"So he didn't find out the truth?"

"No…"

"And all you two did was talk?"

"Yes…"

"You're lucky that he didn't find that out, otherwise—"

"—I'd be fired, yeah, yeah, I know…"

Hajime had just gotten done giving Alan a lecture for talking with the inmate and not bring No.15 back to his cell. Eventually the older man calmed down and allowed Alan to finally get himself ready for work. Overhearing Hajime talk about a tournament, Alan felt his eye twitched as he became annoyed.

Compression clothing is usually a good thing to wear, especially if you're doing an extraneous amount of activity. But, wearing them for so long was beginning to become annoying for Alan. He just wanted them off for one day, but he knew that he couldn't do that. Not unless he wanted to get fired, that is… And he did NOT want to be fired. So he took the compressions off for an hour before placing them back on. He did this shit for three years and he can do it again.

After putting on his uniform, he stepped out into the office and heard orders about gathering the prisoners. Each one of the guards got the inmates out of their cells and carefully began to transfer them to a large arena-like area for the morning assembly.

Once everyone was gathered there, along with many other inmates from buildings all over, the morning assembly begun. Alan recalled this event that happened each year. One of those years he had been able to get Building 5 to the top and they won. Samon had bragged about it for so long that even Alan had gotten sick of hearing him. He wondered, 'Has it changed at all since my type in jail…?'

"Good evening, and a happy New Years to each of you." Loudly Spoke the Warden to everyone in the area. "Here in Nanba Prison we hold a long standing tradition. A unique way of spending this holiday. Our New Year's Tournament will now begin!"

As if on que, a large banner was tossed down right under the high platform the Warden stood from.

"What's a New Year's Tournament?" Alan heard Jyugo asked, since cell 13's inmates stood right next to him.

"I heard of a New Year's Party but…" Rock's voice trailed off.

"Wow, it hasn't changed at all…" Alan mumbled to himself as he watched the Warden.

"I will now announce the participants from each building for this year's tournament." Loudly spoke the Supervisor of Building 4, Kenshirou Yozakura.

"What does he mean by 'participants'?" Jyugo asked, looking towards the guards.

"This is a special event that each officer and inmates cooperate and form into teams." Explained Hajime. "In other words, this is 'Nanba's New Year's United As One Tournament.'"

"Cooperate?!" Exclaimed the four inmates.

"Each member from each team who manage to win this year will be awarded with a nifty little prize." Seitarou added.

"We guards are awarded with a pay bonus," Yamoto added, "whereas each victorious inmate will be able to select any single item of their choosing!"

This immediately grabbed their attention and the four began yelling at Hajime. They yelled, "HAJIME! YOU GOTTA LET US COMPETE, BRO!"

"Damnit, Yamoto, why did you have to go and tell them…" Grumbled the Supervisor.

"So the rules haven't changed, huh?" Alan asked, looking towards the other guards. "I figured something would've changed at least, but it doesn't seem like it has…"

"You've done this before?" Uno asked Alan.

"Yeah, of course…" Alan nodded to him. "Being an inmate of Building 5, I was one of the cellmates who were able to participate that year. Eventually, we ended up winning in the end. Usually the inmates tend to request stuff like clothes, furniture—sometimes asking for a request to see their family for a day or something like that. But, weapons and money are obviously not an option of the requests. I ended up requesting for a laptop since they wouldn't provide me one back then… I actually still have that thing… But the cells are nominated randomly by the Warden, so even if you volunteer, there's a slim chance that it won't happen..."

"Representing Building 13," loudly spoke Kenshirou which caused everyone to become silent. "...We have Cell 13."

"HOW IS THAT ANY FAIR!" Shouted Seitarou and Hajime in slight despair.

"...And I stand corrected…" Alan mumbled softly.

They all sat down in the many seats that the arena, or stadium, had. Luckily they all got front row seats so they could hear and see all the action that is destine to be taken place. Alan was actually excited for this…

"Yo, Hajime!" A familiar voice called, causing everyone's head to turn towards the source. "I hear your building is gettin' represented by Cell 13. My condolences in advance for the loss."

"Say what?" Hajime growled as rivalry sparked flew between them.

"I'm not sure if you're familiar with my Cell 8 yet, but you will be when we destroy you in this tournament." Declared Samon as fire raged behind the two.

"I don't care if I win this year, but I damn well sure that I won't lose to the likes of you." Hajime growled in return.

"My goodness," spoke another familiar voice, causing everyone's heads to turn again. "You boys are always so aggressive towards one another. Behave yourselves at least. My custom Cell 6 is a custom class."

"Sorry, say again." Alan spoke up, putting his hand to his ear. "Sorry, I couldn't catch that. Your perfume is so terribly strong that even I couldn't tell what the hell is going on."

"Ha!" Samon pointed at Alan. "I see my inmate still has his wit."

"Of course I do, I was under your roof for three years." Alan replied and shared a high five with Samon. "I'm so glad I wasn't put in Building 3's care. My god, I would've died the moment Kiji dared to put any form of makeup on me."

"What was that you brat?" Growled Supervisor 3. "For your information I would've made you look beautiful! But you barbarians must stick together, after all…"

"I rather be barbaric than be one of your pathetic drag queens." Alan stated bluntly. "Hell, I rather have my ears pierced by the Warden's mask than be in your building!"

"Ha! Take that, you heavily makeup peasant!" Samon taunted.

"YOU INSOLENT LITTLE—!" Screeched the bird themed supervisor.

"Come at me, bird brain!" Alan dared, a wide grin on his face, now standing with his fist up and ready.

"You won't even last ten seconds against us!" Samon said, standing right next to him.

"That's quite enough out of all of you." Ordered a voice, causing everyone's heads to turn. "Stop your pathetic banter. It's disgraceful."

Now coming into view was Kenshirou, looking as stoic as ever. He then sharply looked at Alan and glared at him.

"You." He spoke. "Stop helping rile the others, otherwise I will personally be the one to activate that mask of yours. I suggest you behave. We wouldn't want another incident like the one your cause five years ago."

"Your damn inmate started it in the first place." Alan growled at him crossing his arms over his chest. "Or do I have to remind you that the Warden herself asked me to take him down since you had no idea what was really going on? That jackass got what he deserved and you know it."

"Yes, because bashing his head in until his face was unrecognizable was exactly what he deserved!" Growled the Superior. "Sit down before I make you obey."

"You little—"

"No.7, that's enough." Samon ordered loudly.

Alan stiffened at the name, his eyes widening in shock. He looked towards Samon and saw his serious expression. Slowly, Alan obeyed and sat back down in his seat. Crossing his arms again along with his legs, he acted like nothing happened. Samon placed his hand on Alan's shoulder and locked eyes with Kenshirou.

"Layoff the new guy. He isn't an inmate anymore and you know it." Samon said sternly. "He's a civilian, and now a fellow officer. I get everyone has grudges against him but it's time to buzz off and let it go. The past is the past, right? Leave him alone."

"...Protective as usual." Kenshirou said, his voice becoming calm again. "Like you said, he's a civilian now. Maybe you should listen to your own words and not order him around."

"That's enough out of all of you!" Hajime growled, clearly becoming agitated. "The kid's my responsibility, got it? I don't care what they hell you all say to him, but if you keep poking at him like you are, I'll be the one to go ahead and teach you all a lesson. This entire conversation is pathetic and pointless. Layoff and prepare for the competition."

The group became silent for a moment. Kenshirou huffed out before turning and walking away. Kiji then stepped towards Alan and pressed against the side of each mask, unlocking the hooks. Alan gazed up at him in confusion and watched him lock the mask and place it on the seat.

"This is a tournament, after all." Kiji said and winked at him. "There'll be fighting involved, and it would be bad if you got a new piercing in the middle of the match." He stood up and smiled calmly at his fellow Supervisors. "Let's see who will win this year, hm? Good luck to us all."

He then turned and walked off. Samon released a sigh and put his hand on the side of Alan's head and rubbed up and down, kind of like a father would do to his son.

"Cheer up, kid." Samon said to him. "Like I said, the past is the past. You know that better than anybody, so don't let them get to you. But, I'm not gonna go easy on you because you used to be my inmate. Prepare for you ass to get beaten."

Alan slowly smirked up at him. "I'd like to see that happen…"

"Heh," Samon smirked and flicked Alan's nose. "You're not the one I'm after, though. But you better be prepared to lose."

With that said, Samon turned and walked off. Alan watched him go before looking towards the ground, his mind still on about what Kenshirou said. Hajime noticed this and groaned softly. He patted Alan's head, almost in a clumsy type of manner, but caused Alan to look up at him either way.

"For once, the monkey has a point." Hajime said, his eyes never leaving the center of the arena. "Calm down, take a deep breath, and get your head out of there. You're my responsibility, so try not to cause anymore paperwork for me, got it? It'll be hard to write on paper for why you smashed a Supervisor's face in."

Alan huffed through his nose, an amused smile forming on his lips. "...Thank you, Hajime…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Hajime basically shooed him off.

Instead of being offended, it caused Alan to grin a little more. Alan put his elbow on his leg and his chin in his palm as he gazed out to the arena. "Let's play some games..."

Little did the guard notice the intense and shocked stared of the inmates next to him. The expression on Alan's face made it look like the event never even happened. It was amazing with how crazy it got, but calmed down in a matter of seconds. Either way, it still left them pretty uneasy…

"Happy Fu*bleep*g New Years you filthy *bleep**Bleeeep*!" Exclaimed the broadcaster, catching everyone's attention. "Get ready because this party is about to kick off! My name is Mitsuuuuru, and I will be takin' care of the play-by-play commentary!"

'Loud as always…' Alan thought as he was already covering his ears.

"To win this tournament, one building will have to advance through five different competitions!" Shouted Mitsuru as he was explaining the rules. "Inmates, Guards—we do recommend that you get along together. That is, if you wish to become the chAMPIOOOOOON! WHOOOO!"

"Ha ha ha! Mitsuru appears to be as spirited as ever, doesn't he!" Exclaimed Yamoto.

"Gah!" Alan hissed and stomped his foot on the ground, tightly covering his ears. "He's going to make me go deaf even faster if he keeps screaming like that...!"

"Yeah," grumbled Hajime as he was rubbing his own ears. "One more scream like that and I'll need to visit the doctor for hearing aids…"

"And now, for our first event!" Shouted Mitsuru, "Calligraphy! Or, Kakizome. However you freaky *Bleep* wants ta hear it! Your prompt is 'Happy New Years!' Whoever displays the most beautiful kakizome penmanship will win this round!"

"Damn it…" Alan whispered and hanged his head in a sulking manner.

"T-there's no way we can write that…!" Exclaimed Nico, Rock, and Uno.

They all began walking towards the center, getting ready for the competition. Alan was honestly hoping that they would at least change that one round for one year. 'Hell, not even half of these prisoners are Japanese despite the geography…' As they got to the center with their tools now in hand, Alan could overhear the conversation with the inmates as he tried to do kakizome. It sounded like Uno, Nico, and Rock had ruined theirs and were trying not to despair.

"Look, we're fine as long as we have Jyugo with us." Uno said in a hopeful manner.

"He'll pull us through!" Exclaimed Nico.

"A Japanese native can do this easy!" Rock said with confidence.

Alan stopped for a moment and glanced over. He watched Jyugo flinched when they called his name, asking if he was down. The black haired boy eventually dropped his brush, sulking on both hands and knees at the horror of his work.

"YOU SUCK!" The three inmates shouted at him.

"I can't believe we forgot that the only thing Jyugo's good for is breaking out of prisons…" Muttered Uno.

"Yeah, it's our fault for thinking he was better…" Agreed Rock.

"We're sorry for believing in you, Jyugo." Said Nico.

'Daaaamn they're harsh…' Alan thought at their words.

"You guys sure know how to hammer in a failure…" Murmured Jyugo as he sounded ready to cry. "I tried my best, you know…"

Alan sighed through his nose and gazed at his own work. Comparing it to the inmates, it definitely was more neater than theirs, but it's still considered sloppy. Gazing at Jyugo's work compared to the others, his honestly looked slightly better, ignoring all the ink strokes he got all over the carpet.

"OH NO! WE WON'T EVEN GET PAST THE FIRST EVENT AT THIS RATE!" Shouted Uno in a panicked tone.

"Yeah, I wouldn't worry about that." Seitarou said towards the group. "In this event it doesn't matter if you're an inmate or guards as long as you get a high score."

The four looked at him puzzled before Seitarou pointed somewhere. Alan followed his hand to see Hajime and Yamoto holding up their banners with perfect Kakizomes. Alan clapped his hands softly as he was impressed.

"OH YEAH! BUILDING 13 SHOWS US HOW IT'S DONE YET AGAIN!" Exclaimed Mitsuru, showing that they got the top score.

"So good…" Muttered Uno in shock.

"What the hell? Damn are they good…" Grumbled Jyugo.

"Oh, yeah, they always win that round every year…" Alan said as he recalled from his own experience. "Every year they're always able to beat everyone because they're 100% natives in Japan…"

"You know, they're actually both licensed calligraphy teachers." Seitarou said factly.

"For real?!" Rock exclaimed as they all looked shocked.

"Oh yeah, I remember now…!" Alan said softly as he hit his palm with his fist gently. "One time they got all the inmates together and those two were one of the teachers to show us how to write in Japanese… I had utterly forgotten about that…"

"You forget a lot of things, huh?" Uno asked him and Alan nodded to him honestly.

"THE HIGHEST SCORE GOES TO BUILDING 13!" Declared Mitsuru.

"Are you really Japanese?!" Sobbed Uno towards Jyugo.

"S-s-s-s-s-shut up!" Jyugo stuttered back at him, clearly flustered for failing this round.

"Kakizome is hard, even for someone who's native." Alan stated so they would hopefully get off of Jyugo's back. "I've seen inmates who have been born and raised in Japan, yet they've done as horribly as all of us. It's not fair for foreigners, or people who haven't been educated in the slightest. But, this Prison is located on Japanese seas after all…"

"See? He gets it!" Jyugo yelled, gesturing to Alan.

"Hold up, what's that part about people being educated?" Uno asked while holding his hand up.

"You don't know?" Alan looked at him, seeming slightly surprised. "There's a lot of prisoners here who haven't been commonly educated, even if they're one of the worst of the worst. Look, I've only been away from this prison for two years from serving my sentence, but I know that there's still people here who still don't know any sort of common knowledge."

"I guess that explains a lot." Uno said before pointing at Jyugo. "This guy can't even count higher than his ten fingers."

"Why do you always have to turn the conversation into an insult towards me?!" Jyugo yelled at him.

"Anyways, the event's over." Seitarou said and began shooing the inmates to the sidelines. "Let's move out of the way so that they can clean up and start the next event, alright?"

Alan followed Seitarou's example and lead the others to the sidelines. Once they were away from the area, other guards quickly acted in cleaning the place up. As the area cleared for the next event to take place, Alan began to think to himself.

'From what Uno said before, it's clear Jyugo hasn't had a proper education…' Alan thought silently to himself. 'Both Nico and Jyugo are 16 while Uno is 18 and Rock is 19. Uno appears to be the most knowledgeable out of the bunch, so he might not need any help in learning. Rock seems okay, but I should check and made sure. Nico is very childish, so I should see the extent of his knowledge before helping him. But out of all of them Jyugo will need the most desperate help. I should start with him, actually… Always target the most difficult one, as mom always says. But I wonder if they would even want help… I'll think about it before I do anything…'

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