I sat alone the rest of class, getting the first ten or so pages read. Considering I was still alone, that meant that Megami hadn't returned from the bathroom, which worried me. ("Megami? She's not back yet...") I looked around the gym and there still was no sign of her here. Was it her allergies? Did it get so bad that she was stuck in the bathroom? Is she upset? She just... disappeared. Thankfully that supervising teacher was still there, so I raised my hand and asked to use the bathroom. I could finish the rest of my work later, I was more focused on finding her.

The gym is at the center of the building, so it was surrounded by bathrooms for people to go into. There were two boys rooms, two girls rooms, and two gender neutral bathrooms total on the east and west sides of the gym. Some days Megami goes into the female bathrooms to use, some days into the gender neutral bathrooms, but I never see her go into the mens room, so I knew I had at least four bathrooms to look at while I was just at the gym.

First I would check the east female bathroom, knocking on the door. No response. I opened the door and looked inside, finding that all of the stalls were open. This eliminates that spot. I would then leave to the east gender neutral bathroom, then knocking on that door. No response. ("Where are you, Megami... where did you run off too? I hope you're okay...") I pondered while I steadily walked down to the west side of the gym. Once I reached the west gender neutral, I would knock on the door once more.

A response.

"It's taken!" the voice wasn't Megami's, so I just quickly apologized before heading to the female bathroom. I was hoping that one would be the one where Megami was in, but, before I could even knock on the door, that answer came. Out of the female bathroom, a taller pale woman with bobbed hair and beautiful violet highlights walked out. Though she was pretty, she did not look anything like Megami, thus meaning it wasn't who I was looking for. I apologized for how rude I was for standing outside of the door. I then hung my head down and looked inside the bathroom myself.

"Megamiiiii, are you in heeere?" I called out in this last bathroom while looking around the place. No matter how much I looked though, she wasn't in sight. I looked down to the ground and sighed, closing my eyes in a relieved tone, quietly saying to myself: "Of course you did... this isn't the first time you left a study hall like this. You're probably just asking a lot of questions about an assignment." I was convinced that my question was finally answered, so I could transition classes with some relief in my heart.

Remember when I said that I wouldn't know where my life would be without Megami? I wasn't kidding about that, you know? I worry about her all of the time! She's always so small, frail, and lonely, that I can't help but feel bad for her. She's pretty much been this way since the day I met her. As kids in Elementary School, I met her on the playground when some older students who were just being real nasty pushed her off of the slide during recess, and into the wood chips. I happened to be there to help her up. As soon as I did so, I took her to the teachers to tell them about what happened.

Though I got teased by those older students and called a 'snitch' or a 'tattle tale', they were the ones that got suspended, so that was all that mattered to me. It was from that day on, Megami and I's friendship bloomed. Every day since I first met her, I learned something valuable about myself, my skills, and how to communicate with others! I can't help but be thankful I met her, even though she is the butt of most students' jokes

Though I try to stand up for her, there were still some days where I couldn't. This was especially true in Junior High. The lunches at Junior High were a lot pricier than Elementary School and High School, but the quality was much greater. Megami could only do school lunches due to having little clue how to make a proper meal for herself (On the days she tried, she usually just packed slices of cheese and uncooked rice). Because she always had money on her, she would end up being the center of robbery by other students. These kids took that money and either split it among themselves, used it to bribe teachers, or buy snacks from the cafeteria before selling them later for profit. They called themselves 'Clan Dei Diavoli' ("Clan of the Devils"). It was an extremely edgy name that only lasted the first few years before they were renamed to 'I-35'. Clan of Devils, I-35, whatever their names ended up being, it always hurt the same to see them cause my friend so much pain. Sometimes she sat there for days on end with no lunch, and all I could do was watch her mourn. I always tried to offer her my lunch, but she more often than not refused it.

The teachers were in CDD's business just as much as the students were, so reporting the Devil Clan's activity didn't do anything but spark laughter. It was from these shrugged off reports that bystander students who never had any experience with the Devil Clan were convinced that the gang was 'only a myth'. I always knew it was real. Everyone who pays attention to this school knows I-35 is real, and choose to accept it, or face... horrific consequences.

Since I have gone to High School, I-35 has only grown stronger. So strong in fact, that what happened between Miyuki and Seijo is considered 'normal'. Our lunch hours have turned into a massive food trade with students bringing plastic sacks of random things they buy at the dollar store, bring from home, find under the bedsheets, spare clothes, parents' jewelry, who knows what, and students will bring it to trade for profit. What people don't sell in the lunch hour do so at club times at the end of the day. Those who bring stuff to the trade I often hear labeled as 'Baggers'. Aside from that, I don't hear the rest of the gang's power openly talked about.

Anymore, Megami doesn't seem to be a center for financial gain for the gang. Infact, most people avoid her anymore. It's the same case with me too, though in most cases people end up 'disappearing' instead. For example, one day last year I was asked out on a date by a guy in my orchestra class! This would be the first time I go to one of the school festivals with someone! No one else wanted to ask me, but this guy did! To my disbelief, the next day I learned that he 'transferred schools', my dream of going with someone crushed. He's only one of many examples though.

It may sound scary to be one of the students attending Maguro High, and you would be right! Especially when there is someone in the school who has such a powerful influence like 'The Boss' and can make someone you know just 'disappear' without a trace, like they were never existent in the first place. Everyone who attends not only Maguro High, but other schools in the district, have to act carefully... because no one knows when 'The Boss' learns of you stepping out of line. What do you have to do to not anger them? Who knows?! There are no rules outlined in the first place... it's everyone's gamble, member of I-35 or not.

'The Boss' is the 'big celebrity' of the school. I hear a lot of jokes passed around by people who claim to 'have met the boss'. It's become a 'running gag' anymore that someone at your lunch table will say 'I've met the boss, they're an alien from mars!' or some other crazy claim. When they're not making jokes about the identity of I-35's boss though, people are talking often about school sports celebrities.

Erin Seijo was all of the talk back in the day when I was a first year! It was considered an honor to meet someone like him who held multiple endurance records from his ability to never run out of energy. His endurance wasn't the only impressive thing however, his fighting skills were on another level. He was able to beat the previous Martial Arts Club leader within a few short moves, then go on and win multiple titles in tournaments throughout the district! I was there for that club fight and was astonished by Erin's level of strength, but I was too nervous to approach him. That was until he approached me the next day at lunch, our relatively 'rocky' friendship beginning.

This year though, the hype for Seijo was overshadowed by the excitement around "The Iron Leg is coming to Maguro High!", a craze that started in the last few weeks of my first year and still exists now. I'm not much of a fan of soccer, but even I was interested because of the tales about this soccer player. Someone so precise that they were labeled 'untouchable'? Someone with so much power that they can destroy heavy-duty nets with the ball? There is the story of Miyuki punting the ball to the top of a 3 story building so many times in a single game that the school had to actually move their soccer field! There is the story of Miyuki kicking a ball and said ball crossing the entire Junior High campus! That is just a few of her feats, so a lot of the sports people were excited to hear the possibility of this powerhouse coming as a first year, hoping that she would try out for the soccer team in the high school.

She is such a celebrity here and I saw so many students looking over at her during PE and Lunch, but no one bothered talking to her. From what I saw on her first day, she always ignored her fans when they asked about her career, which I never understood why she would do that. I don't even get it now. I never really got to know Miyuki in Junior High, and I don't even know her now, so who am I to guess her reasoning? I can't help but empathize with Miyuki. She was a lot like I was before I met Megami: Eager to socialize, but too nervous, awkward, and sheltered to really know where to start. I was glad she chose me for that reason, and I can tell she was too by what she had told me:

"Thanks for... speaking to me by the way, Manaka. Y-you're nice..."

She needed conversation, yet, she got jumped by I-35 the day after for what I can infer, doing the same thing everyone else who disappeared did. What makes me so special? What hurt even more was that she was set up by my close friend and his dad in a plot to kill her because of her choosing to talk to me... I wish I didn't feel so trapped... I wish my friends would get along without hurting each other... I wish people didn't find robbing their peers 'normal'... and I wish I could have just gone to a 'normal' high school. There are a lot of things I wish I could do but I didn't have the courage to act.

Not until today.

Erin Seijo was a part of I-35. After that second day of school, I realized that he was responsible for the people disappearing around me, and if it weren't for my best friend, he would have succeeded at killing someone else. She saved a student's life, and I didn't want her to possibly get caught by the hands of I-35 again for doing something so selfless, which was an act I rarely ever see her do.

This brings us back to me standing there in that female bathroom. Megami could be in trouble! Would she be alright by herself? She seems to always be fine by herself, but there are no promises when we are on I-35 property, and for all I'm concerned, just declared war on them! Deciding that my math class could wait, I left the bathroom at the bell and started down the hallway.

Right as the bell was sounded, students crowded down the hallways like a large swarm of bees! Bees that instead of being angry and stung you if you got too close, they were friendly, and more than happy to wash you down the endless sea of people.

I stuck as close as I could to the crowd, trying to remember to myself what teachers Megami had. I know she has Ms. Cumber after PE. Since Ms. Cumber is her third period, I felt like I should definitely look there first.

Ms. Cumber's class was upstairs, so I had to be a part of the crowd and squeeze my way through the steps. These steps were one of the things I didn't like the most about the school. Who's idea was it to make these stairs so steep? Just one flight of stairs was exhausting. What made it worse though was the fact that some students like to have races up the stairs! That happened this time around while I was climbing, suddenly getting pushed to the side by the two who were trying to do just that. While I stayed quiet and ignored their game, other people in the crowd were yelling with a bad case of road rage- or I guess I should say 'stair rage'. Typically with this kind of yelling comes with other escalating events, so me along with other students who didn't wanna be a part of the soon-to-become-a-brawl scene upped our paces through the stairs and to the next floor.

After walking through this tough crowd for over a minute, I was finally able to make it to the art class. I could tell by the strong smell of paint and Clorox that I was at the right spot. I looked inside to see the elderly teacher sitting at her desk. The class wasn't occupied. No students came in yet... and there was no sign of Megami. I didn't really care for Ms. Cumber's class, she used to be pretty mean to the students until her pay got cut, or so that is what I heard. The type of artwork posted in the room was still cool to look at, so I come by every so often to look inside from the doorway. There was a new painting that I noticed which was hanging onto a corkboard with a thumbtack. It was a simple apple tree with a unique bark color painted on cardboard. It was at the back of the classroom though so I couldn't see who made it or what class period it was from. I liked it though, whoever made it was much better than I was at art.

With that out of the way, I went ahead and tried checking the rest of the classrooms. Students were now piling into their classrooms, so the crowds were not as nearly as intense as they were a moment ago. By now the brawl on the stairways was over too, so I had no problem using the stairs and exhausting myself as I checked every. single. classroom. that Megami goes to in a day. This was going to take a very very long time.

-.-

FINALLY! My legs were burning after I climbed the steps a countless number of times. As expected, nothing. I was tired, sore, worried, and my friend was still missing... she wasn't in Ms. Cumbers like she should be, so if she wasn't in class, then where was she? I felt like I was hanging by a thread in this search. I even tried sending her a text with my phone! She's skipped study halls before, but she's never skipped class before. ("Come on Omo, you can do this! Megami is just- she's just uh- doing something. Doing something? How can she be just doing 'something'?! Silly me, you need to look! She could be in trouble! There is no way around it, she has to be! I can't let these- these punks get a hold of her. Don't give up now...") I frantically thought, then catching a break for my legs by sitting down in the hallways as I thought about what I should do next.

("Teachers are in this gang's business just as much as the students are... but I've never seen them work with the administration.")

That's it!

I need to see the administrator's office!

I remembered Headmaster Sato and Yuto Seijo talking, so I recalled the Headmaster's words: "If Administration was closed then we wouldn't have had school in session. I was still on campus. [...] we prioritize our children's safety [...]". As the Headmaster he wants to protect us children, then surely he'll want to protect Megami. Maybe... just maybe he is somehow left in the dark of this gang's activity. If I can inform him, he could be the key to stopping I-35!

The administrator's office was closed again as I expected. The lights were off and it was completely empty just like the days before. The sight of it was still bizarre, even if I knew why they weren't there. I could sigh with relief though, because looking inside the administrator's office I could see the Headmaster's office's light on...

...and with his door open.

Anyone who stood outside the office could see the inside and look directly at the... completely baron office that had the title 'Headmaster Sato' on its wide open door.

"...Headmaster?" I slowly asked, reaching for the door handle and shaking it. It was loose. That meant that it wasn't locked. There wasn't even a new note on the door! I opened the door slowly to the administrator's office. The slow creak of the door was the only thing that could be heard here aside from my increasingly scattered breaths. I didn't like walking into the safest place in the entire campus when it was reduced to anything but that, being a dark... empty... and abandoned office. The admins should be here to protect us children, right?... If none of them are here then we couldn't have a safe school to run, so the Headmaster HAD to be here somewhere.

"Headmaster?" I called into the dark and empty office area, only getting the echo of my voice in return.

"...M-Mr. Sato? Ar-Are you in here?" I called out, raising my voice a little higher, praying for a response. My knees were shaking and I could just feel the sweat dripping down my face as I reluctantly looked around the place.

I eventually arrived at Mr. Sato's office, which looked even emptier than I thought it was when I looked at it from outside. There were no books on the shelf. The carpet was shiny and spotless. The walls looked like they had a fresh coat of paint. The desk was cleared of its computer monitor, system, keyboard, binders, supplies, everything. The only thing left on the desk was something shiny and eye-catching. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry I've ever seen! I looked at it up close so I could see the intricate details on this thin golden necklace. On this necklace, there was a small tube about the size of your index finger from the bottom knuckle to the middle knuckle. The tube itself was sealed in a golden cap which boasted unique carvings. I couldn't figure out what the carvings were, but it looked very precious and majestic.

"Woaaah, this looks so pretty! Why is this left in here, though? Better yet, why is everything empty in this room?" I asked myself, looking around the room with the necklace now in my hand. "Is Headmaster Sato moving rooms?... WAIT!" It hit me! I felt like I finally understood everything! "I know why the administrators are doing their work from home! I know why it's empty! The front office is changing locations, isn't it?! Oh my god.... So this is Headmaster Sato's! He left this behind and forgot to lock the door!" I exclaimed, looking at the necklace in my hand.

"I have to find Mr. Sato and give this to him! That way, no one can steal it, and I can also ask him about Megami!" I smiled. It all made sense to me now... while I hated the idea of another search, I knew that this will pay off once I can finally find him.

This was the best idea ever.

-.-

It was nightfall of same day. Despite her efforts to find Headmaster Sato, she learned from her teachers that he had left school early. This meant she had to hold onto that necklace until the weekend passed. The teen went home uneasy, knowing she accidentally stole something from the Headmaster, and just lost both of her best friends in one school week. Though she was uneasy, she wasn't alone in that feeling. Someone else was just as restless as she was... so much so, they called a meeting with their top employees after school was over.

Running their hand through their dark hair, this person would slam their fist on the arm of their large throne-like chair, maybe saying a few not-so-school friendly words after. Who knows where this was located in the school building. Not many could tell because of the lights being shut off and only lit with candle light. "I can't fucking believe it. The guard didn't do his job! Instead he decided it was a smart idea to take a shit and leave the door to the sacred object he was meant to protect WIDE OPEN for people to see! GOD! So who was it that stole the necklace?!" they shouted at their hooded figures. "Was it you? Taru? You seem to have the fondness for financial gain..."

"Wh-What?! NO! H-how could you say that boss?" The shortest hooded figure would say in a sudden shocked tone.

"Oh come now, you think I wouldn't know that you wanted that gift for yourself? What about you?" The Boss said, looking at the one next to the one known as 'Taru'

"Nuh-uuuh! It totally wasn't me! I ain' done nothin. I wasn' even here today!"

"Tch. How badly do you guys want to be a part of this family, huh? Do you want to be locked up by the fuzz that bad?" The Boss scoffed in a tone of distaste and sheer disappointment in their employees. "How bad?! Answer me!"

"Boss, if I may shift the topic, I recall hearing that Miyuki Sekken was released from the hospital early." The taller middle employee would say in a respectful tone, the male bowing respectfully.

"Miyuki? Slippy? What of it? Is that peasant of any concern to you?"

"Hahah... no, of course not. As the Captain of your most elite task force 'The Barricades', I understand that we are nothing but your strongest specimen. All it took was Erin Seijo, a mere grunt to incapacitate her for days. Even the weakest of my men would be an overkill." The employee said calmly, then standing back up to face the boss.

"You have the most experience out of anyone else in this business, you are too good to be given such an easy task such as fighting a peasant. This doesn't however answer the fact that our key to power was stolen under our noses!" The Boss frowned. "There is only one of these necklaces left. If this necklace gets into the wrong hands, then you can kiss our family good-bye! I want the Baggers, Vaulters, and Truckers to look for that damned necklace!" they then barked at their employees, then looking back at the respectful middle employee and changing to a softer tone. "Barricades can throw the fuzz a bone and give the soap a Hot Tamale."

All four of the hooded employees nodded, then turned around and walked away.