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"THREE BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS! HE just casually said that we'll temporarily have 3 brotherhood members as classmates!" Ari exclaimed while he was standing in front of his classmates who were all still very much bewildered by the news.

     Their adviser, sir Kai Barron, just told them about the good news before heading out. Everyone was somewhat excited, but at the same time, they were terrified. This was the first time that J.S High will host the convention, and because of this, elite schools from all over the country will be visiting their house to see what they have to offer.

     For a week, chosen students from such schools will stay in J.S High as observers. They will also share about the supposed culture in their schools, but the convention will mostly be focused on J.S High as they are the host.

     While J.S High has a lot of things to share, such as their ranking system, the brotherhood, and the brotherhood system is another one of them,

     As sir Barron explained earlier, the brotherhoods are one of the strongest pillars of their school, so president Janus thought that it would be a great idea to put the black uniforms and the white uniforms together so that the guest can see how 'harmonious' the two uniforms are, even though everyone already knows that they can't exactly coexist with each other, which is why the brotherhoods are in separate classrooms.

     "Who do you think will be transferred to our class?" Their classmate, Demetricus Johnson, then asks, still a little curious about who's going to be staying in their room for the entirety of the convention.

"Well, Max is in our class so probably the leaders, right?" Hazik then adds, and everyone turns to look at Max who was busy writing about the Elites Convention in his notebook.

     Max finishes writing something down before lifting his head to face his classmates. "Don't look at me," he says. "I don't know about this either. Krist and the others haven't told me anything about it yet."

     "But it is possible that we're going to have Master Joker, Hans, or maybe even Cj here," Felix then shares. Though no one knows that he's a member of Crazy 8, Felix wasn't aware of this either, but he knew that Siren—also known as their leader, River—wasn't going to be transferred to their class. He would have said something to Felix, especially when Felix is his right-hand man.

     "Damn, that would be crazy," one of their classmates commented. Having three leaders in your class can be very terrifying even if Max has conquered them. They're still brotherhood members for a reason.

     "Imagine if it's Viktor," Theo, the tenth highest scorer of their year, suddenly blurts out, making everyone—even Max and his friends—look back at him like he was crazy.

     "No way man!"

     "Don't joke about stuff like that Crawford," Ari then says, a little scared when he heard it too. The mere fact of seeing a king in their classroom made the hair on his skin stand. He's an underling of BND and he still finds Hans scary from time to time. What more if it's Viktor?

     "I'm pretty sure Viktor and the rest of the Royals will be joining the higher year classes where Ian and the other Elites are," Max reassures them, making his class sigh in relief because it made sense.

     Everyone finally felt a little better, knowing full well that the members of the Royals weren't going to be in their class. But as they were talking, someone suddenly enters their room. It was Gavriil Alexeev...

     The Elites' vice president.

     "No!" The class shouted in despair as Gavriil entered their class with furrowed brows, confused about why his classmates are looking at him like they were disappointed.

     "We completely forgot that we have a member of the Elites in our class!" One of their classmates exclaimed.

     "And what's worse, he's even an underling of Busters!" Someone adds, making Keigo choke on air before awkwardly looking around the room since most of them don't know that he's also an underling of the Royals. Saying something about it now is definitely a bad idea.

     "No, you aren't welcome Alexeev!" Ari says as he runs to Gavriil who had no idea what was going on. Ari then starts pushing him out of their room like he had some kind of virus. "For the time being, transfer to Class B or something. We can't let the Royals stay in our class."

     "W-what the heck are you doing?" Gavriil struggled to say before pushing Ari away from him. "What are you all yapping about? What Royals?" Gavriil asks, fixing his uniform after what Ari did.

     "My fault, I told them the Royals might stay in a room where the Elites are and I completely forgot that you were one," Max suddenly answers while raising his hand so Gavriil could see him.

     Gavriil was about to say something, but when he saw that it was Max, he just sighed and walked back to his seat. "Relax, the Royals are probably going to stay in the higher years. It's unlikely that some of them will be transferred here," Gavriil tells them even though he wasn't entirely sure about it either.

      "Are you sure?" Ari asks, and Gavriil just sighs and takes a seat.

     "I'm not, but whether it's Busters or Jokers, you shouldn't be too complacent. They're still brotherhoods regardless of their rank, so you shouldn't be less worried if it wasn't the Royals," Gavriil told them, and the class finally calmed down since the vice was right.

      Why did they think that having Krist, Hans, or even Cj be a  better option than the Royals? They're still ruthless brotherhoods. After all, only Max conquered them, and that doesn't automatically mean they'll be nice to his entire class.

     "W-Well, he's got a point," Ari says before clearing his throat.

     "Anyway, the convention starts next week, which is on February 26. Sir Barron explained to us that we will be using this time to work on what we'll be showing to those preppy bastards. We're also going to be meeting with our clubs since they'll be visiting that too," Ari, the class representative, then explains to everyone.

     "So basically we're going to fake it, right? We gotta pretend like we're the best fucking school out there so they would think we're like them," Ervin then adds, and his classmates couldn't help but agree.

     "But we aren't like other schools. How are we going to hide all the shit that happens to us here? There was literally a bunch of students who were fighting at the Keep earlier. One of them was already bleeding out and was being carried to the clinic, and the professors don't really give a fuck about it because in J.S High..."

     "The strong steps on the weak. It's the survival of the fittest," Max says, finishing Keigo's sentence for him.

     "Well, the Houses are literal jungles that are filled with prey and predators. But in a week, we gotta change that before the convention starts," Ari explains. "We gotta act like the perfect straight-A student. We can't make a fool of ourselves, especially with those bastards who think they're better than us."

      As everyone was agreeing on what they can do for the preparation, the bell suddenly rings, surprising the class.

     The class was surprised, but then the Elites' vice president who just arrived, sighs and stands from his seat before saying, "Looks like we're needed at the stadium. You guys should head there now, I'll join the council."

     "Is that so? Then everyone, form a line outside and let's go," Ari instructs, and Class II-A stood from their seats and did what they were told, curious as to why they were suddenly summoned.

...

J.S High was as lively as ever. When they arrived at the stadium, you could see the excited looks on the students' faces, especially when they already found out that they were going to be the host of the convention.

     As the stadium was slowly getting filled by the white uniforms, Class II-A went to their respective bleachers with the rest of the 2nd-years.

     "Keigo!" One of the guys in Class D greeted, and Keigo happily waved at his old classmate.

     "Guys, I'll just quickly chat with my old buddies, okay?" Keigo says, and Max and his friends nodded their heads, immediately making Keigo run to his previous class.

     "Still surprising that Keigo's friendly," Felix comments, and Max, Felix, and Ervin couldn't help but chuckle since Keigo's the only one who's like that in their friend group.

     While the white uniforms were talking amongst themselves, the professors and the members of the Elites eventually arrived. And then, right after, the brotherhoods started coming in one by one.

     Jokers arrived first, and Ervin and the rest of the Jacks stood up to bow to them. Cigarettes were right behind them and then Crazy 8 followed. Ari even teased Felix by bowing his head to him, which only made Felix hit him in annoyance. Right after, Boys Next Door followed, and Ari and only a couple of other Roses stood and bowed to them next.

     Like their morning assembly, there were seats in the middle for them to sit on, so the brotherhoods went to their respective chairs. It was just strange because they were all talking and even laughing amongst each other now. After being conquered, it seems like the walls that divided them instantly fell and now they look like any regular students.

    "All rise and give respect to the royals," a voice announces soon after, and the entire stadium becomes completely quiet.

     Keigo rushes back to where his class is while the white uniforms and the brotherhoods stood from their seats to respectfully greet the two most powerful brotherhoods in all the houses. The princes arrived first, and as usual, their leader Kim Hee-joon looked like he was bored to death.

     As they walked towards their seats, the white uniforms and the three lowest brotherhoods bowed to them. Right after, the members of Busters arrived, Viktor walking in the middle to lead his brothers with his hands inside his pocket. Viktor usually has a grin on his face when he meets the white uniforms, but instead, he looked annoyed, almost like he argued with someone before arriving here.

     When the Royals finally took their seats, everyone stopped bowing and sat back down as well.

     "Looks like everyone's here," Ervin comments before looking at the stage. "They're probably going to talk about the convention and tell us what we're going to do."

The students were waiting for a professor to stand in the middle to start this supposed meeting, but to their surprise, someone enters the stadium instead. The white uniforms and the brotherhoods were all noisy, but when this particular man appeared, everyone stopped.

     It was none other than their school president, president Janus Sinclaire.

     Janus—who was wearing a violet suit—walks into the middle of the stadium, and the professors, the Elites, and the brotherhoods immediately stood up from their seats to bow to him. Even the Royals stood to bow to him. Now everyone in the stadium was touching their chest and bowing their heads to him, showing who the real king of the school was.

     Janus walks up the stage and gestured for them to take a seat, so they did. A student then rushes to him to hand him a microphone. Janus tests it first before smiling at the people in front of him.

    "It's been a while since I've seen all of you," Janus says first. "But I'm not here to be sentimental so I'll cut to the chase. I'm here because, as you may all be aware, J.S High has been chosen to host this year's Elites School Convention. Let's give a round of applause for that," he then instructs, and everyone started doing what they were told, clapping their hands for the great news. Even the brotherhoods who looked like they weren't happy about it were clapping their hands too.

     "There are a total of eleven schools that will be visiting our house next week, so I wanted to meet up with everyone first because I want to discuss a few things with all of you," Janus says, and the two large screens on the sides of the stage turned on, showing a list of schools that were coming.

     There was Lincoln International High school where Keigo and Max had visited once. Max's old school, Westberg Academy, and then Highlands High, Rosemary Academy, and even the other three brotherhood houses: Bishops, Knights, and Rooks.

     "I'm going to have a meeting with the three school presidents of the other houses, along with the rest of the Association. J.S High has been given this rare opportunity, so as the host school, we don't only carry the pride of J.S High, but the pride of all the houses," Janus explains, and everyone was seriously listening to him.

     "A week before the convention, we will be scheduling a lot of activities..."

     For the first day, they're going to have the morning assembly to welcome all the guests.

     On the second day, the guests will have a tour of the campus and observe the classes.

     The other schools will have booths and talks on the third day so they could share the things they do in their own school. Most of which will be held in the auditorium.

     On the fourth day, they'll be visiting the clubs.

     And on the fifth day, which is the last day of the convention, it's all going to be a lot more informal. In this day students can now freely meet up with the guests, make friends, and just simply socialize.

     "Each school will bring at least ten to fifteen students of their own so we'll group them accordingly and place them in different classes. Of course, when it comes to things like these, the classes will be more of like a simulation, so please participate in class and help your professors," Janus then explains which was fine since J.S High is already filled with brilliant students, to begin with.

     Janus went on to talk about the do's and don'ts, or the temporary rules that the students have to follow. Rules like wearing your uniforms properly, avoiding fighting in the hallway or just fighting in general, and the most surprising of all...

     "Brotherhoods cannot perform their customs for the time being," Janus reveals, and the brotherhoods immediately showed their disapproval.

     The brotherhoods started talking amongst each other, so president Ian immediately stood up and looked at them. He didn't even have to say anything because they automatically stopped talking in an instant.

     "As I was saying, the brotherhoods are not allowed to perform their customs for the time being, which means I don't want you pranking anyone, making deals with anyone, or even forcing them to hold a gun and play Russian roulette," Janus says before looking at Viktor, and Viktor just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

     "This is the only time we're going to show these schools what makes the houses great. We can't scare them for Pete's sake."

     "He has a point," Ari comments, and Max could only chuckle.

     "Now speaking of brotherhoods, I am sure that your class advisers have already mentioned this with you, but as they have already said, the brotherhoods will be joining the white uniforms during the convention," Janus says, and the white uniforms, who wanted to react, kept quiet about it instead because they didn't want the brotherhoods to get mad at them.

     "Don't worry, the professors and I have already grouped you all and have already placed you in your designated classes, and today, I will finally be announcing them," Janus reveals soon after, and finally, all the students started talking to each other.

     Ms. Alisa Armstrong, one of the professors who handles the special classes, as well as the club advisor of Alpha Society and the class advisor of IV-Kings, joins Janus on stage and hands him a list.

     President Janus reads through the list before clearing his throat, making everyone quiet down so they could properly hear it. Even the Elites were nervous because they didn't know who are going to be in their classes.

     "Starting with Jokers," Janus says, and Master Joker and the rest of the jesters started praying that they be placed in Class II-A where Max is. "Vanich and Toni, you two will be in Class I-D, Brave will be in Class I-C, Dhanin in Class I-B, Rome will be in Class I-A, and your leader, master Joker, will be in..." Janus paused, making Krist swallow the lump in his throat, still hoping to be in Max's class.

     "You will be in Class IV-A," Janus announces, making everyone, especially Krist, open his mouth wide in shock.

     "No!" Krist shouts, almost like he lost a battle. All his members could do was laugh at him. They're lucky to be part of the first years, while their master joker has to stay in the room where president Ian and secretary Richard Young can be found.

     "Alright, since there are no violent reactions, let me continue," Janus says with a sadistic grin, obviously enjoying how his brotherhoods are acting all devastated.

     Janus announced where the rest of the brotherhoods will be staying, and it seems like they chose the right places for them to be in. For instance, Cj was also in Class IV-A, while the rest of his brothers were in Class II and Class I with the other members of Jokers. BND on the other hand is scattered around classes in the third and fourth years.

    "Due to some personal circumstances, the rest of the members of Crazy 8 will still be in separate classes, while Siren will be in Class IV-A with Krist and Charles," Janus announces next, and Siren stands first and curtsies in front of their president, thankful that he's still respecting his members' privacy.

     "Too bad, I was hoping that Felix would be transferred to a different class," Ari continues to tease, but when he saw Felix glaring at him, he finally shut his mouth.

     "I'm just glad that my brother isn't in our class. I could imagine what would have happened if he was there," Max explains, and Ari, Ervin, Felix, and Keigo couldn't help but imagine it too, knowing full well that his brother is way overprotective of him.

     "I'm still a bit shocked that your brother is a Duke. When I visited your house, I thought I saw a different person," Keigo explains, referring to the time he came with Gavriil to fetch Max so they could go to the banquet together.

     "Wait, you went to Max's house?" Ari then asks, and Keigo just smiled and shrugged his shoulder.

     "By the way, it looks like all the leaders are in Class IV-A, which would make sense because Ian's the only one who can control them all," Ervin then says, making the others realize it too, but as Ervin and the others were staring at the brotherhoods, they suddenly realized something else.

     "W-Wait a minute..." Keigo says, starting to feel a little nervous. "Jokers, Cigarettes, Crazy 8, and BND have now been announced right?"

     "And no one has been transferred to our class yet," Ari then adds, and all of his classmates in Class II-A looked back at Ari and his friends with their eyes wide from shock as well.

     "N-No fucking way," Felix then says with his mouth wide open.

     "Now let me proceed with...the Royals," Janus announces, and practically almost everyone in their class stood in their seat to shout in complete despair. Even Ari, their class representative, was standing as well while sobbing in disbelief.

     Everyone looked at them, even the brotherhoods.

     "Oh yeah, no one has been announced to transfer in their class yet," Cj says, noticing it too.

     "Maybe it's because the professors know that we might only make more trouble if we're in their class. After all, we're friends with Max and the rest of his gang," Brave then adds, and the others couldn't help but agree.

     "But why are they acting so scared?" Master Joker then asks while staring at Class II-A who was visibly terrified by the next announcement.

     "Haven't you guys realized it yet?" Hans then asks, looking at the stage with his arms crossed. When everyone was looking back at him, Hans gestures at the royals and tells them, "Where do you think some of the royals will be assigned?"

     The brotherhoods were quiet for a while, but then, their eyes finally widened in realization too. They all assumed that the royals would automatically be transferred to the higher years. It never crossed their minds that they'd be transferred anywhere else, especially to Max's class.

     "What on earth is uncle Janus thinking?" Marcus asks, obviously angry. "If even a single member of the royals really does transfer in Max's class, I'm going to riot."

     "Hey, relax, I'm pretty sure Joon and Viktor will be with the other leaders," Khian reassures him. "Now you only have to worry about the other members."

     "You're not helping Khian," Marcus replies, making his friend chuckle.

     "Well isn't this a great opportunity for our little Maxy? If some of the members of Royals are going to transfer to his room, then it will definitely be beneficial on his part. After all, he's a sly fox. He'll definitely know what to do," Cj says with confidence before turning his head to look at where Max was seated.

     His classmates were all panicking, some just simply nervous, but Max sat there silently with an almost blank expression. He knew the opportunity that was going to come his way, and he knew that everything he has done so far will all fall down to this. Like what the count said, this was an opportunity that he's definitely not going to miss.

     "Now for the princes, PHD," Janus says before looking back at the paper that he was holding.

    Everyone was completely quiet, waiting to know where J.S High's most fearsome brotherhoods will be placed.

     "Dangerous Five's Jeremy Tan, Pretty Duo's Ren Adachi, and Hot Wingmen's Choi Myung-Jin aka Blade, you three will be transferred...to Class II-A."  

- END -