『 Dying of Asphyxiation was seriously not my goal in life. 』
Neither was meeting a Governor of the Afterlife and getting sent to another world for a second chance at life.
Drew was assaulted by a group of men for reasons she didn't understand. Drown...
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82. Byakuran
"What are you looking out for?"
Russo was nowhere near the heart of battle. According to his reports, he seemed to be wandering about.
"You told me you chanced upon some Funeral Wreaths on the way here." he whispered back, "Do you have a landmark or something I can trace?"
Is he trying to find the place again? Why, I wonder...
"I broke a huge branch while I was trying to run away." I recalled, "Russo-san, you're not possibly trying to find out the location of Byakuran's home base, are you?"
"As expected from my sister, you know me so well." he joked, "Well, I thought I'd do something instead of lagging away. Tsuna and Gokudera, at least, still have properly functioning communication devices. Hayato can relay the situation personally."
"Even so," I tried to reason. It was worrying that Russo would wander out of reach at a time like this. There were no Millefiore footsoldiers to speak of and be wary about, so he was probably in no immediate danger...
Russo seemed to have fallen silent at my little utterance.
"Regardless, what will you do if you find Byakuran?" I tried again, sounding a little more worried now, "Will you report back, even though we probably won't have manpower or time to head out?"
I sighed, "Russo, I really think it's better if--"
...huh?
Wait a minute, I realized, something's off. Russo was being... too quiet. Before this, I could occasionally hear unnecessary chuckles or low breaths into the microphone--
But now, nothing.
"Russo?" I called, "Russo?" louder.
I faintly caught Tsuna snap his head around, alarmed at my sudden tone--
I flinched at a sharp, piercing CRACK from the other end-- then all I heard next was the dead silence of a broken, lost receiver.
-
"I'm going to go find him," I insisted sternly, "And I want the all of you to focus on the battle."
Lifting a small sack over my shoulder, everyone cast worried glances at me.
They've said a lot of the usual 'it's dangerous' and 'don't go' stuff that I've shot down easily-- and so all of them had no words. They looked ready to chain me down physically, though.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Kyoko argued, "You know we're going to worry, and you know we're going to oppose this. What was the point of this conversation?"
Oh, god. Here it comes. Kyoko's always the one person that never gives up on me. I'm not sure if that was a blessing or a curse but-
"I don't want you guys to worry about me," I groaned, "I'll stay away from the battle, so please."
