Inverse System - Chapter 180

Rein made it to the room at the end of the hall, with the still lingering surprise of Yusuke’s reveal, who was in the room facing him. As he closed the door behind him, another wave of nostalgia hit him as he recalled playing in these rooms, specifically hide and seek with his sister.

In comparison with the rest of the house, it was a small, cozy room, with one luxurious-looking bed with red sheets in the center, along with cabinets and drawers on the sides. A small window provided lighting to the room from beside the bed.

Though the silence dawned on the room, Rein was not able to relax. He used the quiet to try and focus. Perhaps he could communicate with Versys, or perhaps he could pin-point one of his friends. He didn’t know what he was doing exactly, though he was simply trying to focus.

However, his concentration was swiftly and abruptly stopped by a quiet hiss, followed by a series of taps from his right, facing the wall connected to the large room at the end of the hall, the one the guard told him not to go in. He tried ignoring the sound, however, it persisted, and continued on until he heard someone’s voice emerge from behind it.

“Hey!” The slightly high-pitched voice went through a small crack at the bottom of the wall, finally prompting Rein to reply.

“What?”

“I need to get outta here. What’s your Spring?”

Rein sat on the bed and looked at the crack in the wall with an unamused expression. He didn’t want to get involved with this person, nor did he want to be involved in some escape attempt that wouldn’t even benefit him. So naturally, he lied about his Spring so that the voice wouldn’t bother him anymore.

“I can make bubbles appear from thin air. Sorry, looks like I can’t help you.”

As he said that, he heard a slight gasp from behind the crack, making him raise an eyebrow in confusion. Was what he said really that exciting? A useless Spring that had no destructive power at all?

“That’s perfect,” the voice exclaimed in a whisper, beginning to shuffle items around, which Rein could hear through the cracks.

Suddenly, Rein saw a red glow appear through the hole, seeming as though the voice was trying to stuff something through the crack in the wall.

“Rgh, come on…”

Finally, after slamming the item through the crack, it dropped on the ground, causing a quiet clinking noise as it impacted, rolling forward as it finally stopped, flopping down in front of Rein. A crimson shimmer filled his eyes as the light from the window reflected off of it, causing a bright red ring of light to be projected around the room.

“Put that ring on. Maybe you can get us out,” the now familiar voice said to Rein.

“Raxo, is that you in there?” He asked, finally starting to recognize the voice.

“Huh..? HUH??” She screamed, then quickly quieted herself down, trying her hardest not to be loud. “Wait… Rein?? What are you doing in here??” She loudly whispered.

“I could ask you the same thing. And why didn’t you contact me through the ring earlier?”

“I…” She stopped talking, then took a deep breath of relief, knowing she could rely on him. “I didn’t have the ring when we escaped. You see, Prince Zane actually risked his life and went back into the gulf to retrieve it. But when he got back, I put the ring on, but couldn’t reach you. I thought something must’ve happened,” she explained.

“I see… That must’ve been around that time then…” He thought to himself. “So is Zane here then?” He asked aloud.

“Yeah… and no. They arrested him on the pretense that he wasn’t a student, but that was just to cover up that they arrested the Orthlysian prince. They took him away somewhere, but he’s still in the mansion, that’s for damn sure…”

“I see… That is intriguing…” Yusuke said in a pensive voice, to which Rein twitched at and turned his head.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Hm? Just brainstorming,” he laughed, then noticed the ring on the floor. “What’s this?” He picked it up, however before it could even activate, Rein swiped it from his hand.

“Don’t touch that.”

“Rein? Who’s the hell’s there with you?” Raxo interjected.

“Oh, hey there Raxo! Long time no see. Or ‘hear’ in this case,” Yusuke greeted, which once again, caused Raxo to gasp audibly.

“P-principal Yusuke?! Is that really you?” She ecstatically spoke, clearly happy to know he was there.

“Sure is. How’ve you been doing?” He laughed.

“G-great! Just recently I went to this—”

“Save the catching up for later. Stop wasting time,” Rein cut their conversation short, coldly getting back on topic.

“You’re right, kid. Since it seems like you know your way around this place more than me, I have a plan,” Yusuke stated, which confused Rein.

“What? I know my way around more than you?” Rein sounded in confusion.

Yusuke didn’t respond. He simply smiled, then began explaining his plan to Rein and Raxo.

The guards were now having lunch, sitting at a table in front of the door when they heard someone call for them from the end of the hall. A white-haired boy emerged from one of the rooms with his hand raised, wanting to be escorted to the bathroom.

“Private, take the kid to the bathroom,” the higher ranking guard ordered, to which the other guard complied.

Silently, Rein and the guard walked to the bathroom, which was in a hallway beside the storage room they emerged from in the main hall. As soon as they closed the door to the hall, Rein suddenly disappeared from the view of the soldier, causing him to go into a panic. Suddenly, a swift chop flew into the guard’s neck, knocking him out cold in front of the bathroom door. Rein took a deep breath, regaining his energy.

“Damn, just how much weaker am I..?”