At this time, there was no morning or night, sun nor moon- so I thought, 'there is only nothingness to fill the void.'
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The time was midday.

Eiji snapped awake to the sound of a loud creek. Followed by another creek. And another. Last night, he had arrived at the shoddy hotel the police had paid for and highly recommended. Eiji had slept restlessly- the wind that rattled the windows, the cockroaches that tap danced under his bed and the shadows that bled across the walls, they had all kept his eyes peeled open. He didn't remember falling asleep.

The floorboards moaned and wailed as an unknown weight sunk into them, just around the corner... something was definitely coming. Eiji held back from calling out, 'who's there!?' He knew he could get himself shot that way.

"These fucking floorboards.."

That voice belonged to a man.

Slowly. Quietly. Eiji revealed one leg from out under the thin, bug bitten sheets. One more leg, twist the hips, touch your toes gently to ground- do not make a sound. Eiji had successfully made his way out of bed without the floorboards so much as squeaking.

He was glad, originally- that the floorboards grunted angrily when stepped on. It meant that people sneaking up on him could be heard, however.. it also meant they could hear him sneaking away. Eiji cursed under his breath, he only had the lamp by his bed for a weapon.

Then, something funny happened. Something that came whispering around the corner. Why are they here? Eiji questioned as he sunk behind the lounge, and why are they sneaking around?

"He's not here, Shorter- do you think they already got to him?"

"Quiet, Skipper," Shorter hissed as he looked around, he reminded Eiji of a spooked cat. "He could still be here, they could still be here."

At that moment, Eiji allowed himself to slowly stand. He wasn't sure why, but his legs shook when he spoke- he felt out of place speaking, like he should be silent and small. "I'm here."

"Gah, Eiji! You spooked me man, don't do that to a guy!" Shorter visibly flinched, fumbling to get ahold of his gun like it was a hot potato.

It was Skipper that spoke up to explain the situation, "They're after you Eiji. They wanna get you because you were involved. They don't seem to realise that you have nothing to do with us, they believe you're part of a bigger picture."

Eiji shuttered at the thought of more windows exploding. He dreaded the thought, the memory of his heart racing and pounding to the beat of gunfire. "How do you know this.." he sat down on the lounge. The events of last night barely seemed real, somewhere deep down he thought he was done with it all, and now he had been plunged right back into it.

"We have a guy on the inside," Shorter shrugged, "Also, Eiji... we sort of, how do I say this... We need your help."

"My help?" Eiji perked up, genuinely surprised.

"Yeah," Skipper spoke, leaning back against a floral painted wall, "We're gonna break Ash out."

Eiji tilted his head, "Break him out? From where?"

"The hospital." Shorter sat on Eiji's bed of messy blankets. He placed his gun by his side and rested his head in his hands, worry and stress carved ugly lines into his young face. Something told Eiji that this man was very tired.

"Skipper and I, everyone in our gang- we're all wanted people. We can't go into that hospital, they've got Ash guarded with police because of the whole gang fight and all. We'd be caught in seconds. They won't let just anyone in, we've tried- first thing this morning we did, they're being too cautious. So! That's where we were hoping you could come in." Shorter turned his face sluggishly towards Eiji.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following... Why do you want to break Ash out of a hospital? He was shot, he needs to be there. And also, I told the police I was just a stranger to him, which is true- why would they let me in?" Eiji puzzled over was Shorter was saying. Why him? Why him of all people?

"Because it's not safe there. The doctors could be bribed to drug him for all we know, the police could be undercover agents... it's just too risky. We had to get him in there to save him, but now we have to get him out."

Eiji bit his finger nails, it seemed 'risky' just to be talking to Skipper and Shorter. "That still doesn't answer my question on how I'm supposed to get in."

"That's were we tell a little lie..." Shorter's sudden and devious grin made Eiji even more nervous. "Hope you're good at acting Eiji.."

"You're going to pose as his boyfriend."

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Heyo! I'm back at you with another chapter.

Also, FYI I'm writing this mostly off the top of my head... But I do know where I want things to go! Mostly. Sort of. Haha 😅