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As Komiya stood watching Tsunoda's dust cloud dissipate, he realized he wanted to go check on his own "baby", not only out of pride but out of fear it would be sabatoged by Buta and the crew.

He usually kept it parked behind the parking lot's storage shed to hide it, and it was still there when he arrived to check on it.

It was a small yellow motorcycle, not a "hog" as he had heard referred, but a small road cycle. It wasn't much, but it fit him perfectly and it got him from point a to point b. He'd spent a small fortune on it and it was one of the few things in his life that he could claim as exclusively his.

He circled it, running his hands over the seat and handlebars, feeling for any kind of difference. The tires looked okay as did the brake lines. Buta hadn't found it, excellent.

As he inspected the cycle, he thought of Tsunoda, and how she might look on the back of it behind him. He thought of her closeness and how it would feel to have her arms around his waist holding onto him tightly to keep from falling off as he drove them at top speed, feeling her lovely face buried into the back of his shoulder...

He shook his head, bringing himself back to reality and gave himself a small, melancholic smile. Why was he bothering himself about her? She was a beauty, and beauties didn't give guys like him the time of day. He might as well just accept it.

Leaving his fantasies to wither next his motorcycle, he headed back to the site to try to get his assignments done before he lost his job.

The work day flew past as he threw himself into his assignments, sometimes hurting his back and hands worse in the process. The sun beating into his shoulders and eyes made the pain in his head rise into a falsetto note, adding to the symphony of pain the rest of him was already in.

By clocking-out time he could hardly move, his back and shoulders aching to the bone and scorched from doing way too much for them to handle and being in the sun too long, his fingers barely being able to flex, and his head screaming behind his eyes to the point of not being able to focus on anything without squinting.

As he limped to his locker in the employee trailer and opened the door, he pulled off his hardhat and pressed the side of his throbbing head to the inside of the open door, enjoying its coolness and praying for some sort of relief from the pain of his body.

He wasn't even sure if he could ride home in this condition, and he didn't have any pain pills on him at the moment. He thanked the gods it was the start of a weekend so he could go home and heal somewhat.

He froze and his ear cocked slightly as he heard the sound of Buta's boots coming up behind him.

Without turning around, with his head still on the locker door, Komiya managed a mumble.

"What do you-"

The next things he became aware of were the back of the inside of his locker rushing at him, a loud slamming sound, an intense pain in his tail, and laughter. Confused for a second, he tried to turn around only to find himself surrounded by metal and held in place by the locker door as he heard the sound of a lock snick into place.

Komiya began banging on the inside of the locker door, not caring about the ache in his hands and back.

"LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT, BUTA, YOU..."

He heard the sound of Buta and the others laughing, and the big warthog banged on the other side of the door back at him.

"That's what you get for snappin' at me, fuzzball! See ya Monday!"

Buta gave one final huge bang on the locker door, making Komiya wince from the pain in his head. He shouted and banged back, cursing, as he heard the others leave, and watched through the cracks in the doorframe in horror and anger as they turned the lights off in the locker room as they left.

Komiya shouted, cursed, banged and kicked at the door, but no luck. The lock Buta had put in place held fast. Finally, as a last ditch, desperate act, he slammed his aching shoulder against the door, causing him to scream in pain.

He slowly sank to the floor of the locker, easily bringing his knees up to his chest and weeping quietly from pain and embarrassment. His head was still pounding and his shoulder and hands were sobbing at him. Bringing his tail around, he inspected it and found there was a hot, swollen kink in it, near the tip. He tried to touch it but it screamed in pain as his fingers brushed it. Evidently it had either been bitten, stomped on, or slammed in the locker door during Buta's "prank". He gently pressed it to a cool part of the locker floor, trying to sooth it.

Komiya leaned his head back against the locker wall behind him, trying to find something good to think about to keep his spirit up, and not let himself lapse into self-pity.
He thought of Renato, his son, and how he'd be getting worried because Dad wasn't home yet. He thought of his grandmother, who had helped raise both he and Renato, Renato to his current age of 11, Komiya from the young age of a newborn kit. He loved his family, and knew they loved him back.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed home.

It rang a couple of times, then his son picked up.

"Hello?"

Komiya put on his cheeriest, most casual voice.

"Hey, Ren, how's it going?"

"Hi, Dad! It's going good, Gramma made supper already but we saved you some. Is everything ok? You're running really late."

Komiya leaned his head back against the wall again as he spoke.

"Everything's good, kit, everything's good. There's been an...an accident here at work-"

"Oh, Dad are you ok??"

... and I have to stay for a while until we get it taken care of-yes, Ren, I'm fine."

Komiya didn't like having to lie to his son but he didn't want him to worry.

"Should I tell Gramma?"

Komiya felt the blood begin to rush to his face and eyes. He didn't want to have to lie to his grandmother, either.

"How about you just tell Gramma that I'm going to be late and I'll explain to her get when I get home, how about that? I don't want her to worry, either. You know her, she'll freak out."

"I know. I'll go tell Gramma and let you go. Love you, Dad."

"Love you too, son."

Renato hung up, leaving Komiya alone again in the silent, metal box.

"You know, if you don't get out of here, you're going to die by Monday..." Keiko said in his head.

"I know, dear, I know," he muttered to himself.

Sometimes he would imagine Keiko, his wife, talking to him in his head when he was stressed out. It helped keep him calm, and he always knew exactly what she would say. She was gone from his life now, but that didn't stop him from still loving her and imagining she was still there with him.

"I don't need you joining me right now..." She said again.

"I'd love to sometimes, though."

"Think of our son, Komiya..."

Komiya wept a little bit again, thinking back on what had happened with her and Renato, and everything that had gone wrong in his life. He couldn't help it as the tears came.

After Ren was born, she had just sort of...faded...like the energy had slowly left her, and then she was gone. Renato was all he had left of her, and he loved him so much.

Komiya raised his head in resolve.

He'd get out of here or die trying, on his own, with no help from anyone here. He wanted to prove to them all he was strong enough to escape. For Renato, and by proxie, Keiko.