Mikono nervously twitched as she and Niijima approached the two men. Before grabbing their attention, she was stopped by the student council president. "Grab your phone and call Kurusu-san. We need to make sure to record this conversation."

"Right." Mikono searched through her school bag and grabbed her phone. She quickly selected Akira's number from her contacts and called him. It took only a split second for him to answer.

"Where are you?" He demanded with a worried tone.

She locked gazes with Niijima, who simply nodded. Glancing at the men in the distance, she replied, "Central Street. Niijima-san wants the call to be recorded. Please, just stay on the line, Akira."

The boy was silent for a few seconds before responding, "All right."

Mikono sighed in relief and listened to Ann, Morgana, Yusuke, and Ryuji in the background as she and Niijima were spotted by the men. Carefully, she lowered her phone and put it on speaker the moment the men gave them their full attention.

Niijima hardened her gaze, eyeing the strangers. "Do you guys know Kaneshiro?"

The cerulean-eyed girl couldn't believe how forward she was being knowing the dangers of the situation. She blinked in astonishment, watching the two men close the distance between them.

"What?" The one dressed in a jacket and sweatpants questioned.

Mikono could hear Ryuji yell from the other end of the call and promptly hid her phone.

Niijima glances back at her. "We heard we could find someone named Kaneshiro if we came to Central Street."

More worried yelling came from the phone, resulting in Mikono to muffle it with her hand. This time, she heard Ann's and Yusuke's worried voices instead of Ryuji's. Remaining silent, she stepped closer to Niijima when the man in the suit took another step towards them. "What're you getting at?" He hissed.

"He's blackmailing the students of Shujin Academy, is he not?" Niijima snapped back. "Tell him if he doesn't want us talking to the police about it, he'd better agree to meet with us."

She stood her ground when the sloppily dressed man entered her personal space and shoved his face into hers. "You two got a death wish or somethin'?"

"We're only trying to protect our fellow students," Mikono growled, glaring daggers at him. Deciding to remain silent no longer, she stepped forward and stood beside Niijima. "Are you going to contact Kaneshiro or do we have to go to the police? I happen to be close friends with Chief Goto himself."

"Why you...!" He snarled.

"Hold the damn phone!" The other man shouted at his companion. "We'll give the boss a call. This better not be a setup."

Mikono rolled her eyes. "We're two high school girls. What could we possibly do besides call the police?"

"...Good point..." He took out his own phone and called Kaneshiro.

While the two men weren't paying attention to them, Mikono checked her phone to make sure Akira was still on the other end. Whispering, she asked, "Are you still there, Akira?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. We're on our way to Central Street. Don't do anything reckless, all right?" He begged.

Before she could reply, a black sedan entered the alleyway and pulled up beside them. "I think that's going to be impossible."

"Why?" He inquired. "What's going on, Mikono?"

Before she could reply, the man in the suit opened the door to the passenger's seat, lowered his phone, and eyed them with an annoyed expression. She promptly lowered her phone and hid it from him. "He says he'll meetcha. Get in," he said, opening the door to the backseat.

Niijima glared at him. "You better be taking us to Kaneshiro."

The man behind her and Mikono shoved them forward. "He said get the fuck in!"

Mikono was tempted to snap back but held her tongue as she entered the car. She scooted all the way over and Niijima sat in the middle seat with the man on her left.

The crimson-eyed girl glances toward Mikono and the phone. Without conveying words, she wondered if her companion was still on the phone with Akira. When she received a nod of confirmation, she redirected her attention to the man behind the wheel as the car drove out of the alleyway.

"Contact Kaneshiro-san," one man said. "Tell him we got two good ones."

"Where are we going?" Niijima pried.

Mikono glanced out the back window just in time to see Akira, Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, and Morgana enter the alleyway. She watched helplessly as they entered busy traffic and left Central Street, leaving behind her mortified friends. She nibbled the inside of her cheek nervously as they drove down the highway.

The man to the left of Niijima ignored her question and eyed both girls as if they were prey. "I guess we can't do anythin' to 'em if they're Kaneshiro-san's customers."

"Hey, I asked a question here. Where are we going?" Niijima growled.

"Shut the hell up," the man in the driver's seat barked. Hearing the threatening nature of his tone, Niijima fell silent. She leaned back in the seat and tried to get comfortable but couldn't.

Mikono glances down at her phone, which was now hidden under her thigh, and noticed the call was still connected. She also saw the others were beginning to text her in a desperate attempt to make sure they were fine. Ignoring the messages, she looked up just in time to see they pulled off the highway and entered the backstreets of an area not far from Central Street. They were still in Shibuya, but the area was filled with rundown buildings and sleazy-looking individuals prowled the streets.

The car pulled into another alleyway and stopped. Examining where they were, Mikono spotted the neon sign that displayed the name of a club. Her thoughts were derailed when the car door flung open and she was dragged out of the car by the driver. "Stop fuckin' around and get inside," he snarled.

She yanked her arm out of his grasp, scowling at him as she entered the club with Niijima behind her. From there, they were guided to a VIP room and came face to face with a chubby man. A young woman sat beside him, giggling.

Once the men escorted them further into the room, Niijima and Mikono froze when they learned this was the real Kaneshiro. He leaned back against the sofa with an annoyed huff. "So, you two wanted to see me, huh?"

"We're here to stop all this," Niijima started. "Why are you targeting high schoolers to do your dirty work? And don't try to deny it. We already know you've targeted many of our classmates at Shujin."

Kaneshiro sighed in boredom. "What an idiotic question... You already know the answer."

"It's because they're easy and perfect targets," Mikono deduced. "And since they're high schoolers, they don't hold the power an adult does. You can easily manipulate them and bend them to your will if they slip up."

"Bravo," Kaneshiro said.

"That's not right!" Niijima bellowed. "You're using their own families against them!"

The mafia boss chuckled. "Why, of course. The best way to whip them into shape is to threaten those they love."

"As the student council president of Shujin, I...!"

Mikono grabbed Niijima's arm and tugged. "Calm down, Niijima-san. At this rate, we'll..."

The student council president yanked her arm out of the girl's grasp and accidentally knocked the phone to the ground. Seeing what she did, she gasped.

Mikono tried to recover her phone quickly, but it was too late. Kaneshiro spotted the phone and ordered his men to restrain them. One man grabbed Niijima and shoved her to the ground, pinning her arms behind her back. She struggled against him, but he was stronger than her and he didn't budge an inch.

The man in the suit grabbed Mikono and shoved her down on the couch. She clawed at him and managed to scratch his cheek, which only made him angrier. He straddled her waist and pinned her hands beside her head. She glowered at him, gritting her teeth as she kicked her legs. Images of Banri and Kamoshida flashed through her mind and she couldn't suppress them. "Get the hell off me, you sicko!"

"Shut the hell up!" He hissed, tightening his grip on her wrists. "You were callin' the police, weren't you, you bitch?!"

"Akira, huh? Your boyfriend?" Kaneshiro read the name that was displayed on the screen of the phone he was handed with a smirk. Ending the call, he accessed her apps and private information. When finding an image of her parents and herself standing in front of the museum, his grin festered. "I thought you looked familiar. You're the daughter of those rich folks in Shibuya. What were their names again? Oh yeah, Dr. Blackwell and Dr. Tsutsui."

One of the men watching over the scene found Niijima's phone on her person and confiscated it too. He handed it over to Kaneshiro, who searched through its content. He wasn't surprised what he found out. "And you're seriously the student council president of Shujin. This must be my lucky day."

"What in the world?!" A voice shrieked as the door to the room flew open.

Looking at who it was, Mikono saw her friends had found them. She felt relieved but it was short-lived when remembering where and who they were with.

"Who the fuck are you?!" One man shouted.

"Mikono! Niijima-San!" Yusuke hollered once seeing what the men were doing to the two girls.

Ryuji couldn't contain his anger. "What the hell'd you do to them?!" He then jabbed a finger at the man who was restraining his best friend. "And you, asshole! Get the hell off of her or I'm gonna come over there and kick your ass!"

Kaneshiro lowered Niijima's phone and placed it on the table beside Mikono's. "Oh, I get it." He then glared at his men. "You got followed, you dumb shits!" He leaned forward and pried open the briefcase sitting on the table. He handed the girl sitting beside him three million yen after she told him how much the purse she wanted costs.

Ryuji's brows furrowed in confusion when Kaneshiro told her to thank them. "What...?"

"I'm royally pissed right now. Can you tell? You know how spending money relieves stress? It's you goddamn brats sniffing around like dogs and barging in here like you own the joint!" He snarled before gesturing to the briefcase. "See this empty space? I'm so pissed that now there's a three million yen gap here. It pisses me off even more if I don't fill it up. I'm a perfectionist. So, good luck."

Yusuke expresses the group's confusion. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Kaneshiro took out his own phone and snapped a picture of the group. He snickered after analyzing the photo. "Come on, you all look so tense. I think I'll call it... "Debauchery of Minors at a Club." So, can I send this to your school?"

"That's-!" Niijima gasped.

"Oh, damn, I got booze and cigs in the shot! Maybe some drugs, too?" He lowered his phone with a satisfied smirk. "Ahh, this is so hilarious. I feed on dumbshits like you. Understand, pretty little student council president? Now listen up. Run your mouth to the police, and I'll break all of you, starting with your families. I want to give you the usual month, but well, you have such a large group and the daughter of two rich assholes here. Three weeks. Bring three million yen by then. No less. Summer bonuses are around the corner, you know? It'll be easy if you beg your mommies and daddies. Or you could just have your pretty little friend over there steal the amount from her parents who're swimming in dough. I doubt they'll notice it's gone. That's pocket change for them."

"Like hell I will," Mikono murmured under her breath.

"Now get out of my sight. I'm about to have some fun," Kaneshiro demanded, tossing the girls' phones across the room. Ann caught both devices with ease.

The man restraining Niijima released her, but the one holding Mikono at bay didn't listen. Seeing this, Akira took a step towards him. "You heard your boss."

"Oh, c'mon," he scoffed. "We can at least keep one of these chicks, right, boss?"

Kaneshiro ignored him and Mikono took the advantage of the man's withdrawn attention. She broke free from his grasp and head-butted him. However, she miscalculated her hit and wound up smacking her nose against his. Although it hurt, her hit was enough to stagger him. She shoved him off of her and to the floor, holding her throbbing nose. "Ugh, that hurt..."

Akira intentionality stepped on the man's hand as he fought against the pain in his face. He cried out when the boy's shoe crushed his fingers. With a satisfied smirk, the messy-haired teen gently took ahold of his girlfriend's hand and escorted her out of the club. Silently, they made their way to a safer part of Shibuya.

|| 6/20 Monday ||
|| Evening ||

Once they were a safe distance from the club, Niijima stopped and apologized. "I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to drag you in like this, especially you, Tsutsui-san."

"You didn't drag me along, Niijima-san," Mikono replied, lowering her hand from her face. "I willingly tagged along. We both did something careless."

The crimson-eyed girl casted her gaze downward, her voice weak as she spoke. "I was stupid..."

"I must agree," Yusuke spoke up. "You should've easily imagined this happening."

Ann spun around and scolded the artist. "Hey, Yusuke..."

Niijima winced. "I was so caught up in trying to be useful..."

Ryuji couldn't stand it any longer. "All right, enough of the blame game! What's done is done."

Once again, Niijima hung her head with a dejected sigh. "I'm going to cause trouble for Sis too..."

Ann casted her attention toward the short-haired girl. "Sis?" She reiterated.

"My older sister has a commendable job and she's a much more remarkable person than me. A lot happened after we lost our father three years ago, so it's just us living together. But I'm still a child so all I am is a burden to her," she explained.

Mikono sighed in disbelief. "Listen, Niijima-san, we all want to be useful to someone. But you have to think about the consequences of your actions first and foremost. Also, you haven't even stepped out into the real world yet. Who knows, you might hold a higher position in society than your sister in the future. Right now, you're working toward securing your own future. I know family is important, but you'll eventually have to walk on your own two feet with or without their approval. But just remember, if you can't see the value in yourself, no one else will."

Niijima stared in astonishment at her. "Tsutsui-San..."

Ryuji crosses his arms with a smirk. "You sure you weren't a philosopher in a previous life, Mikky?"

She raised a brow and asked, "Can you even name one philosopher, Ryuji?"

"I can! Wasn't his name Pluto or somethin' like that?"

The cerulean-eyed girl hung her head with a heavy sigh. "All those times we've studied together have gone down the drain..."

"What?" The blonde eyed his best friend. "Did I get it wrong?"

"I think you meant to say Plato, but for you, Pluto is close enough even though it's a dwarf planet and not a philosopher."

"Hell yeah! I've gotten better at this stuff!" He grinned in satisfaction.

"You wish..." Morgana muttered under his breath.

"Anyway..." Mikono reverted the conversation back to Niijima. "If you really want to be helpful, think of a way to be useful without risking your life or the lives of others."

"I...I think I understand. But...I still have to apologize for being useless, especially to you and Takamaki-San." Mikono's eyes narrowed while Ann's widened at Niijima's words. Continuing her explanation, the crimson-eyed girl gazed at them apologetically. "Now that I think on it, the truth about Kamoshida must've been covered up by the whole school. I had my suspicions, but I couldn't do anything about it." She shook her head and corrected herself. "No. I didn't do anything. Had I cared enough, I could've done something. People like me must really be the scum of the earth."

"Real scum wouldn't call themselves that," Ann retorts.

"Huh?" Niijima gasped in confusion, eyes wide as saucers.

She dejectedly combed a hand through one of her pigtails before confessing. "I'm the same. It's just like you said before: I was closest to Shiho, but I didn't do anything." Her sorrowful expression was replaced with one of anger. "Besides, Kamoshida's the one to blame. Shiho understands that and so do Mikono and I."

"Ann's right. What happened to us is Kamoshida's fault. But..." Mikono placed a hand over her heart. "It's going to take some time for me to forgive you."

"Takamaki-san... Tsutsui-san..." Niijima glanced between the two girls.

"You didn't have a place to belong either," Yusuke said just above a whisper, but Niijima heard him clear as day. "Isn't that right?"

"Me either...?" She mumbled.

"We won't let anyone fall victim again," Ann declares. "Now, what should we do from here?"

"I'll do something about the money! So can we please just drop the case with Kaneshiro?" Niijima begged.

"No can do. We're all caught up in this," Ryuji said.

"And there's only one way out," Akira stated.

"We can't have you rushing things on your own anymore and making the situation worse," Yusuke added.

The blonde boy crossed his arms as he thought out loud. "If only we could do something about that bank..."

Akira, Morgana, Ann, Mikono, and Yusuke all gasped at how he didn't hesitate to speak out loud. The artist scowled at him. "Ryuji!"

The boy realized his mistake and embarrassingly scratched at the back of his neck. "Oops..."

"Bank?" Niijima parroted.

"Oh, right, the bank!" Morgana spun around to face the phantom thieves. "She isn't useless at all! She may be our key in! Here me out, you guys!"

Ann looked down at the feline. "Our key in? What do you mean?"

Niijima was utterly baffled at why everyone's attention was focused on the cat as it meowed frantically. "A cat? Um, are you all okay?" Her question went unanswered due to her companions being too focused on the animal.

"We've become Kaneshiro's targets. That means we've become customers of Kaneshiro's bank!"

"I see," Yusuke's eyes widen in realization. "The reason why we couldn't enter before was because we weren't considered his customers."

"And wouldn't you say that she in particular is a special customer?" Morgana asked.

"Mikky was with her too. Wouldn't that make her just as important?" Ryuji inquired.

"There's no way I made an impression like Niijima-san did," Mikono remarks.

"Let's take her with us. She is responsible for our current situation," Morgana stated.

Shyly, she raised her hand. "I may have encouraged the bad behavior..." All of a sudden, something dribbled from her nose. When she wiped away the substance, she checked her hand and saw it was blood. "Oh, great..."

Akira examined her nose and saw more blood dripping from her left nostril. "Before we go anywhere, we should take care of your nosebleed, Mikono."

She pinched her nose and nodded in agreement. "Please."

He took her other hand in his and turned to the others. "We'll catch up with you guys in a little bit."

"Okay," Ann replied. "Take care of Mikono, Akira."

"I will," he smiled before escorting Mikono to a nearby store. He left her on a bench located outside the store before entering to search for something to help her with her nosebleed. He found some small packets of tissues and bought a couple. He accepted the change from cashier and headed outside to reunite with his girlfriend. Kneeling down on one knee in front of her, he showed her the small packets of tissues. "Hope this'll work."

Mikono nodded. "They will. Thank you, Akira." She took one packet and ripped it open, taking a couple of tissues and placing them under her left nostril. She used tissue after tissue until she was a hundred percent positive her nose was no longer bleeding. She went through an entire pack of tissues and there were only a few left in the second one. Throwing away her bloodied tissues in the garbage can located beside the bench, she smiled. "I'm glad you bought two packets. Then again, we wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't been a moron and went along with Niijima-san."

Akira places his hand over hers that were folded neatly in her lap. "I'm just glad you're okay. You've no idea how worried I was when I saw you in that car with those guys."

"And you have no idea how fast my heart was racing. I swear, my palms were sweating like no tomorrow. They were so clammy!" She flipped one of her hands over and held his tightly. "I'm surprised you and the others were able to find us. For a few minutes, I thought we were goners until you guys busted into the room."

"Why did you chase after Niijima-san, Mikono?" He pried.

"While we were talking to her at the hideout, I felt this familiar sensation. I was curious and activated the Eye. One of Horus' feathers was on her shoulder and before I knew it, I followed her all the way to Central Street. Sorry for being careless again..."

"I swear," Akira sighed heavily. "You're gonna be the death of me..."

"Aw, I'm sure you'll be fine," she giggled. "We should regroup with everyone. But before we do, can I ask you something? I meant to ask this before school, but it completely slipped my mind."

"What is it?" Akira wondered.

"Are you free Sunday? I know our schedules at the museum don't really align any more and I wanted to ask before I made any plans."

"I'm free. Did you have something in mind for Sunday?"

"How does a date sound?" She asked.

Akira's eyes widen at the unexpected question before returning to normal. "Our second date, huh? It's been a while since our first one. What did you have in mind?"

"A simple picnic in the park. The weather's supposed to be perfect next Sunday and I thought it'd be a great time to do it. Or would a picnic be too boring?" Mikono was worried a picnic wasn't up Akira's alley and wondered if her idea was a terrible one.

However, her concern was washed away when he squeezed her hand with a smile. "A picnic wouldn't be boring, especially one with you. You really know how to keep me on my toes."

Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "I'll prepare us the best lunch ever! I'm totally gonna knock your socks off!"

Akira chuckled. "You already make lunch for me on a day-to-day basis, Mikono."

"I know, but this time I can bring so much more than what can fit in a bento box. You're gonna love it, I promise!"

"If it's anything like what you make for lunch, I know I will."

Mikono stood up alongside Akira and entwined their fingers together. "Any requests?"

"Surprise me."

She smiled widely. "You've got it!"