"I don't care how just save me!" Kiri yelled at Rie over the phone.

"Don't count on me to do much-"

"Oniisama is panicking about not hearing any news about Mii! He says he can't get through to her on the phone!"

"H-He had her number?" Rie's question was drowned out by Seiji's holler.

"Kiri! What if Mii Chan is trying to tell us to save her?!" Suddenly both phones hung up as another call got in the way. That same call went to the other eight as well.

"Come to the abandoned building marked #31, near the outskirts of town by 11 o'clock. Your captured friends are waiting. If you don't meet the challenge, you won't be seeing those three again." The person that inhaled helium gas to change their voice hung up the phone after a wicked laugh.

"The creep said three people... Who could the other two be...?" Kiri ignored her older twin that was interfering with her thought process.

"Mii Chan really got kidnapped...? Ah!"

"Oniisama! If you're so worried you just have to go and save her! Stop panicking and get ready! I'm giving everyone a call!"

"In that case let me handle it. I need to talk to the guys." Kiri left to get ready as Seiji called Jiro. "Hey Jiro! Did you get the call?"

"Who exactly got kidnapped?"

"We know for sure Mii Chan did."

"What kind of development is this...?"

"This isn't a development! It's a crime!"

"Development? Oniisama did something finally happen between you and Mii?"

"No! And don't add that 'finally'!"

"She got you where it hurts Seiji!"

"Enough about that! It's only 30 minutes to 11!-"

"Calm down Seiji! I'm on my way with Kazuya and Rie. You should give a call to Miyamoto senpai-" He hung up and dialed another number.

"Oi Miyamoto senpai! Did you get the call?!"

"Don't 'Oi Miyamoto senpai' me! You sound like a cheeky kouhai again... I was about to give a call to everyone-"

"No need! Only you guys and MARs need to call each other. You guys might as well go together too."

"But you guys..."

"Kazuya and Jiro already left. And I'm sure Aira Chan would rather be with you. I'm going with Kiri."

"Adams... You know that isn't for sure. You should go with Aira if you really want."

"No way. You know you want to go with her too. Stop denying it and just go! We don't have much time senpai!"

"It's rare to see you panicking this much. What? Did you and Mii getting into a lovers quarrel about your playboyness?"

"Why is everyone asking the same thing in a hundred different ways?"

"Well either way we'll see you guys in about 15 minutes. You guys go on ahead." He hung up the phone.

"Oniisama... Shou san really saw through what happened didn't he?"

"Kiri... Did you-"

"In fact I did see it. That's why I always thought you and Mii would be together. I was waiting for you to comfort Mii. You would never hug your fan girls like that! There has to be meaning in that then!" He just blushed as he put his jacket on.

"There's no time. Let's go Kiri."

"Is it okay to leave without telling Papa?"

"Of course it is. In fact he wants us to stay out longer."

"After this, you should take advantage of that freedom and go on a date with Mii!"

"Why is everyone finalizing our relationship?! Kiri!"

"T-This creepy place was once a school...?" Jiro's eyes looked at the building in disgust.

"From records, yes." Hibiki responded to Jiro's question.

"Well besides that, who are the kidnapped three?" Wataru started counting the number of heads around him to answer Rizumu's question.

"Judging from the fact that there are 11 people here, Mii Chan, Ome Chan and Steve got kidnapped."

"T-The fighting machines got kidnapped by someone? What elaborate tricks did the person use...? Or could it be that the person is just incredibly strong?"

"Or a person that's really close to them." Shou pointed upward. Saori was smirking.

"W-What is Saori doing?"

"I'm the one that kidnapped those three! The only way you'll be able to get them back is to get to the top floor of this building. And you better hurry because each floor has its own bombs and mines that go off."

"Why are you doing this?!"

"You'll find out if you can get to the top. This is a simple test. Will you really risk your life, and the one you love to save mere friends?" When she was not in view anymore, the boys turned to their girl companions.

"I don't care about if it's dangerous or not! Those three are important friends!"

"It is dangerous! Why are you still wanting to get into something so risky after what happened yesterday?!" Rizumu went speechless because Hibiki was arguing with her. A timer appeared on the entrance. There were only 20 seconds for the group to get inside the building before all the bombs detonate at the same time, which means killing the three stuck on the 5th floor. The screen of the three sleeping in two cages appeared. Steve and Mii were leaning on the bars of their cage and sleeping while Ome was by herself, laying down and sleeping on the adjacent cage. Shock from seeing this caused the boys to let 5 seconds tick away.

"We're going with you Shou san!" Aira stepped closer to him.

"I'm not going to let an idiot that still has a wound on his stomach go in without me!" Mion grabbed Wataru's sleeve. Rie and Kiri smiled at MARs and Callings getting closer.

"This is not the time to be smiling in lala land! Decide on something!" Kazuya looked really serious.

"There's 6 seconds left! What are we deciding to do?!"

"Are you sure?" Callings asked MARs. As soon as they nodded and returned the same serious expressions, all the guys (except Seiji) grabbed a girl and ran into the building. The entrance exploded, sending the pairs flying into the first floor, from impact.

"Is everyone alright?" Shou let go of Aira as he stood up. The lights flickered on.

"Besides weak Wataru senpai that can't get off Mion Chan, we're all fine."

"What?! I'm totally fine!"

"It's rare to see Jiro saying something that is actually testing someone... Could it be...?" Rie figured out what was going on.
Rizumu was the first to discover the bomb on the first floor. For the bomb to not explode, they needed to enter four numbers. Then the names of five girls appeared as the hint. The word, "physical feature" was also written. The timer started. There were only 3 minutes. And the group only had two tries, meaning that the first try had better be a good test to the right answer.

"Ome, Rie, Aira, Kiri, Mion?"

"This is only the first stage and I don't get it..."

"Tell me all the heights."

"Ome is 154 cm, Rie is 159 cm, Aira is 158 cm, Kiri is 162 cm and Mion is 160 cm."

"Then the code is 5142." And sure enough, he was correct when he entered it.

"Wow! Under a minute and on the first try!" Rie and Rizumu marveled at his intelligence that was a foreign universe to them.

"As expected of the #1 smartest of the 2nd years. Even with the #1 and #3 smartest of the 1st years knocked out, he's really good. And he has the 2nd smartest of the 1st years right next to him... But #2 and #3 of the second years better show their intelligence too~" With the bomb stopped, the lights to the stairs were turned on, leading the players to the next floor. They all climbed the stairs with caution and arrived at a closed door. When Jiro was about to open it, the girls stopped him.

"Ome told us about this before. When it comes to Saori, she would most likely plant bombs or explosive potions behind a closed door." Kiri took out her duct tape.

"We should really thank Ome for giving the girls this tip, later..." They attached the long line of tape to the door and all stood back.

"So... Why is Jiro pulling the tape?" Rie did not have confidence in him as most of the group didn't either.

"Well that doesn't really matter now does it? Go ahead Higuchi kun."

"Hai~" He pulled the tape to which another explosion occurred. They all looked at the huge mess the explosives caused and were thankful that the girls remembered Ome's words. More like Jiro'd be gone if he opened the door. The 1st floor explosives also went off.

"There's no turning back now is there?"

"I wish we were over at the beautiful building! The really sparkly one! It's just as tall, as if we could jump over or something! And the rooftop looks like a house's!"

"T-That's not a good idea..." Watching them from the control room, Saori smirked. She lit the path for them as they made their way to the next test. The screens on the 2nd floor also turned on, giving the group a monitor on the hostages. They were expecting it but they didn't think Ome would wake up so early. She made a dent in the cage by kicking it out of anger.

"As expected of an AB type..." Even the perpetrator got a bit scared.

"Hm... Even if I can get over there, I can't carry both of them. Well then, Steve gets a rude awakening."

"Well now that she's up, let's hurry-" They got cut off by Rie. She pointed to the bomb nervously, indicating that she had no idea what the answer was. Everyone looked and froze too.

"W-What anime guy does Ome rank #1?" She heard the question too.

"Wait! I think Steve told me once!"
After hearing the outburst of "Idiot!" they saw her grab him by the collar with an incredible amount of anger in her eyes.

"So who is the guy that Ome likes?" Her protests were not reaching the group. Rizumu typed the name into the three spaces and successfully got it right with the guy's kanji name.

"Let's see... Yamamoto Takeshi? Haven't I heard that name too?" Mion asked.

"In my case, I heard a person name Tsuna san."

"What? I heard this guy named Belphegor!"

"Wake up already!" Ome didn't even bother trying to resolve these misconceptions as she shook him by the collar.

"What happened to the sleeping gas?!" He sat up and grabbed Ome.

"We were all knocked out and now we're on the verge of death. We're in a cage and molten lava's below us." He jumped up and looked down to see nothing below them.

"Oi! Don't joke with me right now!"

"Well the lava actually cooled and now there are igneous rocks-At least you're wide awake."

"You did something reckless again..." He grabbed her ankle.

"Hey, I used my right leg to get over here. The ankle's fine." He sighed.

"So, how are we going to get out?"

"We can't yet. This entire building is booby trapped with bombs. The others are disarming the main ones on each floor so we can only wait because I think that's a sensor above us. Lucky there wasn't one above my cage or we'd be gone by now."

"Disarm? Do any of them know how to do that?"

"No. Apparently Saori created puzzles and riddles as part of the bombs. Which reminds me, why'd you give each girl a different guy's name?!"

"They all asked me different questions! Oi, we can't start a fight in here!"
The group froze when they saw red lasers that would detonate bombs if they touched anyone of them. On the side, there was a small timer inside the lid. It looked like a bomb itself, with different colored wires connected to the timer. There were only 10 minutes to get through.

"Even the super athletic ones won't be able to get through this..." There were too many diagonal lasers.

"I'd prefer if the guys did this instead. You know that that timer is also a bomb right? Once you guys get to the other side, that button with disable the lasers for 5 seconds. Ome Chan and Steve can help too."

"There's no hint you can give in this situation... Unless-"

"They have to find the hint themselves!"

"Wah. You sure are hyped up." They were both staring at Wataru and Hibiki focusing on the first bomb.

"Ah... A logical puzzle..." Hibiki seemed half-hearted about it once he realized that it was a logical puzzle where you have to find the culprit from clues.

"This is actually pretty easy. Only problem is, it's all in English." Seiji also looked at it. But his intelligence was only rank #12 so he left it to the genius upperclassmen.

"Wataru's good at English so he should be fine."

"Who's going to solve this puzzle?"

"The faster we disarm this bomb, the better. So Wataru and Mion will solve the puzzle while the rest of us try to figure out how to get over there."

"Hai~" Wataru replied to a serious Shou. He and Mion seated themselves over near the puzzle while the others got closer to the sensors. Kiri just smiled when she saw the two alone in their own corner.

"Wataru, show us the puzzle too." He did as he was told and showed his copy of the puzzle to the screen. Ome followed up by copying it to her own notepad.

"Woah, you really did bring something like that didn't you?"

"What's with these extreme American names? I wouldn't be surprised if the idiot that robbed the bakery was the guy named Bob Brown..."

"And there's 4 more suspects to pick from..." Mion sighed as Wataru was analyzing the English bullets that gave out the answer.

"Don't worry, I will find the culprit behind this."

"Is that so?" She got up. He quickly grabbed her hand.

"I didn't mean that I didn't need Mion here with me."

"I-If you insist... Mion will stay here!"

"Thanks." She side glanced to his serious face and smiled (secretly of course).

"I want to go over there with Mion and Wataru!" Hibiki grabbed Rizumu's hand.

"Stay here with me okay?" He put it in the most direct way, which made her blush.

"Alright then maybe I'll go over." Rie turned around and Jiro grabbed her hand before she could take a step forward.

"Don't go over Rie. You'll get in the way of solving the puzzle because you won't understand it." She stretched his cheeks before walking away.

"Why is the way I'm stopped not romantic at all?!"

"W-What just happened?" Everyone stared back at Mion and Wataru with horrified looks on their faces. The timer should've showed 8 minutes left, not 4 minutes.

"Don't panic!" Mion grabbed Wataru's hand.

"The culprit is over 5 feet, wearing black pants, has the wife Susan and is 60 kg. It can't be Marty Jones because he was wearing red and it can't be John Williams because he has a wife named Mary."

"And it isn't Edison Thompson because it's inferred that he was wearing beige pants."

"And that leaves Bob Brown and Michael Lopez."

"Bob Brown was wearing a green hood? That has nothing to do with the culprit description." Ome smirked, giving the indirect answer to Wataru.

"On the other hand, Michael is said to be in between 58-60 kg. And then it says that his spring is yet to come."

"You're not helping them?"

"Even though Saori just halved those 4 minutes to 2 minutes, they're about to find the answer."

"Shouldn't we at least tell them that once that timer reaches 2:00 it'll be the same thing as 0:00?" Mion looked at the clock and blocked the light on it with her left hand. It was in fact 0:30 seconds until the bomb detonates. It turned to 0:15 before Mion could tell Wataru.

"The culprit is-" He entered Bob Brown and stopped the timer at 0:05 after the 0:12 got halved to 0:06.

"Thank goodness..." Kiri sank from relief.

"Sorry Mion, I knew the culprit from Michael's description but I had to take a few seconds to put it into the keyboard."

"But this is all syllables! How-"

"You have to think of how to say Bob Brown in English. And so you get, Babu Burowun."

"That was just lame..."

"Agreed." Ome said with a straight face.

"But really, that was under the wire... If we didn't notice the halving at that time, we'd be gone..." Steve smirked while Ome thought.

"I don't want to believe this but Saori might be even lamer then we thought."

"Meaning?"

"Under the wire. Take that literally and..."

"Wataru! Under the wire!"

"It sure was~"

"No! I mean inside the box and under the wires!" And sure enough, there was a piece of paper stuck in the blind spot, between wires. Mion frowned when she saw the contents.

"Ina Baur."

"And the winner's Ina Baur~"

"Stop laughing!" Shou was getting agitated that an ice skating move was needed get passed the red lasers. More like he knew that Saori purposely did this to spite the boys.

"In any case, Mion Chan... Any way you can explain that?" Steve was referring to her smaller hand holding hands with Wataru's. And he obviously had the stronger grip on her hand.

"I see Wataru doesn't mind either... In fact, he's the one with the tighter grip..." They immediately let go. But of course Wataru still stared at a Mion that was curling her hair with her finger to relieve her embarrassment. And lucky for her, everyone else was preoccupied with the "Ina Baur". Well everyone except the two fighting machines in the cage who have so much free time on their hands and Mii.

"Ina Baur? Is that a person?"

"It can mean a person or the ice skating move she created." Kiri smiled at Rizumu after answering her question.

"How about you show us a demo, Hibiki?"

"Then let's make it a competition between senpai and Kazuya!" Jiro pushed him to the front.

"Y-You know... Our lives depend on this! Don't send out people just to make a competition!" The blue eyed hostage panicked.

"What, they're just being manly. Let them be."

"We're going to die if they screw up Amy! How could you not be flustered?!"

"Because Jiro's not going to do it. Why else am I happy?"

"You're so terrible Ome Chan..." He was mentally crying.

"Our lives are on the line, after all." Steve's only response was to do a face-palm. The rest of the group could only pretend to ignore the situation "over there".

"Going to do it?" Kiri asked a Sasahara rubbing his head.

"Why not?"

"Wow. You've changed."

"Don't want to hear that from you."

"Why is the way he replies not romantic at all?!" Of course, it's up to Kiri why she's even asking that question like she expects something~

"So, how do we decide who wins the competition?"

"The one that doesn't kill us." Everyone stared at the stoic Sasahara.

"Anyone ever thought that, that was a rhetorical question?" Ome tried to relieve the tension.

"Oh? Declaring war Sasahara kun? I accept."

"Well then, start twirling. Remember, once you start, you can't turn back. Well I mean you can but it'll be really difficult to get out." Shou explained with some mixed feelings on letting two belligerent competitors determine their fate.

"Please Shou, you men all have that thing called pride. Neither one of them are backing down or turning back. And Adams~ your beloved Mii Chan is perfectly fine~"
"Be- Never mind! I'm not even going to bother to answer!"

"Well isn't that boring." She said with a monotone voice. The two started by gracefully twirling into a blind spot in the layers.

"Okay next punch, kick and twirl." The girls knew that Saori was behind the moves but all of them looked Shou's way with long stares since they were not impressed at Saori's choice of moves.

"You don't mean kick and punch each other right Miyamoto senpai?"

"A-Actually, it would be easier for each other to go on each end." Everyone got what Wataru meant but getting reserved playboy Hibiki and delinquent-like Sasahara to throw punches at each other was asking for trouble. Either way, Kazuya threw a punch at Hibiki first. He then aimed to seriously kick him before spinning to the left side of the sensors.

"What are you doing Kazuya?! He's your senpai!"

"So what if he is? He's a coward." Hibiki smirked and punched, kicked and spun his turn to the right side. Rizumu blushed at how he made the girly twirl look so manly. Rie was about to touch Rizumu's shoulder and smile but Jiro grabbed her first.

"Nice moves don't you think Rie?" Everyone was amazed at what he just did. Sasahara yelled to get on with it.

"R-Right! Do a kick, then Ina Baur and duck or slide as fast as you can." Everyone pictured how that would turn out.

"You're already ducking your head for Ina Baur. Doesn't it make the second duck impossible?" Wataru asked Shou, uneasily. Kazuya had become competitive as he hastily went first. Hibiki saw through this rashness and decided he needed to stop him. They both had done an Ina Baur but Kazuya was losing his balance for the last duck. Hibiki grabbed his arm and saved them all from detonating the lasers. The kouhai felt so frustrated that this just made Hibiki look cool again. And because he has very good insight, Hibiki understood why he was gritting his teeth in defeat.

"This is not something that you need to get angry over. You still have a chance to look cool since... She wasn't looking at all just now." The senpai didn't look fazed at all but the kouhai's mouth gapped. Shou smiled slightly.

"Next do an Ina Baur, a double twirl, and jump out with your head as flat as possible." The girls' worries subsided because this was the last of the moves used to get out of the lasers. Everyone heard Ome's "Uh-hem", which showed that she was getting ready to bring up something.

"Not trying to be the spoilsport but how fast can the girls run? Mainly, Aira and Kiri. The rest of you go beast about running so it'll be fine."

"Aira will be fine because she has us." Shou and Seiji at the same time.

"And of course we'll be helping you." Mion and Wataru smiled at Kiri.

"What happened to the competition?"

"Stubborn 'till the very end." Ome laughed since she was not worried.

"Don't make it sound like we're all really going to die." Steve patted her shoulder. Meanwhile, Kazuya and Hibiki approached the goal. Aira and Kiri braced themselves to start running. Hibiki yelled that he was about to push the button. The lasers disappeared and at the sight of that, the large group raced to the other side. With Mion's push and Wataru's pushing, Kiri made it in time, even if she ran into Kazuya. Shou and Aira made it but Seiji was slightly behind them.

"Seiji kun! Grab my hand!" She looked like an angel. But those feelings of being inferior to the guy who stepped back, next to him caused him to be reluctant to take her hand. She and Shou grabbed his wrist. This caused the explosion to occur. The rest of the group that was safe scanned the smoke to try to find those three, hoping that nothing happened to anyone of them. Kiri called for her older brother but got no reply back. When the smoke cleared, Shou and Seiji were sitting on the floor, relieved, while Aira was behind them, crying.

"I'm not letting someone die on my account. That includes you, Adams." Shou sat there relieved and slightly angry at Seiji's reluctance that almost killed him.

"Did Seiji kun hate being with us so much that you wanted to kill yourself?" He was genuinely hurt by her reaction because she didn't know of his feelings.

"I'm sorry... It's just that you two looked so happy... I didn't want to get in the way of that..."

"But Seiji kun needs to be here too!" She grabbed his hands and squeezed as tears kept falling from her eyes. She had turned pink from agitation. Shou did nothing because at the very least, he could make Adams feel better this way. Seiji's other hand was on top of Aira's as the two sat there. He continually apologized for his behavior as Aira sobbed.

Watching this, Rizumu felt bad that Seiji hadn't grabbed Aira's hand because he didn't want to be the third wheel anymore. Rie grabbed her and pulled her to the side. The angry expression on her face made Rizumu scared that she had done something again.

"I was rejected by Hibiki. Don't you dare think that I'm the one restricting you from acting on your feelings for him. We were rivals so we were both free to do whatever was necessary to get Hibiki's heart. I'm sorry for taking advantage of your genuine repent on what happened before. Even with me making the moves, Hibiki never did let go of his feelings for you."

"Wait that's not-"

"His feelings for you have never disappeared. From the beginning, it was you. That's why now... I don't mind you two becoming a couple." Rizumu realized that those tears coming down her eyes were from how much it still hurt to get her heart broken. She hugged her. "You are a really good friend. Tell him your feelings when you think it's right Rizumu."

"Thank you Rie." They were both crying. The one on the left was crying because she had just gotten the full support of the friend that just got heartbroken and the one on the right hadn't let out her feelings until now.

"Why do Mii and Rie always beat me to the chase? Mion, I'm supporting you too. Tell your feelings to Prince. I was rejected because he's loved you all this time." She whispered.

"Of course that's not it!"

"You CAN do it! You're Takamine Mion! It's you that Prince loves! Isn't me here telling you to go for it, enough to stop blaming yourself?" Saying all these things of support after just being rejected proved to be too much for Kiri to handle too. And seeing her cry made Mion tear up too.

"I'm so sorry... When you were so hurt... I couldn't do anything..." They hugged each other too. Higuchi was going to go over to comfort the girls but Wataru sensed his sadness.

"Is me being here a hindrance for you Higuchi kun?" He never thought of it that way.

"No! Senpai being awesome is not a fault! Besides Mion Chan has liked you before all this so I stood no chance from the beginning!"

"You like Mion too right? You can't give up. We're still rivals and friends now aren't we?" He held out his hand to which Jiro grabbed after some anxiety.

"Toudou, what are your feelings toward Amamiya?"

"Who knows. If we're rivals that's fine with me." Kazuya grabbed his collar.

"Give me a real answer. I'm serious." He let go as Hibiki smiled.

"I like her."

"Coward, what took you so long to admit to it?" Both of them smirked.

"Mou Sasahara kun, you're so barbaric. To call your senpai a coward," He said it in a hurt tone to tease Kazuya. The purple eyed hostage sighed. KIYUMI had given up and now the three freshman boys were about to give up but Callings was pushing for them to continue to be their rivals.

"What a long cycle..." The respective groups all joined Wataru and Jiro in the center of the room after the ceasing of crying (well Aira still hasn't fully recovered yet). They all saw light in the room down the hall. Opening the lights, they saw just one desk, upholding another puzzle with a bomb attached. Wanting to do something to get rid of his anger, Shou volunteered to solve the mystery this time. Simply looking at the screen, what Shou saw was not an enigma anymore but an insult in disguise. The numbers, "9,4,9,15,20" were staring back at him. Despite knowing full well how to solve it, his gaze slightly shifted to a conversing Seiji and Aira.

"It's not that I hate being with you guys... But I... I have feelings for you Aira Chan." Shou almost hit his chin on the desk.

"Y-You confessed here?! You're a French person! Pick a better time and place to say that privately, you fool!" A mixed variety of people (I'll leave it up to you on who these people are) in the room all had the same train of thought about this.

"W-What do you mean Seiji kun?" This love scene was not stopping.

"I mean that I've loved you since our encounter. You're the true Yamato Nadeshiko I've been searching for, Aira Chan." She stood there stunned for a second before her head turned down as she thought.

"What a cliched confession..." Saori had no problem spying from the computer room.

"What a daring thing to do in this kind of place Seiji kun~ Don't you agree Rizumu Chan?" Hibiki lowered his head to Rizumu's shoulder. Totally surprised when he blew in her ear, she shrieked, which got Seiji out of his trance.

"Adams... I'm sure Aira appreciates your feelings but this is no time for a love scene. Especially since the background is this ugly classroom with 9 other people. You guys can get this straightened out later." Shou had signaled for Seiji to go over to the screen. The senpai already solved it and of course the kouhai goes over to see why his senpai's eyebrows were twitching earlier. "Idiot" in English was what he saw.
"I'm not an idiot!"

"I'm not one either! But if we really had to choose which one is dumber between us, it'd totally be you!"

"You're just getting me back for confessing just now aren't you?!"

"Possibly. So what about it," he grinned.

"How immature..." Most of the group had to concur. Aira smiled despite knowing full well that she would have to give Seiji an answer soon enough. But for now, this scene was too happy to spoil. And the other girls were not going to be nosy now that they saw Aira letting out a relieved smile.

"And here I thought since he was French, he'd make a grand confession..."

"Quit stereotyping French people. Most men have no sense of time, place or occasion. In any case, why isn't Mii waking up?" There was an eerie air around the cage because she was still sleeping.

"There's a puzzle on the screen," Kiri exclaimed as she saw the what-in-the-world-is-this, code that had to be decoded.
WDOO YMTKODIOSN...
HOUV OUMEUESNO
OYLE? USAYRCISO
"I don't want to kill my students so I'll provide you with a hint."

"If you don't want to kill us, don't propose this life-threatening game..."

"Above suspicion. Who is this referring to? Someone related to this person is part of the way to decode this answer." The group turned to the smartest, runner-up and #3 of the freshmen, and the two smartest sophomores.

"Above suspicion goes back to the idiom about Caesar's wife... So the code has something to do with Caesar..." Wataru knew who the person was but not the actual decoding method name.

"Something called Caesar Box... No one cares about the name. I need to remember what the rules for the method were..."

"Even her train of thought is rude..." The 3rd smartest staring at her didn't need to say anything to help because he had no idea either.

"It's already five past midnight," Rie panicked. Wataru, Ome and Mion scanned the code, going down the letters in an attempt to decode the message. Wataru and Ome had lightning flash in their brains when they figured how to solve it.

"This is not something public." Both of them faced the group.

"Well this will just make everything awkward. Go over to Wataru's side, boys." Ome looked stunned and perplexed as she realized what Saori was planning.

"What's wrong?"

"We should get ready to start jumping... I have a feeling this building is going to explode soon." Meanwhile, the boys were all started to get what the message was and why the girls shouldn't be over here. Even the person that was entering the message didn't know his answer to the question.

"Who do you love?"

"You must make your decisions soon..."

"Who is she talking to?"

"Of course to all the boys." Ome recovered from her anxiety.

"But Seiji-"

"Saori obviously thinks you made a mistake." Before Seiji could protest, the screen lit up and another problem came onto the projector.

"Enter the 4 numbers. Hint: Aira, Shou and Seiji."

"W-What numbers have we worked with up until now?"

"The 5142 Wataru deduced first."

"Love triangle. Wataru, the answer's 1714." Steve spoke up for once. He entered it and sure enough, it was correct.

"Good job getting it this far! Your last challenge is getting out of here! Each bomb you passed by will each explode every 10 seconds!" The screen darkened. "And before that, here's a present~" A crate of three grenades lowered down to the floor next to Jiro.

"Over here!" Steve randomly yelled.

"Where's 'here'?!"

"Sorry in advance, Ome Chan, Mii Chan!" Wataru chucked a grenade at the screen, successfully destroying it from the explosion.

"So spontaneously..." Mion and Kiri were blushing.

"Wataru-senpai what are you doing?!"

"It's an illusion. The cage looked like it was in the middle of nowhere because Saori installed a gadget to change the floor plan. The evidence is that black spot over there." And sure enough, the black wallpaper was peeling off.

"The cage should be next to a wall so after breaking the wall, the cage should open..." Kazuya threw the next grenade at an angle that would snap the tip of the cage, bringing it down to floor level.

"And I'll finish it off." Shou grasped the final grenade. "Cover your ears you three!" The last grenade exploded and amid the crumbling wall, the three hostages emerged. Mii was groggy from just getting up but because 1 minute and 20 seconds passed, there was no time to dawdle around since 7 bombs had already gone off. The group threw down mattresses to cushion their falls.

"She had a reason for everything she did..." Ome sighed. Jiro patted her on the shoulder as he told her that there was nothing to worry about. She pulled him into Rie and kicked him down, while he was holding her.

"It's a hundred years too early for you to be the one reassuring me, Jiro!"

"That kick sounded like it hurt..." While they felt sorry for Jiro, Rie who was forcefully dragged into this, got most of the sympathy.

"Well now that Jiro and Rie proved that this route out is fine, let's go..." Hibiki grabbed Rizumu by the waist and smiled.

"Do you trust me?" Her shy "Un" made him smile.

"Hibiki-"

"I might get us killed if you keep turning pick like that." Their mouths were 3 centimeters away from each other, which invited gasps from Kiri and Aira. "In any case, I'll be going first! Ja ne~"

"Wait-" Kazuya knew he was making fun of him. But Rizumu's scared screams cut his thoughts off. Well part of the reason why she was yelling was because of Hibiki's strong grip on her. "Damn Toudou..." His gaze turned to a concerned Seiji helping to support a dependent Mii.

"Go ahead Seiji." Steve grinned, disguising the fact that they were all in danger from here on out.

"Seiji kun..." He and Aira stared at each other with a half-asleep Mii leaning on his arm.

"Aira Chan-"

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a Yamato Nadeshiko that you're searching for. Thank you for your feelings but... Mii Chan's the right one for you."

"Besides, I'm not giving her to you." Shou came up from behind.

"Quit standing there and jump out now!" Ome kicked him in the same manner as she did in Jiro's case. The madness of Seiji's head hitting Jiro's smack in the face, Mii's head on Rie's hair and Rizumu crushing Seiji's foot with her body on it, indicated that they landed. She turned to Wataru and Mion.

"Are you willing to go with me?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Would Shou, Kazuya or Steve be better?" Kiri and Mion made eye contact. Her friend smiling made Mion feel confident in allowing Wataru to be the one to protect her during the fall.

"Make sure to protect me well, Wataru." She uneasily, stepped on the edge because of the height from the different colored hairs she saw at the bottom.

"No need to say that Mion. I will protect you." The prince-like phrase made her blush as she grasped his shirt before he threw himself down. He also became embarrassed when Mion increased her grip on his shirt. She was so close. Everything seemed fine until another "Thump!" occurred when Wataru was crushing Jiro's foot right after he just got away from Seiji and Mion landing on Rizumu's hair(of course by accident).

"We don't have much time. Let's go Adams. I mean it." He didn't know that the way he held out his hand resembled a prince.

"I-I can't take heights..."

"Kiri Chan, it's not a 10 story building. It's only 5 floors down with a cushion at the bottom-"

"You're not making it any better so shut your face, Steve."

"O-Ome Chan..."

"It'll be ok. Grab my hand and don't let go-"

"Please don't let go ok?" Kiri held onto both his shirt and his hand.

"Seiji's gonna come after you for making a move on his sis~"

"Make room! These two are coming down!" He threw himself right and out the window. He increased his grip on Kiri when she started yelling. He saw her flowing blonde hair blowing up in the wind. And unlike the other uncivilized couples, they landed on the pure white mattress in one piece. Well close to that because Kiri was feeling sick from her attempt at "skydiving".

"Get going, Aira, Shou." She turned to him.

"I'm not giving you up to anyone Aira. Believe me." He held out his hand while his intentions were still not clear. She took it, believing in him. As they fell down, their eyes stared at each other for just a moment. Her heart earrings were evident. Making sure she was okay, he kept a grip on her shoulders when he felt her trembling from shock.

"Let's go Steve!"

"What about the puzzles? Don't we need any record of them?"

"Don't ask that at a time like this- Ah." She had stepped off the building with her left foot, making her tumble off the building. He chased after her. The only thing on his mind was saving the girl with blue studs in her ears, or to be specific, land with her like the rest of the couples. The rest of the group saw him grab her waist and flip mid-air. Due to the fluffiness of the bed, his footing was not regained as he lost his balance and fell on Ome. It made the girls grin that Ome and Steve made it look normal.

"Did you plan that?"

"We simply didn't want the fighting machines to land on us~"

"Ome Chan, your landing..."

"It's decided! Steve and Ome's fall was the most romantic! After that, it's Kiri Chan and Kazuya! And coming up in 3rd is Aira Chan and Shou-senpai! Right after that is Wataru-senpai and Mion Chan!"

"Put a sock in it!" Rie elbowed him. While group laughed, Saori snuck up behind Mii and grabbed her. Mii's surprised yell caught everyone's attention.

"Catch me if you can~" She ran into the beautiful building the girls brought up before.

"We had to jump down just to start running again...?"

"Don't screw with us!" The two fighting machines chased after her. And the group meekly followed the two that were still full of energy.

"Get back here!"

"Is that how you speak to adults?"

"No one has time for honorifics right now!"

"Why do we even call them that," Rie yelled.

"Aren't we getting off topic here?! Someone save me!" Saori grinned before pressing the switch for the platform to rise/change. Rizumu fell back into Hibiki's arms while Aira and Shou fell down, with Shou becoming her support. Kiri's right shoulder brushed against Kazuya's left when the land became shaky. Jiro caught Rie, who was falling back and Wataru grabbed Mion's hand. To add to that, Saori threw Mii on Seiji who didn't catch her but just as effectively became her cushion.

"So many hot couples~"

"Quit changing the subject and explain what's going on here!"

"And quit snuggling up on each other like you're some couple that just finished a proposal!" Steve pointed to Rizumu and Hibiki.

"In that case, wouldn't we be kissing by now?" It didn't sound like Hibiki was teasing.

"You idiot playboy! Now's not the time for that!"

"They shouldn't be kissing anyway! Why'd you have to bring that up Steve?!" Jiro yelled.

"It wasn't me! It was Hibiki!"

"It was clearly you that started yelling!" Kazuya also raised his voice.

"What?! Then you don't have any complaints on that position?! How adult-like of you! Especially Kazuya! You can't actually be implying that there's no problem with how Rizumu Chan's in Hibiki's lap and he wants to kiss her or are you?!"

"That's clearly not right! Shut it Steve!"

"Why is it my fault?!"

"Since you're so lively I guess sleeping gas didn't exactly work on you, did it Steve Chan?" For some simple reason it was only the boys that were getting extremely angry.

"Quit getting so hyped up. It's called feathering one's nest." Ome said as she looked at Saori with a cellphone in her hand.

"Exactly right Ome Chan! This was a client's request!"

"You're a principal! When'd you open up your own office?!" Rie finally couldn't control her urge to talk.

"Don't make me sound like a poor detective! I'm a principal that had another person in the education system ask for help on demolishing this building! And I get paid for it~"

"That doesn't mean that you needed to set up bombs to do that! Just demolish it with a crane and construction workers like a normal person!" Shou yelled too.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but I ain't normal!"

"Don't go Osakan accent on us!" Everyone suddenly looked up when the stars came out and a full moon shone brightly in the night sky.

"Is this our 'prize'?"

"Those girls took a big step today. They should at least see how beautiful the night sky is."

"Which means you're disregarding the guys again."

"Oh how I love your insight, Ome Chan~"

~~~~~~~~Enjoy group dates; they're not as awkward as couple these days make them out to be~~~~~~~~