DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT A PART OF THE PLOT!

Chapter 17 – DESPERATE TIMES, DESPERATE MEASURES

"KRRRIIIIINNG!" It was recess again, and after everyone bade the teacher goodbye, they took out their lunch boxes and/or wallets and got out of the classroom quickly. I was not as free as they were, because recently the Board of Prefects received orders from above to conduct patrolling missions in school. Well, duty calls, right? When the time arrived, one still had to do what one had to do.

But luckily, this mission was a duo paired-up mission, so it did not seem to be too boring. And today, my partner was… "Yo 207, time to get to work!" I looked up to see Demyx. I nodded and said, "OK, let me grab my wallet…"

Today's patrolling area for us were the surroundings of the music classroom and dance studio. Demyx and I chatted as we walked, while still on the lookout, of course. I asked, "Do you think… things like those can happen in those places?" He shrugged and replied, "I don't know… but our superiors mentioned that nowhere in school shall be overlooked." Alright, let me admit the truth; there were only two months and a half before PMR, the most feared and hated exam by all 9th Graders. In order to prevent anyone from plotting ahead (a.k.a. hiding cheating materials etc.), we had to strengthen surveillance and prevention measures by patrolling around. When the exam date got nearer, prefects from other grades would take over our jobs. We had to sit for the exam too. We could not sacrifice too much and put ourselves in deep water now, could we?

"At least leave this job for prefects who are not taking important exams, geez! Our futures matter too, you know. Also, if we flunked the exam, the academic performance of the school would fall too…" groaned Demyx, seemingly helpless. I sighed, patted his left shoulder and said, "Well, forget it. You said so yourself too; it is an order from above. And it would do us good to follow orders. Who knows, they might have high hopes for us!" I could still see him looking lethargic, so I added, "Alright now, don't look so lifeless all the time. Just pretend that we are out for a walk to clear our heads. How about this… since this is about the music classroom, shall we talk about music?"

That worked like a charm; I saw his eyes slowly lit up. "Speaking of music, lately…" And our chat really fired up, now we were talking (no pun intended). For me, I did not really like songs with people singing. I felt as if I could not focus and appreciate the background instrumental and beats. I loved instrumental music the most. I could let it play in the background while I went about my daily life to fill in the silence. I loved pianos, violins and strings were great, and harpsichords were amazing. Besides classical music, I was fine with pop songs, as long as the melody was something I could click with. Recently I found myself falling deeper for Nordic, Gaelic and Celtic folk music, and a bit of Russian folk music. Examples include "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak, "Á Sprengisandi", "Ievan Polkka" by Loituma, "B Minor" by Leahy and many, many more. Oh, and "Korobeiniki" too!

"It's that Tetris theme! Haven't you played it before?" I asked, slightly astonished. Did this guy have any childhood fun? Demyx thought about it for a while and he mused, "I think I've heard it somewhere…?" I interrupted, "Argh, I'll sing for you, see if you can recognise it; Oy, polnym polna moya korobushka, yest' i sit'tsy, i parcha~" He looked like he was close to realisation, but I continued on without a care, "Pozhaley~ Dusha-zaznobushka, molodetskogo plecha~"

"PANG!" Just then, I did not know who was providing me with backing music, somewhere from ahead of us came a sound of heavy object dropping to the ground. We both clammed our mouths shut at once. We looked at each other and Demyx mumbled quietly, "Why did you have to sing nonsensically like that? We could have summoned a demon for all we know…" I slapped his arm softly and retorted, "You're the one spouting nonsense! I know my singing resembles that of a crow, but surely it is not ungodly to the extent of summoning demons, right?" Demyx replied a few seconds later, "… You're right, that poor demon who had to be summoned might suffer permanent hearing damage instead." I slapped a palm onto my face and said, "That's not what I meant… Wait, what are we rambling on for? Let's go see what happened!"

We ran towards where we thought the sound originated from, and we discovered an unlocked music classroom. The lock was just hanging from the latch. I made a "be quiet" gesture and carefully leaned on the door to eavesdrop on anything going on in the classroom. From the muffled noises, there seemed to be three people inside, indicated by three distinct voices… One of the voice was not heard frequently, while the other two voices sounded like scolding… I looked at Demyx now and he glanced over too. I pointed at myself and then at him, and then I put my index and middle fingers together and pointed at the door twice, signalling an imminent break-in. He nodded. After that, I gestured the countdown, "Three… two… one… Go!"

Demyx quickly unhooked the lock from the door and swung the door open immediately. I barged in straight after. There were three girls inside, and one of them was… "Samara?!" I muttered. I honestly did not want to see her right now. Just great, I summoned a demon for real… I said first, "What are you all doing here? The music classroom is supposed to be locked at all times, and all extracurricular activities are cancelled until the end of PMR. Why hide here? And got the key no less?" My last question was probably unnecessary; she could even get her hands on the clock tower key with ease, how much trouble could one music classroom key be? There were also Shorty, who was with Samara every time, and another very quiet girl.

Samara said disdainfully, "What does that have to do with you? You prefects pry into other people's businesses all day, aren't you tired?" Demyx said, "Do you think we want to be such busybodies? We have orders from Mr Saix to patrol and see if anyone's doing sneaky stuff, and you guys chose such a well-hidden place… So, we suspect you." Samara laughed and said, "We were discussing private matters here, no need for the so-called sneakiness. Furthermore, even if you feel suspicious, what can you do?" She batted her eyelids at us to feign innocence after finishing her sentence. Now that she mentioned that, I felt fury bubbling in me. She was pinning us down with the fact that we could not do a thing to her, hence the arrogance. What nerve! If it was not for her being Devilish Director's daughter, I would have mopped the floor with her…

I tried to calm down. I breathed once and said, "Since you think you are not violating school rules, then you would not interfere with our jobs, right? OK, before we confirm there is nothing wrong with the music classroom, no one walks out this door." After that, I signalled Demyx via eye contact, and he started going around the room to check for anything amiss. Samara scowled and complained, "Hey! What are you doing? We told you we were just discussing, and you are still not letting us go?!" I calmly shook my head and replied, "Words alone are no proof, you know… If we proved that you're innocent, we will gladly let you go after the check. With us vouching for you, no one will dare to challenge your authority, no?" Ha, Zexion's teachings were seriously effective as heck; I wasted no effort and that alone was enough to make her shut up out of anger. No wonder he could be so calm and collected all the time… But I would prefer to add in my own spice for improvisation and personalisation.

I blocked the door while Demyx was conducting the checks, keeping a close eye on all three girls. Three minutes later, Demyx shook his head at me. Everything was normal after all… Any arrogance lost before resurfaced on Samara's face, and she sneered at me, "Well? I told you, and you refuse to listen." I merely shrugged and stepped aside from the door, leaving a nice path for them to go on their merry way. Samara walked ahead with Shorty following closely behind. When she passed by me, she stopped and warned, "You'd best not forget, last time-" Not waiting for her to finish, I started singing loudly, "Oy, polnym polna moya korobushka, yest' i sit'tsy, i parcha~" I drowned out her words by doing this, but it did not matter, since she was too surprised to say anything. Still singing, I pushed both of them out. I continued with the improvised version, "Go~ Just go~ And get out of my sight~ right now, GTFO, don't come back~!" They were kicked out just like that and they had no idea what was happening, so they could only glare at me. Samara glared daggers at me and then turned on her heels and left for good, somewhat not amused. Shorty angrily pointed a warning finger at me, threatening me. I pretended as if nothing was happening and made a scissors hand gesture, smirking at her. She huffed and left soon after.

Demyx was snickering behind me. I turned around to see him and questioned, "What?" He said in between snickers, "You can be savage when you want to, Nemix." I snickered too and said, "I summoned a demon by mistake anyways, so I'll just send her back with the same song then. How one comes will be how one returns!"

Suddenly, we heard something being pushed and carried around behind us. We returned to the music classroom and saw the awfully quiet girl, who was unfortunately ignored by us earlier, trying to carry a big drum. Perhaps the heavy object sound we heard earlier was the drum? Demyx went up to help and they finally put the drum back to its rightful place. I only noticed a bruise on her knee now. I asked, "Are you… alright? Did they do that?" She shook her head and said, "It's the drum…" And then she left hurriedly. But before she went out of the door she threw a "thanks" and ran away.

"… OK then?" I said. I could never imagine Samar had someone so… drastically different from her with her. I did not understand though; why would "discussing personal matters" led to the drum falling and injuring someone? What a bunch of oddballs… "Eh?" Demyx seemed to have found something, he crouched down to check the ground before him. He said, "207, she dropped something." I went up to see; it was that girl's student ID. The name was… "Sharon Farelle?" I read out the name on the card. Demyx said, "We are in the same class with her anyways, I'll return this to her after recess." He kept the ID card in his pocket and we left, but we had to borrow a key to lock the music classroom up again… Oh well.

After we finished our patrol and returned to class, Samara and Shorty were not there yet; perhaps a toilet break. Demyx walked towards Sharon's seat and she was there, minding her own stuff. Demyx started, "You dropped this back there." Sharon seemed taken aback a bit, as if she had just discovered that she had lost her student ID. She quickly fished out her wallet from her pocket and opened it, only realising her ID was indeed missing. She took the card from Demyx's hand and said quietly, "Thank you…" Demyx smiled and said, "No worries, just be mindful next time." Sharon added a few seconds later, "Sorry… for troubling you all earlier. You should head back, or else they will have another bone to pick with you when they come back from the washroom." Demyx looked out through the window and then he said, "OK then… Bye."

I was sitting in my seat while watching both of them, but I could not hear their conversation. After Demyx returned and sat down, I asked, "What's the hold-up?" He replied, "Nothing much, she just thanked me, apologised to me and tell me to return is all." Odd though; never mind the thanks, she even apologised? Hmm, this was getting stranger. It seemed like she was either a good person to begin with, or she managed to not get influenced by Samara and company. Interesting… was it time to advise her to get away from Samara for good?

There was nothing worthy of note following that, just having lessons until school ended for the day, and then going home, lunch, shower, revision, dinner, spacing out/relaxing and then sleep. Yes, my life was nothing special, so any stalkers would be bored to death by my daily routine. The next day…

It was recess again. Demyx and I had just finished patrolling and we crossed paths with Roxas and Ventus on the way back to our classroom. We started chatting in the roofless corridor on the ground floor. "Is your mission going smoothly?" asked Ven. Demyx said, "Everything is normal today, no one sneaking around doing sneaky things." I groaned, "I really hope we can hand this job over to someone else, so I will have more time to revise… Geez." Roxas sighed, "Ten more days to go… I wish we can get the exam done and over with soon, so I don't have to be on edge every day… and then I will burn my History text book to a crisp."

I was about to laugh when Demyx gasped loudly and extended his arm skywards. With a snap, he managed to catch something. We were startled by his sudden movement. He looked at the object in his hand in the air and asked, "Why would a History textbook fall from the sky?" I looked up too; it really was a 9th Grade History text book. I thought, "Good god, this could kill! Was getting hit by a hard-cover encyclopaedia last time in Tokyo not enough? If someone managed to get hit on the head in such critical moments of exam preparation, they would be done for, big time…" Ven said, "Rox, you might have said the wrong thing… That could be Miss Larxene overhearing us, you know." Roxas exclaimed, "What?! Don't change the subject! Look at the third floor!"

The four of us did just that and there were two people up there; Shorty and Sharon. They were also looking at us on the ground floor. I shouted, "Oi! The people on the ground floor and the book are innocent, OK?" Shorty rolled her eyes and left, while Sharon rushed for the stairs, she reached where we were standing roughly thirty seconds later. She said, "Terribly sorry… she threw my book to the ground floor." Roxas said, "What's with her?" She shook her head and replied, "Nothing, we were just messing around…" "Here you go. You alright?" asked Demyx, handing Sharon her book. "I'm fine. Thank you… I have to go." As soon as she finished, she turned around to leave. I called out to her, "Wait!" She stopped and turned around to see me, I continued, "If those two bully you again, come look for us. Don't suffer alone, yeah?" She did not expect that from me and was taken aback a little. But then she gently nodded her head and left for our classroom.

Ven spoke, "Isn't she Samara's sidekick?" I explained, "Yup, but she was always either ignored or pushed around. I think she is actually a good person… judging the big behavioural differences between them. Furthermore, Facing unjust treatment and suffering alone… does not feel very nice." I could totally understand that feeling, because I was just like that not too long ago, I almost cornered myself to the point of overworking myself to death, on the brink of depression. Fortunately I had my eight friends as support.

Roxas nodded and commented, "True that…" Then, the bell rang again, so we returned to our classroom. It was a self-study session, so we continued our revision…

Two days passed. Organisation XIII was holding a group study session in class. Today's topic was blood circulation. I started, "OK, a complete blood circulation consists of pulmonary and systemic circulation. The deoxygenated blood flow from the vena cava into the right atrium of the heart, and then pumped into the right ventricle passing through the tricuspid valve. And then it is pumped through the semilunar valve into the pulmonary artery…" We decided to tell what we know to others as if giving a lecture, so we could remember everything well. If we did not understand any part or if we found mistakes, we could discuss on the spot.

Zexion took the baton, "While the pulmonary artery passes through the lungs, it is further divided into narrow capillaries surrounding the alveoli. The blood flowing in these capillaries will undergo gaseous exchange involving oxygen and carbon dioxide. Now the blood is oxygenated. It flows into the pulmonary vein and then into the left atrium. That concludes the pulmonary circulation." Xion continued, "The oxygenated blood in the left atrium will be pumped into the left ventricle through the bicuspid valve. Finally, it is pumped into the aorta, through another semilunar valve." Roxas said, "This blood will be pumped into arteries, arterioles and into capillaries, giving out oxygen and nutrients to cells in exchange of carbon dioxide and wastes. All of those go into the vena cava once again via venules and veins." Axel paused for two seconds and said, "And then… rinse and repeat? And it'd better not stop?" Demyx blurted, "Yeah…" And then… someone's stomach started grumbling. We looked at one another and Roxas fessed up, "It was me… I'm hungry, hehe."

Demyx whined, "I want aglio olio pasta…" My stomach seemed to hear that too and growled. I sighed, "I prefer carbonara… and I now want it too." Roxas said, "I like pesto… and with lots of mozzarella!" Axel's brows frowned for a bit and he said, "I don't like pesto, because there's peanut in there, and I don't even like peanuts… I like bolognaise." Xion groaned, "Good grief, can you all not talk about food at this very moment?! Do you want me to die starving?" Naminé, Kairi and Ven looked over too and said, "Are you trying tempt us with food?" Zexion observed the situation and added one final straw, "Speaking of which, the fettuccine alfredo I had last time was actually not bad…" Everyone almost fell off their respective chairs.

I whined, "Spare us, O Mighty Sir Zexion Illusione…" He smirked, but soon he reverted to his normal expression and said, "Alright, sorry for making your stomachs suffer. Perhaps I could make some food for you guys after the exam as compensation?" Upon hearing news of free food, Axel was revived immediately and he said, "No turning back on that!" Zexion agreed calmly, "OK." I never thought Zexion had good culinary skills. I would have to bide my time and endure this bloody exam, so I could get to see what he was cooking up (again, no pun intended)!

Just then, the bell rang. We went to the Science lab for two Science lessons, and we returned to our classroom again. "Guys… Look at this," said Demyx out of the blue. We were about to put away our Science textbooks and notes after returning from the lab. We then went closer to him; he had a message strip, it read:

~ Samara will be bringing a contraband to school tomorrow. She will hide it in the drawer of the teacher's table.

f(x) = r ~

"f(x) = r? What is this thing?" I asked. Zexion explained, "It is a function, normally f(x) can be an algebraic expression and x can be anything, denoted as an unknown. However, those are not the point but f(x) = r itself… it sounds like F, X, R…" "Farelle, Sharon?" I blurted, trying to connect the letters with approximated pronunciations. We looked towards her seat in unison. She was stealing glances at us occasionally, seemingly a bit nervous. Was she really being an informant now? Xion said quietly, "Let's sit down and stop gawking at her like this for now." So that was what we did, and we started a secret group meeting.

207: "Is this intel… reliable?"

222: "Judging the motive, it does sound slightly reliable. Didn't you say she was bullied by Samara and company these days?"

135: "This act of writing a secret message does fit her behaviour… She seems submissive all the time, since she would have attracted revenge from Samara otherwise."

383: "Tomorrow, huh… As long as the intel is not compromised, we still have time to put our pieces in place. Are we in this tomorrow?"

006: "There is no need for us to strike directly. Since she thought the most dangerous place is the safest place, then let her outsmart herself."

I started thinking, and in not even thirty seconds, a plan was conjured. I felt a smirk creeping up my face and I said, "I have another nasty plot…"

The next day, the first period was Geography. When Mr. Marluxia walked in the classroom, he noticed a big trace of chalk powder on his table. He asked, "Who is in charge of the cleaning duty today?" Axel raised his hand and said, "Me." "Can you please get some water and help me wipe this off? Oh, and also for the flowers." "Oh." And with that, Axel exited the classroom with a small pail to fetch some water. Mr. Marluxia moved everything else on the table to another smaller one to make Axel's job easier. Soon, Axel returned. His hands was holding the pail full of water while he walked towards the dirty table. Suddenly, Axel was tripped over by the leg of another student's desk by accident and he lurched forward. The water in the pail splashed onto the whole table, effectively drowning it. The pink-haired male stepped aside just in time, but he was startled nevertheless. The flowers were given a healthy dose of hydration in the process, so all was good. Axel managed to hit his hand on a nearby desk and balanced himself just in time. When he stood up fully, he said, "Ah… My bad, I'll wipe the water off…"

And then, he absorbed the excess water with a cloth in the classroom. Mr. Marluxia noted, "The water is dripping into the drawer." Thus, Axel opened the drawer and was about to wipe- "Hmm? A romance novel?" Mr. Marluxia picked a book up and mused. Everyone in class was glancing around, trying to see whose novel it was. I peeked at Samara; she looked rather tense. However, she did not speak up.

Now everyone started gossiping. "I think I've seen that book before?" "Yeah, that novel's design and art style… It is all the rage lately." "Eh, wait, I might have seen this book with someone in our class." Seeing the voiceless defiance from Samara, Axel opened the slightly wet novel. After flipping through the pages he announced, "Oh… Someone's name is on here; Samara." Now, no matter what she tried to say, she could not talk her way out anymore. In the end, she had to suck it up and follow Axel to the Discipline Room to see Mr. Saix, again.

Once Axel came back and Samara was still left with Mr. Saix, we gestured a thumbs up at him. Ha! Finally, he helped us vent our frustrations. I whispered, "Nicely executed, Axel. Luckily you knew to look for a name in the novel. Not bad." He shrugged and replied, "Nothing to it, I just got lucky like a blind cat coming across a dead mouse." Demyx commented, "Never thought Sharon would actually report this to us in advance…" Xion sneered, "She probably could not stand Samara anymore. Desperate times, right? It's karma… Serves her right!"

Soon, Mr. Marluxia resumed the lesson about answering techniques this time. And he also tossed a bunch of past-year papers for us to practice on, and we were to discuss our answers next Monday. You could hear silent moans of suffering across K3B… But I let out a sigh and thought, "I'll deal with whatever there is to deal with then. At least I could evaluate my revision progress and preparedness before PMR, it was better than slacking off all day. They were just multiple choice questions after all, nothing to be scared of!

And so, it had been a busy but substantial weekend. And we arrived at Monday again…

I was walking to the classroom, and I came across Kairi who just reached the school, so we chatted while we walked. Kairi started, "That day when Samara's novel was busted by Axel… could that be Organisation XIII's work?" I snickered and said, "The only thing I did was smearing chalk powder on the teacher's table to create an opportunity for Axel. That nasty plot only succeeded due to Axel's improvisation on the spot to reveal the truth." And then, we arrived at the small garden en route to K3B. I said, "But actually, if it wasn't for someone spilling the secrets, we would not have known about this at all." We were about to reach the centre of the garden, suddenly someone called out to us from behind. We stopped in our tracks and turned around- "It's you?" I said, slightly surprised. Sharon Farelle, again?

She was about to say something, and that was when a loud "PONG" erupted behind us. Kairi and I turned around again and we saw a burst faucet not too far ahead, spraying water everywhere. The gardener nearby was frantically trying to stop the leakage. I only realised this then; had we gone forward a few steps, we would have been doused from head to toe! Kairi, however, still had not caught onto it yet, and she exclaimed, "Oh my god, why did the faucet burst just like that?" I spun around immediately to ask Sharon, but she was gone. "Don't tell me you… were helping us again?" I thought. "Eh Nemix, let's get back to class now. Or else we will be late," reminded Kairi. So we took a detour to our classroom and sat down on our seats.

My thoughts were running wild again, "It was Sharon helping us secretly again… Was Samara up to no good again? Is she not afraid of getting caught by Samara and Shorty? She's getting bold now…" Just then, Roxas said, "Yo, Nemix? Time to hand in your homework." I snapped back to reality, replied with an "Oh" and started opening my bag, taking out the work to be graded. I passed them to Demyx for him to pass them towards the front teacher's table. Roxas then asked, "Where's Zexion? His homework is still not with me." I noticed that Zexion, who was sat next to me, was not in the classroom only now. Naminé replied, "He went out earlier, maybe to the washroom. Doesn't he always leave his homework on his desk beforehand?" That was true; Zexion always reached school very early. After putting down his bag, the first thing he always did was to put any due work on his desk, and then he would go out for any missions and/or the library. Also, anyone sitting in front of him would habitually pick his work up and send it to the front. That way they would not disturb him while he read (if he was at his seat).

But, Roxas said, "… But there is nothing on his desk…" True, Zexion's desk was void of any paper or book, only his bag lay on his chair. I asked, "No way, really? Could it be in his bag?" I felt the urge to help him search, but Zexion disliked anyone trifling through his things (who would like that, really?), so after some thought, I said, "I'll head to the front to see if anyone handed his work in for him." I got up and got to the pile of homework and started the search.

I flipped through every booklet, everyone's homework was here, save Zexion's. Could Zexion have forgotten to finish or bring it? But that was not his habit… Or was it missing? Why would it be missing? While I was tangled up in questions, Zexion finally showed up. Roxas quickly said a few things to him, most likely explaining the current situation. Once he finished listening, he came over to me at once. When he got next to me, I said, "I looked through everything here, only yours is absent. Did you leave it in your bag and forget to take it out?" He shook his head and denied, "No, I am very certain I have left it on my desk before I went out." I frowned and muttered, "Why was it missing though? No one saw it?" Must I interrogate every single person in our class? I speculated quietly, "Don't tell me it's stolen…"

"DONG!" From the back of the classroom came a noise of knocking on metal. Our gazes tracked the source of the noise down. Sharon sat on the floor next to a metal cabinet, looking like she hit her head. Demyx was the closest to her location, so he went and helped her up. Strange; her seat was distant from the cabinet, why did she walk into the cabinet out of the blue? But… wait. Something was wrong. My gaze shifted to said cabinet. It looked as normal as ever, but there was something on top of it! "Zexion, look…" I said, gesturing towards the top of the cabinet. He noticed that too and hurried over to the cabinet, with me trailing behind. But once we got there, the top was too high up, so we had to ask Axel to help us get whatever was up there down for us. As I expected, it was Zexion's homework!

I glanced at Samara again, she looked like she was mad that her evil plot failed, but she forced out a scornful face that said, "Hmph, let's see if you dare to mess with me again?" Was she amused to see us this panicked? Get a life! After Zexion deposited his homework on the teacher's table, the teacher came in as well, starting the lesson promptly. Soon, recess came. I did not have patrol missions today, and since Samara was not in the classroom at the moment, I called out to Sharon and went up to her. Organisation XIII, Naminé, Ven and Kairi still had not gone out, and they curiously followed me.

I said, "Today's incidents and last week's intel, all of those are you hinting at us?" She looked around and ensured no one else was there, and then she replied, "… Yes. The burst faucet and the missing homework are all Samara's plans. I seriously don't want to let her act unreasonably anymore, so I… informed you all. From last week onwards, I had had enough of her bullying…" She really did not wish to be oppressed by Samara anymore, huh? Sharon continued, "That's why I wanted to help you guys, but I still cannot officially break away be done with her yet, or else I would have no intel…" Did she mean she opted to be an informant? Zexion reasoned, "I am truly grateful for your assistance earlier, but you have no need to run such a great risk. It is good enough that you do not wish to collaborate with her."

She shook her head firmly and said, "It's alright. I don't mind. I always see you guys breaking your backs for the sake of school discipline, and here Samara was, adding trouble onto you all… I cannot stand to see this. Perhaps my acts are too obvious this time, but at least I let her know, that I am not her underling or pawn…" Xion nodded and said, "Well said! You'd just have to show someone like her your true colours!" Demyx continued, "Like what Nemix said before, if she dares to bully you, come look for us. Don't worry."

Naminé said, "Since the beginning of this year, I had seen you alone and ended up with Samara inadvertently. If you worry about alienation by everyone in this class, stay with us instead." Sharon did not see that coming, she mumbled, "… C-can I?" Roxas smiled and said, "We don't bite, so be rest assured!" She paused for a bit and then said, "Last week, I originally intended to not use the paper strip but to report personally. But since you guys were engrossed in a conversation about food, I didn't want to interrupt… I actually envied you all; Samara and her gang never had such… enlightening chats and moments…" Demyx sheepishly said, "Ha, it was nothing, we usually talk about nonsense, I almost got my stomach killed last time… You can join in if you want to! Come over and say hi whenever."

Sharon finally let out a rare small smile and said, "Alright… Thank you…" I returned the smile and said, "Since Demyx and I had no patrols to go on today, why don't we have lunch together?" Axel commented, "Wow Nemix, are you actually going out to eat for real? Is the world coming to an end?" I slapped his arm lightly and retorted, "What do you mean 'for real'? I have nothing to do today anyways, so I thought eating something sounds nice. As for you, don't you have to patrol today?" "Oh shoot! I almost forgot! Gotta go! Bye!" exclaimed Kairi and she ran off. Everyone else with a mission went on their separate ways too.

"Hehe… we are usually absent-minded," Demyx laughed awkwardly. I said, "… Let's go then."


Two weeks passed, and we also finished our trial exam. Now we had some time to catch our breaths, and since Mr. Saix could see us 9th Grade prefects having some down time, he ordered us to team up with 11th Grade prefects to conduct spot checks. Due to the fact that the school had arranged a schedule for that purpose, we were given a sheet each as reminder. They had it all planned out… huh.

One day, Organisation XIII had just returned from the Discipline Room to our usual spot, we looked lethargic. We reported to Mr Saix yet another failed spot check. Yes, you read it right; we failed again. The recent spot checks were based on intel from whistle-blowers in the past month, personally arranged by Mr. Saix himself. However, none of them succeeded.

I sighed and sat down on a chair. Roxas and Demyx almost had their living daylights scared out of them by Mr Saix's moody face. Axel was not jazzed to say the least, but he did not show it completely. Xion sat down too, twiddling her fingers. Zexion saw our reactions and did not say anything. He seemed to be contemplating something. I spoke up first, "How did this cascade of events start?" Xion glanced at me and muttered, "Well… I don't know, that day…"

[One week ago]

"Remember, the objective is to find anyone and anything involved in unauthorised sales in school," Zexion reminded before we left to meet up with other prefects. "Copy!" We left our usual spot and regrouped with everyone else at the Prefect Meeting Room, and then we were divided into different squads, dispatched to different classes. The targets this time were quite many classes, and we had to strike at the same time.

Naminé and I were in the same squad, with other 11th Grade prefects. We arrived at our target together. Everyone hid outside of the classroom while one of us went in and notify the teacher who was still teaching. And once we heard an announcement "Spot check!" from inside, we stormed in quickly and joined in the fray. We got all students to stand in two lines outside of the classroom and two prefects conducted pat-downs on them. Others and I searched the classroom and the surrounding area. I quickly went through every desk, chair, bag, book, file, cabinet, box and whatnot in my assigned area, but there was nothing. I asked via the interphone, "Squad beta, nothing found here. What are we supposed to look for?" "According to the intel, targets are all miniature objects, primary deduction said keyrings," a prefect's voice came through. So I repeated the search and included places perfect for hiding smaller objects. Apart from a few hairclips in line with school rules, there was still nothing.

By now, prefects who conducted the pat-down concluded their investigation; nothing found. We also asked the students yet we could not find any wrong with their answers. And they did not look like they all agreed to collaborate in advance… We returned empty-handed and reported at the Discipline Room. After Mr. Saix listened to us, he muttered, "Why yet another failed again?" I was surprised; yet another failed? Nevertheless, I did not dare to enquire more and returned to the usual spot. Only Zexion and Roxas were there; the others were still out on their missions. "I got nothing, not even a speck of dust…" I sighed. Surprised, Roxas asked, "What? Your squad did not succeed too?" I questioned, "Do you guys have any findings?" They looked at each other and back at me, they shook their heads. Thought so…

[Flashback ended]

"… Soon after that Axel and I returned, our respective squads found nothing too," said Demyx, drinking some water. Xion added, "I was the last one to come back, you all guessed from my expression that I had the same story as you guys…" Axel noted, "When my squad was about to head back to the Discipline Room, I noticed the class we checked were unusually happy… And I thought I heard someone thanking someone about informing them or something… But we had no proof to accuse them of unauthorised dealings. I asked, "You reckon someone leaked out some information beforehand?"

Roxas frowned and said, "But this cannot explain why our spot check after that one failed!" Demyx mumbled, "You mean today's last-minute mission?"

[Two hours ago]

We were summoned by Demyx via the emergency meeting button to gather at the usual spot. We all got there in one minute. Demyx started, "This time, Mr. Saix handed me this order personally. Something about bypassing the normal communication route to prevent info leakage. Anyways, this is what he said…"

Turned out, a prefect caught wind of someone trying to sell leaked PMR questions to students in Kingdom Hearts High School. Since it was an intel obtained at the last minute, and it was serious, so we were chosen to hopefully catch anyone and anything in one fell swoop. Targets would be handling the transaction in the stadium, all of them being students of our school. Time of transaction would be when no one was using the stadium, most likely during recess. Zexion said, "We have to move quick, not only is recess only twenty minutes, the area of the stadium is vast too… We have to split up and outflank anyone involved."

And then, we headed to the stadium at once. Three people covered the building exterior, another one guarded the entrance door, and two more would enter the stadium. Demyx and I were in charge of barging in. We hid beside the door, once all members of Organisation XIII were in place, Roxas opened the door and Demyx and I rushed in. As expected, four students were found in there; two boys and two girls. They had piles of papers and books which resembled exam sheets on their hands.

"Everyone stay put! We have orders from the school to arrest people who sell leaked exam questions. Please cooperate and hand over whatever is on your hands," I announced, walking towards them. They were completely caught off guard and just stood there like logs. They did obediently give whatever they had to me nonetheless. I took a good look at- Official PMR Past-Years Question Bank? I blanked out for a second, and I opened the book, flipping through the pages quickly. This book was identical to the one I bought from the book store last week… it was the publication authorised by the Ministry of Education! Not leaked questions…? I checked the papers too, and they were pure innocent practice questions; stuff I had seen elsewhere.

I gave everything to Demyx first, and I asked one of them, "Why are you here with these books and papers?" A boy spoke, "We are students from the same tuition centre. Our tutor asked me to give these to those who did not attend the tuition classes last time. The books were ordered by him on our behalf, because it's cheaper that way…" Demyx asked, "Then why choose the stadium?" Another girl explained, "We agreed to meet here, because we are from different classes and their classes are near here. Coincidentally, the door is not locked. Our tutor reminded us not to let too many people know about this, because he is worried of receiving too many favours to order books on students' behalf. So he told us to keep a low profile when receiving the sheets…"

Well, I ran out of questions. I walked away to somewhere quieter and spoke through the interphone, "Guys, our intel is wrong. Human and object targets are legit, no suspicious flaws. Advice?"

006: "Define 'legit'."

207: "On their hands were official past-year and tuition class practice questions. Their reason is that one of them was asked by their tutor to disseminate the stuff to the rest, but keeping it low-keyed so as to prevent everyone else asking the tutor to buy books on their behalf."

383: "Wait, which tutor?"

135: "Hang on… Ansem Tuition Class, there are even a phone number and an email address. 016-XXX XXXX."

383: "Ah, that's the tuition class I attend! Yes, I saw the tutor gave a guy a stack of books and papers with my own eyes. What's the name of the person handing them out?"

135: "… He said his name is James Evans."

383: "Yup, that's him… Eh, wait, if that's the case, they're all innocent?"

207: "You just proved their innocence, so, yeah…"

222: "So… this is another wild goose chase? What the heck?"

And that was how we returned the things to their rightful owners, apologised, returned to Mr Saix and explained the whole shebang. The blue-haired man looked less mad this time, because no one committed any mistakes, or perhaps because the recent failures rendered him immune.

[Flashback ended]

"Everything about this mission was correct, except for motive and objects… It doesn't seem like intel leakage however you look at it," said Roxas, getting exasperated. Axel mused, "Intel… Come to think of it, what the hell kind of intel did the recent missions base on? Either it was inaccurate or it was leaked…" "I do hear it is from a newly adopted whistle-blower mechanism by the school lately, to enable anyone in school to report any discrimination, injustice, dangerous practices and illegal happenings. It allows people to lodge reports anonymously," Zexion finally said something. Roxas grumbled, "At least confirm its validity before taking any actions, geez…"

I said, "Regardless if any intel leaked during last week's spot check, it is impossible for the intel this time to leak, right? Didn't Demyx summon us once he got it?" Demyx nodded, "Yeah… I did not come across anyone else while waiting." Roxas asked, "Mr. Saix could not have given orders on a whim without checking the source, right? It would be a big waste of his time."

Our brains were fried at this point, so we agreed to call it a day and dismissed. While we were heading back to K3B, Mr. Saix came out of nowhere and said, "Group 27, I have something to discuss with you all. Come to my office." He looked kind of desperate, so we followed him to the Discipline Room. Once he got in, he trotted to his computer and pressed a few keys. We were standing before his office desk, but since he was obviously busy, we did not start talking. Just then, he said, "Lock the door. Pull the shutters down." Now that was odd; why such secrecy? Zexion said nothing and proceeded with the orders.

Once everything was set, Mr. Saix said, "The intel earlier was accurate, because someone intended to carry out their deeds at the same place and same time, using the four students earlier as a cover and a possible scapegoat. Nevertheless, they did not succeed and we did not fail entirely either… because some of you were sweeping the stadium exterior, so the real culprit did not get to complete his job." My eyes widened a bit; was he implying we were just that close? Zexion asked, "If so, they will still make an attempt, and they already had their next steps planned out?" Mr. Saix nodded and said, "Indeed. I crosschecked the intel, and all clues pointed towards the canteen kitchen." Axel said, "Why? They're going to do it there?" "Indirectly. Most possibly they will hide the leaked question bank in there, and someone else will pick it up separately," explained the man.

I was actually curious; if they were going to do something in the dark, why do it in the school? Waiting to be caught? But, authorities outside were indeed cracking down cases like these harder than those in this place… Roxas asked, "So when do we act?" Mr. Saix looked at his monitor screen again and said, "To remain unseen, they might act while no canteen workers are there, and the school still has to be not closed or just opened… Time after school dismissal is very unlikely, because the security during night time was fortified recently…" Xion guessed, "Before lessons start?" I nodded and added, "Seems the most possible. How early exactly is a question that could be asked…" Zexion reasoned, "Canteen workers start their jobs at six sharp, so before that happens then."

Zexion's sentence and Mr. Saix's approval sealed our fates… and slumber. Therefore I reached the usual spot at half past five in the next bloody morning, even earlier than the rooster itself! Poor me… Which bloody bastard dared to force me to shorten my slumber time?! What nerve! If I caught them they were going to suffer from my wrath!

I took a nap as recharge before the others arrived, since I had to wait anyways. Soon, Zexion came in three minutes after me. I groaned, "Do you think this intel is trustworthy? We ran around like idiots for nothing so many times, it feels as if it will not be any better this time." Zexion thought about it and said, "Mr. Saix's words did sound a bit far-fetched. But there is reason for him to let us rush about fruitlessly…"

Soon, everyone was accounted for. Zexion reminded us of our objective for this time; to find suspicious flaws before six and settle in nearby for an ambush to catch everyone in one go. At around 05:36, we got to the canteen kitchen. Once we confirmed nothing around the kitchen was off, we used the key borrowed from Mr. Saix to unlock the door. While Roxas and Xion remained outside to stand guard and watch our backs, the rest of us went in and closed the door. I switched on the lights. The interior did not look too different from a typical restaurant kitchen; white walls, red brick floor tiles, and a ton of stainless steel ovens, stoves, worktops, and cupboards. The stoves and the ovens were against the walls, whereas the centre of the kitchen was lined with worktops. Suspended above all of these were cupboards.

"We should search through once, see if anyone had been here to hide the question bank," I suggested first, and no one had any objections. I went over to check the ovens and the stoves on the right side, and any attached cupboards. Demyx took care of the fridges, Zexion covered all worktops and Axel was in charge of the remaining area and any barrels and bins. I found nothing (surprise, surprise), so now I moved on to the cupboards above me, but… I was not tall enough… I extended and stretched my arm fully, stood on my toes, my hand flailed in the air… and I could not even touch the bottom of the cupboard… "207, stop the meaningless struggle, let me do the job." Axel's voice suddenly came from my right and I almost fell off. He wore an amused expression and was leaning on the wall nearby, watching me acting like a short child trying to reach for something on a table. I narrowed my eyes and retorted, "Well, don't just stand there and watch me suffer then! Give me a hand."

He shrugged and extended his arm. He opened the cupboard effortlessly, but he could not see what was in the cupboard either and could only feel around. "Hmm… Nothing in there." I started looking for my next search target. At that moment, I only noticed one thing then. "Eh? A paper is sticking out of that cupboard," I said, pointing at a suspending cupboard three steps away; a corner of a piece of paper was sticking out of the cupboard door. We walked over, and Axel opened the door and grabbed onto the exposed paper, but it did not budge when pulled. Axel muttered, "Something was pressing down on it… Hang on…" He jerked harder and in a split second the paper was pulled out, but also a white paper bag. It flew out and landed on Axel's face. And the off-white powder from said bag fell all over him and the floor. I was standing further away, so the powder did not hit me, but it made me cough a bit. "*Cough cough* 222, you alright? What the hell…" I tried not to breathe in the powder mist and also attempted to swat it out of my way while covering my nose and mouth with another hand.

When most of the powder settled down, Zexion and Demyx were already here. Axel's face was dusted as white as a Japanese geisha's face. He wiped the powder off his face and rubbed his eyes and nose. He was not pleased and grumbled, "Which idiot put flour in there?! Seriously…" I found the paper earlier on the floor, but… it was just a sheet of blank paper. "What? Just a blank paper?! Damn it, how dare they use such a childish trick…" I muttered, feeling irritated. And how great, we also had to clean up their mess! Demyx suggested, "I'll go look for a broom or something." And then he walked to a corner. Zexion sighed, "Looks like we have no gain today… I should ask 013 and 383 about the situation outside." He started heading for the door. I stood up, patted off some powder on my shirt, saying, "Come on 222, we still have to get you to the Welfare Room for fresh clothes." "Oh…" he replied and stood up too.

Axel swatted any suspending powder in the air and commented, "Honestly, it's stuffy in here, all because of this stupid flour… Feels suffocating." Upon hearing that, I remembered last year's mission; we were stuck in a classroom and someone let pressure cookers filled with flour to explode, and the flour got everywhere like mist, not even close to being romantic. "Ugh, don't remind me…" I groaned softly while closing my eyes, feeling a potential headache creeping up. I swore I would have to make up for my sleep-

"DONG! BANG!" A series of crashes came. My eyes flew open and I was horrified by what was unfolding before me; Axel had fallen to the floor and had difficulty breathing, he was in pure agony. Crap! I rushed to him, latching onto his arm and yelling, "Axel?! Are you OK? Don't scare me!" Zexion overheard me and ran over, he was shocked too. Slightly panicked, he asked, "What is wrong with him?!" I could only shake my head and say, "I don't know! He was still talking to me seconds ago… w-what the hell?!" Demyx exclaimed too, "222?! What happened?!"

In the midst of chaos Zexion seemed to have thought of something, and he ordered immediately, "Get him to a corner, quick!" We scrambled to get Axel there. Zexion laid him down facing skywards rapidly and loosened his necktie and shirt collar. His neck was blooming with red swollen patches and Axel was trying to scratch them; an itch. His face was flushed and getting swollen too. Zexion asked frantically, "E-EpiPen! Where is it?!" Axel managed to wheeze, "Left… pocket..!" I did not need to be told twice; I dug out a white pen-like object, with a blue cap and an orange tip. I passed it to Zexion, he pulled off the blue cap hurriedly and held the pen with the orange tip facing down. He swung it to the side of Axel's mid-thigh and stabbed it. I heard a click a second later. Zexion's hand still gripped onto the pen like a cobra, his fist was trembling and his knuckles turned white. Zexion was mumbling to himself, "One… two… three… four…" Axel did not seem to improve much and I got scared and blurted, "A-ambulance!" I scrambled to the door and swung it open forcefully, startling Roxas and Xion in the process. I shouted, "Get an ambulance! Now!"

"What?!" cried Xion, astonished. I yelled in panic, "Axel's going to die if we don't hurry!" It took one second for Roxas to recover from his shock and rush to a public phone. Xion headed the other way, shouting, "I'll get Mr. Saix!" I then rushed back into the kitchen. Zexion had already removed the pen and was now massaging the spot he stabbed earlier. He told me and Demyx, "We need to get him out. Get a clean piece of cloth to cover his nose and mouth, do not let him inhale any of the powder." One minute later, we successfully got Axel out of the kitchen and laid him down in an open area outside of the canteen.

Just then, Roxas' voice burst through our interphones, sounding very panicked, "What's your situation over there?! What do I say?!" Zexion tried to calm himself down and said, "Tell the paramedics, it is… severe allergic reaction! Anaphylaxis!" Demyx was scared out of his mind and he did not know what to do. Axel's breathing was still unsteady, and then Xion and Mr. Saix ran over. Xion yelled, "What is the situation now?!" "Axel? Axel! Wake up!" cried Demyx. He was slowly losing consciousness, and tears almost pricked my eyes out of panic. Just then… "The ambulance is here!" exclaimed Roxas.

Zexion and I followed the paramedic who carried Axel into the ambulance, while others hopped onto Mr Saix's car and rushed to the hospital together. On the way, the paramedics was shown the pen Zexion used earlier, and soon Axel was given another shot. He also threw up a bit, but luckily the paramedics were prepared, so not much mess was created.

What followed later was all fuzzy to me. After god-knows-how-long, I only started to notice myself sitting in the A&E waiting area, and everyone was there. Zexion was honestly traumatised this time. I had never seen him so panic-stricken before; he was trying very hard to calm his breathing down, and his hands were still quivering slightly. Having to perform emergency first aid like this to family or friends was perhaps the worst thing ever. I started to control my breathing too, or else I would accidentally hyperventilate and become the next one to go into the emergency room. Demyx and Roxas could not sit still and casted nervous glances at the emergency room frequently. Xion and Mr. Saix were handling some procedures at the counter.

"Axel… isn't out yet?" Xion's voice sounded like a scared kitten. I looked to my left; she was staring at the still unopened door with a deep frown. I mumbled, "Not yet…" After about thirty minutes, the door finally opened and the doctor walked out. Roxas jumped up first and asked, "Doctor, how's Axel?" She said, "Fortunately, first aid was given in time, and he is now stable. But he needs to stay here for two days' observation… He needs an IV drip and oxygen mask too. You can visit him if you wish. Room 318, third floor."

Five minutes later, we all entered Axel's ward. He was already awake, but still had the oxygen mask on. He looked a tad frazzled, but when he saw us coming in, he mustered all of his energy to look less like hell. He said quietly, "Yo…" Demyx cried, "Axel you scared us to death, man! Why the sudden allergic reaction?" I mumbled, "Must have been that powder… God damn it, it was all my fault, why did I have to find that piece of paper? And not grow tall enough, so Axel had to reach it for me…" It frustrated me to no end. Axel said, "Nemix, this isn't your fault… I pulled the paper myself… you were just looking for the leaked question bank. I don't blame you…" Mr. Saix said, "I heard from the paramedics that it might be peanut allergy?" Axel answered, "Yeah, I'm allergic to peanuts. But I had not come into contact with peanuts for ages so it had been a good while since this happened… Although the doctor prescribed me a few of those pens, this was my first time using it. They also told me that the flour earlier was mixed with peanut flour…"

Roxas sighed, "Thank goodness Zexion knew how to use that pen, or else god knows what would happen… You couldn't even hold the pen in that state…" Zexion was silent, standing there and staring at the oxygen supply pipes. When Axel saw Zexion seemingly still in distraught, he said, "Hey Zex, you should still haven't forgotten your promise, right?" Zexion snapped out of his trance and looked at Axel. He blurted, "Huh?" Axel joked, "You said you're going to make pasta for us after the exam. Since you pulled me back from hell, then I'll be waiting for your food. Got it memorised?" Zexion's eyes widened, but then his features visibly relaxed. He took a deep breath, nodded and said, "Sure, will do. You had best not forget it too." Xion was about to cry and she exclaimed, "Axel, you idiot, don't you even know the situation? And you're still thinking about food?!" Axel retorted, "The situation is that I'm hungry. Speaking of which, why hasn't my food arrived yet?"

Axel, being Axel, was trying to reassure us, despite having just returned from a U-turn in hell. Demyx whimpered, "Axel, you foodaholic…" Roxas volunteered and said, "I'll go ask the nurse." After that, he darted out. Mr. Saix was finally able to let out a breath of relief. He said, "I still have to go back to school, but you all don't have to follow me; I'll apply for sick leave on your behalf." Zexion added, "Then, please notify Ventus, Naminé and Kairi, tell them to pick up our bags too." "No problem, and also… your group will not receive any missions for now, until I figured out everything about this. You did your best." "… Yes, understood," said Zexion carefully. And then the blue-haired man left.

I did not have the mood to do any bloody mission now anyways… I finally sat down on a chair in the ward, feeling exhausted. Good god… my adrenaline rush was off the charts earlier, and once the crisis was over, I felt like a seaweed out of water; I just wanted to flop down and not move an inch. Zexion also allowed himself to relax at last, he found a seat and sat down too. Xion went out to find Roxas and Demyx dragged a chair over to Axel's bed and sat down there.

Silent reigned… Axel broke the ice again, "Hey, what's with you all? Say something for god's sake. This is too weird…" Demyx whined, "We had the living daylights scared out of us… I still can't forget those scenes from earlier, I almost can't speak…" Zexion sighed, "This mission… if I was not too rash, I mean, if I thought more about it, scrutinise more about the intel this time… I took on this mission too recklessly-" Axel interrupted, "We took on this mission, OK? No one would have expected this to happen, you all did your very best, so don't blame yourselves. Please. I never told you guys about me being seriously allergic to peanuts, it is kind of my fault you guys got spooked… eh, wait, why am I blaming myself now? Thanks guys, I am influenced by you…"

Roxas and Xion returned at this moment and they said, "The nurse said they will deliver your food at lunch time at twelve." "What the heck… it is only nine something now…" grumbled Axel. I was not listening to anything, my thoughts were racing instead; peanut flour mixed with regular flour was definitely no coincidence. Not everyone was allergic to peanuts, why go through all the trouble to mix it in, put it at such a precarious place, and add a sheet of paper as bait? However I saw it, it looked like a plan to mess with someone. Could it be directed at Axel? If we were talking about grudges, Samara was first in the list. But how did she know something no one else knew? If my memory served me well, the school had never asked for our health particulars, medical history and such from us (though from the standpoint of student safety, records might have been necessary), so the prospect of Samara abusing school systems to harm Axel seemed unlikely. Then, who could it be…?

Furthermore, why did the intel for recent missions blunder frequently? Was someone abusing the whistle-blower mechanism? But Mr. Saix would not possibly just take all information as it was, right…? He would have to complete background checks, ascertain reasons and consequences before delegating missions… Unless… Up to this point, I felt a shiver down my spine. I shivered involuntarily for a second, but everyone else was, fortunately, chatting incessantly, so no one took notice of my predicament. I soon dived back into my whirlpool of thoughts; unless… there was a rat in the Board of Prefects… or… Wait, did we not talk about food some days ago? Axel mentioned his dislike towards pesto because it contained peanuts… and those who heard this were Organisation XIII, Ven, Naminé and Kairi. Could it be… someone got any ideas from that?

This thought was very scary, it was a question I never considered… Zexion was the one proposing and opining to carry out this mission from the start, with him agreeing everything with Mr. Saix and all, but he saved Axel afterwards… was he afraid to take this too far or did he want to whitewash himself? Demyx was pretty close with Sharon as of late, Naminé too. Could Samara had taken this chance to turn our informant against us; disseminating wrong intel via the whistle-blower mechanism? If said mechanism was electronic, Roxas might have the ability to hack into the system, tamper with the intel and mislead everyone… but would Mr. Saix not feel suspicious? Or was it that he could not feel suspicious, due to some pressure from above? He did mention that the culprits might have seen people guarding outside the stadium and did not dare to enter… Those who were outside were Roxas, Zexion, Xion and Axel… Did one or some of them informed whoever was out there to change their plans? Xion? Would Axel… not use this near-death incident to clear any suspicion about him?

What was this nonsense?! I really wanted to punch myself. What were everyone's motives then?! That would not make sense! How did I start to suspect my own friends? This was nuts… I must have been still frightened out of my wits to be able to conjure such nonsensical speculations. Under pressure from the situation, anything illogical could sprout from people; desperate times, desperate measures, honestly… I should drink something. A nice hot cup of Earl Grey sounded amazing.

I said, "I'm going to get something to drink. Anyone wants me to get them anything?" I should have just not asked, because I was bombarded with numerous coffee orders… Oh well, let it go. I went out and shut the door, leaving the rest of Organisation XIII in the ward. Zexion had been quiet after Axel's interruption and did not participate with the chitchat. Instead, he noticed Nemix's odd behaviour. "Her expression… looked somewhat scared. Everything is fine now, why is she still scared? And that sudden shiver; it is not very cold here… Furthermore, this incident does not look simple at all… Axel fell for the trap because Nemix could not reach for the suspicious item at a high place; this could not have been a trap set by her, right? She was the one to suggest starting a search in the kitchen, she also arrived the earliest today… Impossible, Nemix does not have the motive at all; she hates dishonourable acts of thievery and fraud. She has always been a law-abiding person to a fault; if there is any hint of clashes with rules and regulations, she will resist. Typical lawful neutral alignment… In her eyes, things are almost always either right or wrong with very few grey areas. Unless without a choice, she will never break a rule… except for the infiltration last time…" thought Zexion. He then looked at others and continued thinking, "If Nemix does not have the motive, what about the rest? Axel could play the victim card, Demyx might have attracted retribution from Samara, even if Sharon had pledged to be our informant of some sort… Could Samara have thrown a wrench in the works? There is no proof so far. Roxas could manipulate and input false intel… This is the hypothesis if, among Organisation XIII or the prefects, there exists a traitor. But no one else here has a motive too…"

I was waiting for everyone's coffee to be brewed while I sipped my tea. I did feel a lot more soothed. I had thought about it long and hard, and the intel was still the most suspicious. I had decided; I would let Organisation XIII know about my doubts and viewpoints, and get to the bottom of this! I would like to see who was so tired of being alive that they decided to mess with us. Like what Demyx said before; if someone messed with one of us, they messed with all of us.

At around two in the afternoon, Ven, Naminé, Kairi and Sharon showed up. Kairi's exaggerating personality shone again; she tossed the bags aside and exclaimed, "Holy hell, Axel, are you OK?! When Mr. Saix told us about this, my heart almost stopped…" Axel had to explain everything again. Ven commented, "That was so terrifying, it kind of reminds me of last time when my migraine relapsed." I shuddered and added, "You scared me half to death back then, and I couldn't even find your pills. I had no idea how I would get you to the infirmary without Riku and Sora."

Sharon said, "If Naminé hadn't told me, I would still probably be wondering what happened to you guys, not coming to lessons and all… But don't worry, except for me, no other students know about this, especially Samara. If she did, she would have been on cloud nine, and made sure everyone knows it." Did that need to be said? She hated us with a passion and wished nothing more than us getting wiped off the face of Earth, perhaps a sneeze from one of us would make her so ecstatic she could die… But, if she said so, then Samara knew nothing? And also not the mastermind or culprit? This was getting harder to deal with… However, due to the fact that Sharon was not a prefect, it was not convenient for me to discuss with everyone. I should wait for Axel's recovery… Let us not ruin the moment.


Two days later, Axel was discharged successfully, and also received a few adrenaline auto-injectors from the doctor. Coincidentally, a weekend followed, so we did not have any meetings, until school dismissed on Monday when Zexion sent out the meeting notification. We were once again in our usual spot. Once the door was locked, the meeting commenced. Seeing that no one wanted to start, I cleared my throat and said, "So… about that incident last time, I have a few opinions to share with you guys… Just… don't beat me up." The remaining five members stared at me with odd expressions, Xion asked, "What do you mean? You are not hiding anything from us again, are you?" Zexion was staring at me too, but his expression was distinct from others; like he was observing my every move. Honestly, it was unnerving.

"I swore to not hide anything anymore, didn't I? Anyways, back to the subject. My opinion is… I suspect a traitor among us," I buckled up and admitted it nonetheless. To be fair, to point it out straightaway was not a very smart move, but everyone did not have a motive. Also, I was still hanging onto the hope that, following that near-fatal incident, if there really was a rat, they would feel remorse. As one would expect, everyone was surprised. Roxas' eyes widened and Demyx's jaw slackened. Axel stared at me with his signature "WTF" face plus an "are you for real?" expression. Xion managed to sputter, "Wha…?" Zexion's small frown started to form, but his expression did not alter otherwise. I observed the situation and reactions and continued, "Or to put it bluntly, I suspected every single one of you, but you all have no obvious motives, so any theories on betrayal and double-crossing were not established anyways… Don't beat me up."

Exceptionally, Axel carefully chose his words, "Why don't you explain; why are we… very suspicious?" I spilled everything about that scary thought I entertained, listing out everyone's "questionable behaviours". "Even so, everyone here has good academic results; there is no need to sell or obtain leaked questions, and there's no way you all can get your hands on such things listed as top government secret, thus the lack of motives. Nevertheless, from the end of the trial exam to now, none of our missions was a success, that's why I started speculating the possibility of someone among us working against us," I said carefully, mainly not to arouse excessive panic, and trying to maintain a calm outlook on this.

Zexion was still watching me, but he was observing other members of Organisation XIII occasionally. I also felt he was doubting everyone, including me. After a few seconds of silence, he finally sighed. He looked at me and said, "I have similar thoughts… I suspected you too, but as you said, everyone lacks a motive, like you. Besides, some of the so-called questionable behaviours are quite far-fetched…" And then he averted his gaze at everyone else and continued, "Of course, I have to admit I doubted other members of this group as well. If you guys have any opinions, let them out. Being distrustful of one another is not beneficial in the long run."

Roxas, Axel, Xion and Demyx looked at one another for a moment. Soon, Roxas spoke up, "In all honesty, I'm a bit mad at you guys for suspecting me, but since so many things had happened, it's not weird for you to think of that scenario." Xion seemed slightly hurt and said, "I do not suspect anyone at all… I do suspect outsiders." Axel sighed, "Why would I joke around with my life? Anaphylaxis can be fatal, geez… I say the problem lies with the intel." Demyx was the most distressed. He said, "How did we come to this, doubting friends and friendlies? Don't we know one another's personalities and behaviours well? I agree with Xion; it has to be outsiders."

"If so, Ven, Naminé and Kairi would not even make it into the list. They are from another Counter Crime Group. If there is no handover or co-op, no information can be shared among groups. They didn't even know our mission until Mr. Saix told them," I said. Roxas joined in, "That includes Sharon as well. She knows nothing of our mission and any associated SOPs, how was she going to mess us all up?"

Zexion nodded and said, "Looks like our thoughts aligned; the problem most likely stems from the intel." We all agreed. I started, "Which leads nicely to my next opinion; intel. How do they come to be? What exactly is the whistle-blower mechanism? What issues can it have?" Zexion explained, "Like I said before, it is a mechanism for people to report anonymously. Everything is done online and only the school's computers can access the website." Roxas reasoned, "So that means all computer labs are suspicious venues, and one has to report via the school's network…"

I pressed on, "So, can we read their reports and complaints?" Zexion negated, "I asked Mr. Saix before; only he and other school admins can access such information. Not even normal teachers can see them." Axel concluded, "Then that means we can only ask him, see if he wants to let us have a peek…"

With that, the meeting ended. But before we left, Xion said to us, "About us suspecting each other… I don't blame you all, really. No hard feelings!" We did feel less insecure and uncertain now. At least now, the problem did not seem to be us… for now. Let us see what would happen.


It was some time before the first lesson of the day and I was writing furiously in my classroom. I forgot to finish the last few paragraphs of the English essay due today, so I was fixing that. I could not recall some of the vocabulary and was getting desperate, but it was very noisy outside. I did not know what was going on, but there were tons of people gathering out there, chattering non-stop about god-knows-what, even our classmates joined in the fray and broke my concentration every now and then. I managed to substitute with some phrases of similar meaning and handed in the essay without a hitch (and hoped Mr. Luxord would not be irked at the many crossed-out mistakes due to my last-minute writing). OK, time to find out why no one wanted to shut up…

I tried to walk out and see. The whole corridor was filled with students, though they seemed to be looking at and converging in where the corridor met the stairwell. However, I was facing a literal human wall here and had no idea how to squeeze through. Just then, someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see Zexion and Xion. I asked, "Do you know what is happening?" Zexion answered, "I would like to know too… But I have an idea. Follow me." After finishing, he started walking to the other end of the corridor with Xion and I following closely behind. Turned out he was thinking about bypassing the crowd via the second floor. When we were back on the third floor, we emerged at the eye of the crowd-storm. I could vaguely see everyone cramming before a notice board. I led the way to clear a path for Zexion and Xion by squeezing through the crowd and I finally got to the front row. My hair was all over the place, so after a brief tidy-up, I looked at the notice board- Crap. There was a big mugshot of Sharon surrounded by words scribbled with red permanent marker. "Shameless brat, you chose to double-cross when you can't keep up with me? Your true nature is not just this!" I stared at those words, and then I noticed some photos pasted around the mugshot, all seemingly taken without her knowledge. Sharon appeared in all photos as the main character, the venues being the residential area of the slums, and also where the slum's red light district was. "Crap just got real…" I muttered under my breath and turned to Zexion and Xion. They also could not believe their eyes.

"We have to disperse the crowd," Xion said to us. I had a rather stupid idea… We made it to a less crowded corner against the wall, and I barked, "Mr. Sephiroth is here!" Everyone was startled and scrambled at once, rushing back to their respective classrooms. Miraculously, no one noticed us. So apparently Mr. Sephiroth could be as scary as, if not scarier than, Mr. Saix. I let out a sigh of relief and said, "OK… now what? Are we taking them all down?" Zexion said, "As physical evidence then…" Thus, we grabbed everything. "We should head back," suggested Xion. When we got back, our classmates were talking about the photos, but I did not see Sharon; her seat was vacant.

After we returned to our respective seats, Axel asked, "What happened out there?" Xion groaned, "It was bad, and it was about Sharon. Someone got a visual of her being in the red light district of the slums and took photos of her." Demyx exclaimed, "What?!" He managed to make a few heads turn to us, Roxas slapped him upside in the head and hushed, "Keep it down!" Demyx suppressed his volume this time, "How could this be? Now the whole world knows…?" Zexion raised an eyebrow and asked, "You knew about this?"

Demyx admitted, "It was like this; one time Sharon and I were chatting at a café, she mentioned that her family is not very well off, living in the edge of the slums, despite not living in poverty. Her father is a hawker, and her mother worked as a seamstress in the red light district." Everyone (especially the older generation) always said that thugs and prostitutes lived in the slums. Even if many years had passed, and the people there had better education and economic status, we could still hear such prejudice sometimes. Roxas said quietly, "Then it's likely that someone took the photos when she was going home?" Zexion contemplated and said, "Sharon is not someone with a special identity; there is only one possible reason she was followed and had her photo taken without her knowledge." I frowned and mumbled, "To gather enough 'clues' to twist the truth?"

"All rise!" The class monitor announced just then as the teacher walked into the classroom. We had to stop our discussion and get ready for the lesson. Luckily, we were soon granted quiet revision time, so we resumed discussing carefully. Xion whispered first, "It must be Samara… She couldn't possibly have discovered Sharon's informant identity, right?" Zexion whispered, "It has to be. The word 'double-cross' was already there." I questioned, "Isn't this a bit too obvious?" Axel grumbled, "Samara never considers anyone's existence when doing anything, not knowing the meaning of 'low-key'. It is not strange for this to be her deed!" Demyx said worriedly, "She also told me not to tell anyone, so I had been keeping her story a secret since…" I sighed, "Don't beat yourself up over this, it's not your fault. It is extremely easy for Samara to investigate family backgrounds of anyone in this school. Stuff like this is bound to happen at some point." Roxas warned, "Hush, Sharon's back…"

She walked to her seat quickly after knocking on the door and entered after gaining permission. Classmates were either gossiping about her or staring at her. Samara, however, did not react; she looked content. Sharon put up a calm front and acted like nothing happened, ignoring everyone around her. We might need to talk to her… When you felt as if it was you against the world, you would only push anyone approaching to help away. I hoped she would not resort to that.

After more lessons, recess arrived. When I was going to find Sharon, she was gone again. Why was she always one step ahead? Or maybe she did not feel like explaining anything to anyone? If so, I did not want to force her too. Ven was cleaning the blackboard with Roxas, and everyone else went out. I got tired of doing homework, so I slipped out for a stroll. I got to the garden, a perfect place for me to think calmly; so far, Mr. Saix did not assign any missions to Organisation XIII, it would make sense for us not to pry into any missions too. Zexion said he would suggest to him to investigate the intel, or ask if we could have a look. I just hoped Mr. Said would not mistake this as doubting his abilities and authority…

"Nemix!" Someone's voice came from behind me. I spun around and saw Ven and Naminé. Ven said, "Zexion's looking for you. Why did you come here?" I laughed lightly and said, "Nothing much, just to get some fresh air. Is he at the classroom?" He answered, "On his way. Let's go together." We chatted on the way back. "I heard… the notice board had something about Sharon just now?" asked Naminé, worry evident in her tone. I sighed, "Yeah… but we think someone's trying to twist the truth. What could they want to explain with a few random photos anyway…" Ven guessed, "Do you think it was Samara's handiwork?" I rolled my eyes and replied, "I would bet my life on it…"

Just then, Roxas' voice came from ahead, "What?! We did do our cleaning duty!" "Roxas? Sounds like coming from our classroom," said Naminé. Ven dashed ahead and we followed suit. We reached the classroom door seconds later, and Roxas was arguing with a sanitary warden. We walked in while Ven asked, "What's going on?" Roxas explained in a hurry, "He insisted that we didn't do our cleaning job, but that's not the point. Look at the blackboard!" Only then we took notice of the blackboard full of photos of Sharon from before, and there were derogatory words like "pariah", "shameless", "hypocrite", "crafty" and so on written with chalk all over any empty space. Had we not been aware of this being manmade, we might have thought of it as haunted.

Naminé was rendered speechless and only managed to say, "Oh god…" "Nemix?" Zexion returned as well but he also stopped in his tracks upon seeing the blackboard. Roxas continued, "Ven and I left for a while after we were done cleaning. Once I returned to the door this guy here said we did not clean anything, therefore we entered the classroom so I could prove him wrong, but the blackboard turned out like this…" In order to keep any unrelated person out of this, I said to the warden, "I can vouch for them; I saw them clean the board with my own eyes. Although I don't know what's going on, this is not due to their negligence. We will deal with the board now, so please don't count this towards their demerit." He thought about it, and he agreed, "Very well, no problem. I'll leave it to you guys to take care of it then." He finally left. Thanks for the trust!

I quickly said, "Quick, before anyone gets here, get rid of everything!" We worked together to clean up the board. Then, I asked, "Oh, right, Zexion, what do you need me for?" "… Oh, it is about the intel-" "AH!" We almost jumped out of our skins. Bloody hell, what now?! My head turned towards where the scream came from. Sharon was standing near her desk, her hands were covered in… chilli sauce? "Sharon?" mumbled Naminé. She took a deep breath and said to us, "It's fine, I'll go wash my hands for a bit…" And then she scurried out. Naminé and I ran to her seat to see what was up; her desk drawer was overflowing with tissue papers, and they were dipped with chilli sauce and rolled into balls.

I lost it and roared, "Goddammit! Samara, you despicable being, what do you want?!" Naminé was so intimidated by me she could not even squeak. Zexion and Roxas came up to us to put out the fire. "Calm down, Nemix, things will get out of hand if someone heard you," coaxed Roxas. Zexion glanced at the drawer and said, "We should get a bin bag and clean up this mess before anything." Soon, he dug out a large black bin bag from the metal cabinet, and I went to find a wet cloth, still fuming. Five minutes later, Sharon returned, and we also finished cleaning up the mess. I finally got my chance and said, "Sharon, before you disappear on me again, I'll ask; are you OK?" "… I'm fine… it's just, maybe because my cover is blown so she is retaliating at me," she said quietly, her face conveying helplessness. I added, "I will inform Mr. Saix about this, so don't you worry." Frowning, she said, "You do realise doing that… will not stop Samara, right? We witnessed it first-hand. You witnessed it first-hand; even if she broke the rules she will remain unaffected…"

Her words hit a sore spot, and I did not know what to say. People were milling into the classroom now, so I could only say, "Then stay alert. Don't let her walk all over you…" And then I walked back to my seat and sat down, continuing to stew in my frustration. Zexion only spoke up after a while, "About the intel, I had asked Mr. Saix. He said school protocols do not allow us to read any whistle-blower reports, but he promised to investigate any intel related to our missions, and will notify us at some point." I sighed, "Is that so…? Fine then." It was better than doing nothing.


The following two weeks were pure insanity. We saw Sharon being ridiculed and bullied at least twice a day every day. The ways it happened varied; doodling with permanent marker on her desk, littering in her seat, pouring juice in her bag, hiding her books, "borrowing" her things without returning them, leaving insults of her on the blackboard, loudly speaking ill about her when she was within earshot etc. There was even one time when someone "accidentally" walk into her in the canteen and she dropped her food on the ground, and no one offered compensation. There was also once when I was trying to protect her from the shadows, so I made up an excuse to accompany her to the washroom, where she was promptly doused by a bucket of water by a few students. They even thought about drenching her with a water hose, but I appeared and interfered in time, and they all scampered out. But wait, there was more; I had to bring her to the Welfare Room to get her some clean dry clothes, so I asked a classmate who happened to pass by to inform the teacher in class about our expected longer absence in the classroom. But when we got back to the classroom after settling Sharon's issue, the teacher accused us of skipping classes. If it were not for the Welfare Room records, and the teacher in charge of said records and Organisation XIII vouching for us, we would have been framed. Speaking of which, that classmate never did inform the teacher, because the teacher said no one told her about us.

Initially, I wondered why the classmate did not help us out, but soon Organisation XIII realised that our classmates around us and some others were literally useless; they witnessed Sharon being bullied and they did not help or stop it from happening, and some even joined forces with Samara! I finally decided that enough was enough and reported to Mr. Saix, ignoring Sharon's pleas. The next few days were some form of a bloodbath; Mr. Saix endowed Organisation XIII, Ven, Naminé and Kairi with the authority to apprehend bullies. When I came across anyone involved in bullying and defaming Sharon, I would copy and hand their school numbers to Mr. Saix. Those who were witnessed and caught were reprimanded and received demerits. It took us two days to subdue everyone. Except for Samara, no one dared to try anything stupid anymore. I did not fathom why I would listen to Sharon, taking this long to solve the problem…

Though I did manage to stop this from spiralling out of control, permanent damage had been done. Although no one dared to bully Sharon before us (or at least before Sharon herself), there were still rumours about her family background roaming around like an undercurrent in the sea. I guessed the whole school knew it by now; I could hear people gossiping, claiming her as a pariah, and even twisting the story to the point that everyone believed that her whole family were working on immoral grounds, that her family was broken, and drug abuse too! It was even tougher to single out who spread the rumours, I bent over backwards, searching, arresting and reporting, and they kept coming. Now, Sharon avoided anyone. In the beginning she was still with us, but at this point, she avoided us too. I was now officially some kind of plague god that everyone scrammed away from, except for the fact that I was not even sick. K3B now knew my wrath and would not mess with me. With her strong influence, Samara, on the other hand, often spoke ill of Sharon in class, sometimes even dragging Organisation XIII into her insults. Due to her connection with Devilish Director, Zexion was keeping a close eye on my temper and actions, in case I went berserk someday and got into trouble. However, I was more worried about Demyx; he was very close to Sharon from the get-go, but with the events deteriorating, Sharon kept in touch with him even less, so he got more depressed and distracted lately. It was as if he turned into a completely different person.

A few more days passed, and I was strolling to vent some of my irritation. Out of nowhere, Xion rushed towards me while shouting, "Crap happened! Nemix! Get over here!" And she almost fell over, but I went ahead and pulled her just in time. I did not wait until she regained her footing and asked, "What is it?" "It's Demyx! I couldn't stop him, it's getting out of control!" said Xion, panicked. She quickly dragged me along and ran. She brought me all the way to a quiet corridor, from the window here I could see three people in the opposite corridor; Demyx, Sharon and Samara. They were in a heated argument, with a strong smell of gunpowder. Xion was about to pull me over to them, but then I saw Samara was flailing her hands in agitation while expressing her anger, and one of her hand flung towards Sharon. Sharon blocked it in the nick of time, but it also meant hitting Samara's hand at the same time. Samara let out a cry of pain and retracted her hand. And then she raised another hand to actually try to hit Sharon. And all hell broke loose; Demyx seized her hand, Sharon tried to hold Demyx back and the trio seemingly got tangled together. I ran with Xion while muttering, "This is bad…"

Once I reached the corridor they were in, Shorty emerged from the other side of the corridor with none other than Mr. Saix, catching the three of them in the act. Xion and I could only watch as they were all taken by Mr. Saix to the Discipline Room. I mumbled to myself, "Bloody hell, this is going to get ugly…" I immediately switched on my interphone and informed Organisation XIII, "Guys, this is 207. 135 is in trouble. We need to get to the Discipline Room ASAP."

Five minutes later, Xion and I were allowed to enter Mr. Saix's office as witnesses, while others had to wait outside. Demyx, Sharon, Samara and Shorty stood in front of us. Mr. Saix scanned them with a stern expression. This would not end well. He spoke first, "What exactly is the matter?" Unsurprisingly, Samara took the first shot, "I was merely talking to Sharon Farelle, and this guy suddenly appeared with this girl, and told me to stay away from her." She pointed at Demyx first and then at Xion. She continued, "So I explained to them we weren't doing anything bad, but he was being stupidly unreasonable. In the end we started quarrelling." Demyx butted in once her last word left her, "Xion and I just happened to see Samara bullying Sharon, so we went up to them to break up the fight. Samara tried to talk her way out, insisting that they were only talking, so I… started arguing with her."

Shorty said, "By then, his partner tried to dissuade him but failed, so she ran off, and I ran off to find you, Sir." Xion saw no one trying to speak up, so she explained, "I went to look for help to diffuse the situation, and I found Nemix, so we rushed back to the scene." Mr. Saix's expression did not falter and said, "That wrapped up how everyone here got involved. And why did you all start fighting physically?" Samara, dissatisfied, complained, "It was Sharon Farelle who hit me first! I was only taking my stand, and she dared to hit my hand!" She then glared at Demyx and Sharon, continuing, "I'll make myself clear now; I do not like you, Sharon Farelle. But I should still have my right to have and express any different personal opinions, right? You disagreed, fine, but you even dared to injure me?!"

I got angrier the more I listened, so I countered, "Don't you even try to mislead anyone! I saw your hand swung towards Sharon with my own eyes, so she had to extend hers to protect herself. You may have been expressing with too much agitation, but Sharon didn't have the intention to injure anyone." And also, do not glorify your bullying spree! (Of course, I did not say this, because I did not really witness this. I could have turn the tables against us if I did not watch my words…) Xion joined in, "Like Nemix said, we saw Sharon shielding herself, Samara cried out and attempted to retaliate physically, and that's why Demyx grabbed her hands." Samara protested right away, "Hey, they bruised my hands, so I was defending myself at most! If you don't believe me, we can check the security cameras to prove my innocence!"

Demyx had a furious flare in his eyes, something never before seen. He snapped, "We will check it if you dare to. Who knows? It might also have recorded how you have been abusing Sharon in the last two weeks-" "Hey! What do you mean 'abusing'? Don't you falsely accuse me!" interrupted Samara, and the torch of war was about to be ignited again when, finally, Sharon screamed, "Enough!" At that moment, the whole office was so quiet one could hear a needle drop onto the floor. She could not handle this anymore; a few drops of tears fell off her eyes and she whimpered, on the brink of cracking under emotional burden, "A-all of you… that's enough… stop. I'll tell the truth…" We were staring at her, petrified. After a few deep breaths, she started spilling out words, "We didn't get along from the get-go, bumping heads everywhere… It could have been my words, or the way I carry myself… I'm not sure… maybe those caused some sort of misunderstanding, so she picked on me… I tried not to pay her any attention, but I don't want to… c-continue ignoring this misunderstanding. It's my… my fault, therefore I'll… also take on full responsibility."

Up to this point, I was already shocked and speechless. What was she trying to do? She sighed and continued, "She did not hurt me, and I also blocked her hand by accident. However… obviously, it is… not possible for us to coexist in this school. To avoid all possible future conflicts… I had decided… to officially transfer schools after two days." This news racked us. Demyx looked at Sharon unbelievably, saying, "What… what did you say?" She did not look at or even listen to him. She continued to say to Mr. Saix, "I had made up my mind, and the letter was ready, I will hand it to the school tomorrow. I really hope this will end here… Others had done nothing wrong…" "… OK." We looked at Samara. Her face said she did not see this coming, but it failed to conceal her satisfaction with this. Samara said, "I can accept this arrangement. I don't want to waste my energy and time. I can ensure that this misunderstanding will never happen again."

Mr. Saix considered this for a good while, and he finally said, "Whether you chose to stay or leave, I have no say in it. You two willingly reconciled the conflict this way; if it does not create any disciplinary issues, then it would best. Since no one intended harm or injury towards anyone in this matter, I will not press this issue on any further. Nevertheless, you three will still receive a warning for disrupting order. If there's nothing else, you can leave. This will not happen again."

Just like that, we exited the Discipline Room. When the rest of Organisation XIII waiting outside saw our reappearance at long last, they ran up to us. Axel asked, "Exactly what's going on?" I regarded them with a grave face, not knowing where to start explaining. Xion was glaring venomously at Samara, until she and Shorty, ignoring us all the while, disappeared from her sight. Demyx was distracted; nothing we said could elicit a reaction from him, while Sharon slipped away silently again. The bell chose now to ring, signalling the end of recess. I shut my eyes, pinching my nasal bridge and sighed, "Where do I even begin…? I'll explain thoroughly when I'm free later…"


Two days went past, and today was the last day Sharon attending lessons in Kingdom Hearts High School, because her transfer request letter was approved as soon as it was submitted, and our teacher told K3B about it. I felt like a failure; as a pledger to uphold school discipline, I could not even protect a school bully victim, driving her to transfer schools. Demyx and Naminé seemed to have lost their souls; they took this hit worse than I did. The nine of us walked together after school, I was about to go ahead and check on both blondes when Axel said, "It's Sharon." Indeed, she was walking ahead of us. Demyx noticed it too. He quickened his pace and called out to her. She jumped at his voice, and turned around to look at us.

Demyx asked, "You… are you really leaving?" She nodded silently. Xion said, "I'm so sorry… we couldn't help you, so now you had to transfer schools." She looked at the raven-haired girl and lowered her head, saying, "Wrong… I should say that, to all of you. I added more trouble to you. I caused everything about this to happen." I denied, "It was Samara who pushed you around; she was at fault. Why do you have to accept all the faults and blames-" She cut me off, "I mean it! I caused today's consequence and everything that had happened up to now." She did not look at us and said, "I made you all hit a brick wall everywhere, and even… almost killed Axel."

That was just dumbfounding. Cat got our tongues, again. She continued, "The reason why your undertaken missions failed and were fruitless, was because I secretly memorised Demyx's spot check schedule and relayed it to Samara, so she informed the classes in question. I… am a spy sent by Samara to get close to you, to steal intel. We planned the first encounter by dropping my ID in the music classroom. I stole a peek at the schedule when Demyx went to the washroom in the middle of our chat, and I also set something up in his interphone… Demyx, take out your interphone." He could only do as told, staring at her all the while. She glanced at Demyx before looking away, explaining, "There is a black translucent tape with a small black dot. I put it there, it's an eavesdropper developed by Samara's family company. She learned of your group's actions and movements from there."

Demyx discovered said tape and tore it off. It was as she described. I asked quietly, "Then, that anaphylaxis incident a few weeks back…" Now, she fearfully explained, "I wanted to gain your trusts the other day, so Samara purposely broke some rules and let me spill the beans. I overheard Axel saying that he dislikes peanuts, but I had no clue about the allergy, neither did Samara. She purely wanted to frustrate Axel with peanut flour, therefore she wove fake intel about people attempting to sell leaked questions. However, some students appeared in the stadium, so she had to change her plans. She knew Axel could reach high places from one of her pranks, so she set up a trap…"

Zexion mused quietly, "So, except for the intel about leaked questions, others were true after all…" Sharon added, "Yes. When I found out that Axel got into an accident due to the peanut flour, I just realised that Samara overdid this way too much, and I became her unsuspecting accomplice, even helping her to lie about how she knew nothing of it. I could not face my moral questioning, so I thought of advising her to turn ourselves in, or, at the very least, not continuing to be at odds with you guys. She accused me of being a traitor and exposed everything about my family background, bombarding me with pranks and insults, just to force me out of here, to shut my mouth once and for all." She then quickly dragged the back of her right palm across her face, wiping unnoticed tears, she then said, "I made you all suffer, betraying your trusts in me. You treated me so well, and protected me endlessly… but I can't drag you all down anymore. I am leaving because I want to start over in a brand new environment, and also hope Samara will not have any tools or means to go against you."

"What are you saying…" whimpered Naminé, not being able to accept it. Sharon glanced at the main entrance and blurted, "I have to go. I am sorry. Thank you for showing and giving me true happiness. If fate allows, we might meet again… but, we're better off not keeping in touch anymore." With that, she spun around and dashed for the gates, without looking back.

Oh my god… Was this what they called "shell-shocked"? I could not believe that we had a rat, but not within Organisation XIII or Ven, Kairi and Naminé. Even so, the feeling of being betrayed really felt like a stab on the back, nowhere to vent your anger, no way to unleash your frustration, not knowing who to be angry at. Demyx started trembling. Xion started, "Demyx? You-" Demyx suddenly let out a cry of agony and darted off to a random direction. "D-Demyx! Wait!" yelled Roxas. Axel ran after him, Roxas and Ven quickly followed behind. I could not move. When I finally snapped out of my trance, it was when Xion called and shook me. I then noticed another person; Samara. She was watching us from the second floor not far away. She left after a sneer, probably satisfied with the conclusion of this meaningless drama. "Damn you… it's you again who jinxes everyone, leaving your crap everywhere for people to clean it up…" I growled lowly. Zexion merely said, "Let us ignore her for now, we have to calm Naminé and Demyx down first." While Naminé did not run away like Demyx, she also could not regain her composure in a short time. We led her to find Demyx, and Axel, Roxas, and Ven were found standing by him at the basketball court. He was genuinely upset, anger and sadness all rolled into one, and he kept blaming himself. "It's all because of me… I was so careless, I almost got Axel killed, and made us all mistrust one another… I really am useless…" Demyx apologised endlessly while crying. It took us ages to actually get him to stop rambling. "Just let it go, Dem. You did not do it on purpose…" Axel sighed, unsure of what else to say.

Today, every single one of us were exhausted, physically and mentally.


A few more days went by, everything in school also went back to normal. Life went on as usual. By now, there were only two weeks left before PMR started, nobody (and I mean nobody) had the spare time to even think about causing trouble. We were also busy as heck. For example, today…

"… So this is how the British acquired Penang Island, or to be accurate, Prince of Wales Island, clear?" explained Zexion. Roxas and Demyx quickly jotted down some notes, replying with an "OK", and they moved onto the next question they got wrong. Xion and I were cracking down a mathematical problem; Axel said he could not calculate the answer, but so did we not. Perhaps the given answer was wrong instead. School had already ended earlier, and we were revising in a café near the school. After three hundred rounds fighting with practice questions, we finally allowed ourselves an intermission. "Jesus Christ… I'm dying…" groaned Xion tiredly, sipping her coffee. I stretched and said, "Just hang on for two more weeks, and everything will come to an end." Roxas switched on his laptop to surf the Internet, Demyx took out his approved-by-Mr.-Saix phone to check his messages. Axel was napping. I was about to keep away some books that took up a lot of space, Demyx suddenly sucked in a big gulp of air and said quietly, "No way. Did I see a ghost?"

We diverted our attention from our respective activities to him. Demyx put his phone on the centre of the table and we leaned in for a closer look. From the topmost chat in the messaging app, the sender was Sharon Farelle! "It had been two or three weeks since we broke contact, yet she left a message just now…" mumbled Demyx, bewildered. Xion pushed on, "Tap into it and see what she said." Demyx did as told. Besides a message, she also sent a video clip. After a brief hesitation, Demyx tapped on the video clip to play it to everyone; in the beginning, Sharon was fixing her hair, facing her selfie phone camera lens; perhaps she unknowingly tapped the record button and created this video. She was engrossed in running her fingers through her bangs, but there were two other voices in the background, sounding like a male and a female.

Male: "Is everything set?"

Female: "Don't you worry, this is a new product made by my family member's company. It may look like a black dot MP3 player, it's actually a mini camcorder, perfect for covet recording!"

Male: "It looks potentially well-hidden… I also hid a camcorder at the pre-determined place. However, I think it will be safer if you go incognito."

Female: "Huh, you did actually care a great deal about my safety and personal privacy. Didn't expect that from you."

Male: "But of course. After all, this video is going up to the Internet in the end. Only idiots would do something dangerous like exposing their identities."

Female: "Hmm, OK then."

Male: "… What's wrong? Still angry at me?"

By now, Sharon, who was still in the video, discovered some ash in her hair, so she searched for better lighting while still looking into the camera, until she was satisfied with the brightness. And with that, the conversing duo finally entered our views. They were two faces I could not bring myself to forget even after death; Samara and the scumbag!

Samara: "Oh, nothing much, it's just that my boyfriend slept with another girl, and I can't wait to celebrate it with champagne and stuff!"

Scumbag: "Oh, my honey, my sugar, please stop being mad at me. If I didn't do this, how could Fayra Joanne lose all hope and just give up trying to be together with me? You know as much as I do that she is stubborn as a mule. I had even gone through the trouble to surround her with that blasted rose-scented perfume, letting her get used to the smell, so when I finally spiked the perfume, she wouldn't even suspect it."

Samara: "… *Pouting*"

Scumbag: "I know that from when I started going out with her until that night at the hotel was an overly long time, but this is a plan I put so much effort into, and now I am only one more step away from victory. Rest assured that everything will not go to waste. I still love you. After we face her directly and break up with her, and tell the whole wide world, it will be over. We can finally be together forever…"

Samara: "… I hate you sometimes… Is what you're saying true?"

Scumbag: "Cross my heart and hope to die!"

Samara: "Oh… fine… Eh? Hey, Sharon, how long are you going to fix your hair for? Quit being the third wheel here!"

Sharon was startled by the sudden boom of Samara's voice and almost dropped her phone. She quickly said, "Oh, sorry, then I'll just see myself out…" She hurried out of the room and then looked at the phone screen again. She then finally realised that she was recording a video throughout. She mumbled a "shoot" and ended the recording. The video ended. "Holy Bananas…" I breathed, staring at Organisation XIII with my eyes wide. Everyone had similar expressions. And then Demyx scrolled downwards to the message. It read, "Sorry to bother you all. But I found this while I was decluttering my SD card. You might find it useful. You should be able to implicate them in one go. I don't plan to keep this video, so I will delete it after sending."

"Holy Kingdom Hearts… I feel like we hit the jackpot," commented an astonished Xion. Demyx mumbled, "This is an overkill compared to whatever evidence we had had before." Zexion mumbled to himself, "This really is the epitome of desperate times, desperate measures… Samara kicked her out of the picture, and Sharon had no obligation to help her hide anything anymore." But… "What do we do now? Who do we report this to?" I asked, my heart beating rapidly. After some discussion, Zexion suggested, "Report to Mr. Saix. He is the only higher-up we can trust the most. Did Roxas not mention that he somehow knew our situation before? He should have a way…"

Therefore, we quickly paid the bill, packed up and left. We rushed back to the Discipline Room and showed the video to Mr. Saix. After watching it, his originally solemn expression got even graver, as if facing off a calamity. A frown graced his features while he contemplated about this for a long time; it was agonisingly painful for us to wait. In the end, he said, "This is an evidence of critical importance; it basically says that everything that happened from your forced disbandment up to now was directed by this man. However… I always feel a pressure coming from above, trying to clamp down some truth. We need to proceed with caution. I will try to initiate an underground investigation, trying not to alert the principal and director. When you have to present any evidence officially, I will let you know. Remember, don't spread this around. No one came and saw me today, I don't know anything either."

We left again, but also left a copy of the video for him. Xion whispered, "Do you all think this is going to be OK?" I thought about it, but I finally sighed, "It's all on him now… We had already done what we could." Axel teased, "Don't sulk around anymore, you two. You might age quicker." "… What did you just say, Axel?!" Xion got mad and chased after Axel and tried to hit him, the rest of us could only sigh and laugh helplessly at them… Let us bide our time and see then!

~ CHAPTER 17 FIN ~

TO BE CONTINUED

Whoo! I finally finished it! I can't believe this; this is the fastest it took me to plan, write, translate and post this chapter. And planning out a plot does help a lot, so I don't waste time to think about how the story should go while writing, and I don't have to stop halfway to plan.

Remember, wash those hands and I'll see you soon. Bye!