The Three Sided War

Ch.10 Catching The Train

"You okay?"

I nod my head.

Kunikida carefully places me on the ground as Tanizaki appears at the top of the vine. With a large knife in hand, he cuts Naomi and Haruno out of the vines.

"Girl."

"Yes?"

"You did a good job protecting the staff members, but your job isn't done. A passenger train is passing by in five minutes. Tanizaki convince them to wait for just one minute. You'll have to jump on with the others."

Tanizaki helps the girls down.

"Take this."

Kunikida has me his second pistol.

"Now, run!" he orders.

"Okay."

I go to the others.

"I already explained." Tanizaki informs me.

"Okay, let's go everyone."

"Okay." the two reply.

And with that, we begin to run.

"Shiori!"

I look back at Tanizaki as we continue to run.

"Thank you for protecting Naomi!"

I smile as I give him a thumbs up.

"I'll do anything for my friends! No need to thank me!"

I face forward and lead the way.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

The three of us were currently running through the woods as we head down to the base of the hill. I spot the train in the distance. It stopped, waiting for us.

"There it is. Now we just-"

"Ah!"

I turn around and stop when I see Haruno on the ground. One of John's vines was wrapped around her ankle.

"Haruno-san!" Naomi worries.

Naomi tries to help her up as I go back to them. But then, a second vine came out of no where and wrapped it's self around Naomi. The train blows it's whistle, indicating it's almost time for it to start moving again.

"The train!"

"Hold on."

I pull the pistol out and aim it at the vine holding Naomi.

"Close your eyes."

She does just that.

It takes two shots to free Naomi. I turn to Haruno and shoot the vine from her ankle. Once free, I help Haruno to her feet as the train starts to pull away.

"Come on girls. Time to catch that train."

"Right."

We reach the bottom of the hill and start racing after the train. I manage to help Naomi and Haruno on. They hold onto the railings and reach their hands out towards me as the train picks up speed.

"Dammit." I cursed under my breath.

"Come on, Shiori-chan!"

"Just a little more!"

I push myself to go even faster. I reach out and grabbed both of their hands. They both pulled me onto the train with them. Once safe, we catch our breaths as we smile at each other.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

The three of us head inside the train car and relax. Naomi and Haruno sit down as I continue to stand.

"Shiori? You can relax now." Naomi smiles at me.

"...I have a feeling something is off. I'm going to check the other cars. If anything happens, call me."

"Okay..." Haruno replies.

I head off to inspect the other cars. I make sure to keep the pistol hidden. I don't want to alarm the other passengers. Plus, having them think I'm hijacking a train is just going to cause more trouble for me.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

I checked all the front cars. There's nothing threatening here. So why do I feel so uneasy?

"I should head back to the others."

I leave the last car and go back to Naomi and Haruno. But when I got there, I freeze in my tracks. I look at the others from a distance. The two of them were sitting with a little kid, happily chatting.

"Kyusaku..."

Sh*t! The Port Mafia is here. I can't believe Mori let him out. He's more dangerous than I am. His ability is called "Dogra Magra". In a way, it's almost similar to my own. We both give people nightmares. But Kyusaku's, or Q for short, nightmares are more on the lines of hallucinations. His hallucinations manipulates others into violently attacking whoever is in front of them.

For his ability to work, the person has to hurt Q. Then, there's that creepy doll of his. The one he's hugging right now. That doll helps trigger his ability. Once it's mutilated, a blotch, in the shape of a handprint, appears on the body of the cursed individual. After the doll is mutilated, it regenerates somehow.

I remember Dazai locking him away because of an unknown incident that led to a massive amount of mafia casualties. I have to get him away from everyone here before he curses them.

I was about to confront him, but my senses kicked in. I stay in place.

If I were to confront him in front of all these people, I could start a panic. That's not good at all. That's the last thing I need right now. Plus, he might start attacking Naomi and Haruno if they found out. Right now, it looks like he's content.

As I watch, he spots me. He sends me an evil grin when Naomi and Haruno aren't looking. I grip my fists out of anger.

He's toying with me. He knows I can't do anything.

"I'll kill you." I mouth to him.

He just goes back to smiling as he faces Naomi and Haruno.

I can't do anything right now. But, I can at least monitor him while we wait for our stop. I go and sit with the others.

"Welcome back, Shiori." Naomi smiles.

"Look, we made a little friend here." Haruno adds.

I face Q. We both send each other fake smiles.

"Hello there, I'm Shiori."

"Shiori? That's the name of a pet I used to know."

My eye twitched a bit. Q smirks at me.

"A pet?" Naomi asks.

"Yeah. Someone I used to know owned a dog named Shiori. They shorten the dog's name to Ori-chan to make it easier however."

Naomi looks at me.

"Doesn't Dazai-san call you that?"

"Really? Well, isn't that funny?"

"Yeah... Totally..." I answered.

Q sends me a sweet smile.

"Anyway, my name is Q. It's nice to meet you."