Once they were out in the open, Haji could clearly pinpoint the uneasiness that he felt creeping up on the group. The aquarium was a bit crowded, and sensing soone’s directed gaze proved to be difficult. But now that they were outside, it was way easier for Haji to see who was following them.
"I knew it. So we were really being followed," Haji muttered to himself, stealing a glance at the three n using his peripheral vision. "But why? Who are they?"
The first man was thin as a stick, with the other two on the muscular side. Haji was bewildered. This was the first ti he saw the man so he knew that they didn’t hold a grudge against him... or maybe they were sent by the debt collectors to harass him for the second ti— sort of like a level up from what they did to him at the park. Nevertheless, Haji could tell that they were amateurs when it cos to stalking. It’s like they were being conspicuous that they were following the group, Haji found it a tad bit hilarious.
Still, a nagging feeling overca Haji. He knew he couldn’t handle those three guys alone when it cos down to it. And if they were smart enough to hold one of the group mbers a hostage, then Haji would have an even more difficult ti.
Throughout the past year, the only reason why Haji survived this long was that he was good at running away. But now, there’s a risk to everyone in the group, and his client was in the group to boot. As a man, as a bodyguard, and as the self-proclaid strongest guy in the group, there was no way he could back down now.
’For now, they weren’t doing anything aside from following us, but who knows what they’ll do later on.’ Haji said to himself, contemplating whether he should tell everyone about the three n or not.
In the end, Haji decided to warn everyone about them.
"We’re being followed." Haji didn’t dilly-dally with the announcent. Out of nowhere, he just spoke up and brought up the topic. This made everyone turn around and wonder what he was talking about.
"What do you an?" gumi asked, thinking that Haji was just kidding. Keiichi had the sa sentint.
"Us? Followed? No way, we’re not important people." Keiichi shrugged, full of confidence that Haji was just saying that to garner attention.
Natsumi’s reaction was quite different, however, since she fully trusted Haji ever since that incident with the college students. Her body moved on its own, instinctively sticking close to Haji as she observed her surroundings.
In that few seconds when Haji detached his attention from the three n, they sneaked up on the group, grabbing Keiichi by the shoulders and quietly dragging him away so as not to attract unwanted attention from the crowd. Haji was the only one who reacted just in ti, grabbing one of the n by the shoulders as well without thinking twice. He knew just why they dragged Keiichi away from them, and that’s to lead everyone to a narrow alleyway wherein no one would see them when they get harassed.
That’s the last thing that Haji wanted to do, and that’s why Haji moved into action. anwhile, the muscular man who grabbed Keiichi by the shoulders already gripped Keiichi by the jaw, silencing him in a forceful manner.
Everything was so sudden, so instantaneous that Keiichi’s mind stopped functioning as soon as he was swept away by the three n. Before he knew it, his eyes were starting to water, tears forming on the edges of his eyes’ lower lips as he groaned from the hand that silenced his mouth. He started helplessly flailing, but the muscular man kept him in check.
"What do you think you’re doing?!" Haji scread at the top of his lungs, attracting a number of passers-by so that the three n wouldn’t be able to escape if they wanted to.
"Oi oi, you really want to do that right now?" The muscular man said, unclenching his sizeable hands from Keiichi’s mouth. "We just wanted to borrow your friend for a little bit, we don’t want any trouble." The man said, licking his lips. "You’d go with us, right?" He then turned his gaze towards the quivering Keiichi, indirectly threatening him with his words.
"How much do you want?!" Keiichi gritted his teeth, mustering all his courage. That didn’t stop his legs from turning into jelly though as he locked gazes with the man who could break his neck at any second.
"Co on, we’re not savages, we only wanted a little bit of money." The man continued, acting all chummy with Keiichi despite his threats. Ruffling Keiichi’s hair, the muscular man continued his harassnt. "How’s fifty million yen sound?"
Keiichi’s lips trembled. Fifty million yen is a huge amount of money, and even though he’s got shares in the Mizunari Company, there’s no way he could spend that much money just to get out of the situation. For the second ti, he tried to stand up against the kidnappers. "I don’t have that much." He responded, acting all tough.
anwhile, Haji finally got his wits together, turning to gumi and the others. "All four of you, get out of here, if possible, and go to the nearest police station," Haji whispered. He was perfectly aware that he couldn’t protect all of them at once. At the very least, he should get them out of there while he tried to rescue Keiichi from the three n who were causing a ruckus in the middle of the busy street.
gumi didn’t bother arguing with Haji. At this rate, they’d be getting in the way and would just be a burden to Haji and Keiichi.
"We have to go." gumi urged, even though Natsumi had all the reason to stay. She didn’t want to drag Haji and the others down, but she also didn’t want to turn a blind eye to what was happening and leave Haji behind. She couldn’t care less when it ca to Keiichi, but Haji was a different case.
Left with no choice, gumi grabbed Natsumi by the hand, pulling her out of there as they ran straight to the nearest police station.
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