Chapter 131: Knowing The Right People The three girls walked hand-in-hand, glancing back several times as the door to that room, the one they’d been trapped in just minutes ago, finally swung shut behind them. They still didn’t fully understand how they’d gotten out of it. The whole thing felt like a blur, too fast, too intense. But none of them wanted to stick around long enough to ask questions. Instead, they left the bowling alley completely, not stopping until they were out of the park and back on a busy street, surrounded by the noise and movement of everyday life. Even with all the people walking by, they didn’t feel safe. Not really. "What was that back there?" Cindy asked, still a little breathless. "I don’t know," Abby said, "but it felt like there was some kind of internal fight going on. Like... they were all from the same group, right? I think the girls Kira brought in belonged to that other girl too, Aki or whatever her name was. And for some reason... she chose to help us." They kept walking, trying to make sense of it, until they noticed Sheri hadn’t said a word. She was staring off into space, her expression blank, like she wasn’t even there. "Sheri, are you okay?" Cindy asked softly. Then she sighed. "What am I saying? Of course you’re not okay. None of us are." Cindy reached into Sheri’s coat pocket and pulled out her phone. She tapped through the screen and quickly dialed her own number, holding it to her ear until it rang. "This is my number, alright?" she said, pressing the phone back into Sheri’s hand. "If anything happens again, anything at all, you call us. I don’t know what those people are capable of, and I don’t care. You don’t deal with it alone." Sheri finally blinked, snapping out of her daze. She looked down at the phone in her hand, then back at her friends. "There’s something I’ve been thinking about," she said slowly. "Have you ever heard of a group called the Billion Bloodline... or Bloodline Gym?" Cindy and Abby exchanged a look. "Those girls... they were all wearing the same logo," Sheri continued. "That red blood drop? It was on jackets, wristbands, everything. I didn’t notice it at first. But when we were leaving, it hit me." She hesitated. ’My mom mentioned the name Billion Bloodline VC before. Said they were the company that saved my family. But I don’t get it. What does a gym, filled with fighters like them, have to do with a corporation that powerful?’ Sheri thought, and didn’t say it out loud. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 What the girls didn’t know, what no one at school really knew, was that the delinquents from Seaton only wore the Bloodline Gym merch under specific conditions. They didn’t flaunt it on school grounds. It wasn’t about showing off. They wore it when they trained outside school, or when they had to handle... certain kinds of business. To most students, it was just gym gear. Nothing more. Nothing worth paying attention to. *** Back inside the bowling alley, the two men seated near the entrance, who’d been quietly monitoring everything, picked up the phone again. "Yes. The three girls exited safely," one of them said in a low voice. "They left after others entered the room. The rest of the group hasn’t come out yet... We’ll stay put and keep watch. Just give us the word." He ended the call and set the phone back down on the table. **** In the glass-walled party room, the scene had changed. Aki stood over the Seaton girls, Synthia, and the two others, now kneeling on the floor. Synthia’s cheek was still visibly swollen, red from where Aki had struck her earlier. Aki crossed her arms, disappointment simmering in her expression. "What the hell were you thinking?" she said. "Doing something like this just because a girl from another school asked you to?" Synthia looked up, tears brimming in her eyes. "Aki... we don’t understand. What did we do that was so wrong?" Aki exhaled through her nose, hard. "You should understand. You should know exactly what you did." She stepped forward. "That school, their school, we formed an alliance with them. You know what that means? It means from now on, they’re off-limits. We don’t mess with them. We don’t touch them." Her voice dropped, heavy with warning. "And you didn’t just mess with a few randoms... you laid hands on the wrong ones. Bad enough I might not be able to clean this up on my own." The three girls looked up at her, faces pale, reality finally sinking in. "Lucky for you," Aki continued, "it doesn’t look like those girls were hurt too badly. We’ll shift the blame if we have to. Twist the story. But I want you to know, I’m doing this for you. Don’t mistake it for mercy." Without thinking, Synthia stood up, stumbled forward, and wrapped her arms around Aki. Her shoulders shook as tears slid down her face, soaking into the back of Aki’s jacket. "I’m sorry," she whispered. Aki didn’t return the hug. But she didn’t push her away either. If there was one thing the Seaton Academy girls truly appreciated, it was that Aki genuinely cared about them. She wasn’t just tough. She was protective. And they knew that. "I’ve done a lot for us," Aki said quietly, her voice raw with exhaustion. "I didn’t want to see everything we’ve built go to waste. We don’t have to live the way we used to. We don’t need to throw ourselves into danger anymore. We don’t have to date people we don’t even like just to survive." She looked at each of them. "Things can be better. So don’t pull a stunt like this again." All three girls stood and pulled each other into a tight hug, a silent promise passing between them. But the moment was cut short by low snickering behind them. The men in the room, the ones who’d been watching silently this whole time, finally spoke up. "Oh, I see how it is," one of them said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We’re just tools to be used, huh? Disposable muscle? So all this time you’ve been playing us." He stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "If that’s true... then I guess you don’t mind if we use you however we want too." The girls immediately stepped back, instincts flaring. "I was just speaking generally," Aki said carefully, her tone shifting. "It’s been a long day. Tensions are high. Let’s all just head out and cool down, alright?" She stepped past them slowly, her presence still commanding, her expression unreadable. But as the group began to leave, the mood shifted again. Synthia was near the back of the group when one of the men, Fallen, reached out and grabbed her wrist. "Hey, Synthia... it’s not true, right?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous. "You weren’t just using me to beat up whoever you wanted, were you?" His grip tightened around her wrist. "Because if you were... I’d be real upset." "F-Fallen, you’re hurting me. Let go," Synthia said, her voice shaking. "No!" he barked. "I don’t like being treated like trash!" With a sudden shove, he threw her backward, her body slammed into the edge of the table. "Stop it!" Aki shouted, rushing toward them. But just as she reached them, one of the other guys swung an arm without warning, and his fist cracked right into Aki’s face. "Man," one of the guys said, glancing around, "there’s a lot of women in here." His smirk widened. "And you heard what they said about this room, right? Soundproof. No one’s hearing anything from in here... I can think of a few things we could do." The girls immediately huddled together, stepping back instinctively. Their eyes scanned the room for exits, none close enough. Panic was setting in. Then, BANG. The door burst open. Three adult men stormed in, wearing casual, mismatched clothes, but their presence was anything but random. "Get them," the lead one ordered without hesitation. The room exploded into motion. One of the men stepped forward and swung with brutal precision, his fist connecting squarely with a student’s chin. The boy dropped instantly, unconscious before he hit the floor. The others tried to fight back, but they didn’t stand a chance. The newcomers moved like trained fighters, slipping past every punch and retaliating with punishing blows to the gut, ribs, and head. One after another, the students dropped. The last guy was slammed against the ground, his arm twisted behind his back. He didn’t move. "Everyone out. Now," the lead man commanded. "Take the girls who are down too." Aki, stunned but composed, nodded quickly. "You heard him! Move!" The Seaton girls scrambled to lift the unconscious ones, carrying them toward the exit. Aki herself helped guide them, checking to make sure everyone, even the girls who weren’t theirs, was getting out. As she reached the door, she turned back toward the three men who’d come to their rescue. "Who are you?" she asked. "Are you with the police?" The man smiled faintly and shook his head. "Our client told us to protect anyone wearing Bloodline gear. So... we’re just doing our job." Aki blinked, processing that. She nodded, then offered a slight bow of her head. "Tell your client... thank you." The man gave her a look that held weight, then replied with a half-smile. "I will. And it seems like you know how to make friends with the right people."