Ren was sitting with the black small book in his hands as usual, at their usual table in their favorite cafe.
The place was relaxing and quiet as the scent of pastries and tea filled the area and the sun was setting and only a few customers were there.
It had a cool atmosphere. He looked relaxed in his seat as he read the book.
' Be careful who you trust, salt and sugar look the same, two white crystals nearly identical to the eyes even the most discerning eyes would hesitate to tell which is which, they dissolve the same but taste differently. '
Before he could continue reading a voice interrupted.
" Good afternoon. " The pink haired waitress said while bending her knees slightly and bowing her head.
" The sun has almost settled it's evening right now, Kaide. " Ren replied without looking up.
" Oh goodness, you are right. " She replied with a mock surprise as her purples eyes as she gazed at him.
" Are you drinking the usual... " She stopped mid question, as her eyes narrowed as if something within her shifted.
" Ren, have you gotten yourself a girlfriend? " Her tone was cheerful but her tight smile and twitching eyebrows betrayed her.
" Where did you get such an insane idea? " Ren asked as he flipped through another page his eyes only focused on the book.
" It's.... "
Her sentence was cut off before it even started, " Hey Ren, did you wait long? " Tatsuya approached.
" No I didn't. " Ren responded lifting his head to face Tatsuya.
When she noticed Tatsuya approaching Kaide with a bow before leaving said, " I'll bring the usual then. "
Tatsuya looked a little tired and like he was slightly discouraged.
" So how was practice? Did it go well?" Ren asked
Upon hearing the question Tatsuya sank into his chair and let out a deep sigh, " it was mostly embarrassing but surprisingly the students in club were nice to me, so I learned a lot and made some friends. "
" That's good, you know you can track your progress by using the quest completion percentage. "
" Oh right, " Tatsuya grabbed his phone from his pocket and opened the Guide app, it read.
" TAKE PART IN THE NEW DRAMA CLUB PROJECT. +100 POINTS. DURATION: 5 DAYS. ( Quest progress 10% )"
" I'm sitting at ten percent, I still have some work to do and what about you? Ren, how much progress have you made? " Tatsuya asked his eyes filled with curious.
" When I checked before coming here and it was at thirty percent, " Ren flipped a page as he explained. " The literature club just needed more members and a few good stories it won't be difficult. "
A familiar voice came from the back, " hey boss man, you are here early that's quite unusual. "
Rick approached his face looking a little tired and his gray hair looking a little messy.
" what did I miss?... " After he noticed Tatsuya his voice became sarcastic. " Oh you're here too, And no figure this time, who knew trash could be recycled into something useful and less weird. "
" I'm aware you're too dumb to know what trash looks like, so I'll give you a tip.... Just look in the mirror. " Tatsuya said with a satisfied look.
Rick grabbed his chest as if he was just stabbed and fell slowly in his seat, " ouch, that hurt. " He cried out then he let out a small laugh.
" Is everything proceeding smoothly on your end? Rick. " Ren asked.
" Well yes, I've gathered quite a few pieces, tomorrow I'll start executing my plan, " Rick explained with his hand behind his head his finger tapping the back of his neck.
" Sounds good, just don't over do it. I don't want another overkill or to see anything burning. " Ren advised his voice calm as he closed his book.
" Don't worry nothing will, I was young when something last burnt. "
" What are you talking about? you're 14 you're still young. " Ren argued.
" Boss man, you worry too much. " Rick replied a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.
' I'm not worried, it's just you're a wild card, you like chaos that's usually you win condition but if you cause too much chaos you might accidentally hurt someone close to you. ' Ren analysed as his red eyes looked at Rick.
" Here your drinks. " Kaide suddenly appeared putting down the coffes and pastries on the table.
And the night continued as the trio continued their discussion.
The morning came and trio were already at school changing their shoes at the shoes lockers.
" You didn't use your skateboard today Ren. " Rick asked as few students changed their shoes near them.
" Bro have you seen the ranking. It was posted yesterday and now it's everywhere around the school. " One the students said.
" I didn't know, did anonymous strike again. I wonder where I'll be." The friend of the students asked as they walked away.
" What kind of ranking are they talking about? Don't tell me It's that one. " Tatsuya asked uninterested tone.
" I don't know what it is and I probably couldn't care less. " Rick replied shutting that topic down.
" The skateboard makes me stand out too much, so I had to unequip it. " Ren explained as he changed his shoes.
" But you always looked so cool, I'm sure you have reasons. "
As they walked in the hallway Ren stared at his phone looking at the guide app and it read.
" HELP THE LITERATURE CLUB FROM FALLING APART. + 50 POINTS, DURATION: 3 DAYS. ( Quest progress 60% "
' it hasn't changed since yesterday, I need to pay visit to the literature club today. ' Ren thought as he took a turn and left the other two walking.
" Nerd, are you heading to practice? " Rick asked his hand his pocket.
" I'm not a nerd. " Tatsuya replied calmly.
" Hey Tats, good morning. " A voice of girl came from behind.
Tatsuya turned back and found a familiar face, Aina Kazuki.
" Tats. " Rick said in a surprised tone as he was about to start laughing but he cover his hand on his mouth.
Rick immediately recognized her. ' the new student and Tatsuya looks clueless and she even nicknamed him this too funny. '
" A friend from practice? " Rick asked his tone calculated as his face quick switched back to calm and cheerful.
" Yes, we are newbies of the drama club. It's nice to meet you. " She replied
" My club is waiting for me and it was nice meeting you too, Aina. " Rick said waving his hand as he left.
In a room slightly dark, the sound of buttons being pressed spread filled the air.
Four students who sat in front of computers smashed the buttons their keyboards at an incredible speed.
" I'm done. " One with glasses announced.
They all stoped typing and headed to his computer.
" I can't believe you manage to block that attack who was that trying to access our info. " One said in awe.
" That was a crazy virus, is it new because it nothing like the ones I've encountered before. " Another said.
" If I had more time I would have beat it, but it doesn't matter since their didn't breach our data. "
" What are you guys up to? Can I join? " voice from behind cut through the celebratory air.
" Who are you? and how did you get in here? " The boy with glasses asked with a surprised face.
The other three didn't say anything as they watched him approach.
" That's a stupid question, I know you know who I am, just I know who you all are. "
" Wait gray hair, arrogant and likes to break rules. Rick Akihito codename joker. "
" Wow, that sounded so cool, I didn't know I had a nickname. " Rick said in a playfully tone.
" Stop with the stupid act, tell us why you are here. " The glasses one demanded.
With a smirk playing on his lips as he replied. " Oh, no patience at all that's good, we have one thing in common. "
" Kita, Aki, Sendo and Yu those are your names right? I need you guys to do me a favor. " Rick asked as the clicked on his phone before putting back in his pocket.
" We don't owe you anything, so we won't be doing you any favors. " Yu replied in a defying tone.
Rick's smirk grew wider, ' I know you don't owe me anything but you don't know how much money I had to spend just to find pieces of trash like you guys. But it was worth it since you guys control information in this school. '
Rick let out a sigh, " I never said you did but I found something of yours. " He then grabbed a folded paper from his pocket.
" You guys made this list, didn't you? you're anonymous. "
' Our school has tradition. More like those school wonders of ghosts told in stories, us we have a anonymous like the name suggests no one knew about them until now. ' Rick explained to himself as his eyes read through the list.
' These guys take all information about students and analyse giving each a student a score based on appearance, attitude and popularity and etc, then they rank from worst student to best which causes a lot of chaos. '
There was a slight flicker of shock on Yu's face but he immediately became composed. " What makes you think that? "
" You guys were targeted by multiple viruses right now were you? That pretty much confirmed it for me. because each one of my people tracked you down using something called ip. " He said as he folded the paper.
" I don't the technical stuff the main point is we didn't want your data we just needed to know your location. "
" That makes no sense and even if what you're saying is true, how would you know our location we blocked all your attacks. "
" I know it's hard to understand but only a pro could beat pro and you guys are students so it goes to show how great you are " Rick explained as he got closer to them and his tone became more serious
" but you were playing a losing game, you blocked the attack it lead to your exposure and letting your info leaked was never an option so you had no choice but to play along. "
Yu snapped his fingers and his friends went to their computers and started pressing buttons.
" Well played but you don't have any data to back it up and our drives will be empty in a few minutes you can't touch us. " Yu said with a panicked but smug look.
" That's not true but let's pretend it is. I can't touch you but does the same apply the teachers who helped you. " Rick said in a low almost sinister tone.
He continued his tone ominous, " most of them have kids and families to take care of, if this list and it's creators got public. I'm certain the outside society won't care about school traditions, they'll only want to tear you guys apart. "
Upon witnessing Rick, Yu stood there he opened his mouth but no words came out his eyes looked terrified. The boys clinking on their keyboards stopped, they turned and their eyes were shaking with fear.