♰

"DO YOU REALLY WANT to get suspended that badly?" President Ian Rothman asks while staring straight into the eyes of Cigarettes' member, Kevin Carter. "It's already been a week. Aren't you all tired? Last time you took the Saints' representative, Martin Osborn, and almost forced him to make a deal with you. Then the other day you collaborated with Jokers to prank him. When will this end?"

     "Until that bastard apologized for what they did to Max," Kevin answered, making Ian sigh and massage his temple while Richard Young, who was writing his report, chuckled at the back in amusement.

     "Look, what happened to Sinclaire is not the fault of Martin Osborn alone. And even if he did apologize, nothing would change. Martin is moments away from not going back to school anymore. If he reports this to his council, it will leave a bad impression on our house, and it will tarnish what our representative, Max Sinclaire, has been doing at St. George Academy. Is that what you want?"

     Kevin Carter crosses his arms and then looks away from Ian like a stubborn kid, making the president massage his temple again.

     "You kids..." Before Ian can start complaining, he takes a deep breath and composes himself. "Alright, let's stop with this bullshit. Do anything that will harm Martin Osborn again and there will be immediate consequences. This time, I won't let you look for loopholes or reasons. This is your final warning. Tell your leaders about this. Now go."

     Kevin finally stands from the seat he's being interrogated in and bows his head to the Elites' president before heading out of the council office. 

     As soon as he leaves, Secretary Richard Young and Treasurer Dustin Griffiths look at each other before looking at their president who walks back to his desk with a heavy sigh. "These brotherhoods are getting out of hand. And they're clearly using Max just so they could get their hands on Osborn. They clearly want something else from him," Ian says before looking at the documents on his desk.

     "But props to Martin for still going to school. I can tell he's scared to death whenever he's here, but he's still a bigger coward to run off. He's probably terrified of what his house would do if they find out he stopped coming," Dustin then adds, which the two officers surprisingly agreed with. Unlike the students of St. George who are forced to stay on their campus, students of J.S High are able to go home after the bell rings, yet Martin keeps coming back.

     "Anyway, have any of you called the Saints yet? Or anyone in St. George?" Ian then asks while signing the documents prepared for him by the other officers.

    "No, their line keeps getting disconnected. They haven't answered our emails either," Richard explains, making Ian furrow his brows in confusion.

     "We can't contact them?"

     "It's more like they can't contact us. It's as if someone's blocking it."

     "Then you two should visit them tomorrow. Maybe after our classes are over. You can talk to the Saints personally and report to them what's been happening to their representative. I don't want them to think we're bad hosts," Ian then suggested, but both Richard and Dustin were against the idea. The councils of the five houses aren't really on good terms with each other. Personally going to their house isn't always the best idea.

     "Can't you go yourself?" Dustin asks back.

     Ian puts his pen down and looks at them seriously. "I can't. I have a meeting with the Leadership Union after this, and I need to meet up with my grandfather to check the new hospital."

     "Then let our vice do it," Richard suggests.

     "Good idea. I bet he'd agree since he'll be able to meet Sinclaire," Dustin then adds, making Ian and Richard give him a look, to which Dustin only shrugged his shoulder in response.

     "But I guess you're right. Gavriil can do it for me. He's not really the type to complain," Ian finally decides, sending a jab at the two officers in front of him before returning to his documents. "Where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him all day."

     "Heard he's needed at his club. Martin and Heaven are with him," Richard answers.

     Right on cue, Vice President Gavriil Alexeev enters the office looking distressed. Max's proxy, and the fake representative, Heaven J. Carter, follow behind him while drinking iced coffee.

     "A member of my club sent me an email and told me we had some troubles with the next issue of our school newspaper, but when I arrived at our clubroom, there weren't any issues at all," Gavriil complains as soon as he walks inside the office.

     "They probably pranked you because you're so grumpy all the time," Heaven manages to joke, but no one in the room laughs so he rolls his eyes back and takes a seat on his old desk that's now empty since he already removed his things so Max can put his when he returns.

     "By the way, has the association sent the documents?" Gavriil then asks, grabbing a cup of coffee before taking a seat.

     "Yeah, they sent them this morning," Richard answers before looking at Heaven and Gavriil with his eyebrows furrowed. "W-Wait, I just noticed. Where's Martin?"

     "Martin? Isn't he with you guys?" Gavriil asks back, and that single question instantly makes Ian, Richard, and Dustin drop everything that they're doing to look at the vice with their eyes and mouths open wide in shock.

     "Do you see him here?!" Richard panics, finally making Gavriil and Heaven realize it too.

     Everyone in the office becomes completely silent. But when the bell rang, indicating that it was already their lunch break, Ian slammed his hands on his desk in complete frustration.

     "Those fucking brotherhoods!"

...

"P-Please, let me go. I don't know what you want, but I can give you anything. Just please, let me go," Martin Osborn, the Saints Rank 5, and the unfortunate representative to be sent to J.S High, starts begging.

     Martin's hands and feet were tied on a chair, and his head was also covered with a sack so he couldn't see where he was, but he could tell that someone was standing in front of him. He didn't know who, but his heart wouldn't stop beating fast, almost like it knew that he was in big trouble.

     Martin hasn't been able to contact anyone from the House of Bishops ever since he left. He's been calling the members of the Saints, but the line keeps getting cut. He'd visit, but he's also too ashamed to face them because of everything that's been happening to him in J.S High. Like what Richard Young and the others suspected, Martin has already contemplated if he should return to this school or not, but every time he imagines what the Ministry would do to him if they find out that he stopped coming, he forces himself to come back.

     "If you end up pissing yourself, I'm gonna shoot your dick," someone suddenly says, making Martin flinch at the not-so-familiar voice.

     After a couple of seconds, someone finally pulls the bag over his head. Martin squints his eyes at the sudden light, but when everything becomes clear again, he finally realizes where he is. He was in a dark room with eight seats. And standing right in front of him was none other than...

     "Revels...you're the Revels," Martin says as the five Marquis stare down at him with eerie expressions on their faces.

     "The Elites have been guarding you well, but we finally got you," a revel then says as he takes a step closer to the Saint.

     Martin Osborn couldn't really see their face clearly because of how dark the room was, but when one member walked up to him where the spotlight was, Martin's jaw instantly dropped.

     "You're Meirion March. You're their leader," Martin reveals, making Meirion grin. 

     Martin wasn't able to recognize him at first glance because of how different he looked now. Compared to his first appearance during the Annual Brotherhood Reranking, Meirion looked completely drained, hinting that the kings must have sucked them dry after what they did to Kim Hee-joon. But what really caught Martin off guard was the eyepatch he was wearing, which was surprisingly similar to what the PHD's leader had on.

     "Are you looking at this?" Meirion asked, touching the black leather eyepatch. "Blood for blood. I was punished because of the sins I committed during the brotherhood battle."

     As soon as Martin heard the explanation, he immediately swallowed the lump in his throat because of complete terror. Everyone knew about what the Revels did during the Brotherhood Battle, and it was stated that after the coronation, the Revels swore their loyalty to the kings and then disappeared from everyone's eyes.

     Looking at the state of Meirion alone, others could only assume that they've been very busy.

     "V-Viktor did that to you?" Martin dared ask.

     "Viktor? Oh no, it wasn't him. The king showed me mercy, mercy that I did not even deserve. But a certain serpent wasn't as kind, so he gave me something permanent," Meirion answers, making Martin gulp again. "Don't be fooled by his calm demeanour and soft-spoken voice. Tanis Hendrix is called the Serpent for a reason."

    When Meirion saw the terrified look on Martin's face, he grinned and added, "But no worries, this isn't about him or about any of the kings. Today, it's about her."

     "Her?" Martin asks, his voice trembling.

     "Yes. Her," Meirion repeats before he and his members can move aside, creating a path for a very well-known black uniform who's holding a sword-like cane.

     "Thank you for your time, Revels. Give Viktor my thanks," Siren says, and the five members of Revels bowed to the Duke before stepping out of the room, leaving Martin Osborn alone with the infamous Siren.

     The door shuts, and Siren walks up to the representative so she can tower over him. Before Martin can even speak, Siren pulls his sword out and points it directly toward Martin's chest, making the poor white uniform shiver in fear.

     "W-What do you want?" Martin asks while Siren stares directly into his eyes, not daring to look away.

     "I'm looking for something, specifically records—student records and personal documents that only the Saints council has access to," Siren reveals, not even wasting a single second.

     "Records? What records?"

     "Records of your old president, Klyde Vitus Von Hatzfeld," Siren then answers. And the moment she said those words out loud, Martin looked completely terrified, almost like he heard a name that he shouldn't have heard at all.

     "I don't...I can't—"

     "Klyde Vitus Von Hatzfeld was the Saints' first president, but after the fall of his family, no one knows where they are anymore," Siren explains, still pointing her sword at the white uniform. "I'm looking for Klaus, who was a member of Paradox. The only way I can find him is if I find his brother first, so give me the fucking records or I won't only stab your eye like what Tanis did to poor Meirion."

     Martin didn't know if this was a bluff or a threat, but he couldn't just give away classified records to anyone, especially to a brotherhood leader like Siren. He'll be dead if the Saints and the Ministry find out about this. He's sure of it.

     "No," Martin finally answers.

     "No?"

     "I won't give you the records. I came to J.S High to observe and—"

     "I think there's been a misunderstanding here," Siren suddenly cuts off. "I'm not asking you, Martin Osborn, I'm telling you. This isn't a conversation where you can just decline. I'm not the one tied in a chair right now with a sword pressed against his chest. You're going to give me those records. And you don't really have a choice."

     "Please, I can't do that. They're going to kill me. Just ask for anything else. I promise I'll try my best to give it to you. Anything. Anything other than the Von Hatzfeld family," Martin begins to beg, making Siren sigh, unimpressed.

     "I'm disappointed, Martin Osborn. I thought you'd be different but I guess I misjudged you," Siren says, finally pulling the sword away from Martin's chest. "No worries, you may have Uchdryd Rease who you all call the Master of Information, but I have a title of my own," Siren continues as he circles around Martin while dragging the edge of her sword on the floor. When she stood behind him, Siren leaned towards Martin, making the representative flinch, sweat streaming on the side of his forehead as Siren softly kissed his cheek.

     When Siren saw the red kiss mark, she smirked and positioned her mouth close to Martin's ear so she could whisper, "I am the 18-year-old boy who was involved in a car accident 3 years ago, killing a mother and two of her kids. No one knew I was drunk at that time, but I didn't show any remorse because I asked my parents to pay the family because the husband of that woman and the father of those two kids wouldn't stop blaming me for it. Who do you think I am?"

     Martin's eyes widened as soon as he heard what Siren had to whisper against his ear. When Siren sees his reaction, she smirks and grips onto Martin's shoulder, instantly making a tear fall from his eyes.

     "I'm the Master of Secrets, Martin Osborn. I know more about you than you think, so if you don't give me what I want, your life will be ruined before anyone kills you. So you better start praying now, my innocent saint."

     [At St. George Academy]

     "So they just kidnapped you?" Keigo asks, and Max finishes his bottle of water before nodding his head to confirm it.

     "Damn, I always knew that Hedeon was crazy, but I never knew he'd do such a thing just to talk to you. And it's not like he threatened you either. How bizarre," Keigo adds, making Max chuckle because of how crazy it all sounds when someone else says it.

     Keigo and Max were in a private study room in the Hell Sanctum. This is the room where the serfs used to secretly smoke when their dorm wasn't given a proper makeover yet, but now it's a room the serfs gave so Keigo and Max can talk privately.

     "Anyway, I never thought I'd say this out loud, but I'm glad Hedeon came to help. He has more power here than anyone else, so he'll be able to help Joon more while we work on the mystery of this school," Keigo then says, and Max nods his head in agreement before sitting beside his dear friend whose eyes have been glued on the screen of his laptop.

     "So, how do we start?"

     "Like what we talked about before, we have to start with the Archbishop first, and President Lucas Ivory. Those two are our main suspects here. If we can find anything about them, things might start making sense," Max answers, grabbing a notebook and writing notes down. While Max was doing this, Keigo couldn't help but look at him and smile.

     Max notices it and asks, "What are you thinking about now?"

     "Nothing. I just remembered Kim Hee-joon's trials. We were planning like this but in a smaller room. We're like detectives," Keigo answers, making Max chuckle.

     "Ari and the others are actually getting jealous at how close we've become," Max then teases, making Keigo laugh this time.

     "Well, we should hang out again once we return to J.S. High."

     "Hopefully not in Japan again. Maybe somewhere...closer."

     Keigo and Max smiled at each other before concentrating on formulating a plan. But while Keigo was reading the article he was checking earlier, Max suddenly slammed the table, startling the poor serf.

     "W-What the hell was that?"

     "I just thought of something," Max says. And when Keigo saw the look in Max's eyes, he knew that this was going to be big.

     "I think we haven't really tried connecting things properly yet," Max explains further, making Keigo furrow his brows in confusion. "I mean, we know the Archbishop and Father Ivory has something to do with St. George Academy being sold to an unknown buyer, and we also know shit went down when their old president, Klyde Vitus Von Hatzfeld, implemented the Division's Program, but we never really put two and two together."

     "Well, we actually have already thought that the Von Hatzfeld family might be connected to the Archbishop. They might even be related," Keigo reminds Max.

     "I know, but we never tried understanding the reason as to why that would be the case. Why do we think they're connected? Is it really only because Klyde is related to the Archbishop?" Max explains further, which makes Keigo scratch the back of his head because of how right Max was.

     "You want to know why they might be connected?"

     "Exactly."

     "And how are we going to do that?" Keigo asks, and Max immediately points at Keigo's laptop, which makes Keigo turn to look at it as well.

     "I want you to search about the fall of the Von Hatzfeld family," Max finally reveals. "Has it never crossed your mind to ask what happened to them? Klaus Hatzfeld was Crème de la Crème's Rank 1. Their entire family was literally thriving, but then, out of nowhere, they just...vanished. And everyone stopped talking about them. Just like that."

     "Surprisingly enough, you're right. Everyone knows the Von Hatzfeld family, but now, they're like an urban legend," Keigo says as he starts typing something down on his laptop."This is going to be difficult, but I'll try my best to find something."

     "Don't worry. We have all night."

     The two detectives became completely silent as Keigo started searching for clues on the Von Hatzfeld family, while Max went back to writing down a plan that would help with his other task, which was to make the white uniforms agree to implement the white uniform protection code.

     Keigo was confident at first, considering how famous the Von Hatzfeld family is, so it's only natural that he'd find something. But hours went by and there was still nothing. It's almost as if everything about them were erased.

     "Here," Max says, gently placing a hot cup of coffee beside Keigo.

     "Thank you," Keigo answers.

     Max takes a deep breath and walks towards the window, peeking behind the curtain and seeing brotherhoods dragging white uniforms out of their dorms in the middle of the night like it was the purge.

     "Still nothing?" Max asks, turning away from the window and sitting beside Keigo again.

     "Nothing. I checked every website and secret document that I could hack into. I also searched for individual names and even their company's whereabouts, and I even checked the dark web, but there's not a single article mentioning the Von Hatzfeld family. You might probably think they don't exist anymore. It's actually pretty creepy," Keigo answers, making Max feel defeated.

     "This is harder than I thought," Keigo then admits, which is rare since he's always good at finding things.

     "So we found ourselves in a dead end," Max says.

     "What do we do now?"

     Max looks down at his notes, trying to think of something that might help. But while he was looking at his notes, he unconsciously touched his empty collar. While he was touching it, he suddenly remembered a particular brooch. The first ever brooch that he received when he entered J.S High.

     "Uncle Janus!" Max shouted, startling Keigo again.

     "Janus? President Janus?"

     "That's right. Uncle Janus might still have records of Klyde Vitus Von Hatzfeld since he was once a student at J.S High. If we can find his records, then we might get a clue as to what happened to his family," Max explains, almost making Keigo grab him for a tight hug.

     "Max! You're a genius!" Keigo exclaims. "I think it's better if you meet him personally instead of calling him since calls might backfire on us. But the problem now is...how on earth are you going to meet up with the president with what's going on with St. George?"

     Max pauses for a second, and then he looks at Keigo and gives him a chilling grin.

     "I know exactly how I'll be able to do that."

- END -