17 - To Die Hard

Yuuto landed and immediately began sprinting towards the school exit.

'Too many people, too tight a space. Need to get out of here...!' Yuuto thought as he bolted.

"Sire... He's about to get away," Tommy observed calmly, watching Yuuto's retreating figure.

"Don't worry, Tommy. And remember, it's Satoshi now..." Satoshi replied, leaning nonchalantly against the windowsill.

"Oh, well... I suspected he might somehow manage to escape..." Satoshi mused with a smile. Nao watched Yuuto nearing the escape, her fingers clenched.

'Am I really... hoping that pathetic guy escapes...?' Nao wondered.

'No... I'm not. I'm trembling because this guy is terrifying... He's far stronger than his brother... Hiroki is truly doomed this time,' she rationalized in her thoughts.

'HIROKI.... RUN... GET AWAY FROM HERE...!!' Kaede mentally urged.

Just as Yuuto reached the school gate, a man clad in a police uniform appeared.

'Police..!! What luck!' Yuuto thought as he approached the officer.

"Officer!!" Yuuto called out.

The policeman turned toward Yuuto, his gun aimed squarely at him.

"Everything... Is fine with this..." the officer intoned monotonously, his expression blank as he fired at Yuuto, a loud thunderous sound reverberated through the school yard, striking Kanoko and Kaede's eardrums as if a needle had punctured their ears.

"GAARHCH...! DAMN IT..!!" Yuuto cried out as the bullet struck his shoulder, embedding itself without an exit wound.

'HIROKI!!!!!!!!!!!' Kaede and Kanoko screamed internally.

Even Nao's eyes widened in disbelief.

Satoshi glanced aside, noting her reaction.

"What? I thought you despised him," Satoshi remarked calmly, his piercing gaze fixed on Nao, who was speechless as she intently watched Yuuto.

Yuuto dodged as the officer fired several more shots, emptying his magazine in Yuuto's direction.

Yuuto zigzagged back toward the school as bullets whizzed by him.

'GOD...!!' He thought, taking a short deep breath as he processed the pain of the bullet, 'No exit wound!? How!? Hiroki's body shouldn't be strong enough to withstand a bullet like this... Especially with how badly I was pummeled a few days ago just from a bunch of sissies...!! I'll have to dig it out myself later...!!' Yuuto thought, looking at his bleeding shoulder.

'Well... At least it didn't hit anything vital... AS IF!! How the HELL would I know if it hit something vital!? I'm not a doctor!!' Yuuto thought in frustration as he reassessed his perilous situation.

Yuuto ran at the door to the stadium, which was locked.

'Did I really just forget!!? This is an NTR world...!!' Yuuto realized as he began bashing against the door. The initial policeman was soon joined by two more in a squad car, who immediately exited their vehicle and opened fire on Yuuto, missing as they advanced while shooting.

'THE ENTIRE WORLD...' He thought as he backed away significantly from the locked stadium doors, facing it with his other, good shoulder. "EXISTS TO DESTROY THE MAIN CHARACTER!!!" Yuuto screamed as he charged at the door, breaking it open with a resounding crash.

He rolled on the ground as he landed inside the stadium grounds, staining the floor with his blood.

'And that's why it's gonna be worth it... When I baseball this entire world in the ass!!' He thought as he got on his feet with an unwavering smile on his face.

Yuuto's figure then disappeared into the stadium, the three police officers followed him in.

'...This is just... Crazy...!! It's gotten out of hand!!' Nao panicked, concealing her reaction.

'But... I can't do anything... Not to him... I'm... Powerless. The best I can do now is just go with it,' Nao thought.

"I..." Nao started replying, "Do hate him... I just expected you to have more class dealing with that bastard." Nao calmly stated, trying to mask her anxiety.

"I'm having all the class there is. He crippled my brother. If you don't want to be hypnotized like the rest, just shut up and do as I say," Satoshi ordered. Nao immediately relented.

Kanoko's thoughts darkened, 'This... BITCH... SHE WAS IN ON THIS...!!!!?'

'Nao-chan...!! No way...!!! WHY..!!!!?' Kaede cried in her mind.

'Don't... Hate me too badly, you two...' Nao thought, her gaze somber as she looked at Kaede and Kanoko.

'This guy will hypnotize you into pleasure right in front of Hiroki's eyes. You will forget everything... pain, worry... even Hiroki. You'll only know joy... Isn't that wonderful...?' Nao argued inwardly, struggling to maintain eye contact with Kaede and Kanoko.

"Sir—... Satoshi." Tommy corrected himself, "The gymnasium appears to be connected to this building... What are your orders?"

"Hmph. As you've seen, Hiroki Morii is merely human. Even he can't outmaneuver armed officers... I've instructed them to cripple him, not to kill. They'll execute the plan, and bring him to me. He'll be enough alive to see how I break his family, unable to do anything..." Satoshi stated as he turned to leave the room.

"And... if they fail?"

"There are more than just three officers in this shitty town, Tommy..." Satoshi chuckled darkly.

Soon, police cars swarmed the entire school, their sirens slicing through the air with relentless urgency.

'Insane... This is absolutely insane...!!!' Nao's mind raced, barely grasping the chaos unfolding around her.

Desperate for a grip on reality, her eyes darted to the shattered stadium door where Yuuto had charged through, closely pursued by the police officers.

'Yuuto... Sakurai, huh...? All this time, I thought you were someone completely different after that beating... Could it be a split personality disorder...?' Nao pondered, her thoughts swirling in confusion.

Yuuto's eyes frantically looked around himself, his gaze landing on a nearby locker room.

Yuuto dashed into the locker room, his breath ragged from exertion and pain. Slamming the door shut behind him, he scanned the area frantically.

"Safe space... for now," Yuuto muttered, urgency coloring his voice as he staggered through rows of metal lockers, clutching his bleeding shoulder which stained the floor and darkened his clothes with its reddish hue.

'I need to get this bullet out, fast... Sterilize, staunch the bleeding. I need tools... Pliers, maybe?'

Spotting a set of pliers on a cluttered bench, relief washed over him. "Gotcha," he grunted, managing a chuckle as he sat heavily on the bench, his injured shoulder pulsing with pain. Hastily ripping open his shirt, he readied himself as the sound of footsteps neared the locker room.

Grasping the pliers with a steady hand, he braced himself. 'Think of it as... your shoulder's... first time,' he thought, a manic smile flickering across his face despite the tension.

With grim determination, he pressed the pliers into the bullet wound. "GRSSG... HAahaha... Hahahaha... HRRG...!!" Laughter mingled with groans escaped him as he probed his flesh; blood gushed, staining the tool and his hand. Finally, the pliers clicked against the bullet.

'Found you, you NTR bullet bastard... Taking my shoulder's first time like it's nothing... Seems like everything in this world needs a good baseballing,' he thought, teeth clenched in a pained smile.

He carefully adjusted his grip on the pliers, the tool slippery with his blood.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled sharply;

"Grsshh!!!"

A guttural yell tore through his clenched teeth as the bullet clinked onto the floor.

"Hahahahahaa... Pfft..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...!!!" Yuuto's laughter echoed loudly in the locker room as he stared at the bloodied bullet.

'Now... To staunch the bleeding... Sterilize... Need alcohol...' His breathing was heavy and labored.

Outside, the sound of footsteps intensified, accompanied by the muffled voices of police officers nearing the sealed locker room door.

"Cover the exits!" one officer commanded, the sound of bodies slamming against the door growing stronger.

Yuuto tossed the bloody pliers aside, his breathing erratic. He quickly scanned the room for an escape route or a makeshift weapon.

'No way out through the door... There's got to be another way...' His eyes darted around, searching urgently, as the banging on the door reached a crescendo.

His gaze landed on a baseball bat, sticking out of a nearby bag...

...And this one was made of metal, for a change.

'...No need to run anymore,' Yuuto decided. His smile ever the brightest.

As the officers tried to breach the door, the door to the stadium behind them was suddenly blocked by a shadowy figure; a metal rod wedged between the door handles, sealing off any entrance to the dimly lit stadium.

The officers, caught off guard by the sudden metallic thud and the vanishing sunlight, halted their assault and spun around.

???: "Man... I usually dislike jumping into someone else's fight..."

The figure declared as the three officers turned to face him.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!!!" one officer demanded, aiming his gun at the figure emerging from the shadows.

???: "...But bringing that kind of heavy artillery into a fight... That's something I despise even more."

"SHOOT HIM!!!" another officer ordered.

???: "Just because how boring it is..."

**GUNFIRE**

TO BE CONTINUED...