AN: Happy 2020, Everyone! I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday. I took a much needed break last month but I've been working on some new stories (and old ones) which I hope to post this year.

So about this chapter: I know some of you guys might be looking forward to Bruce's debut match and the plan was that this was going to be one huge chapter that included that but because it ended up being much bigger than I thought, I decided to split it into two instead. So what we have here is a more 'Detective-oriented' chapter, which means not much action. May not be what you guys were expecting but I hope you enjoy it regardless.

One more thing, some of you might be concerned that Bruce is still struggling with his magic. I promise you, change is around the corner. I just need to set things up ;)

CHAPTER 10: Lucky Roshi

"Ya!"

"Ha!"

Clashing clangs and scrapes of metal echoed in the chilly morning air as two people sparred near the student recreational area. One was Ikki Kurogane, An F-rank who was now the talk around the Academy for his win yesterday. The other was the mysterious foreign transfer student named Bruce Wayne.

Ikki had spotted Bruce who was on his way somewhere and invited him over to train with him. Bruce actually had other business that he'd rather tend to but Ikki somehow managed to persuade him. Bruce would chide himself later for being too soft but he knew deep down, he wouldn't have been able to say no anyway.

"Hm, not too bad. Your reaction is improving." Bruce said as he swung Branwen at him.

Ikki intercepted by holding Intetsu flat in front of him.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." he responded with a challenging smirk. "But you do realize that you won't be able to keep up in the long run, right? I can always just steal whatever new move you throw at me."

It was something Bruce had earlier put some thought into until he was able to finally figure out how Ikki's Blade Steal actually worked: essentially, Ikki mentally reverse-engineers whatever fighting style he encounters based martial arts fundamentals. Bruce thought it was an interesting method but...

"Don't be so cocky, kid. There are a lot of nuances in martial arts that even your Blade Steal wouldn't account for, observation can only get you so far."

But Ikki grinned with confidence as he attempted to catch Bruce off guard with thrust to his left.

"I already know that, that's why I'm still learning and adapting as I go along."

Bruce parried while silently commending the boy for his intelligence and attitude.

"How many fighting styles do you know anyway?" he asked.

"One hundred twenty six and counting, you?"

"One hundred twenty seven...and counting." Bruce added that last part with his own challenging grin.

While the two of them were engaged with their back and forths, Stella sat a short distance from them with her arms crossed as she fumed like a boiling kettle. She and Ikki would have been spending quality time with each other had he not hailed Bruce over, neither of them knew the older student for that long and yet here Ikki was treating him like he was his best friend. It was seriously driving her crazy!

She continued to sulk as she watched them finally withdraw from their duel, Ikki wiping the sweat from his brow as he dismissed Intetsu.

"Phew! I think that's enough for now."

But Ikki noticed that Bruce remained still with sword in hand as he looked down to the side with a troubled frown.

"Is something wrong?" Ikki asked.

Bruce remained silent but this time Ikki wasn't put off by his behavior. By now, Ikki had figured enough of the ins and outs of Bruce's personality to know that he wasn't the type of person to open up easily.

"Oh that's right, you have a match this afternoon." Ikki said with sudden realization. "Don't worry Bruce, I hear that Saijou-san may have immense strength but is lacking when it comes to speed. You can definitely take him."

In truth, that wasn't what was bothering him. Yesterday sometime after he was notified, Bruce devoted time to find a secluded spot to train his magic in secret. He had spent hours experimenting, taking whatever he'd learned from Nagi and his own brief experience to better understand his abilities but his attempts didn't seem to be fruitful. No matter what variation he tried with methods, there didn't seem to a pattern or reason why his magic didn't work properly, it just didn't.

This was becoming a big concern for him, especially with what's at stake. He held himself from internally grunting in frustration and reasoned that he should approach the problem from a different angle, but how? Perhaps it would be clear to him after a problem solving micro-sleep.

With that in mind, he dismissed his blade before walking up to a nearby tree and then turning to lean his back against it while crossing his arms and closing his eyes.

Ikki looked at him weirdly during this sudden unexpected action.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a nap, I didn't get much sleep last night." Bruce responded simply.

This earned a perplexed expression from the F-rank but then Ikki assumed that this is one of Bruce's lousy attempts at humor.

"Heh, very funny. For a moment I thought you really were gonna-"

"Zzz."

Hearing Bruce actually snore left Ikki in a frozen bloggled state.

"H-he...he really did take a nap." he commented nervously.

Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see it was Stella.

"How long are you going to let this third wheel hang out with us?" she asked, looking irate.

"Huh? What do mean?"

"Ikki, You usually have sparring sessions with me! You think I'm not a good enough opponent anymore?"

"Of course not! You're magnificent fighter, Stella. A powerful force to be reckoned with! I'd never think of you as anything less." Ikki reacted heatedly.

"But you've been giving him far more attention! In fact since your win, he was all you were talking about! Bruce this, Bruce that! If I didn't know any better I'd say..."

Stella trailed off, eyes widening and jaw falling as a horrifying thought came to her.

"Ikki...y-y-you don't LIKE him, do you?"

Of course, what she was implying completely flew over Ikki's head.

"Um, I guess." Ikki said as he scratched his hair in thought. "I mean, I've never had much luck with having any male friends and naturally Alice doesn't count. Not to mention, he and I have a lot in common...so,...Yeah, I do like him."

And of course, Stella took what he said the wrong way and she comically looked like all the life had been drained out of her. She quickly recovered and directed a glare towards the older man who looked like he was slumbering.

"No way I'm gonna lose to you, you stony-faced jerk!" she mentally declared to him.

To Stella's surprise, Bruce's eyes popped wide open in alarm and for a split second she thought he read her mind or something to that effect. But apparently, a more serious situation alerted him.

"Both of you get out of the way!" he called out.

"Whu?"

Just as Stella blurted in confusion, Ikki quickly grabbed hold of her and pushed them both away from a barrage of magical induced attacks; lightning bolts, fire balls, telekinetically controlled objects and the like. Both of them looked at the spot where they stood moments ago to see the ground upheaved with smoke rising. Ikki knew that the attacks were Nobel Arts, probably from more than one Blazer.

"What was that? Where did that come from?" Stella asked.

"Kurogane, you cheating bastard!"

Ikki and Stella looked towards the voice and saw a group of five boys angrily approach them. They recognized them as second year students, armed with their Devices and looking like they have an axe to grind.

"You fucking fraud! You're gonna pay for ruining our lives!" one of them declared.

Stella reacted immediately by standing between Ikki and the approaching boys and gave them her own glare.

"What the hell is the meaning of this!?" she fired at them. "And where do you all get off calling him a fraud!?"

This would normally be the part where they would back down. After all, the Vermillion Princess's sheer power was well known by the student body, no one in their right mind would dare challenge an A-rank Knight. In fact two of the boys looked at each other warily but the other three surprisingly stood their ground. Bruce figured that they were furious to the point where they were being irrational.

"Stay out of this, Princess! I don't care if you're an A-rank prodigy or whatever but we have a bone to pick with that hoodwinking son of a bitch!" one of the defiant boys spoke up.

Stella gritted her teeth and extended her arm to summon Laevateinn.

"Oh, you guys are seriously asking for it..."

But Ikki grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Stella, don't! If you use your Device or magic against them, you'll get into trouble."

She bit her tongue realizing that he had a point.

The two boys who were worried earlier breathe a sigh of relief and allowed themselves to sport a confident demeanor. One of the remaining three on the other hand, looked at Ikki with contempt and scoffed.

"Tch! Look at this guy, pretending he's hot shit."

"Why are you accusing me of these things? What did I ever do to you?" Ikki asked, remaining calm and collected.

"You know damn well!"

Bruce at this point decided that he had heard enough and walked behind Ikki to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Mind letting me handle this, Ikki?" he asked.

Ikki looked back at him, first with mild surprise but then sported a grin when he realized what he had in mind.

"Go right ahead."

Bruce then moved in front of the two teens, prompting the group of five to regard him with hostility.

"You getting our way too, Gaijin?"

"Yeah, walk away! You heard what he said? Using your magic and Device will get you into trouble!"

Bruce only crossed his arms with an unimpressed expression.

"Who said I need either of them?"

The five boys momentarily looked at each other in confusion before they all broke down laughing.

"Ha!Ha!Ha! Get this guy!" one of them guffawed. "He thinks he can take on all of us without his Device and magic!"

The corner of Bruce's lips slightly skewed upwards.

Barely a minute later, all five of them were strewn about in front of Bruce, writhing and groaning.

Stella's eyes were wide and her jaw dropped seeing Bruce easily take them all out with speedy skills of disarming, countering and reversals. She didn't want to believe it; she had initially thought that his win over Ikki was a fluke but now that she saw him up close in action, she begun to realize that all those things Ikki said about him being such a skilled fighter were true.

"Unbelievable! It didn't even look like he touched them and yet he defeated them all quickly without breaking a sweat." she thought in awe.

Bruce knelt in front of one of the downed boys and pulled him up to his eye level by his collar.

"Alright, out with it! Why did you attack us?"

"We...It's just that we lost a lot of money thanks to him, everything we had." the boy uttered out with a wince.

"Money?" Stella and Ikki questioned.

"Gambling." Bruce noted with a scowl. "You were all wagering money on the match yesterday. Placing bets against Ikki, weren't you!?"

It was obvious to Bruce why they would, every other student thought at the time that Ikki was severely outmatched and had no chance of winning. For someone looking to make money, it seemed like an easy bet.

Seeing Bruce's dangerous ire made the boy sweat profusely.

"Y-y-yeah. But we had no choice! See, we were hooked up with this guy named, Lucky Roshi, and we were winning big at first but then we made too many bad bets. We thought that yesterday's match would be safe enough to help us pay off ours debts."

Another of the downed boys broke off from his writhing and sat up with a start after hearing what his classmate said.

"Idiot! Don't tell him all that! You remember what Roshi said he'll do if we told anyone!"

"I can't help it, he's too scary!"

Bruce turned his stern gaze from the boy in his grip to the one who sat up.

"Who is this Lucky Roshi? What did he say he would do!?"

The questioned boy's face paled in horror. It seemed evident to Bruce that this Roshi person had these kids scared for some reason.

"Shit! I said too much." the boy gulped as he scrambled upright.

"Wait! What do you mean?" Ikki asked as the boy backed away slowly.

But before Ikki or Stella could stop him, he suddenly turned and broke into a run.

"Screw this! I'm out of here!"

However, he didn't get very far.

"Black Bird!"

It happened so fast that Bruce almost didn't see her. From afar, she sped towards them like a race car; leaving rushing winds and even afterimages in her wake, making her almost a blur.

And in that split second when she closed the distance between her and the retreating Student-knight, she released a punch to his gut with enough kinetic force to create a small shockwave and send him flying across the grounds until he impacted against a nearby wall and fell to the ground, seeing stars.

It was only when she skid to a halt that Bruce got a good look at her. She had a short lithe figure with light tanned skin wearing a PE uniform consisting of a white t-shirt, an unzipped loose purple track jacket and a purple 'Buruma' (gym bloomers) that clung to her butt and exposed her legs. Her face was very energetic, complimented with amber colored eyes and wild short brown hair that had two locks sticking out from top that resembled animal ears. If Bruce thought Kagami was hyper, this one seemed to be bursting with energy.

"Oh yeah! K.O!" she hooted with a fist pumped to the air.

And just then, Bruce heard an approaching panting sound as someone else jogged up to meet the speedy girl. This person was a male student who had large muscular build and shaved head.

"Geez, Tomaru." the bald boy panted. "A little faster and you would've splattered him over that wall."

"Aw, you worry too much! I was only going under ninety. Besides, I stopped him didn't I?"

"She's a...Speedster?" Bruce wondered.

It reminded him of an internet rumor he had once read about a phenomenon in Central City but of course, he concluded that those were just made up stories.

"Anyway, I'd better go check on him." the bald boy said with a sigh and then turned a fierce gaze towards the remaining four students.

"The rest of you four follow me and don't even think of running."

His stern voice and large stature was enough to frighten the four boys to compliancy. It was apparent to Bruce that whoever these two were, they seemed to command a certain amount of respect around here.

"H-h-hai." one of the boys nodded.

"Ikki, who are those two?" Stella asked.

This prompted the athletic girl to run up to them and pose with a fist at her hip and a hand thrust forward with peace fingers.

"Yo, S'up! Name's Renren Tomaru!" she cheerfully said.

Renren leaned towards them with an impish smile while holding her hands behind her back. Bruce noticed that the ear-like locks on her head were twitching as if she were mischievous fox...somehow.

"Kurogane-kun, Vermillion-san, it's nice to finally meet you guys. I've heard some i~nteresting things about the two of you."

"Err, really?" Stella asked nervously while leaning back a little. "W-what kind of things?"

But Renren wasn't listening. She instead turned her attention towards Bruce, zipping around him and checking him out like an inquisitive ferret.

"Fumu. Fumufumu. Fumu~..."

"Do you mind not getting so close?" Bruce asked while frowning.

Renren smiled widely, revealing her snaggletooth.

"So YOU'RE the American tenkousei everyone's talking about! That was pretty impressive the way you handled those guys, but you do realize that you're not supposed to get into fights, right?"

"I didn't do anything beyond defending myself." Bruce said with a shrug.

"You were watching us this whole time?" Ikki asked.

"Yup! We were thinking of intervening had you summoned your Device. Boy, you woulda been in a lot of trouble if you did, lemme tell ya."

"Doesn't the same apply to you?" Stella asked with scrutinizing eyes. "I mean, those knuckles are your Device, right?"

The athletic girl blinked then noticed her knuckles-type Devices were still equipped on her hands. She quickly dismissed them and then scratched the back of her head while giving a sheepish grin.

"Ehehe. Nah, I got special permission from the Director. You might say it's kinda our 'jurisdiction'."

"Jurisdiction?" Bruce asked.

Ikki interjected at this point.

"I was going to mention this: she's part of the Student Council. 'Runner's High' Renren Tomaru, General Affairs Manager..."

Just as Ikki gestured at Reren, the buff bald boy returned with the unconscious student slung over his shoulder and the remaining four following him. It conveniently allowed Ikki to continue his introductions

"...and 'Destroyer' Ikazuchi Saijou, Secretary."

Bruce sort of got the gist of it from his talk with Kagami yesterday. He assumed that the Student Council was just some school extracurricular activity but apparently here, it was strangely much more than that. Here, the Student Council are considered the elite of the student body; serving not only as a liaison between them and higher authorities but also as enforcers. In other words, they are kind of like the 'police' here.

"I always thought a student council's job was more...mundane." Bruce mused and mentally grimaced.

He then turned his attention towards Saijou, who looked rather tense for some reason.

"So this is Ikazuchi Saijou, my opponent."

"Fuu~un. You make it sound so official, I've actually never done any paperwork in my life." said Renren.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't start. You need to set an example to your fellow students and take your duties more seriously." Saijou chided her with a frown.

"Alright already, sheesh! I get enough of that earful from the Prez."

Bruce decided that this would be a good point as any to inquire them about the five boys and what they said.

"Anyway, what's all this about these guys being in debt?"

He noticed that Saijou glared off to the side, avoiding eye contact, as his whole body seemed to clench.

"That's none of your concern." Saijou said.

But Bruce pressed further.

"They said they were involved with someone called 'Lucky Roshi' and that he's been threatening them. Has this been going on for long?"

"I said that's none of your concern!"

Seeing Saijou snap like that stunned the other teens into shock. Renren more so; for as long as she's known him, Saijou was normally a friendly and easy-going person. It was weird for her to see him behave like this.

Bruce on the other hand was a little taken aback but then slowly narrowed his eyes. He didn't mistake the hatred and disgust he saw in Saijou's eyes, the boy obviously had a problem with him. But why?

"Tomaru..." Saijou addressed Renren with seriousness.

"I'll be dropping this guy off at the infirmary." he said motioning the boy still slung over his shoulder. "Then I'll be taking the rest of them to the faculty staff room. Finish what you need to do here and meet me there."

With that, Saijou walked away with the other four boys following him obediently.

Renren sighed and looked at Bruce apologetically.

"Sorry 'bout that, Senpai. He's been kinda cranky lately."

Bruce snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to Renren.

"It's fine." he said.

"But if you gotta know, we've been hearing about a secret gambling ring here in Hagun and the Director sent us to look in to it."

"Secret gambling ring?" Stella asked, the sound of it piqued her interest.

"Uh huh. And like Senpai said, this Roshi guy is running the operation. He's the one they place bets with."

Bruce frowned and rubbed his chin in thought.

"So he's a bookie."

"Who is he anyway?" asked Ikki.

The normally energetic girl looked drained when she answered.

"That's what we're trying to find out. The whole thing's gotten pretty serious! A lot these students are under heavy debt because of the money they lost. They're pretty desperate; some of them resorted to stealing, others were even willing to do even stupider stuff. In fact just yesterday, we stopped a girl from taking her own life."

Ikki gasped and his expression turned completely forlorn.

"Was all this...because I won yesterday?"

Stella looked at him with sympathy and could only imagine what he was feeling. But just she was about to say something to comfort him...

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Ikki." Bruce said. "Your win was well-deserved and these people have made bad decisions, that's all there is to it."

The F-rank exhaled, nodded and then gave him a grateful smile.

"Your right. Thanks, Bruce."

With jealousy gripping her, the red-haired princess couldn't help but feel miffed that Bruce once again stole Ikki's attention from her and suppressed a shriek in her throat while glaring at him.

"Actually Kurogane-kun, there was something I wanted to talk to you about...regarding your match." Renren said.

This definitely got the trio's attention and they listened to what she had to say.

"The thing is, there's rumors going around that the match yesterday was fixed."

"WHAT!?" Stella and Ikki balked.

"When we asked Kirihara about it, he claimed that he was threatened to the throw the match and that you knew about it."

Bruce was starting to get a clear picture of the situation. Because everyone thought Kirihara was a shoo-in to win, Roshi must have offered a lower payout in Kirihara's favor, which in turn prompted the players to bet high. This of course meant that Ikki's win resulted in them losing big. So when the word got out that Ikki cheated, it must've seriously enraged them.

And speaking of enraged, Stella of course didn't take Kirihara's claims too kindly.

"That lying bastard! Of course he would say that! He's trying to save face about losing to Ikki!"

"Look, I don't believe him either." Renren reasoned. "But the Student Council and the Selection Battle Committee are still talking to him and while they didn't decide anything, they were considering disqualifying both of you."

This sent both Stella and Ikki into silence, the latter's unsure what to think. He wondered, after everything that has happened, was it all for nothing? Did he lose his chance?

"Anyway, I just thought I should give you guys a heads-up." Renren then turned to Bruce. "Oh and Senpai..."

The tanned athletic girl's expression turned back to her usual playful nature.

"I hear you're facing Saijou today. Sorry but I gotta say you're way out of your league!"

She then winked and grinned at him.

"But I still think you're kinda cool. Don't be a stranger, alright?"

And after bidding farewell with a two finger salute, Renren took her leave.

"Grrr! This stinks! This whole situation just burns me up!" Stella growled in frustration.

"I feel the same way but what can we do?" Ikki asked.

Bruce was silent for a while before suddenly speaking up.

"We could gather more information."

This made Ikki and Stella look at him curiously.

"And there's..." Bruce's expression turned uncomfortable. "There's one person who could help us with that."

Because the Newspaper Club had only recently been formed, it took a little while before the three of them were able to find the club room but honestly, Ikki wasn't sure if they did.

It was messy and cluttered with crumpled papers and writing materials scattered throughout the room, lockers were haphazardly pushed against the walls with things sticking out from the gap of the doors. And the room in question was much smaller compared to the other club rooms, about the size of a storage room...in fact, Ikki was pretty certain that it actually WAS a storage room!

And right there in middle of that room was Kagami Kusakabe who froze in surprise mid-way from her pacing when she saw who entered the room.

"Ack! Kurogane-senpai, Stella-chan!"

She then noticed the older student standing behind them.

"And Wayne-senpai too. What are you guys doing here?"

Almost immediately, a wide excited smile emerged on the bespectacled girl's face as her eyes sparkled with realization.

"Could it be!? You're here for a pre-match interview, aren't you!?"

"No, I am not." Bruce stated with annoyance.

But Kagami didn't listen and on cue she zipped towards him with pen and pad in her hands.

"Oh don't worry, this won't take long. So tell me: How are you feeling coming up to your first match? Are you nervous at all?"

"I'm not here for a-!"

"It must pretty nerve wracking considering who you're facing, especially with your magic still being unstable and all. Do you think you can maintain control by then? Or is there a strategy you have in mind to compensate? Is there any pressure as a Blazer from the Union performing on League territory?"

She continued to bombard him with questions until she trailed off when she noticed Bruce glaring at her.

"You know, you should try to make your face look a little less scary." she said, sweating nervously. "That's why you're ranked below Kurogane-senpai in our 'most cutest guy' poll."

"There a poll about us?" Ikki asked.

"Hmrph. There is."

The new voice brought the attention of the three visitors towards the far corner of the room where there was a desk with a PC.

Sitting in front of the monitor with her bony fingers typing away was a girl with thick dark disheveled hair and half lidded eyes that seemed to stare into nothingness. Ikki and Stella flinched at her appearance, the air around the girl permeated with such a gloomy atmosphere that they could see the 'hitodamas' floating around her.

Ikki had seen her around but all he knows of her was that she was Hagun's resident occult-obsessed creepy loner girl.

"For your information, Kurogane-kun, you've placed #1." she spoke with an emotionless hoarse voice. "Our readers feel that you have quite an adorable face. Be sure to take care of it. After all, with our fates as Knights, we can all expect horrible disfigurement and becoming dry husks due to the cruelty of time."

Stella leaned toward Kagami to whisper to her.

"Err, Kagami, who is this? And how come she's at your desk? I mean, you're the Club President right?"

She felt a sudden breath on the side of her face.

"Gotou."

"Eep!"

The red-haired princess gave a short shriek seeing that the girl somehow appeared right next to her and quickly scooted back to hide behind Ikki.

"Madoka Gotou. That's my name." the gloomy girl croaked.

Stella couldn't believe that a girl like that had such a name. From her experience with Anime, every 'Madoka' she knew were usually cute magical girls and this one didn't look anything like a 'Madoka'.

Regardless, Madoka shuffled in front of one of the file cabinets to retrieve a document.

"Regarding for your second question. As the club's only member, I feel it is my duty to proofread the President's articles. She has such atrocious spelling and grammar."

"C-Choto matte, Gotou-san! I told you not to tell anyone about that!" Kagami reacted flustered as her face turned red from embarrassment.

"Wait, she's the club's only member!?" balked Ikki.

Kagami bit her tongue like she had a dirty secret exposed before suddenly bawling out in an exaggerated and overdramatic fashion.

"Waahh! I couldn't recruit anyone else! Everyone already have their eyes on the other clubs like the Swim club, the Broadcast club, the Literature club, the Occult Research club, the Model building club..."

"How many arbitrary clubs does this school even have?" Bruce wondered.

Hearing Kagami's words, Madoka posture slumped forward to the point where her eyes were obscured by her hair.

"I see. That's how it is." she spoke despondently with a voice that gurgled like a death rattle.

Very slowly she shuffled towards the door, prompting Ikki and Stella to quickly move out of her way.

"I suppose it is to be expected. None of the other clubs wanted me around. I'll be going now. To find a lonely place to die."

Bruce blew a breath while rolling his eyes. He had a sneaking suspicion that the girl's outward persona was just her way of covering her social ineptitude.

In a panicked state, Kagami quickly grabbed Madoka's arm to stop her while pacifying her with a nervous smile and laugh.

"No! No! That's not what I meant! I'm glad you're a member, Gotou-san. Ahahaha! Besides, the Student Council would've shut me down had you not shown up so of course, I'm grateful."

"I starting to wonder who's really in charge here." Ikki whispered to Stella.

Later, the five of them moved to where the desk was. Madoka was back behind the PC monitor, clicking and clacking away at the keyboard while Kagami situated herself atop of the spare space on the desk, facing Ikki, Stella and Bruce.

The three had finished explaining the earlier incident that took place outside.

"I see, so that's what this is all about." Kagami nodded.

Surprisingly, the normally enthusiastic reporter girl sharpened her eyes in anger.

"Yeah, I know about Lucky Roshi. He's a total scam artist, that's what he is!"

Stella and Ikki were surprised seeing her like this, this was a completely different side to the person they normally knew.

"He charges both the winners and losers commission and then increases it the more they play. He drains them dry and they don't even notice until it's too late!" Kagami continued to rant.

Bruce figured that the she was talking about the bookie's 'vig' or 'vigorish', but it's unheard of for a bookie to charge this unfairly.

"Then why don't they just quit?" asked Stella.

"Because even if they want to, they can't. Apparently he has Yakuza muscle working for him and he threatened to harm their families. And besides, if the police found out that they were gambling..."

"It wouldn't end well for them either." Bruce finished for her.

He was aware that illegal gambling was a huge offense in this country, resulting in potential jail time.

"If he's got hired muscle working for him then I bet he must be the son of some Yakuza mob boss." Stella snarled while punching a fist into her palm.

"Highly unlikely, Princess." Bruce responded. "They do background checks on every student enrolled, something like that wouldn't escape their attention."

While Bruce turned his attention back to Kagami, he noticed Stella shooting an irritated look towards him but he ignored it.

"Has anyone actually met Roshi?"

"Unfortunately, no. Nobody knows who he is, their only interaction with him is through DASH. It's how they place their bets."

Bruce blinked and looked at her, totally lost.

"Um, what is...'Dash'?"

Stella looked at him with surprise before breaking down in laughter.

"Seriously? You don't even know what DASH is? It's in your phone." she giggled.

He recalled seeing an app with a talk balloon icon but he didn't think it was important enough to make a mental note of it.

"Hehe! Shows how much you know. I'm a foreigner too but at least I'm more well versed about local culture than you!"

"Vermillion-san is what you would call a 'weeaboo'." Madoka commented.

"I am not!" Stella protested with a small blush.

Ikki scratched his hair nervously.

"It's alright, Bruce. I actually don't know much about DASH myself."

And so Kagami gave to two males a brief run down. DASH is a popular messaging service that people here use; with it, they can share all kinds of media but the feature that they find the most fun about it is the 'stickers' and apparently there's a lot of them.

"Okay, if they don't who he is then how are they paying him?" asked Bruce.

"Err...Yeah, the thing is I asked the same thing but she wouldn't tell me."

This piqued Bruce's attention and brought the question in mind of who was this "she" that Kagami asked. Ikki picked up on it too and decided to ask in his own way.

"Come to think of it, you never said how you found out about all this, Kagami-san."

"Nanami-san told me."

"Nanami?"

Kagami nodded sadly.

"Seiko Nanami, she's from my class. She was betting along with the rest of them. See, she thought she could make enough to help her family pay back their loans but she ended up losing a lot of money instead. Yesterday, the Student Council found her before she..."

She trailed off. Bruce surmised that Nanami was probably that girl who Renren mentioned, the one who almost committed suicide.

"Anyway, I sat down and had a talk with her about this and that's why I'm trying to gather information to expose Roshi!"

Kagami said this with determined pumped fists, the fiery sense of justice in her eyes was evident to those around her. It made Bruce consider that maybe he had her pegged wrong, that she cared for more than just a scoop.

"In a way, she kind of reminds me of Vicki Vale..."

"I'll help! I wanna bring this guy down!" Stella pledged.

"Me too. You can count on us." said Ikki.

The bespectacled girl clasped his hands in gratitude.

"Thanks so much, you guys!"

"Hmrph." Madoka made a sound which everyone assumed was her way of agreeing.

"First things first." Bruce said. "Kusakabe, are you sure Nanami didn't say anything about how she paid him?"

"All she said was that her payments were done in cash and inside the Academy."

"But why wouldn't she say anything else?" Stella wondered.

Ikki answered her.

"She's probably scared, Stella. Remember how that second year from earlier reacted? They must've been threatened not to reveal anything about the culprit."

With his arms crossed, Bruce furrowed his brow and ran a finger over his chin.

"Hmm, cash...inside the Academy..."

"What are you thinking, Bruce?" asked Ikki.

"I'm not sure yet."

The older student addressed Kagami again.

"Was there anything else she said? Anything at all?"

She glanced downwards and pursed his lips in thought.

"Well, no. That was it. Aside from asking me for a favor, that is."

"A favor?"

"Nothing much, she just asked me to return a book to the library. Kinda out of the blue too. Though, I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"May I see it?"

Kagami looked at him weirdly, wondering why would he ask for something like that.

"Err...sure, hold on."

She slid off the desk, retrieved the book in question from her nearby bag and then handed it over to Bruce.

He looked it over, seeing that it was pretty thick with a plain cover that had simple text over it. He then opened it and looked behind the cover to find an attached borrower's card which had a number of dates and signatures written on it.

"Oh come on, it's just a library book! It's not gonna tell us anything." Stella huffed with impatience.

But Bruce paid her no mind and continued to examine the book. He opened the book slightly from a gap he noticed between the pages and then tapped it on top of the desk.

Sure enough, a white flat object fell from it.

"There's actually something inside it!" Ikki commented with piqued interest.

Kagami of course was totally psyched about this revelation and leaned towards it, bouncing on the spot like an excited kid.

"Whoa! I had no idea! What is it!? Is it secret message!?"

Bruce picked up the object for a closer look.

"It's only an empty envelope." he noted.

This made Kagami deflate while Stella smiled with vindication.

"See, I told you it wasn't a big deal. She must be using it as a bookmark."

"I guess your right." Kagami pouted with disappointment.

Bruce peered at the envelope closely, turning it against the light a few times.

"There's are some indentations here, like something had been written over it."

Kagami's eyes lit up again as if a lightbulb turned on above her and she eagerly held up a hand with like she was in a classroom.

"Ooh! Ooh! I know what to do! Let me!"

Without hesitation, she snatched the envelope from Bruce, laid it flat on the desk and then pulled a pencil from a nearby cup.

"Heehee! I always wanted to do this." she giggled with excitement.

Then lightly yet vigorously, she rubbed the lead of the pencil over the envelope. The shading highlighted the indentations and revealed the hidden writings.

But it wasn't the least what she expected.

"It looks like a math problem." Ikki observed. "Maybe it was Nanami-san's class assignment?"

"That's it? Aww...and here I thought we just discovered a clue." Kagami bleated with a dejected face.

Bruce picked the envelopes back up and studied the numbers more closely.

"Maybe we did."

Stella let out a sound of irritation. She was not only getting antsy because they weren't making much progress but also because the possibility of Ikki being disqualified was weighing heavily on her mind.

"This is a waste of time! We should be out there trying to find this guy!"

"That won't be necessary, Princess." Bruce responded. "We've already learned everything we need right here."

The Vermillion princess scowled and threw her fists downwards. Her patience were at its limit and she was sick and tired of Bruce invalidating whatever she said.

"Fine! If you think you're so smart, YOU tell us who Roshi really is!"

The remaining teens looked at Bruce with curious anticipation, wondering if he actually figured out something.

"There's not a lot to go on but we could narrow down suspects using facts." Bruce said calmly.

"Well?" Stella goaded with her arms crossed.

Bruce held out an index finger.

"Fact number one: Considering that this whole operation is confined inside the Academy, it's likely that our culprit is a student here."

"Ha! Really? That's the best you got?" Stella laughed.

But the older student paid her no mind and continued with holding out two fingers.

"Fact number two: If he is, then he's NOT taking part in the Selection Battles."

"What makes you say that, Senpai?" asked Kagami.

The answer clicked in Ikki's mind and he grinned with confidence.

"Because it doesn't make sense for someone profiting off the competition to be taking part in it, right Bruce?"

"You got it." Bruce confirmed with a smile and a nod.

Seeing the camaraderie between the two of them got on Stella's nerves.

"Oh, please! Anyone could figure out what Bruce just did!" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Fact number three: He's a member of the Student Library Committee."

There was silence in the room, including from Madoka who paused from her typing. They had been following Bruce's line of thinking so far but this factoid he dropped felt like it came out of nowhere.

"WHA!?" Kagami gaped.

"Now you're just making things up! There's no way you could know that for sure!" said a flabbergasted Stella.

Bruce held and pointed at the book Kagami gave him.

"This book has been checked out by Nanami sixteen times. Either she has a vested interest in the 'Cultural History of Kyushu', which I doubt, or there's another reason."

The four teens could see Bruce's point, the book was so boring looking that it was hard to believe Nanami or anyone else would read it thoroughly.

Bruce opened the book and pointed in between two pages.

"She seemed particularly interested in these two pages."

"That's where the envelope-bookmark was." Ikki said.

"Except she wasn't using it as a bookmark. Note how bulged these pages are, like something thick had been wedged between them over and over. That something was probably the contents of this envelope, most likely a wad of cash."

Ikki's eyes widened in realization.

"You don't mean...?"

"That's right. This was Roshi's method of transaction, a simple system that could be carried out inside the Academy without notice. He would receive bets via DASH and then send his players specific instructions on which books to take out from the Library. Players would find their winnings in the envelope. To pay their losses and their fee, they would simply return the book the same way using the dropbox. Only a volunteer at the Library Committee would have access to the dropbox."

The F-rank look to Bruce with awe in his eyes.

"Whoa...you figured all that out with just the book and the envelope? That's amazing, Bruce!"

Jealousy reared its ugly head again and Stella frantically interjected, desperately trying to come up with a counterpoint and knock him off his pedestal.

"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How...how do you know that-that the envelope was addressed to Roshi? It could be a...um, a-a-a love letter or something!"

Ikki raised a curious brow at her.

"But a letter alone wouldn't make the pages bulge that much and why would someone send a love letter that way?"

"It's romantic! Nobody can question the ways of love! It could be a really long letter." said Stella, sticking to her guns.

In a surprising move, Madoka suddenly broke her long silence and spoke in Stella's defense.

"In any case, Vermillion-san has a point. There's no way knowing the contents of the envelope or who it was addressed to."

Stella was still creeped out by Madoka but at this point she was willing to take whatever aid she could get.

"Ha! See! What she said!" she affirmed smugly.

But Bruce didn't seem the least bit deterred.

"I know it was intended for him because of the numbers Kusakabe found."

"R-really?" asked Kagami.

He held up the envelope with the shaded side that revealed the numbers and equations from earlier.

"This isn't some math problem. These are calculations for betting odds and averages. Things that a bookie would write, not someone like Nanami."

"Bu-but it COULD be Nanami, you can't say otherwise for sure!" Stella argued.

"I can because of Fact number four: Nanami was right-handed but not Roshi."

What Bruce said stunned the teens on the spot.

"He's left-handed?" asked a shocked Ikki.

"HOW!?" Stella asked maniacally, looking totally discombobulated. "How could you possibly know that!?"

"Again, the numbers. Notice how the eight is written with a downward diagonal stroke to the left and then looped upwards? Or how the zeros circles towards the right? Those are left-handed traits."

"Stella-chan, I know Nanami. There's no doubt about it, she's definitely right-handed." Kagami said to her.

"Hmrph."

Madoka suddenly made her usual noise and began to move and click the mouse near her keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Ikki asked her.

"Accessing the student database. There are lot of volunteers in the Library but I can filter the search with the information Wayne-senpai just deduced."

"Um, why do you have access to something like that?"

While Madoka typed her search, her mouth open into a perverted and creepy grin.

"For a lot of reasons. Eh-heh, eh-heh, eh-heh-heh-heh..."

She let out such an incriminating, excited panting giggle that Ikki began to sweat and decide that he didn't really want to know.

"One match. Michita Takigawa" she announced.

"Takigawa?" asked Bruce.

Bruce recalled two nights ago when he questioned Komatsu about the Ichinose-gumi's underground tournament, the Midnight Hell Festa. It could be just a coincidence but...

"He wouldn't be related to Koshiro Takigawa, would he?"

Madoka nodded.

"Koshiro is his older brother. How did you know?"

Aware of the questioning eyes of the other teens on him, he realized that he needed to be careful in choosing his answer. The last thing he needed was to tip these kids off about who he was or get them involved in his mess.

"I, um, heard a rumor that Koshiro was a bookie working for the Ichinose-gumi."

"The Ichinose-gumi? You mean that Yakuza group!?" Kagami gasped.

Stella's gaze on Bruce turned suspicious.

"Where did you even hear a rumor like that from? I don't see you talking to anyone around here."

"Doesn't mean I don't keep my ears open." Bruce responded.

"Ah! I remember hearing a similar rumor!" Kagami suddenly spoke up. "About some shady activity that's been going on lately with links to the underworld."

With that information before him, Ikki came to his own conclusion.

"If that's the case, then it all makes sense. Michita Takigawa IS the one behind all this!"

Kagami sported a wide smile while she blushed and with two held up fists, she squeezed herself inward like a compressed spring before bursting out, her eyes opening with sparkles in them.

"SENPAI!"

Bruce shirked back seeing her rush at him but thankfully, all she did was clasp his hand with both of her's.

"Please! Won't you join the Newspaper Club?" She asked eagerly. "We could totally use a guy like you! With that analytical mind, you'd be an ace reporter."

Without emotion, Bruce pulled his hand away and responded with one word.

"Pass."

This resulted in Kagami being overdramatically frozen in a shocked state as the color drained from her and then the next moment she was crouched in the corner muttering dejectedly while looking even gloomier than Madoka.

As Bruce shook his head tiredly at her antics, Stella approached him slowly from the side with a rueful feeling of awkwardness. As defeated as she felt, some part of her begrudgingly admitted that she was a little impressed with him.

"Alright, I admit you were right. You're...you're pretty smart, Bruce." she said, looking off to the side while scratching her hair sheepishly.

Bruce could've sworn he saw a small ghost of smile on her face but then figured that he probably just imagined it.

What he did see next was a different kind of smile accompanied with fierce eyes, it was Stella's usual Battle-ready expression.

"But anyway, now that we know who he is, let's have a little chat with him and see how lucky he really is!"

With that plan of action, Stella turned to leave.

"No." Bruce called out.

Stella paused and turned back towards him with disbelief while the other teens looked surprised.

"No? What you mean 'No'!? You said it yourself, we have our guy!" she exclaimed.

"What we have is conjecture." Bruce said seriously. "Without hard evidence, it means nothing. Keep in mind that he apparently has Yakuza members at his finger tips. What do you think would happen if we confront him prematurely?"

Ikki glaced downwards in disappointment. As much as he didn't like it, he knew that Bruce had a point. Michita could easily just deny any accusations against him and even worse, he could signal his goons to attack the families of those students.

"But then what are we supposed to do!?" asked Stella.

Before anything could be said, a chime sounded off from the Academy's PA system followed by a broadcasted message.

"The Selection Battles scheduled for today will begin in one hour. All contenders, please come to the arenas assigned to your slots."

Everyone present in the club room silently glanced towards Bruce.

"It's time." he said.

TBC