Deranged Love - Hanma Shuji

Chapter 6

Warning : graphic depiction of violence, of death, blood play

If discretion was what I had aimed for, that plan was quickly thrown out of the window when I opened the door of the building and heard clatter behind it. It only stopped when I hurriedly closed the door again, but the metallic sound of shrapnel falling out of place echoed long enough for it to resonate through the entire building. The consequences of that little mishap frightened me, anyone could have heard, they could be coming any time. Even if I had been told to come by, I wanted to have the upper hand with the element of surprise. Looking around, I saw there was rubble everywhere, I could barely walk with how cluttered the floor was. Some paths had been made through everything: one leading to a window, the other to the elevator, but the rest was unreachable. The light was too dim for me to see anything, forcing me to pull out my phone's flashlight and startling me in the process when I almost bumped into something that was hanging from the ceiling.

With one step to the side, I avoided it and entered the elevator. From the light that was lit inside it, I had assumed it was still in service, but a sign with "Out of service – Unstable, do not use" was laying on the floor. I tensed and slowly got out of there, indeed feeling how shaky the cage was. Once I had stepped out of it, a low hum was heard and the elevator door closed before going up. It left me confused, but instead of wondering why it was working and how it was still in shape, I opened a path towards what looked like staircases leading to the upper level. Grimacing, I put on my gloves to avoid touching any weird substances laying around and started lifting the equipment from the ground; it ranged from boxes full of unusable threads and wool, to sewing machines that were falling apart, pieces coming off as I lifted them.

Another loud noise; this time, I had enough and decided to climb over the rubble instead of opening a path for me to walk on. Balance was key to not stumble and hurt myself—just as I thought that, I covered my mouth upon feeling a sharp pain in the arch of my foot and balance was forgotten in the blink of an eye. I jumped over the remaining distance, landing on my feet for a few seconds before falling to my knees and letting out a controlled breath. "That's on me for not being careful, I guess." I hissed in a shaky voice as I carefully pushed things aside to plop down on the floor and looked at my foot. Brushing a finger over the sole of my shoe, I did not see any blood which meant whatever I had stepped on wasn't too bad and I could go on without worrying much. It was easier said than done, but with the right mindset I could ignore the pain long enough until I got Hanma back—when that thought crossed my mind, I paused in my steps and huffed a dry laugh. "Until I got Hanma back," I scoffed, "I never had him in the first place, I don't care about him."

But if he were to die, I would be alone in that stupid situation he had put me in. He had to take responsibility for his actions and not just let me handle it on my own, I was not ready yet to do that.

That's why I needed him.

I simply needed him to be able to stay alive and not get fucked over by those criminals that were now part of my life.

With that clarification, my mind was slightly clearer and I walked up the stairs. Hopped would be the most adequate word; once I made sure the handrail was stable, I put most of my weight on it to not walk on my wounded foot. A burning sensation at the arch of it was making itself known. Clenching my jaw, I shook my head and reached the top floor, only to see it empty too. "If this is a prank, I will... I will..." Groaning in frustration, I started debating internally if I should keep going or not—after all, I would not put it past Hanma to have written the letter himself just to see what it'd do, what I'd do.

"I'll check all the floors, then whatever goes, goes. How many are there left?" I whispered to myself, leaning over the handrail to look up. Counting the floors under my breath, I sighed at the final count and started going up again, "Three more..." With that, I entered an automated mode and ignored the pain as I supported my weight on the handrail and hopped once more. The two following floors were once more lifeless, not one sign of anyone around—no light, no voices, nothing. Fear and frustration clashed inside my chest; either I had the wrong address and I would not get to Hanma on time, or I was being toyed with. With a deep breath, I got hold of myself and calmed down "What's wrong with one less criminal in the world? Right?" Shit, even said out loud I could not believe myself. Laughing sadly, I continued, "Right... Why am I even bothering for that piece of shit?" Those words were mocked by my action of climbing the last flight of stairs to reach the roof.