Chapter 60: Ten Meters
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Chapter 60: Ten Meters
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'Dam—'
His attacker gave him no time to finish.
Something slammed into Tonpa's back, doubling him over and sending him flying several meters. He glimpsed the ground rushing toward him and tried to shield his face with his arm before landing on his shoulder and tumbling through the leaves. A tree trunk stopped him with an impact that forced the last of the air from his lungs.
The trees settled before his eyes.
His chest still refused to cooperate.
He opened his mouth and tried to inhale again. His fingers scraped across the dirt, searching for somewhere to brace himself, but pain surged between his shoulder blades when he tried to rise, forcing him to stay down.
A faint groan escaped his throat. A shallow breath followed, then a cough that shook his injured side.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
A shoe scraped against the ground behind him, and he opened them at once. His palm remained pressed into the dirt. His body still would not obey.
'Damn you.'
He lifted his head, pushed against the ground, and drew one knee beneath him. He had no idea how long it took him to stand. His arm nearly gave out, and his side protested violently as he forced his legs to support him.
He turned.
He saw the shoe first.
His gaze traveled up a thick leg to a heavy body, broad shoulders, and a bald head. The man stood a few steps away, one foot drawn back in preparation for another kick.
Tonpa glanced at the trunk he had struck, then back at the man.
'This guy...'
His stomach tightened. The face was familiar from the airship, but it was not among the original survivors he remembered. Probably one of the four extras.
'Don't tell me the first person to benefit from my interference decided to repay me by breaking my back.'
The man's eyes narrowed as he studied Tonpa's face. Then his eyebrows rose.
"Tonpa?"
He did not answer. He was still trying to draw a full breath.
One corner of the man's mouth lifted.
"I was looking for you... I didn't expect you to come to me yourself."
Tonpa felt as though the air he had just recovered was no longer enough.
'Of course. Out of all the trees on this island, I chose to land in front of my hunter. Damn my luck.'
Even so, a short breath escaped him as he studied the man's face again.
It was not Hisoka.
Nor was it Illumi.
Ever since the draw, the possibility that one of those two had drawn his number had been enough to dry his throat whenever the forest stayed quiet for too long. Now, at least, his hunter had a face he could look at without immediately thinking about his will.
'Fine. It's neither of those two. I still have a chance.'
Pain throbbed in his back, making him flinch despite himself.
'A chance to take a second kick if I keep standing here.'
The man's smile vanished, and he raised his fists. Tonpa did the same, a tremor running through his forearm. He was still panting from his fight with the owner of Badge 303 and the kick that had followed, while his hunter looked completely unharmed.
The bushes to his right stirred.
Tonpa's gaze snapped toward the sound, and his eyes widened before he could hide his reaction.
'Don't tell me there's another one.'
A thin man dressed in white emerged from the branches. His eyes fell on the body lying near the water, and he stopped.
"Barco!"
Tonpa glanced at the unconscious man.
'Barco. So that's his name.'
The thin man hurried over and bent down to check on him. The broad-shouldered man remained in front of Tonpa, looking at his fallen companion before turning his eyes back to him.
"You're the one who took him down?"
Tonpa swallowed, watching the narrow gap to the man's left.
"If I say no, will you believe me?"
"No."
"Then yes."
The thin man clenched his jaw and searched Barco's jacket pockets with frantic haste before rising.
"And you took his Badge too, you bastard!"
Tonpa wiped the dirt from his mouth.
"We're in the Fourth Phase. I thought that part was clear."
The thin man turned to his companion.
"Barter, cut him off!"
The broad-shouldered man, apparently named Barter, moved to block the route toward the stream while the thin man approached from the other side.
'It was clear to them, all right. That's why they want to take it from me along with the rest of my teeth.'
Tonpa's amusement vanished. He tightened his fists.
"Two against an injured man?"
The thin man answered coldly.
"You said it yourself. We're in the Fourth Phase."
'I shouldn't have explained the rules.'
Barter lunged. Tonpa saw his shoulder move and tried to block the punch, but his forearm came up too late. The blow slid over it and struck his jaw. His vision flashed, and before he could steady his feet, the thin man came in from the side and kicked him behind the knee.
'This is bad.'
He dropped to one knee. Before he could fall, he shoved the thin man with his shoulder, then swung a fist at Barter to force him back. The punch missed, but it bought him half a step of space.
Thirty exams, and all Tonpa's memories could offer him were a late block and a shove using his weight. He found nothing in them that could save him from two men attacking together.
'Damn it. If they close in again, they'll put me down right here.'
He feinted a charge at the thin man. The man raised his arms, but Tonpa planted his foot and veered toward the gap between Barter and a tree. Barter reached out, his fingers sliding over Tonpa's jacket without catching it.
Tonpa sprinted between the trees.
He tried to lengthen his stride, but the leg that had taken the kick faltered at the first root. He had to shorten his steps to keep from falling.
He made it only ten meters.
He passed between two trees and had barely regained his rhythm when a chime cut through the sound of his breathing.
Ding!
A red window formed before him.
[Warning.]
[The Host is in danger.]
'Dam—'
He ducked and twisted, but he did not move far enough.
A stone struck the back of his shoulder.
The curse burst from his mouth with the pain. He lost his balance, his foot sliding over the leaves, but caught a tree trunk and pushed away before he could fall.
'Even stones?! Aren't your filthy hands enough?'
Rapid footsteps sounded behind him, followed by Barter's voice.
"Damn it! I nearly hit his head!"
Tonpa glanced over his shoulder. The man was running after him, the smile gone from his face.
'That bastard... If he'd hit my head...'
He turned his eyes back to the path and clenched his teeth.
"Cowards!" he shouted. "Two men and stones? Bring some clubs too!"
'Excellent. Suggest more weapons. There are still places on your body they haven't hit.'
He cleared a root in his path and pushed forward into a long stride. Pain stabbed beneath his ribs halfway through it, breaking his rhythm, and he heard the thin man closing the distance behind him.
"How can he run with that belly?!"
Tonpa shot him a furious look, but dared not keep his eyes off the ground for long. By the time he focused on the path again, the footsteps had moved from behind him to his side.
'Not again.'
The thin man thrust his leg across Tonpa's path. Tonpa barely jumped over it, but the movement slowed him. Barter caught up, driving a fist into his ribs.
The air left Tonpa's lungs. He veered toward a tree and pushed off its trunk to keep running, but the thin man cut off the next gap.
He had to retreat. His back touched a trunk, and Barter's fist rose before his face.
'At this rate, I'm finished.'
Tonpa gritted his teeth and fixed his eyes on the man's face.
"Is that your mother?!"
The fist stopped.
Barter's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. His head turned involuntarily over his shoulder, his eyes searching the trees behind him.
"What...?"
The thin man stared at him.
"Why did you turn around?"
"I don't know!"
Tonpa darted past them, but the thin man caught up before he could get far.
"What did you do to him?"
He reached for Tonpa's shoulder. Tonpa turned toward him before his fingers could close on the jacket and shouted again.
"Is that your mother?!"
The thin man's lips parted, and his head turned backward. He clenched his jaw, but the movement carried through, his hand veering away from Tonpa's shoulder.
When he turned back, his face was red.
"Damn it! How are you making me do that?"
"Is this some kind of trick?" Barter shouted.
Tonpa did not answer. He was busy using the few seconds he had bought to avoid taking another blow.
He tried to run straight ahead, but the thin man began closing in from the side again, forcing him to veer around a thick trunk. He glimpsed water between the trees, and his stomach tightened.
He was still close to the stream.
All this running, and they were driving him from one narrow passage to another without letting him get away.
A third voice came from behind.
"Barter! Kot! Don't let him escape!"
Tonpa stole a glance back. Barco had regained consciousness and was coming after them on unsteady legs, one hand pressed to his swollen jaw.
"He attacked me from behind and stole my Badge!"
'Damn it... The idiot woke up.'
The thin man, whom Tonpa now knew as Kot, called to him.
"Did he use that trick on you?"
"Yes! He looks at you, shouts that question, and then something forces you to turn around."
"How?"
"If I knew, he wouldn't have hit me!"
Barco did not keep running behind the other two. Tonpa saw him veer between two trees to the left, cutting across the route he was trying to reach. Kot approached from the right, while Barter stayed behind him.
'Damn it. Weren't two enough?'
Tonpa slowed before entering the gap. Barco was closer than he would have liked, and turning the other way would put him in front of Kot.
Barco reached toward him.
Tonpa turned to face him and opened his mouth.
The man's eyes widened.
"Not again!"
"Is that your mother?!"
"You bastard—"
Barco's head turned involuntarily over his shoulder. The muscles in his neck tensed as his eyes searched the space behind him.
Tonpa slipped past his outstretched hand.
Barter shouted:
"Ignore what he's saying!"
"That doesn't work!"
"Then what do we do?!" Kot shouted.
Tonpa did not wait for them to agree. He charged through the opening Barco had left, but the man resumed the chase while Kot hurried to cut him off from the side.
Tonpa kept running. His throat burned with every breath, and his legs grew heavy. The question forced whoever he directed it at to turn around, but that left two others free to close in.
He looked at Barter behind him, then at Kot among the trees. He could no longer keep track of one without losing sight of the other.
He covered another ten meters before the distance began shrinking again.
'Damn it. My throat's drying out from all these questions.'
He tried to swallow as he watched Barco change direction to reach him before Kot. Barter charged after them, anger driving each man to try to get to him first.
Tonpa's gaze caught on the gaps between them.
His eyebrows lifted slightly.
An idea came to him.
It was dangerous, and it depended on all three men being equally stupid at the right moment.
'Either this works... or they'll beat me until I really do need my mother.'
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