♝

MAX STARES AT THE horizon in front of him, the wind blowing hard that it accidentally blew his cap off his head. Max immediately turns around to catch it, but thankfully Gavriil was able to grab it for him before it could fly further.

     "The wind is strong today," Gavriil says as he puts the cap back on Max's head before sitting beside him on the ground.

     "A storm must be coming," a voice then adds, and Max looks behind him and spots Cindy approaching them with a basket filled with snacks.

     Max thanks Gavriil and adjusts his cap before looking back at Cindy who placed the basket on the ground. "Is it a good idea for us to have a picnic at this hour? It's already past nine."

      "Don't be such a baby Leigh. Are you afraid that bugs will bite you? Want me to call your butler?" another voice says, and Max looks back and sees Viktor holding a blanket this time.

     "Why do you always have to be so mean Vi?" Max asks with a pout, making Cindy and Gavriil chuckle.

     "You should get used to him by now Leigh. We've been friends since you were five. Little Vi has always been a little troublesome. And besides, that's his way of saying he cares," Cindy says as she started helping Viktor put the blanket on the ground so they could start with their picnic.

     "Who you calling little?" Viktor angrily asks. "Just because you're a giant Cindy, doesn't mean you can call people like us little."

    "People like us? For what I know, you're the only one who I call little,' Cindy continues to tease.

    Viktor was about to say something else, but Gavriil finally stands beside Max and pull Viktor by his collar. "Alright, that's enough. Let's just get this ready."

     Gavriil helped with the blanket too, and when it was finally ready, the four of them took a seat on the floor. Cindy then takes the basket and starts handing the snacks out to everyone. "I baked these all myself. I hope you guys like it. I also brought tea since I know it's going to be chilly," she says as Max, Viktor, and Gavriil stared at the beautifully decorated slices of cake that Cindy prepared for them.

     "I hope it's not poisonous," Viktor then says, making Cindy hit his head with a fork.

     Viktor winced, but he didn't say anything anymore as he starts taking a bite of the cake. When he was able to taste it, his eyes widened from shock as he looked at Cindy and asked, "Is this strawberry-flavored?"

     "Yeah, it's you're favorite, right?" Cindy asks, and Viktor excitedly nods his head as he continued eating the cake.

     Cindy smiles in delight before taking out the rest of the food from the basket. While everyone was busy, Gavriil takes a chocolate cake a takes a bite of it too. When he looked back at Max, he couldn't help but laugh when he sees icing on the side of Max's mouth.

     "You really are the youngest in our group," Gavriil says as he pulls out a handkerchief to wipe the icing off. 

     While Gavriil was helping Max out, Cindy and Viktor glanced at each other before smiling at themselves.

     "So..." Viktor asks as he leans towards Gavriil. "When's the engagement?"

     The questions immediately made Gavriil pull away from Max, while Max hid his face away because of embarrassment.

     "Imagine this, a Lemieux and an Alexeev, getting married and joining families. You two will be the strongest couple in the world!" Viktor exclaimed, making Cindy laugh even louder.

     "Why you little..." As Viktor continued to tease the two, Gavriil grabs a hold of him and the two start wrestling each other like kids, making both Max and Cindy laugh this time. But as the two watched Viktor and Gavriil fight, Max suddenly remembered something.

     "Oh yeah, where's Grey?" Max then asks, and on cue, their dear friend Matthew Grey Cullen arrives at their hideout, holding a case of canned beer.

     "I brought the booze!" Grey shouts, making Viktor and Gavriil stop fighting to look at him. "I had to steal this from my old man so you guys better keep quiet about it."

     "B-Beer? Why did you bring that here? We're still underage. What if we get caught?" Max says as Grey approaches them to place the beer on the ground.

     "Oh come on Leigh, man up," Viktor says as he grabs a can for himself. He then opens the can and hands it over to Max. "Here, have a sip. We won't tell your mother about it, don't worry."

     "B-But..."

     "Look, even Gavriil's drinking some," Viktor then says as he gestures at Gavriil who also took one for himself.

     Max stares at the can and contemplates whether or not he should take it, but then Grey kicks Viktor away and says, "Alright, that's enough. Let's not force Leigh if he doesn't want to drink some."

     "N-No! I want some. I really do," Max suddenly insists as he was about to grab the can from Viktor's hand.

     "No, you don't," Grey immediately says, grabbing the beer for himself instead as he sat beside him. "You're only twelve Max. You'll still have more chances of getting drunk and wasted."

     "But you're only a year older than me Grey," Max complains.

     "That still makes me older," Grey answers as he finally takes a sip of the beer. He then looks at the food that Cindy prepared and happily says, "Oh, is this Ms. Cindy's sweet cakes?"

     "You know it," Cindy replies as he gives Grey a slice. "I made a mango-flavored one for you."

     "Thank you, Cindy."

     While the five were finally enjoying their picnic, Grey looks at the view in front of them and says, "My brother was invited to enroll to sir Janus's new school. He's going to be part of the first batch of students there."

     When Max and the others heard what Grey said, they couldn't help but look back at him in shock. "My uncle invited your brother?" Max asks. "I heard he's inviting heirs, but I didn't know your parents would actually agree to it."

     "Well it looked promising, and the new building looked spectacular," Grey honestly says before looking back at his friends. "After two years, I'm planning to enroll there too."

     "What?!" The four shouted in unison.

     "You want to enroll in J.S High?" Viktor asks in disbelief. "But aren't other heirs making fun of that school? They said it's being led by a criminal," he then says, referring to Janus who was sent to prison for almost eleven years because of embezzlement.

     "Viktor, watch your mouth," Cindy immediately scolds, making the four of them look back at Max who was silently eating the cake that Cindy gave him earlier.

     Viktor realized what he said and says, "S-Sorry Leigh, I didn't mean to say something offensive."

     "No, it's fine. I haven't even talked to him for years," Max replies. "Mother said we shouldn't refer to him as our uncle anymore."

     The atmosphere suddenly became awkward after what Max just said, but then Gavriil looks back at him and says, "I want to enroll there too."

     "What?"

     "Me too!" Cindy then adds.

     "You can't dimwit. It's an all-boys school," Grey explains, and everyone finally laughs, making the atmosphere light again.

     "If others are going to make fun of it, then I want to help build it up; bring it to greater heights. I want everyone to know that J.S High isn't like any other school. We'll bring it to the top and make everyone jealous of it, doesn't that sound exciting?" Grey asks, excitement present in his eyes.

     "Well, it does sound kinda fun," Viktor replies before taking a sip of his beer too. "But bringing heirs together and putting them in one school? That sounds a bit dangerous, don't you think?"

     "Come on, who doesn't like a little bit of danger?" Grey insists, and Viktor finally gave in.

      "I guess you're right. But if you're going to bring it to the top, I want to help out too. After the incident with my family, I want people to know that the Stepanov family is still standing strong. I want them to know that I'm still alive," Viktor says, and Cindy and the others couldn't help but look back at their friend with sad smiles.

     "But aren't you hiding your identity?" Gavriil suddenly opens up.

     "Oh yeah. I forgot about that," Viktor casually replies, making the rest of them laugh because of how carefree Viktor is.

     "I don't know if my mother would allow it, but I'd want to enroll in J.S High too if you guys are there. You have to wait for me though," Max says next, and Grey smiles and pats Max's head to assure him.

     "Of course, we'll wait for you, right guys?" Grey asks as he looks at Cindy and the others.

     Gavriil looks at Max too and nods his head to agree to it. Viktor on the other hand grins and places his hand in front of them before saying, "Alright, let's promise each other that we'll meet again in J.S High, okay?"

     "Promise," Grey says as he puts his hand above Viktor.

     Gavriil does the same, and then Cindy puts her hand next and says, "Heard that they might make a sister school of J.S High so that works too."

     The five of them chuckle, and then they finally look back at Max.

     "Leigh?" Grey calls out.

     Max smiles and was about to put his hand above his dear friends' hand, but suddenly he couldn't move.

     "Leigh?" Grey calls out again as Max continued to struggle.

     "I...I can't...move..."

     "Leigh..."

     ...

     "Master Leigh?"

     Max gasps and instantly opens his eyes, realizing that he was actually inside their car that was now parked outside their mansion.

     "Master Leigh, are you okay?" Étienne asks, and Max takes a deep breath and touches his chest that was beating fast.

     "Why did I suddenly dream of that?" Max asks himself as he stares at his reflection in the rearview mirror. For some reason, something felt off. As pleasant as that memory was, he couldn't help but feel like it was some sort of hint...a warning, of what is yet to come.

...

J.S High was dead silent when Red arrived. After attending the Ms. Beauty & Brains ceremony at the House of Queens, Red was supposed to head back home to rest like Max did, but he suddenly received a message from Hans, telling him to immediately head to their base as soon as he can.

     "What the hell happened? Why does the atmosphere feel so dark?" Red asks himself as he walked his way to the greenhouse where his other members was supposed to be in.

     When he finally arrived at their base, Red takes a deep breath and went inside. He was expecting to see BND there, but to his surprise, Krist and Brave were there as well.

     After the incident that happened at the Great Hall, Hans wanted to hold a meeting. Rome and the other members of Jokers didn't attend the said meeting since they're in their lower years, same as Leo who was the only third-year student in BND. That's why this private meeting is only being attended by seniors who might have answers to what happened earlier.

    "What's going on?" Red asks, making the brotherhoods look his way.

     "Good, you're back," Arjun says as Red approaches them.

     "How did the ceremony go?" Marcus asks, but it was obvious that he didn't care about the actual ceremony. What he really cared about is whether or not his little brother did anything crazy again.

     "It was surprisingly fine, but I'll tell you guys the details later. Tell me what's going on first," Red insists, making Hans sigh.

      "You might want to take a seat," Hans says as he walks towards a cabinet. He then takes something out, and to Red's surprise. It was their banner. Hans walks back to Red to show it to him. When Red finally saw the red X mark on their banner, he couldn't help but show his surprise. "W-What...who did this?!"

     "Someone did it to all of our banners," Krist says as he and the rest of the members of Jokers sat on the chairs that BND prepared for them.

     "All of our banners? Even the Royals?" Red asks in disbelief. "What did Viktor do?"

     "Thankfully Viktor wasn't at the actual scene so he didn't do anything stupid. But I bet vice president Gavriil is already on his way to bring their banners to them, and I can tell you, it's not going to be a pleasant sight," Khian then explains, making Red furrow his brows in confusion.

     "Vice president Gavriil? Why would he bring the flag to them?" Red asks.

     "Oh yeah, you weren't there to witness it," Brave says as he points at his brooch. "The fucker's Viktor's underling. He was given Buster's brooch."

      "What did you just say?" Red asks, more shocked about this fact than their banner getting vandalized. "B-But doesn't Viktor hate Gavriil? Considering how the bombs that were found were made by their—"

     "Let's not speak of that so openly," Hans scolds, instantly making Red stop talking. "Whatever's going on between them is none of our concerns. What we should be worried about is this declaration of war. This has never happened before, not even in the lower houses. "

     "This is like that bombing incident again," Khian opens up, making Red clench his fist in anger.

     "So it means we can't find the culprit again? Is that what you're saying?" Red asks, and the two brotherhoods didn't say a word.

      Red was about to throw a fit, but then Krist suddenly says, "I think I finally know who's been doing this."

     Everyone looks back at Master Joker who had a pained expression on his face. "As much as we want to deny it, as much as we want to run away from it, we can't pretend like our past will never come back to haunt us," Krist tells them as he stands from his seat.

     "Are you saying..."

     "Yes," Krist says as he looks back at Hans and the others. "I think it's the previous kings, Paradox. I think they're trying to come back."

     For some reason, the mere mention of that name made the hair on their skin stand. Even Brave couldn't help but gulp in terror.

     "N-No, that can't be. President Grey made sure that they don't come back," Hansol insists.

     "But what if they did come back? What then?" Krist says, and Hansol couldn't answer back anymore.

     "What's the plan then? What are we going to do?" Marcus asks this time.

     "We have to unite, like what we did before," Hans says, and that suggestion made everyone look back at him with shock.

     "Unite? Us? PHD wouldn't even look at us, let alone Busters. How on earth are we going to unite with each other again if we hate each other's guts?" Brave reminded them, and the others couldn't help but agree.

     Hans takes a deep breath and stands from his seat as well. "We'll start small. We'll start with the brotherhoods that Max already conquered. Max is the link that's getting us back together again. We just need to use that opportunity," Hans explains, looking at Krist since he knows that this task will be more difficult for the Master Joker.

     "So you're telling me...to make up with Cj? Is that it?" Krist asks, already annoyed by the idea of it.

     "What else?"

      Krist was about to complain, but he takes a deep breath and massages his temple instead. "How are we going to do that then? Every time I try to open up about the past, Cj just brushes it off. It's impossible to become friends with him again."

     "Then why not do what we do best?" Red suddenly suggests, making Krist and the others look at him.

     Red takes a look at their tainted banner for the last time before saying, "They say your feelings will show itself when you're in a tough position, so just pull their flag and declare war with them. In the battlegrounds, shoot him with everything you've got, and then let's see if he still doesn't want to listen."

- END -