The diner had always had a weird name and an even weirder motto so Jake was accustomed to it.
He pushed open the door and the tempting smell of fresh bread and coffee instantly hit him, reminding him of how hungry he was.
Inside the diner, there were some early customers who were just about a handful and they sat in the booths with most of them keeping to themselves.
But Jake didn't care about the customers or what they might be focused on doing, rather, the only person his eyes sought out and were focused on right now was the beautiful lady attending to the customers.
Unlike everyone else in the diner, Helen was different.
She wasn't a human and neither was she a cyborg.
She was simply a demi-human with soft cow ears, a long tail, and a cute pair of beautifully curved horns.
She also had long ash brown hair, which complemented her hazel colored eyes as she moved between tables, trying her best to satisfy the customers.
But while Helen was deeply engrossed in what she was doing, her cute nose and ears twitched in surprise when she caught Jake's familiar scent and she swiftly turned around to see him stepping fully into the diner.
Her eyes lit up in surprise, and a smile appeared on her lips, but her eyes widened the moment she noticed the state he was in.
"Jake? What happened to you?" Helen asked, concerned, as she unwittingly abandoned the customers in front of her with all of her attention on Jake.
"Good morning, Helen," Jake muttered as he slid into a corner booth, but this motion caused his body to ache once again, making him wince as Helen watched him struggle to take a seat.
Seeing this, Helen couldn't help but frown at the state he was in.
Of course, she was relieved to see his cute face again, but the sight of him trying and failing to hide so much pain hurt her even more than she could have imagined.
Pushing her disheartened feelings aside for now, Helen swiftly set down her tray, then went behind the counter and within seconds, she returned with a steaming mug of sweet cocoa and a plate of toast for Jake.
"Eat first, Jake, then tell me the name of the person whose bones I'll be breaking tonight." Helen said.
Then she placed his breakfast before him, looking up, and Jake could see how serious she was right now.
Helen cared a lot about him, and Jake could easily tell when she was serious or simply trying to make him smile.
And Jake couldn't help but smile at how cute she looked with the serious expression on her face.
"Thanks, but there's no need to worry about it."
"You think I'm weak don't you?"
"No, I don't."
"Good, because I've been working hard these past few weeks on controlling my mana, so I'm sure I can take on a couple of bullies on my own."
Jake smiled even more as he turned back to the food in front of him.
Talking to Helen always made him happy ever since he had known her.
She was his next-door neighbor in their apartment building, and the two were pretty close because they grew up together.
Jake knew how nice and caring Helen was, but the last thing he would ever want was to put her in harm's way.
He cared too much about Helen to put her in danger, which was why he didn't want her to become involved with the gang bothering him in the slums.
However, he also knew that he couldn't hide the truth from her even if he wanted to because there was only one persistent gang syndicate on this side of town, and everyone knew about them.
"It's the Dark Shadow gang again, isn't it?" Helen asked in a softer tone and Jake replied with a reluctant nod.
"Yeah. They want money that I don't have, but I guess they think that if they hit me hard enough, I'll start producing gold coins in my gut and shitting it out from my ass." Jake said, trying to crack a silly joke as he stared at the hot chocolate in front of him, but Helen didn't smile.
She knew that the Dark Shadow gang was threatening Jake to pay back the money his uncle owed them.
And ever since his uncle died, their threats had begun to escalate.
At first, she had worked hard and taken different shifts to help raise the funds Jake needed to repay his uncle's debt, but when the last mana rift appeared, it destroyed a lot of things and affected a lot of people, including her sister, who was currently hospitalized.
Now, Helen had no other choice but to focus on raising the funds to pay her sister's hospital bills, while leaving Jake to fend for himself once more as he struggled to raise the money alone.
But watching him right now hurt Helen a lot because it was simply too much of a responsibility for a twenty-year-old to handle on his own.
Helen's expression slowly hardened with frustration as she clenched her fingers into a fist. "This is unfair. Why are they treating you like this? If your uncle were alive right now, he…"
"But he isn't," Jake interjected, and a tense silence reigned between them.
Helen knew how much Jake had loved his uncle, but she didn't want him to be sad right now, so she decided not to talk about the sensitive topic anymore.
Although she was still pissed about how The Dark Shadow Gang was treating her beloved Jake.
At first, it had been a constant but simple warning, so Helen never thought too much about it.
But then, the gang members slowly began to threaten him.
Now, they were violently bullying him, and this wasn't the first time it was happening.
It was the second time, and Helen wasn't going to allow them to do it a third time.
*Sighs*
Letting out a long sigh, Helen slowly calmed herself, then she glanced back at Jake who was simply enjoying his breakfast.
He was scarfing everything down like a wolf who hadn't eaten in weeks and Helen couldn't help but find it cute.
A smile appeared on her lips but it was swiftly replaced by a frown when she looked at the bruises and cuts that were ruining his handsome face.
Jake had honey brown hair with a beautiful set of light blue eyes that made him look tremendously adorable.
But to see him hurt and in so much pain right now, made Helen's heart ache in ways she couldn't even begin to describe.