The thorns slam into the shield. It's hard, harder than it was to deflect Steven's, and he already knows he couldn't make it against that. There's a split second of panic, and then Gongenzaka calls out for him.

Yuya looks up at the outstretched vine. He takes a deep breath, slowly rising. Then he surges forward, shield dropping with his movement as he lunges for the vine. He's not fast enough to dodge all of the torns, and the piercing into his skin is immediately painful--but he's too caught on the adrenaline of surviving to even worry about that, right now, head spinning with the need to get out.

Not just that, but he got through to Steven. Yuya resolves, even if he can't save him right now, that he'll definitely come back for Steven.

But right now, he lets Gongenzaka pull him to safety as fast as they can.