"Mr. Yoshida?" One of the employees abruptly pulled him from his reverie. "Huh? What's wrong?" The man pointed to the screen where Dr. Bofoi had been just moments before; now only a blue screen remained.
The employee watched Yoshida walk toward the exit and tried to stop him, but another worker grabbed his arm. "Leave him alone. He needs some air." Yoshida, the man who once claimed to have everything under control, just wanted to get home and hug his wife and son. Everyone watched him walk through the door, still clutching the tablet with a force that wasn't born of anger... but of something heavier: guilt. The door closed.
"Hey, J."
"J, wake up."
I blinked. "Laia?"
"It's good you're not dead." Laia finished stitching the wound on my hand and put her tools away in the small first-aid kit. "I told you I'd make it. After all, we're talking about me." She tried to smile. "By the way... your communicator started beeping."
I looked at the device in my ear; I didn't move my hand. I knew that if I answered, it would be for something terrible, but something inside me hoped they would at least bring good news.
Reluctantly, I pressed the communicator with my still-intact arm.
"Here, give me good news, please."
Inside the vault, Nate was trying to cut the lock with a blowtorch, but even that wasn't working. "Listen to me... just come..."
The voice cut off abruptly. The communicator shot from Daz's ear into Fubuki's hands. "And here I thought you'd already be on the run."
I recognized that voice, but I didn't think she'd find me so quickly. The fight with Laia left me exhausted; my hand still burns... and now this. I thought that, since we were on a high floor, Fubuki wouldn't arrive so soon, or rather, I thought she wouldn't even be in this building. How naive I was.
"Hey, J..." she murmured.
I had no choice. I had to answer. "Tell me, Fubuki. Get to the point."
His tone, so calm, changed in an instant, as if he were judging me for everything that had happened up to that point.
"First, you'll tell me why you're doing this behind his back. Second, you'll tell me who you work with. And third... I won't say a word to you-know-who if you join the Blizzard group."
The first two warnings left me cold. But the last one... the last one left me looking like an idiot. Really? She's proposing this right now? I couldn't refuse; after all, I was in a tight spot, so I just had to do what a man should do, and in a calm, serious voice.
"Alright, Fubuki, I accept the deal, but first you have to help those two idiots in front of you. The one with the pompadour hair, WHO'S ALREADY DRIVING ME CRAZY!, will answer all your questions." He sighed, now a little more relaxed. If I had Fubuki on my side, I could have a good ally, but with a sad, depressed expression, I lowered my head.
"Just thinking about having to wear a suit every day at Blizzard is something I absolutely loathe, not to mention having to do everything she says."
As I was thinking that, Fubuki spoke again, but this time she sounded more serious than before. "The guests downstairs are already terrified, so I'll tell you quickly: you have very little time to finish this suicide mission, because they're already calling the Hero Association." That left me completely stunned, like a direct punch to the chest.