Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 18: Death Metal (Pt. I) ( Chapter 18 )

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Defy and Comply

Lesson 18: Death Metal (Pt. I)

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

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"We can have any type of relationship you desire. It will be impairative that we keep our needs fulfilled and hopefully it will make us a little more sane." As long as they still basked in the pleasures that they were used to before hand, they could retain a sense of awareness that the other students didn't have - a sense of calm and rationale that would be obstructed in most of the student's minds.

Masato's visage hardened. What the hell was she trying to say? "Who says I wanna screw you?" Honestly, she must have been vain to think she was the object of his desire.

Ame placed her hand to her mouth, hiding her catty smile. "I had no idea you liked men, my apologies." She sounded more amused than sincere.

"What!? No!" The biker retorted, more offensively than he had intended, then his voice lowered, as if to correct himself. "I mean, nothin' against y'if y'do but it's not my thing."

Ame cocked her head. "Then, we have an agreement?"

"Don't think I'm agreein' because y're bein' a temptress." Masato wanted to make that crystal clear. She wasn't fooling him with her little manipulative ways. He wasn't going to give her the victory of defeat.

The lolita feigned innocence. "Why would I think that? I just believe in an eye for an eye."

"Y're convincing. Don't play that with me," Masato wasn't in the mood for her bullshit.

"Then consider us allies," Ame replied. She already knew that she had the biker exactly where she wanted him. The spider has successfully snared her prey. All that was left was Masato admitting defeat.

"I never said yes," and, that was going to be the problem. Honestly, he should have stopped being stubborn and listened to her. It was beneficial to the both of them in the end.

"You don't have to. It's an even trade and it's mutual. I don't mind sleeping with you." Her blue lips curved into a small smile. "You're appealing."

Masato wasn't going to fall for her charms either. His eyes narrowed at her advances. "I thought y'd like those princely types, like Inori-" He was cut off by a small hand cupping his chin as the frail-looking wolf in sheep's clothing pressed herself against his rock hard body. He stiffened as ruffles crashed into his muscles and the scent of wildflowers filled his senses.

Ame was amused. His mind said no, but his body obviously said yes. "Silly boys, always putting me into some kind of stereotype. When will you get that I am never easily guessed?" To amplify the meaning behind those words, she stared straight into his eyes, her smile widened as the velvet words poured from her pastel lips. "We'll make a beautiful team."

He was as good as hers.

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All of the students stood around, each clutching their own weapon close to them. Some of them glanced around, suspicion still clung to their heart and others stood off of the crowd by themselves. Others decided to chat among each other, or talk about their weapons or how they planned to get out of the school and defy the vicious order to slaughter each other.

"Just in case any of you gets funny ideas, I handed out one weapon for each of you, but don't go acting like jackasses with them," the yakuza figured that giving them all weapons would give them a sense of security and calm their paranoia. They could protect themselves if needed. That was the best that Taiga could do from that point onward. It might have been a bad idea to give them weapons, but the killing would happen faster if they continued to grow paranoid of one of their peers grabbing something and making the first kill.

"If we don't kill each other then we're not doing what they want," Lamar rectified his friend's words before Ame cut into thier words.

"Idiots," the lolita sighed, making it known that she was present. During that point in time, she had managed to make her pact and coheres Masato to come back after tucking the machete inside of his long coat.

"What did you say?" Taiga growled and turned to the monochromatic girl dressed in blue and white.

"Someone will end up breaking this rule. It's futile to have a community with unrealistic expectations like that. Not with paranoia and threats going around," Taiga had to face it, there was no way to truly contain the chaos, no matter how hard he tried. It was better to kill them now and get it over with.

"We know but it will buy us some time." Lamar tried to reason but the blue lolita was neither impressed nor convinced.

"Time for what?"

"I was hoping they'd help us gather data."

"I see," Ame place a hand to her chin in thought.

"What are you accusing us of?" Taiga caught that skepticism in her voice. She was really grinding his gears.

"Nothing, my point is proven." They even knew this plan was bullshit, yet they were going through with it anyway. They pretended to care about the student body, knowing the circumstances but manipulating them into finding ways to free them. They distrust and devious plotting was underway far before she had decided to go ahead with her own impish plans.

It truly was a free for all.

But as of now, simply a game of minds.

"What is your point anyway?" Prasuna asked, resting her hands on her hips asshe shifted her weight to one side.

"That this isn;t about friendship. If you think you can get an edge by manipulation you will, even if it's like this." They were no heroes trying to save anyone. They were in it for themselves, just as she was. The only difference between the two was that she allied with someone and they were guiding the masses by delusion of giving them a sense of hope for freedom.

"That's not-" Lamar tried to defend himself but was cut off by Taiga.

"Butt out, Ame."

"My, aren't you protective? What are you two? Boyfriends?" She leaned in inquisitively as Kiyomaru glanced down a few feet away from her.

Was that really true?

Well, the two of them were very close...and they did share a dorm room together...He furiously shook his head, as if to throw out all doubt. That couldn't be! It just couldn't be!

"It's none of your business!" The yakuza held up a fist, seething with anger as a vein popped from his forehead.

"Ya made it incriminating by yelling like that." Lamar just had to rub salt into his bleeding lacerations. Who's side was he on anyway?

"Geck!" Taiga gritted his teeth as that realization hit him in the face.

Ame just smiled curtly. "How cute."

"Fuck you!"

Casting Masato a glance, Ame folded her arms over her chest and walked away from the group, telling them that she was going to go and retreat to her dorm room for the night.

"I think I'll join you," Masato nodded. "I'm tired anyway. Today was stressful." He followed the lolita out of the auditorium as Lamar and Taiga watched their forms fade away and disappear behind the large doors. When they got out of sight of the crowd, the lolita hooked her wrist around his forearm.

Brown eyes shot to her in a defensive nature. "What?" His voice was sharp. What in the hell was this devil woman plotting now?

"Let's fulfill part of that pact," the final stage would be in tact after the first act was committed. There was only one way to conquer the bosozoku, and that was to make his body hers as well, then she would own him in every way possible.

"We shouldn't be thinking about that," Masato argued as he tried to shake himself away from the girl's grasp. Her attitude was really unnerving him, and at this point she felt like a parasite, zapping his energy slowly until there was nothing else left.

His chin was grabbed again, as his face turned to the girl. She commanded his acknowledgement. Ame was very forward about what she wanted, and right now she wanted him to look at her. Masato's form was pulled close as he felt a pressure being applied between his legs. When he glanced down, he saw that the clever girl had lifted her knee and was staring at him with those pleased eyes and simple smile. Masato wasn't sure if he was creeped out by how doll like she appeared to be, or weary of her sinister intentions.

"Ugh..." He sighed as his cheeks turned a tint of red. "Y-You..."

"I haven't had the company of a male in a long time," her voice was low and seductive, a tone that he thought he would never hear coming from someone like her.

"What? D-Do you consider this our bonding time? Like...some sort of ritual to this pact of ours?" He tried to stand tall against her, but the constant rubbing of her knee was fogging his head up. Masato knew that's what this was. He knew that this was her way of winning him over, of commanding him and trying to bend him to her will.

"You know, that's a good idea. It will be like an initial ceremony, a bond of trust. You give me your body and I shall give you mine." It was a fair trade, and as Ame had said before, he was appealing to her. Ame wouldn't mind having a body guard as good looking as he was.

If he didn't accept, then she was going to keep persisting like she was. At this point, Masato had no choice but to agree to her terms. It wasn't as if she wasn't pretty. In fact, Ame was one of the prettiest girls in Shinjinku. It was unfortunate that her attitude made her such an ugly person on the inside. "Then let's go back to my dorm room." He finally agreed as the two of them walked down the hallway. He wasn't sure if he was going to regret this or not, but at the same time, he didn't want it getting out that he made an underhanded move by stealing the machete. 'I'm still not too sure about this...I guess in a sick way I'm getting that body guard job I wanted.'

He glanced down at Ame, who clung to his arm. 'I'm not sure if I should hate this girl or like her. She's gorgeous, I admit but her personality is so damned unattractive and manipulative. Then again, if it keeps me alive it might not be so bad. Y'gotta do what y'gotta do and all's fair game now. Every man for himself and trust no one.'

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The students seemed calmer after everyone let out their feelings about the situation and they were all given a weapon to solidify the fact that they all had some kind of safety item that they could protect themselves with. The bustling conversations dwindled to idle chat among themselves. Nothing but a few words and a couple of incosolable sobs were left.

Lamar turned to Taiga, "I hope that this isn't a mistake."

"It keeps 'em calm so why not? Even if they have no weapons they would have killed each other with their bare hands, or find something to kill with. Remember, anything can be used as a weapon." This method just kept them satisfied for a while.

"So, what's your idea after this? We have to find some sort of method to control the situation," Prasuna knew that giving them weapons wasn't going to last long, and if anything if one person misused it, they would all end up killing each other.

Gaz held his guitar, deciding that using it as a weapon would suffice for now. He didn't want to kill anyone, and knocking them out with it was far better than resorting to bloodshed. "What do we do?"

"We should establish some ground rules and hope that they follow them. That's all we can do for now." Kiyomaru wanted to put some order down, and give them a system of some sort. Without it, everyone would be engulfed in chaos.

"I'll get their attention," Zoen climbed up onto a nearby table that was used for refreshments. "Listen up! We need to set some ground rules. We have to work together in order to escape this prison. Even if you have weapons, that doesn't mean you can go apeshit and kill each other. We gotta work together and find a way out of here."

"Everyone needs to start researching. Go to the library, anywhere you can access information. Hack computers if you have to, just find a way out. Any information that you have should be brought back here. We can share what we found. That will make it even between us."

"You heard that man, let's get going! You want out, don't you?" Santa held a fist up to the frightened and confused crowd, who let out a resounding 'yeah' in response. "Then move out!" He commanded as what was left of the students went to gather information, acting on his word.

Gaz blinked a little. "Hey, that actually worked." Somehow, he thought they were going to protest more.

"It's just temporary, but it guys us time," Lamar knew that it would come to an end quickly.

"How long do you think we can hold out?" Prasuna crossed her arms over her chest and turned to the ex rocker.

"Depends on their sanity. For everyone's sake, we need to give them little reason as possible not to kill each other," Taiga knew that it was going to be a challenge but he wanted to at least try.

"I'll go get Kazoo's weapons," Tsukimi disappeared down the halls.

"I'll go back to my dorm," Kazoo decided that he just needed to rest and give himself time to heal. He already felt light-headed and the pain in his chest searched through him in waves.

"I'm going to see if I can access the internet, or at least dig around for files," Gaz decided that he would help his fellow students try to find a way to get out of there. The internet was probably down, but there was always that small chance they forgot to turn it off out of neglegence.

"We'll go with you," Sunoma offered.

"I'll search through some hidden files. There's an old archive hidden in the basement of the school. No one's looked there so maybe I can find something." It was something that only the members of the student council knew existed, a place that Prasuna swore she'd never go dig in, but desperate times called for desperate measures and now wasn't the time to be concerned about getting dirty.

"Time is of the essence," Kiyomaru stated as the remaining students left the auditorium, leaving Lamar and Taiga standing beside of each other, leveling each other with dire expressions as they heard the last of the footsteps clear the building.

Taiga glanced over to his love interest. "Why are you still here?"

"I hate this..." There was something about Lamar's voice that was filled with dread. Taiga knew how he felt about everything, and it wasn't like he didn't know about Lamar's case of survivor's guilt.

"You had an option," Taiga's words were half-hearted. It wasn't like he wasn't forcing Lamar into it.

"I know but, I want to do this. I have to face my past," the green-haired man held his fist up and closed his eyes. It was a personal promise he had made to himself long ago. Lamar wanted to come to terms with the past slaughter, as well as stop this event from ever happening again.

"You'll be fine. I've got your back," the yakuza placed a hand on his shoulder, fingers lacing between the spikes he wore.

"Taiga, I..." Lamar trailed off and cast a sorrowful look to the ground.

"There's no time to worry about our relationship. Like I said, I want you to be happy and if it's not with me, then so be it," Taiga knew that was pressing on his mind. Lamar didn't want him to feel bad, but that was the last thing on the yakuza's mind.

"But, I still care about you," he somehow wasn't satisfied with that answer. While it was true that he had feelings for Kiyomaru, he had a bond with Taiga that far surpassed it. They had been through so much together, and seeing the yakuza so torn over it during their argument ground on his nerves and made him guilty.

"Then there shouldn't be a problem. You're not with anyone, at least that's what you said," Taiga would have rather not talked about this subject, but since Lamar brought it to his attention, he had no other choice. His voice was forced, on the edge of being irritated with it.

"I'm not."

"I already made the first move. If you want me, say so. If you can't say so. Just say you got feelings for Kiyomaru." Why did he have to make it more difficult than it already was?

"How do you feel about Sunoma?" Lamar wanted to know. He wanted to know Taiga's feelings about sleeping with the lolita.

"We're friends. I care about her a lot, I'd lay down my life for her and I trust her, we made out, sure but my feelings for you are very different. Friendship can be blurred and maybe that's what it was. I think we love each other in a deep way, like life partners. We have a bond, a deep one, but it's platonic. I love Sunoma like a lover without the sex. You're different. If we were in a different situation, I wouldn't have a problem bending you over a desk and making you scream my name," he said it so casually, as if it was nothing to admit out in the open, but at the same time, Taiga knew where his heart lied. It was something that he was sure that he wanted, and he was going to make it known.

Lamar looked a little shocked at such a forward confession, blush tinted his complexion. "I-"

"Shut up," Taiga cut him off sharply. "It's not like you'd mind."

"It's just I'm not used to you sayin' that kinda stuff to me. I had no idea ya felt this way." It was odd to him, but at the same time it frustrated him. It made his heart flutter and his stomach feel as if someone released a plethora of butterflies in it. With Kiyomaru, he was so confident and understanding but with Taiga he felt completely different, like a little school girl who was being hit on by the love of her life. It was sort of pathetic when he thought about it.

Taiga closed his eyes and scowled. "You're a blind asshole, that's why."

"No, man. I'm flattered," Lamar's voice was low and uncharacteristically shy.

"Tell me, how do you feel about Kiyomaru?" Since Lamar was going to question him about Sunoma, it was only fair to cross-question him about Kiyomaru.

"I...don't know. It was just a fling, and man I've been lonely and it just got to me-" Lamar began to frantically ramble on before the yakuza stopped him in his tracks.

"I don't want excuses."

"I guess I see him as a friend with benefits. I know ya don't wanna share me though." It would be idiotic to think that he did.

Taiga frowned, holding his fist up as it shook with anger. "I can't believe you. I should punch you again." How dare he even joke around about it. It was pissing him off.

"This hurts, man," Lamar regretted that he even started talking about it.

"Do you you think I feel?" It was a living hell to like someone who didn't like him back, even worse to be in a situation where he wasn't sure who he wanted. All of it was like one stab after another.

"Ya shouldn't have to suffer. I don't wanna hurt you! That was never my intention!" The green-haired man shouted, looking physically pained by it all. He hated it! He hated that he hurt his best friend like this! Taiga didn't deserve it at all.

"Then do something about it!" Taiga shouted back so loudly his voice echoed off of the walls of the auditorium.

"Eh..." The other make let out a noise and looked shocked and sad. Taiga was right. He needed to resolve the problem. He needed to make the right choice. There was no getting around it. Someone had to take the fall and someone had to get hurt.

"Make up you're damned mind before everyone dies on you again. What? Are you gonna rob yourself of another opportunity? If you like him so damned much then why aren't you with him?" Taiga was tired of playing games. He was just going to tell him straight up and not give two shits about his feelings. It wasn't about that right now anyway.

"Because...he's unsure and he likes someone else..." Lamar looked like a beaten puppy, giving the man who poured his heart out to him sad eyes. To be honest, Lamar was ashamed of himself. He was ashamed to have been so stupid. He could have had Taiga and he could have saved his loneliness for him, but Kiyomaru's feelings mattered to him as well. The more his mind waged war between those two decisions, the more painful it became to him.

"If he's thinking about someone else he doesn't put you first. How can you sit back and just wait? Isn't this the same situation you just got into with Raiga? Do you like repeating your failures?" At this point, Taiga was just unleashing his hurt and anger on his love interest, and he didn't care. Lamar needed a good dose of reality.

"No..."

"Your weakness is that you care too much about people who don't care about you."

Lamar looked him in the eyes for the first time in a while. "Do you really think that's the truth?" Did Kiyomaru really not care about him as much as he cared for the fencer? Was it really that one-sided? Did he have it all wrong?

"Ask him yourself," Taiga growled and turned away, walking out of the room as Lamar fell to his knees and sat there, thinking on what to do about the mess he had gotten himself into.

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Kiyomaru was searching through documents that were on the school's computer. He managed to find a gold mine or private documents that weren't easily accessed. Perhaps one of them would prove to hold information about the dome or how to open it again. Green eyes watched as document after document rolled past him. So far, they were all common knowledge files that he didn't understand why they were classified as hidden documents.

From behind him, he could heart footsteps nearing, and a looming, tall, skinny shadow hovered behind him. Turning, Kiyomaru leveled the shadow with a smile. "Oh, hello Lamar! We haven't talked in a while! Are you feeling alright? I saw how upset you were from the trial."

"Can we talk?" Lamar asked in a cold, serious tone.

Kiyomaru's face morphed into a stern expression, realizing that the rocker had something of importance to talk about with him. "Of course, this sounds serious."

"Do ya remember what happened at my house?" Lamar asked.

The fencer's entire face turned red. How could he forget something so intimate between the two of them. "Yes, I do."

"I've gotta know...How do ya feel about me?" This would be the final confrontation. This was going to be the conversation that would determine what was going to happen and who Lamar was going to choose.

"W-Why? Is there something you wish to say?" Kiyomaru was caught off guard that he wanted to discuss something like that at a time like this. Had he been thinking about it this entire time?

"That's what I wanna know."

"I do not know how I feel. I am sorry, Lamar," Kiyomaru looked torn over it. Not only had he gotten himself into an unwanted situation, and reality was setting in on him in the worst of ways, but he was caught in a love triangle with Lamar and Sunoma. Not to mention, he was suffering from a few personal issues as well. "Why are you bringing this up? Now is an odd time. Do not tell me you have been thinking about this the whole time?"

"I'm close to ya but...I don't wanna hurt you." It was time to just tell Kiyomaru how it was, no matter what the outcome was.

"I feel the same way. That is why I have not said anything to Sunoma. I have always thought my heart belonged to her, but you made me question myself." For Kiyomaru, his sexual experience with Lamar made him realize that love was not defined by gender, and that loving someone who was the same sex didn't mean that it was an act of lust. What he shared with Lamar as real. It was love and comfort. He felt whole when he was held so intimately by the rock star. It wasn't something that he was just willing to forget.

"I...really hurt someone I care about a lot with what I did and I'm caught in the crosshairs." It wasn't something that Lamar wanted to admit, and he wasn't trying to make Kiyomaru feel bad with it. He just wanted to know what his feelings were. He had to know what Kiyomaru wanted and how he truly felt.

Kiyomaru stood up and faced the elder male, looking him straight in the eyes. "You are my friend, Lamar." He placed a hand on his chest, avoiding the spikes on his shoulder. "Perhaps my best friend besides Sunoma. I do not have many friends and I cherish what we have enough not to wreck it. I do love you, in a deep way and perhaps our moment of comfort was just a moment we were both hurting, we wanted someone to understand and ultimately, we got just that. I have learned things about myself, about my sexuality and about acceptance. I will always be your friend and should you wish to seek my benefits again, I would give them to you."

Above everything, Kiyomaru wanted nothing more than to see Lamar smile. To know that the ex-rock star was happy, and content and that he didn't suffer from regret and guilt over what happened to him in the past. Knowing that he could do that for him, that he could make Lamar happy, no matter what the means was something that he enjoyed. To him, he was doing something right. Touching him, kissing him, and even having him inside of him were things that Kiyomaru was willing to do to make sure Lamar kept his mind off of his past and all of the darkness in his heart that made him feel like a monster. In ways, Kiyomaru felt as if he was one of the few people that caused him to feel human again.

"So would I, but-" Lamar was cut off by those brillant, emerald eyes burning into his own with a fiery intensity.

Kiyomaru wrapped his arms around Lamar tenderly, holding him close for what seemed like twenty minutes before he spoke. "If you love someone, then you should not worry about me. No one can take away the bond that we have and I do not regret a thing." His words slipped between his lips as he spoke into Lamar's pierced ear. It was his way of shooshing him, of telling him that it was alright if he wanted to move on.

Nothing lasted forever.

Lamar rested his face on the side of Kiyomaru's, his two lip rings rubbed against his flesh as he spoke. "We'll always be best friends."

"Whatever happens does. My feelings will not change, as I do find you attractive." And now, of all times, Kiyomaru was able to say it with confidence. He was able to come to terms with the fact that he held more than platonic feelings for another male.

"You're a good guy," Lamar pulled back, his arms still wrapped around Kiyomaru's neck as he rested his forehead on the other male's. "You should go after Sunoma. Tell her how ya feel before you both lose that chance." His words fell into a sorrowful tone. "Trust me, you'll always regret it." He didn't want Kiyomaru to make the same mistake he did with Raiga.

Kiyomaru smiled and closed his eyes. "You should go after whoever loves you as well. More than I, you deserve to be happy."

That last sentence hit him in the face like a bag of bricks. Pulling away, Lamar just stared at Kiyomaru with widened eyes as the sentence bounced around in his head.

Kiyomaru just looked confused. He didn't realize he said something that would cause him to react like that. "Did I say something?" He drew back, looking shocked himself; he damned himself for whatever it was that he had said that moment. "I hope I did not offend you!"

"I...deserve to be happy..." Lamar uttered absentmindedly.

"Of course you do," Kiyomaru kissed his cheek. He knew that the last thing Lamar thought was that he deserved anything that resembled happiness. However, more than anyone, Kiyomaru thought he deserved the most happiness. Flushing lightly, he touched the rocker's cheek and lightly kissed him before drawing back. At times like these, he couldn't help but to comfort the other male. With someone who had a past as painful as Lamar's, he needed to feel as if he had some purpose. The last thing Kiyomaru wanted was for Lamar to feel like he wanted to kill himself again.

"You really think so..." Lamar was still in disbelief. Every inch of his mind fought against that train of logic. He had killed so many people. He even went crazy and held a genocidal idealism that he was doing his classmates a favor by killing them. There was no way that he deserved to live.

Holding Lamar's pale, bony hands adorned with silver and gold rings, the fencer squeezed them. "It is time to let it go, Lamar. It is okay. You do not have to go through life believing that you have to suffer. We are here to help you bear that pain. You are not alone anymore."

"But, I killed-"

"Do not convince yourself that you deserve this. You do not. You want to be a pillar for us, but you cannot teach us how to be strong if you do not know how yourself."

Lamar looked shot through the heart at those words. Why didn't he think of that before? It all made sense now. If he didn't know how to be strong, there was no way that his words could get across to anyone. "You're right..."

Kiyomaru gave him a firm nod. "You taught me that. You should take your own advice."

"Thank you...Kiyomaru. Later, can I come to your dorm room?" Before he completely called things off with Kiyomaru, he wanted to be intimate with him one last time. It was the way that he would repay him for all of the kind thing he had done for him over the course of time that they had been close.

"You may. I will be in during curfew. We will consider it our parting gift." Kiyomaru knew what was going to happen. It was going to be another emotional night of sexual healing between the two, but he wanted it. The fencer wanted that passionate encounter again. He wanted the affection while he was able to get it.

"No, I still love you as a friend," Lamar wanted that to get across no matter what.

"Well, I meant a parting time in our sexual relationship," Kiyomaru really needed to learn to word things better. Lamar nodded and the fencer told him to go and tell whoever it was that he loved them once again. "Confess to them. I want you to have what you could not have before. They must mean a lot to you. They are probably how Sunoma is to me, and if that is so then you know what your choice is. I believe it is alright to be selfish. The heart wants what the heart want. It is not that we are any less important or meaningful to each other, it is simply that we are more life partners than we are soul mates."

Even so, Kiyomaru felt his heart breaking upon telling Lamar this. He did all that he could to keep from falling apart at this moment. It was true that he loved Lamar as a friend, and that they shared a deep sense of understanding that went far beyond the scope of anything a friendly relationship entailed. That was something that stabbed him like a painful serrated knife into his heart. Kiyomaru, given another circumstance, would have wanted to try for the green-haired man, but he knew better than to involve Lamar in his problems. The personal things that he was dealing with would do nothing more than get him in trouble.

"I can dig that. I still think you're pretty hot." Lamar smiled at him.

It was a smile that literally made his heart crumble inside of his body.

Kiyomaru cleared his throat and blushed deeply. "You have shown me that male company is a wonderful experience. If things should not work out for either of us, I will be here."

"Definitely," Lamar's smile widened.

"Do not die on me," Kiyomaru's voice took on an edge to it. It was almost as if he was giving a command.

"Worry about yourself," the green-haired male replied.

"I will see you later," Kiyomaru sat back down and proceeded to continue to scan through documents as Lamar put his hand up and turned away with a simple 'see ya' and after that, he was gone.

As the door shut, Kiyomaru's frown deepened. His fingers slip from the keyboard and tears bit at the corners of his eyes, stinging as he held them back from falling. 'It is better this way. It would only be painful in the end. I will make sure this parting gift will be spectacular. After this moment, we may not be friends any longer.'

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The next morning, students were assembled in the cafeteria. Many of them stood around, talking among themselves. At a large table that was usually reserved for faculty Gaz, Kazoo, Ame, Masato and several others were seated. A few students stood around the group, glancing over their shoulders to see the small pile of papers that were laid out before them.

Ame walked up with a folder of documents that she slammed onto the top of the table. The smacking sound echoed through the cafeteria, catching the attention of several students on the way.

"This is the compiled documentation on Mr. Sabishito Mandio, the founder of Shinjinku Academy." She announced, as everyone in the room stared at her in disbelief.

"How did you get that type of paperwork?" Kazoo was in awe. No matter how hard he tried, he could never get a hold of anything on the founder, and that was the whole year that he had been hiding out in the school. How did she manage to pull off such a thing?

"I have my ways." Like hell she was telling him how she accomplished that.

"Anyone else find anything?" Masato asked.

"I only managed to turn up a small bit of history on this school. That is all. It is just common knowledge, I am afraid," Kiyomaru was regretful on the fact that he had found nothing of any note worthy quality.

"I got nothing," Gaz sighed.

"Hardly anyone came up with anything." Santa rubbed his fingers through his white, spiky hair with bright red tips.

"There is nothing that's all that hidden, " Asa noted. "We've looked everywhere."

"Yeah, where else is there to look?" Another student who stood behind her questioned. They all went through the school with a fine toothed comb.

"We even went to the principal's office." One of the fencing club members replied.

"Anyone notice there are no teachers or anything now?" A female student brought up how peculiar it was that no faculty was present anymore.

"We can't go freaking out. We can save this. There's got to be somewhere we haven't looked." Kageki was sure of it. He wasn't going to give up the fight.

"Yeah," Santa backed him up. "We'll find a way out."

"We can't break through the dome, either." Asa was beginning to lose hope.

"My chainsaw won't even cut it." One of the male students stated, holding up his weapon to show off the sheer power behind it.

"My sword won't, either," a blonde student held up a large bastard sword behind him.

"My arrows just bounce off," one of the archery team's members stated as she held up her cross bow.

"Nothing seems to work on that thing, so let's find the controls," Kageki thought that would be a better alternative than a bunch of students barraging it with anything they could find. It was more than obvious that they weren't going to get out with the weapons they had been given. To keep attempting to batter away at the dome would prove an impossible feat.

"Yeah! They've got to be in here! If we find the controls we can turn it off and get out of here!" Santa encouraged the students as they scattered out of the cafeteria and off to riot and find the controls of the dome that ensnared them.

"Man, you guys are really working with the crowd," Gaz wasn't even sure that he could do crowd control as well as his fellow band members.

"Hey, we need to work together," Santa flashed him a smile and a thumbs up.

"I couldn't find the blue prints for the switch. I'm not so sure you guys will find it," Kazoo didn't think it would just be that easy, not like how it was for Ame to come up with the documentation for the school's founder. Even if such a thing did exist, it wouldn't be in the school itself. That would have been far too easy.

"We're damned sure going to try," Santa argued against him. Surely, there was some way that it could be recovered.

"I hope you can, but I doubt it will happen." If Kazoo couldn't find it and he was an engineer and architect then his hopes were slim for Santa's crew to come up with it.

"You're so positive," Tsukimi shot from behind him.

"I deserve that," the blue-haired teen sighed.

Prasuna shifted folders around, looking through the files that were presented to them all about Mr. Mandio. Red eyes scanned across the kanji that was typed up. "It says that Mr. Mandio had an older son before Inori. His name was Horatio and he died three years ago but his cause of death was unknown."

"Keep looking," Ame prodded her. "You'll find that all of his family is dead. All but he and Inori are listed. Of course, these files are no longer current." There was actually a lot of interesting facts stored within those files concerning Mr. Mandio. She wanted them to examine everything.

"It's just a little weird that the guy is the only survivor." Either Mr. Mandio was that unlucky or he killed everyone in his family. That's what Masato gathered from it.

"Inori never spoke much about his family. Come to think of it, he was pretty reserved and mysterious. If anything bothered him, he never let it show," Prasuna had talked to Inori often, and that fact alone stuck out about their princely president. Inori was very secretive and he always evaded personal issues or talking about his family life in general. It was odd.

"Could there have been something wrong all along?" Kraki was concerned. Maybe they should have noticed earlier that Inori wasn't just being reserved.

"Look at his work history. He was involved in bioengineering and top secret military experimentation," Lamar was a little shocked to see someone with such strange degrees being the headmaster and founder of a school. It was true that it was Shinjinku Academy, but it was still strange.

"Military experimentation?" Taiga arched an eyebrow. What the fuck?

"Do you think we're part of an experiment?" To Prasuna, things began to make sense a little more, knowing that the founder had a degree in military experimentation made things all the more creepy, as well as all the more reason to cause skepticism over his legitimacy.

Kraki began to get worried again. She played with the sleeves of her dress. "What if he went AWOL and he's some weird psychopath who is trying to use us for a weird experiment?" It made sense to her, especially if it was something that happened before. All of the students died in the last experiment but one, perhaps because the experiment failed and now Mandio was looking for new test subjects.

Kiyomaru was absolutely horrified at her claims. That couldn't be true...could it? Were they truly a part of some twisted plot of experimentation? It sounded like something from a sci-fi movie.

"Do you think...that's possible?" The idea even had Taiga a little nerved.

"Why would he kill his own son?" Ame placed a hand beneath her chin and stared up in thought.

"A cover up," Masato theorized. "The military covers things up all of the time."

"That's just rumors," as a diplomat's son, Kiyomaru felt as if he should defend his and his father's positions in the Japanese government.

"Bullshit," Masato shot.

"What does this all mean?" Lamar asked. He didn't know what to make of the odd information presented before him. Any way he diced it, things looked as if they were some kind of experiment and that graduation was part of their experimentation.

"Are we really experiments?" It made sense to Gaz.

"That's illegal! They can't do that!" Aoili shot up. She never offered to be anyone's experiment! This was against her will and the will of the other students as well!

"Maybe the dome is a military weapon. That would explain why we can't find anything out about it." Things were finally coming together in Kazoo's head.

"That means that switch might not even be in the school at all," Kokken knew that the military could probably control it from anywhere they wanted to. Nothing had to be in the school at all, and if that was the case then they were as good as trapped.

"Is the mastermind in this building at all? What if he's not? What if we can't figure out who it is?" Prasuna's nerves were growing thin and she felt an anxiety wash over her, causing her breathing to accelerate and her heart to pound so loud that it resonated in her ear lobes.

"But, isn't Mr. Mandio the mastermind? That's what the documents say, right?" Aoili was confused. She thought they had already figured out who it was.

"That's a theory, and the best one I can come up with," Ame responded. According to her research, all of the evidence pointed to Mandio, unless there was something that she overshot or didn't look well enough into.

"If anything, he's a key. We need to look for more clues." Masato didn't want to jump to assumptions, but the evidence they currently possessed was pretty damning.

Aoili crossed her arms over her well-developed chest. "Who do we find clues on the military?" Without access to the internet, it seemed impossible to consult through the pages of a text book, especially something as sinister as what was going on currently.

"If this is true...how do we even begin to fight against them? We can't take on the military." The situation seemed pretty hopeless to Gaz. He didn't know how a bunch of talented high school kids were going to defeat the Japanese government.

Kazoo's visage morphed into one of severity. "This is bad. If Mr. Mando is involved, this might be the end. If we are all experiments, there's nothing we can do." The circumstances were just too big. They would have no choice but to comply with their demands and live from that point on as they wanted them to.

Kokken looked as if she were battling the conflictions in the confines of her head. She didn't want to believe that all hope was lost. "There's got to be a way! We can't give up yet!"

"I don't see any way out of here..." Aoili closed her eyes and hung her head in defeat.

"Aren't we supposed to be the good guys who never lose?" Kokken was grasping for a shred of positivity. She wanted so desperately to believe there was a way they could escape without killing anyone.

"Bullshit...This is bullshit..." It sunk in to Taiga as well. There was no way in hell that they could get out of their predicament now. He slammed his fist into the wall with all of the force he could muster, caving part of it in. The impact made Kokken jump as she looked at the crater in the school's lush blue wall paper.

"Didn't I burn and bleed enough for them? I...I really don't know what to do. What have I done? We can't win this. If all of this is true then we don't even have a snowball's chance in hell," Lamar glanced down at his trembling hands as that familiar sickening feeling washed over him. It was the same ill feeling he got when he had to watch Kazoo's failed execution.

"What do we tell everyone?" Gaz was worried. If they told the students what they had learned, everyone would start killing each other for sure.

"We don't," Taiga shot, and he better not be thinking about that shit, either.

"Huh?" Gaz turned back to an angry and threatening looking scowl from the yakuza.

"We need to come up with a plan, so we'll pretend we don't know any of it. For now," Taiga gathered up the files and shoved them into the blue lolita's hands, "keep it in your dorm."

"Of course," Ame agreed as she straightened up the folder and the loose contents within it so she could carry them better.

"I'll make sure she puts it in there," Masato offered to venture back with his partner to the dorm.

Taiga's features darkened as a sense of despair tinted the brash tone of his voice. "This has officially become the worst case scenario."

...To Be Continued