They didn't find it that day. And not for lack of trying. But Hiruma was positive he didn't bring it outside the clubhouse and eventually every nook had been checked. The clubhouse had surveillance, so they pulled that up. The footage went dead while Hiruma and Mamori were still inside. Someone had tampered with the feed? They thought about it and realized that if it had been a normal day, both of them would've been gone by the time the footage went out. So if someone had been planning on breaking in, as they apparently had, they were probably hanging around campus waiting for the two of them to leave. This caused them to wonder if anyone knew what they were doing. But they unanimously decided not to worry about that at the moment.

Instead, before it got fully dark and the school grounds closed, the two of them ran around trying to find out who had still been there during the window of time that Hiruma's black book was unattended. They each made a list and shared them-Hiruma's an email from his phone, Mamori's a photo from her notebook. They parted ways, unsatisfied. Soon he reached his house and agonized for hours over who had taken the book and what would happen to it and what he should do about it. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything to do. His worries were far too great and his leads were far too small.

Kurita called eventually to break him from his descent into madness and told him that Mamori was telephoning everyone on the team. That made Hiruma instantly pissed, until Kurita explained that she was only calling an emergency meeting before school-not telling everyone what had happened. She'd confessed to him, Musashi, and Doburoku (che!) though. Hiruma sighed. He should've known she'd do something like that. And it was probably for the best, honestly, not to keep it a secret. He grew very quiet on the phone, as did Kurita. Hiruma realized he had work to do and ended the call. Then he dragged his laptop out of his pack and onto his lap.

The first thing he did was search the internet for any sign that the contents of his book had been released. Nothing yet. He set up some alerts so that he wouldn't obsessively refresh his searches every five seconds. And went to the kitchen to make coffee. He wondered what he was going to do if one of the alerts went off. And then he had an idea that he didn't like one bit. He paced, going over the pros and cons until the coffee was done. He couldn't think of anything better, so he sat down, with the whole pot of coffee near him, and began to write furiously.

He was going to write a White Book, an anti-book to disprove every piece of blackmail he'd ever written down. It might be impossible-he'd been so thorough the first time. But the thing about blackmail was that everyone was always prepared to believe the worst, even if it wasn't true, and he had a reputation for knowing dirty secrets that would've leant credence to any terrible lie he might make up about someone. So, really, that could've been his method all along. And if he was lazier and less thorough it would've been the truth. Now all he needed to was prove that he'd been a fraud all along, even though he hadn't.

Of course, anyone who's blackmail came out would no longer be under Hiruma's thumb. And anyone that had been chomping at the bit to get back at him would no longer be restrained. And he could never restart his blackmail if he had a reputation as a fraud. That was bad. But there were some victims that just wanted to be free and didn't really wish him any harm. Those people wouldn't come after him as long as he could disprove their blackmail. If he couldn't... they'd become as angry as the rest because he would've broken his side of the deal. And he couldn't handle that many angry people whom he had no blackmail over any longer. He had to at least control the damage. But god he was screwed either way. If he ever found out who took the book, before the whole city rained down on him, he was going to rake that person across the coals! He snarled and threw his mug at the wall. Then he checked his alerts, which still hadn't gone off, forced himself to calm down, and went back to work.

He finally passed out about two hours before school. But Kurita's text woke him up after only 30 minutes, so that he had time to make it to the meeting. He thought it was the alerts on his computer and for several seconds he nearly had a heartattack. So he was relieved, at least, that it hadn't been. But his broken arm was killing him so he downed some pain medication, made fresh coffee, and left his house. Even half asleep he wasn't taking any chances-he encrpyted the white book on his computer, set his alarm, and locked the door to his house.

He only forgot two things.

1) The thing that had gotten him into this mess. He'd been obsessing so hard about the danger he was in he'd almost forgotten Mamori's kiss. Thinking about all they'd been doing the previous day stirred uncomfortably powerful feelings that he almost wanted to keep pushing away and never have to think about. And at the same time, he wanted to experience it all over again. If it hadn't been what they'd both wanted on some level it never would've happened, because neither of them was that type of teenager. He sighed heavily to himself, feeling even more exhausted by such drama. Then he froze in front of the clubhouse door, about to open it, staring at the hand reaching for the door knob.

2) The second thing he'd forgotten was to change out of Mr. Yamaguchi's spare suit. He stared at his arm and then he smacked his forehead. He looked down consideringly. Well, at least he didn't have the jacket and without that he didn't look quite as ridiculous. And the fancy shirt and pants were not even wrinkled much. He decided just to own it. No one would dare ask any questions even if he came to school in a clown suit, much less laugh. Quickly he ran his hand through his hair a couple of times, and walked in.

No one else was there. Not even Mamori. All his breath left in a rush and he collapsed onto a chair, suddenly shaking. He put his head down and cursed steadily until he calmed down. Then he dozed until the door opened minutes later. He stiffened.

Now, Mamori had made some special effort not to be the first one there, nor to be the second. She had thought over the idea of getting to be alone with Hiruma again for a few minutes and although she knew she could be professional and everything would be fine-she didn't entirely want to be professional. Unlike Hiruma, only about half of her night had been taken up with worry about the book. The other half had been devoted to him. She really didn't want to act like a schoolgirl about this. She wanted to be a grown up woman. But how did grown up women act after sexually assaulting a boy-a man-they liked?! He'd enjoyed kissing her, she knew he had! But under those circumstances...any guy might have? How did he feel about things now that he'd slept on it? It was Hiruma, and she realized that she'd had feelings for him for a long time, that she'd thought would never be returned even if he felt them too. So she didn't want to feel dirty about what had happened. Really, all she'd done was help him to undress and things and gotten out of hand and they'd made out. It wasn't like... It wasn't like anything more had happened between them. Neither of them were the type to just… just... Mamori's face flamed during her entire walk to school as she thought about all this all over again. Who was she kidding? Most of the time she put up a good front of maturity but when it came to boys she WAS just a school girl. She'd just have to contain herself-all her thoughts, impulses, and feelings about him-for as long as she could, she decided. After all, they did have work to do.

So she forced her mind on to that track and calmed down a bit. Doburoku-sensei was already there when she arrived, standing around with some other club members, and Musashi arrived just after her. What were they doing? She shrugged and went in. She was surprised to see Hiruma but as she entered he sat up. She greeted him and took a seat. He nodded and mumbled but didn't glance up, he looked exhausted. She frowned a little and turned away. Then she turned back, a pensive expression on her face. "Did you sleep at all?" she murmured, recognizing the signs of a sleepness night. She strode purposefully to the club's coffee maker and made him one strong cup of pure black water. It only took a few minutes and it gave her something to do and focus on. Taking care of Hiruma had gotten her in trouble last time, but only because what she'd tried to do was unconventional. This was an entirely normal and safe way of doing it. Before walking away, she started another pot for the rest of the team. It percolated behind her as she brought Hiruma his cup, and sat down with half a cup for herself as well. She specifically sat her accustomed distance from him, tense.

Hiruma accepted the coffee, one corner of his mouth quirked up slightly. He was bone-tired from practice, from stress, and from essentially being awake twenty-four hours. So he felt incapable of tensing up like she was doing. But the fact that she did was interesting. He'd ponder what it meant, good or bad, later. Just now all he did was accept the coffee gratefully. Mamori then relaxed. Did that mean she was afraid he was going to do something? What, tell her to go away? Or did she think he was going to try to hit on her in front of everyone? He "kekeke"ed quietly into his cup and she glanced at him sharply. Feeling a little more awake already, his eyes twinkled at her over the rim of his cup. Her eyes widened and darted around the room as if he'd straight-up mentioned yesterday outloud. But almost everyone was talking amongst themselves now, not noticing anything weird between them. Shut up, she signed at him. He smiled benignly. Didn't say anything, he returned. Planning on jumping me again, manager? It was a joke, as commonly off-color as any he ever told, but she hopped out of the chair like he'd burned her with a hot poker and pretended she was just anxious to serve out the coffee. Hiruma turned toward the door and sipped at his drink, considering that reaction. He scratched the back of his neck and happened to make eye contact with Musashi. They shared serious looks. Alright, back to business. He sighed and put aside the coffee.

At this point the rest of the team arrived. Suzuna was there now and she gave Mamori a suspiciously glowy look. Mamori startled at it. Suzuna was perceptive-and where she wasn't, she invented things. The girl smiled at her wickedly. How much did she already know or guess? Mamori wondered. Hurriedly, she made sure everyone that wanted it had coffee and then she came back to Hiruma's side. He was standing now with his back to the door, facing the team. His expression gave nothing away and he stood tall and straight, with his arms crossed and his feet planted.

Mamori and Hiruma shared a brief moment of eye contact, a searching look that steeled into determination. Are you okay? Are WE okay? Okay. Let's do this. The didn't need any sign language for that.

Mamori clapped her hands. "Okay, everyone, please state for the record where you were last night from about 7-7:30 pm."

The team members looked around, their expressions clouding. There was an instant chorus of "Huh, Huhhh, HUHHHH?!" from one corner of the room and several, "Why?"s as well.

Mamori held up a hand. "No questions just yet, please. Just answers. We'll go around the room starting with..." She turned slightly. "Sena, would you start, please?"

"Ah-um, sure," said the boy. If anyone had been brave enough they would've demanded that Hiruma and Mamori start, so that they could find out what this was all about. But aside from the fact that H&M were their team managers, they each had personalities of their own that were hard to defy. Hiruma was liable to shoot them and Mamori was liable to unleash a horrific death-glare or hit them with a broom if she was really mad. Or she might just NICE them into it, which could be worse than anything else sometimes. It was better to just obey. Sena didn't really have a problem answering first, though, he just had to collect his thoughts.

"Let's see... Yesterday I ran home from school, just like you said to, Hiruma-san, to work out my running muscles some more. Then I cooled down. Then I ate. Then I did homework for several hours. Then I..."

"So you were at home from 7-7:30, Sena?" Mamori interrupted.

"Oh, um, yep."

"Okay. I'll write that down. I guess your mom was home?"

"Yeah."

Mamori nodded, writing.

"Next," ordered Hiruma.

It went on the same way for a while until they got to Yukimitsu, who said he'd still been at school, studying. Both managers grew still. They questioned quickly whether Yuki could've come by and found and taken the book and dismissed the thought immediately. Then Mamori asked, "Did anyone else see you on campus? Or did you see them?"

Yuki startled, slightly, and shook his head. "No, well, the librarian can vouch for me-"

Mamori placed a check next to the librarian's name, who was already on the list as an 'assumed on campus.'

"Who else did you see after school yesterday, Yukimitsu?" she asked serenely.

"You want me to name everyone?"

"If you please."

He said, she wrote. It wasn't a very long list so they moved on shortly.

Hiruma leaned against the wall and scowled, zoning out. His own security system was useless for last night, but perhaps the school's would not be. He would need to get a look at it. He took out his phone and began texting the appropriate lackeys. At least for the moment they were still under his thumb. Maybe he should've done this earlier, but no, school wasn't even open yet.

Two phones outside the school played eerie text tones and the boys that reached for them and read the texts had chills down their spines and hands that shook. They barely read the texts before they began flying onto the school grounds as if they were late, or as if there were a demon chasing after them.

Hiruma pictured as much in his head and smiled wistfully. He was going to miss causing those reactions if he didn't get his book back. Although, he was also thinking about finally getting rid of the book once and for all if he did get it back. He knew that would be the smart thing to do.

Taking a breath, he pushed off from the wall and addressed the room.

"Okay, if you find out anything else, let us know. You can all go now."

They looked at each other. Sena was the one to speak up for them, surprisingly. "But…. what happened?"

Mamori looked at Hiruma. Her face was blank at first, but then she began to shift uneasily on her feet and she gave him a reluctant nod. He nodded back just as reluctantly after a moment and his shoulders slumped.

"The Book…" He said, and his eyes seemed to meet those of everyone in the room, "has been stolen."