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The katana was familiar in his hand, and yet it felt heavy with purpose, with the knowledge of what he needed to accomplish altering the perception of weapon. Munakata looked at Yukizome's body one last time.
"I'll end this, Chisa."
And with that Munakata turned and strode out of the room, the blade he'd just retrieved gripped firmly in his right hand and its twin in his left.
The mistakes he'd made with these swords would not impede him in using them to do right now.
--
Munakata darted down the hallways, taking cover behind debris and sharp corners where ever he could. He could hear the heavy bootfalls of Mitarai's brainwashed troops, but the noise came from all directions and bounced around the facility's wide hallways in a way that was thoroughly disorienting. There was no way to make out where the smaller contingents were or where they were headed, and Munakata had concluded he would simply have to find the most advantageous ground and wait for his opponent, whomever that would turn out to be, to come to him.
It felt like being in the eye of a hurricane. The hall where he was was currently bunkered down was devoid of any life or movement save his own, but Munakata could hear storm of footsteps growing closer with every passing moment. The anticipation set every nerve on edge, his battle-hardened instincts tensing every muscle in his body, leaving him ready to strike as soon as an unsuspecting enemy appeared.
"I'm not leaving you!"
Munakata just barely suppressed a yelp as he startled, falling unceremoniously onto his behind. Though the soldiers were getting closer, that voice, a fervent whisper, had come from nearly on top of his position.
"I'm coming along!"
The voice was joined by another, and after a few deep breaths Munakata realized it was a pair he recognized.
"Not in that condition. Letting you hobble along behind me like that would be as good as leaving you for dead! Just let me carry you, I've been doing it all day!"
"This is different," Munakata peeked around the corner just in time to see Naegi gesturing to Asahina's shoulders. Though she seemed relatively alright, all things considered, Asahina did have what looked like a burn on her right shoulder, along with a cut that Munakata would guess came from a frighteningly close encounter with a bullet.
"I know that hurts more than you wanna admit." For his part, Naegi was leaning against the wall, putting no weight on his right foot. About halfway up the calf, his pant leg was torn and bloody. "I'll be right behind you, it'll be fine."
"It really won't be."
It was Naegi and Asahina's turned to jump at Munakata's sudden intrusion. Asahina whirled around, immediately adopting a fighting stance; Naegi let out a small cry of surprise and, discovering that his wounded leg was, in fact, not ready to suddenly hold his weight, fell flat on his face.
Asahina dropped to Naegi's side, and Naegi called out something sounding distinctly like "Mr. Munakata!" somewhere between his arm and the floor.
"I'm doubtful if you'd ever be capable of holding your own in a confrontation like this," Munakata continued. "But you're clearly in no shape to do so now. You are correct, however," his eyes slid over to Asahina, whose face grew grim, "that Asahina should not try carrying you."
"What do you mean?" She glared at him. "I'm not leaving Makoto. They'll tear him to pieces!" Naegi (who was now sitting up) made a small noise of protest at that, which both of his companions ignored.
"That's not what I'm proposing."
"Then what?" Asahina and Naegi were both staring at him, Asahina with contempt and Naegi with a confused anticipation, and Munakata sighed. He knew what he had to do.
"I'll carry him."
--
"Are you sure about this?" Naegi shifted uncertainly, readjusting his grip around Munakata's shoulders. Naegi had been dubious about this from the start, but he'd relented nonetheless; he was currently on Munakata's back, his legs wrapped around him tightly and his arms thrown over Munakata's shoulders and gripped together in front of his collar bone. This left Naegi to hold himself onto Munakata like a bizarre and annoyingly nervous backpack and left Munakata's arms (relatively) free to wield his two katana.
"Yes." Munakata shifted experimentally, gauging how Naegi's weight affected his movements. Honestly, he wasn't completely sure, but he didn't have time to be otherwise. Even if they could have thought of another plan (which he doubted), Mitarai's puppets would be on them shortly, and Munakata was sure they'd lost any chance at a surprise attack with all of the ruckus they had been making. There was no time to reconfigure.
Munakata looked to Asahina. She met his gaze steadily, grip tightening on the pipe she'd found to be her makeshift weapon.
She nodded.
Munakata returned the gesture. He took a deep breath, turning to face the door.
The sound of the soldiers grew closer.
And closer.
Almost to the door.
Munakata kicked the door open.
"Urrrrriyaaaaahhhh!"
If Munakata had thought he had completely lost the element of surprise, he had certainly underestimated the shock value of both kicking open a door someone was just about to open, and of charging at them screaming with another man clinging to you like some kind of deranged lemur. Munakata had dispatched of three of their assailants before the gunfire started up. The thunder of combusting gunpowder joined the cacophony of his war cry, the clangs and thumps of metal on metal and flesh, and the loud screeching that Munakata belatedly realized was Naegi intermittently screaming in terror.
Fortunately, Munakata knew how to fight even in… difficult circumstances. He did not allow it to faze him, to distract him from slashing and dodging and grappling, and waited for a suitable lull in the action.
"Naegi." Munakata took a neutral stance, giving his body a slight rest before the next round of action.
"Yeah?" It was less an act of speech and more of a shaky exhale, formed into a word as an afterthought. Naegi's fingers dug into Munakata's chest, and his his legs gripped the man's waist like a vice. Even through both of their shirts, Munakata could feel Naegi's heart pounding where his chest met Munakata's back.
"Stop screaming."
"Euhhh."
Munakata did not have time to interpret Naegi's incoherent answering noise. Another group of soldiers rushed the hall, and Munakata charged at them in response. He could infer, however, that the noise had not meant "why, of course, Mr. Munakata, I will stop screaming completely and immediately" because as soon as the fighting started back up so did the shrieking, right over his shoulder.
"Naegi,- shut- up!" Munakata was punctuating his attacks now with his reprimands. It didn't seem to help, though. Naegi would mumble something apologetic, only to immediately return to screaming with the next crack of gunfire. So it went for the next half hour - Naegi screeching, mostly incoherent noises of fear but also peppered with some rather odd combinations of four-letter words, Munakata screaming back for him to just shut the fuck up between his more traditional attack cries, with the occasional "take that!" from Asahina breaking through the din.
And then, finally, Munakata could not hear the approach of any more heavy boots anywhere close.
Granted, he could hear a lot less than he could this morning with the ringing that was in his ears now, but he was sure he hadn't lost that much of his perception.
He sighed heavily, finally dropping his tense stance. Asahina did the same, letting the pipe drop heavily from her hands. Munakata tried to glance back at Naegi, though that proved difficult with the other man clamped onto his back as he was.
"If you want to get down for a moment, Naegi, you can."
Without a word, Naegi let go of Munakata, not so much stepping down as sliding off of him. Naegi didn't even try to get up, just laying in a heap where he fell.
The three of them did nothing beyond trying to catch their breath.
"It's good to see you all in one piece. More or less."
Asahina and Munakata looked up to see Togami stroll in the room. Though the headquarters had turned into a veritable war ground, Togami hardly looked it. His appearance was as pristine as ever, save for a slight mussing of his hair and one small bruise forming at the corner of his mouth. He was followed by a small group of guards, and one other familiar face.
"Hina! Vice President! You're alive!" Hagakure barreled around Togami. He looked significantly worse for wear compared to his former classmate, but that did little to impede the sunny smiles he beamed at Asahina and Munakata. But his face darkened when he got sight of Naegi, still sprawled motionless on the floor.
"Don't tell me-" his voice shook, "Naegins-!"
The Naegi pile moaned.
Hagakure let out a cry, a few stray tears falling as he ran over to Naegi.
"Don't scare me like that, man!" Hagakure shook Naegi by the shoulder. "I seriously thought you were a goner!"
"Yasuhiro, don't shake him like," Togami cut in. "That's hardly appropriate first aid."
"Speaking of first aid," Asahina walked over to Togami, peering up at him curiously. "What happened to your face, Byakuya?"
Togami cleared his throat.
"Ah, that..."
--
Earlier:
Togami ran down the hallway. He could hear the sound of a fight, a few corridors down.
Fighting meant, most likely, a conflict of opposing sides. And that would mean his comrades were there.
He slid behind the corner of the turn adjacent to were the fight was taking place, crouching out of sight. Quickly, he glanced around the wall.
"Holyfuckingshitheck!"
The scream came from Naegi, though if Togami hadn't recognized his voice, he may have thought it had been Munakata hollering like that simply based on where the cry had come from.
Munakata was crouched in the center of the conflict. Togami could infer that it was the ending stance of an attack; both of Munakata's arms were extended out at opposite sides, katana sliding through the end of the stroke like the twin wing tips of an angel of death, devastating the battlefield a way that no mortal so armed should be able to. Where those wings would originate on his back, however, was bulky and unbalanced. It took Togami a few seconds to process that this was not because Munakata had undergone some acute mutation.
It was Naegi, glommed onto Munakata's back like an urchin.
A shrieking, terrified urchin.
As the pair moved back into the fray, Togami caught sight of Asahina several meters away, whirling some kind of rod with brutal effect, felling opponents larger, better armed, and more numerous than herself with a success rate Togami would not have thought possible.
Togami stared at the scene.
He blinked.
He turned and walked back the way he came.
It would be of more strategic value, certainly, to clear the corridors and rooms on the south side of this floor.
"Togamins!"
He was so busy… strategizing, Togami would not have noticed Hagakure coming toward him had he not been yelling. The other man was clearly in a panic, though Togami was not sure why. The two of them were the only ones here, and unless someone came to the sound of Hagakure shouting, it didn't seem like anyone would be approaching anytime soon.
Togami didn't have time to contemplate that particular mystery very long though, for as soon as Hagakure got close, he took a running leap at Togami.
In hindsight, Togami could not parse out why he didn't simply step out of the way and let the idiot deal with the consequences of his own inane actions by himself. It would have been the sensible thing to do.
Instead, Togami stayed in place. He allowed Hagakure to fly into him, throwing his arms around his shoulders. He even extended his arms to catch him.
Both men went toppling to the ground.
--
Togami resisted the urge to cover the bruise up under Asahina's scrutiny.
"Nothing notable. Besides," Togami said, "it's not worth our attention now. I do assume these treacherous soldiers are acting on someone's orders, correct?"
Asahina's expression dropped. All of their faces fell back into looks of grim determination, set with the knowledge of what they still had to do.
From his place on the ground, Naegi groaned.