The Blog

Arthur 5: Blown

Arthur walked down the street towards his school with a wide grin on his face. "What a wonderful morning to start some chaos," he thought to himself. He was actually looking forward to school today, for once. "If all goes according to plan, things should go swimmingly," he said to himself.

As he walked, his brothers and Francis taunted him for his 'demon grin', but he couldn't care less. "It will be worth it in the end," he thought.

Arthur was surprised that Ludwig of all people had actually agreed to follow along with his plan. "The fact that he was able to get us a first part announcement is even more amazing," he thought to himself. "I guess it does make sense that he wants to help expose the people who forced him and Feliciano to make their relationship public, shattering the hearts of girls everywhere."

"Artie, you're starting to creep me out," Dylan said, interrupting Arthur's thoughts. "Can you at least tell us what the hell has got you so happy?"

"Listen to the morning announcement, and you'll find out why," Arthur said with a mischievous grin.

"Do you have something to do with that cryptic Instagram post from the student council's page?" Liam asked.

"Is it a prank?" Duncan asked.

"Come on, tell us what you know," Francis said, joining in.

Despite their pleas, Arthur didn't fold. He couldn't recall a time when he's ever been this excited over something. He kept his composure as he made his way to meet up with the others in the office. He waved and shot a grin at his brothers before disappearing behind the door. They stood dumbfounded.

"It's raining in Hell," Duncan said, raising his eyebrow.

"No middle finger was used either, what a shock," Dylan added.

Inside the office, the air was palpable with tension. The student council and the group of boys were all on edge. One person didn't seem to believe all the hype and decided to make themselves known.

"What could be so important as to interrupt our morning updates?" asked one of the student council members. "You have yet to tell us, Beilschmidt."

Arthur cleared his throat. "We know who is behind the blog that has revealed everyone's secrets. Feliks here has spent weeks of research to narrow the suspects down to one."

"Eduard Koppel; sophomore, excellent student in both grades and attendance, and is at the top of his advanced IT class. Due to my expertise and their hard work, we were able to not only find who did it but to take over the website," said Feliks, holding up a folder.

"However," Sigurd interjected. "We have reason to believe that he isn't the mastermind behind this. We suppose that there are several people leaking information, but if we were to get Eduard to confess, it would be the first step in finding out their identities."

"If you want proof, we have it all documented in these neat files we've made," Vladimir added, holding up a stack of papers.

The room was silent for a long while until a voice spoke. "That's nice, but it won't be necessary," Kiku said, smiling.

"But...? What about all of the proof? The files!? The overwhelming evidence that we have!?" Arthur said, incredulous.

"It's not necessary because the microphone has been on the entire time," Ludwig said with a small smile. "Thank you all so much for your hard work."

Eduard looked like a deer in headlights as the news broke. The school went from loud and blaring to a few whispers about who the suspect is. It was times like this that he was grateful for not being popular.

As everyone wondered about Eduard Koppel, he quickly grabbed his backpack out of his locker and planned to get the hell out of the school to catch the first public transit on his way home. As he attempted to sneak away from the potential beatdown of his life, he just had to keep a calm face and then he would be home free.

This hopeful idea quickly fell apart when his back bumped into something, or in this case, someone. "You piece of shit!" a voice growled.

"H-Hey, Duncan..." Eduard stuttered nervously, not turning around to face him. Instead, he ran like the wind.

Duncan yelled after him, "Come back here, you coward!" To say that the school had descended into chaos would be a gross understatement. It would be impossible to suspend anyone if everyone was looking to get their hands on him. This was Eduard's worst nightmare; it was so horrifying that he still had trouble believing that things had gone this badly for him.

The only thing keeping him connected to reality was the feeling of his body wanting to explode from the sheer adrenaline coursing through him. He needed to get away and fast. He just needed a chance to call Ming and ask her...

But wait. Ming wasn't in school. She had told him that everything would be all right, yet she didn't attend school today. It's not like he didn't deserve what was happening to him, but he wasn't the only one who was a part of this. What if she knew that this was going to happen?

"That bitch! She used me as a scapegoat!"

"Eduard!!" Ah, he recognized that beastly voice from anywhere. He sometimes forgot that Mikkel could be a complete monster when he was angry. An idea flashed in his mind: if he could just get into the principal's office and tell people the full story, then they probably wouldn't kill him. Maybe.

The plan sounded good in theory but nigh impossible in practice, especially with all of these people chasing after him. For now, it was best to focus on staying alive. Where was the one place that was usually near deserted? The school counselor's office. He needed to get there if he had any chance of survival.

He could also just go inside a random classroom and jump through the window. This seemed like the most probable idea since he didn't expect three of the Kirkland brothers, along with Francis and Alfred, to come from the other side. Random door it is then.

Eduard opened the door and immediately regretted it as the student council and the crew of boys glared him down. Before he could retreat, the door behind him was locked.

"You have five seconds to tell us why we shouldn't kick your fucking teeth in," Gilbert said with a deceptively bright smile.

A ferocious grip slammed Eduard against the wall so harshly that he felt his breakfast wanting to come up. The absolute worst-case scenario was standing in front of him in all of his enraged glory. "Full names. Now," Ludwig demanded as he shoved the microphone into his face.

"Ming-Yue Wang! She gave me info on everyone! She used to crawl into the loose vent near the vending machine to listen to the conversations in the bathrooms and changing rooms! I did it because she threatened to expose a dark secret of my friend!" Eduard blurted out in a panic.

"So, because of one person, you let everyone around you suffer? When you could've easily gone to Timo or Toris, even Ivan would have helped you," Ludwig stated incredulously.

"I want to say sorry, but I know that it would never be enough to-" Eduard's sentence and breath were cut short by a sharp punch to the stomach from Sigurd. He felt his legs go weak but Sigurd held him up by his scalp.

"You're damn right about that," Sigurd said, his voice low and menacing. He struck Eduard again, this time with even more force. "That one was for my little brother."

Eduard groaned in pain as he felt the blows, his body already starting to show bruises. He knew he had made a terrible mistake, but it was too late now.

Feliks pushed Eduard out of the room, sending him tumbling into the waiting mob of angry students. They closed in on him, their eyes filled with rage.

As Eduard was dragged away, he knew that this was the end for him at this school. He had made a terrible mistake, and now he was paying the price. His clothes were stripped from him and he was duct taped to the wall behind the school's auditorium.

As he hung there, bruised and beaten, Eduard knew that he would never forget this day. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.