Slow Nights

Still seated on the ground, Mr. Takeshi glared at Taku and then at Teri.

“SO… WHAT IS THIS FOR?” Mr. Takeshi glanced at the black chest, to Sebastian Benjamin Noir at his side, and the girl hiding in his shadow. He kept his smile, drowning the air and making it feel as though it were begging for blood. “I LEFT YOU THE CHEST OUT OF COURTESY. AND IF YOU GIVE IT BACK TO US, THEN THAT MEANS WE STILL OWE YOU. SO, WHAT IS THIS FOR? GIVE US A PROPER ANSWER… AND PLEASE DO PICK YOUR NEXT WORDS CAREFULLY.”

“We…” Taku lowered his head. He clenched his fists. “It’s nothing.” He forced a smile. “I thought we were friends and all… and yeah… I want us to split the food as normal between our parties. And like I said before… the rest in the box are yours and we can just… we can just—”

Teri had seen this before, so much so that he found situations such as these to be too troublesome. He had his fair share of watching bright-eyed individuals getting the opportunity to see the reality of things, particularly how little trusting the world could be. Thinking back, he could very well laugh about it. The screaming. The crying. The part where the manchild would tell everyone that he’d tell about this and that to daddy.

Taku was just involved this time. This was why it was different. It was a new feeling. There was nothing wrong with his friend. The same goes for Mr. Takeshi and his crew. It seemed like a lot of things had happened. What were they doing with Sachi? Why were they in the sub-boss room in the first place? Putting things into perspective, their adventure seemed more fun and lighthearted in their own right compared to what the other group had been through. The only reason they were able to rope Yayoi in was that she hadn’t suffered enough—otherwise, she would’ve just killed them.

Yayoi kept herself in check. Like the girl from Mr. Takeshi's group, she was effectively in Taku’s shadow. She kept her back straight, her head low. She was gritting her teeth. She must have a lot to say. Was she dwelling on the same questions too? If anything, she seemed eager to treat their words as a threat and just throw hands instead.

Teri clapped Taku’s shoulder. A part of him thought that Taku got this, that his positivity would push through and shed light on the darkness of their hearts. But it seemed more and more, as Teri heard his friend struggle to find his words, that it would be him who would get dragged into the dark.

That shouldn’t happen. Both his friends shouldn’t be threatened like this.

“Honest to goodness,” Teri said as he stepped forward. “That was our leader’s intent.”

Teri locked eyes with Mr. Takeshi as he sat cross-legged in front of him. He bowed. Still, if this man smiled at them, ready to shed blood, he should respond in kind. His lips formed the beginning of a smile.

Mr. Takeshi cupped his chin. “AND WHO ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BE?”

“The goon.”

Mr. Takeshi tilted his head, confused. Yayoi stifled a breath. Taku and the girl behind Sebastian Benjamin Noir chuckled. Teri sighed, pretending none of that happened.

“Will you listen to what I have to say, Mr. Takeshi?”

Mr. Takeshi leaned forward.

“We need people.”

Teri glanced at his friends and back at Mr. Takeshi and Sebastian Benjamin Noir. The girl was still trying not to laugh. Other than that, there were no strong reactions. Yayoi seemed a bit on edge, even more so when she found him looking at her. Taku nodded at him, saying thanks and urging him to be just as honest as possible.

“But before I proceed… I assume we all know where we are and what we have to do, yes?”

“That we are in a dungeon and that we have to clear ten floors to get a wish,” Sebastian Benjamin Noir said, elegance still guiding his words. “We understand that much.”

Teri nodded. “We know how to clear the first floor.”

“AND I EXPECT THAT YOU’RE NOT GOING TO GIVE IT TO US FOR FREE—”

“This floor has two sub-boss rooms, each one supposedly containing a key that we can use to open up the boss room. After winning against the boss, we’ll know whether we need to ascend or descend to the next floor,” Teri said, keeping his gaze locked on Mr. Takeshi. “We just fought our first sub-boss, so we’ll just need to find a key somewhere in this room. Then, we’ll challenge the next one. And after that… we’ll beat the boss.”

Mr. Takeshi exchanged looks with Sebastian Benjamin Noir and chuckled at Teri. “YOU’RE NOT TELLING ME EVERYTHING, ARE YOU?”

Teri held his breath and instinctively glanced at Yayoi. He gazed back at Mr. Takeshi a second later. He relaxed his shoulders, barely keeping his composure.

He fucked up.

“YOU BETTER BE HONEST WITH ME, KIDDO. IT MAKES SENSE FOR US TO TEAM UP. BUT IF YOU JUST NEEDED OUR HELP, YOU SHOULD’VE STARTED BRINGING UP THE IDEA OF SUB-BOSSES AND BOSSES AND WHATNOT FIRST. BUT NO.” Mr. Takeshi widened his bloodlusted grin. “YOU SAID YOU NEED PEOPLE. FOR WHAT, EXACTLY?”

Teri grimaced, almost shivering at the thought. He wouldn’t dare look at either Taku or Yayoi now. He wouldn’t dare let them see the look on his face, and he wasn’t even sure what that look was.

“PROTECTION? WAR? ARE YOU GOING TO KILL—”

“I want to save someone…” Teri breathed. He kept his face straight. This was him being honest, as much as he could and wanted to be. “The girl you’re with, I think. Her name is Sachi. Not sure if she was taken… or if she escaped. We tried to get to her, to snatch her back… that was the main reason why we chose to rush into the room and—”

“She… sold us… out…” Sebastian Benjamin Noir said, not a hint of poise in his words. “She was with us when we woke up here. She didn’t spare us the details of what this dungeon was. She kept crying, apologizing… even more when some of us got murdered by dolls and rats. She wanted to run. She wanted the dungeon to just take her. We chose to protect her. We said that it was okay and that she could still stay with us…”

“WE PLANNED TO GO SOUTH AFTER RUNNING INTO SOME TROUBLE WITH OTHER PEOPLE AROUND OUR STARTING AREA,” Mr. Takeshi continued, his smile finally trembling. “AFTER WE GOT INTO THIS ROOM… A BUNCH OF PEOPLE RUSHED IN AT SACHI’S CALL. THEY TOOK THE REST OF THE CHILDREN AND WERE ONLY BARELY ABLE TO SAVE OURSELVES."

Teri glanced over his shoulder. Yayoi’s face was darkened, her eyes stone cold as she looked everywhere but at the people in front of her. Taku kept his face down, clenching both his fists once again. That was about everything Teri needed to know.

“We’ll save Sachi anyway,” Teri said, raising his voice and hoping that it would reach his friends. “And that will be our problem. You don’t need to help us… now I know that Sachi betrayed your group. You don’t need to lift a finger. That goes for information too. All I need to know is that you will not interfere or worse… betray us. If you can agree to that, then we’ll get to clear this dungeon together and hopefully get closer to your goal of escaping from this hellhole.”

“YOU’RE NOT EVEN SURE HOW MANY THEY ARE.”

“It’s fine.”

“WHAT IF WE SAID NO?”

“Then we’ll just eliminate the risk,” Teri said in a deep, deadpan tone, as if stating a fact. Sebastian Benjamin Noir shivered. The corner of Mr. Takeshi’s lips twitched. “Or at least try to…” He broke the silence, smiling. “I honestly don’t want to get my ass beat by an old man.” I’ve seen how hard you punch and I would not even dream of being at the receiving end of it.”

“KISARAGI KAITO,” Mr. Takeshi muttered. He kept his eyes on Teri, tension gripping his wrinkled face. “THAT’S THE NAME OF THEIR LEADER. THAT MAN… HAS AT LEAST TEN PEOPLE WORKING UNDER HIM, EACH AS BRUTAL AND AS MANIACAL AS THEIR LEADER. DO YOU… DO WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO STAND UP TO THAT MONSTER?”

Teri kept his smile. “Is he human?”

“YES.”

“Then…” Teri reached out to Mr. Takeshi for a handshake, his eyes steady. “It doesn’t matter.”

It happened again.

The old man was afraid of him. They were afraid of him.