"I was just tired of people… lying all of the time. Telling empty lies for the sake of a better self-image."

Kanton stood up from the chair he sat on and said

"And you decided to encourage this incident because of that? Kenjiro could have died there, couldn't he?"

Sora bit her lips because of the guilt she felt as a consequence of her reckless behavior. She wasn't quite sure of how to respond so she decided to explain her feelings a bit. She said

"I said it because I truly didn't expect him to actually fulfill it. Everyone from those rotten n.o.bles who tried to get closer to my father through me to even my own parents, everyone I've known has lied to me and exploited me through those lies. How am I supposed to trust anyone when that anyone has been lying to me ever since I was a small girl?"

Narino joined into the discussion and said

"But does that really justify what you did? I get that you have a hard time trusting people because of that, but was it really necessary to go and try your theory on an idiot like Kenjiro?"

The air around these 6 teenagers was tense. Not because there was a serious conflict blooming up between them. Granted, there was a bit of segregation between them as a result of this. But the major reason the air could be cut with a knife at that moment was that the right words wouldn't come out of any of those teenager's mouths. They didn't know how to express their feelings in the matter.

The silence that had befallen upon everyone proved to be quite stressing for the members. Everybody looked around in the room, looking for someone who knew what to respond and how to fix the situation. After the main members of the argument realized that no one would speak up about it, they turned their attention to the arguably most important person in this situation, the man who this tragedy had fallen upon, Kenjiro Asukara.

I didn't realize that I was supposed to say anything until after a couple of seconds of uncomfortable staring had occurred. I scratched my head casually in an attempt of trying to come up with what to say.

A large patch of air blew through the window and into the room, causing my scuffed up school uniform to deform. My hair had also decided to follow the direction of the wind, resulting in messy hair that I usually saw when I woke up in the morning. When the raging flow of air started slowing down,

I breathed in slowly and said

"Aren't you all a bit pathetic right now? You're arguing over an event that occurred to me, the worst human. Is it really worth for all of you to dislike each other over something as trivial and unnecessary like this? Is that all your friends.h.i.+p is worth?

I think the reason you guys got so triggered over this is because of the Kenjiro-watching-pact that you guys made. You felt shame after failing that pact twice, due to me getting hurt during the fight and now when I could have died. That's what happens when you invest pride in something that you're not able to do. It's so dumb, why would you invest so much emotion into something like this?

Not only that, Sora, I don't mind what just happened at all. I didn't even blame you for it. You have problems trusting people, right? But you have pretty much everything else in life. You're popular, rich and attractive. If all I had to conceit was trust in people in order to attain all of that, I would do it in a heartbeat. Heck, I already don't trust people so the trade-off can't even be done."

Complete and utter silence once again befell the room. But this time it wasn't because of difficulties in communication, it was due to sheer shock at the people who had to hear that just now. Everyone who heard what I said looked at me with a horrified, borderline disgusted, face. The moment I saw that everyone looked at me with that face, I realized that I had done a major slip-up.

Aya immediately turned around and painfully got out the words

"It's time to go home, perhaps. He-he..."

The others decided to jump on that excuse and proceeded to excuse themselves. Just before leaving the room, Aya shot a somber and almost disappointed look at me. The only ones left in the room now was me and Kanton, who stood up to leave. I stood completely frozen at what had just occurred in front of my own eyes. Kanton started walking towards the door, I reached out my hand slowly and asked

"Did I do something wrong?"

Kanton said in absolute melancholy

"No… You were just being you, I suppose..."

Kanton then turned around coldly and walked out of the room carefully.

I stood completely still, almost forgetting how to breathe, just staring at the ground and feet that were placed upon it. The thoughts flooded me and tried to take me down to the bottoms of an ocean and drown me in an attempt to find the answers to the situation.

But answers are hard to find when you're deprived of oxygen in the midst of the water.

No matter where you look, it's all blue.

No matter what you think, it all overwhelms you.

The only solution I found at that moment was to lie down in the bed and relax for a moment.

…

On the top of a tall building, a building built for the third biggest corporation of that city, there stood 2 figures snickering to each other.

One was a younger boy with above-average looks echoed through his naturally wavy silver hair and innocent and seemingly loyal eyes, at an age of around 14, wearing a black skin-tight military-looking uniform with the logo of a King piece from chess.

The second figured resembled an older gentleman with the looks of an average person wearing gla.s.ses and having a pony-tail, being the age of 38, also wearing that uniform but having a hard time fitting into it.

The younger boy looked up to the older gentleman and asked

"So he's here?"

The older gentleman

"Yes, Satos.h.i.+ Yukimura, that's what Korumu Hakijuu reported to Ak.u.ma Kurohito earlier today."

Satos.h.i.+ Yukimura sighed briefly and said

"Could you stop referring to me, and people in general for that matter, by both of their names, Otosha?"

The older person, apparently named Otosha, responded

"Well then, could you stop calling me by my last name?"'

Satos.h.i.+ smirked and said

"Okay, let's make a compromise then. We call each other by our first names."

Otosha nodded in agreement and said

"Fine, Satos.h.i.+."

Satos.h.i.+ smirked even more and said

"Good, Takuchu"

Slightly ticked off, Takuchu responded

"Fine good, Satos.h.i.+"

The now ticked off Satos.h.i.+ responded

"Okay good fine, Takuchu."

The even more ticked off Takuchu retorted

"Just let me have the last word, you d.a.m.n 14-year old! I'm older, show some respect!"

Satos.h.i.+ laughed smugly and said

"No way, I tried to be respectful by using your last name. But you rejected that, so I guess you don't want to be respected!"

At that moment of arguing, 5 people could be seen leaving a building roughly 100 meters away from their current position.

Takuchu, being the adult who tried to work hard, pulled away from the debate and focused his attention on the people that were now walking.

"Look, there they are."

Satos.h.i.+ also pulled himself together, but had a bit of harder time doing so due to the scary effects of p.u.b.erty. He said

"Are we really going to do this? It doesn't really feel right."

Takuchu shrugged and tried to explain

"It's the boss's order, I don't know if it's right or wrong. That's not for me to decide. Besides, they're the enemy now, as the boss put it. We're gonna have to deal with them sooner or later, so it's better to start taking care of them now."

When Satos.h.i.+ got the reconfirmation that this was indeed what the boss wanted of him, he felt a strong and sudden motivation to complete the mission. He nodded to himself and turned once again to his superior.

Takuchu continued

"Although it is an order from the boss, he did not specify who to pick. So who are we targeting? Perhaps we should take that black-haired girl walking there, she's pretty cute and seems to be somewhat shy by how she walks. Or maybe we'll take that crazy-colored drill-haired girl. Satos.h.i.+, what do you think?"

Satos.h.i.+ was in another world, looking at the visibly sad blue-haired girl walking on the sidewalk

"I don't know why. But when I see that blue-haired girl walk there all sad, I for some reason feel like protecting her..."

Takuchu put on a mocking smile and said

"I see, well let's do the opposite of that then. See ya!"

Satos.h.i.+ barely had enough time to respond before Takuchu already was running towards the girl named Sora and the other person who was walking with her, named Aya.

Satos.h.i.+ screamed

"Wait, you can't…

That d.a.m.n Geezer, I swear!"

The 14-year old, who was behaving like a 38-year old, then proceeded to chase the person that was 38, but behaved like a 14-year old.

…

"So, why did you call me here, Kurohito? You totally ruined the fight I was having, but I guess it was pretty much over."

In front of the bowl-haired Kori, there was a wide and expensive wooden desk with a bunch of boring paperwork and office supplies on. In a chair that stood before a large window, there sat a regular-looking 40-year old. There wasn't anything special to his appearances, the only thing that could distinguish him from your average salary-man was a subtle menacing aura that could be felt if you got close enough to him. That person, named Ak.u.ma Kurohito, responded

"Call me "Boss"! How many times do I have to tell you!?"

Ak.u.ma cleared his throat quickly and continued

"I have a mission for you to complete. That's the reason I called you here."

Kori said

"Does it involve fighting of some sort?"

Ak.u.ma made a satisfied grin and said

"Of course, that's why I called YOU here. Fighting's literally the only thing you can do properly."

Kori scuffed a bit and said

"You don't have to be a d.i.c.k about it.

So…?

What's the mission?"

Ak.u.ma put his feet up on the table, which made everybody who was walking past the office suddenly speed up to get out of there. After some incomprehensible whispering, a visually stressed employee ran up to the door and closed it quickly.

Ak.u.ma made another pleased grin and said

"Well, basically, we need you to retrieve a mineral from some low-level gang named the 'Funnel-web Spiders'. We don't know how, but they managed to get a hold of a rare mineral that I've been looking for. We're planning on stealing that mineral, but we're replacing it with a suitcase of cash. Kind of like a forced transaction. I thought it would be a bit despicable to just straight up steal their mineral, so it's a form of compromise. Another goal with this mission is that you're going to be as diplomatic as possible, no unnecessary fighting. That's why I've decided to include Biharu Takeda on this mission. But if it comes down to it, then you're allowed to 'force' the transaction."

When Ak.u.ma finished talking, a knock could be heard on the door that had been shut in fear.

*KNOCK*

Ak.u.ma responded

"Who is it?"

A somewhat young voice responded

"It's Biharu! I thought I heard my name."

Ak.u.ma continued

"I didn't really call for you, but good timing, come in."

The door opened to reveal a boy at the age of 20. He walked in with his free-hanging hair swinging from side to side. He walked up to the right side of Kori and stopped.

Ak.u.ma said

"I think you what the mission entails already, am I correct?"

Biharu pulled the slight smile that he was known for and said

"Yes, I am aware of the plan. Kori and I will do our best to fulfill the mission."

Ak.u.ma smiled and said

"Great, you're dismissed."

The two young boys turned around and started walking towards the exit, on the way there, Biharu asked Kori

"So, you wanna go do some karaoke?"

Kori considered it for a bit and responded

"Sure, I was planning on watching Hantaa X Hantaa but I guess I'll sing the Opening instead, which is dope."

Biharu said

"Let's go then. But, isn't it supposed to be p.r.o.nounced 'Hantaa Hantaa"? Or am I wrong? Either way, I do agree that the OP is dope."

Kori just shrugged in response to Biharu's question.

But when they were just about to leave the room, they heard an aged voice from behind them

"Wait up, you two..."

The two froze solid, they thought that perhaps they weren't actually allowed to do karaoke and were about to get punished.

Ak.u.ma continued and asked

"Are you two going to do some karaoke now?"

Biharu decided to tell the truth instead of wasting trust and energy on a lie that would collapse, he said

"Yes, we were..."

The two carefully observed the boss's face in careful silence.

Ak.u.ma looked straight into their eyes and asked

"Can I go with you?"

The question shocked the two so much that the frozen effect that they had experienced earlier suddenly became undone.

Kori cleared his throat and said

"If you want to, Kurohito"

"Call me 'Boss'!"

was the last line heard before the three men headed out to sing for a bit.

They spent that afternoon singing and having fun, drinking and laughing.

Kori Hanesawa mostly chose Anime songs, like "h.e.l.lo children" by 'Smoking is bad', 'The Morning' by 's.e.xually hara.s.sing graffiti' and 'Goodbye' by 'Masatos.h.i.+ Owo', he sang the last song several times.

Biharu Takeda sung a mix between Anime songs, his favorite being 'Falling rainbow' by 'MisoCake', and songs in his second language, Chinese, with one of his favorites being 'Wo Bu s.h.i.+ Zhong Guo Ren' by 'ZhongGuoRen'.

Ak.u.ma Kurohito sang old-man songs that were popular in the 80s and 90s, his favorite being 'BakaMitai'.

The song made him feel a bit like a Yakuza.

Perhaps add a little '0' into it.

The person that was best at singing was undoubtedly Biharu Takeda, who got encouragement from both Ak.u.ma and Kori to try out singing as a career choice.

That's how three people decided to spend their afternoon, but another group of people outside of the big city weren't about to have the same amount of fun that these people just had. A certain club, that was part of a school outside of the city, would have a long night awaiting them. Especially the self-deprecating, red-haired member of that club who right now lied down calmly on his infirmary bed, just relaxing.

That was about to change...