To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

Chapter 84

Previous trivia: Who's favorite color is purple?

Answer: Jiro

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jiro watched silent as Ryuu's back retreated further into the shadows, a thick trail of blood following his every step.

The blond nervously followed behind the younger male, careful to walk as far away from the river of blood as possible. He only had about half a magazine inside the gun in his hands, and no other source of ammunition. Not to mention, his limbs pulsated every other second as a desperate reminder that he was running on nothing but willpower.

He was done for. Definitely, utterly doomed.

Yet the quiet pitter-patter of Emi's footsteps served as a lullaby for his nerves, soothing them back into their resting place.

A few steps in front, Ryuu attempted to get a clear view of his surroundings. His chest still suffered the consequences of inhaling the toxic smoke that floated in the air, making the walls slowly close in on his figure as his head whirled. His gaze was a bloodshot, tearfilled ocean that spun around an unsteady axis, just like his footing which seemed to get worse by the minute.

Half his leg had gone numb, and him walking ahead of everyone else was only an attempt at hiding the fact that the wound on his calf was still raining blood. It was getting harder to hide the limp in his step, and the only thing he focused on was trying to steady himself against the wall in a way that wouldn't look suspicious to his comerades.

Perhaps that was the reason why everything subsequently unfolded as it did. Maybe if he had just stopped, allowed himself to be helped, he would've been able to avoid getting not only himself, but the rest of the elites in the sort of predicament where one decision endangered all their lives.

"Guys, look."

Right at the end of the abnormally long hallway stood two doors, each with a small glass pocket to see through. The lilac haired boy turned back to the other elites momentarily, before approaching one of the two doors and looking through the small gap covered in glass.

"Stairs." He mumbled.

"Stairs?" Emi tried to peek through the space, ultimately failing as her height did not reach the glass. Ryuu snorted, offering his good knee to the girl, who immediately used it as leverage to hoist herself up.

"They lead downward." She said, and Ryuu, pushed by a brainless desire to get out of their dangerous situation in the quickest way possible, hummed his response.

"An emergency exit?"

"We're already in the ground floor." Jiro shook his head. "That would only lead underground."

"Well, it's either this or going back where we came from. Which, if you haven't noticed, is currently infested with people who won't hesitate to kill us." Ryuu shot back, slowly leaning his weight against the knob in an attempt to steady himself.

However, his weight caused the knob to twist, and the door creaked to an open right before the group. The lilac haired boy cleared his throat, playing it off as something he had meant to do.

"I'm going to check if there's an exit." He announced.

"Don't." Emi intervened, pinching his sweat-drenched sleeve. "We shouldn't split the group."

"I'll be right back, princess." He winked, slipping his fingers underneath the girl's tight grip and forcing it open just enough for him to slide out.

His injured leg had almost completely shut down by the time he made it halfway down the stairs, and suddenly Ryuu no longer knew what exactly he was trying to achieve.