"I-I swear! I don't know what you're talking about! P-please let me go!" A girl pleaded once her gag was removed. Her hair had escaped their twin braids and her glasses has a little crack in the lens. All of her energy had left her after three days without any food. Still, she tried to loosen the bounds in her hands and feet but to no avail. The bounds were too tight and the chair prevented her from moving. It was a helpless case to struggle especially when it's in front of her captors, though she refused to give up. No way would she let herself die in such pitiful state. She was Manami Okuda! The one who could easily find a way to solve a Chemistry problem when the rest of the class fails.

One of the goons clicked his tongue. He grabbed a rifle on the table and aimed it at her, "Too bad, girlie. If you don't spill where you hide the antidote, we're going to make you suffer."

She flinched at his words. It was not just some empty threats other gangsters say to induce fear to their hostages. No. They are the real deal. A real made men, or soldiers as they would like to call themselves, of a big Mafia Family. She knew this for sure because she had experienced it. They beaten her a few times to force her into telling them where she hid the formula. But no matter what happens, she will never tell them it's' location. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Besides, it was no use fighting for her life. There will be no one who'll miss her anyway. All of her classmates bullied her and her parents was very busy with their own lives to take care of their child. Hot tears spilled from her eyes, it blurred her sight and make it hard to see the faces of her abductor.

She heard the screeching of a chair signifying that the other man rose from his position on the table in front of her. His heavy footsteps were approaching in her direction. The sound of his slap resounded in the whole abandoned warehouse. Her head snapped to the side at the force of the impact. "Tell us now or we will kill you."

"Then kill me. I don't care. I will never tell you." It would have been a perfect heroic statement, if only she wasn't in tears. Manami chastised herself for thinking stupid things when she was in a dangerous situation. The moonlight allowed her to see his face and enraged expression. It was enough to make her whimper.

"You spoiled brat-"

A gunshot rang through the night followed by a dull thud of a body. They both saw his companion fell to the ground in a pool of blood. There was a hole in the center his forehead. She saw the life from one of her captor's eyes fade away slowly. Before she could scream, the remaining man cut off her binds. As she tried to ran away but he pulled one of her braids. "Let me go!"

He wrapped his arms in her throat. "If you struggle, I won't hesitate to kill you."

The cool barrel of his gun was pointed in her head as he dragged her to one of the alleyways. She felt him fumbled for something in his crumpled suit. At last he pulled out a phone then dialed. A stray bullet missed them in the side just a few meters above their heads.

"Come out, come out wherever you are. I know where you are hiding so it's pointless to stay in there." A confident voice called out in the darkness. The tone held a mischievous hint in it. 'It sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?' She was snapped out of her thoughts when her captor ran deeper in the alley only to find a dead end. She heard him curse a certain Class E group as he dialed on his phone again.

"Hello? Yanagisawa? I need some reinforcement! The Class E is on the move tonight. They found us in the warehouse." There was an indistinct chattering on the other side of the phone, "Yes, I have the girl but we were cornered on an alley. She refused to give us the location no matter how hard we beat her."

The phone was shot off from his hand. "Oh, already asking for some back-up? How cowardly of you?"

The voice taunted again. She was frozen in fear when he cocked his gun. He aimed it at the shadows, "I'm not a coward! You are! Show yourself!"

"Are you sure? Anyone who will see this face are bound to die."

He was so taunt and rigid that's why she was surprised to hear him laugh. "You guys don't want any innocents to be involved, right? So, there will be no killing tonight."

The man released her from his grasp then kicked her in the back. She crashed on the alley wall, losing her glasses in the process. "Run, you, worthless brat!" He yelled at her. Upon realizing that this is her chance to flee, she grabbed it, not knowing that this was what he really wanted. He shot her.

She was shot and she knew this but the idea was so distant. Out of instinct, she clutched her side to stop the bleeding but the shock caused her to slowly lose consciousness. Faintly, she felt her captor run away. She staggered a bit but a rock caused her to stumble. Black spots dotted her vision as she strained to see the newcomer approaching her. At last, she let the darkness consumed her.

The other Mafia's made man had run away after shooting at his hostage. A red-haired boy pressed at his earpiece, "He had escaped the alley. Hayami-san, kill him if he shows up within your shooting range."

"Roger that, Akabane-san."

"Ritsu, have you traced the phone call?"

"Hai, it was located on the one of the biggest Science Lab in the country."

"Good job, Ritsu. Terasaka, pick me up."

There was only static at first and, knowing what will happened, he removed the earpiece, holding it just a few meters away from his ear. "Who do you think you are? Ordering us around like a servant?"

"I'm the Consigliere and one of your second in command, Terasaka. Have you forgotten or do you want me to remind you again?" He grinned, enjoying the annoyance of his friend.

"I know it but don't get carried away at your position, Karma. You're still an 18-year-old student like us." Terasaka replied.

He put back the earpiece just in case there will be any complications or reports. Gold eyes scanned the surroundings then stopped at the crumpled form of a girl. It was the goon's hostage before. He can't let her suffer in this kind of place. Her state was awful. She was still in her school uniform a sign that she was abducted either before or after school. In his further inspection, she has a lot of wounds and bruises. There was also dried blood on her clothes not counting the ones in her side. Fortunately, the bullet didn't hit but just merely scratched her. He looked around in search for something that she might own. The cracked eyeglasses that glinted in the moonlight caught his eye, he went to pick it up and kept it in his suit's secret pocket.

'She looks pale.' He thought, shrugging off his trench coat and putting it on her. Despite his mischievous nature, he was a very caring soul. Kuro-sensei always reminded him of that character.

"Tsk, that octopus was right as usual." He said out loud as he shook his head.

Karma was about to carry her on a piggyback ride when, for the first time, he noticed that she looks familiar. He didn't immediately recognize her because her hair on the right side was loose. But the braid that rested on her left shoulder was unmistakable. There is only one person in their school who kept her hair in a twin braid. It was his former Lab partner in Chemistry.

"Manami Okuda?"