Chapter 82: Flee

"Nothing personal," Minami said. "It's just business."

Yeah, well, all the kidnapping and manhandling and aggression felt pretty personal to her. Soo-Jin, however, didn't say anything for the fear of getting backhanded. Not that Minami had ever slapped her, but she wasn't brave enough to risk it. Besides, any words that she could muster out would probably end up sounding like gibberish. She tried to stifle her quivering.

When they had finished eating, Minami had paid and led her outside of the café. He had plastered on a friendly smile and had wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to his chest in the process. To any one passing by, they probably looked like a couple out on a date. To Soo-Jin, it was like marching to her own doom with Minami holding a gun to her head.

"Man, I can't wait for spring to arrive," Minami said conversationally. "I'm so sick of all this cold weather and wet snow. It makes doing anything harder, ya know?"

He tightened his grip on her shoulder, causing her to squeak out, "Y-yeah."

"Hardly anyone is active when days are freezing. I mean, it's slowing down business."

She nearly had a whiplash. Business—as in his drug dealing business?

Memories of Minami and Ozeki flitted back in her mind. She recalled the two boys discussing through the fence, Minami passing a white packet to Ozeki, and him casually revealing Ozeki's smoking habit.

Oh, and that was the day when she had been involved in an accidental drug-busting.

Soo-Jin had known that her being linked to Fukui was the reason as to why she had been kidnapped, but she hadn't seriously entertained the thought that the other reason could have been her ruining Minami's drug business until now.

It made sense when she considered the possibility. Minami could have ordered Ozeki to kidnap Fukui's sister Sayako or anyone else who Fukui was close to, but they had instead opted to take her. With this decision, they got to kill two birds with one stone: prompting Fukui to take action and getting their revenge against the one who threw a wrench in their money-making plan.

Although, what she wasn't so certain of was whether this business actually belonged to Minami.

When she had first met Minami and other delinquents, it seemed that they all had deferred to someone—someone named Miura, was it?

She remembered thinking of this Miura person as Yamamoto Haruma's boss and how she had been one part disappointed and two parts relieved that the guy had been unable to arrive. She had wanted to see what the commotion had been about between Fukui and Miura, but she had also wanted to avoid any trouble that would have undoubtedly come across.

For a gut-wrenching moment, she wondered if today was the day when she would finally get to meet Miura.

They walked around the corner in the same direction where Aomine had gone. Soo-Jin half-expected to see his battered unconscious body with a group of delinquents standing over him, but there was nothing there aside from the long stretch of pavement. If Aomine wasn't here, then where was he?

As though reading her mind, Minami said, "Worried about your friend? Don't worry. He's in good hands."

His reassurance did nothing to soothe her rattled nerves, not that he cared about that. She anxiously shot a glance behind her. As she took another step, the further away she was pulled away from Shintaro's school—away from Shintaro.

Good grief—why was she worrying about that now? Sure, she had put effort into getting the chance to meet him, but she had bigger problems to focus on! Like where she was being taken, what was going to happen to her, and the wellbeing of Aomine.

Oh gosh. Aomine. A strong wave of guilt washed over her. After days of exercising caution, Soo-Jin had grown lax in keeping her guard up, and now her own carelessness was causing trouble for someone. Like actual trouble, not an inconvenience complemented with a side of indignity. If only she hadn't been so selfish, so impatient, then none of this would have happened. Whatever was being done to Aomine was all her fault.

She could vividly imagine the distraught expression marring Kise's face when he would learn about what happened to his friend, and then she pictured how Kise's sisters—Keiko, in particular—would react. Soo-Jin involuntarily shuddered at that. She hoped that she hadn't used up the last of the Kise siblings' generosity so that they could find it within their hearts to forgive her.

As her thoughts trailed off, something—or rather someone—caught her eye. There was a boy briskly walking down the sidewalk dressed in a school uniform. He was obviously late for class, but he seemed to be trying to get to school rather than play hooky. That, however, wasn't why he had her attention.

That boy was Park Jong-Hyun!

Hope ignited in her chest. She watched him intently, attempting to catch his gaze. As he came closer, the ruffled boy glanced once in her direction, and then did a double take. Minami didn't seem to notice, his focus drawn to the display items set in front of the stores' windows, but Soo-Jin could clearly make out the incredulity in Jong-Hyun's gaze.

"Help me," she mouthed, not voiced, at him repeatedly. She looked at him pleadingly. "Help me!"

He stared at her, pushed his glasses up, and continued his walk. He walked past her.

She felt her jaw unhinge.

That—that—that prick!

Was he still nursing that grudge for that one time in the police station? She wasn't even the one to tell him off!

In her disbelief and anger, she gaped at him. A beanpole like Jong-Hyun wouldn't be able to do anything against Minami, but the guy could have at least done something for his fellow Korean! But, no, instead, he was just going to abandon her to the very person who got them into this mess in the first place.

(And if Minami really wasn't the mastermind, then Soo-Jin, without hesitation, would point fingers at the ever so mysterious Miura.)

If she ever got out of here, she would—she would find some way to exact her revenge! Somehow!

She glared at Jong-Hyun mutinously over her shoulder, but her brows lifted when she saw him pull his phone out of his bag. From this angle, she couldn't see what he was dialing, but she was filled with renewed hope to see him press the phone against his ear. Could it be…? Was he calling the police? She took back every grievance she had against him! He really was a reliable sunbae after all—!

"Hello? Kawaki? Ah, yes, I'm coming. I woke up late," Jong-Hyun said. "Huh? Teacher isn't there yet?'

And, just like that, that glowing optimism vanished like a candlelight lit in a storm.

That good-for-nothing, unreliable, freaking little—!

"Hm? Is something the matter?"

Soo-Jin tensed. "N-nothing," she replied automatically, and then mentally berated herself for not taking the chance to out Jong-Hyun. Gosh darn. This had been her chance to act on her vengeance and she missed it! Jong-Hyun's hurried strides carried him to a distance where he was now perfectly concealed by the crowd.

Erm… It wasn't as if she would truly do such a thing, which was what Soo-Jin admitted to herself reluctantly. Was she that bad of a person to drag Jong-Hyun down with her? Not really. As impulsive as she was when emotional, she wouldn't do such a thing.

But just as Soo-Jin had spared him, she hoped that his conscience would kick in eventually to at least contact the authorities. "What goes around comes around," she inwardly mourned, looking heavenward. "So despite all the crappy things that I've done to deserve this, at least grant me this one tiny bit of mercy…!"

That tiny bit of mercy came unexpectedly fast and in the form of a fist.

There was a dark blur that appeared before her and Minami, and the next thing she knew was Minami flying backwards and her hair whipping against the wind caused by the abrupt motion.

Gasping, Soo-Jin whirled around to see Minami flat on his back and the newcomer—Aomine!—with his arm extended out in front of him. Without a second wasted, Aomine spun on his heel and looped his arms around her waist.

Soo-Jin yelped when her world seemed to flip upside down, her eyes taking in the moving concrete ground as though she was on a treadmill. Her hands swiftly pinned the temple tips of her glasses against her head so her glasses wouldn't fall off during her tumultuous ride. Being carried like this was cutting off her airways but—but it was Aomine! Aomine was okay!

Behind them, she heard Minami bellowing, a contrast to the cool façade that he had put up previously.

Soo-Jin strained her neck to lift her chin. She then saw where Aomine was taking her: They were going back to where they had come from!

She noticed the back of Jong-Hyun's head and that she was coming up to his right. Inspired by the opportunity granted to her, Soo-Jin used one arm to cling onto Aomine's jacket, the other still holding her glasses, to steady herself as she readied herself for the right moment. Just when Jong-Hyun came close, she stuck out her leg and knocked him onto the ground.

"Serves you right!" she barked at him.

"Oi!" Aomine's arms tightened around her, causing her to gasp in discomfort. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Something-something."

"Now's not the time to mess around! This is serious!"

Well, seizing retribution was a serious matter to her.

Coming from behind, Soo-Jin could hear angry hollering, yet their voices only ever travelled from a distance. Despite having to lug around a person, Aomine somehow managed to prevail in not getting caught in the pursuit. It helped that he was tall and fit, but it was nevertheless astonishing to see that he was able to keep it up for this long.

Not to mention how he broke free from Minami's friends…

After a series of sharp turns and dodging, Aomine successfully shook off the delinquents tracking them. They were currently tucked away in a narrow alley. Aomine set Soo-Jin onto her feet, and then sagged heavily against the wall, not caring how his limbs were getting everywhere and brushing against hers.

But Soo-Jin didn't mind. He was panting and beads of perspiration dotted his face. Exhaustion wasn't the only notable thing—there was a long scrape coming down from above his brow to his cheekbone, and there was a yellow discoloration forming on one side of his face. That was going turn into a nasty bruise.

"This is insane," Aomine groaned. He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "How did I get roped into this mess?"

Concerned, she asked, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Uh, what'd you think? I got jumped on! These guys just came out of nowhere, tackled me, and dragged me off. Oh, and get this—it turns out that they have my number and they were the ones who called me. Can you believe that? How in the world did they get my number?" Aomine complained.

"They got your number…" An uncomfortable feeling settled within her.

"I can't imagine anyone I know just giving my number away." He paused. "Actually, now that I think about it, Haizaki might have, but I thought that guy would've deleted me on his contacts after graduation."

"Who is he?"

"Haizaki? He's a former upperclassman from middle school. Used to be in the same basketball team. Was always a sore loser."

She frowned. "So you think that he be the one to give away your number?"

"Probably. I doubt Tetsu and the others would."

Something about this didn't seem right. Those guys calling Aomine to draw him out and Minami being in the café… How did they know to strike them today? Or was seeing them in town just a coincidence? It must be—Soo-Jin leaving the Kise household had been done on her own accord. But that didn't explain how they got hold of Aomine's number.

In fact, why just Aomine's number? How did they figure that Aomine would be the one to escort her? For that matter, it didn't make sense that they choose him; she and he barely interacted prior to today. If Minami and his friends had stalked and observed her (cue shuddering), then it would make more sense that they obtained Kise or Shintaro's contact information instead. Heck, even Takao would have been a plausible person to get material from.

Unless they perhaps already did?

"Anyways, there were about five of them. Luckily, they were weaker and shorter than me, so I was able to take them on. Broke free and went to find you." Aomine dropped his hands and looked at her. "I'm guessing the guy you were with was Minami?"

"They told you?"

"Yeah. They said something about how this Minami person was gonna take good care of you. Obviously, that didn't mean what it meant."

Yeah, clearly. "What now?"

"Obviously, we can't stay here anymore. We gotta tell this to the police."

Soo-Jin gnawed on her lower lip. As much as she didn't want to, she conceded that this would be the best plan of action at this moment. The police needed to be updated on what was going on even if it meant that she wouldn't get to see Shintaro and that she would get yelled at by Keiko.

"Yeah, you are right…" She then thought of something. "Your phone! Could the police know who called you by number?"

"Huh?"

"The number that called you! They could find the person with that."

"Probably not."

She frowned. "What? Why?"

"The guy who called me used a burner phone," Aomine explained. "You ever watched those movies where the characters use a particular kind of phones so they couldn't get traced?"

"Ah, I see… That is disappointing, but can't be helped," Soo-Jin said. "Then could you call the police, then?" Because if they were going to get the police involved, they might as well let them know beforehand, right? And if they were fortunate enough, the police would send backup on their way to keep the delinquents at bay.

"More bad news." He pulled out his phone, revealing the screen's shattered black surface. "They broke it to the point where I'm going to have to get it replaced."

Soo-Jin wilted in dismay. "Oh."

"Never mind that now. Let's figure out a way to get out of here without getting noticed."

"Um, you sure?" Soo-Jin gave him a disbelieving stare. She knew that basketball players had incredible stamina (or, at least, the ones who she was acquainted with), but Aomine had been running nonstop for probably fifteen minutes all the while carrying both her and his injuries. "Maybe you should rest a bit."

"And give them time to figure out that we're hiding here?" Aomine scoffed. He pushed himself off the wall and squeezed through the tight passage. "When I give the signal that the coast is clear, run and jump on my back. I'll piggyback you the way back."

As he poked his head out, Soo-Jin bit back a sigh and replayed Aomine's earlier words. This was indeed insane, and she too would like to know how she ended up getting roped into this mess.

Because it totally had nothing to do with her tendency to create problems like kicking Jong-Hyun down. There were some things in life that were supposed to happen, and that was one of them.

"Okay, we're safe," she heard Aomine call out to her. "C'mon!"

She hustled down the alley and leaped onto Aomine, who had his knees bent and his back presented towards her. His arms slipped underneath her thighs and hoisted her up, and then he stood up to his full height. Aomine wasn't as tall as the gorilla sunbae, but being held up like this reminded her of the time when she had piggybacked Okamura on their trip to the Korean store.

Her hands settled on Aomine's shoulders, which then skittered around his neck until her arms were looped around him when he bolted. She involuntarily squeaked at the sudden movement.

"We shouldn't be too far off," Aomine breathed out. "I mean, from Midorima's school. But going from there to the train should take, like, ten minutes? Not too bad."

"Hey! It's them! They're over there!"

"Oh crap, crap, crap," he hissed. "I spoke too freaking soon!"

Ugh. Perhaps they should have stayed in the alley.