The green haired teen beat on the walls of his cell again, at last giving up with an animalistic howl. He leaned against the cold metal of the wall, his shoulders slumped in defeat. His allies, as he preferred to refer to them, stared at him with a mix of shock and fear. He bit back a bitter laugh.

It was rare that anyone ever saw him show any emotion, so a display this big would, naturally, be frightening them. He didn't care, however. They could think of him however they liked once they were out. But right now, he needed to get out. He couldn't stand this for much longer.

Because, as loathe as he was to admit it, he was terrified.

To others, it wasn't logical, it didn't make sense, and yet he knew it to be a fact. He, Kyoya Tategami, was claustrophobic.

There was a reason, of course. For as long as he could remember, he had hated being contained. His mother would lock him in a closet for hours on end to try and save him from his father's drunken rages, but his father would always find him and beat him.

To him, containment meant pain. And when he had accepted Doji's offer to teach him, Doji had discovered this, and exploited it. Whenever Kyoya rebelled against the training methods, fell behind schedule, or even whenever Doji was in a bad mood, he locked Kyoya in a small room until the teen begged to be released.

In the beginning, Kyoya would resist for hours on end. The first time, he was locked in that room for three days. He was starving and dehydrated by the time he was released. Over time, however, he began to fear these episodes of solitude, and tried his hardest to stay on Doji's good side.

They stayed in the small room for what seemed like years to Kyoya, though Benkei, who was wearing a watch, informed them that it had only been an hour and a half.

At last, they were brought before Doji.

The dark-haired man was sitting at his desk, sipping his glass of orange juice slowly as he watched the teenagers before him. While most of them seemed to be in a mostly stable condition- yes, they were nervous, but they hadn't gone crazy. The same could not be said for his former employee. Kyoya had worked himself into a frenzy when they were in their cell, no doubt the enclosed space had brought bad memories to light.

Ginga was, predictably, the first to speak. "What do you want, Doji?! Who are you working for?! What's your evil plan this time?!"

Doji chuckled darkly as he set his glass down on his desk. "I'm not working for anyone, Ginga. I'm merely... catching up with some old friends. Is that not allowed?"

"You call locking us up in a cell 'catching up'?" He looked at the mechanic, the only girl in the group. He hadn't expected her to speak, in fact, he had always considered her to be the weakest link in Ginga's little posse. Clearly he had underestimated her.

The brunette continued on, unknowing of Doji's metal evaluation of her. "You're crazy! You're not catching up, you're probably keeping us out of the way while you send out your insane protégés to conquer the world!"

Kyoya flinched slightly at the words "insane protégés", Doji noticed. "On the contrary, my dear, I'm doing nothing of the sort."

Madoka seemed unconvinced by his words. "And not only that, but you did something to Kyoya! And don't say that you didn't, because you had to have for him to act that way in the cell!"

Doji chuckled again as Kyoya flinched once more. "I didn't do anything to your friend. I simply... finished what had already been started."

This time, Kyoya growled and lunged at him, only to find himself held back by Dark Nebula employees.

"Oh, dear me, I seem to have struck a nerve." Doji openly mocked the green-haired blader. "You don't like being reminded of your weaknesses, do you?"

The lion blader narrowed his eyes and fought against his restraints, trying to attack Doji.

The other teenagers were staring at their friend with open-mouthed astonishment. Benkei found his voice first. "Kyoya buddy, what's he talking about?"

Kyoya glanced at his friends, and Madoka gasped quietly as she noticed how scared his eyes showed him to be. "It's nothing. He's just making stuff up. I don't have a weakness." His tone of voice made it sound as though he was convincing himself rather than his friends.

Doji laughed, a laugh full of malice and evil. "Really? I wonder what would happen if we locked you back up. Alone." He emphasized the last word, smirking in satisfaction as Kyoya's blue eyes widened in terror, though the words that escaped the teen's lips were anything but scared.

"Go ahead. Try it. See what happens."

Doji laughed again. "But I don't have to. I already know what will happen. Merci, bring up the footage."

"Oui, yes, Master." The mechanical voice that could only belong to a computer that Doji created said, and a holographic screen popped up in front of the teens.

Displayed on the screen was what seemed to be security footage of a hallway. They watched, curious, as suddenly two Dark Nebula employees appeared on screen, dragging Kyoya behind them. Video-Kyoya was nothing like the Kyoya they saw everyday. The Kyoya they knew was strong, and didn't let anything get to him. However, Video-Kyoya was malnourished, bruised, and was begging. Tears were running down his face, and his broken words resounded in their ears. "I-I'm sorry! I'm s-sorry! I-I'll work h-harder! I-I didn't m-mean to fall b-behind! P-please don't! I can't- I can't stand anymore! Don't put me back in there! Please! I'm sorry!"

The video ended, and the holographic screen disappeared. They stared at Kyoya, unable to do anything as he collapsed onto the floor in a pile, sobbing.