♛

THE NINE WHITE UNIFORMS who were considered the best students in J.S High continued to enjoy their time together at the pub despite the incident that happened with the Nobles earlier. The members of the Elites shared stories about some incidents that happened in the past, while the others shared the things they had to do to get into the top 10.

     "I was so tired and I was seconds away from giving up, but look at me now. I can't be happier and prouder than ever," Antonio says, and Justin raised his bottle of beer, making the rest follow.

     "But of course, that isn't even close to what Max here went through," Antonio then says after chugging down his drink.

     Everyone looked at Max who tried to laugh it off. "Honestly, it was pure luck. And like what Ian said I had the opportunities, and I was able to use them to my advantage. Anyone could have done it," he explains.

     "I'm pretty sure that's still not the case for most of us. You achieved so much, and you're only in your second year," Justin says, making the others agree to it too.

     "But aren't Ian and Richard the same? You became members of the Elites when you guys were in the second year too right?" Max then asks, shifting the attention back to them.

     Richard takes a sip of his beer first before explaining his side. "I got into the Elites at the end of the term of my second year, so it's almost like I really became an official member during my third year in J.S High. Ian's different though, he got in just the same as you did."

     "Really?" Max asks in shock while looking at Ian who was just casually enjoying his drink.

     "Like what Max said, I had the opportunities and I used them to my advantage. I became a member of the Elites in my second year even though I transferred to J.S High in the last term of our first year."

     "Wait? You transferred?  You didn't enroll in J.S High in your first year? This is the first time I've heard about it," Kenzo says, and the others couldn't help but agree. So apparently he's really like Max too?

    "Ian transferred just a week before the end of our first year," Richard then explains, surprising everyone even more.

     "What?! How is that possible? Is that even allowed?" Antonio then asks, confused how Ian was able to transfer even though it was the last week of their school year. Why didn't he just transfer the year after that? There was literally just a week left, why couldn't he wait?

     "Wait, so you weren't really classmates with Viktor and the others then?" Thomas then speculates. Since he's an underling of BND, he's heard of the stories about how the brotherhoods were white uniforms before too, and almost all of them—except Siren—were classmates.

     "At that time I was still in Class B," Richard explains. "But I think Ian was transferred to Class I-A, which was Viktor's class. Isn't that right Gavriil, since you were in Class I-A too?"

     Gavriil was quiet since earlier, but he nods his head to confirm it. "Ian was transferred to our class, but since most of our classmates became brotherhoods, Ian didn't really get to know them."  Gavriil explained while Ian was nodding his head to confirm it. He was a peculiar case, and he did get to know Viktor and the others more only when he became the Elites president.

     "Including Ian, there were 26 of us in Class I-A. 23 of them formed brotherhoods," Gavriil then reveals, surprising them even more. Of course, this wasn't much of a shock to Max. He already knew about this when he got close to the other brotherhoods.

     "I've heard about this too but it's still a crazy story. Imagine almost all your classmates becoming brotherhoods, and then all of them even stayed in the House of Kings. One even became the king!" Justin exclaims, still not believing it even though he was the one who said it out loud.

     "But you said 26 right, so if the other two are Ian and Gavriil, then who's—"

     "It was Grey. It was Matthew Grey Cullen," Max interrupts, cutting off Antonio's sentence.

     Everyone at their table became quiet while Gavriil looked back at Max with a sad expression. For some reason, the mere mention of that name made the mood turn bad.

     "Wait, Grey Cullen? That was the old president, right? He was the one who refined the system. He was the one who created the white uniform protection code. Sir Barron mentioned him before," Justin excitedly says, and such a statement suddenly placed a sad smile on Ian's face, like he remembered something that happened in the past.

     "That was the last thing he made before he left. He had to make sure that there was something that would protect the white uniforms. He just had to," Ian then says before chugging down his beer.

     "He left? What happened to him?" Justin asks, but then his twin brother kicks him under the table again and whispers, "He died, remember? He was the heir that got into an accident. It was all over the news."

     Justin's eyes widened as he quickly covered his mouth from shock. "I'm so sorry, that was insensitive of me. You must have been close with him."

     "Excuse me," Max says, suddenly standing from his seat. "I'm just heading out to smoke." Without waiting for anyone's answer, Max leaves the scene to head to the smoking area. When he got there, he loosens his necktie and pulls out his cigarette and lighter so he could start smoking. He doesn't even remember when he started smoking, but what he does know is that it's the only thing that's keeping him from falling apart.

     "Leigh," a voice calls out, and without even looking back, Gavriil appears beside him with a serious expression. Max ignores him, but Gavriil suddenly snatches the cigarette from Max's mouth and uses it for himself instead.

     "Gav..." Max complains. He was about to get another stick, but then Gavriil told him, "This is a bad habit of yours. You should stop."

     "Said the guy who's a smoker too," Max says in irritation, but he surprisingly doesn't take another cigarette anymore and just leaned on a wall with his arms crossed.

     "Look like you're still not comfortable when people are talking about Grey," Gavriil says while smoke escapes his mouth. He then glances at Max, but Max wasn't responding to him. "If there's something you have to say then you can say it," Gavriil says, inhaling the smoke from Max's cigarette before exhaling it out, the cool smoke relaxing him in an instant.

     "Why didn't you tell me that Ian knew Grey?" Max finally asks, and it was a question that Gavriil honestly expected from him.

     "It would have been obvious already wouldn't it? Ian became the president after Grey. He took on the role when he left," Gavriil answers.

     "He didn't leave Gav, he died," Max suddenly says, and Gavriil finally pulls the cigarette from his mouth before throwing it in the bin.

      When Max saw the expression on Gavriil's face, Max takes a deep breath and massaged his temple. "S-Sorry, I think I'm a bit tipsy. I know that Grey was your friend too. I'm being insensitive. I guess I just got mad at the fact that others knew more about him than I did. It's pathetic."

     Gavriil sighs and walks closer to Max so he could stand in front of him. "It's not your fault," Gavriil tells him as he places his hand on the wall, leaning close to give Max a soft kiss. "Do you understand?"

     "Do you think Grey is mad at me for forgetting about him? Were you mad when I forgot about you too?" Max then asks, and Gavriil reaches out and gently touches Max, rubbing his thumb on his left cheek. "Never..." he whispers. "Grey and I were never mad."

     Max doesn't say anything anymore and just leans his head on Gavriil's shoulder for comfort. Gavriil gives out a small smile, kissing Max's head before saying, "I'll take you home. Use the other exit, I'll just explain to the others."

     Max nods his head and Gavriil lets go of him before heading back inside where the others were.

     "Oh Gavriil, where's Max?" Justin asks, surprised Max didn't return with him.

     "We'll have to head back first, Max isn't feeling well," Gavriil says as he takes his bag. He then takes Max's coat and bag too that were hanging on the chair he was sitting on just earlier.

     "What? Do you have your car with you?" Richard asks him.

     "Why are you going home with Max? Didn't know you two were close," Antonio then asks. Gavriil was about to answer them, but Ian stops him and says instead, "You don't have to explain yourself to them, just take Max home. You can use the van, we'll just call our drivers."

     "Thank you, Ian," Gavriil replies as Ian handed him the keys to the van they used to get here.

     Without saying anything else, Gavriil heads out of the pub. On the sidewalk, he saw Max waiting for him there. The people walking by stopped just to get a look at him. Some weren't sure if it was Max, but since he was wearing his white uniform, the others could already tell that it really was him, so before they could even gather around Max and take pictures of him, Gavriil grabs his hand and quickly leads him to the van without getting caught.

     "Here's your bag. Your coat's already at the back," Gavriil says, handing Max his bag as Max sat in the passenger seat, Gavriil in the driver's seat.

     "Are you sure it's alright if we use the van? We could just use the bus," Max suggested, but it was an idea that Gavriil quickly brushed off since it would be too dangerous for both of them, especially for Max. If people recognize him in a huge crowd, Gavriil wouldn't be able to protect him.

     "Don't worry about anything. Just rest," Gavriil says as he starts the car. When he started driving off, Max looks at him and stares at him. Gavriil wanted to ignore it, but when he noticed that Max wasn't looking away, he asks, "Is there a problem with my face Leigh because you're worrying me right now."

     Max chuckles and finally looks away. "I was just trying to see if I'd remember something if I stared at you long enough," he explains to him.

     "Is that so? And here I thought you were admiring how handsome your boyfriend was," Gavriil teases so Max would feel better. Thankfully it did because Max started laughing, which kinda made Gavriil feel bad a little because Max was laughing way too much on that statement.

     "So Grey was the one who created the white uniform protection code," Max says when he finally calmed down.

     "Yeah, he did. The system changed entirely when Grey proposed that to the association. Imagine if Grey never thought of that, then the brotherhoods would have had the power to do whatever they wanted to us," Gavriil explains, and Max couldn't help but feel proud.

     "Was that also the reason why Viktor and the others were forced to create brotherhoods? Because Paradox had overwhelming power against them?" Max asks, and Gavriil takes a deep breath and nods his head as an answer.

     "Before Grey became the president, Paradox ruled J.S High. President Janus didn't do anything because almost all of the members of Paradox helped fund the school. He turned a blind eye on us, so we had to do something on our own," Gavriil explains, which made a lot of sense after everything that Max was able to piece together thanks to Krist and the others.

     What Max couldn't understand was his uncle. Why did he let such things happen? There had to be more than that. There had to be an explanation as to why he wasn't able to do anything for them. Max wanted to still believe in him. He wanted to believe that there was still a Sinclaire out there who wasn't cruel and heartless.

     "Hey, Gav..."

     "Yes?"

     "Do you think Paradox has something to do with what happened to the five of us?" Max suddenly asks, and Gavriil almost hit the breaks because of how much he was caught off guard by the question.

     Based on Gavriil's reaction, Max doesn't even have to hear his answer.

     "You think so too, don't you? You and Viktor, that's what you're both thinking, that's why Viktor asked me to enroll in J.S High. You guys know that there's some type of connection too, don't you?" Max asks, and Gavriil had to swallow the lump in his throat so he could say the right things to Max.

     "It would be too late for me to lie to you now, but you're right. We do think that Paradox has some sort of connection between what happened to us in the past, but we don't have concrete evidence. As for the reason why Viktor asked you to enroll in J.S High, that I don't know. I was as surprised as the others when I saw you on our first day in school. Viktor didn't tell me anything," Gavriil truthfully explains, and Max doesn't ask him about it anymore because he knew that Gavriil was telling him the truth.

     "Do you think it was wrong for me to get involved with River? Because of what I did for him, I got connected with Paradox now too," Max then says.

     Gavriil, whose eyes were still glued to the road, answers Max's concerns. "No, you weren't wrong at all," he reassures him.

     "You think so? Aren't you at least worried?"

     "Of course I'm worried. I'm always worried about you Leigh, but why do you think I asked you to conquer Crazy 8 in the first place?" Gavriil asks, now looking back at him with a confident smile.

     Max was surprised, but he just laughs it off and looks out of the window to stare at the view instead. "You and Viktor might not have the same personality, but you do have the same mindset. Both of you are so secretive."

     "Please don't say something like that. It's making my skin crawl," Gavriil says, and this time, Max ended up laughing.

     "Speaking of Viktor, our field trip is on Friday right?" Gavriil then reminded.

     "That's right, heard that it's going to be at some sort of private island," Max replies.

     "Yeah, Ian told me it was Viktor's private island. Heard it hasn't been used in years so not a lot of people know about it. It was the perfect location, or so they say," Gavriil casually says like it wasn't a big deal.

     "I'm sorry but can you say that again?" Max asks as he looked back at Gavriil with a shocked expression on his face.

    Gavriil was confused, so he furrowed his brows and tells him, "What? Didn't you hear? The brotherhoods are going to be joining us."

     The van was silent for a while, but when it finally sinks in, Max grabbed hold of Gavriil's arm and shouted, "What?!"

...

And so February 9 finally came in a flash. After all the lessons in school, all the 2nd-year students of J.S High were at the airport, waiting to board the plane that would fly them to their most awaited destination.

     Today was their field trip. It was the only activity that the white uniforms were genuinely excited about, but unfortunately, a group of students decided to join them, making all the 2nd-years look gloomy and on edge.

     "Can't believe the brotherhoods are joining us," one of the students asks in a soft voice as he steals a glance at the brotherhoods who were also just quietly waiting on the side.

     The people at the airport were staring at them, not because they were all wearing the PE uniform of the ever-so-famous J.S High, but because the brotherhood members all looked intimidating. Even Viktor—who had to cover his face with a mask and jet black shades since he wasn't allowed to be seen in public—was scaring the passengers despite not doing anything. It didn't help that the 7 executives of Crazy 8 were still wearing their masks too.

     "Heard they'll be in a different area on the island since they'll be training, but it's still awkward. I feel like I can't do much if they're there," another student says, and his friends couldn't help but agree.

     "You think so?" Ari suddenly asks as he, Max, and Felix appeared behind them, causing the other students to move away from them too since they're the friend group who are all gaffers, and because Ari and Ervin are underlings from brotherhoods who happen to be with them too, while Max was friends with four of them.

     "Ari!" The student, who was actually from Class II-C, shouts as he quickly moves away from Ari and his friends like he was afraid of him, which is true even if Ari wasn't a gaffer.

     "We didn't say anything bad!" One of them said before he and his friends started running off the scene like they were thieves who got caught stealing.

     "Great work Aristotle, you just scared them even more," Ervin says with his arms crossed, making Ari look back at him angrily after saying his full name out loud.

     "Well, I can understand why others are worried, but I think it's not going to be that bad. After all, sir Barron told us that the brotherhoods were instructed not to disrupt us since they have to train. Ms. Armstrong and our class advisors are here too so it would be fine," Max then explains.

     "I get that they're worried about that, but what's even worse is that Ari announced that it was my birthday on the bus earlier and everyone, including Class B, started singing for me. It was so embarrassing!" Felix then complains, making Ari and his other friends start laughing because they remembered it too.

     "Come on, it was so wholesome!" Ari defends, but Felix only hit him in the head out of irritation. Don't get him wrong, he did feel a little touched when everyone was singing for him, but after that, sir Barron had to scold them for being so noisy, so in the end, it only made Felix feel embarrassed.

     "But at least we get to spend your birthday together," Max then says, and Felix finally calms down as Max pats him on the head like how he always does.

     As the four friends were talking, the class advisors finally stood up from their seats and went to their respective classes. Class I-A immediately went to sir Barron and started forming two lines in front of him. While they were fixing their line, Max turns back around and spots Gavriil standing alone at the far back.

"Come here and stand beside me," Max mouthed, but Gavriil just smiles and shakes his head before giving him the 'it's okay' sign. Max sighs and doesn't do anything anymore as he looks back at sir Barron who was ready to announce something.

     "In a few minutes, we'll be boarding the plane. Even though this airport is owned by the Griffiths family, that does not mean you are allowed to do whatever you want. Is that clear?" Sir Barron says with a serious expression, almost making it look like they were going to a military camp instead of a field trip.

     "But before that, I would like to inform you that your rooms at the island have already been assigned. As there are eighteen of you in my class, you will be grouped into six," sir Barron explains, and Ari quickly counted how many members there would be in a group.

     "T-Three? Oh no, there are only three members in a group! There's four of us!" Ari shouts in complete distress, making the other 2nd-years, and even the other passengers, look back at him. Even Hans, who was silently reading a book, hears Ari's voice too so he just sighed and wore his earset so he could pretend like he didn't just hear his underling scream like he was being mugged.

     "Why? Is there a problem Mr. Faulkner?" Sir Barron suddenly says with a serious expression, and Ari gulps and quickly shakes his head.

     "Since I knew that some of you with react like this, I already handled everything. You guys don't have to fight over who you're roommates will be because I already grouped you," sir Barron then says, making the class grunt in frustration. Sadly, they couldn't go against it thanks to their scary adviser.

     "Alright, first we have Aristotle. You will be grouped with Felix and Gavriil," sir Barron then announces, and before Ari could scream in distress again, Ervin quickly grabs him and covers his mouth.

     "Maximilian, you will be grouped with Ervin and...Keigo," their advisor announces next. Max wasn't a bit concerned about who his roommate was going to be since he was only going to sleep in his room anyway, so Max just nodded his head in understanding. At least Ervin was going to be with him.

     "I wanted to be grouped together with you guys," Ari complains while Ervin and Felix tried to comfort him. But while sir Barron was naming the other groups, Max couldn't help but look behind him.

     Some of their classmates were glad that they were still grouped with their friends, but one student, in particular, who was standing at the far back just beside Gavriil, was holding onto his chest like he was moments away from having a heart attack.

     Kawanishi Keigo tries his best to keep his cool, but when he looked up and saw Max staring at him, Keigo's face completely turns red and he immediately looked away from him.

     Max couldn't help but chuckle. He thought that Kawanishi was going to be harmless, and he looked like someone Max could have fun with. Maybe this field trip was going to be memorable after all.

     "If you're going to keep staring at me the entire trip, then let's see how long you'll still be able to look once I get my way with you...Kawanishi Keigo."

- END -