Telly: Chapter 3, yay!

Vaness: Did I mention that Harima looks angst-worthy in his middle school pic?

Telly: I prefer Imadori's. He looks secksay. Even if he kinda looks like he has boobs...

Vaness: And Itoko looked really cool as a middle-schooler!

Telly: Akira looked really pretty too. Too bad she cut her hair...

Anyways, susume, susume, kittoooo!

("Remember... 'anyways' is not a word!" Telly's wonderful 9th grade English teacher reiterated for just about the millionth time.)

xxxxx

Chapter 3:

"But Fate is a bitch and it's not so easy

To make others put their preconceptions aside."

xxxxx

"You're two days early," the leader said.

"I know," Asou replied. "The 50,000 yen is here," he continued, handing an envelope to the leader.

The leader took the envelope and scrutinized the contents. Satisfied, he handed the envelope to a subordinate.

"So?" Asou asked. "You're off my back now?"

The leader looked at Asou, scrutinizing him with the same intensity as he had the money.

"You're a brave kid," he said finally. "A good kid, too. Too good. You're too good for it to be possible that you'll join our ranks one day... a real pity. The world needs more people like you."

Asou, unsure on what to do, bowed to the leader and left. It was over...

The leader watched him go and Goro, who had been there the whole time, spoke.

"You were never going to let him go, were you, Rokudaime-sama?" he asked.

The leader smiled. "It'll be a pity indeed..." he said softly.

xxxxx

Imadori Kyousuke was trying to get rid of his playboy reputation.

It was not going very well.

It was true that old habits were hard to break. Very hard, in Imadori's case. After realizing that high school would end in pretty much a year and then he'd have to fend for himself, in the harsh, unforgiving world, Imadori had decided that he needed to get rid of the things that would impede his comfort in his future life.

Sadly, the top thing in his list had been his addiction to D-Cups.

He had thrown out Nishimoto's D-cupped porn, tried to train his eyes to focus on the big picture and had even resorted to watching Buddhist mantras repeatedly.

And yet... he had let himself fall prey to that Gori's huge chest that day.

One step forward, two steps back...

xxxxx

Some people said that Mihara Kozue led a lucky life. Above average grades, good at sports, with boys knocking on her every door...

Away from school she led a normal life with its ups and downs. A multitude of chores, a bossy grandmother and a kind but absent-minded mother. A father who always worked overtime, who came home extremely late at night, when she was already asleep. Mihara hadn't seen him in weeks.

A brother who was in jail.

Mihara would give anything, anything to get her older brother back. Not released from jail now, but the way he was, caring and kind and funny, before he somehow morphed into a cold-blooded killer. Before, when she was young, she couldn't stand being away from him for a minute. Now she never wanted to see him again.

It would be too painful.

xxxxx

Karen was training in the gym, thinking very hard. She'd never attract the attention of Imadori-san with her relatively small chest... but she wouldn't give up... would she?

She stopped, panting for breath, wiping her forehead, when suddenly–

"Here," a male voice said, handing her some orange juice.

Karen looked up, shocked, and accepted it.

"I'm Takamura Kouta," he continued in that manly voice, smiling.

"Th-thank you, Takamura-san..." Karen said, drinking from the cup, smiling back at him.

xxxxx

Things weren't going very well between Harry and Tougou. They still talked and hung out together, but it seemed like there was an uncomfortable barrier between them. Tougou was unsure on what to do. He personally had no problem with gay people (if that was what Harry had meant), but his father was another story. The elder Tougou loved Harry and his eloquence, but if he caught wind of the fact that he was... well, that way, Tougou didn't know what he'd do.

Of course, Harry had only implied it. It wasn't really official yet... but then again, Harry rarely said things he didn't mean.

The silence was very awkward and Tougou needed something to do.

xxxxx

Asou had not gone to school today. Mikoto had been a little worried but had brushed it off. After all, Asou would be fine. He wouldn't go down so easily.

She walked with her friends to the table where they usually sat, having lunch. Tenma was as excitable and cheerful as usual... it was very reassuring in a way.

"My, what a marvelous bunch of ladies we have here," a smooth, suave voice said. "I'm holding more pottery lessons in case any one of you signoras are interested."

"Tougou," Hanai said, bristling and stood up. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"It's all very simple really," Tougou replied, Harry half-smiling behind him. "We of 2-D issue another challenge to 2-C. The Halloween Fair is coming up and all of you know about the main event, the Haunted House Survival Game. We propose a class-to-class duel. What say you?"

"This is ridiculous!" Hanai said. "We of 2-C have no time for this!"

However, it caught Harima's attention. He would be in the same group as Tenma and would, inevitably, save her from a fatal blow, causing him to find the courage to confess his feelings! At least he hoped. Those near him felt his aura grow tremendously and skirted away.

"I'm ALL for it!" Harima yelled, standing up, slamming his palms onto the table. 'Besides...' he thought, smirking, 'we of 2-C have ample experience concerning survival games!'

"Oi, Harima!" Hanai turned to him, scandalized. "How can you support him? As a class, we need our individuality! We can't just follow what someone says to do!"

"Another survival game sounds fun!" Tenma said. "Are outside people allowed to join?"

"For you, my belle, anything is possible," Tougou replied, smiling smoothly. "A maximum of 3 people from outside your class."

"Ooh, I guess that means Yakumo can join as well!" Tenma said eagerly.

Pretty much the same thought progress then went through Hanai's head and he too voiced his support in a loud, boisterous manner, ignoring the fact that he had been vehemently opposed to the very idea just mere seconds before.

"We, as Class 2-C, officially accept your challenge!" he belted out dramatically.

"As was expected," Tougou said, satisfied. "Well," he said, walking out of the classroom, "prepare yourself. We want this game to be fun. And see you on the 31st..."

"Such idiots..." Sagano Megumi looked over at them and sighed. "Still... this means we won't need to argue over what to do, huh?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's good in a way..." Mai said thoughtfully. "Eh, Ichijou, what were you going to say just now?"

Karen smiled shyly. "Well... I don't think there's much going on yet... but yesterday in the gym... I met a boy."

Silence. From the group.

"His name's Takamura Kouta," Karen continued. "He seems really nice..."

"Does this mean you're finally giving up on Imadori?" Sagano finally asked. At this point, Ichijou reddened and she looked around, making sure no one could hear. Everyone was currently preoccupied with Hanai and Harima, and Imadori was messaging someone on his phone.

"I don't know..." she said. "But I would never have any hope with him, anyway..." she trailed off. "Maybe Takamura-san would be a better bet..."

Meanwhile, Imadori was watching all the drama with a lazy eye. He'd called only two girls today and considered it to be a sign of improvement.

Then he'd heard something that he didn't want to know, but was interested in as well. Pulling out his phone, he typed a few messages automatically to random girls (due to habit, it was like going on autopilot mode), just to look like he was doing something, whilst listening in to Ichijou, Sagano and Ootsuka's conversation.

'That Ichijou likes me, huh...? This is... this is surprising... and what about that Takamura Kouta?' he thought.

To think he'd never realized... life had suddenly become a lot more complicated.

xxxxx

To Harima at work, Asou had suddenly become a lot more cheerful and helpful than he had been for the past few days.

Currently, Asou was frying turnip cakes for an old couple; regulars, according to Asou. They had an interesting and complicated love story that Asou had heard many times with insufferable patience and in the kitchens, he'd warned Harima that he'd have to listen politely as well, especially since he had never heard it before.

"Then Yuji-kun went to the big city to search for his fortune... but I couldn't go. I was but a female at that time, you see, and society wasn't as free as it was today..." Harima was nodding patiently, a dazed look in his eyes. Well, if you could have seen them anyway. One very useful feature of his sunglasses was that they were pretty much opaque when positioned to the light source correctly, which meant that Harima could have been asleep and the old couple wouldn't have noticed. Unless he'd started snoring or slouching or something, but Asou was sure that Harima wouldn't put his job in jeopardy just because of the Seimaru couple.

Suga had told him about 2-D's challenge to 2-C and that their event for the Halloween Fair had been pretty much decided. When he heard this, Asou had smiled. At least 2-D and 2-C's ridiculous battles would never change.

"...Eventually I made it to Ookido, where Yuji was staying. I was hungry, so I went to buy some dango, and guess who I saw? Yuji-kun!..."

His mobile rang and Asou flipped it open.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Is this Kouraku?" a deep, rough voice said from the other receiver.

"Yes," Asou said. "What would you like?"

"What do we want?" the voice laughed. "Well boy... we're yakuza. Whatever we want, we usually get it by force. We wouldn't be calling you like pansy-asses. We wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't for our leader, anyway."

Asou's fist clenched. "Why are you calling?" He walked into the kitchen so he could get more privacy, and continued softly, "I paid the money!"

"Well boy..." the voice replied. "It's not that simple. Us yakuza aren't usually that straightforward... surely you didn't think that a piddly payment of 50,000 yen would be enough to satisfy our boss?"

Asou cursed under his breath.

xxxxx

"...Eventually after all the misunderstandings, we retired to Tokyo. Here in Yagami... say, are the turnip cakes burning?" the old woman, Seimaru-san asked in a surprised tone.

Harima, who had been standing there patiently for what seemed like hours (although it had probably been only about 15 minutes or so), almost to the point of dozing off, suddenly snapped, wide awake and alert. Even if Harima had only properly known Asou for a week, it wasn't like him to leave food burning.

"Sorry about that... I'll check with Asou," he said to the couple and headed off to the kitchens.

xxxxx

"So anyway..." the voice said. "We want regular payments of 32,000 yen per week. Surely you can manage that?"

"No!" Asou said fiercely. "You're not getting anything!"

"You got guts, kid," the voice said. "Fine, we'll play nice. How about 28,000 yen per week?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Asou demanded. "I'm not giving up a cent!"

"You need to remember just who you are talking to," the voice replied, his tone now with a very hard edge. "If you don't comply, someone may just go missing... how's that sound? Don't say we didn't warn you..."

"But—" Asou said, then stopped.

"Thinking it over, huh? You know, that girl who always comes over doesn't sound too bad... the one with the big boobs..."

"Suou knows martial arts," Asou replied. "You won't get her that easy."

"Maybe not one of us, but the whole gang armed with knives, guns and bats... think she'd stand a chance? She'd be outnumbered and split in a second..."

Asou swallowed.

"That redhead kid with the crew cut, too. He seems fair game and he's not half as strong as that girl. He'd be easy..."

A slight pause as the voice left it hanging.

"How much again?" Asou broke the silence grudgingly.

"28,000 yen a week," the voice replied smoothly.

"I'll go to the club," Asou replied. "Renjéz, right?"

"Correct," the voice replied. "Nice doing business with you."

'Renjéz?' As Asou hung up, Harima Kenji quickly high-tailed out of there before Asou saw him and realized that he'd heard everything. Grabbing a ladle, he tried to appear like he was trying to save the turnip cakes.

'Why the hell would that guy need to go to a place like Renjéz'

xxxxx

Well, obviously the Halloween Fair is made up by me. It doesn't exist in the 'real' SR world. They have the Bunkasai instead! (I forgot what the English name for it was)

...and I've always wanted to write a survival game...

Please read and review! Constructive reviews are what I live on. But I welcome all kinds of reviews... except for flames. Unless you can turn that flame into a constructive criticism. Anyway.