Heeeeeeeeeey.
Dec. 5th, 2008 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spottoYet another piece of the puzzle has been written, and now to be fit into the incomplete jigsaw.
Please enjoy.
PART SEVENTEEN
Smoke encased the hallways where Ako leapt back into. Noise had erupted all over the facility and the sprinklers had gone off ages ago. She crawled towards where she thought she last saw Yuuna, and turned around to see where Makie had gone off to. Both were missing, but right now she was much more worried for the former. An undercover officer had intruded upon the prison grounds and tear gas leaked through the pipes. Ako could barely breathe as she inched her way further and further down the hall. The glass from the thick windows near the high ceilings was even giving way to the excessive damage. Her body shivered in fear each time she moved forward inside the choking hallways, but she did not stop as she made out a silhouette in the distance. She quickened her pace towards the shadow, believing it to be an inmate she knew. She started to hear the sounds of a familiar voice.
“You tryin’ to be a hero, huh!? Is that it? Speak up!”
A gruff accent accompanied the response, “No, I just want you lowlifes to be dead.”
“You’re not helping yourself by waltzing in here and randomly taking out a bunch of us, y’know. It’s five thousand to one; you’re walking into your death!”
The baritone tone resurfaced “Doesn’t matter, as long as a bunch you pieces of shit are dead.”
“I don’t care if you want us all dead, but use your fucking brain. This is a fucking hostage situation. There are actual innocent lives at stake here; coming in here recklessly blowing all our brains out is going to get them killed as well! You’re not a cop, are you?”
Ako stepped further and saw that Yuuna held the man who had shot Asakura by knife point. She had pinned him to the floor, which amazed Ako because the man looked to be rather strong, “What are you doing?”
“Ako, you shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”
The younger inmate shook her head, “I know, but I was worried about you…you’re not going to hurt that man are you?”
“I will have to if he tries to do the same to us,” Yuuna sighed in relief, “It’s a good thing we stopped this sooner because if someone like Chao found out Akira could be in trouble…”
“Chao?”
Yuuna nodded, “Yeah, she’s the one leading the riot…the person standing on the roof…”
“Uhm…actually…” Ako had the vision of Officer Oukouchi’s stabbing well, but was anxious to tell Yuuna. She knew that Yuuna was not one to react calmly.
Before Ako could continue, two people came rushing towards them from outside. One was Makie and the other was Ku Fei, “I heard Asakura shot, aru!”
“Yeah, she’s in the corner,” Yuuna replied.
Ako turned her gaze to the corner, and there she saw the outline of what was definitely Asakura, since the gang leader had such distinct hair. She blinked twice as she saw what looked to be blood in the shades of the darkness. It wasn’t very clear, so Ako managed to hold onto her stomach and her consciousness. Ku Fei quickly ran to the redhead’s aid, checking her symptoms…by shaking her senseless.
“Hey hey hey! I’m freakin’ conscious, stop shaking me Kuu!”
Ku Fei chuckled, “Ahaha, I thought you dead, aru…”
“She will be if that wound is left untreated,” Ako said as she slowly approached the two inmates.
“I can survive a single gunshot, thank you very much,” Asakura responded as she got up slowly. Ako could clearly tell that the gang leader was in pain, with her various grunts.
Ako frowned, “But you got hit in the chest…that’s a vital area…you shouldn’t stand up, at the very least put pressure on it to stop the bleeding!”
“Since when did you know so much about that, hm?” Asakura asked.
“I think you should listen to Ako, she once was a nurse right?” Yuuna said, still pinning down the gunman.
The redhead headed towards the door, “I want to at least get out of this stuffy place.”
Ku Fei turned around to face Yuuna, who was still on the ground holding the man down, “I have bad news, aru…”
“What is it?” Yuuna looked up, but her priority was still where it had been.
“Er, your police friend get stab…”
Yuuna almost let go of the man in surprise, “WHAT!? HOW!?”
“Chao find out about Asakura being shot, aruka…”
“How could she possibly know!?” Yuuna was almost steaming, “Didn’t we keep our mouths shut!?”
Makie uneasily spoke up, “Uhm…I kind of told them…”
“Why the hell would you do that, Makie!? Don’t you realize what would happen if they knew!? What the hell was going on in your empty head when you told them that!?” Ako saw the same dangerous rage she saw in Yuuna before and gulped. She was surprised when Makie did not show fear to the distressed inmate.
“I didn’t know that was going to happen…I’m sorry,” Makie hung her head in shame.
Ako did not like the situation and surprised herself by speaking up as well, “You didn’t have to yell at her like that…she didn’t mean to cause that to happen…”
Yuuna shook her head in disgust, growling. Asakura noticed her dismay and quickly gave orders, “Kuu, you grab that man and drag him outside, get him tied up. Yuuna, go ahead and see if Akira’s fine and Makie, see if you can retrieve the gun.”
“What do I do?” Ako asked as she watched each inmate do everything the leader said. The redhead truly had great authority over them.
“Are you in this gang?”
Ako immediately apologized, “Oh, sorry…”
Asakura noticed the girl’s saddened face and sighed, “Well, I suppose I need some help here.”
“Really?” Ako’s face lightened up.
“I’m kind of shot, as you can see. If you’re not going to faint, tell me what to do once we go outside,” Asakura swung open the door and took a step outside. Ako followed with Makie close behind her. Ako noticed that the girl was holding a loaded gun and suddenly did not feel very comfortable in her position.
Not only that, but Ako also noticed that Makie still looked ashamed, “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it is,” Makie started, “I’m always like that, running my mouth. If I could just keep it shut for once…”
“You didn’t know what the outcome would be though,” Ako tried to reason, but she knew her friend well, who would rather blame herself than blame others.
Makie replied, “I should have. I know I’m not very bright but something like that I should have known…it’s okay Ako! I know you’re just trying to cheer me up, but I like it better when Yuuna is mad at me rather than just…disappointed or something.”
“Why?”
“I dunno! It just feels better that way, besides I like Akira-chan too…”
Asakura interluded, “If a person is guilty they would naturally want to feel the heat of punishment to make up for their guilt, which is why she would rather an angry Yuuna than a sad Yuuna. But this is Yuuna…who wants an angry Yuuna? Even I don’t.”
No one spoke up to state otherwise, giving a chilling feeling to Ako that they all knew the consequences of an angry Yuuna. She turned to notice the gang leader start to hesitate as they reached the least populous corner of the yard. She was quivering and as they walked further, the redhead suddenly fell to her knees. Gasping, Ako crouched down to try to help the wounded inmate, but quickly found her help to be unwanted as her arms or swiped away by leader.
“I don’t need your help yet. Don’t give it to me if I don’t ask,” Asakura quietly said, but Ako could easily notice her distress. She could hear the breaths shortening in the redhead’s speech.
She stood back up, although not without difficulty as she wobbled a little before steadying herself. Makie watched on, knowing that Ako probably did want to help, but listening to Asakura was their best interests right now, even Asakura’s.
Makie whispered, “Gang leaders can’t show weakness…so I think you should listen…”
“Even so…she’s still a human being. She can’t just walk around pretending she isn’t hurt,” Ako whispered back, worry filling her words.
“Yeah, but Papa knows her limits I think! She will ask for help when the time is right!” Makie responded a little louder, which was a decibel that Asakura would usually have heard, but she was not paying too much attention to her surroundings due to her frantic condition.
Finally, they reached their much anticipated destination: the corner. The other inmates did not seem to notice them or even gave any attention to them despite the fact that Asakura was not well. In fact, Ako saw that a lot of them were restless, as if waiting and getting impatient for something they had been eager for the longest of times. Such a feeling that hovered within her surroundings caused a bit of uncertainty and discomfort to Ako, like a balloon of tension about to burst at any time with its potential imminent scare. She tried to brush off the uneasy feeling by keeping her focus on Asakura, until she realized once more that the sanguine tears lining the leader’s bandages would not greet Ako well. Gulping, Ako saw the leader slowly sink to the concrete surfrace, sitting up with her back pressed almost vertically to the wall. The quickening breaths did not signal good news for anybody, especially for the wounded girl herself, but Ako, feeling the instincts of a nurse, jumped into action.
Grabbing the nearest convenient towel lying on the ground, Ako directed her pupils away from the blood as her hand practically grew its own eyes to press the clotting agent down on the splatter of misplaced tissue and skin. She almost cringed at the texture her unfortunate hand felt as she kept her strength streaming into her right arm. All she could do was wait until the blood had stopped seeping out like a roaring waterfall, which would be a moment in her life she would want to forget as she pressed herself further to keep her attention elsewhere. What happened next certainly helped her intent.
Yuuna was running towards her with an unreadable expression, “Ako! I need your help!”
“What is it?” Ako looked up at her cellmate, who puffed as she reached the lonely corner.
“It’s Akira! You have to come quick, don’t have much time to explain,” her voice gave a sense of distress and desperation. Ako frowned, giving a physical indication that she was a little caught up with trying to save another life at the moment, but she knew that she had to help as much as possible.
“Makie, can you take over?” Ako asked the pink-haired girl who until now had generally not done much. Yuuna eyed the loaded gun in the hands of the inmate and slowly stepped backwards.
Asakura was the first to object, “I am not letting her take over.”
“Well you don’t have the strength to do it yourself because you decided to walk around as if you weren’t bleeding to death for a full ten minutes!” Ako replied brashly, being a little irritated at the moment.
The redhead sighed, “At least take the gun with you so I don’t get shot a second time…”
“Oh come on, I’m not that incompetent! I WILL SAVE PAPA’S LIFE!” Makie took an oath, saluting Ako while crouching down next to the gang leader.
“That’s very reassuring,” the redhead responded sarcastically, but she was not in the condition to stop her physically so she let the slower inmate take over. Ako jumped to her feet and followed Yuuna towards the other side of the yard. Before Ako got much further she heard a loud yelp from behind.
“AGH! YOU DON’T PRESS THAT HARD YOU IDIOT!” Ako turned to see the redhead struggling with Makie, and prayed that she would still be alive by the time she returned. Yuuna was not worried about that at all as she was focused straight ahead, running to the opposite wall which was equally as empty as the corner before.
Officer Oukouchi lay sprawled on the ground, motionless. Ako could only gasp as she saw the damage that had been inflicted. The hood that was once over her head was mere metres away, and she feared the worse. She noticed something peculiar as well, “Is that a cinderblock?”
“I heard you said something about putting pressure, and no inmate here’s going to help a cop, so I had to improvise while trying to find you,” Yuuna did not speak with much confidence, “I…don’t even know if she’s still alive…”
Ako quickly checked her vitals, but her eyes widened when there was nothing to be felt, no breath, no pulse. Yuuna didn’t need to be told in words if her friend was still hanging on. The brunette fell to her knees. Remarkably, Ako leaned over the officer’s body and closed in to her face, almost as if she was about to steal a kiss.
Yuuna noticed, “W-what are you doing?” She managed to say, but Ako only responded in action. Before she could blink, Yuuna watched her cellmate performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation like a trained expert on her oldest friend. Minutes passed and despite Ako’s efforts it looked like all hope was lost for the fallen officer, but suddenly in a moment that felt like it lasted centuries to Yuuna, the officer responded.
“She’s breathing! She’s breathing!” Ako announced in a rush of relief.
Yuuna expressed the same in much larger volumes, “SHE’S ALIVE!?!?!”
Before Ako could say anymore she found herself tackled into the corner by a flying hug from Yuuna, who never looked happier, but Ako was quick to calm her down, “H-e-e-e-y! If we don’t get her to a hospital quick this would have done nothing!”
“But that’s impossible in the middle of a riot,” Yuuna stated, and suddenly her emotions all died.
An echo responded to the both of them, “If you people haven’t noticed! Everyone is gone!!!” It was Asakura, who had noticed the two girls’ lack of…noticing.
They both started to look around and a great array of confusion exploded in their heads, “W-w-what!? Where’d they go!?”
“They all escaped. It was their cue, and ours too if we weren’t busy trying to not d-die,” Asakura replied, heathing after her painful yell.
The door suddenly swung open, and in walked in an inmate most of them hadn’t seen for a while, “What the hell is going on here!?”
“Good to see you, Chiu,” Asakura greeted.
“Why are you on the ground!?” Chisame demanded.
The redhead replied, “I’m having a fight with this bullet inside of me.”
“That’s not surprising,” her cellmate replied, “But where did everybody go!?”
Yuuna stood up, asking her own question, “Where have you BEEN!?”
“This riot whatever gave me a chance to get into the cop’s offices and use their computers. The warden’s is actually very hi-tech. I’m quite impressed,” Chisame explained, “And so I lost track of time.”
“You lost track of time for TWO DAYS!?”
“I haven’t touched a computer for a while…it was a very nice reunion. What’s your point, anyway? Why isn’t anybody answering MY question!?” She retaliated back.
Asakura explained, “You missed the escape signal. They all rushed out at the same time to overwhelm the police force and get into the community.”
Ako gasped, realizing the huge danger the citizens faced if that was indeed happening, “But if they get into the community…I mean, most of them are violent offenders and…what!?”
“It was a very well-thought out riot,” the redhead nodded, “Chao may not be an ethical person, but she is one smart cookie.”
Makie grinned, “Cookies!?” Her hint of excitement caused her to drive more power in her ‘pressing’ of Asakura’s wound, causing her to twitch.
“This girl is g-going to kill me someday,” She managed to say.
Yuuna headed towards the stairway and reached the roof of one of the many towers of the prison. She looked outside to see a few vehicles still parked around the facility, but there was a far less number than earlier. Her priority though was to scan for a certain vehicle, and she finally managed to see one amongst the mass of annoying trees. Her arm immediately shot up into the air, pointing towards said vehicle, and then she accompanied her sudden action with a cry.
“AHA!”
Speeding down the stairway and almost tripping twice, the brunette ran from the tower back towards the others, slightly more positive than before, “There’s an ambulance right outside!”
“So you’re planning to bring your little cop friend outside, where the cops will see you and think you’re kidnapping her, causing an unnecessary showdown that delays the transfer of the wounded to the hospital? Is that really a good idea?” Asakura reasoned, attempting to stand up, but she was stopped short by the pink-haired girl close-by tending to her.
Yuuna clenched her fist, “I gotta at least try, since we’ve wasted too much time here! I can be quiet if I want to! Besides, you need to get to a hospital too don’t ya!?”
“I said it before and I’ll say it again, I can survive a single gunshot,” She crossed her arms.
“Really?” Makie started, “What if I do this?” She elbowed the leader right in the wound throwing her off balance due to the rather unnecessary pain that followed, and thus falling down.
Asakura reached her hand up into the air weakly, and managed to cling onto Makie’s uniform, slowly climbing back up onto her feet. Her next actions were of stark contrast as she suddenly grabbed the pink inmate by the collar followed by some very large menacing eyes radiating from her slightly crumpled face, “IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD INTO A CINDERBLOCK!”
“Yep, that convinced me. You’re going to the hospital too!” Yuuna pointed. She then turned her attention to the door, “ONWARDS AND QUIETLY!”
In a flash, Yuuna slung her old friend onto her back as she inched towards the massive doorway of the prison. It had slammed close behind the many inmates that ran off triumphantly in freedom and harmony to exact actions that are of the complete opposite. Ako quickly ran towards the door and tried to yank it open but her attempts were futile. Yuuna tried her hand at it as well, but it would not budge. Luckily for them, someone was outside who gladly would lend them a hand at times of trouble, and that she did by opening the door.
Ku Fei watched them all with a blink, “I wonder why you no follow everybody else, aru! That why I come back!”
“How very loyal of you!” Yuuna shouted, “But we must reach that ambulance, so no cops will catch us!”
The blonde tapped her chin for a moment, “There no cops, aru. They all go try to recapture others that run away! You go to ambulance freely, aruyo!”
“That would make sense, otherwise how would Ku Fei get back?” Ako said, but Yuuna wasted no more time and jotted straight towards the ambulance. A gurney was already unloaded from the back, like it had eerily expected them. Yuuna carefully placed Officer Oukouchi onto the scrolling bed.
A moment passed.
“…now what?”
“HEY!”
They turned two see two people clad in white, who they assumed must have been paramedics that seemed to have noticed them. Yuuna turned to run off but noticed the redhead next to her, and stopped herself before she could begin her frenzied sprint, “Asakura! You must stay here!”
“I’m not sticking around here.”
“You must!” Yuuna cried out, trying to keep the redhead from running off herself.
“You should listen to your gang leader,” she started, twisting and turning in the opposing inmate’s grasp, but everybody there knew that the only person who could rival Yuuna’s amazing strength was Ku Fei herself…who decided to help out Yuuna.
Asakura started growling as she held little chance among the others, “You people are getting on my nerves.”
“HEY!” The man yelled again, staying a bit of a distance from them due to a cowering fear of violent people, “W-what are you doing here…with that officer!?”
Yuuna pointed at the ambulance, “She got hurt, you take her to the hospital. Isn’t that your job?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Oh, take this one too, she’s also hurt…” Yuuna grabbed Asakura and pushed her closer to the paramedic, bringing more anxiety to the already terrified man. The other person clad in white was the driver, who was already hopping into the vehicle.
Asakura landed an elbow into Yuuna’s face, “I’m not hurt. I’m not going with them. Let go.”
“Yes you’re hurt. You must go with them!”
The struggle continued on for another good five minutes until Ku Fei decided to end it all quickly with a simple hand-chop to the redhead’s left shoulder. She fell limp in Yuuna’s grasp, who handed the unconscious girl to the paramedic like she was holding a dummy.
“Here you go! Take good care of her!”
The paramedic uneasily grabbed the gang leader, “Uh…okay…”
The two turned around and ran up the hill back towards the prison, before they entered though, Yuuna suddenly stopped in front of Ako, “Wait…why would we go back?”
“…because it’s the right and legal thing to do?” Ako answered.
“Since when do we do ‘right’ and ‘legal’ things?”
Ako scratched her head, “Uh…well, where can we go?”
Chisame stood right at the entrance of the prison, “I’ve checked online. There are several clips of this story all over the net and they have stated that if they see a single escaped inmate they won’t hesitate to shoot in sight, so going into the city would probably mean death unless we’re incredibly stealthy…” She looked at the inmates around her, “…which is impossible.”
“But we’re free! We can do whatever we want!” Makie flailed her arms into the air, “ANYTHING!”
Ku Fei looked around at her surroundings. The sky was dark, the forest was endless and scary, and the city was walking into death. They really had nowhere to go, “It no really seem like we free, aru, but I hungry…”
“Let’s go steal an ice cream truck!” Makie proposed, “I want ice cream!”
The blonde agreed, though of a different direction, “Maybe we steal meatbun cart, aruyo!”
“Or we can hop into IHOP and steal some delicious pancakes!” Ako turned to see her cellmate also joining in the stealing bandwagon.
Chisame, who possessed a brain, also inputed her opinion, “That all requires going into the city, to places that are public, where the cops will definitely see us. Unless we all want to get killed, I think we have to settle with anything we can find inside this building.” She turned around and headed back inside the prison, deciding that hanging around the other four anymore would fry her brain cells further.
“We’re actually safer inside that horrible building,” Ako noticed the omniscient and massive aura the prison gave at the dead of night.
Yuuna took Ako’s hand and dragged her back inside the prison, “Then we’ll stay for the night and figure out what to do tomorrow morning!”
“What if they all come back in middle of night, aru?” Ku Fei speculated as everyone stopped to imagine the consequences of such possible happening.
Ako, knowing that doing something legal was off the others’ radars, decided to input a different suggestion, “Someone could stay awake as the lookout? There could be shifts.”
“Good idea! If someone bring me tray of food from chow I will lookout first shift, aruyo!” Ku Fei volunteered.
Makie raised her hand to also lend a hand, “I will! I will!” She quickly hopped away towards the direction of the kitchen while Ku Fei climbed up the stairway to the top of the tower. Only two remained at the prison entrance, standing there with not much to really do.
“It’s getting late, isn’t it?” Ako peered up in the sky to view the full moon shining right over their heads. Yuuna smiled gracefully, which actually surprised Ako as such a way of smiling was quite a contrast to Yuuna’s brute personality.
Yuuna noticed the girl’s odd expression, “Uh…what!?”
“You look weird,” Ako giggled, watching the confused girl trying to figure out what Ako was laughing at.
“What?” She looked at Ako with a pouty expression, “What’s so weird? Do I have a milk moustache?”
Ako stared at Yuuna, “You didn’t even drink milk today.”
“Oh yeah…right,” Yuuna made a rather immature face; “I don’t like being laughed at for no reason!”
“Haha, alright. I guess I’ll head off to bed then, it must be past midnight by now!” Ako started to walk off towards the cells, feeling a little relieved with the less dangerous atmosphere the mostly empty building gave off now.
Her cellmate ran up to her, “Wait Ako. I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” She looked up at her brunette companion, who started to stray Ako away from the cellblocks.
Yuuna once again gave off that graceful smile, but Ako noticed how natural it was now, “We’re not really free at the moment… at all. I just want to…maybe…er…” She started to get nervous, and Ako noticed the girl’s hesitation, raising an eyebrow. There was some silence that felt a bit awkward to the two, but the girl resumed.
“I want to show you…true freedom.”
END OF PART SEVENTEEN
For the people who praised part sixteen (er, complimented)...I apologize for making this next part of making that last one null. You see, I wrote this before I made part sixteen public. I thought no one would like Akira being stabbed and dying. I mean, who does? Who wants a fictional character to die? I guess I was wrong. Apparently her so-called 'death' would accent the story nicely...well, unfortunately I had wrote all this by then, so I obviously wasn't planning for her to be dead from the start. Also, if I did kill her, the next fifty thousand chapters will have people being emo and moping and shiz. The mood of the story would stay rather low after a character death, and angst is not my favourite kind of thing to write.
Now ever since that stint of not going on the internet for a mere few days, I stopped writing for a bit...not really. I did write but published none, so I'm actually ahead by two chapters instead of one this time. I've finished part nineteen and already typing up twenty. Let me tell you something, part eighteen and nineteen are chapters I really really loved writing. I actually almost finished eighteen...then my computer crashed, and Word for some reason didn't want to recover that part...especially since I put so much work and passion into that chapter...(I now save my document every two minutes)I rewrote it completely. It's not the same as it was before, and for that I am sad. I'm quite surprised I managed to write that entire chapter, lose it and then REWRITE it all in a single day. That was quite a writing day for me. After all each chapter is rather long.
Finally, I've hit a milestone mark. This massive story has surpassed 80,000 words. That's the size of a short novel! If I keep going at this rate it will be equal to the length of a good novel, I think! Just imagine my novel turning into a movie series or an anime or even OVAs...
*imagines*
Movie series:
Please enjoy.
PART SEVENTEEN
Smoke encased the hallways where Ako leapt back into. Noise had erupted all over the facility and the sprinklers had gone off ages ago. She crawled towards where she thought she last saw Yuuna, and turned around to see where Makie had gone off to. Both were missing, but right now she was much more worried for the former. An undercover officer had intruded upon the prison grounds and tear gas leaked through the pipes. Ako could barely breathe as she inched her way further and further down the hall. The glass from the thick windows near the high ceilings was even giving way to the excessive damage. Her body shivered in fear each time she moved forward inside the choking hallways, but she did not stop as she made out a silhouette in the distance. She quickened her pace towards the shadow, believing it to be an inmate she knew. She started to hear the sounds of a familiar voice.
“You tryin’ to be a hero, huh!? Is that it? Speak up!”
A gruff accent accompanied the response, “No, I just want you lowlifes to be dead.”
“You’re not helping yourself by waltzing in here and randomly taking out a bunch of us, y’know. It’s five thousand to one; you’re walking into your death!”
The baritone tone resurfaced “Doesn’t matter, as long as a bunch you pieces of shit are dead.”
“I don’t care if you want us all dead, but use your fucking brain. This is a fucking hostage situation. There are actual innocent lives at stake here; coming in here recklessly blowing all our brains out is going to get them killed as well! You’re not a cop, are you?”
Ako stepped further and saw that Yuuna held the man who had shot Asakura by knife point. She had pinned him to the floor, which amazed Ako because the man looked to be rather strong, “What are you doing?”
“Ako, you shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”
The younger inmate shook her head, “I know, but I was worried about you…you’re not going to hurt that man are you?”
“I will have to if he tries to do the same to us,” Yuuna sighed in relief, “It’s a good thing we stopped this sooner because if someone like Chao found out Akira could be in trouble…”
“Chao?”
Yuuna nodded, “Yeah, she’s the one leading the riot…the person standing on the roof…”
“Uhm…actually…” Ako had the vision of Officer Oukouchi’s stabbing well, but was anxious to tell Yuuna. She knew that Yuuna was not one to react calmly.
Before Ako could continue, two people came rushing towards them from outside. One was Makie and the other was Ku Fei, “I heard Asakura shot, aru!”
“Yeah, she’s in the corner,” Yuuna replied.
Ako turned her gaze to the corner, and there she saw the outline of what was definitely Asakura, since the gang leader had such distinct hair. She blinked twice as she saw what looked to be blood in the shades of the darkness. It wasn’t very clear, so Ako managed to hold onto her stomach and her consciousness. Ku Fei quickly ran to the redhead’s aid, checking her symptoms…by shaking her senseless.
“Hey hey hey! I’m freakin’ conscious, stop shaking me Kuu!”
Ku Fei chuckled, “Ahaha, I thought you dead, aru…”
“She will be if that wound is left untreated,” Ako said as she slowly approached the two inmates.
“I can survive a single gunshot, thank you very much,” Asakura responded as she got up slowly. Ako could clearly tell that the gang leader was in pain, with her various grunts.
Ako frowned, “But you got hit in the chest…that’s a vital area…you shouldn’t stand up, at the very least put pressure on it to stop the bleeding!”
“Since when did you know so much about that, hm?” Asakura asked.
“I think you should listen to Ako, she once was a nurse right?” Yuuna said, still pinning down the gunman.
The redhead headed towards the door, “I want to at least get out of this stuffy place.”
Ku Fei turned around to face Yuuna, who was still on the ground holding the man down, “I have bad news, aru…”
“What is it?” Yuuna looked up, but her priority was still where it had been.
“Er, your police friend get stab…”
Yuuna almost let go of the man in surprise, “WHAT!? HOW!?”
“Chao find out about Asakura being shot, aruka…”
“How could she possibly know!?” Yuuna was almost steaming, “Didn’t we keep our mouths shut!?”
Makie uneasily spoke up, “Uhm…I kind of told them…”
“Why the hell would you do that, Makie!? Don’t you realize what would happen if they knew!? What the hell was going on in your empty head when you told them that!?” Ako saw the same dangerous rage she saw in Yuuna before and gulped. She was surprised when Makie did not show fear to the distressed inmate.
“I didn’t know that was going to happen…I’m sorry,” Makie hung her head in shame.
Ako did not like the situation and surprised herself by speaking up as well, “You didn’t have to yell at her like that…she didn’t mean to cause that to happen…”
Yuuna shook her head in disgust, growling. Asakura noticed her dismay and quickly gave orders, “Kuu, you grab that man and drag him outside, get him tied up. Yuuna, go ahead and see if Akira’s fine and Makie, see if you can retrieve the gun.”
“What do I do?” Ako asked as she watched each inmate do everything the leader said. The redhead truly had great authority over them.
“Are you in this gang?”
Ako immediately apologized, “Oh, sorry…”
Asakura noticed the girl’s saddened face and sighed, “Well, I suppose I need some help here.”
“Really?” Ako’s face lightened up.
“I’m kind of shot, as you can see. If you’re not going to faint, tell me what to do once we go outside,” Asakura swung open the door and took a step outside. Ako followed with Makie close behind her. Ako noticed that the girl was holding a loaded gun and suddenly did not feel very comfortable in her position.
Not only that, but Ako also noticed that Makie still looked ashamed, “Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”
“Of course it is,” Makie started, “I’m always like that, running my mouth. If I could just keep it shut for once…”
“You didn’t know what the outcome would be though,” Ako tried to reason, but she knew her friend well, who would rather blame herself than blame others.
Makie replied, “I should have. I know I’m not very bright but something like that I should have known…it’s okay Ako! I know you’re just trying to cheer me up, but I like it better when Yuuna is mad at me rather than just…disappointed or something.”
“Why?”
“I dunno! It just feels better that way, besides I like Akira-chan too…”
Asakura interluded, “If a person is guilty they would naturally want to feel the heat of punishment to make up for their guilt, which is why she would rather an angry Yuuna than a sad Yuuna. But this is Yuuna…who wants an angry Yuuna? Even I don’t.”
No one spoke up to state otherwise, giving a chilling feeling to Ako that they all knew the consequences of an angry Yuuna. She turned to notice the gang leader start to hesitate as they reached the least populous corner of the yard. She was quivering and as they walked further, the redhead suddenly fell to her knees. Gasping, Ako crouched down to try to help the wounded inmate, but quickly found her help to be unwanted as her arms or swiped away by leader.
“I don’t need your help yet. Don’t give it to me if I don’t ask,” Asakura quietly said, but Ako could easily notice her distress. She could hear the breaths shortening in the redhead’s speech.
She stood back up, although not without difficulty as she wobbled a little before steadying herself. Makie watched on, knowing that Ako probably did want to help, but listening to Asakura was their best interests right now, even Asakura’s.
Makie whispered, “Gang leaders can’t show weakness…so I think you should listen…”
“Even so…she’s still a human being. She can’t just walk around pretending she isn’t hurt,” Ako whispered back, worry filling her words.
“Yeah, but Papa knows her limits I think! She will ask for help when the time is right!” Makie responded a little louder, which was a decibel that Asakura would usually have heard, but she was not paying too much attention to her surroundings due to her frantic condition.
Finally, they reached their much anticipated destination: the corner. The other inmates did not seem to notice them or even gave any attention to them despite the fact that Asakura was not well. In fact, Ako saw that a lot of them were restless, as if waiting and getting impatient for something they had been eager for the longest of times. Such a feeling that hovered within her surroundings caused a bit of uncertainty and discomfort to Ako, like a balloon of tension about to burst at any time with its potential imminent scare. She tried to brush off the uneasy feeling by keeping her focus on Asakura, until she realized once more that the sanguine tears lining the leader’s bandages would not greet Ako well. Gulping, Ako saw the leader slowly sink to the concrete surfrace, sitting up with her back pressed almost vertically to the wall. The quickening breaths did not signal good news for anybody, especially for the wounded girl herself, but Ako, feeling the instincts of a nurse, jumped into action.
Grabbing the nearest convenient towel lying on the ground, Ako directed her pupils away from the blood as her hand practically grew its own eyes to press the clotting agent down on the splatter of misplaced tissue and skin. She almost cringed at the texture her unfortunate hand felt as she kept her strength streaming into her right arm. All she could do was wait until the blood had stopped seeping out like a roaring waterfall, which would be a moment in her life she would want to forget as she pressed herself further to keep her attention elsewhere. What happened next certainly helped her intent.
Yuuna was running towards her with an unreadable expression, “Ako! I need your help!”
“What is it?” Ako looked up at her cellmate, who puffed as she reached the lonely corner.
“It’s Akira! You have to come quick, don’t have much time to explain,” her voice gave a sense of distress and desperation. Ako frowned, giving a physical indication that she was a little caught up with trying to save another life at the moment, but she knew that she had to help as much as possible.
“Makie, can you take over?” Ako asked the pink-haired girl who until now had generally not done much. Yuuna eyed the loaded gun in the hands of the inmate and slowly stepped backwards.
Asakura was the first to object, “I am not letting her take over.”
“Well you don’t have the strength to do it yourself because you decided to walk around as if you weren’t bleeding to death for a full ten minutes!” Ako replied brashly, being a little irritated at the moment.
The redhead sighed, “At least take the gun with you so I don’t get shot a second time…”
“Oh come on, I’m not that incompetent! I WILL SAVE PAPA’S LIFE!” Makie took an oath, saluting Ako while crouching down next to the gang leader.
“That’s very reassuring,” the redhead responded sarcastically, but she was not in the condition to stop her physically so she let the slower inmate take over. Ako jumped to her feet and followed Yuuna towards the other side of the yard. Before Ako got much further she heard a loud yelp from behind.
“AGH! YOU DON’T PRESS THAT HARD YOU IDIOT!” Ako turned to see the redhead struggling with Makie, and prayed that she would still be alive by the time she returned. Yuuna was not worried about that at all as she was focused straight ahead, running to the opposite wall which was equally as empty as the corner before.
Officer Oukouchi lay sprawled on the ground, motionless. Ako could only gasp as she saw the damage that had been inflicted. The hood that was once over her head was mere metres away, and she feared the worse. She noticed something peculiar as well, “Is that a cinderblock?”
“I heard you said something about putting pressure, and no inmate here’s going to help a cop, so I had to improvise while trying to find you,” Yuuna did not speak with much confidence, “I…don’t even know if she’s still alive…”
Ako quickly checked her vitals, but her eyes widened when there was nothing to be felt, no breath, no pulse. Yuuna didn’t need to be told in words if her friend was still hanging on. The brunette fell to her knees. Remarkably, Ako leaned over the officer’s body and closed in to her face, almost as if she was about to steal a kiss.
Yuuna noticed, “W-what are you doing?” She managed to say, but Ako only responded in action. Before she could blink, Yuuna watched her cellmate performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation like a trained expert on her oldest friend. Minutes passed and despite Ako’s efforts it looked like all hope was lost for the fallen officer, but suddenly in a moment that felt like it lasted centuries to Yuuna, the officer responded.
“She’s breathing! She’s breathing!” Ako announced in a rush of relief.
Yuuna expressed the same in much larger volumes, “SHE’S ALIVE!?!?!”
Before Ako could say anymore she found herself tackled into the corner by a flying hug from Yuuna, who never looked happier, but Ako was quick to calm her down, “H-e-e-e-y! If we don’t get her to a hospital quick this would have done nothing!”
“But that’s impossible in the middle of a riot,” Yuuna stated, and suddenly her emotions all died.
An echo responded to the both of them, “If you people haven’t noticed! Everyone is gone!!!” It was Asakura, who had noticed the two girls’ lack of…noticing.
They both started to look around and a great array of confusion exploded in their heads, “W-w-what!? Where’d they go!?”
“They all escaped. It was their cue, and ours too if we weren’t busy trying to not d-die,” Asakura replied, heathing after her painful yell.
The door suddenly swung open, and in walked in an inmate most of them hadn’t seen for a while, “What the hell is going on here!?”
“Good to see you, Chiu,” Asakura greeted.
“Why are you on the ground!?” Chisame demanded.
The redhead replied, “I’m having a fight with this bullet inside of me.”
“That’s not surprising,” her cellmate replied, “But where did everybody go!?”
Yuuna stood up, asking her own question, “Where have you BEEN!?”
“This riot whatever gave me a chance to get into the cop’s offices and use their computers. The warden’s is actually very hi-tech. I’m quite impressed,” Chisame explained, “And so I lost track of time.”
“You lost track of time for TWO DAYS!?”
“I haven’t touched a computer for a while…it was a very nice reunion. What’s your point, anyway? Why isn’t anybody answering MY question!?” She retaliated back.
Asakura explained, “You missed the escape signal. They all rushed out at the same time to overwhelm the police force and get into the community.”
Ako gasped, realizing the huge danger the citizens faced if that was indeed happening, “But if they get into the community…I mean, most of them are violent offenders and…what!?”
“It was a very well-thought out riot,” the redhead nodded, “Chao may not be an ethical person, but she is one smart cookie.”
Makie grinned, “Cookies!?” Her hint of excitement caused her to drive more power in her ‘pressing’ of Asakura’s wound, causing her to twitch.
“This girl is g-going to kill me someday,” She managed to say.
Yuuna headed towards the stairway and reached the roof of one of the many towers of the prison. She looked outside to see a few vehicles still parked around the facility, but there was a far less number than earlier. Her priority though was to scan for a certain vehicle, and she finally managed to see one amongst the mass of annoying trees. Her arm immediately shot up into the air, pointing towards said vehicle, and then she accompanied her sudden action with a cry.
“AHA!”
Speeding down the stairway and almost tripping twice, the brunette ran from the tower back towards the others, slightly more positive than before, “There’s an ambulance right outside!”
“So you’re planning to bring your little cop friend outside, where the cops will see you and think you’re kidnapping her, causing an unnecessary showdown that delays the transfer of the wounded to the hospital? Is that really a good idea?” Asakura reasoned, attempting to stand up, but she was stopped short by the pink-haired girl close-by tending to her.
Yuuna clenched her fist, “I gotta at least try, since we’ve wasted too much time here! I can be quiet if I want to! Besides, you need to get to a hospital too don’t ya!?”
“I said it before and I’ll say it again, I can survive a single gunshot,” She crossed her arms.
“Really?” Makie started, “What if I do this?” She elbowed the leader right in the wound throwing her off balance due to the rather unnecessary pain that followed, and thus falling down.
Asakura reached her hand up into the air weakly, and managed to cling onto Makie’s uniform, slowly climbing back up onto her feet. Her next actions were of stark contrast as she suddenly grabbed the pink inmate by the collar followed by some very large menacing eyes radiating from her slightly crumpled face, “IF YOU DO THAT AGAIN I WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD INTO A CINDERBLOCK!”
“Yep, that convinced me. You’re going to the hospital too!” Yuuna pointed. She then turned her attention to the door, “ONWARDS AND QUIETLY!”
In a flash, Yuuna slung her old friend onto her back as she inched towards the massive doorway of the prison. It had slammed close behind the many inmates that ran off triumphantly in freedom and harmony to exact actions that are of the complete opposite. Ako quickly ran towards the door and tried to yank it open but her attempts were futile. Yuuna tried her hand at it as well, but it would not budge. Luckily for them, someone was outside who gladly would lend them a hand at times of trouble, and that she did by opening the door.
Ku Fei watched them all with a blink, “I wonder why you no follow everybody else, aru! That why I come back!”
“How very loyal of you!” Yuuna shouted, “But we must reach that ambulance, so no cops will catch us!”
The blonde tapped her chin for a moment, “There no cops, aru. They all go try to recapture others that run away! You go to ambulance freely, aruyo!”
“That would make sense, otherwise how would Ku Fei get back?” Ako said, but Yuuna wasted no more time and jotted straight towards the ambulance. A gurney was already unloaded from the back, like it had eerily expected them. Yuuna carefully placed Officer Oukouchi onto the scrolling bed.
A moment passed.
“…now what?”
“HEY!”
They turned two see two people clad in white, who they assumed must have been paramedics that seemed to have noticed them. Yuuna turned to run off but noticed the redhead next to her, and stopped herself before she could begin her frenzied sprint, “Asakura! You must stay here!”
“I’m not sticking around here.”
“You must!” Yuuna cried out, trying to keep the redhead from running off herself.
“You should listen to your gang leader,” she started, twisting and turning in the opposing inmate’s grasp, but everybody there knew that the only person who could rival Yuuna’s amazing strength was Ku Fei herself…who decided to help out Yuuna.
Asakura started growling as she held little chance among the others, “You people are getting on my nerves.”
“HEY!” The man yelled again, staying a bit of a distance from them due to a cowering fear of violent people, “W-what are you doing here…with that officer!?”
Yuuna pointed at the ambulance, “She got hurt, you take her to the hospital. Isn’t that your job?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Oh, take this one too, she’s also hurt…” Yuuna grabbed Asakura and pushed her closer to the paramedic, bringing more anxiety to the already terrified man. The other person clad in white was the driver, who was already hopping into the vehicle.
Asakura landed an elbow into Yuuna’s face, “I’m not hurt. I’m not going with them. Let go.”
“Yes you’re hurt. You must go with them!”
The struggle continued on for another good five minutes until Ku Fei decided to end it all quickly with a simple hand-chop to the redhead’s left shoulder. She fell limp in Yuuna’s grasp, who handed the unconscious girl to the paramedic like she was holding a dummy.
“Here you go! Take good care of her!”
The paramedic uneasily grabbed the gang leader, “Uh…okay…”
The two turned around and ran up the hill back towards the prison, before they entered though, Yuuna suddenly stopped in front of Ako, “Wait…why would we go back?”
“…because it’s the right and legal thing to do?” Ako answered.
“Since when do we do ‘right’ and ‘legal’ things?”
Ako scratched her head, “Uh…well, where can we go?”
Chisame stood right at the entrance of the prison, “I’ve checked online. There are several clips of this story all over the net and they have stated that if they see a single escaped inmate they won’t hesitate to shoot in sight, so going into the city would probably mean death unless we’re incredibly stealthy…” She looked at the inmates around her, “…which is impossible.”
“But we’re free! We can do whatever we want!” Makie flailed her arms into the air, “ANYTHING!”
Ku Fei looked around at her surroundings. The sky was dark, the forest was endless and scary, and the city was walking into death. They really had nowhere to go, “It no really seem like we free, aru, but I hungry…”
“Let’s go steal an ice cream truck!” Makie proposed, “I want ice cream!”
The blonde agreed, though of a different direction, “Maybe we steal meatbun cart, aruyo!”
“Or we can hop into IHOP and steal some delicious pancakes!” Ako turned to see her cellmate also joining in the stealing bandwagon.
Chisame, who possessed a brain, also inputed her opinion, “That all requires going into the city, to places that are public, where the cops will definitely see us. Unless we all want to get killed, I think we have to settle with anything we can find inside this building.” She turned around and headed back inside the prison, deciding that hanging around the other four anymore would fry her brain cells further.
“We’re actually safer inside that horrible building,” Ako noticed the omniscient and massive aura the prison gave at the dead of night.
Yuuna took Ako’s hand and dragged her back inside the prison, “Then we’ll stay for the night and figure out what to do tomorrow morning!”
“What if they all come back in middle of night, aru?” Ku Fei speculated as everyone stopped to imagine the consequences of such possible happening.
Ako, knowing that doing something legal was off the others’ radars, decided to input a different suggestion, “Someone could stay awake as the lookout? There could be shifts.”
“Good idea! If someone bring me tray of food from chow I will lookout first shift, aruyo!” Ku Fei volunteered.
Makie raised her hand to also lend a hand, “I will! I will!” She quickly hopped away towards the direction of the kitchen while Ku Fei climbed up the stairway to the top of the tower. Only two remained at the prison entrance, standing there with not much to really do.
“It’s getting late, isn’t it?” Ako peered up in the sky to view the full moon shining right over their heads. Yuuna smiled gracefully, which actually surprised Ako as such a way of smiling was quite a contrast to Yuuna’s brute personality.
Yuuna noticed the girl’s odd expression, “Uh…what!?”
“You look weird,” Ako giggled, watching the confused girl trying to figure out what Ako was laughing at.
“What?” She looked at Ako with a pouty expression, “What’s so weird? Do I have a milk moustache?”
Ako stared at Yuuna, “You didn’t even drink milk today.”
“Oh yeah…right,” Yuuna made a rather immature face; “I don’t like being laughed at for no reason!”
“Haha, alright. I guess I’ll head off to bed then, it must be past midnight by now!” Ako started to walk off towards the cells, feeling a little relieved with the less dangerous atmosphere the mostly empty building gave off now.
Her cellmate ran up to her, “Wait Ako. I want to show you something.”
“What is it?” She looked up at her brunette companion, who started to stray Ako away from the cellblocks.
Yuuna once again gave off that graceful smile, but Ako noticed how natural it was now, “We’re not really free at the moment… at all. I just want to…maybe…er…” She started to get nervous, and Ako noticed the girl’s hesitation, raising an eyebrow. There was some silence that felt a bit awkward to the two, but the girl resumed.
“I want to show you…true freedom.”
END OF PART SEVENTEEN
For the people who praised part sixteen (er, complimented)...I apologize for making this next part of making that last one null. You see, I wrote this before I made part sixteen public. I thought no one would like Akira being stabbed and dying. I mean, who does? Who wants a fictional character to die? I guess I was wrong. Apparently her so-called 'death' would accent the story nicely...well, unfortunately I had wrote all this by then, so I obviously wasn't planning for her to be dead from the start. Also, if I did kill her, the next fifty thousand chapters will have people being emo and moping and shiz. The mood of the story would stay rather low after a character death, and angst is not my favourite kind of thing to write.
Now ever since that stint of not going on the internet for a mere few days, I stopped writing for a bit...not really. I did write but published none, so I'm actually ahead by two chapters instead of one this time. I've finished part nineteen and already typing up twenty. Let me tell you something, part eighteen and nineteen are chapters I really really loved writing. I actually almost finished eighteen...then my computer crashed, and Word for some reason didn't want to recover that part...especially since I put so much work and passion into that chapter...(I now save my document every two minutes)I rewrote it completely. It's not the same as it was before, and for that I am sad. I'm quite surprised I managed to write that entire chapter, lose it and then REWRITE it all in a single day. That was quite a writing day for me. After all each chapter is rather long.
Finally, I've hit a milestone mark. This massive story has surpassed 80,000 words. That's the size of a short novel! If I keep going at this rate it will be equal to the length of a good novel, I think! Just imagine my novel turning into a movie series or an anime or even OVAs...
*imagines*
Movie series:
The directors and producers cut some parts and add some parts in and change things, which could be...
Their genders are switched. (males? So less fun D: )
They age up or down. (Most likely up, I mean ten-year-old prisoners is kind of extreme.)
They turn it into a co-op prison so there are no girl-girl relationships. Yuuna becomes Yuuno, etc. (THE HORROR!)
They cut all shower scenes because naked girls are totally wrong. (Which kind of kills some important plot points...)
The story takes place in Manhattan...er, a prison in Manhattan. James Bond comes in and saves Ako, and Ako becomes his bitch for the movie. (...)
The "prison" is renamed "timeout box" and they all shrink into the ages of five. The cops become the "adults" and the movie is marketed towards kids. (...eh.)
They cast an actress who can't act but looks hot for Kazumi or something. (And this is Britney Spears cast as Kazumi Asakura! Ew. OH GOD MILEY CYRUS AS AKO. THE HORROR AGAIN!)
Anime series:
The story is only slotted for twenty-six episodes, so in the end they create an original story and perhaps kill off a character just to revive them in the end and leave the story hanging. (NO! Makie died! OMFG! Let's go back in time and save her! YAY! Oh god a comet is about to hit us, OH NO--the end.)
The anime catches up to the book, so they add in filler arcs until the writer is well ahead. ("Look Yuuna! That random inmate of the week needs help! Let's help them! Oh no, they have a problem with their family/emotions/money/etc. We will solve it for them and they'll never appear again after this episode! Hooray!")
The animation is crap. (Is that Ako's head or a watermelon?)
They milk it for all its worth and try to stretch every episode as long as possible to have a maximum amount of episodes for a minimum amount of story. ("In the fourteenth episode of WIOC! Ako cries more intensely!")
Flanderization. (Makie really really really really really really really likes ribbons. Really.)
...okay, I suppose such adaptations isn't for the best. Also, these will never happen, XD. I'll just be happy with text and drawings for my imagination I guess! Until chapter eighteen, this has been WIOC commentary.
