Chapter 48: Know Despair 4

'Ugh, that was not a great experience...' Zenkichi inwardly groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked around, taking in his surroundings. He was lying on the ground in what appeared to be a dimly lit and damp room, alone.

'What the hell happened?'

Memories came rushing back to him, and he immediately sat up, he narrowed his eyes. He looked down at his arms to see glowing azure circuit-like marks stretching across his arms. And he didn't have to check inside his burnt clothes to feel that most of his body was glowing with the same marks.

'Blut vene...I don't even know how to use it and I didn't even thought of it. Was it instinctive? That doesn't matter right now,' Zenkichi shook his head. They were in a precarious situation and was running on a clock.

'What about the other two?'

Looking up around, he noticed that they were still in the elevator and both Naze and Ryota were laying against the walls, unconscious.

His heart froze for a moment before letting out a relieved sigh when he went to feel their pulses and got a few faint beats.

He slowly got to his feet, cautiously, he looked out of the elevator and his face paled, instantly regretting that decision.

Because just outside of the elevator, was the bloody remains of Koga.

"Oh god..." Zenkichi muttered under his breath, feeling a mixture of shock, fear and disgust.

He quickly closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and not panic. He had to focus on getting himself and his companions out of here.

He took a closer look at their surroundings, noticing that there was a door leading to a staircase on one wall.

'Taking the elevator right now seems like to be a bad idea. Junko or whoever had spoken to us earlier when they detonated Koga has probably booby trapped it if we use it or has Mukuro or someone else troublesome waiting for us in the upper floors.'

After a brief inner deliberation, he knew that the stairs was their best bet. He carefully lifted Naze over his shoulder and supported Ryota with his free hand, and slowly made his way towards the door, ignoring all the flesh, blood and organs splashed across the entire hallway.

'God or whatever fucking God there is in this world. I'm gonna need some therapy after this whole ordeal.' He held back the urge to vomit and advanced, burying his heart.

He opened it slowly, trying not to make any noise, and cautiously peeked out. Thankfully, he didn't see any sign of danger.

'Just to be safe...'

[Reading Minds]

A spark of invisible electricity travelled the floors down and up simultaneously, and a 3D dimensional image momentarily flashed in Zenkichi's mind and he let out a sigh of relief when he heard nothing.

"Alright guys," Zenkichi let out a breath and slightly adjusted his hold on them. "let's get the hell outta here. We'll beat the bad guys, get some snacks and drinks, finish finalizing my club, and I can finally go on that date–!"

He slowly made his way up the stairs, feeling the weight of his two friends on his shoulder and hand.

The glowing blue veins on his body seemed to lessen as they climbed up to a higher floor. Zenkichi briefly stared at them

It only took several minutes before one of them, Naze, to wake up with a soft groan.

"W-Where am I...? What happened?"

Zenkichi calmly replied, "We're currently heading up to the 2nd floor."

Naze groaned again, clutching her head and she went silent for a moment.

When she finally got her bearings,

"...Ok, I think I can somewhat remember what happened. But why aren't we using the elevator?" She flatly said, tilting her head to try and stare at Zenkichi's face. "Also, can you please set me down now?"

Zenkichi raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged and stopped at a flat platform before unceremoniously dropping Ryota onto the ground with a loud thud, face first, accompanied with a loud yelp from the latter and he gently set Naze down.

"Thanks."

"No prob." Zenkichi lightly smiled.

Naze nodded at Zenkichi before sitting down on the ground with her legs against her chest, and arms locking them together. She looked forward, blankly. Dazed.

She looked...lost.

"What the hell is this feeling..." she muttered under her breath before closing her eye, slowly she leaned her head down against her arms. An unknown feeling surged up inside her.

'Koga-chan...'

Meanwhile, Ryota abruptly stood up with a red face with tears

"Ow! Ugh, my face... Geez. What the hell was that about?!"

"You were already awake, and I am not going to carry you all the way to the surface."

"Y-You should've at least been gentle. That really hurt, y'know?"

Zenkichi rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall, he coldly stared at Ryota. "You should've made a sound like Naze did. I don't like liars, Mitarai." he then closed his eyes to catch his breath and think about their next move.

Ryota flinched, he looked down in shame and rubbed his left arm. Not knowing what to say, he let out a sigh and went to sit down.

Zenkichi started to ponder their situation.

'We can't sit here all day. Five minutes should be enough to get their bearings,' he opened his eyes and turned to look at Naze. 'especially Naze. Koga's death really shook her up. I think she mentioned a best friend? Was that her?'

'And I think she wouldn't be the last...'

Zenkichi looked at his hands, the blue veins still faintly glowing on his skin. A solemn expression took his face.

'Quincy abilities, are they still enough? Under normal circumstances, in the face of supernatural abilities, modern techniques or technologies would certainly lose out. And Junko and her unknown accomplices are technically normal humans, but the problem is that their insanity is unpredictable.'

He grimaced, clenching his hands.

'Worst case. They probably even stole some nation's nuke codes or something and would detonate it the moment I stop them....' he paused for a moment and shook his head, dryly chuckling.

'No. I shouldn't be pessimistic. I have to stop this madness from spreading. For Mom, Shiranui, Medaka, Nekomi...'

Zenkichi wasn't a hero, he never proclaimed himself as one and he would never try to become one.

Despite the gifts he has, he never considered to have some sort of responsibility to help others or think himself something beyond human.

He was selfish, he always was. The reason he wanted to stop the Flask Plan wasn't because of the students, but because they wanted to experiment him. And it was the same right now, he didn't want to stop this despair from spreading because of the people but because of the people he loves.

Was he feeling disgusted at himself for feeling this way? No. And he never will. Because if he does, he would walk the path of self-destruction.

'...We need to reach Ryota's apartment and have him create a hope video to reverse this whole thing but the main problem still stands, the Despair Sisters and their accomplices. I need to kill them so this tragedy won't continue.'

Zenkichi opened his eyes and looked at his companions.

"Alright, we need to keep moving. Our goal is to get to Ryota's apartment, located outside of school grounds. Which means we have to go through the second and first floors' guardians, then the clocktower, go across the school grounds and into the city."

Naze had no response. Ryota's lips twitched, his head drenched in cold sweat. "R-Right. We can do this."

Zenkichi nodded.

"Yeah." Naze's apathetic voice sounded as she slowly stood up. Suddenly, she surprisingly clutched the bandages covering her face and ripped them off, revealing a familiar pretty face.

Short purple hair and red eyes, thin long eyebrows, and round beautiful face set in indifference. Her eyes gleamed in cold fury.

"I don't care about anything else. I just want to stop them. And I'll do whatever it takes," she declared, a fierce determination flashed in her eyes.

Zenkichi was dazed for a moment, finally seeing Naze's true face for the first time. And it looked like his suspicions were correct, Naze Youka was Medaka's long lost sister!

He shook his head, slowly nodding at her. He knew how much Koga meant to her, and he understood her feelings.

"Let's go then," he said, taking the lead as they continued their journey, ready to face whatever challenges came their way.

They might not be heroes, but they had to be brave enough to fight for what they believed in, and protect those they loved.

'I won't let this second life of mine be filled with despair. As long as I stand and be lucky with my pulls, there will always be hope.'

....

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