Title: Recluse in War and Life
By: Sissy

Scene 37: Mother shows her true colors in fear

"Nnn…" Anri felt groggy as she slowly opened her eyes. "Where…?" She wondered, not remembering when she closed her eyes in the first place or how she arrived here. Where ever it was that she was?

"Anri-sempai, so glad you could wake up." Aoba's voice surprised her and she realized one thing. Mikado was left alone in the apartment.

"Kuronuma-kun?" Anri eyed him, shifting a little to realize they had tied her up.

"That's right. Now, if you're worried about Mikado-san I'll tell you right now. We're not going to attack him in his home. We want to see if we can make Mikado-san come out himself. So you're bait." Aoba explained with a smile.

"How long have I been out?" Anri asked surprisingly calm at the moment. However, she was very much afraid, but for a different reason than Aoba would have thought.

"Only half an hour. I must say, Anri-sempai is acting pretty calm about this. But if you're expecting Kida-sempai to come and save you, I'll have to be honest. That's not going to happen. You remember three nights ago, right?" Aoba asked and Anri looked shocked at those words.

"You mean…?" Anri was afraid to continue.

"That's right." Aoba's grin widened. "Right now, the Yellow Turbans are being kept busy by my gang. I must say, they're really enjoying it. And the Black Bike is also being entertained by some bikers, as well as the bike police. I'd say I managed to cover my bases very well."

"You have to let me go. Ryugamine-kun mustn't be allowed to go out like this! He probably already knows that you have me, so…!" Before she could finish her thought, the lights of wherever she was went out.

"Hey, who turned off the lights?" Aoba screamed and tried to light up things with his cell phone, but it was off as well. "What the hell?"

'Oh, no… He's angry and cornered. No, I can't let this continue. I can't let him go out like this.' Anri was getting more and more worried. "I'm sorry." She muttered to no one.

"Did you say something?" Aoba wondered and saw the flash of something in the darkness. Whatever it was, Aoba now saw something else. Red eyes in the darkness.

"Ugh!" A member fell to the ground unconscious but Aoba didn't know who.

"I have to leave now. Don't worry, I won't harm anyone. Please just stay asleep for a little while." Anri maneuvered herself well in the darkness and reached the door to the place she was at.

Suddenly, light from the moon penetrated the warehouse from the door that seemed to be cut open.

"What?" Aoba stared at the silhouette of Anri, who seemed to be holding a sword.

"I managed to calm her, but I can't guarantee your safety if you do this again. I'm the one who guards him so I have to make sure he doesn't suffer due to this kind of thing." Anri bowed to Aoba from the distance and began running into the darkness outside.

Scene 37 End

Seiji's true head-love text messages:

imaginedreams22: Yes, she did. I do like jumping around a lot in this fic. Hope this keeps you happy.