2005

A complicated air had settled over Miho as she gazed blankly out of the tinted bullet proof window of the car.

"Miho-ojou-sama is something troubling you?" The teen girl's personal chauffer, Fujimoto-san asked.

Snapping out of it, the green eyed girl replied. "... it's nothing of too much concern. Thank you for asking though."

Looking in the rear view mirror to see the cerulean blue haired girl, the middle old aged man knew that something was troubling his young mistress' thoughts. He after all had called out to her several times to tell her that they had arrived to Seikaku Gakuen, until he had finally decided ask if something was the matter.

Even though, she had said it was nothing of much concern, he knew it was something much larger than that or she wouldn't be troubled by it. He had been assigned to be her personal chauffer from since she had entered middle school so he knew her personality well, but he decided not to pry. He would just tell the old madam about it. "Miho-ojou-sama, we have arrived."

Suddenly realizing that they were in Seikaku's school grounds, Miho exited the black vehicle by herself, thanking Fujimoto-san for dropping her off and telling him she would be in contact if she wanted a ride home before closing the car door.

Once Miho walked further into the school grounds, she immediately noticed the unusual atmosphere.

Almost all the girls were gathered in separate groups as they gossiped amongst each other with the school's daily newspaper in their hands.

She suddenly had a terrible feeling.

Some of the gossip reached her ears:

"Yeah, I know right. She kind of deserved it."

"What was she expecting to happen by having a delinquent boyfriend?"

"Being associated with those kind of people will only lead to something bad happening to you."

"Look at her background. You can't expect nothing much from her."

"Why didn't she use the brain that she got into this school with to pick a better boyfriend? Her having him as a boyfriend led this to happening to her."

"She basically asked for it to happen! Tainting our school's reputation!"

"Miho!" Makana ran up to her friend with a grim look on her face, holding a newspaper in her hand.

By the gossip and seeing the bold title on the newspaper, Miho knew exactly why the school was like this. But how did the person behind the newspaper find out? She had only received word about this event, early this morning. She had only known about this, because of her sources that kept her updated about things involving Seikaku.

.

.

.

.

"Aine Watanabe, scholarship student, third year in class one, from the middle school division. Brutally beaten and raped. Still in hospital. The beating and assault happened while she was with her delinquent boyfriend by another group of delinquents who came to deal with her boyfriend, on her way home." Makana summarized everything from the newspaper, then slammed it down onto the desk. "Who in the world would write something like this, in such a blaming the victim's way, publish it, and scatter it all over the school for everyone to see?!! There are even photos!!!"

With her laptop already out, Miho was already typing.

"For such photos to be taken while leaving no clue of the assailants other than they were apart of some gang, that means the person or people who wrote and published this was/were there or most likely have connections with the bastards who did this!" The violet eyed girl growled.

Taking a strawberry cream pocky from the pink box package, Miho said. "I already thought of that."

Going behind her friend, she inquired and looked at the monitor of the laptop. "What are you doing?"

"I am checking the CCTV footage of the school. The footage from last night and this morning are gone, conveniently deleted, might I add." There was a cold look in Miho's sea green eyes.

Some delinquents had brutally beaten and raped a kohai from her school. Then someone who was likely from Seikaku had spread word of it in such a grand manner. The person/people who had even published this might had been the ones who had set up this whole ordeal.

Snap!

A piece of the strawberry pocky broke from Miho's mouth. Wasn't this just screaming at her, for her to act?

Then Miho suddenly realized something, "Maka, show me the newspaper again."

"Uh.... sure." The brunette blinked somewhat confused.

Not only were there pictures of Aine, but there were even a few snaps of her boyfriend. Examining the shots of the boyfriend, she thought. 'Why does her boyfriend look so familiar?' Then it immediately clicked in her mind. 'Isn't he one of Haruki-kun's good friends?'

She recalled his name was Souta Shibata. He was a delinquent, but he wasn't apart of the Tokyo Manji Gang or any gang for the matter.

This event involved a girl from Seikaku and a good friend of Haruki, no matter which way indirectly involved Toman.

Haruki was the captain of the third division and she was the advisor. Even though her identity in the Tokyo Manji Gang wasn't widely known, there those who knew she existed. She had shown of up to some meetings and had even participated fights where it had been truly serious. If one investigated closely, they would be able to find out about her.

"Hey Haya-chan. Even though Seikaku carries a prestigious top school image, a divine place where nothing bad can happen, but to some of us it's no different than hell on earth. Please make sure that not another girl suffers like me. With your capabilities I know you can do it, because you .... saved me."

This matter affected her, because of the promise she had made and just the idea of some gang messing with a student from her school like this didn't sit well with her. Also Haruki's close friend was involved with this likely affecting him on a whole other level.

'Has he found out yet?' Miho thought, knowing Haruki Hayashida's personality.

Interrupting her thoughts, her cellphone released a short melody. Taking it out from her pocket, the chibi charm version of her favorite character from Smarty Street that hung from it swung. She saw that she had received a message.

●●●

Homeroom had been called in earlier due to obvious reasons. Then the teachers of the middle and high school sections had immediately went out collecting each and every newspaper, disposing of it into a large plastic bag they each had carried. And every student from the newspaper club had been summoned to the Headmistress' office. It was now break time.

Miho was in an empty classroom in an abandoned part of the school, once again.

She had found out the deed had been done by the Moebius Gang that was two generations older than Toman and had control over Shinjuku. It's leader was Nobutaka Osanai.

And the incident had started, because of Haruki's friend having a strife with Osanai.

Seemed like this incident had mainly targeted Souta, because he had a strife with Nobutaka and even his family had been caught up in it with Aine and the newspapers just being parts in it.

Not only had the Moebius Gang members brutally beat and raped Aine Watanabe in front of her boyfriend who had been attacked as well, they had strung up his family and had taken their money.

And Haruki had found out, because his friend had went to receive advice from him. He would definitely want to seek vengeance for his friend and the commander would most likely agree to it.

Miho knew that even without a meeting, that a fight would take place between Toman and Moebius.

That's how Toman was after all.

She tapped her right index finger against the desk.

But something didn't feel quite right about this.

Aine Watanabe was from her school and Souta Shibata was Haruki's friend.

Miho knew that they weren't coincidences. Like there were some underlying motives, that she couldn't figure out just yet. For just a strife Osanai had went overboard as if wanting to taunt Toman. But was taunting Toman into a fight all there was to it?

Did they want to take over Shibuya or absorb Toman? Maybe both. But why go about it in such a round about way? Nobutaka Osanai didn't seem like that kind of person to plan such a scheme.

Then she held out her hand, capturing something that had been thrown at her from behind. Looking at the object that she had caught, she saw that it was a box of strawberry milk, likely bought from one of the school's vending machines.

Makana walked towards her, sipping on some chocolate milk. "I heard the phones have been ringing off the hooks after it was confirmed that a student of ours was beaten and raped by gang members. Parents, family members, and guardians are calling in to ask about the situation and say words of concern about their own daughters. School might even be dismissed early."

Pulling off the straw and removing the plastic, she inserted it into the container. She took a sip then said. "That's to be expected."

"Do you think one of newspaper club students did it?"

"The newspaper club's equipment had indeed been used to make those articles. They weren't made by an outside source only to be spread around the school later. But it's unlikely that a newspaper club member did this. There is a chance that the person or people who did this maybe linked to them, though."

"I see. Have you recovered the CCTV footage, yet?" Asked the brunette.

"Whoever this was done by, it was done by an expert, a very good one. There is a high probability of me not being able to recover it." Miho answered.

Makana's violet eyes widened in surprise. "Something that even you have a problem with."

"Remember, this is just a small hobby of mine. I can't do everything, but don't worry. The CCTV footage is only one piece of evidence; it doesn't mean that other pieces cannot be found."