Otoriphobia

17: Some Sunny Day.

"..."
Yuuna, unable to move or speak...
Sat against the wall, in shock, at the bleeding body of Hanzo Kishibe.
...Kishibe lay lifeless on the ground, clutching a chest that once was home to a heartbeat...
...As blood covered the area around him, his katana lying prone on the floor of the hotel room.

...Then Yuuna raised his eyes to Rin, one of them too damaged to see anything at all...
But his other eye... could see just fine.
There stood Rin, towering over the corpse of Hanzo Kishibe with the revolver in her hand...
She was the one who had saved Yuuna's life.

"...There's no time to wallow over this..."
Rin quickly rushed over to Yuuna, kneeling down as she grabbed him by the chin, raising his face to look at hers.
"...We'll get your eye patched up soon enough. Thank God you're alive after all this..."

"...A... Ah..."
Yuuna stammered, unable to thank Rin, and unable to express his fear or disdain...
The shock of the moment was still left hanging in the air, preventing Yuuna from moving or speaking properly, but it did not seem to hold Rin back as she turned to the rope on Yuuna's ankle, making quick work of it as she hastily untied it and ripped it away from Yuuna's leg.

"Come on, Yuuna. We don't have much time left."

"..."
Yuuna stared up at Rin's hand... as she extended it to him, offering to help him up.
She'd saved his life... and had killed Kishibe. She'd ended the man who had caused them so much suffering...

"...Thank you... R-Rin."
Yuuna managed to stutter as he extended a hand, weakly taking hold of Rin's as she pulled him back up to his feet.
Yuuna was half-blind and covered with blood, and a normal person would have fell right back down, unable to move due to the shock...
But Yuuna Otori was not a normal person.
Yuuna Otori was someone who had dedicated himself to vengeance... someone who had dedicated himself to his closest companions, Rin Kagemori and Korekiyo Otori...
...Someone who had dedicated himself to ending the Wakui Project.

Rin grabbed the rope from Kishibe's snare up off the ground, heaving the coiled rope over the shoulder as she quickly made her way out the door, Yuuna behind her.
"W-Where are we going?! How much time's left?"

"...I don't know. We'll see that once we make it to the top..."
Rin turned a sharp corner as she dropped the gun on the floor, now only carrying the rope, and Yuuna gave the room where Kishibe lay dead one last glance before following her down the corridor of the hotel.
The two rushed down the hallway, finally reaching their destination as Rin stepped up onto a ladder at the end of the corridor which led up through a hole in the ceiling.
Carrying the rope in her arms, Rin ascended the ladder, Yuuna directly behind her, and Yuuna pulled himself up after Rin onto their final destination...
...The roof of the towering hotel.

Awaiting them on the roof of the hotel was Korekiyo, arms outstretched with a smile as he greeted the two.
"Well, well, well... I'm relieved to find the both of you alive. What happened to your eye, Yuuna...?"

"W-We don't have time for that...!"
Rin shoved the rope into Korekiyo's hands.
"So, I brought you the damn rope... now what?"

"...Well, thank you!"
Korekiyo turned his back to them, nodding to the massive timer which hung from the ceiling... displaying the current time- which was printed as "5:00".

"Five... minutes?! We have five minutes...?!"
Yuuna felt his heart drop as he stared at the timer, drawn in and horrified by the shocking revelation.
Five minutes... Yuuna was sure they were going to die.
All of the time wasted on Kishibe in the hotel room... it was absolutely hopeless...!