Two hours later, Tota woke up in his room and instantly started thinking of his mother.
"Mother! Damn it, why is this happening? Mother, I'm so sorry I couldn't help you."
A gang member walks into Tota's room with a paper in his hand.
"You're finally awake; your ass has been sleeping for two hours."
"Tch, what the hell do you want?"
The gang member punches Tota in the face for raising his voice.
"Watch how you talk to me, boy!"
With tears in his eyes, Tota grabs his cheek in pain."
"Now for what I came here for."
The gang member starts reading his paper.
"Ok, Nubuki said he will get your house fixed up soon, and your mother might be dead, but you will still be expected to go to school and become a good pawn for him to use. That is all."
"Ok"
"Great, I'm done here."
The gang member leaves the room and enters the destroyed kitchen. Tota grabs his face and starts crying.
"Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?"
Tota hears a noise coming from his window. When he looks over to the window, he sees Arvin outside of it.
"Arvin?"
Tota opens the window for Arvin to come inside.
"Hey Arvin, what ar—"
Arvin grabs Tota and pulls him outside the window.
"Arvin, what are you doing?"
"Shut up and just come with me!"
Arvin grabs Tota by his right hand and pulls him, forcing him to follow.
Both of them start running to the side of the house, where they meet a brown-skinned man dressed in the Frinstion gang uniform.
"A gang member? Hey Arvin I'm not supposed to be outside right now; if that gang member sees me, I'll get in trouble."
The gang member sees the two of them and motions for them to come closer.
"Wait, I've never seen him before."
"Over the years, I have learned Nubuki's weakness, and that weakness is that he controls a multitude of people with fear."
The Frinstion gang member runs into a car behind him and starts it. Arvin and Tota hop in the car as well.
"This gang member has been forced to deal with many hardships ever since the Frinstion gang took over."
The gang member pushes the gas and starts driving.
"So, Arvin, what are we doing in this car?"
"You still haven't figured it out; we're going to escape this city, and this gang member who hates Nubuki with all his heart is going to help us."
"But how?"
The gang member takes a turn and answers Tota's question.
"My family has been suffering for years thanks to Nubuki, and I think having a bunch of kids like yourself suffer like us adults is wrong. I got you a boat at Frinstions City's dock that the two of you will use to escape."
"Arvin, where did you even find this guy?"
"He used to work under my father. We have been planning this for two years now. By studying how often the dock is guarded, we were able to find the perfect time to escape this city, and I feel like today is the perfect day to leave.
"But why?"
"I saw what happened."
"..."
"I saw Nubuki kill your mother; he killed her the same way he killed my father!"
Arvin's face turned to anger.
"I hate it! OGI users are always doing whatever the hell they want, and we level zeros must suffer for it."
Arvin clenches his fist in anger.
"I'm sorry, Tota; all I could do was watch your mother die. Even if I wasn't frozen in fear, I would've been killed!"
"Arvin, it's OK; you don't have to feel responsible for her death."
The car reaches the Frinstion City dock, where there are a bunch of boats hooked to the dock.
"Hey, you two, that boat with the Frinstion gang symbol on it will be the boat you'll use to escape!"
"Oh okay! Don't worry, Tota. I don't blame myself. I just wish I could do something about it, but now I can by getting the both of us out of this city."
The gang member parks the car in front of the dock, where a white-skinned boy with green hair is waiting.
"Hello, papa!"
"Hi, son, did you get the boat ready like I said?"
"Yes, papa!"
"OK, good. The two of you get on the boat and click the start button. The coordinates are already set for a different city far from this one."
Arvin and Tota get on the boat quickly.
"Thank you so much for helping us!"
"Of course, but move quickly; I can't guarantee that this chance to escape will be open for long!"
"Right!"
Arvin clicks the start button on the boat, and the boat instantly starts speeding across the water.
The two boys wave bye to the gang member and his son.
"You know, Tota, after today we will never return to this city."
Tota starts to remember his mother and starts crying.
"Yes, we can finally leave these terrible memories behind."
Back at the dock, the gang member turns around to leave back to his car but is shocked to see Nubuki walking into the dock.
"Wait, what the hell is he doing here?"
The gang member grabs his son and starts running, but before he can get too far, a small explosion happens at his foot, causing him to fall. Nubuki walks up to the dock and looks at the boat quickly leaving the city's waters.
"I don't know your name, but your son was very helpful in finding out these boys' plans to escape."
"What! No, you're lying; my son would never do su—"
"I'm sorry, papa, but I can't allow you to endanger Mother's life. Nubuki said he would protect Mother if I helped him, so I did. You're a selfish father; mother has been sick for so long, but you're worried about some random boys. Stop trying to feel better about yourself and worry about my mother."
"Nubuki, you bastard!"
"Hmm, it seems there's some family tension. I was never able to experience such things because my family was weak."
Nubuki jumped into the water and started swimming at top speeds. On the boat, Arvin noticed Nubuki was coming and grabbed a shotgun from the boat's supplies.
"Tota, get down!"
"Wait, is that Nubuki?"
"Yes, that's why I told you to get down!"
"But Arvin, have you ever used a gun before?"
"No, but I'm not just going to let him get in the boat!"
Arvin pulls the trigger and starts shooting at Nubuki, who is swimming quickly towards their boat. Arvin misses every shot, showing off his inexperience with a gun.
Nubuki jumps onto the boat with a stoic expression on his face. He stands up straight and looks at Tota, then at Arvin. Arvin clenches the shotgun in his hand with the memories of his father flowing through his mind.
"Go to hell, Nubuki!"
Arvin pulls the trigger on the shotgun, which hits Nubuki in the chest. Arvin reloads his shotgun and starts to continuously shoot at Nubuki, but quickly realizes that all of his shots have done no damage.
"You damn OGI users!"
Nubuki grabbed the shotgun and crushed it with his bare hands.
"You were the son of that one man I killed, right? Well, in that case, I'll make sure your death is quick."
Nubuki grabs Arvin and throws him off the boat.
"Arvin!"
While Arvin is in mid-air, Nubuki stares intensely at his chest.
"Now get out of my sight."
While he was falling into the water, an explosion happened in front of his chest, leaving a hole in his chest.
"Arvin!"
With blood leaking out of it, Arvin's body falls into the water.
"Now that's done, it is time for you to come back to Frinstion City."
Tota fell to his knees after watching his best friend die right in front of him.
"Why? Why? Why!"
Nubuki walks up to Tota and picks him up.
"Do you have a question for me?"
"Why do you keep doing this to me? My father, my mother, and my best friend, what did I do to deserve this?"
"You're in this situation because you were born weak, and those unfortunate enough to be born weak will always be trampled over by the strong."
"Is that all you have to say after taking everything from me?"
"Yes, it is."
Nubuki looks into Tota's eyes and notices that they have tears spilling out of them with no sign of stopping.
"I've decided that today you will officially become a slave."
After that day, Tota was forced to become a slave to Nubuki. He was forced to do many jobs, and every time he fought back, he was beaten to the point where he couldn't move. This happened for ten years straight. At some point during that time, Tota lost hope that he would escape, and he eventually became a man who could only cry in his struggles.
After remembering his past, Tota woke up in the present time and was still in the same jail cell under the Frinstion gang mansion.
"Damn it, why am I remembering all of this now? I'll never be free, so what's the point of remembering a time when I thought I would be free?"
Tota remembers the words of his mother before she died.
"Tota, please go and live your dreams!"
"Hehe, and how am I supposed to do that, mother?"
Chapter 65 end