Aru couldn't see, but she could still hear. And she couldn't hear anything but ringing from her left ear. Her head was throbbing, and she couldn't tell if it was from the ringing or something else. But she knew for sure that something was very, very wrong.

Her mind was trapped, her body unable to move, and her eyesight blocked.

Why couldn't she move?

She tried extending her arms, but they were locked uncomfortably behind her back. Her legs too, were binded at the ankles.

She felt a force tug at her feet. It started moving, dragging her body along with it. Her feet lifted up in the opposite direction of gravity, then the rest of her body, then blood started rushing to her head.

The ringing in her head got worse. She opened her mouth to scream, but couldn't quite get any air out.

The bag over her head got yanked off. Aru closed her eyes, as the moonlight flowing into the room she was in was too much.

Aru slowly opened her eyes. The dim blue light from the moon mixed with the flickering of a flame from a lighter, assaulting Aru's sensitive eyesight. Aru could make out the shadow of a tall body holding the lighter and Hoshino standing right next to it. But they were both standing upside down.

Aru noticed that the floor was above her then looked below her. That uncomfortable pulling sensation on her ankles was her dangling from the ceiling. She looked slightly above and saw the bright full moon below her, two steps away. This change in perspective was enough to send Aru into shock.

Hoshino faced the new person, who was wearing a blue ski mask with the number 2 displayed on the top. Wolf ears were sticking out of the mask, and a blue halo was hovering over her.

"You sure took your time getting here," Hoshino said.

"Well, you caught me in the middle of a bike run."

"This late in the day?"

"Yeah. Mind telling me why there's a big hole in our school?"

"Ah."

Hoshino walked over to Aru and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.

"These delinquents were trespassing, and we kind of got in a fight."

Hoshino kneeled down to look Aru in the eye.

"Meet Blue, a member of the legendary outlaw group, the Masked Mizugi Gang. Surely as hard-boiled outlaws, you know who they are, right?"

Aru started whimpering.

Hoshino continued her monologue.

"Abydos and the Masked Mizugi Gang go way back. Whenever we need to take care of some dirty work, we hire them. And they show. No. Mercy."

Aru's headache only intensified. She looked around her to see that Kayoko and Haruka were similarly held upside down, and looked to be in just as much pain as she was.

"Now I'm quite the nice vice-president, so I'm willing to let you guys go for what you did to us," Hoshino said. "But I'm not so sure about Blue over here. She hates when her trusty business partners come into trouble. Isn't that right, Blue?"

Blue nodded.

"It's bad for business."

Hoshino took her shotgun and poked Aru's head with the barrel.

"Okay. Let's make this quick. I heard that it's possible to die if you're upside down for more than a few minutes. So just answer my questions and I'll let you go. Or if you'd like to come down sooner, you can NOT answer my questions, and hanging upside down might become the least of your worries."

Hoshino nodded at Blue. Blue took her rifle, grabbed it by the barrel with both of her hands, and swung it over her shoulder. She walked over to Haruka and did a few practice swings in front of her with the rear of her gun.

Haruka closed her eyes. Tear drops were falling down her forehead.

Hoshino grabbed Aru's head and rotated it back to face her.

"Do you understand?"

Aru eked out, "Yes. What do you want? I'll tell you anything!"

"Start from the beginning. Why are you here inside of Abydos?"

"We-we were hired. Hired to spy on your school."

"By who?"

"Gehenna. The school. Well, to be more specific, the Prefect Team."

"The Prefect Team…"

Hoshino glanced at Blue. Blue shrugged her shoulders.

Hoshino locked eyes with Aru.

"Why did they send you? Or actually, what do THEY want?"

"I-I don't know what they want! I swear."

Hoshino sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped. I guess I got all that I could out of you. Time to let you-"

Haruka screamed.

"AAAAGH!"

Haruka erupted into full-blown sobbing. Blue was standing closeby, her stance and surrounding context indicating that she just swung her rifle into Haruka's body.

"No!" Kayoko screamed.

Hoshino scratched her chin.

"Holy crap, Blue."

Blue looked back at Hoshino and said, "That was kind of fun. Can I keep them? For stress relief?"

"Wha- no! You can't keep them!"

Blue pouted.

Hoshino groaned in response.

"I can't believe this. Okay. Fine."

Hoshino walked over to Kayoko and crouched down.

"Well, Blue seems like she's having fun. So let's have a little chat, then. So like I said before, what does the Prefect Team want?"

Kayoko immediately blurted out, "They're after-"

"No!" Haruka shouted. "Don't tell them anything!"

Blue took a glance at Hoshino. Hoshino just nodded her head. Blue looked back at Haruka, curled her fist up in a ball, and jabbed her in the stomach, causing Haruka to start dry coughing.

"Stop! Stop it!" Aru yelled out. "Let Haruka go!"

"Well, it seems like Blue really likes Haruka, so I don't know about that," Hoshino said.

"It's Yuuka!" Kayoko yelled. "They're after your new transfer student!"

"Why."

"You know how Millennium's going all crazy right now? She was part of their student council, so Hina thinks Yuuka might know something important that they don't."

"But that doesn't explain why-" Blue started. She jabbed Haruka in the stomach again. "-you blew up our school."

Haruka's sobs were the loudest noise in the building.

Aru said, "That wasn't part of our commission. Please you have to believe me! Please!"

Hoshino raised one eyebrow. "So you did it… for… fun?"

"Th-that's not what I said!"

Hoshino kneeled down and put her face right next to Aru's.

"The only reason I haven't broken your halos yet is because my underclassmen still like you. Now I could tell them all of your secrets, or you can tell me first. Because I know, right now, you are not giving me the entire story."

"B-but! But we… But"

Aru's eyes rapidly darted back and forth in her extreme discomfort.

Hoshino put on a wide smile.

"Eheheh. Look at you, you're so cute! Eh, I'm getting a little tired of playing bad cop. Okay Shiro-Blue. You can cut them down now."

Blue produced a knife from under skirt, earning a yelp from Aru and Haruka.

"And I mean cut their ropes," Hoshino quickly said. "I don't mean the other kind of cut them down. Just thought I should clarify that."

Blue grumbled, then skipped to the side of the problem solvers. She jumped and slashed, cutting the ropes tying the three Problem Solvers to the ceiling in one cut. They each fell on their heads.

"Ahahahowwwww," Aru whined.

Hoshino and Blue let them collect themselves for a few more seconds. Kayoko sat herself up, while Aru and Haruka snaked away as far away from the Abydos girls as they could.

Hoshino looked out at the moon, then spoke to Blue.

"So how much do you think it's gonna cost to get this repaired?"

"I don't know, I don't do the finances," Blue responded.

"Think we're gonna be over 1 billion now?"

"Definitely 1 billion."

"1 billion."

Hoshino clicked her tongue then faced the Problem Solvers.

"So, I'm willing to let you go if you just write a cool check to cover all the expenses here. Surely, you're getting paid to do this commission right? Just give us a cutback and I'll let bygones be bygones."

Kayoko said, "About that…"

"We're not being paid at all!" Aru blurted out.

Silence filled the room. Hoshino and Blue slowly creaked their heads over to look at Aru. Blue pulled the charging handle on her rifle back, expelling a bullet that ringed throughout the room when it landed on the floor.

"Wh-what I meant is that we're being forced to do this job! Against our will!" Aru said as damage control. "It's Hina! She personally sent in this request! That little witch Hina! She's threatening us! We had no choice but to go after your school!"

"Hina?" Hoshino asked. "That girl again? Ohoho, maybe I should send her a very strongly worded letter later. But are you telling me that you're more scared of Hina than me?"

Aru looked at Haruka then back at Hoshino.

"Huh? I didn't say that…"

Hoshino extended her arms and spun around.

"Look at me! I'm terrifying, right?"

Blue nodded and hummed.

Hoshino stopped spinning and put her fist out in the air.

"Yes. I am scary and deserve respect! My cute underclassmen don't give me any, but maybe you will?"

Hoshino clasped her hands together and put on her best puppy eyes impression.

Aru said, "Uh yes. Yes of course. We respect you very much."

"How much respect?"

"All of it! At least as much as we give Hina!"

"Higher!"

"A lot more respect!"

"Enough respect to give me your money?"

"Huh? Wait…"

Blue slammed her fist against the wall.

Aru pivoted her stance very quickly.

"Yes. You can have whatever's in my wallet. Um. Since we're not getting paid, maybe you can hook up with Hina for the rest! Not us! Because we're broke! Yeah!"

"Hmm. Okay."

Hoshino walked over to Aru and bent down. She started patting all over her body.

"H-hey! Where are you touching?" Aru complained.

"Here it is."

"What?"

Hoshino pulled out a wallet from Aru's jacket and opened it up.

Blue spoke up, "Are you mugging them?'

Hoshino pocketed the cash in the wallet then giggled. "I don't want to be lectured on morality by you of all people. And no, I am not mugging them. This is self-defense and I am 100% justified in taking their cash to pay for the damages that they've caused. Wait, what's this?"

"No!" Aru screamed.

Hoshino pulled out Aru's ID card and held it out in front of her.

"Holy crap. Come check this out. Aru, you're so cute in this!"

Blue walked over to look at the picture, then chuckled.

Hoshino pinched Aru's cheeks. "You're bigger now, eheheh."

"Waaaah!" Aru was on the verge of tears.

"Hey look, here's my ID."

Hoshino pulled out her own ID and shoved it in front of Aru's face.

"Ha! I wasn't even smiling in this one! I didn't even try fake smiling here. Oh I wish I retook it."

The Hoshino in that ID picture had short hair and a scowl that implied she was not happy to be there. Hoshino lowered the ID card, showing her current, notably happier, face to Aru.

"Okay, you can go now," Hoshino said.

"Really?" piped up Aru.

Kayoko said, "Last time you said that, we almost died. Multiple times."

"Yeah, I'm 100% serious this time. I've had my fun here. Oh, but I am keeping your money though."

Blue looked at Hoshino. Hoshino, blinked at Blue, then added, "But that's just my vote. I don't know what my business associate thinks. Well, Blue?"

The girls looked at Blue with concern in their eyes.

Blue answered, "Can I beat them up first?"

"Wh-No! No." Hoshino said.

Hoshino looked at Haruka, who was trying her best to squeeze into a corner. Hoshino looked back at Blue.

"You need therapy. So do I, but definitely you too. Come on, help me unlock them."

Blue tossed Hoshino a key, which she then used to unlock the cuffs on the Problem Solvers.

Aru wrung out her wrists, then stood up.

"So that's it then? You're letting us go?"

Hoshino smiled and tossed Aru her wallet. She pointed out of the hole in the wall.

"Yup. Now scram. Get out of here. I don't wanna see you for the rest of the night."

Aru, Kayoko, and Haruka took an uncomfortable glance at each other and slowly walked out of the building. When they cleared the wall, they started running across the courtyard as fast as they could.

Hoshino and Blue watched them closely until they disappeared behind the corner of the street. At this point, Blue took off her mask, letting loose silver hair that sparkled in the moonlight.

"Shiroko," Hoshino said.

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell the others about this."

Shiroko pulled out a chair and sat in it.

"Why? How are you going to explain to them this giant hole in the wall?"

"Ah. Well. I was just gonna say some street thugs I pissed off blew it up."

"But why?"

Hoshino leaned against a wall and crossed her arms.

"Well… I guess I don't want them to worry about this."

"And what's this? Why were Problem Solver here in the middle of the night?"

"Weren't you listening to them? It has something to do with Millennium. And Yuuka. Gehenna's involved in this too, somehow. And we're just stuck in the middle. You know how we always tried begging one of the big schools to just notice us, to help us out, even the tiniest bit? Well now they have, and I don't like it at all."

Shiroko didn't say anything back.

"I can see the writing on the walls," Hoshino continued. "The big schools are gonna go at it, and we're just gonna get dragged into whatever bullshit they do. I just wanted a normal high school life. But now I have to deal with this!"

Hoshino kicked over a table in frustration.

"Damnit! Why!? What did I do to deserve any of this?"

"I think you should calm down."

"Calm down? I can't do that! Those Problem Solver goons are just the start! Soon we're gonna start seeing tanks from Gehenna or Millennium storm through our district just because they can get away with picking on our tiny little school! What are six kids like us supposed to do against an entire army? Get rolled over apparently!"

Shiroko stared intensely when she heard Hoshino refer to herself as just a kid.

"We're not talking about a small mercenary company like Kaiser here," Hoshino kept on ranting. "If any of the big schools so much as sneezed on us, we're gone. That's it."

Hoshino sat down and laid against the wall.

"I just… I guess I don't want you all to worry about that. I can't let you worry about it as your senior."

"But what about me?" Shiroko barked. "Now I'm worried too! What a damn good job at that you're doing!"

Hoshino just grinned at Shiroko.

"Well, isn't that obvious? You're my confidant-in-crime. I kinda figured you'd be able to take in the situation better than everyone else. And I just assumed you'd get here a little earlier to help me take care of those girls. Um, yeah, guess that part didn't exactly go to plan. So yeah, can you please keep this a secret? Pretty please?"

"No."

"Huh?"

Shiroko stood up from her chair.

"You can't just keep this a secret from everyone! There's no way you can! And if what you said is true, then you're not protecting any of us from reality. This. This right here. Remember that time you got kidnapped? That happened because you didn't tell anybody what was going on! How is this any different?"

Hoshino dropped her smile.

"That was different, okay? We were backed into a corner with no way out. Here if we just stick our heads down, we'll get away!"

"Huh? But that's not what you just said. You said that tanks will roll through our school sooner or later."

"And they probably will! But if we play our cards right, that won't be an issue!"

Shiroko slapped Hoshino across the face.

"Ow!"

"What's gotten into you? Are you stupid? Did you take a few knocks to the head today? You can't just pretend that these problems don't exist!"

Hoshino was silent. Shiroko didn't say anything either. This continued on for a minute, as Hoshino collected her thoughts.

"Shiroko…" Hoshino said to break the silence. "Can you at least leave the Problem Solvers out of this?"

"What's this about?"

"I feel kind of bad for them. They're between a rock and a hard place, aren't they?

"You have a soft spot for them?" Shiroko asked.

"Kind of. I think I'd at least like for the rest of the girls to see them as friends. You know, the five of us don't really socialize outside our school that much, right?"

"But after today…"

"Mmmm. I think they're kind of like us in some ways. That's all."

Hoshino stood up.

"I'll tell the others about today. But it's too dangerous to talk here. I'll set up a group chat."

"A new group chat?" Shiroko asked.

"Yeah."

…

"There we go."

Shiroko's phone rang as Hoshino's messages reached her. She read them and frowned.

"Ah, that's why."

"I feel kind of bad about it."

"No, I understand. It does feel a little wrong though."

Hoshino and Shiroko picked up their guns and bags.

"Well, shall we get going? I have another phone call to make while we're on the way there."

Millennium District - Cybersecurity Department (formerly Veritas) Room

Two girls were watching a small computer screen. The one wearing a white lab coat was sipping on a can of Monster and leaning back in her chair by kicking off the table. The one with glasses and blond hair was leaning on the table, more interested in the conversation that was happening on screen.

"It's Hina! She personally sent in this request! That little witch Hina! She's threatening us! We had no choice but to go after your school!"

The blond girl paused the playback.

The girl in the lab coat smirked.

"Sphinx is so cool. I wonder if every school's AI is as advanced as her. Can't believe Seminar was hiding AI this advanced from us all this time."

"I'd imagine every school would freak out if they found out we installed an AI in all of them."

"I think what upsets me the most is that we didn't find out about them first."

The blond girl pushed up her glasses against her face.

"So, do you think we should tell Noa about this?"

"About what?" the other girl responded.

"About Gehenna and Abydos."

"Oh."

The girl in the lab coat took a big swig out of her energy drink.

"Why would we tell Seminar anything? I thought we hated them?"

"No, not Seminar. Just Noa. This is kind of what she hired me to do, right? If I didn't tell her, she might kill me."

"Pfft. I doubt she could. Worst she could possibly do is throw us both in the slammer for no reason."

"She can't do that, can she? How's a cybersecurity department supposed to work with no people?"

Silence.

"So we're in agreement then?"

"Yup."

The two girls got out of their chairs, took the USB with the video they were just watching, and started their trip to the tallest building in Millennium.