Bako maintained unbreakable eye contact with the weapon designated for his harm while giving Jin occasional glances to check on his mental state. The threatened male inched his way across the kitchen desk only to halt when his opposer lifted the large knife in an inspecting fashion.

"What's going on here...what's this about...?" Bako steadily held his stance, allowing every instinct in his body to enter an alert mode as he watched the boy hazardously playing with the sharp blade as though it were no more dangerous than a toy.

"You've been hurting (Y/n), haven't you...?" The azure male swallowed the lump in his throat with a dry gulp as the pieces in his mind began connecting themselves. "I can't have you doing that Bako. My darling isn't a toy for you to be maltreating..." The azure boy entered into a stare-down with his opponent as neither made the first move to be the starter of the confrontation and as the atmosphere became heavy with the tension between them it seemed to mess with their perceptions.

Bako reflexively jumped to the side as the brunet lunged at him, just barely missing the male by the skin of his teeth. The tall boy stumbled back as he took the chance to gather as much distance away from the feral boy as possible. Jin yanked the wedged knife out of the table as he turned towards his victim with an annoyed expression. "What the hell's gotten into you?!" The brunet's hollow eyes fixated on the defensive male like a predator assessing his vulnerable victim.

"You were the one to put your hands on (Y/n)...sweet (Y/n) got hurt because of you..." Jin approached the boy and tightly gripped the handle as the written words manifested back into his subconscious, feeling his stretched nerves exceeding past his high temper while Bako gave him a bewildered and lost look.

"What?" But before the artist could fully register the accusation, he had to quickly duck away before the knife had a chance to come in contact with his face. The attacker inwardly growled in irritated frustration at his unsuccessful attempts of harm and glared at his defenceless opposed.

"Why do you keep prolonging your punishment?!" As Jin sprang towards the artist, Bako was prepared for the third attack and managed to grab his assailant's wrist before he could fully accomplish a successful blow. The tall male was slightly surprised by the steady and unusual strength the boy was expressing, but managed to suppress the brunet.

The azure male swung his free hand to attempt at a punch, only for his strike to be dodged. The two boys backed away from each other as they prepared for another attempt at exchanging assaults. The armed individual adjusted his hold on the knife and pulled it backward to build momentum before readying to thrust it towards the artist. However, the moment he reeled his armed hand away, he found it immobile by a third person's grip.

Jin looked back to see Alex tightly holding onto his wrist, ceasing any attempt at assault as he restrained the boy. Jin felt his blood boil as he exchanged glares with the newcomer. "You! Why are you always trying to p**s me off?!"

"Jin! Settle down! What the hell has gotten into you, again?!" Kaito's authoritative voice boomed in the dining area, catching the manic boy's attention.

"I'll kill him! I'll kill him for what he did!" The feral male set his focused and murderous sights on the male in question. "I know what he did to (Y/n)! I'll make him pay for hurting her like that!"

'Did he find out about the door...?' Kaito analysed the malevolent brunet as he searched for clues in his body language to confirm his suspicions. "How did you find out...?" The intellectual unintentionally whispered out his puzzlement, loud enough to catch the boy's attention, forcing him to shift his focus to the fourth individual.

"Did you know about this...?" Jin subtlely spoke out in an inquiring voice as his emotions seemed mixed between his trust. "You knew that he hurt her?!" If he had not been restrained, Jin would have lunged towards the ruby haired boy from the spite that began taking over his senses. "And you kept it away from me?!"

Alex stared at the angered boy as each accusing sentence began burying itself into his subconscious. Kaito noticed the unwanted attention and assumptions he needed to avoid, "Jin, let go of the knife and we'll talk upstairs." The boy seemed reluctant to follow the order, but did as he was requested as he urged for answers. As the blade clattered to the ground, Jin kept on staring at Kaito as he attempted to unravel what the boy was implying. "Alex, let him go." The male in question sent Kaito a suspicious glare before releasing the dormant boy.

Kaito beaconed for him to follow as he began making his way to the second floor. As the pair ascended, they were stared after by the two boys that chose to remain at the ground level.

Ryo distractedly walked around the corridors as his indecisiveness became the thing that hindered his courage to approach the girl. His feet seemed to stop by their own accord as he neared her room. After spending a few minutes of mental preparation, he began to confidently stride towards the female's area with an optimistic smile and high spirits.

'That's right! I'll visit my angel and try to comfort her in her time of need! I need to bring that beautiful smile back!' However, as his steps brought him closer to the girl, his positive exterior and aura seemed to plummet with each heartbeat. The cheered smile began to disappear into a dreaded frown and his bright eyes lost the spark that was holding him together, up to the point where he was immobilised near the threshold of the doorway. His arms began shaking as he stood still on the spot and his vision blurred into a swirling pattern before his eyes. Ryo backed away a few steps, seeming like the atmosphere itself was trying to drown him out in his shamed guilt.

The boy took a few shaky paces back before finally allowing his knees to bend, letting him fall into a stricken and disheartened position. He glanced down his quivering palms as his mind created illusions of a delicate throat wrapped in his fingers. He forced himself to shake the bad thoughts away and took a moment to gather the last bit of composure left in him.

'(Y/n)...how will I hold you again with these bloody hands...?' He propped his head against one knee in a deep state of discouraging contemplation, allowing the artificial lighting of the corridor lamps to glare down at him like a scolding minister. 'You'll never look at me the same way again. You'll never forgive me for what I've done...you'll never be the same towards me...'

"Oberon, no! I need this, don't try and take it away!" Ryo's half-conscious form made him lift his head at the sound of a familiar voice that had been both the bane and fulfilment of his existence. "O-Oberon, look, look! I'm holding this as well, right? This is your priority now." A few small barks were heard from the door.

'(Y/n)...' The girl's vocals echoed in his empty mind, forcing his motor functions to work by themselves as he halfheartedly lifted himself up from his slumped posture. He began making his slow approach towards the voice, receiving it as a guide. As his subconscious stopped his mind from registering his surroundings and refusing to allow him the energy to become self-aware, he dragged his half-lucid state towards the door.

"Look, look! I'm holding onto this now! You want this, right...? Yep, there we go..." The female breathed a sigh of relief as the large animal proudly trotted his way out of the door to lay a glass paperweight on the ground.

Ryo distractedly gazed at the dog before turning his head to the side to receive a view of satisfied looking female. As (Y/n) sighed in contempt at successfully saving the sliding puzzle in hand, she chose to glance towards the dog's way, only to slightly jump as she spots the male that lounged at the doorway. As they made eye contact, Ryo seemed to be shoved back into reality as he remained at a standoff with the surprised girl.

Ryo absorbed a large gulp of breath before jumping back and standing as straight and as a pole as his mind raced with scolding profanities. His muscles became clenched as his heart dared not make a beat out of paranoid fear of being discovered again. "Ryo...is that you?" The boy gulped at his uncover as his instincts began darting through his body as he searched for a common senses response to the situation.

"...No..." He half hoped the girl would take the ruse and possibly ignore his presence. After a long moment of silence, Ryo scuffled towards the doorway, hanging his head low as he couldn't find the shame to look at the girl in the eyes.

(Y/n) felt cold sweat forming on her brow as she tried to steady her trembling hands from the horrid reminiscence of their last proper encounter. The girl swallowed a large, hollow portion in her throat as her heart sank to her gut.

The blond rubbed his toe against the carpet in an attempt to distract himself and seemed unnerved that he had to stand around the unwelcoming environment. The two stood in their frozen forms for what seemed like hours as neither wanted to disturb the placid silence. Ryo began getting agitated with the awkward and unprogressive stillness and he searched through his ideas before taking a deep, calming breath and giving her a bright smile.

"So, whatcha playing with?" He skipped towards the girl and chose the less intimidating option of taking a seat on the floor where he can rest his head on the mattress. (Y/n) was slightly unsure of what to make of his change in attitude and had to repeatedly switch her gaze from the puzzle to the boy to try and grasp his logic or intents.

"It's a sliding puzzle..."

"Pff, I can never wrap my head around those. I can't understand how Jin can do them. Is that what you were so concerned with when you started scolding Oberon?" The girl gave an unsure nod, earning a chuckle from the boy. "Yeah, sorry, he's been quite protective with what you hold. Though I see him wandering around the house with other things that aren't from this room, so I don't know if he's not just having a midlife crisis or something."

The girl felt her guard slowly going down at the male's humorous attitude and felt more comfortable to glance back at her progress on the puzzle.

"But I'm not stopping him. If things evolve he'll start bringing some goodies from another house. Here's to hoping!" He lifted up his hand to show his two crossed fingers of expectancy before glancing at the slightly amused female.

"Yeah, I guess..." She cautiously answers before focusing back on the puzzle.

"So, did Jin visit you? I know that's his." (Y/n) nodded at the boy, showing him little regard, making him feel slight zeal and contempt towards her slight attention. "I remember he had bought it right before I forced him to come watch Macbeth with me, and he just kept on redoing it throughout the whole play." The blond pouted at the disenchanted memory.

"Macbeth?" The carob eyed male perked at her inquiry and saw the open opportunity for conversation.

"Yeah, have you seen it?" He received a nod, further stimulating his motivation. "That's awesome! It's one of my favourites, Lady Macbeth is such a deep character, she made it such a thrill for me." Ryo heard a scoff coming from the girl and glanced at her to see a mocking expression sent to him. "You got something to say?"

The female shrugged and tried to casually dismiss the subject. "I don't like Lady Macbeth that much really. I think Macbeth was a much more interesting character." Ryo realised the golden chance laid out before him, and immediately began playing on the girl's opinion.

"No way, Lady Macbeth is such a strong character. She got her husband to kill a King through such manipulative tactics and words, only for us to see her sanity slowly depleting for the final act." (Y/n) was fully regarding the male as her disagreements got the better of her.

"But she just disappears halfway through the play. That leaves us with Macbeth, who is shown to soon take up the dominant role in the production as his own sanity begins breaking. He has way more development." Ryo gave a teasing humph and a dismissive wave of his hand at her logic.

"Well, Shakespeare had been known to take away scenes with specific characters just because they were grabbing the audience's attention from the main character." The girl gave him a doubting expression as she handed him a taunting smirk.

"You're crazy." The two soon entered a heated debate, more so on the girl's side of the spectrum, as Ryo relished in the enjoyment of seeing her fluster and give him great regard as she simply seemed to forget for the slightest moment of his misfortunate slip-up.

After a few minutes of fruitless exchange of views, (Y/n) leaned back in exhausted fatigue as she refused to let up with her claim. Ryo continued to carelessly smile as he had finally made some progress with the female and was more than satisfied compared to the girl.

"Whatever, I stand by my claims." The girl forcefully directed her attention towards the puzzle only to feel a finger gently poking the corner of her lip, a minute later. "What are you doing?" She looked over at the grinning boy, who continued to jestingly prod her.

"I can see that slight hint of a smile there, angel. Will you give me a full one?" He coked his head to the side with a teasing expression.

"Not until Macbeth has been declared as the superior character." She stubbornly claimed and crossed her arms in defiance.

"Alright, so if I say he is, will you give me a smile?" He teasingly inquired and swing from left to right in a playful manner.

"No." The female remained obstinate towards his request with a flat response.

"Then I stand by my claims." The girl scoffed at his mimicking statement and glanced at him only to be greeted with a wide grin.

"What's with that smirk?"

"I'm just so happy right now." He giddily responded and fidgeted in his position. It was then that (Y/n) noticed Ryo had, one way or another, managed to slip on top of the bed where he subtly joined her on the duvet, at a closer proximity than before.

She wondered whether to point the action out to him and request him to return to his original place. However, before she could make up her mind on the action she should take, the cheerful male leaped up from his spot and began joyously jumping up and down on the mattress, every spring launching him higher each time as the female was left on the lower level to brace the shaking and unsteady vibrations of each landing and jump.

The boy amusingly laughed when the girl kept being propelled from her spot as he impacted the bed, and the female couldn't help but reflexively snicker as her body was thrown around the space she was restricted to. "Haha, what are you doing? Stop it you moron." The female tried to keep a steady tone, only for her slight amusement to be let out.

"Haha, I love that laugh! I knew I'll get you smiling somehow!" He grinned down at (Y/n) as she failed to force her lips into a frown. "I remember I had a marathon of bed-jumping a few years ago. But somewhere near the end I just woke up in the hospital for some reason." (Y/n) gave him a weirded stare as the male became thoughtful over his missing memory. "Yeah, apparently I had hit my head on the ceiling and passed out." The girl stared at him with bewilderment as he so casually talked about his injury like a mundane occurrence. "I think the doctor said something about a skull fracture...but I wasn't really paying attention. I was too busy trying to figure out his accent. He pronounced his 'Rs' very roughly and his grammar was a bit off..." The boy proceeded to halt his consecutive bounces to spare time to demonstrate a small sample of how he recalled the older man had spoken. Upon closer listening, the female began to slowly deduct on what the origin of the speech might have been.

"Sounds Irish to me." Ryo stared down at the girl as her words slowly registered into his brain, making his face twist into one of whimsical awe.

"Wait...you mean...my doctor was a leprechaun?!" He intently stared at the girl with his caramel eyes shining bright with wonder while the female could only shake her head in silent response to his naivety. "Holy c**p, that explains the beard! I've missed out on a pot of gold!"

"I don't think...-"

"Does that mean I could have lost a lifetime worth of luck from this?!" He panicked his inquiry making the girl feel placed on the spot as she hummed out her answer.

"No, you'll get another chance with a unicorn..." Ryo seemed to hold a chipper smile as he was assured.

"That's good!" The male gave one high jump right before turning his entire body in the air at a slight degree so as to land on his side with one leg up in the air. "Now paint me! Paint me like one of your French dudes!"

(Y/n) blinked a few times as unintentional chuckles escaped her lips. "Where did the flower come from?"

Ryo was directed to the object that was being held in his mouth, and confusingly took it out to conclude it on being a rose that was surprisingly freshly bloomed. "...I honestly got no idea." He threw the flower behind him as he straightened back in a sitting position with a goofy grin.

The female sighed towards the familiar antics before her small smile turned into an uncomfortable frown, catching the boy's concern. "Ryo...could you please unlock me? Just for a little bit, please..." The male's blithesome mood dissolved along with her words as his disappointment soon took over with her soft pleas.

"Sorry angel, I can't do that...Kaito says it's still too dangerous to let you go." He negatively shook his head with slight regret as his spirits depleted with the girl's disappointment.

"Then...I want to go to the toilet. I haven't gone since yesterday." Tough in actuality (Y/n) had minimal urges to use the bathroom thanks to the food restrictions she had set on herself and the water she only drank for survival purposes. It seemed as though each food and drink had lost its taste and her appetite had disappeared the moment her wrists restrained her to the one room. However, she knew it was her best bet to request the excuse. "Please?"

Ryo darted his eyes around and scratched his neck in pressured contemplation until he sighed out his stress. "I'm sorry (Y/n), but even if I wanted to I don't have authority over the key. Only Kaito and Jin can help you with this." The female slumped in disappointment at the answer. "I can go and ask one of them if that makes you feel better-"

"No, it's fine...Jin said he'll come and visit me later so I'll ask then." The male forced on an optimistic smile before fondly patting her head and getting up, off the bed.

"Well, I'll be going right now and check up on some things, but I might come back and visit you later, OK?" He slightly bent down to give a questioning smile, making the girl nod at his promise. "Alright. See you later angel. Good luck with the puzzle!" He quickly performed an exaggerated wave of goodbye before disappearing from her surroundings.

(Y/n) stared at the door for a few minutes before distractingly turning her attention back to the puzzle in hand. She sighed at the male's approach and felt as though his childish tactics were seemingly working on her guard. As she looked towards the game she had intently been sorting for the past few minutes, she smiled to herself as she noticed the first two rows were complete due to her logical track of thought and deductive reasoning. She figured she'd have the whole puzzle solved by the end of the expiring day if she put some more focus onto it. 'Come on, just a bit more...I hope Jin will actually stick to his part of the deal...'

Ryo boastfully smirked to himself as his progress with the girl did not come out as a vein attempt. 'I finally got to talk to my angel! Maybe...just maybe there's still hope for me yet-' Before the male could conclude his optimistic thoughts, he heard loud thuds and disagreeing shouts coming from the room ahead of him. He tried to decipher what the bickering was about right before the door burst open, allowing a beyond irritated looking Kaito to tread back as Jin threateningly got in his personal space.

"F**k off! I don't care what the hell you have to say! I know what he did to (Y/n)! I don't trust any little bulls**t excuse you have to make!" The brunet seemed on the edge of attacking the intellectual as they exchanged challenging glares.

"I'm telling you, one way or another, she's given you misinformation. Bako did not-"

"Shut up! You better listen to me right now Kaito. (Y/n)'s word is by far more trustworthy than the c**p you've been telling me and I've got no reason to trust you anymore, seeing how you never told us who did that to her in the first place, even when you knew for this long!" Jin dangerously settled his tone as he got closer to the boy in a hector fashion and stared deeply into his annoyed eyes. "You've already cried wolf. You can expect me out of your equation."

Jin heavily walked away from the fight as he paid little attention to the blond that had been staring at their argument the whole time and strode right past him. Ryo stared after Jin's disappearing form before turning his attention towards the boy that had been bitterly put in his place.

"What happened...?" Kaito refused to answer the question with simple words as he chose to remain mordantly silent.

(Y/n) breathed out an exhalation of relief as she stared at the nearly finished puzzle in her hands and subconsciously gave herself a pat on the back. 'Almost finished! I'll be having a taste of freedom soon enough!' She kept encouraging herself right to the moment of the sound of a door creaking open, being heard throughout her quiet surroundings.

The female looked towards the entrance to see a dark aura emanating from the brunet that had handed her the puzzle with the promise of release. (Y/n) was slightly taken aback by the largely changed tone she was greeted with and tried to ignore his heavily soured mood.

"H-hey! Look, I almost finished it." She held up the mostly complete puzzle piece and tried to steady her clearly shaking hands. Jin gave her no reaction towards the revelation and took the necessary steps of approaching her. (Y/n) tried to act gullible towards his clear and malice ambiance as she attempted to remain steady and positive. "S-so do you want to stay for a little while and wait until I-"

The female was immediately silenced as the boy harshly slapped the game out of her grasp and sent it flying across the room, making the girl cautiously watch him with concern as her instincts sent alerting signals through her body. Jin grabbed one of her shoulders as he intently stared into her frightened eyes with his enraged ones. "(Y/n) will tell me who else hurt her. She'll tell me who else dared put their foul hands on her and she'll tell me right now!"

His demands were flat and strongly insistent as he kept his savaged eyes locked onto her, with an unyielding grip on her shoulder blade.

"(Y/n) will tell me, right? She'll stop insulting my intelligence with these bluffs and give me an answer, right?" He kindly smiled towards her alert form with a soothing softness that seemed as equally genuine as forged, and as the female didn't seem to let her guard down for a second, she felt the sudden sensation of a cold blade being gently pushed at her throat while her eyes bulged in horrified realisation. "Don't make me force an answer out of (Y/n)."