Ch. 6
This chapter was probably the fastest and most interesting chapter I wrote. The ideas came like a stream and I think I was able to give it a lot of action and suspense. Enjoy.
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[Last Thursday]
How dare he? And with a parasite at that?! What happened to the man I once knew? The man who slew the dragon without batting an eye. The man who cared nothing for others and walked over the corpses of his fallen comrades in that room. The man who would give me the greatest battle of wits I'd ever have and become mine with my victory. Where did that man go?
These thoughts rushed inside of Sakayanagi's head as she saw them walking together hand in hand. The day she'd heard the news of his relationship with Karuizawa, she didn't believe it but now she had to. Under the calm expression she was showing on the outside, a fire of rage was burning. He'd betrayed her there was no longer any reason to keep him to herself. She'd throw him to the wolves.
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[Monday]
Ichinose and Ayanokouji were seated at a table in the food court near the store Airi got her camera fixed. A large parasol covered them from the heat however it did nothing to help cool Ichinose down.
"What happened next!" Ichinose excitedly asked Kiyotaka who had just reached the point in the story where he was leaving the mini-golf arena.
"I'm getting there. Do you mind if we move somewhere else?" At the table behind theirs, three men had sat down. The same three men that had been following him since he'd entered the mall. He slid a napkin to Ichinose informing her of them.
"Sounds like a good idea." They left their table and began walking to a corner of the mall, their pursuers followed soon after. Nonchalantly they walked to a less populated corner of the mall while making small talk. If they could get them to a secluded area, they could lure out the assailants and confront them as their actions would more visible to the cameras of the mall.
With each passing minute, they came closer to their destination-the bookstores and stationary area of the mall-however there was something off.
"It's too busy." Ichinose, who had been everywhere due to her amazing skills in socializing, knew that there shouldn't be this many people here. Usually only a handful of people were here and that had been the case every time she'd come here. Even if this was a prime hour there were still too many people present. No, wait. She looked around once more. Dread washed over her face.
This was bad.
"Ayano-"
A man bumped into Ayanokouji and another walked in between the two before the words could leave Ichinose's throat. The next second Ichinose Honami had disappeared.
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Right as a man had bumped into Ayanokouji, Ichinose, who was on his right, was jerked to the side by a middle-aged man. Immediately after a horde of people filled in her space. A hand covered her mouth before she noticed it.
No, it can't be. They were all in on it?
As she was being dragged away the sudden realization hit her like a bolt of lightning. It all made sense. This was why it was so busy and why nobody seemed to notice her being kidnapped. She resisted with all her might and bit the assailant's hand.
"AGH"
The man's hand reeled back in pain.
"Why you!"
She cried out, "AYANO-" The man covered her mouth again and slammed her onto the ground headfirst. Her skull bounced off the hard flooring, the pain rendered her unconscious. The man signaled the surrounding men to come over. He looked back at her unconscious body. Blood was streaming down her head but he was relieved she wasn't making a fuss anymore. He very quickly wrapped her head to prevent any blood from spilling then picked her up. The pink-haired girl disappeared into an alley.
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Ayanokouji first noticed something was wrong just after Ichinose did. Before it could all come together, she'd disappeared and he was in the midst of a horde of people. He stepped atop a bench but the pink-haired girl wasn't in sight, but he did notice something. Amidst the horde of people, a group of men had stopped walking around where Ichinose had gone missing.
"AYANO-" A muffled scream came from near the front of the people walking in the mall? It was a completely different location from where the group of men had stopped. He'd almost been baited. He immediately began running to the source of the scream.
It took him naught but a few seconds to arrive however there was no trace of her. He scanned the area with an absolute focus. He absorbed every bit of information his eyes could perceive while his brain overclocked itself to process everything. Two seconds passed and he found his hint. A few feet in front of him laid a trampled strand of hair marked with a hint of red. The length and color revealed who it belonged to; the blood told him what had happened. She was here. There were only a few places she could have been taken. He'd seen no store doors open so those were out. The bathrooms were too far away for her to be taken away. It was then he remembered what he'd noticed earlier.
"A group?" he quietly muttered.
Ichinose was being moved within the crowd? That had to be it. He jerked his head towards the very front of the ever-moving crowd. Some members were making a left after the stores ended and exiting while others were going ahead. He ran to the exit, there was no way the perpetrators would risk more exposure to the cameras in the malls.
He went full speed and zoomed out the doors. Several feet ahead of him he saw a pink blob rounding a corner. Without stopping his sprint, he rushed into the alley.
The first thing he saw was a horde of men with masks on their faces. There were over ten of them. Seeing him, they parted in the middle revealing Ichinose seated on a chair, blood dripping from her head and nose, a knife to her throat.
"Ayanokouji is it? Your friend here put up quite the fight. If you want her back, you'll have to fight your way through. Don't feign ignorance about being weak, I know all about it. Of course, you're more than welcome to leave as well. I'd love to spend some quality time with your pretty little friend here." The man who held the knife issued Ayanokouji an ultimatum. Right after he'd finished speaking the masked men quickly closed the junction and raised their fists.
Ayanokouji weight the actions against the consequences then asked himself something no other person would have.
Is Ichinose really that important?
Ichinose was a very valuable asset but was she worth this? She wasn't his girlfriend, nor his classmate. They just recently become friends that were somewhat close. Kei's face suddenly came to his mind. If he didn't do anything Ichinose would end up as scarred, if not more, than Kei. He'd promised to always save Kei and right now Ichinose was in the same position as Kei. If he couldn't save her then how could he ever hope to save Kei? Who knew emotions were such trouble?
Ayanokouji raised his fists to gave his answer. He had no time to lose.
†
Light pierced through the slits in her eyelids. The black veil behind her eyelids began to lift itself. Gray walls covered her sides and a blob of black lay directly in front of her. Suddenly she felt a sharp twinge of pain surge through her body, particularly her face. Once the pain had subsided, she brought her hand to her face, it was swollen and sticky. Her fingers were covered in a red substance she recognized immediately. The other thing she realized was that there was a knife at her throat.
WHAM
One of the black blobs was sent flying to her right side and crashed into the dead end that lay directly behind her. Her vision focused and she finally noticed the black blobs were actually people. She was dumbstruck such a large man had been sent flying. As if on cue, two others followed the first man. Both of them hit the wall and fell to the ground, they didn't look like they would get up for a while.
Ichinose looked back at the initial mob of men, it had dwindled. There were more men scattered all over the alley, all of them in bad shape.
AAAAAH
Another man was flung at the wall behind her meeting the same fate as his predecessors. The last row had been breached. A ray of sun landed in the middle of the battlefield to illuminate one man-Ayanokouji. His school uniform was torn, his face had been injured, but his eyes hadn't lost their flare. To Ichinose, it looked like a scene out of a myth. The brave knight on the battlefield would slay his enemies to rescue the princess. Ayanokouji was coming to save her, but Ichinose had no intentions of being some helpless princess.
At the same time as Ayanokouji had made an opening in the last line of defense, the knife in front of Ichinose began trembling.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING. IT'S JUST ONE MAN!" The knife-wielder yelled at the masked grunts who had begun surrounding the student from 1-C.
It was to no avail. While man after man was taken down. Ichinose looked for a way to escape, she wouldn't be a burden. Her hands were restrained but her legs were free. Trying to pull her hands free would be futile. She looked around for something to help her. The horde of defeated men behind her had been armed with knives and one of these knives was close by. Using her legs, she pulled it close, fortunately, the man beside her was too busy watching his men get beaten down.
Lifting the knife with her legs, she grasped it with her hands. Slowly she began cutting through the rope tying her hands together.
†
Ayanokouji was tired. He'd gone through around eight men and none of them were weak. To make matters worse, he was surrounded by six. Fists swung at him from the left and right. He ducked then kicked the men on the opposite sides in the gut while they were mid-swing. From behind him a knee struck his back and shoved him towards two men who had their fists reeled back. Kiyotaka jumped downward and did a kick-up. Each foot planted themselves in each of the men's groins. The two men stumbled back and Kiyotaka used the space they provided to roll backwards and do a kick-up this time to stand up. Immediately after he stood up, two more began striking at Kiyotaka. He bent his body back as far as he could and the fists swung over him. Immediately after, he grabbed a fist and swung himself over it and kicked the man to his right in the face. One down. He dropped down and lunged to the left avoiding a kick but ran into an elbow that landed in his side. He endured the pain and jumped forward. Rather than making space for himself, he instead kneed the man who elbowed him in the face. That was two down. The man fell to his knees allowing Kiyotaka to leap over him and kick the man directly behind the kneeling man in the face. The masked man who'd got his face bashed in reeled back in pain. Three down.
He had his chance, Ayanokouji leapt on the wall and jump kicked another man in the back of the head as he landed behind the horde of men. Two left and they made the mistake of leaving their backs exposed since they hadn't realized he'd gotten behind them. With their backs to him, Kiyotaka unleashed a volley of fists to their pressure points knocking them all out soon after. The encirclement was broken.
Sweat endlessly dripped from his brow and his breathing was ragged but at last, there was only one more man standing.
"STOP RIGHT THERE OR THE GIRL DIES!" The exclamation from the man by Ichinose stopped Ayanokouji in his tracks. With the man's attention solely focused on Ayanokouji, Ichinose took her chance.
In one swift motion, Ichinose broke through her ties and knocked the knife out of the man's hand with hers. "NOW AYANOKOUJI-KUN!"
Ayanokouji swiftly closed the distance between the man, the next second the man was sent flying into the wall behind him. Ayanokouji fell to his knees. He was exhausted. Ichinose rushed to him.
CRACK
Underneath her feet laid a small broken camera that was attached to one of the masked men's shirts. They were being filmed? That seemed to be the case but why? What could they want to film? She looked around. What kind of person would film their own crime. She twisted her head back to the injured student in front of her. Was it Ayanokouji? Were they trying to expose him?
"We...need...to break them...all" Ayanokouji said in between gasps for air, the mastermind knew who he was and there was only one person who knew him-Sakayanagi. He didn't know why she'd do this but it was far too dangerous to leave any cameras intact.
"I'll do it, you need to rest." Ichinose sat him down against a wall then quickly began looking through the bodies and broke the cameras. It was rather easy since they were all in the same place. It took her five minutes to find and destroy them all. She returned to Ayanokouji and began to help him up.
"KIYOTAKAAAAA!" A loud voice shrieked. Ichinose looked towards the source and sighed with relief.
From the front of the alley a golden-brown haired girl ran towards the two of them, police officers behind her. The officers apprehended the masked men while Kei ran full speed towards Kiyotaka.
"KIYOTAKA!" Tears ran down her eyes when she saw how battered he was.
"I'm…fine…don't cry." He said in between breaths.
"How'd you find me?"
Kei showed him her phone which was running snap maps.
"I…didn't know…that was a thing."
"Let's go back," she said with tears still running down her eyes.
"Ichinose-san can you help me carry him out" Ichinose nodded and the two of them lifted him up and began their exit from the alley.
The knife wielder's eyes slowly opened. How long had he been out? He looked up and saw the boy still in sight.
If all else fails, eliminate him.
The final order issued to the man from the white-haired girl rang in his head. The man put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a revolver much like those from old western movies. He cocked the gun and aimed at the boy.
Kei, whether it was out of luck or instinct, happened to look back. Her eyes widened at the sight of the revolver, but it wasn't aimed at her.
KIYOTAKA?!
A chill colder than liquid nitrogen ran through her very core. A split second later she was running toward Kiyotaka. The next second she leapt towards him.
"GUNNN!" She screamed in mid-air.
BANG BANG
Kei slammed into Ayanokouji who knocked over Ichinose, and two bullets burst out of the gun. Law enforcement quickly carried the three of them to cover and returned fire while retreating behind the walls.
The gunfire only lasted a few seconds. Relief swept over Ichinose. It was all over now. Beside her, an officer set down Kei against the wall. Upon removing his hands from her, he froze.
"10-52! 10-52!"
The officer shouted at the nearby officers. The police officers eyes dilated in fear and quickly began dialing a number when they heard the police code.
Ichinose and Ayanokouji looked around confused but they soon realized what the code meant when they turned around. 10-52: ambulance needed. Kei sat motionless against the wall. Her uniform was soaked with blood.
""KEI!""
