Takumi yanked Ryu into the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind them. The sound of quiet footsteps faded down the corridor as he glanced outside once more.
Then he spun around, eyes ablaze with a rage Ryu had never before witnessed.
In one motion, he bridged the space, untamed and savage like a trapped animal.
Ryu stood immobile. He backed away and collapsed onto the chilly metal bench, his heart racing.
A rough hand grabbed his head, forcing him still. Pain shot through his scalp, and he groaned softly.
Before he could speak, the storm broke.
"What were you thinking? Staging a scene like that? Do you even know what you have unleashed? You always scold me to restrain myself, to think before I act, and now you throw yourself at them like that? Beating them senseless as if you had something to prove. Was that it? After what you told me yesterday, I do not even know what is going on in your head anymore."
Ryu slowly raised his hand to grasp the one holding his hair. He shoved it back and breathed deeply, his tone firm but low.
"None of that was to show my strength or put on a display. I did it because even I have boundaries. If he pushed me to the ground or attacked me like they usually do, I would not have cared. But no one is allowed to speak about my mother. I would rather die than allow that to happen. And I know exactly what is going to occur, but you do not need to worry. I alone will bear the punishment."
Takumi hesitated for a moment, his hold weakening. He gazed at Ryu, searching for words, but nothing would come out to begin with.
His chest went up and down quickly. The anger in his eyes gave way to something heavier and harder to interpret.
"You idiot," he said at last, his voice deeper but still shaking. "You think jumping into the fire yourself is going to correct anything?"
He took a step back, curling his fists at his sides.
"I know what happens to the ones who behave that way. They shatter. They vanish. You don't think I understand why you lost it? I do. I heard what he said. But this is not how you do this."
For a moment, the space seemed smaller, as if the walls were shrinking in.
"I don't want to see you kill yourself, Ryu. Not in this way."
The door swung open. A chill ran down Takumi's back.
It was Akira, their classmate.
"Ryu, Atlas wants to meet you. He is waiting for you in his office," Akira spoke in a whisper.
Ryu turned to Takumi and began to walk away with Akira, but Akira halted and came back.
"It is only Ryu he wishes to see. You don't have to go with him, Takumi."
Takumi's fear grew within him. He started praying to all the gods he could think of, invoking names he never had spoken before, forsaking his own belief for an instant and praying under his breath to any power that would listen.
When he returned to class, all of the eyes turned to him. Some of the kids even saw the terror oozing out of his body. He sat down in his seat quietly.
Ryu approached the room of Atlas. The door closed behind him as he stepped forward. Atlas was leaning with his back to the wall, facing the window, holding a ball and softly gliding it between his hands.
"Sir," Ryu said.
Atlas didn't glance back; he just kept staring out the window.
"That was one heck of a show you staged out there," Atlas said. "Want to tell me what that was all about?"
Ryu stared directly at him and said, "I figured you were interested in determining who the greatest was, sir. I didn't think that was an error."
Atlas spun around, his tone smooth but having a menacing heft to it.
"is that so? I've seen you since the first class. I sensed a beast in you, always reined in, camouflaged by restraint. You have potential, Ryu. A path waiting for you that could be glorious, if you take the correct one when the time reveals itself."
Ryu said nothing. He had been prepared for Atlas to threaten him, not to talk in riddles. Nevertheless, something in those words made him shiver. He stood frozen, attempting to decipher Atlas's expression, but the man's eyes gave away nothing.
Atlas took a step closer.
"People would kill for the kind of opportunity that could possibly come your way," he stated. "To emerge from the grime, to crawl out of the fire, and breathe the air above. Tell me, Ryu, who would pass on that?"
He stood in silence for a moment, allowing the quiet to hang.
"You have until the end of this year. Consider carefully. The time will come quicker than you think. Now, you may go."
Ryu spun around to leave, but Atlas's voice returned, this time colder.
"Oh, and those three and their fathers You won't have to worry about them anymore. Consider it taken care of."
The words lingered in Ryu's head for a long time after he departed the room. There was an unsettling peace in understanding the agony would cease, but something in Atlas's tone bothered him, like a shadow on his heels he couldn't shake.
When he arrived at his classroom, he could hear chatter and laughter coming from within, but all of it stopped the instant he opened the door. Lyra's eyes locked onto his, gentle and inquiring. He hastily moved to his desk next to Takumi, who continued to stare at him.
"What did he say?" Takumi whispered.
Ryu hesitated. "It's. complicated. But the issue with those three is resolved."
Takumi's face was set. "Gone doesn't necessarily equal safe."
Ryu spoke softly, "At least we don't have to worry anymore. Let us just be here, Takumi."
Takumi smiled weakly, his eyes not reflecting in it. "Yeah, right. For the moment, perhaps. But there's no promise we'll even get to see tomorrow, is there?" He lowered his voice, making it almost inaudible. "You may want to keep a low profile for a while now. Rumor has spread all around the campus. I overheard somebody call you a slum thug. And. some people were speculating that you could be part of the Kurogane gang."
Ryu's face grew serious. "Kurogane?"
Takumi paused, his face filled with doubt. "When I first heard it, I didn't think anything of it. But then it hit me. What if the old man used to be involved with Kurogane? You may want to look into it, Ryu."
For an instant, Ryu was silent. Takumi's words sowed a seed of doubt deep within him, and it sprouted.