They stared at each other in silence.

Irie had his back against the wall with his knees drawn up to his chest and arms resting above his knees, a slightly haunted look on his face. One hand toyed with his red locks from the back of his neck while the other simply dangled in front of him. His eyes were locked on the unconscious teenager's face.

"I don't understand this at all," he said, sighing heavily, "But we did see this coming, didn't we?"

Spanner was staring at the sky as he stood beside his friend with his hands inside his pockets. He shot a brief look towards Irie before looking up again and shrugging.

"I guess," he muttered as he chewed on his homemade strawberry-flavored lollipop. He'd always kept five or seven of it in his pockets. "We knew from the very beginning that tampering with countless layers of security from different organizations and groups would cost us something someday."

Irie rolled his eyes as he motioned towards the unconscious brunet.

"But this was one of the things we didn't expect or take into consideration."

"I doubt anybody would have been prepared for the appearance of a murderer beaten inches within his death, Shoichi," Spanner monotonously pointed out.

"Point taken."

Another moment shared in silence.

"What do we do from now on?" Irie couldn't help but ask. He didn't sound devastated; far from it, actually. He removed his fingers from his hair and sat back, leaning his head against the concrete and closing his eyes. "We can't go back to school; Shamal-sensei can corner us and see to it that we don't escape a second time. There's nothing to lose anyway; we were on scholarship. We've also taken what we could and we're really, really lucky that we kept our things ready in case of an emergency like this so even if they realize that something's wrong, they'll find nothing in our apartment."

"There's also a low chance that he would rely on the Disciplinary Committee-" Spanner suddenly paused and Irie stiffened, his eyes snapping open.

"The Disciplinary Committee." Irie palmed his face.

"On second thought, he just might ask them and they're usually-"

"-everywhere," Irie finished.

He was tempted to say that it was an exaggeration to say that they were 'everywhere' but Spanner knew it was quite near. All delinquents had two choices: to abandon their status as a delinquent or work for the head prefect of Namimori. Knowing that there is more advantage to being a part of the committee, they usually preferred the latter. And there was a lot of them to spare for patrol.

"It's easy to book a room in a hotel but bypassing the staff and the members of the committee would be difficult."

"Isn't it at this point that we consider moving to another country?"

"And risk attracting more people like Shamal-sensei?"

"..."

"We don't know how many of them there are and we're up against Gesso."

Irie grimaced at the reminder.

"Not to mention we can't move around freely because we have to carry him around while he's unconscious."

"Let me rephrase my question, then," Irie amended, "Isn't it at this point we consider giving up?"

"It's not like you to say that."

Irie ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. They both knew he didn't mean what he just said; he was the one who suggested helping him in the first place. But the pressure was there and it was getting to his head. They were up against professional and trained men who has had experience, a Famiglia who was aware of their presence, and a 'murderer' within their hands. Until now, Irie can't wrap his head around the fact. The brunet was young and he'll be damned if Shamal was saying the truth about him being 5. That was just ridiculously young that it sounds stupid.

Distressed, Irie helplessly looked at Spanner and asked, "Do you really think he's a...?"

A murderer?

The blond-haired teen pushed the lollipop to the other side of his mouth with his tongue as he stared at thin air for a while.

"Yes, but no," Spanner vaguely replied. "Heir or not, it sounds like a far-fetched and exaggerated lie. He was up against the strongest and most influential Famiglia. Their headquarters must have found ways to improve their defense and enhance the resistance of the building from collapse. The Boss of the Vongola was there, too, so it's just stupid to think that a five-year-old child managed to simultaneously blow the headquarters up and kill some men."

Irie tentatively added, "Was he imprisoned in the first place? The details of the incident in the paper said nothing about the aftermath."

"And the injuries." Spanner nodded towards the brunet. "Even with deduction or rule of elimination with regards to every possibility, it's near impossible to determine what has happened to him for the past decade."

Irie buried his face into his knees as Spanner sat beside him.

And once again, they shared a moment in silence.