Scum's Betrayal

“You almost burned me alive!”

Franz cries as he shakes his singed sleeve while crouching behind Tama’s legs on the first floor. Tama cheerfully laughs, holding a paint can from his belt up to a gaudy, silver lighter, ready to fire. Despite his apparent cheerfulness, he remains alert to the Kappore and the Makai gang exchanging blows left and right.

“Sorry, sorry! I wasn’t expecting this to turn into a real-life escort mission, so I kinda keep forgetting you’re there!”

“How rude…”

“Thanks for lending me this lighter, by the way. Didn’t peg a pretty boy like you for a smoker.”

“I’m not! That’s a multipurpose tool I got for my birthday! It just happens to have a lighter in it!”

“Ohh! It’s not a lighter! So, I’m not cheating on Sparky then! That’s a relief!”

“Who’s Sparky?”

“Hey, buddy, do me a favor?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Take my phone from my pocket and text a contact named Orange. Tell him I need hella back up and give him this address.”

“Huh!? Why should I—”

At that moment, giant flame streams from Tama’s paint can. It burns the clothes of a couple of thugs that were getting dangerously close to the escalators, forcing them away in fear. With a terrified yelp, Franz rapidly does exactly as Tama told him.

He slips the phone back into Tama's pocket while looking around anxiously at the commotion, and it's then that he catches sight of Oue descending quickly down the stairs.

Franz stands up immediately, but his ribs are quick to remind him how badly they hurt. He covers the bruises with his hand, applying pressure to lessen the discomfort.

“Ghh… There he is… There’s that worm!! He saw me get beat up and did nothing! I knew he was a delinquent, but I didn’t think he’d be a disgusting backstabber!”

Tama looks over to where Franz is looking, and whistles.

“Oof. Yeah. That’s Pain Killer Oue. He does Amon’s dirty work and cares about no one but himself.” He quickly turns to the side to spray a plume at another couple of brawlers, then casually continues. “His nickname is stupid, isn’t it? Painkiller is one word, lol. But yeah, even the Kappore gang knows he’s not someone you mess with.”

Franz grits his teeth in frustration, digging his fingers at the wound on his torso. Tama watches him from the corner of his eye, then grins.

“I dunno what he did to you, but if you wanna go get payback, I’ll watch your back.”

“—Excuse me!?” Franz looks at Tama, offended.

“What? You look like you’ve never thrown a punch, but you know what? Neither has Oue. I bet you could take him.”

Franz growls, wiping his nose again and glaring in Oue’s direction. His hair and clothes are a complete mess, he's got blood all over him, and almost every inch of his body is bruised. He looks nothing like a prince— so he doesn't feel all that bad letting go of his princely persona.

“... Hell. Here goes nothing.”

Oue finally gets to the bottom of the long escalator, and without hesitation, he grabs one of the Makai thugs throwing punches at Kappore, and yanks him down to eye level.

“Was your text correct, you useless bouncer!? Where is he!? Where’s Mad Dog Jojo!?”

The bulky thug seems taken by surprise, pointing at the entrance of the building with his finger.

“I saw him pedaling over here at full speed, then I lost him in all those motorcycles, but he hasn’t come in yet—”

“He better not have, or else, I’ll have the boss scalp you!”

“Y-Yes, sir! I’ll be on the lookout!”

Oue releases the thug who clumsily runs towards the door again.

“... Hey, Oue.”

Oue turns around and comes face to face with Franz, bloody and beaten. It takes him a second to recognize him like this.

“Franz? Is that you? Wooow… My boys sure did a number on you, huh? Glad to see you’re still alive though.”

Franz clenches his fist.

“You scumbag… Why did you take my Yuri!?”

Oue rolls his eyes.

“I told you that you’re a creep, but you didn't get the hint. How is it on me that you tracked her phone? You getting beat up is aaall on you. You could’ve just taken her to your castle somewhere, but no, you just had to get involved.”

“I... don’t get it….” Franz winces with pain, taking a step forward. “Why would you tell me to take her if you were planning to kidnap her anyway?”

Oue sighs and brings his hands to his hips.

“Honestly? Just because I could. And because Bloody Bat Romeo can go to hell, for all I care. Either, I was gonna get you to take Yuri outta the picture, or I was gonna use her to keep Romeo in line and turns out, the latter's what we needed. Our boss was gonna sabotage his mission from the start, but Romeo was a bit more efficient than expected. You turned out to be pretty useful. It's all thanks to you that I found out about Yuri in the first place!”

Franz feels his blood boil with rage, but before his instinct lets him swing a punch right at Oue's smug little face, the thug acting as a bouncer suddenly dashes past them, screaming.

“HE’S COMING!! HE’S COMING!! Mad Dog Jojo’s going berserk!!”

Oue and Franz whip their head towards the glass entrance just as it shatters into millions of tiny pieces.