CHAPTER 12: ALLIES AND FOES

Thursday march 30 2027

THIRD PERSON.

As dusk fell, students began to return to their individual rooms, with some of them going to the library or the art room to complete their own schoolwork. Even the class zero members have chosen to return to their dormitory and get ready for their night classes.

The pupils look to be typical college students; some of them are studying, others are hanging out with friends, others are practicing swordsmanship and other martial arts in the practice room, while others prefer to be by themselves.

They might appear to be normal, but. Since this is Pappilion Noir Academy, a school for murderers, that is in no way the case. It is a school where killing other pupils is permitted; the students there are people who are used to killing; they come from a family of killers, assassins, and even yakuzas.

however.. There are others who are far worse than they are, and those are.. the supreme 10 and nobody is aware of the identity of the top top 10!

meanwhile, You will see a man in his 20s standing in front of the massive fountains holding a black fan and wearing a red montsuki. He has curly black hair and black fluffy eyes, and his face resembles the face of an angel as he glances at the three enormous holographic billboards floating behind the fountains. On those billboards are 300 codenames and their points, and these were the top rankers of the P.N academy!

The students' wristwatches, which the headmistress gave them as soon as they transferred into the school, are linked to the holographic billboards, which keep track of their overall points. Students who manage to place in the top 300 will be referred to as top rankers or top climbers, and their names will be inscribed at the 'hall of fame,' which was the holographic billboards. They can use codenames or their real names, depending on whether or not the pupils desire to do so.

The wristwatch you were given will serve as a reminder of your rankings after you join the top rankers. You can think of the wristwatch as a "game system" because every time you level up, it will show how high your stats are and what kind of abilities you are good at. The only difference is that there are no magics or HPs or MPs; instead, the watch only focuses on human strengths like agility, intelligence, and flexibility. as well as the arts, sciences, and physics.

However, the golden holographic billboard on top of the three enormous billboards with just ten codenames on it caught the students' attention the most. Despite the fact that there were only ten codenames on it, the students knew that these ten students were the monsters and devils of the battlefield, the supreme 10!

'Supreme 10: Cosmos.. 100, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 9: Snake.. 243, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 8: camellia.. 400, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 7: Hermes.. 500, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 6: Twilight.. 700, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 5: kitsune.. 750, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 4: Nemesis.. 834, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 3: Serene.. 900, 000, 000, pts

Supreme 2: Sonata.. 2, 000, 000, 000, 000 pts

Supreme 1: purple hyacinth.. 5, 000, 000, 000, 000 pts.

.

..

...

The man, who was still standing in front of the fountain, observed the students as they wore their admiring expressions and smiled while gazing at the golden holographic billboard, while some of them were conversing about how powerful the supreme 10 were. The man couldn't help but smirk as he opened the fan he was holding and covered his face.

"The student council election.. I'm looking forward to it." He was about to leave when he saw a mysterious girl who stopped walking and turned to stare at the golden billboards with a poker face. He soon gasped when he saw her smile meaningfully, so he couldn't help but approach her in a gentle manner and say,

"The supreme 10 are very haughty, right?" She gives the man a confused expression, but he just laughs at her and introduces himself as he notices how stunning she is by staring at her ash-gray hair in waves and her pinkish lips.

"pardon me, my name is Rufus benedict marshall by the way, the president of marionette theatre club, as well as the president of Class A-2, if you want to join in my club, feel free to call me." rufus introduce his self before held out his hands Infront of the girl, the girl just glance at it with her expressionless face but soon after she accepted it and give the man a simple smile.

"nice to meet you, my name is elyze moriarty, from class-zero."

rufus gasps upon hearing what she said; he had no idea that he would meet a student from class-zero, known as the "classroom for murderers," and that an innocent girl like elyze was one among them. However, he couldn't help but feel delighted anyway.

"I see.. from class-zero, huh?" He simply replied, seemingly hinting something, and Crystalle gave him a wary look before turning her attention back to the golden holographic billboards in front of her.

"they are indeed arrogant.. that it even makes you want to steal their seat, don't you think?" she replied in half-joking manner, so rufus just laugh.

"is that the reason why you went here?"

"..not at all, I'm just curious about them as to why they called as the supreme 10, now it already answers my curiosity, whoever these people are, they are surely a worthy opponent."

elyze smile meaningfully while staring to the supreme two's codename, she already knew who could that person is, but she decided to pursed his lips then she added again, "... a truly worthy opponent."

As soon as rufus noticed how elyze smirked, he gasped once again and began to feel nervous for an odd reason, as though she was threatening the members of Supreme 10, warning them to prepare for an impending massive storm, however for Rufus who loves to seeks fun and amusement, he thought this to be interesting.

"if someone from supreme 10 heard your words, they will surely felt enrage and kill you for taunting them."

suddenly, another smirk form from crystalle's lips as he gaze at his black fluffy eyes and said with unperturbed manner, "ah, you mean, just like you?"

that makes Rufus almost show his surprise expression to elyze, but as soon as he realizes that she's just testing him, he just calm his mind and wear his usual carefree expression.

"hmm.. you're a funny girl elyze! I like you already!"

"right..? did my jokes almost caught you off guard?"

"It almost makes me believe that I'm really part of supreme 10 actually! hahaha!"

seeing rufus laughing casually makes elyze felt irritated to him, but she didn't show it rather, she also laugh together with him, until she stop and asked.

"Then, let's say that you are part of supreme 10 and hear my words, will you feel enrage as well?"

his smile eventually disappears and he stops laughing, he smiled, opened his fan, covered his face, crossed his arms, and looked directly into Elyze's eyes before speaking.

"no.. rather, I will be interested on you. after all, I like ambitious people."

They are enveloped in a deafening stillness as if they are attempting to outwit one another in their minds, but soon a familiar voice calls Elyze's name from behind. She turns to face him and sees Rhyne approaching her.

"There you are cou- I mean Elyze! the others are finding you—ah, rufus? what are you doing here?" Rufus glance at rheyne and smile plainly to him.

"I just happen to passed by, well then, I'm going now, let's meet again, Ms. elyze."

Rheyne simply nods at him as Rufus turns away from them until he is no longer visible. Elyze simply sighed before turning to look at Rheyne.

"you know him..?"

rheyne shrugged his shoulder and said, " I'm member of marionette theatre club and he's our president, so yeah. but.." he pouted at elyze and added, "I don't like him, he's giving me a chilly feeling, although the girls in our club likes rufus because of his kind and gentle demeanor, he's a freaking psychopath deep inside!"

elyze just nods to him again and didn't reply on him, rather, she just keep walking but she stop when rheyne calls her with solemn expression.

"there is a mission waiting for you. father just send a letter to me earlier, what will you do?"

by the time rheyne said those words, elyze started to walk again without looking back then she give him an instruction,

"Once night fell, write another letter and send it to my lockers with the letters your uncle gave you; it would be preferable if you delegated this task to the other students."

Since they were in an enemy's den, where there were many eyes watching the students' movements in the shadow, they had to be careful and cautious of their surroundings because one wrong move would mean their demise. This is why they had to go this far. The Queen was the Academy's deadliest opponent, and since this mission came directly from her, if the higher-ups learned that Elyze was the Queen's covert assassin and spy, she would undoubtedly perish.

Because it was linked to the P.N. Academy security room, they couldn't use technologies including making or receiving calls or sending messages. The security guards were all keeping an eye on it to ensure that the students wouldn't say anything negative about them. Sending letters is therefore the best course of action because, if anyone were to observe them doing it, they would only interpret it as someone wanting to confess their feelings by writing a few love letters to the person they like; they would view this as typical of students and not report it to the higher-ups.

rheyne just scratch his head and let out a snort. "Cold as ever. tsk."

...

There is a large mansion with tall pillars and white concrete walls in the south wing of the academy. It is surrounded by large oak trees and has a variety of dazzling lights coming from it. This was the A-class dorm, also referred to as the "midnight star dormitory."

A giant sofa in the centre, a flat-screen TV, couches, a contemporary glass table, antique cabinets, and many replicas of well-known da Vinci paintings can be seen inside the midnight star dorm. The white ceiling has large chandeliers, and the walls are painted peach.

The kitchen and dining room were located in the left wing of the mansion, and a large white-gray winder staircase in the side leads to the second floor, which has at least 10 rooms, five to the left and another five to the right. There is also another winder staircase at the end of the hallways that leads to the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, all of which have 10 rooms each, with the exception of the first and sixth floors.

On the sixth level, there are only two rooms, a living room with a bar counter at the edge, and a tiny kitchen. The first one is for the president of class A-1, who also served as the resident assistant for the dormitory, while the second one is for class A-2

Since the A-class includes two divisions, the class A-1 and class A-2, unlike the royal knights dormitory where class zero is housed, the midnight star dormitory contains two classes. There are only 20 students in class A-1 and 20 more in class A-2, making up the total of 40 A-class pupils in the entire academy.

the class A-1 are, obviously, they are the group of skilled people who's just next to the class-zero, while the class A-2 are the third's.

meanwhile, On the sixth floor, there are two young men in their 20s enjoying dessert and tea while seated at a white-gold sofa; one has black curly hair, while the other has green hair and green narrow eyes with long eyelashes and is wearing a full P.N. academy uniform, then, a woman with black colored hair and orange eyes is silently standing next to the dignified man.

a few minutes of silence, the man in curly black hair spoke, "today is quite peaceful, isn't it, akihiko?"

then the man named akihiko just twitched his lips, "I have told you so many times already, rufus, just call me fynn, fynn clemency."

Yes, the one he is referring to is none other than rufus Marshall, the president of the marionette club and the individual that Elyze previously met in the hall of fame! Because of the influence that their families had in the underground society, Fynn and Rufus—who had been friends since they were young—joined the P.N. academy together.

so rufus just laugh at him, "ehh.. but I like that name, especially your surname, Izumi isn't it? pfft."

"you, I will kill you.."

"hahahahaha, sorry about that, akihiko-chan~"

"..."

Rufus just keep teasing him but not long after, he stop from laughing before wipe his teary-eyes as he change their topic.

"by the way, akihiko, you are planning to run as president in election this year, right?"

"Fynn. fynn clemency."

"yeah, yeah, so what are you planning to do, akihiko? I heard from edwin moran that keir and damion will run as well, they are quite hard to deal with, especially this damion. he have the most connection here rather than us."

fynn just let out a sigh while massaging his temple while looking hopelessly to rufus who was just sipping some tea and eating desserts, rather than having a fight with him, he just decided to answer his question.

"Indeed, keir and I lose to him in last election and now, he wanted to run again, what a greedy guy, the headmistress backing him up secretly after all." fynn sighed again, so rufus just smirk.

"will you going to give up this year?"

fynn just frowned to him and replied, "huh? where the hell did you get that idea? why would I give up this opportunity? this is my last chance to become the president of student council, we will graduate after four years, therefore I wouldn't let this last chance slip."

Fynn's expression carries a sense of determination, and at the same time, an evil smirk appears. He then takes a classy sip of tea before look to the woman behind him.

"caitlyn, you're also running this election right? as a secretary?"

the girl replied with a smile, "rest assured, there's no reason to think about it for now, this time, Alexandra mendez won't be in election."

"that's good to hear, now the secretary position will be secured by us."

soon, rufus laugh that makes fynn frowned again so he asked him, "what's the matter?"

"Well, If I were you, I wouldn't let my guard down.. other than Alexandra mendez, there might be a promising students planning to run as secretary this year.. we don't know what will happens."

Fynn's face turns into serious expression and glance straightly to rufus, "like who..?"

another smirk formed to rufus lips before he look at him, "who knows.. I'm saying that there's just a possibility. nevertheless, no matter what happens, I will keep supporting your faction, so if you want something, feel free to call me, akihiko!"

"like I said, call me fynn, fynn clemency."

"all right, akihiko~"

"damn you, really!"

fynn let out another long sigh, until his expression changes into calm and serious one as a simple smile formed on his pinkish lips, "ah, now that you mention it, Given that you previously informed me that certain promising students would be interested in running for secretary, perhaps you could obtain some information on them? Before the opposing group outsmarted us, we ought to have already secured Caitlyn's triumph."

"sure. that's not a problem, I will going to lonely panther club later."

The lonely panther club isn't just a typical journalism club like the others; this is where the majority of students gather information as well. Of course, they have to pay it back by learning something that the lonely panther's didn't, which is why only a select few frequently visit the journalism club since they are already familiar with all of the information about the academy, be it rumors or supreme 10 members.

"just make sure that edwin won't fake the information he will give to you, although you've known him since then, and he often hang out with us, I still cannot trusted him. he always keep sticking to his neutral principle, which I found it suspicious."

"No worries, No worries, I've been known edwin since then, just like you, he doesn't want damion to be the president of the student council, although he always says that he keeps maintaining his neutrality toward the students, he's actually making his move behind damion's back to kick him out."

fynn nodded to rufus, "well, nonetheless, I've been trying to win him on my side since he's an important asset to us, that even damion were so wary to him, but he just keep declining me, telling that he have his own ways to kick damion del luna in president's seat. it's just truly a waste you know, I mean, if we manage to get the lonely panther journalism club on our side, we will have a huge chance to win. sigh."

rufus laugh to fynn out of amusement as he drank his last tea, " you surely fired up this time, huh?"

"This is my last election, furthermore.." Fynn gets up from his seat, looks out the window, spreads his arms wide, and smiles a little before turning to face the sky with his narrow green eyes. There's a trace of seriousness in his eyes.

"I hold the Izumi clan's crest, therefore, I always had one goal and that is to..." Upon seeing Fynn turn around on him and place his index finger on his lips, especially when he murmured certain words, Rufus grinned broadly.

"devour everything in the most calm and.. serene manner."

...

Inside of the office of student council..

You will see Damion sitting in a black swivel chair with some papers and a ballpen while there are stacks of folders and envelopes in the desk. Next to him was Alexandra, who was dozing in the desk, and Chauncey, who was about to give up due to the piles of papers he needed to review and stamp for the impending student council election and a party to welcome the newcomers.

"damion~ It's fucking 9:00 pm in the evening, can't we just continue this tomorrow? we still have a night class after this~" chauncey complains while pouting.

"It's still early, don't complain."

"huh?! this was your work and you'll throw it to us?!"

"tsk. I'm busy too."

"so what?! this is your work!"

damion just let out a heavy sigh and didn't listen to chauncey's complain, he nudge the bridge of his eyeglasses as he started to read the papers on his minds.

'a banquet must have three courses, the hors d'oeuvres (gustatio), the main course (mensae primae), and the dessert (mensae secundae).'

"Seriously! this is so tiring! hey! I want to leave!"

'I might as well add elyze suggestions, since the upcoming ball is masquerade party, I think rose-gold is the perfect option to be the theme of the party.. right, this is better.'

"Amadeus~ Can I leave now..?"

"then.. the emcee—!"

"Heyyooo! president! look at me!"

"the next on the list is—"

"Damion! damion! damion! dami—!"

"AHH, shut up damn it!" Damion calmed himself down and just clasped his hands together after giving Chauncey a gaze this time that caused him to stop speaking. Alexandra also woke up as a result, and her spectacles nearly fell to the ground if she hadn't fixed them.

"well, anyway, speaking of election.. have you ever gathered the students who will run this year?" Chauncey's pout gradually disappeared as it changed to a serious expression before he straightened himself and gave him a quick glance. While this was happening, Alexandra didn't mind them because she knew how crucial this election was for Damion. As a result, she chose to remain silent and continue reading the documents.

"yeah, Keir Samael Xenon and Fynn clemency, they are the people you need to becareful of, while the rest, these are the names." chauncey open the small cabinet Infront of him and took out a brown envelope before give it to damion.

"Fynn clemency, huh? not surprising at all. rather, I'm more surprise seeing keir on the list, planning to run as the president of student council, well, I already have a hunch but to think my hunch would be right in the end." Then, as he began to read, he opened the envelope. There are 10 students who plan to run for president, including Fynn and Keir. Next, there are 11 candidates for vice president, including Chauncey. Finally, there are 11 candidates for secretary, none of whom were known to Damion.

"they are nothing to write about, I didn't even know them, for now, there's only two people we need to be wary of, keir xenon and fynn clemency." damion declared in serious manner, suddenly, chauncey cut him.

"ah, there's another person who wants to run as secretary, although this papers is just a copy and not yet fully verified by principal, it will still help us."

"then? who's the other person you're talking about?"

"right, I just heard this from elyze but she says that, devian xenon is planning to run as secretary of the president of student council as well."

and that stops damion and gasps as soon as he heard devian's name, 'he will run? as a secretary of student council?' that's what he thought as he started to tapped the desk using his fingers as though he was anxious of something.

this is bad.. I've been keeping an eye on him ever since they enrolled in the academy. Although his grades are not that high, the way he interacts with people are in top-notch, and he can manipulate the media just by using his sweet tongue in a snap! If Devian is really planning to run for secretary of the student council, Keir's reputation will rose up as well! plus.. Since Devian was Keir's older brother, Keir's reputation may have also been impacted by Devian's influence.

and if devian manage to win the secretary's seat, keir's chances of winning will rose up.' that's what damion thought, still tapping the desk with his fingers.

"but what is his reason..? was it only because of his greed for power and strength? damn it.. this doesn't make sense at all.. as if like someone was purposely controlling them in the shadow." he joked to himself while shaking his head.

"...hmm, we can't ruled out that possibility, what will you do if that really happens?"

Damion nudge the bridge of his eyeglasses as a small smirk curved on his lips and sighed. " we will let them for now, just keep an eye to devian in secret."

chauncey nodded, Then, shortly after, he recalls elyze and their unexpected encounter from yesterday, which caused him to worry about whether or not to tell Damion. Part of him felt that it was risky, while the other part felt that it was okay. Ultimately, he chose to simply issue a caution to Damion.

"Well, actually there's another one I suspect, but I don't have an enough proof that it was her, even so.. I wanted to remind you at least.. be careful to elyze moriarty." He purposefully kept those remarks from Alexandra by whispering them to Damion, but Chauncey was surprised when he noticed Damion's icy response. Damion was giving him a gaze that would cause someone to shiver in their seat, Chauncey felt confuse at all, but one thing he was sure..

'I'm fuckin' dead..' that's what he thought.

the corner of his lips twitched slightly, " w-well~ that was just my hypothesis, it's up to you if you will believe me or not.." he laugh anxiously and decided to shut his mouth.

when damion notice chauncey's weird behavior he calm his self down, " don't just spout nonsense, besides.. if it was really elyze moriarty, I wouldn't let you deal with her."

"What..? why?"

a sweet smile formed to damion's lips before he clasped his hands together once more and said simply to him.

"No reason, I just... like her. that's all, and you know what will happen if someone trying to touch the person whom I likes..

they were all dying in my hands."

♥•♠•♥

🖤🥀