When Draken comes to, his mind feels disoriented and fuzzy, like he just woke up from a very deep sleep. The very first thing that returns to him is his sense of smell, the stale, stuffy air that reeks of death entering his nostrils and assaulting his throat and it feels so dry and scratchy like he'd been screaming his lungs off in his sleep. Maybe he has. There's the tangy and coppery taste of blood in the air and also in his mouth, sort of like he swallowed his own blood, and he's parched, he needs water, he realises as he starts dry coughing.
His sense of sight hasn't come to him yet and he wonders why, he knows his eyes are open as he tries blinking once, twice and yeah he's definitely not still dreaming. A blindfold then. He tries moving around only to realise his hands are bound together as well as his legs, probably strapped to a chair to restrain his movements. He tries shouting only for muffled sounds to come through something stuffed in his mouth.
That's when he hears that first sound. footsteps. Coming closer. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't scared. He didn't know how many they were, what they wanted from him. Probably some gang, his past finally catching up to him, coming full-circle to haunt him. At least they didn't get to Inui, or Takemichy or any of the others who managed to get out, he sighs in relief. He could handle this by himself, he just had to come up with a plan, manage to get free, and then taking out a bunch of wanna-be gangsters should be easy enough. Fuckin' cowards, sneaking up from behind him and striking him unconscious.
The footsteps sounded like two or three people max. There were whispers but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was being said, the sounds echoing like from far away still, hinting at this being a very huge space or that even perhaps the sounds were coming from a different room altogether.
"Say, Koko. Don't you think our boss will absolutely adore his birthday gift? You know how long and hard I've been working on this. Ohh, He will be so happy" Sanzu screeched, unable to contain his excitement, managing to get on Kokonoi's nerves even more than usual.
"Ughh, I don't know why I agreed to be part of this. You know I hate involving people from our past." Koko sighed.
"I think this is great." Sanzu paused to stare at Koko, intensely sizing the other up. "I know why you went along with me this time. It's because you see it too, it feels like we've been losing him more and more lately." Sanzu looked down, trying to hide his own concern and vulnerability from Koko's prying eyes. He looked up, regaining himself. "Anyway, I'm confident this will restore some life into him." He smiled, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.
"Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for as well. But if this backfires, I'm pinning all the blame on you. I had nothing to do with this. If He doesn't speak to you for a month again, don't come crying to me."
"Hey! - that's mean" Sanzu pouted, making Koko giggle.
"C'mon, take me to where he is. Mikey must be right behind us already."
At that moment, a door slamming was heard, and another pair of footsteps entered the room, these ones softer, as if walking in sandals or slippers. Still, the steps sounded hurried, angry.
"I swear to god Sanzu, if this is another one of your stupid surprises supposed to cheer me up, I will commit homicide, and my target is you."
