Chapter Text
The HQ inmate infirmary was pretty quiet. It usually is, though. Hajime had all the cameras cut before he came- he figured Jyugo would want to free himself of whatever chains he had on, and didn’t want that ability being known by anyone- especially not Mitsuru. He assumed the brat would have shit to say. Would be pissed about the beating he got. Would be asking about his friends. Would be doing something- maybe his chains would already be off.
So the building 13 supervisor was a little shocked to see the brat was just… sitting there. Didn’t even notice him. Still chained to everything. They really didn’t want this kid getting out.
“Hey. I cut the feeds to the cameras before coming down. You can take the chains off.” The following conversation was grim.
“Figured I would just… not move anymore.” “Would be better for everyone.” If the gorilla didn’t know better, he’d think the kid was suicidal. Guess he didn’t know better, then.
After a long talk with 634, and having to explain about “greed” and how 15 lacks it, Hajime sighed while checking his watch. What building were they moving Jyugo to? He thought he heard 5 might get him, but he wasn’t too sure. Not that he wanted to hand the kid over- if he did, and if 15 changed his mind about moving, he'd probably start breaking out again. Then, Samon would get pissed, and would know Hajime had lied about the lack of prison breaks.
“Well, 15. I’m leaving.” The man said gruffly. Kid had taken too long, and his supervision over the kid would be relinquished- he'd have to find some way to prevent the monkey from snitching. He could kill-
“Give me a chance.”
“What?” Hajime asked, looking over just in time to see the idiot throw himself off the bed, the chains resulting in the inmate being unable to catch himself before his head hit the floor. If it wasn’t such a serious moment, the guard would have laughed at the brat’s idiocy.
“Give me another chance! Please! I want to stay in building 13! I want to stay in cell 13!” 15 pleaded, pretty pathetically.
“Well then. You’re finally starting to sound like a human.” The guard said, while scoffing. Anything to avoid laughing. He took 15’s number badge out, and tossed it to the ground, still bloody and dirty from the beating. “You want another chance? Pick it up.”
Jyugo finally put on a brave face, and the chains broke free. It would be amazing how easy he made it seem- if only he wasn’t constantly making himself into a headache for Hajime, the gorilla may actually respect the kid's innate talent for escaping. The man watched as the inmate grabbed the tag and put it on, before letting himself out of the cell.
“You know, it won’t be the same as before. I’m not afraid to go rough on you if you try to use those shackles against me or anyone else.”
“Ha! I wouldn’t ask you to.” Cocky little shit.
Despite what he said, sending Jyugo back into his cell was almost concerning. The kid had seemed so.. depressed.
Hajime decided Jyugo couldn’t be left alone.
And based on how the next few days went, his friends had decided the same thing, since they were constantly giving 15 things to do. When they slowed down, the gorilla didn’t let the inmate take a break. Maybe he should have. But he didn’t, not even after the day at building 5. He started taking 15 to the guard office whenever he found him wandering, and started teaching him to write better- with the excuse that it was “embarrassing” to see how bad Jyugo had been at it.
About two weeks later, Hajime had taken Jyugo into the smoking room so the teen could practice writing while the man took a smoke break.
“Hey, Hajime?” Jyugo asked- he talked a lot during this. The guard figures it was because 15 doesn’t want to actually improve his writing.
“Eh? What is it?”
“Do you.. do you think I could visit them?”
“Who?”
“Enki. And that woman. From building 5.” Right. The breakout- wait. The teen didn’t know that the two died. Hajime felt his stomach churn. 15 had come back from that whole fiasco different- seemed less depressed. More… In the moment. So to speak. The gorilla looked at where the teen was sat on the floor, using the bench as a table while looking at the paper, where he was carefully tracing the letters. He… didn’t want to say they were dead. He didn’t want to tell him they died that day, that the people that seemed to start his change died.
“Wasn’t Samon Enki’s brother, actually? Getting to visit Enki should be easy, then, right? Maybe he can come to the game room? Oh. Wait… Maybe not?”
“He… You can’t visit him. I’m sorry.”
“Huh? Why not? Is it cause of what he did?”
Hajime looked down at those eyes so full of color, so full of curiousity, hope, and naivety, and felt his heart ache.
“Number 15… Jyugo, Enki and Noriko are dead. I’m sorry.” He said quietly, while looking away from the teen. He heard the pencil drop.
“What? No. They- they can’t be, they-”
“I’m sorry, kid.” It was all he could say. He looked over, and saw tears starting to drip down the inmate's face. Oh shit. “I-.. fuck…”
Was all he could bear to say, before he stood up, putting out his cigarette before crouching down in front of Jyugo.
“Why are you crying? You barely knew them, kid.”
“Th-they told me to never give up. To live life to its fullest.” Oh. Oh no. He’s crying more. Hajime didn’t know how to make the kid stop. He sighed. This wasn’t in the job description! He grabbed Jyugo by the arms, and looked him in the eyes.
“So why are you crying? You wanna do what they told you to do, right? Then stop crying. Breathe. Focus on what you’re doing. What you’re doing right now is learning how to write better. The more skills you learn, the more you’ll be able to do. Get hobbies, a favorite food, all that. Learn to be human so you can serve their memory well.”
“B-But-”
“There are other people who want you to live everyday, too, you know. Your cellmates. Numbers 3, 82, 634, 58, 2, 71, practically everyone you meet likes you at least a little bit. So quit your crying. You’re blubbering over two people who wanted you dead before they wanted you alive.”
“Y-you’re one to talk..”
“And I wouldn’t want you crying about me either.” Shit. Responding that way made it hard to deny that he cared now. It was.. Weird, how fighting alongside the little shit made him more tolerable to Hajime. The kid almost seemed stronger.
“Well I wouldn’t cry about you. You’re a major jerk.” 15 muttered, while picking up his pencil. That hurt, more than the supervisor would like to admit.
“Damn, kid. Well, if you’re done crying, you can keep practicing. You’re starting to get better at it, you know.”
“Eh? I am?”
“Yeah. One of your sheets yesterday was actually legible in the self writing section.” Hajime muttered, while lighting a second cigarette as he moved back into his seat. Hm. Maybe he shouldn’t smoke this much around the kid. Kiji claimed that second hand smoke is bad for people. He glanced down at Jyugo, who’s started writing again. He sighed, breathing some smoke out.
Why was he starting to care? This was bullshit. This kid is nothing more than a nuisance. Someone who constantly gives him more shit to do. He sighed, and leaned his head back. Damn kid.
He finished smoking his cigarette after a bit, and put it out, before getting up. “You done?” He asked, while looking down at Jyugo and the paper- he was actually taking his time with it today. Hajime was almost proud. Almost.
“No. Not yet.” Jyugo muttered. Hajime looked around, then sighed.
“Alright. C’mon. We’ll go to the guard station. You can finish it there.”
“Kay.” The teen muttered, and got up, handing the pencil over. Hajime lifted a brow at him, causing 15 to speak. “It’s sharp.”
“Your arms turn into blades. I don’t care if you, specifically, have a pencil.”
“I can still stab people with it.”
“And? You’d have more success with your own blades. Not a pencil. Besides, you’d break the pencil. And I’m only giving you one per day.” Jyugo huffed at Hajime’s words, but followed the guard out. They went to the guard station, and Hajime watched as the teen sat down on the floor next to the coffee table, giving him the pencil back before going to his desk. He had to do paperwork as well, after all.
They spent a half an hour in a quiet focus, before Jyugo finally broke the silence.
“I’m done.”
Hajime looked over at the inmate, and nodded, standing up to walk over to the teen. He took the paper, looking over it while walking back to the desk. It still looked like it was the handwriting of a small child. He took out the first page he had the teen do, and looked over the two. As useless as the kid is, he’s been improving quite a bit. The supervisor spoke after a few minutes.
“I’ll get you some other sheets to practice on. I think you’ll benefit more from not just doing the alphabet.”
“Oh..” Jyugo mumbled. Hajime glanced over at him, and spoke.
“You’ve been improving quite a bit, you know.” That made the kid perk up a bit. And there’s his brave and cocky smirk.
“Psh, of course I have. Do you even know who you’re talking to?”
“Alright, alright. Don’t go getting a big head. Let’s get you back to your cell now.” Hajime said, struggling to keep his poker face as the teen huffed, clearly disappointed by this development. He led the teen out of the office, and back to Cell 13. “There. Back in your cell, where you belong.”
“Damn…” Jyugo muttered, and Uno smirked, and slung an arm around Jyugo’s shoulders.
“Dang. You look like shit. Did he put you to work?” The gambler asked, causing the jail breaker's face to flush. Cell 13 doesn’t know what the kid has been doing with him, do they? He thought that the kid would tell them- they’re friends, right? Practically brothers.
“Eh? Didn’t he tell you what he’s been doing whenever he gets out?”
“Nah. We figured he was just wandering around being a troublemaker.” Rock spoke up, while looking up from the menu he has. “But he’s been acting weird, even for him. I figured something happened.”
“I have not been acting weird!”
“You’ve been acting really weird, Jyugo-kun.” Nico spoke up. The man laughed. This was weirdly funny. Was number 15 embarrassed that Hajime was teaching him how to write?”
“Eh. Well, bye. Behave, punks.” He said, while shutting the cell. He paused as Rock spoke up, suddenly up close and personal with the bars.
“Wait! What has he been doing? He has been out for an hour, you know.”
“Yeah. I know. I caught him pretty much immediately. He just took his time with his worksheet.”
“Worksheet?” Uno spoke up, now next to the bars too. Nico joined his friends, and spoke up.
“What kind of worksheet? Were you making him write sentences?” He asked. The man looked behind the three, to where Jyugo was standing there, his face flushed with embarrassment and anger.
“Eh? No. He’s practicing writing. It’s not a punishment. It’s a task, since he’s clearly bored.” The gorilla stated while looking at the gambler. The punk, despite his at ease behavior, clearly hasn’t trusted Hajime since he beat the black haired boy to a pulp, which was fair.
“Huh? Is this cause he did really bad in the tournament? Jyugo, you know we’re okay with you sucking at writing, right?” Uno asked, while turning back to his friend, who huffed and looked away.
“It was the gorilla’s idea.” He muttered, clearly annoyed. Hajime rolled his eyes, and spoke calmly.
“You know, real friends would be pushing their friend to be better at shit, and not letting him suck.”
“Huh?”
“Letting him be bad at everything isn’t good for him, you know. You should be pushing him to succeed, not fail. He won’t be in jail for his whole life- none of you will. So you ought to be pushing for him to succeed.” He said, while turning away, starting to walk off. He could practically feel 11's dagger filled glare. He didn’t care. He was right.
Later, he was in the HQ break room, for once. He’s managed to catch up on his paperwork since he started giving the little shit those worksheets. He had just gotten basic alphabet tracing sheets off the internet, so he was hoping to see Kiji or Kenshirou and request better worksheets for his needs. He looked up as he smelled perfume, and could see the pheasant's surprise at him being there.
“Oh. Hajime. How are things in building 13?”
“Bout the same as ever. How’s your building faring?”
“It’s been going well. You only ever come here when you need something from someone, though.”
“I s’pose I do.” Baldie muttered, and looked away. He wanted to smoke, but there was no chance the pheasant would let him get away with that here.
“I was hoping to run into you or the mutt. I need worksheets for an inmate.”
“Oh? What kind? Is it for 25? That poor boy has hardly any literacy.” The pheasant crowed worriedly. Shit. Hajime forgot about that.
“Eh. Not 25. He needs hands-on help, and I’m not qualified for that. But that’s a Kenshirou topic. It’s for Number 15.”
“Yikes. Yeah, I can get you some alphabet sheets. He’ll need to start from the beginning, his handwriting is so poor…”
“No. He’s already improved that portion. I need the level up from there.”
“What?” The gorilla looked over to see the drag queen's bafflement before the bird spoke again. “You actually started with that on your own accord?”
“It’s not that surprising. Besides, I needed to make sure he was capable of change.” The gorilla said dismissively, not wanting to acknowledge what Kiji seems to think of him. There was a pause, then the pheasant laughed.
“I’m starting to think Mitsuru was right about you and that cell 13.”
“What’d he say this time?”
“Mmm. You’ll find out. I’ll send the worksheets you need as soon as I can.” He chirped, while turning and going to the fridge. The bald man sighed- he wanted to try and get the information out of the damned pheasant, but that he knew it would be a bad idea. No fighting other guards, and all that.
He sighed. He got what he needed, at least. He waited a moment, then stood up, leaving the break room. He headed to the monorail, checking his pager- oh, wonderful. Seitarou says Jyugo left his cell again, with 69. He sighed, and hoped the monorail was quick today.
He made it back after half an hour, and headed to the guard station.
“Alright, Seitarou, where-” He paused, his eyes meeting with Rock’s as he walked in.
The escaped inmates and the pretty boy were all sat around the table, with cookies.
“Oh! You’re here. Damn, do we have to go back now, then?” 69 complained, causing Hajime to sigh.
“You’re damn right you do. Good job, Seitarou. I didn’t have to chase them all over building 13. How’d you do it?”
“Oh! I tracked them down on the cameras and used the PA system to announce to the block they were in that there were cookies here. 69 was pretty quick to grab 15 and carry him back!” The young guard announced proudly. Hajime lifted a brow, looking over to where Rock was currently eating a cookie, with Jyugo sat next to him, looking bored.
“Alright. Well, 15’s staying to do a worksheet. 69 can stay for a bit if he promises to behave.”
“Eh? Did ya get more worksheets already? Damn…” 15 muttered, and Hajime shook his head.
“No. I have some math ones for you to do.” Hajime said, and looked over to see both inmates looking truly horrified.
“I- uh… I’m going back to the cell, actually.” The larger inmate said, while getting up.
“Huh? Wait, no, Rock, don’t leave me.”
“Ehh? 15, you’ll be fine. It’s just basic addition.”
Based on the way number 15 looked at Hajime made it clear this would be a lot harder than anything "basic" should be.
“Fine. I’ll get you something different. Seitarou, do you still have that book Hitoshi gave me?” The supervisor folded, while looking at the younger guard. The man nodded and got up, going to the shelf to get a coloring book for adults, and colored pencils.
“Pick a page for Jyugo to do.” He directed, and the other nodded, flipping through the book before taking some scissors and carefully cut a page out.
“Here you go, 15.” He said cheerfully, while bringing it over to the teen, handing it over with the colored pencils.
“What is this?” Of course that jail raised brat didn’t know what it was for. Hajime sat at his desk as he watched the star and 69 tell 15 what to do. At least he didn’t have to- the coloring book was a joke gift, and he hadn't been quite sure as to what to do with it until now. He watched for a bit, then got to work on filling out a form covering up the reason for the inmates being out of their cell. It’s been relatively easy to explain the jail breaker's absences with “inmate was taken to library to practice handwriting skills” or “inmate was taken to library to practice mindfulness." The gorilla chose to call coloring mindfulness. He only knew what Kiji told him about it, after all.
At some point, Seitarou brought the inmates back to their cell for Hajime, giving him the coloring page on the way out. He looked at it once alone, and smiled. He could tell that the young guard had helped the two, since there was a pretty neatly colored section. The other two sections weren’t as neat, but the messiest was definitely Jyugo’s. Poor kid had been having a hard time coloring in the lines of some of the smaller areas, and he always struggles to correct himself when holding a pencil.
He always full fists it, until corrected into the proper way- he figured that was the issue with the coloring today. He’d have to ask the younger guard.
He waited for a bit, and when the teal haired guard came in, he spoke.
“Hey, how was 15 holding the pencils?”
“Uhm.. he was holding them like a small kid does, it was pretty cute.”
“So he was holding it in his fist? Like a straw when you put it through a lid?”
“Yeah! Why?” Seitarou asked, while tilting his head. Baldie sighed, and looked at the pretty boy, waiting for the gears to click into place. “Oh! That’s why he was struggling!”
“There you go.” Hajime muttered, looking at the coloring page again. Well, he doubted Jyugo would be escaping again soon. If he does, the supervisor will just have to actually make him do the math page he printed off earlier.
The rest of the continued to progress like normal. Most of the building was well behaved, even cell 13 for once. He was glad. But, right as he was getting ready to clock out, he heard the sound of someone walking out in the hall, barefoot, at 8pm. He sighed, and walked out of the office, looking over to see Jyugo. The brat was walking with his hands behind his head, carefree like always. He sighed, and walked over to the inmate, and grabbed him by the back of his jumpsuit.
“And what do you think you’re doing, number 15?” He asked sternly, and turned the kid to face him. The little shit looked… surprised, to say the least. Like he hadn't heard the supervisor approaching- which isn't entirely unsurprising for this specific kid.
“Eh? I was heading back to my cell.”
“From where? You should already be there.” He asked, while squinting at the teen. They stared at each other for a moment, and before Jyugo could speak, the gorilla did. “So you were just wandering around aimlessly?”
“Yeah.” The kid folded. Guess there was no point in lying if he got called out first.
“Well. C’mon then.” The man said, snapping handcuffs on the brat before bringing him into the office.
“Huh? Shouldn’t you take me back to my cell?” Jyugo asked awkwardly. The bald man glanced at him, while putting him on the couch.
“Why should I? You’ll just break out again tonight.” The teen seemed rather nervous now.
“... No I won’t.”
“You’ve been breaking out constantly ever since you arrived at Nanba prison. You tell me why I should believe you.” Hajime said, while turning away to grab the math worksheet and a pencil.
“Okay, geez, I get it.” 15 muttered, while glancing at the worksheet. “It’s too late for math…”
“Then I guess you shouldn’t have been out wandering around. Do whatever you can on your own, and in ten minutes I’ll take you back to your cell. Then we’ll finish the worksheet at some point of time tomorrow.” He explained, watching as the inmate's expression got grimmer and grimmer. The teen really didn’t want to do math.
The guard suspects most teenagers don’t. Oh well, sucks to suck, kid.
He finished straightening out his desk, and swept up some crumbs from the floor. He put his walkie to charge, and clocked out at the ten minute mark.
“Alright, brat. Come on.” He said, and watched as 15 got up, taking the pencil and paper from him. He put the pencil away, leaving the worksheet on the desk as he left the office with the rat.
“Hajime…?” The teen soon spoke, quietly. Uh oh. Jyugo never seems to have anything pleasant to say when he starts like that.
“What is it, 15?”
“Enki told me about… something bad. If.. If I start attacking people, with my blades, you’ll stop me, right? You won’t… You won’t let me hurt them.” Jyugo was quiet, and scared. Hajime hated it when he spoke like that. It terrified him. Because what is the kid too scared to say, what could be worse than what he was already saying? He fully stopped, and sighed, speaking.
“I’m not on the clock right now. So this is me speaking as a mentor, instead of the person in charge of you.” Hajime said, and took out a cigarette and a lighter, lighting the cigarette, and taking in some of it, breathing out the smoke before speaking. “First of all, that won’t happen. I won’t let it. Second of all, if somehow it does, no, I won’t let you hurt your fellow inmates or any guards.”
He spoke calmly, while watching the inmate in his peripheral vision. The teen was distant in expression, like he was barely listening. Probably dissociating.
“Jyugo.. You’re not a threat to your friends, they aren’t in danger because you’re here.” That got Jyugo to look up at Hajime, who’s still smoking, and slowly relaxed.
“Oh... okay. Yeah. You’re right.”
“I know I am. So c’mon. They’re waiting for you.” He said, and continued walking, opening the door to let 15 into the cell when they got there, only to get a faceful of pillow. There was a gasp from Nico, then the cell erupted into chaos as all the inmates began laughing as they saw the gorilla's annoyed expression when the pillow fell.
He picked it up, and looked at 25, causing the brat to shriek, even with the smile spread across his face.
“Rock!” Nico yelped, starting to move behind his stronger friend, only to whacked to the ground by the pillow at full force. There was a moment of shocked silence from all four inmates before they all started howling with laughter, throwing their pillows at each other. Hajime glanced at Jyugo, the tiny ball of nerves, and pushed him into the middle of the fray, chuckling as he caught a pillow, and tossed it at Rock.
“Lights out. Do try and keep it down.” He said, and turned, leaving the room. There was a “Okay!” from the group, but by the time he was a few meters from the cell, the laughing had started again. He had to keep himself from smiling.
Hajime had barely entered HQ for work the next day, when the pheasant approached him.
“Hajime. Here, I found more than expected.” Kiji greeted while handing over a binder. The gorilla nodded, taking the binder and looking into it. He flipped through it until he saw some math worksheets too. He looked at the drag queen, who glanced at the papers, and spoke. “I figured you might need those as well, so I included them.”
“You were right. Thanks.” Baldie said, closing the binder while putting it under his arm. This would be very useful.
“Of course. I’m just glad you’re finally trying to help your inmates, instead of just keeping them down.”
“Eh? This is keeping him down. He’s annoying when he’s bored, so I’m giving him something to do.”
“And what is he doing when he’s bored?”
“... He calls guards to the cell to complain, typically. I started taking him out and bringing him places awhile back, and it was getting paperwork heavy. So now I just take him to the library and make him do worksheets so he knows how it feels.” Hajime explained, lying out his ass. He didn’t miss Kiji’s laugh.
“Of course that would be your reason. Well, I’ll leave you be.” The drag queen said, and turned, strutting off. Hajime had a feeling the man knew he was lying, but didn’t care to push it. He went to the guard room, and put the binder on the desk, seeing the addition sheet on the desk. He looked at it, and looked over the escape artist's answers. There were no answers higher than ten. Oh boy. This was going to be rough.
He stood, grabbing his walkie for lights on, but froze when he heard light snoring. He went over to the overnight guard room, where Yamato should be. When he opened the door, he was fully unsurprised to see Jyugo there. He sighed.
He was lucky Kiji hadn’t come all the way here. He would have noticed the teen sooner, and then Hajime would have been caught, and screwed over.
He watched the brat sleep, rather… peacefully. He was glad the kid was getting good sleep-
Wait.
No.
This fucker broke out of his cell, and came here, where he isn’t supposed to be, and is sleeping here like he owns the damn place. Of course, Hajime knows the damn reason for why, but does it really matter when the kid just does whatever he wants to do all the time? He’s the one who gets in trouble for this shit- not Jyugo. Not number 15.
Anyways, he needs to discipline the kid.
Clearly, whacking sense into him doesn’t do much. He pinched the bridge of his nose, thinking hard about what to do. The brat just tunes him out when he gets scolded, and while the worksheets get him to stop for a while, this wasn’t done out of boredom. And sure, Jyugo may obviously dislike getting carried, but it doesn’t do much…
That’s when a grin spread across Hajime’s face as he got an idea.
“Number 15, wake up.” He spoke loudly, while flicking on the light, smirking as he watched the boy slowly start to wake up. Clearly his malicious smirk was enough to startle the inmate awake faster.
“Hey, why are you smirking like that…?” The raccoon asked, seeming rather… worried about this.
“Oh, you’ll find out. Later. Come on.” Hajime said, and brought the prisoner back to Cell 13.
....
It wasn’t until a few hours later, when he caught the teen wandering without permission, did he set the plan into motion.
“Oh good. There you are. We’re going to Building 4.”
“Huh? Why?” Jyugo asked, while letting Hajime put handcuffs on him.
“Cause the mutt said he had some free time today, and wouldn’t mind helping me teach you addition.”
“What? Wait, no, I-”
“And then, once you finish that, you’re going to Building 5 to run laps. Turns out the inmates in Building Five have been bad mouthing your stamina
to the monkey, and he’s more than willing to put you to work.”
“Hey!”
“And, I figured you’re just not getting enough activity during the day, since you came to the guard room to sleep again, instead of sleeping in your cell, like you’re supposed to. So we’re fixing that.”
“Hey! Nico was-” He was silenced by a single glare from Hajime. The teen clearly didn't care for the idea of this field trip, and the guard soon felt the handcuffs fall empty. When he turned, the togabito had one of his blades drawn. “You’re gonna have to make me go. But I doubt you’ll be able to.”
There’s that cockiness that gets the brat hurt again. Hajime stared at him, thinking for a minute before deciding on what to do.
He slowly grinned at the boy, and cracked his knuckles. “I was hoping you’d give me a reason to rough you up. You don’t need your left hand for writing or running, right?”
He asked maliciously, knowing the brat would falter at the threat. And sure enough, number 15 did, hesitating long enough for Hajime to lunge forward, and twist his bladed right arm behind his back, just hard enough to make the boy yelp in pain, and retract the sword.
“Okay okay! I quit, I quit!” Jyugo yelped, and huffed as he was let go, and put back into cuffs, sulking as he followed the guard to the bus. Hajime glanced back at him, smirking a bit.
“Hey, maybe if you actually start training regularly, you’ll be an actual threat.” He said, watching as 15's eyes shift, becoming different colors in the changing light.
“I am a threat, you’re just freakishly strong.” The inmate muttered, smirking as Hajime scoffed.
“Or maybe you’re just freakishly weak.”
“I am not!” The brat complained, and the gorilla felt a blood vessel pop as the handcuffs fell loose again. He turned, towering over the brat, who took pause at the angry expression. The inmate then shrieked as he was grabbed, and tossed over the his shoulder without a care in the world. “Put me down!”
He hollered, squirming as much as he could in the man’s firm grip. His attempts were in vain, as he wasn’t put down until they were on the bus. Hajime just has a smug smirk on his face, content with the brat's frustration.
“Go sit.” He commands, and goes to the driver’s seat, starting up the bus as the kid quietly did as told.
The good thing about the long drive is that by the time they arrived, Jyugo had calmed down, and fallen asleep. Hajime sighed, getting out of the bus, looking at Kenshirou as he approached.
“Hey. Number 15 is on the bus.”
“Understood. He needs help with addition, right?”
“Yeah. He seems incapable of adding numbers higher than ten.” The bald gorilla replied, while handing over the worksheet within the manila folder.
“That was all he was able to do on his own, yesterday. I may be qualified to teach calligraphy, but not math.”
“Of course.” The mutt muttered, while taking the folder, looking inside, and grimacing. “This is disappointing. He just assumed they were ten if they were higher…”
“Yup. Sure looks like it.” Baldie muttered, while taking out his cigarette box, pausing when he saw the death glare the mutt immediately gave him. He sighed. “I’ll get 15 off the bus.”
He grumbled, annoyed he wouldn’t be able to smoke until he got the chance to slip away. He headed back onto the bus, grabbing the handcuffs and clipping them onto 15 before speaking.
“Hey, punk. Get up. We’re here.” He said, ignoring the urge to whack that sleepy expression off the kid’s face. He got so pissed when the kid was adorable like this. Once the kid was awake and standing, Hajime led him off the bus, making sure he kept the cuffs on as they went over to the mutt, who looked at the teen’s tired expression with a hint of surprise.
“...I didn’t think you’d let inmates sleep on the trip.”
“He’d be a nuisance awake, of course I let him sleep.” The response was quick, and blunt. Just like usual.
“Hey! I’m not a nuisance!” 15 immediately complained, fully awake now. The supervisor looked at him, and at the handcuffs Jyugo’s fingers were clearly itching to remove. The teen seemed to realize what the guard’s gaze meant, and huffed. “Okay. Maybe I’m a little annoying.”
“Mhmm.” Hajime hummed, and looked over at the little dog, who was clearly suspicious of the two now. “Do you think you can help him?”
“Yes. I’ll help him, then I’ll ask him the questions I wished to ask him.” The man said, spinning away to lead the way into the building, leading the two a small classroom, devoid of any inmates learning. Baldie took the cuffs off, and sent Jyugo to sit down. Kenshirou got started on teaching the punk how to add, leaving Hajime to watch.
It was almost… sad, in a way. That this inmate- this kid, had never gotten a proper education. That he was conditioned so thoroughly that he doesn’t realize why he should be upset about the fact he didn’t learn any of this stuff years ago. That he’s starting from ground zero when he should be learning algebra, reading Shakespeare, learning about chemistry, or biology. He should be learning about how governments work, not how to add numbers higher than ten.
It took about an hour before Kenshirou decided he’d have Hajime bring him back twice a week for lessons. Then he went straight to asking the questions he wanted to ask Jyugo.
“Do your shackles hurt?”
“Not normally, no.”
“What causes them to hurt?”
“Dunno. When it’s really hot or cold, it’s uncomfortable when they touch other parts of me.”
“Hm. And what does it feel like when they turn to blades?”
The kid shrugged. “Never thought about it.”
“So there’s no pain?”
Another shrug. Hajime wanted to whack him. The kid’s on and off ability to be a functioning person was starting to piss him off again. Not in the way his sleepy face pissed him off.
“Hm. Well, thank you anyways.”
“Is Musashi doing okay?” Jyugo asked quietly, causing Hajime to sigh. Of course that’s what the kid was thinking about.
“Yes. Number 634 is doing well.” Kenshirou said, with a nod. 15 nodded, and the Building Four supervisor stood, looking over to Hajime.
“Well, you can go ahead and take him.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the help.” He said calmly, putting the handcuffs back on his inmate, while following one of the guard dogs out of the building. He brought the kid onto the bus, and started the drive over to Building Five.
“Do we really have to go to Building Five? I don’t wanna train.”
“Too bad. This is what’ll happen whenever I catch you sleeping in the guard room, number 15.”
“What?! That’s bullshit!”
“And so is you constantly making my job harder.” Hajime said with a smirk as he pulled up to the building. He looked back, and paused at the sight of how Jyugo seemed to falter. He sighed. “Enki is at rest. Both of them are. Quit looking all sad and mopey- if Samon sees you like that, I imagine he’ll get pissed. And you don’t wanna be running laps with an angry monkey chasing you.”
As he finished speaking, he latched the cuffs back onto the teen, before bringing him off the bus. As he got off, he saw the monkey exiting building 5, already looking pissed.
“Remind me again why I’m letting you dump your inmate’s exercise on my building.”
“Cause he pisses you off about as much as I do.”
“Hah? I barely know the guy, you dumb gorilla!” Jyugo spoke up. Hajime shifted to glare at him, but paused when the monkey spoke.
“No, don’t worry, 15. You and the dumb gorilla may as well be carbon copies of each other with how similar you two assholes are.” This response resulted in both the inmate and guard turning to look at the building 5 supervisor, disgust and disbelief written all over their faces. “See? You’re making the same face.”
Hajime and Jyugo turn to look at each other, then they look at Samon again.
“You’re wrong.” They answer, simultaneously, only causing the monkey to smirk.
“I guess so. One of you is a little baby racoon, and the other is a raging gorilla.” He said, and caught Hajime’s fist to prevent getting punched. The larger man growled. He hates this asshole- first saying he and Jyugo are similar, and then calling him a gorilla.
“I’ll kill you, ya damn monkey.”
“Oh really? When your kid might escape from those handcuffs at any moment?” The smaller man asked with a shit eating smirk. Hajime looked over at the raccoon, who was spacing out. Samon snickered. When the gorilla looked down at him, he immediately realized why.
“Not my kid.” The gorilla growled, a bit too late, and yanked his arm away from the smaller man, before speaking. “Your inmates are running laps now, right? He needs to work on his stamina.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll have Inori bring him back to your building in a few hours.”
“Thanks.” Hajime muttered, and looked over at Jyugo. The brat is dissociating again. “15. Behave yourself. If I hear from the monkey that you fucked around, I’ll put your ass in solitary, got it?”
15 looked up, blinking slowly at Baldie. Dumb little raccoon. Once the kid nodded, Hajime waved dismissively, and got back in the bus, watching for a moment as Samon escorted his inmate back into the building.
He then started to drive back to building thirteen, sighing. He had a bad feeling Mitsuru was at fault for what Samon said. So, once able, he pulled over, parking the vehicle, and took out his phone, dialing Mitsuru’s number.
“YOOOOOOOOOO, It’s Mitsuru, baby! Whatcha need, bestie?” The energetic man asked eagerly.
“Why the fuck did Samon call me and an inmate carbon copies of each other?”
“Hmm, which inmate? Cause I dunno what you’re talking about.” Mother fucker is lying.
“Mitsuru, quit playing stupid.”
“Fiiine, geez. Would you like footage, audio recordings, or eyewitness accounts?”
“Mit. Su. Ru.”
“Alrighty, I’ll send all of it your way.”
“The hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t shoot the messenger, but you’ve been actin’ like a father figure to that kid lately.”
“No, I have not.”
“Hajime, did ya forget who's the head of surveillance? You was smiling at that kid’s improved handwriting just the other day.”
“No, I was not.”
“Hajiiiii, you’re starting to sound real defensive.”
“You’re making my stomach hurt.”
“Oh, do ya have your meds?”
“Of course I do, asshole. But how many people have you told that I’m acting like a dad to number 15?”
“You can call him Jyugo, ya know. I do.”
“He’s an i-”
“You’ve already done it several times.”
Shit. Has he?
“Yeah, you’ve been slipping up with a lot of your inmates- especially those Cell 13 guys. But hey, I get it. Every building has their favorite cell.”
“Least. Favorite.”
“Uh-huh…. huh? Something is happening at building 5.” Mitsuru’s words made Hajime’s blood run cold. Jyugo is there- did the kid lose control? Did Elf take over the kid? He immediately put the bus into drive, and started driving. “Hey, bestie. Your kid’s using his shackles.”
“Is he attacking anyone?”
“Not yet- his blades are out, and-.”
“The hell happened?”
“Well, you know how building five gets. A lot of-”
“The fuck happened, Mitsuru?!” Hajime yelled as he pressed on the gas.
“A lot of combatant types, and a kid who can’t fight.” The supervisor slammed to a stop in front of the building, and took the keys out of the bus, before getting out and running into the building, rushing to the training grounds, leaving his phone behind.
So when he arrived, and saw that everything was fine, he was pissed. Jyugo was out of breath, and the brats from Cell 8 were around him. He had one blade out, and that old man was studying it. The bald man put his hands on his knees, out of breath. That asshole Mitsuru tricked him.
“Eh? What’re you doing back here, gorilla?” The damn monkey asked curiously as he walked over.
“Mitsuru told me Jyugo was using his shackles, and let me think he was goin’ beserk…” Hajime muttered, while standing straight, huffing angrily as he fixed his hat. He looked over, and saw Samon studying him. “The hell are you looking at?”
“I’d be able to handle it if he did. You know that.”
“And? He’s my inmate. Regardless of his location.”
“No. That isn’t why you came back. You were worried.”
“Sorry, the hell are you trying to say?”
“You were worried about him. Cause I know you don’t think I’m weak.”
“What if I said I do?”
“Then you’d be a damn poor liar.”
“Liste-”
“Samon, 15 has been able to get up.” The doll-boy said, while floating over. He looked at Hajime, and floated off.
“Damn brat.” Hajime muttered, and turned, wanting to leave. He had paperwork to do- and a noisy asshole to kill for tricking him.
“Hajime.” Samon said quietly, while the brat floated away. The gorilla paused, turning to look at him. “No one is judging you for caring, asshole. We judge you because you pretend you don’t. And sure, a prison is typically for punishment. Prison guards usually don’t need to care. But Nanba is for rehabilitation. Rehabilitation needs care.”
Hajime sighed. Samon was, unfortunately, correct.
“I’m going to go. I have paperwork to do. You know how to reach me if there’s an actual issue.”
“... Yeah. I won’t let him die, don’t worry.” That got a chuckle out of Hajime. Damn kid isn’t a fragile doll. He turned, leaving the building quietly, and went back to the bus.
He got in, sighing as he started up the vehicle and started driving back to building 13. He slowly relaxed. Jyugo will be fine. He hopes. Last time the brat was at building 5, everything went wrong- but that was because of Enki. Not because of Jyugo, Samon, or any of the monkey’s Cell 8.
His kid would be okay.
No.
Not his kid. The kid. Those assholes were just… getting into his head. He’s not paternal towards the brat at all. Why would he be? He’s a 16 year old punk in the world’s most secure prison, just a naive kid.
Shit.
Were Mitsuru and Samon right? Is this what Kiji almost let slip this morning? The warden would kill him if she knew he felt such a weakness with a rowdy inmate.
{{ On the contrary, Momoko has also noticed that he’s been more dad-like. She finds the dad behavior hot, and while she knows who Jyugo’s real dad is, she’s been daydreaming about adopting Jyugo (after he finishes his sentence) with Hajime as her husband. }}
By now, Hajime has made it to his office, and has sat in his chair, sighing. He glanced at his phone as he received a message from Samon- a picture of Jyugo crying on the ground.
S: He’s exhausted already, and Houdzuki says more acupuncture will be dangerous…
H: It’s been like, half an hour. Give him time to recuperate, he’ll be up soon if he sees others having fun.
S: THat works on KINDERGARTENERS, not iNMATES.
H: There’s no difference between the two of those.
S: JKANSGGEJLSNJA YES THERE IS
H: Just trust me.
He sighed, and went back to doing his paperwork. He glanced over ten minutes later, just in time to see a new message pop up.
S: Holy shit he got back up and is stretching with 71.
H: Told you he would get up.
The next hour was… peaceful. Cell 13 was stuck in their cell, after all. When he got the call that Inori had arrived with Jyugo, he headed to the building entrance, lifting a brow at the kid. The boar is currently giving the kid, who looks tired and barely awake, a piggy back ride.
Cute.
Wait, no, damn it! Not cute! This is a criminal that he is in charge of, not a innocent kid!
“Thanks, Inori. I’ll take him from here.” Hajime spoke quietly, and Inori nodded, carefully letting the kid down. Jyugo sleepily stepped over to Hajime, and dropped his head against the man’s chest, surprising both guards. The gorilla sighed, and carefully grabbed the kid by the scruff, ignoring the smirk from the other guard as the kid went limp.
The gorilla then carried the racoon off, bringing him to his cell. When he opened it, and saw the others were about to get rowdy, he glared. They better not. He handed 15 over to Rock, watching as Uno quietly set up the teen's bed roll. He watched for a moment as Rock carried Jyugo over to the roll, laying him down. Nico, however, rushed up to Hajime, and grabbed his arm, whispering.
“Why is Jyugo-Kun so tired?”
“I sent him to building 5.”
“Why?”
“To tire him out.”
“Why?”
“Cause he keeps escaping at night, when I’m not around to catch him, so I have to travel a lot at night to deal with him.”
“Oh.”
“And if he gets caught by anyone else, I’d be the one to get in trouble.”
“Would they fire you?”
“Depends.”
The boy fell quiet, looking over at Jyugo, seeming uncertain about something. Hajime sighed, and patted the kid on the head.
“He’s fine. The monkey just had him running laps, I think.”
“Okay.”
That was that, for a few days. The gorilla and the raccoon got into a new, better, and less stressful routine.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Building 13's supervisor would bring the raccoon to Building 4 for a math lesson, and a brief visit with 634. Then, afterwards, he’d bring the kid by Building 5 for half an hour so he could run laps with Cell 8. At some point, he started bringing Nico along for both activities as well. He was much more behaved, and was really interested in learning when reminded that if he did his best in the classroom, he’d get to go to building 5 and train with Number 58.
It was.. nice. The two youngest in Cell 13 were gaining a lot- and so was Hajime. Sure, there was still paperwork, but Jyugo’s been breaking out less, surprisingly.
He was glad.