"WHO SENT YOU?!" Yuuto screamed, punching Gyarune in the face for the seventy-sixth time in the past thirty minutes.
"I ASKED WHO SENT YOU!" He delivered another blow soon after.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH, WHO SENT YOU?!" Yuuto yelled, punching him again.
"Ahh... You psycho, just let me ta—" Gyarune groaned, spitting blood and barely conscious, unable to finish his sentence before Yuuto struck him again.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE TOUGH, HUH? DROP THE ACT! YOU CAN'T HIDE THE TRUTH FROM ME!" Yuuto shouted, raising his arm again, making Gyarune flinch.
"I SAID YES, I WANNA TAL—" Gyarune tried to interject, but was cut off by another punch, blood spraying from his mouth.
"Tch, he's not talking." Yuuto declared with a click of his tongue, turning to leave the room.
"WAIT, I SAID I WANNA TAAAAAALK! SHIT!" Gyarune screamed desperately as Yuuto slammed the door behind him.
Outside, Yuuto faced the Mad Scientist, who sat waiting.
"Tough luck. He won't talk," Yuuto said flatly, stretching his arms.
The scientist looked down, his expression unreadable. "Thank you..." he whispered.
After a quick gaze at Gyouma and after listening to his weary words of gratitude, Yuuto turned back toward the makeshift interrogation room in the abandoned apartment complex.
"I hear he STILL doesn't want to talk. Better get back in there," he declared.
"No, that's not what I meant," Gyouma murmured, stopping Yuuto in his tracks.
"I meant... for stopping him. As a mad scientist, I'm ashamed to admit this, but I am more grateful that you stopped that bastard from doing any more harm than I am curious about how you managed to move during the clock's activated state." He said firmly, looking at Yuuto with weary eyes filled with images of Kayuri's critical state and his dead colleagues.
"So, for that... thank you." He bowed.
"...Don't mention it," Yuuto replied after a short pause, before reentering the interrogation room.
"He ended up going back in anyway..." Gyouma muttered to himself with a sigh.
"Jesus fuck... You think you're some hot shit, huh!?" Gyarune spat to the side. "Getting back at me just for doing a job I was ordered to do, without a choice. You think I wanted this!? Beating up a high schooler?"
"Of course I do. You even mentioned wanting to do more than just beat me up, lolicon. You got the short end of the stick because you were stupid." Yuuto replied while doing finger exercises.
"Stupid? Me? Please. Don't think you've beaten me in some mind games or even fighting games. You got the drop on me. That's all."
Yuuto chuckled. "Good point. You're so stupid and pathetic I didn't even need to play mind games or fight you seriously."
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" He screamed, losing his temper. "You're a fucking anomaly. They made the shit I was using in a LAB. A secret government lab, stupid kid! You moving during the stopped time was just a stroke of luck," he argued.
"And it's thanks to that stroke of luck you're stuck here. Care to shut up? I want to beat you up for answers now," Yuuto said, drawing near.
"Haaah... Yeah, that's what you are. Just a hotheaded kid. I heard allllllll~ about you before coming here," Gyarune replied, looking up at Yuuto, who was now only an inch away. "My favorite part was how our little 'transfer student' drugged your girlfriend, making her take his side. But you just ended up beating the shit out of her because you thought she was just a piece of shit," he said with a chuckle.
"Huh? What are you bullshitting about?" Yuuto raised an eyebrow.
"What? Someone as smart as you can't fig—" Gyarune started, but Yuuto stomped on his foot.
"Ahh!!!" He screamed.
"Try again," Yuuto calmly instructed.
"Shit...!! He was... part of a drug operation here in Japan...!! He played it good, so they handed him some of the goods to play around with," Gyarune explained.
'What...!?'
"And the first thing he did was use it on that girlfriend of yours when he kept hitting on her but she didn't go along with it," Gyarune continued. "Next thing you know... she was all over the big guy."
'Curious,' Yuuto thought as he tilted his head. 'Very curious.'
"But it doesn't really matter anymore," Yuuto said, stretching his fist once more. "Not even that small fact can save you from the beatings you're about to—"
[PHONE RINGING]
"... Excuse me," Yuuto muttered as he left the interrogation room, picking up the phone; with Gyarune sighing greatly of relief.
"Hello?" Yuuto muttered.
"Hello, Mr. Morii? This is Kimiko from the Lemon-Sauce Juvenile Classification Home," a woman's voice echoed from the other end of the phone.
Yuuto's face paled, drawing Gyouma's attention.
"What's the matter?" Gyouma whispered.
'F.E.R.N!?' Gyouma thought, increasingly concerned.
'Is this it? Has the day finally come? Am I going to juvie? Considering everything I did, it was a miracle I was let off time after time... I suppose my time has come,' Yuuto thought.
"A-ah... Yes, Miss Kimiko, how may I assist you?" Yuuto replied, trying to steady his voice.
"Uhm... You do not have to worry, you are not in trouble, Mr. Morii. We just have someone who wishes to contact you," she explained.
'What? Another thing that wasn't in the doujin... Hiroki knows someone from juvie?' Yuuto thought.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"Well, her name is..."
Gyouma watched Yuuto from the side, curiously wondering about the call.
After about two more minutes, Yuuto hung up and walked back to Gyouma.
"I have to go confirm something for a few hours," Yuuto stated. "It's about something he said in the room."
"Something you can share? If we're going to cooperate, we need to be transparent with each other," Gyouma said as Yuuto turned to leave the building.
"I need to visit a certain someone. That'll be all for now. Considering you're a mad scientist, I trust you know not to go near that bastard until I get back, right?" Yuuto said just before vanishing.
'Ah, right... I have a date today,' Yuuto thought as he stepped outside into the early noon sun, feeling its warmth on his skin. Remembering Saki, he dialed her number, knowing it was lunchtime.
'I'll just tell her something came up, and I can't go anymore,' he thought as she picked up.
"Y-Yuuto-kun? What's up?" she murmured through the phone.
Upon hearing her voice, he hesitated. "Something came up, I have to go somewhere today," he muttered reluctantly.
"I... I see... So... you can't hang out today... That's alright..." she murmured, her voice weak through the phone.
"...."
Yuuto mentally sighed. "Dumbass. Who said those words? I just have to go somewhere today. I never said you can't come with. But it has to be now," he replied confidently.
"N-now...? Are you asking me to ditch school, Yuuto-kun?" she asked, her voice slightly more cautious, as if trying to hide her mouth in a public environment.
"Yeah. Don't worry about it. I'll help you study for it later. I'm an A grader," he replied.
"Oh... I know that. I've seen you on the scoreboard... I'll... I'll come with you, then," she answered.
With a sigh, Yuuto set up a meeting spot, and the two took the train together.
"Where are we going?" she asked as Yuuto seated himself next to her.
"Lemon-Sauce Juvenile Classification Home. There's someone I need to talk to. We'll do something fun afterward."