WHAT A TENGLED WEB WE WEAVE

Staring out at the black sky through the window, Keax sighed.

Turning to the sullen and sulking best friends sitting by her side, she asked for the 1736th time: “Anyone cares to tell me WHAT WENT WRONG?!”

~FLASHBACK~

Keax was engrossed in her manga as she sat unmovingly on the couch, except for the flipping of the pages.

Outside, a thunderstorm was raging.

In the fairly large 3-storey house, all was silent other then Keax¹s regular breathing, rustling of paper and the soft instrumental song coming from the Hi-Fi stereo.

The living room was rather dark. Dimly-lit by only a small standing lamp beside Keax's couch.

CRASH

A clap of thunder startled Keax. She jerked and looked up. To her shock, a figure was standing at the open doorway.

“ARRRGHH!!! HELP!! JACK THE RIPPER!!!MURDER!!!” Keax leapt up and crouched in a defensive position on the couch.

“I tell you, stay away. Unless you wanna die. I know Karate, Aikido, Judo. Umm…aha!…and tennis, bowling, basketball...well, a little, i guess…er…not that it will save me now anyway...YOU!...come near me and YOU SHALL DIE!!

The figure approached slowly.

Keax aimed and threw a cushion at the figure.

“OW! Keax! Yamero!”

Keax froze.

She heaved a sigh of relief before glaring,“Maki?”

Maki smiled wistfully as he switched on the lights.

Keax blinked as she tried to get used to the sudden brightness.

“Maki. Why are you all wet?”

BAM

Keax jumped 7 inches up into the air at the loud noise.

“HANAMICHI SAKURAGI!! DON’T do that.”

Keax trailed off as she spotted Sakuragi's tear and rain-streaked face as he walked in.

“Daijobu, Hanamichi?”

Keax stared at the drenched guy.

SLAM

Keax winced.

“For the last time, would everyone STOP slamming that damn DOOR?!”

She froze again as she saw Koshino's angry and black _expression when he entered.

Another clap of thunder sounded through the house.

Keax blinked, confused.

Mitsui had abruptly appeared. Obviously, he had reached home as well. The strange look on his face served as enough warning for Keax just to shake her head and don¹t say anything more.

“Damn you. I hate you.”

Fujima's voice drifted in as he stepped into the house and stared emptily at the crowd gathered at the hallway leading to the living room and at Keax who was wearing a resigned look on her face.

The boys, for some reason or another, were all drenched.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

Keax had forced all the boys living in the same house as her to sit down around her.

Sakuragi and Koshino were sitting very far apart, occasionally glowering at one another in hatred.

Fujima and Maki were settled on armchairs while Mitsui was sitting beside a wall, facing the window.

Keax said firmly, “We are holding a conference NOW!”

She had tried getting to Miyagi to join them. But no amount of cajoling, dragging, bribing and threatening had made him budge an inch from his room.

Out in the streets, somewhere Youhei and the Guntai were running, and escaping. Keax knew many things were wrong. Very wrong.

Chapter 2