The "J" Squad Volume 1 ~ When The Meadows Cry First Draft Edition © Jev Yerowi 2025 Chapter 1 ~ Lamenting Naiko Three young persons sit on the floor, under some barebones apartment that might be a textbook example of how not to build an apartment, it has a strange leaky rooftop, floorboard that creaks all day, and many more. That’s not the point, however. One of them glares at the window outside, admiring the natural beauty and charm of the grasslands, her name is June. The other two, however, are playing cards right now, with one of them winning. His name is Jake. His opponent is Jack, and Jack is losing here. Jake right now has the absolute best pair of possible cards: a king of diamonds, a queen of hearts, Jake’s maybe a few milliseconds away from attaining victory after a streak of countless losses from Jack. Jack however has the absolute worst pairs of cards: an ace of clubs and an ace of diamonds. Nonetheless, Jack has a plan. Next turn, Jake grabs a card from the deck, preparing to brutally strike. But nothing came. Jake had to wait a little longer. When it came to Jack’s turn, however, the card he grabbed was just — phenomenal, like some blessed miracle from the sky. The card was an Ace of diamonds, which transformed his utterly garbage pair into a perfect triplet of cards. Of course, Jack rushed to smite the game, and a smug look came over to his face. Jake: What’s that grin for Jack? My cards will easily brush off yours Jack: Oh just you see. Jake: Heh there’s no way. Only a miracle card could save you now... Jack: Yep. Jake: Wait what n- no that can’t be possible — there’s no way, theoretically pulling out an ace in this situation would be like one in a trillion there’s just no way Jack: Yes there is a way. Jake: You’re bluffing. Jack: You’ll see. When it was finally time to show each other’s cards — It was revealed that Jack had won out of sheer luck, and Jake’s countless losing streaks had stacked more. Jake: H- how!? Y- you have to be cheating, that's unfair! Jack: So you’ve gotten so bad at this game, that you’d accuse me of cheating? Jake: This isn’t even about skill, what you just did is just sheer luck! Jack: Cry about it then~ Jake: June I’m sure you’ve watched everything. Jack was clearly cheating, right? June sighed. Aware of what’s going on... June: Nope. Unfortunately, what has occurred here is divine intervention. Jake: What!? U- Uh I’ve lost like twelve times in a row, damn this I’m getting some coffee. Jack: Hey Jake, brew me some too! And some snacks, I’m starving! *** These three children — Jack Austen, June Glascera, and Jake Gabaldon, dubbed “The J Gang” since all their names start with “J” are just another of those strange orphaned victims of the wretched Naiko City. Naiko City was located in some impoverished and corrupt country and among all the cities filled with crime, none was as dense as Naiko City. To put it simply — Naiko city was a horrid place, you had crime lingering everywhere — yesterday their neighbor got shot to death for insulting someone's shoes, unjust cops that lived off bribery and corruption — the guy who shot their neighbor got away with it by bribing cops with thousands of dollars. And gangs that had more control over the government — apparently the murderer had all this money up his sleeve because he sold drugs along with a gang. Not to mention the overly exaggerated or underexaggerated media — The information about this murder was only spread out of rumors. No news publication wanted to cover this. The citizens there were miserable. June Glascera was born of some cursed relationship that had no love at all and was packed with abuse. June still has insomnia to this day due to the noises her parents would often make. One day, the mother had enough of all the abuse and stabbed the father. Out of self- defense, the father struck him with a beer bottle, killing them both in front of twelve- year- old June. June tends to be described by her classmates as intelligent, and trust me she is. She can study for about ten minutes and get a seamless, perfect score on an exam. Lots of people resent her for this, however, earning her the nickname: “lucktal”, a portmanteau of the words lucky and talent. June wasn't particularly that beautiful, only a few men liked her. She had long blonde hair, wore around these heavy glasses “stereotypically”, and usually wore this neon blueish color shirt. Jake Gabaldon’s family was fine and happy, going out on trips, and eating together like a fine family does — despite the living conditions in Naiko City. However one day, Jake’s mother got “taken advantage of” by some cartel members and it all went downhill from there. Jack had this strange rough personality, weirdly acting “cool” all the time. He had long hair, and always wore this black beanie accompanied by a green jacket covering a red shirt with a diamond- shaped design in the middle. Quite stylish I have to say. Jack Austen didn’t even have a family at all. No, that doesn’t make sense. Let’s just say his memory is a little too fuzzy when it comes to his family and his childhood was just him scraping the piles of trash for food. Actually, that’s how these three met. Jack is a goofy, silly guy however, he usually doesn't take things that seriously and doesn't care for the consequences of his actions — he’s also been described as a vampire however, with pointy, sharp teeth and a strange fear of the bright sun. He is a caring person, however, always wearing a bowtie, and a weird spiky hairstyle that’s mainly the reason he gets teased a lot. *** This story is about these three kids meddling with the wrong things, angering a gang, almost getting killed and everything somehow being resolved by some miracle. That’s it. But it’s too boring if I said it that way. That’s not how a story should be. This all started on that blissful day — July 8th. A day before this all unfolded, and when this card game started. The three of them started chattering around with some snacks and coffee — as usual. How they even turned from rags, begging on the streets, illiterate, and sleeping on concrete — to riches, finally affording an apartment, an education, and actual healthy food is nothing short of a miracle. This story itself is crammed with miracles anyway. Jake brewed three cups of coffee for the three of them and took some leftover donuts on the way. They turned on the radio and had it play those fabricated news outlets. The voice on the radio said: “Our nation is now rising with the guidance of our highest emperor-” June immediately shut down the radio. June: Damned emperor, nothing but talk — what a fraud! Jack: Hey you shouldn’t talk to the emperor like that — you might actually get arrested y’know. Jake: Yeah he’s right. There’s lots of uh.. what was it called — political prisoners? These days. June: That just proves how much more of a fraud she is! Jack: Hey guys, you heard of what happened to our neighbor yesterday? Jake: You mean, Mr. Gener? Jack: Yeah... June: I heard he got shot because he stepped on someone’s shoe... Jack: Damn really..? Why weren’t there police? Jake: I heard he bribed the police. Jack: Damn. June: Anyways... Why aren’t the two of you reviewing for our midterms tomorrow? Chapter 2 ~ A test to set it all When that topic was brought up, a sudden pause halted the conversation. The midterm exams were 45% of their grades, a massive percentage — and the results of these exams could either wreck or restore their precious academic life, after all, their money came from the allowance of their prestigious school far away from their home so if they were to fail, they could get their tuition revoked and they might go from rock bottom. Still, the two of them had managed to forget such an important test and had also managed to procrastinate for quite a long time despite their classmates already breaking down from the pressure. After a long while, the three of them continued the conversation: Jack: I need more coffee. I’ll have to spend an all- nighter on this. Jake: Can’t you just copy June? After all, June is just on your left. June: Nope. You seem to always forget that the seating arrangement is randomized during important exams. Also, I really don’t want to damage that clean reputation of integrity those teachers always view me in. I really don’t wanna risk getting caught again... Ever since last time. Jake: Yeah good point... Jack: Could you help us study at least? June: Sure. It only took me a few days to review everything after all. Jake brewed like a thousand cups of coffee after that, and with the help of June, they began to start a seemingly impossible cramming session, which lasted for an unbearable eighteen hours. Jack was already confused and perplexed by everything an hour in — I mean, he unironically said that 1 + 1 =3 While solving a math equation. And Jake probably had his already diminishing sanity halved by that “study session. Nevertheless, June held his compassion and despite all, guided her two peers. After those grueling eighteen hours, they finally slept, lying down in their triple bunk bedrooms. For the first time, the “hard as diamonds” mattresses genuinely felt soft (I’m quite frank that if someone had to go through a tiring eighteen- hour study session, they could use a brick as a pillow and it’ll still feel soft.) By the time the three of them finally woke up, it was already ten minutes past their ordinary “wake- up” time. And considering they had to catch a bus on the way to school, ten minutes was a huge margin. June: What the hell, it’s already 6:42!? (Damnit, this could ruin it all!) Jack: Oh crap we really stayed that late!? Jake: Guess we’ll be late for the first time, eh... Jack: And on such an important day too... June: Now’s not the time for talking, y’know! They rushed toward the shower, grabbed their uniforms, wore them, and sprinted across the roads just to get to the nearest bus station, doing all that then light could travel around the world. They barely reached the bus. If they were off by a minute, they could've missed it. But their misery didn’t end there. July 9th was a Thursday. And Thursday was a day when people would start driving to avoid the traffic on Friday, ironically. Even if it was an early morning, Naiko City was just so crowded, and they had to wait another twenty minutes to finally get to their school. Not to mention the hideous smell of the passengers. Yikes! When they finally arrived, the time was 7:59:30 AM. Just 30 seconds before the school gate closed at eight o'clock, when no students could get in. Again, the trio’s luck strikes! They sprinted towards the clean school halls, blessed with the rich fragrance of magnolia trees planted across the school, contrasting the poor foul smell of blood lingering in Naiko city. When they finally got to their classroom, it was 8:05 and it was also to say — bizarre since as said before, they were never late. In those two years of studying, not once have they been late. They didn’t want to risk losing that beloved allowance. Their class adviser and english teacher, Ma’am Judy harshly reprimanded them for being late (they were late for like five minutes because 8:00 was their starting time.) Actually, the class was grateful that they were late since they had delayed the midterms with Ma’am Judy’s lecture by five minutes, which allowed a “moment of ease” among the students. Anyway, they proceeded with the midterms. *** The sound of paper flapping, pencil cases opening, pens rolling around, people scratching their heads and coughing, and oh I almost forgot — the occasional aluminum water bottle falling creating a loud bang and disrupting the deafening silence of the exam hall. Those are the noises that make a test like these so special. When Jack Austen, along with hundreds of students, opened their examination papers, they began to manifest a... Extremely, abundantly, intensely, seriously, and exceedingly horrified face. Maybe I’m exaggerating this, but it looked like a hundred jaws suddenly dropped into the void out of utter fear, including June. The test had these baffling questions- no. I’d say riddle was the right word here, that had the entire school perplexed — they were questions having you solve three cubic equations totaling at once, and essay questions requiring at least three paragraphs — this was to be “expected” in such a prestigious school so Jake remained calm, however, and sneakily pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere. Among all the faces filled with horror, only he had the face of a confident businessman ready to scam a hundred customers all at once. You’d think that he might get caught, but using his intelligent mind to sneak the paper instead of facing the exam head- on, he managed to cheat, mainly because the exam proctors were heavily distracted, laughing at the horrified faces of each student. Meanwhile, Jack was struggling... A lot. An hour had passed, yet Jack was only at like question twenty. Not to mention, most of those were guesses made whilst bearing the downright gut- wrenching feeling of all your hard work being thrown out the window and being deemed useless, in vain. The clock was ticking with only two hours left and eighty more questions to answer. On the other hand, June had a hard time balancing the tediousness of each question and the fleeting time limit they were given. June figured she should only answer the “easy” questions, but skimming through a hundred test items wasn’t a particularly easy task. As a “last resort,” Jack broke his vow to look at anything besides his table and began to notice the smug look on Jake right beside him. Seeing how confident he was, he began to slowly copy him, being wary of the proctors. Whilst doing that, Jack slowly began to notice the elegant trees blossoming across the school. “How beautiful,” Jack thought. Chapter 3 ~ Bonebreaker An hour passed, and another hour passed. Before they knew it, the bell rang loudly along with a loud “TIME’S UP” from the proctors which were then followed by sighs of relief, anxious exhales, groans filled with anger, and lonely growls. By copying Jake, Jack had successfully answered all one hundred questions and Jake did so as well. June had most of the questions finished, along with lots of educated guesses. After being forced to hand over the examination sheet and paper, recess finally set in. A hundred students or so rushed through the hallways, almost breaking the door in the process. A lot of them gathered at the school cafeteria — including our trio. The cafeteria could be compared to a massive restaurant with tasty, appetizing, and mouthwatering food “ordinary” people like our trio can’t afford, fitting for all the rich noblemen whose parents are nepotists or cronies of popular politicians across the country. Our trio just ate some cheap packaged lunch. Usually, June buys or cooks for the trio, not that her food is that delicious or anything. But today’s unique though, because for once June put some effort into her food. She cooked steak, marinated with delicious spices and coated with a juicy flavor. Jack: You genuinely put some effort into this huh? Jake: Yeah this like — belongs in a Michelin- star restaurant or something June: Oh wow I feel sooo flattered. (The hell’s with these two..?) Jake: June we get it if you don’t like your cooking but at least accept the damn compliment. June: Fine. Anyways you guys deserved this anyway considering the intense review we had last night. Jack: Thanks a lot but that review was useless. (I couldn’t even recall anything...) June: No, you just didn’t remember a thing I said. Jack: Fair enough... Agh. Jack: Hey at the end of the day it's still an exam. June: That decides whether we get to live under a roof. Jack: This economy is horrible eh... June: Maybe Jake ought to work to support us. Jack: Speaking of, where is Jake? Wasn’t he just here a moment ago? June: Yeah you’re right where is he- nevermind I spotted him over there with Mike. Jack: Who the hell is Mike? June: You don’t know him? He’s that guy who wears that shady jacket around. Jack: Ohhh that mysterious guy. (That description is way too vague! There’s lots of shady jacket wearers here.) Whilst they were talking, Jake saw a person named Mike Haverit. Mike Haverit is a dreadfully mysterious person. He always wears a black jacket around, is always silent, and if you try to be “considerate” and approach him, he’ll ignore you. Nevertheless, he’s always close with the school’s “higher- ups”. Jake talked to him, though: Jake: Hey Mike thanks for that “answer sheet” you gave me. Mike: ... I told you to dispose of it, not use it... Jake: Well I used it. So what. Mike: ... June was about to leave. And Jack was to follow too. The time was now five minutes before noon. Everybody had gone to their classrooms by now. Even the cafetorium sellers. Only three people were left there: Jack, Jake, and Mike. Out of nowhere, however, someone entered the cafeteria, he was breathless and exhausted. He had a massive, bloody bat and glared at Mike with the shameless intention to kill. His eyes were like an ellipse fully colored in crimson and in the center of it was a black circle. His name was Luke Anderson and he uttered at Mike: “You damn cocky bastard! You were the one who stole those sheets, weren't ya!” Mike’s usually neutral frown then turned into an uneasy face, with sweat pouring down in all directions and his mouth pointing downwards, whatever you call it. Luke Anderson is one of those nepotist and egotistical bastards who think they can get away with anything via cash. His uncle is a politician that deals with the national defense military — In other words h,e’s powerful and can arrest anyone who talks crap about the emperor, or anybody he wants to arrest. Nobody wants to mess with Luke, even the teachers. He's ridiculously strong and had immature anger issues that of a five- year- old — I mean he once punched a hole through the steel lockers because he got milk spilled on his shirt. Luke usually wears a dark jacket covering a red shirt similar to Jake — although these past few months he’s been wearing a green shirt with a design in the middle spelling out: “Naturalist Club”. You'd think he'd be more “unique” with his outfit considering how rich he is but he takes pride in his clothes — stained with blood. That aside, Luke bolted across the cafeteria towards Mike with veins on his forehead and a clenched fist wrapping around his bat. Mike toppled to the floor and Luke prepared to swing his bat. That is — until Jack decided he wanted to be a “hero” and leaped to protect Mike with his arm. Mike passed out, however. Bang. Or boom. Or thud — or any other word to describe Luke's wooden bat — which ironically has a niche nickname called “bonebreaker” hitting Jack's arm with such tremendous power that it managed to almost crack his bones. Jack “tried” to scream in pain but had to hold it in — it'd be horrible if they attracted attention. Jack held his bruised, purple arm tightly trying to relieve the pain, and leered at Luke, pissed as a buffalo seeing red. Buffalo don't get pissed when they see red — but you get the point. Luke, along with that smug grin looking like a satisfied philosopher who just found an irrefutable “meaning of life” since someone finally stood up to him spoke to harass Jack in a mocking tone: “Isn’t you one of those poor Naiko citizens who eat food from garbage bins!? Stop trying to act like some hero! Interfering with other people's business! This school has no place for you!” Jack held his cool. He then whispered: “I don't care about your business — whatever the hell you have to do with this guy — or how I'm just poor trash from Naiko. Swinging that bat is just too far! (What the hell am I saying!?)” and they soon lashed out at each other. How do I even describe this? Jack already regretted fighting with Luke — He could get arrested, and expelled, and this could be the reason for the trio’s downfall. But it was already too late anyway. So they just started throwing hands. Jack drilled a hole into Luke's left chin, and Luke retaliated with a sucker punch on the torso. Then Jack crossed the line by kicking Luke in the groin, but fortunately Luke had thick underwear, and Luke paid that back by kicking him in the groin too. Ouch. They exchanged blows for another twenty minutes or so. Jake just silently watches in the horizon uneasy and sweating —, holding himself so as to not meddle with anything because seriously if Jake meddles with this a lot of “bad things” could happen to him. Jake though to himself: “What the hell is taht asshole thinking!? We could get arrested!? June won’t be happy with this...” Then someone stepped into the cafeteria. I believe his name was Raphael, a close partner of Luke and another cronyism bastard, he called him. Raphael: Luke, stop beating him. We have orders again. Luke: Already!? Raphael: You wouldn't want to disobey him right? Luke: Augh. This isn't over, Jack. Raphael Hergeitz is another one of those elite- class students in the prestigious school of Trinity Summit, which offered high- quality courses and education — I mean most of the people who graduated there are crazy rich, like millionaires or billionaires even. With all the rich students studying in this school, there soon began a sort of caste system or hierarchy inside the large school — first was the “deprived” class, consisting of our trio and more poor students who only got into the school due to their genius, most students in this “rank” are really intelligent. Then came the “commoner” class consisting of middle- class students, which was followed by the “rich” class — most of the students of the academy fall into this category. Then the top class —” elite”. These people were usually the most superior, consisting of mostly relatives of oligarchs and corrupt politicians, or maybe even distant relatives of the royal bloodline. Raphael Hergeitz was part of this class, and he was probably the most mysterious of them all. Seldom did he interact with the other elites, and was just, if not more ruder and spoiled than his fellow elite students. He tends to however always be with Luke, and they even had the same “Naturalist Club” clothes. Anyways, the scarlet- stained Luke walked outside along with Raphael. Jack was confused, but relief overshadowed it — at least he could now rest from Luke’s brutal attacks. Mike also gained consciousness — although he was dizzy and lightheaded. Jake approached them both, and soon after, a concerned June approached too. June: What in the world happened here!? J- Jack you’re bleeding everywhere! Jake: Jack got into a fight with Luke. June’s pupils suddenly dilated, it was as small as an ant, or a gamma- ray particle — just know that it was small okay, and a mix of fear, rage, and unease was etched onto June's face, her eyebrows pointing into the direction gravity is in, y’know, downwards? June: D — Damn it! YOU really are retarded — are you JACK! And we worked so damn hard! I hate you — this — AGH! (H- HOW COULD HE HAVE DONE THIS!?) Jake: Hey d- don’t s- say that word. June: IT’S TRUE HOWEVER! — C- Can’t you at least think of what’ll happen for G — OD’S SAKE! June then got closer to Jack — raised his wide- open palm, preparing to slap Jack as if Jack betrayed her and took everything from her — in a way that’s precisely what Jack just did, from the perspective of June. But then Jake held her arm tightly. Jake: He’s already bleeding. This will only make things worse. June: AGH! F- fine. Sigh... Just how are we supposed to deal with this!? Mike, witnessing what was going on, approached the trio, having their quarrel. Mike: ... I can assure the three of you. Nothing bad will go on. Look around, nobody’s here. Luke probably won’t bother his tyrannical uncle this time, considering the current political tensions in our country... June: Tch. I s- suppose you’re right, but what if that bastard holds a grudge? Surely we’ll be... what’s the right word?... wrecked, demolished? Jake: She’s right — I mean yeah she’s always right. Mike: ... W- we can only hope... Jack: Say Mike... Why’s Luke even mad at you? And Jake... You’ve been awfully quiet. Weren’t you talking to Mike a while ago about something?.. Jake: ... ... ... Guess I’ll h- have t- to admit it then — I cheated. It was seemingly impossible to pull off, but I did it. A few days before the exam, Mike handed me this dirty “cheat sheet” and told me to dispose of it. June: Ugh. One after another! All of you swore never to cheat! I guess it’s in your nature to do that b- but at least think of what’ll happen! — And Mike. Why’d you give him this? Where did you obtain it? Mike: ... It’s quite a long story. — one I’m afraid to share in public. L — let’s just forget all of this happened in the meantime. Let’s talk about this after class... June: Fine. We are all late after all. Jake: What about Jack’s condition, at least show some empathy for him, he’s bleeding like crazy after all! Jack: I’m fine. It d- dosen’t hurt that much, can someone just lend me a towel to wipe this blood off? Mike took a red, soft, towel from his bag and gave it to Jack. Mike: ... Here. I’m really really thankful for saving me there earlier... Jack: No problem. That’s just what I am after all. Jake: Jack, you ought to listen to what Luke said: "Don’t try to be a hero”. We got into this mess because of you after all. Jack: ... June: Let’s just go back. It’s time for Ma’am Judy’s examination item analysis or something. Mike: ... Oh crap we completely forgot... It was 1:52 PM. They had been late to Ma’am Judy’s class by twenty minutes. Ma’am Judy is already furious if ever someone’s late to her class by a minute — so twenty minutes is quite... scary. The trio, and Mike, charged across and past the many halls and buildings throughout the unbearable distance between their rooms and the school’s cafeteria. — You could say they were running for their lives. When they finally got into their classrooms, Ma’am Judy was blazing with anger and forced the trio to sit in front, completely still. If they moved even a tiny bit, they’d be whacked. In a way you could call this discrimination, I mean she left out Mike to be punished after all. Today was a mysterious day for the trio’s classmates. The three of them had gathered a reputation of never being late, and here they were — being late twice. Rumors spread like wildfire among the chuckles of laughter from the trio being humiliated and whispers of mockery. Jack felt his heart aching, lifting the guilt. Jake accepted the remorse despite all. June was just as furious as Ma’am Judy. Eventually — after an hour or so, they were finally let off, and the item analysis continued as “normal.” Chapter 4 ~ Secrecy and a long story Two and then three hours passed like a bird flying through the sky and then suddenly being shot down — the bird falling fast through the ground symbolizing the time that had quickly passed. It was 4:12 PM. Twelve minutes past dismissal time. Most of the students had gone home now. The trio had a lot of free time on their hands considering the midterms were over, and they were waiting for Mike at the school’s gate — because y’know. They were that intrigued by his situation, and how to fix their mess. Jack: I have a bad feeling about this. We should just head home already. Jake: Jack’s right for once, who knows, we might get ganged up on by Luke. June: It’s not that late. After a while, Mike finally showed up. He was there, with his mundane frown as usual and dark jacket. He walked into our trio and began to talk. June: So, Mike. Care to finally tell us your “long story” Mike: ... Out of all the bad places I could tell you my story this has to be the worst, like being naked in front of a crowd... Jack: Surely it can’t be that horrible. Stop edging us... Mike: ... Oh it is... Maybe I could tell you to somewhere more private... Jake: Why not at our place, Mike?.. Jack: Yeah sure! Let’s go have a party at our place to celebrate the midterms June: Jack you truly are an indifferent person are you... Fine, let’s go to our apartment, I have to warn you though... It’s far and dangerous. Mike: ... It can’t be that bad... I’ll just text my parents real quick. June: How lucky, that you have parents... Oh yes, it is bad. Trinity Summit was located in Humriel City, a much more luxurious town far away in Naiko City. You could say that Humriel city was a city of gold, with its streets made of marble, buildings made of shining steel, and literal golden statues lying out visible in public. Humriel City was a haven during the drought of poverty across the land. That aside, our trio and Mike rode a bus on the way home, facing traffic on a Friday, the roads were filled, no, infested with cars. The bus driver had to perform magic spells — also known as reckless driving crimes like using the pedestrian lane as a road or speeding on a red light. Despite that, they were still slow and sluggish, like a crippled tortoise being carried by a snail. Mike: Y- You guys go through this... Everyday!? June: Surprised? Told ya it was far and tough Jake: Oh don’t scare him, it’s only because it’s a Friday. Jack: Yeah... After an unbearably long while — one and a half hours worth of commuting — they finally reached their place, and they had to walk another thirty minutes to reach the trio’s apartment, Mike was quite err... Astonished. It had been his first time seeing genuine trash and crack addicts lying around scattered, as well as the foul odor. Mike: ... This is — I feel so sympathized with your living conditions. This is just... So horrendous... Jack: You rich kids have it sooo easy! You complain so much, all of you are so spoiled! Jake: Now’s seriously not the time to insult the upper class again. June: Yeah but Jack has a point. You guys even have parents. Mike: ... Sorry I guess... Jack: It’s okay. Nevertheless, they finally reached their place. It was 5:13 PM the sun was about to set. The creaky apartment I first mentioned was a “barebones apartment that might be a textbook example of how not to build an apartment, it has a strange leaky rooftop, floorboard that creaks all day, and many more.” When they reached the trio’s room. Mike was once again, “amazed”... considering last night’s fatiguing study session and how late they were — they didn’t have that much time to clean up the place. Mike was now presented with the most utterly trashy room he had ever seen. There were books and paper scattered everywhere, clothes lying around, and plastic trash dangling around the roof for some reason — what?.. Mike: is your place usually like this..? Jake: It's clean during the day, and messy during the night. June usually cleans this place very often. June: Yeah and never did I ever hear a “thank you” from the two of you. Jake & Jack, in harmony: Thank you. June: How “sweet”. Oh I’m so “proud” of you two~ Jack: Whatever. June then took a broom and started to hurriedly clean everything up Jake: Anyways Mike just sit down whilst June cleans everything. Mike: The floor..? Jack: Don’t tell me you’ve never sat down on the floor!? Mike: ... Okay fine... Thanks a lot I guess... The trio’s room was quite cramped. They had a triple bunk bed in the corner, a few generic fake paintings right beside the door — and a blurry window parallel to the door, oh yeah, and the aloe vera plant Jake doesn’t bother to water on top of a cabinet that sits on the side, a bathroom, and a kitchen; not that any of those matter anyway. Within five minutes, June had transformed the messy room into a neat and clean room. Mike: ... Wow June... You clean really fast, don’t you... June: Yeah it's a handy skill I picked up. Jake: Anyways can you just tell us Mike your “long story” Jack: Yeah it’s already late, just tell us already! Mike: ... Fine... Just promise not to say this to anyone... Have you ever heard of the... Life of The J Squad ~ Part 1 A thirteen- year- old June rummages through the barracks of Naiko’s city’s dumpsters — looking for leftover food that may have been dumped by the restaurants of the city. She's distraught — conflicted and depressed about what has happened to her the past few years. Her mother and her father are dead — they had killed each other. June tried to vividly recall what happened on that day — her mother gambled all their money away, leaving her father with no cash to feed his crippling alcohol addiction. Due to this, June’s father brutally beat June’s mother to a pulp, and June's mother retaliated by fatally slamming a wine bottle she picked up from the floor. The days that followed were dull. June lived near a dumpster, and June soon learned how to scavenge food from the dumpsters, sell bottles and junk beg, and worst — sell her “body” to the filth of Naiko city. She also had to learn to evade the human traffickers. Anyway, this day was special. She had been scavenging junk in the dumpsters as usual, when she dug up a small dusty boy her size. The boy had been wearing a small coat, covered with dust and blood. June saw bodies like these often in the dumpsters. She was certain that the boy was dead, but his eyes opened. He uttered in his perched voice: “A- are y- you m- y sister? Pplease hel- lp me...” June felt empathy for the poor boy, seeing they were alike. She tried to “lift” the boy but didn’t have the strength to pull it off, so she resorted to dragging him towards her home. Whilst dragging she noticed a piece of paper stored in his pocket. She “tried” to read it: “J- J Ja Jac? Jack! A- Au aus auste? Austen!” The boy’s name must be Jack Austen, June thought. Chapter 5 ~ Forensic Extravaganza It was 5:32 PM. The sun was already setting on the western horizon, leaving a beautiful sight to behold, unfitting for what was about to unfold. Jack: What did you say again? Mike: I said naturalist club. Are you deaf..? I said have you ever heard of the Naturalist Club? Jack: Sheesh sorry. No need to be mad. Jake: Wait, you mean THE Naturalist Club? Yes, I have heard of it — I actually was a member of that club. Mike: Wait, you were? I never noticed you going there. June: Yep he was a member of that club. He really wanted to raise that aloe vera plant on the corner. Jack: Hey June don’t you think that aloe vera plant is on the verge of dying? It’s starting to turn brownish and looks so... What’s the right word... Frail? June: Yeah good point, it’s probably gonna die in a few days. Jake: ... Mike: Anyways as I was saying, Jake, you were a member of the naturalist club? Jake: Yep. Although they kicked me out for seemingly no reason. Jack: Wasn’t Luke a member of that club? He even wears that “Naturalist Club” T- shirt around. Mike: Good point. Back to what I was saying. Boy, how do I even explain this... A short silence went by... Accompanied by curiosity and intrigue as to what the hell exactly was with the “Naturalist Club”. Our trio’s eyes were pinned down on Mike. And from his excited eyes and confident grin you could say that he had a lot to tell. Mike: The naturalist club was once just a “natural” club, no pun intended. That was just mostly centered on planting and caring for the environment — they were even responsible for all the magnolia trees planted across the school. But throughout the twelve years since its founding nothing really suspicious went on — that is, until elite pricks like Luke and deprived class delinquents suddenly started to gather in the club. Jake: Yeah that was really suspicious. I remember being uh... “Petrified” when I saw Luke. Mike: Precisely. Anyways, I, along with the members of the student council began to investigate the club. And for a few months, we found nothing interesting — it was all just planting apparently. We didn't even find Luke or the elite pricks attending the ordinary club meetings. June: Then why were they even members of that club then? Mike: I don’t know. And also stop interrupting me, please... June: My bad. Mike: Anyways it was all completely normal — until we started to delve deeper into the surface. I snuck into their club room on a Saturday and found a tunnel cleverly hidden among some cacti. After a few minutes of hesitating, I crawled through the tunnel and found a secret room underneath. What I found in that room was just utterly... Surprising. I was flabbergasted. Scared, even. Jack: What was it!? Jake: Can't believe I never noticed that tunnel. June: Mike please stop the suspense already. Mike: Can't you guys wait jeez... As I Was saying — I found heaps of Marijuana, cannabis, tobacco, opium poppies, really illegal plants. Unease started to build up and loom around the room. June: What... That has to be fake. Jack: I guess that's to be expected in a planting club... Jake: Tch. So that's why we were never let in the club room. Mike: Back to what I was saying... I collected evidence — lots of them. I took pictures, bags of marijuana, and most precious of them all — a log book detailing everything that happened in the club. Jack: And how is this related to the cheat sheet..? Jake: Yeah Jack has a point here. Mike: Agh right I almost forgot thanks for reminding me... From that extremely illegal room was a door — which led to another slightly less illegal room that had cheat sheets for the midterms — I took two. Certain snacks that were banned in the school — like that frost bar candy which was literally ten pounds of sugar condenser into a “candy bar” as well as uhh... “adult toys...” June: Disgusting. How did this actually get past Trinity Summit's perfect security system that had “hour- long bag checks? Jack: Pretty sure those bag checks were just the guards “discriminating” us deprived folks. The guards never even gave a damn checking the rich or elite kids’ bags. June: ... Jake: Wait a minute. Have you ever been caught? Mike: I made sure to wear a mask in case that happened — and it did happen. Someone, a single person was there — and he didn't really look like a student of Trinity Summit — he actually kind of looked like a gangster, with that typical black suit and fedora and... Carrying a pistol... That was probably the scariest moment of my life — I think I ran faster than Usain Bolt. I think he tried to shoot me five times but missed. Jack: Wait... gangster!? Jake: No wait like really!? What happened next..!? June: Tch... Mike: Nonetheless I escaped. Actually, I looked and read at the club’s log book, and turns out all the illegal stuff was supported by this gang... What was their name again..? The Ivory needles gang or something. The wind blew, and all the ominous unease looming around popped — Jake clenched her fist hard. June began biting her nails out of unease — Jack started sweating too. After a while, Mike broke the ice: Mike: What’s going on?.. June: Is wh- what you saying really true? You have to be ex- exaggerating this... Tch. H- how could a bunch of pesky d- delinquents even get tangled in with a literal gang!? Jake: Y- y- yeah... Gangsters and everything this could be the largest school scandal in the country... Jack: Wh- why are y- you telling us this... Do you want us to be targeted!? Mike: Guess I should’ve expected this. But you wanted to find out. So here you go. I am not lying, however — What I’m saying is true. Here’s proof. Mike took out an old crumpled- up picture from his jacket pocket. The picture had lots of tears; it contained an image of a Naturalist Club member; wearing that Naturalist Club t- shirt. The person looked male, and he was with what seemed like a “gangster”— wearing a green fedora and a tuxedo. There was also a large tattoo on his muscular arm spelling out: “IVORY NEEDLE”. Both of them seemed to be standing in front of a large opium poppy farm, holding a stack of cash.o Considering the Ivory Needles gang was one of the most infamous gangs in Naiko city, Our trio’s faces soon went from uneasy to scared. Mike: Right now my fellow members of the student co