"Oh, good morning Hajime. How're you feeling?..."
"Better than yesterday, I'll say that…"
"That's good…"
The Supervisor of Building 13 of Nanba Prison had finally returned from his day away because of a cold. Seitarou already greeted him, and Alan just spoke up. Yamoto, well… He has yet to be seen, but Hajime could honestly care less. When he put his bag down he looked back at Alan, seeing the mask still tightly on his face.
"Did you just put that on?" Hajime asked.
"No. I placed it back on yesterday as soon as I woke up." Alan answered before turning in his chair to look up at Hajime. "I apologize for falling asleep here then. I should've just went home but I didn't because of my first day…"
"It hasn't been hurting you, has it?" Hajime asked.
"Not in the slightest." Alan shook his head. "I kinda forget it's there…"
Hajime hummed and nodded. But his eyes didn't leave the mask. Sighing to himself he walked over to Alan. He just gazed at him, wondering what he's doing. Hajime bent down, being as tall as he was, and put his hands carefully on the mask.
How the mask was is that it is made from a special type of metal that was flexible, but was hard to pierce. It resembled a type of 'ninja mask' as Samon had questioned at the meeting. But, at the very end of the sides of the mask was a circular contraption that was located just before the tragus of the ear. The circular contraption was technically the main core of the machinery and had an electronic blue outline that glowed a bit. From the circular piece had the hook attached to it. When taken off, the hook curls into the thick circular piece.
Hajime pressed his hands against the circular piece, waiting until he heard a loud clicking sound. He watched as the hooks lifted off of the back of Alan's earlobes. He took the mask off of Alan and saw his surprised expression.
"You had this thing on all day and night, yeah?" Hajime placed the mask down on his desk. "Figured you could take a break. Put it back on when you have to leave the office, alright? Both of us will get in trouble if it's seen off of you."
"Right… Thank you…" He thanked Hajime and nodded his head in gratitude.
Hajime sat back down at his desk without another word to him. He gazed at a few of the papers, wondering how much he had missed. He looked up at Seitarou, who was basically right across from him, and spoke up to him.
"Did anything happen while I was gone?" Hajime asked.
"Well, not anything bad." Seitarou answered. "The inmates from Cell 13 tried to escape, but Yamoto caught them and punished them like you do. They trained for five hours before Alan took them to lunch. After that he brought them back and they stayed in their cells. Other than that, they behaved well for once."
"At least they didn't escaped any farther than their cells…" Hajime sighed deeply. "Even when I'm away they cause nothin' but trouble…"
"I can at least say I think they kinda have a liking to me." Alan spoke up as he walked by Hajime with a bunch of papers in his hands. "They definitely don't trust me yet, but I'm slowly gaining their trust…"
"I'm unsure if that's a good or bad thing…" Hajime muttered.
"When have I ever betrayed you, Hajime?" Alan asked in a joking manner, but it sounded like he was serious.
"Ever since you broke a door down in rage and tried to hit me with it." Hajime stated with an agitated undertone.
Alan flinched at his statement, recalling the memory. He felt embarrassed at the thought of it. He looked back at Hajime, pouting slightly, as he looked rather guilty.
"T-that was a dark time for me back then, alright…?" Alan softly mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know your story." Hajime waved at him to signal to leave it alone. "You forget that I was the one to actually figure your background out back when you were in my cells."
Alan was silent after that. Hajime did have a point. But he wasn't too fond of the memories. He placed the papers down before grabbing a new stack and returning to his desk. Once he sat back down he wiped his lower face with the upper sleeve of his jacket. Have that mask on for more than 24 hours left his face with sweaty residue from breathing, talking, and almost caused him to drool a few times. It was like having foggy water goggles on for too long. To be honest, it was pretty gross.
Taking in a deep breath, finally being able to breathe properly, he began his new stack of paperwork. He was like that for a while until he heard the sound of the door opening and closing. Gazing over his shoulder he could see it was Yamoto who entered, not wearing his usual uniform, and looking very sweaty.
"Good morning, sir!" Greeted Yamoto to Hajime. "Good to see you back to your usual healthy self!"
"Same to you, Yamoto…" Murmured Hajime as he lit up a cigarette.
"I just finished my morning exercises, so I will take a quick shower and get back to work!" Promised Yamoto as he marked merrily towards his lock.
Once he gathered his needed items, he marched out of the room. When he opened the door he stopped and greeted someone at the door.
"Oh! Why hello there, No.15! If you will excuse me, I must take a shower!" Yamoto said.
"Yeah, okay." Replied a familiar bored tone.
Instantly the other three guards became alarmed by what Yamoto said. Alan whirled around in his seat, quickly becoming on guard. As Yamoto walked out, walking into the office was inmate No.15. He had his signature hands behind his head, looking bored as ever, before turning to a shocked Hajime.
"Good to see you back, Hajime. It's boring without you around." Spoke the inmate.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR CELL?!" Screeched Hajime in anger.
"I wanted to see if you were here today, you should be grateful." No.15, or Jyugo, answered with a smirk. "Escaping with you gone is useless, so I had to make sure you were here for today."
In a flash Hajime shot up from his desk, dashed towards the inmate, and punched him right in the head. Jyugo groaned loudly, now lying on the ground in pain, as a clear bump quickly formed on his head. Alan was startled by the action, forgetting about Hajime's infamous hair trigger temper.
"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT WHAT'S BORING! YOU'RE SUPPOSE TO BE IN YOUR CELL AND STAY THERE, YOU DAMN BRAT!" Bellowed the Supervisor. "IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN AN HOUR OF ME BEING HERE AND YOU'RE ALREADY CAUSING TROUBLE! AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL THE AFTERNOON, IT'S TOO EARLY FOR YOUR TROUBLE MAKING ANTICS!"
"Yeah… Good to have you back…" Groaned Jyugo as he got back onto his feet. "I definitely didn't miss that inhuman strength of yours, though…"
"You annoying little…!" Hajimed growled and got the inmate into a headlock. He turned to his other guards as both of them had sweatdrops on their heads. "You two stay here. Check the surveillance and see if the others are gone. I'll be taking this little shit back to his cell…!"
"Y-yes, sir!" Replied Seitarou.
Without another word, Hajime stomped out of the room with a struggling Jyugo. Alan slowly turned back to his work, still semi in his frozen state, as he tried processing what happened. '...Maybe I should've stayed on the farm…'
.
It was quiet in the guard's office.
Too quiet…
Hajime was suspicious of the quietness of the place, but he tried to shrug it off and label him being paranoid. But still… It was just strangely quiet. Periodically he would get up from his desk and walk the halls, specifically keeping an ear out for Cell 13. But whenever he walked by he usually heard their usual obnoxious banter. He would keep in the cell every now and then, seeing that each inmate was accountable for. He would then proceed with his parole, only to find himself seated back at his desk while the suspicion was eating him away.
Eventually he sighed again and tried to coax himself to relax. He just got back from being sick, he told himself repeatedly. He was probably just feeling uneasy because the remanence of the bug is still there in his stomach. He just had to breath and calm down. There's nothing to worry about…
"Greetings, everyone!" Exclaimed none other than Yamoto as he came back into the room. "I have taken care of the much needed attention to the problem with the Cell door 17! On my way back I greeted the boys from Cell 13! Ha ha! Such young men. I think I'm finally turning them into gentlemen!"
"Really? What makes you say that?" Softly asked Seitarou.
"Because the boys informed me that they were going on a wonderful walk to stretch their legs!" Informed Yamoto. "I believe my training has finally gotten ahold of them, haha!"
"WHAT!?" Shouted Hajime as the other guards stiffened at the news.
"They were out of their cell?" Alan asked as he was clearly alarmed.
"Why, yes, yes they were." Answered Yamoto. After a moment his smile fell as if realization finally hit him. "Wait… Those boys aren't authorized to leave their cells, are they?"
"NO!" All three of them shouted at Yamoto.
"I knew the calmness was too good to be true!" Hajime exclaimed as he began typing away at the computer. "Seitarou, get to the surveillance cameras and figure out where they are!"
"Yes sir!" Exclaimed the officer as he disappeared from the room.
"Yamoto, it's your fault those brats escaped." Hajime growled at him. "Go apprehend them at once!"
"Of course, sir!" Saluted Yamoto before rushing out of the room.
"Alan, get to your feet!" Hajime ordered as Alan already was standing. "Looks like you're going to be seeing some action for today. We can't allow those four to get outside, especially since the sun is still out! Follow me."
"Yes, sir." Alan nodded.
Hajime marched to the camera room where Seitarou was while Alan followed closely behind. They entered the dark room while Seitarou just finished giving instructions to the officers of Building 13. Alan's eyes gazed at the multiple cameras as he wondered where those four were.
"Where are they?" Hajime growled.
"They're past Block 11. I've already closed Block 12 and trying to get them towards Block 17 instead." Informed Seitarou.
"They're fast…" Alan commented as his eyes kept darting towards different screens.
"Yeah, well, we're faster…" Hajime muttered at him as he glared at the screen. "There they are…"
They all looked towards one of the center screens. The four inmates were running through the hall, only for No.11 to stop the group. He took out a type of card and flung it, revealing the hidden electric floor. No.15 walked over to the wall, tracing his hand around it. Suddenly a control panel revealed itself and his hands flew across the keys. He looked at his accomplices and smirked, giving them a thumbs up. All four of them advanced, getting past the security.
"A-are you kidding me…?" Alan gaped in shock, stepping forwards as they appeared on another camera. "How the hell did he figure that out so quickly?"
"Beats me." Seitarou said and he began to flip switches. "They're entering into an open area around Block 18. Thankfully a lot of the guards are there so they should be stumbling upon them at any moment."
"That's your que." Hajime ordered and placed a hand on Alan's shoulder. "Get in there and stop them. Knock 'em out if you have to. We can't allow them to advance any further. Just try not to bring the building down with you…"
"Got it." Alan nodded curtly and turned towards the door. "Leave it to me…"
As soon as he was out of the office he began running down the hallways very quickly. He was sprinting through the place, trying to get to Block 18, and hopefully in time before those four get through. Seitarou kept his eyes on the monitors, but was surprised with how fast Alan was hopping from monitor to monitor.
"W-whoa, he's fast…!" He said in surprised.
"There's a reason for why the Warden trusted him enough to become a guard." Hajime said and smirked. "Looks like he hasn't changed a bit from his time in Nanba…"
It took a while, but Alan found his way in Block 18. He entered into the room, just in time to see the last guard get knocked down by No.69 aka Rock. Alan growled softly under his breath, annoyed that they got through the guards. He walked into the room, his echoing footsteps grabbing their attention, as he began adjusting his gloves.
"Well, well, looks like they sent the newbie." No.11, Uno, spoke up with a sly grin on his face. "Are they even trying anymore?"
"I was hoping we'd bump into him soon." Said No.15, or Jyugo as he's called. "It wouldn't be as fun if they didn't send him…"
"Looks like you wanna brawl too, eh?" Challenged Rock as he held his fists up.
"Hi Alan!" Greeted No.25, known as Nico, as he waved at him. "Could you let us go by?"
"You four have caused quite a stir tonight, don't you think?" Alan spoke in a deadly calm voice as he advanced slowly towards them. "It's the middle of the sun setting, you know. Don't you think it would've been smarter if you waited until midnight…?"
"We got impatient." Replied Jyugo as he shrugged. "You're a pretty strange guy, you know. You made us so interested in you that we just had to come and see you for ourselves."
"Yeah. It's pretty interesting for a former criminal to become a guard, you know." Uno said and made a face at him. "If you couldn't stay away then why couldn't you do more crimes, eh? Where's that mask of yours anyways? Don't tell me you're 'getting serious'."
"You boys don't know anything, do you…" Alan scoffed at them as he began pulling his gloves off. "How sad. If you did I bet you would've thought twice before acting like you did."
"You act like such a big shot after just being here for only three days." Jyugo rolled his eyes at him. "You might've read our files, but that doesn't mean you know the whole show."
"I think I know plenty enough." Alan stopped walking and dropped his gloves on the ground. He rotated his neck, hearing the satisfying cracks. "You're morons for believing you can escape Nanba Prison so easily." He lifted his hand and pointed at them. "I'm giving you one last chance. Now be good boys and go back to your cell…"
"No thank you!" Rock yelled and ran at him.
Alan put his hand down and allowed Rock to come at him. Having his arm recoiled back, Rock swung his fist at full force, his knuckle slamming right into his jaw. Alan head twisted around, the force being enough to knock Alan off of his feet. He flew back and hit the ground without a moment later. The group could only stare in slight shock.
"Oh, come on!" Rock whined. "That wasn't even a fight!"
"All talk and no bite, eh? That's sad." Jyugo commented.
"Hahaha! K.O.!" Uno exclaimed while laughing. "That was the saddest thing I've ever seen!"
"Looks like Rock was a bit too hard on him." Commented Nico.
After a few comments here and there, they didn't realize Alan's twitching body. He curled his arms up, placing his hands on either side of his head. With his feet pressed together tightly, he picked himself onto his hands and pushed against his arms, pushing himself into the air. He got his feet under him quickly and was now standing back on his feet.
Hearing the echo of his feet hitting the ground, their comments stopped as they stared at him. Alan's visor was concealing his eyes while he rotated his shoulders around, the loud cracking echoing in the room. Just him standing there quietly, allowing his shoulders to crack, was rather unsettling.
"I guess you're tougher than you look." Jyugo smirk returned. "I was hoping you could give us more of a show."
"Hey, you cracked your shoulders enough. You might just break them if you keep that up." Uno said as he was becoming uncomfortable with the noise.
"Ready for a rematch?" Rock asked in a taunting manner.
"Oh, the match never ended…" Said Alan in a deadly calm voice.
The group stopped, their smirking features falling. Something just wasn't right with how Alan sounded. Usually his tone revealed no emotions. But now… He sounded utterly serious with a hint of something else—that something else was smugness.
Alan adjusted his hat to reveal his eyes. His irises were now smaller than normal while his eyes were wide open. But the thing that gave them chills was the sudden, large, toothy grin that was on his face. His teeth looked sharp and pointed while his eyes were trained on them. The group shivered as they felt the sudden murderous intent that could rival that of Hajime's.
"Idiots…" Alan hissed at them as his shoulders bounced up and down like he was giggling. "Did you really believe that one puny punch could knock me out? It was like a fly landed on my cheek."
"Puny…?" Rock growled as he was clearly insulted.
"I'll show you why you shouldn't mess around…" Alan brought his fist up, his smirk never faltering. "Come on, Rocky! Do you even call that a punch?"
"You asked for it, Bastard!" Rock shouted and ran at him again.
Once again, Alan allowed Rock to come to him. The inmate swung at Alan again, just like he had before. Except this time, Alan stopped his fist. The sounds of his knuckle slapping against his palm echoed, shocking the entire group. Rock could only stare at Alan in wide eyes, confused to why his fist was stopped so easily. Alan's giggle filled the air as he glared sharply at Rock, causing the younger male to begin to sweat nervously.
"Pa-the-tic~!" Sang Alan. His voice suddenly got deeper when he spoke his next sentence. "I'll show you a real punch."
Without even a moment's hesitation, Alan punched Rock in the chest with his free hand. Rock was shot off of his feet, fly back until his back hit the wall. His friends could only gaze at Rock in shock. They watched as their friend bounced off of the wall and onto his knees, only to fall onto the ground as he became unconscious. The group turned their heads to see Alan walking towards them.
"Wow, he didn't last very long." Alan laughed. "You boys could escape all those traps, knock all of these guards out, but you're not strong enough to at least slow me down? That's pretty pathetic… Oh, come on. Where's all that big talk you were all saying before? Cat got your tongue~"
"You bastard…!" Uno growled at him.
"H-how did you…?" Jyugo could only mumble in shock.
"G-g-guys…!" Squeaked Nico. "W-w-w-what should we d-d-do…?!"
"I have an idea!" Alan quickly stood before Nico, towering over him with ease, as his smile never left his face. "...How about you go to sleep~"
Nico squeaked again before fainting on the ground from fear. Alan looked at the other boys. Clearly enraged Uno ran at him with a war cry, his fists in the air, prepared to punch Alan's face in.
As he got close and swung, Alan dodged his attack and moved behind his back in a flash, karate chopping the back of his neck. Uno released a choke sound before passing out on the ground. Alan looked at the last one standing, seeing Jyugo's shaken form. He walked towards him in a rather taunting manner.
With each step taken, Jyugo stepped back. Step by step, Alan backed Jyugo into a wall. The inmate because to break out in a cold sweat, trying to think of a way to either attack or run. But he was unable to come up with anything as Alan stood right in front of him, inches away from his body. Jyugo could only stare up at him as his hands were secretly shaking.
"You're pretty impressive, you know…" Alan spoke softly, his voice not sounding demonic anymore. "Unlocking all those traps… Leading the way for your friends. It's remarkable, actually. But…" Alan's smirk grew, as if that was possible, and glared down at his shaking form. "...I'd like to see you get out of this trap…"
Not even allowing Jyugo to open his mouth, Alan brought his head down and slammed his head against Jyugo's forehead. Jyugo cried out in pain, only to fall to the side. Before he could hit the ground, Alan caught him with one arm. Alan giggled softly at his unconscious form.
"I win~" He sang.
Of course, no one could respond.
As the room got quiet, Alan's smile fell and the deadly look in his eyes fled. His face was emotionless, stoic as ever, as if a switch had been flipped off. He carefully put Jyugo on his shoulder and went over to Nico. One by one, he picked up each fallen inmate. Step by step, he back making his way back to Cell 13. Nico and Jyugo were on his right shoulder while Uno was under Alan's left arm while his left hand was latched onto the back of Rock's jumpsuit as he dragged him.
The camera room was quiet. Seitarou was shaking in his seat, horrified by the scene he just saw. Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as he couldn't believe what he just witness. He looked up at Hajime to see the man smirking calmly.
"He really hasn't changed, eh?" Hajime turned and began to exit the room. "I'm surprised he held back."
With that said, he exited the room, closing the door on his way out. Seitarou released a shaky breath as he looked back to the monitors in horror.
"...H-held b-b-back…?"
.
.
.
