The capital of the Orlas Union was located in the city of Belaya Posadka, Normady. Due to its high altitude and having no oceans or mountains to heat them, the place's weather was intolerably harsh that it'd gone beyond outsiders' limits. Anyone who wasn't a native could freeze to death if not wearing proper gear.

It was always dark, never once did the little girl who was sitting in a private cottage close to Avenirgrad Oblast see a ray of sunlight transmitted through the grey clouds and to where the soldiers were watching over the assigned workers from the labour camp shoveling the thick snow on the streets.

The girl sat there on an armchair, knitting a bear stuffed animal, cozying up next to a pellet stove as she gazed through the window into the labyrinth of snow. The naked trees were covered in powder-white snow. Glistening icicles hung off the branches like bats. The snow sparkled as it froze to branches; creating a winter wonderland. However, she had grown bored with the plain color of white, and desperately yearn for colorful and warm scenery.

"Avenira!"

Arina swiveled her head to the owner's voice. The dead-looking general glared at her with his dark, hollowed eyes.

"General Fedorov!" she beamed, getting off the armchair. "I was wondering whether Japan will be more colorful, you know. Or whether it will be plain just like here--that would be pretty boring, don't you think? That's why I hesitated to imagine what it'd look like because if it turns out to be nothing like my fantasy, I'd be very disappointed, and I absolutely hate that feeling. However, when I'm finally there, I might get over-excited and want to know more about other countries. Seriously, it's like a dream to go further beyond Behind the Iron Curtains! I'm knitting a bear stuffed animal now for my father because he agreed to let me go on this thrilling adventure out of his love for me. Oh! and don't worry, general Fedorov, I've knitted one for you too!"

The child happily fetched the puppy stuffed animal she knitted that lay on the armchair and handed it over to Sergey Fedorov, grinning, expecting to see him looking delighted, or grateful, or even surprise--but certainly not an enraged or dead look.

He snatched the stuffed puppy out of Arina's hand and tossed it into the fire with no mercy.

"NO!" she shrieked and proceeded to run toward the stove to get it out.

"LISTEN!"

Fedorov managed to catch up with Arina, whirling her around and squeezing her cheeks into a tight grip. Although the child wanted to scream out of pain, she was unable to speak.

"The more people you love, the WEAKER you are! Understand!?"

Arina slightly nodded.

"Love no one but yourself," hissed the general, as he slowly lost his grip, and finally released her face, "repeat after me--the more people you love, the weaker you are."

"The more people I love, the weaker I am!" she yelled, as he was pleased judging from his looks, and nodded.

"Everywhere in the world is dangerous," said Fedorov, grabbing her shoulders this time. "Although I must say, Japan is the least of them."

"Oh, is it?"

Her eyes sparkled, as the general snapped her out of the reverie once again.

"But never let go of your vigilance!" he shouted. "Understand me!?"

"Yes, general Fedorov, I understand!" saluted Arina, beaming.

"Good."

"By the way, when will father come to say goodbye to me?" she asked, placing a hand on her heart. "If he won't, I will miss him very much. Well, actually if he will, I will still miss him like crazy."

"Didn't I just tell you to NOT love anyone?"

"But he's my father!" retorted the child. "My family!"

The general's bright golden eyes flickered amid the firelight, bringing it to life; a rare occasion to witness it indeed, as his dark, hollow eye socket usually deteriorated them, making it hard to guess his eye colors.

"You're very unfortunate to have him as your family," he breathed, as Arina felt her blood boil.

"You take that back!" she yelled. Emotions got overwhelmed her as she started to tear up uncontrollably. "You know nothing about father! He isn't a monster like how you think he is! And he's the only family member I've EVER had!"

"You're brainwashed," said Fedorov blankly, "just like everyone else. A blinded, loyal dog who will do anything for its master. How foolish!"

"And what's wrong with being a loyal dog!?" the child cried. "I once heard about a tragic yet beautiful story of an Orlas military dog who saved his owner's life by yanking him out of the landmine. Isn't it such a beautiful trait to have?"

"YOU LIED TO ME!"

Before Arina could grasp the meaning of his words, the general already had her cheeks squeezed painfully once again, "You DIDN'T understand what I've told you!!" he shouted. "The key to surviving in this world is to be selfish! you MUST never sacrifice yourself for others! Hence why you can't love anybody!"

"I..." although her face was squeezed horizontally, the child proceeded to try to speak, though it was hard, "I'd sacrifice myself...for you anytime--general Fedorov...I'd rather...die than not doing so."

Enraged, while still clutching her face, the general now tossed the little girl aside, resulting in a loud thud.

Just then, the door slammed open.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING IN HERE!?"

It was her father--Alexei Avenir--the notorious dictator of the Orlas, accompanied by his two soldiers.

The comrade chairman leered his livid gaze at the sight of his daughter lying on the floor and back to the general, as the man slightly jolted at his leader's sudden appearance.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY DAUGHTER!?" he roared, his voice powerful yet steady.

General Fedorov stood there petrified, and hearing so, Arina immediately got to her feet and ran toward her father.

"Father!" she yelled, "he didn't do anything!"

"My little dove," said Alexei softly, kneeling to her level, "I heard yelling from behind the door, what happened?"

"He was just trying to lecture me about-- (she paused and gulped) about how evil the rest of the world is--that I must keep my guard up all the time. But I didn't! I was enthusiastic about it because I'm a stupid little girl with unrealistic expectations, hence why he couldn't bare my stupidity and yelled at me. The capacity of his voice was so great and majestic that it sent me flying across the room. Truly amazing right?"

General Fedorov froze.

"Alright. As you say so," Alexei gently tucked a hair strand behind his daughter's ear. "You will be leaving tomorrow," he suddenly said in an undertone, hands resting on her shoulders. "Be careful."

"I will," smiled Arina, and pulled her father into a hug. "Oh!" - she parted from the hug - "I've got something for you!"

The dictator watched as his daughter ran to fetch the stuffed bear she was almost done knitting and came back to him, showing it off along with a happy face.

"I wasn't done knitting it though. Although you could tell, I'm way too excited to wait for your reaction, so I'm showing it off now! You see, a bear--cuddly yet powerful, just like you, father! Also an official national animal of the OSOU. I've stitched green buttons for Mr. Bear's eyes too, just like our green eyes! But well, green eyes are very common within Normadian race I must say. I'm getting tired of it. That's why sometimes I'd imagine that I'd possess lovely starry violet eyes! And that my father would possess it too, so I could inherit from it. So father! You want me to use purple buttons instead?"

The comrade chairman laughed and stroked his daughter's hair. "At least you won't have to imagine your hair color, isn't it? White blonde. It's extremely rare. Kids who possess it are already rare, but the ones who didn't have their hair darkened throughout time as they started to enter adulthood are almost non-existent. Mine used to be white blonde too until it turned into this golden hair," he pointed at his.

"But I'd love to have golden hair! I always thought mine is a bit too colorless and dull, plus I absolutely hate my faint-looking eyebrows because of it! Hence why I always have to use dark powder to cover it. And it'd be much livelier if it's golden! Although rose gold would be better. I once read a book about a princess who possesses perfectly gorgeous rose gold hair! Then from that point, I've occasionally imagined myself having that lovely color as my hair color, even though I haven't yet met anyone with rose gold hair. Have you, father?"

"Yes, I had. It's slightly rare also, but yours is rarer. So learn to appreciate it. I hope it wouldn't take a turn like mine too. I want my daughter to be special."

"What are you saying?" Arina blinked. "I'm always special!"

A giggle from Alexei's side.

"And what makes you think you're special?"

The child beamed brightly, throwing her arms out.

"Because everyone is special!"

"..."

Alexei's smile stiffened. He couldn't agree less with his daughter; however, he kept it inside and let out a fake smile.

"If so, then nobody in this world is special," he said.

The child ended up removing the green buttons and replacing them with the purple ones. She also finished knitting the stuffed bear that morning as she gifted it to her father and took a stroll around the city, bidding goodbye to it with the escort of general Fedorov.

"I'm not sure whether I'll miss this place," the child said, her gaze wandering around the place. From the leafless trees to the buildings and army troops marching on the snow-covered street. Somehow, it always felt depressing there.

"Ice cream!" she shouted, as her gaze stopped at an ice cream truck, prodding the general to buy one for her. He kept silent and walked over to it, pulling out his wallet.

"Yay! Thank you!" Arina beamed upon receiving the vanilla corn ice cream Fedorov handed to her. "You should get one for you too! It would lighten up your mood and that's for sure!"

"I don't need such things," he coldly replied, and together they continued to stroll around the lifeless city, though the heavenly taste of the ice cream surely helped Arina to enhance the depressing scenery into a more vibrant one from her point of view.

Across the road to where they were walking, the assigned workers were still shoveling snow under the watch of the Orlas soldiers.

"Papa, are you okay?" asked the young brunette girl while seeing her dad struggling to even handle the shovel. He lost his left arm during the time he tried to save his daughter from a bombing, and one of his eyes was also non-exception.

"It's alright, dear. Papa can handle this very well," he smiled gently and continued trying his best to shovel the snow with his remaining arm.

"Right. Because your papa is a superhero," the mom said, reassuring her daughter, as the dad giggled.

"After we're done with this task, papa will cook a delicious meal for you both when we're back at home."

"Yes," the daughter cheered in an undertone, making sure it was out of the soldiers' earshots. "Will you make mashed potato too? Papa's mashed potato is always the best— the best in the world."

"Of course, anything you and mom want," the dad whispered, smiling as the three were still busy ducking their heads down, shoveling. However, his speed compared to those who still have both hands attached was quite upsetting. Nevertheless, he still kept his positive energy and continued trying his best, constantly thinking of the best things for his wife and daughter.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Come with me!"

The soldiers laughed in a friendly tone as one held the dad's remaining arm and the other held his winter coat's sleeve. Leading him out of the working line.

The mom's grip on the shovel loosened, and her daughter stood there gawking, still not realizing what was happening.

"Haha, yes! What's your name? Dimitri Mikhaylov right? It's a wonderful work you did there!"

"Um, thank you!" Mr. Mikhaylov chuckled awkwardly, and he was led by the two soldiers to the empty spot right next to the assigned workers' lines.

"Papa will come back to you soon, don't worry."

His young daughter attempted to look up out of curiosity, over to her dad's spot, but her mom panickily, although silently said:

"Posha...look at the snow--look at the snow."

Suddenly the taste of the best in the world mashed potato made by her papa was so far away...

Only if Posha knew that thousands of children out there in the nation also couldn't taste their parents' cooking again, she wouldn't feel so lonely in a world without her dad...

The sound of the gunshot was heard by all the near workers. Nearby pigeons were jolted by it as they set off their wings and fled away.

One of the workers in the line secretly tilted his head at the scenery. Red liquids were leaking from the one-armed man's head, staining the pure white snow with it.

No one within the workers' lines stopped shoveling under the soldiers' watch. The young brunette girl's grip on the shovel trembled and stared blankly at the white floor in front of her.

But why did it become so watery and blurry? As though she couldn't tell what color it was out of dizziness, even though it was clearly white under the eyes of everyone.

Her soulless body continued to shovel the snow absent-mindedly.

In contrast, the comrade chairman's dearest daughter was walking in a carefree manner with vanilla corn ice cream in her hand across the street along with the ZE general (A/n: Nazi can I pls copy your homework :3? Just change it up a lil you know) as her escort.

When hearing the gunshot, she halted her footsteps, staring at where it came from. And her heart wrenched.

Although Arina had been raised with a forced belief that anyone who doesn't obey the law would be executed eventually and somehow growing up witnessing it every day until it became a casual thing still hadn't made her stop contemplating whether it was right or wrong.

"What's wrong? Keep moving," said Fedorov briskly upon seeing her stop and fixed her gaze at the assigned workers. As opposed to her, he couldn't care less about what was happening.

Arina didn't open her mouth to speak, nor did she want to move, standing there watching the little brunette girl across the road--probably her age, getting shot for losing her grip on the shovel and flopping on the snow, screaming and crying stormily when she saw the soldiers flung the man's corpse in the vehicle filled with a pile of dead bodies.

The next gunshot sounded after a middle-aged woman fainted out of a sudden.

The rest remained quiet, ducking their heads down and doing their job dutifully. As though nothing had ever happened while the soldiers carried the two corpses and flung them into the same vehicle as the one armed man, piling up the dead bodies even more.

"It's really hard for me to imagine how evil the rest of the world could be," said the child hopelessly, exhaling a visible breath, ignoring her ice cream as it started to freeze its corn--making it hard to remove it from her glove.

That night Arina can hardly sleep as the constant thought of the reality outside Behind the Iron Curtains kept bothering her.

The more people you love, the weaker you are

His words also flashed back to her mind. The little girl kept on switching her sleep positions in irritation until she had enough and decided to get out of her bed. Turning on the light, she walked toward the desk and pulled out her diary and pen, writing down more thoughts that flashed through her mind to the already existing recorded page of that day.

...what if love conquers all?, she wrote.

Morning eventually came. The maids double-checked all of her suitcases as the military men arrived and carried them to the private jet. Her father, the comrade chairman was also present to bid goodbye to his daughter.

"I will miss you very much, my little dove."

He pulled her into a hug but was surprised when she didn't return it.

"Father, do you think life is a perfect graveyard of buried hopes?"

Alexei blinked at her in confusion, and laughed.

"What do you mean, dear?"

"That's a sentence I read in a book once, and whenever I feel like I'd be disappointed at something, I'd say to myself. It sounds so nice and romantic, doesn't it? Just as if I were a heroine in a book, you know."

Another laugh from Alexei.

"Be more down to earth sometimes, Arina. Now, remember what I've reminded you about your mission. And promise me to obey general Fedorov, okay? He will be the one to escort you there."

She nodded, smiling weakly. The comrade chairman noticed there was a change in his daughter's usual cheerful image.

Recognizing that he might have noticed her odd behavior through the subtle change in his facial expression, Arina swiftly said, "Have you named the stuffed bear yet? If I was you, I would love to name him 'Spastitel' (A/n: it means savior) because he resembles you, father! A great savior of the world!"

Smiling in pride, he patted her head. "What a great choice of name for a dearest possession."

At last, the general led the girl to the private jet, and it was officially a wave of parting from then.

"General Fedorov, I'm very curious about how foreigners will perceive me as I'm often being complimented as beautiful by the people in my nation! Oh, and I know what I will do! I'll RENEW myself! I'm gonna become the most idealistic girl out there—I want to be perceived as pure and lady-like."

"Fiddlesticks," replied Fedorov coldly.

The comrade chairman and his soldiers finally saw the jet fly away. The little girl in there kept fidgeting in her seat, unsure of whether she was being more excited or anxious.

"Hey, once we've set foot in the enemy land, remember to get rid of your identity and call yourself Annika Kapitsa, understand me?"

"Of course—of course! Father has reminded me of it countless times before!"

"You better remember it yourself."

"Trust me! I won't forget!"

Sitting on the private jet with mixed feelings, she didn't even expect that the reality was going to be even beyond her imagination.

***

"Almost dropping out of top forty!! What the heck, Arina!?" Seo yelled at her after the students all gathered around the grade report of the midterm exam.

Arina stood there open-mouthed, with a wave of shock washing through her body.

"B-but I've been studying so hard!?"

She suddenly felt a figure behind her. Without swiveling her head, she knew straight away it was their class president—Asano Gakushuu.

"It appears that my vision is very trustworthy," he solemnly spoke, as Arina gulped. "I'll speak to my father upon this mistake."

'NO!', Arina screamed internally.

But what could she do? The chairman will eventually find out anyway. Seo and Teppei took their turn to express their feelings negatively, and Arina frantically explained to them that even though she had been studying the whole time, the result still came out terrible. Perhaps it was the effective study method she failed to grasp.

Meanwhile, Juria and her girlfriends grinned in satisfaction, with Juria placing 11th ranked this term, successfully protruding into the top 12 most elite students along with the guys in class.

"See? I told you that she isn't even worthy of being my love rival," she said scornfully.

On the other hand, Koyama Natsuhiko, as Asano predicted, outstandingly beat many others and even Seo Tomoya to sit pridefully in fourth place. Hence why the enraged guy felt the need to turn to Arina and mock her instead.

On his way to the chairman's office, Asano Gakushuu smirked to himself thinking he had finally found another worthy minion, determined to get him into the group.

That group's name will be something others would look up to and idolize for many years to come—the Big Five.

On the same day, the announcement of a camping trip as a reward for the main building students for their hard work during the midterm exam was delivered by the school principal.

Little did Asano know, that this will be a memorable trip in his life. Forever will be ingrained in his mind.