♰

MAX AND KEIGO WERE startled because it sounded like a gun was fired towards them. Xander also woke up and instinctively got ready to fight, grabbing one of his inventions as a weapon.

     "What the hell was that?!" Xander shouted, gripping his metal object while staring at their shattered window.

     "What really was that?" Max asks as well, looking out of the window and finding a literal helicopter flying away from them. Max furrowed his brows, still confused as to what happened. But then he followed the direction and angle of the helicopter to their window. Following that imaginary line, Max turns around, and there he discovers a golden dart pierced into their now cracked wall.

      "Did someone just freakin' shoot that towards us!?" Keigo asks in a panic while Max slowly approaches it. He examined the metal-like dart and eventually realized that it had an opening, so he pulled the dart off the wall and twisted it open, revealing a rolled-up paper.

     "No freakin way!" Xander excitedly says as he, Keigo, and even a sleepy Vesper stand beside Max to get a better look.

     "What on earth is this?" Max confusingly asks before noticing the seal. As soon as he saw who it belonged to, a huge smile immediately appeared on his face because the seal came from none other than the fifth strongest brotherhood, Cigarettes.

      "W-Wait, didn't you just ask Vice President Gavriil to talk to CJ the other night? Did they find something already? Is this for real?" Keigo asks in disbelief since they've been searching for information about Chapman for days, yet CJ only needed 24 hours to find something.

     Xander and the others circle Max as he removes the seal and rolls it open. There were actually two pieces of paper inside. One was completely blank, while the other was a note that had Max's brooch attached to it.

     "Remove this again and I'm gonna ambush St. George Academy and burn it myself," the note read, making Max chuckle. He couldn't help but be proud of his protector. Who knew he'd be able to provoke him enough to the point where he'd find something they thought was impossible to obtain in such a short amount of time?

     "He never disappoints," Max says, putting his brooch back on before checking the blank paper.

     "Well, did he get so fired up that he ended up sending nothing?" Vesper joked, but Max ignored the comment and started looking for something in their room. When Max saw Vesper's lighter on the floor, he grabbed it and started heating up the paper, revealing a handwritten letter.

     "You can't light a cigarette without a lighter," Max states, surprising the others since Max understood what to do without even thinking about it.

     When the content was fully visible, everyone looked down at the paper again to see what was actually written on it. Everyone was excited to know what dirt the count was able to find, but when they finally read the content, their eyes instantly widened in shock. Even Vesper was in disbelief.

     "T-This...This is..."

     "A list," Max continues for Xander who couldn't even find the right words anymore. "It's the list of names involved in the Von Hatzfeld scandal."

     "I'll be damned. How the hell did that kid get this list?" Vesper then wonders, somehow impressed by the amount of resources CJ must have had to use for this single paper. He then points at a name on the list and adds, "And look at this, gentlemen. It's the Secretary of Education, Mr. Laurence Chapman."

     "Oh god, I knew it he was a sick bastard," Xander says with a disgusted look on his face.

      "But how are we certain that this is legit?" Keigo then asks. "This was just handwritten by who knows who."

     "Well, there's a signature and name here...at the bottom," Max points out, making the others look at it too. "Wilbert Darcey. Who's that?"

     Without waiting for any instructions, Keigo ran to his laptop and started searching. It didn't even take ten minutes for Keigo's face to light up in excitement. "This was difficult to find, but nothing that the dark web can't fix."

     "You found him? Who is he?" Max asks as Keigo grabs his laptop so he can show everyone what he found.

     "Wilbert Darcey, a 52-year-old former construction worker. He was the father of one of the kids who got kidnapped and taken to Von Hatzfeld island. It was because of him that the case was even opened," Keigo says, showing the screen of his laptop to Max and the others. "His ten-year-old son got kidnapped back in 2011 but the police dismissed the case out of nowhere. In hopes of getting help, Wilbert stood in front of the police station holding a banner for a total of twelve days, not even moving a muscle until the media caught his attention."

     Max stares at the photo of a man standing in front of the station holding a sign that says, "A RICH DEVIL TOOK MY SON." Wilbert also looked thin, probably from the stress he's been having since his son's abduction and the fact that he didn't eat anything for twelve straight days.

     "I bet the Von Hatzfeld family paid the police to drop the case," Vesper confidently says, which everyone in the room agrees with.

     "This article never mentioned the Von Hatzfeld family, most likely because putting that in would automatically delete this whole article, but there is a mention of a place called 'Sin Island,' which I'm pretty sure is the island that the Von Hatzfeld owned," Keigo explains further.

    "So the Secretary of Education, Laurence Chapman, was a part of this scandal as well. But why wasn't he arrested? Why was his name never mentioned anywhere?" Xander then asks a question everyone is dying to know the answer to as well.

     "Someone big is probably backing him up," Max answers for them. "One thing I know about the rich is they get away with a lot of things if they get money involved. It's obvious that Laurence Chapman paid someone to clear his name, and I know damn well that it's one of those attorneys that's infamous for getting people out of their criminal records."

     "So we're gonna find his attorney now?" Keigo dreads, thinking that they're gonna have to search for another unknown person again. Just when he thought that they'd finally be able to solve this whole issue, more problems started arising instead.

     Fortunately, Max looked like he had something in mind.

     "So, do you have a plan on how we can take down that rich and sick Secretary of Education?" Xander asks while Max stares at the list for one last time.

     Max takes a deep breath and walks up to the shattered window, looking at the state of their campus that's now completely wrecked, almost like a huge storm really did come to destroy it.

     "If we want to take down Laurence Chapman, we have to take down the Ministry first, and I know how we'll be able to do that. I know it may seem impossible now, but there's one crucial factor that we seem to have overlooked," Max says, turning back to look at his roommates.

     "And what could that be?" Keigo asks.

     "Well, for starters, we're a house filled with rich and powerful heirs," Max points out. "I get the Saints and how they want to protect everyone, but we have to understand that to the people pulling the strings, secrecy is their greatest weapon. We learned this the hard way thanks to the previous Siren," Max explains.

     "Previous Siren? What did she do?" Xander then wondered, but he wasn't expecting anyone to answer him.

      "We have to tell everyone the truth about the school. We have to tell them that it was sold and that it was never registered. The moment everyone finds out about it, do you think their families would be happy? Billionaires would do everything to get Laurence Chapman accountable," Max explains further, which made a lot of sense.

     "But secrecy wasn't always the problem here," Vesper then argues. "Not to defend those council bastards or anything, but the reason why the Saints didn't say anything or expose the Ministry is because of the very reason why we're doing this in the first place. St. George Academy isn't a real school. Once we expose Laurence and the rest of the Ministry, the students of this house will—"

     "Which is why we're going to entrust everything to my uncle," Max cuts off, making Vesper close his mouth, hoping to hear more about what Max just said.

     "When I spoke to him at the hospital, I already told him that once we find out about what's really going on with this school I'll tell him everything. I'm certain...as stupid as he might be at times, that he will definitely make sure the house he created will not drown in this storm," Max says with so much confidence that none of the guys standing in front of him could even say otherwise.

     Max was entrusting the entire outcome of this plan to President Janus. Max has never trusted anyone this much before, especially someone who wasn't even involved in their plan in the first place, so he must be really optimistic that they can make this work.

     "Alright," Vesper says in defeat. "We'll entrust Janus with the other matter, but how are we gonna get these heirs' attention? How are we gonna get the help of the other white uniforms with everything that's going on now? And considering how we're specifically talking about heirs, then that means you're specifically talking about the gaffers."

     "Well, we need to work as a team. I know this might sound like I'm doing this for selfish reasons, but we need to get the White Uniform Protection Code approved. If we get this code approved, the protection of the gaffers will be gone, and this will greatly affect the Donations or the Offerings system, which is where the Ministry gets most of its money. This will definitely put them in a corner," Max explains.

     "White Uniform Protection Code means Brotherhood Custom," Vesper says this time. "I understand that you asked PHD to get this implemented so you can force the students to approve the code, but things have blown out of proportion. This protection code will make the brotherhood custom permanent. The students will definitely be divided," Vesper explains further, which is something that Max knows full well.

     Max couldn't help but notice how Vesper has been very keen about where this plan is going. Vesper hasn't involved himself this heavily before, and he doesn't throw out his opinions like this at all. The fact that Vesper is overseeing Max's plan just goes to show that Vesper is aware that this is their only chance to make things right with this house. The moment this fails, the moment Max fails and ends up being wrong with everything, they will never be able to fix St. George Academy anymore. Everything they've done so far will rely on this plan. 

     They're creating history with this. Either the good or the bad side of history.

     "I know. That's why we're releasing that," Max then answers, turning to the box that they stole from the convent three days ago. When Vesper, Keigo, and Xander saw what Max was looking at, their jaws instantly dropped.

     "Don't tell me..." Keigo starts, looking at Max like he can't believe what his dear friend is about to do.

     "We're gonna play these tapes throughout the entire campus. I know how bad that sounds, especially since we're practically exposing Klyde's personal recordings, but only he can tell everyone the truth," Max says, trying to convince his friends. "Everyone in this school needs to know why the Division Program was implemented. They need to understand where the hate is coming from. They need to realize that the life they enjoyed so much was born from the suffering of many."

     "And you think that would be enough?" Vesper asks, genuinely curious as to what Max would say.

     Max takes a deep breath and turns to look out of the window again, looking at the cross on top of the cathedral. "I don't think everyone is purely evil. I believe the students of St. George Academy will be able to open their eyes, especially now that they've tasted the very suffering the other students have endured for years."

     The three of them stare at Max without saying anything. Xander was in disbelief, Keigo couldn't help but sigh—as he somehow already expected Max would do such a thing—while Vesper looked at Max with a grin, once again impressed by how different he thought Max would be.

     "You put so much faith in the students here," Vesper tells him, almost like a warning.

     "Well..." Max looks over his shoulder and stares at Vesper with a much more serious expression. "If I don't then who would?"

...

Hedeon continues to sit in front of the main door inside the Saints' dormitory, waiting for the third suspect he mentioned when he first arrived at this school. Hedeon doesn't really enjoy staying in a house like St. George, but he's very serious when it comes to fulfilling a task directly given to him by their leader. He'll definitely find the person who was involved in the unjust defeat of PHD. That's what he promised before he left J.S High.

     "Stallion," a voice calls out.

    Hedeon doesn't even remove his eyes from the main door as a figure appears in front of him. It was none other than the Saints' president, Justice Thorndyke.

     "May I disturb you?" Justice asks.

     "You already are," Hedeon answers with a blank expression, making Justice chuckle.

     "Well, that's true," Justice says, standing beside the king and looking out of the door as well, staring at the damages that have been made in their once beautiful campus. "Thanks to you, the Saints' dormitory hasn't been completely raided. If you weren't here, all of us might have already been kidnapped."

     "My purpose here isn't to stand as your watchdog," Hedeon immediately answers, making Justice grin this time.

     "I know. I'm just saying."

     The two of them became quiet for a while, but then Justice took a deep breath and asked, "You knew that Vice President Alexeev was coming didn't you?"

     When Hedeon didn't answer, Justice continued, "I know that you don't care about what happens to our school, but I hope your underling keeps his word. If he tells the Association what's been happening here, all our—"

     "He won't tell anyone," Hedeon cuts off, finally turning his head to look at the Saints' president, his gaze almost making him gulp. "Gavriil has his reasons, but he will not do anything that will purposely harm Sinclaire."

     "So they really are a thing, huh?" Justice says next, and Hedeon ignores him again and looks back at the entrance. "Anyway, do you know how mad Uchdryd was when he discovered that you knocked out his entire brotherhood the other day?" Justice continues to ask.

     Hedeon sighs, and then he adjusts himself in his seat before telling the president, "Why are you still talking?"

     Justice laughed, but then he moved away from the king and told me, "Sorry, I was instructed to keep you company while waiting for someone, but it seems like they're already here."

     As soon as Justice said that, someone walked up to the entrance of Saints' Haven, almost making Hedeon stand from his seat. But when he saw who it was, he stayed seated.

      "Sinclaire..." he calls out as Max walks in front of him.

      Justice looks at Hedeon for one last time before patting Max's shoulder and taking his leave. As soon as the Saints' president disappears, Max touches his chest and bows to Hedeon as he does in J.S High. Hedeon nods his head to acknowledge him and waits for Max to speak.

     "I apologize if I'm barging here without any warning, but this white uniform would like to ask for your assistance," Max says as Hedeon stares at him straight in his eyes, almost making Max look away from him because of how intense his gaze was.

     Hedeon definitely embodied his title as king.

     "We're planning to gather everyone at the atrium on Sunday, which is two days from now. The students won't dare leave their dorms with the brotherhoods roaming around, which is why I was hoping you could handle them for us. You're the only person here who the brotherhoods would listen to, which is why I'm hoping for your assistance," Max says, bowing his head to Hedeon again while waiting for his response.

     It was quiet for a while, but then Max heard Hedeon adjusting himself in his seat, he lifted his head back to look at the king.

     Hedeon takes a deep breath and doesn't say anything for a while. Max was expecting him to ask for something in return, or ask him what he'll gain from this. But like their first encounter with each other, Hedeon doesn't ask him any of that. Instead, he says, "Consider it done."

     "Wait, seriously?"

     "Or is there something else that you want?" Hedeon asks next, surprising Max even more because he literally prepared different speeches just to persuade Hedeon to accept his request. He should have known he'd be like this based on their previous interaction.

     "Well, since we're already in this conversation, there is something else that I'm hoping to ask of you. I wasn't supposed to open this up because I thought the first request would be too much, but since you asked first, I'm just gonna let it all out," Max explains, and this time, a small smile almost appears on Hedeon's face, impressed that Max changed his demeanor this fast.

     "Does this still involve the brotherhoods?" Hedeon asks him.

     "It involves a specific brotherhood," Max corrects, making Hedeon lift his right eyebrow in curiosity.

     "I know that what I'm trying to accomplish here has nothing to do with J.S High, so once again, I would like to apologize for wasting your time because of my selfishness," Max says before giving another bow.

     "The faster you finish your own task, the faster you'll be joining mine, so there is no need for unnecessary apologies," Hedeon suddenly explains. "As I told you, I came here to assist you, so there is no reason for me to act stubborn."

     "T-Thank you," Max awkwardly says, still not used to hearing a member of Buster's being so understanding.

     "Now, I ask you once again...what is it that you need, white uniform?" Hedeon repeats, and Max takes a deep breath and fixes his posture.

     Max thinks about it for a while, reviewing all the possible reasons why he should continue this. But when he made his decision, he released a breath and finally asked, "I want you to ask Hee-joon to take back the Prince's Law. I want him to take back the Brotherhood Custom."

     As soon as the question was heard, everything became completely quiet. Hedeon didn't say anything, but it was evident that it was a request that he did not expect to hear.

     "Are you certain about this?" Hedeon asks.

     "Yes. I'm one hundred percent certain."

     No one else knew of this conversation, which only meant that no one knew what Hedeon answered at that time. But two days after this exchange, the House of Bishops continued its chaos, unaware of the changes that would soon fall upon them.

     "It's been too quiet," a gaffer says while peeking outside the window of their dorm. "I haven't seen a single brotherhood since last night. What's going on."

     "Are they planning something again? I can't live like this anymore! I want to go home but there's no fucking signal and the Saints won't open the gates for us! And I'm fucking starving!" another gaffer exclaimed, obviously tired and frustrated.

     While the rest of the gaffers were adding more furniture in front of their main entrance to block anyone who would try to barge in, a static sound was suddenly heard throughout the campus, immediately making them cover their ears because of the unbearable sound.

     "W-What's going on?!"

     "What's happening?!"

     The static sound continued for twenty more seconds, but soon after, it abruptly stopped, and then a familiar voice echoed throughout their house for everyone to hear.

     "Hi, this is Klyde Vitus Von Hatzfeld, and this is my weekly log as a new student of St. George Academy. I can't wait to learn and make friends in this house...I just can't wait."

- END -