Dane looked back at him with a frown, and Deandre asked in surprise.
“What are you doing? Are you trying to make Miller do this? Are you serious?”
Deandre looked back and forth between Grayson and Dane in disbelief. Dane answered him in his usual annoyed tone.
“This kid needs to do something, I can’t just watch him. I taught him how to spray water, so he should be able to do it.”
“You taught him? You? Miller?”
Deandre asked in surprise again. Dane answered without hesitation.
“Yeah.”
Oh my gosh, what’s going on? This guy who always says ‘annoying’ even taught Miller himself? Really? Dane added as if it was obvious, looking at him with wide eyes.
“You have to finish work quickly so you can go and rest, idiot.”
“Oh.”
That was a plausible enough answer. This guy always got annoyed whenever he went out. Dane Striker was the most work-hating man he knew, and he just liked to play around. In fact, he was a total idiot.
... ... But it still didn’t make sense that he would do such a bothersome thing to get off work early.
When DeAndre’s attitude calmed down, Dane nodded in annoyance and ordered him.
“You do your job, don’t waste time hanging around.”
“......Okay.”
He didn’t want to, but he had nothing more to say. Dane took his eyes off his back as he left and glanced at Grayson. Grayson smiled as if nothing had happened. Dane said bluntly.
“How many times do I have to tell you to get rid of that face?”
It wasn’t the time to grab him and talk to him. The sound of fire and the shouts of his colleagues were loudly mixed together from all directions. Dane quickly told Grayson what to do and gathered his equipment. He was getting ready to enter. Grayson did as he was told and moved to spray water with a hose. As soon as he was settled, Dane immediately turned on the water. The torrential water poured down on the flames, creating a rainbow.
“Good job, keep doing this.”
Dane lightly tapped Grayson on the shoulder and quickly prepared to go inside with Ezra.
“Is there anyone inside?”
Wilkins nodded at Ezra’s question.
“They said everyone was evacuated. You guys should go in first and...”
Dane, who was standing with Ezra listening to his story, suddenly saw a man at the end of his gaze. Wilkins followed him and said, “Ah.”
“It’s the landlord. He reported the fire when I came back from work.”
“You seem to live alone.”
Wilkins nodded at Ezra’s words.
“I heard he got divorced. His wife left home.”
The man stood there, staring blankly at the burning house. His wife had left him, and he had lost all his possessions, so it was understandable that he would lose his mind. Dane felt like he could understand him to some extent. Perhaps it was because they had a sense of kinship with him, having lost his home in a fire.
Leaving them behind to focus on Wilkins’ words again, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) DeAndre joined his busy colleagues. As soon as he arrived, one of them asked as if he had been waiting for him.
“What’s going on?”
It was about Grayson. DeAndre glanced in the direction he had come from.
“I don’t know, Dane must have taught him roughly. He thought it would help if he did something......”
“It might help, but will he really do it?”
The other guy spoke up in a discontented tone. Soon, words poured out from here and there.
“Who would trust Miller? They would trust Dane.”
“It’s lucky if there’s no accident.”
“Anyway, let’s check in between. Everyone must be busy.”
“Right, if there’s even the slightest hint of something wrong, we have to go and fix it right away.”
The firefighters who took turns high-fiving each other quickly started moving to carry out their assigned tasks. And Dane and Ezra went into the flames.
Most of the interior of the house had already been reduced to ashes. The water pouring down on the burnt structure had soaked through it and collapsed to the point where there was barely any space left. Dane, who was looking around the house while stepping on the rubble, passed the collapsed walls and furniture and looked around the house. As he had already heard, there was no sign of people. While he swung the hose of the fire extinguisher he was carrying on his shoulder here and there to put out the remaining embers, he could still hear the sounds of burning and collapsing.
“It looks like it’s almost over.”
Ezra came out of another room and said.
“Did you report it late? It burned down so much.......”
You might think that it couldn’t have been like that since he found it after work, but there are still questions. If that’s the case, how could the fire have started when there was no one home?
“It looks like the fire started here.”
Ezra said as he entered a space that was particularly blackened and turned to ash. In what seemed to be a child’s playroom, there were only dolls and a child’s bed that were barely recognizable. As expected, he was looking inside while putting out the visible fire.
“......?”
Dane, who had turned toward the bed, stopped. He felt something strange. There was something that shouldn’t be under the bed... ... .
“Dane?”
Ezra shouted in surprise at Dane’s appearance as he immediately bent down. Soon after, Ezra saw what Dane had found under the bed and held his breath in thought. The child who had stopped breathing was there, blackened and charred.
Dane, who had hastily pulled the child out, froze in shock for a moment. The remaining flesh was covered in bruises and bloodstains. There was no trace of healthy flesh.
“T-what is this?”
Ezra also muttered in a trembling voice. Anyone could tell that it was definitely not a fire wound. Dane didn’t waste any more time and ran outside, holding the child in his arms.
Those guys think I’m an idiot.
Grayson suppressed his growing irritation and focused on spraying water. The other guys had been glancing at him the whole time. He knew what those gazes meant. They were watching him anxiously, wondering if he might make a mistake. Grayson was simply dumbfounded by that fact.
It's just a matter of spraying water, what's so difficult about that?
Besides, he was quite focused right now. Because he wanted Dane to think he was useful when he came back. If possible, it would be nice if he could kiss him too... ... .
Just as he was about to raise the corners of his lips, a commotion was suddenly heard. He could quickly figure out why. Dane had rushed outside. He was holding a child in his arms.
"Oxygen, give him oxygen!"
"Dane, over here! Lay him down here, quick!"
"Get CPR ready, quick...!"
The paramedics ran around frantically, but the commotion didn't last long. They urgently massaged his heart and supplied oxygen, but it was already too late. Everyone knew it. A heavy silence fell. Ezra put a hand on Dane's shoulder, who was just watching in a daze.
"It was already too late, you knew it from the first time I saw him."
Dane looked back at him blankly and then turned his gaze back to the child. He had his shoulders drooping listlessly, and belatedly took off his helmet and covered his face with one hand. The child’s face, visible through his fingers, was scorched and blackened here and there. There was no life in his drooping body. How frightened must he have been in that hot flame? How much must he have been in agony and desperately waiting for help? How much, how much.
Then, anger welled up inside him. Dane immediately turned his head and looked in the direction where the man who was the owner had been standing. He was still there. He stood there blankly, blinking as if it was someone else’s business, even though there was such a commotion.
“Dane, Dane?”
“Hey, where are you going?”
Surprised shouts came from all over the place at his sudden trot. Grayson also stopped spraying water and followed Dane. And then in the next moment.
With a loud “Boom!”, Dane swung his fist at the man.
“You?”
Dane shouted at the man lying on the ground, leaving the surprised firefighters behind.
“You killed him, didn’t you? You son of a bitch!”
