"But Principal, I don't understand."

"The riots started as a result of the actions of Reserve Course students' actions," Principal Naegi said. "I sympathise with your stance, but we cannot let them off scot-free. Are you aware of the disturbance they caused?"

"And what about the injuries inflicted on them, by security guards who should have known better?" Minah asked.

She gestured to some of the students she had accompanied, many bandaged up, most teary-eyed and dirty. This feels like we are going around in circles. She had only intended to get the students she'd helped back into their school building and help them get home or to hospital from there as needed, now that the rioting had actually stopped. But then she'd realised that the students were being threatened and punished in a way that was disturbing. And she had realised that as a Main Course student, she had some power. And so she had gathered together a group, and gone to vouch for them.

"We will talk to them in due course, but the safety of the school is paramount, and it was not the guards who violated that."

"You mean, the safety of the Main Course students!"

As soon as Minah said that, she clapped her hands to her mouth and bowed.

"I apologise, that was out of line."

"No, no, I understand you feel strongly about this," Naegi responded forgivingly. "However, we-"

His sentence was cut off by the door swinging open, and a new group of students coming through. Leading them was none other than Mizuki Teranaga.

"Kang-san," she said, sounding surprised. "You were there?"

"I was. Have you heard about the punishments they're giving to the Reserve Course students?"

Too many to count, or even start to mention. Expulsions, suspensions, curfews (curfews, for a day school), possible withdrawal of facilities, more besides that.

"Of course. In fact, I'm here to personally vouch for these students."

Mizuki gestured to the rest of her group, seeming to point particularly to a pretty girl with curly lilac hair, and a slim boy with a calm expression. Minah nodded at them, and then studied the rest of the students. To her surprise, she realised there were a couple more Main Course students in the group, and two she recognised-Keiko, and Yuna. Keiko's face lit up when she noticed Minah, but then the expression became a worried frown as she studied her.

"Kang-Chan!" Keiko exclaimed. "Are you alright?! You got hurt!"

"Oh, this isn't much," Minah said. "I'm fine, really."

"Well, that's good to hear," Mizuki said briskly, though she did look relieved as she watched them. "But the issue at hand-it's clear from how you decided to handle the statues incident-which I am still displeased about, Principals-that you're not going to listen to reason about dropping punishments completely. "

"Now, Teranaga-san, that is…"

"Extreme? But I would argue that you began this in an extreme manner. I am simply responding in kind." Mizuki responded.

"But-"

"I'm not giving my time and funds to this school for you to mistreat them."

Wow, she's really something. As passionately as Minah felt that the principals were in the wrong, it had been a challenge to speak out to the extent she had already. She couldn't imagine being so assertive in the way Mizuki was, in a way that could have bordered on rude in the wrong context or through the wrong pair of eyes. After all, elders deserved respect.

Yet, at the same time, respect needed to be earnt. And was this earning respect? She did not think so. But…

"It is these particular students you wish to vouch for, yes?" Hinata asked eventually, gesturing to them all.

"Yes, that's right." Minah felt the need to say.

"Ideally, what you'd be doing is conducting a full, proper investigation, with the assistance of law enforcement, and then deciding on appropriate consequences for the actual people responsible, student and staff alike. But yes, I will settle for this, for now." Mizuki added.

The two principals exchanged a look. Hinata looked troubled, his forehead creased in a deep frown. Naegi simply looked vaguely worried, but eventually he managed a smile and a nod, and turned to address them.

"Well, in that case, I think we can make an exception…"

…

They all walked out of the office somberly, but with some relief. Every single Reserve Course student in their group now had a signed note in their pockets, and an electronic backup on their IDs. Like notes parents wrote for their young children to excuse them from lessons when they were feeling sick. It seemed faintly bizarre to Minah, but if it helped, then it helped. She had already promised to assist Mizuki in finding more students to bring to the principals for one of these notes, and though she somehow doubted they'd be able to find everyone in the Reserve Course student body (and indeed, if they had indeed committed a wrongdoing they shouldn't get off scot free), she hoped that this strategy would protect as many of them as possible.

Though they remained in silence as they walked, they all seemed to come to an agreement of sorts to walk the Reserve Course students out and back to the West Building, just in case. But as they walked across the grass and courtyards, some of the students drifted off, apparently preferring to make their own way. There were security guards and some teachers milling around, but to Minah's relief, nothing happened to these students. They just joined bigger groups, and continued along their way.

The group continued to dwindle as they neared the site of the damaged statues, which oddly enough were completely unsupervised. But then again, the stone fragments had all been cleared away, leaving an oddly bare space in its wake, so it was not so strange. Mizuki, who had been leading them all, slowed down as she came right up to the area, and then paused, before kneeling and looking at the ground closely.

Everyone stopped as well, milling around, giving Minah the opportunity to observe who had remained. There was Mizuki, and herself, of course, but Keiko and Yuna had stayed with them. Yuna looked fairly baffled, so Minah suspected she'd stayed out of a loss as to any better ideas, but Keiko was fussing over Mihoko, the Reserve Course girl whom Minah had found on her way up to the Principal's office, and oddly enough Kaneda was doing the same thing, plucking leaves out of her hair and trying to get her to take stickers. Mihoko didn't look particularly pleased at the attention, but her hazel eyes looked less fearful now, and some of the colour had returned to her face, so her freckles did not stand out against her skin so much.

The blond haired boy and the pretty petite girl that seemed closely aligned to Mizuki had also remained, as had a long-haired boy whose pink eyes currently looked very, very troubled.

It was this boy who spoke first.

"Teranaga-sama, what do you think is going to happen next?"

His voice sounded heavy. Mizuki-still crouching-turned to look at him.

"I honestly could not say. But whatever happens next, we'll need to do something. I don't want things getting worse."

"If I had not had the foolish idea of-"

"Hey hey hey, my Kouhai, don't go blaming yourself!"

In a flash, Kaneda had abandoned Mihoko to hug the boy, who looked extremely bemused by the gesture.

"It is my fault though, Kaneda-sempai. If I hadn't arranged the peaceful protest, then we wouldn't have been there."

Oh, so he had a role in this? I suppose it makes sense that this wasn't supposed to have been violent.

"No, you weren't in the wrong to arrange a peaceful protest, um-sorry, what was your name?" Minah surprised herself by speaking out.

The boy managed to extricate himself from Kaneda's over-friendliness and looked at her.

"Kumori Kurogane. You're Minah Kang aren't you?"

She was taken aback for a moment, but in hindsight people already knowing her name did make some sense, so Minah simply nodded before continuing.

"You were responding to injustice, and that's always something that should be done. The fact it went wrong…it's regrettable, but do not regret what brought you to this point in the first place. "

"I…thank you very much, Kang-sama."

"No need to thank me."

"She's right," Mizuki agreed. "And in that vein, I think that if we are all agreeable here, we should attempt to do something to make things right."

"Do…do you mean like vouching for more students, like you and Kang-Chan were discussing?" Keiko asked tentatively.

"Well, that would be a start, yes."

"Ahhh, you thinking of recruiting these guys to your cause, then, Teranaga?"

This comment came from the blond Reserve Course boy, who simply smiled when Mizuki shot him an annoyed look. After a moment, she simply sighed.

"He's half right. I am looking to collaborate with more people to find a way to make things better for the Reserve Course. "

"Seems to me like the need got a lot more urgent now." Mihoko remarked.

"Exactly, exactly." Mizuki said. She patted the empty ground thoughtfully, and then got up to face them all.

"There's going to be a lot of discord between the two courses now more than ever, I think, after what's been happening recently. And the school seems insistent on pretending everything is fine…"

"How would you change things?" Yuna asked in that pause.

"I'm not sure, Yorokobi-sempai," Mizuki admitted. "I have ideas, naturally, and I will still be working on things. But that's precisely why I need a team. "

"I'll help you, if need be." Minah said instantly, before Mizuki or anyone else could say anything else.

"I will too." Kumori said. "Even if I could not have done anything about what happened today, I would like to try and make things right."

"My skills don't really lie with protests or campaigns or anything along those lines, but if you'd like me to help, I'd do my best to support you all." Keiko offered hesitantly.

"Well, I can hardly refuse to help when my kouhai have been in trouble, can I?" Kaneda declared. "I just want us all to be happy, so I am in!"

"Won't we get in trouble?"

This came from the petite girl who was with Mizuki. Everyone stared at her, and she bit her lip slightly, avoiding their gaze.

"She does have a point." Mihoko remarked.

"Yes, indeed." Mizuki spoke up. "We shouldn't need to sneak around like we're doing something wrong, but we will need to be discreet. So to that end, we should probably try to have a meeting somewhere that's not quite as open as this, later today, or perhaps tomorrow. "

"In school, or out of school?" Minah asked.

"In school, for now, just to get the ball rolling."

"So…a lunchtime meeting then? Or straight before or after the school day begins?" Keiko suggested. "But where?2

"That's a good question…."

"What about the graveyard, Teranaga?"

Mizuki looked over at the boy in surprise. His gaze was even, and after a moment, Mizuki nodded, and returned to address the group.

"Wait, there's a graveyard in the school?" Minah burst out.

"There is," Mizuki said. "It's small, and out of the way. Not many people know of its existence, but it is there. And for what is essentially an emergency meet-up, it will be a suitable place."

"Who is buried there?" Kaneda wanted to know.

"Nobody is actually buried there," the blond boy spoke up. "But the gravestones are for past Main Course students who died."

Not Reserve Course? Minah wondered. But she thought that was a question best served for later.

"Still strikes me as morbid." Mihoko said off-handedly.

"So, how do we get to this graveyard?" Kumori asked.

Mizuki proceeded to describe the location-which sounded, as far as Minah could understand, to be right at the edge of the school grounds, near the woods-but then she took out her phone.

"If we all exchange numbers, I will send you directions from our respective school buildings."

So they did just that, and after some negotiation they decided that they would be meeting first thing the next morning. Hopefully by then, some of the immediate heat of the riot would have worn off, and it'd be easy for them to all get there. Though Minah was fully intending to be as early as possible so she could look out for them all, just in case.

"If any of you know anyone else who may be interested in joining us, invite them." Mizuki said. "But let me know as well."

"Sure, sure." Kaneda said.

"I think I'm going to go back inside and study." Yuna spoke up. "I…um…will see you all tomorrow."

"Of course, see you tomorrow." Mizuki said.

Yuna left, and after Keiko made her apologies, she also turned back and left. Minah watched them ago, and then turned to look at Mizuki.

"We should probably finish getting them safely over, right?"

"Yes, we should. Let's go."

…

Azuki hung back at the doorway of the unfamiliar room as the four old men filed in. Despite the lab coats with the Hope's Peak insignia on it and the ID cards they had shown him, he could not take them at their word. What if this was some elaborate kidnap claim? Or….worse? Towa City may have been a better off area than the town in Osaka where he'd spent his early childhood, but that didn't mean bad things couldn't happen there too. Though the first time hadn't been at home…

"Come, please sit. And do close the door behind you."

The old man who had spoken was the tallest, with severe features and eyes hidden behind the glare of his round glasses. He reminded Azuki of an old school teacher back in Paris, when he had been in ecole primaire. Azuki jumped, and warily shut the door, before slowly walking to the chair that sat on the other side of the desk to the four men. What is this, a job interview? But even joking with himself couldn't dispel the sense of unease. Lowering himself unto the chair, he stared at the men, and waited.

"So, what am I here for?" Azuki asked, trying to contain his trembling.

"The…disturbances today. You filmed them?" The tall man asked.

Azuki had the wild thought of denying this, but then he remembered that he was still clutching the very camera that he had used to film it in his hands, and there was no use in denying it. So he simply nodded.

"And what do you intend to do with your footage?"

Azuki sensed that his true answer-show it to Mizuki Teranaga, leak it on my channel-was not the one these imposing men wished to hear, so he shrugged, helplessly.

"It seemed a good idea at the time."

"I see, I see." The tall man exchanged meaningful looks with his three companions, and then one of them-stocky and red-faced- took over the speaking.

"You understand, don't you, that we cannot possibly let you keep it?"

"Why?"

He regretted asking the question the moment it left his lips, but he ended up wanting to shrivel up into himself, the way the four men looked at him.

"You are a social media star, the SHSL Social Media Star, nonetheless. It is in your nature to share things on the internet to let adoring fans lap it up the world over," the red-faced man said. "There is no reason why you wouldn't turn this video into an opportunity to deepen your talent, but we cannot allow that."

So many different responses filled Azuki's head, and in most circumstances, he'd have let any of them rip, authority be damned. But the four men just looked at him, so implacable, and when he tried, the words froze in his throat. He could actually feel them, blocking his airways, and he gulped, and gulped.

"So what do you want then? To pay me off? So I don't say anything?"

"Oh, something like that, something like that. Except, we don't resort to bribery."

"Oh, don't you know?" Though his voice felt shaky, he could also feel some of his confidence return.

"No," the first old man, the one that had reminded him of his old teacher said. "We don't resort to bribery."

He nodded to the strongest looking man of the group, who silently got up and approach Azuki. Azuki stiffened, and brought up his knees, thinking of kneeing him in the groin or kicking his face or something, but all the man did was kneel down in front of him, getting down to his level and placing meaty hands on his skinny shoulders, mannerisms that might be used to comfort a distressed child. But the expression on the man's face was anything but comforting. In fact, it was devoid of everything that could be called an expression, of any sort. Azuki gulped, but the man did not react, simply leaning in.

"We operate under promises."

This came from the blank man whose face was now only inches from Azuki's own. The voice was gravelly and deep, barely there. He may not have spoken at all, but the four words had tunnelled themselves into Azuki's mind, so there was no doubt about it. Promises…..Azuki could not ask, was not sure he wanted to ask.

"A promise that if you don't give it up, you may not be able to make any other video again."

Azuki stared helplessly at the blank man, whose gaze remained level with his for a moment longer, before he turned to look at his colleagues-though his hands still gripped Azuki's shoulder tightly.

"I think the message has been conveyed." He said drily.

"Good," the teacher-like man said.

The blank man's hands finally let go of Azuki's shoulders, but he had barely let out a sigh of relief when the camera he had been holding slipped out of his hands. Azuki jumped, then realised the blank man was holding the camera.

"H-hey, you can't just take the whole camera!" he cried out.

"Can't we?" the red-faced man asked lightly.

"I…I need it, you know!"

"Oh, you have other cameras, do you not?"

"Well, yes.."

"Then, what's the matter?"

"The matter is that you're stealing my property!"

"Oh, dear boy, you may be rich now, but surely you don't think that property is more important than your livelihood, or even your life?"

"What the hell is that suppose-"

Azuki cut himself off as the meaning sank in. He shrank back in his chair and stared at the men, his breathing ragged, suddenly. He wanted to run, but could not run. He wanted to scream, but his throat was clogged again. Am I…am I going to die?

"Good, now he understands." The teacherly man said to his blank-faced colleague.

"Indeed he does. Just as I am sure he understands that none of this conversation must go beyond these doors for the same reason." The blank man agreed. "So we don't need to take up any more of his time, do we?"

"No, of course not. Sawada-kun, you may leave."

Azuki stared at him, and the teacherly man smiled genially and gestured to the door.

"Go on, go on."

Move, stupid legs, move!

Azuki leapt up and scrambled to the door. He tugged at it, the handle seeming heavy, but he managed to yank it wide open enough for him to slip through, and then he ran and ran. He was dimly aware of some people calling out to him, but he ignored them, flailing as he rushed through corridors and down flights of stairs. He didn't rest until he was outside of the school building.

Leaning against the wall, he slid down it until he was sitting haphazardly on the ground, and his entire body trembled as he tried to get his breath back. Gradually, gradually though, it started to return, and his body began to still, and in sheer exhaustion he put his head back and closed his eyes. Not quite wanting to fall asleep, he shifted himself slightly, shuffling a little.

And then something in his trouser pocket pressed into his leg.

What..? Azuki's eyes opened abruptly, and he sat up straight. He put his hand in his pocket, curled his fingers around the object and pulled it out to look at it.

It was a micro-USB stick. The one he usually attached to the camera as back-up that had just been taken from him. But what was it doing here? Azuki thought about this, recalling what he had been doing in the moments leading up to the four men finding him. I'd turned off the camera, and taken the USB off and into my pocket, and then I'd been about to go to my room to cha-oh. Oh.

This means that….I still have….

Azuki gulped and shoved the stick back into his pocket, looking around him furtively. Yet, at the same time, there was a sense of triumph. He was not completely defeated, after all. I need to find-

"Sawada-san, are you alright?"

Ah, speak of the devil, and her horns appear. As Azuki was getting up, Mizuki was walking across the grass to him. She stopped, a few steps away, and regarded him curiously. It occurred to him that telling another person what he had in his pocket could lead to another scene like the one he just escaped from, and that maybe he wouldn't be let free so easily the next time.

But I am not going to be defeated so easily.

"We need to meet somewhere private. I have something important to tell you."