"I wonder how's she doing," said Nagisa anxiously while waiting for Ito Itachi and Matsuda Hakaku to finish their treatment in the intensive care unit.

"She'll be alright. She could use public transportation to get here," reassured Karma, maintaining his chill image.

"Maybe we should go back and look for her," insisted Nagisa in a serious manner to which Karma slightly twisted the corner of his lips.

"Fell for her~?"

Hearing so, Nagisa immediately felt the heat rose to his cheeks. "No! I'm just worried about her! She's a foreigner who's left alone—"

"Again, she'll be alright," said Karma, stretching the word 'alright', and scratching his neck. Nagisa could tell he was slowly getting irritated judging by his expression and manner.

As a result, he chose to stay silent instead of giving a reply, although the anxious feeling in his stomach remained unwashed.

***

"N-no...way," spluttered the gang's leader, watching his victim defeating every single member of his gang with a strange type of martial art, shaking in disbelief.

Although close combat was never her strength, having able to face big guys who don't know how to properly fight was a relief for her. All those years with the constant practice were worth it.

Arina panted in exhaustion, hands on her knees. Despite it all, those 1v1 matches were still tough fights for a small girl who only relied on technique like her.

"You guys really have great potential," she said kindly while flashing a weak smile reflecting her fatigue.

"I—Impossible!" the guy with the ponytail angrily snapped. He refused to believe she had won a fair match, blaming her for using some kind of underhanded method.

"Wait, there's still Chibi," the leader barged in. "Let me call him over now."

"You're calling your comrade over just to beat a little girl?" said Arina in an excited tone.

"So what!? I get it! We're losers!" admitted the leader to his gang's disapproval. "But Chibi had never lost a battle in his life (he chuckled), I guess today will be your last day on earth, gurl."

"What? Am I going to Mars?" said Arina, purposely arranging her face into a puzzled reaction to tease them.

"It means that you won't survive after today, dense gurl!!" The leader clarified in annoyance.

"Okay--okay! I'll wait for him to come and strangle me then!"

"You better be," smirked the leader, followed by a torrent of laughs burst forth by the gang's members.

"Hey! Wanna play a game while waiting?" asked Arina out of a sudden, and they halted their laughs for a while and burst it out once more.

"Is this some kind of trick?" the leader said while sneering scornfully as though he thought he could read through her mind.

"Here's how it works," she said, ignoring his question, and went to fetch the tote bag filled with cupcakes, pretty much to their confusion.

"What's that for?" asked the guy with the big pair of glasses.

"Cupcakes are to be eaten you fool!" said Butaro bitterly, whacking the guy's head for his disrespect toward food. The guy's glasses almost fall out of his face and to the ground.

"Ow! I mean what does it has to do with the game!!" he spat, fixing his glasses in exasperation.

Meanwhile, Arina dropped the cupcake bag in front of where they stood and announced the rule, "I'll make a statement about your past. If I'm right, I'll get one. If I'm wrong, you'll get one. And no lying, I'll know if you're lying."

"Nice! Let's play!" replied Butaro in excitement, rubbing his fat, hungry belly.

"At least wait 'till I make a call, you pig!" snapped the leader at the apprehensive-looking Butaro, as the poor guy shifted guiltily outside of his sight line.

The leader then aggressively pulled out his phone and tapped call to his comrade whose name was 'Chibi'.

Arina waited eagerly.

"Oi, Chibi! Can you do me a favor? -- uh-huh! There's this girl right here in my basement, I need you to beat her up!... What!? No! I'm not pathetic!! I doubt she's just a normal girl! -- oh, please, just come and you'll see!!"

"How's it? Will he come?" one asked after his leader hung off the phone.

"He will," the leader simpered in satisfaction as if he had just claimed victory while putting his phone away.

"Now, back to the game!" announced Arina, clapping her hands to grab their attention. "Let's start with you," she smiled and pointed at Butaro, who was squealing for the delicious cupcakes.

Although she was their captive, no one could resist the mouth-watering cupcakes that were protruding from the tote bag. They swallowed their saliva and agreed to play the game.

'Nothing to lose right?' was what they all thought.

"What're you doing!! You're losing your dignity!!" screamed the leader, who utterly disapproved of seeing his members follow Arina's instructions and sat in a circle for the game.

"Shut up, leader, accept that she beats you in a 1v1," said the ponytailed guy, "if you don't wanna play, then go away."

The leader immediately gaped in stunned bewilderment. He clicked his tongue in bitterness as he angrily marched away and stood nearby, crossing his arms in a wheedling manner.

The first round then started with Arina's theory on Butaro's past.

"You're abandoned by society for being out of today's standard, hence why you joined the gang because you can seek brotherhood here."

Their eyes rolled over and fixed on Butaro, who was looking as if his deepest secret was revealed, sitting in petrification with his mouth opened, gaping.

"I guess it's one for me then," said Arina with a light smile, taking out the first cupcake from the tote bag as the gang watched enviously. "Your turn, you have any theory about me?"

"Um, you have a good life, since you're beautiful. Why'd anyone not like you?" said Butaro tentatively.

"I get another then," chuckled Arina, continued taking another one out from the tote bag.

"What!? This is so unfair!" pouted Butaro, slamming his palms on the ground.

"Chill, this is just the start," reminded Arina. "And you," -- she pointed at the pony-tailed guy with her cupcake-holding fist -- "you grew up in a strict household, that's why you feel the need to be rebellious."

"Wrong," he said promptly, with a twist at one corner of his mouth. And he reached out for a cupcake as Butaro gulped in dismay.

They continued playing the game with the cupcakes in the tote bag gradually lessening. Even though the leader pretended to not give a damn about the game, he still listened quietly to their conversation.

Throughout the process, everyone attained more information about each other, but there was only one thing -- no one guessed right about Arina's history.

"What's that about the rule to not lie!" spoke the guy with big glasses after he failed to make a theory about Arina once more.

"Okay, here's a hint -- I'm from the Orlas Union."

They (including the leader) blinked.

"EHH!?"

"Why did you come here!!" one immediately asked.

"And how!?" the leader barged in, as he received glances from the gang and quickly turned away pretending nothing had happened.

"It's up to your guess," she smiled, watching their shocking reactions.

"My turn," Butaro said swiftly, receiving a nod from Arina, "how's your life in the Orlas nations? I had heard bad rumors about them."

"Hm?" Arina's eyes opened wide. "That's not how the game works."

"We don't give a damn about how the game works," they said. "Tell us."

The leader eavesdropped gingerly.

"Mm..." she hummed, unsure of how to begin, "well, I was only four, or five by then,"

Some of them threw themselves forward to Arina for better hearing.

"When I saw a...boy, properly my age by now, he got dragged by the soldiers to the Belaya Posadka Square, in front of everyone (the gang gaped) I was very confused, why'd he be there? Is this supposed to be a show?"

"I sense something bad is about to happen," said Butaro in an undertone to others, gulping.

"One old man nearby tried to shoo me away; I was curious, so I didn't listen..."

"And...?" said one nervously.

"Little me wished she'd listen to that old man's advice..." mumbled Arina, her eyes started to fill with tears. "To make it worse, they took off his clothes...he was naked when he got shot by a few dozens of guns, I could see his guts spilled out--"

"EW!"

Again, the gazes were on the awkward-looking gang's leader as he quickly turned around, whistling as if nothing happened.

"That's barbaric!!" said the guy with big glasses, tearing his gaze from the leader and wincing in disbelief.

"Anymore to tell us?" Asked the ponytailed guy; Arina swiftly thought of something else to tell.

"And when I grew older, I started wondering why groups of people were getting transmitted on vans every day to the government camps. They always looked anxious behind those bars."

She wasn't telling her childhood to them. The odd thing was -- actually for some reason, she was unable to recall her childhood memories and her past self was forgotten; therefore, she only told them the mere things she remembered.

Eventually, the leader gave in and finally joined their circle.

Some started to shed tears in the middle of her story after hearing the hardship the citizens there had to endure -- to Arina's surprise; therefore, she reckoned it was time to stop.

"But I was way luckier," she said. "My dad is a wealthy businessman there, I was able to live a fulfilled life, unlike those people I saw on the street (she sighed) but somehow...my heart shattered every time I witnessed it."

"Hmpf! Born lucky huh?" said the leader scornfully, raising his eyebrow in irritation.

"If you continue to have this kind of attitude, Ryuuki, get out please!" said the ponytailed guy boldly, to which the leader widened his eyes in shock seeing his follower disrespecting him.

"Ja-Japana! You're no longer our gang's member!!" Ryuuki bellowed, gritting his teeth. But what he saw after made him completely devastated -- Japana just slightly shrugged.

And as if God didn't want them to fight, Chibi arrived right on time.

"Is he Chibi? Why's he so big?" asked Arina, hands on her hips, pouting. She was referring to his name not matching his appearance.

The guy was as bulky as the military guys in the Orlas Army from what Arina observed. His body was mostly covered by edgy tattoos, and his face was specifically tattooed with a skull imprinted on his facial features, as though it was a 2D mask.

Chibi parked his motorcycle, getting down from it as his gaze quickly went searching for the demonic girl his friend 'Ryuuki' mentioned.

"CHIBI!!" Ryuuki shouted, throwing his arms around his friend, who quickly stopped him from doing so. "Hurry up and help me beat up that wench!!" his index finger shotted at Arina, who was waving innocently at his friend.

Chibi stayed silent for a moment.

"You've gotta be kidding me," he finally spoke, as Ryuuki's gaunt face went purple; he was angry that his friend underestimated his captive's ability, which was another way to say that he was pathetic.

"No!! I'm being serious! She. is. different!!"

"Fine," Chibi said, the skull on his face gone a bit wrinkled, "I'll try to believe you, Ryuuki. Bring it on, gal!!"

The gang instantly stepped aside for the alpha male to walk in and encounter the Orlas girl on a 1v1.

Ryuuki lowkey cheered for Chibi from behind the whispering crowd.

"What if she beats even Chibi?" one said.

"No way!" another one barged in.

"Then we'd make her the new leader!" one said eagerly, as Ryuuki overheard and screamed his anger out. They quickly covered their ears.

Arina was trying to hide her nervousness the whole time. Chibi was so tall she was only able to view his belly from her sight line, if not looking up.

"I refuse to believe y'all lost to a tiny gal," grumbled Chibi, as Arina unintentionally examined the gang's reaction -- they were all delivering a look of 'show him what you got, so he won't think of us as pathetic'.

Broke away from their gazes and back to Chibi -- his size and muscles made Arina doubt her ability and possibility to win the match. Nevertheless, she took a deep breath in and relaxed her shoulder.

The crowd watched with mixed emotions. While they wanted Chibi to win, they also wanted Arina to win, to show that they were not weak and Chibi was no better than them.

"Bon appetit," said Chibi, licking his lips.

"Great! Now that you mentioned it, let's dine out after this!" beamed Arina. "I know one Italian restaurant, I'll take you there if you like--"

"How innocent!" Chibi laughed in a derisive tone. "There's no Italian food for me, you are."

"I can't believe you're a cannibal."

Arina shook her head in disapproval, as the gang facepalmed. As opposed to them, Chibi looked even more amused -- he was naturally attracted to pretty, naive girls.

"Goku, do your work as a referee!" reminded Japana whilst pushing the big glasses guy forward to the competitors.

Goku fixed his glasses as he announced the start of the match.

***

"It has been over an hour!" said Nagisa, his worries continued to grow worse and worse.

"Hmm...maybe something really happened..." said Karma in consideration, placing a hand on his chin.

Ito and Matsuda were resting in the hospital room, and they were sitting outside on the bench to wait for Arina to arrive.

"Let's go look for her then," urged Nagisa, and Karma grew silent for a split second.

"Nagisa-kun, you stay here then, I'll go."

"What? no."

"One will have to stay here to look after them, right?" said Karma reasonably.

Nagisa stayed quiet for a moment, relaxing his manner as he slowly gave Karma a nod.

"I'll come back soon~"

Karma stood up to take a leave, as Nagisa watched him go in the elevator's direction. He couldn't help but keep growing more anxious.

***

"Uhh..."

Goku stood there speechless, as well as the other gang members, especially Ryuuki.

This match was brutal, and the little girl was covered in bruises -- a lot of bruises. But the thing that shocked them, was that she was the one standing, not her competitor.

"HOW!?" barked Ryuuki, scratching his head in frustration. "We picked the wrong victim..."

Arina let out a long sigh of relief, watching Chibi lying unconsciously on the ground. Just like his gang, Chibi was big indeed, but he hadn't learned how to fight. He merely used his size as an advantage, and Arina quickly observed and understood his behavior, thus using his force and redirecting it against himself.

"And therefore I shall announce -- the winner is this girl right here!" said Goku reluctantly, approaching and drawing Arina's arm to the air.

"Now drive me to the hospital, and after that, let's go to that Italian restaurant!" said Arina enthusiastically. "My treat!"

"Yes leader!!" they all shouted altogether, which the former leader, Ryuuki, dropped his knees to the ground indicating his surrender.

"Woah~ I'd like to be in that position, but I'm not a fan of the word 'leader', do you have any more suggestions?" said Arina eagerly, as they quickly thought of another way to address her -- the person they respect.

"How about Big sis?" one suggested, others were pretty much contented with it.

"Big sis?" Arina's eyebrows grimaced for a moment, then gradually loosened. "Then you're all my fellow comrade brothers! I love it!"

"But first of all!" she swiftly said, "if you follow me, there'll be a compromise -- I'll teach you my skills and technique as I've shown if you like, but! promise me to never use it for bad purposes. If you do, as I said, my father is a powerful man in my country, he'll track you down if needed."

"How about more sweets?" asked Butaro fervently, as everyone was surprised to see how her eyes went sparkled and replied with a 'no problem' almost immediate.

"Alright, Big sis! let's get you to the hospital!" said Japana, taking his motorcycle out, as well as the others.

"Let's not forget about him~," reminded Arina, pointing at Chibi, who was still lying unconsciously.

***

Karma was only about to step out of the elevator when a gang of thug-looking high school students stepped inside and squeezed him into a corner, making him unable to move.

Before he opened his mouth out of irritation at their bad manners, a familiar voice broke out.

"Brothers! How about we split, it's suffocating here!"

Karma immediately rolled his eyes around to survey the owner's voice.

Her tiny head was protruding out from between the guys' shoulders. She desperately lifted her chin so she could get a glimpse of what was happening, not to mention to breathe.

"Of course, Big sis!!"

They obeyed and nearly half of them left the elevator, letting Karma fully view the rest of her body parts beside her head.

"It's floor five, alright?" reminded Arina to half the members outside in case they forget.

"Alright, Big sis!!" they said, whilst the elevator closed itself.

"Heh~ Big sis?"

Karma was expecting her to at least jolted at his presence; instead, all she did was turn around, replying with a 'that's right! these are my beloved brothers!'

"Your bruises, what happened?" asked Karma in a more serious tone. His gazes surveyed back and forth between Arina's bruised face to the thug-looking students.

"Remember I told you it'll be an adventure to the hospital? I didn't really mean it. But what happened!? It was indeed such a brilliant adventure!" said Arina very enthusiastically, almost everyone could see how much she loved adventures through the way she expressed her words.

Karma felt like he hadn't gotten the right answer, thus he opened his mouth to speak and was again interrupted by Arina.

"It was also, a complicated story!" she beamed. "I felt like a protagonist, you know, Akabane-kun? Doing good things and stuff! Yeah, today is the bestest day ever since I set foot in this land!"

"Heh~ whatever happened to make you like this day so much? I wanna kno—"

But he was interrupted for the third round.

"You don't know about this, but I've once dreamed about living in a society where there are no crimes whatsoever. For a protagonist's job, they've to possess a tremendous amount of ambition right? I'll try and--"

Noticing how Karma sweatdropped with an awkward laugh, she halted for split second and continued on, "You'll see."

"Big sis is such a talkative person," said Japana, while standing next to her as she delivered a sweet smile to him.

"Oooh, whenever I have some thoughts in my mind I'd rather speak it out loud, you know. It's so much better that way, or perhaps I have too much thoughts," said Arina thoughtfully. The elevator opened as they got out.

And when she saw the sight of Nagisa sitting on the bench by the end of the corridor. Her facial expression lightened up as she shot her arms up to the air, indicating their presence to him.

"Shiota-kun!" she called.

Nagisa looked over in Arina's direction. His expression was almost as if it got replicated like hers, but it somehow eased down when he finally noticed her bruises from a closer distance and spotted the thugs. His bright expression now converted to a perplexed one.

"Who are these, Arina?" asked Nagisa timidly, standing up when they finally got to his spot.

"These are my comrade brothers~!" answered Arina, as both Nagisa and Karma still couldn't wipe the confused look on their faces.

"Oi, oi! Another cute gurl, eh?"

Nagisa jolted upon seeing another group of thugs approaching them. The one that complimented him was carrying a tattooed guy on his shoulders, and he dropped him to the ground mercilessly, resulting in a loud thud.

"Uh, uh! he's a boy!" confirmed Arina briskly to Ryuuki. "Show it to him, Shiota-kun!"

Nagisa merely sweatdropped as he suddenly felt a devilishly smirk behind his back, it was undoubtedly Karma.

"Again...why do I keep failing at observing people..." sighed Ryuuki -- the former leader -- as Arina rubbed his back.

"Cheer up! Lucky for you your Big sis has mastered the art of sensing people, I could also teach you that!" beamed Arina, as Ryuuki sniffed in grief.

"Thank you, Big sis (Nagisa gaped in confusion at how he addressed her)," he said. "Sorry for messing with you."

"Wait!" Nagisa quickly protruded in, "what's going on!?"

"Let me visit Ito-senpai and Matsuda-senpai first, then I'll...um...probably retell the story...? aha..." Arina chuckled awkwardly, she wasn't sure she wanted them to know about her capability as it'd wipe off the image of the pure, innocent girl in their eyes.

The girl then entered the hospital room to check on the two while half of them waited outside.

"Guys! You're alright!?"

Before they could open their mouth to reply, the two's jaws dropped upon witnessing the thugs behind her.

Noticing their reaction, Arina swiftly introduced her new friends, "Guys! These are my comrade brothers! They might look wild but very gentle at their core hearts~! I hope you guys could get along!"

'Gentle at their core heart...?' replayed Arina's words in his head, Ryuuki couldn't help but sweatdrop.

"N-nice to meet you..." said Ito forcefully, still unable to comprehend how she met and made friends with these thugs-looking guys.

"I don't care! Let me meet the redheaded scumbag! I need to teach him a lesson for what he did to me!!" Matsuda shouted angrily, to which Karma heard from the outside and barged himself through the thugs.

"Oke~ want a rematch?"

"Matsuda-senpai, swearing is not good," said Arina with her hands intertwined before her and a saintly aura surrounding her.

'Too pure for this world' The guys thought to themselves.

"Anyway! Let's make peace between you two!" Arina beamed and turned to Karma, grabbing his hand as he jolted a bit.

She led Karma to Matsuda's bed and to their surprise, she also grabbed the angered guy's hand and made them shake their hands.

"Akabane Karma and Matsuda Hakaku! Both very lovely people! Don't let this conflict shatter your relationship, okay? Now we shake our hands as a declaration of peace between us!"

If it wasn't for the happy-looking girl's sake, the guys would have continued their fight. But as for now, they only stayed silent and glared at each other.

"By the way, Arina, you left your phone in the car," approached Nagisa, handing the phone out for her as she gaped in delight and thanked him.

"Ooh!" she said suddenly. "My! Cupcakes! The four of you hadn't even tried them yet, and it's such a pity if you are unable to taste Mei-chan's cupcakes before you die. But don't worry, it's not like you will die tomorrow! Well...unless if you're unlucky everything can be possible...soo anyway! I will bring some more-- I mean, A LOT more, I promise."

"Yass!" cheered Butaro, as the guys noticed him for the first time.

"Ah ha! May I introduce you, this is Butaro. He's easily the cutest person I've ever met! Aren't you all too?" beamed Arina, clasping her hands together and admiring his chubbiness.

The gang members as well as the guys sweat dropped, looking unfathomable at her perception of 'cuteness'.

The day ended with both their senpais still having to stay at the hospital due to their fractures, as Arina refused to leave until she heard Butaro's whining for Italian food. She begged Nagisa and Karma to come with them to the restaurant for the sake of 'more people, more fun', and of course, they agreed out of her relief.

Of course, her wallet now suffered more with the presence of two more people, not to mention the pig god--Butaro. However, she had a hobby, it was watching people eat as much as they can. Nevertheless, her father was more than enough rich, thus she found it convenient to invest in her hobby.

And about the earlier story of how she met the gang...Arina always found a way to avoid retelling stuff she didn't want people to know.