The next day, everything was peaceful in the school. There was no sense of uneasiness or panic. Just plain calmness. I sat at a table where Rei was sitting and hugged her.

"Oh, hey Johnathan." She said to me with a smile. "So this is it, huh? It's gonna be over soon. We aren't going to be nuked." I gave a light chuckle.

"Yeah. I wasn't really expecting the message to work." I responded, looking at her. She just gave be a look of shock. "But...I guess it doesn't hurt to try." After I said that, I saw someone running towards me out of the corner of my eye.

"I'm so happy, Johnathan! You actually called off the bombing!" I heard Alice's voice say as I turned to her. "We're finally going to escape!"

"Yes, we are." I said to Alice, giving her a light-hearted smile. After that, I saw her look a little uneasy. "What's wrong?"

"Takashi doesn't seem really happy lately." She notified me, sounding concerned. "I tried asking him what was wrong, but he won't tell me."

"Takashi was giving me a hard time, too. I think he's mad about finding out that me and Johnathan are together." I heard Rei chime in from behind.I just gave a sigh and stood up. "What are you going to do?" I just looked back at them.

"I'm going out to scavenge and scout the area more. So I can give Takashi time." I told them as I turned away. "Sometimes the best way to deal with something is to avoid conflict." I then left the building.

I was a good block away when I entered a freeway tunnel. I was walking until I saw a familiar figure from the escape bus back in Fujimi. I immediately stopped, seeing his glasses reflect the light from my end of the tunnel.

"You must be Johnathan Arison." His voice boomed out. It was him. Koichi Shido.

"And you're that shithead from that bus." I replied coldly. A slight giggle came from him.

"Ah, I've seen that Rei Miyamoto has filled you in on our 'history', I presume?" I just stared at him, staying silent. "I see. Just so you know, holding her back a grade was revenge for what her father did to mine. You see, her father was sticking his nose where it shouldn't be. And what do I hear about you two being together? Hmmm, it was a good move involving Quintin then." When he first started to ramble, I slightly looked away. But that last sentence made me stop and slowly turn my head in his direction. "That's right. I performed a background check on you and saw your 'issue' back at home. I told him and his buddies that you were in Japan. What I find funny is how you think that you can lead. With me, I can manipulate my people into doing what I order them to do. If I wanted to make the females make more lives, I'll order it right on the spot. Now that is the power that I have." As he talked, my hands slowly folded into fists. A huge fire was burning inside me. He just stared at me, with a smug look on his face.

"You bastard..." I slowly spoke, articulating every word. "..you nearly got Rei harmed, raped or worse. Not only that, you held her back a grade over a damn police investigation on your father!?" As I continued what I said, my voice grew into a fury of anger. He gave a smirk.

"Well, her father shouldn't have been so nosey and tried to undo what he did for the sake of politics. It was the only way to make him back off. Just like how I brought Quintin here to assist me in getting rid of my 'competition', which is you." That was it. I began to march sharply in his direction.

"You son of a-" I began, when I was interrupted by flames forming in front of me. The orange form swooped up, causing me to quickly back away and fall backward. I immediately looked up and he was nowhere to be found. I then stood up and stared at where he was.

"Yeah! You better run, you prick!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, hoping he could hear me. That was all he was: a coward. A fool that lies through his teeth to get people to follow him. Not only that, he has his 'followers' partake in orgys to reproduce, with or against people's will. I slowed my breathing, realizing I was breathing quick, short breaths due to the anger. I slowly turned around and headed back.

As I approached the front doors, I saw Takashi marching angrily at me with Rei tailing behind him. I slowed to a halt, trying to make out what was wrong. Rei is frantically talking to Takashi about something.

"It was your fault!" He roared as he delivered a blow to my face with one of his fists, knocking me on my behind. I then got up and tried to reason with him, only to be met with another blow to the face and another fall to the ground. I placed both hands on the ground to push myself back up on my feet. "It was your fault, you should have saved her. That was why you couldn't save your own mother." I just froze, having images of my own mother flash before my eyes as the words echoed in my head.

...you couldn't save your own mother...you should have saved her...it was your fault...

I slowly got up, looking at him. He took another swing and I caught his hand, before headbutting him as hard as I could on his nose. I felt it break and felt the blood drip on my face from it. The blow sent him staggering backward, covering his nose with his eyes widened. I could hear Kohta running outside to see the commotion. I screamed loudly as I tackled him and began to throw hooks to his jaw. After only a few swings I felt a few pairs of hands pull me off of him. Rei jumped right in front of me and pleaded me to stop, tears flowing down her face. I calmed down, seeing how sad she was. I then saw Saya marching up to me. Oh great, here we go.

"What did you do!?" She barked angrily. "If maybe you weren't so stupid and stood there, you would have sav-"

"Shut up!" I screamed, pointing my finger in her face as she began to back up, a look of fear on her face. "You weren't even there to see it, so don't you dare say that I did nothing. What happened was out of my control. It's like blaming Rei on Hisashi turning. It was out of her control! But no, you just wanna be a stubborn asshole and try to intimidate people! Just so you know that is the exact same shit that Shido does. And why the hell do you treat Kohta the way you do!? He's the one treating you with so much respect and you decide to be a total bitch towards him!?" I took a break, feeling out of breath from me chewing her out. "You...just need to think." I marched past her and went to my room, slamming the door behind me. I just sat in a chair and went to sleep.

An hour later I woke up to knocking, as I nearly jumped out of my chair. "Come in," I muttered. I heard the door open, as I stared out of the window. I heard the person approach me.

"Hey." I heard Takashi say behind me. I gave a light sigh, not making eye contact with him. He sat on the bed, which was next to me. "Look, I just want to apologize. I'm sorry." I then looked down.

"I'm...sorry, too." I said back.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Johnathan." After he said that, I looked at him in disbelief.

"I beat the shit out of you."

"But I deserved it. I was the one who mentioned your mother. I was just..."

"I understand, Tak. You're still grieving." We sat there in silence for a bit.

"What did you find scouting, Johnathan?"

"I didn't find anything. But I encountered Shido." I got up and looked out the window. "He sent those sadistic fuckers here to harm me and Rei. I have no idea how he did it. Before I could do anything, he managed to escape." He just sat there.

"We need to deal with him before we escape. I suggest we sack them. They must have some sort of outpost."I looked at him.

"Maybe. I think you should be the leader from now on." He gave me a shocked look.

"What? Why?"

"I think you'll be better at it."

"No way, Johnathan! You match speed, strength and intelligence. You'll be a better leader than me." He patted me on the shoulder. "Let's head to the Commons area. You should hold a meeting."