You're My Hero pt 2

"Arata, are you okay?!" Yukari grabbed his arm and got him to his feet. She dusted her best friend and patted his face as if waking him up from a nonexistent daze. "He's gone now!"

"Where's Attori?" The player looked around but found no one.

"Are you really asking that?" Ruby huffed as she got near and pulled out her handkerchief from her skirt's pocket. She wiped his mouth and chin clean from saliva— she felt good there was no blood. "Where do you think she would vanish to?"

The man looked at the queen before remembering about the other women in the gym. They were all frozen and so scared that they stuck close to one another. Before he could say anything, Ruby pressed her phone to her ear as if talking to someone. It seemed that she called the guards again to walk the girls home if it was possible.

Tohru brought her hand to her lips as if hiding them. She bit too hard into her lower lip, making it bleed. She then huffed in annoyance and glared at Arata's direction— not at him in particular. "I'm sorry for what happened. I'll deal with Keita!" She motioned to run out of the gym, but the male grabbed her arm. "Don't stop me, Acchan!"

"I'm not stopping you!" He turned to Ruby and Yukari. "Can you help them home? We'll look for Attori and Keiko!" Without listening to their answers, he took the star athlete with him outside the gym.

"Seriously!" Yukari stomped at the actions.

"Ginmachi, we should do what he said."

"But—!"

"We both have not fought a fist fight before. He's just being worried about us if ever we get in trouble with that guy. Let's take them home one by one and head over to his place after." Ruby only spared Yukari her gaze as long as she spoke. After that, she turned to the club adviser who was too shocked to intervene. "We should sort the addresses so we wouldn't be wasting time. Are you okay by now, teacher?"

Yukari could only pout as she watched the composed school queen. What she did not know was that Ruby's heart had been pounding so loud as she cried for her friends' names.

Arata and Tohru had met the guards on their way. They were going to take the students home, but the two passed on the help and wanted to look around some more. The god and his girl tried finding clues where they could be. Arata had been on his phone trying to call Attori, but it was always unattended.

'Could she have turned it off while chasing the man?' Arata hummed as he gave up in his calls. He checked the watch and stared at the 6 PM action time. If the time refused to move, and then it meant the scenarios were not yet over. He glared at the watch as if it had answers for him. 'Damn, we should find them as soon as possible...'

"It's all my fault..."

He heard Tohru lament over the incident. He turned to her and saw her leaning against the lamppost to her side. She was taking successive deep breaths and squeezing herself in anger.

"I shouldn't have pushed through with the extra session today. If only we didn't try to offset the court's maintenance day, we wouldn't be there when he came..." Tohru continued to bite down her own lip. "If only I took care of Keita earlier, this wouldn't have happened..." She brought her gaze to Arata. "He wouldn't have to hurt you."

"I doubt he's not going to blame me even if you do." Arata shrugged his shoulder and walked closer to her to pet her head. "Come on, Tohru. He might have come here because of you, but you have no responsibility over his actions. Trashing the place was his decision, not yours."

"I wish the other members would say the same..."

Minutes, which felt more like hours, passed as they looked around for the missing three people. However, it had gone too exhausting for Arata to continue. He failed to notice that looking for them depleted the remaining of his Stamina. He could only sit down at the bench and try to rest. However, his mind continued to race and draw possible scenarios that were happening at the moment.

Tohru had gone to buy some juice from the vending machine. She gave the man an energy drink which does raise Stamina for a brief moment. She sat next to him and popped open her drink. The usually talkative jerk had become so quiet that Arata could fall asleep in fatigue. She could only think of the things that transpired in the gym.

'So he will try to kill me as well'—she stared at the ground—'after he kills Acchan. Heh, impossible.' She took a sip from her drink. 'As if I'd let him...'

She shook her head and turned to the man who was pressing the edge of the can against his lips without drinking. "Acchan, we should head home for now. You're in no condition to look for them."

"I don't want to give up..." The player wished to fish inside his bag, but his hand started trembling. He had not consumed the drink fully, but he figured half should be able to give him energy. Then again, it did not seem to be regenerating at all. He held his forehead as he caught his head as it fell. "Ah, I'm losing my senses..."

"I'll carry you home, hotshot!" She laughed out as she finished her drink and tossed it towards the bin. Tohru stood and stretched as if preparing to half-drag a man back to his house. She went before him and sat on her heels before him. "Come on, Acchan..."

"One last..." Arata sent a text to his wife before accepting the help. Even if he forced himself to look around, the game system would not allow him to drag himself.

With a few more minutes, they reached the house and were greeted by Ruby and Yukari. They tucked the poor player into his bed who passed out as soon as he melted into the mattress. Even though he could not move his body, he felt like his consciousness was left loitering around.

The proof of this was his awareness of the conversations in the first floor. Instead of resting, the three women sat around the table. Yukari then went to the kitchen to fix them some dinner. Ruby and Tohru were left at the table, both deep in thought.

Tohru soon stopped tapping against the table. She brought her eyes to Ruby's worried face. The tea Yukari made for her was still on its cup, cold and left untouched. She spoke with her eyes waiting for the queen to turn to her, "Have you found them?"

"Should I be looking for them? Let the morning news tell us about it..." Ruby's tone was grim. She did not even look at her collocutor. "With that kind of state he left Arata in, I doubt that mad bitch would hold back. She already expressed her interest in killing that man through her nails."

"You sound like you'd be happy if she killed that guy."

"It's not a conventional method, but if she ends up killing someone, she would need to stop attending school." The queen hummed as she ran her hand along her hair. "Among all the dangerous students in the school, Attei Attori was the cleverest and most conscious of the heights of their danger. I could only play along if she would accomplish tasks to help Arata.

"Taking herself out of my to-worry-about list is already kind of her." Ruby hummed as she glanced at Yukari who was clearly eavesdropping on them. Not that Ruby cared since Yukari and Attori did not seem to be pretty solid. Yukari was not much of a threat to her as well anyway. "Staying away from dangerous people is good for Arata, isn't it?"

Tohru only hummed in agreement. Then again, she sighed as she scratched the glass tabletop, leaving no traces on the material. She plopped her head against the glass. "I'm scared... I never took out someone for someone else before..."

The president only pressed Tohru's head down harder with the weight of her stare. Taking out someone for someone else required so much devotion and resource— not to mention cleverness and infernal loathing against the thought of a person hurting the one they love. Ruby once harbored such feelings and yet chose not to take necessary actions. Right now, she could only hope someone else could do it for her.

"Tohru, how do you see Arata?"

"Huh? Is this the time for that?"

"Yes."

The athlete squirmed at the question. She hugged herself as she forced her head to put her thoughts into words. She closed her eyes and huffed hot breaths past the table so it did not fog anything before her. "He's... someone I... never thought I'd want. He puts up with all of my faces, and considers all of it as me. It didn't feel like he held impressions as a basis of treating people. I can be... what I want, who I want, when I want it..."

Yukari slowed down her actions. She would look at them, but that would only distract them. She stood in front of the stove even though she did not have to watch the pot intently. 'Ah, I thought I was the only one who noticed that...'

"I feel like he's saving from... something I didn't think has been eating me alive." Tohru continued to chuckle. "I used to think that last time I would ever feel good enough was when Keita had me. Now, I'm beginning to question if I really liked him back then, or it was just me feeling good that someone thinks I'm good enough for them..."

She raised her head up and stared at Ruby. "I might be popular in school before, but I was never like you, Ru. You can get everyone you like if you make the effort." She leaned her head against a hand with the elbow on the table. "Me. No one wants to go out with me. I'm either too good or not good at all to those people. I'm pretty sure you remember that... that onslaught you brought on me..."

"I remember it very well." Ruby did not look victorious at all— which made Tohru frown. In fact, she had this clouded gaze and trembling lips. She was only able to continue when Yukari took away the cold tea and replaced it with a warm one from the kettle. "However, that's not what we're talking about..."

"What are we talking about then?" Tohru sighed and leaned against her seat. "Why'd you suddenly ask me about that?"

Ruby took a sip on the warm tea and savored its flavor as it soothed her throat. She laid her eyes on her supposed to be closest friend. "I don't mind competing with you in hopes to win over Arata. As it stands, he values Attori more than he value any of us."

"Ah, you're actively asking me to help you take out Attei?!" The athlete gasped. "How bold!"

"No, but she's doing weird things I do not understand." Ruby hummed as she leaned against her seat, arms crossed before her chest. "She purged those students out of the basketball club because they were a source of inconvenience to Arata. She also said it was done in his name. I think there is something happening under our noses."

"...She's offering him things? What is she— a cult priestess?" Tohru laughed, but Ruby's silence made her stop. "Hey, you're creeping me out..."

"Cult priestess or not, she's doing something way ahead of us." The president picked up her teacup. "Arata once told me that Attei had known things that I haven't yet... and it had driven her to give so much devotion even to a man who toys with possibly a dozen more women." She took a sip. "As a fellow Arata girl, I can't just let her take the lead all the time."

"You already lost me..."

"If she kills that guy, she completes another offering." Ruby stared at her reflection at the black tea served to her, smiling with satisfaction at her thoughts. "Before she makes another point, don't you think we should at least try and get a score?"