Luffy x isakai Girl

Instinct

What should I do? My brow furrowed as I looked into the abyss that was the alleyway. What would Luffy do? In all honesty, Luffy would just trust whatever his instincts were telling him. And my instincts were telling me not to turn my back on this alley. Every fiber of my being should've been screaming at me to go in the other direction. To stay in the public eye. To run into a store. But my instincts were telling me not to turn my back.

     I crept a little closer. The alley was dark, with some light flooding in from both ends, casting shadows over trash cans and big black construction bags, filled to the brim with castaways from restaurants and whatever else the stores deemed unnecessary trash.

   "Hello?" I questioned as I peered further in. "I know you've been following me. You may as well just come out."

   A crinkle could be heard in the distance. I zeroed in on it, walking a little closer, careful to glance around ever corner of every obstacle as I walked. My heart was hammering in my chest, and the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end. I squinted, trying to make out the shapes in and amongst the shadows.

*CRASH*

____________________

Luffy flitted from store to store looking for Misaki. He knew she was shopping for presents so he skipped over anything food related, as much as he wished he could stop and eat somewhere.

As he ran around, he dialed the 1 on his 'burnt' phone, hoping that by some miracle, the phone would ring.

"Hello?" Wait. He stopped in his tracks.

"Misaki? You scare—"

"Hello?"

"Misaki!"

"Ha! Gotcha! You've reached Misaki's voicemail! Leave a message after the beep!"

Damn. He didn't know if he should be charmed or if he should be worried. He had never heard her voicemail before, and if this were any other time, he would have found it funny.

He popped his head into another store, asking if anyone had seen a short blond girl. They waved and pointed at another girl in the shop. Luffy shook his head.

"I'm sorry, that's not her. I'm looking for Jean's daughter. It's kinda urgent."

"Oh, funny. Another fella came in here looking for Em too!"

"Oh you know her? Which way did she go? What fella are you talking about?!"

"She was in a real tizzy in here earlier — looking for a gift for someone."

"I know what she was doing, but which way did she go?!"

"What a lovely girl, she is. You know, she was being a little weird today though."

"Weird?"

"Kept looking over her shoulder like someone was there."

"Never mind that! Which way did she go?!"

"Right through there." He said, pointing.

"Thanks old geezer!" Luffy said, eliciting a disgruntled huff from the shop keeper.

Luffy ran out of the door and scanned in the direction that Misaki was supposed to be going. But he didn't see her anywhere. He wished they would just let him jump to the rooftops so he could find her. He looked up, contemplating if it was worth it to try and do just that.

Misaki, where did you go?

____________________

*CRASH*

I leapt into the air, letting out a startled gasp as a cat crashed through a trash can and ran through my legs, making a huge ruckus in the process —clashes and clangs as metal and plastic bins clattered to the ground. Holy shit. I put my hand on the wall and breathed for a minute. That damn cat scared the shit out of me.

I watched as the last top crashed to the ground. That cat sure did make quite a stir. Despite that, my instincts were still telling me not to turn my back on this alley. I really couldn't explain it. It was like anytime I thought about turning my back and returning, I felt this horrible itch running up my back, like anxiety manifesting itself as a prickly ball that was rolling up my neck. I took another step forward.

Just then, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and spun around ready to fight.

"AGH! Fu— DAMN IT, LUFFY!" I exclaimed, backhanding him on his arm angrily. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry, M'! I heard a lot of noise and came to check it out!"

"What are you even doing here? You're supposed to be waiting for me at the buffet!"

"You hadn't shown up yet and your phone wasn't ringing." Luffy said, puffing out his cheeks. "And here I was, worried about you."

"You were worried about me?"

"Why is your phone off?"

"It is? That's weird." I looked at my phone and sure enough, it was not on. I clicked the power button and the screen lit back up. "I don't remember shutting it off but... the battery isn't dead... so I must have." That prickly feeling was crawling up my neck again. I ignored it.

"And why are you in an alley?!"

"Oh, well.... Um...." I stuttered, looking down at my feet. I still hadn't turned all the way around, still afraid to turn my back. It was weird, though. Now that Luffy was here, my instincts were suddenly telling me to leave. Go the other way. Get out of the alley. "I thought I heard something, but it was just a cat." I feigned. Far be it from me to argue with my instincts. And if Luffy knew the truth, I know he would charge in head first. Luffy frowned at me.

   "You were gonna stand us up for a cat?"

   I laughed, grabbing Luffy by the hand and pulling us quickly out of the alley. That was not what I was expecting to hear at all.

   "It's not funnyyyy! I'm starving, Misakiiii!"

   "I'm sure you are! Let's go eat!"

    Part of me still wondered what was at the back of that alley. Or... who was back there. The fact that my instincts were telling me not to turn my back when I was alone, but to turn tail once Luffy showed up, bothered me. Why would that happen? Who was that shadow that had been stalking me all morning, and why would I want to flee while I had my main source of protection?Regardless, I was glad I could get out of there and get along with my day. Hopefully, the shadow was too smart to lurk while I had Luffy with me.