Otoriphobia

4: Jirou Takeda Breaks the Ice

"..."

The First Game.

A mental challenge...

A trap that Yuuna and his friends had been forced to participate in...

The situation seemed hopeless.

But Yuuna knew... there had to be some alternative.

Some way to win, and some way to outsmart the mastermind pulling the strings on all of this...

He just had to find the solution.

"Korekiyo..."

"Hm?"

"..."

Yuuna looked up at his brother.

"Let's do our best... alright? No matter what happens, we stick together."

"..."

"Yeah."

Korekiyo grinned.

"We're brothers."

"And now... we're teammates too."

"Hey-!"

Hiroto walked up behind the brothers

"We don't have time to talk. We... may as well get moving, you know?"

"..."

"Aha... you're right."

Korekiyo rubbed his neck and began to move forward towards the door, where all of Red Team's participants were making their way to.

But Yuuna reached out his arm and grabbed onto his brother's sleeve.

"Korekiyo, wait."

"Hm-?"

"..."

Yuuna turned around to face the group.

Hiroto Tachibana, Rin Kagemori, Tomoko Kato...

They were all looking at him with expectant eyes.

"E-Everyone..."

"We may have just met, and this is... all happening quickly. We... we don't have a choice but to participate."

"But that doesn't mean we have to give into despair... we can't just give up on everything. There... there's got to be a way out of this mess without killing anyone!"

Yuuna felt his words escape his throat without his control.

He choked them out, on the verge of tears. Did he mean what he said? He didn't know.

...

What he felt was a mix of fear and refusal to give up.

Shoko... was still waiting for him at home. He owed her a date.

"...You're right, Yuuna."

Hiroto sniffed and reached out a hand, patting Yuuna on the shoulder firmly.

"We're not strangers anymore... we're... the Blue Team! And we'll make it through this together!"

"...It's a relief to see everyone's still able to keep high spirits, even in a situation like this..."

Rin looked down at the ground in thought for a moment before looking back up at Yuuna with a smile on her face.

"I haven't known you long, but... you've come a long way in just a few minutes, Yuuna. That's admirable."