"You can't be real..."
About 1 minute ago, Rioga Tenjiro was taking the stairs to go up to the ground floor…
"I'm almost at the ground floor. Thank goodness I managed to outrun those pesky drones before I ran out of stamina. But the real problem is, what do I do when I run into the actual enemies? Will I be able to defeat them? No chance. They're almost skilled in their own way. But if 'that guy' were the first person I met here then, the probability is zero percent! No chance I can defeat him. Not even if all four of us grouped up together."
Rio reaches the ground floor, he then takes a deep breath before moving on. That's it until he noticed someone's presence to his right.
"... You can't be real..."
Speak of the devil, as when he talked about 'that guy', he then appeared right there before his eyes.
"Fuck... why him of all the people..."
Hutogi. 'That guy' Rio was referring to. Walking with a sheathed katana on his waist. At that moment, Rio was thinking...
("If he decides to kill me, he would do that the moment our eyes meet. What should I do, run away? No, it won't work on this guy. What if I just quick-draw right now? No, he can block it in time! Hah hah hah, What other choice do I have…")
Rio's mind was filled with anxiety. And a drain of energy running from the drone seems to get on him. His body was already out of stamina to even stand. Before he knew it, one of his hands had touched the ground.
("Fuck... Is this what surrendering to the strongest feels like? Ah, I don't care anymore. Let's just get this over with.")
The overwhelming aura of Hutogi pushed Rio into the depths of despair. Rio, with almost no stamina and fallen into despair, lowered his head as a sign of surrender.
...
("Why is it not done yet?")
Rio slowly lifted his head up and saw the palm of the hand in front of him. Hutogi reached his hand for the fallen Rio. Rio was confused as to why he reached his hand for the enemy in the middle of the battle.
"Why?"
"Why... When the fighter has won against another fighter, it makes him a fighter. But when the fighter won against the unarmed, hopeless, and helpless fighter, I won't call him the fighter. Yes, the fighter that takes advantage of the fighter while they're weak won't be a fighter at all."
"That's why if I were to fight as you are right now, I wouldn't be calling myself a fighter- No, I would've lost my role as the swordsman."
As Rio looked at Hutogi's palm, the hand slowly reached towards it. As Hutogi tries to pull Rio up, Rio can feel the swelling in his leg, making it harder to stand up.
"Do you get it when you're running? Well then..." Hutogi lowered his body to give Rio a piggyback.
"No no no! The piggyback ride is a bit..."
"If you're not okay with piggyback, then princess carry it is."
The moment Rio heard the word 'princess carry', he immediately picked piggyback as his option.
"I'll pick piggyback..." At that time, Rio remembers one thing about Hutogi. Even though he was ruthless in the fight, he knew he was a kind person in general.
…
Hutogi brings Rio to the dark room and puts him on the desk. Hutogi went away to get something from the box. Although Rio can't see well in the dark, he can see his presence coming closer.
"Here, a food. And a drink. This should fill up your energy."
Hutogi gives bread and empty water to Rio. Rio slowly recovers his energy from the food. At the same time, Hutogi opened the box.
"Rio, I have a favor to ask you. While you eat, can you close your eyes as long as you can?"
"Uh, sure."
"Thanks."
("Wait, this setup. Isn't it the same as in those BL manga?! Wait, don't just come to the conclusion, Rio. He's just helping you. Right, helping you...")
...
("The moment that guy touches me somewhere weird, I have my right hand ready.") Rio clenched his right hand as hard as he could.
*Squake**Squake**Squake*
The squeaking sound can be heard in the dark. It seems it's coming from inside the box.
"Wait, Senior Hutogi. What's that sound- Ahh!!" Rio screamed a bit the moment Hutogi touched his swelling leg.
"Don't move too much." Rio calmed down a bit. But as the room went silent...
*Splat*
("What's that sound?") Rio questioned the weird sound he's been hearing since earlier. But at the same time, the pain from the swelling in his leg has gone. Rio tried to move the swelling leg.
("Huh? It doesn't hurt anymore?- Eek!") The cold hand touching Rio's neck caught him off guard and caused him to let weird voices out.
*Splat*
As soon as Hutogi let go of Rio's neck, he touched him in another place...
"W-Wait, that place is a bit..."
*Splat*
"No no no! Not that place! Ah!"
*Splat*
"Wait, why are you lifting my clothes?!"
*Splat*
"CUT IT OUT ALREADY!!!" Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Rio punched Hutogi as hard as he could.
"Place yourself in my shoes! What would you do if someone touched you in weird places?!"
"Uh... If someone were to massage me, I would let them do it. You should not refuse other people's goodwill."
"YOU'RE PRACTICALLY AN EASY TARGET FOR HOMO PERVERT AT THIS POINT!!! I swear you're gonna get take an advantage of one day!"
"Now now, no reason to shout here. Let's go out of this place."
"Hey! I haven't finished speaking yet!"
"Now now, here's a bit dark, I prefer to speak in a place with more light."
Hutogi pushed Rio out of the room the moment he finished "touching" him. Rio knows that Hutogi was hiding something from him, but no idea what it is. As soon as they leave the room, the only one left is the empty bottle of water, some crumbs from the bread, and the box Hutogi brings.
The box looked normal at first. But a few seconds later, the bottom part of the box became redder. Until the red liquid flowed out from under the box.