Chapter Text
Hiroshi was taken aback when the car suddenly struck something, making a loud bang. He peeked into the front, seeing the metal gate in front of them, and the large mansion shielded behind it. He frowned, as he had expected a giant statue of a frog to be somewhere around the mansion. However, he knew his concern for the moment was the fact that they had definitely destroyed Taro’s car.
“Hey, Ryu. You ain’t supposed to hit the gate,” Hiroshi pointed out.
Ryuhei glared at Hiroshi. No shit. He groaned, almost scared to assess the damage.
"Fuck! You're kidding me," Sho yelped louder than even he had expected in response, his usually calm voice jumping up a few octaves as he smoothed out the baby hairs that had come loose upon impact. It wasn't a terrible crash, no, but it was like he could already feel the damage on the car. "Ryuuuu! You ass!"
Unbuckling his seatbelt and hopping out of the car, Sho hurried to the front to survey the damage. It wasn't terrible, and if it was his own car he probably wouldn't care but the dent was unmistakable. Taro would be the type to notice each new bump and scratch. To him? This would be major.
Shortly after, the rest of the boys had joined him by his side, observing the damage. Mitsuru took a step closer and touched the dent gently with his hands as if he somehow might make it worse if he pressed too hard.
"Alright, so who's the one who has caused more damage with this vehicle now?" Sho grumbled, giving Ryuhei a side-eye. "Ugh, do you know the amount of dishes I'm going to have to wash after this? My poor nails will become so weak."
“Oi, Zuki, Ryu can give you a hand washin’ the dishes! It’s his fault ya got in this mess!” Hiroshi offered on Ryuhei’s behalf.
Observing the damage, Ryuhei did feel pretty bad. He scratched the back of his head and sent a sheepish smile to Sho. Though, he didn't feel quite bad enough to offer to pay for any of it.
"Yeah, yeah, guess that'd be me," he mumbled, admitting defeat. "Fuck, sorry, Zuki. But on the bright side...-"
Ryuhei kicked the gate with his foot. The crash had dented not only the car but the gate too. Two of the metal bars had widened, making a hole big enough to squeeze through. Ryuhei edged through the opening, leading the way.
"- We ain't gotta climb anythin' this time!"
Sho let the topic go for the time being, but he was far from being done with it.
Seeing the hole in the middle of the gate made Hiroshi grin. This would be a welcome change from climbing over gates or jumping out of windows. He wriggled through the hole with ease— for once, being the shortest member of the group paid off.
“Alright, how are we breakin’ in this time?” he asked. “I can get another rock and bust this shit open again.”
The boys wedged through the metal bars, Sho quick to fix his hair after escaping- being the tallest, and having such broad shoulders, made it a little more difficult for him to slide through, but he somehow moved like a sneaky cat, making it through with ease.
"It's Oda's place so I wanna say fuck it just bust the windows but--" Mitsuru paused, "Of all the people on our list, I feel like the Oda's would be the ones most likely to get pissed and launch a full investigation, y'know? We gotta be careful on this one."
"Totally. If we leave any evidence here, like if Hiro bleeds all over the place, we're fucked. They're totally gonna call the cops," Ryuhei agreed.
"Good point," Sho replied, surveying the area. "Surely, they must have some sort of doggy door for that midget to slip through. No offense to you and your kind, Hiroshi."
Hiroshi glared at Sho when he made a dig at his height. His new first priority with their newfound riches would be to buy platformed shoes, so that he would become the tallest person in their gang, and no one would ever make little comments like that again. Hell, with his newfound height, he might even replace Kazuo as boss.
Ryuhei chuckled at Sho's comment, but as they drew closer, he couldn't see anything resembling a doggy door; the Oda's didn't strike him as the kind of people who would enjoy having a pet, so it did make sense there wouldn't be one.
"Shit, guess Froggy uses the door like everyone else," Ryuhei sighed, almost disappointed. He did spot something else though. A bit further away, there was a small staircase leading down to what he assumed was a basement of some sorts. Ryuhei moved closer to investigate it further, noticing it was locked with an old-fashioned lock.
"Oi, guys," he called out in a hushed whisper. "If we manage to pick this open, we can just slam it shut again when we leave. D'ya got some... hairpins or somethin', Zuki?"
He had no clue of that shit even worked, but it seemed worth a try. It also seemed like something Sho might have done before.
Hiroshi's thoughts about his bright future based on his height were interrupted by Ryuhei's discovery. When he mentioned a lock, Hiroshi scurried over, examining it. When he saw how old and rusted it looked, he guffawed with laughter.
"We ain't gonna need some fancy lock-pickin' skills! This thing's 'bout to fall apart!" he exclaimed.
With that, he brought his foot down on the lock, and yelped as pain shot up his foot. He began to hop around, shouting obscenities, and glared at the lock, which still remained in place.
Sho had watched, with some amusement, as Hiroshi attempted to first break the lock on his own, knowing fully well that he had the supplies needed to properly pick the lock. As Hiroshi hopped around in pain, he finally answered, "Yes, of course I have hairpins."
Pulling two out of his pompadour (disposable ones, frankly, they didn't have much of an important role in keeping his hairstyle intact, they were more for purposes such as this- picking locks), he bent the pins until they were straightened out. Then, he pulled the plastic bobs of the ends and stuck them into the lock, jimmying them around for a moment until a click was heard. The lock popped open and fell into Sho's hands.
"Ta-daaahh," Sho hummed victoriously. "You're welcome."
"Shit," Mitsuru mumbled, impressed, "Not bad, dude."
Mitsuru opened up the doors to the cellar, or basement, or whatever the hell the Oda's used it for, and began to walk down the stairs, the boys following behind him. The temperature dropped the further the group descended, the surroundings getting harder to see as it got darker as well. Mitsuru pulled out his flashlight, and cautiously set the light on just ahead of himself, low to the ground, just in case any toads popped up out of nowhere and caught them.
"This is pretty fuckin' creepy," Mitsuru commented.
"Mm," Sho hummed in agreement, "Think it's a torture dungeon or something?"
"Fuck, imagine if it's some kinky shit and they got like, sex slaves locked up," Ryuhei commented, scrunching his nose in disgust of the idea of Oda or his kin having any sort of sex drive. "I don't wanna see what kind of amphibian lookin' chicks he'd be into."
As they made it down the stairs, they went through a doorframe leading into a bigger room. It was still dark, but Ryuhei saw the shapes of some objects thanks to Mitsuru's flashlight. He was almost scared to get his hopes up, but as he reached out his hand to feel around, it wrapped around something unmistakable.
"Holy fuck, yes!" Ryuhei cheered, raising a bottle into the air. "A fuckin' wine cellar! Guys, we're gonna get lit!"
He unscrewed the bottle with his teeth, not hesitating to chug back a couple of big gulps. This was almost as good as jewellery. At least it could make the mission even more fun.
"Guys, if they got like some real fancy whiskey or somethin', that could be worth a fortune!"
Hiroshi stuck closely by his friends as they proceeded down the creepy stairs. He was half-expecting Oda to be down at the end, waiting for them in his swamp, holding a knife.
Instead, he was pleasantly surprised by the wine cellar they ended up in. He glanced over at Ryuhei as he drank some of the wine, wondering how wild it would be if they let Ryuhei continue driving after this.
“Oi, I think I see a bottle of whiskey!” he exclaimed.
He ran over to pick up one of the heavy, expensive-looking bottles. He managed to hold it for all of about ten seconds before dropping it, causing it to smash instantly. The liquid instantly stunk up the room with a strong smell.
“Uh, fuck. They got more expensive ones, right?” he asked.
The sound of a smashed bottle made Mitsuru cringe, opening one eye to survey the damage. Yup, it was bad. "Shit, man, that looked real expensive. Watch your grip so we can actually enjoy this shit."
Ryuhei had exclaimed in annoyance as Hiroshi smashed what smelled like perfectly drinkable, probably expensive, alcohol.
"C'mon, man," he groaned, smacking his forehead with a hand. "Just don't touch anythin' that can break, 'kay?"
"Oh. My. God," Sho, who had been hunting around on his own, suddenly exclaimed. In front of him, a tall pedestal stood with a dark, almost glowing, bottle sitting at the top. "All of the time, I thought it was a myth but- Oh my, it truly exists."
"Huh? What? What is it?" Mitsuru asked, now eager to learn the value of whatever it was that Hiroshi hadn't destroyed yet.
"The Château Cheval Blanc 1947," Sho said in an almost-whisper, "It's worth over three-hundred thousand American dollars. That has to be like, a ton of yen, right?"
"Fuck," Mitsuru mumbled, no idea how to convert the number but hey it sounded like a ton of money, "Nobody fucking touch it, alright? We'll grab it on the way out so we don't drop it or some shit. Hiro, don't even go on that side of that room."
Ryuhei's eyes lit up too as Sho found some fancy wine shit he clearly recognized. "Wait... That's like... Shit, that's a lot. Yeah, let's get the fuck out of here and go upstairs before we fuck this one up!"
Ryuhei was mainly talking to Hiroshi, and nudged the smaller boy across the room, careful to avoid the expensive bottles. He offered him the bottle he had been holding instead, figuring he could share some of the buzz with the others.
When Sho mentioned the price of the bottle, Hiroshi froze in place, worried that his slightest movement would send their expensive prize flying to the floor. He only dared to move when the rest of his gang moved too.
Finding the door leading upstairs, Ryuhei was quick to jump up the steps, eager to see what else they would find. Someone who had hundred of thousands of dollars worth of wine, must surely have other things in the million range, right?
He couldn't help but be impressed as he looked around the hallway the staircase had led to; even there, the design was obviously expensive, with medium-sized chandeliers hanging above them. The hallway opened up to some kind of lounge, where an even bigger chandelier, hanging over a white marble table, was the first thing to catch his eye.
"Yo, Hiro," he mumbled. "I'll give ya twenty percent of my profit from t'night, if ya manage to swing from that thing."
Probably not a Mitsuru-approved plan, but it was something Ryuhei would like to see.
As Hiroshi gazed up at the chandelier, he was briefly distracted by Ryuhei making him a bet he couldn’t refuse. Dumbass, I would’a done that for free, he thought.
“Hell yeah! Let’s do it!” he exclaimed.
With that, he hopped up onto the marble table and gripped the end of the chandelier. He swung victoriously for a moment, grinning as he heard the shards chime.
His euphoria came to an abrupt halt as he felt his legs dangle in the air, with no clear way of getting down. He clung tightly onto the chandelier for dear life, trying to ignore the cracking sound that the ceiling was making.
“Uh, guys?” he called out.
"Shit!" Mitsuru exclaimed as the sounds of the cracking in the ceiling got louder. "Dude, you gotta drop! Or else we gotta take the whole damn chandelier with us!"
Ryuhei almost instantly regretted the dare. Yeah, seeing Hiroshi swing had been fun for like, five seconds, but then he felt a slight nervousness as the chandelier gave signs of being ready to come undone.
"Yeah, just drop, man!" he agreed with Mitsuru, moving to stand directly underneath Hiroshi. "It's cool, I got ya!"
Maybe. Depends when ya drop...
Either way, Ryuhei extended his arms, preparing to catch the other boy.
Hiroshi gulped. Sure, he’d trust his friends with his life... but would he trust them to catch him from a short-distanced fall? He wasn’t sure about that.
However, he didn’t have much time to consider as he heard another cracking sound. He knew he had to let go or he’d end up in deeper shit.
With that, he let go, and fell right on top of Ryuhei. He groaned, deciding he had enough of landing on top of his friend.
“Well, at least the chandelier didn’—“ he began, but didn’t have a chance to finish that thought, as the chandelier finally let go and fell in Hiroshi and Ryuhei’s direction.
Oh my, Sho thought to himself as he watched the scene play out- luckily, from a distance. He wasn't about to risk his beautiful thick locks getting tangled in chandelier crystals. Good luck boys, but you're on your own.
"Shit, dudes, watch out!" Mitsuru called to his friends. Despite his attempt to jump up and catch the chandelier, he wasn't extremely athletic and it fell right through his arms.
Ryuhei had managed to do a little roll, puling Hiroshi with him, so only parts of the chandelier landed onto their backs. Still, he groaned loudly. This felt like they were pretty much getting beaten up all night, really.
Hiroshi saw his short life flash before his eyes as he saw the chandelier come tumbling down. He clung tightly to Ryuhei as he was rolled out of the way, and gulped as he heard the chandelier crash.
"Fuckin'.... Hiro, ya should have given me a shout that ya were 'bout to let go!" he complained, rolling around and dusting pieces of glass off himself. "We're gonna fuckin' die at this point. If that had hit our head, we'd be fucked!"
Ryuhei chose to ignore the fact that he was the one who had convinced Hiroshi to cling to it in the first place.
"And now what?! We gotta clean this up? Wait, there's no way the Oda's won't realize their billion yen chandelier is just gone, right? We're fucked either way!"
“We could, uh... pick up the pieces an’ sell them? They gotta be worth somethin’, right?” Hiroshi asked.
As he spoke, he began to get up, and approached the shards. He picked up a few pieces, beginning to place them inside his bag.
"There's no way they're not going to notice," Sho commented, "So the effort feels futile. I'm not sure that a broken chandelier can hold much value. No sense in hiding that we were here anymore, though."
Mitsuru groaned. "So, in pretty much every house, we nearly got our asses handed to us or nearly got caught. Might as well just grab that wine and call it a fuckin' night at this point."
"Hey, they could be like crystal or somethin'! I say we collect some, right?!" Ryuhei backed up Hiroshi's idea, wanting to stay optimistic.
He rolled his eyes at Mitsuru. "Stop bein' such a downer! It's just a lil broken glass! We made it all this way, and Oda's like, the fuckin' richest out of everyone. We can't leave with just some booze!"
Besides, Ryuhei really wanted to find out some dark family secrets about the rich amphibian family. He took another large gulp of the wine bottle he had brought from downstairs, as he looked around. "Like, at least we gotta swipe some more diamonds!"
"I second looking for more diamonds," Sho chimed in, "We've risked enough making it this far, might as well go big, hm?"
“More diamonds! More diamonds!” Hiroshi chanted, delighted that the gang were going along with his plan for a change.
He tiptoed further down the hall, grimacing at the painted portraits of Toshinori’s ugly family on the wall. His mom looked surprisingly hot, but of course, all the men in the family were frogs.
“D’ya think they have a secret diamond vault around here or somethin’?” he asked the others.
Ryuhei also grimaced as his eyes looked at the pained family portaits. How fuckin' snobbish could you get? He tapped Hiroshi's shoulder, whisperin'.
"Yo, ya got a sharpie or somethin'? We should give this ugly frog prince a moustache. Or like, draw a dick near his mouth!" he laughed, finding himself hysterical.
Waiting for Hiroshi to reply, Ryuhei poked the painting firmly, wondering if maybe it was worth anything. He heard something make a noise, like a click, from the back of the painting. To his surprise, the side of the painting popped out a little bit, revealing a hollow room behind it.
"Holy shit! Guys! Secret passway!" he exclaimed, stunned at this discovery. He propped the painting open even further, revealing a narrow corridor behind it.
Hiroshi gasped as soon as he noticed the secret passageway. His life had officially become some kind of awesome heist movie. Despite his multiple injuries from the night, he still considered it the best night of his life.
Mitsuru's attention was immediately caught. As salty as he wanted to be over the failed plot and lack of treasures, the promise of a secret passageway was just too good to ignore.
"Holy shit, for real? People really got shit like that?" He asked, but before anybody could answer, he was pushing passed the group to be the first to enter, using his flashlight to lead the way.
Looking around, he was somewhat disappointed by what he saw. It was an empty corridor, with cobwebs and dust all over it.
"Man, there ain't shi-----"
Mitsuru's voice was suddenly cut off as the floor beneath him collapsed, landing with a thud on the basement level. Whatever that secret room was, it had a trap door.
"Are you okay, Mitsuuu?" Sho sang down from the floor level.
"Yeah... Guess so," Mitsuru groaned, his voice echoing slightly. He sat up and scratched his head, grabbing his flashlight, which had since died thanks to the fall. "I can't see shit, though. Anybody got a light? Maybe they hide all the good shit down here. Or maybe it's where they torture flies or some shit."
Hiroshi scrambled down after Mitsuru, looking out for the trapdoor. He missed his footing and fell right through, directly on top of Mitsuru. He groaned.
“I’m so sick of landin’ on top of you fuckers!” he complained.
He sat up, confused by the utter darkness. “We ain’t in a pond or somethin’, are we?”
Ryuhei, along with Sho, kept his distance to what he had realized was a trapdoor. Shaking his head, he laughed.
"So we're drivin' to the ER right after this, right?" he joked, peeking down into the darkness.
"Can ya see anythin'? It's not wet? Is it safe to jump down? Here... Grab this!" Ryuhei flicked out his lighter, which wouldn't provide much help, but at least it was something. He threw it down, hearing the sound of it hitting something soft; it turned out to be Mitsuru's head.
"Fuck, dude!" Mitsuru groaned out, rubbing the spot on the top of his head that got hit. Luckily, his perm had mostly cushioned the fall, but less luckily, the lid of the lighter had hitched open and got caught in a curl. He struggled to set it free but only got it caught further the more he fought with it. After a moment of this, he groaned loudly and gave up.
"Just fuckin' jump down guys, it ain't that far!" he called up, which was enough to convince Sho and Ryuhei.
Sho jumped down first, although it was more so like he lowered himself. Because he was so tall and nimble, he landed with much more grace than the previous others had. Then, he dusted his hands off on the knees of his pants and joined the others, who had just barely brought themselves back onto their feet at that point. Sho helped Mitsuru fidget with the lighter in his hair until he finally got it free (A hair emergency? Of course Sho had upmost empathy for his friend).
Hiroshi stared at the lighter in Mitsuru’s hair with morbid curiosity, wondering if it was going to set his whole perm ablaze. He knew if it did, that it would end in blood and tears. He was almost relieved when Sho managed to untangle the lighter.
With the newly freed lighter in his hands, Sho flicked the flame to life and shone it in front of the group, illuminating a very small but effective flame to guide their path. At first, it didn't look like there was much of anything in the room, minus mounds of dust that was still floating in the air from the boys falls.
Hiroshi clung to Sho as he produced a flame from the lighter, looking frantically around the room. Out of the corner of his eye in the dull light, he spotted chains on the walls.
“What th’ fuck is this? Some kind of torture chamber?” he whispered.
He approached the chains, rattling them. They felt old and rusty. He grinned, feeling like he was in some kind of old-timey movie.
"Holy fuck," Ryuhei chimed in as he spotted the chains as well, following Hiroshi closer to the walls. He moved his hand over one of them, frowning. "Oi, anyone else sorta expectin' to see some beaten up chick chained to he wall somewhere? This is all fuckin' creepy, right?"
He glanced at his other friends, as if wanting confirmation that this definitely wasn't normal. Or was this the kind of stuff you'd find in every rich person's basement?
Following the light of the small flame produced by Sho, Ryuhei focused intently on focusing his eyes. "Hey, it sure looks empty. But they gotta have a door somewhere here, right? I'm guessin' they don't enter by fallin' through the fuckin' ceilin' everytime."
Using his hands to feel his way along the walls, Ryuhei made his way along before coming onto contact with something soft. He instantly retracted his hand, praying it wasn't some human flesh.
"Yo, what the fuck did I just touch?! Someone get the light over here! Fuck!"
"What is it?!" Sho exclaimed, turning the lighter towards the source of the yelling, the light illuminating the wall and the soft thing that Ryuhei had come into contact with.
There, in the wall, was a dark substance oozing from an old portrait. It was a rustic colour, but much too thick and fresh to be human blood. Sho gagged at the sight.
"Ew, oh my god, you touched that? What is it?!"
Mitsuru was the only one brave enough to get a closer look. Stepping forward, he smeared the liquid with a glove that he had packed in his bag (but had totally forgotten about until then- so much for not leaving fingerprints).
"Weird," he mumbled, "guess it's just like... wall gunk, or some shit?" Mitsuru commented.
"It's coming from behind the picture," Sho commented, "What could it be?"
Mitsuru, now curious about the source as well, lifted the corners of the portrait and moved it from the wall. It was a somewhat difficult task, as it clearly hadn't been moved in some time and had been comfortable in it's position on the wall. Behind the portrait was a hole in the wall where the bricks had been removed (only then did Mitsuru recall seeing a pile of bricks outside the cellar doors), and sitting in the hole were several curious items.
Hiroshi kept a close eye on where his friends were. This basement was becoming creepier by the minute, and he didn't want to be murdered by whatever creatures were lurking in Oda's basement. As more time passed, he began to hope more and more that it was just a really weird sex dungeon.
"Shit, this is kinda low," Mitsuru said, bending over to get a closer look, "Zuki, bring the light closer, and Hiroshi, get your ass over here. You're going to be the one that gets the best view."
As Sho brought the lighter closer to the wall, the view faintly came into sight. The slimy substance on the wall was somewhat brown in colour, and the smell was...
"Shit," Sho murmured, but by then it was too late. The lighter had gotten to close to the substance and it quickly burst into flames, the boys all jumping back barely in time to save themselves. "It's gasoline!"
"Gasoline?! Dude, what the fuck?!" Mitsuru cried out, sending the other boys wide eyes, "But it's fucking fresh... how..."
As Mitsuru's voice drifted off, a voice came from the trap door above where the boys had fallen.
"Burn, you vulgar fools! Burn and die!"
It was Toshinori Oda. He must have just gotten home in time to hear the commotion or, possibly, he had not gone with his family at all. Somehow, the boys hadn't considered that possibility until just then. As for the gasoline, Toshinori must have known the ideal spot to pour it so that it reached the boys in the secret room. They had greatly underestimated that little psychopathic frog that they went to school with.
"Fuck!" ths boys cried out, nearly in unison.
The colour draining from their faces, the boys had to think quickly in order to make it out alive.
"We need to act fast," Sho said, even his usually cool tone was cracking with strain as he tried to remain calm. He began feeling the non-burning walls for a possible escape door, "This is going to spread fast and I have way too much spray in my hair to risk anything! Stop standing around, idiots!"
Hiroshi let out a high-pitched scream and immediately hopped onto Sho's back, accidentally covering the boy's eyes.
"Get us out of here! I ain' gettin' killed by Froggy! That ain't how I'm s'posed to go!" he cried out, unable to keep the panic out of his voice.
He buried his face in the back of Sho's head, trying to ignore the growing heat in the room. More than anything, he hoped he would wake up in his own room- robbing the rich definitely wasn't worth this much effort.
"The fuck are ya jumpin' round for, Hiro?! You're like the fireman in the squad! Do something?!" Ryuhei whined loudly, ignoring that Hiroshi had a bigger talent for starting fires than for putting them out.
He would have suggested they just run back the way they came in and simply pushed the small fucker, who was only about the size of a bowling pin, out of the way, but Ryuhei realized not all of them would make it back up that trap door in time.
Instead, he kept feeling for a door in the room. As a positive, the flames did provide some more light, but that was a very small silver lining right now. Picking up his pace, he finally felt some kind of handle, and pushed it with all his might.
"Guys! There's a door or somethin', but I think something's blockin' it on the outside. Some fuckin' help?"
He looked mainly at Mitsuru as he asked his, considering Hiroshi was busy climbing Sho like a tree, meaning the taller boy had limited ability to help right now too.
Mitsuru caught Ryuhei's gaze nearly immediately, and glanced at the other two only a brief second before deducing that they'd be no use. Sho, who normally had a talent for sneaking into places quietly, had clearly been brought down by his friends- quite literally, as demonstrated by Hiroshi, who despite his small stature, had nearly managed to knock down the largest of the group in his panicked state.
"I got ya, man," Mitsuru nodded, knowing this was no time to panic. He held onto the handle alongside Ryuhei and felt the palms of his hands wet with cold perspiration, despite the growing heat. He wiped them on the thighs of his jeans before gripping the handle and prompting his comrade with a, "On the count of three, we do one fuckin' big push and get the hell out of here, alright? One.... two....three!"
With all of the weight that Mitsuru could muster, he slammed his body against the door. Coincidentally, at the exact same time, Sho had managed to get Hiroshi off of his back, but as the boy clung to him again, he had nearly lost his footing, and fell backwards towards the other two boys. Hiroshi, still in his grip, fell alongside the others as well, as the door burst open beneath all of their weight, and landed on the ground with a painful thud.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Hiroshi had no idea what was going on- of course, that was nothing new for him. But, in this case, it was due to the fact that he kept his face buried in the back of Sho's head the entire time.
When he heard the sound of something creaking open, Hiroshi nearly jumped off Sho's back to celebrate, but decided that was a bad idea, given the fire still blazing behind them. His joy was shortlived, as seconds later, Sho fell down, dragging him with him. He lost his grip, and ended up falling facefirst onto the ground. He groaned, not moving from his position.
"Damn, Zuki, your grip fuckin' sucks!" he grumbled.
"The problem isn't my grip, Hiro," Sho countered, as he tried to coolly fix his tousled hair, "I've never had that complaint before."
Hiroshi blinked in confusion at Sho's comment, having zero clue why anyone would compliment him on his grip. He didn't bother to answer, but instead got up and brushed himself off.
Behind them, the fire continued to grow. One of the lights from the upstairs windows suddenly turned on, and the silhouette of a man, Toshinori's father, could be seen leaving the room.
"Toshinori, how many times do we have to tell you this is not the approach to dealing with your vulgar classmates?!" Toshinori's father yelled, audible even through the walls of the house.
Ryuhei huffed as he got to his feet, no time to wipe the dirt off of his pants. It hit him that, thank God, the door had let to the now quite chilly outside. He had never felt such relief in breathing in fresh air; a big contrast to the room filling up with smoke behind him. This exit was on the opposite side of where they had entered into the wine cellar, and he quickly glanced to the side of the door, realizing a big crate had been what had blocked it. But there wasn't really time to check that out, judging by the loud voice yelling throughout the house.
"Fuck. How many times has Oda tried to murder someone? Why has this happened b'fore!?" Ryuhei needed to know, nudging Mitsuru with his foot as an encouragement to get boy back on his feet too. "How have we missed that he's the class psycho?!"
From the ground, Mitsuru only groaned in annoyed response. He had wanted to shoot back up on to his feet immediately to show that he was tough enough that the fall had no effect on him- but after the night he'd been having, he had no energy to do so. Should I just fucking pretend to be dead? he wondered, Better than looking like a fucking pussy that can't handle a couple of falls, a dog attack, a murder attempt...
"Fuck, man," Mitsuru blurted out, a laugh beneath his tone. Before he could stop himself, he was laughing deep to his stomach as he rolled onto his back, and breathed in the fresh night's air. The stars in Shiroiwa were crisp and bright, and for once, he felt pretty darn happy to see them even if that was kinda gay or whatever. "We've been to hell and back tonight, dudes!"
"Is now really the time for a chuckle, dear?" Sho asked, a hint of a smile lingering as he lit his cigarette on the residue flames coming from the Oda basement, "We have minutes- maybe just seconds, to get the hell out of here."
"Yeah," Mitsuru sighed as his laughing came to a slow stop, "Guess you're right. Lets get the hell out of here, guys."
Hiroshi glumly kicked a rock out of the way. Sure, they had gone through hell and back that night and came out alive, but Hiroshi wasn't even sure if he was happy about that. At the end of the day, there was no way they could have obtained a whole lot.
"Well, at least we got, uh..." he paused, reaching into his bag, and pulled out the teddy bear he got from Izumi's room. "This out of it."
He paused and looked at it, grinning. Alright, maybe it sucks ass that I ain't gettin' an upgrade for my tree house, but this fucker's pretty cool, I guess.
Ryuhei hadn't stopped for too long to take in their near escape; instead, he slowly walked backwards towards the main gate, not taking his eyes off his friends.
Ryuhei raised a brow to Hiroshi smiling at the ugly bear, before letting out a quiet chuckle. "Yeah, that, and those weird ass figurines from Motobuchi's place. 'N the tragic diary for some late night entertainment, I guess."
He continued speaking, "Guess we can say this was a fail, f'sure. Maybe we need like, better intel or like, mappin' out the property b'forehand next time..."
If there is a next time, he added to himself. At least they should probably wait for Kazuo to help out. He had to admit, all this probably wouldn't have happened if Kazuo was there.
"Next time I do the planning," Sho countered to Ryuhei, who despite his expertise in the area had made the rookie mistake of letting Mitsuru and Ryuhei take charge of this mission, "and it will be a beautiful success."
Ryuhei grinned to Mitsuru, before he reached the slightly bumped up car.
"Yo, fuckers. Any chance I get to drive home?"
Grinning back at Ryuhei, Mitsuru shook his head despite the pain it caused.
"Not a fucking chance, asswipe. I've earned this."
Snatching the keys from Sho, who didn't put up a fight to begin with, Mitsuru sat himself in the front seat of the truck and switched the ignition.
"Hang on to your seats, I'm about to show you assholes how a getaway is done right!"
The car quickly bolted to life, with only the view of an angered Toshinori Oda surrounded by clouds of smoke following behind them for no more than twenty seconds when he finally ran out of breath. The gang all laughed together at the sight, knowing it would be a great inside joke for them for weeks, maybe even months, to follow.
Each silently prayed that nobody would believe whatever tale Toshinori would fashion in the days to come, but they felt comfort in knowing that he would likely be treated as the boy who cried wolf and they'd get away, scot-free, with their absolutely value-less treasures.