Kill La College: Chapter three: The Kings Crown

"And lastly we have Ragyo's underwear," Ryuko announced proudly, as she put the bloodstained underwear next to the growing pile of items on the table. "The blood wasn't there initially but nerd boy over here got beat up." She jerked her thumb in Devin's direction as she went to join the others who were lined up against the wall in front of the table.

Group B was standing in a room to the side of the common room they usually spent their frat meetings in. The room was bare and white, with only a window and a table to furnish it. It could make a spacious bedroom, or even a whole family house. The Mankanshoku's lived in a one room house that was easily a third of this space. Ryuko swallowed hard as she thought back to her adopted family. They had given Ryuko the best they could offer, and she swore that some day their house would not only be the size of this room, but the size of this fraternity. That was why she was trying to get into this frat after all.

However, the room looked to be too small to contain the giant blonde haired boy who was judging them after their hunt. The group was standing as far from him as they could in their fear at being locked in with him. Their goods from the hunt towered on the table that seperated them from him and he loomed over it, hands behnind his back and a frown on his face.

"And we also got a dump truck outside!" Mako added, zooming over to the window and pointing out it, to where the dump truck had been parked on the green lawn of the fraternity. The giant looked briefly before he slammed his hands on the table causing it to shake and for everyone to jump.

"You say one of you was beat up?!" he exclaimed, ignoring Mako's comment, and everyone looked at Devin. "Yea thats me. I'm the one who got beat up," he said shakenly, after a long moment of silence and of everyone staring at him.

"Who did this?" the blonde demanded, the table creaking as he added more pressure to it.

"It was a whole group of them. They beat me up and took one of the items off of my list." Devin explained. He wondered if the judge would think snitching was bad; but they had mentioned that stealing was not allowed.

The blonde straigthened up, the table sighing in relief at the loss of his weight and he threw open the door. "Show me who it was." Devin gulped and followed the giant out the door, the rest of group B trailing behind. "I guess he didn't like my dump truck," Mako added a bit dejectedly as she exited the room lastly.

Five more groups had arrived in the meantime that group B was undergoing deliberation, the blue common room starting to fill with people. They had been chatting with one another but stopped when they saw the blonde emerge the room, followed by group B. "Who was it?" The tall man demanded. Devin scanned the faces and pointed at a group in the back of the room. One of the boys of that group was holding Devin's bag with the trophy sticking out of it.

The blonde approached them and they stopped their laughter to turn to glare at him. "What is your group?" he asked.

"Group E," responded the leader as he hefted the bag over his shoulder, clutching the strap more tightly.

"Group E, you are now disqualified."

"For what?" asked the leader admist indignant cries from his teammates.

"You violated the rules of the game, by stealing and defiling another group."

"That's bullshit!" spat the leader his eyes widly searching and finding Devin who was standing behind the blonde. "That little shit put you up to it, did he? Well he's lying. He tried to steal stuff from my group so we defended it and got beat up. Isn't that right guys?" the team members nodded their heads as their leader looked to them for approval.

The blonde turned to Devin "Do you have anything to despute this?"

Devin started to panic. Certainly the giant didn't think he was lying? "I swear I didn't do that. I can prove it... uh, um, check the bag. That bag has something of mine in it."

The blonde turned back to the leader and jerked his head up. "Open it up." The leader's smile faded a bit and he glared evilly at Devin before unzipping the bag and turning it upside down to empty the contents, the trophy landing heavily onto the ground.

"There should be a hankerchief in that bag," Devin added just as a blue hankerchief fell from the bag after the trophy. "I used it to wipe my sweat."

The leader of the group looked up at the blonde his smile now all gone. "You don't really think that proves anything, do you?" He gave a nervous little laugh and licked his lips.

The blonde was not amused. He loomed over group E, his spikes gleaming menacingly in the light. "Not only did you steal from others, and beat them up, but then you all lied about it!" the blonde yelled, his shouts rattling the ceiling. "You are expelled from this competition! But that is not the end. I will deal with your punishments later, and personally," at this the blonde smiled and the leader gulped. "What do you mean punishments?"

"You have dishonered this competition and Lady Satsuki with your petty crimes. Therefore I cannot allow you to get off lightly. Now. LEAVE. THIS. HOUSE!" the blonde yelled pointing at the door. Group E cowered before him, before turning tail and running out. Everyone was dead silent in the house, their eardrums pounding. The blonde eventually lowered his hand and turned his eyes upwards. "Lady Satsuki will be most unhappy with this," he muttered to himself as he stared at the cracks in the ceiling his yells had made. Then he turned to group B. "Let's get back to the judging." He led the way back to the room.

"So who do you think passed?" Ryuko asked from where she was seated on a lush blue couch. The judging had just finished and all the groups had been sent to wait in a big guest room somewhere in the house. This frat house had so many rooms, Ryuko wondered what else there was contained in such a place.

"What?"

"I asked, who do you think passed?" Ryuko repeated herself, arms splayed out across the back of the couch.

"What?"

"Seriously? I asked who passed?" Ryuko turned to glare at Devin, spitting out the words. Devin who was sitting to her left on the couch, rubbed his ear apologetically.

"I can't hear shit. I was standing right next to the blonde guy when he yelled. It's like being next to a jet plane."

"Don't exagerrate," Ryuko muttered, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"Oh for fucks sake!" Ryuko raised her hands in exasperation. She turned to the right, to speak to Mako but the poor girl was asleep. Figures that she's tired. It's like three in the morning.

At last the final group exited the room, followed by the giant. Once everyone had settled down on the couches and armchairs in the room, the blonde took place in front of a giant fireplace at the front of the room. The fire behind him crackled in the silence, casting his huge shadow on his audience.

"After much deliberation, I have chosen the groups that have impressed me with their sense of recklessness and irresponsible actions." He pulled out a scroll and extending it, started reading. "group A-pass," a small whoop of congratulations came from the group before the blonde silenced them. "You will be quiet while I read. Celebrations take place afterwards."

Ryuko felt her hands start itching with sweat. This was the moment. This determined if they really passed. She could see the Norman twins holding hands, and Devin chewing on his nails, although Ryuko didn't know if he could hear what was going on now. "Group B" The giant announced and the team drew a collective breath in anticipation. Come on, hurry up! Ryuko wanted to scream. It seemed like time was passing by slowly.

"Pass."

The word sent a shiver of relief through Ryuko's body and she could feel her teammates around her relax as well. They shot each other congratulatory looks. The reading continued on. "Group C-fail, group D-fail, group E-disqualified, group F-fail, group G-fail, group H-pass, group I-pass, group J-pass." With that he folded his papers up and before anyone could start speaking, he pointed to a door which the bulter from before came out of. "Groups that have failed will follow Soroi out. I do not want to see you around, ever again. There is no discussion. Out." The losing groups grumbling and crestfallen followed the butler out, who commented, "I made some tea for you. You must all be very stressed. Have some before you go."

Once they were all gone, the blonde opened a door on the otherside of the room. "Those of you who have passed, follow me. The second part of the initaiton shall begin."

Ryuko gently shook Mako awake, who rubbed her eyes and asked if it was the end of the school year.

"No not yet. But the second part is gonna happen. We made it past the first round." Ryuko informed, a grin on her face and Mako jumped up energized. "That's awesome! I know we could do it with you Ryuko!" Ryuko hushed her as they made it into the first room, the one that they had started the initiation process in. They grouped up under the chandelier and stood there, uncertain of what to do next. The blonde turned to them. "My time with you ends here. Good luck to you all!" with that he moved up the staircase to his right, revealing that a short pink haired girl had been standing behind him the whole time.

"The second round I will be the judge for," she announced smugly as the students focused all their attention on her. "And I won't go easy on any of you, even if you die. I expect you to go 110 percent just like Lady Satsuki." There were hushed exclamations from the college students. "What is she taking about?" and "Surely they won't allow us to die," was followed by "They want us to die, this is crazy!"

The girl smirked at them, as if she could taste the fear she was causing the students.

"Wait, what is she saying?" Devin whispered to Ryuko although he was incredibly loud since he still couldn't hear.

"I'll tell you afterwards," the black haired girl promised, ignoring Devin's 'what?' and willing the crowd to silence so that they could continue. She just wanted to know what the challenge was so that she could start on it. She didn't know the others reasons for doing this competition, but she had a very important one. The frat girl raised her tiny hand for silence, the crowd quieting down finally, although they looked at her with apprehensive eyes.

"This round will pit your stomach against Hell's fire itself. Some of you may not make it, but you are not all desgined to pass. Only those whose stomachs are made of steel, whose resolve is unbreakable and whose mind is unbendable will be able to do so. And so this round I challenege you all to a drinking competition." At this the crowd turned to each other in confusion. The pink haired girl had made it seem more dangerous than it was. How bad could a drinking competition be?

Ryuko almost snorted outloud. This would be a piece of cake. That midget had made it seem as something more perilous, but Ryuko would be fine. She drank a lot and could handle herself. Mako would be fine too, so Ryuko wasn't worried about her. It seemed the girl was so stupid-no special- that she just didn't realize she was supposed to be drunk after chugging down ten shots and a whole six pack of beer.

The frat girl continued. "Don't go and feel relieved now, you hear. This is not your regular party keg stand or drinking competition. This will take place in a five story house off campus. Each floor has been refitted to the challenges there, and there will be a lot. Each floor will have a drinking game on it, which you must pass in order to continue onto the next level, but these levels will increase in difficulty. There is no cheating allowed. Cheaters will be thrown out and dealt with separately. I think you all saw what happened to that one group that did." At this the girl paused for emphasis before continuing.

"On the last floor, the top floor, you have to beat the king of the floor in order to grab his crown. The person that makes it, will be crowned the drinking king and definitely make it into the next round. But I doubt that anyone will make it far enough to grab the kings crown. Just trying not to die will be a struggle for you all!" She laughed at this and Ryuko gritted her teeth. For some reason this short midget gratted on her nerves. She thought she was so mighty for being here, but Ryuko would prove her wrong, she would get the kings crown.

"Now considering that you all just underwent the hunt, you'll be given a five hour break to catch up on sleep or whatever else you need to do. But after exactly five hours you will all report here. Show up late and your automatically disqualified. Once all here, we will meet up in a group to get to the house since it's off campus. Now get the fuck out of Lady Satsuki's house!" With that the short girl snapped her fingers and the lights turned off. When they turned back a second later, she was gone and the students were already making their way out with the help of the butler who had reappeared.

"Man that girl is so annoying," Ryuko muttered, scratching the back of her head as she trailed the crowd out.

"What?"

"I wasn't talking to you, Devin!" Ryuko hissed.

"What?"

Huffing, Ryuko ignored him and made her way out of the house with Mako. The moon was out, the sky cloudless and bright. A cool breeze cut through Ryuko's leather jacket and she let out a small shiver. Now that the adrenaline from waiting for the judging process results was done with, she felt tired and heavy on her feet. Mako, who was walking down the street towards the dorms with her, didn't look any better, despite taking a nap. "Alright Mako, we gotta set an alarm so we don't oversleep and we gotta eat a lot before we start drinking, that way we can drink more."

"Sure thing! I'm so excited for this! But what if I don't make it to the top?" Mako's excitement turned to sudden worry.

"You'll be fine, don't worry. We'll make it to the end, trust me." Ryuko reassured her.

Devin found himself walking back to his dorm by himself, tired and ears still ringing. He hoped it wasn't a permanent thing, he really liked being able to hear. The moon was the only thing aaccompanying him, lighting up the gray campus buildings and making the night peaceful, that is until the boys found him. Because of his ringing eardrums he didn't notice that the boys from group E had caught up to him, until one of them grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and threw him against the brick wall.

"Think your so clever, getting us kicked out!" The one who had thrown him against the wall yelled.

"What?" Devin asked, his hearing buzzing and his heart pouding.

"Think that just because that brute was there to protect you, he can do so all the time?"

"..." Devin didn't need his hearing to be able to figure out what they were planning to do. Evil grins stretched on all of their faces, eyes lit with a dangerous fire. The moon cast them in a cold white light and Devin shivered in anticipation of what was to happen.

"Well here's not here now, and guess what?"

"What?" Devin asked this time subdued, a hint of desperation in his voice. Did they want him to answer? Were they asking him questions or just yelling at him?

"He won't find you when we're done with you!" At this all five boys advanced at him, when suddenly the one at the back fell to his kness in agony. All four whipped their heads around to see their friend craddling his ankle, choked sobs coming from his lips.

"What are you doing?" the leader hissed, hand clutching Devin by the front of his shirt as he glared at his subordinate angrily.

"Something hit me, in my ankle!" sobbed the boy, pulling his hands away to see a dark liquid covering them. "I'm bleeding!"

"What are you, twelve? Get up," the leader yelled losing patience. "Do you want to draw attention with your sniveling? We're supposed to get this done quick and easy, and then go back home." The boy who had been hit, shook his head in understanding and got up, when the boy to the leaders right let out a yelp. He clutched at his arm, an angry red welt oozing blood was on it.

"The fuck-" he uttered and then looked at the direction the hit had come from. Approaching them was an unamused hunking form of a man.

"I thought I told you cretins, I would deal with you all later, and here you are stirring up more trouble." The blonde towered over them, bigger than before if even possible. "I guess you just can't wait for your punishments."

"We ain't gonna let a big prick like you dictate-" the object, long and thin that the blonde had in his hand, flicked out so fast it was a blur. It caught the leader in the mouth, slapping his head to the left, where blood sprayed Devin's face. The leaders face had a large red mark running down it, blood coming from his split lip. He gently touched his lip before turning his head around and letting go of Devin's shirt. Devin let himself sink closer to the brick wall, the group's attention all now on the giant. Should he make a run for it? Their busy with him; maybe I can?

"The fuck you think you are. My father has money and connections. He's gonna fuck you up for this," the leader was whining at this point like a little spolied kid despite trying to sound tough. His face was twisted up in pain as he grabbed it to staunch the blood.

"You know exactly who I am, that is why you wanted to join this frat. At this point I have more power and sway than your father could ever hope to achieve. Your words will fall on deaf ears. Now stay put, it will make this a lot easier on you."

"The fuck I will-" the leader's words were cut off again, but the blows came faster and harder, and not just on him, but on all the boys there. Their screams pierced Devin's ear drums, their blood spraying all over his clothes. They fell to the ground, nothing but unmoving masses on the floor, victims to the blonde's beatings.

Devin couldn't take this anymore.

He ran.

He ran until he made it to his room, slamming the door shut and diving under his bed. He felt sick. And he was shaking all over. So this was where all the rumors had come from. That man, that man had, he was, he was killing them! Their blood was on Devin's clothes. But Devin couldn't do anything about it. The frat members had so much power. He was like a fly to them if he tried to do anything, no, not even a fly, no, an ameba, no, a speck of dust in a vast universe. He had never felt this disturbed before. He couldn't do it. He couldn't. He no longer had any desire to join this frat. He wanted to be as far from it as possible. They couldn't hurt him for quitting right?

Ryuko and Mako made it to the house just in time. They would have been earlier but Ryuko had insisted on snoozing her alarm until they had twenty minutes to run to the place. But they had made it, out of breath and red in the face, hands full of bread, but they had made it. Since they were the last one's there, the pink haired girl looked at them disapprovingly, but she couldn't reprimand them since they weren't late.

Ryuko felt a growl grow in the back of her throat. This girl rubbed her the wrong way for some reason and she wasn't even doing anything. Maybe it was because her face looked like it could use a good punch.

"Lets go," with that the frat girl turned and led the way. The group of students, some yawning heavily and others looking disgruntled by the early hour of the day, trailed after the midget. Mako and Ryuko focused on eating as much bread as possible. They had to eat something before the competition began, and bread was good for absorbing the alcohol. The house was a good thirty minute walk off campus, situated in a small forest of sorts. Ryuko could hear the house before she saw it, loud music saturating the very woods around her as the bass pumped, causing the leaves to tremble. It was a big stone building with multicolored lights flashing out through the windows on all floors. It looked like it had been abandoned, graffiti scrawling the outside walls and trash littering the vicinity. Ryuko could feel excitement sing through her veins in sync with the music. This was it. The moment she showed them all, that she could do it.

The pink haired girl stopped in front of the doorway, shouting over the music. "This is the place where your second challenge shall commence. It's been recently renovated just for this by Lady Satsuki, so appreciate it. It cost a pretty penny."

It still looks pretty ugly though, Ryuko thought.

"You all have three hours to get to as many levels as you can. For every drinking competition you finish, you'll be given a card to access the next level. The card is the only way to get to the next floor, other methods to get up will prove fruitless. The doors are rigged with electricity so if you try to pull it open you'll get shocked. And it's a nasty hundred volts. The windows are bolted shut so you won't be able to open them and try to climb up the sides. That's just a few measures we made, I won't spoil the surprise and tell you the rest. Just know if you try, you will fail." The girl smirked, as she enjoyed the looks of outrage and fear on the students face. "I'll remind you once more there is no cheating and no stealing of others cards. Or else the repercussions for doing this will be way worse than what Gamagori did to the last cheaters."

At this the girl pulled up her phone and showed the group a picture. It was bit dark but the crowd could make out bloodied and unconscious bodies, beat way past recognition. What weapon had done this? A shock rippled through the ground, followed by murmurs of disgust and horror. Ryuko couldn't believe her eyes. Those used to be the members of group E. Were they dead? She hadn't meant to get them in trouble, she just wanted them kicked out of the competition for cheating. If she had only known…she still couldn't believe that had happened. And if Gamagori, the giant, had done this, then what could this short girl do? Anger burned in her veins. She had heard rumors that the frat did this, but she hadn't wanted to believe it. Now she saw proof and she had to accept the fact that if she got in she would have to do the same. But what if they ran into a situation like this before they even got into the frat? She wouldn't let them lay a finger on her, or Mako. Ryuko grit her teeth.

Satisfied by the reaction from the crowd, the frat girl hide her phone. "At the end I will find you and judge who gets to pass and who doesn't."

"I wonder where Devin is?" Mako asked, pulling Ryuko out of her horror and interrupting her focus. Yea, where was he? Ryuko quickly scanned the crowd but she couldn't see him anywhere. Did he get mixed up with the punishment by any chance? But why? He was the victim, not the cheater.

"Probably slept through his alarm," Ryuko muttered, trying to reassure herself and Mako. She had to focus on this now. She had to succeed. She couldn't let the frat psych her out. Putting on her game face she took a deep breath.

"Start!" the short girl cried out before moving out of the way. Everyone ran for the now open double doors where music poured out and their new challenge awaited.

Ryuko pulled Mako along with her and they found themselves in a weirdly decorated room. The walls were painted an obnoxious yellow, with zigzagging lines of red, blue and green crawling up and down. Furniture of various shades and hues of yellow filled the space along the walls. But most weirdly of all there were full length mirrors on the ceiling that distorted the contestant's bodies as they walked into the space. The only source of light also seemed to be coming from these same mirrors, and they hurt Ryuko's eyes when she stared up at them for too long. In the middle of the room were three men dressed in bartending outfits surrounded by several wooden tables and chairs.

"Greetings," the fattest one of them said. "We will be your servers for tonight. Everyone please calm down and take a seat at the table. We will explain the rules of the game before we begin." Ryuko sat down warily, her nerves on edge. Mako sat down next to her, an eager smile on her face. Once everyone had more or less settled into their seats, the man spoke again. "There are no losers, you can play as many times as you want to get the card, but there is a limited amount of cards, so you should hope to win first. The number of cards depletes on each level, so there are twenty cards here, on the next there are only fifteen, then ten, then five and then two. Keep this in mind as you play." While he spoke, the other two bartenders pulled out red solo cups and bottles of wine from their carts. They set the cups down on each table and then filled them evenly.

The fat server continued, "The first game is a team excersise, so if one side wins, the whole team gets to go. And since there is only twenty four of you today, the teams will be divided into six teams of four. These teams will be based on who you're sitting with." Ryuko glanced at the people she was sitting with. She had Mako and the two Norman twins, who waved excitedly at her much to her chagrin. She'd worked with the twins before, it looked like she had to work with them again. She just hoped they would be good drinkers. Across the table from them where a blue haired boy, a boy sporting a mowhawk and two girls, one with brown hair and the other with blonde. These would be Ryuko's opponents for the first round. They didn't look too tough, except maybe for the guy with the mowhawk. His arm muscles bulged from the way he kept them crossed against his chest, and he had a nasty scowl on his face that looked like it was there 24/7.

"It looks like you'll be our competition," a suave voice, with a hint of conceit, came from the blue haired boy. "What do you think, Kinagase?" At this the blue haired boy elbowed his friend who let out a grunt. "Who do you think sucks the most on that team?"

Kinagase gave Ryuko's team a once over. "They all look like pansies who've never drank a day in their lives." He simply grunted and folded his arms tighter over his chest.

Why those arrogant assholes! Ryuko snarled. She slapped her hands on the table with empahsis. "I'll have you know I drink a lot! Vodka, tequila, gin, wine, beer, you name it. I've chugged it all!"

"Yea, me too! I drink a lot of water everyday to keep my body hydrated and healthy!" Mako piped in, slamming her hands onto the table too.

Ryuko gave her friend a side look of exasperation. "Mako, that's not the issue here." A chuckle of amusement came from the blue haired boy. "We'll see during the game."

This irked Ryuko even more. He had an easy going air about this; as if he weren't staking who knows how much money and the chance to fame, on this game. "I'll warn you," rumbled Ryuko rolling up her sleeves of her leather jacket. "I won't go easy on you. They didn't call me the human vacuum back in high school for no reason."

The mowhawk guy grunted but said nothing while his friend let out another chuckle. "I'm sure thats the reason they called you the vacuum, and not for another reason at all."

"What are you getting at?" Ryuko did not like were this conversation was going. Thankfully it was interupted by the server.

"For this game everyone will grab a cup," a server announced. "These are filled with wine needed for your game. You will be playing flip cup. The point of this game is to drink your cup of wine as fast as you can before flipping the cup onto its top using only one finger. This continues down the line, until the last person is reached and the team that finishes first wins and moves on. One team will not be able to pass, unfortunately, due to a limited amount of cards." The server shrugged at this. He pulled out a whistle. "When I blow this whistle, the game will start but only two tables at a time, so that we, the servers, can keep track." He pointed at two tables, one of them being the table Ryuko was at. Ryuko grabbed her cup of alcohol, being the first to go on her team. The mowhawked guy who was at the end of his team would go up against Ryuko. She sent him a glare to which he glared harder at. "Everyone on those selected teams, get up." The contestants followed the orders, chairs scrapping loudly in the sudden tension that had arisen in the room.

"On the signal, you will start," The fat server readied the whistle to his lips. Ryuko gripped her cup harder.

"Go!" the server shouted and all Ryuko saw was the red back of the cup as she tipped it to her mouth.