"HIT!" Ryuzio shouted into his squadmate's ear. No response came his way. Hitryel's head had sunk, his chin touching the base of his neck. Ryuzio realized his squadmate was also getting heavier with the passing of each moment…
"Don't panic," the pink-haired girl said in a reassuring manner, popping beside them. "Baru's squadmates, they use bombs filled with swiftsleep gas as their weapon. Hitryel's just unconscious for now, but if he inhaled a lot of that gas, his lungs could be in danger."
"That's bad!" Ryuzio said to her. "Why shouldn't I panic?"
"Because it never brings anything positive," she replied, walking ahead. "And also because you have an amazing Healing Artist by your side."
Ryuzio looked either way, shading his eyes. "Where?"
She sighed, head sinking. "Just follow me," she finally said. "I don't know District One like District Three, but I'm sure I can find a place better than just being out here in the open. We need to hide quickly. I don't want the skyguards to link me with Baru and his group."
Ryuzio nodded before he started after her, holding Hitryel up as he dragged the unconscious man along. "And I don't want them to get to Hit—"
They both stopped when a four-wheeled vehicle pulled up in front of them. Since the fight with Baru started, all the roads had been free of any vehicles. The people around the intersection had either run away or hid inside the buildings along the sides the roads, not wanting to participate in the chaos that took place.
Then who could these two be who just got out of their fancy vehicle? They both wore colorful jackets and loose clothing, and had very short hair, barely above a flat trim—one having a greenish color to their hair and the other having an orange one. And for some reason…they both were wearing shades… It was nighttime.
"Where do you think you're taking him?" Orangehead said. "Do you know who he is?"
"That's correct! 100%!" Greenhead said, both approaching with their hands loose in front, making weird gestures and poses with them. "That's our Brother Hitryel, you know. I can recognize him with my eyes closed. He and us go way back."
Orangehead wrapped and arm around Greenhead's shoulders, making a fist with the other. "But now it's almost like he's forgotten about us, man. We know Brother Hitryel's got too big for people like us, but does success really make a man this blind?"
"200%, bro," Greenhead said as they both stopped in front of Ryuzio and his squadmates. From this close, Ryuzio found them almost as tall—if not taller—than Hitryel, and definitely older than his squadmate too—by maybe 5 years or so. "I bet he doesn't even remember the invite we gave him."
Orangehead pointed at Ryuzio. "Now look what we have here. A shorty trying to carry Brother Hitryel somewhere with a cute chick by his side—" He froze.
"She's fine, 100%, can't lie, bro," Greenhead said, stroking the scant hairs on his chin. "But why'd you have to break the flow like—?"
Orangehead grabbed onto Ryuzio's jacket collar. "Why is there blood on Hitryel's shirt? And a flucking knife in his gut?"
"Hitryel just fought against three squadmates of Payback Baru by himself," the masked girl said, leaning toward the sunglasses wearing duo. "We're his friends. If you're someone close to him, then please help us."
Orangehead pulled back his hand to wrap his arms around his torso as shivers climbed up his body, his face reddening. "I'm so happy that Brother Hitryel's finally opening up to people. But as much of a handsome guy he is, even I couldn't have ever imagined that the first women he'd ever date would be so flucking fine!"
Greenhead leaned closer to him, raising a brow. "But do you think they've done it yet—?"
The masked girl smacked them both in the heads, face flushing. "Vulgar pigsnots!"
"Heh?" Ryuzio tilted his head sideways in confusion as he observed this. "What's going on?"
"It's not like that, sis," Greenhead said, waving his palms after holding them up to the front. "I know it sounds weird but where we come from there's a ritual that's performed with the one you love the most."
She gave him a flat stare, brow twitching.
Orangehead shook his head. "I know his explanation was trash, but I assure you it's nothing of the nature that you're assuming it to be. It just involves the physical bodies of both of the indi—"
She smacked them again. "I'm not getting anything wrong here! You're even worse than Baru's cronies!"
"We call it 'marriage'…" Greenhead said, rubbing his head.
Orangehead nodded in agreement. "Marriage. The most sacred thing two individuals can do with their bodies. Such a pure—"
The pink-haired girl smacked them both for a third time. "Then why'd you two make it sound so suggestive! You could've revealed it from the very start!"
"But we thought you'd be unfamiliar with it," Orangehead explained. "Things here are not at all as they were back in our village, man. We got clowned so many times for acting like village boys."
"100%" Greenhead said, wrapping an arm around his partner. "But once we finally spent some time here in District One, it's like we were never from to the mountains."
'Mountains?' Ryuzio thought curiously.
"Is that the reason you talk like that?" the masked girl asked. "And your hair…they're dyed, aren't they?"
They both gave her a confused look. "Yours aren't?" Ryuzio had also joined them.
"Why are YOU by their side!" she shouted at Ryuzio. "Of course my hair is natural. Why would anyone ruin their hair with dye?"
They both fixed their shades, saying but one word in unison, "Fashion."
She sighed, shaking her head with the fingertips of her right hand resting on her forehead. "You guys won't be of any help. Just tell us a place where we can hide from the skyguards while Hitryel recovers."
They shared glances.
"Brother Hitryel is a criminal now, remember?"
"100%. Filep said so."
"So you're not going to help him?" she asked.
They both cocked back their heads, looking offended.
"How's she getting that?"
"I guess it's true, man. The prettier the girl is, the dumber—"
She smacked them both, walking past. "We should get going. These guys are useless."
Ryuzio followed her, but kept his eyes on the men. "Do you know of a place where we'd all be safe until Hit gets well?"
They both quickly climbed off the ground, dusting their clothes. Then they stood with their backs pushed against each other, arms folded, tucking their chin. "Of course we do," they said in unison. "It's called…
"The Wavecrash Dojo."
Ryuzio's eyes widened as he recalled the name of this place.
'Wavecrash Dojo,' Hitryel had said. 'I know the two who run that place. In all of Sonas, that's the only place we can stay hidden until all this cools down.'
"That's the place Hitryel was taking us!" Ryuzio said immediately.
"Hm?" The masked girl stopped, turning back. "You positive?"
Ryuzio glanced over his shoulder to give a nod. "In fact, he said that's the ONLY place we could stay in."
She cocked back her head, pointing ahead. "They don't look too happy about it."
Ryuzio returned his eyes onto the duo up ahead. They had their heads lowered, fists clenched tightly. "You guys okay—?"
They looked up, revealing the river of tears flowing from their eyes.
"'Alright' can't do justice to what we're feeling right now," Orangehead said. "I can't believe Brother Hitryel had this much faith in us. It's shameful of me to ever think that the fame and riches got to him."
Riches? Did these guys not know what Hitryel had done with all the money he earned?
"100%, man," Greenhead said. "To think that WE were the ones who lost faith in HIM! Brother Hitryel is the realest one, no lies."
"The skyguards are upon us," the masked girl said to Ryuzio. "Whatever you want to do, do it fast. We can always chat later."
Before Ryuzio could even open his mouth to reply, Orangehead got close to him and wrapped the other arm of his squadmate around his own shoulders. "There's only one thing to do: to speed to our dojo!"
Greenhead pointed at their fancy car. "Get inside our whip! We can't disappoint Brother Hitryel after he put so much faith on us."
Ryuzio smiled excitedly, not only because nothing bad would happen to Hitryel now, but also because he'd get to ride in a fancy vehicle like that. "Okay!" He turned with a smile, meeting the purple eyes of the pink-haired girl. "Let's go!"
She shrugged, walking toward the vehicle. "As long as I'm safe from harm."
They climbed inside the four-wheeled vehicle, Ryuzio, Hitryel, and the masked girl on the back, the Wavecrash duo on the front. The engine of the vehicle roared, as if competing against the sirens, marking the start of their journey to Wavecrash Dojo.
"I like you guys, even if you didn't let me drive," Ryuzio said from the back seat. "Tell me your names."
"Any friend of Brother Hitryel is also a brother of mine," Orangehead said from behind the wheel. "So from now, you can call me Brother Jasue."
"And that makes me Brother Rivbe," Greenhead said. "When Brother Hitryel fought Baru's men, I'm sure he must've needed some help, even after being fully aware of his demonic strength. So you two have nothing but our gratitude for helping our brother."
Ryuzio smiled. "Of course."
"But it's so crazy that he ended up fighting Baru's squadmates," said Orangehead—Jasue. "Knowing him, they must've done something REALLY messed up, no?"
Greenhead—Rivbe—glanced over his shoulder, looking at Hitryel. "Baru won't let that slide, man. Brother Hitryel's put more trouble on his head."
Ryuzio picked his nose with a pinky, giving him a dismissive wave. "Don't worry about that balloon guy, I beat him."
The Wavecrash duo shared glances. Then laughed. "Sure, bro. Sure."
"He did," the masked girl said. "I helped him—"
Their vehicle swerved.
Jasue looked back, a line of sweat on the side of his face. "You beat Baru?"
"What kind of a monster are you?" Rivbe asked.
Ryuzio smiled. "It was exciting."
Jasue gulped. "Start from the beginning."
"Well…" Ryuzio said thoughtfully. "It all started when Balloonru crashed his truck against Hitryel's bike when we were on our way to your dojo—"
The vehicle swerved again.
"That explains why Brother Hitryel fought against Baru's goons," Jasue said, looking from his partner to Ryuzio. "But we'll talk about how you survived the crash later. For now, just tell me if Hitryel was carrying something with him."
Ryuzio looked sideways in thought. "I guess he had a small bag…"
Rivbe nodded at Jasue. "We HAVE to go back."
"Tell me some I don't know."
Ryuzio tilted his head sideways. "Is the bag important?"
"Very."
"Okay. Let's go."