"Damn it, Zaraki!" swore Hirai, as he had spotted where the cry for help was coming from.
Somebody was trapped right inside a burning building nearby that had been destroyed by a falling meteor barely an hour earlier, and his (the victim's) foot was crushed by a collapsed wall.
Zaraki also came in, avoiding the flames as much as he could while rushing in from behind Hirai to save the victim.
"Damn!" Hirai swore again.
"What is it?" Zaraki yelled out as the hot environment was making him dizzy and uncomfortable.
"Look," said Hirai.
Zaraki did and immediately gasped at what he saw.
The victim's legs were completely crushed, and a large piece of wood had impaled his left thigh.
For a few seconds, Hirai and Zaraki stood confused, not knowing what to do given the circumstances.
From the way the man was screaming for help, it seemed like he was not fully aware of his current situation.
If he was, he would have passed out from shock, or maybe he was aware that both his feet had been completely crushed and that he was mortally wounded but chose to ignore it to save his life by focusing on getting help.
Hirai thought that if it was the latter, then the victim would turn out to be one hell of a tough guy, but if it was the former, then he would be doing the victim a favor by killing him on the spot.
"We have to save him, Hirai!" said Zaraki as if he could read Hirai's present thoughts on the situation.
Hirai looked back at him with confusion.
But as he did so, more fiery debris fell as the building was slowly crumbling.
"We don't have time, but let's at least try to save him!" said Zaraki.
Hirai nodded and walked closer to the man, who had almost passed out from the smoke, pain, and heat.
Hirai stood right beside the collapsed wall.
"Alright, when I lift the thing, pull him out immediately, okay?"
"Yeah?" replied Zaraki with a questionable look.
"What?" asked Hirai, not comfortable with the way Zaraki was looking at him in skepticism.
"Can you lift that thing?" he asked.
Hirai arched a brow, almost feeling insulted by Zaraki's question.
"Of course I can; what do you take me for?" he answered.
"Okay then," said Zaraki, raising his hands dramatically. "If you say so"...
Hirai targeted the point where the victim's thigh was impaled and started lifting.
"Crap, it's even heavier than I thought!" cried Hirai.
"Come on, Hirai, you can do it!" Zaraki yelled back, encouraging him.
Given the heavyweight of the fallen wall, he couldn't just drop it, as it would further damage the victim on impact, Neither could he gently put it down now, as his back was already under immense pressure and pain.
He had two choices: either lift it all the way or drop it and seal the victim's unfortunate fate for good. He chose the former.
Ignoring all odds, he shouted as he painfully lifted the fallen wall enough for Zaraki to pull out the victim from underneath it.
Once Zaraki had pulled out the victim, he yelled at Hirai,
"Drop it!"
Hirai gladly did, and they could both feel the ground shake as it fell.
"Great, you did it," remarked Zaraki with a smile.
"Yes, and my back is now punishing me for it." Hirai groaned as he put a hand there, hoping it would soothe the pain somehow, breathing heavily.
Then they both looked to see the victim's feet completely crushed and a large piece of wood running through his left thigh.
"Damn!" Hirai swore again.
"Come on, let's take him outside," said Zaraki.
"Right," replied Hirai, "before this crumbling disaster makes us the next victim."
As one, they lifted the man by his shoulders and took him out of the burning building, which completely collapsed as they came out of it.
"Damn," swore Hirai, "talk about great timing."
Zaraki laughed.
"So where do we take him?" he asked, referring to the victim they were trying to save.
"I don't know, Zaraki. "I'm not even sure if we are supposed to even move him given his condition," answered Hirai.
Maybe he was right, as the victim's crushed feet were bleeding profusely with blood everywhere, and if the victim did not get help soon, he would die from anaemia.
"Let us at least try to get him to the main dormitory." "There were a lot of physicians at work there when I left to find you," said Hirai.
"Why were there a lot of physicians there at that time?" asked Zaraki.
"Because an angry invader had gotten there and was alone responsible for the deaths of dozens of operatives last night. "According to Mikan, the invader's name was Akira," answered Hirai.
Zaraki widened his eyes in shock, even though he had predicted instinctively beforehand that one of the invaders would go there to find the now-dead Rangiku Tachibana.
"It seems you do not trust your instincts as much as people think you do—people like Mia Kaori," remarked Hirai.
"Mia? "What happened to her?" Zaraki asked with a disgusted frown.
"Nothing important. "Though she doesn't seem to like you that much," said Hirai.
"Same with me," replied Zaraki immediately. "She's an impulsive idiot who always does whatever feels like fun, even though it comes at the cost of those precious to her."
"Ouch!..." Hirai reacted dramatically, then continued, "Anyway, from what she told me, it seems your instincts were right—even though they all originated from wild guesses controlled by the weight of the situation...
... You were somehow able to tell that there were other Invaders present apart from Drey and predict the movements of one of them, as well as the potential victims of his rampage upon discovering the news of Rangiku's demise. "I must say, Zaraki... You are one hell of a genius!"
"We don't have time for flattery, Masashi." "This man is bleeding out," said Zaraki, ignoring his statement as he was unable to take the compliment.
This made Hirai laugh.
"You still can't take a compliment, can you, Zaraki?" he said. "At least, let's be optimistic about this." "If we save this man, that would be our main accomplishment for today."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Zaraki.
"I mean that saving this innocent man would make up for our losses from yesterday."
Zaraki sighed. "If you're going to start the "be the hero" speech, I will stop listening to you!" "We are not heroes," he said.
Hirai laughed as he spotted the dorms right ahead of them and then replied,
"No, Zaraki. "At least to this man (if he survives), we will not be remembered as assassins, but heroes."
(Author's Note: I'm sorry I haven't posted a new chapter for days now. My life has been a mess recently. Thankfully, I'm back on track today, and I've taken the time to edit all the previous chapters. Thank you for your understanding. I'll be dropping a new chapter by tomorrow, so look out for it. I love you all and take care.