To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

Chapter 23

Short recap:

I tried hard to breathe in without my chest jumping. Jiro rubbed circles on my back as he whispered soothing words in my ear. I could still hear Shin's hushed voice as he growled at Ryuu, but I couldn't understand his words.

"Hey, pay attention to me Emi. Try to breathe in. Focus on taking air into your lungs," he whispered. My body shook as I remembered Rei whispering similar words to me back when Mama gave me my first cleaning.

"Breathe," Jiro kept saying.

Long minutes passed as I felt my breathing returning to its normal pace. Jiro's words still reached my ears as I tried to focus on oxygenating my lungs.

"Jiro," I whispered, a soft, inaudible pant escaping my mouth. "Please, don't let me go."

"I'm not going to," he whispered, his arms tightening around me. "I promise."
~~~~

The sun had decided to show itself a couple of hours ago, gracefully shining some of it's rays through the small square in the wall, both to my relief and dismay. Relief, because I could now clearly see what was in front of me, around me, and what was a potential threat. Dismay, because my eyes were extremely sensitive on that peculiar morning.

I'd spent all night as stiff as a log, not moving a single inch, not batting an eyelash as I looked in front of me, even though the room was pitch black. My eyes had been wide all night and up until now they were still open, but now it felt like they were physically impossible to close. I kept them trained on the purple haired boy across the room, not shifting them for even a second.

Ryuu, I noticed thanks to the new source of light, had been tied down to his mattress with his own bedsheets. I'd heard him struggle against them for half the night, but I guess he grew tired and fell asleep.

I wish I could've done that too.

My body tensed slightly as I felt something gently stirring under me followed by the sound of a low groan and some joints popping.

"Morning," Jiro whispered in a sleepy voice. My gaze flickered to him for a fraction of a second, just enough to see a small smile stretching across his face before I went back to Ryuu across the room.

My eyes were puffed and bloodshot, making me feel so uncomfortable that I actually thought about gouging them out. My face was as stiff as a stone, my gaze neutral. You'd think I was a robot completely void of emotion, if it weren't for the way my hands were still wrapped around Jiro, and the unconscious squeezes I softly gave him throughout the night.

"Emi?" Jiro mumbled, taking a hand off my waist and rubbing sleepily at his eye.

"Hey..." he whispered, poking my cheek. I turned to him only to catch his small pout and bright eyes.

"See, I kept my promise." he grinned. I sighed and slowly nodded, a sudden feeling of relief flashing through me at the sight of him awake.

"You did," I replied, the ghost of a smile on my lips.

Jiro's gaze turned to Ryuu, a small smirk appearing on his face as he shook his head.

"Real original Shin," he rolled his eyes. Shin, who I just noticed was awake in his own bed, only shrugged in response.

"Had a better idea?" he questioned, his morning voice sounding even stronger and deeper than his normal one.

"Nah. You're the smart one here," Jiro chuckled and turned to me.

"Not to call you fat or anything, but I can't really feel my legs," he laughed and my eyes widened, quickly crawling off him. Jiro yawned and stretched, groans leaving his mouth as he changed position multiple times before standing up.