🟠 Chapter 6 :
"Alright, Raynar. I'll see you later."
"Later, Takeru."
I left after saying goodbye to Raynar, who waved at me excitedly after hearing my idea about escaping. When I returned to Ren, he was staring at me curiously, trying to figure out what was going on.
"You're back, Takeru-dono. So… what were you two talking about?"
He's always so straightforward. Since he's part of this, I had to tell him.
"In truth, we were talking about a possible prison escape."
His expression froze. Honestly, I can't blame him. Who would expect someone like me to even think about escaping? Even Ren himself didn't believe it.
"Takeru-dono… I understand this prison is harsh, but I didn't expect it would make you lose your mind so quickly."
Wow. He has absolutely no faith in me. I need to fire him up a little.
"Listen, Ren. I haven't lost my mind or anything. We were thrown in here unjustly. Our sentences are unknown, and we don't even know what will happen to us if we stay here. I get that you're optimistic, but we can't just say 'the future will be better' while doing nothing. If we want to get out, we need to move. We can't just sit around."
"But what if you fail the escape? What then?"
"Failing while trying is still better than rotting in here. You and I both know we were imprisoned unjustly. We still don't know why Boral tricked us. Ren, we're not fugitives or criminals—we're just two people who want what's rightfully ours. Don't forget your dream. That dream you…" I paused. "Wait, what was your dream again?"
"…To save the world."
"Oh, right. Don't forget that. You want to save the world from… whatever it is you want to save it from. So what's it going to be? Will you join me, or will you just keep fighting over chicken every week?"
He stayed silent for a few minutes, thinking. Then finally gave me his answer.
"…Alright. You're right. We can't just sit around and wait for some unknown fate. I'll help you escape. Just… I hope you actually have a good plan."
"Don't worry. I've got an amazing plan."
Amazing might be an exaggeration, but it was enough to make him trust me.
That night, back in my cell, I went over everything.
With Ren, I knew the role he would play.
With Raynar, it was the same.
As for Simon… he would be the one exposed to everyone.
But honestly, I still felt hesitation.
I wasn't sure if I could pull this off.
Maybe I'd fail.
But even if I failed, I had to try.
And I still needed to know who that man was—the one speaking to Boral that day. I had to find out before the week ended.
The next day, I began comparing voices, trying to match the one I had heard with the prison guards. They probably thought I was being nosy and annoying, but I didn't care.
Unfortunately, none of their voices matched. That day, I found nothing.
The following day, however, everything became clear.
It happened while I was taken to clean the toilets again. The stench was unbearable, as always. Hours passed until the shift ended.
On the way back to the cells, one of the guards approached us and handed me that suspicious gum.
"Here you go, kid. You'll need it to get your strength back after all that cleaning."
And then it clicked.
This guard's voice was the same as the one I'd heard speaking to Boral. I was sure of it. His name was Grote, a massive blond man with arms big enough to crush my skull.
That gum… something was definitely wrong with it.
Pieces started to fall into place.
I'd find out what this gum really did.
I'd test it on one of the rats that always ran around my cell.
And that night, my plan finally came together.
Days later, the night of the escape finally arrived.
The guards didn't mind letting a few prisoners help Raynar cook. Simon had already been released earlier that morning.
Ren and I went to bring some food supplies into the kitchen.
But inside, we found two other inmates helping Raynar.
"Oh come on, why now?"
Sure, any prisoner could technically help him cook…
But let's be real. Nobody wanted to go near Raynar.
"Raynar, why are those two helping you today?"
"They said they were bored of sitting in their cells and wanted to do something."
Really? They just happened to feel bored today? Couldn't they have been bored yesterday instead? Great. Unwanted guests, and they might follow us too.
Well, whatever. I'll deal with it.
I asked Raynar about the wall.
"Raynar, where's that wall you said was weak?"
"It's right behind those two crates."
"Perfect."
He had told me before that during his many failed escape attempts, he'd dug tunnels from the kitchen outward. He always knew he would fail, so he tried different places each time. One of his contacts on the outside secretly smuggled him tools to do it.
And although this wall hadn't been fully dug through, it had become thin and fragile—weak enough to be smashed with the right strength.
"Alright. Now we just need the guards asleep so they can't chase us."
Ren gave me a puzzled look.
"Takeru-dono… how are we going to make the guards sleep? We don't have any sedatives."
"You're wrong, Ren. We do."
I had already run a little experiment. I gave some of that gum to a rat, and not long after, it collapsed unconscious. Which meant… the gum was a sedative.
I crushed and mixed the gum into the bean stew. It was far softer than regular gum, easy to cut into pieces. I had gathered enough of them to drug the meal completely.
Ren and Raynar were skeptical, but eventually understood.
"Takeru… you're saying that stuff they give us during toilet cleaning is actually a sedative?" Ren asked.
"That's right. I tested it on a rat. It works."
"…Fine. At this point, we'll just have to trust you," Ren said.
Raynar grinned. "Well, this is getting interesting."
The two other prisoners grew suspicious.
"What are you guys doing? Some kind of escape plan?"
No point explaining everything now. If they wanted to escape, they'd figure it out soon enough.
"You'll understand when the time comes," I said.
Dinner was served to the guards.
And soon, one by one, they all collapsed into sleep.
Everyone froze in disbelief.
Even Ren couldn't believe it.
"No way… that candy was actually a sedative?"
Raynar, on the other hand, was thrilled.
"This is incredible! This'll be the best escape attempt ever!"
Ren stepped up to the weakened wall. Using his ability, he increased the weight of his strike, and with a single punch, the wall crumbled apart.
Raynar's eyes sparkled with excitement.
"Unbelievable, Ren! You're a monster!"
The two other inmates were stunned.
"Look, Rick! This is a real prison break! They weren't idiots after all!"
"You're right, Zeke! We can't miss this. We're joining in!"
And just like that, the prison escape had begun.