The Adventure of Taiga and Tatsuya part 9

"After we get the basketballs, lets go back. I'm hungry."

Hearing Kagami say that, Himuro laughed and said, "That's right."

Following the instructions on the sign, the pair finally managed to enter the gymnasium. They found that the gymnasium was not as they expected it to be, however it does have the basic structure of one. Finding the sports equipment room was not difficult. The lock of the equipment room had already broken a long time ago, They pushed the door open, a pungent smell burst forth. The two could not help but frown, and hesitated.

"This is... Really bad."

"Oh yeah, the guy at my class said that entering the equipment room really needs a lot of courage."

"Courage, huh…" Himuro muttered, and suddenly stepped into the equipment room.

CREAK CREAK CREAK...…

The floor made an annoying sound. At the same time, (a susurrous ssh-ssh sound which sounded like something was moving on the ground was emitted) "I don know how to fix this". Himuro backed out from the room.

"Just now… Wasn't there a weird sound?"

Kagami sigh after hearing Himuro's question.

"Aah, that's probably… c-cockroaches…"

"Wait, it might even be rats."

"I-is that so… But no matter what it is, isn't it very annoying?!"

"It is rather annoying…"

Himuro carefully shone the torchlight into the equipment room. At the very end of the room, he could see a crate full of basketballs.

"It's that, right…"

"Yeah, that's it."

Himuro and Kagami stood at the entrance of the equipment room, and looked at the basketballs. The distance between them and the basketballs was probably about 10 steps. But these 10 steps seemed like a huge distance for them at that moment.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew in, and the whole gymnasium seemed to shake. Huge droplets of rain were blown into the gymnasium through the broken windows and onto the floor.

"Taiga, stay here and wait for me."

"Eh?"

Himuro smiled at the shocked Kagami.

"After I enter the room, I'll throw the basketballs out one by one, so Taiga, you stay here and receive them."

"W-why?! I want to go in and fetch the balls too!"

"Un, which is why I told you to stay here. We'll use the passing method to do it," Saying this, Himuro stepped into the room.

CREAK CREAK CREAK

With each step Himuro took, the floor made sounds of protest. Kagami had originally wanted to go in as well, but since the floor was weak due to old age and seemed like it was about to collapse, Kagami was so scared that he backed out of the room.

"Tatsuya! Are you alright?" Kagami called out loudly.

Himuro answered without looking back, "Un, I'm still OK for now…"

Creak CREAK CREAK!

The floor beneath Himuro made a sound that was different from the others.

"Eh…"

His right leg doesn't feels right at all, Himuro did not understand what was happening at first. With the sound CRICK CRACK, Himuro's right leg sank with the collapse of the floor.

"It hurts!" Himuro, who had lost his balance suddenly, shouted out in pain.

"Tatsuya!"

"Taiga, don't come any closer!"

Seeing that the flustered Kagami was about to rush in and help Himuro, he raised his head to stop him.

"Perhaps you might fall in too."

"But Tatsuya, your leg…!"

Himuro's right leg, from the knee downwards, had sunk into the floor.

"... It sunk into the floor, that's all. This isn't a big deal."

Himuro sat himself onto the floor in an attempt to pull his leg out. However, another unstable sounding noise came out from where his hand was; Himuro immediately stopped what he was doing.

"… Tatsuya, you can't pull it out?"

Facing Kagami's question, Himuro could only have his back facing him, unable to answer.

"… Tatsuya…?" He asked again.

However, there was still no answer. Kagami , unable to take it, stepped into the equipment room. The creak cracking noise sounded again, which made Himuro turn his head.

"Idiot! Didn't I tell you that this was dangerous?"

Himuro sounded stricter than usual, which made Kagami shiver

"Then what should I do?!" Kagami struggled with his powerlessness, and shouted.

The rainwater that had came in from the broken windows started to wet him. Himuro did not reply. The only sounds that could be heard were the sound of the rain.

"...Tsk."

The only things that came into Kagami's mind were, "What should I do… What should I do… What should I do…!" His mind was full of these, and he could not think of a solution. Himuro had always told him to use his brain, and there was no better time than now to use it, if not now, when will it be?!.However, his mind was empty and he could not think of anything. Blaming himself for his failure, he forcibly closed his eyes, the feelings of defeat, made kagami blamed himself more.

Creak crack …

Re-thinking about the creak cracking noises, Kagami looked up at Himuro. Himuro was currently on another spot trying to pull his leg out, Himuro was trying out a different position trying to escape. He carefully placed his centre of gravity into his palms. Looking at Himuro struggling, Kagami was suddenly reminded of what he said.

[For Taiga, sitting down obediently and thinking is impossible.] – That's right. If I can't sit down and think, then moving about might help.

Kagami slapped the sides of his cheeks to pull himself together, and looked at his surroundings. Amazingly, the frustrating things that he was thinking about earlier disappeard He found the answer that he needed.

Kagami faced Himuro's back and shouted loudly, "Tatsuya! Hang in there! I'm going to get the ropes!"

Puzzled, Himuro looked back at Kagami. But by then, Kagami had already run to a place near the entrance of the equipment room. Kagami opened up the room's doors at one go, and what met him was a dark corridor. He felt scared in his heart – But who cares!Kagami looked for it carefully in the dark, and walked through the corridor.