“Alright, now that you’ve got everything out of your system.” Lee talked to Issei, “You gonna help us with the plans from now on?”

“Yeah, I think it’s time to man up.” He replied resolutely, “I’m sorry for the disturbance. It won’t happen again.”

“We don’t mind it happening again, honestly.” I patted him on the back, “You can be down in a funk as many times as you need to be, but the most important part is to pick yourself up and move forward.”

“Right. So, what’s the plan?”

“Oh, about that…” Lee and I averted our gazes with a chuckle, “Actually, we lied about the reason behind why we need you as the leader. Previously, we said you had to be the leader because you were the only one with a gun, but the truth is you’re the only one out of the three of us that’s crafty enough to plan things out.”

“What?” He gave us a scary glare, “You’ve gotta be kidding me! One’s a bandit, the other’s a scholar, and you’re telling me you two still couldn’t think of a single plan against the guards?”

“Well, it’s exactly that.” Lee explained, “One’s a dumb as a rock bandit who’s never gotten a proper education, and the other’s a goody-two-shoes scholar who’s never plotted in his entire life. That’s why we need you.”

“Hrmm…” Issei furrowed his brows, “Alright. So, obviously our end goal is to liberate everyone here by way of force. That means we’ll have to kill every guard in here, but we can’t just go in gung-ho and expect good results to come of it. We’ll need to be methodical in our approach.”

“So what do you suggest we do?”

“We pick ‘em off one by one.” He immediately replied, “I’m surprised you guys couldn’t think of that on your own. That’s like the first thing anyone did in a war themed action movie.”

War themed action movie? God, I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I’m not going to question it. As long as he’s willing to help us out, I’m all for whatever weird foreign jargon he’s going to be using, as long as it gets us to where we need to be.

“I’ll just say this ahead of time, but I’m not gonna be the one to do any of this.” Issei immediately followed up with a rather contradictive suggestion, “I’m the one they’re most wary of, so they’ll be keeping their eyes on me so much that I won’t be able to lay a finger on them. Plus, the guards here are just raring to kill me as revenge for killing one of their subordinates, and I don’t want that kind of bounty on my head!”

“Come on, that’s not gonna happen.” Lee assured him, “You’re on top of the Food Chain, after all.”

“Right, mind running me through that whole spiel again? I still don’t understand it fully.”

“Well see here,” Lee used his finger to draw on the table, “This whole triangle is the prison, feel me? It represents the classes everyone’s dealt, and not only that, but the ones at the base of the triangle are the guards, as they have the most power. See, this triangle here has a special rule, wherein no one can attack a person in the same group as them.”

“Obviously, since why would we attack our teammates?” I replied, “Wait, but you just drew the triangle upside down though?”

“Exactly, that’s because this triangle doesn’t count the number of people in each group, but rather the power they hold in the entire prison. Issei was all the way down here at the bottom with us, wherein none of us had any power over the ones towering above, AKA the guards. But that all changed when he killed that guard and took his place among the higher echelon, i.e. the top.”

“So wait, you’re saying that I’m among the guards now?” Issei furrowed his brows.

“Well, not in a literal sense, but if it helps clear your mind of any worries, then sure. But in reality that’s not the case. No, in reality, the only thing you share in common with those sickos is the power you hold above us down here, as well as the group you’re both in, meaning they can’t attack you. Those are the rules of the Food Chain System.”

“Huh, I remember Bryce mentioning something about that back when I fought him.” I added, “So where would he be?”

“Right over… here.” Lee pointed to the center of the imaginary triangle, “Not too high, nor too low. He doesn’t have a gun, but he has killed other inmates, earning him the praise of the guards.”

“So people like Bryce can do whatever they please to us lower inmates, but he still can’t lay a finger on the guards or Issei?” I questioned.

“Exactly. See, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?”

Well, it’s not difficult, but I have a hard time believing it. After all, it just makes no sense why, in such a wild dog-eat-dog environment like this, people would listen to such odd rules. Then again, this is kind of the rules of nature, so maybe everyone’s just adhering to them subconsciously? I kind of want to study the matter more extensively later when I get out of here…

But before I can hit the books, we first need to find a way to hit the guards. Issei mentioned picking off one guard at a time, but that’s a lot easier said than done. We’d have to find a way to kill one without making the others raise their awareness of us. This whole revolution project is still sort of under wraps, at least until we get some solid footing.

***

“So, got any bright ideas, kid?” Lee turned to Issei as we were heading to work.

“Hmm, let’s see…” Issei went deep into thought before suddenly resurfacing, “Oh, maybe if I think of this as Assassin’s Creed, that might work.”

“Assassin’s Creed?” I asked.

“Don’t worry about it.” He then began explaining, “Basically, it’d be a good idea to strike from the shadows. Maybe if we were to lure one of them into a corner and then kill him?”

“I don’t know if that’ll work.” I critiqued the plan honestly, “I mean, have you ever seen a guard all alone? Even that Garry guy you killed back at the cafeteria had a mate, the only difference is that he quickly got subdued by the other prisoners. Looks like they’re already one step ahead of your plan.”

“Oh, fair point…” Issei once again put on his thinking cap, “Then if Assassin’s Creed won’t work, maybe Hitman? Like, make it look like an accident, so when one kills the other, they won’t at all suspect us!”

“That’s…” We both took a good pause before rejoicing, “An incredible idea! How did you come up with such a plan?! That’s like… so smart! Issei, you’d be an incredible mercenary!”

“Mercenary? Eugh, that title sounds way too wartimey!” Issei complained, “You couldn’t have at least called me an assassin or something? I always liked that class in the MMORPG games I’ve played.”

“Ass…ass…in?” We tilted our heads, “And that would be… what exactly?”

“You guys don’t even have paid assassins here?!” He jumped from his seat, “God, is everything in this world hyper focused on war that the closest thing you have are mercenaries? Geez, I’m gonna have to make some mad reforms if I am to whip this whole place into shape one day!”

Now I didn’t quite know what he was talking about, but I wholeheartedly agreed that this prison needs some reforms. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of imprisoning anyone, but it’d definitely be a shame to just all out flatten it, right? It’s got such good architectural potential, so I’m really glad that he and I are on the same boat in that regard.

“Alright, then how will we make a guard’s death look like an accident?” Lee leaned in and whispered.

“Simple, we pit them against each other!”

“Pit them against-?! How the hell would we do that?!”

“Heh, just watch the master at work!” Issei cracked his knuckles and got up from his seat, “M-kun, you’re coming with me!”

I was quite surprised that he needed my help so suddenly, but before I could even ask what all I had to do, we were already nearing some guards, so I couldn’t even talk to him about the plan. God, I sure hope I don’t mess anything up, now I’m kind of getting nervous!

“Ahem… So, did you hear what…” Issei read one of the nearby guard’s nametags, “Officer Perry said about Officer… Ted?”

“Nope.” I replied flat out, “I don’t even know who those people are?”

“Ha-ha! You really should pay more attention, newbie!” Issei nudged me, “Ted is this super cool guard here that always seems to be earnest and a hard worker!”

At this sudden praise, one of the two guards puffed up his chest with a smug grin, while the other could only grumble, supposedly waiting his turn.

“Oh, but Perry, he’s a lousy good for nothing asshole of a guard!” Issei warned me, “He never does his job, but whenever he gets reprimanded, he always blames it on poor old Ted!”

“What?!” Ted turned to Perry with an angered look, “You asshole, what the hell have you been saying?!”

“Huh?” Perry donned an equally annoyed face, “Could you be any more gullible, idiot? You’re trusting the lies this dog is spewing instead of having some goddamned faith in your subordinate?!”

“See?” Issei chuckled as he nudged me once again, “He can’t help but move the blame away from him. And to think that he called Ted such horrid things…”

“You…!” Ted’s anger could only rise, “I’ll have a talk with our superior, dick!”

“Superior? Oh, no no no.” Issei got a bright idea, “You know very well that that asshat is just gonna continue muddying your name until you do something to stop him, right?”

“Shut up, prison dog!” Ted’s eyes glistened Red for a second, “Ugh, I need to clear my head a bit…”

“You gonna step away now that everything’s out in the open?!” Issei pressured him, “Don’t let Perry’s insult turn out to be true, I believed you to be better than this!”

“Oi, prison dog!” Perry turned around for a moment, “Shut the hell up! You’re making things wo-!”

Bang. Just like that, Perry’s head got itself a nice new hole straight through it, and the culprit? Well, it was none other than sweet old Ted, who was now shaking so hard that he actually started throwing up on the ground in front of everyone. Yeesh, Issei and I are on cleaning duty today. This is so gonna be a pain in the ass to clean up later…

“P-Perry? H-Hey man, wake up…” Ted’s shaky voice echoed throughout the room, “H-Hey, I-I’m sorry man, please, wake up!”

“It’s no use, Ted. You went too far.” Issei comforted him, “There’s no returning him. You’re a murderer.”

“W-What?! But… no!” Ted frantically shook his head as if denying the claim, all the while tightly clenching his temples, “No no no no no! I’m not a murderer! Perry’s my best friend, I just got a bit too angry for no reason! He’ll wake up, fuck you!”

“Ted, he’s not waking up.” Issei continued pouring the guild onto him, “And it’s all because of you. Your friend of who knows how many years? You won’t ever see him again.”

“Sh…” Ted grabbed his gun again, “Shut up! We’re both firm believers of Selzion! I’ll see him right now, just to prove you wrong!”

And so, he put the bullet up to his mouth and… Bang. That was the end of the whole debacle, and Ted had not only killed his best friend Perry, but also couldn’t handle the guilt, so he just took his own life mere moments later. Such a horrible scene, was this all part of Issei’s plan from the start? I had turned to him, but I saw no hint of remorse in his expression. Rather, it was more so one of analysis.

“Huh, didn’t think I could get a double-kill, but I guess old Ted here was kind of a short fickle. Poor bastard, maybe he was depressed or something? He seemed rather quick to pull the trigger.”

“Uh, dude, what the hell?!” I interrogated him, “You just killed two people! How can you be so cold about this?!”

“Hm? You’re wrong though.” He flashed me a mischievous smile, “They killed themselves. I didn’t even lay a finger on them. By the way, since no one asked, the guards here are all short fickled. Just a slight push and they’ll do this to each other. Pretty lucky for us, no?”

Turning to the rest of the onlookers, those being the other inmates, he was met with a huge wave of cheers and applause. Looks like no one here is taking my stance on this. Honestly, I’d much rather we kill them physically, rather than this horrible, horrible way that uses coercion. I don’t condone this, so I’m gonna stop him before things get too out of hand.

“I’m disappointed in you, kid.” Lee suddenly stood up from the crowd, “Such a nasty tactic, you’re no leader of mine!”

“Yeah, Issei, this isn’t the way to do things.” I quickly followed suit.

“Oh come on, guys!” He chuckled, “You’re not seriously feeling bad for them, are you? They’re monsters, they have no feelings! It’s alright to toy with them if I’m given this chance, right?”

“Wrong.” Lee said flat out, “I don’t know how you did things back in your homeland, but here, and everywhere else in the world, we kill with sticks and stones. Fair and square.”

Issei’s expression quickly went from one of smugness to one of realization as he turned to take a gander at what he’s done. He feels a bit nauseous, so he excuses himself to his cell for a bit. Looks like he finally got the memo – this isn’t how we’ll do things from now on.