↑ Atori Yamada above ↑

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'There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for'
—Tom Robbins

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"Two more sacrifices..." The army general glanced up from the documents he received to look at the teacher who had come to report.

Despite having such a laid-back, nonchalant persona, in this moment, he looked like he was in so much pain.

"Doctors said the assaulter received a heavy blow to the head and that's what led her to do it," he choked out, his Adam's apple bobbing. "She killed Akemi Shirahama with a stab to the chest before killing herself along with her..."

Although the teacher took the moment of silence in an attempt to mourn, Seiichirou Okigawa didn't flinch at all. Tossing the documents of the two students onto his desktop, he crossed his arms. "Nobuo Iseri... no, Crimson, don't tell me you are sympathizing with these two?"

The tedious teacher of Kaisei Academy flinched at the mention but shook off all traces of sorrow as his lips pursed in a straight line.

"It's not a matter of sympathizing, sir. They have been my students so—"

"So, nothing," Seiichirou finalized, his voice booming. "The only reason I allowed you to come to this school as a teacher, Yasuo as a student, isn't for you to get sentimental about things like this. Death is a repeating thing for us after all."

Nobuo clenched his teeth and fists.

"You are a hitman. One hired to kill when being paid," Seiichirou clicked his tongue, leaning back in his chair. "I asked you to assassinate everyone in that club so why do you not?"

Nobuo's eyes hidden behind his extensive afro met the general's opened one.

"It is because of that club, this school is corrupt. It is the leading cause to all these events," he continued, sensing his hesitation. "If that club disappears, so will all this sorrow and pain. The one responsible for this all is bound to give up on this club as soon as all of them are killed, and with my own two hands, I will disband that club for as long as I live."

Balling his fingers into fists, Seiichirou pounded his fist onto the tableware.

"Seiichirou," Nobuo began gulping hard, "a-are you sure that is the right approach to this all? Just because we kill the students doesn't guarantee the stop of the tragedy."

Seiichirou's brows knitted. "Crimson... it sounds like you're reluctant to kill those kids. I sent you to this school to overwatch everything in that club and it's already been about two years since. I finally gave you the chance to end this all—the order to kill. I am your boss so why do you hesitate? You never hesitated in taking lives before."

Seiichirou's eye was gleaming, piercing through the soul of the teacher and striking fear into every fiber of his body. "Don't tell me, you are becoming soft. A hitman? Don't make me laugh. For what purpose have we dedicated our lives if we can't even kill?"

Nobuo bit his lip, as he knew it was true. He's been painfully aware of that thought for about a year now.

"Those kids don't deserve to be in this situation," Nobuo muttered to answer the man. "Ending their lives doesn't sit right with me. Until the mastermind is found..."

Determination shined within the eyes of the teacher as he raised his head, not wavering even for second.

"I will not raise my gun against them. I'm sorry, but I have to go against my orders."

Stepping up to the principal of the academy, Nobuo rested a bundle of cash onto the table before him. Seiichirou stared back at him, his eye smouldering.

"Are you serious about this, Crimson?"

"Yes."

In response to his serious reply, he broke out into an audacious laugh, really letting it all out as he collected the cash and squashed it within his grip.

"Even Yasuo has retorted something of a similar case when I brought this up to him last week. He didn't even look at the money. Since you took it, I was so sure you were the only one that didn't change, but you have..." His laughing died down until his voice came to a sudden pause. "Is... this club really that special? Hmm, what is so special about students who are the leading cause of Kyoto's downfall? Our city is falling, and yet you side with them."

Nobuo swallowed hard and Seiichirou smirked at his obvious discomfort.

"Well, Crimson—or would you rather your current alias Nobuo? Either way, I don't care whether you accomplish this or not." Holding up his arms in surrender, Seiichirou dropped the cash onto the floor of the office. "The board brought me here because they were too scared to fix this school's corruption. And I will act until that is fulfilled. So I will use him even if I have to."

Nobuo's heart stopped at the mention. "Y-You can't mean Atori—"

"But I do."

Nobuo's mouth went dry at his words. His eyes grew as wide as saucers.

Snickering under his breath, highly amused at his fear, Seiichirou Okigawa smiled from ear to ear.

"I will bring a stop to this corruption, Crimson," he promised, "and if you are so unwilling yourself, I will use Atori Yamada to accomplish it."

☻☺☻

"Kazuma! It's been super boring lately!" Hitomi drew out sourly, puffing up her cheeks and kicking out her legs onto the table in the SC room. "Can't you dance or something? You know, make some kind of entertainment?" Hitomi stared at the SC President who, as usual, was immersed with records and papers on his desk.

"Am I a clown to you?" Kazuma muttered monotonously, his eyes never drifting from the papers.

Sighing, Hitomi rocked back and forth on her chair. "Well, you're not interesting anymore. I'm starting to get bored."

Her chartreuse eyes went dull and she stopped moving entirely.

Kazuma, baffled by her sudden behaviour change, peered at her from the corner of his eye. "You're not ending your sentences in that annoying suffix today," he noted.

Hitomi let out yet another exhaustive breath, pulling herself up to her feet. "No fun, no fun. I need to kill time effectively or else I'll die of boredom. Nobody comes around to this room anymore, and when they do, it's trivial things like they lost their keychains, want a new event and stuff..."

Kazuma pried his attention from the papers, glued to Hitomi. It wasn't like her at all to sound so serious and distant—the amusement in her tone and that annoying suffix, even if it was only for a few seconds since she started without it for the first time in nearly three years, he was starting to miss it. Without it, she just wasn't her. And he knew something was up.

Hitomi's eyes fell onto the teen behind her and she sauntered up to his desk with slow, easy steps.

"Atsushi doesn't come much anymore. We haven't seen our Treasurer, Atori, in years. There's no source of entertainment. I should've spent my high school life doing something else." She halted as she reached his desk, peeking down at her classmate. "Kazuma, when are you going to resign?"

Kazuma's eyelids shot up in surprise, his violet hues as wide as can be. Albeit Hitomi's eyes were the same hue and shape, same features and everything for the years they've been together, right then, they appeared lifeless. Or maybe it was merely the "boredom" she was incessantly going on about?

"Resign?" Kazuma asked and Hitomi pressed her palms against the paper covered desk.

"I realized it now," she said, frowning. "We have exams coming up in three weeks deciding what future we want for us. It's already been three years, and we don't have a clue of what or who the next SC will consist of. Atsushi will become president... And he'll be alone. Unless he suddenly grows out of his stubborn "I can do everything myself " habit, it'll stay that way.

"Mr. Nobuo told me to ask myself what exactly I can leave behind in this school... and I have nothing. These three years have been pointless, Kazuma. We didn't do anything for this school—we're leaving nothing for the second and first years to remember us by. And we're graduating from Kaisei Academy by April... It makes having the Student Council in the first place, useless." She smiled melancholically. "Doesn't that make you sad?"

Kazuma was speechless and could only watch as Hitomi grabbed onto her green armband and pulled it right off her left arm, placing it onto the tabletop.

"The only reason I stuck around was because of you I guess, Kazuma..." Hitomi spun around and ambled to the doorway, arms behind her back. She smiled one last time as she sent him a small wave. "It was fun~! Thank you for these three years you poker-faced, dark-chocolate loving meanie~!"

She stepped outside of the room and the echoing sounds of her footsteps down the vacant hallway were the last things Kazuma heard. After about a minute, he snapped back to reality and glanced down at the secretary armband she left behind.

Did that mean... she was leaving the Student Council?

Kazuma eyed the documents about lost items and events, no emotion emitted through his frown whatsoever.

He had joined the Student Council because of that troubling girl and now she had the audacity to leave like that? He didn't choose to abide by this role either...

Inhaling a breath, Kazuma rose up from his seat.

"These three years have been pointless, Kazuma. We didn't do anything for this school—we're leaving nothing for the second and first years to remember us by. And we're graduating from Kaisei Academy by April... It makes having the Student Council in the first place, useless."

Removing the red and white emblem he wore over his left shoulder also, Kazuma set it down on the table beside Hitomi's as well.

"Doesn't that make you sad?"

Stuffing his hands into his pockets, Kazuma made his way towards the exit, giving the room he spent three years in one last long look. Hitting the light switch, the teen closed the door behind him and made his way through the halls and towards the staffroom, key in hand.

"I guess that's it," he murmured, shutting his eyes.

It was the end of Kaisei Academy's Student Council.

☻☺☻

"P-p-p-p-please sp-spare m-m-my life! I'll do anything! Anything I swear! Want money—"

The firing of a gun ripped through the air, the ear-splitting 'bang!' only lasting a few good seconds before it was fired again multiple times. The body collapsed onto the ground, gushing blood.

Grounding his teeth, the white-haired man spun around, disgusted. "I hate it when you scumbags beg for your lives. If you don't want to die, don't fucking do bad shit."

Twirling his revolver in his fingers, the hitman shoved it into his gun case, hands shoved themselves into his pockets, his black trenchcoat flowing in the wind as he walked away from the bloodied room. As he passed by dead bodies of the countless police and bodyguards, he mercilessly stepped on their body parts without a care in the world.

"Why the fuck does Seii assign me these bastards anyway? I want to kill other asses who think they're tough shit." As the curses left the white-haired male's mouth, the ringing of his phone in his pocket startled him. He fished into his back pocket before pulling it out. As soon as his pale hues landed upon the Caller ID, his eyes lit up.

"Sweet! Right when I just thought of him!"

Connecting the call, the male put the phone to his ear.

"Seii, listen, give me better jobs to do! All the people I kill are always such wusses, relying on the police to protect them. I want a challenge!"

A weary chuckle sounded on the other side of the receiver. "I see the job went well, Atori."

The teen snorted, skipping down the building's steps. Spinning around, he lit and threw a bomb at the mansion in one fluid motion. He backed away, eyes alight in utmost awe as he watched as the place burst into flames and shoot up in the air like fireworks would've on a beautiful night. Dust swirled around in big puffs along with crushed brick raining down like meteors in the sky. Atori dodged the dangers with ease, laughing.

"Atori!" The sharp yell coming from the man on the other end boomed, followed by a defeated sigh, "I told you you can't blow up the place! How are we supposed to figure out the info now?"

"They're dead so it doesn't matter," was the white-haired teen's response as he turned away when he lost interest, ambling through the darkened streets. "Anyway, those jobs!"

Seiichirou groaned. "All right, all right. I needed your assistance with a certain case in particular and that's why I called."

Atori blinked, peeking at his phone curiously. "What kind?"

"I need you to kill twelve people," Seiichirou answered. "They're apart of the school I'm working at—a certain club. I need you to eradicate them and a few others who also play a hand into it all."

Atori pursed his lips. "Hmm... what kind of "it" are we talking about here?"

"The organ missing cases the police are investigating right now," he replied. "The club is involved with it."

The white-haired male lit up ecstatically. "The one where the victims have all their organs taken out of their bodies, perfectly stitched up and everything?"

His words caused Atori to lit up like a little kid of Christmas.

"Like, the ones the police are having such a difficulty finding because all the victims he leaves behind are spotless and fingerprint-less? You're telling me I get to kill that merciless criminal?"

The boss tittered at his enthusiasm, "You say that as if you aren't one yourself."

The white-haired male frowned as he flopped down from the ledge, hearing the sounds of police sirens going off in the distance. "Slaughtering bastards who can't even grow some balls to man up for their doings piss me the fuck off. How is putting them in the right place a bad thing? It's not like I kill people for fun... anymore."

"Language, Atori."

The teen grumbled under his breath.

"So what the hell is this school anyway?"

Seiichirou didn't hesitate to say, "Kaisei Academy."

Atori froze in place, heart stopped, eyes as wide as could be. "Kaisei..."

"By my records, you attended the school during your first year and even joined the Student Council," Seiichirou spoke, his sudden quietness reminding him of the fact. "The good thing is, you already have a vague idea of what the school looks like."

Atori swallowed hard, his countenance blank.

"You're in charge of killing the CRF members and your fellow Student Council members as well. Exciting, right?"

Seiichirou began his booming, trademark laugh as usual, and Atori's face darkened. Soon, a smirk upturned the corners of his lips.

"Is it my birthday or something?"

Lowering the phone from his ear and ending the call, Atori chuckled to himself.

"Kazuma and Hitomi..." The smile he wore was malevolent, a true smile a hitman like him was used to wearing. "I wonder what kind of despair they'll feel when I hold a gun to their faces..."

☻☺☻

New character is introduced! And Nobuo & Yasuo are hitmen?? The SC is disbanded?!

Thoughts?

Aha, this is so much fun to write... This is actually the final stretch of this story guys. In a few more chapters, this story will be done.

Let's just say, this is where things get sad.

Yay...

Hope you enjoyed the update!

-Misty