All together now

IV

Kuroo and Daichi kept banging on the wall long after it had gone silent. Oikawa and Ushijima were more interested in the room they were in, trying to distract their minds from the fact that they had gotten separated.

The room was fairly large, with an empty floor to ceiling aquarium tank taking up the majority of the space. It was half empty, and the water was sloshing from side to side. There also were four chairs, all with tablets laying in the seats, they would power on though so Oikawa considered them useless.

"Guys! Banging on the door isn't going to get him back to us. You know that." Oikawa said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

"Yeah, well you're not doing anything. Do you even care!" Kuroo yelled, turning briefly to glare at Oikawa before turning back to bang on the door more.

"Of course I care, what the fuck?! Just because I'm not ruining my throat and bruising my fists doesn't mean I don't care!" Oikawa yelled back. He didn't want Bokuto to be hurt, but given the nature of this place he wouldn't doubt it. He just figured the best way to get out of here was to finish the study. Even at the beginning it said a punishment they would consider would be death, he just wanted to get everyone out of here and to their home.

"THEN DO SOMETHING!" Kuroo screamed before letting out a sob. "Do- do something! I could have done something...."

"This isn't your fault, you couldn't have done anything." Ushijima said, breaking his silence. "None of this is your fault. We're not in a position to be able to do anything."

"b-but there must have been something." Kuroo cried, wiping a few tears away. "They-they could be experimenting on him, or-or cutting him open or something from a mob movie! They're- they're hurting him Ushijima."

"... We don't know that." Oikawa said, hating the way Kuroo and Daichi looked at him.

Before Kuroo could respond to Oikawa's statement, the tablets powered on with a loud beeping sound.

"Today's task will be different, since you do not get to choose the participant. But you will still have an important role." the voice said, tone completely empty of emotion. "Bokuto will be dropped into the tank as water is filtered in. You will have mini tasks to choose from on your tablets along with points for every task. The quicker and the more tasks you do the more points you will get. As soon as you reach a predetermined point goal, we will stop the water and the task will be completed."

"You sick mother fucker." Kuroo said, his hold on the tablet threatening to break it.

"Hey, the sooner we do the tasks the sooner we get him back, alright." Daichi said, sitting down in a chair. Ushijima and Oikawa sat in their own chairs as Kuroo just took in a few shuddering breaths to attempt to calm himself down.

"Come on. We got this." Oikawa said as Kuroo sat down, all of them watching the tank as Bokuto was dropped in feet first. Their attention was taken from their friend as their tablets beeped, signaling the tasks had been given out.

They all pressed a task, looking up at Bokuto occasionally.

"All tasks have been selected for round one." The voice chimed. "You will do them one by one to ensure they're carried out correctly. Oikawa will go first, followed by Daichi, then Ushijima, then Kuroo. The order will stay the same for all rounds. Oikawa, please start your task."

Oikawa clicked his tongue, but quickly set down the tablet he was holding and moved his wrist out in front of him. He took a deep breath before dragging his nails down horizontally against his wrist, doing this ten more times before blood started to drip.