Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 10: The Secret Pact ( Chapter 10 )

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Defy and Comply

By: Melissa/Revamp

Lesson 10: The Secret Pact

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Another meeting took place at the student council long table. However, this time, it was atypical of their normal meetings. Everyone had been invited to attend who was involved in the rumors...everyone but Inori and Sunoma. The students sat around the table and glanced at the two empty chairs. At first, they had assumed that the two were simply going to show up late, but as time progressed, it was more than apparent that they had been purposely left out.

"Why have we been called here?" Kraki asked as she glanced around at her fellows.

Prasuna propped her head up with her hand, adorned with rings and bracelets glittering with jewels. "Where's Inori? He is usually here first. That's very odd. I don't like it." The fact that the student council president was absent from a student council meeting uneased her. Why would they purposely disregard his presence?

"This is rather odd," Kiyomaru noted, "usually, he constructs the meetings. I would expect him to be punctual." In fact, if there was anyone more punctual than himself, it was indeed Inori.

"Why the hell am I here? I'm not even a part of the student council." Once again, Taiga had been thrust into the world of the student council, and once again, he had better places to be than chatting with the school's upper crust.

Just then, from the darkness, Sunoma walked up wearing a white, button-up shirt with a black bow tie and a black, poofy lolita skirt with white lace bordering. "Inori didn't call you here, I did," she announced as all eyes were directed to her.

Prasuna's red lips upturned into a frown as she sat her hand on the marble table top. "What is the meaning of this? I don't have time for meaningless gatherings." By meaningless, she meant anything that Sunoma was involved in. In all honesty, the white-haired thespian didn't want to hear anything from or about that girl.

"I am sure Sunoma has a reason. We should hear her out," Kiyomaru stood in his seat, facing his fellows. The lolita usually didn't construct meetings like this unless she had a reason. He was certain that there was a logical explanation behind everything.

Taiga turned half way in his chair, hanging his arm over the back of it, "I'm listening."

"Inori isn't here because I didn't invite him," Sunoma opened her eyes and leveled her fellows with a stern visage. There was something amiss and she was going to find out just why the student council president had acted so strange lately.

Kraki was shocked that Sunoma would act out of her position and invite everyone to an unscheduled meeting against the president's wishes. "What? Why?"

"I have reason to believe he's suspicious." It was something she had noticed for a while, and more than anything, Sunoma believed that it should have been something that was brought to light.

"What makes you think that?" Kiyomaru asked. To his recollection, he hadn't noticed anything strange from his blue-haired superior.

"Are you guys blind? I could see his bullshit coming from a mile away." It should have been more than obvious to everyone. Taiga even saw that Inori's behavior over the course of the two student's deaths had become increasingly leery.

"What do you mean?" Kiyomaru's large eyebrow quirked. He honestly was clueless as to why people thought Inori was acting so distrustful lately.

"The more I'm around you all; the more I think unicellular protozoa have more brains," Taiga's words cut deep, and he meant them to. It was asinine for them to overlook this or even defend it. There was something up with Inori, something that deserved questioning.

Prasuna lifted herself up out of her chair with a scowl on her face. "What did you say?" How dare someone like him make such horrible assumptions about them. Who the hell did he think he was?

"You can butt out, Taiga. Your presence is optional," Kraki glared at the yakuza from her spot across the table. She really didn't feel like hearing any of his smart remarks or belittlements.

Taiga scowled at the impertinent woman, "I don't wanna be here anyway. It's not my fault you're all too stupid to see it!" He barked as he whirled around in his chair to face Kraki. The two stared each other down with eyes of contempt.

Kiyomaru stood up and waved his hands in dismissal. "Now, now, let's calm down. We don't need any unnecessary violence in the meeting room," he spoke in a nervous, yet cheery voice. He hoped to break the bad air in the room and calm the two of them down.

"Fuck you!" Taiga responded.

"Well, that's rude," Kiyomaru drew back dramatically, offended that he would be told such a thing when he was only trying to diffuse an intense situation.

"I wished I cared about your opinion," Taiga's tone still remained sardonic and choleric. Everyone was looking over the truth and masking it with trite ignorant visions. No matter how much they wanted to see the good in people, he had a feeling Inori was anything but.

"I bet you're the one who had Mishio killed. You certainly don't care about any of us," Prasuna shot at the yakuza and pointed a red, painted nail in his direction in accusation.

A low grumble erupted from the yakuza's neck as he clenched a fist up to his chest. She had some nerve accusing him of having another student killed, much less a disabled student at that. "You little-"

"Stop it!" Sunoma ululated in irritation. All of their arguing was uneasing her, especially how fast they were quick to accuse each other. This wasn't helping the main goal of what the meeting was initially about anyway. "This isn't solving anything! You're just throwing around mindless accusations!"

"Then tell me, do you know who killed Mishio?" Prasuna grilled the lolita. If Taiga didn't do it, then who did? Someone killed another student in Shinjinku and it was no small subject to dismiss.

Sunoma frowned, balling her fists and glancing down reluctantly. "I don't. That's also part of why I called this meeting. We're going to try and figure it all out."

Kraki was still bewildered by her logic. "So, why isn't Inori included in our investigation?" It still made no sense.

The girl's ice blue eyes fell upon her green-harried friend. "I think he knows something about it."

Kiyomaru's face lit up in shock as he reeled back again, throwing his arms up with widened eyes and mouth agape. "What? Sunoma, I am shocked that you would say such a thing!"

The lolita shot him a austere gaze. "He's been acting suspicious. When Karaya turned up dead, Inori was the first one to call the police. He didn't and wouldn't let anyone else do it. He forced it on everyone that he didn't need them acting. Tell me, did any of you see the police show up?" This was something that she had noticed at both incidents. Inori didn't even find it dire to call the police right way. He waited until everyone cleared out to do so, and in both events she never noticed the police showing up nor did she hear sirens that signaled their arrival. At this point, she wondered if the police even truly came. If that was the case, then what happened to the bodies?

Kiyomaru glanced to the side in dereliction, "I did not."

"I was so busy I don't remember," Kraki stated, putting her finger to her thin lips in thought.

"I'm sure that they did. How else would the body get removed?" Prasuna thought that they were seriously looking too deeply into things. The suspicious deaths lately must have made them all paranoid. She trusted that Inori would do the right thing. He had a huge responsibility on his shoulders as the founder's son.

"I don't know," that was also another mystery that Sunoma couldn't solve.

Taiga was silent.

"Can we confirm that no one saw them arrive?" Kiyomaru wanted to be certain that their allegations were true. He didn't want to falsely accuse Inori of being involved in criminal actions. To make assumptions like that was asinine. It was important that they watch what they accuse people of.

"Inori would be the only one to confirm it. Everyone else left." It was unfortunate, but it was the only thing Kraki could authenticate.

"Inori has argued with everyone on whether or not the rumors are more than just that. Even when proof was put in front of his face." That was a fact that Sunoma couldn't let slide. Inori refused to vouch for any of the rumor's events.

"It's played in our favor because no one can let this shit get out. It already has with that girl and her dead friend." How exactly were they aware that Kokken or Aoili weren't going to tell anyone? Taiga knew that the secret couldn't be kept for long.

"We made her agree not to talk," Sunoma could only hope that the two of them wouldn't spread the rumors, otherwise she wasn't sure of what would happen.

"How many will we have to vow into silence?" Prasuna crossed her arms over her breasts and looked upon them in judgment. Was that really what they were going to do? Everyone who found out was just going to automatically be silenced? Who in the hell thought this was going to be a good idea? In fact, this made it all worse in her opinion.

"As many as it takes. If everyone knows, they'll leave and that will result in their deaths and ours. The ones who compose the mass killings ill find out who let the shit fly and go after them, or their families and anything else you value. They know about you, about everything in your life...even your darkest secrets. None of you are hiding shit. If you let it get out, you suffer and so do the ones who think they got out free. It's not worth the exposure because nobody wins." It was absolutely imperative that they kept it secret at all costs. The student's lives were at stake. Taiga knew from experience that if people left in droves, everyone would die and the event would be thrown prematurely into play. The last thing that he wanted to do was cause something that would be more of a mass calamity than previous expected. Why wouldn't these idiots get the point? Why did they insist on being so stubborn and questioning this far more than it should have been?

Prasuna turned to the yakuza. "How can they know such things?" It seemed odd that they would even know things that the student kept to themselves. Knowing someone's darkest secret? How could that have been possible? Taiga was talking like a mad man.

"T-There's no way to escape, is there? We have to stay here because they'll come after us outside of the school and attack our families," Kraki was feeling the true hopelessness of the situation. They could save themselves if they transferred out one by one, but they couldn't save their friends and fellow classmates. If everyone left all together, then they would die. Even if they could save some of them, it would be one by one and time was running out. Not everyone would get out alive, and knowing that pained her deeply.

"That's the size of it. If you don't have a family, they'll find other ways to break you down." There was no escape, and no one was exempt from the torture that would befall them all. It seemed like Taiga finally was getting them to come around to the grim truth.

Green eyes furrowed as Kraki cast a concerned gaze to the yakuza. "Do you really think Inori is involved?" She didn't want it to be true. Kraki didn't want to think that Inori would do such a thing to his friends, to the council and to the people who attended his father's school.

"Do you think he killed Karaya and Mishio?" Prasuna wanted to know the answers, even if no one else did. If there was an enemy among them, then it was essential that they knew who it was.

Kraki looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe that's why he's been so suspicious..." Then, her face suddenly lit up with fear as she drew her fists in towards her neck. "Oh my god! What if he's a serial killer?"

This caused Kiyomaru to light up in shock in response. "That cannot be!"

"We don't have enough proof for that." Honestly, those two were acting out of paranoia. Prasuna would rather not jump to conclusions about their dear president.

"How do we even know that it is a serial killer?" Sunoma was curious as to how they came up with that theory. She hadn't even said anything about Inori wanting to kill multiple students. That was a figment of their overactive cognitive processes.

"What else could it be?" Kraki couldn't really think of any other answer. It wasn't like she wanted to think that kind of thing.

"Whoever is behind this has to be an organization of some kind. Think about it. A lot of research has gone into this and if they can affect you outside of the school, it has to be more than one person," Sunoma refused to believe that there was a single person that was working behind the scenes alone. Even if there was, there was no possible way that they could act alone in getting the type of information that Taiga claimed them to have. There was no way at all. However, what kind of group of people would want to do this horrible misdeed to a bunch of high school students? What was their purpose? What were they trying t prove?

"His father is a serial killer, too!" Kraki pointed dramatically. That had to be it! It just had to! It explained everything. Mr. Mandio owned and built the school, he has to have some knowledge of what's going to happen and if Inori was acting suspicious it was because he was trying to keep his father's plans under wraps so no one would leave.

Kiyomaru looked diplomatic for a few moments, cupping his chin as he closed one eye. "That does make sense..." However, the more he thought about it, the more he felt a clawing paranoia, ripping at the strands of stability in his mind. Suddenly, he drew back in shock. "What if the whole staff are serial killers?"

"You guys are stupid," Taiga couldn't believe this. Detectives more like defectives! They had it all wrong.

"Not entirely, I just thought of something. What if this organization took control of the professionals here? What if Inori does know, yet he cannot tell us. What if his father's life is at stake?" Kiyomaru wanted to bring up another situation that was a little more outside of the box of their general thinking. Inori may be involved, but they couldn't forget that Inori might also have been a victim and not a villain.

"Even so, what would they have to gain by making us kill each other?" That was the one important question that was weighing on Prasuna's mind. Why would anyone want them to perform such dispicable and loathesome acts?

"They don't have anything to gain. That's what I don't understand. They could use us for random, but they don't even do that." It was the main event that Taiga didn't understand. The killings seemed pointless and made no sense whatsoever. It was the most disturbing act of graduation and one that affected him personally.

"Also, when you graduate they simply release you back into society," Kiyomaru pointed a finger into the air matter-of-factly. It was a notable and equally disturbing factor of graduation. Why would they release someone who witnessed so many murders back into society? Wouldn't they want to kill the one that was left so that their operation stayed under the rug?

"Still, no one even cares or knows they're dead. It's like they never existed." It was something that uneased the yakuza. Even his own men didn't remember who his brother was. It was as if he had never existed at all and Taiga was the soul keeper of his memory.

"There aren't any logical answers out of this. It's so disjointed that we can't follow any leads. There has to be a connection." Sunoma wanted to find it. She wanted to know what was going on. There had to be answers, and all they needed was a small leak of information to get their big break. Time was running thin. Soon they wouldn't be able to venture outside of Shinjinku for additional information.

"I think we should start asking the student council president exactly what the hell is going on here. I want answers. He's got to know something." Even if Taiga had to do it himself, he was going to make sure that he got Inori's story in one form or another.

"I believe a round of inquisition is in order," Kiyomaru agreed. If anything else, they would talk to him just to know his stand and position in all of this. They needed answers, and hopefully they would get what they were so desperately searching for.

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The gym had little activity in it that day. It was really only two people who were inside - Kokken and Taiga. Kokken was doing a few stretch exorcises on one of the large, blue mats that was placed in front of a television. She bent forward with one leg extended, then changed her weight to the other side and stretched her other leg as she watched something on the television. Further back, Taiga lifted heavy barbells. He was in the gym long before she was, and he had been lifting weights the entire time he was in there. Taiga was clad in long, black athletic pants and a tank stop. His pompadour was nothing more than long, loose waves that hung to one side and she could clearly see parts of his massive yakuza tattoo playing peek-a-boo from the arm holes and neck hole of his shirt. It was as scary as it was impressive and detailed. Sweat saturated every pore of his body and drenched his hair as he glistened against the light of the glass wall behind him, exiting out into a large, underground pool area with several beach chairs and umbrella stands.

Pausing for a moment, Taiga reached over to retrieve his towel that lay over a bar of the bench he was working out on. Before his hand could reach the fluffy piece of fabric, it was intercepted by a water bottle. Aqua eyes glanced up to meet the large, pastille blue eyes of Kokken. She closed them and smiled at the sweaty man. Taiga looked shocked for a moment, then took the offered item and thanked her.

"It's just the two of us today, and I just got done on the treadmill so I thought I'd get you something to drink. You're working up a sweat there. I see you here all of the time." In fact, Taiga was usually in the gym when she was and he stayed in there for a long time. She admired the fact that he held a lot of pride in his physical appearance.

"You're that girl who's roommate committed suicide," come to think of it, that wasn't the best way to say anything about knowing her in relation to any particular incident. Now he sort of felt bad about mentioning it. After all, Taiga wouldn't have liked it if someone came up to him and said 'hey you're that guy whose brother died in the last graduation.'

A bead of sweat ran down Kokken's forehead. "Does everyone here know me as that? I do have a name."

"Taiga Daifumi," he decided to introduce himself first.

The girl placed her hands behind her back and smiled politely. "My name is Kokken Matsubuya. I'm captain of the martial arts team. Are you in any clubs?" To be honest, she would have been shocked if he said no. Taiga committed a lot of time to the gym. Maybe he was in the weight lifting club?

"I don't have time for that shit. Do you really not know who I am?" Either this girl lived in a ditch her entire life or she really was that oblivious. Either way, he felt sorry for her if that was the case.

Kokken blinked inquisitively and placed a finger to her lips. "Should I?"

"Airhead," the yakuza scoffed as he took a drink of water.

"I don't know many people..." Kokken moved her foot in small circles in front of her and looked nervously to the side, her draping cut shading her face. "So, I'm sorry if you're important and I don't know you." Taiga definitely sounded like someone who was well-known, and she knew it was an insult to a famous person to disregard them as if they were anything but. Now she felt as if she were inferior and stupid for approaching him like she did. She was so stupid. What was she thinking?

"I'm obuyn of the largest faction of yakuza in Japan," perhaps that would ring a bell for her.

"That explains the tattoos," now it was all making sense. Boy oh boy, she was an airhead.

"What are you, stupid?"

Kokken turned around and balled her fists to her chest with a look of determination. "What? Because I'm not afraid? Why should I be? Yakuza are people, too. If I'm dumb for treating you like a person then I guess I am just a big dum-dum." He hadn't done anything wrong to her yet, so there was no reason to treat him like he had the plague, was there?

"Does anything pierce your empty head? Two people have died and you just bounce around like nothing bothers you." Her happy facade was really beginning to piss him off. No one was that happy all of the time, especially if their roommate committed suicide and possibly scarred them for life. Didn't this girl care about the person she dormed with at all? She claimed they were good friends and yet she so easily got over her death. It was ridiculous to treat someone's death like a joke, and he wasn't having any of it.

Kokken jolted, her eyes widened and she froze in place. Her spunky tone was subdued by his words and she felt a sharp pain, as if someone had pierced her heart with a knife. The girl glanced down and held her head that way. When she spoke, sorrow was laced into her tone. "I know...but I have to be happy. If I'm not happy, then everyone will give up hope. People need someone to lean on, someone brave and cool. You know, I really admire someone like you, Mr. Daifumi. I bet you've seen a lot, done a lot and you're still staying strong. I heard your brother died...that must be tough."

Taiga's eyes widened and his mouth opened but nothing came out. For once, the loud-mouthed yakuza was rendered speechless. Kokken was the first person to ever express condolences besides Sunoma, despite everyone else in the student council knowing his situation.

Why the hell would some girl care so much about him?

Looking up at the man's shocked face, Kokken stared into his small pupils, trying to read the emotion he might be feeling. "I bet you think about it a lot. I think about Karaya a lot, too. I don't know why she died. Maybe she knew something about all of this, but maybe she was scared. Maybe she couldn't tell. Maybe someone...whoever killed Mishio...tried to kill her. I think about it all of the time and when Aoili isn't around, I cry a lot. I'm really scared. I've never seen anyone die or get killed. If I go and try to figure it out, I'm afraid I'll die and if I sit back, I feel so guilty, like I can stop it but I pretend not to know while all of my friends die." It was hard for her, more than anything she had done. After Karaya committed suicide, Kokken began to wonder about her own options. When she heard about everything that was going on, she couldn't help but feel as if she had been snatched into the threads of whatever sinister plot had been woven for her. Two people had died, and it seemed like it would only get worse beyond that point. Was she going to be next? The very thought frightened her beyond belief, and still she would continue to march on...but to what beat? What was the right choice in all of this looming madness?

"Transfer out," Taiga's voice ran through her senses, offering her the same option that he had so many others.

"What?" Her head spun, pale white-blue locks beat against her cheeks.

"It'll get worse from here. Transfer out."

Kokken shook her head and wore a visage of disappointment, "I can't."

The yakuza's muscles tightened and his body trembled with irritation. Clenching a fist, he glared at her with malice. He was beyond sick of no one taking his advice. "Why don't any of you little, stupid shits listen to me?"

Kokken gave him a sympathetic glance. It must have been hard if that was the case. She couldn't believe that others wouldn't listen to him after his brother had died from the same type of situation. It wasn't shocking that he was so angry at the world right now. Her voice lowered into a tone of empathy before she started to explain herself.

"It's not like that. I can't leave because I don't have anywhere to return to. I was an unwanted child. My parents wanted a boy, but I was born instead. I tried to please them by getting into martial arts but I was still abused and neglected. My mother grew ill and died before I attended Shinjinku Academy. I always practiced my martial arts, getting as good as I could get. It's the only talent I really have. I'm the third best martial artist in the country. Without it, I'm really just a normal girl. I can't go back to being abused," Kokken's frown deepened as her voice quivered with emotion. "When I came here, I felt like I was really turning my life around. I felt like I was worth something. Everyone here is so nice and accepting. I wasn't used to it. I thought for sure everyone would hate me, and I'd have no friends. I had such a low self-esteem. Everyone here is family, even people you don't really know will say good morning and hello." Placing a hand to her chest, the girl smiled with the warmth she felt, remembering the very first time that she had come through the doors of Shinjinku. "I was so overwhelmed by everyone when I first got here. It was a good thing. I could be myself. If I had a problem, Karaya or someone would help me. I feel like I actually have friends here. You see, Mr. Daifumi, that's why I can't leave."

"You can go somewhere by yourself." Surely, there were other alternatives. She didn't have to just stay at the school.

Kokken closed her eyes and shook her head. "I can't do that. I don't have any money. Besides, I can't live with myself knowing that everyone was dying while I lived a normal life." Thinking about that, about how cowardly of an act that was pained her more than anything. In all honesty, Kokken didn't see how other people could just leave everything and everyone and not give them a second thought.

Perhaps that was the true reason why no one listened to Taiga's advice, and the funny thing was, it was his way of trying to save people himself. In all reality, their situation was quite sad.

"Then what will you do?"

The girl looked thoughtful.

"If you stay, you will die. You might even die tonight or tomorrow. When you stay, you aren't assuming the position of a student; you're assuming the position of a soldier," Taiga really didn't think this girl knew exactly what she was doing by sticking to the place she knew as a sanctuary.

"A double-edged sword. Even if I choose to live, I could walk outside and be hit by a car." That was just the sad fact of life. Of course she had that option; of course Taiga could let her live, but then what? She could walk out of that door and drop dead where she stood. Whether it was within the confines of the school or on her own out in the real world, Kokken's chances for survival were all the same in her eyes.

"There's no winning this." What about that did she not see?

"I'm staying."

"What?"

"I'm going to protect my friends," Kokken held up her fists menacingly with that same look of dedication that she had shown before. "I don't want to see anyone die. If I stay here, then I can make a difference. I want to be strong like you. I want to protect my friends and I'm going to train really hard to try." It was a promise that she was going to make to herself, a personal vow that when graduation came she'd be able to defend those who could not defend themselves. By some stroke of luck, maybe she could manage to see them through to graduation. If anything, she would be there for them and support them through that nightmare.

"You can't save everyone," Taiga hated to burst her moment of heroism, but it would make no difference. Her goal was unattainable and unrealistic.

"I'm going to try and save as many as I can." Every life counted, no matter how insignificant it seemed, it meant something to her and Taiga wasn't going to smash her optimism on that subject.

"Is that really going to be your choice?" Deep in his heart of hearts, Taiga wanted her to back down. He wanted to her to escape with her life. Someone like her didn't deserve to be there. Kokken needed to have a good life and live in happiness, not be some corpse on the floor.

Kokken smiled with confidence. "You can't talk me out of it. It doesn't matter how much of a dum-dum you think I am. I don't want to hear it."

"I have-"

She cut him off by placing her hands over her ears, closing her eyes and being stubborn. "Don't want to hear it!"

In a rush of frustration, Taiga ended up yelling violently at the girl. "Shut up and let me protect you!"

"What?" Kokken blinked, pausing as she slowly put her hands down. Did he really just say what she thought he had said? Why would he want to protect a little nobody like her? After all, she was an air-headed dum-dum.

"We can be a team. I'll protect you from the killer." With goals like her, the girl needed someone to be her bodyguard, and since she admired him he figured why not? It was a way that he could keep a close eye on her, and stop her from acting like an idiot.

The girl placed her hands behind her back again, holding one of her wrists and bending one knee. Her expression was dire and she looked him in the eyes. "I heard about the graduation. Only one person can graduate."

"Where did you hear that from?" How in the blue hell did Kokken know about that? Wasn't that supposed to be a secret those fucks from the student council were supposed to keep from her in order not to get her more involved than she already was?

"I spied on the student council meeting that took place after Karaya died. I hid until everyone left. I know it's wrong, but I had to know why my friend would want to kill herself. I found out that the meeting wasn't even really about her." It only made Kokken realize that there was more hell going on than she knew about before. A part of her wondered if maybe Karaya knew what was going to happen, so she killed herself without telling anyone. The student council talked about it like it was a grave secret, and she took it to heart as one herself.

"I thought someone told you," Taiga was ready to kick ass and take names of the idiots who were spreading the rumors. There was nothing worse than dishonesty, even for those of the yakuza.

"No, I just know if we graduate, only one person can. So, if we team up and kill everyone...one of us has to die. Who would sacrifice their life?" Kokken's voice took on a strange edge when she asked that question. Her eyes slowly laid themselves upon the yakuza and stared at him with unsettling intent.

"If it comes down to it, I say we kill each other." If they did that, then the mastermind's game would have been fruitless. It was the best answer he had for the moment, but he doubted that such a thing would change.

"What?" Kokken was surprised at his response.

Holding up a fist, Taiga's visage was laced with determination. "Let's fuck these guy's shit up and both die. We can't give them what they want if no one graduates. Besides, death is better than the aftermath of fear, and if I ended up being the only person alive after all of this shit, I'd just kill myself anyway."

...To Be Continued