Sasaki was left in a room with the school's principal; he has dark wavy hair, glasses, and a teardrop tattoo on his right eye, and following the earlier episode, he was locked there for twenty minutes straight listening to his babbling.
Sasaki sighed in boredom as he peered through the window behind the principle, peering blankly at the decaying cherry blossom tree, wishing the never-ending sermon would finish.
"Mr. Jiketsu, are you even listening?!"
Sasaki turned to look at the principal with a lack of care.
"Yeah, you were telling me that violence is bad and we should've just hugged it out."
The man sighed, frustrated by Sasaki.
"Look, it's your first day here, and you already go into a brawl. Have you no shame?"
"Why the hell do you ask me that? Ask them; they're the ones who lost."
The principal sighed, recognizing that convincing Sasaki to change his mind would be impossible.
"How do I even convince you... anyway, it seems that they're gone now. Let's drop this topic and talk about other matters."
"Finally, it took you long enough."
"You're both agents from the CAU, right, the girl and you?"
"Yeah, and we're here undercover to investigate the snatcher."
"I see. Hear me out. I have suspicions that the snatcher is not just one person but multiple people."
"Why would you suspect the snatcher is not one but multiple people at once?"
"Think of it; rapid disappearances—even an anomaly can't kidnap two girls in different locations at the same time; there's got to be someone pulling the strings here."
"Hmm, I see, so what do you say, a gang?"
"It's not a gang but a Masonic sect; rumors circulate around the staff that a DeMolay organization is the cause of these disappearances."
"Wait, aren't they against harming women?"
"Well, that is true that they frown upon those acts, but there is suspicion that another group is controlling the inside of the organization."
'That would make the most sense so far, so what do you want us to do—join a sect? "
"No yet, let's try this first before we lunge into their organization; we can't afford it if we cause trouble for the order, so I have some alternatives for now."
"Alright, tell me your genius idea."
"I want you to lure the snatcher in the dead of night; considering the both of you are anomalies, it would be clear you can defend yourselves."
"What if he doesn't come?"
"He'll definitely come, and if he does, I want to test another theory out."
"You know, you're starting to sound more like an investigator than a principal."
"It's because I am. Kuroma didn't tell you about the real principal."
Sasaki stared blankly for a time, bewildered; he never imagined a CAU agent would be the principal of a high school.
"Okay, first of all, you aren't the real principal. Second, you're an investigator?"
"Well, I'm not the real principal; the real principal is on authorized leave; he won't be coming here for a while, so I would take over his work, and yes, my name is Ayato, and I'm a Grade 2 Inspector."
"Damn, you never know what's going on these days."
In the midst of their conversation, the bell suddenly rang.
"Well then, you'll be late for class, and I have some paperwork to do. I'll meet you later at night."
"Right."
After the lengthy talk, Sasaki walked out of the room and into his classroom, where he noticed Ayano, who had a broken arm and was chatting with other pupils. Ayano looked in Sasaki's direction with a nervous expression, clearly traumatized after what happened.
Sasaki looked at him with interest in his eyes before approaching Ayano and his gang.
' Seeing how he's a delinquent, I might be able to milk some information out of him.'
"If you're going to boast, do it somewhere else; you've already shattered by bones, but don't strip away my pride."
"I'm not here to call you a bitch, even if you are... but I'm here to ask you a question."
"F-five hundred yen."
The injured delinquent said to him while he was trembling in his presence.
"Do you want a second beating?"
"No sir!"
"Good, don't speak unless spoken to. Now back to you, Ayano, I have a question."
"What do you want?"
"How do I join the order here in this school?"
The pupils stared at Sasaki in quiet after what he had said—the DeMolay order is feared throughout Japan, and even mentioning that you desire to join without any given motivation might result in your death.
"You're for real?"
"I'm for real."
Ayano looked at Sasaki with a hint of concern in his eyes.
Even he is not naive enough to tamper with the order's affairs, let alone provoke a quarrel with them knowing the implications.
"If I were you, I'd advise you not to get involved with them; you can't possibly beat the order alone."
"Do I look retarded to you?"
Ayano slightly looks away from Sasaki, anxiously.
"No, sir."
"Jeez, can't you just tell me how I join for the love of-"
In a minute, a short man with blonde hair cuts them off by tapping Sasaki's shoulder.
"You want to join?"
He laughed and asked the Sasaki, who appeared to be on the verge of pounding Ayano to death.
"Finally, someone normal approached me. Yeah, I want to join. Do you know where to ask?"
The blonde boy smiled.
"Yeah."
"Sweet, where do I apply?"
The room fell silent for a minute as Sasaki and the blonde boy stared at each other for a while.
Sasaki had a moment of realization as they continued to stare at each other for another time.
"...Oh, well, can I join?"
"Sure."
' It's that easy... '
"So, when do I start?"
"Meet me at the back later."
"Ah, sure."
The fourth bell rang, and class was finally finished after hours of rambling and suffering.
"Okay, class, don't forget to answer pages thirty to thirty-three; that will be due tomorrow; you may now take your lunch!"
' All that rambling for four hours just to learn why the Mongols never conquered Japan... They could've just said a typhoon did it. '
While Sasaki was having an inner monologue, the blonde kid tapped Sasaki's shoulder with delight.
"Hey, you forgot about joining?"
Sasaki turned to face the blonde boy and got up from his chair, stretching his arms.
"Nah, I haven't let's go."
The two promptly exited the classroom and walked to the back of the gym, where Sasaki stumbled into Nara, who was talking to a large number of people.
He couldn't seem to stomach the fact that she had become more popular than him in the span of four hours.
After a period of walking, they arrived at the back of the gym, where there appeared to be four individuals sitting on the monoblocks waiting for the two.
(The first has a tattoo on his neck, the second has a lip piercing, the third is a tall guy with spectacles, and the last guy is wearing a fake silver chain and round shades.)
' They look more like gang members than fraternity boys..."
"Hey guys, the new guy is here!"
"Took you look enough."
The fifth man said with a comfortable stance, continuing to slouch in the monoblock.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Mogi, the guy with round shades is Fuji, the man with piercings is Kazuo, the tall one's Koko, and the guy with a tattoo is Tokoyami."
"Ah, I got that nice to meet you."
Kazuo sighed, stood up from his monoblock, and looked down at Sasaki.
Sasaki glanced back passively, perplexed considering that he didn't have the energy to fight again this day.
Kazuo reached out his hand, offering Sasaki a firm handshake.
Sasaki gazed at his hand for a time, as if there was any danger in accepting the man's handshake, he shook his hand firmly.
All of a sudden, Sasaki tries to let go of his hand as Kazuo slowly grips his hand tightly.
Sasaki fought back by squeezing his hand even harder and hardening his bones with his Kigai, resulting in a minor fracture in Kauzo's thumb.
"Ahh!"
Kazuo let go of Sasaki's hand and looked at him with fascination with Sasaki's abilities.
"You aren't human, are you?"
Sasaki responded to their query with a cool look, despite his nervousness:
"Well, I may or may not be depending on your perspective."
Kazuo grabs a knife from his backpocket and looks at Sasaki with a frantic expression.
Sasaki glanced at the man's cold steel, hiding his uneasiness with a straight expression and a tiny perspiration.
Kauzo cut his throat as blood splashed everywhere, staining their uniforms. While looking at Sasaki with a frantic glance at Sasaki, suddenly the veins began to rapidly stitch his neck back into place.
"You don't have to hide it from us; we're all anomalies here."
'Shit, I'm caught in a blunder...'
Sasaki glances about for a time as the five focus their glares on him, overwhelming him with their bloodlust.
"Yeah, I am an anomaly."
"See, it's that easy, right? Now, tell me why you desire to join the order."
Sasaki paused for a time, realizing that he had never thought of a legitimate reason for wanting to be a DeMolay, let alone understanding what the organization does.
"Well, I want to be a man."
' I hope that was a valid answer... '
Hearing Sasaki's answer, Fuji had a hint of delight as he glanced at Sasaki through his glasses. He then replied:
"Well, it's in one of our rules that we must value manhood, but that isn't as deep as an answer; you see, what I ask for is a personal thing to test your drive."
' Alright, so far so good now I just gotta pull another answer up my ass.'
"Well, you see, when I was a child, I never really got a lot of connections, you see, so I want to create more connections to better improve my social skills and something like that."
Koko leaned in from his relaxed position and glanced at Sasaki, replying to him:
"Another good answer, but it's as how Fuji said you really have to give us a normal answer that shit sounds scripted if you were to ask me."
Mogi replies back:
"We just need a simple answer, Sasaki; don't make this hard for us."
' Okay, one more chance because I feel like they're about to beat me ass... '
"I think you're cool."
The crowd silently stared at him for a time, perplexed—they truly believed this was Sasaki's true response.
"No one ever told us that before..."
Koko said with a perplexed expression on his face, shocked by Sasaki's reaction.
"Alright, you can join the initiation, but you won't be an official member yet."
"Initiation?"
Mogi replies back:
"Every sect has an initiation; for example, we'd order you to do specific things, haze you, and other things until you reach your graduation."
"Wait, so all I did today?"
"It's just an application; you'd actually have to work your way up in the ranks before you become an official member."
Sasaki glanced at them with a bewildered expression mixed with disappointment in his eyes; he truly believed that this was the initiation itself, but he never imagined that he would be doing more.
He finally realized this was just the beginning of the case.
TO BE CONTINUED——————————