level 20;

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"where's the twins and kōtarō?", shiori asked terushima and daishō, who shrugged as they took a seat beside the girl, leaning against the outer prison wall as it was free time currently.

everyone loitered around the field as some chatted meanwhile others ran around, exercising their legs for fun.

     "haven't seen those three the entire day", daishō answered.

     "say, how'd you two get in here?", shiori questioned. "I realized that I never asked, since I'm always beside those three", the girl stated.

     "I was playing too much and accidentally got carried away when I was trying to steal the great wave of kanagawa painting", terushima laughed, still having a carefree attitude despite being in jail.

     "you were trying to steal it alone?", shiori asked, to which the male had just nodded.

"I mean yeah...I've been stealing my whole life, so it was just another level that I've yet to beat", terushima chuckled, to which daishō had given the male a judgmental look.

     "hey! don't look at me like that. you aren't any better, snake boy".

     "don't call me that!", daishō huffed, clicking his tongue as shiori glanced over at the male, wondering what his story was.

"and I'm here because I was labeled as a stalker", daishō grumbled, to which shiori had to ask the male to repeat what he had said.

     "excuse me?"

     "I said that I was labeled as a stalker because I wouldn't leave my ex-girlfriend alone", daishō muttered, biting the insides of his cheek as he was quite embarrassed to have said that out loud.

     "but did you?", shiori asked, to which daishō had turned towards the girl.

     "what?"

     "I asked if it was true", shiori repeated, to which terushima had butted in before the green-haired male could answer for himself.

     "if it isn't then why would he be here?", terushima scoffed.

     "you never know yūji. sometimes people are here because they were wrongly accused", shiori said, nudging daishō's arm as he cleared his throat.

"yeah...I was...wrongly accused...but no one believed me, because she played the victim card too well", daishō breathlessly uttered, feeling a bit of relief as there was at least someone out there that had believed him.

before the three could continue their conversation, ushijima and a few other officers had appeared before them.

"prisoner #471 and #474. there's an emergency and the warden needs you two", ushijima stated as shirabu and goshiki detained the two as they quickly filed out without any further explanation.

shiori just watched as she skimmed around the field, standing up as she tried to open the only door that led to the inside of prison.

     however, it was locked.

     shiori suddenly frowned. 'fucking bitches want to play a game and test me? let's start the show then'.

     like shiori had predicted, terushima and daishō were brought into a large room with the commanders, the warden, a few other officers, and their inmate friends.

     "bokuto?"

     "eh? terushima and daishō, you two are here too?"

     "this is where you three have been hiding all day?!oh god, did you twins do some shit and now we are also receiving punishment?", terushima groaned, to which atsumu had clicked his tongue.

     "what's that supposed to mean?! we didn't do shit!"

     sawamura then cleared his throat as he stood up, walking around the room as akaashi had bokuto's arms pinned behind his back meanwhile suna and kita did the same with the miya twins.

"I've gathered you five here today because I have a concern. your group mate, prisoner #520, is not what she claims to be. there's a deeper story than what she let's on and I wanted to ask if you all knew about it.

     especially you three, prisoners #48, #236, and #237. aren't you three exceptionally close to her? has she told you anything about her past?", sawamura asked.

     "we already told ya. we don't know anything", osamu scowled, wanting to see the girl instead of being held hostage here.

"yeah yeah! can ya let us go now? I don't even know why ya kept us here for the entire day", atsumu groaned, to which sawamura had nodded at sugawara, who had turned on the flat screen t.v. that was mounted onto the wall.

     "ooohhh!! a movie!", bokuto exclaimed, to which the boy's smiled had suddenly dropped when he realized that it was just the security camera filming the inmates.

     but it was the specific one that was showcasing the inmates that were currently outside with shiori, who was trapped as her back was against the locked door.

"think you're so special huh?", one of the inmates questioned, to which the girl didn't move nor reply as she just stared at them with a neutral expression.

"bet she slept with the commanders to get the shit that she wanted. what a slut", one snorted as they started cornering the girl even more.

"hey! what the fuck are they doing?!", terushima questioned, as he was still being retrained by shirabu while watching one of the guys get extremely close to the girl.

"say...won't you play with us too?", one grinned as he outstretched his hand towards shiori, who had promptly stopped him with her hand.

     "sorry, but I pick my men, and you're just not worthy", shiori uttered, to which immediately one had grabbed a fistful of her hair and thrown her onto the floor.

     "YOU BITCH!"

     a few had joined in on kicking the girl as they were forced to by the warden. sawamura had wanted to test the waters, to see how shiori would react.

     and to everyone's surprise, the girl did not cry nor scream. her neutral face remained with every harsh kick to the stomach.

     "w-wait!! w-why are they treating her like this. you have to stop them!!", bokuto worried, about to cry as akaashi had to pat the male's back to calm him down.

     "HEY! LET ME GO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YA ALL STANDING THERE FOR?!", osamu grunted as he tried to break free from suna, who had to straighten up his posture to keep the strong gray-haired male steady.

     "no...you're doing this on purpose", terushima said with disbelief, to which all the inmates had looked up at the blonde in shock.

     "what do you mean?", daishō questioned, staring at terushima, who's face had contorted into anger.

     "they're purposely testing her, seeing if she's really capable of killing someone. you're holding us all hostage because we're the only ones she has. and with us gone...she has nobody out there..."

     terushima was smart despite his childish attitude, as even oikawa had to give him props for figuring it out.

     "the hell?! SHE'S MY PREY! LET ME GO YA FUCKERS!", atsumu yelled as kita needed kuroo's help to help restrain the male.

     the five watched in horror as shiori was repeatedly kicked in the stomach more than one could count.

     suddenly oikawa flinched at the dead look that was shown on the screen.

     "warden, I think it's best we stop this now", oikawa muttered, to which sawamura had raised a brow.

     "this isn't the usual reaction of someone who's being severely hurt", oikawa slowly commented, feeling a tinsel of guilt deep down him as kuroo soon realized what he was getting at.

     "it's the reaction of someone who's been used to the abuse".

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     author's note: I needed a turning point. don't hate me please <3