Our five canon "perverts" have been caught, alongside an innocent Ryuichi and an enraged Torimi. Meanwhile the rest of the boys sleep unaware of the chaos that has been unleashed on school grounds, with the USC now by their front door, ready to demand answers.

However, the boys aren't the only ones with no idea of what ramifications this whole ordeal could have, or how a lone elderly figure could drastically tip the balance of power into any direction

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights of any franchise presented here. All rights are in possession of Akira Hiramoto, Studio Fantasia and Hari Tokeino.

Hachimitsu Academy. April 15Th, 6:25 AM

Gekka was the first to wake up, looking around the room to see the other boys sleeping. He didn't want to disturb their sleep, especially for Kurogane as he was sure he would get an earful for it (if he was lucky). So spreading his arms wide, and giving a deep yawn he stood from his bed as quietly as possible, grabbing his jacket and taking a look at the TV.

The "5 perverts" at least kept their word, he'll give them that much. The batteries they had provided him with were in fact new and fitted like a glove into his remote control, so he and the rest had enjoyed two episodes of "Breaking Bad" with subtitles until they realized they had to go to bed.

Though not all of them actually wanted to, at least until a certain kind boy would come back.

While Kurogane was right that they could be mistaken for accomplices if they were caught walking around the dorms when the other boys were peeping, and they already sent messages to the chairman about Ryuichi's innocence, he just felt it was wrong to leave him all by himself.

Those fears died a little bit after he had texted him about his conversation with Torimi, and his decision to come back to their room… and getting lost along the way. This was enough for the others to finally drift into sleep while leaving the door unlocked for him to come in, but it didn't stop the shy boy from getting engulfed thinking about anything that could've happened to his friend, and in the end he slept without actually getting any rest.

And speaking of said kind boy, it didn't take long for Gekka to realize Ryuichi wasn't on his bed. In fact, he was not even in their room, period.

"R-Ryuichi-kun? Where are you-"

A loud groan made him jump slightly into the air, turning to look at a barely awake Hagane. The boy's hair was a mess, and for the look on his face one would even think he had a hangover.

"… Homura, you alright? You look worried" However, his speech was coherent enough to dissipate any possible suspicion of drinking in secret.

"I… could say the same thing to you, Mochizuki-kun. You look like you got a hangover"

"Uh… Yeah, I just hate waking up early" He easily dismissed, their voices slowly waking up the others as well.

"Well…" Gekka spared a glance at the clock in the desk, seeing it was about 6:30 AM, not so early considering the fact classes started at 8:30 AM "It's actually not so early, about the hour we should be waking up for school"

"Any sooner than noon is too early for me" Hagane said matter of factly, causing Gekka to sweatdrop.

"How do you even go to school then?"

"Where's Kumagai?"

Both boys turned to look at Kurogane, the tall boy now sitting on the bed while eyeing them curiously. Rhett was wide awake, but seemed content with just staring at the roof without moving, his arms spread on the bed.

"Umm…" Hagane looked around the room, the dizziness on his face slowly going away when realizing their roommate was nowhere to be seen.

"… The hell?"

Now all boys were on high alert, whatever sleep they might have left evaporating. Rhett slowly got himself off the bed, while Kurogane quickly got himself dressed, Gekka looking the other way when he was putting on his pants.

"Did anyone see him get back yesterday?"

All the present shook their heads in negation, which only got each other more on edge. Kurogane in particular was feeling guilty about leaving Ryuichi to his own devices. True, it seems Torimi agrees with him about the USC searching for any excuse to inflict some kind of punishment on them, and she has been in this school for 2 years so she should now about them better than anyone, but he still felt they should've stayed awake for a little longer to make sure their roommate came back safe.

Gekka was starting to panic a bit, and let out a high pitched yelp when there was a knock in the door.

The boys looked at each other, the thought of it being Ryuichi crossing their minds.

"… Maybe he had to hide with Torimi and her friends for the night?" Kurogane thought out loud while reaching for the door, a hope shared by the others.

Said hopes were crushed when instead, they found a girl with blonde hair in a bob cut standing on the other side. Her face was covered with band aids, and yet there was an air of innocence around her.

"So… it's you, huh" However, her looks didn't convince Kurogane in the slightest. She was part of the USC after all.

Hana pouted at him in a childish way, looking the other way "That's no way to greet someone you just met"

"We know who you are: Midorikawa Hana, secretary of the USC" He answered in a cutting tone, getting the girl's attention "For that fact alone we know you're NOT to be trusted"

Her eyes twitched at his words, but nonetheless kept her smile and bubbly voice, clasping her hands in front of her "Aww, don't be like that! It makes sense you know about us, considering Madam President handed you the guidebook of the Underground Student Council. But there's no need for you to think badly of us!"

Kurogane gave her a deadpan look, and his voice perfectly fitted his expression "I know some people who beg to differ. So I think I should trust them instead"

His words once again got an annoyed reaction out of her, however, after a few seconds she seemed to be contemplating something, holding her chin in deep thought. Her face quickly morphed into rage for a second before coming back to the same default innocent look.

"Umm… When you say 'some people', do you mean Morinomiya-san by any chance?"

Kurogane raised an eyebrow at the mention of her name. So they did know each other, huh?

"Yeah, her" He then put his hand in his pockets "By the way, I think your lovely 'Crowmaster' told you about our little meeting, right?"

His mocking tone when referring to Mari caused her to look the other way, tightening her fist in an attempt to calm herself down.

"She said you were insufferable, but the word doesn't do you justice" She whispered under her breath before giving a deep sigh, facing the tall boy once again.

"Yes, she did. However…" She interrupted before he could tell her to "Cut the bullshit". She peeked around him to look at the other boys, Gekka flinching under her stare "There's more pressing matters at hand"

"Umm…" Gekka dared himself to speak, the rest of the room's occupants alongside with Hana looking at him in curiosity "Does this… have to do with… K-Kumagai-kun?"

"Bingo!" Her bubbly voice was back once again, clasping her hands with her default cute face before tilting her head "May I borrow you guys for a minute?"

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, this won't get long. Just get dressed and follow me"

They boys exchanged a confused look, except Rhett as he just kept staring at the girl with a sleepy face. He didn't seem to have any lecherous intentions by his expression alone, though he was making her uncomfortable by not having blinked since the moment she came in.

"So, where we going?" Hagane asked while opening his drawer, looking for his uniform.

Hana gave them a cute smile, which was completely out of place with the ominousness of her voice as she closed the door "You will see by yourselves"

Hachimitsu's hallways, 7:00 AM

Hana walked in front of the four boys, catching the attention of all the girls around them. Gekka squirmed under their gaze, while Hanage and Rhett seemed to perfectly ignore them, concentrating solely on looking ahead. Kurogane on the other hand was actually staring back at them, making them either snap their heads away, or glare at him, to which he answered in kind.

"Parece que esos weones nos cagaron a nosotros también. Y eso que no tuvimo' na' que ver" (Looks like those assholes fucked us as well. And we didn't even have anything to do with it) Gekka thought with a frown, feeling the way they were currently being held in contempt by the girls.

"Looks like your friends' peeping operation dealt a heavy blow to your collective reputation" While Hana was her usual cheerful self, Kurogane and Gekka didn't miss the subtle hint of mockery in her voice, particularly directed at the taller boy.

"They're not our friends" All boys said at the same time, catching the blonde girl off guard.

"They're a bunch of creeps, and we made the chairman himself aware of that too," Added Kurogane, to which Hana looked at him with a raised brow.

"Why does he have to bring up the chairman now?" Hana didn't look at the boys, instead staring ahead with a pensive stare "True, the chairman did clarify to our Madam President that he and this insufferable douchebag had held conversations about him becoming an unofficial gardener of sorts, but… Did they actually relay the information about the other boys' intentions to the faculty?"

This certainly contradicted their deductions about them having been part of their operation, but she easily waved it off as just bluffing on his part.

They were boys after all.

"We're here" Hana said after a few minutes of walking, stopping in front of a large pair of doors, the sign at the top confirming what this place was to the four boys.

Underground Student Council office.

…

"Madam President! I brought them!" Hana quickly returned to her cheerful voice, stepping into the room.

The four boys cautiously followed her, taking into their surroundings. As a whole, it looked like a standard office. It was a rectangular room with filing cabinets on one side and a set of 4 couches around a long table right in the middle.

But what's more important about the room was the desk at the other end, on which Mari Kurihara rested her hands, staring judgingly at the boys.

"Thank you kindly for your work, secretary Hana" She responded in a regal tone, with the blonde girl skipping to her side.

"And as for you, I it is a pleasure to meet you all" Her voice sounded somewhat sincere, but also taunting and cold "At least meeting the rest of you, that is"

Her eyes drifted off to Kurogane and Gekka, the kind boy squirming under her sharp gaze. He was thankful when her eyes settled on the tall boy next to him, seemingly unaffected by her glare.

"So, we meet again, Kurogane" The confident smirk on her face vanished after his blunt rebuttal

"Just spit it out, bitch. The fuck do you want now?"

Immediately, the room went deadly quiet. Meiko and Hana's eyes widened to the point one would be excused for believing someone had glued a pair of headlights to their faces. Mari's entire demeanor changed to barely concealed, seething rage, and the boys (sans Rhett) snapped their heads at Kurogane, scandalized.

"W-WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" Finally, it was Meiko to break the oppressing silence "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TALK TO MADAM PRESIDENT LIKE THAT!"

As she said this, she pointed a metallic ruler at him, but it didn't have a visible effect on him, simply looking at her with boredom. His lack of reaction was insulting and even taunting for her, and was about to launch an attack when Mari's voice interrupted her.

"Meiko. Stand down"

The amazon beauty gritted her teeth at him, but reluctantly obeyed and lowered her ruler. She sent one last glare at the taller boy, who answered in kind without a hint of intimidation. He broke eye contact after feeling a tug on his sleeve, too light to be from that girl, Hana. He turned to see Gekka looking at him with a conflicted expression.

"T-There's no need to l-look for trouble, Kurogane-san. W-We still don't know w-what happened to Kumagai-kun" Gekka tried to be as gentle as possible when dissuading the taller boy from seeking conflict with the USC, especially now that they're worried about one of their friends. The tall boy gave a deep sigh and glared at Mari, this time much more subdued.

"I must commend you for calming down this beast, Homura-san" Mari's voice was her usual professional and cold tone "As if we don't have enough animals already with all those ghastly birds he's brought h-"

"Hello pot, I'm the kettle" Kurogane interrupted, leaning back and dramatically rolling his eyes, to which Gekka simply facepalmed.

Before he knew it, a metallic ruler was shoved into his face, mere millimeters from his nose. He didn't flinch, but his eyes did widen a bit as he slowly moved his head to the side, finding the one threatening him now.

"You will not be disrespectful with Madam President, scum" She emphasized her point by roughly pushing his nose with the ruler "As you might know from the chairman, we have the authority to punish you for these kinds of behav-"

She didn't have time to finish when Kurogane's hand shot up and grabbed the ruler. Meiko's eyes widened in surprise as the boy now glared deep into her eyes. His hand began to close around the ruler as he stood up, and nasty clanking sounds could be heard coming from it as it slowly bended under his grip.

"Try me"

Everyone in the room was speechless. The boys knew he wasn't someone to take other people's crap sitting down, but never expected him to be this confrontational with Hachimitsu's student council.

From their part, it was clear this was the first time someone had defied them like this, and who didn't seem intimidated by them despite their position in the school.

Meiko quickly came back from their stupor, now glaring back at the boy as she tugged on the ruler, hoping to slice his hand off in the meantime. However, the boy didn't budge one bit, both teens engaged in a glaring competition, their faces frozen into a Kubrick stare*.

Hagane and Gekka tried to snap Kurogane out of it, while Hana was doing the same with Meiko. Mari simply looked at the scene with a frown, while Rhett seemed like he could fall asleep at any second.

It was a good minute or so when they finally got Kurogane to let go of the ruler. Meiko seemed ready to smack him across the face with it until she saw the state the ruler was in. It was bended in an almost perfect 90 degrees, and the section Kuronage was squeezing on was compressed to the point it looked like it had been crushed by a hydraulic press. He didn't say anything, but the look in his eyes was practically daring her to try and take a swing at him.

At the end, despite the fact both powerhouses finally backed off, the tense air around the room didn't diminish one bit.

All the rooms' occupants (sans Rhett) were clearly uncomfortable, the USC tightly together, and Mari keeping a close eye on Meiko in case she tried to take a swing at Kurogane. Normally she would gladly allow her to do so, but considering Hana wasn't completely recovered from yesterday, and the fact this boy was clearly willing to put on a fight, she decided it was not worth the hassle

"Very well" She finally said after tense minutes passed by "First of all, I would like to know if any of you read the book I gave you two" She pointed at Gekka and Kurogane.

"Y-Yes! We all did!"

"Perfect. That makes things easier from here" As she said this, she leant her elbows into the desk, keeping her arms up and resting her chin on her hands. During this, Hagane and Gekka couldn't help but take a glance at the girl to her left, who had almost gotten into a fight with Kurogane mere minutes beforehand.

Shiraki Meiko

She was a girl like no other they have ever met, and her attire of choosing only emphasized this. Her massive breasts were almost completely exposed by her open jacket and shirt, each one very well the size of her own head. But despite them being her most notable asset, it was by no means the only ones she had. Her short skirt revealed the underside of her plump, large butt, and her stockings covered her muscular legs almost like a second skin.

Hagane didn't stare at her for more than a second, quickly looking back at Mari. However, Gekka kept his eyes on her for a little longer, eventually realizing what he was doing, and meeting her scowling gaze made him turn back with bright red cheeks.

"Por la chucha! No hay duda Mari vio esa wea!" (Oh fuck! There's no doubt Mari saw that shit!)

He didn't dare look at the Crowmaster, but he could practically feel the smirk on her face as she addressed him and the other boys.

"I will skip over the introductions and go straight to the point then. The boys were caught trying to sneak a cellphone into the girls' changing room, and broadcast them from their own room" Her voice was laced with disgust, and to her and the other girls' surprise the boys's faces also quickly morphed into scowls "They already received well deserved punishments from their would-be victims, and now, under our watch, they will serve 1 month of labor inside the school's prison block"

With this, the boys (sans Rhett) gave her a look that basically screamed "What are you talking about?" And she had a pretty good idea of what the source of their confusion was. Giving a professional yet smug smile, she informed them about the reality of the school grounds.

"You might find this hard to believe, but Hachimitsu does have its own prison block, built twenty years after its founding, in 1981" Her lessened the boys' confusion, only to be replaced by incredulity. There couldn't be a literal prison inside this school, right?

"You can choose to not believe us. However, you might have the chance to see it in no time. It is located right at the center of the school's main courtyard" Hana's bubbly voice caught their attention, before they began pondering on her words.

It was true though. Hagane and Rhett had indeed seen some sort of abandoned structure sitting right in the middle of the school's main building while the later was mapping the general layout of the school, while Kurogane and Gekka also took notice of it for a few seconds the day before, but didn't thought much of it. Until now.

"Precisely. We will have a meeting with them in short notice too, in order to clarify this information for them too" Mari's hard glare made Gekka uncomfortable, while Kurogane glared back at her "For the duration of their sentences, they are to follow the tasks we will bestow upon them. Failure will result in swift punishment"

"Umm…Okay" This time it was Hagane's turn to intercede, hesitation clear in his voice "But, don't you think that's a bit too f-"

"I know what you're thinking" Mari interrupted him before he could finish, which seemed to annoy him somewhat "Isn't this going too far? Aren't their punishments too severe?" She said with venom dripping from her words.

She then eyed the group of boys with disdain "Let me remind you that your 'friends' committed a felony. Peeping is a criminal offense" Kurogane grimaced a little, as if not wanting to admit she was right in that regard "Sadly, if we didn't take action ourselves, this would be overlooked by outside authorities as simply being 'boys' things' and leave them off the hook, luckily with a slap on the wrist".

The boys shared an uncertain look. While they didn't want to admit it, she had a point. They were aware this wouldn't be taken too seriously by the police or other outside authorities, likely simply getting some sort of punishment by their parents, if any at all.

Gekka in particular was surprisingly crestfallen at this implication.

Rhett raised his hand before Mari could keep talking, which caught the attention of the USC.

"Do you wish to speak?"

As the teen nodded, Mari raised a brow. This boy looked like he would fall asleep at any second, so she thought he might ask exactly what she's talking about. Visibly annoyed at the prospect, she gave him permission to speak

"Peeping is indeed a criminal offense. However, it is a misdemeanor, not a felony"

"…"

At this, the whole room fell into a confused silence. At least, this proved that he was in fact paying attention to their conversation. However, of all the things he could have said, he chose to fixate in the smallest detail possible, as the growing annoyance making its way into the faces of the USC made clear.

Meiko aimed her ruler (or at least, what was left of it) towards Rhett's face, the boy turning his whole head to look at the girl like an owl "If the only reason you're going to open your mouth for is for the sake of being a smartass, then you better remain quiet"

The boy didn't blink once while eyeing the ruler, then back at the fierce vice president. As a whole he didn't seem to react at all to her words, but Hagane could tell he was somewhat confused as to what she meant about being a "smartass". It took Meiko a few seconds to realize her threats didn't have the intended effect on him, and lowered her ruler while mumbling angrily under her breath.

Mari closed her eyes as she lets out a heavy breath, as if to dissipate as much anger and annoyance as possible "Very well, a misdemeanor, but a criminal offense nonetheless, so our point still stands" She then opened her eyes, her gaze locking with the boys once again "So I hope you know understand the situation at hand"

The boys nodded in response, and Gekka slowly raised his arm with a conflicted look, Mari gesturing for him to speak "Umm…y-yes, we understand what it entails for those boys, but…" He hesitated for a moment before finishing his thoughts "W-What does this have to d-do with us?"

With this, the USC let out a small, devious smirk, sending chills down Gekka's back. Kurogane and Hagane narrowed their eyes on them.

"Thank you for bringing that up, Homura-san. That, in fact, is our very next point" She leant forward into her hands, staring deep into the boys' eyes "We have asked you to come here today to answer a few questions regarding this incident. Depending on your answers…"

As Mari pauses for a moment, her eyes hardened into a piercing glare. Gekka turned pale while Hagane was starting to become nervous under her stare. Kurogane met her glare head on, refusing to back down. And Rhett was still half asleep, not paying attention to her.

"We shall decide whether or not you will share your six friends' fate"

At this, panic seemed to finally dawn upon the boys, even Kurogane. And the USC seemed to be basking in the sensation of finally seeing the tall boy being thrown off his game.

"S-Six!?"

"W-Wait, you saying Kumagai got caught in with those degenerates too!?"

Their voices were silenced after Meiko swatted the ruler in front of them, commanding them to keep quiet.

"Yes, indeed. Your roommate was caught as part of the other five boys' peeping operation" Mari said with a sinister smirk "In fact, one could say he was a very valuable asset for us to have seized during our patrols last n-"

Without any warning Kurogane stood up swatting away Meiko's ruler, sending the upper part of it flying and into the wall. Before anyone could process what he had just done he slammed both of his palms into Mari's desk with a loud bang. Mari pushed herself ever so slightly against her chair, eyes wide as Kurogane glared into her eyes, while Hana and Meiko seemed ready to pounce on Kurogane before she seemed to quickly compose herself and gesture with her hand for them to stand back. Both girls froze in shock, while Mari now glared back at the tall boy looming over her.

"Listen here, crow bitch. Kumagai has nothing with that shit. He was out there trying to stop those perverts from peeping, even after we warned him not to because of you-"

"A likely fabricated story. Now, sit dow-"

"Call the chairman, dumbass. We informed him about everything after we rejected those perverts offer to join them"

Mari smirked at him "So you confess you all knew-"

"I said, call the chairman, you dumbfuck. We told him everything those guys were planning to do, and that Ryuichi was out there trying to stop t-"

His ranting was cut short after a fist made contact with his right cheek, sending his head flying in the opposite direction, though the rest of his body managed to remain in place. The boys watched in horror as the vice president her fist against his face with a vicious and enraged expression. Hana, for her part, stood to their side with a scrutinizing glare, likely watching as they didn't try to help the tall boy.

"YOU DO NOT SPEAK LIKE THAT TO MADAM PRESIDENT! MUCH LESS FOR SPURRING LIES! WE ALL KNOW YOU ARE COMPLICIT WITH THOSE BASTARDS PLAN! SO KNOW YOUR PLACE AND SIT BACK DOWN TRASH!"

A few seconds passed by as the tall boy remained motionless, his eyes closed as Meiko's fist pressed more and more against his cheek. Mari then lightly patted the vice president's shoulder, giving her a professional smile.

"I think that's enough Madam vice president" She then eyed the boy in absolute disgust "I think our insufferable guest has finally learned his pla-"

Her words were cut short as Kurogane's eyes opened in a flash, looking up at the ceiling by the position of his head before snapping back at both girls. Hana looked curiously at them after hearing the president's words suddenly cut off, and witnessed Kurogane turning his head around to face both girls, pushing against Meiko's fist with some difficulty.

The USC was at a loss of words. Mari and Hana know how strong their fierce vice president is, and this punch was clearly strong enough to send any pervert flying off either unconscious or badly injured. Yet the tall boy looked completely unaffected by it, now staring daggers into Mari and Meiko as his hands closed down on the desk, loud cracks coming from it.

The secretary of the USC reacted quickly when it started to look like Kurogane would try to attack her fellow members. She kicked the back of his leg to get him off balance before grabbing onto his collar to throw him down. The first part of her strategy was successful, however, even with her pulling him on an aikido take down after catching him off balance, the tall boy didn't move an inch.

The secretary and vice president were now in a stalemate with Kurogane, with him refusing to move despite Hana trying to take him down and Meiko pressing her fist on his face. Both girls shared a look, realizing the situation they were stuck in before quickly setting up a plan for neutralizing the tall boy. He might be stronger than they thought, but if they managed to measure it a bit more precisely before attacking this time, they could effectively defeat him before he could cause some damage to Madam president

"Meiko! Hana! Stand down!"

Mari's voice cut down their plans, the crowmaster giving them a hard stare that brooks no refusals. They might be able to effectively take down the tall boy if a fight did break out, but Hana was still not at 100% after the incident the previous day with Torimi, and she refused to put her two underlings at risk.

"M-Madam president!?" Both girls exclaimed at the same time, before begrudgingly letting go of Kurogane after Mari didn't change her stance. After being freed from their assault, the tall boy exchanged stares with Mari before ripping off huge chunks off her desk with his bare hands while straightening himself up. He let these pieces of wood fall to the ground while he walked back to the couch.

Mari looked at the missing pieces of her desk before glancing back at the furniture and realizing huge cracks were now spread all over it around the spots Kurogane just ripped off, and that the front of the desk had somehow sunk into the floor.

One could just feel the rage boiling inside her blood from her piercing stare at the boy, thinly veiled under an expression of cold professionalism. Her underlings were on the same boat, staring daggers into the boy's very soul. But Kurogane refused to let them intimidate him, glaring back at them with the same intensity.

They stood there for a good minute, each group refusing to back down from this staring battle, and keeping any sign of weakness at bay less the enemy gets a glimpse at it.

After what felt like forever, both groups had watery eyes as either refused to even blink. In the end they could hold it anymore and had to break eye contact in order to blink and dissipate the moisture forming on their eyes. When they locked glares again, it was clear that this was a losing game, neither of them could hope to win anything from this little stand-off, it was delaying actual work for the USC, and having this give the other boys the impression that they were a bunch of thugs didn't help matters in the slightest.

Finally, it was Gekka to put an end to the tension suffocating the room, tugging on Kurogane's sleeves. When the tall boy eyed him, he was greeted with the most childish and furious pout he's ever seen. He could see in Gekka's eyes that he was fully serious about his anger, yet the contrast of his puffy cheeks with a faint blush turned most of it into a cute and even hilarious sight.

Slowly, all the anger inside of him turned into amusement as he kept staring at Gekka's face. And the way said amusement made its way on his face, caused Gekka's anger to just kept growing and growing. The USC witnessed this exchange between both boys, and as they allowed their own bottled up feelings of outrage and ire slowly faded away, a tiny speck of Kurogane's amusement made its way into them after getting a good look at Gekka. Said feelings were then brutally crushed under a new suspicion about their new male student, realizing how much he resembled a girl, and immediately running a wave of ideas of how he could employ this to harass Hachimitsu's female students.

Seconds went by and the tension in the room was slowly drained by Gekka, albeit in a completely unintentional way. As Kurogane faced the USC once again with his hands in his pockets, his body language told them he was now open to hear them out but nonetheless would jump back to his confrontational self should they get into an argument again. Taking a deep breath, Mari made her way back to her now cracked desk, sitting and folding her arms on her lap. Meiko and Hana stood at both her sides

"Very well. Taking things from the point I was before, I will ask you some questions regarding your involvement. Depending on your answers we shall determine whether or not you will share the other boys' fate"

Meiko then glared at the boys one last time "If you scum lie, we will know"

Hagane and Gekka gulped in nervousness, while Kurogane simply sent her a cold glance. Rhett was now slightly more awake, but didn't seem to be interested in the whole situation either way.

"First of all…" She addressed Kurogane "You said that the chairman was informed about the boys' intention to peep on the girls' bath from you, is that correct?".

"It is. You can ask him if you still doubt us" He shrugged

"Very well, we shall do. However…" Mari narrowed her eyes at the boys, Kurogane answering in kind "You knew what they intended to do, and yet you didn't do more to stop them, did you?"

And there she was again, making wrong assumptions. Hagane vividly remembered getting into a brawl with the others just to try and change their minds, but something that could only be spoken about without physical evidence would be quickly dismissed by these girls, he had no doubt.

It was now Gekka's turn to raise his hand, Mari giving the boy a cold stare before motioning with her hand for him to speak.

"W-We did try to s-stop them. T-They attacked us for it too" He squirmed under the girls' stare, shrinking even further into his seat. Kurogane was worried he might just fade from existence if he shrunk any more.

"Hmm… interesting" By her voice, the boys instinctively knew she was going to try and dismiss this "Do you happen to have any proof of your claims"

"Under threat of repeating myself to oblivion. ASK. THE. CHAIRMAN" Kurogane said in absolute frustration, eliciting an icy glare from Mari.

"Are those the only words you know how to speak" Hana's cheerful and bubbly voice, combined with her head tilt, did little to belittle the mocking undertone of her words.

"I must agree. You seem very fond of those words, scavenger-san. Is there any reason why you keep insisting about contacting the chairman about this situation? As I assume you have read the book I gave to you, all of you must be aware this kind of issues lie within our jurisdiction"

While the boys looked crestfallen at this, knowing she has a point about them being in charge of the punishment for the other boys, Kurogane didn't back down "As you should remember for our 'conversation' yesterday, crow-bitch, I'm in contact with the chairman. So I had plenty of opportunities of telling him about this whole mess"

Mari's eyes twitched at the nickname, but nonetheless remained in control of her words "Very well. If you are telling the truth, then we shall confirm it after our meeting here is done. However, I would like to her some of the details of your confrontation very, so we can corroborate them later"

And just like that, the three boys retold their previous encounter with the "5 perverts", including how they wanted to use their new TV for pornography, Hagane vetoing it because his parents can monitor what they do on it, to them rejecting their offer to join them into their "Operation: Peeping". Their words regarding how simply drooling over girls while they're on their private time was treating them "like cattle" elicited some raised eyebrows from the USC, though they quickly brushed it off as them trying to sweet-talk them into believing their claims.

Then they went into detail about how Ryuichi tried to contact "Obaa-san" about the situation, though they weren't sure about who this person might be. The USC seemed to catch on to the identity of this person if their wide eyes and cold sweat in the case of Meiko and Hana were any indication.

Finally, they declared Ryuichi had gone on his own to stop the boys, and also why they didn't chase after him to help.

"So, you just stayed in your rooms? Even though you knew what they would do?" Hana tilted her head in question

"We had already told the chairman about the whole issue. If we actually went outside to try and stop them, would you have listened to us? Or would you have just accused us of being accomplices and thrown us in prison?"

Meiko grumbled a bit under her breath, for they actually couldn't deny his accusation this time, while Hana and Mari scowling a bit told the boys they would have done just that.

After finishing their story, the boys sat back into their seats in anticipation, waiting for what the USC had to say about their version of the events. After the insistence of Kurogane that the chairman could back up their claims, they had no choice but to confirm this themselves, for they knew he actually did have a way to directly contact him.

"Very well then" Mari exhaled, annoyed "In light of your claims, we shall investigate further with the six culprits-"

"Five culprits"

"…That shall be determined later" The USC glared once again at Kurogane for interrupting their president, before she cleared her throat. "As you four weren't part of their disgusting crime, you will not be imprisoned, however…"

She eyed each of the boys with a scrutinizing stare, causing Gekka to gulp loudly, Hagane to avert his gaze, and Kurogane to glare at her. Rhett didn't seem to notice it in the slightest.

"I still do not trust you to just roam the school unsupervised"

Gekka shook under her piercing stare "S-She really doesn't like men"

Kurogane simply scoffed at her "Unsupervised? What is this? Kindergarten?"

Mari smirked at him, with a condescending glint on her eyes "Well, as of now we have to deal with an unruly toddler throwing a tantrum over his friend getting in trouble, so I dare say it is actually a very appropriate response on our part"

"The only toddlers I see right now are playing 'cops and robbers' with people who have told her they don't even want to play in the first place" Kurogane fired back without missing a beat.

This time however, Mari didn't seem so affected by his sarcasm as her fellow USC members, sending them another smirk "Regardless, you all do understand that, regardless of your participation, or lack thereof, in this despicable crime, the female student body is not going to trust you in the future"

With this, Gekka and Hagane looked at the ground in regret. It was true, even if they had nothing to do with the 5 perverts "Operation: Peeping", the girls as a whole would now be even more wary of them than they had been since the beginning. And that is not counting on whatever propaganda the USC decided to issue just to further drive the girls away from them.

For some reason, Gekka wasn't so affected by the thought of having the girls stay away from him in the future. It gave him a strange feeling of tranquility knowing that he would not have to deal with them, however, he also knew it wasn't fair for the other boys to become the school's pariahs for something they actively tried to avoid, much less Ryuichi after he had got caught for trying to stop the perverts in the first place.

"Very well then. As of now, many of our junior members from 'Khemestaro corps' are recovering from the 'incident' yesterday" She gave a hard scowl after recalling what that "gyaru" had done to their 'guard', eliciting a few raised eyebrows from the boys. She continued "So you will officially be under our watch until further notice. Once they are fully recovered, I warn you with anticipation that we will be informed about any transgressions that occur within this school, am I clear" She narrowed her eyes in an icy glare.

"Y-Yes Madam president!"

"Yeah"

"…"

"So now we are being spied upon. Awesome"

"Very well then. You are excused now"

And with that, all the boys stood up from their chairs, everyone but Kurogane giving the USC a respectful (and scared) bow before turning around.

When the boys were just about to exit the room, Mari directed her words to them one last time "And just so every misunderstanding is cleared between both of our groups, even if your friend Kumagai is actually innocent, we have credible reports of him wandering too close to the girls' changing rooms. As such we do have reasons for his detention and further interrogation".

She clasped her hands together, intertwining her fingers and leaning her chin on them "So I will appreciate you ceasing being so close-minded about our duties. We merely desire to protect the alumni from anything that might pose a threat" She narrowed her eyes at Gekka, the shy boy squirming under her glare "No matter how passive or defenseless that threat may look-"

*BAM!*

While they expected Kurogane to be the one to defy them one more time, it wasn't the tall boy who slammed his fist into the door while glaring at them, but rather the friendly redhead that mere moments ago was perfectly submissive and scared of them.

Mari refused to let another male scum stand up against her, meeting his glare head on while Meiko and Hana took a few menacing steps forward.

"I will appreciate for you to know your place, trash" Her tone was polite, yet just as condescending as before "Scavenger-san might be left off the hook just for this once, but you will not have the same luck-"

"FUCK OFF, ASSHOLES"

"..."

*SLAM!*

Just like that, Hagane put a reassuring hand across the shoulders of a flabbergasted Gekka and slammed the door on the USC's faces. Leaving the 3 girls frozen in place, with wide eyes and completely speechless.

None of them knew how to process this whole situation. Mari, being the only one acquainted with at least some of the boys, expected Gekka to be a meek and easily manageable coward, too scared to speak up or try to deceive them. And to her satisfaction, this hypothesis was proven true for the most part.

But despite having met him before and getting a firsthand taste of what his general character is like, she severely underestimated how confrontational and no-nonsense Kurogane could actually be. He was an even worse torn on her side that she imagined, and worse of all, had proven himself to be a threat physically too. In a full blown confrontation she had no doubt the USC could subdue and punish him, but if he confronted them one on one, she had seen with her own eyes that he would not go down easily. It was the first time she saw someone capable of directly opposing Meiko's strength, and not sell a punch from her.

And now, it turns out that the redhead hiding his perversion under a friendly façade had some unexpected tricks up his sleeve too.

Hana was the first to recover, turning to her fellow USC members in puzzlement "…W-Was that his voice? He didn't even sound human!"

…

The redhead sighed heavily. From how Kurogane had described the USC, especially their president, he expected them to be a bit hard to reason with, but he didn't count on two of them being full-blown misandrists, and that was because Hana seemed more peeved at Kurogane for his attitude than everything else.

And worse of all, they had confirmed their fears about Kumagai getting caught in the middle of all this shit-show. A kind boy who shouldn't have been involved in this mess to begin with, now at the non-existent mercy of the USC…

He blinked. Underground Student Council?

For what he knows, when something that usually is referred to by a simple title suddenly gets more specific, it means that there's usually more than one entity with the same function. Or at least the same name.

"So, if an Underground version exists, that means there's another, more traditional council, right?"

The idea that there could be another entity in this school that could maybe help them with the USC was something worth looking into, however, at the moment the best thing to do would be seeing what Ryuichi's situation is really like, and what the faculty has to say about it.

"At least we informed them about it, so even if the USC has the authority to do…whatever they're doing, they still have to listen to the teachers and the chairman"

He closed his eyes and released a tired sigh, the whole weight of their predicament finally becoming clear for him.

"Let's just hope for the best then"

As he turned to face the rest of his roommates, he found himself under the scrutiny of Kurogane and Gekka, both looking at him with curiosity and puzzlement. Rhett was slumped against the wall, seemingly taking a nap.

"…Was that you, Mochizuki-san?"

Hagane raised an eyebrow at them, now realizing they had never heard him do that before. Deciding to mess around with them a bit, he sniffed the air a bit before answering.

"Maybe. Our lunch yesterday did have asparagus* as salad either way"

Gekka blinked once in confusion as to what he meant, while Kurogane gave him a deadpan look.

"You know that's not what we're talking about"

Hagane chuckled under his breath "Yeah, I know. So to answer you, yes, that was me Homura. Did I scare you?"

Gekka fidgeted a bit in place, not wanting to offend the redhead "Umm…y-yes, a bit. That sounded really different from your voice"

"That sounded different from a human"

Hagane laughed louder this time "Yeah, that's what most people think about 'deathcore'. But personally, I prefer 'metalcore', that one isn't as hard on your vocal chords, and people can actually understand what I say".

Kurogane tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in confusion as to what he meant, while Gekka seemed to catch on what he was talking.

"…I…I think I've heard those things before…" Gekka didn't want to upset the redhead by revealing he has only ever heard those words when discussing songs from "guitar hero" when he was younger "So…you sing?"

Hagane smiled brightly, giving a thumbs up "Vocalist of 'Shadow Chapel' at your service! Though I must warn you, what you heard me do just now is not something you'll hear me do that often, even though I can use the 'false chords' to avoid hurting my throat. Pure deathcore isn't really our style"

"…"

Both boys stood there, looking at the redhead with interest. Now this was something neither of them saw coming: one of their roommates is an aspiring heavy metal guitarist and vocalist. It seemed that their school life was getting more and more interesting every passing second; first they're the only 10 boys in a school with over 1000 students, then it turns out half of them are irredeemable perverts, then the USC tells them the Hachimitsu has its own prison, and now one of their roommates admits he has a band.

However, neither Homura or Kurogane seemed thrilled by this news at the moment. More so because of all the problems they have at hand right now, rather than because they weren't interested.

"I'm…actually fine to not hear you do that all the time" Gekka admitted sheepishly.

Hagane blinked once at him, turning to look at Kurogane, the tall boy shrugging in a "meh" kind of way. The redhead deflated somewhat at this, with Rhett looking slightly upwards, towards the boys with a raised brow.

Inside the USC office, 7:15 AM

Mari pinched the bridge of her nose as she stood in front of her desk, the missing pieces and sinking into the floor evidence of their confrontation with half of Hachimitsu's male population.

To say things had gotten out of hand would be a massive understatement; barely one of them boys actually seemed to be easy enough to deal with, but the others were either completely indifferent to the point of looking disconnected from reality (if not for small comments here and there showing he actually did notice what's going on around him), or downright defiant in the face of their authority.

Her fellow USC members didn't fare any better either. Meiko was sweating profusely, a small pond forming at her feet, and Hana was still recovering from her encounter with Torimi, now with a whole new reason to be stressed beyond some residual pain in her "private area".

"M-Madam president" Meiko was the one to break the silence after a minute or so "This was…"

"A complete disaster" Mari finished up for her, opening her eyes. Meiko started sweating even more after seeing the coldly enraged look in her eyes, while Hana was busy trying to remove the piece of the metal ruler stuck to the wall.

"Y-You're not going to actually call the chairman, right? Those guys were clearly in with the others in that peeping thing" Hana voice as she yanked the ruler out with some difficulty, leaving a nasty hole in the wall. She grimaced, that was going to take a while to fix.

Mari rounded the desk and sat down on her chair, clasping her hands on top of it "As much as I would like to just throw them inside the prison, we do have enough evidence to confirm that at least one of that insufferable trash's declarations is true: He does have direct contact with my dear father, so even if the chance they did contact him about the other boys' depraved operation is infinitesimally small, we will have to corroborate it later".

Meiko stopped sweating and scowled at this, her hand tightening into a fist. Why couldn't they just lock them all out and throw away the key? Especially the tall one.

"So for now, we will just have to keep an eye on them, isn't it?" Hana addressed the president as she dropped the broken ruler into the trash bin.

"Indeed, however…" Now Mari sported a devilish smirk "They are boys, and as such, absolute scum. So all we need to do is wait, and they will reveal their real selves in no time"

Meiko and Hana also grew a victorious smirk of their own after hearing Mari's words.

"Of course, Madam president"

"Meiko, did you by any chance, noticed the way those two boys were looking at you"

Meiko once again scowled at this. She knew exactly who she was talking about: that redhead boy with the weird skill to control his voice, and that wimpy boy who looked too much like a girl. Both of them had been staring up at her body during their little "conversation", and while the redhead had turned away after a second, the other stared at her for a little longer until he realized Meiko was aware of what he was doing.

"Yes, those two bastards were staring at me…typical, no matter how friendly or nonthreatening they present themselves as, they're still pigs" She finished with a venomous tone.

"Precisely" Mari agreed with her statement, while Hana gave a nod of approval "So this will be a work I must entrust to you, Meiko: I want you to keep an eye on that effeminate one. With the information we have gathered now, it's clear he is the weak link inside their group, and now that we have confirmed he has the same thoughts as those disgusting pigs in prison, you will have an opening to reveal his true colors and dismantle the boys for good"

Meiko straightened herself up, determination on her face "Madam president! I will watch over Homura and reveal the real him for all of us to see!"

Mari nodded, a confident smile on her face "Very well, see it so that it is done".

"And what about the other two?" Hana voiced this time, disdain clear in her voice.

Mari sighed into her hands as she addressed their other problem "We will not bring either Morinomiya or Kumagai here. Given their connections to Youko-san, it will be better to just leave them inside the prison without making a public show of their sentences by having them walk in front of the students"

As both Meiko and Hana were visibly upset at granting both of them, the sixth peeping tom and the 'rouge student' some privacy regarding their sentences, Mari quietly though to herself "If we can finally convince Youko-san to open her eyes and see the reality of what men really are, then it would be our greatest victory. But at the time, we cannot risk to place ourselves as an enemy. So we will need to play our cards carefully, and with patience"

She then glanced down at her desk, the scowl from before returning once again "And Hana?"

"Yes, Madam president?"

"Could you please bring in a tablecloth before we call those other scums here?" Hana raised a brow at her petition, before nodding all the same.

"Excellent. I don't want those perverts to know an oversized, ghastly scavenger actually defied us" She finished with a dark tone, Hana donning her own upset look before running out of the room to bring in the tablecloth, leaving Meiko and Mari alone with their thoughts.

20 minutes later

The five "peeping toms" were now inside the USC office, sitting on the couches around the long table right in the middle of the room. Each one of them was sweating profusely as they waited for the USC to show up, Kiyoshi and Gakuto in particular were trembling in fearful anticipation of what their future would be.

"Uhh…What's gonna happen to us now?" Shingo voiced out loud, staring at the ceiling with dark bags under his eyes.

"Possibly suspended… or worse, expelled" Gakuto answered with a trembling voice, his hands clasped in front of him in a praying position "This is indeed a girls' high school after all"

Now his four companions were even more fearful at the prospect, especially Kiyoshi, who buried his face in his hands as he thought back at the one girl he had managed to befriend at Hachimitsu.

"C-Chiyo-chan…"

"Dammit! Whose idea was to go peeping anyway!?" Shingo yelled with angry tears in his eyes.

Kiyoshi glanced at his friend with a sympathetic frown, taking notice of his physical state "You should try to rest a little after this is over, Shingo. You barely slept last night after the beatdown Kumagai's friend gave the USC. You just spent all the time fearing what they would do to us"

Just at that moment, the door creaked as it was opened, and entered the vice president herself, Shiraki Meiko. She had her arms crossed underneath her bosom, pushing up her breasts and giving an ample view of her cleavage, and her braless self. In one hand she had a riding crop, and in the other one was a plastic bag with the logo of the USC plastered at the front.

"Stand up, now"

At her command, the five boys stood from the couches, forming a line in front of the vice president. While Kiyoshi, Gakuto and Joe were keeping to themselves without making eye contact with Meiko, Shingo and Andre couldn't help but marvel at the sight of her cleavage, her alluring and massive boobs laying braless just beneath her white shirt.

"Your punishment has been decided" As she said this, she threw the bag in front of the boys. Looking inside of it, they noticed it had some clothes with black and white stripes all over them.

"Eh? Here?" Kiyoshi was confused at them not being given some measure of privacy, but thinking back at Kurogane's words about the USC's feelings about boys, and their own actions the previous night, he conceded that maybe this was part of their punishment.

"Um… Our punishment you mean-"

BAM!

Gakuto's out loud musings were cut short as Meiko slapped him across the face with her riding crop, blood spurting out of his nose

"Whispering is not allowed" Meiko clarified in an utterly apathetic voice carrying no small amount of disgust for the ones those words were directed "Finish in 1 minute"

And with that, the boys quickly helped Gakuto back to his feet while stripping out of their clothes, all under the attentive gaze of the vicious vice president. Each of the boys too scared of her to do anything other than change into their new clothes for the time being

Or so it was for most of them

SLAM!

… For there is always someone who can't read a room's mood to save his life, even with sleep deprivation as an excuse.

Case in point, Shingo tried to use this as a chance to flex and show off his relatively toned muscles to the amazon beauty watching over them, in an attempt to impress and maybe even court the USC vice president.

This earned him a riding crop to the face, sending him spinning and into the floor, blood spurting out of his nose.

Meiko didn't even dignify his obvious intentions with a comment, instead settling for simply glaring at the blonde boy as he scrambled to his feet, putting over his striped shirt.

After all the boys were ready to go, pointed her riding crop at them again, earning a flinch from both boys who had already received a taste of how good the vice president was in using it.

"Listen clearly, trash. Secretary Hana is waiting for you outside. You will follow her in silence, and I will be on the back. Any attempts to try and run away will be met with severe punishment. Is that clear?"

As one, all the boys stiffened and nervously looked at each other before refocusing on the vice president, nodding in response.

"Good. Now, follow us"

Courtyard, 8:15 AM

The four boys were now standing in the courtyard, feeling the stares from the female population of Hachimitsu coming from all the buildings. There were a few who seemed more nervous and doubtful than outright disgusted or hostile, but for the most part, Hachimitsu was looking less and less inviting for them.

It didn't help that Hana had walked up to them a few moments ago, presumably so the rest of the students wouldn't feel unsafe that the 4 boys were not being "supervised" by the USC.

"Seriously…. Do they really expect us to believe that they were against the others' plan? Or that they even tried to stop them? She glanced at the boys with disgust "I saw how the wimpy and the redhead were looking at Meiko. These guys ain't gonna make it"

She didn't miss the fact Kurogane was looking at her with the same expression she had, and promptly walked up to him "What are you looking at?"

"Just trying to figure out why the hell you're still here" He couldn't have been more blunt if he got paid for it.

A vein bulged on Hana's forehead "What the hell is that supposed to mean, huh!?" She asked, her tone offended and her hands on her hips

Kurogane merely raised a brow at her display , completely unbothered by it "I mean exactly why are you so close to us now. Did the crow-bitch tell you to start your little 'cops and robbers' shit with us from now on?"

Hana swore she pulled something with how hard her eyelid twitched "That's Mari-san for you, asshole!" She pointed a finger straight at him as she glared "If you want to survive in this school, you will start treating the president with the respect she's owed. Understood?"

Kurogane had the gall to look at her in complete incredulity "You're shitting me, right?"

Before Hana could unleash a tirade of profanity at him for his continuous disrespect towards the USC, all the whispers around the courtyard died as 7 figures came into scene

The president and vice president of the USC came walking in, their postures of authority and confidence. Trailing behind them were five of the boys. All of them were dressed in the same striped black-and-white shirts with matching trousers, their heads cast down to their feet in shame.

Hana could see the four non-imprisoned boys' questions coming, and went straight to answer them before they could even speak "Kumagai and… Morinomiya aren't going to be made to march before the whole school like that trash due to their… special situations" The amount of venom in her voice during both statements could've been enough to put down a rhino "Their affairs will be handled privately-" She sent a glare at the tallest boy "-and we don't trust you with keeping a cool head and not trying to take them away if we actually made them parade"

Kurogane blinked at her before shrugging, conceding the point. Though not without flipping her off. Hana growled under her breath before huffing loudly, making her way to her fellow council members who, from the looks on their faces, had seen the tall boy's gesture.

Still, they had more pressing matters to address first.

With Meiko standing to her right, and Hana to her left, Mari unfolded a piece of paper, clearing her throat before speaking "For the vile crime of violating the human rights of your female victims, there's no room for clemency or taking extenuating circumstances into consideration. As such…" And with that, she extended an arm behind herself, pointing at the growing vegetation and the ominous building buried deep inside of it, to the five boys' growing terror.

"For your cowardly criminal act, the 5 accused are therefore ordered to serve a sentence of 1 month of penal servitude in prison!"

The boys stood there in horror as their eyes landed on their new "home" for the next month. Kiyoshi especially, was trembling in place, sweat running over his forehead. He glanced to the side, to the 4 boys who were not going to share their fate, and the shortest, most timid looking one of the bunch. Gekka felt his gaze on him and averted his eyes, looking down in shame.

"Be thankful that you are not expelled" Mari said dismissively as she crossed her arms and snapped her head to the side, ignoring the desperate and pleading looks in the boys' eyes "That is all!"

And with that, all 5 boys were dragged inside the building, the president and vice president walking at the front and their secretary trailing behind the group, sending one last dirty look at the boys not in prisoner outfits. Hagane was too frozen in place, looking at the building in complete bewilderment to notice it, but Gekka did, and he flinched back in fear at her stare. Rhett on the other hand simply slightly tilted his head to the side, and Kurogane sent her a deadpan look while mouthing off some swears she unfortunately managed to pick up.

Growling under her breath, she picked up her pace to catch up with the group, shooting the prison doors behind herself as she did. However, before both groups of boys could be fully separated, a certain blue haired boy sent one last remorseful gaze to the ones still free.

"Why?... Why couldn't we listen to you?...Why did I put something like this above Chiyo-chan?"

Inside the prison cells, 8:20

The first sensation to greet him was cold, the kind one would expect inside a cave: the wind freezing after passing through the rocks which had known no light for as long as they had existed. Yet, after groggily opening his eyes, he caught onto the fact he was laying on something that, while not soft, wasn't a hard surface either. Feeling it and sitting up to better take in his surroundings, he found himself lying on a bed, and from the looks of things, he was in a-

…His mind momentarily flatlined when the first thought that came to his head was that he was inside a dungeon, like the ones in the games some of his classmates played during recess.

Yet the place was unmistakably claustrophobic, with thick walls of concrete, a sink not far from the bed, and a small concrete desk and stool. The only part of the room that was not concrete apart from the bed was the wall in front of him, which was less a wall per se and more of a set of steel bars, with a door in the middle.

His mind racing to try and make sense of the situation, a sound coming from relatively close to his position put a stop to that. The same sound that had woken him up in the first place…

"RYUICHI!"

His childhood friend desperately calling for him.

Standing up, he made his way to what he guessed was the "front" of the room, gripping the steel bars while he pressed his head against them, looking around while trying to locate the source of his friend's voice.

"Torimi-san! Where are you?"

A small pause, and then a sigh of pure relief was heard coming from his left.

"Thank God. Are you okay?"

Ryuichi groaned a little as he rotated his shoulders, feeling his torso sore and a slight headache for some reason "I'm okay, but I feel a little sore for some reason. And my head aches a little too…"

He didn't remember exactly what had happened after trying to go back to his dorm with the others, beyond the fact he ran into a flock of crows and the one who Kurogane had said was…the president…of the USC.

His internal musings, as small pieces of last night's events came together, were halted as another sound filled his ears. This one he recognized as well: the cracking of Torimi's knuckles, in a way he knew she only did when she was trying to hold back her rage. That by itself was proof enough that something really bad had happened, and by what he could hear her muttering under her breath, she knew exactly what was wrong with their situation.

"...At least you're as good as you can be" She sighed at last "I almost thought I would end up being sentenced to a real prison after those bitches finally show their faces around here"

By now too confused to scold her for her language, Ryuchi tried to shove his head through the bars, in the direction he could hear Torimi's voice coming from "Torimi-san! What's going on here? And what do you mean about a 'real prison'?"

He knew his friend well enough to just feel her blinking at his question during the short pause that followed, and then another, bone-tired sigh punctuated her feelings "Listen Ryu, to say this is the worst case scenario is putting it lightly. What happened yesterday was nothing short of a disaster, in more ways than one"

And so, it began a long talk about their current location, the reasons why they were both there, and exactly what had happened after he lost consciousness. And through it all, Ryuichi could only boggle in disbelief, question in confusion, and at the end of it all, he just sank into his knees, gripping the bars, now colder than ever.

Torimi, for her part, was trying her damndest to find anything, anything that she could say to her friend that could lift his spirits, if only a little. It didn't matter that her whole body hurt like hell after the beating she took last night, Ryu needed her, and she would be there for him no matter what.

Then came Ryuichi's voice. A single, barely audible whisper and quiet sobbing, but for her it might as well could've been a cannon blast. It almost brought her to her knees too, leaning against the steel bars of her cell as she gritted her teeth, trying to stop the tears from flowing.

"Kotaro…"

Her internal musings of bloody vengeance were halted when the sound of steps coming from deep inside the darkness outside their cells. It didn't take long until she picked up the terrified murmuring of several male voices, and she immediately scowled: The other 5 boys, the ones who were actually guilty for what the USC had accused them for, were now inside the prison. And quickly putting two and two together, she realized this meant that the USC was now inside too.

"Well, that's just perfect" She sneered, now standing upright and cracking her neck "Those bitches and assholes are in here now too, huh? Well, they are likely gonna take us all out into whatever room they deem fit just to tell us the basic rules around here, aren't they" She chuckled darkly to herself "That's good, so…"

Completely ignoring Kiyoshi's yell of panic upon fully grasping he and the others' circumstances, she directed an enraged glare towards the other cells just out of sight.

"Let's just make the message clear for those whores, and drill it deep into those perverts' heads: No one messes with Ryu".

Prison mess hall, 10:40 AM

Unfortunately for Torimi, the USC had taken their sweet time before letting the prisoners out of their cells, and so she was forced to put up with the self-righteous whining from the 5 perverts. Well 4 of them actually.

Kiyoshi had been suspiciously quiet ever since yelling at the top of his lungs that they were now inside "Prison Academy" (yeah, thank you so much for pointing out the obvious). But the other 4 simply refused to shut up, screaming and weeping constantly about the "injustice" of their sentences, how they deserved freedom, and demanding to speak to an adult authority to fix things up.

As a whole, it made her sick. These bastards were the ones responsible for Ryuichi getting in trouble trying to stop them from peeping, and now they had the gall to cry and demand to not be punished?

"I was right. These assholes are ones I want as far away as possible from Ryu"

Now, considering the time, she had an idea as to why they had decided to wait until this very moment. They have recess during this time, and she knew for a fact they couldn't care less about their prisoners losing a school day. So it wasn't until the moment the first period ended that she and her friend got their prison uniforms, though at least the USC let them change into them by themselves.

So now, here they are: the five, genuinely guilty boys and the ones responsible for everything sweating nervously under the gazes from the USC and itching away from the equally pissed off Torimi, the blonde gyaru who fell trying to protect her friend now taking turns glaring at both groups, and said kind hearted friend hugging his knees and looking down in shame.

However, the presence of the 4 boys who had not been arrested, standing right behind the USC did come as a surprise for the prisoners.

Gekka was shifting uncomfortably while trying to hide his face in his shirt, Hagane was awkwardly looking everywhere but the boys in front of him, and by the looks the USC were sending Kurogane, they were getting tired of his impatient foot tapping, to which he responded by crossing his arms in surly defiance.

…And Rhett was ignoring everything as usual, drawing something on a tablet.

"I will warn you upfront" Mari started "You will offer absolute obedience to the Underground Student Council here" With that, she elegantly swung her arm to the sides, indicating the two girls flanking her.

"And do not think about a stupid thing like escaping. Even if a single one of you tries breaking out, all of you will have your sentences extended by 1 month, a second attempt will add three months… and a third attempt will result in your collective expulsions"

"...Collective expulsions?" Kurogane thought to himself.

"That is all. Are there any questions?" Mari finished, looking askance at the six boys (and one girl) in front of her, likely not actually expecting an answer. Hagane and Gekka for their part exchanged nervous glances; after their little "conversation" inside their office, they had a very good idea of how these girls would react to their actions and rationale behind them being questioned, so they pleaded, pleaded that the boys would actually ask reasonable questions and not make their already horrible situation even worse.

"Thou dare condemn yours truly for violating human rights, and then blatantly violate OUR right of freedom by incarcerating us for a m-!" Gakuto's angry tirade was cut off by Meiko swinging her leather whip. The four no-yet incarcerated boys flinched (Rhett very subtly) at the sheer force she hit him with.

"Refrain from speaking unless spoken to" She coldly demanded.

"Shit/Crap…she's a lot more violent than I remember" Hagane and Gekka thought simultaneously.

"T-That's right!" Shingo whispered just loud enough for the others to hear him, drawing incredulous looks from 3 of the non-incarcerated boys

"Are you seriously going to dig yourself deeper? You assholes are guilty anyway, so don't around trying to claim you did nothing wrong"

"I-It is certain that we p-peeked at the baths! But we already got our p-punishmentm from our lynching last night, right!?" Shingo's voice crescendoed at the end, and the other boys suddenly glanced hopefully at the USC. The other group wasn't so sure about it, but nonetheless conceded that maybe this was going too far.

"Well, I'll be damned. Thug-san's not as stupid as he looks" Kurogane crooked an eyebrow in deadpan interest "But I guess if he was, then he wouldn't be able to walk and breathe at the same time"

"We will have to speak about this with the teachers!"

"That's ri-!"

"We reject that"

The girls (Torimi included) didn't share these feelings however.

"D-Don't make fun of us now!" Shingo bellowed in fear

"Indeed! Thou art doing nothing more than oppressing us fine gentlemen! This is oppression from the Underground Student Council, and we shalt see thine tyranny undone!" Gakuto joined the blonde boy in loudly denouncing the USC for their actions.

"T-This is abuse!" Yelled Andre, though a faint blush in his cheeks could be seen when he said the last word

"*cough* Abuse of authority!" Chimed in Joe.

While they expected Kiyoshi to also start screaming in outrage or demand an adult authority figure to get them out, he was surprisingly quiet, looking down at the table with a conflicted expression.

*Tsk* "What a load of delusional dumbasses" Torimi internally sneered as she wrapped an arm around Ryuichi's back, the kind boy still not looking up "Even after that lynching, you would still try going peeping on the girls. Yeah, this place might be overkill, but you brought this on yourselves. And you still believe that you should not be punished? As if you fuckers didn't do anything wrong?" She narrowed her eyes as she started lightly rubbing Ryuichi's back, eliciting a startled gasp before he noticed it was his friend doing it "You got what you deserve"

"There is no use in bellowing" Mari agreed with Torimi's internal musings, even though she casted a glare at both her and Ryuichi "We already obtained the acknowledgement of the teachers"

"EEEEEHHHHHH!?" The male prisoners (this time actually including Kiyoshi) yelled out in shock, while the non-prisoners snapped their heads at Mari. Rhett slowly lifted his head from his tablet to send her a curious look.

"This prison is part of our school's traditional rehabilitation program" She went up to explain "The work you will be required to do here is oriented towards installing a proper sense of responsibility and acknowledgement of consequences, along with shaping the inmates into proper members of society…however unlikely such a endeavor seems in some cases"

"...Well, that explains a few things" Hagane thought in silence "But still, if they are gonna be here for a whole month, wearing those stupid uniforms, how are they gonna do the school work?"

"W-What about our classes?" Kiyoshi unknowingly echoed his thoughts, to which Meiko pointed with her whip behind her, towards a large screen stuck to the wall.

"You will attend your classes through this monitor, so there is no problem" With that said, she took a remote from the pocket of her jacket and clicked a button. Instantly, the screen turned on, showing the inside of a classroom already in session.

Kurogane rolled his eyes in incredulity at not catching up that the screen was supposed to be for that, but nonetheless eyed the USC with bored disdain "At least they are not so thoughtless as to making them miss their classes"

"This *cough* This is a joke, right?" Joe softly begged, a fist on his mouth with tiny specks of blood

"P-P-Parents! Let us call our parents!" Gakuto desperately demanded.

Shingo, apparently inspired by his fellow prisoner's words, stood up from his chair and slammed his hands on the table "That's right! We just have to ask our parents to appeal to the board of education over this!"

The room fell silent. While the 5 prisoners began chatting excitedly among themselves about the possibility of turning their situation around, the girls remained unfazed. The non-prisoners and Torimi meanwhile didn't look so hopeful, Hagane pinching his nose and Rhett slowly shaking his head in denial

"That's a horrible idea" Kurogane, Torimi and Gekka deadpanned almost simultaneously, and all eyes fell on them. The boys were somewhat shocked at forgetting that Torimi and Ryuichi were right beside them up to that very moment.

However, the blonde boy's attention quickly snapped to the tallest person in the room, raising a furious eyebrow "Huh!? How could this be a bad idea!?"

The tall boy raised his own eyebrow in mild interest, but it wasn't him who answered Shingo

"B-Because…" All eyes turned to Gekka, the shy boy shrinking at the attention, especially at Mari staring him down "...if you t-tell your parents you're in p-prison…t-the first thing they would ask is why you're in prison in the first place"

The prisoners' eyes widened in shocked realization at that small detail they missed, with Shingo slowly slumping onto his chain, a defeated look in his face.

"That's right" Kurogane picked up "If you want your parents to negotiate and get your asses outta here, then they will find out about your little 'operation', and why you got lynched and thrown here to begin with"

The five prisoners now looked on the edge of absolute despair, their last hopes burning to cinders right in front of their eyes. Kurogane for his part, having spoken his mind, turned to Mari "That said, I still think this whole ´prison´ thing is unnecessary"

Mari crossed her arms under her chest, sending the tall boy a disdainful side eye "My, so you are actually defending this trash, Scavenger-san"

"I was asking why you didn't just expel them outright," Kurogane flatly responded.

In a second, the temperature in the room fell 20 degrees, the boys looking at Kurogane in either surprise or absolute shock, rage and betrayal. The USC and Torimi were more subdued in their reactions, but were still noticeably caught off guard by his suggestion

"W-W-What kind of nonsense are thou prattling about, Kurogane-dono!?" Gakuto angrily yelled, pointing a shaking finger at Kurogane

The tall boy for his part simply shrugged indifferently, not looking at anyone in particular "Well, if this school is so much into discipline and fucking draconian punishments, then why did they spend so much budget into keeping an entire prison facility working inside the school, specially seeing that this place hasn't even been used in a long while, rather than just making rowdy students do afterschool work, and expelling the worse ones on the first go?"

The non-prisoners and Torimi blinked, and even Ryuichi slightly lifted his head to look at Kurogane. That… was a good point actually; it didn't make much sense to spend so much money on maintenance for a facility that, by the vegetation growing outside and dust covering the interior, hadn't actually been used in a long time, and a strict school just expelling problem students for infractions was, although harsh, more plausible for them.

The prisoners failed to see this though, instead standing up and howling in rage at Kurogane. The tall boy for his part simply crossed his arms and regarded the boys with all the interest of a gardener eyeing a particularly nasty-looking bug. Their steadily more insane screaming didn't stop until Meiko smashed her whip on the table hard, an inch from their hands.

"Mmm… I must admit, for how much you appear to be a simple-minded brute, you do indeed have some functioning cognitive abilities" Mari admitted, looking over her shoulder at Kurogane with a small smirk, which quickly fell into a frown when Kurogane lazily shifted around until he was facing her, and flipped her both middle fingers with his thumbs extended, bringing them to his lips to kiss them before extending his arms towards her.

*Pfft!* While Hana and Meiko looked ready to explode at him, Torimi had to cover her mouth to hold back her laughter, and even that didn't stop an amused snort to come out.

Mari took a few seconds to breath in and out, calm herself and wait for her eyebrow to stop twitching before she addressed the 6 boys and 1 girl in front of her "It is true that we could just expel this trash and be done with it" At that, Kurogane's eyes widened when he remembered that his previous words would also imply that Torimi and Ryuichi would be expelled too along along with the other boys "However, the previous chairwoman and founder of this prestigious academy sensed a problem which your logic fails to address"

With that, she crossed her arms behind her back, the better to stand tall and look down on the prisoners "You might not know this-" Kurogane narrowed his eyes at her "But many of the ´problem students´ you mention as being expelled from a school after committing a crime accumulate a rather impressive criminal record. They are not simply expelled from a single school, rather they find themselves forbidden from ever setting foot on several teaching grounds before and if they manage to graduate. The founder recognized this, and came to the conclusion that following your line of thought, while by most standards rational, didn't actually fix the issue, it simply moved it away and made it another person's problem"

With that, she turned her back on everyone, and walked up to the steel bars of the room, looking in the direction of the cells at the end of the hallway "So she made it her mission to not give up so easily against the nature of the lowest people, and created this prison as a mean through which those blooming criminal elements could be reformed before it was too late. This facility has seen a fair number of those 'irredeemable', for whom only real jail time can keep in line, but nonetheless, her ambition was not in vain" She turned around to glare at the prisoners "This walls have seen people who were lost in life or their own depraved desires learn to fit into society. It has served as an example for those of good standing about the depths they must not fall into, and for those with ill intentions it is a deterrent symbol, meant to showcase how their lives could be like in the outside world if they don't set themselves straight. This prison block has stood tall and proud for 55 years, and it will continue to do so, so long as Hachimitsu Academy still exists"

Her speech done, she made her way to her previous spot between her fellow USC members, who were staring at her in awe and respect. Even the 5 peeping toms were somewhat captivated by her words and the sheer determination in them, and the other 2 prisoners and 4 non-prisoners could, if very begrudgingly, admit that the reasoning behind Hachimitsu's founder made some sense.

Still, Kurogane was not fully convinced about the USC intentions "That's fair, if slightly. But still, you assholes look like you aren't gonna follow the spirit of the founder. Just the letter"

Now under the heat of the 3 girls' glares, he refused to budge "If you want to administrate punishments to those who have broken the rules, and have the authority to do so, then it's nothing we can do" He narrowed his eyes "But you aren't gonna be rehabilitating anyone, you're just gonna be punishing people for minor slights because of your own personal bias-" Before they could erupt into outrage at his words, he pointed at Torimi and Ryuichi "Including people who didn't do anything to warrant such a thing"

As an afterthought, he jerked his thumb at the other 5 prisoners "And these dumbasses are beyond saving anyway… well, most of them"

Mari stopped frowning at his words to raise an eyebrow in dull curiosity at the last bit "Most of them?"

While her question went unanswered as she predicted it would, she was not the least bit surprise at that development, instead focusing on clearing some of the tall boy's misconceptions "While it is true that the chances this trash right here are infinitesimally small-" The five perverts flinched "-it is still our duty to at least make the effort to rehabilitate them. And besides…" She directed a devious smirk in Kurogane's way "You yourself said that your group of boys got into a physical altercation with them before, didn't you?"

The (for now) free group of boys shifted uncomfortably at that tidbit, and the USC didn't bother trying to hide the satisfaction this brought them

"Finally…" With that, Mari turned a stink eye at Torimi and Ryuichi, the boy still looking down in silent shame, and Torimi narrowing her eyes and putting an arm protectively in front of her friend "This troublesome girl right here already has a history of defying orders from the school and engaging in activities not approved by this institution…" She glared back at Torimi "Plus she attacked one of our own last night, and put the entire guard in the infirmary"

"And I'll do it all over again, if it meant that I keep Ryu safe from you" Torimi replied without hesitation "And besides, the 'activities' you mentioned aren't even forbidden by the school; the faculty was fine with them, it was YOU who didn't like me interacting with some halfway decent guys I met outside the school, so don't go around saying that you are the whole institution, you bitch"

*THUNK!*

The 5 prisoners jumped in the air when a fist slammed on the table with a loud bang, while Ryuichi flinched and Torimi was mostly unfazed, simply putting a reassuring arm around Ryuichi's shoulders.

"Now now, Torimi-san~" Hana intoned with a deceptively sweet tone, which did nothing to hide the hostility in her posture and the dark shadow over her face "Is that the correct way to address our Madam President? Surely you know that we do not take such things lightly"

Torimi for her part simply glared at her with more annoyance than anything "Do I have to kick you in the crotch, again?"

At that, Hana flinched hard and one hand instinctively shot down to her 'privates', covering them protectively. Gekka gave the gyaru girl a scandalized expression, blushing profusely, while the other 3 non-prisoner boys opted to give her a mildly confused look. The other prisoners for their part winced sympathetically, remembering their fight the previous night.

*Hmph* A stiff huff caught their attention, and they found Meiko giving Torimi a harsh stare "It is common sense to not take such pride or casual attitude towards one's misgivings. But I guess a delinquent like you isn't able to understand something as simple as that" She concluded with a stern disposition.

Torimi for her part, refused to be intimidated by her, and was more than prepared to tell her and the entire USC where they could stick in their misandric views.

"Maybe because I'm not a fucking prude like you bitches, and I actually recognize and accept the difference between 'good yet flawed' guys and 'real scum'. Maybe, it's because of that I'm willing to stand up for someone who's been wrongly accused even when everyone's been telling you exactly why he was out there in the first place" She turned her gaze towards Mari "And by the way, I imagine that you haven't talked to your old man yet about the situation, did you?"

The girl in question dismissively looked to the side, crossing her arms under her chest "We still have a non-negligible amount of work to do regarding your actions last night, including, again, attacking our guards. Some of them might not be able to return for duty until the end of the week. And that's not including the pending interrogations of several alumnus who, according to witnesses, were in close company of you when this trash decided to pretend being a decent person"

Torimi's brow was twitching furiously at how the USC president was describing her friend, but nonetheless, it wasn't she who called her out on the logic behind her words.

"That's bullshit and you know it" The looks the USC was giving Kurogane could have turned the composition of his body from 'matter' to 'energy' in an instant, not that he cared "We already told you what happened, and why he was out to begin with. You're just trying to stall his release because you don't wanna admit you made a mistake"

The USC took a few seconds to change their stances from glaring, seething hatred to simple frowning annoyance, yet once they did, they didn't waste any time eyeing Kurogane as if he was even more of an idiot than they already considered him to be.

"I have no idea what you are prattling about, scavenger-san" Mari smoothly replied "I have no doubt someone like you would not understand the many complex situations we, as a council, have found ourselves in for the last few hours. We simply have our hands full for the moment, and the prisoners need to be brought here and given the appropriate introduction to their sentences before more…unexpected incidents happen" She openly glared at Torimi on the last bit along with her secretary and vice president, and the gyaru girl matched their glares fire by fire.

The silent battle between the USC and their sole female prisoner last a good half minute before Mari addressed the non-prisoners one last time "To clear your doubts about our most…problematic prisoners and the reasons for you being here today" She cleared her throat before straightening up "Their 'special' circumstances will be properly looked into during the lunch period, as it is the only moment when all members of the faculty will be available to discuss matters; and regarding your presence here, as I no doubt recall informing you in our office-" She sent a look of cold disdain at Kurogane, which did not match the fury of her eyes "-we cannot afford to keep you out of our sight, so even though you are not imprisoned, without our guards to help us with said job, we needed you to be here"

"And besides…" Hana pondered with her trademark cute disposition "Maybe seeing the conditions inside the prison block first hand could work as a…" She tapped her finger to her chin with 'innocent' confusion "What was the term?... Oh, yes!" She clapped "A deterrent symbol! So now you know why you shouldn't misbehave!"

Despite the cutesy air she was putting on, none of the prisoners had forgotten how she managed to go toe to toe with Torimi the night before and were looking at her with caution, and all the other boys were also looking not too convinced by it, most of all Kurogane.

"Bite me, coins"

With those last words, the tall boy made his way out of the cell, and when the USC made no move to stop him, he walked out of it and into the hallway, the rest of the boys trailing behind him, and the USC following after them, though not before giving the prisoners a very stern warning about causing trouble while they were outside dealing with other matters. After the last person had walked out of the doors of the prison block, and said doors' many locks had been secured, Mari addressed the all-male group in front of her, for what would hopefully be the last time this day.

"Hana-san will escort you to your rooms. She is authorized to employ force if you resist or do anything suspicious along to way, so do not try testing our patience any more you already have"

The last part was mostly directed at the tallest figure in the group, who gave no signs of having even heard her beyond waving her off over his shoulder. Silently growling under her breath, the USC president made her way back to her office with more than a little excessive force in her steps despite never losing her elegant and dignified stance, her vice president walking right beside her while sending occasional disdainful looks behind her at the other group.

Hana, who was walking right in front of said group as a "guide" of sorts, stopped after turning on a corner and out of the sight of her fellow member of the USC. Frowning, she faced the tallest member of the group with her fists on her hips.

"Don't think I forgot about what you said before, so let me make it clear for you: step out of line like that again, and your butt will be inside that prison before you know it!" Stomping her foot in an impatient manner at the lack of reaction from Kurogane, she decided to focus on another thing that had been bugging her "And what the hell does 'coins' mean?"

"It means that you are 'cute' at one point-" She really didn't like the exaggerated air quotes he made when saying that "-and the next one, you are a violent asshole. Bottom line, just like a coin has two sides, you are a two-faced bastard"

Hana's eyes widened while her pupils shrunk in outrage and incredulity in proportion to his words, the tall boy deciding to just walk past her. Needing a few seconds to recover from her shock, she growled under her breath while making her way back to the front of the line, muttering under her breath just loud enough for the other boys to hear her.

"I'll kill you one day, and then I'll off myself. I swear to God"

Prison mess hall

It was a little over 10 minutes since the USC had left, and everyone inside was still processing what the hell just happened.

…Well, they knew what had happened, but considering how, in their own words, 'How can you call yourself a man if you're not peeping!?' It was really hard for them to admit it was their own actions that had landed them there.

"Man this sucks!" Shingo exclaimed in frustration, throwing his arms in the air "All we did was peep at the girls' bath! Why are they getting so worked up about it anyway!?"

Especially since for some reason, they didn't consider their actions as inherently wrong in the first place.

"Indeed. Our future as proud members of the male demographic of this world has been taken away from us by irrational authority figures" Gakuto spoke solemnly, pushing his glasses up.

While the 3 of the boys huffed in agreement to his words, one of them didn't seem to share their feelings about their situation.

"N-Now guys" Kiyoshi hesitantly interjected, flinching a little when his friends' eyes pinned him in place "I know this looks bad, but… well, yeah I got nothing, this is horrible" He finally admitted sheepishly, to which the other boys either sweatdropped our pointed at him in outrage.

"Don't go around trying to cheer us up if you're just gonna make it worse, man!"

"Okay! Okay! My bad!" Kiyoshi tried placating his friends, waving his arms "Look, we are in deep trouble now, but still, if the USC threatened to call our parents-" More depression and outrage "-it means that they don't know about it yet! So we just have to put up with this for a month, and then we can just leave this behind, and pretend it never happened, right?"

It was actually comforting when he put it like that. Nonetheless, it was cold comfort when they wouldn't be able to live their school lives as free men for an entire month.

"And besides…" He scratched his cheek awkwardly "We…did try and go peeping on the girls, so…we can't really deny that part"

If the way the air in the room suddenly grew still and heavy was any indication, that was the wrong thing to say right now.

"To hell with that!" Shingo exclaimed "We were just trying to achieve our way into manhood and become adults! What's so wrong with that!? And besides, those other girls already formed a lynch mob for it! Shouldn't that be punishment enough!?"

Andre was sweating in place with a faint blush on his cheeks at the memory of last night, though this went unnoticed by the other room occupants.

"Thou art speaking the truth, Shingo-dono!" Gakuto loudly agreed with the blonde boy "This whole punishment is indeed nothing short of a series of disproportionate retributions against our personas! It is clear as day we shalt NOT be inside this prison block-!"

He suddenly froze in place, staring at nothing for a few seconds before slowly turning his head to look at Kiyoshi "...And if yours truly remembers it correctly…thou expressed the most foolish decision of not reaping the fruits of this noble endeavor and reach adulthood, Kiyoshi-dono".

Now, every single speck of attention in the room was focused on the blue-haired boy, who was sweating nervously. While the four boys to his right were now glaring at him with feelings of anger and betray in their eyes, the gyaru and the last boy to his left were now eyeing him with curiosity (as opposed to naked hostility in the former's case)

"So you actually backed off?"

Torimi's words caught him off guard, but nonetheless he nodded, tugging on the collar of his shirt "Y-Yeah… in the end I-I… I couldn't go through with it. I-It was…" he sighed "It was just not right. I wanted to see it too, I really wanted to but… I couldn't"

It was true though. The glory of the naked female body was barely a few meters beneath them in that rooftop, and as soon as they got the phone hidden and recording from inside that plant, their rite of passage into genuine adulthood would've been complete. They would finally be real men, the secrets hidden from so many others would bare themselves before them, and they would be able to enjoy all of it from the safety and comfort of their own room, letting their gaze wander from one emissary of said female wonders to the other.

(A pretty poetic way to say "we're gonna jack off while watching girls undress in the bath". Creepy, and gross, but poetic. Gotta give Gakuto that much at least)

However, even with said beauty being within his grasp, chaos theory dictates that even the slightest change or variable in the system could change the results in unexpected ways, and as an easily applicable principle to complex mathematics to nature and even mundane events of life, an element of chaos had been introduced in Kiyoshi's plans for the future, one that completely changed the paradigm of what it meant to be a man for him.

…An eraser.

An eraser, which by pure coincidence, fell right by the one girl in the entire school who not only was as much of a sumo fan as Kiyoshi's own mother, but had the exact same eraser. The fact she was the prettiest girl in his entire class was just the icing of the cake. A sumo eraser, which served as the spark for a new friendship, and possibly even more.

Even when he needed an outside element to once again remind him of the value said interactions had, the impact it left on him was too profound to ignore anymore. Even when the glory of Eros was opening its doors just for him and his friends to rejoice in its sacred garden, and the threat of Thanatos for those who refused to accept the blessings bestowed on them, it became his duty to protect the innocence of the maiden who had opened her heart to him, even when none of his words were completely sincere.

And perhaps, it was because of said dishonesty in the form of guilty white lies and half truths that he chose protecting her smile over achieving the promised land.

"Chiyo-chan…"

While Torimi was looking at him with surprise, and maybe just a minuscule amount of approval and respect, the other prisoners didn't share her feelings in the matter

"Why!?" Andre practically bursted into tears of both sadness and betrayal "Why did you not go with us!? We were right there! Those naked girls were right in front of us, and you just decided you didn't want to see them!"

"That's *cough* right!" Joe agreed with his rough voice "Even if we got busted in the end, we were almost there man! Why did you have to *cough* be a chicken at the last second!?"

"It was because of them, wasn't it!?" Shingo pointed at Ryuichi with madness swirling in his eyes, prompting the boy to wince and slowly drag himself away from him, and Torimi to subtly position herself in front of her friend "You let this fucking rat and that walking skycrapper talk you out of peeping!"

"Thou let their words poison thy mind withal such falsehoods as 'peeping does not make thou into a man'!" By this point Gakuto was standing up and pointing an accusing finger at Kiyoshi, who could do nothing but shrink in front of his ire "A prospective gentleman such as thee, reduced to a sorry excuse of a real man! A traitor to the cause who would dare leave his companions behind for the sake of selfishly hoarding the wonders of the female body for thyself!"

Kiyoshi was now desperately looking for an exit to this mess, which unfortunately came in a way that no one expected… and which would soon find himself in just as much trouble soon.

"You took the right decision"

The tirades of the 4 other boys halted at the quiet voice coming from the other end of the table, Ryuichi not looking at them, but rather to his own hands in sympathy and soft regret.

"You may have not realized it immediately, but in the end you did" He continued with a small smile "Peeping would mean betraying Chiyo-san' trust, and even though you had the temptation to, you didn't act on it" He then directed his smile at Kiyoshi, who felt his spirits fly when, for the first time that day, someone gave him sympathy "They might not take into consideration that you pulled out and imprison you as complicit in their operation-" At that Kiyoshi deflated like a balloon and Torimi had to hide a snort of laughter "-but I'm sure Chiyo-san will not see you as a bad person. You proved you're not one too, so you still have a chance that your friendship is still intact"

"..."

Kiyoshi couldn't find anything to say at the moment, too caught in the bliss brought upon by the kind boy's words. He simply stood there, gazing at the boy with all the devotion of someone worshiping a prophet carrying the word of God, his mind running a thousand miles per hour with all the possible scenarios that he could squeeze out of the possibility that his relationship with Chiyo wasn't damaged after all.

The other boys, for their part, were completely silent, their heads bowed and dark shadows covering their eyes. It was difficult to discern what they were thinking, but their overall postures carried a certain stiffness to them that would remind people familiarized with the sport with a bow string tensing just before unleashing an arrow, as if they were preparing to strike out at any moment.

Finally, Torimi was looking at her lifelong friend with a combination of amusement and pride. It was the exact kind of thing she would expect him to say, up to lifting the blue-haired boy's spirits, then sending them plummeting down, and then lifting them up again.

"When we were little, at first I thought you did that on purpose: making them listen to you, then bringing them down a little just so you could lift them again, and get them in the palm of your hand" She chuckled a little under her breath, sending a warm gaze her friend's way "Then of course, it turns out it wasn't. You're just that much of cinnamon r-wait a second" Her train of thought suffered a metaphorical needle scratch as her eyes widened, a tiny yet crucial piece of information from Ryuichi's previous speech fully registering in her mind "D-Did… Did he say Chiyo!?"

But before she could question him and Kiyoshi about it, the explosion that had been rumbling below the surface finally liberated all of its power in the form of a cacophony of yelling.

"SHUT THY MOUTH, THOU INSOLENT FOOL!" Gakuto yelled at the top of his lungs, causing Ryuichi to flinch back in surprise and Torimi to defensively put an arm around him "DON'T THOU HAST ANY IDEA OF THE KIND OF FALSEHOODS THOU ART SPITTING FROM THY MOUTH!?" Ironically, he was spitting like a fountain when yelling this part.

"W-Wha… B-But, I only told Kiyoshi that he shouldn't have betrayed Chiyo-san"

"YOU POISONED HIS MIND!" Andre wailed with tears in his eyes "WE WERE JUST THERE! THE SIGHT OF NAKED GIRLS WAS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! AND KIYOSHI-KUN DECIDED TO JUST THROW IT ALL AWAY!"

*cough* "HOW COULD YOU BE SO *cough* STUPID!?" Interjected Joe, coughing a mouthful of blood which didn't seem to deter him in his yelling

"Hey" Torimi's cold interjection managed to cool down their rage a bit, an effect greatly helped by the way she was glaring at them "Watch your tone. Ryu was just trying to help him not become a degenerate like you, assholes" She then jerked her head at Kiyoshi "At least he listened"

The 3 boys' ire subsided under her harsh words, and despite her abysmal opinion of them, they at least had the decency to look at her a little ashamed of themselves for their outbursts. The blue-haired boy for his part blinked at being mentioned, sheepishly scratching his cheek "W-Well… I just didn't want to make… C-Chiyo-chan hate me for it…t-that's all. She's… way too nice and…cute to deserve something like that"

The blonde girl had to suppress a flinch at the mention of that name "There's no doubt, even if the name wasn't enough, that description fits her perfectly. Just how the fuck did you make friends with her!?"

"That's true" Ryuichi's tone was uncharacteristically stern, but that didn't prevent the other boys from glaring at him "It was not worth it to destroy your relationship with her for something like this, and even if she wasn't involved, it would have made you into a horrible person regardles-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH YOU NO GOOD, GOODY-TWO-FUCKING-SHOES DUMBFUCK!"

Ryuichi and Torimi were caught off guard by Shingo's bellowing, and even the other boys flinched back a little at the sheer volume and rage coming out of him

"YOU LITERALLY KNOW NOTHING OF BEING A REAL MAN! YOU ARE TOO MUCH OF A COWARD TO EVEN TRY AND GRASP THE CHANCES RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, AND THEN GET ALL SANTI-WHATEVER AND SHIT!"

The blonde delinquent-like teen seemed to turn more and more unhinged the more he raged, slamming his fist on the table as he loomed over the kind boy and his childhood friend, and while his friends apparently agreed with him, they were visibly uncomfortable with how this was going.

"S-Shingo-dono, while yours truly agrees withal thy words regarding kumagai-dono's misguided senseth of etiquette-"at that last bit Torimi growled quietly under her breath " -this is not the right way to express them. Thou art going indeed too far"

"He's right" Andre tried to put a comforting hand on Shingo's shoulder "We almost lost ourselves there before, and it won't do you any good to go there too. Maybe just try to think about those naked girls? That should calm you d-"

By the way he snapped his head around to look at the larger teen with betrayal in his eyes, that was the absolute worst thing to say at the moment.

"ARE YOU DEFENDING HIM!?" He demanded, pointing a finger at Ryuichi "HE WAS THE FUCKING SNITCH WHO TOLD THE AUTHORITIES ABOUT OUR OPERATION! YOU ALL SAW IT AND TRIED TO STOP HIM! IF HE HADN'T TOLD THE TEACHERS ABOUT IT, NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED! THIS IS ALL. YOUR. FAULT!"

Despite the volume on Shingo's words, Ryuichi still found it in himself to stand strong, looking at the boy with a mix of annoyance and disapproval "You wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't done anything wrong to begin with"

At that, Shingo slammed his fist on the table, bending over so he was eye to eye with Ryuichi, and said eyes were as wide open as they could "See, that's exactly the problem" He hissed, his voice and demeanor having made a swift turn from deranged and raging to deranged and far too calm "That whole 'I'm morally superior' shit of yours, refusing to take advantage of the sheer luck you had since infancy. It pisses me off"

His piece said, he shoved the kind boy aside, causing him to trip down into the ground "A child like you would never understand what it means to be a man. Just let the grown ups handle things".

With her friend now on the ground, the gyaru girl sent a soft look Ryuichi's way before focusing on the blonde teen standing in front of her, her expression carefully blank. Said boy harrumphed loudly before straightening his prison suit, slicking his hair back before unbuttoning his shirt a little, giving a sort of "dandy" air around him. Looking down at the girl in front of him, he gave what in any other situation would pass as a sly smirk.

"Hello there, Torimi, was it?"

"…"

"...Wow" Torimi internally deadpanned "I've heard how lack of sleep and food can cause mood swings, but this is ridiculous"

His friends were on the same boat as her. Normally Shingo wouldn't even be able to make eye contact with a girl, let alone one as hot as her, and even less possible for him to speak so casually with one. Clearly, the sheer stress and lack of sleep from their current situation seemed to be making their part in removing his inhibitions regarding the opposite gender.

"I'm Shingo. I'm sure you would find me much better than that wimpy, goody-two-shoes rat over there"

And just as good a job removing his common sense and sense of self-preservation. The other boys sensed what was going on and slowly stepped back, Kiyoshi included. Ryuichi for his part started standing up, and Torimi's eye suddenly got a very strange and dangerous glint on them.

"I'm sure you understand how that brat is not on my leag-!"

*Crunch!*

"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Shingo's pained scream caught everyone by surprise, but following the direction his hands suddenly shot to, they could see the cause of said scream was…

At first, the boys (sans Ryuichi) couldn't help feeling a wave of envy wash over them, until Torimi's hand clenched even harder, making the outline of what was on her hand clear for them, and all of them then shared the same pale, horrified visage Ryuichi was sporting as they realized exactly what she was currently grabbing and squeezing really hard, the kind boy having fallen back on his butt.

"Okay, first things first?" Torimi intoned, her voice and words painfully calm and measured "That rat you were yelling at is my best friend, so watch your tone when you speak to him"

Shingo's fearful whimpers fell on deaf ears as Torimi cracked her neck to one side, then another. Her voice was casual, but an aura of malice totally unlike the usual mischief around her suffocated his senses as the gyaru slowly narrowed her eyes, a flame of cold rage dancing in them.

"Second; when you guys-" The other boys panicked when she directed her gaze and words to them too "-were pestering Ryu on the cafeteria, I decided to go easy on you; tease you a little, just to know who I was dealing with, make you all flustered on my way out, and then watching from afar if I needed to intervene so you would leave Ryu alone. You know, the usual stuff"

She hummed a little to herself as she applied more pressure on Shingo's family jewels, the blonde boy letting out a very high pitched yelp as he gripped Torimi's wrist with both hands, trying to peel her hand away from his groin with no success as the gyaru girl started twisting his family jewels like a doorknob one way or another "Then you decided to go on your little 'peeping operation' and even tried to assault Ryu for doing the right thing and reporting you all. By then, I planned to give you a warning; smack you around a little, but nothing too bad. But well…" She shrugged nonchalantly "That was then"

Her gaze returned to Shingo, who by this point was only staying on his feet thanks to Torimi holding him up with her hand. Then slowly, she stood up, her over 6 ft in height allowing her to practically loom over the fellow blonde teen "This is now. For the record, I would never be caught dating scum like you. I know not all men are as disgusting as those prude bitches make them out to be, but you all perfectly fit that description" As the other boys deflated a little under their absolute terror, she continued "Now, not only did you insult Ryu's good nature, but ridicule and assault him in my presence, and that means we have a bit of a problem"

She pulled on Shingo's balls, forcing him towards herself, the blonde teen staring at the taller girl with nothing short of existential dread at the small smirk she was sporting "Unfortunately, I can't do much to you now without traumatizing Ryu, so I'll keep it simple" With that, she bent over until her nose was half an inch from Shingo's, a dark shadow over her face "If you or any of your friends so much as look at us during however long we stay in here, I'll rip these off with my bare hands before you even know how to actually use them. AM. I. CLEAR?"

At this point Shingo couldn't even speak, but nonetheless had enough strength in him to nod frantically, Torimi's mood making a complete 180 by giving the shorter teen a sweet smile as she finally released him. The male blonde fell on his back with a thud, foam coming out of his mouth while Kiyoshi rushed to his side, the others too scared to go near the tall girl.

Said gyaru girl then made her way towards her thoroughly shaken childhood friend. She retreated her hand when he flinched a little at her touch, before gently grabbing his shoulder

"You okay there?" Her voice was completely different from before, warm and concerned "I'm sorry you had to see that, but there was no other way" She shook him lightly, getting him to focus on her and not the boys.

Now with his attention on her, she gently helped him to his feet. After that, she put an arm around his shoulders and walked him out of the room, summarily ignoring the other boys as she closed the door behind her.

Hachimitsu hallways, 12:35

Steps echoed across the lone hallway as the USC made their way towards their destination. Mari as always exudes elegance in her posture, her every step perfectly measured and the movements of her body smooth and fluid. Meiko, to her left, had much more force in her body language, she was swinging her hips with every step and her whole body radiating absolute confidence. Hana was on her right, her movements much more lively than the other two, though if one looked closer there was a deceitful level of strength and caution to them.

"So Madam president" Hana asked after skipping up to the Crow Mistress "Where are we meeting everyone?"

"It will be at my… father's office" Her voice was laced with disgust at that specific part of her phrase "All the teachers have been informed, and will be present to conduct an emergency meeting"

*Huff* "I still don't understand why they even allow that trash a chance to defend themselves. Even if they were not present, they were still clearly complicit in that disgusting 'peeping operation'. They could not fool us with their lies that they contacted the chairman to warn them about it, or that they tried to stop the others"

"That is the absolute truth, Vice President" Mari's validation of her words sent Meiko into a stuttering mess, almost missing a step "They are simply trying to save themselves, and when my father confirms he has never received any message, we might be able to convince him to just throw every single one of those mongrels inside the prison"

Nodding in confirmation, Hana gripped the handle of the door they had stopped in front of, and opened it with a bit more strength than necessary, though not to the point of slamming it

"Hello! We're h-"

Mari could instantly tell that something was wrong when her usually bubbly secretary suddenly froze in place mid greeting. Still, she couldn't let that affect her just yet: they had an image to maintain, a meeting to conduct… and trash to lock up.

"Excuse us" With those words, she entered the room without paying too much attention to the other occupants in the room, taking good care to close the door after Meiko had entered too. With that finished, she steeled herself to whatever it was her secretary had just seen and turned around… and stiffened just like her fellow USC members.

While all of the people who were supposed to be there were indeed attending this meeting, it was the two people who they weren't expecting to be present that had sent them into a bit of a panic, and in Meiko's case, conspicuous sweating.

One of them was a beautiful and curvaceous woman with purple hair wearing a gray smart suit with a white blouse and black heels, and the other…

"M-Morinomiya-san!" Mari yelped before giving the older woman in front of her a respectful and deep bow, which the other two girls mirrored.

Indeed, aside from Torimi's aunt Risako Nagisa, Torimi's grandmother Morinomiya Youko, was also standing there, looking at the three girls with her default stern gaze.

And while the intensity in the older woman's eyes was nothing new to the girls, the sheer coldness radiating from the younger purple-headed adult told them that things were going to be much more difficult than they anticipated.

"Ah yes, indeed she is here, my good… daughter!" Said the sole male in the room, a sharp dressed man in his first 50s with silver hair, a black mustache and angular facial features. Despite the slight wrinkles of age visible across his face, he could be considered very handsome indeed.

"As peculiar to speak as always, Kurihara" Hoffed the older woman, tapping her cane on the ground.

"W-We were not expecting your presence here today, Morinomiya-sama!" Meiko was still bowing and sweating profusely as she said this, not daring to lift her head.

"As I told that kid his first day in his new house, you can stow the stuffy formalities" The older woman spat in a stern, no-nonsense tone, causing all three girls to lift their heads and straighten their clothes.

"Would it be better if we just… start?" The older man asked Morinomiya in his rather peculiar speech pattern, glancing at Mari out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes. Please proceed" At that, the USC took their seats in front of a desk in the middle of the room, flanked at both sides by 2 rows of women.

"Very well" Giving a respectful nod, he cleared his throat before addressing the other people in the room, 7 women in total, all except one dressed in an aqua blue jacket, white shirt and dark blue skirt. The one who wasn't had a black choker on her neck along with a golden heart necklace, an elegant blue shirt, black shirt and heels, and a brown belt. A white lab coat around her shoulders helped explain her dressing differently from the others.

"As was previously discussed among the faculty, the case of the 5 boys caught in the act will be given for you to handle as per your authority as the Underground Student Council" A round of either upset or disappointed grunts followed that declaration. It hadn't even been 24 hours since they had admitted boys into the school and they'd already caused trouble.

"However…" and with that, the older man fell into a 'Gendo-pose'* "The main issue here isn't them, but rather… the 5 boys not involved in such an… activity!"

The tension in the room intensified at his words. However, the USC caught onto a detail on that phrase that immediately sent one of them jumping out of her seat.

"Five? You must be mistaken, it was 6 boys we caught peeping, along with one woman who tried to oppose us performing our duties!"

"Shiraki Meiko"

At those words, the amazon beauty suddenly found herself besieged by a pair of purple eyes glaring deep into her very soul, both the stare and the words accompanying it enough to give a yeti frostbite

"Sit. Down. NOW"

"THUD!"

"...As I was… saying!" The older man continued after Meiko let herself fall onto the chair like dead weight "There are 5 boys who were not part of these… incident. In fact, it was them who alerted…us!"

His words were followed by a series of mumbles in agreement from the teachers around the USC, now two of them sweating to various degrees as it was confirmed to them that yes, the non-imprisoned boys had told on the others going peeping.

"T-They were likely just covering themselves!" Hana desperately exclaimed "When they realized they were gonna get busted anyway, they sold out the others to save their own skin!" She looked around the room for anyone who would support her, but outside her fellow USC members, not one person in the room seemed to believe her theory.

"And just like always, jumping to conclusions because of the victims' genre, aren't you?" Morinomiya-san scolded the USC secretary with enough strength behind her voice to make her shake in fear.

"It is plausible" Mari interjected, doing a very good job at hiding her nervousness at all adult eyes falling on her now, standing up to address the older woman with her usual grace and pose "We only have their word, either in written message or phone call. We cannot just trust them at face value; we need more concrete evidence if they are to be believed"

While the lab coat woman raised a brow at her words, seemingly conceding the point, the man in front of them shook his head in denial.

"That is not… true" He said grimly, turning around his computer "For you see, my dear… daughter. Kurogane-kun didn't just send messages to…me! And Kumagai-kun didn't just send messages to Morinomiya…san!" At that he clicked a few times, opening a file that seemed to have been sent to him by email.

"One of them, Kilgore-kun I believe his name was, sent me video… evidence!"

Mari's eyes widened slightly in shock at the man's (her father's) words, and her fellow USC members' jaws were now hanging freely. Meanwhile, the teachers around them were whispering among themselves with frantic haste, while the lab coat woman simply crossed her arms under her chest, looking at the computer with mild interest.

"Before we continue, chairman Kurihara, I would like to address an issue I have recently spotted. Regarding how this situation has been handled" Nagisa´s words sent a chill going down the USC's backs, while the man (chairman Kurihara) simply nodded in approval.

"From what I managed to gather from the student body, the 5 prisoners whose culpability was undeniably proved were escorted into the prison this very morning. Is that correct?"

"Yes" Mari responded immediately

Nagisa narrowed her eyes at the USC president, who barely managed to maintain her elegant and stoic disposition "And from what I've heard… The sixth boy you caught during this fiasco, along with my niece, were not escorted into the prison with the rest, but rather they were already there before they even woke up. Is that true?"

"...Yes" Mari's voice and posture didn't falter, but the fact it had taken her a few seconds to answer told Nagisa all she needed to know "However, there was a reason for why their sentences were given separate from the others"

Raising a brow at this, Nagisa rolled her hand to signal Mari to elaborate

"After the incident last night, we were concerned that Torimi-san would offer… resistance to her sentence if she was marched into the prison with the other prisoners, so she was put in there immediately to avoid any issues. And it was determined her being in prison while the sixth boy was not would have caused more troubles for handling her, so he was put in a cell right next to her to prevent such a problem"

While Mari expected Nagisa to concede her reasoning, the older woman didn't give any signs of… pretty much everything, simply listening to her impassively.

"And…" She seemed to be swallowing paint remover as she said this bit "After our… meeting with the other boys, it was deemed as a good precaution in case they… or better said, one of them tried to break them free before they could even be sentenced to the prison"

That got a reaction out of Nagisa, if only in the form of a crooked brow "Oh really? Do elaborate please"

And so she did. With the same elegant and no-nonsense disposition that had made her famous across the student body and faculty, she recounted how her first meeting with Kurogane and Gekka had gone, how their meeting with the 4 non-imprisoned boys went downhill fast by Kurogane's defiance (along with photographic evidence of the damages to the USC's office and furniture) and his own confession that he would've indeed tried to help Torimi and Ryuichi if they were marched into the prison along with the other boys… and his obscene gesture to Hana after she called him out on it.

After she was done, the faculty was warily talking among themselves, with even the previously indifferent school nurse taking part of it. Even though he hasn't done anything so extreme as to land him in prison yet, it seems like they have a very difficult student they will have to deal with in the future. Nagisa and Morinomiya were particularly annoyed about the situation, and Mari found some solace in the fact her opinion about "Scavenger-san" was, to some degree, shared among the faculty.

But even so…

"Hmph! It seems that for once, your assessment of someone of the opposite gender is accurate, regardless of whatever bias you have towards them" One could almost hear the USC deflating like a trio of balloons, and Morinomiya-san wasn't even finished yet "However, I also find myself seeing some merit in said problem child's words"

Her words caused the USC to stand up, scandalized "W-What!?"

"Yes, indeed" Nagisa's words cut through the air like a katana, freezing the USC in place "As I might remind you, I was also part of the USC during my student years. So I know for a fact that you could have spoken to your father at any moment during the past 3 hours, and receive confirmation about those boys' innocence. Yet you didn't even bother to fulfill your duties until the very last second, did you?"

While Mari didn't react much to her words beyond her eyes widening ever so slightly, Meiko and Hana seemed to slowly shrink under the accusatory gazes from the teachers, the nurse and Morinomiya-san.

"S-Surely you are mistaken, Risako-san!" Meiko desperately interjected, sweating so much a small pond was forming right under her feet "Our entire guard was taken to the infirmary last night after what our only female prisoner did, and not only taking care of them during our break period, but the paperwork necessary for-!"

"Do not take us for fools, Shiraki Meiko!"

Morinomiya's shout immediately got Meiko to close her mouth, and Morinomiya made sure that it stayed that way

"I personally reviewed the situation, including the state of the guard and paperwork involved, and it was nowhere near time consuming enough to require you to postpone your other duties!" She finished her rant by slamming her cane on the floor.

"...Well, that is true" The nurse threw in her two cents "I took care of your girls after what Torimi-san did to them, and while some of them were in worse condition than others, we could've been done with everything in less than 20 minutes" She then sent a suspicious glance at the other two USC members "It was you girls who decided to…what was it?... Ah yes, 'these extraordinary circumstances required a re-examination of protocol'. And with that, you just spent over an hour at the infirmary running things through with the girls"

"So the facts are as they follow" Risako took a few steps forward, crossing her arms under her ample chest as the 3 girls seemed to go from 'nervous' to 'terrified' "What happened last night, I can understand. I HATE to admit it, but I understand; you finding those two boys around the school after catching the other 4, and then throwing my niece into the prison for what she did to the guard are decisions within your authority. No argument there"

She stopped a few steps away from the girls "However, everything that went on after they were imprisoned, from threatening the other boys, to neglecting your duties for the sake of your own personal bias. That… is unacceptable" She shook her head in disapproval before continuing "I really don't like it when personal views get in the way of work, especially when it leads to the detriment of others. However, right now, I must ask you something"

She took a step forward "After all the talks we've had during the past 2 years, and my own warnings right before the school year started about being more open minded, and getting to know the new students, I find myself wondering…" She narrowed her eyes slightly, and for the first time in a long while the USC president, after being told for years by everyone around her just how mature she was for someone her age, actually felt her age. For the first time ever, Kurihara Mari felt young… and small.

"Why did you disregard all of my words, and treated my adoptive son, Kumagai Ryuichi, so harshly when he did nothing to deserve it?"

Very, very small.

…

…Welp, here it is.

It took me forever to get this chapter done, and seeing it now, it has been by far the most difficult one to write up until now.

I'm deeply sorry for everyone who thought this story was dead. I just have been in the middle of some problems regarding college and my family, and then came the financial issues regarding my studies, and finally writer's block.

However, I'm not someone who leaves a job half-done, so in the end I managed to squeeze out my ideas and get this done once and for all.

Now about the chapter.

Here, we have the aftermath of what happened in chapter 4. I'm somewhat concerned about how Kurogane's actions are going to be received, however, I will just say that in the future, they will come to bite him in the ass. Hard.

Also, Hagane gets to show some of his hidden talents. I understand that not everyone shares this taste, but as a lifelong fan of these music genres, I simply could not find it in myself to not include someone like him in my story. His band and personal tastes regarding music and other things will be revealed in time. So let's just say that… halloween will be his special day XD.

That's all for today. See you all next time!

* Named for its frequent use in the films of director Stanley Kubrick, it basically amounts to looking with head tilted downward and eyes peering upward from beneath the eyebrows. It generally signifies that the character in question is either really, really pissed or really, really deranged, and the person they're looking at is really, really screwed.

* The Gendo Pose, also known as the Ambassador's Pose, or Finger-Tenting is a trope often associated with anime character Gendo Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Here, a character, usually villainous, poses with their fingers intertwined and resting over their mouth. It's usually meant to portray the character as devious, though this is not always the case.