It was surprising how the weather could change in a matter of minutes. Ice-cold snow pierced Hanamiya's cheeks as the boy left the underground station. He zipped his jacket up to his chin as he started to shiver and looked around. The streets were filled with busy people, leaving work, going home. A sharp sound of heels slipping under a cover of ice, followed by a muffled curse-filled his ears as some woman close by steadied herself with a security barrier before resuming her fast-paced walk.

"Maybe they won't come?" Asked Yamazaki after climbing up the underground's stairs, five boys following right behind. "If they were to show up, they'd do this by now, right?"

"Stop thinking Yamazaki." Furuhashi barked as he balanced his way up ice-covered stairs. "It's not your biggest asset."

Yamazaki raised his hand at his teammate's back in a rude gesture.

Nearly an hour on a train and nothing had happened. This made them somewhat edgy, which showed itself best in Furuhashi's face. He didn't want to be there in the first place, yet he followed his team despite his better judgment.

"Where are you taking us, Hanamiya? If you wanted to do sightseeing, you could have gone on your own." Furuhashi stopped by Hanamiya, following the other boy's gaze.

"I don't know yet."

Furuhashi looked in disbelief at his captain and clenched his fists to calm himself down. Hanamiya was a picture of calmness, and Furuhashi didn't like it.

"You made us change trains three times only to end up in the middle of nowhere. You've got to have some sort of a plan!"

And Hanamiya did. However, it was in his best interest to keep his mouth shut.

"I had to check something," he informed and ducked into the crowd.

"What now?" Hara asked.

Furuhashi fixed his bag over his head and sighed. "Let's just follow him. We'll see later..."

The boys made their way through the crowd in a passive acceptance. None of them wanted to be there in the first place but still, they followed Hanamiya, until the boy stopped in front of a semi-decent fast-food restaurant. Just after they caught up with him, Hanamiya motioned for them to come in, his hand already opening the door.

"Couldn't we at least go somewhere nicer?" Hara complained as he lagged behind his teammates but everyone who could possibly hear him was already inside. "Yeah... why not! Let's spend our last night out in some bubblefuck, because why not?" He grunted and followed inside.

The restaurant or more like a diner was small, with cheap light bulbs illuminating the ugly linoleum floor with its orange light. There were only four people inside, including the middle-aged waitress who was serving two glasses of beverages to two men sitting by the toilets. The woman crinkled her nose and collected dirty glasses from the duo, before turning to the third guest.

"You can't smoke here," she stated dully, making it obvious that it wasn't the first time she had to reprimand the clients. The place was shabby enough for people to actually think it was okay for them to do so.

The scolded man raised his arms apologetically. He was in his late 50's and fairly short considering his stocky physics. However, some sort of peculiar vigour emanated from his moves as he stubbed out the cigarette in a cup before him. If the waitress wasn't happy about it, she didn't say anything. The man's eyes followed the woman until she disappeared behind the kitchen doors; when the woman was gone, he smoothed the creases at the front of his jacket and stood up, giving the boys a stiff bow.

"Oi! Hanamiya!" Yamazaki called quietly from behind Seto's back. "Weren't we supposed to meet—"

"As you may see, Yamazaki, not everything is going exactly according to plan." Seto interjected before addressing his captain: "Do you know that geezer? Maybe I don't know everything but I can see that we should get out of here A-sap."

Hanamiya was silent for a moment, analyzing the situation as all of his assumptions came true.

"There's no use. They won't let us," he stated impassively. "For now we have to go by... his rules. We'll see what happens next. Wait for my signal before doing anything, understood?"

Dubious consent was presented in Kirisaki Daichi's silence as they stared at the older man who was closing the distance between them.

"My name is Himura Nobu and I'll be escorting you to the meeting point tonight." The man informed as his narrow eyes slid over the boys' faces. "I see that there's only six of you. I believe I was told that there were seven students coming tonight. Where's the last one?"

Hanamiya's eyes darkened at the man's question yet he managed to keep his emotions at bay, his voice indifferent as he replied.

"We prefer to deal with this among us seniors. There's no need to cause a stir bringing incompetent scraps here."

Himura smiled. "No, indeed there isn't. Shall we?" He raised his hand, pointing at the exit.

The team followed Himura, two other black-cladded men right behind them.

At this point any resistance was futile and Hanamiya was extremely well aware of that fact. He knew that not only were they followed once they left Töö— once they were still at school but to add to that, the whole district was packed with people who were to make sure they were not to flee.

It wasn't shocking when six teenagers were loaded in a large, black van without anyone noticing. The crowd of passersby kept jostling as the car took off, everyone to focus on minding their own business to regard 6 students' quiet disappearance.