An entire week had passed since Victor, Kiana, and Yuzuki transferred to Chiba Academy.
The tense staring matches between the two boys had faded into something more tolerable—if not exactly friendly. In their place came a whirlwind of attention. Their sudden popularity spread like wildfire across the student body. Yuzuki's warm personality won hearts left and right. Kiana's bubbly cheer became the light of every class. And Victor... Victor was placed atop a silent pedestal, admired for his aloof charm, feared for the shadows that clung to him—and envied for his unmistakable connection to Lady Eden.
Victor leaned against the desk, arms crossed. "Heading home already?" he asked as Mei rose, neatly stacking her papers and sliding them into her bag.
She nodded. "One of the teachers asked me to prep materials for the upcoming physical exams. I need to go home and print out copies for the whole class."
"Aww, seriously?" Kiana whined, puffing her cheeks as she continued tugging at Yuzuki's face. "But today's our one-week transfer squad anniversary! We're supposed to be partying!"
Mei gave a faint smile, arching an eyebrow. "Isn't that your own little group? Why would my absence matter?"
Victor sighed and gave a half-hearted shrug. "Because you're one of us. Whether you like it or not."
Yuzuki nodded in earnest agreement. "You're the final member of the squad, remember?"
Kiana chimed in with a thumbs-up. "We even voted! Unanimously!"
Mei paused—one hand frozen on the strap of her bag. Her expression shifted, something unreadable flickering across her face. For a breath, she looked like she might smile. Instead, she turned her gaze downward and pivoted away.
"Save me your pity… See you tomorrow, Victor." Her voice was quiet. Not sharp. Just tired.
The door closed behind her before any of them could respond.
"...What did we do?" Kiana murmured, clearly surprised at her antics.
"It's not us," Yuzuki said, pulling his bag over his shoulder. "She's distancing herself because of what people are saying. About her father."
The halls were nearly silent as they walked—clubroom doors open here and there, laughter and occasional shouts drifting through the stillness like distant echoes.
"Poor girl," Elysia mused, perched beside Victor as only he could see, her arms around his shoulders like poison ivy. "She really should focus more on the fact she has such great friends... and an amazing man by her side, no?"
Victor chuckled softly. "She puts up walls like she's trying to keep something from breaking. But yeah... underneath it all, she's kind. Just a little scared."
Kiana, walking backward in front of the boys now, glanced toward him with a pout. "Speaking of scared… I don't like how people are treating her lately. I saw some girls talking behind her back earlier. And that senior who keeps bugging her by the vending machines? Creepy vibes, for real."
She crossed her arms and looked up at Victor. "Can't you do something? You're like, really strong, right? Scare 'em or something."
Victor shrugged with a weary smirk. "I'll ask Eden. But don't hold your breath."
Just then, as they passed one of the open walkways overlooking the inner courtyard, Kiana stopped cold.
"Hey—wait."
Below them, in the corner shadows of the courtyard garden, a group of senior students had cornered Mei. Her back was pinned to the wall by a taller boy with slicked-back hair and a too-casual smirk. Around him, two others leaned in, blocking her path. She didn't cry, didn't scream. But her hands were balled at her sides, trembling.
"C'mon, why so cold?" the leader drawled, one hand pressed to the wall beside her head. "Your dad's in deep, right? Lucky for you, my old man's got strings he can pull. Real generous guy. All you gotta do is come hang with me for a bit. Keep me company. Give me a good time, yeah?"
Victor's steps halted mid-stride.
His expression darkened.
Yuzuki's eyes narrowed, fists clenching. Kiana stared for half a second longer before she exploded into motion.
"Hey!"
The seniors looked up at the three of them with flat, disinterested stares, as if they were little more than insects buzzing at their feet. The leader, tall and smug with a cheap cologne of entitlement wafting off him, tilted his chin toward Mei.
He smirked. "Beat it, kids. I ain't got time for you. But… leave the girl. She's plenty cute too."
"Excuse me!?" Kiana's voice cracked through the courtyard like a whip, her ponytail bouncing as she stormed a step forward.
But she didn't need to. Victor and Yuzuki moved first—swift, clean, and without hesitation.
Victor's fist hit the man on the left like a hammer, bone meeting bone with a sickening crunch as his opponent reeled back with a broken nose. Yuzuki spun low, his foot snapping out like a whip and slamming hard into the stomach of the man on the right, folding him in half with a sharp grunt.
"...Fils de pute " Victor hissed, his voice like ice as he clawed the dazed boy's face, then gripped his collar and hurled him over his shoulder in one brutal movement.
The boy flew—and before he even touched the ground, Kiana spun in, leaping up with both feet tucked in and kicked him square in the crotch mid-fall. He collapsed with a soundless scream, twitching on the tiles like a stunned insect.
Yuzuki was a viper—silent, coiled, and merciless. His movements were precise, honed, almost too fast to track. As another senior lunged at him from behind, Yuzuki ducked, twisted, and with a flash of silver from his hidden belt sheath, the glint of a knife traced the air as he slashed across the man's forearm—not deep, but sharp enough to send him stumbling back with a howl.
Victor didn't stop. His eyes burned with rage, perhaps something colder. He leapt over the collapsed boy with ease and brought both knees down in a crushing blow onto the leader's chest, knocking the breath from his lungs in one vicious strike. The thug wheezed, all arrogance wiped from his face.
"Think you're special?" he hissed weakly, trying to force his breath back as he grabbed Victor's shirt. "You know who my father is—?"
But Kiana was not having it and followed up on Victor's attack with a swift stomp at the leader's head, her hands raised in a peace sign as she offered a high five to Victor who begrudgingly gave it to her. Yuzuki crouched beside the now unconscious man, calm as a whisper. With one smooth motion, he placed the hilt of his knife into the man's palm, leaving it there as evidence. He leaned in close, his voice a breath against the boy's ear.
"Self-defense," he murmured.
"Wh-What?" Mei mumbled, breath hitching as her wide eyes darted between the crumpled bodies at her feet and the trio standing before her like avenging spirits summoned from the depths of her desperation.
"W-Why…?" she managed to breathe out, voice cracking under the strain of confusion, adrenaline, and something dangerously close to relief.
"No time," Victor cut in, sharp and commanding as he grabbed her wrist. "We're leaving. Now."
"Let's bounce," Yuzuki muttered his eyes scanning the courtyard warily in case more reinforcements arrived. He turned to Mei with a gentle nod. "Can you walk?"
Kiana gave a mock salute, already clinging to Yuzuki's arm like a medal of honor. "That. Was. So. Cool!" she beamed, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder with childish glee. "Like—bam! Whoosh! You were like a sneaky little ninja viper or something!"
Yuzuki chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck, trying (and failing) to hide the faint pink tinge on his cheeks. "You helped too, you know."
"Pshhh, please. I only gave that guy a free trip to the stars." Kiana winked.
Victor let out a breath of amusement, the ghost of a smirk forming on his lips.
"Let's just get home before Eden finds out and we all get lectured to death."
"Wait."
Victor paused, brows furrowing as he looked back.
"Why... did you help me?" Mei asked, her words small, but raw—stripped of the pride and distance she usually kept between herself and others. "You barely know me."
For a moment, silence. Then—
"Because you're our friend, dummy!" Kiana said with a huff, hands on her hips as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "That's what friends do, right? Kick creeps in the face and look cool doing it!"
Mei blinked.
Yuzuki offered her a gentle shrug, brushing dirt off his sleeve. "Because I wanted to," he said simply. "That's reason enough."
Victor's eyes lingered on her for a moment longer, unreadable.
Then, softly—but with weight—he said, "Because it's the right thing to do... when someone precious is being hurt."
Mei's breath hitched. Her heart stuttered, painfully loud in her chest. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she glanced away, unsure how to respond.
"I don't need you to hold my hand," she mumbled, brushing Victor's fingers off her wrist—only to reach out a second later and take his hand in hers of her own accord.
"Let's go..," she said, barely louder than a whisper.
The three looked at her, surprised—but none of them questioned it.
They ran.
And for the first time in what felt like years, Mei smiled.