level 29;

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     "did he do anything to you?", kita asked, to which shiori had lifted up her head, facing the stoic male.

     "why? worried?", shiori grinned, glancing over at suna, who was walking a bit behind his commander.

     "sure", kita bluntly stated.

     "aw~ well, it's much appreciated, shin-chan", shiori smiled. "but I'm stronger than you think", the girl whispered, kissing the tip of kita's ear as her gaze fell upon suna, who just glanced away.

a smirk had made its way onto shiori's face as kita suddenly turned around to face suna.

"suna, you can head back now. I'll take her back to her cell after her shower", kita said, to which suna had just nodded and left, leaving the two alone now.

     "alone time, huh?", shiori teased, to which kita had refused to respond as they had swiftly arrived at the washroom.

     letting shiori down, the girl had picked out a flowery white nightgown as she stripped down her current outfit and stepped into the showering box.

"say, shinsuke, who do you think I should sleep with tonight?", shiori asked, scrubbing her hair with some conditioner as she let her unhealthy locks soak it in for a bit before rinsing.

     "who do you wish for tonight?", kita asked, reversing the question as he honestly wasn't sure who the girl had desired.

shiori was like a gust of wind, changing direction like no one's business.

"if I knew, I wouldn't have asked you", the girl laughed, turning off the shower head as she stepped out with a towel wrapped around her body.

kita only hummed as he listened for the girl to get dressed, which was usually when he knew that he could open his eyes.

however, the ruffling of fabric and dropping of a towel was never heard.

instead, shiori had snaked her arms around kita's waist, a stunt that she had pulled her first day here.

"open your eyes shinsuke; look at me", shiori demanded, beads of water dripping down the side of her face as the droplets from her hair dripped incessantly behind her.

     kita hesitantly did as told as he wasn't sure why he was in such a situation.

     "you should get dressed. you'll catch a cold", kita warned.

     "then dress me", shiori playfully smiled, blowing a gust of air at kita and making him slightly flinch.

     "shiori, you can do it yourself".

     "I know, but I want you to do it for me", shiori flirted, moving her arms up to kita's chest as her fingers slid upwards, lightly tickling the back of the boy's neck.

     kita shook his head. "I cannot. now get dressed so that you can pick someone and go to sleep", the male stated.

shiori huffed. "how boring", the girl sighed as she started getting changed, quickly finishing up as she returned back to kita's side.

     "have you decided yet?", kita asked, needing to inform one of the officers to retrieve an inmate or officer if shiori desired.

     "mhm!"

     "who is it?"

     "who do you think it is?", shiori cheekily asked, walking beside kita as her hand intertwined with kita's, who had gently held the girl's hand as if it would shatter if he squeezed too hard.

"I'm not sure. it could be suna, prisoner #48, #237, or maybe even #236", kita honestly replied.

     "do you have security duties tonight?", shiori asked, to which the male had nodded.

     "then can I come with?!", the girl excitedly asked, to which kita had raised a brow.

"did you not want to sleep?"

"how dense can you be, shinsuke? I just want to stay with you for the time being", shiori whined, to which kita wasn't sure if it was normal to feel a little burst of happiness blooming at the pit of his stomach.

     "okay", kita softly mumbled, guiding the girl towards the security room as it was just a small room with a whole bunch of screens mounted onto the wall. with wires hanging from side to side along with a metal rectangular box that was shoved into the corner, there was only one chair as there never needed to be a second person present.

     "I apologize for the lack of comfort", kita said, offering the chair to shiori as he decided that he could just stand since he was used to it.

     shiori pulled kita's hands as she forced the male to take a seat, meanwhile she sat on his lap as she laid her head at the crook of kita's neck.

     "there! now we can both sit", shiori smiled, glancing up at kita as he had made sure that he was close to the table with all the pyrotechnics that were connected to the numerous amount of screens.

shiori was least to say a bit disappointed that she didn't find what she was expecting, but nevertheless, she enjoyed spending time with kita, as the male was starting to open up a bit to her.

"is this what you commanders take turns doing every night? watching everyone sleep while you're all alone in this minute room?", shiori asked.

     "you make us sound creepy, but the point of this is so that we can make sure nothing is out of ordinary and that no one's trying to escape", kita stated, observing as most of the inmates were finally hitting the hay.

"where's my little screen?", shiori asked, squinting her eyes as she couldn't find the empty cage.

"it's right there. the fifth monitor", kita pointed, to which indeed, there was shiori's little box at the corner of the screen.

"say, shinsuke, why are some of the cells empty? did they rot away or escape?", shiori asked, noticing that some of the inmates' cells didn't correlate with their numbers.

"no one's ever escaped here before and...they were exterminated due to attempting such foolery", kita informed.

     "foolery you say? why's it foolish for wanting to escape? I would want to go if given the chance too", shiori chuckled, to which kita had slightly shook his head.

"it's not foolish for desiring freedom, but to attempt something that you never had a chance in succeeding is unwise".

     "if I were to try and escape, what would you do?", shiori asked, sitting upwards as she faced kita with the monitors' light shining behind her.

     "don't".

     "what would you do if I tried to escape?", shiori repeated.

     kita hesitated. "I would bring you back here, no matter what, because it is not only mine, but the others' duty to do so".

     "and what if you don't ever find me?", the girl whispered, to which the dual-haired male had glanced down before looking back up.

"I will. even if you escape to the ends of this world, I'll find you and bring you back, because—"

"you'll miss me", shiori interrupted, giggling as she quickly kissed kita's forehead.

"let's just leave it at that, even if it's not how you feel".

kita held his breath as he unconsciously hugged shiori tighter.

"okay".

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author's note: umm...aha! anyways, if y'all like this chapter, please don't forget to comment + vote, and thank y'all for all the concerns, literally be making me sob w/ how sweet y'all are!!

I love y'all so much!! byeee <3