Kuzu and Gigi disappeared from the courtyard, Hitori walked back to the throne and watched as they disappeared from his territory. Hitori sat on his throne and pulled his hand to the brows.
He had successfully managed to defeat an attack by... words, which was not intentional, but worked, so who cares? Without gathering a crowd and revealing to other players their weakness and the current conflict in the group, he sent Kuzu back to his place.
"Oh, crap." Hitori sighed and giggled. "Crap! I did it, oh crap!" he celebrated his accomplishment.
But the next step was conquering the lost dungeons: Kori and Yuki. Hitori curled his lip and turned bitter again. "Why should I? If he did not bother to come, then why should I save his dungeons?"
Hitori logged out. The snowfall had reduced by a good amount, about to stop anytime, his room was as dark as ever, the curtains were undrawn, the lamps were off, and only the magic screen was glowing purple in the room.
Hitori dropped his head. "Am I acting the Victim?" he wondered.
Hitori sat there for another three minutes, he checked on others but they were still offline. "Yeah. Good luck with your sleep."
Kamiya flashed in front of him for some reason. He had the most expectations from Kamiya, then Reon.
'So what, Kamiya, so what if we argued? You need to show up when our territory's in danger.'
A notification interrupted Hitori's thoughts. He turned to his gaming screen and saw an inbox from Rotten Mind. Hitori's heart started racing. Rotten Mind was from the top three, more experienced, and was the same person who took down a level twenty-five zombie dungeon so early in the game.
But when Hitori opened the message, he lost respect for him. The message stated:
"Happy New Year. I know it is late, I know, Ryu. But I had something important to talk about. I have a proposal for you and your partner."
Hitori sighed. 'Oh, we are not partners anymore, we do not work together.'
He continued reading:
"I want to propose a battle. A two-on-two battle. Me and my friend Ronin Samurai versus you and your partner--"
Hitori shook his head. "Forget it."
"Leonine."
Hitori's eyes widened when he read Leonine. He went back and read the message again. Yes, he had read it correctly-- Rotten Mind wanted to have a battle with Leonine.
Hitori checked out his card from the slot. Kamiya was not with him, he would not be in the Vr-cade either, so that leaves only one place-- The Hospital.
Hitori relied on the game to receive messages, but that was not the same with the players with mobiles. They would receive the message on their mobiles if they have connected their mobiles during the game's purchase.
'You did not come even after the message, even when our territory was at stake. Oh, Kamiya, we need to talk.'
Kamiya let Akemi calm down. He sat beside her as she drank her drink. Kamiya was holding his can with one hand and Akemi's hand with another.
At a quarter past three, Kamiya said, "What did he say?"
Akemi glanced at Kamiya.
"It is okay, you can take your time." Kamiya placed his can behind Akemi's head. He walked to the door, he wanted to give her some alone time.
But she said, "He knows." Kamiya stopped in the doorway, he narrowed his eyes and looked at Akemi. "He knows where Hitori lives. He has found it. And he is going to kill him. Jigo, Kuzu is in the city, he can kill Hitori whenever he wants."
Kamiya grabbed his lower lip by his teeth. "So?"
Akemi frowned. "So you need to tell him! You need to go to his house and tell him he is not safe!"
"Is that what you want?" He turned and walked to her as he said, "I will die if I go to his house. Kuzu is in the city, he can kill Hitori whenever he can."
Akemi shook her head in disgust. "What happened to you, Jigo? You are not like this. Did something happen between you and Hitori?"
Kamiya sighed. He glanced at Akemi a few times before giving her a nod. He told her everything that happened between him and Hitori on that night.
After hearing that, she sighed and covered her face. "Oh, god." then she raised her head. "You know what? It does not matter. You have pulled Hitori into this mess and now it is your responsibility to at least if you can not get him out of his mess or protect him, warn him!"
"But I do not know how to face him!"
"Oh, it is just like we used to when we were little. Argue and then make up. If there is this bond, then it does not matter how severe your argument was."
All Kamiya could do was listen and nod with his head down.
"Now go, Jigo-Jigo. Go and tell him. Think about Hitori and all the time you have spent together. Go and save his life!"
"I still..." Kamiya stole glances.
Akemi punched the door's button. Kamiya lifted his head and watched as the door slid open. "Uh! Go or else I will not talk to you!"
Kamiya did not think for another second, he grabbed his coat and rushed out of the room. Akemi smiled as she closed the door. "Even I want you to put an end to this. But it will be easier if HE is with you."
The only light that was glowing in the Vr-cade's tenth alley was the console Kuzu was using. After they logged out, they both were frozen by Hitori's behavior tonight.
It seemed as if he was confident about his victory but he was pissed about fighting all the time as if he wanted to rest. He acted like a victim, too, Kuzu thought, as long as he is not Masao-san, he will say that about his mates.
Onogi would kill anyone who does not follow his commands. Hitori was different, he cared about his mates.
The map flashed in front of Kuzu. Kamiya's missing blue point on the map. Kuzu pushed his chair, it screeched on the floor, Gigi pushed himself back when Kuzu suddenly rose.
Gigi was checking on his foot which had grown even bigger than before, he could not understand the reason behind it. No sprain swells this big. He pulled his socks and put on his boots.
"Kamiya," Kuzu groaned. "Argh! What the fuck are you playing with us?" Kuzu punched the console table. The table shook on impact and when Kuzu removed his fist, there was a meteor-like hole on the table.
"The fuck. I can not understand this situation. If his mates are not following him, the Vr-cade's closed, he has only one console station in the house, and there are no consoles in or near the hospital. Then where the fuck is Kamiya?"
Gigi sighed. "I told you," he said, "in the city hospital. It was Kamiya chasing his cans. He must have dropped it when he saw us. He is too much of a wimp to attack us from behind, forget about a face-to-face attack. That is why he ran."
Kuzu had no other possible theory about Kamiya's whereabouts. He had to agree with Gigi.
"We need to check then." Kuzu turned to walk out of the alley when Gigi stopped him.
"Uh... Kuzu, I do not think I can move. This swelling has reached my ankle and it hurts like hell."
Kuzu turned around. Gigi showed his foot to Kuzu. It was like a baseball. Or a Hobbit's foot, just it was not hairy but swelled with brown color pus inside.
Kuzu pulled his medkit once again. "I think we should go back and get professional treatment," Kuzu said, as he bent down to inject another painkiller and pus ejector.
"Kamiya first," Gigi hissed, "fucking Kamiya first."
Kuzu lifted his eyes and stared blankly. "You should not delay your treatment."
Gigi shook his head. "It is just a sprain, what worse could happen? I will have to use an artificial foot. But if we go back now, Onogi-san will be at the edge-- we called our mission off, and went back empty-handed, ah, with a sprain-- we both will be filled with regret. And if we leave now, the next chance to enter the city will be during the Hina Matsuri-- the Doll Festival in early March. Of course, we can enter at our own risk.
"But my point is, why should we wait for another month or so when we can do it today. By the early morning, we will be back to Onogi-san. Mission accomplished, Kamiya killed, fear spread, and we all happy."
Kuzu sighed and continued bandaging Gigi's foot after pulling the pus into a tube. Kuzu took a glance at the pus after bandaging Gigi's foot, he studied the pus. "W-what kind of pus is this?"
Gigi leaned forward. He was staring at the brownish-red pus extracted from his foot. Not yellow, not greenish, but brownish-red. Darker than blood.
"Leave that for sensei. We should get ready." Gigi pushed on the chair to stand up when Kuzu pushed him back.
"I still need to do the painkillers."
Gigi looked at the roof, he was thinking about Kamiya. It came late to him, but when it did, it made perfect sense.
"Kuzu."
"I am done, just a second."
"Kamiya and Hitori," he said, "did you notice there was something wrong between them? Those two mages, they were together since he got himself involved."
"Well, they just got away for a day. They have lives, too, girlfriends, crushes, and other shit. Maybe Kamiya boy wanted to confess to his crush tonight?"
"After midnight? Oh, even Onogi-san would not do something like that."
"I do not know. Hitori and Kamiya are not lovers, they just play games together. So what if Kamiya was absent for one day? He is not Hitori's pet just because he saved him from you, some bullies."
"Ah... a bully. Sounds harsh."
"And what did you thought, Gigi, they would spend their rest of the lives sitting in the Vr-cade, sleeping and eating in Hitori's house? That they would never get girlfriends or try to impress some girl for a change?"
"That is not the point. Listen, Kuzu. His mates are not listening to him? Fine, I understand. But even Kamiya is not? When that bastard jumped in between me and Kamiya and dared to use his magic-- I was pissed that I pointed my gun, but at the same time, I thought: That guy jumped to save some nerd he does not even know."
"Well... not like Kamiya had many friends. Yeah, not it makes sense. Everyone will leave Hitori but, you want to say, Kamiya will still stand by his side."
Gigi snapped his fingers. "Now, hear me out. I have never exercised my brain this much since the entrance exam."
"It would be worth hearing then." Kuzu packed his kit and sat in front of Gigi.
Gigi started, "That bastard must have figured out your warning was a trap, but he could not risk it either. Here is what I think Hitori might have done: He told Kamiya to stay with Akemi in the hospital-- yes, it leads back to the hospital-- while he logged in alone, knowing that it was a fake warning and no one would come anyways-- Hitori came without his mates. Thinking you might send me or go yourself to kill Akemi, Hitori asked Kamiya to stay in the hospital."
"But Kamiya was not there when he arrived, and we did attack his territory."
"It all goes back to my suspect-- Kamiya was the one with the cans. And Hitori, did you notice his behavior when we encountered him? He was fucking weird-- as if he had lost his cool and calm."
"I have never seen him like that. Even during the final battle, have you, Gigi?"
"That is my point. So when we arrived, he made a plan-- an excuse-- to get out safely. He used his mates. Blamed them that they are not listening to him, they fear us, and they are sleeping. Oh, Hitori's followers have increased since our battle. He could have called an entire army on us. But not even a single soul witnessed our attack tonight. Hitori was confident we were not coming-- hence he took no precautions."
"He is a man with plans, Kamiya once told me, he knows what he is doing. But you are right. I found his behavior dramatic."
"Overly dramatic. He is calm, he rarely acts like the victim or blames others. That is what has kept his team together, just like the fear of Onogi-san has kept his army together."
"Are you sure?" Kuzu asked, "it was Kamiya in the hospital?"
"If it was Kamiya, then no matter what, he will not leave the hospital. He will not leave Akemi's side."
Kuzu smirked. "Then it only makes sense if we go and check on her once again."
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