After we had successfully brainwashed, I mean, Commanded the librarian Javi to hear us out properly as any friend would, he was pretty compassionate about our little run-in with this mysterious Aguilar guy and his group. He actually recognized one of the guys thanks to my description, as they seemed to have frequently brushed through the Library on their own for these past few days, searching for the same book we were looking for. One has to wonder just what kind of information dwells inside it...

"So do you know why they were looking for it?" I asked.

"Nope, as I've told you before, I never even knew that book existed." Javi replied, "Though I do feel bad for causing such a troubling misunderstanding for you guys, so I should probably hurry to the others and explain it to my coworkers as well."

"Right, the book is currently in Lee's possession." Lemmy noted, "I doubt they'd catch him that quickly, so there's no need to rush."

"Do not forget that none of us can leave the dorm room until Javi explains we are innocent." I added onto his comment.

"Right, y-you'd best get going then, Javi." Mademoiselle turned to him, "And sorry for having dragged you into all this."

"No worries, mademoiselle." He smiled back, "What's important is that everyone is safe. Oh, and Lemmy?"

"Yeah?" He glanced back at him.

"You can blink now. I understand your predicament."

"I appreciate the concern, but I'll wait until you report back to us." Lemmy shooed him out of the dorm room, "Now go on!"

"Right!" Javi saluted jokingly before running off.

The guy seems to be the friendly and unserious type. I get we're involved in a serious investigation, but if I've learned anything from my time in the army, it's that a little bit of comic relief will go a long way. We need morale to be at an all-time high, otherwise we might face the risk of someone leaving the team. Certainly, everyone is happy now, and that's all good, but I of all people should know that the Sinus Wave will always oscillate. There is nothing in this world that goes on forever and ever. We will always face times of happiness, and times of struggle. That is just how it is.

"Right, anyone wanna play a game while we wait for Javi to come back?" Kevin suggested, "How about shiritori?"

"Lament." Lemmy quickly shut him down.

"Oh come on! There's no word that starts with NT!" Kevin cursed his antisocial nature, "What the hell is your problem, dude?"

"Shiritori, huh? We used to play that all the time back when we were kids, remember?" Mademoiselle smiled warmly at Kevin, much to Lemmy's chagrin.

"Grr...! Screw that game! It's too easy!" Lemmy came up with a lame excuse, "I just prefer games with stakes is all!"

"Stakes? Like whip poker?" I inquired.

The room suddenly went silent as everyone looked at me with expressions of pure fear in their Eyes. From left to right, Kevin raised an eyebrow, thinking I had mispronounced the game, mademoiselle raised both of her eyebrows, surprised that I even know what whipping is, and Lemmy just wondered what I was talking about.

"Uhh, don't you mean strip poker?" Kevin tilted his head.

"S-Strip!?" Lemmy and mademoiselle both jolted.

"No, I meant what I said. Whip poker - The same rules of strip poker, except the loser gets whipped." I explained, "Since we were stripped of all of our clothes back in prison, we had to think of an alternative penalty."

"Y-You..." Mademoiselle blushed lightly, unsure she heard me correctly, "You were all naked in prison? Is that seriously how prison's work?"

"Only the one I went to."

"..."

Her Eyes seemed to slowly droop down from my face and onto my chest, though she quickly propped herself back up after realizing it as well. The other two didn't seem to notice, as they were all too busy fantasizing about the experience themselves.

"Naked all day long huh..." Lemmy drooled.

"Just imagine the view of the girls, man..." Kevin even went so far as to shed a tear, "Fucking radical..."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, guys, but it was an all male prison." I corrected them before they got too excited, "And our clothes were only taken from us when we were in our cells."

"...Tch, I knew that..." Kevin clicked his tongue.

"Now that I think about it, my dad was there with you. I'd rather not think about it..." Lemmy agreed with Kevin's disinterest.

"S-So, onto the topic at hand!" Mademoiselle's Eyes had stars in them, "W-What exactly d-did you use to... w-whip each other?"

"Hm?"

"A-Ah, I-I'm just curious is all!" She explained, "Purely for scientific reasons! I-I mean, it's not like you actually had any whips just lying around, right?"

"Why wouldn't we?" I tilted my head innocently.

"Eh?"

"Whipping was a common form of punishment." I elaborated, "Your back would sting like hell for months, and you can never quite forget the pain..."

"Wow, you must've gone through a lot." She suddenly reached over to pat me on the knee, her movements slowly morphing into a rubbing motion.

"Let's just get on with it!" Lemmy and Kevin shouted in unison.

The first round had went exactly as one would expect. Namely, poker is a game that is best lost if you're hotheaded, meaning Kevin was the first to face the punishment. Owning up to it as he didn't expect us to actually go through with it, he sat himself up as he turned his back against the wall.

"That will simply not do." I motioned, "Take your top off."

"I-Is that really necessary?" Mademoiselle asked before turning to Kevin, "Should I look away?"

"I got nothing to hide." He shrugged before he took his shirt off, "Alright, what're we gonna be whipping with?"

Nodding at him before going to the bathroom to fetch a towel, I saw his face gradually grow more and more anxious as he saw me walk to the kitchen to moisten the towel. This effectively doubled the makeshift whip's damage, turning it up to around 10% of an actual whip's damage. Still, it seems Lemmy and the mademoiselle weren't as sure about this as I was, as they quickly stopped me as I revved up my swing.

"M-Maybe that's a bit too much?" Mademoiselle proposed a different idea, "L-Let's just stick to normal poker, alright? Or would you prefer Drunk Poker, after all?"

"R-Right!" Lemmy saw an opportunity and took it, "O-Or we could always go with Strip Poker! I mean, we don't have any alcohol anyways in the dorms, do we?"

"L-Lemmy! I-I don't think that's appropriate, ha-ha..." Mademoiselle seemed both apprehensive and interested.

"What's the problem?" Lemmy shrugged, "It's more fun that way, no?"

"W-Well, maybe if I wasn't a girl..." She remarked, though Kevin suddenly interrupted her.

"No!" He yelled with the might of justice in his voice, "I am a man! And as a man, I can't stand to back away from my punishment!"

"K-Kevin?" She turned around.

"Here, I trust you, Kiria." He looked her in the Eyes as he said, "Whip me."

"B-But Kevin...!"

"Do it, Kiria! You're the only one who can!" He shouted, "Do it, whip me with the might of a thousand Suns! And don't you dare hold back!"

"K-Kevin!" A single teardrop fell down her cheek as she revved the towel up, "Alright, here goes...!"

Plap! As the sounds of a towel cracking against a poor soul's back reverberated throughout the room, I suddenly felt my own back pulsate just from the sound alone. Looks like this was a bit of a bad idea. I didn't think I'd recall such terrible memories.

"T-That...!" Kevin bit his lip, trying as hard as he could to not scream at the top of his lungs, "That didn't...! hurt... at all!"

"Dude, your back has a giant red streak on it!" Lemmy announced, "There's no way that didn't hurt!"

"I-It didn't!" He gave the mademoiselle a weak thumbs up, "Go on, Kiria, once more now."

Ah, I see now. It did hurt him, Kevin just wants her to keep hitting him. That must be the "dommy mommy" kink he told me about the other day. Well, if anything, that's my sign to stop her from continuing. Seriously, where does he get off making her do all these ridiculous things? Actually, never mind, don't answer that... We played another round of whip poker, but since I was kind of distracted from the memories of the whip hitting Kevin, I got too preoccupied and lost.

"I guess that's fine too." I shrugged.

"You sure you're gonna be fine?" Kevin made sure I was all good, "You looked a bit under the weather back there. Want us to skip you?"

"What kind of a friend would I be if I did that?" I joked, "It is as you said, a real man must face this head on."

"Halt!" Lemmy yelled, "Whip me instead!"

"Huh? Lemmy?" Mademoiselle turned to him, her head tilted lightly as she tightly clutched the wet towel, "Where did this come from?"

"I'd like to uhh... R-Right! I'd like to experience even a fraction of the pain Meil here has!" He proudly announced, "He's my father's benefactor, so I'd like to do this one favor for him at least! Y-Yeah, totally."

"I'm not so sure. I mean, you are the youngest out of all of us." Mademoiselle seemed apprehensive.

"Alright then, it's settled, little man!" Kevin took the towel from her, "Grit your teeth!"

"H-Huh?" Lemmy seemed confused at the sudden declaration, not even realizing Kevin had already run around him and struck his ass with the might of Auros, "O-Ow!"

"Nice one, kid! You held your pain in well!" Kevin praised him, only to get punched in the gut immediately after.

"You aimed lower on purpose, asshole!" He held his aching cheeks firmly before muttering to himself, "Dammit, I wanted HER to do it, not you...!"

Both of these guys sure do have some twisted beliefs on how to nab the girl, huh? Still, I'm sorry Lemmy, but I promised Kevin I'd be the best wingman possible, and I'm not one to go back on my word. You're on your own on this one. The very next round, the unthinkable happened. Mademoiselle had lost.

"A-Alright!" She psyched herself up, all the while looking at us with a euphoric gaze, "I-I'll do it! I-It's only fair!"

As the two guys both made a face which I could only describe as a monkey experiencing neuron activation, I still felt like this is too much. I get she's getting swept up in the moment, so she'll probably feel super bad about going through with this later. Thus, as she was mid taking her top off, her brazier peeking out just enough, I had ran up and forcefully pulled her shirt back down. They all stared at me, flabbergasted, as I took my shirt off instead.

"That will not do." I smiled as I threw my shirt aside, "No matter what, a lady must not ever let herself get hit by a man. Besides, a real man never hits a woman in the first place, so if there is really a need for it, I will take the hit."

"Mei...Monsieur!" She looked at me, her face unable to decide whether to make an thankful or disappointed expression, "No, it's only fair I take the hit. I lost, after all."

"She's right, Meil. It's only fair~!" The two lechers leched.

"Then if that is the case, it is all the more reason for me to take the hit I was originally supposed to." I said as I turned my back to them.

Gasping, the three of them couldn't believe the sight I had just showed them. With my welt covered back in full display, they could just barely keep their composure as any and all semblances of fun had gone out the window.

"T-Those scars...!" Mademoiselle stood aghast, "What the hell did they do to you!?"

"Seriously, this is fucked..." Kevin agreed.

"Can I touch them?" Lemmy asked with a somewhat jokey tone, "But promise not to moan or anything."

Just then, the door to our dorm room burst wide open, an exhausted and terrified Javi looking straight at the three shirtless men and a woman that spent the entire afternoon whipping each other. For a moment, the worried expression on his face ceased in favor of a more confused one, though he quickly reverted back to the worried one.

"What the...? N-Never mind!" He shook the confusion off, "Guys! Bad news - really, REALLY bad news!"

"What's the matter? Is dad with you?" Lemmy asked.

"Ugh, fuck..." Javi slid off the wall as he sat down on the floor, "R-Reports say the suspect's, ugh... l-lifeless body was found on the Eastern beach just outside of c-campus..."

Huh? Suspect? Is he talking about Lee?

"A-Anyone who knows how the s-suspect looks like..." Javi took a deep breath, the fear showing clearly on his Eyes, "P-Please come take a look so t-that we can identify the body. That... is all."

Turning to Lemmy, all four of us had seen a young teenager's life flash before his Eyes. Before even asking him what we'll be doing, he already told, no, Commanded us to get dressed and then told us to follow him before running off through the door. Dammit, not like this...! Lee, please be safe!