["I sent you there as a spy just so you can blurt out your identity like that!?]

"I'm so sorry father! I thought people wouldn't mind it that much..."

["You see the result of your recklessness!? That goddamn chairman guy found out about your identity!"]

"It's my fault, father!"

["So...what've you been doing the last few months?"]

"I-I did go to the lab--"

["Found any useful information?"]

"... I'm still figuring out a way to enter."

A dead silence followed from her dad's side...as Arina could feel the sweats roll down her grip on the phone.

Finally, she decided to break the silence, "B-because the deployment is more than a year...that's why I felt no pressure..."

Another dead silence.

"F-father?" she hesitated.

["...My little dove, perhaps I've pampered you too much,"] he said in an icy tone of voice. ["Perhaps I've trusted you too much...(he paused for a while) Pack your stuff, you're going back home."]

Good memories in Japan immediately struck Arina. No. No, she couldn't leave this place like this. This peaceful place. This fun place. This lovely place. And her friends...her comrade brothers...

"No," she said, almost defiantly. "Please give me another chance father, I won't fail you this time! I'll prove to you that I'm worthy of your trust. I swear!"

***

"Sorry, but I'm busy this weekend," said Arina, her visible eyebags made Seo and Teppei wondered when was the last time she had a proper sleep.

"Are you okay?" questioned Teppei, looking worried as Arina slightly nodded her head.

"Um! Thank you for your concern. Anyway, I gotta head home now, still got work to do. See ya!"

With that being said and a parting wave from her, Arina headed straight to the path leading to the train station. Seo and Teppei were stumped at how out of character she was, as they didn't even notice Asano and Ren were approaching them.

"Asano and I are planning to dine out at the finest restaurant tonight, wanna join?" invited Ren enthusiastically, which startled Seo and Teppei as they whirled around.

For Seo, being able to afford something the poor couldn't and brag about it in front of them later was basically his life principle as he happily replied, "Count me in!" with no hesitation.

And as for Teppei, he was still questioning Arina's odd behavior lately, thus making the other guys stand there waiting impatiently for his response.

"So? Araki?"

"Have you noticed that there's something odd about Arina's schedule recently?" said Teppei suddenly. "She seems to be even busier than Asano-run as far as I've witnessed. Minami-san told me that she had abandoned all her club's activities lately. It's getting weird, one time while I was over at Seo's place, I saw her come home with an old man! (Ren's face suddenly went blanched) When I ask about it, she REFUSES to answer."

"D-don't tell me..." stammered Ren, looking anxious. "That explains why she got those eyebags..."

"Ren, without enough information, don't jump to such conclusions like that."

As soon as Asano reminded Ren so, even he had to question Arina's situation out of curiosity as he placed a hand on his chin.

***

"Like always, thank you Dr. Suzuki!" the foreign girl beamed as she skipped out of the science laboratory. "I'm very glad to be alive because I got to learn something new every day. The excitement in seeking something new and refreshing (she sighed) is nothing short of incredible don't you think?"

"Y-yes, I think so too!"

The old man whose last name was Suzuki was pretty much infatuated by the girl's beauty as she was well aware of it the whole time and seized it as an advantage.

"Well, it's getting late! I still have homework to do! See ya, Dr. Suzuki, it was a wonderful internship program today. I'm looking forward to the same thing by tomorrow!"

"A—Annika-chan, want me to walk you home?" offered the old man, his cheeks turning pink.

The foreign girl giggled.

"As much as I'd want you to, my comrade brothers are waiting for me. They'll take me home."

Doctor Haruto Suzuki continued to stand there enraptured by the intern's gorgeous white-blond hair that he failed to recognize the odd of a little girl skipping down the stairway to the main street and reuniting with a gang of thug-looking high schoolers.

"How was it, Big sis?" Ryuuki asked, which Arina had to get on his motorcycle first before answering.

She heaved a deep sigh. "I'd like to say it was extraordinary only if it wasn't so frightening."

Realizing it probably triggered some of the gang members' curiosity, Arina quickly shifted the topic, "So, any more gangs you found within the city?"

The current gang members were double compared to the first time Arina met them, they all started the engine and rode into the main road.

"Ever since we had Shinya's gang annexed with us, we haven't yet found any more gangs, Big sis," Japana who was sitting on the motorcycle behind Shinya--the former leader of his gang before it disintegrated--informed. "If you're free this weekend, Big sis, we can go search around as you wish."

"Unfortunately, my brothers, I still got some duties to take care of this weekend. I won't be free anytime soon. By those times, Ryuuki, you're in charge of the gang. Divide the members into groups equivalent to the districts and send them there searching. We've got to be the biggest gang ever to exist."

The gang members cheered at her announcement. No one seemed to dive deep into their Big sis's true motive: to end all the unofficial crime organizations.

Arina got home by eleven at night. Teppei and Seo were gazing out of the window to notice she led an entire army of thugs to her home. The boys' facial expressions instantly formed a shape of an O as they felt the need to rub their eyes to confirm what they were seeing.

"Wait, WHAT!?" exclaimed Seo in bewilderment after the eye-rubbing trick didn't work. "First an old man and now THIS!?"

"Shh! You might wake your parents up!" whispered Teppei, placing an index finger on his lips.

"And now they're gone!" said Seo disappointingly, pointing at the gang members riding away. "Should've recorded it!"

"Yeah, right!" ejaculated Teppei, also disappointed. "Should've brought my camera with me!"

While she was rummaging for the key to enter her home, Arina heard Teppei and Seo's call from behind.

"Oi! What was that about, Arina!?" called out Seo, marching toward her spot alongside Teppei.

"Hm? What're you saying?" said Arina innocently, pretending as if she didn't know what they were referring to.

"Explain all your odd behaviors lately!" Seo said as she ignored his words for a moment to keep searching for the key and eventually found it. She inserted it into the keyhole and opened the door.

As though she was so exhausted, Arina faked a yawn despite the boys waiting eagerly for her response.

"See you two by tomorrow, I've got to sleep now. Goodnight!"

Before she could close the door, Seo immediately pulled it back preventing her from doing so.

"You've got to explain! Or else we and others would have no choice but to suspect you of engaging in illegal practices and expel you from the school! Do you want that!?"

Unlike the two's expectations of her reaction, Arina blinked and burst out a laugh to their surprise.

"What? Illegal practices?" she chuckled while holding her belly. "Alright, alright~! Tomorrow. I'll explain everything by tomorrow."

"Remember!" said Seo, as Arina nodded and let out an 'Um!'.

"Sweet dream~!" she chirped and closed the door before her. The guys let out a long sigh of relief and headed back to Seo's home.

Not long after they were gone, Arina instantly entered her room and kneeled, hunching her body down, and pulled out a modern-day Fialka from under the bed.

She placed it on the desk and quickly typed down information which was all converted into cryptic codes, all of which she gathered today at the Kunugigaoka Science Laboratory.

'I'll not gonna disappoint father' her inner voice whispered to her while she continued to type.

Arina was so absorbed in the process that she began to lose track of time. Eventually, morning arrived and the girl was found passed out on the desk with her uniform from yesterday remaining unchanged.

***

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Ren.

"Fine! Believe it or not, she owes us an explanation today. You'll see!" said Seo, followed by Teppei's nod.

"I was about to record it though. It happened so fast!"

While the minions were discussing, Asano couldn't help but also felt intrigued by the topic as he constantly placed a hand on his chin, yearning to discover the truth. The fact that a citizen of the OSOU would pick Japan as a place to study abroad was already odd enough.

"Jeez, she's late!" said Seo impatiently.

There were merely ten minutes before class started when the door finally slid open revealing Arina.

She looked...a mile away from her appearance when Asano first met her in person was the first thought that came up to his mind. Her hair looked as if she hadn't washed it for days. Even worse--today it looked like a bird's nest as she hadn't even brushed it. Her skin was so crusty looking and paler than usual, as though a vampire had sucked all the pink tint away from her face. And the thing that degraded her visuals the most was the odd-looking faint eyebrows and heavy, dark eye bags. Arina looked like she was on drugs was the boys' first impression upon seeing her.

"A-Arina...are you okay?" sweatdropped Ren.

"Another lovely day to be alive! Isn't it a splendid thing to think about when you realize that you wouldn't know what's waiting for you ahead all day long? The unexpected scenarios that are gonna happen? Whether it's exciting, or tragic... Although, I've already imagined Shishido-sensei is going to trip and fall down the stairs today, resulting in a broken neck. That's it for calling me stupid on every occasion, karma will catch up to him eventually."

"You...you should get some rest..." suggested Teppei, but Seo obviously didn't allow it to happen.

"Arina! What's going on lately!?" ejaculated Seo, demanding an answer to satisfy his curiosity.

Arina blinked, recalling her promise yesterday, "Ooh, right, I promised you to confess about my personal life, haven't I?"

Seo and Teppei both nodded, while Ren and Asano merely stood and listened attentively. Arina just shrugged, "Did you know that I got an internship at Kunugigaoka Science Laboratory?"

The boys paused for a split second to process what they just heard.

"You...WHAT!?" they all shouted simultaneously, except for Asano.

"Would you please keep order for the sake of the class?"

"Yes...Asano-kun," they obeyed and turned to Arina once again.

"But I thought you loathed science?"

"Who knows? life is short so you gotta experience more,"

"And how did you even go through the hiring process? Impossible!"

"By seducing the internship coordinator."

"WHAT!?"

This was the second time they shouted to her face, though this time Asano was so shocked he even forgot to scold them for doing so.

"I gotta tell you that life is so easy when you're beautiful!" said Arina, pretending to act pompous as she checked her nails in the process. The boys slightly quivered at her current appearance.

"Then what about the thugs yesterday!?" questioned Seo in the mid of confusion.

"Oh~ them? I figured someone like me required security guards by my side. But since I wanted it free, I seduced them instead."

"E-even though you have to sacrifice yourself?" stuttered Ren.

She shrugged, "Whatever it takes," though she didn't really get what Ren was referring to.

"WHAT!?"

Again, this was the third time they had raised their voice as Asano was too busy analyzing Arina's confession he once more forgot to scold his minions for not keeping order.

'It doesn't sound legit' was his first thought.

"A-Arina...all this time I've always thought of you differently, you know..." Ren chuckled awkwardly.

"That's it, now you may excuse me. Tell Gojou-sensei that I'm undergoing an a-a-a-awful stomachache..." said Arina, pretending to pant from the imagined pain whilst bending down, holding her belly, and running off to the bathroom.

The guys' gazes followed her, still open-mouth from the shock.

In the bathroom, Arina couldn't help but burst out crying, banging her head against the wall.

'Now that my image is ruined! My reputation of being a pure, innocent girl is ruined! How am I supposed to experience a beautiful romance?'

Her runny nose then leaked its fluid down to her mouth as she accidentally tasted it.

'Oh, Arina, why would you care about such things...?' she told herself, walking over to the sink and seeing her reflection through the mirror.

She looked...absolutely disgusting. Overworking had turned her into a completely different person from before. Arina rubbed her eyes to confirm if that was really her staring back in the mirror. Great, now that she looked so ugly she couldn't even identify herself with her current appearance.

Heaving a sigh, Arina washed her face and walked out of the bathroom to her classroom.

On her way, she accidentally bumped into Shiota Nagisa.

"A-Arina!?" said Nagisa, rather questioning the girl's drastic change of looks.

"My oh my, Shiota-kun! Oh please, can you just try to imagine that I'm always looking beautiful? Even now?" sobbed Arina, clasping her hands together. For once she'd rather look beautiful than be clever. "By the way, how's Akabane-kun? Is he okay?"

Nagisa didn't open his mouth to say anything for the next ten seconds as he merely lowered his head, which indicated to Arina that something was off.

"No," he said plainly, and Arina's eyes wide opened.

"Oh, what's wrong?" she asked, looking sympathetic to which Nagisa hesitated.

"Things didn't go well...and he was expelled from this school year for beating up Matsuda-senpai (Arina felt a jolt in her heart) but he will come back next year...joining class E."

Arina's tense reaction immediately switched to being enlivened, as opposed to Nagisa's. "Well, if that's the case! Let's all be rebellious and join class E next year!"

Her words instantly made Nagisa gap in shock and looked up at her, "Heh?" he said.

"Let's join class E next year and show them what the losers they always looked down upon are truly capable of!" said Arina in determination. "In short--let's destroy their principle!"

"A-are you sure?" sweatdropped Nagisa.

"Um!" nodded Arina ecstatically.

"O-okay..." said Nagisa. He wasn't sure if she was being a hundred percent honest or not.

"By the way, can you take me to Akabane-kun's place sometimes? I need to know whether he's okay with this situation..."

"Uhh...you might need to avoid him during these times..." said Nagisa in an undertone while looking away as Arina tilted her head to one side.

"Is that so?" she said, and as if her mood had improved after the talk, she smiled brightly at him. "Okay then! I'm gonna head back to my class for now! Take care, Shiota-kun!"

She waved goodbye to him whilst he did the same thing.

"Oh! Don't forget the deal we made!" reminded Arina after she recalled it and glanced over her shoulder at Nagisa.

"S-sure!" said Nagisa reluctantly.

The rest of the day wasn't exactly like how Arina imagined. Mr. Shishido -- their math teacher -- didn't trip and fall or break his neck at all, pretty much to her disappointment. And unlike how she imagined back in the bathroom that the boys were gonna tell others about her circumstance and blow it up like a contagious germ, they kept their mouths shut and treated her the same way as before, to which Arina both felt relieved and cryptic at the same time.

School ended and Arina, like usual, rushed to the laboratory. Little did she acknowledge that the midterm exam was about to come up in merely three weeks.