Surna High

The uniform ringing of several dozen bells marked the start of another school day. The entrance was flooded with high school students, all eager to make it in before deemed tardy. In a particular classroom on a particularly comfortable chair, drinking from a particular water bottle that smelled vaguely of vodka, was the school's famous, sometimes infamous, Science and English teacher, Mr. Shire. He put his bottle away, for it only looked like water when the smell wasn't there, and tried to act like a real teacher by looking through his roster. His interest piqued when he found a familiar name scrunched between the expected bunch. Thus, a grin crossed his lips. "Well, well. This's gonna be a good year..."

Meanwhile, Principle Hook was taking a walk through the central plaza of the school, accompanied by the Assistant Dean. "Always the same. They're never early, always barely making it on time." Alfred took a moment to comb his bushy mustache. "Well, it'd be for the best if it stays like this. I can take my last few years easy, and retire peacefully. That would be nice, wouldn't it?" He turned to the assistant dean, adjusting his glasses with a smile.

"Well, actually, sir, we may have a small problem on our hands." The man held up his clipboard, flipping through several printed papers. "You said we should accept as many transfers as possible for the sake of the budget, but some of these students had questionable records. I took the liberty of looking through all the worst cases..."

"Oh? That's good, then we'll be able to root them all out before it's too la-" Hook stopped himself as the man's expression grew more unsure. "Well, that's not what I wanted to bring up, Principle Hook. One of the students... he didn't have any records. I even checked with his previous schools. At best, all I could muster were some questionable rumors about gang involvement. If you'll accompany me to my office, sir, I'll show you all the details."

Hook adjusted his glasses. "That would be... for the best, yes. No sense in discussing something this important in public."

"Yeah, gramps. Mus' be goin' deaf, I could hear ya from the other side'a the school!" Hook looked around, but he was met with nothing but crowds of students.. and a stray spitball landing precisely on the bald spot of his head. Furious, he stormed off in the direction of the main building, en route to the Assistant Dean's office.

Zayl took his seat about three rows deep in exactly the center column. His homeroom was for multiple grades, which he'd soon find to be a mixed blessing. Sitting behind him was the most amazing girl he'd ever seen. Their teacher, Mr. Shire, was taking role, but it fell upon deaf ears. He could only hear the words of the angel behind him. She was but a dove that could do no wrong, and her name was...

"..Kelly Laurence?"

"Huh? Oh, here! I'm here!" She stretched her arm way up and swung it about.

Oh, how he swooned! How his tender heart beat with new vigor, as if struck and charged by the thunderous lightning of love! He was blushing just thinking about it. Zayl crossed his arms and sunk his head beneath them, lost in his own thoughts. This, of course, caused him to miss his own name.

"...Zayl Rathman? Mr. Rathman? Am I saying it wrong? Raythman? Roythman, maybe. Oh, Zayil, not Zayl? Uh. Well, guess he's not here..." Marius shrugged and put down an X.

"Wait a second, Mr. Shire. Zayl's here, he's just sleeping in class and setting a terrible example." A large, helmeted student, conveniently to Zayl's left, was quick to point out his flaws.

"Ah... Maybe you should keep the sleeping to your bed, Mr. Rathman. Wouldn't want you having any wet dreams in my class."

Zayl slowly sat up, blinking himself awake. "Wha-.. huh?" The boy to his left granted more unnecessary assistance by pointing beneath his desk. To Zayl's horror, he found that his obsessive focus of Kelly had gotten more than his heart and mind excited.

"And.. I take it the helpful helmet head here is.. Mr. Razel?" Marius aimed the butt of his pen at Thorn, seated to Zayl's left. "'Bout that, Mr. Shire. Sorry, but I prefer bucket-head..."

"Right, right. You got it, bucket head. Now, next on this is list is..."

Hook stared at the student's profile he held in his hands. "You know, it sounds silly, but I can't shake the feeling that I've met this student somewhere before."

The Assistant Dean shook his head. "That just can't be right, this is the first time he's set foot in this school, sir."

Alfred gave it a shrug. He drew a handkerchief from his coat pocket, unfolded it, and dabbed it along his newly sweating forehead. "Either way, have the Student Body do something about him. If it gets worse, feel free to take it into your own hands. I guess I won't be able to take it easy after all." Hook leaned in and read the name under his breath.

"...Redwell. Is there a Kain Redwell present?" Silence followed. Zayl scratched his nose and pondered upon the name. A few of his classmates were doing the same. It was vaguely familiar, like he'd heard it in passing, or maybe on the news. Who knows, he could've seen it on YouTube or Facebook, knowing Zayl's memory with these things.

"Nothing? Well, I guess he's absent, too-" Shire was interrupted by the door being slammed open. In walked a tall youth, eighteen at his youngest, clad in a loose, black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, and a white T beneath. Polished white Nike's strode forth to the front of the class. The newcomer lifted a set of shades and looked straight at Marius. "Sorry. 'Fraid I'm actually here, teach."

"Then, you should take a seat, Kain. I'm sure you had difficulty finding your way here, so I'll excuse today's tardy... but, you know, too many won't be good for a senior. Especially a transferring one like you." Marius held out the silly handout sheet he'd given to everyone else in the room.

"Heh. Hey, whatever works." Kain took it with a shrug and found himself a seat in the back of the room. He fell back into the seat and folded his arms behind his head, set his legs upon the desk and crossed them as if the room were his. "Time fer my mornin' nap..."

Most of the class payed him no mind. Wanna-be's and tough guys were somewhat common in the school. Most took to laughing over him and passing jokes in quiet. Most wondered if Mr. Shire was going to knock some sense into the asshole. But Marius just didn't seem to make note of it. He resumed role-call until it was over. "Alright. Now, we got fifteen minutes to do nothing, so just try and shut up for a while."

Marius didn't wait for a response. He didn't hear it when it came, either, for he had held up a newspaper, and covertly placed his iPod's earphones on afterward, and rested his head back, drifting into a short slumber. Perhaps he didn't bother with Kain because they were two of a kind.

These thoughts and more ran through Zayl's head as he came to terms with the fact that a student had disrespected Mr. Shire and gotten away with it unscathed. Something here wasn't right. But in the end, all it meant to Zayl was a bigger list of things to keep far away from. Again, he sunk his head behind his literal "armed" fortress and let the period slip by. It seemed High School was probably going to be... different, for once.

Jens stared out the open window with a down-trodden heart. It wasn't easy being an honor student. Lots of work, not much free time, a poor excuse of a social life and no love life, whatsoever. His hand had went from jotting notes to writing short soliloquies that reeked of existentialism. Every time Jens glanced down, he felt a little disgusted with himself for having sunk so low into depression. The Shakespearean Lit teacher, Mr. Aurelius, just droned on and on, dulling Jens' senses even further.

Thus, as he sat there, being forcibly pushed into a half-conscious, meditative trance by the eccentric educator's dull lecture, a ray of hope shined upon his heart. There she was, the one. A smile crept upon his face. He leaned his head out the open window. If he could just look at her for a moment.. if he could take in her presence, her glow, just maybe it would be enough to keep him going for a little lo-

A pie connected with Jens. Then, a hand came down and picked off a piece. Jens looked up to find none other than Marcus and Zaku hanging outside the window to Home Economics, eating their class project ahead of the due date. "Hey there, Jensy." Zaku curled himself out the window and hung around like some sort of cat. "Tastes good, huh?" Whilst safely dangling off the third story window, he set to work on lighting a joint. Jens couldn't quite bring himself to respond. He blankly looked on as pie slowly dripped off his face in bulbous chunks of cream and crust. Zaku could sense something was wrong with his good buddy. His good intentions were meaningless, however, when he was pulled up by an enraged Marcus.

"Look, Zaku, I don't mind if you're okay with dying, but don't fucking die next to me, retard." It wasn't exactly clear who Marcus was worrying over. "That's a god damn suspension, you cat bastard." And then, it was. Marcus resumed consumption of the pie project with as sour a look as he could manage. This was completely normal for Zaku. Marcus had a tendency of only getting moodier as time went on; kind of like Jens, but more angry and hostile.

Zaku held back a hiss, licking his hands of all pie-like elements. He would've said something in return, but just then, a small army composed of the female Home-Ec students had grappled him by the arms and legs and dragged him off to another corner of the room.

Marcus shot up from his seat. Zaku could have been in trouble, or worse, he could've been having the time of his life. Either way, Marcus couldn't allow that. "Hey, you stupid fucking cunts! Get back here! And give me back my pie!" He hopped off the window and chased them through the room.

Jens stared on, mind blank. Most of the pie had already dripped off. He held his head and turned back to his ray of sunshine, but she was gone. Oh, how his heart wrenched. How it cried out in pain! He longed for her gaze, but he knew they were worlds apart. They could never be as one in a place like this. "..Oh, Christina..."



Christina blinked. Had someone said her name? "Nah... must be getting paranoid again." She was applying make-up in the courtyard, having ditched class at the start of the period. It wasn't easy making boy-toys out of the gutless wimps that populated the school. It took care, and effort, and time between classes to prepare. She closed her pocket-sized cosmetic mirror with a satisfied smirk. Of course, the affection was all an act. She'd never do anything so disgusting with a -guy-. Now, a girl like...

"No, no, no! You're doing it wrong, -again-." Alyssa Munroe was not happy. This was the poorest excuse of a fencing club she'd seen in her entire high school life. It was fine before school had started. Intersession clubs tended to get better after the year began. But, come on, a month and a half and her club had made little to no progress. Last year's seniors had graduated, leaving her to snag as many new members as she could, but all she managed was a desperate bunch that just wanted to look cool and have something to pass time with. She looked on with hopelessness. "Guys, come on. It's been a month- I've showed you the basics, but some of you haven't even gotten the stances down." She placed her right hand on her hip leaned on the same leg. "Do you want to stand a chance in the Regionals or what?" The responses were dismal.

Christina approached her mark by circumnavigating behind several trees. She stopped when she could see the blond up close. Unbeknown to her, a disgruntled Alex was to her right, under the very same tree, fixing equipment as slowly as he could. Now and then, he'd accidentally tear a small rip while he was sowing things together. Each time he would, Alyssa would cringe noticeably, and her fellow club members quaked with suppressed fear.

The shadow of the club captain slowly loomed over its manager. Christina was smart enough to duck behind the tree. "Alex, what's wrong with you? Pay attention to what you're doing, for once! Look at all of this! You're making as many tears as you're fixing. We barely have enough members to get just a little funding from the school, what happens if we spend it all fixing equipment? How are we going to pay for the trip to the Regionals?"

Alex looked up at his sister. His eyes were filled with weariness and boredom. He sympathized with her, he really did, but only on weekends. "Look, Sis, it's kind of obvious we're not going to make it past Regionals this year... Why bother going?" Alyssa's glare didn't waver. "...Lyss, come on. You know it as well I do."

"All I know is that none of you are even trying anymore, and it really, really annoys me. Ugh, I'm.. gonna go get some water or something. Keep practicing." She turned on her heel and stormed off.

"Wha- Lyss, wait! Hey-" Alex had to sigh. "Why do they punish the messenger? See, guys. I told her, and it didn't work. Happy now?" The other members shrugged. A few looked guilty, most indifferent. All Alex could do was shrug and return to his work. He did take care to avoid causing more damage, but compensated it with pricking his own fingers, leaving blood stains as he went. Oh well.

As for Christina, she was taking peeks the whole time. Where had her prey run off to? Well, she'd find her again, eventually. Christina wandered off, too, not finding much interest in a bunch of sweaty guys waving around their limp rods.



Zayl was working as a TA for the nurse's office this period. It was a very official position, but ultimately that of a lackey, and Thorn never let him live it down. This was especially annoying, considering Thorn's knack for successfully skipping classes and napping in the nurse's office. Being a prized football player had its benefits. Surna High wasn't the most dignified and honest of schools, after all.

"Hey, Zayl, pass me the soda in my bag, would ya?" Thorn rolled in the comfortable sickbed, resting his helmeted head on the pillow. Zayl shrugged, and began fishing out the soda. He looked over his shoulder at the oh-so-comfortable Thorn, and knew that his happiness couldn't go unpunished. With a glint in his eyes, Zayl stealthily shook the soda to and fro. Thorn didn't seem to notice, yawning to himself. "You done yet?"

"Yes, I just found it." He turned around and tried to hide his glee. "Here you go." He held the soda out, and Thorn took it without a second thought, sitting up with a light crack of his back. He aimed the soda at Zayl and pulled the pin. A spray of mountain dew coated Zayl's dumb expression. His reaction, though delayed, was priceless.

"...What. How did you- I didn't even-" He rubbed his face, getting the soda over his hands. As it dried, his hands and face felt especially sticky. "No- No, I won't be reduced by this deliciously sticky soft drink. I refuse to take this abuse. I-" and then, Thorn burped in his face. Though it wasn't very effective with Thorn's visor on, it did get Zayl to shut up.

"Hrm? What'cha say? Ah, whatever. You should clean yourself up, you know. Don't worry, I'll hold the fort. Oh, and mop the floor while you're at it, the nurse'll get mad." Zayl's response encompassed no more than three dots. He left the office to wash up.

"Oh, while you're out, get me a pack of e-" He didn't catch the rest of Thorn's request, having shut the door on him.

"Note to self..." Zayl talked to himself to pass the time. He did it a little too often, but it couldn't be helped. No one ever listened to his monologues, except himself. "...Survive Junior year... Kill Mr. Shire.. Kill Mr. Aurelius.. kill Thorn- No, wait. Kill Thorn, AND THEN Mr. Shire..." He unknowingly passed by a set of eyes that watched him intently.

Kain was leaning up against his locker, arms crossed. The first day and he was already ditching class. Well, Home Economics wasn't exactly his strong point. Rather, he was more curious as to why a Mountain Dew-flavored student was walking the halls. The interest died when an angry blonde pony-tail passed by. He could tell it was angry by the way it bobbed. Kain knew pony-tails all too well. He cooly began following her.

Zayl had finished up washing himself through the use of a drinking fountain. He couldn't stand the boy's restroom in this building. They were filled with the same thing that populated the rest of the school: shit. However, there was an abundance of it in this one. Most of the toilets never flushed- too clogged up. Zayl often pestered the faculty to do something about it, but the Janitor, Mr. Bork, wasn't.. too bright. Regardless, on his return path, he, too, spotted the angry blonde, and couldn't help but take interest. After all, anything was better than Thorn.

So, a little train of students went down the Hall in the order of Alyssa, Kain, Zayl, and Christina, who had finally caught on to Alyssa's trail. Of the four, only the second and last were amused, and the third, just confused. Finally taking note of the rogue-student-train, Kain decided to stop the distraught Alyssa and strike up a conversation- better he get her first than whoever else was behind him.

Unfortunately, things never went as planned...

"Stop right there, criminal scum!" It was none-other than John Udgrad, one of the Student Disciplinary Task Force. To make matters worse, behind him was none-other than the Force's Vice Captain, Eleanor Ventulus. She, however, was more level-headed than her subordinate, though, she was dressed a little heavier than necessary. One might wonder why so many layers were required during Spring... "Um, John, maybe you should stop quoting those games... That said, this is a large group to be out of class."

Alyssa wasn't getting any happier, but she was a little confused. "What? Group?" It came to her attention that she was being followed.

Kain offered a friendly wave. "Hi."

"Uh, hi." She gave him a questionable look. Was he a greaser or something? Hair definitely didn't hover like that naturally. More importantly, what was this guy doing following her around? "Um, sorry, but what are you doing, who are you, and.. Zayl, is that you?"

"Uhhh. Yes... hi there." Zayl provided a meek wave, weaving himself into the little conversation. Christina followed, but alas, she was kept from her mark once more- an overly suspicious John walked in and separated them.

"Alright, focus here, would you? You're not supposed to be here- now, show us some passes, or we'll have to escort you to the Dean's. If you resist, we're allowed to use force..." Zayl got the impression John wanted him to resist. He quickly reached for his pass- wait a second, pass? He definitely didn't bring that with him.

In fact, none of them did. A group 'Uhh' followed. John turned to Eleanor. Eleanor facepalmed back to John. She stepped past him. "Guess it can't be helped. First day, and they're already ditching... come on, you're all going to the Dean's office." She walked by and turned to face the group with an adamant expression, expecting them to follow.

Alyssa's mood was just getting worse and worse. Christina had every intention of ditching this, but somehow, she felt a lingering attachment to the the pretty blond, and besides, she wasn't one to give up that easily. Zayl... was pretty helpless, and did a poor job of explaining himself. Incoherent was his jumbled speech, and Eleanor could only give him a look of sympathy; she was just doing her job, after all.

As for Kain, well, he was the troublemaker here, and he was jumping at a shot to resist- but it wasn't he that spoke up first. No, it was the irate Munroe. "Look, it's my free period right now, and I'm part of the fencing club- I'm even wearing part of the suit, see?" She pinched part of the white cloth and held it out. "I was just-.. blowing some steam, I'll go back to the club, so just let me go, okay? I wasn't trying to ditch or anything, I just.. needed a break." Lyss was calming down. She was faced with an expression of sympathy, and thought Eleanor would let her be. No such luck.

"I'm terribly sorry, but Principal Hook has asked us to strictly enforce all rules and regulations this year. We'll be keeping tighter watch now... I'm afraid that means any form of skipping official activities is to be punished. But, if you cooperate, we can lessen it to a simple lunch detention." But, Eleanor knew her job well. She knew as she mentioned this, at least one of these four was going to resist.

Kain walked by Alyssa and stopped at Eleanor's feet. He looked her in the eyes, and she challenged his gaze just the same. Somehow, Zayl knew this wasn't going to end well.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Eleanor was amused. He was pretty tall, this guy that was standing up to her. Past her height, for sure, which was a surprise, as Eleanor generally towered over others her age. His manner of dress was... a little flashy. It had a touch of style, but she didn't care much for that kind of thing. As for his build, she couldn't say for sure, but it had to be better than average for him to stand up to John and herself. What really struck her, though, was his attitude, or rather, his eyes. They were different from the usual cocky delinquent. They were relaxed, reserved, and calmly rebelling against her own. If she didn't know any better, she'd have to guess that the student before her had the strangest air of seeming like he... knew what he was doing.

Now, that was suspicious.

She was the first to speak, keeping her tone professional. "Is there something you want to say?" She waited for his challenge. The answer was a little disappointing.

Kain shrugged at her, looking away for a moment, before turning back with a grin. "Nah. Not particularly. By the way, never got'cher name, miss, uh, hall monitor girl."

"My name is Eleanor. Now, please come with the rest..."

"Ellie, huh? Name's Kain, nice t' mee'cha, El." He extended a hand in addition to his greeting; He seemed to only hear what he wanted to hear.

She dismissed his odd friendliness- the distraction was obvious. "...Please don't call me that. And now's not the time for this." Of course, she knew that wasn't going to be enough to stop this charade, and had a terrible feeling this was going to be very drawn out.

"What? Yeah, it is. Look, if yer not gonna be friendly, I'm takin' my friends n' leavin', okay?"

"No, you're not."

Kain's grin melted into a frown. "What, are ya lonely're somethin'? Look, yer monkey over there'll keep ya company." He thumbs over to John.

She ignored the gesture. "Don't make this difficult."

John approaches Kain from behind, cracking his knuckles. "I think he -wants- it difficult, Vice-Captain."

Eleanor met John with a stern response. "John, stay back unless I tell you otherwise."

The lackey loosened his fist, but he obviously didn't look happy, being the type to punch first and ask later. "...Disrespect against the student faculty is also against the rules, ma'am. I should've canned him sooner."

Kain raised a brow. "Ah, please, y'couldn't can a sardine. Back off, pal, yer killin' the mood."

Kain brang his attention back to the VCP. "So, Ellie, y'look like a reasonable chick, all nice n' proper. I like that. I can respec' that. But, we're at an impass 'ere, y'see."

Eleanor wasn't impressed. "There is no impasse. You can come with me, or we can drag you to the Dean's like a child."

"See! That's the impasse! There ain' no flexibility in there, babe. It's like yer panties're ridin' up, but they're ridin' up in all the wrong ways." He shrugged and shook his head. "Y'need t' loosen' up, y'know, 'cause when y'push the wrong buttons, y'get more trouble than it's worth."

Eleanor's fist tightened. "You're the only one pushing buttons here."

By now, a small crowd had built up from passing students, faculty, and teachers that really didn't want to get involved, but were just too curious for their own good. John diverted his frustration to the crowd, ordering the students, at least, to keep moving, and asking the faculty not to stare. While some did leave, it was more of a short jog until they were out of John's yelling range, where they resumed playing the role of an audience.

Zayl, Lyss, and Christina had been in the background, inching away when they realized that neither of their captors were paying attention. Zayl had already suggested they wait by the Nurse's office so they could duck inside if things got really bad, and the girls had taken to the idea. Even so, they were watching the proceedings with awe- this was the first time a student ever went this far with Eleanor. Zayl was wondering how long it could last... it almost seemed surreal to him for the same student to survive two close encounters in one day.

As they inched away, Alyssa shook her head out of pity for the poor bastard. "I feel kind of sorry for him. This is probably going to end in Eleanor and John sending him to the Nurse with a bunch of bruises." She considered running back to make a distraction, but... he didn't seem like that good of a guy, anyway. Maybe he was just getting what he deserved.

"Actually, it looks like he's got it handled all by himself." Christina took Alyssa by the wrist and began dragging her back, much to the blond's dismay. "We should just be grateful he's given us the chance to hide, and hide!" The truth was that she wasn't going to get separated after all that, but it wasn't the first time she'd acted.

"You can't be serious... Look at him, he's not going to last." Alyssa... wasn't too clear on why she protested, but either way, she wasn't sharing Christina's confidence. "Hey- stop dragging me, I can get there on my own." Alyssa tried to wrestle herself loose, but Christina wouldn't have it. She only stopped when they'd reached the Nurse's office. Zayl stopped them here. "Whoa, whoa, wait... Uh, Thorn is in here. He's.. technically part of the SDTF. If he catches wind of this, he might care... there's a very slim chance he might care, only because it's Eleanor, but, still." He nervously glanced at the door, then back to the pair. "So, uhhh.. let's just... wait and see for now, okay?"

Christina didn't like this guy, but she liked him more than Thorn, and waiting out Thorn did sound like a good idea. Besides, she'd have a better shot at getting close to Alyssa in this confusion, so.. "Okay, okay. Let's wait." Thus, Alyssa jerked her wrist free and turned to watch with Christina, regularly turning to her mark in the middle of it all; even now, she wanted to take in all those juicy emotions in Alyssa's rapidly shifting expressions.

Back in the center of the chaos, the upstart Redwell had been shifting his battle plan among another silent stare-down. He sighed dejectly. "Y'know what, yer right. That one went a lil' too far. I'm sorry. I mean it, I'm really sorry. But there's jus' no way I can go with ya. You and I... we just weren't meant t'be, Ellie. I... I think it's best if we go our seperate ways, y'know? Live life n' meet other people and jus'.. let bygones be bygones."

"This isn't a game. And I thought I told you to stop calling me that."

Kain stared at her, his relaxed expression slowly disappearing. "Hm. Yer pretty serious. Mos' people would'a given up out'a frustration by now. So y'wan't me t'be serious about this?"

"Yes, if that's possible for you."

"...Alright." He looked away, giving the matter serious thought. Or at least, it look like he was doing that. When he turned back, he had an apologetic expression. "Look.. all I can say is-" and so, he pants'd her "-I'm very sorry about this."

Eleanor stops the pants-ing about halfway down, wearing boxers underneath, with swords on them. Flushing red in anger and embarrassment, she yells, "How dare you!"

Kain's grin spanned continents as he had begun to book it. "That's so adorable!" was all he said before his flight. John was far too shocked for an immediate response. When he turned to chase Kain, there was a sizable gap.

John scrambled to follow. "Hey! Get back here, you punk! Nobody fucks with the Vice Captain!" Well, despite saying that, he had trouble keeping up.

Eleanor pulled her pants up, and watched the chase, fuming. "You won't get away with this!" The faintest cry of an of 'I love you, too' was the only response, amid the slamming of doors, banging of lockers, and crashing of various school materials. She would have followed if she had the dignity left, but instead, left for the Dean's office to make a report about the student. All she had was his first name, but it'd be a cold day in hell when she gave up getting revenge on that idiot.

As for the party that had been watching, they were still watching... from the opposite end of the hall. "Come on, come on, we've got to hide!" Zayl rushed them inside the Nurse's office, opening the door and entering without looking back. Christina followed, and Alyssa moved toward the door, shutting it once Christina was through. Instead, she retreated back out the way she came, intending to see the outcome of the chase. Chasing a complete stranger like this wasn't entirely normal for her. It may have been the adrenaline had getting the best of her, for one, or her boundless curiosity, for two. Who knows, maybe she just wanted to see this guy get his ass beat? Of all the things she was, Alyssa was never one to question instincts.



The period was about to end, and Jens was just about ready to deck the teacher and burst out the room. Well, if he could work up the balls, that is. Aurelius was a nutjob, sure, but he could've floored most anyone in the room. What a whackjob...

"MR. EYTINGE!" That's another thing about him. Aurelius never spoke, he just shouted. "THY EXPRESSION SEEMS TROUBLED BY DEMONS OF TURMOIL. DOST THOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE?" He whipped out his pimpin' chain-link supported cross necklace, approaching the disgruntled Jens. "No, please no- I mean, uhhh, no sir, I'm just.. uh.. I'm a little.. my stomach's been feeling odd lately-"

"DEMONS OF COOOONSTIPAAATION!" He slammed the small cross against Jens' stomach. "BEGONE!" Jens curled up into a quivering ball and nearly vomited his breakfast. "BEGONE!" He chain-whipped Jens' rear with it, this time. "BEGONE!" A final bop was delivered to the unfortunate Eytinge's cranium. "WITH THIS, THE VILE SPIRIT HAS BEEN REMOVED. THY SOUL MAY REST PEACEFULLY NOW, SIR EYTINGE."

Half the class was wondering why the old coot bothered- Jens was no longer a part of this world. He'd lost consciousness somewhere between the second and third blow. The other half simply chose not to question it. While Mr. Aurelius got busy with a prayer out of his pocket-sized Bible, the door burst open, revealing Zaku and Marcus wielding cans of whipped cream.

Zaku looked around with a grin, taking a bow. The girls in the room were uplifted at his entrance, some even went so far as to swoon. Zaku bowed for his fans. "Ah, shucks, you're just too much, ladies. Thank you, thank you! Tha-" He received a smack upside the head from Marcus. "Ow! Hey!" All the women gasped and immediately turned on the german punk that dared lay a hand on Zaku.

Well, one snarl from Marcus, and they were back in their seats. "...Where's Jens? Oh, shit, Zaku, that crazy fuck is baptizing him or some shit again!"

"What?! Blasphemy! Quick, Marcus m'boy, let us free fair Jensy from the clutches of the foul villain!" Zaku led an exaggerated charge at the praying teacher. When Aurelius turned to meet the pair, he was met with whipped cream all over his face, his 'robes,' and even in his book. Marcus dropped his cans and picked up the unconscious Jens. "Shit- Run!"

"AGH! HEATHENS!" Jacob Aurelius wiped at his eyes. The fools, what we're they thinking? They could not escape the wrath of God. "IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, I BANISH THEE!" Thus, he flung the metal cross, and it struck Marcus in the back of the neck, digging a stinging red mark and forcing him to howl in pain. Alas, the demon slayer's efforts weren't enough. The pair had left with the newly purged youth. Jacob Aurelius... had failed.

"Now what, Zaku?!" Marcus rubbed at the back of his neck, disgusted by the touch of the cross. It was probably covered in Aurelius' germs. "It's Nutrition next, he'll keep chasing us if we don't hide somewhere!"

"What? I don't know! Why are you asking me? I don't think about these things! I don't think!" Zaku was as distressed as his partner. Perhaps more distressed. This was apparent when he sprayed whipped cream everywhere between his flails. Marcus knew this because Marcus was included in 'everywhere.'

"Grah! I can't see what! What the fuck? What the fuck is this, Zaku, you stupid whining cat fu- OOF." Marcus and Jens were both sent to the floor when they crashed into a running John Udgrad. Kain had zipped by- but hearing the crash, he turned, ran back, and smacked the back of John's head for the lulz, before resuming his fleeing.

"Fuck! Grah- I hate that bastard-" John pushed himself up, which inevitably involved pushing his weight down on Marcus. It mainly just added insult to injury, but that's all it took for the foul-mouthed teen to get even fouler. When he got up and wiped his eyes, there was hell to pay. Yet, John was gone..

Marcus had to let his rage loose on someone, so.. "Huh- wha- wait, what're you doing?!" A young, abused freshmen by the name of Kale West was picked up by an enraged Marcus. "Stop! HELP! Someone help!" His cries were all in vain. Marcus shoved the unlucky kid into a trashcan. Marcus relaxed his whole body. Suddenly, he was happy again.

"Ahh.. that's better." He picked up Jens and turned to Zaku- "Zaku? Where'd he go?..." Marcus shrugged. He glanced at Jens' limp form. Best take him to the nurse, it seemed. Thus, he trudged on.



The fate of Zaku was that he'd inevitably spotted the magnetic Alyssa Munroe and had become unquestioningly attracted by her, as it seemed all others were, and thus began chasing after her like it was the end of the world.

This was because Miss Munroe was chasing after the enraged John and the ever-grinning Kain.. and she'd brought along a small portion of her fencing club to watch. It wasn't on purpose. Rather, they'd just ended up following her when she mentioned someone had finally stood up to the Disciplinary Force, successfully. Well, she was still evaluating that success- and doing so was a little tiring, what with the constant running- but as she kept this up, she had started to realize just why she was doing all of this. It was actually kind of.. fun.

In the background, beneath a tree that smelled faintly of pot, a different crowd was following the ensuing chaos. The leader among them was a bearded 'youth'. The others had arranged themselves around him in one way or another. There was only one girl, but she pushed aside the men as if they were lesser than her. She was the one to catch Kain and John's escapade first.

"Hey, Scars. Come take a look at this." She gestured to the leader. He gave her a tired look, shrugged, and got to his feet.

"Whaaat?" 'Scars' walked over. "...Huh? Someone's getting chased by John?"

"Outrunning him, too. Coward, if you ask me, but that's a good pair a' legs. We could use a good runner, you know."

"Hm, yeah, that we could." Scars stroked his beard in pondering and fascination. "...Hey, assholes," he glanced at his fellow gang mates. "Any'a you jerks know that sprinting fucker?" He quiet stares and dumb shrugs. Only one bothered to answer.

"Yeh, I know'a 'im. 'Is name's Kain, methinks. Som' kin'a transfer studen', Scars." There was an Irish accent to his speech. " 'Parently, the Princ'pals a'worryin' about 'im- somethin' about gangs, ey?" He shrugged. "Well, go figure. Probably a stray."

Scars nodded. A gang rarely acted on its own. To think that some transferring prick was a part of one and felt the need to mess around on his first day.. nah. "Still... he's got talent." Scars patted the girl on the back. "Alright, Kari, give 'im a warm welcome and recruit 'im. We can't pass up a promising newblood."

Karen Eytinge glared at Scars. "...Fine. Jeez, why can't ya make Kaz do anything for once?" She glared at the Irishman. But it soon became apparent why. Kaz always managed to disappear when there was work that needed doing. With a tired sigh, she watched the chase drag on. Why waste energy? Karen would just make her move when the opportune time came.

Kain allowed himself to be lead into a corner. He turned back to face a bruised, tired, cream-covered Udgrad. "Hah... haha... finally... nowhere to run..." John pulled his sleeves back and put his arms up. "Bet you're pretty tired.. from all that.. running.. hah..." While it was true that they were both breathing pretty hard, he was mostly speaking for himself. But, John had set his eyes on Kain, and he couldn't see anything else going on. So, naturally, he didn't bother with Alyssa and the group she had with her.

The fencing club enclosed the corner in a quarter circle. They were actually willing to take this opportunity to gang up on John and kick his ass, if they could. The whole school had a bone to pick with the overzealous student enforcer. But Alyssa kept them back with a steady arm. "Don't interfere... besides, he could probably still kick your ass, even if he's worn out." Zaku nodded in conjunction, stealthily having made it to Alyssa's side. He was leaning against her left, trying not to make it obvious, even though it was. The fair Munroe eyed him with disgust, but given the situation, she could've cared less. Her attention was on the fight that was about to ensue.

Kain had resumed his relaxed and reserved posture. His heavy breathing had stopped, and his second wind gathered. The recovery had been fast. A little too fast. John was actually unnerved for once, but that wasn't going to stop him. Kain turned to face his left at John, but remained in a neutral stance. At best, he raised his arms to point at the ground at a low angle of 45 degrees- this was no offensive stance. Kain was readying a defense.

John saw this as a sign of weakness. When he was ready, he charged at Kain with a grin, aiming a straight jab for him. What he didn't expect was to be completely bypassed when Kain countered with a low jab as well. His already out-stretched arm caught John, first, but not with a punch- no, it was a grab, snatching the cloth of John's uniform. Kain turned his body and pulled the enforcer in with one arm, sending a low-swung uppercut to his gut with his right arm.

The blow had undoubtedly stunned him, but Kain wasn't one to take chances. His right hand was now holding John while his left pulled back and returned with a flat palm. He shoved Udgrad backwards, sending him stumbling, then tumbling, into the floor.

Zaku eyed the student before him, who was clearly losing consciousness from the blow, and the impact of tripping on himself. He saw an opportunity he couldn't pass up. Thus, Zaku scootched over and crouched beside his head. He extended a hand, curled up a finger, and as Alyssa watched in confusion, Zaku flicked John's skull, knocking him out.

"Boom. Headshot."



Nurse Wade stared down Christina. The thirty year old woman stood at a total height of four feet and ten inches. She was in the middle of nursing her own TA after he'd been properly punished for not wiping up the mess he'd left on the floor.

"Ow- ow.. I-Izzy, can't you be gentler?" Zayl did not like antiseptic, and antiseptic sure as hell did not like him.

"There's no gentleness to this, Zayl, I'm just rubbing a cotton ball on the bruise. Jeez, you're such a wimp. No wonder they didn't let you in the SDTF."

"That's just how he is, Nurse Wade. No helpin' the kid, he'll just always be two balls short." Thorn chirped in, whilst playing on his DS. "By the way, Zayl, did'ja get my M&M's?"

Zayl's stare could have killed Thorn if the mind lasers he installed would function properly. Alas, they didn't, so he begrudgingly responded. "...No."

"Well, get them next time you're out. Oh, and some jerky. Don't forget the jerky." Thorn glanced at the other occupants of the room. Marcus was watching over a sleeping Jens with the most bored expression he could muster. Ironically, it was also the happiest expression he'd mustered in the past day.

"..What? What are you staring at, you walking pile of bacon? Go back to your game, don't get me dirty with your gross looks."

Thorn sat up and pulled one of two pillows out from under his head- One had been supporting him in an upright position- and flung it at his neighbor. "Nice to see you, too, Marcus."

"Fuc-" He ducked under the throw and grinned slyly at Thorn. "Hah, you miiis-" and then, the meter stick behind him fell on his neck, smacking the spot Aurelius's cross had left a mark. He howled in pain once more, which shook Jens into waking up.

"Huh, wha?! Where- Where am I... Marcus? Thorn?" There wasn't a moment in high school where Jens wasn't at least a little confused, and this was no exception.

Christina just stared on. She was very, very sad. Alyssa had disappeared. Of course, once Jens realized the love of his life was in the same room as him, he was the total opposite. Happiness could not describe his mood at the time. Alas, all good things had to come to an end.

It was then that the door was swung open. A bemused Kain, carrying an unconscious, heavily bruised, and still-creamed John, entered the room, followed by an Alyssa Munroe with a bad case of Zakuitis growing off her right arm, and last, but certainly not least, a disgruntled Karen Eytinge.

"..Jens?"

"Huh? Kari?! Zaku?"

Thus, Chrstina spotted Zaku with Alyssa of all people. "What the- ZAKU!"

"Wha- What'd I do?"

Well, more chaos was about to ensue, that was for sure. That was okay. Zayl knew that was normal around here. But, when he saw the same cocky, jacketed fellow dubbed 'Redwell' walk into the room, carrying an unconscious and clearly messed-up John, without a scratch on himself, he felt awe. But more so, he felt fear. "N-nurse... I.. need to lie down for a second."

"Bah, wimp." Nurse Wade shoved Zayl into his sickbed. "Who's next?" This was when Kain walked up and set John on the last empty bed in the facility. "Great, great, just leave 'im. I'll handle it." This received a single glance from Thorn, who was surprised to find someone had finally given John a beating. Ultimately, though, this wasn't anywhere near the importance of getting that gym badge, so he returned to his game of Pokemon.

But at last, things had settled down. Karen saw a path to Kain, unhindered by anything this time around. She began weaving her way over, ready with a treat from the vending machine and her sweetest false smile. That smile was soon replaced by a terrible scowl when she was cut off by none other than Alyssa Munroe.

"Excuse me." She tapped Kain on the shoulder.

"Uh," he blinked, and turned back to her, a little surprised to find Ms. Angry Ponytail still with him this far into the mess. "Yeah?..."

"This may be a bit sudden, and, uh... come off a bit strong, but," Alyssa took in a breath of air as he turned around to meet her

"Would you like.. to.. join the fencing club?"

"Huh? Fencin' club?"

"Yeah. Here, come with me, it's getting crowded in here." Alyssa began dragging him out of the room. She wasn't met with any resistence. That was good... but why not? Well, she didn't think too long on it. Alyssa slipped out of the room and let go of the guy's hand, closing the door on the others. She turned to him with an uneasiness that was common after witnessing a guy get decked in under five seconds. "I, uh... saw your fight. Actually, I saw everything."

Mr. Leather Jacket crossed his arms and leaned up against the door, effectively keeping it shut with his body. "Ya did, did'ja?"

"Yes, along with a tenth of the rest of the school." She shrugged to herself. "Anyway. What I'm getting at is this: You're... not a regular guy. You're fast, for one, and you don't tire easily. Beyond your attributes, it seems like you already have some fighting experience, and your ability to keep a level head is great asset." She looked at Kain, and Kain just looked back with a blank expression.

"Right... I'm saying all of this because... you see, the fencing club, it doesn't have a lot of members... The members we do have aren't motivated or very talented, and even though they listen to me, I just can't seem to get them to do anything right. I think if you joined, and showed us some progress, maybe it would... I don't know, inspire them?" She began struggling with her words. "Besides, we really, really need competent people to enter the Regionals.. and right now, we only have two, at best, that could stand a chance; that'd be my brother and me, and my brother wants to give up, so, just me... look, you have to help us out. Please. With your help, we might actually win for once! The club would be saved!" Alyssa tried hard not to let things get to her, but, the fencing club was a touchy subject. It became very apparent to Leather Jacket when he saw her getting emotional.

Kain himself was a curious sort. He barely knew the girl, too, so the next obvious question was: "Why.. is it so important t' ya? N'... what's in it fer me?"

"H-huh? Uh... well, that's... that's personal." Like hell she was going to tell him. Alyssa shot him a glare in defense. It was obvious from his clash with Eleanor that this guy wasn't exactly trustworthy. "What... what would you want from me, anyway? We just met, and I don't even know you..."

"Yer right. Well," he extended a hand out to her. "Name's Kain. You?"

Alyssa eyed the hand with suspicion. She accepted it, but didn't lessen her distrust. "...Alyssa." She let go immediately. "So, what do you want?"

"Hm... Alright, here's the deal. This.. fencin' thing. I'll go along with it, ge'cha through Regionals, whatever ya need're want, fer the comin' year. In exchange.. I'd like ya t' pretend t' be my girlfriend, and while yer doin' that, perform a few favors, as they come up, under the guise'a said girlfriend." Kain looked completely serious, like he was performing a business transaction. "This'll also last until the end'a the year, or until a'm satisfied with yer assistance. Can ya agree t' that?"

Honestly, she was a little mixed up about it. First of all, girlfriend? Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, buddy. Secondly, "What.. kind of favors? You're not... trying to get me to.. with you.." Her expression grew more disgusted as she thought about it.

"Wha? Oh, no, no, nu-uh..." Kain held his hands up. "Nothin' like that. These favors, they don' have anythin' t'do with that pretend relationship. A'jus' need ya t' act the part purely fer the sake'a appearance, n' because these, uh, favors, can only be done by someone in that kind'a position. I need someone... trustworthy."

"I'm not so sure about this. Uh... can't you be more specific?"

"Sure, after ya agree." He shrugged. "If all I wanted was sex, I'm sure there're plen'y a' bimbos around this school that'd go down easier than you. So, what'll it be?" He extended his hand once more. "We got a deal?"

Alyssa stared at the hand, unsure. She took a moment to recap. She just met this guy, and in the same day, he'd successfully played the Vice Captain of the SDTF for a fool, outrun and beaten one of their better enforcers with a sum total of one punch, and all-the-while managed to escape any and all forms of punishment, emerging from the whole thing without a scratch. It was fun, sure, but could she really trust this guy? The answer was a no-brainer. But...

"If... you swear ahead of this contract.. that you'll do everything you can for the club, then... I'll..." She dropped her glance. "I'll... do it. But.. only if..."

"Alright." Kain cut her off, moving to take charge again. "I swear on it righ' now, no strings attached. So.. you gonna agree?" He had held his hand up the whole time, but this time, he'd taken a step closer. Up close, she realized.. this guy was her height- no.. he was just a little taller. He was looking down at her.

Alyssa challenged his look, but took his hand. "I agree to the terms... but you better not push it with the favors, alright?"

"Noted. Y'got any business with the rest'a them in there?" Kain tossed a thumb to the door he'd been leaning against. While he longer was, one of his feet was keeping pressure on it by its heel.

"Uh... no, not.. really. This is when I usually get some food..." The sudden change of mood from serious to familiar had caught her off guard. She was still firmly grasping his hand. As soon as Alyssa realized, she let go. What an annoying guy. "Why do you ask?..."

"Hm... food, eh? C'mon, I'll treat ya t' something, and we'll talk over the details of this deal." He let go of the door and started down the hall, but waited for her a few steps down. Alyssa eyed the Nurse's office. Well, other than Zayl and Thorn, she didn't really know the rest of the crowd. Maybe it was better to slip away before she got followed again, anyhow. Kain revealed the faintest of smirks as she approached. "Nice'a ya t' join me."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. It's just hard to turn down free food."

"Heh."



The inside of the Nurse's office had been divided between three groups. There were the three that wanted to get out, those being Kari, Christina, and Zaku. The first was chasing after Kain, of course, while the other two were after Alyssa. Christina wasn't happy with her brother's actions, but for the moment, she'd decided on a truce. It was more important to get out of this, and for some reason, the door wasn't budging.

The next group consisted of those who much preferred the door stayed shut: Zayl, who didn't want his shelter destroyed, Jens, who didn't want Christina to leave, and Nurse Wade, who didn't have much choice either way. Jens was the only one working up the nerve to actually do something about it, though. "Marcus... Marcus, it's her, look."

"Huh?" And then, there was the third party. Marcus, Thorn, and the unconscious John Udgrad. All three were, ultimately, indifferent to the whole thing. "Oh, Zaku's sister? What about her?"

"Help me stop her! She.. ah.. she won't listen to someone like me." He nervously tugged at his sleeves, pulling them back, then forward, then back again. " I'm not good enough for her."

Marcus gave him a blank stare. "..Good enough?" He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "J-Jens, pfft.. sh-. she's..- Look at her, she's a slut!" Marcus was trying very hard to keep his voice down, if only for the sake of his friend. "Anyone is good enough for her! I bet she won't turn anyone down, 'specially not a bookworm like you." He offered his friend the most comforting pat on the back he could manage.

To say that Jens was insulted would be an understatement. "M-Marcus, how could you? She's nothing like that! She's- can't you see she's just the sweetest thing?..." Jens turned back to his one and only angel, who was in the middle of whipping Zaku.

"Push harder, ya wimp! If you don't hurry, nutrition'll be over by the time we're out!" She cracked Zaku's scarf with an unnatural passion.

"I'm- Ow- givin' 'er - ow! All she's- Yow! -got, captain- F-fuck! Damn it, let me quote Scotty in peace!"

"See?! An angel!" Jens turned to Marcus a warm smile, but he wasn't impressed.

"Look, mate... I can see you're beyond help, so I'm just gonna leave ya with some kind words of wisdom." Marcus took Jens by the shoulder and stared him in the eyes, man to man. "You.. are a fockin' retard." He nodded. "Glad we had that talk."

Karen tossed Zaku into Christina, resulting in a squeal out of the unprepared sister. "Cut it out already, it's obvious this isn't working!" She looked around the room for someone of suitable strength. "Hey, you," she walked over to Thorn and folded her arms. Thorn paused his game of Pokemon Silver and turned his helmet to Karen. "You look big and strong. Can you do something about that door?" She nodded her head at the door.

Thorn, though an asshole he may be, was by no means any less of a gentleman. He politely bowed his head for the lady. "O'course, miss. You just wait right there while I handle this here affair." He sat up and set his DS down. "Oh, and Marcus, I'm gonna break every finger you lay on my DS, so don't get smart." He said this without a glance, it was all commonplace and very professional. This was what Thorn did, after all.

The Captain of both the football team and the SDTF walked up to the door. He eyed his opponent, sized it up, analyzed its weak points, and concluded that it was no match for himself. Thorn reached for the door handle. Zaku jeered at him. "Haha- Don't be stupid, meat head, there's no way it's gonna be that eas-" as he turned it, the door loosely swung open. "-sy... what..."

"Ayep. Sometimes it's best just to keep it simple." Thorn returned to his bed, stepping on Zaku's foot and politely nodding to Karen while on his way back. Zaku cried out and began hopping on one leg. Despite being freed, he had become bound to the Nurse's office a little longer. He, too, was moved by the efficient, if disgruntled, Nurse Wade. There lay Zaku, Zayl and John, all bound to nurse's office, all because of Thorn in one way or another.

Christina might have pitied her brother, if he wasn't her brother, but he was, so she simply bolted out the door. "See ya, Zaku. You too, cutie." She winked at Karen as she rounded the corner. Karen blinked, a little slow on the intake. Jens likewise was dumbstruck. Again, his sister trumped him. When she scrambled out after Kain, Jens mistook her for chasing after Christina.

"Oh, no she d-doesn't-" He climbed out of the bed, stumbling on his first step, but somewhat balanced by the second. He made a sloppy sprint after his sister. "Kari! H-hey, you can't do that!" He was tailed by Marcus, who really had nothing better to do, and watching Jens get outdone by his sister was more amusing than watching Thorn be frustrated with his DS.

Thorn only made passing glances at the door. Well, at least they were gone. But he couldn't help but notice that something was taking up the entire doorframe. When Thorn turned to check, he found his Vice-Captain backed up by another member of their group, a giant by any comparison. "...Vice-Captain? You're looking.. flushed. Did someone finally ask you out?"

"..Very funny, sir, but this is no laughing matter. I-.. you're playing games in the Nurses office again?" Thorn shrugged. Eleanor tried to hold back the growl building up. "...Sir, there's a rebellious student on the loose. He-.. he resisted being called to the Dean's, humiliated myself, and allowed the other rule-breakers with him to escape..." That got his attention. "Not to mention there's a rumor going around that he beat up-" She gasped upon realizing who was in the second bed down. "John! You see, sir? This was all done by one student. We have to act on this, but singling out a student can't be done without the Captain's-.. your approval, Thorn."

Thorn sat up straight. He eyed Udgrad, finally examining him in detail. "He doesn't look too beat up, though... how exactly was he beaten up, Vice Captain?"

"Ah... with 'one punch,' to quote most of the audience." Eleanor herself didn't full believe it, but she could not deny John's unconscious form on that sickbed. "He said his name was Kain, sir. He had a leather jacket, jeans, and the.. strangest jet black hair..."

This had Thorn further raising his brow. He wasn't sure, but it seemed like someone like that was only here a moment ago. "..Hey, Zayl. Do you know the guy that brought John in?"

"...Huh?..." A pained Zayl craned his neck up. "Oh, uh.. yeah."

"What's his name?" Thorn crossed his arms.

"Oh.. um.. Kain, I think." He blinked a few times, then set his head back down.

"...Kain." Thorn turned to Eleanor. "...Kain was here. He brought John in. Seems you just missed him."

To be told that after being humiliated, by her irresponsible Captain, no less... Eleanor turned around and began faceplanting into X's chest. It was hard enough without having to be made of concrete. X just stood in wonder, unable to stop someone who outranked him. Then, suddenly, she stopped, and looked up at the giant. "..Come along, X. We're going to take care of this troublemaker before he becomes too big a problem."

"Uh... okay.. if you say so, V.C..." X backed up and made room for Eleanor, then followed after her as she strut out in search of justice.

Thorn remained in the room. His eyes kept wandering to John. "One punch, huh? Who knows... maybe I should actually start workin' again..."



Kale was being cleaned by a cheerfully humming Bork, the cabbage-obsessed janitor. Beside him was a harmless fellow with a friendly, inquisitive look, accented by his glasses. Next to that guy was a pale fella in a light hoodie, and he smelled vaguely of meat. The one in glasses was the first to speak.

"I'm not sure what it is, Kale. Maybe it's your small size and terrible timing. This always happens..." Piotr shrugged as he continued jotting down his log entry. "Well, this raises the trashcan ratio to 33.33%. It's now at odds with the locker-stuffing ratio.. your luck has taken a turn for the worse."

Kale just flailed. "It's not fair! I didn't do anything. I didn't even know that guy!"

"Well, bullying can be a very impersonal thing, Kale." Piotr nodded. After observing Kale for so long, his notes had to be right. "Considering how universally abused you are, I can only conclude that there is some unnatural influence around you causing it to happen."

"Maybe God hates him?" The pale one, Jacob, had begun helping the janitor, Bork, clean away Kale's mess. "I mean, I get decked all the time, but even my luck isn't as bad as Kale's. I usually just bring it upon myself." He shrugged.

"Maybe, but with your track record, it's possible God hates you as well, Jacob." Piotr adjusted his glasses and finished his last line for the entry. He joined in on helping clean Kale. Bork was simply overjoyed at the group's volunteer work.



"So... these favors..." Alyssa leaned against a large pane-glass window along a hallway on the third floor. She stared outside and watched students go about their activities as Nutrition neared its end. "What kind of favors did you mean?" She sipped on a cherry-flavored slurpee that had been provided through the magic of Kain's wallet.

Speaking of Kain, he was leaning in the same way, symmetrically facing her, sipping his own multi-layered slurpee. "...Actin', gatherin' gossip from other girls. Puttin' in the good word fer me when needed... Keepin' yer eyes open and, if need be, spyin' on somebody. N' then, ya report all'a this back t' me on our 'dates,' y'get it?"

Alyssa furrowed her brows. She stared at him with further suspicion, but even more so, interest. "So... why exactly do you want me to play a secret agent?" She sized him up once again, in a different light, but it didn't offer any new information.

"Well, y'see... I gotta play the role'a a simple, thick headed goon. Y'know, jus' a punk that doesn' know how t' stay in line. I need someone a lil' more.. respectable.. graceful and, uh, likeable? Someone like that t' do all the interpersonal stuff. Aaand that's where you come in, Lyss."

"Lyss?...Isn't it too early to be getting friendly? We're not even being watched." She frowned at him, still slurping the slurpee. "You still haven't told me just why you're doing all of this."

Kain offered a simple shrug in response. "I'll explain in full once school's over, that'll give ya a chance t' meet the rest'a the team."

"Team?..."

"Yep. Fer now, le's jus' say this place is standin' on shaky foundations, and it ain' gonna get any better unless a few brave souls do somethin' about it." He flashed a grin her way. "N' don'cha feel lucky, Lyss? You get t' help."

"...Greeeat. Lucky me." And with her sarcasm came the bell that marked the end of nutrition. "Hm. Looks like it's time to get to class. Meet in the west gym during lunch, I'll introduce you to the rest of the club." She tossed the empty cup back to Kain. "And try to stay away from fights. I can't have you bringing down our club's 'respectable' reputation." She smirked on toward the end, waving goodbye, and leaving Kain with two slurpees to dispose of.

"...Hm. I caught an interestin' one... wait'll Marius here's about this." Kain crushed the two cups and dropped them off in a trashcan as he passed. "May as well get t' class this time..." He retrieved his schedule. "...Shakespearean Literature... riiiight." He shrugged and went on his way. Just in the nick of time, too. As Kain descended a flight of stairs, Eleanor and X rounded the opposite corner of the hall.

"I could have sworn I heard him." She sighed, spinning on her heel. A faint blush returned to her when she recalled getting pants'd. Damn that Kain... he was definitely going to pay.

"Who- Whoa- ACK!" A loud yelp and crash came from the stairs. X rushed over, followed by Eleanor. "That might be him! Quick, X, what do you see?"

"I-.. it's.. it's the principal.. and he's..." Exerious moved aside on the staircase, giving Eleanor room.

When the Vice Captain was in view of the scene, she knew it wasn't right to laugh... but Principal Hook's powdered face and red clown nose were beyond proper attire for an educator. To add to it all, it seemed like culprit had popped Hook's collar in the process and frizzed all his formerly combed hair. She approached him in as professional a manner as she could, doing her best not to smile. "M-.. Mr. Principal.. sir?"

Hook groaned and held his neck. His sore and damaged collarbone had only one thought ringing in his mind. Hook filled his lungs with one deep breath, and..

"REDWEEEEEEEELL!"

Hook cooly slid back into the plush office chair and took his seat, pretending the cast around his neck wasn't really there. He motioned for the others in the darkened office to settle in around the polished black table. There were three others with him, and they each took their seats around the small, round table in the cramped discussion room. Hook set his hands together, entwining them and setting them against his chin. His head craned forward and his glasses reflected the sole fluorescent light in the room, hiding his eyes behind the glass' glare.

"Lady. Gentlemen. We... have a problem." Hook cleared his throat and idly tilted his head, trying to get an itch hidden by the neck cast. "You see, when we attempted to shed some good will on the... troubled students who wished to transfer, we welcomed them all with open arms. Unfortunately, in doing so, our pristine school was tainted by a bad egg- No. A sour, rotten egg, hidden amongst them all. His activities have led me to reconsider our kindness. The first day is not over, and already, we have failed to apprehend him and restrict his brutish behavior. I, too, was forced to ask Nurse Wade for proper treatment... I imagine none of us are safe from this new menace, because, my colleagues," Hook inclined his head forward, and looked between the rest of the room's occupants. "You. Could. Be. Next. Assistant Dean Verne, share your research with us, please."

A man in a white coat, stained with blood, or perhaps ketchup, opened up a folder amongst many, sliding it to the center of the table. A recent picture of Kain, apparently in the middle of his fight with John, lay upon a single sheet of paper with some very basic personal information. "As you can see... we know nothing about this student. His transfer papers... all his credentials and records, despite us officially acknowledging their ownership, do not exist." Verne shook his head, sliding out a second folder.

"This was all taken from periods one through four, including nutrition." Just over a dozen photos were spread out from the second folder. Kain was the central figure in each, but other familiar faces, including John, Eleanor, Zayl and Alyssa, were present. "His personality... no different from your usual punk. Cocky. Arrogant. His motivations aren't out of the ordinary, either, from what we can tell. He's just another rebel without a cause. The only uncertain thing is his past, and what he's capable of." Verne held up a picture of a pants'd Eleanor and fleeing Kain. Then, another, with Udgrad sprawled out on a concrete floor. A final picture of Hook in a heap at the foot of some stairs. "He leaves his mark without a thought, and without any punishment. He's too fast, and somehow, he always out-maneuvers his pursuers."

Verne set the photos down and produced a third folder. "I tried making a few calls to his previous school, but there were no records of his attendance. A rather shady student-source declared he had a history of gang involvement. We don't know if this includes illegal use of weaponry, drugs, alcohol, anything like that. But, despite his aimless infliction of harm, it's very apparent he has much experience. In other words, he is a loose cannon with a lot of firepower."

"Very good, Assistant Dean Verne." Hook nodded to the fellow, asking him to take a seat again, and Verne complied, putting away all his materials. "Now that you all understand the cause, let me outline the situation. Two years ago, this school had a terrible delinquency problem. After the new disciplinary laws, we managed to beat it out of the children.. and though our marks saw significant losses, open conflict and violence steadily dropped with regular appliance of discipline. In short, we saved the school, but it came with a deep seeded resentment among some of our students... this couldn't be avoided or remedied, except with time. Now, back to the present... here's Mr. Redwell, inciting chaos, breaking rules.. making a mockery of our great system. If he keeps this up, it won't just be him. We will have a large scale student rebellion on our hands... all it takes is for Mr. Redwell to bring us to the tipping point, and it's over." One of the four leaned in, revealing a white mustache and short stature, along with a decorative plastic monocle. "...Yes, Dean Wigglesworth?"

The Dean, Scrapio 'Scrappy' Von Wiggleworth, the Third, stroked his curled mustache in an idle fashion. "Kekekekeke... My good man, are you suggesting a lowly hooligan is capable of disrupting our flawless school policies? Nonsense. Just catch him and put him in his place. Mr. Verne and myself will handle this matter personally and quietly." The long-nosed dean turned to his assistant. "Mr. Verne, he fought just a single member, correct?"

"Ah, yes, that's right." Verne began looking through his files. "Let's see.. yes, here you go." Again, he produced the image of Udgrad. "According to the gossip, it was done with 'a single punch.' This opinion was held by a solid majority."

"Yes, but... this fellow here is Mr. Udgrad. He may be better than a bulk of the school, but he is, by no means, the muscle of our Disciplinary Force. It hasn't been needed for two years, so you must have all forgotten, but a unified movement from all its active members managed to bring down an entire gang, the 'Black Bandits,' lead by that thuggish Vale, if I recall. He's repeating his senior year for the second time, now, thanks to all that rubbish, hoo hoo." Wigglesworth smugly rolled his mustache around a finger. "And you can bet this upstart, Redwell, is going to end up just the same."

"Hm. Alright.. what do you think, Vice Principle?" Hook turned to a woman who had, up until now, remained silent.

The woman leaned in, sighing as she spun Kain's picture. "To think someone like him is the cause of all this. How... amusing. Well, if the two of you can't manage, just leave it to me. I'll handle things quickly, and efficiently, as always, Alfred."

"Thank you, Silvena... then, this meeting is adjourned. I want to see some progress on this situation as soon as possible." Hook rose from his seat, and the two Deans followed.

Silvena set a hand on the folders left by Verne. "Please, Mr. Verne, allow me to view these a little longer. I'll return them to your office once I'm done."

"Eh, go ahead and keep them, those are just copies." With a nod, Verne left, and he was the last to do so.

Silvena tapped the picture with a growing smirk. "My, my, Kain... how you've grown." She held the picture at eye level. "To think you'd find your way back to Auntie like this..."




"Shh, they'll see us!" Kale ducked behind a bush, dragging Piotr and Jacob down with him. He pointed out to the grassy football field where cheer leading practice was taking place. "Look, there they are..."

"Cheerleaders? How intriguing." Piotr held up his binoculars and peered over at the girls in uniform. "I've always found the short length of their skirts quite fascinating."

"You can say that again." Jacob tried covering himself up with some shrubs he yanked up. "Do you know any of their names?"

Kale shrugged. "I don't know, but I've always wanted to see High School cheerleaders. I wonder if they're as mean as they are in the movies..."

"Movies are rarely an accurate source of information, Kale." Piotr nodded matter-of-factly. "Look here, these seem like fine specimens. I identified most of them in my freshmen year. Now, let's see here... The Captain this time is Kelly Laurence. That's her, there in the front, guiding the others. Very cheerful, as you can see. Some would call her the sweetest thing."

Kale nudged Piotr. "Hey, c'mon, pass the binocs, I wan'a see!"

"Me too, me too." Jacob held his hand out for it.

"Settle down, you two-" Jacob had actually managed to yoink it away. "Wah, hey! Careful with that!" While Piotr was very unhappy, there was nothing he could do about it. He sighed and went on with his explanation while Jacob kept his eyes on the very base of the cheerleaders. "Well, the first one in the line of them is Miss Amanda Tique. In typical cheerleader structuring, Miss Tique is often sent to the top, being much lighter than other girls. She's also very clumsy, you see, so she's not fit for many positions. But there's no one with more school spirit on the team than her."

Jacob whistled in approval. Kale shoved his head against Jacob's and got a peek through one side of the binoculars. "Whoa, look at them go- Ah, she just tripped, hehe. Reminds me of someone..."

"Yeah," said Jacob, "reminds me of you."

"Hey! It's not my fault!"

"Shh, quiet, you two, or we'll be exposed!" Piotr thwacked the both of them into submission. "Good. Now, for the rest. That young one there is one of Kelly's younger sisters, Renee Laurence. Her nickname is 'Resent,' and trust me, you don't want to know why. Other than that, her personality is comparable to Miss Tique, but without the clumsiness. Renee is both a 'Top' and a 'Supporter,' meaning while she can take center-stage and the top of a formation, she is also valued as a safety for another 'Top,' keeping them from falling over due to lack of balance."

Kale turned away from the girls and gave Piotr and odd look. "How.. do you know all this stuff, Piotr?"

"Because, Kale, I wish to know everything, no matter how mundane. This is just the basics! Actually, I tried cheerleading once, but I never had the build for it. Hahaha!" Piotr was the only one laughing. "Okay! Next is that girl, there. Beautiful, kind as can be, and a firm, toned body from exercise and archery, that would have to be miss Ariana Velctora. She's both a Supporter and a Base, due to her fit body."

"Mhm.. fit.." Jacob had gone back to hogging the binoculars. "I hope they don't see us. I would be embarrassed getting beat up by girls. Hm, but, maybe getting beat up by Ariana... would be nice..."

"Wow, Jacob, you really know how to lower your standards." Kale gave the pale boy an incredulous look.

"I've accepted my fate, Kale." Jacob returned but a momentary glance before returning to the women. "Maybe you should, too."

"Your fate is voyeurism?"

"Our fate."

"...Hm."

"Would you two cut it out? I'm not even done! Look, there's still more! Christina Shephard-"

"We know her."

"-is the- What? Oh, fine. Then, how about Katie? Katie McCollen, you see? The small one there" Piotr pointed at the far corner. "She's a freshman and a newcomer."

"Ahh..." Kale squinted his eyes and tried to get a better look. "..Actually, she's kind of cute. I think. I can't really see good from here."

Piotr turned to Kale, frowning. "See well."

Kale shrugged. "No, I can't."

"...I was correcting you, Kale." Piotr adjusted his glasses.

"...Oh."




"Come on, Katie, more spirit, more spirit! You're never going to get anyone excited if you're all shy like that!" Kelly strutted over to new girl and began forcing her into a bolder, more provocative position. "There we go, now we're talking."

Katie yelped. She shook her head vigorously. “No, stop! It's too embarrassing!” She kept looking around and over her shoulders. "W-what if someone's watching?"

"Well, that's the idea! Alright, now, you lift your leg up, like this..." Kelly lifted Katie's right leg "..and then you kick, spread your arms out and shake your pom-poms" She coerced the girl, somehow. Katie couldn't put up much a fight, either way. "Mhm, mhm! That's good! Now, do it without me forcing you!" Despite cheering her on, Kelly couldn't get Katie to stop squirming.

"Um... Kelly, this is her first day... Shouldn't we help her practice something easier?" Amanda, who had been cheerful before Kelly's shenanigans, was suffering from an unnatural case of guilt, for it was she that suggested Kelly instruct Katie one on one. This had become a regrettable decision all too soon.

Fourty steps up one of the bleachers to the west of the field were another familiar pair. Thorn and Zayl were watching the women practice. It was mostly Zayl- Thorn was using the high place to search for another girl that took to the roofs of the nearby bungalows. "Oh, c'mon... Where is she?"

"Looking for Shelly again?" Zayl wrenched his gaze away from Kelly and onto the less.

"Shut up."

Zayl idly scratched his neck, not paying Thorn much attention. When it seemed like Thorn wouldn't stop, Zayl butted in again. "Well...I think she's out sick today, Thorn..."

"What? But it's the first day." Thorn had to take off his helmet for this. "She can't miss the first day!"

"There's no rule that says you can't miss the first day of school, Thorn..."

"Yes, there is. It's my rule. She can't miss the first day if it's my first day, too."

"Well, did you call her and ask if she's going?"

"...Uh... Maybe."

"...And what did she say?"

"...I... I don't remember."

"You've been going out for a year and you can't manage to call and ask if she's going to show?"

"Look, I did call-"

"-but, you didn't ask."

"Well, it's not like it wasn't on my mind, but we got carried away talking about things, and she wanted my opinion on which classes to take, I figured she'd be showing up, and then she wanted me to do something, so I-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. Nothing's too good for Shelly." Zayl reclined into the uncomfortable metal bench. "It would be a nice if you treated your friends that way, too."

"What!" Thorn scooted over to his underclassman. "What are you on about, Zayl? I value you a lot, too, just in a different way. Our relationship doesn't work that way."

Zayl blinked. "It doesn't?"

"Of course not! See, she's my girlfriend, and you're my punching bag." Thorn hooked an arm around Zayl's shoulders. "I wouldn't be able to get by without either one of you, ya see?"

"O-... oh..." If it weren't for the fact that Thorn's skull was about as hard as his helmet, Zayl would have given in to the urge to introduce Thorn to his forehead. "...You're a dick."

"I'm glad we're friends, too, Zayl." Thorn let go of Zayl's shoulder and reached for his water bottle. As he held it up, he spotted something through the translucent plastic. He arched a brow upward and slowly lowered the bottle, taking a better look at the small human figures heading toward the gym. "...Hey, Zayl. That's him, isn't it? Kain, right?"

"Huh?" Zayl turned away from the cheerleaders and followed Thorn's gaze. "Let me see... huh, yeah, that's him. Is that Alyssa?"

"Seems like it. What're they doing?" Thorn set his helmet back in its place. "Another fight?"

"What? No way. Look, she's just heading to the gym... that's what she always does during lunch. She's Captain of the fencing club."

"We have a fencing club?" Thorn seemed genuinely surprised.

"Uh.. yes, Thorn. Yes, we do."

"Ah... They break any rules lately?"

"Y-... No, I don't think so."

"Dang. Doesn't explain why she's bringing the punk along. Well, whatever, I'm gonna try the girls and see if they've seen Shelly, we don't know for sure that she didn't come." The large senior stood up and dusted himself off." Good luck with your voyeurism, Zayl, I'll let the girls know you're here."

"...Huh? Oh, shit-" Zayl got up, too, and climbed down the back of the bleachers. Sometimes, you just had to make an emergency exit.




"So, six members, includin' yerself n' the manager-" Kain sized up the approaching mob ahead of them whilst he munched on a half-eaten hot dog, with an untouched one fresh in his other hand.

"-My brother, yeah. Fencing hasn't been as popular these past two years." Alyssa came to a stop in front of the double doors leading into the West Gym. She held out her own half eaten hotdog. "Could you hold this?"

"Sure." Kain stuck his own hot dog in his mouth, and took hers in his free hand.

"Thanks. Anyway," she retrieved the keys from a pouch in her backpack. "Ever since we had those riots, school rules have been strict. The Principal said he would try and cut down this year, but I guess that was a lie, too." Alyssa looked through the key chain, picking one out and sliding it into the lock. She opened the doors and took in a whiff of cool air. "Because of that, people have shied away from anything resembling violence." She turned back to Kain, holding her hand out for the hot dog.

Kain returned it and pulled his own bun out of his mouth. "Ah. How come?"

"Well, if you get too passionate about it, the STDF are likely to drop in, and the consequences usually end up.. badly. At the very least, clubs get disbanded. At most, expulsions, suspensions, and of course it all ends up on your permanent record, too... it can put a dent in anyone's future. The fencing club only gets by because of-... eh. Well, we get by." She eyed him. "With the way you act, though, I honestly don't know how you're going to graduate. You're a senior, right?"

"Uh-huh. Look, le'me worry 'bout my own details. How 'bout ya introduce me t' the club?" Kain devoured the rest of his first hot dog, and with a free, though messy hand, pointed out the new arrivals behind Alyssa.

"Hm? Oh, hey guys- Uh, I'd like to introduce you all to a new member." He turned to Kain. "From today on, Kain will be a part of the fencing club." Alyssa had a cheery expression on, for once. "Please get along with him." The five club members focused their attention on Kain. Alyssa turned to him, as well. "Kain, meet the club. The dumb looking one here is Nale-"

"Hey!" Protest came from the tallest among them. Nale was a sharp-faced fellow with dark brown hair slicked all the way back. He was about as tall as Alyssa, his eyes were thin and his expression was comically irate. Despite his fuss, Alyssa dismissed him.

"-and this is Annod. We call him Noddy." She patted an exceptionally short kid on the head, maybe no taller than four and a half feet. "

"Hi! Whoa, you're Captain sized!" Noddy extended a hand to Kain, nearly jumping for his. "Nice to meet ya!" Kain shook the hand and responded with a simple grin.

"Heh. Uh, this is Devyn, also our club medic." The next boy down the line was another freshmen at a below-average height of five-three. He appeared timid, but welcoming. "Don't wear him out, okay?"

"Uh.. h-hi." Devyn held his hand out to Kain. "Welcome to the club. I hope you have fun here."

Kain took his hand, nodding. "Likewise." He gave it a firm shake, catching Devyn off guard, to Kain's amusement.

"Right, and this is James," Lyss pointed out a skinny kid with an average height and a couple bandages on his face. "He's a little accident prone, but it's no fun without him."

"Eh.. hehehe.. yeah. Hi-" When James saw Kain reaching his hand out, he shook his head. "Uh, no, let's.. not.. shake hands.. sorry."

"Ah.." Kain lowered his arm with a shrug. "Sure thing."

"Finally, my good-for-nothing brother, Alex. He doubles as the manager and takes care of all the equipment." Alyssa didn't need to point Alex out for Kain. Since Alex was carrying all the equipment, no one else would have fit the title of manager.

The two seniors stared at each other for a few seconds. Kain was contemplating what to do about explaining the pretend-relationship. Alex was pondering how and why the hell his sister was so excited over a guy, for once. It would be a cold day in hell when she'd exhibit that much girlishness.

Well, Kain figured he'd have to deal with the guy eventually. It was best to give off a good first impression. He extended an arm out. "Nice t' mee'cha, Alex."

"Ah, yeah... the pleasure's all mine.. or something." Alex shook the hand, still giving Kain an odd look. "Do you.. mind if I ask you two something?"

"Shoot." Kain let go and retracted his hand, standing up straight. Alex followed suite.

"Well, I'm kind of curious..." He shifted in place and set the equipment down. "What made you join the fencing club, and how exactly you know my sister?"

"Ah, that..." Kain looked back to his false girlfriend. He had a questioning look on, mouthing the words 'Should I?' Alyssa could only offer a hopeless shrug, mouthing 'If you have to' in turn. Well, that settled it. "Guess there's no beatin' 'round the bush. Uh.. we're goin' out."

"...Ah.. Hahaha- I'm sorry, uh.. could you repeat that?" Alex stuck a finger in his ear and picked at any earwax he could find. "I must've had something in my ear, because I could've sworn you just said you were going out with my sister..." He kept grinning at Kain.

Kain stared at him for a second. He shrugged. "Tha's right. We're goin' out."

Noddy jumped up and down. "Whoopie! Captain-sized couple! Hey, when you go on dates, do you make fun of the short couples? Huh?"

"Uh, I don't think that's how it works, kid-"

"Holy fucking shit, get in here already!" The voice came from inside the gym. Confused and perplexed, the flustered and excited fencing club took a peak inside. A very disgruntled Marcus, shadowed by an amused Karen, were standing behind the door, to the right. Behind them, standing or sitting on and around the floor mats, were Scars and a small part of his gang. In total, they outnumbered the group, two to one. Marcus released a sigh. "Who the fuck stands outside their own goddamn club for fifteen fucking minutes doing fucking introductions? I could fucking take a dump and piss on all'a you by now and still have time to smack a bitch."

"Easy there, Marcus." Kari patted him on the shoulder. Almost immediately, he began cooling off. "I invited you here, remember? You're just a guest. Try not to go doing our work for us."

"Hmph." Marcus crossed his arms and turned his head away, grumbling about charity work and ungratefulness.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on. Just what is going on here?" A distressed Alyssa walked up in front of her club mates, taking center stage. "You're Scars, right? What do you want from us?"

Scars stood up when addressed. "Well, not exactly. We were just tipped off our friend would be in here with you. The only person we're interested in..." He lifted his arm and pointed at Kain. "...is him. And, he'll be coming with us, with or without force." Scars motioned for the rest of his gang to get up. He took a few steps over. "So, how's it going to be? You going to come with us, 'Kain,' or do we have to do things the hard way?"

Alyssa looked the gang over. She eyed her meager fighting force of a club- most couldn't even swing a saber properly. Nale knew how to throw a punch. Alex could hold his own. The rest of them.. it wasn't fourteen on seven, it was fourteen on four, at best. Then, she eyed Kain, contemplating her earlier decision to ask him to join. She was wavering on it, now. Perhaps this guy really was more trouble than he was worth.

Kain himself was half way through a frustrated sigh. He ran his hand through his hair and turned to the gang with a weary expression. "Really... ya come 'ere n' make a mockery'a my girlfriend's club, n' ya expec' me t' come with you? Well, fuck that." Hey, he had to cement his reputation eventually. The sooner, the better. Kain crossed his arms behind his head and stretched back. "Ahh... I think I'll just kick yer asses instead."

Scars nearly doubled over. "Wow. You're an interesting guy. Well, we'll just have to beat some respect into you. You'll be singing a different tune eventually- they all do in the end."

Nale rolled his shoulders back and stepped up next to Kain. "I guess we're doing warm ups differently today. Hey, Alex, you comin'?"

Alex sighed, drawing an epee and walking over to the other two. "Guess there's no helping it. Who knows, if we win, the club might attract more members."

"Yeah, that's true." Nale nodded "This is some good luck, after all." He turned to Kain "Hey, thanks for bringing them here. I really appreciate it."

"Uh.. yer welcome?" Kain shook his head. It didn't feel like a fight at all. The tense atmosphere had died down quickly on the fencing team's side. Of course, when he looked over to the Black Bandits, they were getting more and more annoyed at being ignored.

Scars himself was looking ticked, despite keeping his cool. He sighed. "What a shame. I hate it when things don't go as planned.. and I really didn't want to get others involved." He threw his arms in the air in the form of a shrug, and turned his back on the fight, traveling behind his large line of minions.

"Murder 'em."

Alyssa may have been the only level headed one left. She knew this because, other than the three muscle-heads ready to play hero, Noddy was getting overly excited, James was pissing his pants, and Devyn was short of running around in circles and freaking out. It was her duty as both a club captain and, apparently, a composed human being, to try and cool things down, or at least lessen the damage. Her first effort was to.. "Uh... Kain, look, you don't have to do this- I mean, erm, what I mean is that you should just run.."

Kain glanced over his shoulder and gave her a look of incredible disbelief. "Don' even joke, Lyss. I ain' runnin' from these punks. Look, why don'cha round up those three with ya n' get 'em somewhere safe?"

Well, she figured that would be his response. Still, “But what if you damage the gym... or attract more trouble. If the SDTF sees this, our club might not make it!”

“Don' worry, nothin's gonna happen to the club. I promise.”

Well, if they were really boyfriend and girlfriend, she would have believed him. Fat chance she would as it was, though. She glanced at Nale, and tried to- no, who was she kidding, Nale was already doing his pre-fight dance. Instead, she faced “Alex! You know better than this!”

“Honestly, I'd rather hand over your, uh, 'boyfriend,' but I haven't seen you look this happy in years... you can't expect me to just hand him over after that, can you?” Alex flashed her a warm smile before returning to his stare-down.

Alyssa facepalmed rather hard. She shook her head vigorously. Alex, that dumbass, had taken it completely the wrong way! She was happy the club would be alive again, not that she was in some phony relationship. Still, once Alex set his mind to something, that was it, and that meant this situation was beyond saving. She would've fought, too, but there was something else she had to do, first. “Noddy, stop jumping...” She grabbed the midget by the collar and dragged him along, earning but a yelp from Noddy. She handed him over to James, who was pissing his pants, but still composed enough to communicate and comprehend her. “James, I need you to take Noddy and Devyn and get out of here. Tell Mr. Shire and only Mr. Shire, got it?”

“Y-yeah, uh h-huh.” James nodded with glee. His Captain had just saved his life, no way he was going to protest. James took Noddy and Devyn by the collar and ran for the door. Along the way, be hit his shoulder on the door, but managed to keep going. Noddy was still hopping like mad, even as they left.

Alyssa withdrew her keys and proceeded to the double doors. She would lock up and keep things contained... that might save the fencing club from harm, at least, even if those three got their asses beat. Alyssa eyed the doorway. “If I lock it from the outside.. I can keep watch... but if I stay in here, I can help...” She eyed the number of goons. At least ten of them, she guessed. Upon closer inspection, eleven was the actual number. She decided to stay back and jump in only if needed. Things already seemed pretty hopeless. Kain could put up a fight, this she knew, but she doubted he could take on more than two or three at once. Her brother could take on three for sure, this she knew. However, three was the most he'd ever fought off on his own. As for Nale... honestly, Nale couldn't even hold the a saber right. She wasn't sure if he could even fight, though he had the right build... “Those idiots are gonna need a miracle...”

The situation was still a stand-off. Scars had given the order, but before the encounter, he'd also cautioned his men not to make the first move, unless they were absolutely sure they could handle it. There was quiet debate going on as to whether they were ready or not. Scars himself had taken a seat upon some indoor bleachers, watching it all from the safety and comfort of his seat behind his line of troops. Karen approached him, followed by Marcus. “Hm? You're not fighting, Kari?”

“If you're not fighting, there's no reason for me to get involved.” She dusted off the spot next to him and took a seat. Marcus sat down next to her, not bothering with cleaning his spot. “I know you, Scars, and I know well enough this is just another test.” She withdrew her cellphone and began texting. “You provoked him on purpose. You want to see what he can do.”

The gang leader shrugged. “Is that so wrong? You really praised him. I thought eleven men might not be enough... I was hoping you'd join them, too.” Scars rubbed his fuzzy beard. “You count for at least four or five of them.”

Karen looked at Scars again, but this time, it was a look of annoyance, not indifference. “...I don't lie about these things, Scars. Me against that guy...” She turned to Kain, searching for the right words. “...He was holding back in that fight, I'm sure of it. With an uppercut like that... I can only imagine what his straight would be like, especially if he knows where to aim it. Besides, my weapon isn't allowed on school grounds.” Karen flipped her cell shut after sending the message. “And I'm not as good with my fists.”

“Hm...” Scars retrieved a digital camcorder from his uniform jacket. “Alright. Best get this on film, then. Let's see just how right you were.”

Nale was pumped. “Ah man. This is just like those Marvel games.. Like Spiderman! Action-packed side-scrolling ass-kickery. I've got so many special attacks I wan'a try out... Hey, how about you two?”

Kain merely shrugged. “Keepin' it simple. Got a plan, actually.”

“What he said.” Alex stepped closer to Kain and lowered his voice.. “So, what's the plan?”

“Y'see all these mats layed out in the gym? N' they're all on 'em. I say we let 'em charge us n' when they're close enough, we drop down n' pull the mats out from under 'em. Trip 'em n' jump the gun on 'em while they're down.”

“Huh. Might work... these mats are big, and there are three of us...” Alex nodded. It was a sound starting plan. Hopefully, there would be more. “And then, what? We just fight?”

“Eh, more're less.” Unfortunately, there wasn't.

“Sounds good!” Nale gave Kain a pat on the shoulder. “But, in case we get caught, you get all the credit for all the ass I kicked.”

“Yeah, yeah... get ready.” Kain faced their opponents in his usual neutral stance. A few of them locked eyes with him. They weren't as interested in Alex and Nale. The attention was all on Kain, as he was their target in the long run. “Remember, after we drop 'em, keep the formation. If they surround us individually, we'll be on the losin' end.”

Alex nodded in acknowledgment. “Got it.”

Nale just pumped a fist. “Roger dodger.”

The line of goons made a slow advance, with a tall, paler one in the lead. “Why, hello there. My name is... Varmithasss.... These are my friends, and.. we'll be leading today's...festivities. Eheheh.. let's go, boys.” At his call, they sprinted into action.

“Now!” Kain needn't have given the signal. All three of the defending team were in sync on that first strike. They grabbed the mats, and before the mass of thugs knew what was going on, the ground was pulled out from under them. Some went crashing into each other, but most just fell about the place, landing on the cold and polished gym floor, staining it with saliva. In that one move, their able numbers were halved, if only for a short while.

Varthimas and five others rose to their feet, just sore, while the other five recovered. He shoved one of his rising comrades into the fray. “Come on, get him!” The helpless thug just did as ordered, aiming a sloppy punch at Redwell. Before he even got half way, a jab collided with his lower jaw, drawing blood and sending him crashing to the ground.

Kain wiped a bloody hand on the guy's shirt. “One down.” Another fell beside him, a long, bold mark across his face. “Make that two.” He smirked at the form of Alex keeping another thug at bay.

Nale danced around the two thugs assigned to him. As one approached, he fell on a knee and cupped his hands together, then pushed them forward and delivered a two-palmed blow into the thug's stomach.“Hadouken!” Surprisingly, the thug was flung back, clutching his stomach. He struggled to stay on his feet. His companion played it safe, learning from the other's errors. He delivered kick after kick, great in range, but they lacked skill and ended up being slow.

Well, Nale didn't have time for this bullshit. He whipped out a lasso aimed for the guy's neck. “Come here!” The thug, not expecting anything of the sort, was caught, and jerked into melee range. Nale delivered a double-pimp-slap. “Doube Pimp Slap!” This was a signature move, actually. When the opponent began to wobble in a half-conscious state, he grabbed him by the collar and announced, “FINISH HIM!” But it was mostly to himself. Nale picked the poor guy up by his collar and waist and swung him around for momentum before flinging him into the bleachers, not far from Scars. “...Fatality.”

Scars jumped back in surprise. “...What.” Karen had already moved behind him. Marcus was too busy pointing and laughing at the hurled gang member.

As more thugs recovered, Varmithas just kept sending them at Kain. Alex was against someone with a metal pipe at his disposal, so he was busy just blocking and parrying blows while awaiting a good opening... Nale was... being Nale with the leftovers of the thug he'd punch. There may have been a Falcon Punch involved this time. In short, there were six left in total, Varmithas included, and this time, they were all aiming for Kain.

“Nice try, but... you'll be coming with usss. Grab him!” He directed them forward while Varmithas tried maneuvering behind. Being a lowly thug aside, he was quite fast. It didn't take long for him to weave around the thugs, and get behind Kain.

Seeing the flanking maneuver, Kain turned his game up a notch. Two came in from the front, one with a grab, the other with a slam. Kain stepped into the grab and powered a jab with his momentum. The forward and backward momentum of their bodies collided at he thug's chin, and again, another went down with a show of blood. The second thug had missed his slam- bad idea, Kain turned to face him, delivering another solid straight with the turn. Another jaw bled, and another body hit the floor.

Following the two's collapse was one thug from the front, two from the sides, and Varmithas from the year. The situation called for a new tactic. Thus, Judo came into play. The one in front was caught before he knew what was happening, and flung to Kain's right, knocking aside another thug. The throw also moved Kain out of the center of the mess, and he was free to move while. He returned to boxing and brought down the third thug with another step and jab to the jaw, and knocked down the other two with karate-style side-kicks, just for good measure. As for Varmithas, he was out of view, obviously trying to get behind Kain.

But this time, he succeeded. Varmithas forced a choke hold around Kain's neck. “Heheh, very good, 'Kain,' but you're only human... You don't have the ssspeed to win....” Kain resisted for a few seconds, but that was all. He began slumping down against Varmithas, falling below his height. “Oh?.. Giving up. How... disssappointing.”Or, it would have been, but Varmithas got a little hopeful when Kain reached for his pants.

Unfortunately, Kain didn't swing that way. Rather, he swung straight, and he would demonstrate this by keeping a firm grip on Varmithas' waist while he bent his upper body over, keeping his legs up straight. Varmithas squirmed, but to his horror, it was he that couldn't get away. The polished floor approached his sight, and just as Kain tipped over, it was Varm's skull that collided with the ground first, leaving Kain just above the floor, leaning against Varmithas's collapsed form. He slid the pale delinquent off and stood up straight, wiping the blood on his hands against Varm's shirt, and then, dusting himself off.

To Kain's left, Alex had finally managed to disarm and poke his opponent to submission. To his right, Nale was... cleaning up the bodies and forming a pile. Apparently, he felt the fight was already over.

Scars observed with a bitter demeanor. He figured they would lose, but he didn't expect them to just get shrugged aside from the start. “Damn it... Fine, I'll bring some real guys next time... Kari, we're leaving.” The 'Bandit King' stood up and left out of the back doors. Karen stood up and eyed Marcus, who was going through unconscious thugs for any wallets he could find.

“Oh, come on already, Marcus. They're not carrying anything valuable.” Karen shook her head with her usual weariness. Something about the men around her often made her want to file a complaint to the local God.

“Ah!” Marcus did, however, find a few wallets, and made off with them without checking the contents. Just finding them had given him something to grin about. “Free lunch, here I come...”

As for Alyssa, the level of shock and awe going through her mind was hardly quantifiable. It was amazing that they trio had even pulled it off. It was also amazing that her brother had managed to get off his lazy ass and do something right. It was pretty damn jaw-dropping to see Nale fight like a boss, and not stumble and fall, and stab himself with his own epee. She would have never fathomed he actually new how to fight, nor could she understand why he bothered with fencing instead of martial arts if he was so terrible at it.

She actually could believe, if only a little, that Kain managed to keep his word. The threat was gone, and the gym was in one piece... there weren't even any blood stains on the floor- just small pools of saliva. The whole situation was dismantled long before any enforcers showed up. But, most importantly, her precious fencing club was still safe.

She nearly cried out of joy. Alyssa tended to resign herself to fate when it seemed all hope was lost. From the start, she didn't think they'd win.. she was mentally preparing for taking a beating... and then, for getting discovered by the SDTF, having her club removed, her funds gone, and all the equipment stored away... She was ready to lose everything. To be moments away from a great loss, ready to submit yourself, only to find it was never that hopeless at all. Alyssa turned around, away from the others. It wasn't like her to show emotion to this degree. A few tears did the job... she'd just let a couple out... and then turn around.

“Lyss?” Kain's voice snapped Alyssa out of her thoughts.

“H-huh?” She wiped her eyes hastily, turning around. “Uh, I mean, are you okay?”

“Wha-.. yeah. Actually, yer lookin' worse n' I am.” He may have been acting the part, bu he had a concerned feel to him. “Anythin' happen t' ya? Somethin' wrong or somethin'?”

“No!” Her reaction was far too hostile. “U-uh, I mean, I can clean this up myself. Why.. don't you get some rest? You fought the most, right? Right, so, go rest or something!” Thus, she began dragging him off to the bleachers.

“What? Hey, I don' need rest're nothi- Wait, why're ya jus' draggin' me, can'tcha listen t' reason're somethin'- Hey, Lyss, you listenin'?” Well, he knew she wasn't, and he could guess as to why. It was a pity, actually, that he didn't get to see her fight today... but his partner managed to surprise him, regardless. So, it wasn't a total loss.

Nale and Alex, meanwhile, we're busy arranging the unconscious pile of students along one corner of the room, up and down the bleachers, making them look as if they were simply sleeping the day away. Of course, they took care to wipe away any blood, and hide the bruises. “That was great! You see that fight? I fuckin' Falcon Punched a guy.”

Alex scratched his head. “Yeah... I never knew you could fight, Nale. Actually, why, uh.. why do you say your moves out loud, anyway?” Alex stooped down to pick up another body in the pile.

“It's pretty obvious, dude.” He gesticulated as if the explanation was elementary, somehow. “Everyone knows shouting your attacks makes them do more damage.”

Alex blinked at Nale. Nale had.. said some strange things before, but.. “Nale, where'd you learn how to fight?”

“Huh? Oh, you know,” He Nale dumped a body and set its head against the arms in a dozing position. “Arcades... Smash Bro's... Tekken, uh, Street Fighter. A little Mortal Kombat here and there for more kung fu flavor.”

“...” Alex dropped the body in his arms after his brain suffered a temporary lock-up from hearing Nale speak. “...What.”

Alyssa stared Kain down once they were alone on the opposite side of the gym. Actually, this was one of the few times Kain was the one feeling awkward. He was getting a rather intense look, and staying on a girl's good side was something he still needed to work on...

“So? Why'd you do it?” She pestered him with a mix of annoyance and suspicion, as most would with him. But it was intentional... acting like that wasn't her way, even if she was the distrusting type. “You didn't have to do it, you know. You could've ran or something. Or is it just that you like to fight that much.”?

Kain could only offer a weak grin as he thought over the answer. “Well, how t' put this... the way I saw it, if we ignored 'em, they'd jus' keep comin' back, worse n' worse. It was better t' get rid'a them as soon as I could.”

“Really? I'm not sure if I believe all of that...”

“Besides, if we had t' lose or give in, either way, I'd be gettin' dragged away, or the school would'a be gettin' rid'a this club... The problem wasn' us bein' in danger.. it was the fact that I couldn' keep the promises a'made if I wen' along with their shit plan. Withou' the club, no fencin' dream. Withou' me, no one t' help this club get on it's feet.”

“I... okay, I guess that makes sense...” She contemplated his words, shrugging. “Still... It was nuts, and stupid. If you really care for our deal, don't go getting into those situations. The club's existence can't be beaten to a pulp, but apparently, you can. Ah, and... thanks, I guess.”

“Ah... Yeah, sure.”

Alyssa gathered herself and got to her feet. Kain mimed her up until she turned back to face him.“Um...You asked earlier why I was... why our deal's so important to me... Way back before I was born, our father was a student here, he started the original fencing club. We inherited it from him... it's all we have left of him, and.. I don't intend to lose it, or our members. That may not matter to you, but this isn't... this isn't a game to me. I can't accept leaving the club's fate to your.. arrogant self estimations. It doesn't matter to me, even if you really are that good- the next time something like this happens, tell me, squarely, exactly how we fair, and what you're going to do... and don't be clever about it, okay? If I'm going to trust you with saving this club, then, you're going to have to trust me and tell me everything about how you plan on doing it. Otherwise, this deal isn't going to last...”

“I see.” Kain set a foot against a row of seats and rested his arm on his raised leg. “Well, guess I can' say no af'er y'said all'a that... Alright, Lyss. Sorry fer worryin' ya.”

She sighed with relief. Actually, Alyssa was certain he wouldn't be reasonable about it. Opening up about her past, even just a bit, was a big chance on her part. The end result was a little surprising, to say the least. “It's fine, just for this one time. And, uh, thanks for keeping your promise.” With the troubling talk aside, her smile of relief returned. “Besides, I think... this is the first time this year that our club's ever won, uh, anything. It's kind of... refreshing.”

“Heh. Get used t' it, yer gonna be feelin' that more often.” Kain got to his feet and made his way down the bleachers, in part because of another figure entering the far end of the room through the newly unlocked doors. “I think we got some company.”

“Hm? Oh, shoot, I did ask Noddy... Ugh, I didn't think it would be over before he even got here.” She sprung up and followed after Kain. “Should we tell him they left?... Or that they settle down? I don't know about the truth-”

“Nah. We'll jus' tell 'im the truth. Don' worry, he won' mind.” Kain adjusted his jacket and collar. “Truth is, me n' Mr. Shire go way back. He, uh, won' mind our win. Probably offer us victory pizza're somethin'- heh, here they come.” Kain stopped his approach, and Lyss stopped beside him. An overly excited Noddy ran their way, followed by a troubled Devyn and a bruised James.

“Whoa, whoa, you're okay! Didja win, huh, huh? Didja?” Noddy was speaking to both of them, but only looking at Alyssa. Before she had a chance to answer, though, Noddy answered it for himself, in his head, and said “Awesooooome!” He kicked and punched the air. “Hiyah! Let's change it to karate club! Yeah!”

Devyn neared the two of them with a first-aid kit. Zayl entered shortly after with a second first-aid kit, but he'd stopped momentarily to survey the damage. With a shiver, Zayl caught up with Devyn, who was already inspecting his precious Captain. “Are you hurt? Are you okay? Did anything bad happen?”

“Guys, guys! Relax, okay? Nothing happened... Uh.. the guys took care of it. We're all okay.” She smiled to herself. “The club's going to be okay.”

Devyn blinked incredulously. “That's... good. That's a relief.” As the adrenaline of worry was sucked out of him, he collapsed in a heap of his own legs, looking exceptionally weary.

Alyssa snickered at Devyn's misfortune. “You okay there? I think you're the one that needs help.”

“Actually, everyone here's going to need a little help. I suppose none of you heard with whatever went on in here.” Mr. Shire walked over with his usual plastic bottle of vodka in hand. “The bell rang. You're all very late for your fifth period classes. To be honest, you shouldn't even bother with going right now, you'd just get into more trouble.” Marius grunted, shrugged, and took a swig. Alyssa stared at him with all the curiousness of one who questioned another's teaching license. She could smell the booze even from where she stood.

Kain stretched his arms back, yawning. “Hey, Marius, why don'cha write us up some passes fer the Nurse's office? I think I'd rather take the rest'a the day off.”

Alex walked over from the far end of the gym. “He can do that?” He eyed the teacher. “You would do that?”

“Ehhh.... sure, why not?” Marius tightened his bottle's lid and set it in a pocket. He searched around his coat. “Let's see... where did I?... Hrm... Oh,” he pulled a small stack of notes out of his pant pocket, and a pen from his coat, and began writing roughly the same note for everybody. “One... two.. Ah, eight of ya.” And so, a stack of eight was made. “Here ya go. And remember, you don't tell anybody about this, got it?” He handed the stack off to Kain, who began dividing it up amongst the others. With a jerky wave, Mr. Shire turned and left.

Nale snatched his away with outright glee. “Free period! Ohhhhh yeaaaaah.”

And Noddy joined him right away. “Ohhhhhh yeaaaaaah!”

Alex stared at the note in his hand. He eyed Alyssa and Kain. “Is this really alright? Isn't this, like.. abuse of his teaching license or something?...”

Alyssa looked unsure. “I.. I don't know, Kain asked him to do it.” Thus, they turned to the apparent cause of the free passes.

Kain shrugged. “I'ss fine, i'ss fine, don' worry! Hey,” he motioned to Zayl. “He left one fer you, too.”

“Huh?” Zayl awkwardly accepted the pass to the Nurse's office. “Uh, thank... you?”

“Yep. Say, folks, le'ss not stick around any longer. They might send someone in t' check on us, those SDF's or whatever.” Kain stood by the door and awaited the rest of them. “Some R n' R would do us good after that, don'cha think?”

“Actually, it does sound nice right now.” Alyssa went around picking up her share of the equipment. Alex and Nale followed her example, Devyn calmed Noddy down, and James did his best not to get in the way. Zayl just followed them with his usual cluelessness. Once they were all packed up, the group set off for the Nurse's office. Alyssa had to admit, it was nice to leave the place and feel like something had actually been resolved, for once.

The first day was over, at last. Eleanor had locked herself up in the SDTF division of the Dean's office, which was twice the size of the average classroom. The very front had a counter that functioned as both a help desk and a way to separate the waiting area from the offices. The waiting area had the same tiled floor the rest of the school's halls did. But behind the counter, the floor was covered in a thick, green carpet, recently furnished. There were plush, leather seats and tall, comfortable stools. Small coffee tables acted as meeting spots were used primarily for discussions. The rest was covered in modern corporate desks and cubicles, phones, computers, filing cabinets, the works. There were a couple coffee machines and a large, well maintained refrigerator toward the back. As one of the best-financed divisions of the school, the Dean's office and SDTF enjoyed many treats most of the school staff and faculty could not.

The SDTF's corner itself was about a quarter of the whole place, not much, considering its size, but adequate to conduct their usual business. Eleanor was hard at work reviewing recently gathered information on the boy that had humiliated her in front of a portion of the school. It was frustrating to find that the school hardly had any information on him, and what was reported on him over the course of the day had only managed to infuriate her further.

Eleven more students had been seriously injured by his hands- or so the report stated. Eleanor had to wonder about that. The encounter between Kain and herself was constantly replaying through her mind, not because it was of particular importance, but because of everything that happened afterward. According to the information, Redwell was some sort of ass kicking, name taking devil-may-care hotshot with a love to show off his apparently abundant strength. It showed, too. Those eleven students had been sent to a nearby clinic after being discovered. The injuries required treatment- nothing too much, but the students wouldn't be returning for a few days.

So, what really made her wonder is why it was just her pride he wounded. Eleanor had tried her very hardest not to throw the first punch when she was with him. Just what would have happened if she did... Thinking about it, her image of Kain, and the image she was presented with, didn't match up perfectly. The report stated he was out to cause trouble. But when she thought about it clearly, he was definitely just trying to run away. Eleanor tapped her chin, slipping into deep thought. Why was there suddenly so much attention on this one student... even for the worst troublemakers, this kind of coverage wasn't normal. In fact, the students involved in that fight were alleged members of the Black Bandits. In a sense, Kain had done Eleanor's job for her. That didn't excuse the fact that he had no right, but the action, under any other circumstance, would have gotten him considered, if not recommended, for the SDTF. She had to wonder... was someone pulling the strings?

“No... I'm over thinking this.” Eleanor leaned back into her seat. She ran a hand through her hair and fanned her shirt. In the comfort of the office, she could wear regular clothes without worrying about getting bruised, beaten, or even stabbed. But the comforts of the office weren't enough to ease her frustrations. “...They're probably fretting over nothing. He's the first person to resist like that since...” She furrowed her brows. “...since Scars. No, I guess the school's reaction is entirely appropriate.” She sat up straight and did some simple twists and stretches in the seat. “...If he massed his own following and we had a repeat of 2008...” Eleanor massaged her forehead. “...the school would probably get shut down again... I'd be transferred... again... No, not again.” She shook her head, mumbling to herself. “I can't do that again.”

“Do what again?” Eleanor jerked her head over her shoulder to find a girl with long, dark hair and deep violet eyes quietly standing a couple feet behind her. She had a face a bit like Zayl's, but with softer features and a more confident, matured expression. Her eyes traveled to the portfolio open on Eleanor's desk. “...Delinquency reports again?” The girl approached with a soft smile. “You're always going over these... Hm. Just one this time?”

“Ah, yes. This one is-.. this one is special, Salene.” Eleanor allowed herself another heavy sigh. “He's.. an extremely special case, apparently. One of those one-hit wonders, in the violent sense. And no respect for people or property.” She nearly snarled on the last sentence.

“Oh my...” Salene's expression turned sour, then concerned. “How many has he hurt?”

“Twelve students, John included, and one member of the administrative staff... that one being the Principal.”

Salene gasped. “You mean that cast he was wearing-” She stifled a giggle. “But it looks good on him, you know; Mr. Hook's become a little more amusing with that silly thing around his neck.”

Eleanor sighed, half-smiling herself from the memory of Hook in an oversized cast. “That's... not the point, Salene...”

“I know, I know. Anyway, please excuse me, I've got to run and meet a friend. Goodbye, Eleanor, and good luck.”

Eleanor returned a smile and a nod. “Goodbye, and take care. The school has been dangerous as of late.”

“I will!” She waved goodbye and left as quick as she came.

Niphsus Ralcourt, as written below his badge, entered right after Salene, watching here leave while standing in the door way. He took note of Eleanor as he finished entering, waved once, and approached her desk. “Working hard, as usual, eh Vice-Captain?”

Eleanor groaned and rolled her shoulders. “Paperwork is a terrible thing, Niphsus. I've been dealing with far too much, today.”

“Well, I'm free for at least another hour. If you want, I can finish up for you, and you can head home early. How's that sound?” Niph crossed his arms and leaned on the side of her desk.

“That sounds wonderful, Niph. Thank you. If it were any other day, I would do it myself, but I can barely walk.. I've been running so much, I-”

“Heheh, it's fine, Eleanor, it's fine. You work too hard to begin with, anyway. Go home, alright?”

“Yes, thank you again.” She slid everything back into Kain's portfolio, picked it up along with a few others stacked beneath it, and left with them all. “Don't mind these, they're just research materials. Goodbye!”

Niph just waved goodbye. He leaned out the door and watched her legs as she left. The Vice-Captain wasn't all that bad a girl in the womanly sense, when she stopped burying herself in clothes, that was. “Maybe for Prom... maybe?” He stroked his chin. “...Worth a shot.” Niphsus shrugged to himself with his usual grin of indifference and got to work. “She's right. Paperwork is a terrible thing...”



Salene arrived on the scene of a flock of girls around her locker, where only two in particular were awaiting her arrival. Alyssa, her classmate, and Kelly, her underclassman. Kelly was leading the majority of the conversation, talking to her circle of friends, which spanned all years.

“..and he had a huge cast around his neck! They said some new guy did it. When he leaned over to try and drink from the drinking fountain, he couldn't get close enough, he kept hitting it with the cast! Oh my god, we nearly died laughing. He kept trying and trying, and he- Ohmigosh, Salene! Did you hear?” Kelly bounded over to her, and Salene was helpless to stop her. “Principal Hook got decked! He had to put on a cast, and it was the funniest thing!”

“Calm down, Kelly! I've heard, I've heard!” Salene looked to Alyssa and gave her the 'please help me' look. Alyssa returned a devilish smirk, but she decided to take pity this time.

“Uh, girls, why don't we head home...” She stepped in and set a hand on Kelly's shoulder “...and talk on the way, instead?”

“Ah, oh. Well, okay.” Kelly turned to her other mass of friends. “Later, girls!”

“See ya, Kelly!” “Yeah, bye, Kel! Don't forget, tryouts start Wednesday!” “Byyyeee~!”

With a heel turn, she hooked arms with both companions and lead them away. Alyssa was always surprised by Kelly's ability to drag people around when it suited her. It wasn't that she was taking charge, more like she was just having her way. Salene didn't mind quite as much. Often, it appeared she enjoyed it.

“So, Salene, guess what else~. Lyss got a booooyfrieeend.” Kelly bounced and beamed. “But,” Her excitement became a pout “she won't tell me anything!” Kelly shook Salene's arm. “Make her talk, Salene, she tells you things!”

Alyssa hung her head in defeat. Getting Salene involved just made it even more complicated. “I really don't want to talk about this...” Lying was not something she enjoyed doing. Bending the truth wasn't quite as bad, though...

Salene seemed to take genuine interest. “Lyss? Is it true? You're finally going out with someone?” Kelly let go of Salene as the girl advanced toward Alyssa.

“Eh, well... It's...” Alyssa bit her lip. “Yeah, I... I guess I am.”

“Lyss! That's wonderful!” Salene gave her a light hug. “I'm so happy for you. But, oh, think of all the hearts you've just broken!”

“Gee...” Alyssa's tone was dry and monotonous “I feel so terrible about it.” She shook her head. “Honestly, it wouldn't have mattered... most of those guys are practically the same at heart. Perverted, lazy, offensive, unreliable...” She shrugged “Let 'em cry their eyes out of their sockets, I still wouldn't care.”

Kelly cackled at Alyssa's side. “You're so cruel to them. I love it!”

The fencer scoffed. “They're pigs. Why shouldn't I be?”

Kelly laughed at that. “That's why I love it! I haven't met a single decent guy in my entire life. You're the same, right Lyss?”

Alyssa shrugged. “Eh, more or less. None of them really ever stood out for me. One or two I admired, but not because I liked them or anything. They were just good at fencing. I wanted to learn from them.”

Salene nodded. “That's understandable. Besides, High School relationships aren't very serious, either, and you've always been serious about sensitive things.”

Lyss nodded, Salene had a knack for making perfect sense. “Mhm, that's true.”

“Still,” Salene idly flicked her hair back “that just makes it all the more surprising that you found someone you like... He must be the calm, composed serious type, too, right?”

“Well...”

“And I bet he's really polite and reasonable-”

“Uh, I wouldn't put it that wa-”

“And super-modest, I bet. There's just no way he's one of those ego-inflated jerks.” Kelly snickered. “No, Lyss would never go for those.”

“Ah.. haha.. eh.. ehehe.. no, never...” Alyssa's voice grew weaker and weaker. She was having a little freaking-out party in her head. How was she going to explain Kain to these two? The man they just described couldn't have been further from that idiot! It was definitely time to change the subject. “Well, um, how about your type, Kelly?”

“Huh?” The question had caught her totally off guard. “My.. type? Um...well, I don't really...”

Salene gave her a light nudge. “Oh, come on, there must have been at least one that wasn't so bad.”

“Uh, well...” Kelly thought back. Only one came to mind, but the impression he'd left was a strong one. She blushed a little just by remembering him. “...strong-willed... um... caring... dependable... maybe a little mysterious, and dashing, when it suits him.” A look of fond appreciation graced her, and she giggled. “And, most of the time, anything but serious... but always well intentioned. Always trying his hardest... never giving up.” Kelly bit her lip. “W-well, basically.. my kind of guy would go to the ends of the Earth if it could make me happy. That's my type.”

“Wow, looks like someone's really thought this over... or maybe you've already got someone in mind?” Alyssa used her height as a means of effectively teasing her. “Tall, dark, and handsome, too?”

Kelly hid her innocence with a grumpy frown, but I failed. The blush appeared, regardless. “It was a long time ago... I haven't really seen him for three years. The last time I heard from him was two years ago...” She sighed. “He's just a thing of the past. But if I could see him again, maybe I'd... who knows.” The two others fell silent. They came to a mutual understanding that this was something they were to leave alone.

At last, after much conversation, they'd arrived at the main entrance, and were heading for the gates. Alyssa scanned the main entrance for any signs of Kain. There, by one of the pillars, was the figure of the school's new menace. Another cursory glance revealed Scars and a few of his henchmen observing Kain from the safety of the steps of the main entrance. “I've got to run ahead, girls. It was nice talking to you. Uh, maybe I'll introduce you to him later, though.”

“Oh... okay, Lyss.” Kelly shined a grin and shooed her. “Don't worry, I'm sure he's a great guy. Must be if it's your choice. Get going if you're that obsessed! Hehe.” She even added in a light push. Salene joined her in waving goodbye.

Alyssa returned a quick wave and dashed off with a smile. She stopped a foot from Kain “Sorry, I was with some friends... did you wait long?”

Kain shrugged in return. “Nah, wasn' so bad. Just enjoyin' getting' stared at by ugly wannabe's.” He lightly nodded his head at Scars' crew. “Got time before you head home? I've got a date planned.”

Alyssa bit her lip once more, but decided it best to act her part. “Sure, that sounds great. Where to?”

“C'mon, I'm parked up ahead. We'll drive there.” Kain left for his car with a nod in its direction.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Salene spied on Alyssa's mysterious boyfriend. Salene was intrigued by what she saw. “The bad boy type? But, this is Alyssa we're talking about... maybe there's more to him?”

Kelly squinted her eyes. Could it be? She rubbed at her eyes again, unsure if she was hallucinating or not. That person beside Alyssa looked incredibly familiar, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe it. At that distance, she could easily have been making a mistake... But, it was too late. They both entered Kain's car and drove off. Kelly sighed to herself. No way it could have been him. That would've meant one of her best friends... was dating her... No, no, that definitely wasn't right.

“Man!” Kelly threw herself around Salene's waist, hugging her for comfort. “This sucks. I really wanted to know!” She squeezed the petite girl's waist tighter and tighter.

“Ack- K-kel..ly...”




Three and a half years ago, an act was passed, regarding the regulations and enforcement of school policies, that enabled both corporal punishment, its endorsement, and its management by a school-run system. Two and a half years ago, another act included the authorization to conscript, train, and use select students in order to enforce the rules, punish rule breakers, and rear all other students. A system of self-monitoring, one that not only allowed, but encouraged violent and harsh methods of punishment and re-education.

How did 'Sprint' fit into all of this? Simple: his life was being ruined by it. Sprint was a simple guy. He stayed after school to do the two things he loved the most: track and field, and crystal meth. During the day, he could get some running in, but it was after school that he got to run to his heart's content. But lately, stricter enforcement of students had started to shorten his total running area. The field was relatively smaller, now. He couldn't wear whatever he wanted to run, or even not wear anything at all, which sometimes made him run faster. He definitely had a much harder time with the meth, too. Daytime dealers would hardly show up, unless they were protected by Scars, and like that, their goods were horribly overpriced. No, Sprint missed the old days when the good people could get away with things, too, not just the bad guys. To Sprint, all these laws meant were that the best bullies could keep on bullying, and you weren't allowed to have fun anymore.

He thought all this and more in the span of ten seconds. Aferward, a soccer ball hit him square in the face, and he fell over, unconcious.

“Oh, shit!” Zaku ran over, tailed by Marcus and his good buddy, Jens. “Ohshitohshitohshit I just killed the star runner!” Zaku turned and clung to Jens. “Jeeeeens, saaaave meeee!”

“Wha- Zaku, get off me! I'm not your mother!”

“No, Jens, you're my only hope! You're like an old lady, you can pretend!”

Jens struggled for a few more seconds, but after hearing Zaku, he just gave up. “Marcus, I think I'm gonna cry.”

Marcus sniffed a booger back into his nose. He scratched an itch on his rear, and finally gave Jens some attention. “..Huh? What, you're gonna die?”

“...Cry.” Jens sighed to the side. “I said I think I'm gonna cry.”

“Oh, that. Sounds like a Kodak moment. Should I get my camera out?” Jens started crying.

“Shoot, way to jump the gun, ya bloomin' fool...” Marcus hurriedly searched for his camera

“There, there, Jens.” Zaku's clinging became a comforting hug. “I'll still love you, even if Marcus doesn't.” This only made Jens cry harder.

“Christina!” was his tortured scream.

Zaku cocked an eye at him. “...Ew.”

“Aha!” Marcus whipped out his twice-used disposable cam and snapped a quick picture. “There, see? I'm so useful.” It was a wonder these three ever got anywhere.




Piotr and Jacob reached for a pair of legs deep inside the bottom of a dumpster. “Ready, Jacob?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Jacob rubbed at the fresh bandage on his forehead, then steadied his grip on the leg by him. “I'm ready.”

“Very good. Ready, and.. pull!” The pair of legs slid out about half way. They began kicking about wildly. “It's no good! Once more. Ready, and.. pull!” They tugged and tugged, and groans of pain came from beneath the dumpster. At last, a bruised and dirty Kale was pulled out. Piotr and Jacob both let go, Piotr having to take a minute to catch his breath. “A-..Alright.. take him to.. to the Nurse's office.. wont you... Jacob?”

Jacob didn't even need to be told. He picked up his fragile friend, who cried out from the hurt, and carried him away. “Shh, quiet, Kale. You're cramping my style.”

“J-..jerk...”

Piotr nodded to himself. “Good, good... he'll be okay, now.” Piotr turned back to the culprit and ultimate cause of Kale's misfortune. The leaning form of Varmithas against a basketball pole glared menacingly at Piotr. The scholarly student shrunk away from his gaze and quickly followed after his friends.

Varmithas watched him go with seething hatred. When they came to try and hospitalize him, he managed to wake up and flee. His head was still aching from the concussion, and the pain of being slammed into the ground, face first.

Kaz and Karen approached the minion from behind. Kaz leaned to his female companion and whispered in a hoarse, irish accent. “Tha' bruise on 'is 'ead's wha' knocked 'im out? 'S pi'iful, lass.”

“Mm, he really didn't last. He had the others gang up on his mark, and he attacked from behind... and still ended up getting the worst injury.” Karen shrugged to herself. “But, Scars was smart to arrange that fight. Now, I'm definitely sure we're dealing with a monster of a guy.”

“Oh, are ye? No' ge'in' excoited, are ye?” Kaz cocked his head in her direction. “Ye haven' had tha' twinkle in yer eye sence the time a'showed up. Still want a proivi'e cha' wi' 'im?”

Karen starred down Kaz with her trademark glare. “My fist's going to have a private chat with your face if you keep it up. God, you're so fucking annoyi-.” And Kaz was gone, just like that. “..Huh? Damn that bastard...” She snarled, and returned to watching Varmithas. “...Hm. He better not be planning his own revenge party. Scars won't be happy about that. I better tell him...” she pulled her phone out and began dialing.




Kain and Lyss pulled up into a parking lot beside a Yum-Yum Donuts shop. As they stepped out, Alyssa looked about with confusion. “This is your idea of a date?”

“Hey, there ain' anythin' wrong wi' Yum-Yums!” He strode up to the entrance and pushed open the glass door. “Besides, I thought girls liked sweets.” Kain turned back and held the door open for her.

She gave him a defeated look of giving in. “Lucky for you, I just like free food...” Alyssa walked through the entrance, and Kain let go and followed after her. She stopped at the counter- no line in sight, they were apparently the only ones there. She looked up at the menu. “We can order before we talk, right?”

“'Course, 'course. The rest'a the team'll get 'ere in about half n' hour, so we got plen'y a' time.” Kain stood beside her and went through the same process of looking through the menu. The clerk walked over and asked what they wanted. “Two-dozen glazed ones fer me.”

Alyssa blinked incredulously at the order. She turned to look at him. “What.. are you going to-”

“Nah, nah, 'course not.” He shook his head and flashed her another grin. “I'ss fer the team when they get 'ere. Y'can have some, too, if y'wan'.”

“Ah.. sure, thanks.” She then turned to the clerk. “Nothing for me, thank you.”

“Okay, this'll take about five minutes, so get comfortable.” The clerk then disappeared into the back of the store.

“So, Kain, this team of yours-”

“Ours.”

“Right, ours... Who are they, and what's your- er, what's our goal?”

“We're... aimin' t' bring a statewide scandal t' ligh', n' stop the culpri' from reachin' his ultima'e goals. It's somethin' you'd be familiar wi', somethin' e'ereyone's familiar wi'.”

Alyssa scratched at her head. “This is starting to sound complicated, and I'm still not sure how I fit in to all of this.”

“Heh, sorry, but it ain' getting' any simpler pas' this poin'. By the way, how's the role'a my girlfrien' treatin' ya? Any difficulties?”

“Uh, no, it's just... moderately awkward. We're not really dating, but I have to convince my friends that we are, and they know me, so they'll know I don't really like you if we're together, so-”

“So, what yer sayin' is we need t' practice.”

“Yes- wait, no. What?” She returned to giving him suspicious looks. “What do you mean, 'practice?' Practice what?”

“...Practice bein' boyfrien' n' girlfrien'. Y'know, the way we're s'pose t' talk, n' act, n' maybe hold hands, tha' kin'a crap.”

“Oh...” She sighed in relief, “so that's all you meant-”

“N' if need be, we could try fakin' a kiss, but that's pretty advanced stuff there-”

“NO! No- I'm not kissing you, sorry.” Her glare was adamant. “We don't know each other, I don't even know what it is you want or do, and there's hardly anything attractive about your character! Your looks-” She paused and gave him the once-over. “...aren't all that special either. I'm sorry, but there's just no way I can bring myself to do this.”

Kain shook his head with a sigh, rubbing at the back of his neck like a weary adult. “Settle down, settle down. We ain' jumpin' the gun yet, we can jus' say we don' like t' kiss n' get lovey dovey in public. S' not as convincin', but easy t' fix.”

Alyssa slowly let her guard down again, softening her expression. “Well... good. Um. Sorry... I didn't really mean all that, I was just trying to...”

“Yeah.” He looked over to the approaching clerk.” I know.” Kain stepped over as his two boxes were set on top of one another.

“That'll be $17.98 for the whole thing.” The clerk eyed Kain as he produced a wallet and slid a 20 dollar bill onto the counter. In a few seconds, he produced exact change and nodded gratefully. “Thanks, come again.”

Kain took his boxes and moved over to a round table further in the small shop, by a large pane-glass wall. He looked more annoyed than usual, and Lyss knew the cause. She had to admit, she may have taken it too far that time. Dislike of men and lack of restraint had its limits, too.

“Look, I'm sorry, I said too much, there-”

He held a hand up to quiet her. “S'fine, a'right?” Kain lowered the hand, shrugging to himself. “Jus' drop it. I ain' holdin' it against ya. B'sides, I know m' own flaws the bes', so, I ain' gonna argue against ya.”

“Oh.” Alyssa shrugged to herself once more and turned away. “Alright... pass me a donut?”

“Sure.” Kain picked up a glazed one for her and held it out to her.

Alyssa accepted it with a smile and thanks while she ate the sweet creation of the Yum-Yums guy. After seeing her go at it, Kain himself dug in. For a moment, the mood seemed to lighten. And then, the door swung open, and three adults entered, followed by a student. They pulled up chairs and sat at the table Kain and Alyssa were at, thus forcing them closer together. “Sorry we're late.” Marius, in regular clothing, was the first to address them. “Kaz here had to escape the usual.” Kazaul, the only younger one among the newcomers, and the closest to Kain, just shrugged. To Alyssa's other side was a very calm and composed Jacob Aurelius, a sight she was actually used to, but not in the company of others. Finally, between Marius and Jacob was a man by the name of John Verne, clad in a white T, with a large blood- er, ketchup stain displayed across it.

Alyssa turned to Kain with a hopeless expression. “Uh...Kain? What's going on?”

“Lyss...” He turned to face the people around the table. “I'd like ya t' meet the team.”

It was a darker, dirtier part of town, not far from school, that Karen had picked for her walk. Despite being an unsavory place for a girl her age, it was familiar for reasons she rarely discussed. You had to be a fool to hold unquestionable loyalty to a lying scumbag. She preferred being ready, and being ready involved in-depth information, alternative muscle, and fallback plans. Usually, this sort of thing would require finding a third party, that being another gang, some kind of dealer, or a more official group, like an investigation company. Karen hated dealing with big gangs and officials of any kind. She hadn't the patience for big-time dealers, either. She preferred the smaller, skilled and independent groups that didn't rely on numbers to get things done.

Karen turned into an alleyway and stopped as her phone began vibrating. She pulled it out, flipped it open, and checked. Scars had texted her, asking her to meet up downtown. Well, she was going to be busy today. Karen flipped the phone shut and stuffed it away. She continued down the alley, and made another turn to her left, where a small opening to the back of a shop was guarded by a slim, dark-skinned woman in nothing but street urchin's clothing. She took notice of Karen, but said nothing. "Silthia, I want to meet Syth."

Silthia rose to her feet and dusted herself off. She turned and unlocked the back door, gesturing for Karen to enter. Karen did so, and Silthia entered behind her, shutting the door on her way inside. The back room was a small den with a low table and a beat up couch. On it was a tanned individual, male, and tall. He was reading through a book, though the title was obscured by his hands, and only spared Karen a cursory glance. "Karen. I suppose you're here for Sythrvium. He's in his study, as usual."

Karen moved deeper inside with a nod, followed by Silthia. "Thanks, Nate."

"Nay-tix. Nay. Tix." His tone became only a tad unfriendly.

Unfriendliness never bothered Karen, though. "Sure thing, Nate." She proceeded past the disgruntled male and entered a room on her right.

The room beyond the door was large and cluttered with books, trinkets, papers, and belongings of all kinds. Bookcases lined one wall, and cabinets lined the other. At the far end was a large work desk with a couple clear bags of powdery substance and tablet-shaped drugs present., and in the seat before the desk was another exceptionally tall, dark-skinned man. His hair was dyed a bright and pristine white. When he turned back to face them, a cigarette was revealed at the edge of his mouth. "Kari? Back already, eh?" He dropped a sheet of paper and pushed his seat back, proceeded over to the two. "C'mon in, c'mon in. Sil, make some tea for the gal, okay?" Silthia nodded and disappeared from view, leaving the two alone. Karen shut the door behind her and turned to the man in question.

"I can't believe you're still in business in a neighborhood like this." She looked around the amusingly disorganized study. "I thought you'd give in to Scars, eventually. But I'm glad you haven't."

"Oh, why's that? Ah, please, take a seat..." he pulled a folding chair out from under a pile of clothes and propped it up for Karen. Karen shrugged and sat down, but not before making sure the seat was clean. Nothing but the faint smell of lemon. "So, what brings you hear today?"

"Well, that depends, Syth. Have you heard of the stuff going on at Surna yet?"

"A few things. Scars lost eleven- no, ten guys to the fencing club for going after some transfer kid. It's not a terrible loss for him, but a notable dent. The reason they wanted him was because he resisted Surna's SDTF successfully. Seems like some hype to me, but did I get that all right?"

"Yes, as always..." She forgot how much she disliked his ability to be a know-it-all. "His name is-"

Syth cut her off. "Kain Redwell, eighteen years old, living alone, no surviving family, no guardian, no relatives. There's more if you're interested, he's got quite the history. I have a file on him somewhere back over... eh, there." He made a half-assed gesture toward his desk.

Karen blinked, and blinked again. "...Okay, how come the school itself doesn't know anything, but you seem to know everything?"

"Because, Karen, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty for a little information." Syth non-nonchalantly shrugged. "Everyone else seems to be, though. Besides, he and I have had.. past encounters."

She raised a brow at his words, but let the explanation slip. "Yes, I'm interested. I want everything you have on him. Who he is, his ties, his skills, weaknesses... everything you've got..."

She was surprised to find Syth staring at her as if she had her hand on Pandora's box. Syth stroked his chin. “Almost no one ever goes ahead with buying that information. See, that purchase in particular is actually monitored, and the customer ends up for the worse in the long run... I wouldn't tell the usual shmuck, but of course, you're special, Kari, so, there's your warning...”

“What happens, then, if I buy this?”

“I couldn't really tell you. Could just be a light warning... could get a visit from someone scary, or there could just be a series of unfortunate events.”

Karen's expression remained still, but her awkward silence betrayed her. She was beginning to hesitate. “...All this for some guy in my school?”

Sythrivum was no fool. In his business, one had to be shrewd, and he could tell he was losing even the most loyal of his customers to risk. Thus, he had to make a sweeter deal. “...Since no one ever buys his information, it's almost worthless to me, as far as trade goes. Tell you what, I'll let you have it for a cheap price. Two-hundred for the whole package.” That caught Karen's attention. “Heck, I'll refund half of it if you can bring him here to meet me. I've got some questions for him that I'd prefer answering through the safety and comfort of my own home, and it's not an easy thing to get guys like that to listen.”

Silthia re-entered the room with a serving of tea for the both of them, on a plate, with a bowl of sugar cubes and a small scooper beside it. She was now dressed in a rather fine and well-kept maid's uniform. Silthia set them down and received a nod from her boss.

“Thanks, Sil. That'll be all for now. By the way, the new outfit looks good on you.” It was a rare thing to see the cold businessman that was Syth show any likeness of a fond smile, but this was one of those unique occasions. Karen found herself raising a brow. “Let's hope it brings in more customers.”

Silthia giggled, nodding. “I thought it was a little over the top, but it's so cute. Convincing, too!”

“By the way, Silthia...” Karen interjected with a hint of caution in her voice. “Scars wanted me to ask you if you were serious about never wanting to see him again, if I ran into you. I guess he doesn't know you're working for Syth yet, does he?”

This invoked a pout. “Are you kidding? That jerk, he's such a manwhore. I can't believe I believed anything he said!” A fierceness unlike Silthia took over her manners. Syth just seem amused to see her so worked up. “I bet he's made tons of passes at you, too, huh?! That's how he really is. Damn it, it makes me want to kill him- ugh.” She stopped, and calmed herself with a few deep breaths. This was probably because she could tell she was freaking Karen out. Silthia put on a pleasant look again. “Sorry, I get so worked up sometimes... Anyway, nope! I never want to see his ugly face again! Tell him that, okay, Kari?”

“Uhh... you bet... heh.” Karen nodded, and with that much, Silthia left to have fun. “...Maybe it was a good thing she left.”

“Oh? I see so much potential in her, though. She's simple at heart, too, which is a relief for me. I hate dealing with complicated women on a regular basis. Besides, isn't she cute when she's mad?” Syth shrugged. “Maybe it's just me.”

“...Yep. Just you.” Karen replied as dryly as she could. “That said, let's do business. I thought about what she said, and honestly, I'm about done with Scars, too. He's only keeping quiet because-”

“-because of all the other monster's at your school that never catch him doing his dirty work, I know. In truth, the Black Bandits are better off now than they were two years ago.” Syth idly leaned over to a bookshelf and moved his finger across of line of folders. Eventually, he drew a folder with 'Black Bandits' written across it in permanent marker.

“...I hate it when you do that.”

“Hah. You don't need to tell me, Kari. I keep track of all potential threats. It's my motto to let sleeping dogs lay, but you know, I don't like people trying to creep up on my turf.” He showed the folder to Karen. “For the sake of common interests, I'll let you hang on to this in addition to your purchase. I'm sure it'll end up falling into.. the right hands. Eh, Kari?”

Karen eyed Syth with suspicion. Well, at least he was being honest with using her.




Alyssa stared with dumbstruck awe. “Wh-what- Mr. Shire! Mr. Verne! Uncle, you too?!” The last was directed at none-other than Jacob Aurelius. “This is your real job?”

Marius tossed a questioning look at Jacob. “You mean she knew already?”

“Well, we live together, she knows I'm faking my condition, naturally, she'd ask why. You can't toy with shrewd women, Marius.” Jacob gesticulated as he spoke, but more like a natural gentleman than a crazed maniac. He took a sip from his coffee before carrying on. “Still, to think it would be Alyssa getting involved and not Alex. I thought he would be far quicker to jump into this sort of dangerous business.”

“Hm, you mean Alexander? Well, he's got the passion, sure, but there's no drive in him, no patience.” Marius took a bite out of his donut. “Hefs no fhood aff spoffing opforfunifies lyfe Alyffa.”

Alyssa leaned close to Kain, feeling the need to trust him, and solely him, for once. “Uh... Kain...” Her voice was quiet as could be. “What... what's going on here? Why are we eating donuts.. at a table.. with faculty, staff, and...” She momentarily eyed Kaz, “...some punk..?”

Kain leaned over to her, replying in a similar manner. “Well, Lyss, this's everyone in m' team. We're all, uh, undercover investigatin' a matter direc'ly related t' the school's success n' policies. See, everyone here's workin' fer the state police righ' now.” Kain nodded at Kaz right after that. “Even me n' him.”

“Right... and earlier, you said this was all for some state scandal? What did you mean?”

“Here, let's bring this up with the guys- Hey, Jake, Marius, let's explain t' Lyss 'xactly what's goin' on, a'right?”

“Ah, yes. She's my niece, so allow me. Alyssa, you're very familiar with the new disciplinary practices brought forth by Superintendent Praufett of the Board of Educators, correct?” He received a nod from Lyss. “Well, while his media image has managed to avoid taking hits, we've had him under suspicion long before he proposed his ideas, and the suspicion has only grown since then. His evidence of his system's success, we believe, has been both controlled and fabricated, and we're certain he is bending the factors of his environment in his favor.”

Alyssa held a hand up in protest. “Whoa, wait, what? Really?”

“Yes, really. Right now, the policies of the Upright Students Act are still sketchy to the BoE, and not all schools have accepted them. This is because doing so invokes a lower grading standard to cope with the drops in marks, the social questions of whether certain students should be allowed, or even encouraged to rule over and monitor others, along with the obvious moral implications of punishing students with violence.” Jacob paused to inhale and took a moment to look around and check for suspicious people. There were none, so he continued. “Then, there've been various youth crimes that haven't seen the light of day due to Praufett's incredible ability to cover them up and manipulate the media. He claims his method is working, but in truth, it only seems like it's working. As for what's really going on? Praufett is running things behind the scenes so that his policies can be taken up by all the schools in the state. Worse yet, his committee itself receives the funding to distribute to all the individual schools and their Discplinary divisions.”

“Wait... this is crazy...How- and why?! Why the heck would he do all of this? Money?”

“We don't realy know. As for how he plans on doing it? We've only been able to make guesses in the past, and we're still figuring it out now. What we do know is Surna High has been the first school to accept, use, and endorse his policies, and now it's part of his big plan. Considering the violent past that's followed this school, especially the recent increase in the past three years, Praufett wants to prove to the public and the board, once and for all, that his system works, and he's going to do that through this school. He'll take up temporary direction of the school staff, and if successful, he might make it permanent and reappoint his own lacky in Principal Hook's place. He'll do anything, legal or illegal, in his power to do this, too. Under this scenario, we'd face oppression against the students of Surna High, be they good, bad, in-between, what have you. Similar schools will adopt Surna High's example. It'll be a completely legal oppression of students, and with Praufett at the top, he'll be profitting from the funding he'll receive, even if no one else does.”

“Tha-... is this a joke?” Alyssa looked between the five of them. “Please tell me you're joking...”

“I'm afraid it's no joke, Alyssa. Here, I'll introduce the team.” Aurelius nodded to Marius. “This is our team leader, Marius Shire. You may know him as a teacher. His task is managing our movements and making sure our plans are three steps ahead of everyone else. He also keeps tabs on the faculty. This man here,” Aurelius motioned to Verne “Assistant Dean, John Verne, is actually our team's doctor and field medic. He's responsible for infiltrating the Staff and all the information traffic going on among them. I myself have taken the role of a crazed religious fanatic to infiltrate the Churches Praufett has been stringing along to support his goal. I also handle the various equipment that comes with this line of work. That young man,” Aurelius pointed Ka'zaull out “was tasked with infiltrating the ranks of the chief delinquents here, the Black Bandits, and intercepting all information traffic. During an operation, he handles communications. Finally, our point man, someone you've already met,” Aurelius, at last, turned back to Kain and Alyssa “is Mr. Redwell. While we would prefer he'd be able to work among the regular students, the plan has placed him at the center of everyone's attention, and he'll be too busy taunting the major parties in this school into acting up as per our wishes. That's why he was asked to select a temporary accomplice to work alongside us. Someone that could get close to him without it being suspicious. To be honest, I didn't think he would pick you... far less ask you to act as his girlfriend.”

Kain shrugged. “What? She's sharp. B'sides, y'can't beat an alibi like that, y'know. No one's gonna question us meetin' if they think she's m' girlfriend.”

“You're serious...” She looked around the table with a look of weakness, something very unlike her. She responded with a half-hearted shrug. “I don't know. This is crazy. The first day's barely ended and something like this happens- I-... I don't know. I trust you, Uncle, but I.. I need some time to think.”

“That's alright.” Marius took the lead this time. “Seeing as you're family with one of the team, we feel we can trust you, even if you decide to refuse, so, it's not too late to back out now.”

“I-.. I'll.. think about it. I'm going home.” She got up and started walking for the door. “Sorry, Uncle...”

The five of them watched her go. Tension hung in the air as the glass door swung behind her path. Verne piped in first. “Are you really sure about that girl, Kain? You've got good instincts, sure, but a high school girl? Come on, you should have picked a guy.”

Kain wasn't paying much attention, he was still eying the glass door. “Again w' that, John-”

Jacob interjected with a wave of his hand. “I agree that I'd rather have someone else, but it's Kain's choice. We can't choose a partner for him.”

“There's still a chance she'll refuse.” Marius idly tapped the table. “And I'd rather she not refuse. It's a little late in the game to be choosing a new partner. What's your take on this, Kaz?”

Ka'zaull tapped his chin, laying back in his seat, quietly humming to himself. It was how he thought during official business. “...I think Kain should convince her to stay. She's a good catch. Besides, ever seen her get corned? I have. I liked the look in her eyes.” Slowly, he sat up. “She'd be willing to go far if she had to.”

Kain didn't stick around for the rest. He sat up and headed for the door, tossing some keys over to the table. “Goin' after her. Thanks fer lettin' me borrow yer car, John.”

Verne stared at him, then down to his keys. He looked over to the car in the parking lot, and hung his head. “So that's where it went... Damn it, Redwell-” Ah, but it was too late. Kain was gone. John groped his coffee cup and chugged it with vigor. He burped with a scowl on his face “Damn it... It was a bloody birthday present, the least he could do is ask!” Marius snorted at the look on Verne's face whilst Ka'zaull stealthily added pepper to John's cup.

Amidst the lively atmosphere, Jacob Aurelius watched Kain go and pondered how this would turn out for his niece.




Karen had left some twenty minutes ago. Since then, Silthia had taken to watching front of their shop while Natix had retreated to the back door. The front was actually the entrance of an inn. The older style of lodging for travelers was uncommon in the modern era, but in this corner of the world, it had the strangest appeal, especially for the traveling group of students that we're out to seek adventure, and not a dull night at home. Cheap rates and illegal activities also made it a hot spot, but that was a story for another day.

Right now, Silthia was waiting for her latest obsession to appear. Sure enough, a couple of figures came walking up the street along the inn's sidewalk. Silthia was, however, let down. It was not her new toy, but instead, her other boss, the owner of the inn. Still, she seemed happy to see him and his friends. “Good evening, Mr. Eytinge.” She bowed in her maid outfit.

Zaku, Marcus, and Jens all came to a sudden halt. All eyes fell upon Silthia. Two pairs turned back and aimed glares at an unfortunate Jens. Zaku grabbed him by the collar. “Jensy, you bastard! Two timing my sister! And you were holding out on us, too! How could you keep a maid to yourself?!”

“W-wait a minute, Zaku, she's not like that! I don't even know where she got the costume f-fro-” Zaku was too busy strangling Jens to listen. “S-sto-sto-op sha-aking me-ee-ee! M-marcus?!”

“I know, I know.” Marcus delivered a smack to Zaku's head. It was both customary and routine, and came without much thought. As always, it did the job and sent Zaku to the floor. “There. So.. what's with this maid rubbish?”

“Ugh- she works for the inn and cleans out the rooms...” Jens massaged his neck and loosened is collar. “I don't know where the outfit came from.. she just showed up one day, looking for work... the three of us took her in.”

“Huh. Alright.”

“Come to think of it,” Jens approached the ever-giggling and bubbly Silthia “where did you get that outfit?”

“Oh, Syth got it for me! He said I could help bring in customers.”

“Ah.. I see.” Jens shrugged in his usual helpless manner. “Whatever works... Are you alright, Zaku?”

“Ouch... yes... no... Jens, we're you always a triclops?” The downed Zaku grasped his head with both hands and shook it roughly. “Ugh... One and a half Jens'.. one and a quarter.. eighth.. there we go.” With his vision back, Zaku eyed up the new beauty. “..Huh... I think I've seen her before. What's your name, Miss?”

Silthia giggled amid her response. “Silthia! Oh, and please, don't call me 'Miss,' it's embarrassing.”

“Of course, of course.” He turned back to Jens and lowered his voice. “Jens, I need a room here tonight.”

“Oh no you don't, Zaku, you're not fraternizing with my employees!”

“Jens! That's not cool! I've stuck up for you soooo many times, how could you do this to me?!”

“While that may be true, I treat employees like family, and I'm sorry Zaku, but you can't stick your catty fangs into my family unless you're serious.”

“Whaaat? Jens, my brother! We're bound by our souls! Can't you trust me with thi-” Zaku stopped as something brushed by him. “Huh?” He looked over his shoulder and found a kid, perhaps no more than fifteen, walking up to Silthia.

“I'm back...” Kale was still pulling gum out of his hair. Silthia gasped at his appearance.

“Kale! Kale, who did this? I'll kill them for this! I swear I'll rip them into pieces!” She clutched Kale's shoulders and instantly turned feral.

The culprit, Zaku, slowly circumnavigated behind Jens and Marcus. “Uh. On second thought... I think I'll go for a walk first...” He scooted a couple feet away, turned, and ran. Jens and Marcus watched him go in awe of the speed of his cowardice.

“U-uh, it's okay, Silthia!” Kale did his best to calm her. “I, uh, I just tripped, and there was some gum where I fell.. that's all, really!”

“Really?” The girl stopped barring her teeth and composed herself within a few seconds. “That's terrible!” Her emotions had swung over to that of extreme worry. “Come on in, I'll fix you up. Oh, you poor thing.”

“S-Sil, don't drag me” Kale protested in vain. She carried him away with little difficulty.

Marcus scratched his nose. Then, he picked his nose and eyed the contents. “...So, any luck with Zaku's sister?”

Jens shook his head. “None... it's hopeless. Maybe if I was more interesting...”

“Well, mate, I think you should give up.” Marcus rubbed the mark on the back of his neck, wincing from its continued sting. “She's just not worth it. I know it, Zaku knows it. It's a wonder the honor student among us doesn't know it.”

“Marcus, you don't know what you're talking about.” Jens shook his head, disapprovingly. “There's more to her than you think.”

“She's a bloomin' slut, Jens, what more could there be?”

“Well, I don't know about you, but... I think the promiscuous types are really lonelier than the rest of us. After all,” Jens turned his gaze toward the moon “lust is an empty thing. You can't live with just lust.... there has to be something more.”

Marcus facepalmed. In fact, he planted his hand into his face so hard, he struck his eye, and in doing so, filled the night air with strings of colorful verses, about a quarter of which were solely dedicated to Jens' hopeless stupidity.




Zayl was walking home beside Thorn and his sister, Salene. He took a moment to look around when the faint cry of cursing reached his ears. “Huh. Did anyone else hear that?”

Thorn grunted and shrugged. “Sounds like someone just did something incredibly stupid.” He adjusted his football helmet. It never seemed to leave his head, much less his presence. “Doesn't really matter, anyway.”

“I see you're as indifferent as ever, Thorn.” Salene didn't seem bothered by Razel's 'charm,' having been exposed to it far less, and under better circumstances than Zayl. Additionally, of the two Rathmans, she definitely had a better sense of going with the flow. “I heard someone was stirring up trouble, today, too.”

“Ayep. Hurt one'a my boys, John, and then some thugs. Mr. Hook, too, but I think that was takin' it too far. Eh.” Thorn prodded Zayl. “He was there when they dropped John off at the nurse.”

“Oh, uh, yeah. He got up after an hour, seemed fine. Uh, but, that wasn't anything compared to the ten guys that got carried away... They were really messed up. Nurse Wade she hadn't seen that kind of damage since juvie- Er, I mean, since she worked at a correctional facility...” That got him a couple stares. “Uh, anyway... Did you and Kelly talk about anything today?”

“Oh, well we did-” Salene stopped herself short of exposing Kelly's apparent crush, not wanting to shatter her brother's mind. “-n't.. really talk about much. Just, uh, she got excited over Alyssa's new boyfriend.”

“Oh. Alyssa has a boyfriend... Wait, what? Her? Really?”

“It is strange, isn't it?” Salene found herself smiling. “I didn't think she'd be one to take an interest in someone. Actually, I thought there would've been some warning...”

“Boyfriend, huh?...” Thorn tapped the base of his helmet, like a chin. “Have they been goin' out long?”

“I can't say, she never told me.” Salene searched the sky for a clue in her memory. “Hmm... She did seem a little nervous about it, though.”

Zayl scoffed. “That's normal. I'd be nervous, too.”

“Yeah, but you're Zayl, you're nervous about everything.” Thorn patted him on the head. “Embarrassed is one thing, nervous is another.”

“What? What about you, you always get nervous with Shelly!”

“That's because she makes me do things. I have a reason to be nervous. Once, she actually made me spend my whole wallet on a pair of shoes.”

“Wow,” mused Salene, looking a little envious. “Those must have been incredible shoes.”

Zayl wasn't quite as convinced. “How much was in your wallet?”

“Well, twenty dollars, but that's not the point.”

Zayl hung his head opposite of Thorn and rolled his eyes. “Should have seen that coming... Ah-.. uh..” He tilted his head behind Salene's back and looked down a long stretch of road. The sheen of leather appeared to be chasing after long, golden lochs of hair. Strangely enough, another familiar pair of golden lochs was chasing after the man in leather, one that Zayl knew all too well.

Salene stopped and followed his gaze. “What is it, Zayl?”

“N-nothing.. I just thought I saw Kelly.. and.. somebody.”

Thorn joined in. “Kelly, eh? Hm, looks like her. Huh... i'zat... that Kain guy?”

“And that is Kelly... and Lyss, too, I think. It's hard to tell...” Salene folded her arms and stared in the direction of her friends with that nasty bully caught in between. “Very suspicious. Should we follow them?”

“Yes! I mean, uh-” Zayl stumbled on his words “-we should make sure nothing bad happens- yeah.”

“Lyin' between your teeth, but you're right.” Thorn adjusted his helmet, sauntering toward the trio in chase. “I got some questions for that flashy bastard.”

Salene sighed. “Right...” she took a few steps ahead and caught Thorn's shoulder “Let's try not to jump in unless it looks bad.” Salene let go and slowly took the lead. “Following people isn't just rude, it's creepy.”

“Ah.. O'course, Salene.” Thorn politely followed.

Zayl struggled to activate his mind beams, but alas, they never did work. Even when it was his sister, his near-twin sister, she got better treatment than him! Zayl pulled at his hairs as he lagged behind them. When he realized neither were going to wait, he ran after them with an annoyed huff.




Alyssa's pony tail was jumping around like a frightened and distressed gopher going up and down its hole. Kain picked up his pace, tailing her quickly, but ducking into cover often. He didn't want to just scare her off again. Why? Well, while it wasn't like him to get involved with women, much less concerned over the details, he had a thing with promises.

If promises weren't kept, at the least, then truly, there wouldn't be anything sacred left in the world. Still, getting lost in a cloud of philosophy was probably not the right thing to do while tailing a girl. Losing focus was just as bad as breaking promises, and in some ways, exactly the same- And yet, he just did it again. “Damn, she struts fast... it's gettin' dark, too. Better catch up...” Worst of all, there was also the nagging feeling that he was getting tailed by someone else. Well, if it came down to it, he always had those TAZERs.

He power-walked the rest of the way, quickly catching up. Lyss seemed too caught up with her own thoughts to notice him. He slowed down once within a few steps of her. “'Ey, Lyss.”

Alyssa turned around, looking surprised. “Wha- Kain? What.. what're you doing following me ho-” and then, she looked around. “..home.. this isn't the way home.” She brought a hand to her head and began massaging her temple. “Damn it...”

“Lost, eh?” He slid over to her side, paying mind to barely noticeable shuffle of feet behind him, and above them.

“Yeah...” She left it at that. Her eyes met Kain's for a moment. “Where's your car?”

“Eh, wasn't m' car.” He shrugged half-heartedly. It earned a split-second smirk from Lyss, but the disappointment of no transportation overwhelmed her, and the smirk became a heavier frown than the last.

“That's no good. I don't think buses run this late, or anywhere near here... this is a really dumpy place, come to think of it.” She examined the slums, eyed the alley ways, and found herself putting up her guard. “Shit. I'm really lost, aren't I?..”

“Ah... lucky you. This place's like home t' me. Just, I haven't had a reason t' come back... only had reasons t' stay away.” Kain eyed the slums with a hint of nostalgia. How long had it been since he'd ruled these streets? Ah, what a feeling it was to be king. How did that Coldplay song go? Sweep the streets he used to own? That was pretty fitting. “You think you're gonna make it home tonight?”

“Ah, I-...” She searched around for something, but it slowly occurred to her that she'd forgotten something very important back at the shop. “..My backpack- my stuff! My phone's-”

“Relax. Jake's got it, proba'ly.” He tried smiling for her. Being comforting wasn't his thing, so it felt as weird for him as it probably felt for her. But, hey, at least one of them had to be confident right now.

“Uh... Yeah, you're right.” She wiped some cold sweat off of her forehead. “Sorry, I'm not usually this bad about things. But, this... stuff you've gotten me involved with is...” She searched for the right words. “...More than I can handle right now. But, um,” she took another look around. “if I can't get a ride home, I probably won't make it back. I'd ask Uncle, but I really don't want to see him, or anyone from the shop, right no-...” It then occurred to her just who she was talking to. “Er.. sorry. I guess

Kain waved it off. “Don' worry 'bout it.” He placed his hands into his pockets and leaned back against his right leg. “Well, if that's how it's gonna be, there's a place up the road we can stay the night.”He started down said road.

“Uh.. 'we?' As in, together?” She gave him a skeptical look. “You can't be serious.”

He stopped and turned back to her. “Got any better ideas?”

“I guess not...” She ran a hand through her hair, nervously combing through it. “But if you try anything funny, I'll make sure you end up sterile.”


He grinned at that, turning back completely and inching closer. “Fair enough, but y'could a'leas' try n' act a lil' more like a girlfriend, considerin' we're bein' followed n' all..”


Alyssa blinked in surprise. She had a deal to follow, it seemed, and they were alone. To Kain's surprise, she linked arms with him. “Alright... fair is fair.” Lyss was trying to remain composed, but the awkward and somewhat silly situation had a smile crawling onto her lips.


“Wow, not bad-... wait, y'hear that?” Kain looked about. There was someone's silhouette standing beneath a street light in the distance.


“Yeah, I hear it... is it coming from that guy?” Lyss inched forward and tugged Kain along.


Yep, this was definitely for them. As they approached, it became apparent their entertainment was facing them. “That defini'ely ain' Percy Sledge...”

“Yeah.. who?”


“Ne'ermind..” The steadily approached. It became clearer and clearer who was under that streetlight.


Zaku Daikun, with his catlike hearing, had caught on to the mood from the last few sentences of their conversation, and decided to play cupid. In his own way.


“Zaku!” Alyssa strutted over, draggin Kain with her, who appeared to just watch with amusement. “Cut that out!”

“When a maaaaan.. loves a wo-” -what? I thought I was setting the mood.”

“There's no mood to set. We're just walking together!”

“Exactly! I was helping you get your romance on! Afterall, I'm Zaku Daikun, Love Doctor and friend to all women!”

“Zaku... I barely know you, and besides that, you don't have any business in the personal affairs of my boyfriend and I.”

“Whaaat?!” Zaku looked downright heartbroken. All the other girls didn't mind if he messed around while their boyfriends were present. But, alas, perhaps this was what made Alyssa special, being immune to his charms and such. This didn't change the fact that he was pushed aside by her.

“So, where's this place?” As always, Lyss was quick to change subjects.

“Eh?” Kain regained focus, looking away from Zaku's trampled form. “Wha'cha say?”

“You said there was somewhere we could stay the night.”

“Ah, righ', righ'.” Kain took the lead and headed for Jens' inn.




Jacob slowly eased his Pontiac into the driveway. The 1973 Firebird had a fading coat of silver that could only show its sheen at night, under the city lights. It had been a faithful car since it was purchased, though, always running without a hitch and never failing to deliver Jacob from where he was to where he needed to be. In style, no less.

But that was a whole other issue than the mess on his mind. He called home and Alexander answered, but he made no mention of Alyssa's arrival. When asked where she was, the question was returned to him. Thus, Aurelius returned in a state of worry. He fished his belongings out of the trunk and carried them inside.

Alex was sprawled across the couch, focusing his attention on the laptop set on his stomach. Jacob's entrance caused Alex to focus on his Uncle, and his bored expression turned to concern. “Unc? Where's Lyss?”

“Well, that's-” not something he wanted to explain, and what luck that he'd receive a call just then. “One second, Alex...” He pulled out his cell phone and eyed the caller. Kain. “Work related.. I'll be outside.” He stepped back out the way he came, leaving Alex in an awkward silence.

Jacob flipped the phone open and put it against his ear. “Did you find her, Kain?”

“Yeah, she's 'ere wi' me. She doesn' wan'a head back t'night, so we're stayin' at the inn. Y'know, that inn.”

“Y-.. you're serious.. alright, fine. Just bring her back safely.”

“Sure thing, Jake.”

“Kain, I'm serious. If you let her get hur-” Jacob pulled the phone away from his ear and eyed the 'disconnected' that flashed across his screen with only a little contempt. “Whatever... at least she's safe.” He shoved the phone into his pocket and entered the house again.

“Sorry about that, Alex. Anyway, Alyssa said she was going to stay with a friend, tonight. She called me earlier and said so.”

“A friend? Well, I guess it's been a while. So, how's your job going, Unc?”

“Ah... there have been some unusual developments, Alex. Of course, I can't tell you the details, but it seems we managed to find that extra hand.”

“Really? That's great, now you can take it a little more easy.”

Jacob wandered over to the bathroom. “I guess so.” He entered and turned the knob for the cold water, and splashed It across his face with cupped hands filled with water. “What about you, Alex? Anything interesting happen?”

“Well, I don't know. I saw some nasty stuff happen at the club today... in fact, it's my last year here, I figure I should try and contribute a little.”

“Ah, I see. So, you want to do some volunteer work?

“Uh, no, Unc. I was thinkin' more like...”

“Yes?...”

“Like... working for the SDTF.”

“Ah, I see. Wait, Alex... What did you just say?!”




“So, he didn't mind?” Alyssa sprung up and down on the queen-sized bed. She couldn't believe she'd be sleeping in such a large one, much less sharing it with a stranger.

Kain returned a shrug. He stuffed his own phone away into a jacket pocket. “A lil' mad at me fer not somehow managin' t' bring ya home, but he said as long as yer safe, he'd deal with it.” Kain crossed his arms and leaned against the bathroom door. “Either way, a'told 'im I'd take care'a ya, n' that satisfied 'em, so we can probably go the night without getting' bothered much, a'leas' until later.”

Lyss stared out the sole glass window beside the bed. “That's.. good, I guess. It's been a while since I had a whole room to myself-.. well, you're here,” She shrugged to herself. “But after today, I don't care that much.”

“Heh.” Kain leaned off the door, and turned to face the coat hanger beside it.“N' the inn, ya don' mind it?” He removed his jacket and hung it by one of many hooks

“Oh, no, not at all. It's really cozy, actually, a lot more welcoming than my home is.” She looked down at the mattress beneath her and mused over something. “I wish we could avoid sharing the bed, but other than that, I wouldn't mind staying here the night, or coming back a few times.”

“I see.” Kain turned back to the bed and strolled across the room, over to his belongings on the floor, sitting in a chair right beside them. “Well, since ya got me t' come 'ere, I feel like stayin' a lil' longer, too. What's say we share the room fer another week n' get used t' each other?”

“Wh- what? Really?” She wasn't sure if she was questioning it, or just confirming it. Alyssa had, somehow, just decided to accept a small piece of the madness. Kain's madness, at the very least, was something she had gotten used to. The rest, she was still working on.

Kain shrugged his arms way up high. “We gotta know how t' second guess each other, y'know? This's the spy biz, deceivin' others with a convincin' act is part'a what it's all about. Stickin' together'll give us time t' work on that act.”

Unfortunately, he had a point. She rubbed at her eyes and shrugged. “Okay, fine, whatever.. I'm too tired to argue about it. I'm going to sleep early.. feel free to get in, but don't even think of getting close.” She kicked off her shoes and pushed the covers back, sliding in. “Well, goodnight.”

“Yep, g'night.” Kain turned away from her and pulled out a very durable laptop from his backpack, the sole school-related possession between the two of them. Ironically, he hadn't had it around at all in school, yet it was suddenly present outside of it. Maybe his priorities were mixed. Either way, he'd be sleeping beside Lyss a little late. Kain set up the laptop in front of him, opened it up, logged on, and got to work on typing up the day's report, aiming to finish soon and get some decent sleep. After all, tomorrow would be the start of one long week, and if all went according to plan, he would be stuck in the middle of it, again.

It was the fourth day of school, and the clock had turned passed twelve shortly before Zayl had gotten out of class. It was lunchtime, but Zayl's stomach was already full with worry and agony. He couldn't get that memory out of his head.

Kelly was clinging to Zayl, shaking with a cold sweat and mix of shock and horror unlike her. “H-he's back, but he's- sh-she took him.. she took him f-from... How?! H-how could they?!” She shouted into Zayl's chest. Salene wrapped her arms around her, trying to quiet her, but Zayl was helpless to say or do anything.

She had been like that for a while. The rest of the night, she'd been totally quiet. Kelly wouldn't explain a word of her outburst to them. Salene seemed to be the only one to understand any of it... It really pissed Zayl off that someone had the nerve to make Kelly cry. When he thought about it, that bottled-up sorrow burned up and threatened to consume him. Thorn could have never made him this angry. Zayl was ready and willing to strangle someone just to get an answer or two.

If that wasn't enough, Kelly had been quieter since that night. She wouldn't talk to her closest friends, save Salene, and every smile she formed was forced and bittersweet. It looked as if a part of her had been torn to pieces, and she was walking around as a shell of her former self. Zayl couldn't bare to be around her- Kelly's sorrow only added to his own.

Thinking about it clear, he recalled that Kelly had been tailing Alyssa and that 'Kain' guy. How they fitted in to all of this, he didn't know, and he certainly couldn't ask Kain unless he had a death wish, but maybe Alyssa would give him an explanation. It had actually taken him a long time to work up the nerve to ask her, and today, he'd finally gathered it. He had made only one fatal error in waiting, however, and that was in the fact that Alyssa Munroe wasn't even present at school that day.

Thus, still not knowing this fact, Zayl looked everywhere for her during lunch, too shy to ask where she was, and too concerned to give it some logical thought.




The light of dawn had long-since crept through the windows, shining a ray right into her eyes. Lyss was the first to stir. It had been three days and four nights since she'd met the team and learned just what she'd gotten herself into. She turned onto her side and peeked at her roommate. Kain was sleeping peacefully on his back, upright against a pillow. On his lap was a still-running laptop with its screensaver running.

She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes, curling her legs back. She would lean in and rest her chest against them, for support, and stare off at Kain's sleeping form. She'd done this every morning for the past week, spending the short moment to ponder where exactly this kind of guy came from, what he did in his past to end up in his present, and most importantly, what it was that he thought of her, and maybe even what she thought of him.

This morning was a little different, though. Lyss leaned over to Kain's side and scooted closer, gingerly lifting the laptop out of his reach. She decided to take a peak and found, to her surprise, that Kain had left last night's report unfinished and out in the open. After a cursory glance, though, she shook her head, realizing it wasn't his report. It seemed much more like a journal or chronicle.

Quote :

Well, it's going to be day four tomorrow... according to the clock, it already is tomorrow, so I messed up on that one. So much has happened since my entry before school started. It didn't take long to find a partner. The perfect one showed up in front of on the first day. Crazy, isn't it? Sometimes things really do go your way. But nothing's for free... she's got my hands full with this fencing club of hers. We've been practicing every day during and after school.

Oh, I forgot to mention, but we're living together right now. It was just a suggestion to stay the night at Syth's inn, not that I want to see that bastard any time soon, but the place was safe and it would give her time and solitude to think things over. Somehow, we ended up staying the whole week. Marius is always going on about how getting involved with women is a hassle. It's really not that bad, though. For being somewhat serious, she's pretty cooperative and easy-going. Granted, there have been those moments where I've walked in on her changing.. or showering.. and received appropriately painful punishment. But the good outweighs the bad (and if we're going to be honest, there wasn't anything bad about those two examples). Jacob's not happy with me and keeps trying to convince her to come back, but I think Lyss is enjoying being a rebel for once. Well, I can't blame her.

Anyway, back to living together. Mornings are great! Well, I hate getting up, but having a responsible chick around makes it a lot easier, and of course, the maids are always on hand. Waking up next to a pretty blond kicks ass, too. Sort of reminds me of another pretty blond. Hanging out after-school's fun, too. The inn has a lot of occupants, and when we get home, Lyss and I clear the rug on the hall downstairs and she teaches me to fence and practices with me, etcetera. I think I've missed having fun like this. Ever since I left Kelly, things have been dull, and empty, no better way to put it. Having a normal life must be great if you get to do this all the time.

Well, the past is the past, nevermind it. Lyss and I have been doing other things to keep up our deal, too. Shortly before sleep, we talk about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, and a little bit of history- anything we're willing to reveal. No surprise that I'm the quieter one of the two, eh, journal? We also spend time trying to get our story straight. Things like how and where we met, a rough draft of our first day, and the things we “like most about each other,” with some assistance from a slightly dated women's magazine. It took hours to get enough answers that didn't sound too corny or fake. We even high-fived at the end the magazine's questionnaire. It was that big of a deal to get through it.

I've also tried training Lyss in a little spycraft, since she's going to need it. While she's a natural for the role of a curious high school girl, I've been having my doubts on her poker face. I'm also wondering if she'll be able to play her role in public, with strangers, without cracking. I think pretending to be my girlfriend is already proving difficult for her. If she could master that role, then the rest should be much easier.

Still, we made a lot of progress tonight. Had a lot of fun, too. Lyss seems a little torn, though. Apparently, she thinks between practice and work , she won't have time for school and homework. I guess I'll talk it over with her. Until then, I need to get some sleep, dawn's cracking... I'll probably just sleep in.

It was a pleasant read. Nothing to grin about, but she showed a little smile here or there as she read through. Living with Kain wasn't quite what she expected. He seemed like he could keep a room neat, at the very least. How wrong she was... Kain really lived like a slob. His girlfriend? No, she was more like his mother in the first two days. It was an unpleasant surprise that someone so in control in most settings couldn't even manage to take care of himself at home. She practically had to coach him on maintaining a clean room.

Other than that, he did perform chores and housework, and he did try to clean the place. He just never organized it. So, she had agreed to take care of that much if he just took care of the little things. After all, Kain was the one paying for the room. Though, where he got that money from was something she was meaning to ask about...

Beyond all that, he was a gentleman of sorts. Kain had gotten them two sets of covers, one for both of them. He'd let her shower first if, by chance, he was up first. He never went through her stuff, never asked when she wanted to leave the room or do something private. She had the strangest feeling he knew why, anyway, like he'd lived with a girl before. Maybe his sister? Did he have one? She'd ask later. All in all, living with Kain was actually working out better than living with her family. The distance from the inn to the school was actually closer than her Uncle's house, too. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to move out with all her stuff and try living here for a change.

But those thoughts were for another time, she had to get Kain and herself to school. Dawn was cracking, eh? Lyss checked the time in the corner of the screen. 12:15 PM, it seemed. Wait. That was bad. Lyss brought a hand to her face and let the sound of skin hitting skin ring true. Well, she was beyond just late, so.. Lyss shut the laptop, set it aside, and fell back into bed.

Kain, unfortunately, was right. They'd be sleeping in today. Absences aside, it wasn't so bad. But seeing as it was all Kain's fault, she reached out and grabbed his side of the covers, jerked them away, and cocooned herself inside the covers Kain had unknowingly warmed for her. With a look of weary bliss, she rested her head on her pillow and let time pass by.




The back of the West Gym was crawling with the Black Bandits. Scars was leaning against the wall, surrounded by goons. There must have been at least twenty in that one spot. “Well?” He tapped his foot with unusual impatience. “Find him?”

A shamed Varmithas shook his head. “No, sssir... We asssked around, and sssome kids sssaid he just didn't shhow.”

Scars set his hand on his forehead and massaged his temple with his usual frustration. “Kari, what about you?”

“Alyssa Munroe isn't here, either.” Kari stepped up from behind Varmithas, accompanied by a disgruntled Marcus. “I confirmed it with her fencing club. She hasn't attended any classes today, so I doubt she'll show.” She slid a pack of gum out of her pocket and tossed one in her mouth. “They wouldn't budge on letting me contact her. You better try Kaz on that.”

“B'fore ye even ask me, Scars, I'll tell ye righ' awey, ther's no contactin' the girl.” Ka'zaull was hiding around the corner of the building, and made his appearance as it suited him. “I checked 'er 'ome, called n' ev'rythin'.”

Scars grunted a response. “And?”

“Not there, ma'e; lass hasn' been for a week.”

“So, Ms. Munroe hasn't been going home and she even disappeared today... our friend, Redwell, is concidentally gone, too. The girlfriend claim must have been for real if they're skipping out like this.” He tapped his chin. “Maybe I can use this... Kaz, any idea where they might be?”

“Et's possible they'd be at th' Eitinge inn..”

“..Eytinge.” Karen corrected him.

“The's what I said, Eitinge. I seen 'em walkin' about o'er there now n' then.”

“Hm... Syth's territory. Those masked bastards, too... I wonder if he did that on purpose.” Scars retrieved a small black book out of his modestly sized backpack, opened it, and used the pen inside to jot a couple notes down. “We'll just have to catch them alone and separate them. Maybe use Ms. Munroe as leverage... What's our success rate, Kaz?”

“Le' me see... I'm getting', thir'ty three poin' thir'ty three... repeatin' a'course.”

“Mm... nevermind, we'll have to play it safe, then.”

Scars stopped leaning against the gym, notably bored of looking gangsta. “I'm going to go find a certain somebody. We'll play this one smart. You three, keep monitoring them and make sure we get some dirt on Redwell. There's no way I'm passing on that kind of strength. See if we can bait him, or maybe make a deal if nothing else works.” He looked around at the rest of the thugs. “You assholes follow with me, let's go.” He sauntered off with his crew, not looking back at the four- three remaining people. Ka'zaull had managed to vanish once more, leaving Karen, Marcus and Varmithas alone. Karen took one look at Varmithas and immediately turned the opposite direction, sauntering off. Naturally, Marcus followed. Varmithas hissed in discontent, wandering away with nothing better to do.

Ariana peeked around the corner. Everyone was gone. She crept around and folded her arms, sighing in disappointment. “This isn't working... Scars, you jerk...” She whipped out her phone and started texting. “How am I supposed to meet him when he's got a wall of muscle around him all the time?”

Ka'zaull peeked around the corner Ariana had just appeared from. A smirk slowly formed on his face. Kain was going to love this... Ka'zaull slunk away once more; he had his own text to send.




Inside the gym, club activities persisted, even without the captain. Noddy was running around in circles, waving his foil around and pretending to be Jack Sparrow. “And really bad eggs! Yeeeaaah!” An epee flew past Noddy, impaling itself into the wall behind him.

“Nale!” Alex threw his arms in the air. “How?! How did you manage to fling it across the room when you tried to pick it up? It's not even sharp, the tip is flat! How?!”

“I... I don't know...” Nale stared in wonder at his own miraculous blunder. Then, it hit him that he just damaged another sword, and he rushed over to huddle in a corner. “Don't hurt me, Alex!”

“Who cares about that! Damn it, help me fix this wall before the SDTF sees!”

“W-what? Why would they show up...”

“Why? Those thugs outside is why! They camp out back there like this is their new home- damned school police is gonna wonder why the hell they're around us.” Alex navigated around Noddy and surveyed the damage. He could fix the blade, but could he fix the wall? Knowing his luck, he'd just make the hole bigger or something. “Devyn, do we still have any plaster leftover?”

Devyn was helping tend to a wound James had managed to inflict on himself when he tripped and stabbed his pinky toe. The pressure of the blade alone was enough to cause a terrible bruise. He stopped in the middle of his work, accidentally dropping a bottle of anti-septic onto the bruise in question. “Huh? Oh, um, I think we have a little in the store room...”

James, of course, would have howled in pain, but the feeling was far beyond that, and much too strong to allow the use of his vocal chords. Tears we're welling up in his eyes from the terrible burning feeling. All he could do was tug at Devyn's pant leg to get his attention.

Devyn looked back at his patient and gaped at his error. “O-Oh no, sh-shoot!” He scrambled to dab the excess anti-septic away with a dense cotton ball made of much smaller cotton balls.

Alex merely sighed to himself. It was actually very lucky for them that neither Lyss, nor her monster of a boyfriend were here today. He'd be in trouble if she was, and possibly in pain if she asked Kain to do something about it. Come to think of it, why hadn't they shown up today? When he thought hard about it... he shuddered a little. Would they really?... He doubted his sister was capable of that sort of intimacy, even in the slightest, but even that doubt wouldn't stop the horrific mental images.

Alex was snapped out of his less than pure thoughts at the sound of the gym doors swinging open. In stepped a sophomore with an SDTF tag, wearing an expression as joyous as Alex's. “Who's the Manager here?” He held up a printed letter.

“Uh..” Alex quickly pulled the sword out, dropping it to the floor. He walked over and tried to keep the guy's attention on him. His eyes quickly traveled to the message in SDTF's hands. “Me. Who're you, and what's that?”

“My name's on the tag,” and indeed, it was, reading 'Vincent Dadoni.' “and this is a personal letter from the Dean, asking for you to meet with him and provide a full evaluation of all your members.”

“..What? What the fuck- why?” Alex snatched the papers away and read them over, himself, making sure Dadoni wasn't speaking lies. The truth hurt, and Dadoni was, in fact, telling it. “You've got to be joking... we haven't done anything wrong!”

“The students that we're hospitalized at the start of the week managed recover, at least enough to tell us what really happened, in detail.” Vincent took the moment to look around and evaluate the group in the Gym. He had a hard time believing the words of those thugs. No one in here looked like they were all that dangerous... sad, for a fencing club. “Uh, right. It seems this club was involved in a fight that day, one that resulted in the injuries of eleven students, ten of them being sent to the hospital.” Vince shrugged. “Honestly, I don't buy that you guys could pull off something that awesome, but the school's raving and sending rumors around. We have to do something about it. Sorry for the trouble.”

Alex was just about ready to visit the Dean and show him what was what, but he knew deep down that he'd just get himself in more trouble than he could imagine. “Damn it... Lyss, I really wish you were here.” Alex eyed the letter like it was an execution notice with his name on it

Devyn glanced at the troubled Manager once more, now down treating the bruised and abused pinky toe. “U-uh.. something wrong, Alex?”

“Huh? No, it's just a... Forget it, just keep practicing.” He wandered over to an empty corner of bleachers, intent on reading the letter in detail and figuring out a plan of action.

Devyn shrugged it off, returning to his duties. Next to be treated was.. Nale, who had just stepped on another of his own swords. Of course, it would be Nale.




Lunch was half-way through and Zayl had worked up the nerve to try and confront Kelly. What he didn't realize was that his sister was tailing him with the same thing in mind, or at least, to eavesdrop on Zayl's potential success. It would have been a hopeless endeavor, if not for Zayl's unusual luck. He'd spotted a flash of golden hair in the parking lot as he crossed by the student store. Banking on luck and instinct, Zayl chased after it.

Luck wasn't entirely on his side, though. A certain Vice-Captain was also patrolling with lunch in hand. She saw Zayl heading for the parking lot, and immediately grew suspicious of his hurry. Eleanor also noted that Salene was following her younger brother, as well. She chose to tail the sister, instead, and keep a distance from the both of them, for now.

Zayl slowed down as the blond girl came into view. He was right, it really was Kelly, and she was sitting against the front left wheel of a Subaru, staring into the sky. “U-um...” The fact that he formed a word around Kelly was already a miracle, but somehow, he kept talking. Perhaps some merciful deity was on his side, today. “Do you remember me? I-I was there.. that night.. y-you were crying. Um...”

The words did register. Kelly took a small interest in him, but she didn't look any less depressed or burdened, merely increasingly confused. “O-..Okay... Why're you telling me this?”

“Oh, uh, well, see, uh- I!... was worried. I wanted to know what you meant, that night... what's been on your mind. B-because, you're, um.. you're usually really cheerful, but now, you seem empty. I was thinking maybe I could... I don't know... help, or something...”

Kelly continued to give him the confused stare. A small voice in the back of her head told her to humor him. It may have been his incredibly shy demeanor, or his resemblance to Salene, or just the fact that he was bumbling like a certain someone she used to know, but it had gotten to her. “Okay... I'll tell you.”

“Oh, well, I guess I undersand if you don't want t- What? Really?” Zayl pinched himself. “Ow!” He rubbed at his irritated skin and whispered to himself. “Real, this is real... calm down, Zayl. Gotta keep your cool... stay cool... right.”

“Uh.. about.. three years ago... there was this boy I knew. The only boy I really ever knew, you know? We grew up together, um, kind of.. inseparable, in a way.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes, mainly at their dryness. “Childhood friends since.. since I was born, I think. But, three years ago, he left... I don't know what love is for sure, but, I kind of thought I loved him back then, and I still think a little like that, now.”

“I-..O-oh...” No, Zayl was wrong. This diety wasn't merciful, it was downright sadistic. It was laughing in his fayce this very moment. There was no other possibility. “B-but, how's that.. how'd that make you cry?”

“W-well... I saw him again,” and tears were now welling up. Kelly looked like she'd have trouble with her voice “a-and he was... with another g-.. girl... my best friend... K-Kain is dating L-Lyss...”

“That.. that really s-sucks.” Indeed, to have your love in love with another, Zayl could really sympathize right now... Wait a second. “D-..did you just s-say.. Kain?”

Kelly nodded, sniffing between two choked sobs. “Y-yeah.. Kain..”

Zayl really, really, really wanted to explode.

In the background, Salene and Eleanor were both listening in, and upon hearing the last portion of the talk, both were confounded with thoughts. Eleanor was about ready to jump on Kelly for some serious answers on this Redwell character. As for Salene, she just couldn't believe the love triangle her best friend had created for her other best friend. Comforting Kelly wouldn't do a single shred of good right now. Her brother had it handled, anyway...

Salene left the scene, with the intent of seeking out that inn once school was over. She was going to find Alyssa and get to the bottom of this. Kelly had been friends with her much longer than Lyss, and though Alyssa was special to her, too, Salene just couldn't take watching Kelly cry. Furthermore, if that Kain person was the cause of yet another injury, to one of her closest friends, no less, then she figured it was time she punished him herself, as only a woman could. With certain feelings getting pent up, and all things considered, she knew it was going to be a long day.



A highly displeased blonde teacher with an enviable bust was seen dragging Captain Razel across the halls by his helmet. “What have I told you about bothering me during break, Mr. Razel?”

“But, miss, it's about your daughter. I really think you should-”

“And I thought I also told you to stay away from my daughters.”

“Miss Higgins, please let me finish, this is really important-”

“Then, I'll hear it from my daughter. So,” she opened the door to the Nurses' office, the den of Thorn, a fact that was no secret to any of the faculty “get back in your cave, and don't come bothering me or my daughters again.” And she shoved the mighty Captain inside and shut the door on him to the sight of a mildly amused Nurse Wade.

Thorn's only response? A sigh. “Women.”

“I heard that.” Spoke a familiar voice, almost jokingly, we're it not for the hint of creepiness layered beneath.

A wide-eyed Thorn turned around to find that it, indeed, was the voice of his beloved goth-girlfriend, Shelly. “Shelly! It's been four days, how long we're you plannin' on playin' keep-away!”

Shelly rolled her eyes, tapping long fingernails against her arms. “Oh, you know me. I like to lurk around and play hard to get.”

“Well, I've got you now!” Thorn immediately sprung up and guided Shelly to the nearest nursing bed.

“Oh, for the love of God, no.” Nurse Wade left in a heartbeat. She even took the liberty of locking the room from the outside. “Damn that Thorn... isn't there a rule against this or something?” Then, it hit her that the one in that room was the man responsible for enforcing the rules. Izzy promptly cracked her skull against the wall to celebrate her epiphany. “Why?! Why, God?! Why this job? Why couldn't you let me be a real nurse? Wh-why-” The poor school nurse sobbed against the wall, feeling a mid-life crisis coming on, whilst her room was violated in the worst of ways.




Kain twitched, as if some atrocious act of defilement was taking place somewhere nearby. He promptly shrugged it off and resumed eating cereal at the breakfast table in the living quarters of the inn. Alyssa was beside him with her own bowl. They we're having Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms, respectively. From time to time, Kain would reach over and pick out one of Lyss' marshmellows, much to her annoyance. She'd retaliate by taking entire spoonfuls of Kain's bowl, and they would just go back and forth, balancing each other's thievery out in a pointless struggle.

Soon, both bowls were empty. A grinning girl, about their age, wearing a dark eyepatch and sporting long, blue-dyed hair, came around and picked up the two bowls. “Competitive eaters, eh? Is it a couple thing?” She snickered, walking off with the bowls and not waiting for a response.

Lyss just glared at her back as she often would when someone made a couple joke around her. She didn't care if it was supposed to appear true, it was still really annoying. Lyss ran a hand through her messy hair, taking her mind off the couple issue. It was time to bring up moving out... Kain wasn't going to do it, that was for sure. As self-confident as he was, she soon learned he wasn't the forward type. “So, uh... Kain. I was thinking, this rooming thing has been working out better for me...”

“Uh huh.” Redwell turned his attention to the blond, leaning into his seat. “Been workin' out fer me, too, come t' think'a it. Why, somethin' botherin' ya?”

“No, not that... actually, I was wondering if you we're okay with doing this for a while longer.”

“How much longer are we talkin' 'bout 'ere? 'Nother week? 'Nother month?”

“How about.. another year? I was thinking of, uh, moving out.”

Kain stared blankly at the girl before him, squinting and rubbing his eyes, clearing his ears and making sure he heard that right. “I'm sorry, did'ja jus' imply you wan'a move in with me?”

“Well, if it's not a bother... I'm not even sure if you've got a real place to stay, but I can't pay for our room, and if you left, I'd have to leave, too, so... well, however long you're interested in is fine.” It was no use. She couldn't explain it properly. Maybe she was still embarrassed to talk about the truth directly. At least she could still do it indirectly. “I just... like this place. I don't want to leave yet. You know?”

“Uh.. yeah... Yeah, I kin'a do. Well, if y'wan'a move in w' me fer the year, go 'head. Not like I had a place t' stay b'fore this, n' I got cash t' burn... who knows, could be fun.”

“Really?” The shock of a quick answer hit her quickly. She was actually doubting his seriousness. “Wow... I- I don't know what to say, I really didn't expect a yes... Thank you! You... you are being serious, right?”

Kain smirked back at her. “Y'know, yer pretty cute when yer in doubt. Yeah, a'm serious, but don' forget that there's still the issue'a yer Uncle...”

“Oh.” She just shrugged. The 'issue didn't even seem to register. “Well, who cares about that? He worries way too much, anyway... Can't you settle it by yourself?” She turned to him like she was pleading for him to listen.

Well, with a face like hers, how couldn't he? “Heh... A'right, a'right. I'll handle talkin' t' him. But, uh, yer gonna have t' handle yer brother.”

Alyssa sighed at the request, but nodded. She disliked dealing with her brother... “Okay. I guess that's fair.”

Kain nodded in return. “Yep. Fair's fair, like y'said. Oh, n' by the way, I'm thinkin' it's almos' time fer yer first job. If yer ready, we ought start discussin' things soon-”

Just then, a thug of no notable description entered the room. He was, however, carrying a sealed letter, and his eyes traveled around the room a few times, but they came to land squarely on Kain and Lyss. He walked over wordlessly, set the letter on the table, turned, and left.

Kain picked it up and read the front. “A letter from... Scars, addressed t'..” He blinked, several times, dumbly staring at the letter.

“Addressed to who, Kain?”

“It's... addressed t' you.”

Kain and Lyss were sprawled out across the fireplace, reading the long letter Scars had provided them. Ciel came along with a tray in hand, carrying three milkshakes. She set the tray down and passed two their way, picking up the last and joining them. “You know, for a couple, you seem more like friends.”

“Uh.” Kain looked over at Ciel, scratching his head. “We ain' a lovey-dovey couple. In public, that is.”

“Right...” Alyssa joined Kain in a slow, but unison nod. They'd practiced this. “It's because I prefer keeping our private life, uh, private.” She smiled sweetly, for smiling was a liar's primary skill. This, she learned from Kain, which said something about Kain, but she'd think that over some other time.

Kain returned their attention to the letter by holding it up to the fireplace, letting the traditional logfire light up the back of the sheet. “This's one suspicious letter, Lyss. Listen t' this:

“Dear Miss Munroe,

It is wi' great appreciation fer you n' all that ya do that I humbly ask ya t' join me fer drinks at the cafe 'Crevice' at 7:00 PM this Friday night. I'd like t' apologize fer my rash, uncouth, n' completely unacceptable actions las' Monday. What a'did was wrong n' downrigh' stupid, n' I deeply regret gettin' you n' yer club involved in personal matters. Due t' the shame n' embarrassment I now feel in regard t' the memories of that incident, I wish fer you t' join me there, alone, but if ya wish t' bring some friends, I'll understand. I look forwad t' seein' yer beautiful smile again, soon. Sin-bull-fuckin-shit-cerely, Scars.”

Kain set the paper down with a sigh. “Can ya believe this guy? I'm pretty sure I shouted at 'im that yer m' girlfriend. What a flirty fucker, ain' 'e, Lyss?” He turned to her for the usual rehearsed approval.

But, it did not come. Alyssa had the faintest of a blush upon her as she stared at that letter. Oh, sure, she knew it must have been a trap, but he'd invited her so eloquently. Most men just lusted over her, but Scars had given her nice, flattering comments. It was an unknown fact that despite all her admirers, Alyssa rarely got serious compliments, and had never, ever, been called beautiful by anyone but her mother, and that was roughly six years ago. “U-uh... yeah, what a flirt...” Why was it so much harder to resist on paper... Was it because she had more trust for things written on paper? Sure, blindly accepting things in textbooks, but this was a letter! If Scars had said it to her face, she could have gotten mad at him, at least. What was she going to do this time, get mad at a piece of paper? “Damn it,” she thought, “this is embarrassing! It's just some butt-kissing letter....”

Kain, meanwhile, had been giving her the softest of glares while she was lost in her thoughts. He looked away with a sour look, giving up on getting her to say anything. Was that all it really took? A few nice words, a cheap compliment, bundled up in some letter with stupid gold trim? They were definitely going to have a talk later on.

And then, there was Ciel, watching the couple's interactions, or lack thereof. The boyfriend was getting jealous and possessive from a silly little letter, and she found it simply adorable. Ah, young love... granted, they were both older than her, but still, youth is youth! “I take it back. You two make a cuuuute couple.” This sole act gave her stares from Kain and Lyss that were scarcely given to any other response. “...What? It's true!” Then came glares. “What? I'm just telling you, it's- Oh, forget it.” She chose to bury herself in her milkshake, instead.

Alyssa finally snapped out of it and turned to Kain. “Kain, what should I do? This is the first time anyone's ever given me something like this. I mean, I guess it's a trap, but, I don't know. Should I ignore it?”

“Gonna be honest with ya, Lyss. It's a great opportunity t' get this guy where it hurts. But a' the same time, this's defini'ly a trap, n' a'don' like it one bit. 'Specially with yer Uncle dependin' on me, I gotta tell ya, I'm beyond agains' this. But.. it's up t' you in the end. N' if yer gonna go, I'm goin,' too.”

Alyssa kept looking between Kain and the paper, unable to keep her eyes on either one. “...Well, it's not until tomorrow night. I guess I can think it over.” She turned back to Kain with the same tired and frustrated expression that often plagued her.

Kain idly sipped at this own milkshake. He considered the possibilities, and decided a little strategic foreplay was in order. “Tell ya what, I'll have somebody check out around that cafe before this starts n' see if anythin' looks fishy.”

“That.. that sounds like a good idea, yeah.” She saw Kain taking to his milkshake and followed his lead. It got her mind off the letter, at least. Her eyes strayed to the letter again, and then, the thoughts came flooding back. “Ugh. This is going to bother me all day.”

“...Well... we could take it easy t'day. Y'know, go out n' have some fun or somethin'.” Kain raised the milkshake to his mouth, ignoring the straw and just downing the rest. This placed a notable milk mustache over his upper lip. He released a refreshed sigh and nodded. “Yeah, somethin' like bowlin', maybe an arcade, if yer in'a that.”

Putting aside the fact that he was doing this with a thick milk mustache, she wasn't prepared for that. Honestly, a letter of apology/confession of love was one thing, but an invitation to go bowling from this guy? Now that was unexpected. Did Kain even know how to bowl? In fact, “Kain, do you even know how to bowl?” she posed the question like it was perfectly acceptable to question a common skill.

“What? 'Course a'do! Shit, ya ain't seen bowlin' till you've seen me.” He sprung to his feet, and stretched about. “I jus' glide across that waxed floor like an ice prince. Just you wait,”

Alyssa rose to her feet, smiling, but not because she believed him. Rather, she found his overconfidence and that milk mustache a hilarious combination. “Oh, really? Alright, put some shoes on. Let's see how many crowds that pretty face of yours attracts.” She took the lead, heading upstairs and leaving her milkshake behind.

Of course, she wasn't really complimenting him, but how was Kain to know? He just complied in confusion. “Uh- a'right...” Kain followed her up the stairs and spent the whole time wondering if she was serious or not. It was really hard to tell if a serious person is serious when said serious person was making a joke she would probably never make. This would probably bother him throughout the night as he slept next to her. Scratch that, he would probably avoid sleeping next to her tonight.

As Ciel watched them go, thinking about following them to sate her curiosity, Naria came by to pick up the mess leftover while simultaneously interrupting Ciel's train of thought. This was done through the act of her picking up Kain's empty plastic cup, and shortly afterward, slipping and watching it descend onto Ciel's hair. Ciel shrieked in surprise as leftovers of the milkshake got in her hair.

Naria immediately got on her knees and began profusely apologizing. “Oh no! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't- I d-didn't-” She began breaking into light sobs while trying to clean Ciel up, and this made her performance that much worse. She was actually spreading the milkshake through her hair, rather than cleaning it up. “I di- I-I didn't mean t-... t-... Waaaah!~” She clung to an unamused Ciel and burst into tears.

Ciel was clearly the victim here, so why did she feel so bad? Certainly, it was something to see a grown woman cry, more so to be the one to make her cry, but this was just ridiculous. Ciel didn't even react!

The pair would probably be like this up until Kain and Alyssa came down, and when they did, they would avoid both girls, and Ciel would be stuck like that until Jens, Cole, or Syth came by. With a heavy sigh, the girl wrapped her arms around Naria with as reluctant an expression as possible and feigned consoling her with no effort whatsoever.




A world suddenly appeared around Zayl as he opened his eyes. He was in a bathroom stall, but for some reason, he felt he wasn't alone. He looked around, and out of one of the stalls came the ominous, towering figure of Thorn. “..Thorn? What are you doing here?” As he said this, Zayl found himself strangely attracted to this Thorn. Why? Well, he couldn't have guessed, he just accepted it as fact.

Thorn confidently strode up to the boy and grabbed him by the collar. He jerked Zayl back into the open stall, kicked the door shut behind him, locked it, and stared into Zayl's eyes.

“Th-Thorn?!”

“It's time to be honest, Zayl.” He moved in closer and took Zayl in an embrace, without any real resistence, though Zayl was definitely trying as hard as he could.

Zayl squirmed in Thorn's arms. "N-No Thorn, not in s-school. We can't!"

But Thorn wouldn't have it. He shoved Thorn into the stall and began tearing off articles of clothing, one by one. "I can't wait any longer, Zayl. I've wanted this for far too long, I can't wait anymore!"

"Thorn!"

"Zayl!" Thorn cried his name as he embraced his lowerclassman. But something was amiss. When Thorn backed off to remove his helmet, he was not Thorn, but Kelly. Kelly moved in closer and closer, and was about to kiss Zayl, but Zayl's form had become Kain's- no, it was Kain, for Zayl had found himself spectating this event from afar as the couple made out sprawled across a park bench. Zayl found himself choked up and unable to react.

Then, all of a sudden, the Kain on the bench rose, and began walking to Zayl with eyes of mischievous intent. Zayl tried backing up, but tripped on his high heels. Wait, those weren't his high heels. He found himself now trapped in his sister's body- yes, it was definitely him in there, this time. Kain's form loomed closer and closer, and as it knelt, it became Kelly's. “Zayl,” she said. “Zayl...” Kelly leaned in to try and kiss Zayl, as Salene, and when her face was just inches from his, it blured and morphed once more into a twisted version of the face of his homeroom teacher, Marius shire. “Grunt. Zayl!” Marius swooped in for the kiss, all the while, the name Zayl echoed in the background.

”Zayl... Z a y l . . . .Z. .a. .y. .l. . . . Z. . .a. . .y. . .l. . . . . .”

A cold splash of water hit him in the face and doused his entire uniform. “Zayl!” Marius's rough voice rang in his ear and Zayl shot up onto his feet, right off the floor of Marius' classroom. He saw his teacher sitting down with an angry look on his face, hunching far over the edge of his.. Zayl wasn't sure if he was awake yet, because his teacher appeared to be sitting down on thin air. Zayl rubbed his eyes and played along anyway. “Y-yes, Mr. Shire?”

“Do you want to tell me what you had in mind when you fell asleep in my room?” Shire gave Zayl a heavy prod.

Zayl twitched, his brain freezing up. “D'uhhhhhh.....”

“Okay, how about why that folder of your was filled with threats against the life of your fellow student, Mr. Kain Redwell?” Then came another, harder prod.

Zayl nearly jumped this time. “W-Well, I, uhhhhh....”

“And that suspicious stack of photos of the cheerleading captain, miss Laurence?” Pushiness wasn't even necessary this time, Zayl had begun backing up all on his own.

“Wha- No, no, okay, that's not- I mean, uh- you weren't supposed to see th- I-I- uh, I can explain!”
“Frankly, Mr. Rathman, I don't want your explanation. I just want your lunch money.” Marius held a hand out and grunted. “Pay up and I'll try and forget this over a couple shots.”

“Wh-what? Isn't that illega- wait, I already spent my lunch money...”

“Oh? That's too bad. Welp, I guess I'll just have to call miss Laurence's mother and inform her about her daughter's alleged stalker...”

“NO! Wait!” Zayl frantically searched his wallet for what money was left. A pathetic two dollars and fourty three cents was all he could manage. “Th-that's everything!”

Marius eyed the meager sum. With a grumble, he swiped the money into his hands and stuffed it away in his pocket. “Fine. Get up, get lost.” Mr. Shire grabbed ahold of his 'water bottle' and took a swig. “And don't you dare let me catch you masturbating in my room again!”

Zayl had bolted at least thirty feet out the door before he realized what he'd been falsely accused of. He then promptly screamed “What?!” and received the attention of two very annoyed Black Bandits out on the prowl for fresh meat. Zayl was reminded of the fact that his life was at stake, so, he returned to bolting down the school halls until he remembered to stop, and when he finally did, only then would he wonder why Thorn had even appeared in his dream out to molest him- even more so, why he wanted it.




Jens was just packing his things, exchanging items between his backpack and locker, minding his own business like he always did. Well, this wasn't entirely true. Now and then, he'd glance at Christina chatting up a few of her girlfriends, whom Jens never questioned the purity of. Christina would also look back at him at regular intervals.

Jens wouldn't dare check for this directly, so he kept a small mirror he'd borrowed from the inn, solely for that purpose. Every time she looked his way, his heart would flutter, and he'd feel like he'd managed another small victory. Yet, when he turned back to look at her again, a different girl stood in his way. Salene Rathman nervously stood behind him. Why was she nervous? Well, he didn't have a clue, but this was one of the few times they'd ever met, and they almost never met, much less spoke.

“U-um,” Salene gathered her wits for a moment. “H-hello... Jens... um, my-.. I'm Salene.. and I heard a friend of mine was staying at, uh, your place- I mean, your inn.”

Jens blinked and slowly nodded “You mean Alyssa, right?”

“W-what? No, I meant Kain- Alyssa's staying there?”

“Uh.. yes.. they're sharing a room.”

“Oh, I see, they're just sharing a- THEY'RE DOING WHAT?” Salene practically strangled Jens as she clung to his collar. “Take me there! Right now.!”

“S-Salene, y-you're choking me...”




An assembly of SDTF was gathered in their office, and it was packed. Everyone from Ariel and Eleanor to Xerious and the recovered Udgrad had shown up. Even Thorn had shown up, just from all the hype that had been building up. At the head of the group was Eleanor, accompanied by Niphsus Ralcourt, in a presentation of statistics and graphs, and photographic evidence of the effects of the school's latest menace, Redwell.

“As you can see, the once docile, rule-abiding troublemakers have been chasing after this character, non-stop. Not only are they sending themselves to their own doom, as Mr. Redwell has shown us time and time again, but they are causing property damage and spurring insurrection among the student hierarchy with every fight. Completely unrelated persons have begun to challenge Redwell out of the confines of school- people from our football team, baseball team, soccer team, kendo team, Ai kido team, judo team, wrestling team- all of which had, within whatever measure they could, followed the rules and refrained from any show of violence whatsoever... before Kain's arrival.”

Eleanor nodded to Niphsus, who nodded back and clicked a button, moving to another slide on their digital projector. This brought them to a page with a graph that rose over four steps, each one named after the first four days of the week. “It gets even worse. With every foe Mr. Redwell defeats, his reputation goes up, and he gains more supporters, and even worse, followers. Rather than going against him, some of our students have felt they should be moving with him. The numbers aren't a problem yet, but let us examine their rate of growth...” He pointed to the chart. “Monday, less than 1% favored Mr. Redwell. Tuesday, 2%. Wednesday, 5%...Thursday, 12%...”

“And a projection of tomorrow's numbers?” Eleanor turned to Niphsus, who moved to the next slide, revealing a final graph. “At this rate, it'll be over 25% of our school's population all in favor of Redwell! That's already beyond the Black Bandits's who, for two whole years now, have remained in control of 20% of the school's growing population. Now, I'd like to ask you to please imagine those two forces coming together, be it in a friendly or hostile manner. Can you picture it, everyone? Wether they fight together, or they fight us, that is still the image of half the school clashing in a mess of chaos and collateral damage. As the the Disciplinary Task Force, we cannot allow this to happen. Doing so would prove us unable to deal with such a simple problem, and riot squads would needlessly be called in to shame us with their swift work. Dean Scrapio has told us time and time again that we can't let small problems grow, or they'll grow into monstrous problems. So, is there anyone here that can offer us a solution? Anyone at all?”

A sole hand was raised out of the crowd. One student in an SDTF uniform, covered in a hood, quietly waited to be called on. Eleanor was caught in silence, not expecting an answer so soon. “U-uh, yes, you, Mr...”

The hooded one stood up, and pulled his hood back. “Scars.” The King of the Black Bandits pleasantly smiled in return. “Please, call me Scars.”




A red and black Yamaha pulled up into the driveway of the inn with two figures riding on the back. The motorcyle's engine died, and Alyssa hopped off the back whilst pulling off her helmet, followed by Kain. “Man, I can't believe ya didn' tell me I had a stache...” Kain removed his own helmet, revealing a wide and pouty frown. “It took me f'rever t' figure out why the whole damn place laughed every time I smirked...”

This incited giggle after giggle from Alyssa, which we're really snickers being forced into giggles so she wouldn't feel as bad about it. “But it was so funny! Come on, it was fun, and you did get to show off. You can still say you came out of there with some dignity.”

“Oh, sure, dignified's exac'ly how I felt when the damn clerk asked me how-the-fuck old I was.” He grumbled the whole way to the inn's front door with muffled complaints. Any attempt at gaining pity failed, Alyssa just laughed more and more. She didn't really mean to, but seeing Kain lose over something so mundane seemed to amuse her to no ends. That, and she was feeling a little vengeful after losing 0 to 5 against Kain.

They entered and carried on with the idle chatter until they got to the small den just off the side of the entrance. There, they froze upon spotting the owner there, sipping a cup of tea with a book at his side, eying the entrance as if he had been waiting the whole time. Beside him was a very concerned, irritated, and otherwise anxious Salene looking like she'd been waiting just as long. “Hello, Alyssa.” Salene turned her glare upon a surprised and confused Kain, and Alyssa's heart sank. “Care to explain?”

Kain was at fault, somehow. This much, he knew. What he did, how he did it, and why it was his fault were all questions he was very intent on leaving unanswered. Salene had her eyes on him like he had killed her mother, father, and every kitten on the planet. She took a sip from her own cup of tea, then set it beside her on an ornate wooden table, round in shape and set directly between her and the inn’s proprietor, Jens Eytinge.

As they both faced them, Jens had his eyes on Alyssa instead of Kain. He leaned toward the gentler gender, as far as giving attention went, and right now, he was concerned about the young woman before him. “Yes, Alyssa. Salene has told me of your roommate and his reputation. I had no idea I was harboring someone like this, and worse yet, allowing him to stay with someone as dignified as you.” He took another sip from his tea cup. Jens paused for a moment to glance at Kain. With a grimace, he looked back to Alyssa. “We at the Eytinge Inn have always held your family in high regard. My sister was once in your club, after all. I was sad to see her turn to hooligans as company, so, forgive me, but could you please explain your relationship with,” He gestured toward Kain “this gentleman here.”

Salene kept quiet and shifted her gaze to Alyssa, softening her expression to a tender look of concern. Her best friend was caught in a mess she didn’t fully understand, and the rogue beside her was taking advantage of her naiveté. At least, that was the only possible explanation she could think up. “Alyssa?”

Kain briefly looked to Alyssa to provide some support. It didn’t seem to do much. Alyssa had kept her gaze down, fidgeting in an attempt to put words together and work out a proper explanation. She didn’t know what to say or who to say it to. “You’re wrong-“ She started, but couldn’t follow through. “…You’re wrong.” Her voice dropped. “He’s not bad… he’s helping me.”

“That’s not what the school says.” Jens reached behind his back and retrieved a folded newspaper. “Local news says he’s the reason kids were hospitalized. The SDTF released an official statement on behalf of the school.” Jens looked to Kain. “And now, he’s high up on their wanted list.”

Kain sunk further into his seat and returned an exasperated sigh. Alyssa’s expression was now a mixture of furiousness and growing concern. “No! That’s not right, he was just defending our club!”

“The paper says he assaulted a member of the SDTF earlier that day, harassed another, and put the school’s principal in a cast.” Jens set the newspaper aside. “They even have pictures of him fighting Udgrad. So,” he picked up his teacup once more and took a sip as he looked to Kain and asked, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“A’didn’ do anythin’ wrong. They picked the fights, a’jus’ finished ‘em… And why’re ya makin’ us explain ourselves t’ you?” Kain’s resistance was tired, at best. “I’m a payin’ customer n’ a’haven’t done nothin’ wrong t’ yer inn, or yer guests.”

“You’re also a wanted criminal, however minor, Mr. Redwell. There’s only one criminal that this inn harbors, and he’s too discreet to get caught. You, however, will bring us only trouble. First, the SDTF, and if your track record continues, the police themselves. I can’t afford that kind of attention.”

“None of this explains why you decided to date him, either, Alyssa.”

“What?” Jens stopped altogether and looked Salene in the eyes. “She’s what?” Then, he looked to the pair. “You’re what?”

Kain and Alyssa returned an awkward cough in unison. “…We’re not, uh… we’re not very public about our relationship.” Alyssa stepped in once more, waving her hand through the air. “I know what everyone’s saying, but, there’s something… special… about him.” The ‘special’ was almost forced. “And one thing that sets him apart from every other guy- he’s the one person who’s willing to stand up for our club. Honestly, he’s all I’ve got to depend on right now. He’s not just a boyfriend, he’s my last hope right now. You can’t tell me to give that up…”

“…I see. I didn’t know it was like that. Still.” Salene shook her head. “As much as I think you’ve made a terrible choice of boyfriend, that’s not the problem here. Alyssa, are you aware that because of your relationship, Kelly is heartbroken?” Alyssa and Kain were both caught in confusion, but for two different reasons. This didn’t stop Salene. She turned to face Kain. “…K-.. Redwell. My best friend, Kelly Laurence, would like to hear an explanation from you, and for your sake, you better give me a good one.” This only confused Alyssa even further, but Kain’s expression was now comprised of worry.

“Kelly? Kelly’s ‘ere? Wha’cha say?” Thus, Alyssa turned to Kain in surprise.

Salene finished her cup of tea. She set it aside for good. “Yes, Kain, and if you would attend homeroom once in a while, you might become aware of that.” Her glare fell on him again. “She’s told me that you two share a past, and in no small way. Because of your actions, she’s gone days without a single smile. She hasn’t showed up for cheerleading practice, and she’s already missing assignments. I’ll just put this very plainly, Redwell, so there aren’t any misunderstandings: if Kelly doesn’t stop crying, I’ll make sure you share her pain.”

Kain stared at Salene. Then, he looked to Jens, who was now looking far, far away from the conversation. Finally, he looked to Alyssa, and found her in a position of helpless protest. “…Lyss, we need t’ talk.” He took Alyssa by the hand and rose from his seat.

“Wha- Kain, wait- Salene, we’ll be back!” was all she managed before Kain pulled her away and up the nearby staircase, out of sight, sound, and reach.

Salene quietly huffed and set her cup down. She looked to Jens, who was still looking in another direction. “…Jens. I could use another cup of tea. Make it bitter.” Jens was up and out of the room as soon as she finished. Salene was left alone to contemplate if she’d done the right thing.





“What was that about?” Alyssa shook free of Kain’s grip once they’d entered their room. She didn’t look happy about getting dragged out of there. “You can’t just drag people around-“

“If’a didn’t make us n’ exit, we’d be stuckin’ secon’ guessin’ eachother…” He took a hand to his head and ran it along the back of his neck. “Sorry, though.”

“Sorry’s a good start. How about Kelly? What’s this about you and her?” Alyssa crossed her arms and waited for an explanation. “We’re not supposed to keep secrets from each other, Kain. That’s what you said.”

“Look, it wasn’ a secret. It wasn’ even relevan’ till yer frien’ showed up n’ told me ‘bout ‘er…” Kain’s expression seemed that of genuine concern. “I knew Kelly. We grew up t’gether. I was like ‘er big brother… Well, tha’s how a’saw it. But… I don’ know. Somethin’ changed when we got older, n’ started actin’ differen’.” Kain reached out and retrieved his wallet, flipping through some photos. An old, torn photo was revealed to Alyssa, one of a much younger Kain crouching beside younger Kelly. “Kelly’s always ‘ad ‘er share’a problems with... iden’ifyin’ relations wi’ people… Guys were jerks t’ ‘er. I guess she started treatin’ me differen’ ‘cause a’was the only one bein’ nice t’ ‘er. But, a’had t’ leave… it’s been two years since. Never thought a’d see ‘er again.”

“…I don’t like this, Kain. I can’t lie to my friends. Everyone else, sure, but not my friends.”

“What? We can’t jus’ go tellin’ everybody ‘bout us. How d’ya know they won’t say anythin’?”

“Salene won’t! I’m sure she won’t. She keeps secrets for everyone. And Kelly-”

“-won’ keep a secret unless ya make ‘er promise n’ remind ‘er fer a’leas’ a week.” He looked aside and sighed to himself. “Ya can’t tell Kelly ‘bout what we’re doin’…”

“Can’t I at least tell her our relationship is a fake?”

“…I-… well, it’d make ‘er feel better, a’guess, but it doesn’ solve the real problem fer me. Well… a’right. Tell ‘er.” He sighed and shook his head. “Y’can tell both’a yer friends abou’ this. As fer me, I’m-… gonna go. Yeah. I’ll check out Café Crevice n’ see what a’can fin’ out.”

“Uh.” Leaving in the middle of the night? Strange. Kain never left her alone after school. “Is something wrong?”

“No. Jus’ need t’ clear m’ head. Not easy playin’ the bad guy, y’know.” Kain reached for the door handle again and turned it, marking his exit. “…Look, I know y’don’ really like me, n’ it’s hard fer you t’ pretend.” Kain paused took a moment to consider his words. He looked to the bed they shared and stared at it for a moment. Then, he turned back to Alyssa and spoke with more certainty. “If it starts getting’ in the way’a yer life, jus’ le’me know. It ain’ too late t’ call this off.” Kain turned to Alyssa with look of seriousness. “Partners come n’ go, but high school only ‘appens once. If y’want yer ol’ life back, jus’ say the word. Uh… tha’s all, I guess.”

Alyssa stared at him oddly. She blinked, looked away from him, looked back, and returned a single nod. “Go cool off. I’ll be here when you finish.”

“Right. See ya.” Kain shut the door. His muffled footsteps disappeared down the hall.

Alyssa turned around and slumped her back against the door. Nevermind the strange discussion she just shared with her faux boyfriend. She had a hell of an explanation coming up, and even Salene’s patience could run thin. Alyssa turned around and grabbed the door handle. She waited about a minute, making sure Kain had left. Why? She wasn’t too sure. Once she was ready, she opened the door, stepped out, shut it, locked it, and made her way downstairs.





John Udgrad, Senior and respected member of the SDTF, stood outside the door to the Dean’s office, staring inside the unlit room through the dusty glass window beside its entrance. He slowly inhaled, then exhaled, letting his breath fog up the glass. His faith in the SDTF was dwindling, and John felt it every day. On the first day of school, he and the Eleanor were ridiculed by a single student. Throughout the week, more students were openly showing disrespect and harassing fellow members.

Even today, the Black Bandits and their leader hijacked their own meeting, and he was so close to beating them to a pulp, but Captain Razel actually stopped him, and even took their offer to help us. The SDTF never accepted help. It didn’t need help! Especially not from some low-life scum like the Bandits. It pissed him off so much, he kicked a dent into one of the lockers along the wall.

“Damaging school property, John?” Udgrad spun around and found himself face to face with the Vice Captain. “Ma’am! No, I was just… Ugh. I can’t believe the Captain actually accepted their offer to help. Forgive my language, ma’am, but every word that comes out of Scars’ mouth is a steaming pile of shit.”

While Eleanor didn’t seem to approve of his choice of words, she nodded with Udgrad. “I know. I don’t trust him, either. I’m not sure why the Captain went ahead with it. Granted, the plan was sound, but something’s not right about this. The student in question, Redwell, isn’t even all that special… and there are many reasons to bring him in, but the incident that involved himself and the bandits is not one of them… I spoke in person with the manager of the fencing club, and he told me that he and two others, Kain included, had jointly acted in self-defense. Scars was the one that started the fight.” She looked to John then. “Not Kain.”

“They’re both good-for-nothings, if you ask me, Captain. One’s just worse than the other, that’s all.” John turned away and stared into the office. “…Do you think we’re corrupt, Vice-Captain?”

Eleanor stood beside Udgrad and stared inside, as he did. “To be honest, John, it’s been feeling that way for years. I’ve tried to keep things fair, but most of the members don’t hesitate to exercise their power anymore. You’ve also been guilty of this. It seems like they’ve all forgotten what we stand for. I just wish there was something I could do about it.”

“…Yeah.” John hung his head slightly. She was right. Sometimes he pushed the students around too much. They all did. Some deserved it. Most, really. But not all of them. “Still. It feels like the Captain has a plan of his own, too.”

Eleanor looked to John and quirked a brow. “Hm? What makes you say that?”

“Well, he kept his helmet off the whole time he was in his office. The door was locked so I couldn’t come inside and check, but looking at it through the window… I think he was working on something big.”

“…I see.” Eleanor turned her gaze upon Thorn’s office now. “Well. We’ll find out tomorrow. Let’s go home, John. It’s getting late.”

“Yes, ma’am.” John nodded to her and waved goodbye as he turned to leave. His steps echoed down the hallway. Eleanor waved briefly at him, then looked back to Thorn’s office. “…Vale and Redwell. Hm. Well, we’ve already heard from Vale…” Eleanor turned opposite of the direction John had left and made her way out of the hall. Perhaps Kain himself had some of the answers. Either way, she had a score to settle.





No way. No fucking way. There was just no possible way this could happen. Zayl knew his luck was never the best, but this was beyond failure. The plan was to visit a shady dealer and get something to keep all the new bullies off his back- and, in Zayl’s case, get rid of unwanted people, like Kain, or Thorn, or Shire… or Kain. Well, Kain was the problem right now, actually.

Café Crevice was a well-known place for deals to be made. Here, one could find drugs, fake tickets, real-but-stolen tickets, pawned goods, and illegal devices, including lethal weaponry. There were no official shops or vendors, but if one asked around further toward the back, help would be offered. Zayl was following some advice Thorn had given him- a terrible decision in and of itself, but with no other source of help, Zayl had little choice. So, Zayl had found the café after getting mugged a few times on his way there. Luckily, they only took his change and never found his real wallet, the one he kept in his underwear. Once he’d gotten to the café and reached for his wallet, he was met with many stares, but none could compare to the stare he was giving the figure of Redwell sitting at the café’s bar.

In his mind, Zayl picked up a glass cup and flung it at the back of Kain’s head. In reality, he ducked beneath a nearby table and peaked at the counter periodically to see if Kain had left. He hadn’t. After a couple minutes, a girl walked up to the counter, pulled aside a stool and took a seat beside Kain. Zayl couldn’t believe this. Alyssa, Kelly, and now, THIS BIMBO. Zayl’s mind turned up his badass dial. He stood up. He fell down. The table fell over from Zayl hitting his head against it. Some people came and pulled the table back up, pulling Zayl aside as blood began to trickle down his head. There was a call for paramedics, and that was about all he could remember before things blacked out.

Back at the counter, Kain was eyeing the girl to his right while she was eyeing him. There was a glare on her face, and short black hair seemed to accentuate the glare. It was like getting stared down by a hawk. “Uh. Can’a help ya, Miss… lackey’a Scars?”

“Save it, Redwell.” Karren ushered the barman over. “Coffee, with creamer and sugar. Hurry it up.” After the barman had been ordered to work, Karen returned her attention to her mark. “I can’t tell if you’re being stupid or brilliant by coming here. Either way, I’m glad you came. I’ve been looking for you.”

“Yeah… you n’ e’eryone’s mother.” Kain turned back to his drink and took a sip of his soda. “You here t’ try n’ beat me? Fer the record, a’don’ hit girls.”

Karen almost smirked. “Save your sexist bullshit. Scars wants to recruit you.”

“Interestin’ that he’d try n’ recruit me by settin’ up a trap fer my girlfrien’.” Kain now turned to face her directly, still sipping his soda, but with his eyes locked on the girl before him. “Or did’e not tell ya ‘bou’ that?”

“I know of it. Listen, if you want to avoid a whole lot of trouble, just join now and tell your girlfriend not to come. If you do neither, Scars is going to come looking, and if that happens, he usually gets his way.” Karen reached inside a pant pocket and slipped out a few photos. They depicted some brutal images of victims. Kain looked them over, recognizing a few of Scars’ lackeys. “This is what happens if you don’t listen. Look… for Alyssa’s sake, don’t be an idiot. Scars won’t hurt her if he doesn’t have to.”

“Scars is a womanizin’ pussy tha’ can got t’ hell. As far as recruitin’ me goes, wait around a bit n’ a’ll let’cha recruit my shit, ‘cause that’s all I’m gonna hand over t’ ‘im.” Kain lifted his glass and finished the rest of his soda. He set it down with little grace and slid it over to the barman, who picked it up and exchanged it with Karen’s coffee. “If that’s all y’wan’ed, a’think we’re done ‘ere.” He pushed himself out of his seat, dusting off his jacket.

“Wait.” Karen’s hand jumped for his arm and took a tight hold of it. Kain whipped his gaze to her, and she found his other hand gripping the arm she’d taken. It was a hell of a grip, too. “Ugh- let go, you ape, I’m not trying anything.”

Kain eyed her with suspicion, but seeing as she hadn’t tried anything, he complied. “Fine.”

When he finally released her, she sighed with relief, massaging her forearm. “Fuck… overdoing it much? Listen. Not every member of the Bandits is happy with Scars. Me? I go with the winning team. I don’t know who that is right now, but compared to you, I’m thinking Scars is on the losing team. So… here,” Karen got to her feet and gave Kain an SD card. “There’s a recording on there. A conversation between Scars and the SDTF. Scars made a deal with them, but he’s planning on betraying them, and I’m betting they’re planning on betraying him, too. Either way, this won’t end well for me, so take this… in exchange for covering my ass if something goes wrong.”

Kain stared down the card. “…Not sure why I’d believe anythin’ yer tellin’ me, but, we’ll see. If the stuff on ‘ere’s true, then I’ll hold up my end’a the deal.” He swiped it from her hands and gave her a nod. “But, I’m gonna need yer name.”

“Karen Eytinge. Friends call me Kari. You can call me that,” she paused and tilted her head to one side “…after you’ve held up your end.” She was met with a smirk. “Right, then. Get lost, I got some coffee to drink.”

Kain returned a brief wave, stood up entirely, and left as quickly as he came. From a dark corner, a hooded and bandaged Varmithas retrieved his cell phone and dialed Scars’ number. “The bosss won’t like thisss….”

Kain speedily made his way to his Yamaha. He hopped aboard, started the engine, donned his helmet, zipped up his jacket, and sped down the street. The day’s events were zooming through his mind like the streetlights as he passed them. A flash of thought, soon replaced by another, in a never-ending cycle of contemplation, at least until he got to an intersection.

Several crossings down, he made a turn into a dimly lit street, and then another into an even dimmer sub-urb. He turned again, entering an alley, and drove up to the back of the Eytinge Inn. There, Kain parked his bike and killed the engine. As he rose, footsteps clattered behind him. It was just one pair, that much, he could tell. Kain quickly glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were heading for him. Unfortunately, they were. He reached inside his jacket as he turned around, leaving his helmet on. “Who-“

“Don’t get hasty there, Redwell. My name is Eleanor Ventulus. I’m the Vice Captain of the Student Disciplinary Task Force.” Eleanor came to a halt before Kain and his bike, unraveling some of a heavy scarf to reveal the bottom half of her face. She glanced over his motorcycle. “Interesting choice of transportation. I suppose it suits someone that acts like a vigilante.”

“Look, if y’came ‘ere t’ insul’ me, get in line. A’got better things t’do.” Kain folded his arms and leant against his Yamaha, relaxing. “I remember ya well enough, Elie. No hard feelin’s, a’hope. A’jus’ couldn’ have ya ruinin’ everyone’s day.”

“…If you think of yourself as some sort of hero, you’re sorely mistaken. You’re just a smart-mouthing rulebreaker, Redwell. A punk. Whatever skills you possess, all you amount to is a simple street urchin. But I didn’t come here for that. I came to have a little chat.”

Kain chuckled at her response. He nodded. “Well, a’right. Since y’put it tha’ way, what can this lil’ street urchin do fer ya t’day, Elie?”

“Stop calling me that. I want to hear your side of the story. Tell me about everything that’s happened at school. Everything.”

“…Yer serious?”

“Yes.”

Kain shook his head. Was he ever going to get some sleep tonight? It didn’t look like it. “Look, it’s dark, n’ a’had a long day… I’m tired. Yer probably tired, too. A’could use some rest, a’right? We can do this some other time’re somethin’, can’ we?”

Eleanor’s expression formed a frown. “Do you realize how many blocks I had to walk in the cold to get here? Do you know how many more I must walk back to get home? And you expect to send me off, empty handed? The rumors that you have a girlfriend must be lies, because not even a harlot would go out with someone so cruel.”

“Well, when ya put it tha’ way! Jeez. A’right, fine. C’mon.” Kain motioned for her to follow him. “We’ll get a table a’ the inn. I’ll ge’cha some food, n’ we can talk this over. Sound good t’ ya, princess?” Kain didn’t care to look back for an answer. Eleanor quirked a brow. She walked up behind Kain, reached for his pants, and dropped them without a moment of hesitation. “Wha- hey- wh-“ He scrambled to grab his pants before they were exposed. In the dead of the night, all he had to worry about was freezing his rear off.

Eleanor walked passed him with a satisfied expression. She lifted her scarf up to cover her face, wrapping it tightly around her. “Yes, dinner sounds nice.” She moved ahead, looking back from time to time to check on Kain, who followed her with an unhappy expression, constantly keeping his hands clutched to the top of his pants. One way or another, they somehow made it to the Inn without killing each other.

Kelly was sitting at the edge of her bed, staring out her window into the darkness of space. Unfortunately, space was veiled by the city lights reflecting off the smog-filled air. Still, even the sky’s faint glow was something she could get lost in. Downstairs, she could hear her sisters arguing over something, and her mother’s voice chiding them both. Two sets of steps hurried back upstairs and into a room down the hall. The sound of a door slamming shut resounded through their home. Then, a gentler set of feet made their way up to Kelly’s door. There came a knock, and Lisa’s voice followed. “…Sweetie? Are you alright?” Kelly didn’t answer.

Taking her silence as a response, Lisa opened the door and stepped inside. She looked around inside and turned to her daughter. “What’s wrong, hun?” Kelly fell flat on the bed. Lisa moved over to the opposite side and took a seat beside her. “…Is it a boy?” Kelly flinched. Lisa raised a brow. “Get some rest, dear.” Lisa rose once more, slowly making her way out of the room. “I’ll heat up some food for you since you missed dinner. It should be ready soon.” Lisa quietly stepped out of the room and shut the door. Her footsteps faded downstairs.

Kelly allowed herself a long and sorrowful sigh. Just then, there came a quiet jingle from her backpack. She didn’t want to talk to anyone now, so why bother checking? Still… Kelly pulled her backpack over and lazily reached inside, withdrawing a small flip-phone. Salene’s name was displayed. Kelly needed some cheering up, so, it couldn’t hurt. She opened the phone and put it to her ear, muttering a weak ‘Hey…’ She didn’t get the response she was expecting.

“Jens, I think you should go-“ Salene’s voice was in the background, slightly muffled.

There was movement, and then, a male voice spoke in return. “Very well, Salene. Let me know what you think about Kain. He pays in advance, so I’d rather not remove a good customer, but if I must…-“

“We’ll see, Jens. Here she comes…” Footsteps lead away from the phone as others moved closer. Kelly’s brow furrowed as she listened in on the conversation. “Hello, Alyssa… Where’s Kain?” Kelly’s eyes widened at the mention of both Kain and Alyssa. What was Salene up to?

“Um,” it was none other than Alyssa’s voice, “He left to take care of something for tomorrow. I decided to talk to you alone without distractions.” The voice got louder until it appeared Alyssa was seated right by Salene, or at least, her phone, wherever she had hidden it. “Is that alright with you?”

“I guess. This isn’t going to be a repeat of our earlier conversation, is it?” Salene’s voice was a mix of concerned and irritated. “I don’t want to waste time here when I could be helping Kelly-“

“It’s not. I’ll tell you the truth, but you can’t repeat this to anybody, especially not Kelly.”

“Why not?”

“Kain’s request. He said he didn’t want her getting involved in this. Look… Kain isn’t just a student. He’s working undercover with the police. Something serious is going on in the school… I can’t tell you too much about it. But, that’s not the point. The point is, he asked me to work as his partner. Boyfriend and girlfriend is just a cover, so we can pass information in private without people being suspicious.” Surprisingly, there was no response from Salene this time. The silence was long and filled with random shifting and adjustment of seats. “…So, that’s the truth. I’m not really going out with him, and as far as living with him goes, it’s like living with my brother, but more tolerable...”

“I… see. I wasn’t expecting any of that, Lyss. So- you’re telling me you don’t actually like him?” The question met with a chuckle from Alyssa.

“That’s- I didn’t even think about it up until now. I’m not really… good at this. Do I like him? He’s… a little too crazy. I don’t think anyone could like-like him. But… he’s not that bad. As a friend, I mean. He’s fun. Does it matter, though?”

“In some ways, I suppose it might. But what really matters is if you can trust him. Can you?” This time, Salene was met with a sigh and a long pause.

“I-… Yeah, I can. In the end, considering what he’s done and doing for my club, I can’t do anything but trust him. I mean, there are moments of doubt… he’s not the trusting type, himself. It’s hard to keep up with him, too. But, the important things have been getting better with him around, so for now, I’m going to trust him.”

“The important things? Are you saying other things aren’t getting better?”

“Well, you’ve seen the way he acts- or, has to act… he’s a troublemaker, so there’s bad with the good, but at least it’s not too hard to get through the bad. Plus, he’s paying for my room and board, and our meals, so, I can’t really complain.”

“…Alyssa, I’m surprised you’ve done something this extreme. So he’s not your boyfriend. Okay. Still, you’re living with a stranger who claims to work for the police. He’s not even out of high school, for one. The fact that you aren’t a couple makes living together even stranger, for two.”

“Er, well—“

“Paying for your expenses? Doesn’t it seem like he’s just trying to buy your favor? And what about this ‘police work’ of his, has he actually done anything related to it? Has he made you do anything related to it? Where’s the proof, Alyssa? This can’t be real, it’s too crazy-“

“Salene! Salene… calm down. I know. I thought the same.” Alyssa was chuckling calmly. “It took some getting used to, but it’s all true. He’s for real, and so is his team. Anyway, you can tell Kelly that Kain and I aren’t really together. That he’s just asking me to pretend for him. In exchange, he’s going to help save my club. That’s our deal… And please, don’t let anyone else hear about this. If they find out, our cover is blown.”

“I-.. alright, Alyssa. I understand. I was afraid it might be something like this.”

“Um. What do you mean?”

“I spoke with Jens earlier about this. If the situation felt off, I told him I’d like to rent a room here and watch over you.”

“Wh- you’re renting a room? Who’s paying for it?”

“Well, I’m using some of my savings. It’s not much, but I found enough for one week…”

“One week? Salene, what the heck are you saying? That’s going to take all of your money.”

“Lyss, you’re living with some strange guy. I don’t care if he works for the Governor or the President himself, I don’t trust him! I want to be there. I’m going to go get Jens and pay for my room-“

“Wait! Look. I… Ugh. Okay. Stay with us. Kain is already paying for our room. You can share the bed with me.”

“…Are you sure?”

“If it’ll make you happy, yes. Just don’t do something crazy and spend all your money so you can babysit me. I mean, jeez.”

“This is wonderful! Thanks, Lyss. Now I can make sure that guy doesn’t try anything. It all works out just f-“

The line went dead, and Kelly was left clutching her cellphone tightly to her ear while she listened to the silence of its earpiece. Her expression was stained with faint tears. But now, both of her friends were living with someone she wanted to herself. Worst of all, he was avoiding her. This wasn’t right with her... Come Monday, she’d have to try and find Kain at school. It was time to pay a visit to the fencing club.





Shortly after the girls went upstairs, Jens stepped out of the corridor with a dark-skinned man and another goggled young man beside him, clad in overalls and a dirty shirt. “That was interesting.”

“The state police?” Sythrivum, the dark skinned one, tapped Jens on his shoulder. “Really, Jens, you let a policeman into this building? This is worse than having a rival gang present. Who’d have thought Kain would put on a badge?…“

“He’s clearly not interested in you, Syth, or he would have done something by now.” The one dressed like a mechanic pulled up his goggles and pushed back mid-length brown hair. A smudged face and smug expression greeted Sythrivum. “At best, he’ll probably kick your ass for shits and giggles.”

“Easy for you to say, Simmons. No one expects you to be guilty of anything. Everybody still thinks you’re a mute that can do no wrong. I bet the STDF still wants your head for quitting without notice halfway through your freshman year, though...”

“Alright, settle down. I’ll handle this. Just… both of you, go back to whatever.” Jens pushed the pair apart. “Let’s not make light of this, but let’s not freak out over it, either. Silthia can watch them. I expect you to handle that, Sythrivum… Should you feel she finds anything to jeopardize our inn, let me know, and I’ll do something about it. And for goodness’ sake, tell her not to steal anything from them- The last thing I want is Redwell wrecking my inn the way he wrecks the school!”

Sythrivum chuckled and shrugged at Jens. “Whatever you say, Jensy. Have Mr. Redwell come down to my office, sometime. I’d like to have a chat with him, myself.” The man slunk away back down the corridor.

“He’s as cheery as ever. Oh, Jens, I fixed the back door. Just try not to shake it for an hour and there shouldn’t be any problems, alright? See ya.” Cole returned a wave and went on his way back to his corner of the inn.

“Thank you, Cole.” Jens waved back, a warm smile on him. Good old Cole. Leave the back door alone for an hour? No problem. A small price to pay to get it to finally open properly. Jens went his way to the back to lock the back door and put a sign up, just in case, but it was highly unlikely anything was going to go wrong.

Or so he thought, until Kain slammed the back door open and ran toward Jens in glee, a scarf trailing behind him, clutched by his hand. As Jens widened his eyes, he was decked by Kain’s blitz and fell to the floor. Despite his agony, Jens found the strength to stand. As a reward, Eleanor trampled him while running after Kain in frenzied bloodlust. “Redwell! Return my scarf! Return it this instant!”

“O-oh, God… my back…” Jens dropped head to the floor and groaned in pain as his consciousness began to fade. “Wh-why… why is it always... my... inn?” As he watched the back door in the few moments before he lost sight, it creaked and fell off, tumbling to the floor. Jens hung his head, planting it into the wooden floor and knocking himself out cold.

Kain and Eleanor continued their chase into the common room and lobby of the inn. Eleanor dove for Kain in a tackle the moment he turned around to offer the scarf. This resulted in calamity. Eleanor and Kain fell to the ground with a loud thud, and the scarf got Eleanor around her head, obscuring her vision. She struggled and squirmed, and eventually managed to push herself off of Kain, and whens he got the scarf off and realized the position they were both in, she put her scarf to good use and started trying to choke Kain to death. “Redwell! Do you understand what you’ve just done? This scarf is important to me! It’s a family heirloom, and if you damaged it even the slightest, you’d be leaving this inn on a wheelchair!”

Unfortunately, all this managed to do was make Kain laugh harder, and other than being strangled by a piece of cloth, he seemed perfectly happy with the outcome. Kain gave her a shove and got her to get off of him. He removed the scarf and held it out to here while he rubbed his neck. Somehow, he was still grinning. “Sorry. ‘Ere, take it. Didn’ know it was tha’ importan’.”

Eleanor snatched the scarf away, then looked it over diligently. “…It’s not damaged. You’re very lucky, Redwell.” She settled the scarf around her neck, loosely. “Why did you do that?”

“Eh, jus’ fer fun. Wan’ed t’ lighten the mood.” Kain picked himself up and held a hand out to Eleanor. She swatted his hand away and grabbed his arm, pulling herself up. “Look, I said I was sorry, a’right? Won’ do it again.”

“Good. Now, it would be in your best interest if you were serious for the rest of the conversation. Telling me something vital may earn you some redemption, Kain. To some, your actions might actually be considered heroic, but with the way you’ve been treating everyone around you, the public eye has labeled you a mad dog, and at this pace, that’s all you’re ever going to be.”

“Well, tha’s great. I don’ ‘ave any problems wi’ that.” Kain returned a shrug to Eleanor. He stepped away from her and fell down into a couch, taking a corner for himself. Eleanor followed him and modestly seated herself on the opposite corner. “What’s yer aim with tryin’a get somethin’ out’a me, anyway?”

Eleanor stared Kain down, furrowing her gaze. “…I’d say you’re playing dumb, Kain. My aim is to get to the bottom of your actions. At face value, you’ve just been fighting people at random. Eye witness reports, however, describe you as simply defending yourself, and in some cases, others. I myself have seen how you work. While it may be self-defense, you provoke all of these conflicts. I would venture to guess that you’re doing all of this on purpose.”

Kain lifted a brow. “Lil’ birdie tell ya that, or did ya come up with it jus’ now?”

“It’s something I’ve been considering for a while. Now, tell me everything from your perspective.” Eleanor leaned slightly toward Kain. “Don’t hold anything back, don’t lie to me, and for goodness sake, try to stay serious.”

“…Well. The time you n’ I firs’ met, n’ I messed with your friend… I was jus’ standin’ up for tha’ girl. Y’know, fer Alyssa. And, after tha’… I don’ know, I guess she wan’ed t’ thank me. She foun’ me n’ pulled me aside, n’ we talked. Found out she lead the fencin’ club. I like tha’ kin’a stuff, so I joined. ‘Fact, we had similar interests, so, I asked ‘er out. Guess it had a lot t’do with me helpin’ ‘er out back then, but she said yes. Kin’a surprised how we’re together, everyone is.” Kain shrugged to himself.

Eleanor blinked several times over the course of Kain’s explanation. “…You’re dating… the Captain of the fencing club. I’m sorry, but you don’t seem like her type. I know Miss Munroe well enough to tell you that she’d never go out with a ruffian.”

“Ruffian? Jeez, y’don’ think highly’a me, do ya? Well, anyway. Lyss was havin’ trouble with ‘er club, and she needs some help rebuildin’ it. I wan’ed t’ help out, so I joined. Some thugs showed up n’ wan’ed t’ start somethin’. They were bent on takin’ me away t’ make me a part’a their gang, n’ I couldn’ le’ tha’ ‘appen, else I wouldn’ be able t’ ‘elp Lyss with ‘er club. So, I fought ‘em. Lyss’s brother and another fencer fought ‘em with me. We beat ‘em back n’ kept the club safe.”

“Fair enough. What about causing Principal Hook to trip down the staircase? Shouldn’t you take responsibility for that?”

“Ehh… all’a did was run past ‘im. Truth is, ‘e stepped in some gum when ‘e moved out’a the way fer me. Guess it caught’im off balance n’ ‘e fell. Sorry ‘bout wha’ ‘appened t’ ‘im.” Kain returned a shrug. “But, eh, what can ya do?”

Eleanor stared Kain down. “You expect me to believe he fell down the stairs because of some stray gum? And how exactly did you notice this gum if you were so busy running?”

“Meant it fer somebody else tryin’a chase me. Didn’ expect the Principal t’be there. Look, it doesn’ soun’ believable, but that’s what ‘appened.” Again, Kain shrugged.

“Then, shouldn’t you offer a formal apology, and perhaps compensate him for his injuries?” Eleanor’s unimpressed tone pierced t hrough Kain’s casual responses. “Regardless of intent, you were still a part of the cause of the damage.” She paused, as if holding something back.

“Sure, if he wouldn’ wring my neck n’ send all ‘is goons after me. I show up infron’a ‘im, ‘ell have you n’ yer friends tie me up, I bet.”

“Which you were also the cause of.” Eleanor now leaned toward him and waited for some response, provided he could muster one.

Kain’s grin widened and he folded his arms across his chest. “Well, if ya wan’a climb the blame chain n’ jus’ stop there, then, sure. But maybe if ya stopped thinkin’ so small, you’d see it differen’ly.”

“I speak in English, Kain, not in riddles. Give me a clear answer.”

“Frankly, Ellie, there’s no clear answer t’ give. I’d love to tell ya, but it ain’t clear enough fer me either. Besides, if ya can’t find out on yer own, yer better off not knowin’. Look, Lyss is probably waitin’ fer me, so I’m gonna go. If ya wan’a talk, Jens’ got my contact info. Get it from ‘im.” Kain rose from his seat and stretched his arms upward, then down his sides, flexing his torso both ways and rolling back his shoulders after he’d finished his twists. “Was nice talkin’ t’ya, though. Try not t’ be such a hardass n’ I think we’ll get along a lil’ better.”

Eleanor pushed herself up, as well. A subtle frown responded to Kain’s suggestion and she shook her head. “You may not understand this, Redwell, but I’m a ‘hardass’ because it keeps order and peace. If you can think of a better way for a school of thugs and scoundrels, I’d love to hear it. Otherwise, you’d be better off keeping those comments to yourself.” She turned on a heel and made her way out.

“…Ya don’t have a ride, do ya?” Eleanor came to an abrupt stop and nearly facepalmed. “…No. I’m going to walk home.”

“How about I call ya a cab?” Kain reached into his pocket and produced a cellphone, dialing up a number.

“That won’t be necessary, Redwell-“

“Yeah, hi. This’s Redwell- right, can I get a cab to show up at m’ place’a residence? The fare can go on m’ card… yeah. Yes, please. Righ’. Thanks.” He pressed a button on the phone and stuffed it away, looking to Eleanor. “It’ll be ‘ere in five minutes. There was one nearby.”

“…You didn’t have to do that.” She eyed him suspiciously. Then, she turned away and stepped over to the front entrance, waiting for the cab whilst she looked outside the window.

Kain smirked to himself. He made his way back upstairs. “I bet Lyss’s probably mad at me fer bein’ so late. Wonder what she’s doin’…”





Ariana Velctora had a rule about men. If they didn’t call you after standing you up, they weren’t worth a second chance. Unfortunately for her, Scars knew about that rule, thanks to the work of his informant, Kazaull. Ariana was in her room, laying on her bed, staring impatiently at her cellphone. Impatience became worry as she wondered if Scars had gotten hurt. Maybe he was captured by a rival gang. Or maybe-

The phone rang. She picked it up and inspected the caller. Scars. Ariana answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Ari. I’m so sorry I couldn’t meet you today. Everything just went horribly wrong…” He sounded so guilty. Ariana felt bad for doubting him. Of course, Scars would call and explain everything. He had to, they were together. “That idiot, Kain, has been ruining things for my friends. I’ve been so busy because of him. I’m sorry, babe.”

“That’s… that’s alright. Um. Can we meet tomorrow?”

“Actually, that’s what I wanted to ask you about. You think you’ll be free around seven tomorrow? I wanted to meet up at Crevice and have a date.”

“Crevice? The café? Isn’t that place shady, Scars? I’m- I don’t know if I want to…”

“It’s fine, Ari! I had it reserved for us- at least, a portion of it. No one’s gonna bother us on our date. I promise.”

“Well…” She paused. It didn’t sound like a good idea, but he’d made reservations! That must have meant he was planning something. Maybe he’d gotten her a gift… “Well… okay.” Ariana beamed at nothing in particular. “Okay! I’ll make sure I’ve got something nice for tomorrow.”

“That’s great, Ari! Then, I’ll pick you up tomorrow at six.”

“Okay! Bye, Scars! Love you!”

“Love you, too, Ari.” The voice disappeared and Ariana was met with a dial tone briefly before the phone went silent.

This changed things. A date outside of school meant she could prepare more, and wear something nice to boot. They’d be all alone, and no one could spot them together and make a scene. Now alive with new vigor and bursting with excitement, Ariana hurried to her closet to prepare a dress worthy of tomorrow’s date.





Scars clamped his flip-phone shut. In a darkened buiding with a low ceiling, one door, and a veiled doorway, Scars stood directly in the center, surrounded by armed men in suits and decorated masks. A woman’s voice spoke to him from behind a veil. “Is it done?”

“Ah… Yes, Mistress.” Scars turned toward the veil, trying to seem presentable and confident. “We’ve prepared everything. There’ll be too much at stake for Kain to attempt a fight. He’ll surrender himself, and the girl.”

“…Good. I hope you’re right, though, Scars. You know what happens to those who fail me.”

“Y-..Yes, Mistress.”

“Mhm. Go.” The armed men formed a line along the veil’s side of the room, and stepped toward Scars, pushing him toward the door. Scars left without argument. “…Tools these days are losing their quality. Watch him. He hasn’t been properly broken in, yet.” Then, the sounds of heels against wood faded away from behind the veil. The men took their positions again.





Kain opened the door to his room and stared at Alyssa and Salene locked in a cardgame. They were playing War, with Salene slamming her hands down on the cards faster and fiercer than her friend. Alyssa watched in surprise as the cards were taken by Salene. All of this was ultimately less important than the fact that they were both sprawled across the bed with minimal wear.

“Uh… Lyss, can ya explain why… she’s.. n’ yer… y’know. What’s goin’ on ‘ere?” Like a displeased father returning home from work, Kain quietly shut and locked the door, then rested against it and folded his arms across his chest, eyeing the two girls. “’Cause I’m pretty sure I told ya not t’ let anyone besides the cleanin’ lady in ‘ere, and… she doesn’ look like her.” His eyes came to rest on Salene.

Salene and Alyssa stopped their game and turned to face Kain. “Oh, er, Kain. You’re back. Great…” Alyssa gestured to Salene. “She wants to stay with us.”

Salene’s gaze narrowed onto Kain. “And I’m going to make sure you don’t try anything perverted. Tonight, you’re putting these on.” Salene reached inside the purse she brought along and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. Alyssa blinked in surprise. Kain sighed to himself. He stepped over to Salene and snatched the handcuffs from her, “What? Hey, you can’t do th—” then, chucked them outside. Salene gaped as the cuffs disappeared.

“Righ’. I guess I’ll sleep on the chair.” He went about removing his jacket, belt, and shoes, gathered up his laptop, and secured a spot on a recliner situated in the corner of the room, beside one of the windows. Outside, a cab drove away from the inn while another seemed to arrive. “I don’ mind whatever it is y’wan’a do, Lyss, but yer friend can’t touch any’a my stuff. A’right?”

“Okay… You’re taking this. Uh. Well.”

“Well, I’ve forced a few things on’a ya. Guess I can handle one’re two m’self.”

“He can’t do that! You can’t do that.” Salene was still in disbelief over her handcuffs. She looked to Alyssa for support. “He can’t do that, Alyssa. Can he?”

“I think he already did, Salene. Listen, let’s just play. He won’t do anything, okay? He’s tame.” At this, Kain snorted. “…Well, almost tame. We’ll be fine, I promise.” Salene began to settle down.

Then, a knock came at the door. “Um, excuse me…”

Kain rose to his feet with a sigh. “Now, what? Can’t even go home t’ try n’ rest…. Comin’!” He rose and slowly made his way to the front door. Kain turned the locks and pulled the door open. Zayl’s unconscious body fell against him. Kain stepped aside to let him plant himself into the floor. “What the—”

“I’m… terribly sorry. Someone just threw him into the dumpster out back.” Jens himself was covered in bandages and using a cane for support. Apparently, getting trampled did that to you. Cole was beside him, and had apparently ferried the body. “After a while, I realized he wasn’t a drunk, and when I noticed he was Salene’s brother, I assumed it would be best to bring him to his sister… and… well, that’s it.” Jens was met with stares and silence. “Well. Off I go.” He limped away. Cole followed him with a sigh.

Kain stared at Zayl’s body. He dragged the boy inside as Salene and Alyssa got off the bed and came to his side, kneeling over him. With the door now unjammed, Kain shut the door and returned to Zayl’s form.

Salene ran her hand over the blood on Zayl’s forehead. “Oh my God, what happened to him? He’s bleeding!”

Kain scratched the back of his neck and shook his head. He dipped a finger in the blood, brought it to his mouth and gave it a taste. Alyssa stared at him in total horror.

“What? Kain! Kain, what the hell?”

“…Ketchup. This is ketchup.”