"Hey Higuchi! Check this out."

The majority of students in North High would have laughed at the suggestion that Kenta Higuchi was an associate of Makoto Kamada. He didn't look like delinquent material, and that was because he wasn't. But he was quite happy to be her right hand man and offer whatever assistance he could.

What had secretly earned him such a high position in her gang in the first place was the simple fact that he wasn't another yes-man. He wasn't afraid to warn her she might be biting off more than she could chew, and it was thanks to him she had so much dirt on people she was probably better off not coming to blows with.

But now, he was faced with a situation where even blackmail seemed like a bad idea.

"Is that… Yuki Nagato?" He said.

Makoto laughed. "Hard to tell when she's not doing her usual 'haunted doll' impression, huh? I bet I'm the first person to see under that mask of hers since it first went up. But I sure as hell won't be the last!"

"But she's with the SOS Brigade," Kenta said. "Once Suzumiya finds out, she'll take it as a declaration of war. And then whatever she does next… maybe it won't work, but it's gonna be rough for everyone."

Makoto raised an eyebrow. Maybe she was biased, but to her Kenta's concern seemed more irrational than usual. "So I should have just stuck to plan A and kicked her ass?"

"That'd end the same way!" He said. "Not to mention… Asahina was with her, right?"

"Yeah?" Makoto said. "What difference does she make?"

"She's also got Tsuruya looking out for her," Kenta said. And that was all he needed to say.

Tsuruya was a blackmailer's worst nightmare. A rich girl who acted like she was at an endless party should have been easy to catch doing something a bit too crazy, but she was always one step ahead of any kind of surveillance.

The duo were more than just blackmailers, of course, but something about Tsuruya still suggested she was many other kinds of people's worst nightmare. Even the delinquent at the top of the food chain felt it was better to err on the side of caution with her.

But was Makoto really at the top of the food chain right now? That was the whole point of her encounter with Yuki. It would still be in question unless she did what Kenta was warning her not to. Was caution really worth it at a time like this?

"There's gotta be something we can do," she said. "Let's just try and leave Tsuruya out of it for now. All that group's antics, all the stuff they don't care if anyone sees. There has to be something beneath it all we can use against them. And I bet you know just where to look for it, too!"

Kenta sighed. "You'd think so. I'm the guy with all the connections, right? But there's one bridge I've well and truly burned, and on the other side of that bridge is what would otherwise be a gold mine in this situation."

Makoto fought the urge to sigh right back at him. She hated it when he was cryptic. "This isn't about Kunikida, is it? You always act funny whenever he's around."

"Y-you noticed?" He said, trying to quickly brush it off. "I guess you're picking up on some of my techniques. But no, it's nothing to do with him."

As soon as he finished speaking, a problem occurred to him. Makoto might conclude that if Kunikida had nothing to do with the dead end they were faced with, it'd be worth going to him directly and asking a few questions, and Kenta really didn't want to do that. So he had to come up with something new, straight after insisting any approach to this scheme would end in disaster.

His mind wandered, although not with as much purpose and direction as it usually would. Being reminded of the one bridge he burned made him think back to last year's school festival, and that made him try to remember what the SOS Brigade did for that. Once the answer came to him, he almost regretted the whole train of thought, but at least now he had something to suggest to Makoto.

"There is one thing we can try looking into," he said. "But it won't be pleasant."

When Kyon heard a knock on the clubroom door, he noted to himself that he hadn't heard one in some time. At least, not from the inside. The first factor to come to mind was the shift in Yuki's reputation. The gossip about how much more inhuman and unapproachable she seemed had only slightly slowed down during the weeks since she broke her leg. To him, anyone taking part in this gossip seemed far more unapproachable, and undeniably human, but in the most disgusting way.

"Come in," Mikuru said.

Most of the Brigade felt a sense of deja vu upon seeing Kenta come through the door. None of them could assign a name to the familiar face, but he quickly amended that.

"Hey… my name's Kenta Higuchi. I was wondering if… oh, this is awkward…"

There was a sense of insincerity in what he was saying that didn't become apparent until that last statement made it clear what it was like when he was being honest. It quickly became apparent to him that he wasn't entirely trusted, and being so used to being seen as harmless did further damage to his facade.

"...you guys made a movie, right?" He said. "And you're working on another? I've been curious about those lately. Sometimes I pass on watching something, but then the sequel starts to look more interesting, and I figure I should watch the first one after all. I'm not the only one, right?" He heard some noncommittal mutterings of agreement from Kyon and Haruhi. "...right. So, is the first one available to watch?"

Haruhi wasn't sure what to make of this. Even without Yuki's injury, there hadn't been any clear progress with the second movie lately, and while she wouldn't admit it to anyone, she wondered at times if it was because she wasn't taking it as seriously as the first. As much as she didn't want to dwell on that possibility, it did make her wonder what he could have found more interesting about what little information there was on the next one.

It should have been nice, she thought. The idea that someone saw something in her art that she didn't, especially during what she secretly saw as a bit of a lull. But trying to frame things that way was blatantly ignoring the fact that the only unquestionably truthful thing this person had said was about how awkward all this was. And that was more stating the obvious than anything else. Of course it was awkward. That's why she had to get it over with as soon as possible.

"It should still be on this computer," she said. "Kyon, we got any discs to burn?"

"Probably," he said. "I'm a little rusty with the process though. Wouldn't want to waste this guy's time getting the hang of it again."

"I know how to do it myself," Kenta said. "If you could just point me to where it is on the hard drive, I could even…"

"Allow me."

All eyes in the room turned to Yuki. It seemed strange for her to make such an offer, but after thinking about it for a while, most of them worked out why she had.

"She's, uh, got a point," Kenta said. "You probably don't want someone you barely know poking around on there." As great an opportunity as it might have been, it wasn't at all realistic compared to the plan he was sticking to, so he wasn't too frustrated to have to dismiss it.

"You want to use the computer?" Mikuru said, looking at Yuki and then at Haruhi's desk. "...I'm not sure how that's going to work. You're supposed to keep your leg outstretched, and I don't think there's room under there."

Yuki avoided showing any signs of frustration. If Mikuru noticed (and there had certainly been a precedent for that lately), she'd surely take it the wrong way and worry Yuki was angry at her.

"I'll tell you what," Kyon said. "I can probably handle it if you just watch over my shoulder and give me instructions. Haruhi?"

Haruhi closed what she was doing and stood aside, allowing Kyon and Kenta to get behind the desk. In just a few minutes, the visitor had what he "wanted", and he left mumbling some approximation of gratitude.

"Man…" Haruhi sat back down and breathed a sigh of relief. "I hope I'll never have to sit through something like that again."

Kyon looked at the door, wondering if Kenta would soon be saying the same thing.

"Man… I hope I'll never have to sit through something like that again."

"The good news is, we won't," Kenta said. "The bad news is it was even more of a waste of time than I thought it'd be. Unless you caught something we can use in there."

"Wait, you mean you didn't?" Makoto said. "The whole thing was practically a cry for help from Asahina! I can't imagine what kind of twisted shit they're pulling to make her do all that!"

"You don't think it's just because she can't say no?" Kenta said.

"She knows how to stand up for herself," Makoto said. "I've seen it. Couldn't say it to her face, but it was pretty badass. And if I couldn't make her crack, what chance do those clowns stand unless they've got something horrible up their sleeve? We've got to find out what it is. That's the key to all this."

Kenta had never seen Makoto so determined before. He wasn't sure if this was even about her reputation any more, but she did make a good point. It certainly matched what he knew about Haruhi's way of doing things.

Maybe, at long last, this would be his chance for revenge.

Author's note: Did you know the lesbian pride flag matches Yuki and Mikuru's hair colors? I had to point that out somewhere after realizing it what feels like a year ago, and that other story I'm writing where Mikuru's male didn't seem like the ideal place.