Ken felt his entire body throb with pain, his groggy eyes opening slowly as a sense of disorientation overcame him. He blinked a few times, his eyes scanning the vicinity with question.
'Where am I?'
As his mind worked to try and piece together the missing pieces, he felt a sharp pain in his head. Ken tried to massaged his temples, but the sound of a metal chain entered his ears, causing him to freeze in place.
He was tightly bound to a chair, his hands and feet tied up like a prisoner of war.
The first thing that set in was panic, causing his heart to race in response to the danger he was in. But that only caused his throbbing body to ache even more.
He paused for a moment, trying to calm down.
'Wait, Ai!'
The panic which he'd tried to pipe down suddenly came back in full force. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings.
They were in some sort of warehouse with various boxes and shelves scattered around the place. The small amount of light pouring in from the outside told him that it was getting close to sunset.
Despite looking around the place, he couldn't see anyone else in the vicinity. Yet that didn't do much to ease his worries.
"Ai… I hope you're safe." He muttered.
Ching~
The sound of clinking chains rattling entered his ears from behind Ken, causing him to almost jump in fright.
"Who is there?" He shouted in a low voice, his anxiety peaking.
"Urghh, where am I?"
The voice was male and sounded disoriented, allowing Ken to breathe a sigh of relief. Though he couldn't see who it was, he could at least deduce that it wasn't his captors.
"Who are you? Do you know why we've been captured?" Ken asked, trying to turn his head and get a look at the other person.
A few moments of silence passed as the other figure seemed to be getting his bearings.
"I should be asking you the same question…" He spat, his anger evident.
'Hmm? He seems to have an issue with me.' Ken remarked in his heart, though he didn't know why. He was just as much as a victim as the other guy.
Not wanting to waste precious time bickering, he introduced himself.
"I'm Ken Takagi, a 2nd year at Yokohama High." He said.
"Katsuya Adachi, 2nd year at Joshibi High…"
"Joshibi? You go to Ai's school?" Ken remarked with surprise.
However, he didn't receive a response.
"Wait, were you that guy that came with a fly kick and tried to save us?"
"…Mmm"
Ken's opinion of Katsuya improved considerably. However, his guilt grew at the same time. This guy was just trying to help him out as a good Samaritan, but he'd been dragged into this mess.
"Thank you for trying to help me out… And I'm sorry you were also captured." He said sincerely.
"I wasn't doing it for you…" Katsuya said, his tone rather depressed.
Ken frowned in response, trying to understand what he meant.
'Does he know Ai? Is that why he tried to help?'
He shook his head, it didn't matter now. Right now their focus should be on escaping, something that seemed impossible at this moment.
"Hey, do you think you can get free?" Ken said, still trying to turn his head.
"Are you dumb?" Katsuya's tone was scathing.
"H-Hey, I'm just trying to think of ways to save us both."
Katsuya let out a sigh, seeing Ken struggle in his confines. "Your chair isn't bolted to the ground, just turn and face me."
"Ah…"
Ken felt a little embarrassed, but he did as he was told, shuffling the chair around till he was facing Katsuya. The guy's face was bloody and bruised, yet he was still attractive.
For some reason, this kind of pissed him off.
Katsuya's gaze was on him at the moment and he could sense a mix of emotions from the guy. It wasn't outright hate, but he could tell at a glance that the guy did not like him.
Ken let out a sigh, not knowing how he could have gotten into such a mess. He had met Ai at the train station and was heading back to her apartment to drop off his things.
They had the Jingu Tournament starting in a couple of days, so Ken decided to stay with Ai in Tokyo until it began. Yet he didn't expect to be jumped and kidnapped right away.
"Katsuya… I'm not from Tokyo, do you know who would capture us and for what reason?" It was a long shot, but Ken hoped he might be able to find some clues.
Katsuya was silent for a little while, but his expression spoke volumes.
"It's probably the Hokori family who captured us." He said, his gaze lowered.
"Hokori family? Who is that?" Ken was confused.
"Haaah, you wouldn't understand." Katsuya mumbled, letting out a deep sigh.
Ken thought it was odd that this guy who he thought was just a good Samaritan would know so much. Was this why he was captured as well?
"Yeah, well how about you explain it to me…"
Ken's tone shifted. If he was thankful and polite before, he seemed rather annoyed now. It was only natural since he wanted any sort of information as to who their captors were, or why he'd been captured in the first place.
His gaze fell on Katsuya who didn't seem to want to make eye contact. The guy was clearly in pain, but he seemed rather calm on the outside.
"What good will it do you? This is a crime family we're dealing with…"
Ken's eyes widened, "A crime family? Like the Yakuza?" a shiver ran down his spine.
'Why would someone like that want to capture me?' He thought.
He remembered the thugs mentioning that their boss had told them to capture the tall guy, which obviously referred to himself.
Ken's mind raced, trying to think when he could have offended someone like this.