You were on the ground as he predicted, somehow at the feet of Niragi.
Your already bruised cheek was paired with a busted lip that had blood pooling from it.
You laid on your side, head resting against the hard floor and arms wrapped around your stomach.

Chishiya wanted nothing more than to swap your pained look with the smirk Niragi wore as he gazed down at you in satisfaction.

He was going to rip that grin straight of Niragi's face.
"Aren't you sick of bullying people already?"

Alerted by the voice, Niragi's attention is turned away by Chishiya, who "suddenly" appears.

He's all stoic looking with his hands in his pockets. He's lazily walking forward.

Niragi deadpans.
"You really get on my nerves. All the time! You always act as if you're so clever.

Chishiya snorts.
"But I am clever."

No one can see, but a smile grows on your bloody lips, no matter how hard you try to keep it down.
He's not wrong.

Niragi does his famous scoff of disbelief and adjusts his gun so it's aimed at the blond. "Let's put an end to this, shall we?"

Chishiya isn't afraid of the gun — for the most part — and looks Niragi up and down, amused.
"I'll keep it short: the hotel's power source has changed, and only you guys have the key to access it. So, I'll kill all executive members, starting with you."

Niragi doesn't looked fazed for a second.
Rather, he looks entertained.
"Is that so?" He glanced down at your wilted body. "How about I give you a head start and begin with her?"

You tense up, squeezing your eyes shut with terrifying anticipation.

Chishiya falters for a moment, but there's a twitch in Niragi's gun that makes the blond shoot forward, faster than Niragi can react.
His body moves to protect you.

Skillfully, he reaches for the cards and tears them from his pocket, throwing them all up into the air.

You smirk.
A distraction.

He's faster than Niragi's recovery, already pulls out a small, hand-made object.
It doesn't take another anyone smart to realize it's a DIY flamethrower.

Niragi doesn't get another chance to react before he's up in flames, screaming in agony.
His flaming body spirals out of control, and it's not easy to ignore when he trips, falls off the edge of the roof, and goes silent.

It's left to you and Chishiya to fill the silence as it thickens with tension at every moment passing.

Chishiya's heart pounds in his chest at the adrenaline.
Stubbornness creeps up on his and he doesn't want to be the first to talk.

But your slowly standing body, along with your twitching features, it's very hard for him to resist.

"Did you just save me?"

Chishiya freezes.

A second goes by.
Then another.
And a few more.
Till, finally, he looks at you.

None of your injuries concern the blond more than the bright smile that takes over your bruised and battered face.

"W-What?"
Fuck, he stuttered.

"You were reckless-" you pause, eyes widening as if you couldn't believe what you just said. "You were reckless... and you saved my life."

You looked so happy, so upbeat, so proud.
Proud of him.

Uh-oh.
He could feel the heat rising.
The blood rushing behind his ears.
The walls crumbling.
The emotions flooding.

"Yeah..." he trailed off to keep any collectiveness over his feelings that he had left. He had to switch the topic of conversation or else he'd explode at your stunning smile.

Stunning?!?
It was a complete 180 of your previous behavior and... and he didn't want to lose a single piece of it.
He didn't want to lose you.

And if that meant apologizing, then so be it.

"About Arisu... I didn't mean for him to get killed, I just need a distraction and I didn't want it to be you."

What.
That was too much for you to unfold.
He was apologizing?

Wow, you really wanted to kiss him.

You quickly shook your head.
Whether it was to shake away your thoughts, or to dismiss the fact that he thinks Arisu is dead... you didn't know.

"Arisu isn't-" did he just say he didn't want to sacrifice you? "-wait what?"

"What," Chishiya mimicked blankly.
This really wasn't how he planned out for the conversation to go.

There was much, much more confusion.
Much more.

"You said... never mind, but Arisu isn't dead."

There it is again.
Another cloak of emptiness, unknowingness.
He was almost at no return at this point.
"What? How do you know?"

"I know everything."

He blinked.
You blinked back.

Your tilted head and bright smile morphed when you reluctantly sighed. "I spied on the militants before I stopped you from leaving. He's not dead, just missing," you said simply and shrugged.

If Chishiya hadn't had the tiniest bit of self-control, his jaw would've dropped to the floor.
You were so impressive.

"We still have to find him, but I doubt he'll want to see you."

Chishiya wanted to scuff his feet on the floor, but he didn't dare show the way your gaze made he uneasy.
You had power over him.

Suddenly, your face dropped and you were so serious that he felt a shiver of fear run up his spine.
"Look, there's something about you, Shiya. I shouldn't want yo- this."

You cleared your throat and Chishiya was thankful for the moment you took to do so because it allowed his to gulp down the emotion that nickname gave him.

It made his heart flutter.

"I'm-I'm willing you give you another go at my trust, because... I don't know, but we need to find Arisu."
You bit your lip in thought.

Chishiya nodded along, hiding the warmth that rose to his cheeks well.

Yes, please, he wanted to beg, but it wasn't like him.
It wasn't like him to want other's trust.
He never needed anyone's trust.

Never.
But he wanted yours... and he was ready to work for it.

"So, if we find him alive, I'll let you have me."

Chishiya went red.
Fuck.
That didn't come out like you wanted.

"But if he's dead," you continued, glaring to cover up the flush of heat you brought to yourself. "I won't spare you another glance."

"Okay." He nodded. "Where do we start."

You grinned.
You grinned and relief flowed through Chishiya.
He had you back.

You grinned, then pointed down at the array of cards that had fallen to the ground.

"You can start by picking up those cards."