It's dark, Kenji thinks to himself. It's also very hard to breathe through your nose, when you're used to breathing through your mouth. How long has it been? How long since the fourth (or fifth?) torture session, where they hung him by his ankles on a wall for hours on end? Maybe it was only an hour; it didn't matter. Kenji held on, despite it all - Yuuko was telling the truth. He knew it. They would break out of here, together...
 
Right?
 
Kenji had broken Yuuko's heart before, long ago when he was a student at Yamaku Academy. Why would she still want him now? Why should she? I don't deserve her, he thought, so why is she bothering now? Why would she go out of her way to rescue him from the inside of an organization that she was established in? There were too many questions, most of them with answers that didn't make any sense. All this time, she could have hated him. So, why did she kiss him? Why did she tell him about the pentathol? Could he trust her, or anyone in here? Yuuko knew the password, though; then again, maybe she used it because she used to call him that, and it wasn't meant to be the password at all. Too many questions...
 
At least he had Hisao. Kenji knew that IID would likely send Hisao in to get him out, and when he got here, Kenji would be able to make sense of everything that was happening here. Hisao Nakai, the kid with the bad heart, turned the agent with the unstoppable rifle. They had no idea that they had signed up at the same time, until they bumped into each other on the first day. Here they were now, though, the two most important assets to Japan's intelligence groups, fighting the feminist conspiracy with their guns and their heads. More importantly, they were best friends, always there for each other even back in their school days.
 
Hearing a commotion outside, Kenji twitches his head around expectantly, the hood over his head flopping around in an almost comedic manner. The muffled sound of explosions can be heard, and the sound of men and women yelling orders fills the hallways outside. Another explosion shakes the walls around him, and he hears gunfire. He calls out.
 
"Whuth gowi oh? Whooth'ou wher? Ith fa oo uuko?"
 
Shit, still gagged. Kenji scrunches his nose, moving his glasses up. It's time to try something new.
 
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Hisao presses his knife into the guard's shoulder, causing the man to cry out in pain. A solid red line begins to show from underneath the guard's winterized uniform, staining it in crimson. "Where is the agent!?"
 
The guard pants heavily, his eyes clouded with pain, but darting around at the dead bodies of his former comrades. "Fuck, fuck, alright! Building B, first floor! They have several guards posted at his door! That's all I know!"
 
Hisao pulls his knife out of the man, and Emi butts him in the head with her rifle, knocking him out. As he wipes the knife on the guard's sleeve, Emi scans the buildings around them.
 
"There it is, Building B. Doesn't look like much."
 
Hisao scowls, and puts his knife back into the sheath. "Neither did that first wave of guards that came to investigate the explosion, until they brought up that jeep with the mounted turret."
 
"But because of that, we now have an extraction vehicle, and we were able to jack their radio frequency and tell them the area was secured. I don't know how long that got us, but we should move fast." Emi throws her rifle aside, now completely out of bullets for it, and readies her MP5, keeping it pointed low. "Let's go."
 
Hisao grins. "Let's."
 
The pair head over to Building B and form up on either side of the double doors, Hisao also readying his MP5. When they kick them down, they grab the attention of two guards, who begin to open fire. Both of them instinctively return to their cover positions, and the doors in front of them fill with bullet holes. Emi pulls a flashbang from her kit and primes it, opening the door slightly to toss it inside. After the familiar sound of it going off, they move through the doors again, filling the blinded guards' bodies with 10mm rounds. As they drop, another two round the corner at the end of the hallway, and open fire. Emi ducks down and throws a knife from her sleeve; it finds its new home in a guards throat. Hisao rolls the other way and fires off a burst, which takes out the other guards' legs. Hisao frowns - this sort of close quarters fighting wasn't ideal at all. They were going to keep going, though.
 
We're going to find Kenji, damn it. And then we'll do whatever we have to do.
 
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The sounds of gunfire and shouting is getting closer and closer. Kenji begins to rock back and forth in his chair, hoping to find some sort of way to free himself. As he rocks back and forth, the chair suddenly falls backwards. In the moment of weightless fall, he regrets his plan.
 
Shit.
 
The chair slams down against the ground, and Kenji's head along with it. The impact sends blackness and stars floating through his vision, hazy images of Yuuko and Yamaku Academy, things from long ago. A fuzzy-looking kid with messy hair. Pink drills and waving hands. Books. It's akin to watching a bookshelf fall in a library, he muses; all your memories spill out like loose pages. When he finally opens his eyes, however, he's ecstatic. The fall knocked the hood off of his head, and he can (somewhat) clearly see the domed ceiling light above him. It's a welcome change of view, but he squints despite it. Having a bag over your head has that effect.
 
Suddenly, the din of a very close door being opened breaks Kenji's thoughts, and he finds a familiar cowlick looking down on him.
 
"Hifao! Ith meh! Kenwi! Ge meh ow ofth heah!"
 
Hisao, however, pulls his Beretta from its holster, and levels it with Kenji's head.
 
"Hifao?"
 
Hisao stares at him, his analytical gaze evaluating the gagged, shirtless man on his back below him. He pulls the gag down from Kenji's mouth so he can speak. "Dude, you won't believe this-"
 
Hisao's cool gaze doesn't waver. "Name, rank, number."
 
"Setou, Kenji, CIRO Agent, 179674-2. Bro, it's Yuuko, man. She's here! She's our informant! It was her all along! She's an interrogator, but she wants out, man!"
 
Hisao doesn't even blink. Instead, he takes the safety off. "In accordance with Scorpio, I have been authorized-"
 
Kenji's face suddenly becomes fearful. Hisao's here to kill me? No way! "Dude, dude! I'm not-"
 
"-to eliminate all evidence of-"
"-not compromised! It wasn't real pentathol! It-"
"-any who have leaked information regarding-"
"-dude, it's me! I'm class 5, high priority, man! You can't-"
"-or its operations. The threat of a security breach is too-"
"-bro, listen to me! They got nothing! I told them lies-"
"-Then what's all this shit about Yuuko, man!?"
 
Hisao breaks the speech, frustrated with Kenji. "You left her ages ago, and you've never gotten over it! How can I trust you right now, when you're Command's most knowledgeable asset, and you've been in the hands of the enemy for days! How can I know you didn't tell them anything, huh? How do I know they didn't get into your head!?" A tear visibly streams down Hisao's face. Kenji just looks on, stunned. "I've had to kill so many people who were my friends because of this shit. How do I know they haven't gotten you, too!?"
 
They share a silence before Kenji speaks.
 
"Dude, it's me. Still me, your dorm-mate. Down-with-the-feminists, blind-as-a-bat, virtual-hikikomori, garlic-and-ramen me. It's all true, man. And we might finally be able to take this to the endgame, but you gotta trust your bro."
 
Hisao stands there frozen for a moment, taking it all in. Then, his face turns a small smile as he clicks the safety back on. "I hope all of that isn't on your dating profile."
 
Kenji lets his head fall back onto the floor. "Fuck you, untie me already."
 
--------------------------------------------------------
 
As Kenji puts on the clothing that Emi had been carrying, an alarm starts to ring throughout the compound. Emi snaps to attention, checking the hallway outside. Hisao and Kenji's heads are both tilted up, listening for any sounds.
 
"Sounds like they figured us out."
 
"Shit. We need to get moving and find Yuuko." Kenji starts to walk out of the room, but Emi stops him with a hand on his chest. Kenji looks at her, annoyed. She just smiles at him.
 
"Um, Kenji, aren't you forgetting something?"
 
Hisao smiles as Kenji stops to think. Sharp as a tack, and dumb as a post. "Dude. How are you getting out of a MJFF compound if you don't have a weapon?"
 
"Oh, yeah. Sorry, hadn't thought of that." Kenji rubs the back of his head, embarrassed.
 
Hisao unholsters the Beretta again, and hands it over to Kenji. Emi detaches her sheathed knife, and gives it to him as well. She beams at him. "You're silly, Kenji."
 
Hisao scoffs. "Only when Yuuko is involved." He throws Kenji a red-and-yellow scarf. "It's new, but I know it's your color."
 
Kenji wraps the scarf around his neck, visibly calming. The two don't have to exchange words to know that he's grateful. Kenji checks the pistol, and cocks it. "I love her, man. And if we can all get out of here, I'm going to make things right. That's priority one." He places the knife in his boot, and puts on a black jacket they pulled off a guard.
 
Hisao cocks his head to the side, a la a certain armless girl. "What's priority two?"
 
Kenji's face suddenly becomes extremely grim. "Getting word to CIRO on Manafall."
 
Emi gives Hisao a confused look. "What's Manafall?"
 
Kenji walks out, Hisao and Emi's gaze following him. "The end of the world, if we don't get out of here."