All the 8th graders were gathered in the schoolyard at night.

"Kill each other!"

All the students protested.

"Why should we do that?!"

"I confess! There's no reason."

The old man closed his eyes, then pulled out a large needle and threw it at a student with full force. The needle went through his skull and he fell to the ground, dying.

"If you don't do 1 assassination, then I'll do to you what I've just done."

Four 8ths began to charge at the old man, screaming. The old man didn't move a muscle, as the heads of the four kids exploded.

"495 students remaining."

This year, 1993, was a year of blood puddles. In a middle school in the heart of Seoul, there were 514 deaths. 510 of them were minors, aged between 13 and 14, and 15 in the minority. The government never reacted.

***

35 years later.

Kaito Fujimura was about to start 3rd grade, beginning with a trip to Seoul College for 1 year. He was finally going to visit South Korea. The trip, along with the start of the new school year, would take place in 1 day, and he would finally be able to meet his new classmates and enjoy a great year. His smile reached his ears. Shinzo's impatience was such that he had only slept 3 hours during the night, but he was still in great shape.

"Kaito! Dinnertime!"

Kaito dropped his things and ran to the dining room. His mother was there.

"Kaito... I know you're motivated, but save your motivation for over there. If you keep running around the house so much, you'll hurt yourself and not go. That would be a shame!"

"Mom, please understand! I'm going to Seoul with my classmates. It's a crazy thing to do! Besides, we're leaving with 250 8th graders, but there'll be 250 from South Korea too!"

"I'm aware of that. But-"

"I'm too impatient!"

His mother let him motivate himself; after all, as far as she was concerned, kids had a right to happiness. Kaito sat down at the table, then ate the rice his mother had prepared for him at full speed.

"Kaito, please behave yourself. We're at the table."

"Too late, I've finished!"

He cleared his plate quickly then headed for the exit of his house.

"I'm going to the park, Mom!"

"Okay, take care."

Kaito walked out of the house. He lived in a big village that wasn't very noisy or dangerous, so he went out whenever he wanted.

"I never had the chance to make friends, because I'd rather write stories all year than talk to other people. I was never socially comfortable."

he thought.

On his way to the park, he passed the old, old lady who was good friends with my mother. Kaito greeted her.

"Yes, that's right, Mrs. Fujiwara."

"You know, she's worried about you, so try to check in with her often during your trip."

Kaito made a solemn sign as if to assure that he would do so.

"It will be done, Mrs Fujiwara!"

"Good. Good day."

Kaito bowed in respect to his eldest, then continued on his way to the park, before turning back. He remembered that Madame Fujiwara only came on Sundays, except that this was Monday.

"Uh... Madame Fujiwara! Where are you going?"

Madame Fujiwara stopped short, not saying a word for a few seconds.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well... you usually only come to our house on Sundays."

"Yes, but this is an exception. Good day."

The old lady went on her way without looking at Shinzo for a moment. Shinzo, in the heat of late summer, couldn't think straight. He resumed his journey and finally arrived at the park. He headed for the center of the park to get some fresh air. There was no one there, apart from a girl of his own age who passed him by. As Kaito passed this girl, he felt a thunderclap hit him. He turned around, still electrified by the situation. This girl was pretty, with long, wavy brown hair, violet eyes, a flower in her hair, and rather remarkable breasts. He looked longingly at this girl moving forward.

"No, what I had wasn't love at first sight, it was much more intense."

He continued on his way, still a little troubled by this encounter. Kaito felt a bad feeling come over him, as well as the heat. He decided to get home quickly, not taking the same route as the girl. On the way home, he bumped into the old lady again, this time much more serious and less smiling. Once past her, he began to run towards her house. Curiosity was now more important than motivation. He arrived in front of her house, totally out of breath, and ran home. He made his way to the living room, then saw his mother, with a blank stare, sitting on the sofa.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"Nothing Kaito. Go to your room and get your things ready, please."

Kaito nodded, then went to his room without forcing himself. He'd seen it on her face, she'd been crying. It fitted in perfectly with the timing of Madame Fujiwara's visit. Kaito ignored what she had told him, but he preferred not to know. He picked up some clothes and put them in his suitcase.

"I'm going away for a year... it's not enough."

He received an e-mail on his phone, glanced at it.

"What?! We're getting a bank account?!"

He turned off his phone, then turned back to his suitcase. In it, he put video games, pencils, paper and anything else that might seem useful.

***

It was already time to get up. Strangely, his mother didn't come to wake him. He went to get his phone, went to get his breakfast. His motivation was such that he couldn't stop fidgeting around. In the dining room, he saw a note from his mother, a scrap of paper left on the table.

"I'm off to work darling, I wish you a safe journey =)"

"That's not cool... she could at least have accompanied me when she won't be seeing me for so long."

He left to get his things and make himself as handsome as possible; during the summer vacations, he'd changed a lot, becoming a star among many others. In 7th grade, Kaito had been a bit bloated and ugly, but then the summer vacations had enabled him to lose weight and become more handsome, and it had been a success. He took one last look at himself in the mirror, after which he left his house, loaded down with business. It was still slightly dark. It was 6 a.m. Fortunately, the bus stop was right next door. He made his way towards the stop, which was already crowded with students.

Many students saw him, especially the girls. A group of girls came up to him.

"Hi, are you new to the school? If you want, we can go next door and I can teach you all about Korea, I know a lot about it!"

"No, me!"

A voice from behind pops up.

"Shut up, girls. I'm the queen here! Only I could stand next to that boy."

"Tss... that bitch Mayumi."

Kaito couldn't understand why they treated him so well, when they usually laughed at him. He'd even had the privilege of Mayumi Ishida coming up to him.

"You are Mayumi Ishida, the queen of the middle school because of her incredible beauty?"

"Yes, exactly!"

She flapped her hair in the air as if strutting.

"So, can I stand next to you?"

"Nah, I apologize."

"Why?"

"Well, we'll look bad if Kaito Fujimura the nerd and Mayumi Ishida the queen hang out together."

Mayumi was excessively surprised. She turned as if ashamed and left without saying a word. The girls behind her looked at Kaito with strange, whispering eyes.

"Is it really Kaito? I don't believe it!"

"Apparently so."

Kaito sighed, then headed for the bus. The teacher began calling roll before designating duos for the buses who would have to sit next to each other.

"Shit."

When he called Kaito, the second person designated was a girl named Yuri Kajiwara. He turned to see who he'd be traveling with, then the thunder in his body returned. This girl was the one from the park. He walked over to her.

"Hi."

No answer. He didn't force it, then got on the bus with her.

Hours passed without a word from her. After a while, he tried to get the conversation going again.

"Um, you're new here."

"I'd like to ask you something. Why did you look at me like that in the park? What were you thinking?"

"Well, I was smitten."

"Not me."

"Uh no! I wasn't talking about that kind of love at first sight, well... not love at first sight! I was talking about a thunderbolt piercing me."

"Do you know Madame Fujiwara?"

This question surprised Kaito.

"Yes, why?"

She now looked at Kaito with a hateful gaze.

"What did that old woman come to your house for?!"

Yuri's sudden change of demeanor chilled his blood.

"I... I don't know. All I know is that my mother, after Madame Fujiwara's visit, looked depressed, even... lost."

Yuri calmed down.

"That old lady you seem to think of as a nice lady is actually the worst kind of trash. My hypothesis is that she came to each of our parents' homes and told something untrue. I also saw her heading towards my house. My basic mother was nice, but, after she came back, she rejected me. Except that she couldn't wait for me to go to Korea. It's suspicious, I don't know what that old lady was up to, but it doesn't look good."

Kaito, that he'd understood long ago, but he didn't comment further on the subject.

"Otherwise, your name is indeed Yuri Kajiwara?"

"Yes."

"Nice chat."

He wasn't sure why, but this trip didn't inspire confidence. He felt sick to his stomach, but motivated himself as best he could, telling himself that he was going to South Korea.

***

"Finally arrived in South Korea."

"The trip was incredible!"

"Yeah!"

Kaito looked at all his comrades.

"There are a few here who rejected me last year."

Still, he continued to smile, despite the emotional pain of years gone by. Yuri stood next to him, giving him a long look.

"This Kaito... he's not far from being emotionally broken. Anyway, that's not my problem."

Kaito noticed the look on Yuri's face.

"What's the matter, Yuri?"

"No, nothing."

They continued on their way towards the hotels reserved just for them. The hotel in front of them was big, very big, and the wallpaper was old-fashioned. Surprisingly, the hotel was on the college grounds. He entered the hotel, the teacher made a reservation and then told everyone which room they would be staying in. They were rooms for two.

"What the hell?!"

Then Kaito found himself in room 56, accompanied by a boy he didn't know. He sighed and entered the room with an electronic card. He put down his belongings, praying that the beds weren't nearby. He sighed with relief when he saw that there were two separate beds. He changed into the college uniform they'd been given.

"The uniforms are quite normal. Blue, black tie... and all that. From what I could see, the girls have a white uniform with a gold star badge."

He thought South Korea was very pretty. For the first time in his life, he couldn't wait to start a year of middle school. In their room, there was a speaker that was starting to make noise.

"To all 8th graders, Korean and Japanese alike, have you put your things down? Good! I'll ask you to come down to the main courtyard by 5:30 p.m."

Kaito obviously noticed that it was a college for the rich, but surprisingly not just for the rich. The proof: he was there.

He looked at the clock; it was 5.25pm.

"Time to go."

He was far too tired to find the motivation to go; he could well imagine a boring opening ceremony. He wanted to take the elevator but there was a huge queue for it. Kaito took the stairs, then, once at the bottom, he saw a huge crowd outside.

"To think that our accommodation is right next to the college. Obviously, we're going to stay here for a year without leaving the college grounds."

All the students were gathered in the courtyard. And then, on a dais stood a single person. An old man. Kaito instinctively thought it was the principal.

"Welcome to you all, dear students! You're going to stay here for a year, think of it as a journey to get to know each other and enjoy your youth. It will also allow you to live in total independence. You each have a bank account with a certain amount of money on it."

"Wait... does that mean we don't all have the same amount?"

Kaito raised his hand among the 499 students in the crowd.

"Excuse me. Do we all have the same amount of money?"

Some in the crowd made whispers of contempt.

"Who does he think he is?"

"Why does he say that? He's clamoring for inequality? What a jerk!"

Strangely enough, it was mostly the boys who were saying this. He soon noticed that they were jealous of his beauty, even if some of the whispers sounded frank.

"I was getting to that, child. So, no, you don't all have the same amount. The lowest is $10, the highest is $100 million. It's like a ranking. The strong and popular have more, the ugly and weak have less. That's society, kids."

None of the students wanted to contradict him, because if they did, they'd be dismissed from this dream trip. The old man stepped forward.

"You're going to have to learn to live like this, whether you like it or not. You have to get used to your future life."

Kaito, even though he was far away, could feel the old man's eyes red with impatience and excitement, and also great pressure. Faced with his eyes, Kaito could only lower his own.

"Let's get on with it. This college trip is going to be pretty special. At the end of the year, there must be only one left. That is, during this year, you'll have to kill, until you end up alone. But..."

A boy in the crowd interrupted.

"You old fart, I came here to make a profit, not to fool around under a-"

His sentence came to a halt when, to everyone's surprise, the boy's head began to swell. He fell to the ground, unconscious, no..., dead.

"Someone else to cut me? If you do what this boy did, then I'll have to kill you. So I was saying that this year will be special. Compared to the others where it was just killing over and over again, here I need more entertainment. So, you'll have to make 5 gangs. Each will have its own department, and as for size, don't worry, the college compound is 3000 km²."

Everyone seemed surprised.

"To survive this first phase of the year, 1 gang must succeed in conquering all the others, having also killed them all."

The students were stunned, as was Kaito.

"I'm going to appoint the 5 gang leaders. The location of the departments will be by orientation. That is, one gang will be in the west, another in the north, another in the south, another in the east and then one in the center."

"Whoever is in the center will be at a disadvantage."

"Each leader will have to make a top 50 of his members according to their influence and power, he can proceed as he likes. You'll also have to go into business for yourself. You can use any practice you like, we'll pay you. Betrayal is permitted, but not recommended. Because you could very well end up dead if you try that."

The old man stepped back, then 5 panels emerged from the ground, each with a word written on it: North, South, East, West, Center.

"The leader of the North will be Ji-yeon Hyeon. Come and stand in front of this sign."

He pointed to the sign that read north. Ji-yeon climbed onto the stage, he was a rather handsome blond with a totally disheveled haircut, he didn't look panicked by the situation and he was wearing a simple sweater, he didn't have a uniform.

"Next, the leader of the South will be Jin-hee Lee."

A girl with blood-red eyes climbed onto the stage, she had white hair and was rather pretty, but... she looked terribly cruel. Once in front of the sign, she looked at the crowd with a look of contempt, as if to say: You disgusting fat people, stop staring at me or I'll kill you.

"The leader of the West will be Liam Park."

"Decidedly, already three Korean chefs, and then, it's a blond again!"

Some girls were particularly attracted to this new chef.

"A blond with blue-green eyes!"

"Is he a model? I'm going to crack!"

"Look at his arms, they look muscular but not too big, that's sexy!"

"Plus, he's got a silver necklace, is he rich?"

"I don't think this is the time to be contemplating a pretty boy..."

Liam climbed onto the dais next to the West sign.

"The leader of the East will be Tadashi Morimoto."

Kaito saw that the boy was hiding his eyes with his disheveled hair. He didn't say a word or express a single feeling, just stood next to the East sign.

"Finally, the Center's chef will be Min-ji Doyeon."

"Four Korean chefs, great..."

The girl who had just taken the stage, Min-ji, was rather special: She was excessively beautiful and had lovely muscles, a generous chest as well as a warrior's face and beautiful long purple hair.

"I'm now going to tell each of you where your gang will be, where you'll have to be as loyal as possible. I'd like to make it clear that for 2 months, no war will be allowed while you prepare. Then, in the middle of the year, there will be a 3-month war break. Each month, the 5 chiefs and their deputies will meet to discuss and debate upcoming events, and they can also decide on one week in the year when there will be a truce, when everyone can go to everyone else's territory. Last thing: Korean or Japanese, speak your native language, you'll understand each other."

"What does it mean? Is there a brain translation system or something?"

Beginning of the Formation arc.