It was about twenty minutes before school started, and some students were already milling about. However, three stayed still, arranged in a circle outside of the building. One was a slightly icy redhead; another, a sarcastic brunette. The last was a pyromaniacal blond that was trying to prove that he was telling the truth.

"So, lemme get this straight," Sho said. "Edge got the shit beaten out of him by a girl?"

"Riiiiight," muttered Muso. "And I'm the Emperor of Japan."

"It's the truth!" Taku shouted, to defend himself. "My sister, she goes to Taiyo, and she heard it from a girl she knows there named Tori that some female gang member beat the crap out of Edge. Some chick with pink hair, dressed in a Seijun, Windermere, whatever you wanna call it uniform. Wore a mask on her face, kinda like those given to psychopaths in a mental hospital."

Muso's eyes went wide. "Well, fuck."

The other two blinked. Sho was the one who responded to this. "Eh?"

"I've heard of her. Her name's Aoi Himezaki. She's called Zaki for short. She's a gang leader, and she's got a reputation for being tough. Remember when those Akiyaiba bastards tried to horn in on our territory?"

"Oh, her. Yeah, I remember," Taku replied. "The Soubanchou beat up their leader. So?"

"So after that, they decided to take over Zaki's turf, because they're just girls. What the Soubanchou did to him is nothing compared to what Zaki did. The boss might've needed some plastic surgery after the Soubanchou's attack, but Zaki put him in the hospital."

Sho stared at Muso. "Well, fuck."

"That's what I just said. Wonder if Edge is okay."

"But wait," Sho mused aloud. "Why would Zaki and Edge fight? Zaki's not usually openly aggressive unless she's provoked, I heard, and I don't think even Edge would start a fight with a girl."

"That is strange."

"If he doesn't come to class, we're gonna look for him, right?" Taku asked.

"Right," the other two said in unison.

Walking was nothing less than an ordeal this morning. It hurt to walk. It even hurt to breathe sometimes. The only good thing about this was that all of the bruises and cuts were treated and easily concealed by clothing.

He probably should've just stayed home, though. Besides, that ointment burned like hell. And he really really really really wanted to sleep.

Really.

Aaaaand there was Gedo now. And there Taku, Sho, and Muso were. And there they stared at him. This did not seem good.

"Edge, you look awful," Taku said, concerned.

Fuck fuck fuck, how did they know? He reached up to his face to feel for any scratching and bruising; unfortunately, he found that there was both. Both through the markings and through the types of pain.

How did he forget about that?

"It's nothing," he replied, biting down on the pain like a particularly sour grape.

"Hey, Edge, it's okay. We heard about what happened in the warehouse," Sho said. "Zaki's a tough bitch. It's not as if some frilly girl beat the hell out of you."

This did little to soothe Edge, but it was better than nothing, he supposed.

Thundering footsteps signaled Gan's arrival. The big man looked down at Edge and asked, "What happened to you?"

"Zaki jumped him and beat him up," Sho said, thus proving the notion that stories tend to change with each telling. Edge wasn't about to correct him, though.

"Zaki?" Gan's face revealed confusion. "What would Zaki want with us? We should tell the Soubanchou all about it, right away."

"No."

The other four boys stared at Edge.

"Why not?" Taku asked.

"Because he doesn't need to know."

Muso snorted. "Of course he needs to know! It's his gang, and it's his business! He can put a stop to whatever she's got planned!"

"It's not that simple."

Gan blinked. "What do you mean?"

"It just... It isn't, okay?! So-"

The five minute bell rang just then.

"So look," Edge continued. "I'm going to class now. If he even so much as hears a word about it, I'm blaming you all. So keep your damn mouths shut." He turned on his heel and stalked off.

"What was that all about?" Gan mused.

Sho seemed to understand. "It's an ego thing. Just give him a few days to cool off, and then we'll talk to him about it then."

After all, the experience of defeat was a humbling experience.

Lunch didn't taste like anything today.

Edge had been defeated before, many times, but every single time, the loss hurt. He fancied himself to be strong, but for every victory he had, there was a loss. Losing hurt. He hated to lose.

He remembered the taste of his first real loss. When he first came to Gedo, Edge was, to be blunt, a cocky freshman bastard. He thought he was the best. No one could make him do anything. He let people know it, too. He'd run this stupid place!

The Soubanchou proved him wrong in an instant. He heard the talk and let him have it. Few beatings hurt as much as that one did, the one from the day previous included. Bruised and battered, Edge found himself lacking the strength to stand. He fully expected to pass out and wake up in the hospital the next day.

This didn't happen.

Instead, Daigo stared at him with those eyes (or that eye, whatever) of his, asked him if he gave up, and when told that the answer was yes, he helped Edge to his feet and warned him never to do that again.

Just those few moments taught him more than the past two school years combined had. It taught him exactly why Daigo was the Soubanchou and Edge was not.

The loss stung for a few days, but it soon glazed over and eventually disappeared. Besides, he found himself liking Gedo. Being able to do whatever he wanted, even within Daigo's boundaries, was pretty nice. Taking out aggression on people was welcome here, unlike the world outside of it, as long as you took it out on the right people. The Soubanchou wasn't such a bad guy, anyway.

"Hi Edge!" a voice cried out from the other side of the cafeteria. Edge removed his eyes from his food and saw him. The dark-haired and relatively clean-cut freshman, clad in the blinding yellow of Gedo, waved at him, carrying his laptop under his arm. He bounced towards Edge, beaming like a beacon, and asked, "Mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead, Saikaku. I don't care."

He did so, plopping down right next to him, brown eyes wide and attentive. Edge really hoped that no one had sent the kid over here to comfort him.

If one were to meet Saikaku, one thought would immediately spring to mind.

I can't believe he goes to Gedo.

He just seemed to be... too nice. He looked like a normal, everyday kid. Everyone had their reason for being here. Taku went to Gedo because he set his eighth-year homeroom's carpet ablaze one day; Sho beat up some losers with a baseball bat, hence his old school had expelled him; Muso was caught dealing shit to some dumbfucks who wouldn't know cocaine from talcum powder. Admittedly, Saikaku had not done anything of this nature. He had not destroyed property, nor had he kicked the crap outta anyone, nor had he been caught pushing drugs. In fact, even Gedo was reluctant to admit him at first, because he definitely did not look the type.

That was before they looked at his records, realized that he had hacked into countless sites and had basically committed grand theft by switching around a few things here and there, and saw that he obviously belonged in reform school.

After all, your average schoolboy doesn't have major banks and corporations pissed at him.

"Edge, I heard about what happened. Don't worry, not everyone knows about it. Only Gan, Taku, Sho, Muso, and I, really. Maybe Taku told a couple others, but I don't know."

Oh lovely. Fears newly confirmed, he now knew that someone definitely had sent him here to make him feel better. Bring on the happy pills! Tomorrow is another day!

"Yeah, yeah," Edge muttered back. "Anyway, I got a history project assigned today."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"You know what I think, Edge? I think-"

Edge was afraid of this sort of comment. "What?" he demanded, accenting it with a sharp glare.

Saikaku paused before saying, "Nothing."

"So you'll do it?"

"Sure, I guess. Just give me the papers the teacher gave you on it..."

Edge did so, relieved. That gave him one less thing to worry about. He couldn't write a decent paper to save his life, much less do an entire project. He really needed the grade, too; taking history for a third time did not, in any way, appeal to him.

"Everything appears to be in order," Saikaku commented.

"Should be."

"Right. Anyway, I'll start when I have time, okay?"

He shrugged. "Whenever's fine."

"Anyway..." Saikaku glanced around before continuing. "Wanna see what I did?!"

"Uh, okay." Not that Edge really gave a damn, but he was bored, anyway. Especially since his lunch was gone.

"Okay, but I can't show you here. We don't have computers here, much less internet connections. So it's not like I can hook up my laptop to anything like that. After school, we'll go to the library, and I'll show you there, okay?"

Library?!

Edge did not like that idea. Not one little bit. If anyone saw him...

"We can't go anywhere else?" he asked, desperate to weasel out of it.

"You could go to my house."

That was worse. Much worse. Plus, Saikaku could hold back on his offer if he didn't agree to see it.

"Okay, then... I guess the library's fine."

This was not gonna be good...

And it wasn't good. Edge wondered, on his way to walking to the library with Saikaku, what kind of person spent their afternoons in a library.

As it turned out, freaks did. This place was a breeding ground of freaks. Nerds and geeks aplenty. At least it beat meeting Saikaku's parents...

They walked by the computers; Edge noticed a nasty stench emanating from someone there, something that smelled like sweat times ten. He now wondered if going to Saikaku's house would've been a better idea. Too late now, he supposed.

Saikaku plopped down in front of a computer, double-clicking on the icon that led to the browser. He then rapidly typed something in. "Sit down. It's gonna load up soon."

Sitting down, he read what Saikaku had typed in.

http://www.girlsgonewild.com

A more westernized person would've realized that this was the site for a company that sold cheap videos of naked college girls, but Edge really had no idea what he was in for.

However, instead of the usual pictures of naked chicks, just barely covered in the title of the videos they advertised, something else laid there.

First, a good-sized picture of Ki and Marget from Chikara Kachi loaded up. It was tamer than one might expect. And I thought I'd never have to see them again, thought Edge, suppressing shudders.

Following this were some words; one set was in Japanese, the other was in English. Edge naturally read the Japanese set.

This site has been hacked by Awabi.

Admin: Nothing was deleted. Just renamed the index.

Edge rolled his eyes, especially at the choice of hacking handle. "What was the point of doing that?"

"Nothing, really. Just sounded like fun." Saikaku grinned.

What a waste of time...

Katsumi had to talk to him.

She absolutely had to. Maybe she could patch things up with his help.

Unfortunately, Gedo appeared to be deserted.

It was too late.

Dammit.

Suddenly, she saw a red-headed girl from the corner of her eye. She turned to face her, clenching her fists and raising them.

"Who goes there?"

"Hi!" the redhead cried. "I'm Tori! You are?"

"Oh." She felt her arms drop once more. "I suppose you don't know where that Edge guy is."

Tori shook her head. "I was looking for him, too. Because he's EVIL!"

"Well, we're shit outta luck, eh?" Katsumi smiled thinly, the scar crossing her face twisting.

"My mother told me not to say those words," Tori retorted.

"Sorry, sorry... I'll look for him tomorrow, then. Before school lets out. Since you wanna find him, too, wanna come with me?" She was frankly suspicious of this girl's motives, anyway. She seemed to want to help him yesterday...

Under normal circumstances, Tori would have declined, but she had an English exam the next day and hadn't studied, so cutting class was a good thing to her. "Okay!"

"So... We'll meet outside of the arcade near Taiyo, all right? At three o' clock. Class at Gedo lets out at four."

"You mean Jouyouheki Arcade?"

"Yeah, that's the one," said Katsumi.

"Sure! Meet you then!"

"All right. See ya!" Katsumi turned on her heel, deciding to meet with some of her fellow Suzuran Junior High students.

"Taiyo Burning Justice Sprint!" Tori shouted, dashing ahead of her, off of the school's grounds.

Nutcase, Katsumi thought, before following suit, only at a much more sedate pace.