♞

CJ STARES AT HIS phone, rereading the message that his secretary just sent him earlier. He couldn't help but chuckle at it, surprised that Max actually went to his company despite how his father, chairman Christopher, treated him at the party last night.

     The news about Max's declaration spread like wildfire that even Cj received hundreds of messages from his associates. They couldn't believe that THE great Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire was willing to assist the "vanished son," Charles Justin Mills.

     Cj was excited of course since it would benefit him more than it would benefit Max, but right now, he has to handle something first.

     "Master Charles, we're here," his driver says, and Cj looks out of the window and sees a perfect view of the large gate of J.S High.

     Cj was wearing a formal suit, but he was wearing the Cigarettes logo and his crown brooch on his collar even though he wasn't wearing their famous black uniform.

     Their car drives inside as the guards open the gates for them. And since today's a Sunday, there weren't any students around. The campus was quiet and empty, making it feel like everything that happens in J.S High is only some sort of illusion. 

     Cj's driver parks at the Hall of Janus where other cars were parked as well. Cj then looks at his watch and sighs, his driver heading out first to open the door for him.

     "I'll message you if the meeting is over," Cj tells his driver as he steps out of the car and walks straight inside the building without waiting for his driver's response.

     Everything was quiet, and the only thing that could be heard was Cj's footsteps. Despite walking down this hallway hundreds of times, the emptiness made it feel unfamiliar. Students weren't running around, and there wasn't any noise coming from the Great Hall. J.S High has always been a big school, but only when it's empty can you feel its vast size.

     "How boring," Cj says as he continues to walk down the hallway with his hands inside his pockets. 

     After a couple more steps, Cj arrives at a hidden elevator that has a thumbprint scanner and a mini screen. Cj presses his thumb on it, and the screen instantly shows his face and the logo of Cigarettes. The elevator door then opens, and Cj heads inside, clicking on a single button that made the elevator go down.

     Not a lot of students know this, but J.S High has a secret underground area where only the brotherhood leaders are allowed to access. This is an area that the brotherhoods use whenever they have a very important and private matter to discuss. Even the members of the Elites aren't allowed inside.

     The elevator eventually reaches the ground floor, and the door finally opens. Cj is welcomed by a large glass window that shows the inside of a separate room that looks like a large warehouse. Inside that room were the different Battle Grounds, which is why the room is named Ground Station. This is where the grounds are made, and this is where it comes from whenever it gets lifted to the stadium.

     Cj walks towards it and spots a couple of men working on a certain ground that Cj wasn't familiar with. And while he was walking, someone suddenly calls out for him, making him stop in an instant.

    "You actually came. I thought you'd be too busy to go," the voice says, and Cj turns around and sees the master joker, Krist, approach him with a grin on his face.

     "Mj, it's definitely not nice to see you this early in the morning. It suddenly ruined my mood for some reason," Cj comments, making Krist roll his eyes in annoyance.

     "Don't flatter yourself," Krist fires back, and the two of them start walking towards the room where they're supposed to hold their meeting.

     "So, when were you going to tell us that you started your own company? I'm a bit disappointed that our little toy found out about it first before we did," Krist says, making Cj raise his right eyebrow because he wasn't sure if Krist was being sarcastic or not.

     When Krist saw Cj's reaction, he couldn't help but laugh as he says, "I'm just kidding. We're not close friends anymore for you to tell us these things, isn't that right?"

     "Mj-"

     Krist's expression immediately turns into something more serious as he adjusts Jokers' brooch on his collar. "What Max did to you at the Great Hall was out of the line, but if it was me I wouldn't really care. I just hope it was enough to shake your useless brain for once."

     "Don't try me, Master Joker," Cj instantly warns, not liking how this conversation was going.

     "We weren't the ones who pushed you away Cj. Remember that," Krist finishes, and then he briefly walks away from him, making Cj sigh as he watches Krist's back in silence. Cj never said anything when he started avoiding the others, so he decides to remain silent, knowing best that this isn't the time to start defending himself. It's a bit too late for that now.

     Without anything else to say, Cj sighs and finally heads towards the meeting room.

     As he arrives in front of a large double door that has the Brotherhood Association logo engraved on it, Cj fixes his suit and adjusts his brooches before grabbing the doorknob. With a more serious expression on his face, he pushes the door open, finally revealing the powerful leaders of the five Brotherhood Houses. 

      "Let us all give a warm welcome to Mr. Mills for being early as usual," the duke, Hans de Vries, and the leader of rank 3 brotherhood Boys Next Door, sarcastically says as Cj closes the door behind him.

     Inside was a meeting room that has a circular table in the middle with ten seats, and each seat has a logo of a specific brotherhood. In the middle of the table, there was also a large logo of the brotherhood association like the one at the door, which was two lions and a sword between them. The room was also surrounded by three different screens so that everyone can have a perfect view of anything that would be presented to them.

     Now the people who were there were the leaders and representatives of each house.

     First-class soldier, Augusto Casares, the leader of rank 23 brotherhood TITANS, and the representative of the House of Pawns, stands from his seat and greets Cj with a respectable salute.

     "Good morning, count," captain Benedikt Leitz, the leader of rank 18 brotherhood Jack Of All Trades, and the representative of the House of Rooks, stands from his seat and greets Cj with a respectable salute as well.

     The leader of rank 14 brotherhood the GALLANTS, Chandler Heptinstall, who also holds the title knight commander, stands from his seat, touches his chest, and bows at Cj to also give his respect.

     Cj nods his head to acknowledge their greetings, automatically making the three of them take their seats again. Everyone looks at Cj as he walks to where the baron, Krist Hyusen, is seated. Despite their awkward encounter earlier, Cj has to sit beside him since their ranks are next to each other.

     As mentioned before, there are a total of thirty official brotherhoods in the five brotherhood houses, and each brotherhood has its own title.

     In the House of Pawns, we already know that there are no white uniforms, that is why all the students are brotherhoods. But in this house, there are only eight recognized brotherhoods who are known to be the strongest, and they are called the soldiers. Depending on what your rank is among the eight, that will be your class, which is why Augusto is specifically titled the First-Class Soldier.

     In the House of Rooks, the five brotherhoods that rank 22 to 18 are referred to as the captains, but like the House of Pawns, there is a specific title that depends on how high you rank. The lowest rank, rank 22, will have the title Corporals, and then rank 21 will be Sergeants, followed by First Lieutenant and Second Lieutenant, and lastly, Benedikt's title, which is the Captain.

     Next, we have the House of Knights who hold ranks 17 to 14. Similar to the House of Rooks, the brotherhoods in this house are called Knights, but a specific title will depend on how high you rank. These titles are Knight Lieutenants, Knight Captains, Knight Majors, and Chandler's title, Knight Commander.

     Brotherhoods that are ranked from 13 to 7 all reside in the House of Bishops, which is the second strongest house. All the brotherhoods in this house have only one title, which is lords. Though they only have one title, students in this house refer to them as the school's seven deadly sins, giving them unofficial titles that are called the lords of lust, lords of gluttony, lords of greed, and so on.

     Lastly, we have the House of Kings, and as we all know, this house holds the brotherhoods that rank 6 to 1. In this house, the titles given to the brotherhoods are the barons, counts, marquis, dukes, princes, and of course, the kings.

     All these titles make up the Brotherhood Monarchy that everyone greatly follows. It's what keeps the houses stand strong.

     "You must have been busy, sir Mills," a voice then says, making Cj look at the person sitting on his left side.

     Siren, the marquis, and the leader of rank 4 brotherhood Crazy 8, was also wearing a suit, but the coat was removed, so only the dark red vest and the black shirt was visible. Of course, even at this meeting, Siren is still wearing their brotherhood's mask, making everyone wonder who could be behind it.

     "I wouldn't say I'm busy," Cj answers, moving close to Siren to the point where he could smell the leader's perfume. "But even if I was, just tell me that you want my company, and I'll free my entire schedule for you," Cj adds, moving even closer.

     Siren smirks at the flirtatious attempt and says, "I'm flattered," before gently touching Cj's chest and aggressively pushing him away, almost making Cj fall off his seat.

     Siren's response made the leaders at the table laugh.

     "Don't even try it Cj or you'll definitely start hearing sirens," Hans warns him.

     "But isn't he already used to it?" Another man adds, making Hans laugh again, while Krist and the rest of the leaders chuckled on the side.

     The person who spoke was Uchdryd Rease, the leader of rank 7 brotherhood CHECKMATE, and the representative of the House of Bishops. Unlike the representatives of the lower houses, Uchdryd was the only one amongst them that has the guts to joke around with the other higher-ranking brotherhoods.

     While the others were joking around, the door to their meeting room opens, revealing another leader from the house of kings. It was Kim Hee-joon, leader of rank 2 brotherhood Pretty, Hot & Dangerous who holds the title prince.

     The leaders from Cj to Augusto immediately stood up from their seats to show their respect for the prince, while Hans and Siren remained seated.

     Joon, who looked like he was forced to come, ignores the greeting and lazily walks his way towards his seat where PHD's logo can be found. And as soon as he sits down, everyone else went back to their seats as well.

     The atmosphere instantly becomes awkward as soon as Joon arrived. No one even dared say anything, so most of them just casually took out their phones to pretend like they're doing something.

     "Continue with your discussion. It's not like I'll shoot you if you talk," Joon suddenly says. He then looks at Benedikt, and as soon as their eyes meet, the leader of Jack of All Trades suddenly flinches and looks away, almost making Cj chuckle.

     "Honestly, we wouldn't be surprised if you actually did," Krist then mumbles to himself. And thankfully, Joon wasn't able to hear him.

     "Where's Viktor? If he's not aware, all of us here are pretty busy. We don't have all the free time in the world like he does," Hans suddenly says with an annoyed tone, instantly making Joon glare at him.

     The atmosphere around them becomes tense, but before anyone could say anything they don't mean, Joon composes himself and says, "He's not coming. Tanis will lead the meeting today."

    Everyone was surprised, especially the lower-ranking leaders because they weren't aware that Viktor hasn't been coming to school for a few days now. And just like it was some kind of spell, the door opens, revealing king Tanis Hendrix, the temporary leader of rank 1 brotherhood, Busters.

     Tanis makes his entrance, and everyone, including Hee-joon, stood from their seats to stand and bow to him. Tanis was wearing casual clothes and even has black shades on, unlike the rest of them who were wearing suits. His long platinum white was also tied in a messy bun. People might think that he's not a member of a rank 1 brotherhood, but his expression and his mere presence alone made up for it.

     "Good morning, everyone," he greets.

    "Good morning Tanis."

     "Take your seats," he then says, but everyone waited for him to take a seat first before they could do the same.

     Everyone at the table was already present, so without wasting anyone's time, Tanis removes his shades, revealing his intimidating light brown eyes; eyes that are almost like a serpent.

     Like Joon, Tanis looked like he was only forced to be there, but he tries his best to motivate himself so everyone would know that they're here because of something serious.

     "Alright, I don't want to waste any of your time so let's begin the meeting," Tanis finally starts, and the lights automatically turn off as the screens show the logo of the Brotherhood Association.

     "We're here today because of an anonymous message that the association received a week ago. The investigation team has been trying to trace the sender of the said message, but they have not been successful with it yet," Tanis explains.

     "What's the message about?" Chandler asks.

     Tanis adjusts himself in his seat and looks at the Gallants' leader. "It's a cryptic message that says that a huge storm will fall upon the great houses. It's really not something to be worried about just yet, but we can't brush it off as a mere joke, considering what has happened before."

     "You mean the bombing incident at our base?" Hans then asks next, still bitter about the fact that someone bombed the greenhouse, injuring not only Max but one of his brotherhood members as well.

     "That's right. It is the bombing incident," Tanis answers, and a picture of the aftermath that fell upon BND's base was shown on screen for everyone to see.

     "Rumors say it's connected to Maximilian Sinclaire's family affairs. They say he was the real target," Augusto suddenly opens up, automatically making Krist and Hans look his way.

     When Augusto noticed their intimidating stares, he immediately clears his throat and clarifies, "O-Of course it's just a rumor."

     "There was also a rumor that it was because Sinclaire participated in Mr. Brains & Brawn. That's what Viktor believed too," Joon adds, making everyone look at him this time. "There could be different reasons, but it's clear that Sinclaire was the target for that explosion. Such a stunt has never happened to any of our houses before. It just happened as soon as Sinclaire enrolled in J.S High," Joon continues, and no one could even deny it, even Krist and Hans.

     "It's even more suspicious because we were never given an update about the situation anymore," Siren reminds them next. "It made it seem like president Janus is trying to hide something from that incident. Could it be because Sinclaire is his nephew?"

     "Let's not add more rumors and conspiracy theories here," Tanis immediately says as he massages his temple. "Whatever the reason was for that bombing incident, one thing is for certain...we let it happen. Among all the houses, J.S High has the best security, yet we were able to let a bomber inside with no trace. This can happen to the lower houses as well, that's why the message that the association received is to be taken seriously."

     Everyone looks at each other before looking back at Tanis.

     "What do we do then?" Cj - who hasn't said anything yet - asks Tanis.

     Tanis clicks on something on the table, and the screens show another image; it's the five logos of the five student councils of each house.

     "For the cryptic message, everyone is instructed to be cautious and conduct their investigation using all the resources they may have. This message must have come from a student from one of our houses, so we have to look through everything with discretion. This also means we're allowed to suspect each other and the other brotherhoods as well," Tanis explains, and everyone nods their head in agreement.

     Tanis then points at the screen and says, "Other than that, we'll be needing their help in this situation too."

     Everyone looks back at the screens to stare at the student council logos that was flashed in front of them. It was the logos of the Elites, Saints, Nobles, Stewards, and Generals, also known as the five councils of the five houses.

     "We all know that the Student Council is the direct partners of the Brotherhoods. They hold power against white uniforms, and they're the only ones who have the same level of power as us," Tanis explains.

     "It would make sense to involve them since the student councils make up our houses too," Krist comments.

    Tanis nods in agreement, and then he clicks on something again, and five pictures appear on the screen. It was pictures of the five school representatives of each house.

     "Viktor and I discussed this beforehand, and we decided that at the beginning of the second term of this school year, we will be exchanging school representatives," Tanis finally reveals, instantly making the leaders react.

     "Exchange school reps? Are you serious?" Uchdryd asks with disbelief.

     "We're letting a council member from other houses stay in our house?" Someone else complains.

     "Wouldn't that just cause problems?" Another leader asks.

     Everyone was suddenly talking at the same time, making Tanis sigh and massage his temple in frustration. As soon as he composes himself, he slams the table and shouts, "Alright, listen up!" And everyone instantly stops.

     "This exchange will go on for a month. The purpose of this exchange is so that the school reps can observe the other houses and report it back to their respective council. We're doing this because the brotherhoods are always to blame when something bad happens, but we always exclude the student council. Like us who will be observing each other to find a possible suspect, the student council must do the same as well," Tanis explains to them, and everyone finally calms down, understanding what the purpose of the exchange was.

     "So the school representatives will not only observe the house, but the council as well to see if someone's suspicious enough to send such a message to the Brotherhood Association?" Benedikt clarifies, and Tanis nods his head to it.

     The group then starts discussing who will exchange with who. And while everyone was doing so, Krist looks back at the screen and stares at JS High's school representative.

     "So for the Elites, it's going to be Justin Griffiths," Krist says to himself while staring at his picture.

     Cj was able to hear him, so he looks at him and suddenly tells him, "Well, if he's still rank 5 by the end of the first term."

     Krist looks at Cj and furrows his brows. "What do you mean?"

     "There's still two months left before we start a new term. A lot of things will happen, and more students would want to raise their ranks higher. The Elites may change," Cj explains further.

     Krist was still confused by what Cj was trying to say, but then his eyes widened like he just realized something. "Are you suggesting it could be someone like Max?"

     Cj chuckles and decides not to directly answer the question.

     "Could be...but wouldn't it be interesting though? We'll be sending the same boy who was directly affected by the bombing incident. If all this is really connected to him, something is bound to happen either way, and that will benefit our house more than anything," Cj tells him before looking back at the others and joining in on their conversation.

     Krist gulps and looks back at J.S High's school representative again.

      As much as he doesn't want to agree with someone like Cj, he can't help but believe that he's right. Though it might need a miracle for Max to suddenly skyrocket to rank 5 and penetrate the Elites in just a span of two months. After all, no one has done it before.

     But then again, we're talking about Max here. And if someone needs a miracle, they could always count on him.

- END -