Grate went to Metropolis with his roommate Baron and spent the whole day there. In time, they prepared to go back home.

"What a day, huh?", Baron asked.

"Yes! This is the greatest new year day of my life!", Grate cheered up and Baron laughed.

Suddenly, some goons of Knuckle Fist Gang spotted them.

"Hey? Isn't that the brat with the Iron Kid?", one of them asked.

"Yes, that's him.", said another.

"Let's go teach him a lesson.", said another.

"So, what are you planning after we go back home? Want a drink?", Baron asked.

"No. Tomorrow's the first class. I don't wanna mess this up.", said Grate as Baron laughed.

Knuckle Fist Gang approached them.

"Hey, what do you know? If it isn't the bootlicker of the Iron Kid.", said one of them.

"Knuckle Fist Gang!?", Grate was frightened to see them. Baron escaped in fear, leaving Grate all alone. Grate called for Baron, but he didn't listen as he kept running.

"Oh? The friend left Mama's baby boy all alone with the predators. That's too bad.", one of them taunted him.

"It seems the Iron Kid isn't around to back you up today.", said another then they laughed out loud.

"Eiffel isn't here. But he will be here. And you all are going to pay!", Grate cried.

Suddenly one of them struck his face with a baseball bat. Grate was knocked down and started bleeding.

"Ooh! It's a home run for sure! Nice shot, captain!", one of them praised the hitter who was revealed to be Bazooka.

"Now talk! What are you doing here in Metropolis? This is the Imperial College students' area. Knuckle Fist Gang runs this city.", said Bazooka as Grate tried to get back up.

"So, what if it's your city? What are you gonna do about it? Show me a ball if you can! You are gonna have hell to pay!", Grate barked.

"Who's gonna save you? The Iron Kid? Haha! Remember! You are in my area! Not even your daddy can do a thing about it!", said Bazooka as they all laughed. After a while, Grate started laughing out loud as well which annoyed Bazooka to hit him with the baseball bat again. Grate was knocked out cold.

Eiffel visited the place where he worked called 'Brake Up Call' to meet the owner. The owner was trying so hard to do something. Eiffel came in and helped him.

"Happy new year, Mr. Shinichi.", said Eiffel.

"Yo, Eiffel! How's it going? Long time no see! Where have you been?", the owner was very excited to see Eiffel.

"I got accepted into Astorion, Mr. Shinichi.", said Eiffel.

"Really? *sobs* You are finally continuing with your studies. I'm so proud and happy for you, Eiffel.", said Shinichi with tears of joy.

"Thank you, sir. I'll forever appreciate all the times you've helped me. I'll forever be in debt.", said Eiffel.

"Don't mention it, kid. I've always treated you like my son. If I had a son, I wouldn't have done any different for him. Speaking of, where's my other son?", said Shinichi.

"Grate, huh? He went to Metropolis with his roommate. He's enjoying the new year. You know how he is.", said Eiffel.

"That's one spoiled brat. Take good care of him.", said Shinichi.

"Yes, I will.", said Eiffel.

Then suddenly he received a phone call from an unknown person.

"Hello?", said Eiffel.

"Hey there, Iron Kid. If you want your friend to be alive, come to Reaperbury, Metropolis alone at sharp midnight.", said someone unknown.

"Who is this?", Eiffel asked in anxiety.

"And don't forget to bring 1 O (1 Million) Vowels in cash.", said the guy on the phone, and then the call ended.

"H-hello?", Eiffel was tensed, but there was no response from the other side.

"What... What happened?", Shinichi asked in anxiety.

"It's Grate. He has been kidnapped.", Eiffel answered.

"What!? Let me call the police!", Shinichi responded in illness.

"No... I'll handle it.", Eiffel stopped Shinichi and then asked, "How much money do you have in the bank?"

"How much do you need?", Shinichi asked.

"1 O.", said Eiffel. Shinichi didn't react at all, went to his room, and then returned with a big bag in hand.

"Here.", said Shinichi.

"Thanks, Mr. Shinichi. I'll make sure to-", said Eiffel.

"Don't. Just rescue Grate for me.", Shinichi cut him off. Eiffel nodded then grabbed the bag, drank some water from a bottle that he always keeps in his pocket, and ran.

"Come on, Grate. You had to save the rest of the trouble for me. You couldn't stand still carefully for one second. Then again, this is how you were since the very beginning. You are at the center of all trouble. And I don't mind solving all your problems after how you paid me back. After all, you are my brother from another mother.", Eiffel ran and thought. Then a flashback began.

Grate (8 years old), an elementary school kid, was getting bullied by 10 middle school boys. They were dropping the things from his bag, messing with his tie, and throwing away his shoes on the drain. Eiffel (8 years old) showed up and beat up all the middle school boys all alone.

"Hey, are you alright? The name's Eiffel Roseholic.", said Eiffel to Grate after giving him a hand.

"Thank you for the help. I am Grate.", said Grate after he accepted his hand to get up then said in fear, "*scared* Hey, dude... I think they've got backup." The boys came back with more backups from their school to beat up Eiffel and Grate. But Shady Roseholic appeared and stood before Eiffel. The middle school boys got scared and they ran away in fear. Flashback ended.

Next flashback. In a church, a father was preaching to the attendants.

"I grew up around people who were super religious and pious. They would always talk about the holy book and god. But they would lie at least ten times a day unnecessarily, would always use foul mouth, talk down about other people, would never accept faults, would always do things that go against what that member preaches about religion. Even they are ready to hold the holy book and lie without any sense of guilt or hesitation. It's so hard to tell whether a practicing person is in love with the religion or are they practicing because religion is a shield that keeps them safe from people's judgment.", said the father.

Suddenly Grate took Eiffel to the church who was exhausted. Furthermore, he became suffocated upon entering there. Both were 14 years old at the time.

"Father. My friend is feeling odd. He is sick. Please help him.", Grate said in anxiety.

"Sit him down over there, child.", said the Father after telling the attendants to leave.

Then the father observed Eiffel for sometime without saying anything. After a while, the Father freaked out. Then he stood up and was going inside.

"Father? What happened? Where are you going?", Grate wondered with intensity.

"Just wait here, child.", said the Father.

After a while, he returned with a bottle of water, gave a sip of it to Eiffel to drink, and handed the bottle to Grate.

"What is this?", Grate asked.

"This is sacred water, child. Give him a sip of it to drink every night until the day he dies. When the water's about to reach its end, fill up the bottle with regular water. It should work that way as well.", said the father.

"I-is he going to be fine?", Grate asked anxiously.

The father stood silent for sometimes then said, "The best thing about the worst time of life is you get to see the true colors of people."

Grate did not understand what the father meant. Then he was leaving the church while helping Eiffel move.

"Child... Don't mix with him at night.", said the father. Grate stopped for some time upon hearing it, didn't say anything, and then left. Flashback ended.

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Next flashback. Eiffel (13 years old) was taking an exam alongside other middle school candidates. Eiffel's mind was clouded with confusion, couldn't figure out the answers to the questions, and so he was pulling his hair in frustration. Suddenly, the headmaster appeared in the exam hall and started to check out how the students were doing. The headmaster walked past Eiffel and approached one student with long hair. The headmaster foul-mouthed him, hit his head with the duster a few times, then took out a scissor and cut his hair. Eiffel was both frightened and angry a little bit upon seeing the situation. He also had medium-sized hair which would definitely be longer in the headmaster's view. It was an awkward silence in the room and nobody was making a single noise. Then the headmaster checked out the entire class, found nothing wrong, and was about to walk out of the class. He walked past Eiffel who felt relieved upon seeing the headmaster leave.

Suddenly, a boy from the backseat pointed at Eiffel and said to the headmaster, "Sir! That guy in the 2nd row has long hair!", the headmaster got his attention and Eiffel became super angry at the boy as he mumbled, "Damn you, Moira!"

The headmaster approached Eiffel. He started to mess up and pull his hair as well as use a foul mouth at the same time. Then he shoved his head a couple of times before shoving his face on the table and grabbing his hair tight. The headmaster took out a scissor and then he was about to cut it.

Suddenly Eiffel grabbed the headmaster's wrist in rage and used pressure to break it. The headmaster screamed in agony. Then Eiffel left the exam hall and vowed to never return to the school ever again. The gatekeeper blocked his path as Eiffel was about to exit the gate, but he shoved him away before exiting. Eiffel looked around then he was flabbergasted to find Grate (13 years old) smoking a cigarette in front of the school's main gate. The flashback ended.

Meanwhile in a certain place. A couple of Knuckle Fist Gang goons poured water on Grate to wake him up. Grate found himself tied up in a chair just like he was during the AWC at Masquerade's mansion.

"Your friend is on his way to rescue you.", one of the goons said to him.

"How cute. Your friend must love you a lot. Talk about bromance.", said another. Then they laughed and left.

"I'm maybe the only person in the world who got tied up in a chair on two different occasions within 24 hours. Gosh. I've been told that I'm a problem child, a trouble maker, a spoiled brat, a loose cannon, and so on. But that's the way I'm and I embrace it. For that, some people appreciated me and some people avoided me. I didn't care what others thought. Because this one guy and no matter how much trouble it caused him for my deeds, he was always there for me. His name is Eiffel Roseholic. But there were some dark times when I never left his side. Never.", Grate thought.

Another flashback began. Eiffel and Grate. Both were 15 years old at the time. Eiffel was beating up a group of college students in an alley just before the sunset and he was protecting Grate from them. All of a sudden, Eiffel began to feel tired as well as exhausted and realized that the sun was setting. He was getting beaten up. Grate tried to defend him by fighting them and then threw the sacred water bottle at Eiffel. Eiffel grabbed the bottle and as he was about to drink it, one of those college students kicked the bottle away. The bottle fell and broke into pieces. Then the students were ganging up on them. As Eiffel tried to fight back and defend Grate, he was getting beaten up pretty easily. He was feeling suffocated. Suddenly Eiffel's eyes turned red which freaked them out. Then he went rampage and beat up anyone he found in front of him. The college students that got beaten up fainted. Others escaped in fear seeing a swarm of vampires approaching them. Eiffel became more muscular and taller then started to rampage on the vampires as well to murder all of them. Grate was all that was left. Eiffel approached him and slapped him as hard as he could. Grate started to bleed from the side of his neck and he understood that Eiffel was not on his senses. Eiffel started running toward him with the intention of murder. Grate feared that the time has come for him to die and that he was going to die at the hands of his only friend. As Eiffel got closer to hitting Grate, Shady Roseholic appeared in time and poked on Eiffel's forehead to tame him. Eiffel lost consciousness.

Next scene. Eiffel slowly opened his eyes. He was on his bed. There were Shady Roseholic, Lady Ahora, and Grate by his side.

"Master and... Grate? What happened to your neck?", Eiffel asked slowly and they freaked out from hearing his words. It seemed as if he didn't remember anything from the commotion that he caused. Flashback ended.

"The scar is on the side of my neck and it's properly covered by my hair. It will stay there permanently. *smiles* But I consider this as a gift that was given to me by my only friend in the world. Gifts should be permanent so that you would keep them for eternity... Eiffel Roseholic. His well-wishers call him Chipiko. I know all about his secrets and he knows mine. There are some memories of fun moments between us. We will cherish them forever.", Grate thought as another flashback began.

Eiffel broke out of the school gate with anger and found a 13-year-old Grate smoking a cigarette in front of it. Eiffel was dumbfounded by what he saw so he asked, "What are you doing here? You finished your exam already?"

"Exam? They wouldn't let me pass the gate.", Grate said annoyingly.

"What? Why?", Eiffel asked curiously.

"There's this guy called Moira who made a fool out of me.", Grate barked.

"What did he do?", Eiffel asked.

Grate said that he and Moira were racing to the school gate on who could enter at first. It was 9 O'clock, meaning that it was time for the gate to be closed. As they were closing to the end, they saw the gate was closing. While running to the end, Moira stepped on Grate's toe which made him trip and fall. Moira entered the gate and then the gatekeeper closed it. Grate got up and knocked on the gate as hard as he could, however, he didn't get any response from the other side.

The headmaster appeared and asked him, "What happened, kid? It seems like you are late."

"Sir! Please help me! I've exams to give! But they're not letting me in. Please, sir! Help me!", Grate begged.

The headmaster then knocked on the door and said, "Open the door." The gate opened and the headmaster entered.

As Grate was about to enter, the headmaster pushed him down and said, "I've no sympathy for latecomers. Give your exam next year or take TC then go home. I have no place for irresponsible students in my school.", then he aggressively closed the gate.

"And that's what happened.", Grate said to Eiffel.

"...drop that cigarette. What the hell do you think you are doing in front of the school!", said Eiffel.

"To hell with this school. Is this school or what?", said Grate in disappointment. Eiffel snatched away the cigarette from Grate and threw it away.

"...so, why are you out this early? Your exam's over?", Grate asked.

"Same thing. Moira and Mr. Philips (headmaster).", said Eiffel.

"Guess we've made some common enemies. Let's teach them a lesson and leave this school for good.", said Grate.

Later in the afternoon. The headmaster was walking to his home. Suddenly, he was covered by some sort of blanket in the alley. Then two middle school students were beating him up as hard as they could. The students were Eiffel and Grate. Before running away, Grate gave a final blow to the headmaster when he kicked his groin. The headmaster was in pain and removed the blanket to find no one around.

Afterward, Moira was walking back to his home in an alley as well and found Eiffel on his way. So Moira turned back to walk away from him but found Grate on the other end. Then both Grate and Eiffel were approaching him slowly from their ends. Moira didn't know what to do as his back was against the wall so he was apologizing. He was approached by them. It seemed as if Eiffel was going to punch him so Moira guarded himself. Eiffel punched the wall beside him and the wall started to crack a little bit. Moira was sweating bullets from seeing that and kneeled in fear. Then both Eiffel and Grate left Moira alone. Flashback ended.

"Such fun times. *smiles* No matter what happened to us, doesn't matter if it was right or wrong, he always had my back and I had his. He is my brother from another mother.", Grate thought.

One of the goons came in and said, "Let's go. Your friend has arrived."

Later in Reaperbury, Metropolis. Eiffel was standing all alone with the bag in his hand. A car arrived and the Knuckle Fist Gang came out of it with Grate. Grate was handcuffed.

"I should have known that it was you bastards that's behind all of this!", Eiffel barked.

"Oh, Iron... You think you are all might and cool, but you are always one step behind, aren't you?", Bazooka laughed.

"Let my friend go.", said Eiffel after he broke into cold sweat upon seeing Grate's wounds. Knuckle Fist Gang laughed.

"Not so easy, Iron Kid.", Bazooka said to Eiffel and then said to one of his goons, "Hey, get the money."

"Make a move, Iron Kid, and your friend will be finished.", said Bazooka as he took out a gun and pointed it at Grate. The goon approached Eiffel and grabbed the bag off him. Then he returned to Bazooka who opened the bag to see the money.

Bazooka laughed for a while and said to Eiffel, "Nice doing business with you, Iron Kid."

"Now, let my friend go.", Eiffel insisted as he was stepping further.

"Stay where you are, Iron. I told you not to make a move, didn't I?", said Bazooka as he kept pointing the gun at Grate.

"Get in the car.", Bazooka said to Grate and his goons. Then they got in the car.

"Bazooka! This wasn't the deal!", Eiffel shouted in anger.

Bazooka laughed and said, "Hey, Iron! If you are gonna be a smartass, first make sure you're smart. Otherwise, you're just an ass."

Then they drove away, leaving Eiffel furious.

"We are rich, boys! We made a fool out of the Iron Kid just like that! Ha Ha Ha!", said Bazooka.

"Let's have a party tonight, Boss! Let's have a barbeque party!", said one goon.

"Hehe! Let's do it then.", Bazooka laughed.

"But, Boss. What about him?", another goon asked.

"Who? The bootlicker? Hmph! We're gonna throw him in the ocean on the way. The sharks would love to crunch his flesh.", Grate was terrified from hearing Bazooka's words.

Suddenly they were hit very hard by an ambulance. Eiffel was in the ambulance driver's seat and the actual driver was beside him. The actual driver started scolding Eiffel, but he didn't care as he got out of the ambulance. Eiffel was furious as he pulled out the goons hard off the car and started beating the living hell out of them. Some goons' teeth fell off and others' noses broke. Then Eiffel pulled Bazooka out of the car hard through the window and then used Sambo Suplex, which he called 'Iron Slam', to slam him down on the road as hard as he could. Bazooka was in severe pain. Then Eiffel locked Bazooka into the Kimura Lock submission also known as Double Wrist Lock. Bazooka cried for mercy and forgiveness.

"If you messed up with me, I'd have smiled and let it go. That is your limit toward me. But when you messed up with my friend, you messed up big time. You've crossed your limit. I gave you so many chances, I let you go several times on purpose, but now let me demonstrate to you the consequences for messing up with my friend.", said Eiffel before he looked dead in his eyes and then broke his arm. Bazooka screamed in agony.

"This time I brought an Ambulance to take you to the hospital. But next time I'll bring a hearse to take you to your funeral. Got it?", Eiffel gave a fair last warning.

Afterwards, Eiffel put Bazooka and his goons inside the ambulance before it drove away. Eiffel retrieved the bag of money which Mr. Shinichi gave to him. Eiffel got into the car of Knuckle Fist Gang which Grate was inside and started the car to drive it. As he was driving, Eiffel started a conversation with Grate.

"You alright?", Eiffel asked.

"...sort of.", Grate answered.

"Grate... I wanna tell you something. You'll always have me whenever you need me. But there may be a time in the future when I won't be available for you anymore. There was a time when I always relied on my master. Now that he is gone, I feel his emptiness, and his absence made me realize the importance of getting stronger... Never forget where you came from, Grate. I want you to get stronger physically just as you are mentally. So you have to become stronger...", said Eiffel.

Grate stayed silent for a while and then annoyingly joked, "Why!? Are you going somewhere!? Are you thinking of leaving me!? I'm gonna kill you even if you dare to imagine it! ...oh wait! I get it now. I've been estranged now that my sister-in-law is here, right?"

"Hey, shut up!", Eiffel became annoyed as well.

"You don't have to tell me. I know you very well and what you are about to say. Eiffel doesn't fall in love, but love falls for Eiffel. Isn't it?"

They kept quiet for sometime and burst into great laughter.

"Seriously, man. You gotta make a move on her.", Grate encouraged him.

"No, man. You saw what she is. She joined MMM. She is probably rich and she is probably in a relationship with the president of MMM. We saw them having dinner together. She is probably his girlfriend. It would be a *beep* move to make a move on her.", said Eiffel.

"Come on, man. I didn't expect this from you. Just because there's a goalkeeper in the goalpost, doesn't mean you can't score goals. You are already giving up before starting the game and letting that clown win. Remember who you are. You are the Iron Kid, man. Remember You and a certain superhero had an arm wrestling match. The loser had to wear his underwear over his trousers.", Grate joked as Eiffel laughed and said tiredly, "What a day, huh? And it was only the first day of the year. I think I have a pretty good idea of what the rest of the year is going to be like. Let's go home..."

Then they returned to the 'Brake Up Call' workshop and returned the money bag to Mr. Shinichi. Mr. Shinichi hugged Grate tightly and cried. Grate was embarrassed and thought, "Have few friends in life, but friends that are true."

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