24

he watched the two remaining members of their captors approaching, Yuri couldn't help but feel relieved to finally know exactly who those men were and how they were related to the events of the day before. He knew that they would eventually become involved in something that they couldn't simply ignore, but the knowledge provided him with a feeling of hope that he couldn't explain. After all, if their captors truly were members of the White Army, then, perhaps, he might actually be able to live another day. But then, he shook his head violently, determined not to think such things. As far as he was concerned, it didn't matter what those men were or who they belonged to. Right now, he needed to focus on getting the hell out of this place as quickly as possible.

A few moments later, three of the three men had reached them –the tallest one, a stocky man with short brown hair and glasses, stepped forward and addressed Yuri in an authoritative tone, "You three, follow me," he announced, before turning his attention to the rest of the captives, adding, "And no talking!"

The other two men, whom Yuri assumed to be the leader and his subordinate, grabbed Phichit's arm firmly and pulled him forwards, dragging him along with them before they started moving. The blond teenager immediately tried to resist but he was quickly overpowered once more and dragged away with the other three men. Once Phichit was gone, Chris took hold of Yuuri's arm and walked over to stand next to Victor as they both continued watching the three of them leave.

Victor, however, couldn't help but let his gaze wander around the room where he found himself in. There weren't any visible exits in sight and besides the doors which they had been brought to, there was nothing else to indicate that this building had originally held a secret tunnel system. In addition, the entire building looked completely empty; there were no cameras or other means of observing its occupants. With such limited clues as they currently had available to them and with little else to go on, it seemed as though they might never get out of this prison. However, a small part of his mind couldn't help but remind him of the strange phenomenon that had occurred after they were captured. He remembered how the ground beneath his feet started to tremble violently when a few minutes ago the four of them were standing in a hallway, and he also recalled how a bright light suddenly appeared on top of the wall.

If that had been due to a trap, surely that meant that there were still people who wished to harm him and his friends in order to obtain revenge against them, didn't it?

"What are you thinking about?"

Victor turned to look at the brunette beside him with wide eyes, as he suddenly realised that he was still holding onto Yuuko's hand and that he didn't let go until Yuuko started trying to pull her hand away from his grip. At least, he hoped that it had been unintentional. If Yuuko had noticed the gesture, however, she wasn't showing any indication about it, nor did she ask him for permission to remove her hand. Instead, as her expression remained calm and her voice remained soft and steady, Yuuko stated, "Are you planning on telling me what's bothering you?"

Victor hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should tell her anything or not, but finally he came to a decision in the end and opened his mouth to tell her, but the words escaped him as soon as he saw the worried expression Yuuko wore at his hesitation. After having talked to her yesterday morning, Victor had come to realise that her expression showed that she was genuinely concerned for him, so he didn't want to ruin that. Besides, he wasn't even sure whether her reaction was genuine, since he suspected that the woman might have merely been acting, like he had been for most of his life when dealing with others. For example, he had always felt like he owed Yuuko an explanation about why he acted differently when interacting with her, but ever since she arrived in Hasetsu, he had only acted like himself and didn't talk as much as he usually did. Even when he had decided to tell her that her actions towards him yesterday were uncalled for, the truth was that he had just wanted to tell her that she shouldn't take every single word he said to heart. After all, he was perfectly capable of hiding his true feelings under a façade of being rude and ungrateful whenever someone treated him with kindness, even if he didn't want to admit it himself. He had learned that lesson long ago.

However, this time, it seemed to him that it would be different this time. Maybe it was because there was nobody to judge his behaviour anymore, since he had already told Yuuko that he would speak up if he was unhappy with something, but whatever the case may have been, Victor ended up hesitating again before saying, "...I've never had the opportunity to tell you that I..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud shout erupted into the air, forcing him to close his mouth and snap his head around in the direction of the sound. Immediately after that, two more gunshots rang through the air, prompting everyone else to turn around.