Sneaking in had been easy with the new program in hand. Since nearly everything in the company was high-tech, even rooms, nearly everything could be hacked and was accessible with the new application. Still, they couldn't be too careful, hence Osomatsu suggested that if they ran into a guard, Todo would have to be sacrificed. The pink-haired male reply with "Go to hell!", but pretty much agreed with kicking everyone who tried to stop them. And if they were to get shot, Osomatsu would use the self-defense program. He just activated it now, so any bullet aimed at them would be deflected somewhere else. Preferably, a wall, in order to not get arrested or attract attention.
The side entrance was a long hall of rooms that were labeled differently, such as a room for car parts, trail mix, bottles of ink, and all sorts of things. The group of five passed by the hallway in haste, in fear that someone would somehow alert the rest at Flag Corporation that they hacked half of their technology just with a push of a button. With a pink phone, nonetheless. And they've been running in the same hall for about ten minutes, looking for an exit. "Are we there yet?!" Chibita panted, hand against a wall as he tried to catch his breath. His scarf wasn't wrapped around his neck, but was hanging off his shoulders like a towel. If they wanted some place to go to when it was cold, this was it.
Iyami and Osomatsu had collapsed at the floor, Kara was looking out for any guards, and Todo was leaning against a wall. "Fuck this place. Who the fuck decided to put everything in separate rooms and in the longest hallway in the fucking galaxy? Asses." He removed his black headband, similar to the one he lost yesterday, and tried to fix his hair. Sweat, the coldness of a winter day, and heavy leather jackets should never mix. He felt like he was suffocating, so he took off the leather jacket and tied it around his waist. He felt goosebumps when he felt something brush against his skin. Wind? Probably the breeze from an air conditioner. He put his headband back on. "Follow me. I think I found a doorway." The hall was stuffy and too hot for their own good, so there was no air conditioner. It was probably coming from the lobby.
Kara and Chibita helped both Osomatsu and Iyami back to their feet, though they couldn't blame them for being tired. Kara supported Osomatsu by slinging Osomatsu's arm over his neck and following after Todo, while Chibita, poor little Chibita, had to push Iyami forward due to their size difference. In the end, Chibita decided to just drag Iyami by the collar of his clothes until the con-man could catch his breath. Thank god he was strong. "Iyami, you idjit, catch your breath and die later, damn it!" Chibita hissed. The con-man murmured something before jumping up and murmuring something with a grumpy expression. Chibita grabbed the cuff of his sleeve and dragged Iyami with him.
"We're close. I can feel it. It's cold. Not as cold as outside, but it feels like the apartment. An air conditioner, probably." Todo murmured. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hm. Air conditioners always had some sort of smell that couldn't be explained, but it was somewhat calming. There were also scents of cheap cologne, rubbing alcohol, and coffee, all mixed together. It wasn't particularly pleasant, nor was it unbearable. "Yup. I can smell something from far away. Smells like a lot of rubbing alcohol. Almost like a hospital." He frowned. "What are these guys even doing? Isn't there like a riot outside? You would have thought they'd put guards in the main entrance instead of the side. There's just a bunch of random products here. What is there to guard, ink bottles?"
"You may never know when someone's desperate enough to steal packing peanuts and chew on 'em when they could have just stolen the pack of trail mix instead." Osomatsu chuckled weakly from behind Todo. "Fucking hell, the last time I felt this tired was- actually, I've always been tired, even before Chibita, Iyami, and I left the city. Twenty-four-seven, tired all day everyday. Gathering information on Sutabaa, trying to keep my emotions in check, even having to deal with nightmares, drifting off a lot.. wow, I'm a really stressed-out guy." He concluded, lazy grin on his face even as he and Kara ran. "And I don't even have a job, and I'm stressed! Weird."
"..Is he drunk?" Kara asked in concern. Osomatsu replied by waving his hand around. Yup. He was drunk. From what? The air? Amazing. His older brother was full of surprises. Or he was just tired. "You've probably spent your previous days worrying about us, Osomatsu-niisan."
Osomatsu blinked. "Are we there yet?!" He whined in a way that reminded everyone of a child. Ah, so the stuffiness of the room and the annoyance of running around a long hallway was getting to him. "What even is this hallway?! You'd think they'd brighten the place up a bit by painting something or at least putting up a poster! The walls are whiter than the snow outside! And I'm becoming claustrophobic by being trapped with you guys! I swear to god, I'll rip off someone's head if we don't get out of here fast!"
"Try touching me with those grimy fingers of yours and I will tear your legs off." Todo threatened, even stopping to turn at Osomatsu and send a glare at his direction.
Kara sighed. Again with the childish bickering and empty threats. Well.. empty for Osomatsu, at least. Todo probably wasn't joking. Those two seemed to have gotten along this morning thanks to Kara's little plan of them bonding over Todo's fashion choices, but in the end, they both had the mentality of a six year old. So squabbling was to be expected. He flicked Todo's forehead and lightly swatted Osomatsu's, causing both of them to yelp in pain. "Stop fighting, please. You're both being childish, and we need to act mature in this situation." Kara lectured. "Osomatsu, do you think you can stand on your own now? We need you to use the phone just in case."
Osomatsu nodded, rubbing his forehead. Kara could be mature at times, it seems. I guess that's how he managed to live with Todo, Osomatsu thought to himself. He fiddled with his phone for awhile. "Todo, do you think you can lead the way? Maybe if I hack the air conditioner, the wind'll get stronger. It'll be much easier to find the way, right?"
Everyone seemed surprised at Osomatsu's suggestion. "Me thinks Osomatsu is actually smart." Iyami said with eyes closed, nodding in approval with his thumb rubbing his chin. Everyone crossed their arms, closed their eyes, and nodded in agreement. Osomatsu's eye twitched. They were clearly the worst team a guy could have.
"Oi, I take offense in that! Seriously, you guys? I think we're the worst team in history. You can't even trust your leader to be smart at times." Osomatsu pouted, looking through his phone's list of options again. They broke a lot of codes as soon as they got in, and so far, it has been working in their favor. "This is the side hallway, right? So we need to get to the lobby, and we need to change the temperature with the air conditioner.. which is this button." His thumb hovered above the option. "Air conditioners need to change temperature so Todo can lead the way. Here we go."
A click. A loading screen. And later, irritated screams and the feel of something cool brushing against their skins. "Alright. Not only do we have the wind to guide us, but also the screams of a thousand souls." Kara said with a bright smile, reverting back to his painful vocabulary.
"Sounds pretty morbid when you put it like that, Kara. I mean, we're not killing or torturing them." Todo frowned. And Todo himself was supposed to be the scary one! How dare Kara say something so morbid and disturbing with zero to no effort? "Maybe we are killing them with the cold slowly, but yeah. This'll work, thanks Osomatsu. C'mon everyone, hurry."
When they opened the door and slowly walked in the lobby, the first thing they found was a group of Flag Corporation Employees finally trying to do something about the riot outside. Some of their solutions included pushing one of their employees outside and immediately locking the door. The other thing they saw was multiple technicians trying to fix the air conditioner. Well, it was colder. Todo put his leather jacket back on, thankful that no one payed attention to them as they sneaked from the side door to the stairs. They would use the elevator, but they might bump into some people they didn't want to bump to.
At least, that was the plan.
Todo was leading the way, with Osomatsu trailing behind and his phone ready just in case something were to happen. At the very back was Chibita, who switched with Iyami to guard the back and look out for anyone that could spot them. Before Todo could open the door leading to the stairs, a certain someone had caught the attention of Chibita, someone who had their arms crossed, a stern expression on their face, and a flag popping out of their skull and waving proudly. He was wearing the uniform of a male Flag Corp employee, but there was something different about him. Besides the flag that was on his head for some reason, he was shorter than the rest of the employees, only a few inches taller than Chibita himself. Despite his size, he seemed to strike fear into every single employee's souls, glaring at all of them with judgment.
"What are you doing, jo?!" He snapped, hands on his hips now. Even though he was as tall as a child, everyone seemed intimidated by him. When someone offered him a glass of water, he smacked it out of the other's hands, splashing it all over the other's uniform in the process. He looked furious. "This isn't how you deal with problems, jo! Try to resolve things peacefully instead of pushing one of your co-workers out to deal with a crowd of people, jo! If they won't go away, call security instead, jo! We're a busy company that requires all employees to do the parts they are given, and dealing with them is just going to waste our time, jo! And who turned up the air conditioner, jo?! It's cold! This is a mess! How do you think the president is gonna act when he comes back, jo?! He didn't leave for France just to have his company harassed every single day, jo! I still have a job to do! It doesn't mean that you can slack off just because the president isn't here, jo!"
"We're so sorry, Mister Flag!" Everyone in the room chorused, bowing as low as they could to the smaller man.
He didn't seem affected by the apology. If anything, he became more frustrated. "It's not 'Flag'! It's 'Shonosuke', for the last time! And sorry's not gonna cut it, jo! Make them go away, jo! The president is gonna kill all of us if his brother doesn't-" He caught something from the corner of his eye. Turning around, he saw five suspicious strangers near the door that leads to the stairs. One was a tad bit shorter than him, bald, and had an orange scarf. The second one was the tallest in the group, with purple clothes and a large overbite. The third one, the one in the middle, wore a black jacket over a blue hoodie that had his own face. The third one was the one that caught his attention the most, and he looked similar to the people in his left and right. Finally, the one leading them was a pink-haired punk.
Chibita was the first to utter out a single word as always. "H-Hatabou?!"
Hatabou looked different. Well, his facial features, his hair, and the flag didn't change. The big change about him was most likely the suit replacing his usual overalls and the salty attitude he had towards his co-workers. "Chibita..? Iyami..? Osomatsu..?" Chibita expected Hatabou to at least be happy to see them all, but instead, his angry face had switched to horror instantly, before shifting to anger once again. He turned to his co-workers. "How did they get in, jo?! You all blocked the main entrance! Can't you even do that properly, jo?!" He screeched.
One of them dared to raise a finger, and the group of five watched as he tried to explain the situation to Hatabou, who was looking like he was itching to strangle someone. "Um, Mister Shonosuke, I do believe they got in from the side entrance. The guards at the side entrance all have gathered at the storage room where the trail mix is, for some reason, and the guards guarding the outside have somehow stayed in the garage where the president's limo is. I do believe our security system got hacked and they have been trapped-"
"Then why didn't you do anything about it, jo?!" Hatabou snapped again. Snapping his fingers, the guards in the lobby suddenly surrounded Osomatsu and the group. All armed, Osomatsu noted even in his state of panic. They all compressed together as their guns were aimed at them, and Osomatsu hastily activated the self-defense program to it's maximum capacity. There were five of them, and multiple bullets had to be absorbed within seconds. Otherwise, one of them would die. "I have to do everything myself, jo!"
"Hatabou, what are you doing?!" Osomatsu yelled. Even if he wasn't this dimension's Osomatsu, Chibita and Iyami told him that their friendship with him was the same as his friendship with Hatabou in his dimension. And even Chibita and Iyami seemed confused! What the hell was going on?! "Are you seriously gonna kill us?!"
Hatabou didn't answer. He turned his back to them and focused more on yelling at the other employees. Todo inched closer to Osomatsu. "What is going on, Osomatsu?! I thought he was your childhood friend!" He whispered loudly.
"I don't really know! I mean, if he was gonna kill us, I thought he'd do it with a sharpened flag pole or something!" Osomatsu whispered back. Brotherly instincts took over and he made sure both Todo and Kara were behind him, just in case Hatabou was serious about killing them. "Todo, you can take them, right? I mean, they're less than the guys you took out yesterday!"
"They are armed with guns, you moron! If I move an inch closer, I am going to die!"
Kara grabbed Osomatsu's sleeve. Osomatsu didn't know if it was out of fear, but he didn't really care. Todo, who was braver than Todomatsu, didn't do anything like sleeve-grabbing and only stood his ground. Iyami backed up a bit, so only Chibita, Osomatsu, and Todo were in front. Osomatsu was prepared to protect his two brothers if necessary, and he got his phone out to prove it. "Hatabou!" He called out to him, though his back was still turned. "What's going on?! Why don't you tell us?! Aren't we friends?!"
Hatabou didn't look like he was planning on answering, but more like planning to state that he wanted them dead. However, the elevator doors suddenly opened and interrupted the current situation; A five-person group of strangers being surrounded by about ten guards with guns, about thirty employees trying to calm down the riot outside, and an angry child-like man preparing to execute his supposed old friends. Everyone turned to the elevator, expecting more other members of Flag Corporation to just enter the room and exit once seeing Hatabou's angry state.
However, it was a wheelchair that rolled out of the elevator, and someone that Todo recognized. He was wearing the same attire from when he bumped into him yesterday, except this time, the scarf was absent and layered over his bright outfit was a black leather jacket that stood out like a sore thumb, a cane on his lap. Bright yellow eyes blinked as it's owner looked around and wondered why it was colder than usual, before it spotted Todo and four other guys cornered by a group of guards.
"Todo-san?"