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THE CLUB ROOM WAS quiet even though Sky already left. After what he said to them, no one could say a word. To casually tell them to spread a brotherhood member's secret was just beyond anything they could have imagined.

     "Okay, that's it. I don't care if this club gets dissolved. I'm not doing this shit," Max reluctantly says, standing from his seat to take his leave, but Payton immediately grabs him by his arm to stop him.

     "Wait Max, come on, you can't be like this," Payton tells him, but Max immediately pulls his arm away from him before looking back at Payton with anger.

     "That man just asked us to spread, not rumors, but actual fucking secrets and use that to blackmail brotherhoods so we could get points. I am not breaking the trust these people have given me just for points," Max insists, making Payton look back at him seriously.

     "Do you seriously think I'm thrilled to know about this too?" He asks Max, and Max finally calms down. "I know that what Sky said is out of the question, but at the same time we need him as our club advisor, and I'm afraid that he might leave if we don't follow him," Payton explains.

     "So what? Do you want us to just blindly do what he tells us to do him and ruin the name we already made for this club?" Eren then asks back.

     "Of course not!" Payton replies. "All I'm saying is that we have to think of something before it's too late. President Ian gave us this chance and if Sky leaves then our club will definitely get pulled out, and if you guys do not know yet, when a club gets dissolved the existing members will get a penalty," Payton then explains, surprising Max because he wasn't aware of any penalty.

     "Penalty?"

     "They'll take away all the points we got from this club, and that's a total of 400 points. For us gaffers it might not be much, but for our 1st-year members, 400 points is a lot," Payton explains, and even though Eren has been against Sky since earlier, Max could see his expression change a little when he heard about the penalty too.

     Freshmen students need to have at least 1500 merit points in order to become dwellers in their next school year. Removing 400 points from their account will greatly push them back.

     "So what are we going to do now? Unless we find another senior to take Sky's place, we have no choice but to follow him," Felix says, making Payton massage his temple in frustration.

     When no one could think of anything, Max looks at them and suggests, "Then let's protest. Let's not do what he wants and see the outcome. With Sky's personality, I'm guessing he's not just going to back down just because we're not following him. He's too prideful for that."

     Payton and the others couldn't believe what Max just suggested, but deep down they knew that this was the only thing they could do for now.

     "What if he does leave? What then?" Eren asks.

     "Then I'll give you all the points you have lost. I swear it," Max suddenly declares without even batting an eye, surprising not just Payton, but even his friend Felix.

     "W-wait, Max, there are nine freshmen members in our club. You're literally giving away 3600 points!" Felix tells him, but Max didn't even look fazed at all. He wasn't entirely confident, but he didn't want to let his juniors down. Losing 3600 points for their sake isn't a loss. Max knows what it feels like to be a serf. He doesn't want them to feel disheartened just because of a decision he made.

     "I'll still have enough points so you don't have to worry about me," Max says before standing up from his seat again. He then looks at Payton, and with a serious expression, he asks him, "Payton, I know you're the club leader of the Omega Society, but please give me permission to handle this situation and act on my own. I will think of a way to make sure our club doesn't get stained by our new advisor's ideologies."

     Payton was surprised by Max's request. In any given situation, others would normally just do what they want to do so they could act like the hero, but Max respected Payton's position as the club leader, and that made Payton admire Max even more.

     "A-Alright, if you can help with this problem then I'll allow it. But what exactly will you be doing? How are you going to solve this on your own?" Payton asks.

    Max doesn't answer, but the confident look on his face made everyone understand why he deserves the 85th rank.

...

"Skyler Hansen?" Krist asks while drinking juice from a juice box.

     Krist, who was with the rest of the members of Jokers, BND, and even Cigarettes, were all hanging out at the rooftop even though they still had classes. Some were playing basketball, some were just sitting around, while the leaders and their right-hand-men, were having a serious conversation with the white uniform who has their crown brooch, Max.

     "That's right, Skyler Hansen. Have you guys heard of him?" Max asks, sitting on the bench while his older brother Marcus was lying on his lap, taking a nap.

     "Isn't he like a famous model? I think I've seen him in a commercial before," Brave then answers, snatching Krist's juice box from his hand so he could have a sip too.

     "Yeah, that's him," Max confirms.

     Cj, who was leaning on the edge of the roof while smoking a cigarette, exhales the smoke in his mouth and says, "He's a student here but I heard he rarely attends his classes since he's always working, sometimes even traveling around the world for a single photo shoot."

    "He's that famous?" Brave then asks back, now drinking for Krist's juice box.

     "He is, he's one of the highest-paid models in the world. Only someone who lives in a cave wouldn't know who he is," Arjun explains.

     "We actually wanted to recruit him as a Rose since he's known to be very graceful. Everyone who worked with him in the business said he's very soft-spoken and gentle, even approachable and friendly. He would have been a perfect underling, but Sky had to decline us since he said he was always busy," Hans then adds.

     Max was taking in every information he could get, but then he furrows his brows in realization and asks, "Wait, if he's always busy and is rarely coming to his classes, then how the hell did he become rank 13? That's a pretty high rank, even if he was a fourth-year."

     "It could be because of his club," Anthony - Cj's right-hand-man - then says, making everyone look his way.

     "His club?" Max asks, and Anthony nods his head before explaining, "He's part of the Fashion & Fashion Design Club right? Heard he makes a ton of events for them so they could gain a massive amount of points. Last year they even made a runway show. Heard Sky Hansen hired dozens of super famous models. It was crazy."

     "So he's really good at helping his club get points?" Max asks, and Anthony nods his head.

     "If that was the case then why did he take the position as our senior club advisor?" Max then asks next.

     "Well I guess—" Krist was about to make an explanation, but when Max's question finally sank in, everyone looked back at Max - even Marcus who was supposed to be napping - and shouted, "What?!"

     "Did you just say Sky left his club to be Omega Society's senior advisor?" Hans asks with complete shock, and Max nodded his head to confirm it.

     "Is this the reason why you're asking about him?" Brave then asks, and Max awkwardly scratches the back of his head and says, "Actually, there's something else that I want you to know about."

    "And what is that?" Cj asks before inhaling the smoke from his cigarettes.

     As everyone was ready to listen to Max, Max explained everything to his protectors. He told them about what Sky plans to do for their club, and also about the secrets he's willing to spill just to gain points. It was a quick explanation, but rest assured, the brotherhoods didn't like it one bit.

     "That mother fucker. Thank god we didn't recruit him," Hans now says, snapping his fingers and asking Cj for a cigarette because of how stressed he was because of what he heard.

     Cj doesn't complain and gives a cigarette to Hans. Hans places it in his mouth, and Cj leans towards him to light it for him. Right after, he goes back to where he was standing and says, "Well he's got guts, let me tell you that. No wonder he's rank 13."

     "I'd want to think he's calling all this 'secrets blackmailing' a bluff, but you all said it yourself; the guy's famous. Who knows where he's been to and who he's talked to. For someone like him, he's bound to have heard a few secrets," Krist says.

     Marcus, who was now sitting properly, takes a deep breath and asks, "Why the hell would he even do that? What's he going to gain from this?"

     None of the leaders could really think of an answer, but Max remembered something from their club meeting. "When I was listening to him speak earlier, he sounded...angry. It was like he had a huge grudge on someone. It almost felt like he hated the brotherhoods."

     "Why the hell would he hate us?" Cj asks, and for a quick second, everyone looked back at him with their right eyebrows raised, mentally asking him, "Are you seriously going to act like you're not hated by the white uniforms?"

    When Cj saw the stares, he laughs and throws his cigarette on the floor before stepping on it. "Alright, alright, I admit it, Cigarettes isn't the most loved brotherhood. But I don't remember making that Skyler guy my homeboy. He's got no reason to hate us."

     "We haven't given him a jack-in-a-box either," Krist then adds.

     Hans was certain that BND didn't do anything to him either, so everyone was left with another puzzle.

     "It's probably the Royals. They must have done something to him," Brave then says.

     Max was about to agree, but then he remembers something and tells him, "I met someone at a pub, and he told me Crazy 8 has a custom where they give someone a kiss mark. Pink means they know a secret, red means they'll spread it." Max explains to them, making the brotherhoods look at each other like they realized it too.

    "Are you saying Siren gave him a kiss mark?" Hans asks, the smoke from his cigarette escaping his mouth as he said it.

     "But that wouldn't make any sense," Krist says. "If he had a really dark secret that was revealed because of Siren, then shouldn't he have at least lost his career? The asshole is still very much famous. Whatever that secret was, it didn't affect him at all to the point where he'd despise all the brotherhoods."

     "Have you guys forgotten?" Arjun suddenly asks everyone, making them look at him. "When you receive a red kiss mark, there's a catch. Siren won't spread your secret as long as you trade a secret with him," Arjun reveals, surprising them even more.

     "Then that means Sky...he betrayed someone...so Siren wouldn't spread his secret?" Brave clarified. No one answered the question, but the silence already made it clear.

     "Man, that's fucked up. He ruined someone's life to save his. If I was him I'd be angry too," Anthony says.

    Every one of them couldn't really say anything else. They didn't know Siren personally; none of them did. But if Siren is powerful enough to make even someone so famous hate him, then this is really a big problem, especially for Max.

    "If that was the case then Sky's not the problem here. The root of all evil is Siren. Siren has always been portrayed as the most respectable brotherhood leader but she's a lot more fucked up than any of us. I don't even know what she gains from ruining people's lives like that," Hans explained, anger present in his voice.

     "Is it really true? Does no one really know any of them?" Max asks his protectors.

     "Crazy 8 won the Annual Brotherhood Reranking two years ago. None of us knew them since they came from the House of Pawns and just went straight to the House of Kings after winning against the previous barons, Checkmate," Marcus truthfully explains.

     "The concept of their entire brotherhood is secrecy. It's so sacred that even president Janus told us to never try and unveil their identity. We will literally get suspended if we force to pull out Siren's mask," Brave then says.

     "Siren is also the only member of Crazy 8 that's in our class since president Janus made a special classroom for the other members," Hans then adds.

     Max was even more intrigued by what he heard. Other than the fact that no one knows any of the members of Crazy 8, nor do they know what their purpose is in J.S High, his uncle, president Janus, even supports them. The more Max tries to dig deeper into Crazy 8's history, the more it becomes confusing.

    "He's two-faced, and those people are the most dangerous ones," says Krist.

     "Yeah, just like—"

     "Felix," Cj suddenly states, cutting off what Arjun was about to say.

    Max immediately looks at Cj and angrily asks him, "Felix? Why the hell would you think it's like Felix?"

     Cj, who was looking down from the rooftop, shakes his head and says, "Listen to me first you sly little fox. I was asking if that's your friend there."

    Cj points at a white uniform walking at the East Bailey. Max and the other brotherhoods looked at what he was pointing at too, and just like what Cj said, it really was Felix.

     "Felix? But we still have classes. Where on earth is he going?" Max confusingly asks.

     "Want us to call him?" Krist suggested, but Max shakes his head and says instead, "It's fine, I'll just ask him myself. Thanks for all the help guys. I'll talk to you again if I need anything."

    "No problem," Brave says with a bright smile as Max runs out of the rooftop.

    "And don't cut classes anymore!" Marcus then shouts as Max finally heads downstairs to follow his friend. He didn't really have to follow him and act all suspicious, but for some reason, Max's gut was telling him to do so.

     Max immediately runs to the lowest floor. He couldn't see where Felix was anymore, so when he saw a janitor mopping the floor just near the entrance of the building, he approaches him and asks, "Sir, did you happen to see a white uniform pass by?"

    The janitor looks back at Max. He bows his head to greet him first before answering, "I did, he went to that hallway. I don't know what he's doing there. Only brotherhoods are allowed in so he'll be in big trouble is he gets caught."

    Max was surprised, but he thanked the janitor anyway, following where Felix went to even with the janitor's warning.

    "Felix, I've known from the very beginning that you've been living a double life, but what the hell are you doing in the East Tower?" Max asks as he quietly snoops around the corridors in the Hall of Janus.

    The rooms were practically empty. Even though Max is well-connected with a lot of brotherhoods, he hasn't stepped foot on this building before.

"Where could you be?" Max continues to ask. But when he turned to the left corridor, he saw someone enter the room at the very end of the hall, catching a glimpse of him before he disappeared inside.

    "Felix?"

    Max runs to where he saw Felix and immediately hid on the side of the lockers where he couldn't be seen.

     "Have you done what I've tasked you to do?" a voice from inside the room asks, making Max lean even closer.

     "I'm not your fucking homeboy. If you want to do something then do it yourself," another voice answers, and even though the voice wasn't very clear, Max could tell that it was Felix.

     Max didn't know who he was talking to so Max decided to move closer to the door, practically walking on his knees so they wouldn't see him. When he got closer, he took a peek on the small gap just to see what's inside.

    "My decision still remains..." the unknown voice says.

     Max closes his right eye and uses his other eye to get a glimpse of the inside. But when he finally saw who Felix was talking to, Max immediately covers his mouth, trying his best not to make a sound so he wouldn't get caught.

    Max falls backward, his eyes wide because he couldn't believe what he just saw. He couldn't quite put his mind into it, but when he heard what was said next, Max realized that the boy he thought he knew, was not even close to who he really was.

    "Felix, I hope you know that you can act all you want, but nothing will change. You are still the seventh member of our brotherhood. You are still a respectable member of Crazy 8."

- END -