"Sogo, how long did you set the explosion delay for?" Doma still wanted to make one last desperate attempt, Gui Long.
"Uh!" Sogo Doma's voice came through. "Ten..."
Ten? Ten hours? If it was ten hours, there was still time to struggle for survival. If it was ten minutes, Keiryu Doma felt he needed to grab his passport and get out of there as soon as possible.
"Nine."
Keiryu Doma: "???"
"Eight."
Keiryu Doma poured medicine into his mouth as he lay down on his side.
"Seven."
"What a deathly countdown. I don't know why, but suddenly I really want to see the cherry blossoms back home. I probably won't get to see them again..."
"Zero!"
As the countdown ended, Sogo Doma suddenly yelled into the phone.
"Bang!"
Keiryu Doma, who had been reminiscing about the cherry trees back home, jolted. Had it exploded? Was there still time to run?
"So, did I scare you, old man?" Sogo Doma sounded unusually pleased.
Keiryu Doma: "..."
What did he mean? Had he been tricked? Damn it, this wasn't about whether he'd been scared. It was about whether he'd wet himself. Thank goodness, thank goodness it was a joke. He'd rather be tricked!
But...
Looking at all the medical supplies scattered across the floor...
Thinking about how he'd been so furious just moments ago, yet still had to patiently talk Sogo down...
And remembering how he'd prepared to run...
Especially at the end, when Keiryu Doma had even recalled being a child and eating lunch beneath a cherry tree with his mother. He knew that was a life flashing before his eyes, the kind of scene people saw when they were on the verge of death and consumed by despair...
Then anger welled up inside him. But after suppressing it a