Chapter 5

"N-N-No p-p-please, Mom. I-I-I'm not the one who stole it." The poor girl cried and winced in pain as the middle-aged woman tugged her hair. The thirteen years old girl clamped her eyes shut when the grip on her hair went stronger as if her hair will be pulled out from her scalp any second.

"You're such a liar! I saw that in your room and don't call me mom!" A palm landed on her face and another batch of tears escaped from her puffy eyes. She got dragged towards the sink at the other side of the room by the woman who's still on hold on her hair. The girl can't fight because of the noticeable big bruises and varieties of wounds patching her skin. The light inside the prison cell room flickered as the girl tried to remove her head underwater, creating some bubbles on the water. Water is splashing everywhere and it's didn't show mercy on the lady's clothes. Instead of getting mad or angry, the lady enjoyed the view of the drowning girl. A maniac smile crept into the woman's lips as the poor kid tried to remove her head.

"You're a killer. You killed the three servants using that sword. You burned the library that day too." The lady pushed her head into the water to drown again her before pulling her after five minutes. This time, she didn't fight anymore. The kidlet her do anything to her as if she already accepted her fate. She coughs and gasps for air but the lady did that once again. A kick landed at the back of her knee as she tried to remove her head underwater. Her hands are placed on the sink's counter to keep her balance until the woman finally released her.

"You're nothing but a filthy criminal. Your past title won't suit you." The girl fell on her knees while coughing and chasing her breath.

"Remember this, you're a criminal. Society's scum." She whispers to the kid's ear before stepping on her hand. An agonizing scream whose full of pain and suffering invaded the whole space like air inflating the ballon.

"Don't you dare to scream like that again! A criminal doesn't have a right to scream!" Her swollen hands got stepped mercilessly once again, making some of her bones cracked and some broken.

The last things she saw before she lost her consciousness are the flickering light and the woman who's stepping her hand.

'Curse.'

"What? There's any problem, Hiro?" Trance asked the amber-eyed boy. Hiro snapped out from his thoughts before looking at Trance then show her a lopsided smile, making Trance stared at him in full confusion.

"Don't tell me your grandfather named Yumi." Hiro snorted. Trance furrowed her brows at the amber-eyed boy.

"Yep. My grandfather was named Yumi Miyazaki. Do you have any problems with that?" the twins exchanged looks before looking back at Trance again. Her phone beeped and Trance checked it immediately. After reading the message she shoved her phone back into her pocket.

"We don't have," Haru replied before running his fingers through his run out of melanin hair.

"Okay then, I'm going back to our classroom now. Ciao!" Trance stood up from her seat then leaving the place and her friends behind.

"What?" Hiro asked the three.

"The four of you. We always heard your names back then." Hary replied before leaning his back at the chair.

"Not just on the campus but on the Phantom Plaza," Bryle added, and Khiel nod as a sign of agreeing at his friend's words.

"We visited that once. I think it's been two years? Two years, right Haru?" Haru looked at his twin before looking away and let out a yawn.

"Yep, that was two years ago," Hiro replied to himself. He's starting to get annoyed with his brother after being his usual self again; a silent kid with terrible communicating skills.

"Phantom Plaza is fun. We even almost destroyed the place back then." Hiro let out a dark chuckle before tapping the table, calling all of his friends' attention.

"So that was both of you," Khiel said while looking at Hiro. He's now wondering if twins still have their guardians with them because of their illegal doings as if the cops and law didn't exist on their vocabulary.

"What? We just went there because of racing. Not our fault if they messed up with us." Hiro nonchalantly said while staring at Bryle and Hary who keeps on trying to talk to his silent brother.

"Let's go back to the classroom now." He said before standing up and walk towards the cafeteria's exit.

All of the students' attention in the hallway got drawn at them. Random gossip filled the place as they take steps. Some of the students were avoiding them and some didn't even dare to take a glance at them.

"Where do Trance go?" Hary asked while his eyes are searching and hoping that he found even just her silhouette.

"I don't know," Khiel replied with a shrug. Hiro and Haru are silently walked behind them while judging the students just by their looks. The students who they're looking at started to feel ashamed and nervous by the twin's intimidating looks. The five boys were guarded by the ten school guards with tasters and batons just for them if they caused chaos.

"Maybe she receives a call from her grandfather or what. You know her." Bryle added before clinging his hand around Khiel's neck.

"Aren't they from Priam Videlle's Institute?"

"Who?"

"That two boys behind Hary, Khiel, and Bryle."

The twins looked at those two girls who keep on gossiping about them. They tried to look away and pretend that they didn't talk about them but Hiro's unavoidable and piercing stare haunts them.

The three are having a conversation with the guards on their sides until they reach their destinations. Haru is the first one who entered the quiet classroom and then his brother and the three boys.

"Hey, Yen what happened?" Hary asked the classroom's vice president who's busy reading magazines with malicious content.

'It's very odd.' Khiel said to his mind. He looked at Trance's seat but he didn't found her there. For a section that's full of chaotic boys, it's very odd to see them seating properly on their seats while minding their businesses alone.

Hiro looked at Felix who's just seating quietly on the other side while his twin, Haru, was sleeping again. The three boys on their front are motioning and asking Hiro what happened but instead of speaking up, he pointed Felix who's seating lazily on his chair while looking at the window beside him. Hary clutched his paper before standing up because he can't withstand the odd silence filling up their classroom.

"What up with you guys?!" Hary asked. Felix looked at him before placing his foot at his desk.

"You're voice is annoying. Fcking shut up your mouth will you?" Felix said with a smile plastered on his face but his gray eyes, it screams agony of death. Hary stared at him before seating on his chair, forcibly. His heart hammered through his rib cage because of the fear that he feels as he met Felix's gaze. He can't withstand that smile either, he doesn't want to die early.

"I can't withstand this. Where's Trance? I feel like I'm going to die." Bryle whispered. Kyle looked at him and motioned him to stay quiet before handing him a piece of paper.

'She didn't go here either. Just wait, I guess?'

"How can I wait if I'm going to die because of that demon?" Khiel whispered too. Kyle looked at him before shoving the paper inside of his pocket.

"Guess what we have here." all of their attention got darted at the doorway where the four boys standing at. Felix is just staring at them while boredom is written on his face. Samuel stopped from reading his book just to took a glance from them to see their faces before going back to reading.

"Yen, have you seen Ice?" Minsung asked with a gentle tone while looking at the class's vice president but he received a shrug from the boy. His eyes were scanning the whole room but even Trance is not there too.

"Okay, thank you. I'm sorry for bothering you." Minsung said before taking a bow and motioning his friends that someone they're looking for is not there too.

"Where did you think that Ice will go?" Uriel asked his friends while his hand is under his chin and trying to guess where his friend go.

"Park?" he looked at Akki in a full grimace. Akki received a slap on the back of his head from Raven. Raven earned a death glare from the six-footer boy but instead of feeling intimidated, he glared back.

"Idiot. They are not allowed to go outside. Trance is not allowed." Minsung and Uriel nod as a sign of agreeing on Raven's reason.

"Biology garden?" this time Uriel is the one who got smacked. His friends laughed while he's glaring at them.

"Stupid. Ice is afraid of bugs. Didn't he told you?" Minsung said. Uriel scratched the back of his ear after realizing that his 'tough' and 'brave' best friend is afraid of bugs.

"Mayari Square," Raven said before running towards the place and his friends followed him.

After minutes of running, they finally reached the place and the four of them almost passed out because of the long run. Who doesn't if you run from the last building located at the west wing of the University to the plaza located in the middle of the University.

"Are you sure they're here? Mr.Hermosa will give us a hard task if we don't found Ice here." Uriel said while chasing his breath. Four of them looked like they got chased by a bull. They immediately fix their 18th-century style of plain black uniform with ascot tie that makes them looked like a prince.

After leaving the cafeteria, Trance went to the Mayari Square located in the middle of the University where someone is waiting for her.

"Here, sorry if I told you to come here." Ice said with an apologetic smile and handing her a bottle of juice and a mini fan.

"What's on your mind now, Ice?" Trance asked him before taking a sip from the bottle.

"I heard you got new classmates. How's the parenting?" Ice asked her in mockery. Trance looked at him with a stoic face, making him stopped from laughing.

"I'm not parenting okay? I'm just helping them." Trance replied softly before flicking her bang.

"You're helping them. What if they're just acting that they're following you so you'll be their victims next?" Trance vent out a humorous laugh while Ice is looking at her with a worried expression written all over his face.

"I laughed at the face of danger. Aside from that, I know they won't. Section 10 is full of criminals but they're also my family. Inside of five executive years, none of them tried to do such a thing to me. Maybe all of us are having not-so-good encounters but all of them, we already forget that. Because we're just like crows. We're stronger if we stick together." Trance said while looking at the pink petals from the cherry blossom tree beside them.

"So Section 10 is a class of personified crows then?" Ice asked her before chuckling.

"I can tell but they're looked like frogs for me." Ice's gaze landed on the guards from not that far. They're guarding Trance.

"You're precisely correct. That's why section 10 got each other's back." Trance's lips tugged into a tiny smile as the cherry blossom landed on her palm. Ice can't hide the fact that despite being a prison section, they're like a family.

"That's why it's hard to come near at you too." Ice murmurs before placing his ankle on the bench's armrest and looked at the exceptional view of smiling Trance. Their uniform makes her looked like a badass princess. A black dress that reached below her knees with seven gold-colored buttons on both of its sides. The second and third buttons have a small chain that connects to the other side and a black fabric on the right side fastened on the right shoulder.

"What?" Trance asked him but he just grinned.

"Don't mind me. I just found you prettier when you're smiling." Trance's smile dropped and her face becomes stoic like usual. It's like a miracle or another record in history that the girl Trance, the one who never showed her smile to someone, not that too related to her, smiled even a little at the gangster and a campus prince named Ice Gruger.

"I'm not smiling. Who said that I am?" Ice chuckled at Trance being in denial. The female beside him looked away.

"So can I know the reason why you summoned my presence here?" Trance said, trying to change and ignore the topic as if Ice didn't bring it up.

"About that, you forgot that I still have your handkerchief yesterday before you leave. So I'm handing you this now." Her eyes lowered down to his hand. After minutes of gazing at it, Trance gently picked up the piece of fabric and stare at it.

"Thank you." She said, making Ice smiled like a fool. He leaned his back at the bench while his smile never fades.

"I washed that because I don't want that possession of your will smelled reek." Ice boasted. Trance glanced at him before shaking her head.

"It's fine if you shouldn't. I can still wash this but thank you again." She replied before sliding it inside of her pocket. Ice stared at his shoes, he's trying to calm himself after the girl he's courting thanked him two times in a row.

Both of them filled with complete silence until Ice tried to open up some topic again but his effort got jeopardized when he heard a familiar voice calling his name.

"Ice Eliot Gruger!" He glared at the one who called his name. He wanted to punch that someone in its face.

"Oh, I'm going now. Your friends are probably here." Trance said before standing up and dusting her black skirt then straightening her sleeves.

"Wa----"

"Ice Eliot Gruger!" He clamped his eyes shut as he kissed his teeth. That call got followed by laughter.

"Dmn it Uriel Michel Zolerne!" He yelled. Ice looked at the female beside him with a softened expression.

"Please at least let me drop you to your classroom." But Trance shook her head and handed him back the mini fan.

"I can walk. Aside from that, I'm sure that your friends come here for a reason." She bowed before leaving Ice and his friends behind.

"Ha! I told you, he's here at Mayari Plaza." Raven boasted but non of his friend paid attention to him because all of them are busy with Ice who groaned in annoyance as his gaze followed Trance who's walking away from them.

"Let's go back to our homeroom. Mr.Hermosa will probably be waiting for us. He just gave us half an hour to look for this one." Akki said before tapping Ice's shoulder.

"Why you're with Ellreign again?" Uriel asked him while taking down some notes.

Ice glanced at him before looking back at doodling something at the back of his notebook.

"I just wanted to return her handkerchief." He replied after scribbling the horrible drawing.

"Ice Gruger are you even paying attention?" His homeroom and history professor asked him, making him averted his attention at him and took a glance at the blackboard behind his professor. He's expecting that there's some information written on the board but there's nothing but a 'Salem Witch trials' written on it.

"Yeah."

"Then tell me what I've said." Ice put down his pen and leaned his back at the backrest of his chair.

"Salem Witch trials is one of the worst happening in America." He nonchalantly said while looking at his professor with a bored expression. Mr.Hermosa smirked before proceeding to explain his lesson.

"Her handkerchief?" this time, Akki is the one who asked him. Akki averted back his gaze at the front, trying to act like he and Ice are not talking to each other.

"Did I stutter?" Ice sarcastically replied as he starts doodling something on his notebook again.

"Did I say that you stutter?" Akki clapped back, making Ice glared at him. The boy beside Ice grinned like a cat. Ice groaned in annoyance before taking back his attention on his notebook.

"What does her handkerchief smelled like?" He asked in full curiosity.

"Of course. She smelled like french vanilla." Akki looks away while amusement is written all over him.

"She smelled like that?" He asked once again for some confirmation. Ice nudge him away, annoyed.

"Trance!" Hary dramatically exclaimed as he stands up from his seat and attempts to run towards the female who just entered the room but he stopped after meeting Felix's cold gaze. The seat back and crouch on his seat.

"Dmn," Khiel whispered while trying to prevent himself to vent out a laugh.

"Nothing is funny, Khiel." Hary snarled.

"It's a miracle seeing you this too quiet." She said before pulling her chair and sit on it. Trance got greeted by Hiro who's busy folding some paper to make it like a paper plane and Haru who's sleeping like a dead man.

"You're surprisingly peaceful than usual, what happened?" A sweet as a honey voice asked them. All of their attention got darted to their Social Studies professor who just entered their classroom. She's wearing a vintage white ruffled dress that reaches over her knees and a black coat with the same length of her dress and a bolo tie with the university's crest; a crescent moon and lion sitting on it then surrounded by lightning sparks surrounding its side. Her identification card fastened on her coat paired with white wedge sandals. Her clothes make beauty stand up more. You can even compare her to a white lily that reassembled innocence and purity.

"Trance did you use some magic to them?" Trance looked at her and shrugged.

"I don't know what happened either, Ms. Leonel." Her teacher took a glance at her classmates once again before flipping her book's pages.

"Ms. Leonel, are you free later?" Liam asked. Almost all of her students snickered aside from the four students of the last row who's just silently watching them.

"I'm free to give you a failing grade later." Their professor replied with a sweet smile before grabbing chalk and start writing on the board behind her.

"Roasted!" Ash commented and got followed by the laughter of his classmates.

The gangster laughs more when Liam throws a crumpled paper on him, a crumpled filled small marble inside. Ash hissed in pain as the crumpled paper hit his head, creating a small sound. He kicked Liam's chair, causing the boy to almost kissed the ground. Liam stood up and grabbed his chair to smashed it on his seatmate's head.

Their classmates started to cheering them, persuading them to fight. The small ruckus that they have made called their professor's attention.

"Stop it right now." Ms.Lionel said with a stern tone while looking at them. All of them got silenced when their professor went serious. Liam glared at his seatmate before putting down the chair carelessly that creates a loud sound throughout the silence.

"Good." She gave her students a 'try-to-fight-again-and-I'll-throw-both-of-you-out' look before going back on writing.

"Who is she?" Hiro asked Trance while staring at Ms. Lionel who's busy writing something on the board.

"She's Ms. Lionel, our social studies professor. She becomes our social studies teacher last year when our former one leaves because of us. Ms. Lionel is not that too nice but she's a good teacher." Trance explained. Hiro started taking down some notes while stealing some glances at their professor.

"I bet she is," Hiro said after he's done taking down some notes. Trance looked at him with a smug face but Hiro just gave her an innocent look.

"You're attracted aren't you?" Hiro let a throaty laugh before he shook his head.

"I'm just amused. Section 10 has a special teacher with a high salary. I'm just saying, she won't make it if she's not a good teacher." The amber-eyed boy reasoned out. Trance shrugged. Hiro reached his brother with a pen in his hand and hit Haru's head with it, hardly.

"Hey. Wake up, we have a professor." Hiro said before hitting him once again. Instead of waking up, Haru just groaned.

"Don't wake him up that way," Trance said, making Hiro heave a problematic sigh and went back on staring at their professor.

"Fine. Wake him up for me then," Hiro said before placing his ankle on his desk and leaned his face on his slender hand. Trance looked at the sleeping figurine of Haru then she held his shoulder and shake him gently while calling his name.

"Haru, we have a professor," Trance whispered at him but no response. She shakes him again. Trance doesn't want him to get scolded by their professor so she didn't stop shaking him.

"Haru." Then, after that call, Haru popped his eyes open and look at Trance. His face has some marks made by his uniform and his hair got messier than how messy it was before.

"What?" Haru asked her before rubbing his eyes and covered his mouth as he let out a yawn.

"Hiro told me to wake you----"

"Because you're a piece of crap and we have a professor dumbass." Hiro continued Trance's words despite the first reason is not from her. He pointed at Ms. Leonel who's busy explaining her lesson. Haru furrowed his eyebrows at him before looking at the professor.

"I know you're awake. Don't you dare to sleep again." Hiro warned his younger brother but Haru is not Haru if he follows his orders or if he listened to him. The younger one placed his arms on the top of his desk and leaned back to his position before Trance wake him up.

"It's not the end of the world. Why you wake me up?" He asked while remaining in that position.

"If the end of the world is currently happening we won't wake you up," Hiro replied while looking at the front. Trance ignored his question and continued listening to their professor at the front.

"But Trance did." Haru clapped back before he leaned his back at the backrest of his chair. Ms. Lionel's attention got averted to Haru.

"Are you one of the new students?" Ms. Lionel asked Haru but she hasn't got any response she's expecting from the boy.

"Yes, they're." Trance is the one who answers her. Their professor chuckled.

"Quiet kid. I guess you're Haru." Haru leaned on his desk while looking at her.

"So what if I am?" He asked her monotone.

Ms. Lionel remained despite his rude question.

"Last time you tricked Mrs. Homer. Both of you and Hiro." A lopsided smile appears on her red and plump lips. Hiro looked at the window beside him and snickered. She's now wondering if the boy is naturally like that or only on her. Haru didn't even blink while looking at her, making her darted her gaze at the twins on the other side.

"I guess you're Felix and Samuel Valdez." Samuel nods before grinning.

"I am," Felix replied.

"I forgot about four of you earlier." Ms. Leonel chuckled before walking towards the table in the front and flip the pages of her book.

"I guess that's for today. Kindly read the page 236 to 239. Goodbye." She said before closing the book and picked it up from the table then exits the room. The whole class goes back to what they're doing when she exits the room.