Infinite: Chapter Four
NOTE: The plot/characters/setting was created before I had watched the 8Uppers film. This story is based from the trailer of 8U & the Prologue of Patch.
F O U R
/gum
Everybody had always mocked Gum about his infamous prized chore.
Sweeping and mopping the floors? That had been his designated duty ever since he had joined the orphanage. He could have easily given up and made it a shared task amongst the other members, but he didn't. He stuck it out and didn't complain, much to everybody's disbelief. Gum saw it differently. The strenuous hours of work and labour signified discipline to him.
It was Gum's form of training.
Every morning he'd fight an invisible person, yielding a mop around like a kendo stick, playing with his imagination. It was also Gum's form of meditation. By constantly doing it, he had somehow taught himself many tricks and developed various techniques how to attack and protect himself with a mere stick.
And, at that moment, his training was proving to be useless.
Why?
Gum had no weapon on him.
He cursed, peaking above a tombstone. Gum estimated about five shooters. Arsenal was hidden behind a tree, firing in unison at two of the gunmen. Ace, Jacky and Mac could not be seen, most likely having found cover. Gum frowned when he saw Toppo rather dumbfounded, cradling little Kohana-chan in his arms. Next to them, Johnny stood frozen as well, pale and completely stunned. The idiots weren't moving. Were they aiming to be easy targets?
Gum instinctively leaped over to where they were standing when he heard another round of bullets aim at their direction. He circled his arms around both Toppo and Johnny's waists, and they dove for cover under a tombstone.
"What the heck is happening?" Johnny gasped, breathlessly.
"Hey, don't ask me! I have no idea what's happening!" Toppo replied, licking his lips. He proceeded to gently pat Kohana's back.
Gum wasn't listening to their chatter. He was peeking above the tombstone. He had never felt so defenseless. Johnny and Toppo weren't the ideal combat fighters and he was stuck with them without a weapon. He regretted leaving his kendo stick in the car.
"Gum!" The sound of gunshots still clamored, but amongst the shooting he had somehow caught the hiss. Gum squinted his eyes towards the direction and saw Mac crouching three tombstones in front of him, pointing repetitively at something a few meters from where Arsenal was. Gum eyed what it was and almost hit himself on the head for not thinking about it earlier.
A stick!
Gum dodged back down, narrowly missing a bullet. Johnny and Toppo stared at him questioningly.
"I've got to help Arsenal. You two stay here. We'll make sure none of them get to you. Got it?"
Gum didn't wait around for an answer. Time was running out and they needed to eliminate and get rid of the shooters so that they could make a clean escape. Gum didn't want anybody to get hurt, and he certainly want keen about attending another funeral. They'd have to finish this quickly. He sprinted away.
As he ran, he could feel bullets piercing through the air. It was excruciating how loud they sounded. He wasn't hit by any, but from how noisy the bullets were it had felt like he had been shot. Gum found Ace and quickly squatted behind him. Ace almost elbowed Gum in the stomach. Luckily Gum grabbed his arm and Ace let out a sigh of relief. "Tell me who you are next time, will you? I was so close to punching you out."
"Sure," Gum grunted. "Where'd you get that from?"
Gum was referring to the handgun that Ace was holding. Ace was more of a hands-on fighter. While Jacky had a knife, Gum had a kendo stick and Arsenal had his guns - Ace was a boxer. Like Gum, Ace was useless when they were against the machinery. Ace needed close contact to knock someone out. It was the same in Gum's case whenever he was in combat.
"Arsenal. He tossed it to me when the firing started."
"Trust Arsenal to bring spares," Gum mumbled. "How many men did you see?"
"Five."
That confirmed Gum's estimation. "I need a favour."
"What?" Ace said. He steadied his arm over a tombstone, and fired. Gum heard a moan.
Now that Gum thought about it, Ace had reacted immediately as soon as they were getting attacked. Ace's fighting spirit was still there, and Gum was glad that it was. What worried Gum was the fact that Ace was shooting like a madman - and it was first time that Gum had ever seen Ace fire a gun with such cold blood.
"Cover for me while I get a that stick."
Ace gave a short nod. "Fine."
They counted to three and when Ace gave Gum the signal, Gum ran away from the tombstones and out into the open. Gum felt naked, being unprotected and the risk of getting shot was as apparent as black and white. He'd either be shot at, or not.
He tumbled on the grass, and snatched the branch from the ground.
Miraculously, the gunmen hadn't spotted him.
On the contrary, Arsenal had. Arsenal beckoned Gum to get behind him, but his stern eyes never left the enemies as he fired another round of bullets. "At times like these, I wish you guys used guns. It's a pain doing all this on my own," Arsenal growled. He refilled his gun with a new set of bullets and began firing away.
From behind the tree, Gum had a clearer vision of what was going on. Three men were on the ground already. Gum could see that one was dead. Blood oozed out of one of the men's chest, drenching the baggy beige shirt that he was wearing. One was trying to stand up, but failing. He kept falling back onto the grass. The other man - Gum had no idea if he was unconscious or dead. As for the two remaining enemies? Gum didn't know where they were.
An idea struck Gum.
He slightly pushed Arsenal aside and began to climb the tree. Gum could tell that Arsenal was about to tell him off, but he didn't make a sound when he noticed what Gum was doing. Arsenal gave him the thumbs up.
Gum's leather shoes kept slipping on the bark, yet he managed to make it up the tree in record speed. It was challenging for Gum to climb since he was still gripping the stick. He leaned lowly against the branch and flattened his body against it with his legs curled around it. By climbing the tree, Gum easily found the two shooters. Gum tipped a bit of his body downwards and motioned to Arsenal where the men were.
Arsenal smirked, and snuck to their direction. A couple of minutes later, Gum heard two gunshots and Gum didn't have to go and check to know that Arsenal had got them. Arsenal was a dangerous adversary. Although he was one of the smallest members in their group, he was a person to always be wary of when you got on his bad side.
Nevertheless, they had made a good team.
Not bothering to wipe the sweat that accumulated on his face, Gum waited for a couple minutes in his hiding spot. He was taking extra precaution just to confirm that there wasn't any danger. It was better to stay safe than sorry. Gum's eyes stayed on the three shooters who were on the ground.
Jacky had emerged from where he had been, checking the pulse of each of the three men that were sprawled on the grass with his left hand holding his knife. The man that had been shot on the chest was evidently dead, so Jacky checked on the other man - the man that Gum had struggled to stand up.
"This guy's still breathing," Jacky announced.
Only Gum was no longer focused on Jacky's findings. That was because Gum was staring intently at the third man who happened to be right under the tree that Gum was propped on. When Jacky went to inspect the third man, it was then that Gum observed the man's slowly twitching for the gun. Without a second thought, Gum rolled off the branch and in seconds he was flying down. Once Gum's feet touched the ground, he kicked the gun away from the man's grasp.
The man leaped on his feet - the bastard had been playing dead the whole time!
In an instant, the man threw punches at Gum. Gum blocked the punches with the long stick, twirling it around with a hand and charging the end at the man's gut. The man groaned, but kept lunging for Gum. Without hesitation, Gum skimmed the stick below the man's waist and utelised it to whack the man on his knees. The next thing Gum knew, the man was doing a 360 degree involuntary flip in the air. Gum then flicked his wrist and knocked the end of the stick at the man's neck. That time Gum knew he was unconscious.
"Thanks!" Jacky gasped.
Gum managed to let out a chuckle. "No problem."
Before they knew it, Mac was already barking orders. "I've made Johnny and Toppo go back to the van. Jacky, you go with them too. In the other car…who's going in the other? Hurry up! Let's go, let's go! We don't have all day-"
"Don't I get to have a say and go in my own car?" Jacky asked in an irritated voice.
"No. We're using it." Arsenal had finally returned, revolver still in his hands. "I'm going to find their car and make sure we don't get tracked."
"You and your obsession with covering your tracks. You'd better not mess my car up though," Jacky warned. "I've spent so much money on that and-"
"Another time would be good," Mac interfered. He jerked his head to another person. "Ace?"
"I'll be with Arsenal. He needs company. I'll go with him."
"And you, Gum?"
"The van," Gum decided. "You need someone to guard the others if Arsenal and Ace are going off in a different car."
"That's true," Mac agreed. He turned to the boxer and gunman. "Just do your business and don't be too reckless. We kinda prefer you boys alive."
Even Gum knew that telling Arsenal and Ace to not be reckless was impossible. The pair were a walking disaster waiting to happen.
After exchanging goodbyes with each other, Gum, Jacky and Mac separated from Arsenal and Ace. The van was parked a few blocks from the cemetery.
As they made crossed the road, Jacky asked, "How the hell did they find us?" Gum was thankful that Jacky has spoken because he didn't think that he could stand the silence any longer. Gum had counted the seven times that Mac had sent a paranoid glance behind them.
"They would have attacked us at Ran's if they had followed us from there," Mac said. "I have a hunch. I think Johnny might have went back to the orphanage before coming here."
"What?" Jacky spat out. "We made a pact to-"
"That straw basket," Gum stopped Jacky midway, eyes widening as he recollected where he had seen it before. "That straw basket that Johnny held. That belonged to Ai-chan!"
"No wonder…"
"Johnny, that ass!" Jacky groaned. "And we had been so careful! We should tell him off for-"
"No." Gum disagreed. "Let's not."
"Mac?"
"Gum's right, Jacky. Let it go."
The trio walked in silence. Jacky was sulking a bit, but Gum ignored it. They needed to find out what they were going to do next. They needed to get to somewhere safe.
. . . . . . . . .
"Where are we?"
That had been Johnny. Although it was two in the afternoon, when looking outside the windows it looked like nighttime. The trees, weeds and shrubs wildly grew everywhere and blocked sunlight from penetrating inside. Mac even had to use the headlights as they squeezed through the narrow alleyway. Mac gritted his teeth, slowing down the pace to control the van's movement. The gravel would make sickening sounds against the tires and there would be bumps here and there that would send all their heads, asides from Toppo, to hit the roof of the van.
"Is this the right place?" Jacky questioned Gum, uncertainly.
Gum nodded, but he wasn't sure himself. It had been a long time since he had passed the route. They had been at a stand still earlier. No one had an idea where to head off. Instinctively, Mac was about to drive back to Ran's place, but they all shouted against it because they didn't want Ran to get involved in the mess. After brainstorming, they had all turned to Gum for help.
After all, Gum had been the orphan who had lived and roamed the streets the longest. Heck, he had been homeless for as long as he could remember. He didn't even remember who his parents were and how they looked like.
Before meeting the orphans, he was most of the time on his own. He'd strike a conversation with anybody on the street and do absurd things to spend his days - from singing along with a busker on the street to counting how many pigeons would poop on the roof of Temmangu Shrine, to even seeing how many free rides he could hitch of strangers.
The van came to a halt. "Dead end," Mac said.
"Then my memory hasn't failed me."
No one made a move.
"Are you sure that this is the place? Do you think that there's a chance of anybody spotting us here?" Jacky continued to fire question after question.
"We'll be fine," Gum reassured. "No one bothers coming down here because it's a hassle to get to. Anyway, the locals believe that this area is haunted."
"Haunted?" Johnny repeated, mouth opening.
"No need to worry about it though," Gum smirked. "Back then it was most likely me who was making those noises."
Toppo laughed. He pushed the frame of his glasses higher up his bridge of his nose. Grinning, he said, "Is it like how you hid in the air vents at the orphanage?"
Gum cracked a toothy smile.
They all knew Gum's history about how he had joined club8. Despite Toppo becoming a part of the orphanage family after Gum, Toppo and Johnny were constantly reminded of how Gum had been discovered. It was a popular story amongst the orphans and Gum's story was the favourite one that Takeshi would always talk about.
When Gum was homeless, he'd occasionally drop by club8 through an air vent he had discovered. Every now and again he'd steal food from the bar, but it was during winter that he'd go there frequently. At that time Mac, Jacky, Arsenal, Ace and Ai were already living at the orphanage. From observing them, Gum felt like they were his friends already and he knew that they were good people.
Now that Gum thought about it, Ai-chan had been the first person he had made contact with…
Gum woke up from his slumber. He stretched and groaned when he felt his hands whack against something. How could he have forgotten? He had been sleeping in the vent!
"There's something in there!" Mac spluttered in a fearful voice. Jacky had been standing behind Mac and was using him as a shield.
"I'm pretty sure it's some stray animal." Arsenal scoffed.
Gum connected the dots then. They had mistaken his snoring for an animal!
"I heard it! I'm not lying!" Mac pointed a shaky finger at the air vent. Gum squirmed further down the vent so that they couldn't see him. "I swear I heard something moan!"
"You must have heard somethin-"
If they believed Gum was a monster, so that was what Gum would be. He began yelping and making strange sounds that caused Mac to let out a shrill cry. By the time Gum had wormed closer to the opening of the vent, he saw Mac run away with Jacky trailing close behind him. Arsenal, who had been confident that Gum had been an animal before, looked apprehensive. He had taken a step backwards and soon went away too.
Just as Gum was able to relax, a boy and girl replaced the other boys that had crowded around the vent. The boy was about six years of age. Unlike Mac and Jacky, Ace was brimming with confidence for he stood the closest to the vent. His hair was disheveled, but not as disheveled as Gum's and his jaw stuck out as he tapped his foot impatiently.
The boy turned to the toddler. "Ai, whatever is in there isn't a ghost."
"But Mac said so! I want to see, onii-chan!" Ai said, stubbornly. She had a determined look on her face. "Baru Baru said that it was a cat!"
Only Ai-chan had called Arsenal by that nickname and could get away with it.
"Well, it can't be both," Ace had replied. He was holding on to her sleeve, trying to stop her from going any closer, but unfortunately for him Ai stood her ground. "Let's go back."
"No! The cat might be hungry, onii-chan!"
"Errr...Argh! You're being a pain. I'm leaving," Ace snapped, sulking and storming off.
Ai stood there, peering through the vent. Gum wiggled down again so that she couldn't see him completely. Then she was gone. When Gum had finally thought they had left him alone, there was a knock on the wall. "Cat-san? I've got a bowl of milk for you. I've put it on the ground for you."
Gum remembered. He gave a small smile. After Ai had offered him a bowl of milk, he had revealed himself. She had been the first orphan to accept him. And, just like that, he had decided that he wanted to live with them.
"What now?"
"You wanted a place to stay, so I'll show you how to get there," Gum said.
When they had gotten out of the van, sure enough there was a boulder that stopped the alleyway from proceeding forwards. Without getting permission, Gum snagged Jacky's knife that had been in Jacky's pocket and used it to slice a number of vines at a certain spot. After a few minutes, a gap was revealed and it was enough space for each one of them to worm themselves into.
Each one of them filed through the gap with Gum being the first to enter.
It was a lot for Gum to take in. The first thing that Gum had noticed was the caravan. Like, back in the day, it remained frozen on the same spot. With the tires flat and no way to access any streets, it was still there. It made sense since the area was like being in a locked room, asides from the fact that for the walls were long trunks of trees and wired fences. How the caravan had ended up there? One of the walls was actually a cliff. The caravan must have had rolled off it. The only exit was the tiny gap that they had entered in from. If that were to be blocked off, there would be no escape.
What Gum could see was that the rubble from the cliff had increased. There must have been a bit of a landslide because the space was smaller than he had recalled. That had been the most negative factor about the place - it was located right next to a cliff. Gum had stood on top of that cliff before, and when he looked down he couldn't see the caravan because of how the multiple thick trees draped over it, completely disguising what was below.
If they had arrived there during the night they wouldn't have been able to see a thing. Little sunlight filtered through the trees. Since there were so many trees, the space was covered in shade and flickering shadows of leaves. Similar to the weeds and bushes that grew in the alleyway, the same could be said about inside the area.
"Meow."
A cat?
Gum found himself drawn towards the sound. It didn't take him long to find a light brown furred coat glaring at him. If it hadn't been for cats, Gum wouldn't have known about the secret hideout. He picked the cat in his arms, rocking the cat gently. As he stroked the cat's fur, the cat began to relax and it was then that Gum noticed how skinny the cat was. Gum could feel more bones than flesh.
Gum scouted the rest of the place, eyes searching for any other sign of life. There should have been more!
When Gum had left, perhaps all the cats had dispersed everywhere because no one had looked after them. He slipped his backpack off, finding a bowl and cartoned milk and poured it for the cat.
There was a cough.
"Where exactly are we, Gum?" Mac said. He had given Toppo a break for he was carrying Kohana-chan.
Gum was beginning to get tired of them asking him the same question. Why wouldn't they just take the place for what it was? Then again, Gum had never really told the others about the places he'd stay when he was a homeless stray cat himself. From a stranger's point of view, it would be considered strange but to Gum it was...
"My home. I used to live here," Gum said. "Well, one of the longest places I was a squatter."
"Oh."
Gum was glad that they never pushed and interrogated him. They all had their secrets or pasts that they didn't want to discuss about. But there was no harm in telling them, he knew them long enough and he trusted them.
He almost laughed at the disgust written on Johnny's face. For once, Jacky remained silent. "How did you survive here? You're unbelievable." That had been Mac. His voice was full of admiration. Toppo nodded his head, agreeing with what Mac had spoken.
Gum smiled.
"What's in there?" Johnny pointed at the caravan.
The caravan had originally been ginger orange, but the colour of the old paint deteriorated and it had a grey lust. It looked ancient. Gum tried to open the door, but it was jammed. He took the key pendent from his silver necklace and unlocked the caravan. He had kept the pendent for years. It was closest thing to Gum's past; Something that he had valued.
Toppo gasped. "All this time I thought it was a real necklace. I thought you were being mean because you would never tell me where you had bought it from!"
"Yeah."
Gum made his way inside the caravan and within a second, found himself sneezing. Thick layers of dust were all over the furniture. The dust was like a thick grayish snow. It was difficult to comprehend and make out what was what from all of the dust. The others entered after him and soon Gum wasn't the only one sneezing.
Mac immediately jumped out of the caravan. Gum didn't know whether it was instinctively or because he was caring about Kohana's safety - or maybe it had been a combination of both? Toppo followed his lead. Jacky stood there, arms folded, scowl on his face as he observed the state of the filthy place. Clearly he was unimpressed. "We should have went back to the club!"
Jacky hated dirt. He was the type of person to spend hours in the showers scrubbing everything from head to toe. Everyone often complained how selfish he was because he'd use up all the hot water during winter.
"This is really dirty," Johnny commented. He let one of his fingers slide on a surface and flinched, wiping the dust on Jacky's shirt - which irritated Jacky even more. "Can we go somewhere else?"
"We've already spent time getting here. We're staying." That had been Mac, from outside. "All we need to do is clean and clear everything up."
Gum rolled his sleeves up, ready to commence. He would be doing the floors, which was nothing new. Jacky made a face and stated he wouldn't be caught dead in there. In the end, Gum and Mac, convinced Jacky to hike four kilometers to the pier and bring them a bucket of water. Before he had a chance to change his mind, they had pushed him out of the gap and threw the bucket out after him. Of course, that made him stalk off in an angry rampage. Gum figured that after four kilometers of walking, his anger would die off.
Toppo excused himself from cleaning because he had his star-patterned laptop open and was instructing Ace and Arsenal instructions with how to get there. It was a valid excuse. Though, Gum didn't understand the excuse for the stars on the laptop. Gum never understood its concept. Then again, that was Toppo.
Mac was assigned to cutting up the weeds and tidying up the outside. He had passed Kohana to Johnny. Ever since Ai's death, it had been the first time Johnny had carried Kohana. Johnny stared at her, while Kohana stared quietly back at her father. As usual, they let Johnny off from doing any chores. Youngest-kid-rich-boy syndrome, as Mac used to call it. It was a good sign. Even though Johnny had insulted Gum's old home and was skipping chores, it meant that his personality was gradually coming back. Johnny hadn't been acting like that ever since Ai had passed away.
Gum didn't want to make a start to the floors until the insides of the caravan were properly dusted. While waiting for Jacky to get back with the bucket of water, Gum began to unload some of the contents from the van. He decided not to bring everything into the hidden area because he knew that they weren't going to stay there permanently.
Once Jacky had returned, the real cleaning commenced. Jacky was too tired, so he stayed outside with Johnny and Kohana. Gum and Mac drenched old rags in water, ringing them out and proceeded with dusting the furniture. After Toppo had finished out dishing directions, he too had went out of his way to help.
"Stop it, Mac!" Toppo cried out. Although Mac was the oldest, he often acted like the youngest. Mac would occasionally whip dust at Toppo, intentionally hitting him on the back with his rag.
They spent two grueling hours cleaning everything up. Gum had finally scrubbed the floors. It was a piece of cake for him because the caravan had a much smaller surface area for Gum to cover in comparison to the large dance floors at the club.
By the time Arsenal and Ace had arrived, Toppo had somehow managed to set up an ancient black and white TV that they had found in the caravan. They had placed it next to the window, having it face outside. The weather wasn't too chilly or hot, so they all migrated outside, next to the caravan since Johnny was feeling claustrophobic inside it.
"How are you ladies doing?" Ace grinned - a bit too brightly for Gum's liking.
"Cleaning." Jacky answered, despite him being the only one to fetch water and not lift a finger to assist with another chore ever since. "How bout you guys?"
"We got rid of a car." There was sick excitement in Ace's tone. As he was about to mumble another word, Arsenal interrupted him.
"More like blew it up to be precise. Ace shot at it like a lunatic so it was bound to burst into flames." Arsenal bet Ace to the explanation. Ace scowled because he wasn't able to deliver the news, but Gum wasn't thinking about that. Blowing up a car meant that they had killed people.
"Anyway, we've brought everything like you asked for - Chinese take-away, flash lights and candles," Arsenal listed.
"Kinda romantic, isn't it?" Ace snickered. He pulled out his lighter and lit a few candles before lighting a cigarette for himself.
Gum didn't like it. Ace was being too cheerful. Ace had never killed anyone before, and to think it was an unnecessary kill. Gum wasn't the only one that looked at Ace strangely. Mac and Toppo didn't look all that pleased with what they had heard.
"Do we have drinks?"
"Toppo said we had some stored in the van."
"I'll get it!" Jacky jumped up. When he returned he was grumpy, lips tugging downwards. He was mumbling and complaining how they had scratched his car.
No one bothered to listen to Jacky's complaints because they were all absorbed with their meals. They hadn't had a decent meal since breakfast. Gum hadn't realised how hungry he had been until he saw that he had not left a single grain of fried rice in his plastic bowl.
Without a doubt, he had been the first to finish. Gum licked his lips. Too bad they hadn't bought enough food for second servings. He got up from where he was sitting and poured himself a cup of cola. It felt weird serving himself. Whenever it came to drinks, Ai had been their bartender. He ended up pouring six more cups and served them to each of the boys.
"Are we going to keep running?" Ace said. He sat forward, wiping his wrist across his mouth as if his wrist were a serviette.
Everybody knew what Ace was referring to. Gum had heard bits of what was going on, but not everyone was clear about the situation. When it came to planning, it had been Mac's task.
"I've discussed this with Arsenal earlier. Leave it to me."
"I say we get the back!" Johnny exclaimed.
"No," Mac snapped. "Not until we gather all the information we can get. It would be suicidal if we get mixed up in their game when we have no idea what's going on. We need more information."
"Leave it to me," Arsenal said.
"I'm sick of waiting," Ace spat. "That's all we've been doing. Those guys even ruined Ai's funeral. Can't we get in on this faster?"
"Ace, shut up," Jacky spoke. "I do not want any of you boys dying."
"Are you saying that Ai's life isn't worth dying for?" Johnny whispered.
"He's not saying that at all," Toppo muttered. "He's just saying that it would be a waste if we die without getting back at them smartly."
Gum never really liked arguments. It was always his last resort. Ignorance was bliss. If the fight were to escalate and involved fists, he'd stop them - but their ping-pong of bickering wasn't going to get them anywhere.
Instead, Gum's eyes wandered at the fuzzy television screen. Toppo had fixed and adjusted the television to show the static images - the only problem was that the volume didn't work. However, Gum could see the name of the spokesperson that was being interviewed in the news. Yoshida Seiji. Even though the man was blurry on the screen, Gum couldn't tear his eyes away from it.
"Gum?"
The other members had stopped talking and observed Gum, following his gaze.
"Change the channel. I'm tired hearing about politicians who don't do anything," Mac grumbled.
"You can't. I've tried. It only stays on that channel," Toppo informed.
Gum shook his head. He went closer towards the screen to have a better look. "That man…I've seen him somewhere before." He kicked the television.
Toppo jumped up from where he was sitting. "Stop! It took me a while to fix it and- eh?"
Just like that the screen became clear. Gum could see Yoshida Seiji clearly now and it was then that he recollected who that person was. His stomach tied into knots as he lividly stared at the man on the television monitor.
"You're right, Gum," Johnny spoke, darkly. "I remember him. He was the man that was talking to the guy that stabbed Ai that night."
Politics was connected. Things were going to get sticky, but Gum knew that they weren't going to back out. They were in the sticky situation already. Without a doubt, Gum knew that they were going to fight.
"Finally." Arsenal rubbed his hands together. "We have a lead."
<< CHAPTER THREE || CHAPTER FIVE >>
( a / n )
15/12/10
Hey guys! Thanks for the few of you who are still reading this ;) As you can see, this chapter was Maru-focused. This was meant to be put up on his birthday, but (as you can see) I was late posting it up due to lots of things happening in real life. Nevertheless, I wrote an extra two pages to make up for it, with this being the longest chapter yet.
If I don't update before Christmas/NY, wishing you all a safe early Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Take care! :)
S-K
P.S. The next chapter will be Yasu/Toppo focused!
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