lights

friends

5 minutes has past since makima left the room. everyone sat in silence, nobody said a word. you sat back in your chair trying to avoid eye contact with anyone hoping someone would say at least one word.

of course, nobody said anything to your expectation so you decided to speak up for once to break the awkward silence.

"so does anyone want to open the folder and find out where we live and go to school now? or should i do it?" you said in a soft voice, pointing at the folder near the seat makima sat in. there were a few mumbles from everyone not really looking forward to grab the folder.

you sighed and stood up from your seat, reaching for the folder. you sat down and eyed yoshida next to you who was quiet but watching over your shoulder to see what was in the folder.

each paper had everyones information on it, it made you feel a little uneasy but you had to deal with reality. this was now happening, life or death.

you passed out everyone's personal sheet with their information on it, starting from power and ending on fushi. everyone began looking at their own papers, including you. "do we all live near each other?" power finally spoke.

she looked up and pointed at her own sheet hoping for an answer. you motioned for her to give you her sheet to see her current address. "we live together, power. same address." you said analyzing both the papers before giving it back.

"oh," she took back the paper and asked himeno for her paper. "it looks like boys and girls are separated, i don't know how far apart our houses are though." himeno said looking at you. you slightly nodded and looked over at the bag with everyone's phones.

you grabbed the bag and began handing everyone's phones back. "search up how far the boys' house is from ours." you said to power while waiting for your phone to turn on. you shifted your body so that you were now facing yoshida, who was still quite fixated on his sheet.

you admired his facial structure and his expression, trying to read his emotion just by looking at him. he seemed tired and exhausted, which made you feel bad. "hey," you called out to him wrapping your arm around his shoulder. he let out a hum in response, not making eye contact with you yet.

"are you okay?" you asked but immediately regretted. you guys all of a sudden have to work for someone horrible because you're friends with kobeni, who's family is involved with some dark shit. of course he isn't feeling okay. he fixated his gaze on you, his eyes hanging low and lips straightened into a thin line.

"no, i'm not. it'll be okay though. don't worry about me, baby. are you okay?" his voice was low and deep, you could obviously tell he was definitely tired just by the way he sounds. he brushed off his own feelings and asked you the same question which made you sulk a bit hoping he'd have some say in this.

you shook your head indicating that you weren't okay at all. "i'm just tired, i want to shower, go home and sleep. i don't want to be here. i still don't even understand why we're even working for this woman, or any of it." you complained out loud. you wanted to cry but you couldn't, you didn't want to. you just wanted reassurance.

"it's okay, beautiful." yoshida wrapped his arms around you, caressing your hair while rubbing your back. "everything is going to be okay. we're all going to get through this together." he reassured. you sighed onto him and dug your face into his neck, still holding back your tears not wanting cry in front of everyone.

"i... i'm sorry everyone. i really am, i didn't know this would happen-" kobeni started to finally speak, her words were hard to understand from her constant stuttering and crying. power got up from her seat and scurried towards kobeni embracing her into a tight hug. "this isn't your fault." she whispered.

"kobeni, what happened? why are we involved in this? why did you never tell us about your family?" himeno said softly, she walked up to kobeni and held her hand for reassurance that everything would be okay.

"my... my job is terrible, i.. i... i have to kill people and do so many things, himeno... i fucked up just once and it was my fault, himeno." kobeni cried out.

hearing your friend like this absolutely broke you, she was so small and vulnerable with severe anxiety and depression, hearing her break down made you feel horrible. himeno wiped kobeni's tears and caressed her face reassuring her that everything would be okay and to relax.

you pulled out from the hug you were in with yoshida and walked towards kobeni. "you don't have to explain to us right now, okay? but we do need an explanation. maybe tomorrow, when we're all fresh, clean and full of energy," you crouched down in front of her keeping eye contact so she could feel better.

you stood up and eyed everyone at the table. "this goes for everyone too. once we figure out the way to get to our new places, we'll have a meet up at our address and then we can talk. it's almost 2 in the morning i'm pretty sure and we're all running low on energy. let's get going." you grabbed your phone and the paper with your information on it.

you copied the address from the paper to your phone, realizing it was a 20 minute drive from where the restaurant was at. reze and himeno walked with kobeni outside of the room for fresh air. "hey, y/n, the boys' condo is only a 6 minute walk from ours. we're all pretty close." power said helping you collect the girls' papers. you nodded and put the papers back into the folder.

"you boys hang on to those, okay? we're gonna go find a cab, get to our place and sleep. text any of us when you're there." you said walking towards the exit, denji and yoshida nodded in response as the others began to get ready to leave.

-

finally after a 20 minute drive in a cab and walking into the condo where you and your friends now reside in, you now search for the apartment door you're staying in. once you find the door that is labeled 4B you open the door.

the apartment was big and spacious, it already had furniture in it and was well put together. you held opened the door for the rest of the girls to get in and shut the door after reze got in. you sighed and walked over to the couch, letting yourself fall onto it.

"i'm so fucking tired, someone pick me up and lead me to the bathroom." you said dramatically throwing your hand over your head. power sat next to you, letting a loud sigh.

"this place is nice, big, huge. himeno, reze and kobeni went to the bathroom. i guess they're already getting ready for bed." power said playing with the tips of her long hair. "y/n?" she called out.

you hummed in response indicating that you were willing to listen to what she wanted to say. "i really wonder how they got everything. you think kobeni was forced to say everything about us? fuck, i mean she's a total wreck and she said she fucked up. is us working for that lady a punishment for her?" power's eyes pierced into yours waiting for you to share your thoughts.

you thought to yourself for minute, taking this into deep thought. 'is this really her punishment? why would they use us as a punishment, we have nothing to do with this illegal business.' you shook your head to scratch out the deep thoughts you were about to get into.

"let's not think about it now, okay? let's just get ready for bed and we'll talk about it more tomorrow." you said getting up from the couch and making your way towards the girls in the bathroom.

"sounds good." you heard power from behind you, catching up to follow.