For some reason I've been able to write this last few chapters really quickly for me. Anyway.. This chapter we see the aftermath of the infamous pole-toppling tournement.

How could he mess up so badly? Gakushuu had stacked the game, everything was in his own favour; the numbers, the helmets, the foreign exchange students that were practically professional athletes. It should of been impossible for him to loose, but he still had done, in front of the whole school.. in front of his father.

He hadn't been surprised when he was called to the Chairman's office as soon as the sports festival was over, but he was surprised when the foreign-exchange students had been asked to come with him.

"Are you going to be okay? Should I come with you?" Ren asked, after his father's secretary had approached and told Gakushuu he had been summoned. Ren was astute enough to know that Gakushuu being summoned to his father's office after a major failure like this was not a good sign.

"Thanks for the offer, but I doubt you'll be a better bodyguard than those guys- " Gakushuu said sardonically, indicating the the four hulking exchange students. They were all friends that Gakushuu had made over the years at various sporting events. Like they always say, who you know is just as important as what you know, so Networking had always been a priority for Gakushuu.

Kevin in particular Gakushuu had known for years, ever since they played their first international soccer match together years ago. Kevin had grown about three feet and got into American Football since then, but they had remained fairly close, emailing each other regularly. It was nice having a friend who wasn't tangled up in the complicated mess that was Kunugigaoka.

Gakushuu would be lying if he said the presence of four friends who towered over even his father wasn't somewhat of a comfort in this situation. The Chairman wouldn't hurt him in front of other people, right?

As usual, his heart was still hammering in his chest and he felt the familiar twist of shame as his father berated him for his failures in front of his friends. This was probably what they had been brought here for. To watch Gakushuu be humiliated. They all probably thought he was a failure just like his father did, in this instance, he couldn't blame them. The Chairman listed off each one of his follies in agonising accuracy.

"You not only lost completely, but you did so in front of the whole school. I don't think I've ever had to witness something so pathetic before." The Chairman was saying, Gakushuu just glared into the middle distance, he couldn't even think of an argument, the man was right. "You have been counterproductive to my education theory, Asano, and above all else, you have failed as a leader. Once you fail, everything becomes meaningless."

"Hey, that's not fair- Gakushuu might of lost this time, but he's a capable leader we all banded together because of him!" Kevin interjected. Gakushuu's eyes widened. "He'll definitely show you results soon."

"Stop it Kevin- " He said in English. Kevin wasn't from here, he didn't know how dangerous the Chairman was. He wouldn't keep quiet like all the students from Kunugigaoka would.

"It's just a game, you don't have to insult him over it- as his father, shouldn't you be trying to teach him that there's something to learn from his losses... instead of just.. bullying him!" Kevin finished. He was scowling now. The other three were as well, the spoke enough English/Japanese to piece together that Gakushuu's father was tearing him to shreds, and apparently they weren't happy with it. A small part of Gakushuu felt a tiny drop of warmth realising these people were willing to defend him. It was quickly replaced by dread when the Chairman stood up, removing his jacket.

"Hmm, what an interesting opinion you have, Kevin, I'm quite moved by it." The Chairman was saying, folding his blazer over his chair. He was smiling, but the air around him was poisonous. "You can learn from loss, you say? Then why don't you teach me a lesson?"

Kevin looked at him, confused. The tension in the air was thick. The four athletes all looked ready to pounce; non of them had been happy with the Chairman spending the last five minutes deprecating their performance, even if it was mostly aimed towards Gakushuu. The Chairman continued.

"I propose a game. We can each use any method, if you can make my knee touch the ground, I win. If I loose, maybe I can learn something." He had that patronising tone, the one that made you feel like you were a particularly slow child.

"Hah- what an immature old man." Kevin scoffed taking off his jacket revealing a solid frame taught with muscles. Just by looking at him he was clearly more built than the Chairman. "I can't believe you have the balls to challenge me one on one."

"Oh, no, you've misunderstood." The Chairman laughed. "I'm sure all four of you are restless. I'll take you all on at once."

The four athletes looked at him, incredulous, clearly trying to work out if this middle-aged Japanese man who was a good few inches shorter than them was brave or stupid. Either way, they all looked down at him smugly, clearly ready to win.

Gakushuu looked between them all. Was his father really going to fight these guys? He was suddenly aware that he was in the rare and unenviable position of being the smallest and physically weakest person in the room. His protests died on his tongue.

"Fine then, have it your way. But don't go crying when you loose." Sung Hoon said. The Chairman chuckled.

"Wouldn't dream of it. But that goes both ways, right?"

It happened so fast. The four exchange students clumsily went for his father, trying to grab him or push him over. They all had power but lacked coordination in a fight. The Chairman utilised his martial art expertise, using their own strength against them, and dodging away from more head-on attacks. The guy really was an expert.

Within the first minute, the Chairman had tripped Kevin up and his knee had touched the floor.

Gakushuu foolishly thought that would be the end of it, the Chairman had won yet again, and now he would gloat, but instead, he looked up, his own eyes meeting Gakushuu's. It was like looking into a soulless abyss. Without hesitation, the Chairman raised his fist and punched Kevin across the face as hard as he could. There was the sick crunch of bone breaking, and then blood burst from the American's nose.

Gakushuu's eyes widened in horror.

The Chairman wasn't done yet though. He grabbed another boy, turning his arm into an awkward position until a similar crack was heard, following by a wail of agony.

"Dad! Stop!" Gakushuu shouted, running over just in time to watch him punch Kevin again this time hard enough to knock out a bloodied tooth that landed onto the floor in a small puddle of red.

The Chairman didn't pay him any heed, simply grabbing him by the front of his jacket and pushing him back like he was nothing. Gakushuu hit the back of the wall and stayed there, watching in horror as his father fought these four boys. No, not fight, this was more akin to a slaughter. Even when they were begging him to stop, the Chairman just kept going until the office was smeared with fresh blood and the wails of the beaten students filled the air. The look in the Chairman's eyes was one of sadistic glee; he was enjoying this.

Gakushuu couldn't breath. "You're going to kill them." He murmured. His legs had given out under him, and he had found himself pressed against the wall, his entire body shaking. He hated himself for being so weak, for not being able to protect his friends.

Finally, the Chairman stopped. All four of the students were swollen messes. The Chairman simply put his foot on Kevin's back, wiping the blood off on the back of his shirt as if he were a mat.

"Do you know I defeated my Karate master on my third day of lessons?" He said as he cleaned his shoes. Gakushuu, still in shock, took a moment to comprehend what he was saying. "On the first day, I was beaten so badly I was left vomiting. I'd never been more humiliated. I was sure that if I lost again, I would be as good as dead. What do you suppose I did on the second day?" He paused, checking his shoes. "I simply watched. Fuelled by my humiliating defeat, I possessed a concentration I never had before, I analysed my sensei, seeing his every strength and weakness and finding a strategy to defeat him." He paused again. "And on the third day, I defeated him without letting him land a single blow."

A small part of Gakushuu was aware that this may be the most his father had spoken about his personal life to him, but he wasn't focusing on that now. Slowly, this beast started to approach Gakushuu. This was it. Gakushuu felt as if his heart may explode. He was sure he was next, that he wouldn't get away with just a scar or loosing some nails. He glanced at his friends- they may be big, but they were still kids the same as him. Gakushuu was sure he would be next. The Chairman would come through on his threat to leave him wheelchair bound.

"Hey, Asano?" The Chairman said, suddenly stood right in front of him, his larger form looming over him. He leaned down, putting a hand either side of Asano's head, boxing the boy in. "Even though you lost, why aren't you frustrated enough to be on the brink of suicide?"

Gakushuu could only glare up at him, shaking too much to form words- the man's face seemed to distort before his eys. He was wrong, he had realised. Wrong to blame E-class for how his father had been treating him. It wasn't because of their success or his failure, not really, his father was a monster. Looking up at him now, his face seemed distorted and evil, that malicious joy still etched into it.

Gakushuu was fully expecting to be hit, but the impact didn't come. The Chairman instead, simply stepped back, admiring the look of fear on his son's face.

"I trust you can take care of this mess." He said, as if the groaning bodies around him were simply a mess to be tidied. He turned and left. With shaking hands, Gakushuu reached into his pockets to phone an ambulance. This was worse than anything his father had done to just him, because now he was hurting his friends as well.

Karma thought about Gakushuu Asano more than he would ever care to admit. When he first met about the esteemed principle's son three years ago when he started at this middle-school, he wrote him off as just another one of the goody-two-shoes nerds that plagued the school.

Just because he was good at tests and did a few extra-circulars didn't make him special to Karma. His recent experiences with him since moving to E-class had given Karma even less reason to like Asano; his Dad was a dictator and his friends were slimy and cruel bastards and they had all worked to actively crush E class at any opportunity. Asano's latest stunt- threatening Isogai with expulsion, had placed him firmly in Karma's 'bad people' box, destroying his previous hope that maybe the other boy wasn't so bad.

And yet, Karma couldn't bring himself to hate Asano. There were tiny incongruent details about the other boy; a slightly unpredictable element to him that Karma couldn't quite explain. Like how, despite how much he pretended to be an emotionless robot, he actually could get pretty emotional, how he could be pretty eccentric, how despite his outward confidence he sometimes just seemed scared of other people.

So, when Karma walked into one of the school bathrooms after the sports festival and saw Asano stood in front of the mirror, staring at his own reflection with a vacant look, he added it to the ever growing-list of incongruities.

"Are you sulking?" Karma asked. Asano jumped, ever so slightly, turning to face the other with a venomous glare.

"The sports festival is over. You're meant to be going home now." Asano retorted.

"I decided to take a look to see if this place has changed since I was banished to the mountain." Karma said in a sing-song voice. That was a partially a lie. His main motivation for staying behind was boredom plain and simple, he just didn't feel like going back to his empty house just yet.

"You seriously have too much free time." Asano replied back, with more bite than usual. Well. Karma and his class had just given him a particularly spectacular defeat.

"Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black- you're hanging about in an empty school to ya know... " Karma trailed off as he realised something for the first time. In the reflection in the mirror he could see Asano's T-shirt under his jacket, and it was covered in blood. It wasn't obvious at first because of the blue material, but once he honed in on it, Karma was sure.

Asano apparently noticed his gaze, and wrapped his jacket around himself in response. It was only then that Karma noticed the pale red colour in the sink. Asano had been washing blood off his hands. It wasn't Asano's blood, he could tell by the way it was splattered it was from an outside force.. then who?

"Aren't you going back to your little tour of the school." Asano snapped. He had that panicked expression on his face, the same one as when Karma had found him wandering around with his nails ripped off.

"Asano, why are you covered in blood?" Karma asked, no longer teasing. His voice was quiet and serious. He watched Asano flounder for a second before answering.

"If you must know, one of the girls in my class was hit in the face with a football and had a nosebleed- I took her to the nurses office. And. Well. Things got a little messy." Asano said. He was a fast liar, but not very good at it. Like with the nail incident, Karma was certain he was omitting something.

"Okay. What girl was it?"

"What?"

"The girl from your class. What's her name?" Karma challenges. He knew and Asano knew that Karma could find out through other students if the story was true or not.

"I'm not telling you."

"Why?"

"I'm protecting her identity."

"Cut the bullshit, Asano." Karma scoffed, relishing slightly in the other's offended expression. "You're obviously involved in something shady- "

"I am not- "

"Listen. I don't really care if you're getting into fights that are.. mutual. I do enough of that myself." Karma said with a shrug, before glaring at the other boy. "But if I found out that you're targeting someone or bullying them- "

"You think I did this to someone!" Asano snapped suddenly. He stood away from the sink, raising his hands, causing his jacket to fall away and fully reveal the blood splatters. "You think I'm someone who just goes around and hurts people to make a point?"

Karma blinked, taken aback by the other's sudden anger. "Well. You do go around threatening people just to get your own way!" He retorted. "Do you know why Isogai works? To support his family. But you don't care about any of that so long as you can use it to your advantage."

That shut Gakushuu up, he looked down at the floor angrily, apparently mulling over Karma's words. "...I didn't know." He says, in a small voice, and a tiny part of Karma feels bad for him. "But I don't go around.. beating people or hurting people.. I'm not like- "

He cut himself off.

"Well. Fine. I'm sorry I accused you." Karma relented. Asano looked up, clearly surprised by the applogy. He gave a smile that didn't meet his eyes.

"Well, I guess I haven't given you a reason to think differently of me." He said wistfully, before grabbing a hand towel, drying his hands and leaving. Karma stayed stood there. He didn't know why, but despite everything, he started to feel the tiniest seed of worry for Asano.

"You don't have to keep waiting for me, you know." Gakushuu said as he left the school. Ren, who was sat outside on one of the benches, just smiled.

"I know." He said, standing up next to the other. "I wasn't here that long."

Things had been kind of awkward between them the past few weeks, ever since Ren had told his secret. Gakushuu wanted to say he didn't blame the other, he knew Ren hadn't done it maliciously or even intentionally, but he still felt a stab of betrayal. More than anything, Gakushuu blamed himself for that moment of weakness in confiding in the other- He should of known better. Plus the outburst he had at Ren.. he would rather forget that. Part of him wanted to go back to how things were before Ren had realised something was wrong. But another, weaker, part of himself wanted to seek comfort in his friend.

"I thought you would be going out with the others- weren't they getting food?" Gakushuu asked as he walked alongside the other. He glanced down at his hands as he walked. Even though he had scrubbed them clean, he could still feel the sticky sensation of blood.

"I'm still going- I thought we could both go. They haven't ordered food yet, we could still make it." Ren said. He was giving Gakushuu that worried side-eye again, like he had something he was too afraid to ask.

"I'm not really hungry." Gakushuu replied. It wasn't a lie- He'd just spent the past hour cleaning up blood off the floor of his father's office. He'd had to gather his friend's knocked out teeth and run to the cafteria to put them in a carton of milk to try and save them before the paramedics had arrived. He wasn't sure if he could stomach food at the moment..

"Did your Dad do something to you?"

Gakushuu had a sharp intake of breath. He wasn't expecting anything that direct. "He didn't do anything to me." He twisted his hands, wiping off imaginary blood. He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to confide in Ren, he should no better. "He hurt the others. The exchange students. He sent them to hospital."

"He what?" Ren exclaimed, looking horrified.

"Don't tell anyone."

"But it was just a stupid game- and they're kids like us, right? how could he?"

"-I don't know." Gakushuu cut him off. The panic he had been feeling since earlier started bubbling up again. "I don't know anything anymore, I think he's loosing it, Ren. I don't know what he's going to do next. I'm so sick of trying to impress that man and follow the path he's laid out for me. He's a maniac, he's actually insane. And the worst part is I think he actually enjoys doing all the sick things he does- I can't believe I used to want to be like him!- I don't even want to be near him. I'm walking on egg-shells, I never know when he's going to turn on me next. I feel like it's only a matter of time before he seriously hurts me.. or himself."

It was like word vomit, everything came spilling out before Gakushuu could stop it, but it was cathartic, finally vocalising all the things that had been on his mind, once he started he felt like he couldn't stop. Ren watched him, with wide eyes, clearly comprehending what the other was saying. He didn't speak for a few heavy seconds, then finally, he opened his mouth.

"Asano. I think you should stay at my place tonight." Ren said, his hazel eyes were serious. Gakushuu paused, the thought of not having to go home with that man for at least one night filled him with relief.

"Yeah. Okay." He said.

Funfact! If you have a tooth knocked out, putting it into milk can help save it, either that, or just put your tooth back into the socket, but be careful to do it at the right angle.

Anyway! Thanks for all the reviews, after such a long hiatus I wasn't sure if this story would have any readers still, but the support has been really heart-warming.

A lot of fics about Gakushuu touch on this scene were Gakuhou beats up the forgien exchange students. I think it's pretty signicicant in Gakushuu's arc in the manga, since it's after this point he starts to pull away from his father's influence, and even his demenour kind of changes. So I really wanted to do it justice and show how significant it is.

Also, Gakushuu's finally opening up to Ren again, which I know a few people wanted!
Anyway! Please let me know what you thought

Reply to guest reviews

Jan 10th guest: Thanks

Jan 11th guest: thanks for the comment, I hope you liked this chapter.