48 Yousre My Hero pt 2 (1/2)
”Arata, are you okay?!” Yukari grabbed his arm and got him to his feet. She dusted her best friend and patted his face as if waking him up from a nonexistent daze. ”He's gone now!”
”Where's Attori?” The player looked around but found no one.
”Are you really asking that?” Ruby huffed as she got near and pulled out her handkerchief from her skirt's pocket. She wiped his mouth and chin clean from saliva— she felt good there was no blood. ”Where do you think she would vanish to?”
The man looked at the queen before remembering about the other women in the gym. They were all frozen and so scared that they stuck close to one another. Before he could say anything, Ruby pressed her phone to her ear as if talking to someone. It seemed that she called the guards again to walk the girls home if it was possible.
Tohru brought her hand to her lips as if hiding them. She bit too hard into her lower lip, making it bleed. She then huffed in annoyance and glared at Arata's direction— not at him in particular. ”I'm sorry for what happened. I'll deal with Keita!” She motioned to run out of the gym, but the male grabbed her arm. ”Don't stop me, Acchan!”
”I'm not stopping you!” He turned to Ruby and Yukari. ”Can you help them home? We'll look for Attori and Keiko!” Without listening to their answers, he took the star athlete with him outside the gym.
”Seriously!” Yukari stomped at the actions.
”Ginmachi, we should do what he said.”
”But—!”
”We both have not fought a fist fight before. He's just being worried about us if ever we get in trouble with that guy. Let's take them home one by one and head over to his place after.” Ruby only spared Yukari her gaze as long as she spoke. After that, she turned to the club adviser who was too shocked to intervene. ”We should sort the addresses so we wouldn't be wasting time. Are you okay by now, teacher?”
Yukari could only pout as she watched the composed school queen. What she did not know was that Ruby's heart had been pounding so loud as she cried for her friends' names.
Arata and Tohru had met the guards on their way. They were going to take the students home, but the two passed on the help and wanted to look around some more. The god and his girl tried finding clues where they could be. Arata had been on his phone trying to call Attori, but it was always unattended.
'Could she have turned it off while chasing the man?' Arata hummed as he gave up in his calls. He checked the watch and stared at the 6 PM action time. If the time refused to move, and then it meant the scenarios were not yet over. He glared at the watch as if it had answers for him. 'Damn, we should find them as soon as possible...'
”It's all my fault...”
He heard Tohru lament over the incident. He turned to her and saw her leaning against the lamppost to her side. She was taking successive deep breaths and squeezing herself in anger.
”I shouldn't have pushed through with the extra session today. If only we didn't try to offset the court's maintenance day, we wouldn't be there when he came...” Tohru continued to bite down her own lip. ”If only I took care of Keita earlier, this wouldn't have happened...” She brought her gaze to Arata. ”He wouldn't have to hurt you.”
”I doubt he's not going to blame me even if you do.” Arata shrugged his shoulder and walked closer to her to pet her head. ”Come on, Tohru. He might have come here because of you, but you have no responsibility over his actions. Trashing the place was his decision, not yours.”
”I wish the other members would say the same...”
Minutes, which felt more like hours, passed as they looked around for the missing three people. However, it had gone too exhausting for Arata to continue. He failed to notice that looking for them depleted the remaining of his Stamina. He could only sit down at the bench and try to rest. However, his mind continued to race and draw possible scenarios that were happening at the moment.
Tohru had gone to buy some juice from the vending machine. She gave the man an energy drink which does raise Stamina for a brief moment. She sat next to him and popped open her drink. The usually talkative jerk had become so quiet that Arata could fall asleep in fatigue. She could only think of the things that transpired in the gym.
'So he will try to kill me as well'—she stared at the ground—'after he kills Acchan. Heh, impossible.' She took a sip from her drink. 'As if I'd let him...'
She shook her head and turned to the man who was pressing the edge of the can against his lips without drinking. ”Acchan, we should head home for now. You're in no condition to look for them.”
”I don't want to give up...” The player wished to fish inside his bag, but his hand started trembling. He had not consumed the drink fully, but he figured half should be able to give him energy. Then again, it did not seem to be regenerating at all. He held his forehead as he caught his head as it fell. ”Ah, I'm losing my senses...”
”I'll carry you home, hotshot!” She laughed out as she finished her drink and tossed it towards the bin. Tohru stood and stretched as if preparing to half-drag a man back to his house. She went before him and sat on her heels before him. ”Come on, Acchan...”
”One last...” Arata sent a text to his wife before accepting the help. Even if he forced himself to look around, the game system would not allow him to drag himself.