While Andy was devouring the plate that Hyoubu had given him, another prisoner approached the duo.
"Yo, Hinomiya. You're up."
"Again?" he grumbled as he quickly finished all his food.
Hyoubu looked at the two, wondering what they were talking about.
But Andy ignored the confusion on Hyoubu's face, and after he finished his plate, he stood up to follow the other prisoner.
"Interesting," said Hyoubu as he also got up to follow them.
After a short walk through the cafeteria, they exited the building into a back alley where hundreds of prisoners formed a large circle.
All of them bounced with excitement, the moment they saw the prisoner who had gone to get Hinomiya return with Hinomiya trailing right behind him, they made a small opening, and everyone started pushing him toward the clearing in the middle.
"Why me again?!" Andy complained, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears.
So he just braced himself for the upcoming fight.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" All the prisoners surrounding Andy and one other prisoner in the middle shouted.
This was basically the only entertainment they had on this island; every day new prisoners were chosen to fight each other, and they would bet with their chocolate on who would win.
Andy, on the other hand, looked miserable; his stomach was feeling terrible, and he was sweating profusely.
"Go for it, halfway boy!"
"No powers!"
The moment Hyoubu heard the shouts, he raised an eyebrow and inquired what the prisoners meant by those shouts.
"No powers?"
"Eh? Oh yeah. That bastard is really pathetic. ESP tests showed proper readings, but he can't use any powers at all." A brawny bald man explained with a look of disdain on his face.
Then another prisoner chimed in. "He isn't an esper. And he isn't normal. He's somewhere halfway in between."
"Ohhh? No powers, you say." Hyoubu was now grinning wildly.
And while they were discussing Andy, he, on the other hand, was getting his ass handed to him by the other prisoner.
He felt miserable, and his body wouldn't respond the way he wanted it to. So all he could do was minimize the damage of the other prisoners punches by staying on the defensive.
But his sluggish body was still too slow as punch after punch landed on his midsection, then on his face; he was sweating profusely while also spitting out blood.
"Hey, what's wrong, lucky boy!"
"You're letting him get the better of you!"
"Make this a little more exciting!"
The prisoners were all getting way too into it. Shouting all kinds of insults at Andy, who was getting beaten like a dog.
The atmosphere was becoming rowdier with each second.
""Dammit! Something's definitely wrong." Andy panted between labored breaths. While he barely stayed upright.
His eyes were now unfocused when suddenly his opponent charged right at him with his fists clutched tightly.
But instead of defending himself, Andy could barely make out what was happening in front of him as he was decked straight in the face.
He was flung to the ground with a grunt. "Khhg"
Panting heavily, he couldn't muster any strength; that's when he suddenly saw Hyoubu standing over him.
"Something is wrong with my body." He barely managed to squeeze out between labored breaths.
"Oh? So I guess I was right."
When Andy heard Hyoubu say that, he glared at him, waiting for the explanation.
"The stew I gave you seems to have been poisoned!" Hyoubu declared with a big smile.
"What?!"
Hyoubu now had an evil grin on his face. "Don't get so mad. Now you can go to the hospital like you wanted."
"I granted your wish. Make sure to keep that promise of yours."
Hyoubu casually remarked, standing there leisurely.
"Damn you! What are you..." Andy growled.
But before he could finish his sentence, two guards suddenly appeared.
"What's going on here?!"
"Someone is injured. Him, right here." Hyoubu casually replied while pointing at Andy.
While the guards helped Andy upright, Hyoubu's earlier jovial expression had vanished; in its stead, a satisfied grin had appeared.
Andy, on the other hand, couldn't help but look at Hyoubu and wonder what he was planning.
***
"I!" Andy suddenly shouted as he shot upright, in a cold sweat.
But the moment he did, he looked around stunned. Where was he? Instead of being surrounded by prison walls, of his prison cell, he was in a clean room, lying on a rather comfortable medical examination chair.
The room was rather spacious compared to his cell, and all kinds of medical equipment were scattered around in it.
"Where am I?" he muttered, not sure what to make of the current situation.
"Did you finally wake up?" Hyoubu casually asked the still confused Andy.
Alarmed at the sudden question, Andy sharply turned his head to look at who it was.
"Hyoubu!" he exclaimed.
"I made sure to give you the antidote. You should thank me." Hyoubu casually said with a shrug.
"You were the one who gave me the poison in the first place!"
He turned and scanned the unfamiliar room once more.
"By the way. What is this place? It looks rather dangerous to me."
His earlier playful attitude was now gone as Hyoubu had a serious expression on his face.
"This is what the prison calls the hospital."
"What?! They aren't healing people here! They're experimenting on them!"
"That's right, this is what normals do. They think of espers as nothing but tools." Hyoubu replied.
"Hyoubu, don't tell me you knew about this when you gave me that poison." Andy inquired, now glaring at Hyoubu's back.
"Hey, where are you going?!" he shouted.
"Didn't I tell you? I have important business here. If you want to run away, feel free."
With that, he left Andy's room.
"Wait up!"
Jumping out of his chair, Andy ran after him. "Honestly. This is the problem with espers..."
Suddenly, he saw a flashlight shining from behind the corner; he hid behind the wall. Peeking to see who was here.
Without hesitation, he dashed at the unsuspecting guard that was patrolling the corridors.
In one fluid motion he appeared behind the man and, with practiced ease, put him in a chokehold. Letting go when the man was unconscious.
Andy put the guard down and inspected his weapon, also checking how much ammo the gun had.
"Plenty of ammo left," he muttered.
"Oh? You seem used to this." Hyoubu said, after observing Andy take care of a guard with ease.
"I was told you have trouble here in prison. But it looks like you were faking it." He stated, leaning with his back against the wall.
"After leaving high school in the states, I was in the army for a while. No one in my hometown wanted to hire an esper."
"Oh? So you know how the world works."
"Shut up!" Andy declared.
Then Hyoubu quickly made his way toward his destination. After a couple minutes of navigating through the hospital, they arrived at a large door with a large plaque hanging above it.
"Your business is here?" Andy asked.
"Yes." Without waiting for him, Hyoubu entered through the large door. The door opened automatically via a sensor.
Andy quickly read the plaque. "Imperial Army Third Psychic Life Form Laboratory?"