another thing.

Rine began parting ways from the three, hence he walk across the streets. Night lights started scintillating around the whole city as sun sets, though the rate of passersby was not affected at any cause.

Checking his smartphone again, a message rang the bell of his notifications.

"Hm. Whose number is this."

It turns out to be an anonymous number with no any tags with it, nor a subject was present. Just a plain lost message which might be just a wrong sent one.

Although being aware of this possibilities, Rine couldn't keep it closed and read it afterwards. Looks like a friendly greeting from a stranger. Or might not just a friendly message to begin with.

"Er... A good evening to you. Well, this is the first time texting someone other than my brother, so I am still not used to it. But I kinda want to try it with you instead. Anyway, I've got your number from Mr. Hamada. He questioned me a lot of things before giving it though and even asked me if we were lovers. But apparently, I said... Well nevermind! It's not that concerning so disregard it."

Based on its context, the message is definitely created from Reika's phone. And as the message implies, it is indeed her first time to send a text from another person besides his brother Matsuo which is the only contacted she has. On the second thought, Rine chuckled as he saw his message that pertains to her lack of sociability even in mails, although the word count on the text nearly exceed the word limit of one.

He pressed the number and saved it to his phonebook for future use

"For future use... Y-Yes."

He then proceed walking further along the way to his house, unaware of a blasting explosion of his bell will blare from his phone in the next five seconds of his walk.

"Holy Moly, what's with this notifs!?"

Of course, checking it is just a waste of time, since it's sender is still the same person as earlier. However, hearing a lot of noises through his phone drew a sweet smirk on his face while on the way. Even though reaching his house wasn't the end of it, but the beginning of one his most wholesome evenings ever experienced.

Upon reaching it completely, a certain person is idling beside his door. Wearing a white blouse and a skirt on her lower half. Her physique while gazing her from afar is identical to someone Rine knew. But guess who?

Her palms waved at Rine timidly as she look down, shy.

"G-Good eve." She said in a bashful voice.

And so a glimmering twinkle approaches from utter dusk of the night with only the two bestfriends staring on each other.