Chapter Text
#16| Running Away
"You can't run from your past forever, you know?"
Another pair of dark eyes stared at Soraru's blankly. Rib was half-way drinking his afternoon tea when Soraru asked out of the blue. Knowing that was not a question, Rib chose to stay silent.
The swordsman blew his long bangs. "They aren't pleasant, I know it. But still, it's useless--they'll return to haunt you, one day." He sighed. "And they may be worse than before."
A hearty gulp and Rib smiled behind his cup.
Meanwhile, behind the closed door, Kashitaro frowned.
#17| Question
"Who is Rib?"
Yuuto closed his book loudly. This was the tenth time Kashitaro asked a same question today, and it annoyed him so much. If Kashitaro didn't stop asking, Yuuto swore that he would make him do something so embarrassing until the masked swordsman would vanish for several days. "Why don't you ask Rib himself? You want to help him overcome his trauma, don't you?"
"But--"
"Do it. Now. And I mean it." Before Kashitaro could say something, Yuuto continued: "Or else, you will be chasing after a thief again."
Automatically, Kashitaro turned and walked toward the door like a robot.
And then, he found a stupefied Rib staring in horror at him, next to a (suspiciously calm) whistling Soraru.
Two words from Kashitaro: "Holy crap."
#18| Time Machine
Suzumu's underground laboratory was, as usual, messy. One had to walk carefully in order to avoid something dangerous, and nobody wanted to know what Suzumu planted on its floor. Or what kind of trap he had. Or whatever it was. To make thing worse, the lighting there was very, very--
"Can't you put more light here? How can you see everything in a dim room?" Soraru asked annoyedly. Suzumu turned to see the dark-haired swordsmen and asked, "Did someone mention 'dim sum' just now'?"
There were an exasperated sigh and a loud laughter. The last one came from behind Soraru's back. Suzumu recognized it as Amatsuki’s. Said person was patting the annoyed swordsman’s shoulder while trying to stop his laughter. Trying was the keyword, so simply put, Amatsuki failed and still laughing. “Oh, good day, Amatsuki-kun. It’s not usual for you to come here—with Soraru-san too.”
Wiping the tears on his eyes, Amatsuki chuckled and said, “I need your help, Suzumu-kun.”
“…somehow, this sound ominous.”
“Ominous indeed,” Soraru murmured, but he said nothing else. Amatsuki cleared his throat and returned to his serious mode.
“Suzumu-kun, I need you to build a time machine.”
.
.
To be continued.