Sorry for the wait, I would have gotten this up earlier but I wasn't able to use my laptop for about a week because it was dead and the charger for it broke.


Everyone was quiet.

"… What, too much?" Oliver asked.

"YEAH MAYBE A LITTLE BIT," Rei said.

"I still don't understand this whole 'side' thing you've been going on about," Len stated. "What other sides are there?"

"Len, the point is that we are a side and if any other sides show their faces then we shall strike them down with our stunning bossness," Oliver told him. "And we need to gather the best of the best before that time comes. Because one day, I assure you, there will be more sides. WHICH IS EXACTLY why we need the strongest man in… uh, this city on our side before someone else gets to him first."

"MEITO ISN'T AN OBJECT, OLIVER."

Oliver frowned.

"You're taking this way too seriously," Len said. He took out his phone. "Look, I will literally text him right now to see what he thinks."

"Oliver started some kind of gang that I've more or less joined already and he wants you to be in it for some reason," Len's message to Meito read.

Only a few seconds later, he got a response. "The kid with the bandages you hang out with all the time? Well, sure, why not. I'm a pretty respectable person though, so if things get out of hand in any way, expect me to do something about it."

"Aaaand he's pretty much in," Len told Oliver.

Oliver stared in awe. "How did you do that?" he asked.

"Meito might be a bit terrifying sometimes, but he's pretty nice."

Len got another text from Meito. "What do I have to do?" it read.

"… What does he have to do?"

"Well… nothing yet," Oliver answered. Len sent Meito a similar response. "But holy crap. That was insanely easy."

"The magic of asking like a normal person," Len said.

Suddenly, Len's phone started ringing, and the number was unknown. He blinked, and slowly answered.

"Uh, hello?" he spoke.

"LEN! YOU HAVE TO FRICKING LISTEN TO ME!" the person shouted from the other side, being loud enough that Len backed away from the phone.

"Who is this?!"

"IT'S ME! RINTO!"

"How the heck did you get my number?"

"IROHA GAVE IT TO ME! NOW-"

"How did Iroha get my number?!"

"SHUT YOUR FACE AND LISTEN TO ME ALREADY! IT'S IMPORTANT! AKAITO IS BEING A TROLL ON THE TOP OF A TALL BUILDING AND RUI, REI'S SISTER, IS INVOLVED!"

"WHAT?!" Rei yelled. He snatched the phone out of Len's hands. "WHERE ARE THEY?! TELL ME!"

"We're on the street with the… uh, the parking garage!"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY STREETS HAVE PARKING GARAGES ON THEM?!"

"THE PANERA BREAD! THE PANERA BREAD AND THE TACO BELL! RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM EACH OTHER!"

"WHERE IS THAT?! YOU'RE USELESS!"

"I know where that is," Yuma stated. "And I have a car."

"I WANT TO RIDE THERE ON MY MOTORCYCLE!"

"You stole it from Meiko! It's not yours!"

Len took the phone back. "Why the heck are you calling my phone about this?" he asked.

"Cuz I don't know Rei's number," Rinto replied. "And you said that Rei was part of Oliver's gang during the car ride, and since you were going to the crappy abandoned warehouse next to the CFM building, I assumed you were meeting up with your gang. So basically, I completely guessed and ended up being right. By the way, can I get his number?"

"I don't know what his number is," Len said. "Did you ask Iroha what his number is?"

"Yeah, I did, but he doesn't give anyone his number, he's blocked Iroha on all of his devices, and he doesn't use social media either, so she had no sources."

"Rui probably knows what it is."

"But she's caught in the previously stated predicament!"

"Then you can wait." Len hung up.

"JUST TELL ME WHAT STREET IT'S ON!" Rei shouted.

"I don't remember! I just know where it is!" Yuma insisted.

Rei turned to face Len. "LEN! ASK HIM TO FIND OUT WHAT STREET IT IS!"

"Oh. Uh. I hung up," Len said.

"UUUUGH!"

"Rei, if you want to 'save' your sister, you should be willing to take a car ride from Yuma," Oliver told him. "It would be rather difficult to make a dramatic entrance on a motorcycle if they're on the top of a tall building anyway."

Rei groaned. "If Yuma drives, then it'll take way too long! I don't have time for this!" He hopped on the motorcycle he borrowed without permission and drove out of the broken entrance.

"Guys, uh…" Flower began, "You realize this is Akaito we're talking about, right? What if he's planning something? What if he's trying to get Rei there for some reason?"

"I think we should go too," Yohio said. "It sounds pretty… bad."

"All right then, I guess to the car we go," Yuma spoke.


They all stopped when they reached the car. It was an average-sized car with only five seats. Not to mention it was an ugly box car in terrible shape.

"… How are we all supposed to fit in that?" Len asked. "There are SIX OF US."

"Well, fortunately, you're all pretty small," Yuma replied. "And by you're all I really just mean you and Oliver. I guess he can sit on your lap or something."

It was at that moment Oliver realized he was the shortest. It was quite a depressing realization.

"Why me? I'm second shortest," Len said.

"Piko's being emo and it would be weird if Oliver sat on Flower's lap so your lap it is," Yuma responded.

"My day has been covered with a cloud of darkness and despondency," Piko spoke, his hair now covering one of his eyes.

"Piko, stop being emo," Flower said.

"No."

Flower sighed as they all got into the car.

"This car is smaller on the inside," Len grumbled. "OW! MY FOOT!"

"Sorry!" Oliver apologized. "Is this seriously the only car we have? The next gang member needs to have a better car."

"I think Gumi has a convertible," Yohio told him.

"Wait, Yohio, don't you have a car? I thought you did."

"It died. I just started it up one day and the engine exploded."

"… I don't think that's normal," Yuma spoke. "Is everyone seated?"

"More or less," Oliver mumbled.

"Len, Oliver doesn't have a seatbelt. You have to hold onto him," Flower said, grinning.

"Haha, very funny," Len replied dryly. "I'm pretty sure he'll be fine."

Five minutes later, Yuma accidentally drove over a bump without slowing down. Oliver said some British curse word as he hit his head on the ceiling.

"LEN! YOU HAD ONE JOB!" Oliver yelled at the boy whose lap he was sitting on.

"Fine! Whatever! I'll hold onto you!" Len said, wrapping his arms around Oliver's waist. Flower giggled. She really wasn't any better than Iroha. "And why are you blaming me? Yuma's the one who didn't slow down on the bump!"

"I'm sorry! I swear that wasn't there last time," Yuma told them.

FIVE MORE MINUTES LATER…

"Aaaaaand we're here," Yuma stated. There was one parking spot left on that specific street, so it was incredibly convenient.

Everyone climbed out of the car and looked up towards the tops of the buildings, to see if they could find the issue with Akaito.

Sure enough, on top of one of the random tall buildings, they caught a glimpse of red, Akaito's hair color. And Rei was up there too.

"Okay, so he made it already," Yohio said. "What do we do?"

Oliver took out of a pair of binoculars and looked through them. "Dang, I want to hear what they're saying," he muttered. "Len, come on, we're getting a closer look."

"Whaaat? Why do you only you two get to go?" Flower complained.

"Because a huge group would be inconvenient. Besides, I'm the leader and I bring who I decide to bring."

AFTER A LONG ELEVATOR RIDE…

Len and Oliver crept up the staircase leading up to the roof, and peeked through the door's window because it had one for some reason. They could barely hear the conversation on the roof.

"So, what do you say, Rei?" Akaito asked.

"What are they talking about?" Len whispered.

"SHH," Oliver hushed him.

Rei scoffed. "Well, considering the fact that you just organized a kidnapping and a rescuing in order to try to teach my sister to value life more and then proceeded to go on a montage about how people amuse you, I don't exactly plan to trust you any time soon," he said. "Rui, I told you that you need to stay far away from this guy."

"I-I… I didn't interact with him on purpose…" Rui spoke quietly. "It just happened…"

Rei turned back to Akaito. "I hope you have a spectacular time living in solitude and hopefully eventually questioning the way you spend your life, because Meito has every reason to be throwing heavy objects at you on a daily basis. Good day."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Akaito tsked, putting his hands in his pockets as Rei made his way towards the door Len and Oliver were hiding behind, bringing his sister with him.

The two boys hiding behind the door scrambled back to the elevator as fast as they could, almost crashing into the wall inside of it.

"Close the doors close the doors close the DOORS," Len said again and again, frantically hitting the close doors button.

"Wait, why are we hurrying like our lives are endangered again?" Oliver asked.

As the doors closed, Len slowly turned his head to face him. "You don't know?" he questioned. Oliver raised an eyebrow. "It's common knowledge. You don't talk to Rei after an incident involving his sister like this."

Oliver blinked. "… What?"

"And if he knew we were here the whole time he would be pretty pissed off because that's his personality and GOOD FRICKING FALAFELS THIS ELEVATOR NEEDS TO GO FASTER!"

"It's going at normal elevator speed…"

"AUGH HURRY HURRY HURRY STUPID ELEVATOR REI'S GONNA KILL US!"

"LEN! CALM YOURSELF! REI'S NOT GOING TO KILL US!"

"YES HE IS!"

"Why the heck would he become worse to interact with when he's with his sister?! If he's overprotective, and he's with his perfectly okay sister right now, he should be BETTER than he normally is, right?!"

Len paused.

"Oh… well… uh…" he stammered. "That would make more logical sense…"

"YOU DON'T SAY!" Oliver yelled.

Ten silent seconds passed as the elevator passed through the floors. After all, it was a really tall building.

"… By the way," Len started, "what was that thing about you calling Miku precious and all that, earlier today? I mean, you were all like 'your precious Miku' over and over again. Was that just something about her being super famous and all that?"

"Well… I thought there was like, something between you two," Oliver told him. "Isn't there?"

"No. Nothing at all."

"… Oh…"

"In fact, I think she's dating Luka."

"Seriously?"


"You think they're done yet?" Flower asked, braiding Piko's hair out of boredom.

Yohio climbed on top of the car and held up a pair of binoculars. "I don't see anyone up there anymore," he said. "They're either moved the conversation where we can't see it, or it's over and those two will be back here soon."

Yuma did not like that Yohio was standing on his car. "Dude. You don't just stand on people's cars," he told Yohio very strictly.

"But it's a box, it's basically a platform," Yohio answered.

"You might fall through the roof of it, I mean, just look at the state of the car," Flower said. "It's like cars have rammed into it on multiple occasions. How can you even drive this thing without getting pulled over, Yuma?"

"I… avoid the police?" Yuma replied awkwardly.

"I knew there was something fishy about you," Piko said quietly.

"Hey look! There they are!" Yohio exclaimed as Oliver and Len exited the building.

"Why the frick are you standing on top of the car?" Len asked. "You're probably gonna kill it more than it's already dead."

Yohio sighed. "Why is everyone acting like the roof of the car is made of foil?"

Rei stepped out of the tall building as well, holding onto Rui. He looked to his right to see Len and Oliver, and everyone froze and stared at each other for a little while.

"… How long have you guys been here?" Rei asked, sounding less than pleased.

"RUUUUUN!" Len shouted, and their group quickly got back in the car and drove away as fast as they could, which wasn't very fast, considering that they were parked in the street between two other cars.

Rei blinked.

"Why do I spend time around these people?" he thought. "I should start my own gang or something."

"Um… Rei? How are we getting home?" Rui asked.

"… Motorcycle," he answered.

Rui's eyes widened. "Whaaat?! B-but…"

Rei pet her hair. "Don't worry. You'll be fine." Nobody would have guessed that Rui was older.

"No! That's not it! You don't have a license! Do you think I trust you to not KILL US?!"

"… I drove here… and I crashed through a window earlier and I was completely fine. I have the skills to do something as simple as taking us home."

"THEN WHY IS YOUR FACE BANDAGED UP?!"

"That was something completely different and has nothing to do with the motorcycle."

Meito happened to be walking by, and was on the phone.

"What? No, I haven't seen your motorcycle anywhere," he said. "Meiko, those things are hard to misplace. Do you think someone took it while you were gone?"

"All right time to go," Rei told his sister quietly, urging her along in another direction.

"Did you steal Meiko's motorcycle?" Rui asked. "Rei!"

"Yeah okay I borrowed it but I was gonna return it as soon as we got back so…"

"You are so screwed. You didn't realize she was coming back tonight, did you."

"W-well… uh… the sooner we get back, the better, right?"

"You're still screwed."


"I wonder what they were talking about…" Len spoke.

"It sounded like Akaito was making some kind of offer," Oliver told him. "Which Rei flat out rejected without much consideration."

"If that's the case, he was probably offering Rei a job of some sort," Yuma said. "He's been doing that lately."

"What does Akaito even do?" Flower asked. "I know he trolls people, which is why no one likes him, but what job is he offering? Housekeeper? An assistant to whatever he does? Babysitter?"

"Why the actual frick would he need a babysitter?" Len questioned.

"Akaito is an information broker," Yuma said. "I'm assuming he would need some kind of assistant, or shadow lurker to discover information in the public."

"Does being an information broker that mean you sell information to people? Or like… people pay you to do excessive online stalking?" Flower inquired.

"Something like that. It's like being a drug dealer, except you sell information. Usually information that normal people aren't supposed to know."

"Huh…"

"Oh yeah. Something that I keep forgetting to ask," Len said. "What's our gang called?"

"The Red Walruses," Yohio told him.

"NO! IT'S NOT CALLED THAT!" Oliver shouted.

"Oh come on. It's the only name we've thought of."

"We haven't even had a discussion about this! That's the name you thought of, and that is a TERRIBLE name for a gang!"

"But then we can like… WE ARE THE EGGMEN, WE ARE THE EGGMEN, WE ARE THE WALRUS…ES-"

"NO! We're not calling it the Red Walruses!"

"So… you don't actually have a name for the gang?" Len asked.

"… No. We don't."

"Well, we'll think of something."