It was a cold winter night. The white snow fell like frozen tears from the heavens. It was as if the weather was to punctuate events that have yet to unfold.

A katana scraped the ground next to its owner, a man known simply as 'Akui'. With his left hand, he gently rubbed his left eye, tracing the scar that would forever remain there.

It served as a reminder, a reminder of something he needed to rectify.

He then heard footsteps. Walking towards him was a man who never broke away from his cold, confident stride. As expected, the newcomer didn't seem too pleased to see Akui.

"You finally made it," Akui announced in a grandiose manner. "I was starting to think that you wouldn't show, Jomei."

Jomei looked around. The barren rooftop of a random tall building didn't fit the announcer personality Akui was using.

"You don't seem too excited to see me," Akui noted.

Jomei remained silent. He extended and stretched his right hand wide open.

"Always wanting to skip the preamble, huh. Fine."

Hanging from Akui's left side was another katana. Wanting to waste no more time, he violently unsheathed it and flung it at his guest.

Jomei effortlessly grabbed the hilt and ran the blade against ground. Unlike last time, it left a mark.

An amused smile crossed Akui's face as he asked, "You didn't really expect me to pull the same trick this time, did you?"

Jomei gripped the hilt tightly with both hands and charged at his opponent.

Despite one side's jovial attitude, this was not a friendly competition; at least, not one many would consider as such.

It was a game of life and death; whether any side lives or dies depended on skill and luck.

"Why the silent act, Jomei? I thought you liked these games," Akui taunted.

Jomei responded with another heavy strike aimed for his head. Akui quickly raised his blade in response, leading to another struggle to overpower each other.

"Let me guess… You don't appreciate being here at all, right?"

"I also don't appreciate how you insured me showing up," Jomei added.

"You big softie, I didn't think you cared," Akui mocked. "But how else did you expect me to get your attention when you keep ignoring all my attempts to get it?"

The two continued swinging their blades at each other, neither backing down from the danger their fight presented.

Their stalemate lasted for two hours straight until a swift kick to the gut brought Akui to his knees. Looking up, he could see the tip of Jomei's katana a mere inch away from his face.

"You still leave yourself wide open," Jomei stated.

"And you're still an arrogant son of a- Oh, what's the point. That wouldn't be an insult when you say it yourself."

Jomei slowly drew his katana back to his side and promptly stated, "We're done here."

Giving his defeated foe one last cold look, Jomei turned to leave.

Once again left on the ground as Jomei walked away to stew in his failure was the final straw for Akui. With a mighty roar, he charged at the departing winner like a wild animal thirsty for blood. He thrust his blade forward, but his target was no longer there.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Turning his head, Akui was horrified to find Jomei behind him; his cold, unmerciful eyes making it clear this would be the loser's final mistake.

He howled in pain as Jomei slashed his back twice. Blood erupted from Akui's back as he collapsed on the ground.

"Damn… it…"

Those were Akui's last words before vision started to fade.

Jomei stared at the x-shape he carved into the defeated's back before thrusting his katana into the snow clad ground next to him.

"Never show me your pathetic face ever again," Jomei said as he departed.

Present Day…

"…and that was pretty much one of the last times I've seen Jomei," Akui concluded. "Him leaving me for dead or at least unconscious which would have killed me since I was carved open on a snowy winter night away from any witness that could help."

He turned back to his audience behind him. Bound in the middle of the room were Sayori, Natsuki and Monika.

"Are you seriously telling me that you kidnapped us because Shujinkou's dad beat you in a sword fight you forced him into?!" Natsuki exclaimed.

Despite being scared for her life for the last few days, the idea that she, along with here friends, were taken for such a petty reason was maddening to her.

"That's an oversimplication of a complex issue," Akui argued.

The calm, casual and ultimately childish way he responded to her was frightening.

This guy… He's genuinely crazier then I thought it he was."

Natsuki worriedly glanced at her friends. While she obtained a few scrapes in her forced journey to this dank warehouse surrounded by people best described as thugs, Sayori and Monika were covered in bruises with noticeable signs of blood loss.

Like I even had to confirm that…

"Oversimplification or not, its still Jomei related…" Sayori sighed. "Even when he's not around, he's still hurting Shiko somehow… Dads aren't supposed to hurt their children…"

Monika snuck a peek at Natsuki. As she expected, she didn't look too pleased by Sayori's comment.

She wanted to say something, but she had to make sure that they could get out of their current predicament.

Putting her fears aside, Monika looked up at Akui and calmly stated, "What I don't understand is why you're going after Shujinkou if your problem is with his father. He had nothing to do with that moment or any others that led to this."

"True, but…" Akui paused for a moment, considering his next words. "…You'll see when we get to the main event tonight. Besides, there's a little more to the story than just your precious boyfriend."

His mocking comment was all Monika needed to confirm her suspicions. "You mean Yuri, right?"

"Oh, aren't you well informed? You read those magical documents too?"

Just hearing mention of those documents made Monika uncomfortable. To her, their mere presence was more concerning then the fact that only two people can fully read them.

It was strange, despite their current circumstances, she still wondered how Mali obtained them.

"No, I just inferred it from Shujinkou," Monika answered. "I couldn't really read them."

"Bet it was pretty frustrating wasn't it?" Akui said in a obviously fake sympathetic tone. "But yeah, magical, documents only two people can read… Half of me thought it was some kind of bluff to get the authorities to finally get off their butts and do something while the other half thought that maybe there's some ink that only a certain eye can see.

The latter seems unlikely but I can believe it if that Mali kid got it. She seems good at getting things that push her agenda. Makes me wonder who raised her. Heck, it kinda makes me want to recruit her. Could use some fresh blood to add to the group."

When Monika thought about it, it was uncanny how both Mali and Akui talk about the he current situation like it was a game. She couldn't fathom what would make a person treat uprooting lives as if it was a simple game; even Mali's reasoning to why she's seemed to be enjoying the events didn't help her understand.

"Akui!"

An angry scream broke through her confused trance.

"And here's our final piece." Akui announced.

He soon turned around. To his amusement, both Nivia and Yuri were noticeabley battered and bruised.

"Not you too!" sputtered Sayori.

Monika felt a variety of emotions upon seeing Yuri. Naturally she was upset over her friend's capture and worried over her current physical condition, but there was also her he underlying implication that came with it.

Yuri arrived shortly after she and her cousin were captured which means that Yuri had to be captured roughly the same time they were.

If that's the case, then could that mean…?"

"You look like hell," Akui chuckled, his eyes scanning Nivia from head to toe.

Without saying a word, she tossed Yuri towards her captured friends.

"Can you blame me for looking like this?" Nivia snapped. "I had to deal with scratching, biting… she even pulled a knife out on me!"

"It's always the quiet ones," Akui replied.

"Besides you look just as bad as me."

"Yeah, well I had to deal with a school idol that lives up to her athletic rep and her cousin who's just athletic and had a baseball bat. See how my reason sounds better."

"At least you guys made it hard for them…" Natsuki whispered towards the others.

Sayori shook her head. "Not really me. Nivia just really liked hurting me."

Akui turned back towards them and clapped his hands. "Okay, the core group of friends are all gathered. Would've brought the others but we had no time. Now… will my brother come onto the stage?"

Stepping out of a nearby shadowy corner was Akuma, his appearance eliciting writhe mixed emotions exactions from the the Literature Club.

"Akuma?!" Sayori gasped.

"You two are brothers?!" Natsuki exclaimed.

"Yes, yes, I know; how can such a handsome guy like me have a brother with such an ugly mug," Akui joked.

Monika glanced down at Yuri, the young maiden's face showing nothing but sadness.

I guess that's the reason Shujinkou was so vague…

Akuma looked at his brother with a displeased look on his face.

"I know, I know, but no touching until the main event," Akui joked.

"Last thing that was on my mind," Akuma replied, his voice seething with contempt.

"What's your issue?"

Akuma looked at his brother's captives then back at Akui. "You have four young students run through the ringer and bound in a dark, abandoned warehouse."

"I assume you're talking about the three you aren't acquainted with because you sure weren't complaining at the suggestion of grabbing Yuri," Akui calmly snapped back.

With no way to continue the argument, Akuma turned away and scratched his left cheek.

"Anyway all we need now is the daring hero to show up," Akui announced. "Someone go find and escort him here so he doesn't spend another day worrying about his girlfriends."

"You won't be able to do that…" Yuri mumbled.

"Why not? He try and make a run for it?"

"No…" Yuri used her eyes to direct Akui's gaze to Nivia. "Your companion ruthlessly shot him and tossed him into a canal. For all we know, he… he may have already passed due to blood loss or drowning."

Akui quickly looked back at Yuri. Despite seeing the truth in her eyes, he still approached Nivia and asked in a near demanding tone, "Tell me she's bluffing."

"Nope," she unapologetically answered. "He got it in the way, so I got rid of him."

"Oh, well my lovely wife, when you put it that way you made THE ABSOLUTELY WORST DECISION YOU COULD HAVE EVER MADE! Do you think I just gathered all these girls for fun or one specifically for my brother. No, those were perks. I was carefully setting the stage for something and you go and derail the entire thing just because you have something against non-lethally dispatching if someone!"

"What are you snapping at me for? You wanted to scare him by taking his friends. He was scared and he saw the last one snatched right in front of him. Mission accomplished."

"That was the prelude, not the endgame! Akui smacked his forehead in disbelief. "Ugh… I swear the thing I love about you is becoming the thing I hate about you. Same with my mother actually…"

"And yet when I say that about her, I'm a bad son," Akuma sighed.

"Shut the hell up you perverted pedophilic stalker!" Akui exploded. "I'm not in the mood for your so called moral superiority, Mr. Devil!"

"I didn't ask for any of this! Especially being born to that horrid woman!"

"What do you think was something he inciting incident of this whole mess!? I'm not the idiot that kept socially unacceptable photos in a shared classroom closet! What idiot does that!? Why is my family compromised of idiots that irritate me in their own special way!?"

Akui groaned as he buried his head in his left palm.

"It was all perfect; the connections, the name of the night… all that work gone to waste. Am I going to just skip to selling the other three and still debating what to do with the blonde? Did I go through all this for no main event?"

"I don't understand your interest in theatrics.." Akuma denounced.

"Especially since anything Jomei related usually ends up backfiring…" Nivia added rolling her eyes.

"Huh," Akui turned towards Nivia. "That's actually pretty funny."

He then slapped her and yelled, "Now get out there and find the protagonist of this show!"

Never before had the surface seemed so far away. Floating down a body of water, looking up at the sky through its image distorting surface; it was something that some would love.

It felt, for a just a moment, one could be relieved of the weight they carried. One could just spend a moment to themselves and relax.

But that wasn't the situation Shujinkou found himself in. He could a haze of blood float near him as the currents pulled him further down the water.

This could be my last chance… He goes!

Shujinkou tightly covered his bullet wound and positioned his body to swim upward.

"AARGH!"

Using the last remains of his strength, Shujinkou broke the surface of the canal and dragged himself onto land.

The pain he felt was indescribable, but despite feeling that he deserved it, he needed to move past it now. He needed to do something to help his captured friends.

"I can at least report a kidnapping…"

Shujinkou reached into his pocket with his free hand, but was shocked to discover that his phone was missing.

It must have fallen out when I got kicked into the water… Dang it!

Shujinkou clutched his wounded stomach. Just sitting up was unbearable. Even if he was able to come up with a plan to save his friends, there was nothing he could do as he was now.

Wounded and unable to call for help, Shujinkou felt the desire to give up again. He felt this way for a while now, but something was keeping him from doing so. The identity of that something alluded him in his frantic state but at his lowest point, the answer was crystal clear.

I… I have to help my friends. Right now, I'm the only one who can.

But despite his desire, his body wouldn't cooperate. Even the smallest movement of his abdomen sent fresh waves of pain through him.

But… But I can't… I tried… Even though I did everything wrong, I tried my hardest to…

Shujinkou swallowed hard. He couldn't find it in him to finish that sentence.

Even then… it wasn't enough. I can't save them… I'm no adventurer: I'm no legendary soldier, assassin or thief. I'm no hero… I'm just a normal, weak and stupid kid.

Tears crawled down Shujinkou's face. "Mali was right after all, I'm nothing but talk. I said I didn't care who did what but I still tried to do everything on my own even though I had no idea what I was dealing with. I tried to keep the others from worrying and all I did was leave them unprepared.

I just… I just wanted to protect those I cared about but… I couldn't.

I'm sorry guys… I'm so sorry."

"Aww…"

A familiar voice cut through the sorrow afflicting Shujinkou. Looking up, he was shocked to find Mali standing in front of him.

"Senpai's even sadder than usual. What happened?" she asked with her usual innocent smile.

"I messed up. They got everyone and there's nothing that can be done now… I'm hurt and not even sure the police will believe me about knowing where they are even if I tell them what happened…" wailed Shujinkou. LThey didn't give me a chance before…"

"Don't tell me you're giving up. It's unbecoming of Shujinkou to give up at a point like this."

"But what can I do? I don't think I can even stand and I was taken down easily."

"It's true that the odds are stacked against you, but that's usually when Shujinkou shines right?" Mali beamed. This is about the time Shujinkou comes in and saves his potential."

"I'm just a kid, Mali. I'm not going to get some heroic second wind. I can't do anything," Shujinkou said with a sniffle.

"Really…?"

Mali gently removed Shujinkou's hand away from his wound and just as gently placed hers over it. The moment she made contact, it was as if the pain was never there.

"How-?"

"Looks like I'm going to need to get more involved than I thought, Senpai," Mali interrupted.

Shujinkou looked up at Mali. The way he felt now was the same when we woke up in her care or when she caught him in her trap.

Just being near her felt strange. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember? I told you not to expect your Kōhai to magically make things better, but it looks like you really need that to happen."

Mali's eyes narrowed as she moved her giggling face towards his.

"Mali?"

Once again, Shujinkou found it a struggle to remain conscious around Mali.

"Don't worry. I'll do as promised and make sure you arrive at the best possible outcome, Shujinkou."