***Takagi POV***
"Ugh, what the hell is taking them so long," I growled. "The guy better not have gotten lost because he gave me this useless map." Then, glancing at my hand, I examined the now crumpled scrap of paper. "I mean, who the hell could even read this?! The handwriting looks like a little kid wrote it!"
Irritatingly, we've been standing around and waiting since Sato sent me down this dreary hallway. I still couldn't believe I'd been playing as a taxi to the sleeping beauty and a chaperone to the rest of these idiots.
To clarify, when I say "idiots," I mean these useless lemmings that consider themselves people. The lemmings who just sat complacently in their murder kennels, waiting for their numbers to be called.
'At least put up a fight before you die,' I eyed the herd with open disgust. However, boredom seized control, so I focused on the locked door barricading our escape. It was made from sturdy brown wood paired with a rusted-over lock.
Unsurprisingly, the lemmings were utterly useless in handling the door. They poked and pried at it but did little else.
"Ugh, get out of the way," I snapped at the masses to clear a path.
With hopeful glances cast my way, my demands were followed without hesitation. With a direct route to the door, I sauntered up to it with the confidence of a king approaching his throne.
"Did the soldier give you his keys?" a lemming timidly asked.
"Keys?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Oh, Sure. I've got a key right here," I slyly smiled, lifting my right leg.
Once upon the door, I repeated the motions I'd made at the tower. For some reason, I couldn't summon up those green orbs like I did before, but I didn't need them.
I pulled my leg all the way back, then loosed it like a hammer to an anvil, striking the door by its handle with a heavy impact. It clattered against its frame and shook loose a pile of dust that had accumulated at the top.
'Ugh... So it's gonna be like that, huh?' I sighed tiredly. Did I really need to hit the thing multiple times to break it?
Turns out I did, since my first strike failed.
"Okaaay, let's try this again," I grunted in determination. However, even after my second strike, the door remained stubbornly in place, mocking me with its lack of movement.
Despite its inanimate nature, I couldn't help but feel as though the thing was sneering at me, taunting me for my inability to break it open.
That thought simmered frustration within me, fueling a fit of anger that drove me to deliver a series of weighty blows to the door.
With each forceful kick, I let out a word of frustration. "Open. The. Fuck. Up. You. Stubborn. PIECE. OF..." Drawing back my leg, I channeled every ounce of strength in my body before shouting the final word. "SHIIIIIT!!!"
With a loud crash, the hinges snapped off the frame, causing the door to squeal and groan as it fell to the floor.
While panting heavily, I savored my triumph while feeling a wave of arrogance surging through my body. I reveled in the satisfaction of a job well done and felt like nothing could stop me now.
'I scare even myself sometimes,' I thought, admiring my work. Interrupting me was a tap on my shoulder; it was one of the lemmings that Sato sent with me. The only noteworthy aspect of the guy was how plain he was.
He grossly fidgeted his fingers and spoke with a disgustingly meek voice. "Um, we should probably get goi-"
"HUUUUHHH?!" I snarled in annoyance, exposing the veins on my forehead.
"I'm sorry!" he yelped, then bowed several times before retreating back into the shifting crowd.
'Like hell, I'll let any of you leave without that guy...' The soldier was worth at least a thousand of these incompetents in a fight. I had way more respect for him than I did for any of these trashy background characters.
Though I thought that, it'd be a lie if I said I wasn't feeling restless by now. 'How long does it take a guy to knock out some unsuspecting loser and free another unsuspecting loser?!' I bet I could do it in five seconds if I weren't stuck ferrying this baggage everywhere!
Pivoting my body, I saw that the rest of the group was struck by the same anxieties as the plain guy. They were all, to my annoyance, constantly mumbling amongst themselves as they gawked at the exit.
"Shut up!" I shouted and blocked the opening. My voice echoed throughout the corridor and tunnel beyond, emphasizing my words further. Luckily, my demand was very effective, given that a sweet silence enveloped the room afterward.
'Heh, that solves one problem,' I thought triumphantly.
Unfortunately, I created a new one with my "request." After my display of aggression, these people now directed their expressions of unrest, terror, and sorrow at ME! They looked at ME like I was the bad guy!
"And wipe those idiotic looks off of your faces!" I snarled.
Hearing my second command, most of them angled their sights downward to avoid mine.
'That's better,' I smirked again.
However, a blissful silence wasn't what I heard. Instead, the sounds of feminine groans played, originating from my back. A minute later, the mumbles were paired with a continuous rustling that developed into a full-on struggle.
"Wha?! Where?!" Agawa panicked and struck my head repeatedly.
If I were anyone else, she might've knocked me out. If it weren't for my skull, hardened by years of back alley brawls, I would've been knocked out cold.
'She really packs a punch!' I thought, gaining a tad of respect for the girl.
However, praise wasn't what I'd give her. I didn't appreciate getting wailed on from behind. "Hey, knock that off!" I growled.
"Wha?.. Takagi?.. Is that..." the assault on my head ceased as she stopped in silence. I wasn't sure exactly what she was doing, but I guessed she was evaluating what to do next.
Partially out of revenge and primarily because I hated being used, a tempting thought to drop her crept into my mind now that she was awake. I decided against it, though. It would've sucked if she fell the wrong way and got knocked out again. No way did I want to carry her anymore…
"T-Takagi?" she asked meekly. "Is that you?"
"No, it's the prime minister," I said with a snarky tone. "Yeah, it's me; sorry, I'm not your boyfriend, the soldier guy," I taunted, partially to gauge her mental state.
As it turned out, it wasn't good. The mere mention of Sato was enough for her to start restlessly struggling to escape my grasp again.
"Seriously? You need to stop! I'll drop you. Is that what you want?" I loosened my hold on her legs to show my sincerity. I wasn't one to make idle threats.
Thankfully, that was enough to get her to cease her incessant squirming. I heard her take several breaths, calming her emotions from a typhoon to a light rain.
With her calm, I eased my tone. "You can walk now, right? I hope you can because I'm not carrying you anymore."
Her answer took the form of a mild grunt. I assumed that it was in agreement.
With her permission, I steadily let go of her legs and allowed her a moment to stabilize herself on the ground. Now that I was free from the burden, all the aches in my joints erupted with a vengeance.
I rotated, worked, and bent every muscle in my body through various exercises. 'Nothing beats a good stretch routine,' I chuckled. I always stretched plenty before and after pulpifying some fool that challenged me to a fight.
While stretching out my hamstrings, I noticed Agawa standing in place, frozen to the ground. Her vacant gaze was captivated by the filthy dungeon floor, and her mind seemed to just...nod off from reality.
"Hey, wake up!" I snapped my fingers in front of her. "I'm not relaying you around anymore, so you'd better get a grip."
I shocked her out of whatever trance she'd been in, and she cast a look at me with new life in her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, Takagi," her expression was clear with distress, "I don't even know what to think right now."
I sighed, then grinned. "Do what I do, then. Don't think ahead; just do stuff as you need to."
She stared at me blankly. She must've expected some form of complicated consoling.
'Too bad for you, I don't care!' is what I wanted to say, but I abstained. Instead, I did something totally unlike me; I feigned concern. "Are you alright?" I begrudgingly questioned.
"Yeah," she gave a pitiful smile, "I'm alright." Her shoulders relaxed while she ingested several inhales paired with exhales.
I did feel some pity since she couldn't maneuver her hands much. They were busy acting as safety guards, holding up her lone covering of a tattered blanket. Whatever she went through, it was reassuring she maintained enough sanity to protect herself.
'What should I do?' I scratched my head in confusion. I couldn't figure out if I should ask her what had happened or not.
I wracked my brain for answers, though thinking was never a strong point of mine. It'd suck if I sent her into crazy land again because I asked the wrong question. Luckily, I didn't need to ask; she initiated the conversation on her own.
At first, she mouthed what she wanted to say like she'd been rehearsing lines for a play. "Uh," she paused, "where is…um…Sato?" her eyes twitched as she winced at his name.
Though I was curious about her reaction to his mention, I decided it'd be better to brush it off. "That guy? He's having fun saving the Conman. If I had to guess, he's probably fighting some psychopath right now." I ground my teeth together and inwardly added, 'he's taking his damn sweet time doing it too...'
Her new expression emitted mixed signals. On the one hand, her body appeared instinctually relieved at the mention that Sato wasn't here. On the other, her eyes began darting around sporadically in anxiety when I'd mentioned that he was fighting someone.
"What happened to me?" she asked nervously.
"Do you want the long or short version?" I replied, crossing my arms behind my head with impatience.
"Uh…long, please."
'What a pain,' I sighed.
"The soldier guy met up with me while ferrying you around. Then he pushed you off onto me," I restlessly rubbed the back of my neck. "and we found everyone else. Now here we are, that good?"
Agawa's lips curled in confusion, and her expression emitted an aura of frustration. "That wasn't very long," she said irritatedly.
"Welp, you get what you get," I shrugged. "That's as long as I was willing to make it."
"I'm scared to ask what the short version would've been," she laughed weakly.
"That version would've been 'nothing much.'"
She laughed again, this time slightly less solemn. "That's just like you. I shouldn't expect anything less…or more in this case..." Though she joked, she defaulted back to an expression of quiet angst in no time at all.
She reached out to me and began mouthing a question. However, she caught herself and her arm just short of their target. Pulling them back, she constricted her body to become as tight as possible and squeezed her arm with anguish.
Surprisingly, I felt slightly (I couldn't stress that enough) concerned about her. Finishing what she started, I reached out to her arm when hurried footsteps echoed throughout the dingy halls.
Naturally, this sound scared the lemmings to all hell, and they began inching toward the exit, despite my blocking it.
"Do you hear that?"
"Oh god, they're coming!"
"We gotta get out of here!"
"LET US THROUGH, KID!"
But I wouldn't have it. "Shut the hell up and stay there! If any of you try to run," I gave a bladed smirk, "I'll beat you to a fucking pulp..." With my threats, they backed down and away from the tunnel.
'Okay, now that that's solved,' I thought triumphantly. I cracked my knuckles and stretched my neck from side to side. The sound of several satisfying pops echoed from within my body as I prepared my body to fight.
The unidentified runner approached our position rapidly, and I took a brawling stance. It looked like I'd be alone since the remaining lemmings were busy cowering behind one another.
'Cowards,' I clicked my tongue in frustration but wasn't deterred. Even if I had to do it alone, I'd fight this whole damn mansion if I had to!
'If these bastards want a fight, I'll beat it out of them!' With my assertion, something erupted inside me, kicking up a frenzy of anticipation and excitement.
My bones, my veins, even my blood: it all anxiously awaited the fight. It all urged me to match my opponent's approach and meet their challenge head-on for a bloody battle.
Moments later, the footsteps were practically on top of us, making it impossible to contain my giddiness.
'They're here!' is what I thought, but reality was nothing if not disappointing.
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