♝

"AND AS WE REACH the end of our activities, I would like to thank all of you for still staying in this society despite the obstacles that we encountered this club month. As your club leader, I am really thankful to every single one of you," Max says with a bow, making the members of Omega Society clap for him.

     The month of January has finally ended, which means that the tiresome club activities are over. Despite everything that happened, Max can say that he genuinely enjoyed his days being an omega. Choosing this club was definitely the right choice.

     "And since this is the last day, Felix will be giving us the total points we acquired, including the time Sky was our advisor. Just a disclaimer, the points we got are lower than average compared to the bigger clubs or the other societies, but what's important is that we were able to fulfill our roles as the omegas, so I hope we continue to improve so next year we can acquire more points." Max explains as Felix approaches them with a piece of paper at hand.

    Felix stands in the middle of the room before announcing, "In the span of a month, Omega society was able to acquire is a total of 750 merit points. Congratulations."

     The members started clapping and cheering because they honestly didn't expect that much point despite Max telling them that it was lower than average. Since almost all of them are first-year students, 750 points is actually a lot.

     "Then I guess that's—" before Max could even finish his sentence, the bell suddenly rings, indicating that it was now their lunch break. "Well everyone, we'll part ways here. Do well this semester and end the school year with flying colors. Good luck omega society!" Max tells everyone, and to his surprise, the members ran to his side and suddenly grabbed him for a group hug. Even Felix was forced to join in.

     Max was surprised, but he smiles and hugs everyone back.

     "Thank you, Max!"

     "See you around Max!"

     As the members went out of their small club room one after the other, Max sighed and headed to his locker to get his things.

     "Everyone's acting like we'll never see each other again. We'll still get assignments from time to time, right?" Felix asks heading to his locker to take his things too.

     "Oh, no need to pretend. I know you'll miss them too. It's different when you're heading straight to the clubroom in the morning instead of your classroom, you know?" Max asks, and Felix clears his throat before awkwardly agreeing with his friend.

     As Max is closing his locker, he spots Eren who was still in the room, cleaning the whiteboard with a dirty cloth. Max smiles and approaches him. He then drapes his arm around his shoulder before saying, "You've been busy recently Eren. What have you been up to?"

    Eren flinches and automatically looked flustered by Max's comment, almost making Max and Felix laugh. "W-Well...you see I—"

     "This won't do. Looks like you still need a lot to learn with that reaction. Ask Felix for some tips. He's very good at pretending," Max says as he lets go of Eren who was left surprised by what he just heard.

     "How did you know?" Eren asks in shock.

      "You're talking to the brotherhood tamer kid. Why wouldn't he know?" Felix then adds, making Max laugh because of how ridiculous that sounded.

     "Well, work hard Eren or you might even be chosen as one of the seven executives," Max says before finally walking towards the exit. But before taking their leave, Eren suddenly shouts, "I promise to work hard so I could proudly stand behind you too, Max. Just you wait."

     Max was surprised by the sudden declaration, but he looks back at Eren with a bright smile before nodding his head in reply. Felix waves goodbye too, and the two finally head to the Great Hall to eat their lunch.

     The great hall was as noisy as ever as Max and Felix walked to their table. "Looks like we're the first here," Felix says as he and Max took their seats. After a couple of minutes of waiting, one of their friends eventually arrived. It was their red-headed friend, Aristotle Faulkner.

     "Guys! Guess what?!" He shouted, running to them and quickly taking his seat. Before the two could even say anything, Ari tells them, "My paper just got published! Our club advisor said that it was one of the best papers she ever read, so she submitted it to Brightchester University, and it got published!"

     "Wow, congratulations," Max genuinely says, surprised by his friend's outstanding achievement.

     "She said that I got a lot of points from that so why don't we go to the Elites office together and check our new ranks? Hmm?" Ari excitedly says, making Felix and Max laugh.

     "Slow down man, relax for a bit. We'll check our ranks later," Felix says since he also wanted to know what rank he is now.

     "I'm pretty sure our ranks changed, but I'm a bit nervous about mine. Gav told me that ranks 100 and above are a tough competition compared to the lower ranks because all of them are acquiring an insane amount of points every month. With the points we got from the club, I don't think I'll be able to rank higher," Max then shares, especially when he's in rank 85, a margin that's usually filled with senior students.

     "Don't worry about it too much Max. If you want..." Felix pauses and moves closer to Max before saying in a softer voice, "I can give you some points. I'm Siren's right-hand man after all."

     Max was surprised, but he quickly shakes his head and brushes the idea away. "No, it's fine Felix. Thank you for the thought but I think I'd rather acquire the points from the right person if you know what I mean."

     "Well, worth the shot." Felix nods his head in understanding even though he already knew that Max was going to decline his offer anyway. "Well, if you insist."

     "Let's just check our ranks after lunch. I'm also curious to know what—" Max was suddenly caught off when another one of their close friends came running to them, Ervin Walker. They were expecting some good news from him too, but from what they were about to hear, there's no doubt that they'd be surprised.

     "Guys! Guys! I'm a fucking gaffer now!" He shouts, making Max, Felix, Ari, and the rest of the white uniforms look at Ervin with shock.

     As soon as Ervin stopped at their table, Max and the others noticed the gold armband that Ervin was now wearing. Even Ari covered his mouth in shock. "Holy shit, congrats man!" Ari excitedly says, standing from his seat and hugging their dear friend, which was a bit strange considering how the two don't always meet eye to eye.

     "Oh yeah, I read in our school paper that you won the regional championship. Congratulations Ervin, really," Felix says with a sweet smile, making Ervin pat Felix's head before taking a seat.

     "I finally caught up with you guys. I trained my butts off after all so I'm glad it paid off," Ervin happily says, and Max and the others couldn't be prouder.

     "Can't believe all four of us are gaffers now. That's just fucking amazing," Ari says with a grin on his face, not noticing the other white uniforms around them who are looking at them with fear that's mixed with a tiny bit of respect. Not only is Max backed up with brotherhoods, he's now backed up with friends who are not only student achievers but gaffers too. They were definitely a group of friends that you wouldn't want to mess with.

     "It felt like yesterday when all of us were just regular students, and now look at us. I'm really proud of us guys. For the first time since I came to J.S High, this has been the happiest I've ever been," Ari suddenly says, surprising Max and the others because Ari wasn't the type to be so sentimental.

     "Why are you suddenly being like that? It feels weird." Felix asks, hitting Ari's shoulder, causing both Max and Ervin to laugh.

     "But I guess Ari's right. If it weren't for you guys, I would have left J.S High and regretted enrolling here too. Thanks for making my first semester amazing. Let's make new memories this semester too," Ervin then says.

    The four peculiar friends looked at each other with shy smiles, and despite being surrounded by other students, they reached out and held onto each other's hands, squeezing them as a sign that they were happy to have found each other, and they were ready for whatever was going to come in the near future.

     "Alright, this is getting weird." Felix then says, ruining the moment as he pulled his hand away, making his friends laugh.

     Soon after, their lunch came, and the brotherhoods started arriving one by one. Jokers got their first, making Ervin and the rest of the Jacks stand in their seats to bow and respectfully greet them. BND followed just right behind them, and like the Jacks, the Roses stood to greet them as well except for Ari who didn't care less and just continued eating.

     "Look at you Ervin. Can't believe we finally have a Jack who's a gaffer," Brave says, teasing Ervin as he continues to stare at the gold armband on his arm.

     Ervin pushes Brave away as Krist and the others finally took their seats. "I bet Hans wouldn't be able to understand this since all of his underlings are gaffers, but I'm proud of you Ervin. Congratulations, as well as for winning the competition."

     Ervin was surprised since he didn't know that Master Joker would even be aware of the competition he was in, so Ervin immediately stood up from his seat and bowed to Krist again.

     "Hey, I'm proud of my Roses too, you know" Hans then defends before pointing at Ari and saying, "I'm well aware of everything they do, so I know that this fucker also got his paper published internationally."

     "Yeah, we didn't know that he's the type to enjoy shit like that," Khian then adds, making Ari unsure on whether or not they were praising him or if they were just making fun of him.

     "Anyway, club activities ended now right? What are your next plans?" Arjun then asks as all the members of Jokers and BND went to their respective seats.

     "I talked to sir Barron the other day since we're going back to our regular classes," Ari shares since he's the class representative. "We're actually going to have a field trip soon, and then we're going to have the school festival and the sports fest. Our schedules are quite packed."

     "Really? That's how many activities we have?" Max asked, not expecting the second term to be filled with so many activities.

     "You guys are so lucky to have a field trip. Brotherhoods usually just go somewhere to train. I want to go somewhere with my little brother too," Marcus then complains, making Max pretend like he was going to gag because of how disgustingly sweet his brother is.

     "Wait, I just had an idea!" Brave blurts out, standing from his seat with his mouth still filled with food as he said it, making Krist throw a table napkin at him, so Brave swallows the food and wipes his mouth with the table napkin first before continuing, "As I was saying, I have an idea. How about we make a petition? Let's ask president Janus if the brotherhoods could join the white uniforms in their field trip!"

    As soon as Brave said those words, the entire great hall became completely quiet. All the white uniforms were looking at their table, shocked that Brave would even suggest that.

     "Idiot," Red mumbles to himself before shoving mashed potatoes in his mouth.

     Field trips are the only time white uniforms could go out of J.S High and actually enjoy themselves since field trips in J.S High are designed to look more like a vacation (going to a resort, hot springs, camping, etc.) than an educational trip. The thought of the brotherhoods being with them during the trip is just way too taboo.

    "That's actually a good idea," a voice suddenly says, making everyone look at the entrance of the hall.

     The white uniforms instantly stood up from their seats to bow when they saw that the people at the entrance were actually the members of Busters and PHD.

     Viktor, who was the owner of the voice, walks in the middle of the hall with Hee-joon standing beside him. "Going on a trip with the others sounds exciting, don't you think my prince?" Viktor asks with his arms draped around him, but Joon just sighed in boredom and answered, "Doesn't really matter."

     Viktor laughs as the two royals finally went to the balcony. When they were gone, the white uniforms went back to their seats, some glaring at Brave for what he just said.

     "What? It's going to be fun, right?" Brave asks, confused why everyone was so mad about it. Thankfully Arjun, who was sitting beside him, pulled him back to his seat so the other students wouldn't 'accidentally' throw their food at him.

     "Well, if that were to happen then I think it would be fine. I'm tired of going somewhere just to train my butts off until my bones break. A new change of pace would be nice," Hans admitted as he and the rest of the brotherhoods agreed.

     While everyone was enjoying their lunch, and as the students of the House of Kings continue to fill the great hall with noise and laughter, the doors to the entrance once again opened. No one knew who else would make such a grand entrance, but to everyone's surprise, three white uniforms wearing leather masks enter the hall first, surprising everyone.

     "Is that...the Ashes?" Marcus asks, confused as the Ashes slowly approached their table. But as the three walked their way to them, a group wearing black uniforms appeared behind them. It was...

     "Cigarettes?!" One of the students shouted in shock as the Lighters quickly stood from their seats to greet them.

     Walking in the middle, with a grin on his face that almost made Krist throw his mashed potatoes at him, was none other than the boss, Cj, who was waving at the white uniforms that didn't really greet him back.

     Everyone was surprised by his sudden return, especially Max since he wasn't expecting to see him too, but just before Max could even say anything, the five members of Jokers suddenly stood up from their seats.

     The white uniforms, as well as the rest of the brotherhoods, didn't know what they were up to, but as Cigarettes stopped just beside their table, the jesters suddenly got up from their seats and stood in front of them. No one knew what they were doing, but to their surprise, Brave—who was standing front and center of his brotherhood—suddenly bowed in front of Cj. The rest of the white uniforms and even the brotherhoods were shocked.

     "To how we reacted and how we treated you, we would like to apologize," Brave says. "We were out of line, and we should not have said such a thing, especially to a count. Please, we hope you accept our apology."

     The white uniforms didn't know what they were talking about, considering how no one even knew that they were fighting, but their leader Krist, who was the one who asked them to apologize in the first place, couldn't help but be proud of his brotherhood.

     Cj, Anthony, and the rest of the members of Cigarettes looked at each other before looking at Jokers. A couple of seconds later, Cj started laughing, making the jesters look back at him with furrowed brows.

     Don't get him wrong, Cj wasn't laughing at them because he found the situation funny. In fact, he was surprised. Laughing was the only reaction he could think of at the moment.

     "Well, I'll be damned. I never thought I'd see the day when the barons would bow to me. I guess being a count really does pay off," Cj says as he approaches Brave. He doesn't say anything else, but he pats his shoulder and smiles at him, finally making Brave and the rest of the Jokers smile as well.

     As Joker stood properly so they could return to their seat, Cj then scratches his head and adds, "I'm a little bit pissed though because you ruined our entrance and stole my spotlight."

     "What do you mean?" Brave asks.

     Cj doesn't answer, but then he faces Max and tells him, "I should have done this from the very beginning."

    Everyone, including the Royals, was silently watching as Cj didn't just bend over to bow. For the first time ever, in front of the entire student body, Cj went down on one knee and held onto his chest before bowing his head, not because he lost from a deal, but because he wanted to show his deepest respect to this heir.

     "Let me say it properly this time. As the count of the House of Kings, you told me once when you bowed in front of me that you would make J.S High unbreakable. You said you'll fix our flawed system, unite the brotherhoods, and strengthen the ideologies and attitudes of the white uniform. To be honest with you, I brushed it off. You were too ambitious..."

     As Cj continued with his speech, the rest of the members of Cigarettes, and even the Ashes and the Lighters, started bowing one by one as well until all of them were kneeling on the floor like Max was some sort of king.

     "But I was wrong," Cj continues. "You've always...always...proved us wrong. My mistake was I made you bow to me first, so as the leader of rank 5 Cigarettes, I'm swallowing everything down. Maximilian Leigh Sinclaire, let us help you strengthen our house, unite the brotherhoods, and put the white uniforms in line. Let us be your pillar in the strong foundation you wish to create. Let us stand by you...as how you've stood by us all this time."

     Max couldn't say a thing as he slowly stood up from his seat to face Cigarettes. He then looked back at Hans and Krist who encouraged him to speak, so Max takes a deep breath and reaches out to touch Cj by the shoulder.

     "You ask me as though I wouldn't agree to it," Max says. "Let's all walk together towards a brighter future, my count."

    Max smiles at Cj and reaches out his hand to him. Cj smiles back, grabbing Max's hand so Max could pull him up. When the rest were now standing, Cj pulls something out from his pocket; it was his crown brooch.

     "May I?" He asks, and Max nods his head as an answer. 

     Cj moves closer and pins the brooch on Max's collar where Jokers' and BND's brooches can be found. But as Cj was pinning it for him, he realized that Max was no longer wearing the Sinclaire brooch that Janus gave him. Its absence surprised him.

     "You..."

     "I don't want to be the Sinclaire to wear such a brooch," Max answers before glancing at the balcony where the Royals are. Viktor must have noticed it too because there was a taunting grin on his face. But compared to when Max was still new, he wasn't afraid as afraid of him as before. Max was getting closer to them and Viktor knew it.

     The royals were just watching them since earlier, so Max directly looks at Viktor and Joon before saying with a loud voice, "Continue watching me from up there royals because one day...when I reach the very top...you will be watching from behind me."

     Everyone practically gasped after what Max just said while the members of Cigarettes, Jokers, and BND couldn't hide their reactions. Only Max was brave enough to challenge the two most powerful brotherhoods in all the houses. They couldn't help but be proud.

     "Watch me, and then let's see who will be at the top," Max finishes, and Viktor just laughed before walking back to his seat so he could continue his lunch. The other members of Busters and PHD went back to their seats as well, but Joon stayed behind.

    Joon and Max stared at each other longer without saying a word.

     After everything that happened, Max and Joon knew that PHD was next in line.

     And whatever the challenges may be...

     Max was going to do everything he can to conquer them.

     Just you wait.

- END -