Ayame grinned evilly as she kicked Keisuke forward to the light where the 3 reincarnations could see him, grabbing him by his hoodie to force him to kneel in front of them.

"Here he is," Ayame smiled, making sure she had a vise grip on his hoodie as a warning to not run.

Natshuka's grin was pure dark the moment she realised who it was, "Wow, and I thought that you wouldn't be stupid enough to wander around like this, dearest brother."

"But then again, he never knew the truth, so what did you expect, Natshuka?" Gentouma smirked, walking over and trying to grab Keisuke's chin.

The 13-year-old dodged his attempt while growling, "I won't let you go for what you did, Touma, Akinori."

Hakushuri rolled his eyes, "We're no longer them. We are Gentouma and Hakushuri, Amano."

"And it'll be better if you engrave that in your head," Ayame chuckled.

"So that means that you were lying when you said that Ayame was not at the main base?" Keisuke scowled. 

"She's part of our team now, Amano. Why would we let Peace take her back?" Hakushuri smiled, his eyes glowing red in response. 

"Why?! I thought we all promised to bring Sakura New Town back to normal!" Keisuke shouted. 

"You should have checked the mirror when we promised, because Hakushuri and I had crossed our fingers," Gentouma sneered.

"The truth is, the two of us had never wanted Sakura New Town to return to normal," Hakushuri looked like he was relishing the look of plain betrayal on Keisuke's face. "I mean, why would we? This world is broken and needs to see war before they can see true peace."

"Our eyes were opened after seeing all those cases, like Charlie's case, Mister Movien, and many more," Gentouma added. "Your parents' death took the cake for the 3 of us. That's why we thought of this plan."

"To let you see the true state of the world, we did all this. You should be honoured, to be honest," Natshuka admitted. 

"Then what about Ayame?!"

"She saw the light on her own free will," Hakushuri shrugged. "When Natshuka captured her during that recon mission, she was very much like you." 

"But then, I remembered Kino-nii, Rau-nii, Choi-nii, and Chen-nii," Ayame forced Keisuke to stand up, making him look at her cold eyes full of malice and hatred. Keisuke was completely frozen now, seeing the complete anger in her eyes. "Natshuka-chan told me that if you had been stronger back then, then maybe they wouldn't have had to go home."

"W-What are you talking about?" Keisuke weakly tried to defend himself, but his tone was showing signs that he was beginning to believe them. 

"Face it. You were too weak before," Ayame growled at him. 

"B-But..." 

"You couldn't save Kenji. How can you possibly save the town?"  

Those words shattered Keisuke. 

He went limp as he fell to his knees. Tears pricked at his eyes. His body shook. 

His ex-friends' words struck him even more than before, telling him to just give up and join them, so he could be stronger. 

Why don't you just let them help you?  One part of him prodded. They can help you. They care for you. Don't you want that?

He clutched his fist tighter.

He could feel Ayame's shadow on him as she took out a knife and aimed it at his back, "Make your choice in 5 seconds. Join us or die." 

"Hee, Ayame-chan, aren't you doing it the wrong way?" Gentouma teased. "We should be letting him choose without any threats, don't you think?"

His eyes widened. The wrong way...

Of course! How could he forget what he had been fighting for?!

"... Very well, as you have not made your decision, I will assume that you have chosen the latter," Ayame then raised the knife and brought it down to his back. 

What happened next would be a blur to the 4 fifteen-year-olds. 

One moment Ayame was standing over Keisuke, the next he had tackled her to the ground, the knife aimed towards her throat. 

"This is all wrong..." Keisuke muttered. "That's why I'm fighting you guys. You guys may have the right idea in mind, but the way you're doing it is just wrong."

Their eyes widened.

"I'll spare you today, but the next time we meet, it will be on the battlefield, and I won't show mercy," he staggered back up, throwing the knife away before he began walking back to camp. "You chose your paths. I chose mine. We'll see whose idea will win in the end. If any of you hurt Peace, I WILL know, and I will not be lenient, even if you're my best friends, or even my blood relative. Don't you ever TRY to go back to camp, either, Touma, Akinori. I will shoot you down. Don't try me. Jya, goodbye, and until we meet again, you 4."

Keisuke didn't look back.

Their reactions varied.

Natsuka was in complete disbelief.

Gentouma's eyes were wide in shock.

Hakushuri went to his knees.

Ayame stared.

Keisuke got back in time for the daily announcement, which was an hour after he had left.

Azusa was the first one to notice him, and her eyes went huge, "Keisuke-kun!"

With that, everyone's head swiveled over to where she was looking at.

"Keisuke!" Masaki rushed over and hugged him. "You're okay!"

"We were so worried!" Manami scolded.

"How could you run off like that?!" Mafuyu lightly bonked him on the head.

"Mou, at least tell when you're going to up and disappear like that!" Uchida protested.

"Gomen, gomen, (sorry, sorry,)" Keisuke smiled a bit, but tears soon appeared on his eyes, and he began sobbing on Masaki's shoulder.

"Keisuke?!" They all gave a start.

"What happened?!" Erika yelped out.

"T-Touma, a-and A-Akinori, e-even A-Ayame..." he cried. 

"What's wrong?" Saki looked worried.

"T-They're w-with N-Natshuka n-now," he sobbed out. "T-Touma a-and A-Akinori h-had b-been w-working w-with N-Natshuka a-all t-this t-time."

Their eyes widened. 

"... It's okay, you know," Masaki's hug grew tighter. "You still have us, Keisuke."

"Yeah. You just have to bring them back to the light, but you can't do that in this state, now can you?" Sakiyama smiled.

As the other members began agreeing with the other 2, Keisuke's eyes widened before it gradually softened.

They're right. He realised. I still have them. As long as we keep on fighting, we can bring the town and everyone else back to normal.

"T-Thanks everyone, " He wiped his tears off. "W-Wow, I-I'm supposed to be a-a leader, b-but I'm crying."

The others laughed.

"We're all friends here, Keisuke. There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Ungaikyou smiled at him.

"Thanks guys," he grinned. "Jya, let's bring Sakura New Town back to normal!"

"OH!"