SPECIAL CHAPTER

We heard a gunshot from afar, which stunned us for a while. I looked at Ms. Zei Wyte to see if she was alright; nonetheless, she was okay, rather calm, and not afraid. This is not unexpected given that previously, when she encountered the way I handle things, even to the point of crushing someone's hands, she maintained her cool and acted as if she were not new to the situation. Thus, I assume hurting or, to some extent, killing somebody is common at this school.

"That gunshot..." she stated in a low voice of perplexion.

I'm not sure what just happened in the moment. But maybe...

"Mr. Seid, why are you here in the first place?" She immediately diverted my attention.

"I'll ask you the same question, why are you here too?"

I have a faint clue, but I asked anyway.

"I wanted to clear this thing about Mr. Gounter, and I got confirmation from different Families, which is why—"

"I assume you already know," I cut in, "They are from what is known as Independent Families, and their numbers are likely to be increasing based on what I can see."

Now that we are on the same page, explaining things to her is much easier--no, she will definitely pick it up and connect some of the puzzles I already laid out earlier. This entire scene was definitely rooted in Ms. Frestia.

"Why are they doing this now?" She asked.

"This is the right opportunity for them, and Ms. Frestia has calculated this from the beginning. I assume all of the members of her Family and those connected to her will leave this school tomorrow without official notice, as it was a protest against Fifteen Families."

They cannot remain here due to their involvement in this issue. Ms. Principal surely will investigate; therefore, it's fair to assume they're all starting to flee.

"That makes sense. Also, they said they'll make their own future, huh? I'm curious why they needed the President to accomplish their goal," Ms. Zei said.

"That is what we must look for. There are still mysteries that we should solve before it's too late."

I suddenly remember Mr. President's last words which made me think he was entrusting the future to me and Zei: 'All right, then, this is the last time I see you in school. I'll leave it up to you, Mr. Hans Seid and Ms. Zei Wyte.'

If it is, then I don't know what will happen.

"You're curious, aren't you?" she remarked out of nowhere.

I gave a blank response to her since she already knew the answer.

To be honest, I'm fascinated by how the Families operate, and as a result, I'll seek the goal inside myself--as well as the objective of locating the person who is writing me those letters.

It is still constantly being sent to me without my knowledge. However, every time I kept my bag close to me in the hopes of catching the person who continued sending me those notes, he or she did not appear, and I did not get any letters later that day. It's extremely intriguing to see, but it's making me more frustrated that I exert such worthless effort to play this hide-and-seek.

"Do you have any plans to meet with Frestia?" Ms. Zei suddenly asked.

"Not today, but perhaps we'll cross paths and I'll be prepared for that meeting," I said. Though I'm not certain, at some point that is probable. "Anyway, did you have any idea why Mr. Arios was eager to kill Mr. President?" Apparently, based on their conversation earlier, Mr. Arios was mad at Mr. President and tried to kill him, but he didn't.

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"Perhaps it was for his sister. Few people know this, but he has a step sister around the same age who supposedly attends the same school as him. Unfortunately, his sister can't go because she completely missed the schedule of the entrance exams. If you're wondering why, it's because her biological father died on the exact same day. She wasn't given a second chance to retake the exam because the Principal and the President didn't allow it. Because of that, his step sister has been treated like a dump since she does not attend the same school as Mr. Fred Arios. As a result, she left the Arios Family and lives alone.

"I see... Is that all?" I asked.

"Nothing much of a case, but Mr. Fred Arios also has a large amount of debt left to pay. As I can confirm from my source, it was most likely Ms. Frestia that he was indebted to. However, the interesting part was that Ms. Frestia's family is not wealthy compared to other associate families, so how did she lend enough money to Mr. Arios?"

"If that's the case then there's something going on about Ms. Frestia."

After a short conversation, I didn't expect someone come over in this room... And it was Ms. Auguron.

"What brings you here?" I questioned her, but she didn't answer.

"Well, Mr. Seid, Esper was already aware of Mr. President's plans to destroy the Families," Ms. Zei explained.

I was a little skeptical to heard this at first so I asked, "Then why didn't she do something to stop him?"

"I don't know... Maybe because she's still holding a grudge about—"

"It's none of your business," Ms. Auguron cut Ms. Wyte off in the middle of her speech.

Ms. Auguron's words were harsh; probably she was angry about something. The only reason I could think of is because of all Ms. Wyte's previous actions. I was told that they were arguing about Ms. Hunt's case, which turned out to be accurate.

"So, why are you here?" I asked Ms. Auguron once again.

Ms. Wyte immediately responded, "As I said, she wants to take action. Before I came here, I interviewed some of them on what was their plan that they were talking about, and some of them were not aware of the plan, including her. However, when I asked directly at Mr. Oaes, I learned that they wanted to kicked out Ms. Hollows and this is alarming to all Families. It was a chaos indeed."

I had a hunch about what was going on when this incident occurred, but it is now clear to me. I previously had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Gounter when we happened to meet, and he invited me to a private conversation. But I declined since I had no time that day unless it was something urgent. This is why he gave me his phone number. But the timing was undoubtedly coincidental. That moment I didn't know if he was associated with the Independent Families or not so I asked Mr. Arios about it, and based on his response it was all true... that...

"Then?" I asked Ms. Wyte.

"It was Mr. Gounter all along," Ms. Auguron stated.

...All of the Fifteen Families have 'spies' and they are connected to Independent Families without their knowing.

"Speaking of which," Ms. Wyte looked at me plainly and asked, "you said Mr. Gounter too earlier; why is he involved?"

"Isn't he from an Independent Families?" I diverted my attention to Ms. Auguron.

"Yeah, we confirmed. That's why I'm here and thought Mr. President was targeted, but from the looks of it, I failed to ensure Mr. President's safety. The other Families were now catching Mr. Gounter and those who connected to him."

So they're the ones responsible for the gunshot we've heard. This may appear confusing, but to put it simply, some Independent Families were labeled as rebel Families. And now the Main Fifteen Families is on the move to catch them.

Ms. Wyte added, "And apparently Mr. Oaes has been tricked. He has no idea that Mr. Gounter was behind all of this. Mr. Oaes only knows that everyone was told about Ms. Hollows being cast out, but they didn't know from whom they heard this."

"What is Mr. Gounter's Family again?"

"Alter Family," Ms. Auguron said.

"Then, assuming the Alter Family was unaware, it leads me to the conclusion that they have spies on each Family," I stated, which leads them to go speechless.

However, Ms. Auguron continued, "Considering that, I recall one of my members wanting to talk to me about something, but I refused due to my lack of strength in recent days, so perhaps she went to Mr. Arson to tell him something too about their plan to cast out Ms. Hollows."

"I see, so they use that chance to tell you those too, huh?" Ms. Wyte said.

"..." Ms. Auguron remained silent.

Having this two conversing with each other, I can sense that they are certainly feel awkward with one another. The silence of Ms. Auguron also put the weight to that. And me being stuck in the situation makes me feel even worse.

"Anyway," I caught Ms. Auguron's attention, "what will you do now?"

I'm asking about herself, not about the incident. I peered into her eyes, and she seemed somewhat taken aback.

"I don't know, but," with a solid response that gives off in her eyes, she said, "I'm trying to solve what I can do for now."

Then she exited the room.

The quiet surrounded me and Ms. Wyte, yet all I can see is that the future will not be the same as it was before, for we are all in turmoil now.