The morning sun was shining brilliantly and spreading it’s warm rays across the surface of the vast land. The blue sky was as clear as still water and few lumps of white clouds of different shapes and sizes were floating freely in the far-off horizon.
However with the winter making it’s appearance, the atmosphere was still kinda chilly, despite the sunny day.
And the abandoned apartment building infront of Masato still looked spooky even during the daytime.
“Did you already forgot about what I said earlier?” Hanagaki, the guy with man-bun questioned politely after hearing the cries of Kitsu and few other guys.
“But…. This place is hunted.” With tears rolling down his eyes, Kitsu cried.
“Then I’ll let you meet the ghost of this place today.” Hanagaki mumbled casually while looking Kitsu in the eyes. “And if you keep talking then may be I’ll send you to his world as well.”
And as Hanagaki was speaking, suddenly he scrunched his brows and grabbed Kitsu’s chin with his right hand. He then threatened Kitsu, “So if you don’t want to turn into a ghost yourself then keep your mouth shut.”
Hearing Hanagaki’s statement, a shiver ran down the spines of other kids present there at that moment. Even Masato looked extremely terrified. Some of them were even on the verge of wetting their pants.
“Please let me go.” Cried out Kitsu in muffled voice.
Without making any sound the rest of the kids were also sobbing and begging in muffled voices. Masato and his underlings, all of them were almost in the same condition. 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎
Hearing their cries, Hanagaki increased his grip and squeezed Kitsu’s cheeks even more tighter than before. Squeezing his cheeks, Hanagaki then yelled furiously, “Just shut the f**k up and follow me.”
Hanagaki’s roar scared the shit out of them. Feeling totally breathless, Masato’s heart stopped for about 3 seconds.
As strong as he made himself appear infront of other kids, Masato was actually very weak. He was that guy who was strong to weak and weak to strong.
He was the type of guy who liked to prey on weak guys to satisfy his ego.
After that Hanagaki and the rest of the guys from Undead Crown gang led them inside the abandoned building.
Wandering their eyes here and there, Masato and his underlings fearfully followed Hanagaki and others.
The inside of the building was even more creepier than it’s outer appearance. Cobwebs of spiders were present in almost every pillar and corners.
Dark and gloomy, some of the walls contained red stains on it which looked like blood.
And as they moved further deep inside the building, a musky smell of soil and rotten smell of dead mouse made them cover their nose.
“What’s this smell??” While contorting his face and grabbing his nose, Masato questioned.
However nobody from the Undead Crown gang replied to his questions. And the fatty behind his back simply gave him a push and spoke, “Keep on moving.”
Finally after walking for a while, Hanagaki suddenly stopped. They arrived in a spacious room with a huge wall.
“Now then all of you will answer my few questions. And if I’m satisfied I might let you go and if I’m not then who knows what I’ll do.” Hanagaki mumbled while staring at them.
“I heard that you guys are bullies. Is it right?” Hanagaki questioned.
“No sir”
“No sir”
Almost all of them denied the accusations and shook their heads, immediately.
“Oh Okay!!” Hanagaki murmured.
“Then for the second question.” Hanagaki continued his questioning. “Then it wasn’t you guys who bullied our boss’s cousin, right?”
“No sir!! We haven’t troubled anyone. Never in my life have I ever bullied anyone.” Masato replied.
The rest of his underlings too shook their head and denied Hanagaki’s claims.
“Oh!! Then I might be wrong. But if you’re telling lies then the consequences will be really bad.” Hanagaki mumbled while walking back and forth.
Suddenly one of the underling of Masato asked curiously, “Sir what’s the name of your boss’s cousin?”
“Masao Kurimoto.” Hanagaki replied while turning his gaze towards the guy who questioned him.
Hearing Masao’s names, they began to panic. Their body temperature suddenly started to rise and they started to sweat profusely all of a sudden. They never imagined that Masao had a cousin who was a gangster.
After hearing Masao’s names, they knew that they could no longer lie to Hanagaki. But since the main culprit was Masato and most of them were only following Masato, they could get away unscratched if they just told Hanagaki the truth.
And if they could simply put the blame on Masato and hang him on the guillotine then they could save themselves from being hung on the guillotine. That’s what Masato’s underlings started to think.
Masato on the other hand started to panic even more than other. Hearing Masao’s name, his heart skipped a beat. And suddenly it started to beat erratically.
Slowly turning his gaze towards his friends or that’s what he thought until he was caught by a gangster, he found them all sweating profusely.
At that moment Kitsu, the fox faced guy suddenly opened his mouth, “It’s all Masato’s fault. I tried to stop him several times but he never listened to me. Sir he was the one who bullied him.”
Hearing Kitsu’s words, Masato frantically yelled,”What are you speaking Kitsu?”
To save themselves, Kitsu and other guys had decided to put the blame on Masato.
“I’m speaking the truth.” Kitsu replied. “He was the one who made Masao his bread shuttle. Showing off his strength, he often hit Masao. And we only followed him because we feared his strength.”
“Ohh!! Is that so??” Hanagaki questioned after hearing Kitsu’s claims.
“That’s right sir. We’re innocent sir. We only followed his will.”
The rest of the guys nodded their head and pleaded not guilty.
“How could you all put all the blame on me?
Wasn’t it your idea to traumatise Masao by mentioning the name of his dead bestfriend Kitsu? And it wasn’t only me who used him as bread shuttle, you all guys were involved as well. And it wasn’t only me who beat him and oppressed him, you all did the same as well.” Masato after hearing the accusations of his underlings started to have a meltdown.
‘Exactly as predicted by Imai. They’re all putting the blame on that Masato guy.’ Thought Hanagaki after hearing their words.
And as time progressed, they kept blaming each other. The blaming game progressed.
Hanagaki was still thinking that everything was planned and predicted by Imai. However the real mastermind behind the scene was Hiro. He was the one who had meticulously planned everything.