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A knock on his door woke him up, forcing him to open his blue-coloured eyes.
"Good morning, Mr. Naib. It's already morning and you didn't showed up at all. Is everything alright?" A kind voice called his name from behind the door. It was the Seer's voice.
"Yes..." Naib yawned and stretched. "I think I overslept...." He blinked away his sleepiness.
He could hear a soft chuckle. "Alright. We'll be waiting for you in dining room. Please be quick or your breakfast will get cold." And with that, the seer walked away.
Naib yawned again before he step out from the warm bed. He opened the closet and blinked.
"......? Where is my clothes..?"
"Ah, there you are, Naib ! Good morning, you sleepyhead!" The forward came to him before he ruffled Naib's chocolate-coloured hair. "Oh? You didn't tie it like usual?"
Naib looked up and tilted his head. "But I never tied my hair?"
The taller male, William Ellis, just looked at him in confusion. "O..kay... so it wasn't a tie... but then what is it....?"
While William was deep in his own thought, Naib turned and see the rest. He smiled.. rather brightly. The seer, Eli Clark, smiled back, albeit a bit confused.
"Good morning, Mr. Naib. I'm glad you came before the breakfast time is fi---" Eli didn't managed to finish his sentence.
He got a hug.
A warm hug.
From no other than Naib Subedar.
"Good morning, Mr. Clark! Thank you for waking me up this morning!" Naib chirped cheerfully.
"H-Huh ? Oh, um--"
"Good morning, Mr. Campbell! Your clothes today are not the alexandrite blue?" Naib quickly moved to the confused prospector before he gave him a hug.
"Alexandrite.. what?"
"And Mr. Carl!" Naib beamed his smile to the startled embalmer who were already hiding behind the sofa. He just laughed and put his hands behind his back. "Good morning to you, Mr. Carl."
The embalmer, Aesop Carl, sighed out of relief. "Good morning, Mr. Naib.."
Eli felt like his mind just kind of stopped working. He didn't heard any prophecy like this ever. That Naib, who wore angry face like his default expression, actually came in with the biggest smile and hug for everyone. Is the end actually near?
Naib just finished giving a still confused William a hug (who returned it with a wholehearted hug) before he looked around. "Where's everyone else?"
"Probably still sleeping. They participated in the game yesterday." Aesop answered, slowly coming out from behind the sofa.
Naib blinked. "But didn't we...." He fell silent.
"Naib? Are you alright?" Norton gave him a concerned look.
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing, Mr. Campbell! I'm alright!"
"There you go again." Norton walked to the startled man and folded his arms. "There's something strange with you today, Naib."
"W-What do you mean...?"
"You never called us politely like that. You just called us with our name." Norton pointed it out.
"Or sometimes just 'hey'." William added.
"And... Mr. Naib never smiled and gave everyone a hug like that..." Aesop muttered.
Before anyone could add anything though, Eli stepped in and raised his hand. "Everyone, please calm down. I'm sure there's an explanation for this..."
"....hic..."
Everyone stopped talking and their attention shifted to the source of that small voice.
Once again, Naib Subedar did something that was clearly strange.
Him? Cowering in the corner while crying? Even Robbie grew as tall as Jack would sound more plausible than this.
But they couldn't care less as they quickly approached the sniffling man.
"N-Naib, it wasn't our intention to make you cry. My bad, I started it. Okay.. how do you deal with a crying Naib…” Norton was clearly in panic.
Naib shook his head, trying to hide his tear-streaked face. “N-No..! It’s.. it’s not Mr. Campbell—I mean, Norton’s fault! I’m sorry.. even though everyone tells me to stop being a crybaby…” He mumbled as he wiped his tears quickly with his sleeves before he forced out a smile. “I’m alright!”
Their confusion didn't last long as a a bell rang, signaling that it was time for the chosen group to go out and join the twisted game of hunter and survivor. Naib was the first one to get up and darted to the door.
“It’s time, right? I’ll go get my gear first and then joined you all! See you at the gate!” And with that he dashed away from the dining room.
“Who is the hunter today?” William nonchalantly asked as they waited for the gate to be opened.
“I believe it is Mr. Jack the Ripper today.” Aesop answered while his eyes were focused on the man with olive-coloured hood that stood in front of him. “Mr. Naib, will you really be alright?”
Naib turned around and tilted his head. “Hm? Yes of course I’ll be alright! It’s Mr. Jack!” He smiled.
Norton seemed like he wanted to ask something, but he refrained. Instead, he patted Naib’s shoulder. “I don’t know what happened, but remember. Stay focused to decode and survive.”
Naib nodded slowly. He didn’t really understand what the prospector meant, but he understood that they were serious. He gulped nervously.
The signal once again went off and the heavy sound of the opening gate marked the start of their ‘game’ today. They quickly hid behind the wall, checking their surroundings before they nodded at each other and went to different locations to decode the cipher machine.
Naib timidly looked around and he decided to go to the main hospital building at the centre of the area. He climbed the stairs quietly and peeked from the gap of the dilapidated building.
From there, he saw Jack the Ripper, who was walking around while humming. How he wanted to waved his hand and called his name, but he knew at one glance that should he do that, his fate will be sealed.
“That.. is not the usual Mr.Jack…” He mumbled softly as he ran to find the nearest machine.
Everything went smoothly and Naib felt like it was no different like usual.
Until he heard a sound of pallet being slammed down.
“The hunter is near me!”
It was Norton’s desperate yelling voice that broke the false silence.
William quickly ran to Norton’s direction while yelling back, “Everyone, focus on decoding! I’ll go to him!”
Aesop hastily ran to the gap near the farthest exit gate, summoning his coffin and embalmed the forward before he ran back to the half-decoded machine.
William managed to push away the Ripper away from Norton, who ran away injured.
“Go to Aesop! Leave me!” the forward yelled as he ran to the other direction.
Norton clicked his tongue and muttered a soft “Sorry..” before he dashed to the embalmer with all his strength.
It wasn’t long until they all could heard William’s cry of pain. He struggled but to no avail, Jack just hummed a cheery tune as he placed the survivor on the chair. The hunter didn’t wait. He started to walk toward where the coffin was summoned.
Naib saw everything from the top of the building. Jack was walking briskly toward the small warehouse where all the other survivors were trying to heal each other.
He was scared. He never experienced anything like this before. It was almost always cheery on the usual days. They played around and ended their days with a warm goodbye.
To think that the real game was as deadly as this, Naib felt like another tears were threatening to fall.
He looked onto his arms and took a deep breath. He gathered his courage and slapped his cheeks.
“I’m fast. I can do this.”
‘I can save them even just a little bit.’
Naib took a step back before he ran and jumped down from the building with a loud thud, alerting the hunter who almost arrived to the warehouse. The hunter turned around and tipped his black hat.
“Well, well.. Look who finally showed himself..” Jack chuckled as he walked toward the nervous man. “Are you here hoping to save your friends? Or you just wanted to play with death itself?”
“What the heck is he trying to do..?” William whispered in hushed voice as they all were holding their breaths inside the warehouse.
“Guess which one it is…” Naib slowly raised his hand to the wall. “… that, if you can catch me.”
Naib tapped the wall and dashed away. Jack blinked before he let out another chuckle. “You asked for this game, little mercenary.” He walked to where Naib ran to, slowly disappearing inside the blinding fog.
“…We have to decode 2 more. The time is running out. It’ll be difficult to beat The Ripper once it’s night time.” Norton got up and started to run toward the nearest machine.
“But what about Naib—“ William started to protest.
“Mr. William.” Aesop tied the bandage on the forward’s arm before he got up. “Mr.Naib bought us time to finish this game. We’ll go and save him after we opened the gate. It’ll be easier for him to run if the gate is opened, no?”
William clenched his fist and nodded. “I understand. Let’s finish this quickly and save him.”
Naib didn’t really know how long he has been running from the hunter. He felt like the other was just playing around with him. Sometimes he could hear his humming voice from his right, only to barely miss the fog blades that slashed through the fog from his left.
“Aren’t you tired, little mercenary? Come on, just run to your friends and asked for their help.” Jack mocked him, still hiding within the fog.
“N-No! I can do this.. We won’t lose this game or from you, Mr.Jack..!”
‘Mr.Jack..?’ Jack thought it was strange but nevertheless, he dismissed the thought. “But what if they are currently looking for you? Sure you wanted to find and tell them that you’re alright.”
“No..” Naib smiled. Another signal blared loudly. “They understand what they should do.”
Jack sighed and raised his claws high. “Perhaps I took you all too lightly. I’ll deal with you later.” And with that, he sent a precisely aimed attack to Naib.
The poor man was sent flying but he looked back, the fog was lifted and Jack was nowhere to be found.
“The exit gate is opened!” William yelled with all his might. “I hope he is not somewhere too far..”
Naib smiled and tried to get up, only to realize something that had happened. He took a deep breath and yelled back. “The hunter.. he has detention!”
This alerted the others as they quickly huddled even nearer to the exit gate. They couldn’t see Jack at all as the fog started to fill the area. If the attack hit them, then that’s all.
“Where’s Mr. Naib? Why is he not coming here yet..?” Aesop’s eyes darted around, trying to spot the missing man.
“I don’t know.. Should we look for him? But it’s risky to take a step out from this exit gate zone..” Norton held his magnet close, ready to throw it to the hunter, either to actually use them or just using it as throwing stone at this point.
“If he didn’t come in 5 seconds, I’ll go out for real. There’s no way we could leave—“
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!” A screaming voice came from distance. They sighed as they noticed that it was the one that they’ve been worrying about, running while holding rugby ball similar to Williams.
But they noticed,
He wasn’t running toward the exit gate. Rather, he ran toward the particular spot near it. Naib slammed to what looked like nothing.
“Ghh!”
Slowly, the fog was cleared and revealed the hiding Jack the Ripper who was clutching on his stomach.
“Naib, come here quick!”
Naib could only shook his head before he coughed and fell on his knees. The damaged has finally kicked in and he got no strength left. “Leave me.”
“What are you talking—“
“I said leave me!” Naib yelled as he looked at the hunter who started to walk toward the exit gate.
The rest had no other choice but to turn away, leaving Naib who sprawled on the ground. It was quiet after that, the only sound that left were their breathing and rustling grass.
“…..even though you’re afraid, you still saved your friends, huh?” Jack sighed as he took out a white handkerchief from his pocket. He smiled behind his mask as he slowly wiped the tears that fell from those blue eyes. “The other Naib.”
Naib blinked as he looked up. “How did you know that I’m not the usual Naib, Mr.Jack?”
Jack let out a soft chuckle, gently lifted the tattered body and cradled him just like bringing a child. “Well.. for the start, our little mercenary won’t call me by ‘Mr.Jack’. He called me Ripper or—“
“Or sometimes with just ‘hey’.” Naib smiled as he remembered about what William told him before.
“What do you mean by that, Eli?” William blinked in confusion.
“To put it simply, this current Mr.Naib is not our Mr.Naib.” Eli scratched his owl’s head. “He is certainly Naib Subedar but it his world, he is much more known as..”
“Spring! Everyone called me Spring!” Naib, or rather, Spring, answered enthusiastically when Jack asked for his identity.
“Oh? Why did they call you by Spring?” Jack was rather amused. It was somewhat fun to see that same grumpy face turned into all smile with sparkling eyes.
“Because I have this biiiiig springs on my arms. And then I can jump high! And run fast! That’s why they called me by Spring.” Spring made a big circle movement with his arms and grinned childishly. “Mr. Jack, may I ask you a question?”
Jack tilted his head. “Go ahead, little Spring.”
Spring was reminded of Jack from his place who called him by ‘Little Spring’.
“What..what kind of person is Naib from this place like?”
“Hmm…” Jack tried to imagine the usual Naib before he answered, “He is short-tempered, grumpy, and rather rude. But still..” He smiled. “He cares about his teammates and brave, just like you.”
“He sounds like a very cool person! While I’m nowhere like him at all..” Spring sounded dejected.
“But you did sacrifice yourself so that your friends managed to get out today, right?”
“But it doesn’t count! Mr.Jack is currently bringing me back to mansion after all.”
‘Who had the heart to actually put this crying mess on the rocket chair.. especially when he looked at you with his teary eyes like that…’ Jack mused inside his head as he chuckled. “Think it as a special treatment for a guest.”
“I see.. so no matter where it is, Mr.Jack is a gentleman, isn’t he?” Spring nodded to himself.
“Then, may I ask a question?”
“Yes of course!”
“How is.. the other me in your world..?”
Spring’s eyes lit up. “You see! Mr.Jack in our place is a barber!”
Jack blinked. “A..barber..?”
“Yes! He is the one who will cut and styled our hair whenever we are not in game! I love to look at him whenever he is styling Ms.Michiko’s hair. And then, he also…” Spring kept talking the whole way to the mansion as Jack listened to him kindly. He was considering to offer a haircut to a certain mercenary when everything came back to normal.
“I see… and so, how is Mr. Naib from this world is doing over there?” Aesop asked as he tidying up his makeup box.
Eli smiled nervously. “He made Mr.Ripper cried.”
“…..” The atmosphere felt heavy.
“Mr.Naib insisted it was his turn today, over there, when Mr.Spring had already participated yesterday. So he switched place with Ms.Helena…” Eli cleared his throat. “…and then the hunter was also Mr.Ripper…. who welcomed Mr.Naib with an open arms..”
They waited with batted breath.
“..and got tackled into the wall while using Iron Fist…”
They clutched their stomachs.
“…and Mr.Naib called him ‘creep’ with his usual face before walking away..”
“May The Ripper over there rested in peace.” William nodded solemnly.
“Amen.” Norton added as he was reminded at how this warm Naib called Spring changed into their permanent angry face Naib. Poor Ripper’s heart.
A bell rang, indicating that someone was at the door. Aesop was the first one who walked toward the front door and when he opened, he found Jack standing.. with a sleeping Naib in his arms.
“Good evening, Mr.Aesop. I’m here to return your teammate.”
“Mr.Spring…”
“Oh? So you already—right. I can see Mr.Eli over there.” Jack chuckled as he saw William ran lightly toward them. He handed over the sleeping man carefully so that he won’t wake up. “I shall excuse myself. Have a good night, gentlemen.”
“Thank you, Ripper.” William nodded respectfully at the hunter. “For sparing him.”
Jack waved his hand and disappeared as he hummed a tune within the night fog.
They brought him to his room and smiled at his peaceful sleeping face.
“Even though he is not our Naib, his sleeping face is still the same.” Norton commented as he pulled a blanket over the man.
“Like a sleeping child, eh..” Eli chuckled as the other slowly walked out. He took the last glance before he turned off the light. “Good night, Mr.Spring…”
They were preparing for breakfast when someone came down yawning.
“Hey, what’s for breakfast today---“ He didn’t even managed to finish his sentence as the forward tackled him into a hug. “What the heck--get off me!!”
“Naib! You’re back!”
Bonus
“Come on, Jack.. Don’t be sad. There must be something wrong with Spring yesterday..” The geisha patted the clearly down barber.
“But, Ms.Michiko… Little Spring.. he just called me c..creep….” He covered his face with his hands, trying to stop himself from recalling the horrible memory.
A knock on the door caught their attention. Jack took a deep breath before he opened the door. “Yes, how may I—“
“Mr.Jack!” A cheerful voice along with a hug greeted him. Jack looked down in disbelief.
It’s him.
It’s his Little Spring.
“You’re back.. Ms.Michiko, look! He is back to normal..” Jack lifted the other man and pulled him into a hug.
Michiko giggled softly behind her fan. “Welcome back home, Spring.”
Spring smiled. “It’s good to be back home.”