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It had been a few days since he woke up at Fujioka Memorial High School. Bachira Meguru stood at the corner of the auditorium, tapping his foot impatiently at the boring scene unfolding before him involving the other kids that he ended up with in this mysterious killing game. Everyone was so serious and bland. He understood that they were all bent on escaping the school. Heck, he also wanted to escape. It wasn’t fair that he was going to be left to die in some building when he had dreams of joining U-20 and representing Japan as a world-class egoist in football. And what about the friends that he made in Blue Lock? What about Yoichi? At this point, he was even beginning to miss annoying people like Shidou. Maybe he should contribute to the discussion and try to liven it up a little. He figured that a bit of happiness was what everyone could use at the moment.
“I just want to make sure the rope loops around the beam enough times,” Sasaki, the girl with the glasses, was saying to Isono and Tsuno. “If the rope falls or we can’t get it up, this is all pointless.
“Then we’ll get it done,” Isono exclaimed with a smile. She was wearing a blackish-gray suit jacket that looked way too big for her. “Don’t worry about a thing!”
Harada stepped back from the endeavor for a second, sliding his hands into his pockets and chuckling nervously. “So, did we decide who’s actually gonna climb it?”
“Tamba’s going to try it first,” Watari said.
“That seems like a good idea, I think. Maybe we could have the other athletes in the room try it as a Plan B,” Tsuno replied.
Meguru tried to stifle a giggle as some eyes traveled to him. He was a football player, which focused more on leg strength instead of upper body strength! Although he did enjoy climbing things…
“It’s…not a very big vent,” Harada commented hesitantly.
“I’m more concerned about where the vent lets out,” Hiroaki huffed, adjusting his red-tinted sunglasses.
Meguru disagreed. He considered it a good idea to explore escaping through the vent. The result might be negative, but it could also be something good. He slumped against the wall. If the vent didn’t work, what next? Could they wait for the police to track them down?
If the police couldn’t find him, maybe Ego would. It would not look good for Blue Lock if one of their star players vanished. Ha, that would be nice.
“There’s no other exposed vents down here,” Sasaki said, side-eying the fashion designer. “It has to at least lead to another floor. Being able to go somewhere new is better than nothing. We need to do everything in our power to find an escape route, even if that means taking risks.”
Touche.
“If Tamba doesn’t fit,” the masked individual with the uncomfortably slippery voice proposed, “Chiba probably will.’
Hama stepped in front of Chiba defensively, as if he was about to guard a soccer ball from being stolen from an enemy striker. “Chiba can’t get up there, it’s too hard of a climb.”
“But I love climbing! I bet I could do it!”
“It’s too high,” the demon guy said.
“Truly, I’m worried that we’re going to run into some obstacles,” Yanagi commented, tying the bedsheet rope. “Once Miss Tamba reaches the vent, she’ll still need to unscrew it, right? She’ll have to reach over and unscrew the vent with one hand while still holding on to the rope, then somehow manage to climb up into the vent without falling. There’s a notable gap between the vent and the rafter, after all.”
A risky idea ignited in Meguru’s brain. He turned on his heel and dashed to his room. The bumblebee flew towards his toolbox and grabbed a screwdriver. Then he paused. Was it the right size for the bolts in the vent? Shaking off his apprehensions, he shoved multiple screwdrivers of varying size into his pocket. Then, he sprinted back to the auditorium with a speed that could rival Chigiri’s or Otoya’s.
Hayashi was throwing the rope with the weight attached to it. Everyone had stepped far away from the vent, leaving the vicinity clear. Hayashi succeeded with the throw, as the rope swung around the rafter multiple times.
“Perfect,” Sasaki smiled, looking satisfied.
“Woohoo! Go Hayashi!” Tamba said.
“Way to go!” Tsuno cheered, clapping her hands.
The bounty hunter cracked her knuckles. “That should do it—”
Now’s my shot, Meguru thought, getting fired up. He darted to the wall with the vent, dodging bystanders.
“What are you doing?” Sasaki shouted. She wasn’t the only one caught off guard.
Barely grazing the rope, Meguru practically flew up against it, getting closer and closer to the vent. He grinned, reminiscing the time when he was running from Barou and the others, the voting cards in his grip, racing through the Blue Lock facility like it was a maze and leading all the passageways to be shut down. That was also the time he ran into Shidou, who was doing an exercise in a rather questionable way.
Cringing at the memory, his fingers slipped on the rope and he fell a few inches. Even still, the drop feeling in his stomach stimulated him and gave him an energy boost. Meguru scrambled around a bit and regained his firm hold on the rope. He resumed climbing with even more passion and fervor.
“That kid is a monster,” someone said.
“Is he part monkey or something?”
Finally, he swung towards the vent, ignoring the rafter. Grabbing hold of a metal bar, he fumbled through his pocket for different screwdrivers. Fortunately, the trial and error process proved to be short. He found a screwdriver that fit perfectly and unscrewed each of the bolts, letting them plummet to the ground. All with one hand holding the vent.
Meguru lifted the grate up and hoisted himself into the vent. The grate clattered behind him as he found himself into an austere, claustrophobic crawlspace.
Crap, he thought. I’m a little big for this.
He was one of the shorter players in Blue Lock, but even then, he was still too tall to fit! He should have listened to the group and let someone small like Chiba do the job. Nothing could go wrong with that, right?
Gritting his teeth, he wriggled his way through the crawlspace. If he had to guess, the tight space would lead him to either another floor, the roof, or an external wall. Which meant being outside! He had to try.
A few minutes passed. He began to grow fatigued, regretting his choice. From the floor below, he heard plopping sounds, like people were throwing mattresses onto the ground. How considerate! These guys were pretty nice. Maybe not Hiroaki and Sasaki, but it was sweet how they cared for his safety.
Limbs shaking, he pressed forward.
“For my ego,” he whispered. “For Yoichi. For Japan. For the World Cup—-AAAAAHHHHH!”
His screams ricochetted throughout the metal walls of the crawlspace, straining his ears.
“Shidou? What are you doing here?”
Little did he know that the discomfort of being in the tight space along with the sleep deprivation motive were making him hallucinate a certain traumatic memory. But yeah that’s what might have happened if Bachira was in Tetro Danganronpa Pink.
That’s it that’s literally it.