"Not only human cells, but they are also willing to go this far with other species' cells. Considering there are so many dangerous species out there. We will be doomed if not careful."

The aftermath of Arina's encounter with the peculiar creature brought the Orlas researchers to experiment on the hybrid animal. Mrs. Smirnova and her daughter didn't receive a happy ending after all. The military officers sent them to the Orlas labour camp for living against the law.

Arina had to pay a price for losing too much blood. She developed hypovolemic shock and had to be treated in the hospital. Her wish to attend the Japanese summer festival though wasn't fulfilled.

"Bacon...bacon cheese fries..."

"What?" asked general Fedorov, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, general, where can you buy bacon cheese fries? Before I part away from this beautiful yet cruel world, can you go buy bacon cheese fries and bring them to my lovely rose-gold-haired classmate? And -- oh, will you please plant some white roses on my grave? It must be white because I'm terrified of red now. Then I'd be at ease and close my eyes forever in peace."

"You won't gonna die, Avenira," confirmed general Fedorov grimly, exasperated at her dramatic expression.

"Oh," Arina let out a gasp of bewilderment.

For the rest of summer, poor little Arina had to lay on the hospital bed watching summer festival vlogs all day long. Her arm had to heal before she return to Japan. The stress of having to hide secrets from her classmates was also a big challenge. During then, Arina imagined all sorts of scenarios and made up dialogues in her mind. Sometimes she cried for not having any visitors and even her own father didn't show up to check on her health. She couldn't call her friends either to avoid any suspiciousness. The only company Arina had was with the nurses. She didn't need to exchange conversations, all she needed was someone who'd listen to her.

"It's not a bit nice to get bitten by that creature, after all. And the doctor hurt me dreadfully when he was disinfecting my wound -- ouch! Whenever I look back at it I feel hurt and I made sure to emphasize it in my diary. Sometimes I wonder if I am a lucky girl at all or merely an unlucky girl disguised as a lucky girl. I'm such a troublesome mortal for constantly attracting danger but I'm not a bit ungrateful for it. Life is such a thrill for me; it isn't worth living if there haven't any thrill. And isn't it fortunate I've got such an imagination?" said Arina thrillingly to the nurses. "It will help me through splendidly, I expect. What do people who haven't any imagination do when they got bitten by a tentacled bear, do you suppose?"

Arina had good reason to bless her imagination many a time through the tedious weeks that followed and solely depended on it when no one can pay a visit to her and so were the nurses' busy schedules.

She longed for the day when she can finally return to Japan, where there were joy and sunshine and laughter everywhere. However, the issue arose when her Father demanded her arm heal entirely before returning, resulting in a week passed since the start of the new semester and Arina's classmates still hadn't seen her.

It was undoubtedly that they were worried to death. She left Bali the day before they flew back to Japan which further put a question mark in everyone's heads. What was really going on?

Among everyone, Arina's mysterious case intrigued Asano the most. He had wondered about her background since the beginning, and now that he had finished his study for the world's scholar tournament, he can finally throw himself into researching her.

It wasn't until the start of the second week of the semester that while Seo was complaining about Arina not showing up, she came into the classroom making him and the others froze for a moment.

"Oh--" she drew a long breath, "Oh! Guys! I've got presents--"

But before Arina finished her sentence, almost everyone in the class already cried out her name and flocked around her, asking about her situation and how had she been.

"My uncle died!" fake sobbed Arina. "I couldn't -- I had to wait for the white roses to bloom on his grave before I leave and I engraved that to my heart so he could pass away at peace. Oh! You won't imagine how devasted I felt and so were the overflowed tears that I accidentally watered the roses way too much!"

And so everybody believed her, except for Asano since he had suspicions going on in the beginning. He surveyed Arina faking her dialogues like a professional and went ahead to interview her deeper. However, Arina was such a pro at imagining fake scenarios in split seconds and applying them to her resolution to his interrogation that caused Asano to feel a rise of discontentment.

He figured he couldn't simply find the key to the answer this way as he receded to his place and began to contemplate another way. He had connected the dots and realized a pattern in her shift in personality and unexpected prowess that was reserved for the military members only. Who was her Father by the way? Who would teach his child to handle a gun? And the last time he checked Normady doesn't teach handling firearms to civilians either. And what had been the true reason she received the phone call that day in Bali?

"Asano-kun! Oh, dear Asano-kun!"

He broke away from his analyzing mode and eyed down at the mysterious foreign girl who was holding a nicely wrapped present.

"I gave Nagasawa-san bacon cheese fries I made and thus wanted to gift everyone little things from my country as extra. But I do believe you are worthy of something bigger since you took care of me a lot in Bali and bought me a great deal outside the range of the money I had. Oh! You MUSN'T open it now, Asano-kun!"

Asano's gazes softened again looking at Arina's cheerful little face. Even though the temporary romantic feeling he spared for her had faded and shifted to another girl, she just...possessed something else. Even if the feeling was platonic, it was strong. He saw her as a little girl whom he had to look after and take care of. Definitely not a companion, but a daughter...and it was weird since they were the same age.

Arina sensed that skeptical aura of Asano and broke into sweats whenever she sees him but desperately pulled on a smile to hide her anxiety. With a flash of nervous blinks after not hearing a reply from him, she turned away with an awkward smile and sweat rolled down from her forehead, walking back to her seat now that the bell had rung announcing the first period.

Asano watched Arina's almost white hair streaming behind her with a mesmerized expression. It had been a while since the last time he saw her hair color and until then, he had got too used to looking at it that somehow he had taken it for granted. However, Asano can now confirm that he liked white blonde better than the reputable Chadwicks' glowing golden blonde since it signaled such divine purity.

Things hadn't been the same since the incident in Bali. Juria, Morikawa, and Tanaka failed to receive the same treatment they once had from Asano. At least Juria got it better than those two for her high social status. Ami had posted a video titled 'top anime betrayal' on youtube and Teppei like usual was her first viewer. Sometimes he would sigh in devastation seeing his channel not gaining a view despite his efforts in vlogging this time. Minami Mei had happily reunited with her boyfriend from the trip whilst Ren was bawling his eyes out, for now, he decided he wanted a long-term relationship like theirs after the traumas he underwent with the last two girls. Meanwhile, Koyama hadn't acknowledged that girls didn't find him attractive, thanks to Asano's motivational speech to boost his confidence. Seo had recently decided to get a girlfriend too, but -- but how? he was too ill-natured for that. However, one must know that we typically attract people who have the same energy as us, which will lead him to his awful, backstabbing future girlfriend. The K-squad members now realized that their feelings toward Asano were merely admiration. But they like to keep it that way -- to rather admire their class president than have love interests. And the perve Yano Takaaki will remain single for the rest of his life for sure. Perhaps multiple one-night stands would do it for him. The rest didn't really think much about romance though, since they had to focus on academics first, especially the nerd Shirayuki Sae. She was viewing homo sapiens' brains as complex wired systems that needed to be examined all the time.

Asano got home that day and unboxed the gift from Arina, which was a purse made out of a type of fur he later speculated to be bear skin.

'Will I ever need this?' thought Asano. Just then he spotted a few blood stains from the skin that hadn't been washed off.

The gloomy classroom was now filled with torrents of brightness from Arina. With her presence, their days seemed to be ever more interesting. The entire class had all been approached by Arina. Whether you like cars, anime, dark magic, or even fanfictions, you could hang around with the hyper Arina. She'd go out of the way to research and practice the stuff you like since according to this curious girl, every matter in this world was too intriguing to be left aside.

Therefore being close to everyone had given Arina the advantage Asano might never have in his life; that was to discover each individual's unique characteristic. Asano, meanwhile, only huddled them into a group where he called 'minions' that needed to strive hard to help him to his success and left aside their unique individualities.

That was also the problem with this society -- in order to be called 'successful', you must follow an already given system, and those who were lucky enough will possess and fit their 'unique individuality' into the molded system in life. Others who possessed other kinds of uniqueness will have to throw away their talent for the pursuit of the 'idealistic system'. The same went with the education system at Kunugigaoka Junior High. No matter how good you are at different fields other than the molded fields you need to follow, you will be cast aside. Class 3-E, for instance, had many unique individuals yet didn't fit into the molded system and were being completely outlooked and even underestimated. Arina, however, detected the flaw in the standard education system straight off the bat. As a result, she consistently visited class 3-E and got to know each person, and supported them in their passions.

"Go where your passion leads you!" proclaimed Arina wholeheartedly. "I do believe in the end it's best if you're happy!"

She would learn attentively about their interests and come home later that night to do research and the next day come back to them and surprise them with her understanding.

"I've read your fanfiction and oh boy! It was awfully splendid how you developed the characters. You don't mind if I become your co-writer? Ah ha! How about you becoming a book author someday? I believe you have the very potential in you -- I strongly believe it!"

Not only class 3-E, but she also helped her comrade brothers to find their true nature and what they're good at during her visit to the youth detention center.

"'Even though we move through life in a material body, our true nature is divine' Such a romantic and meaningful spiritual insight from the concept of Gnosis I read from a Greek philosophy book," declared Arina passionately. "Why do people nowadays so ignorant to overlook it?"

Good karma arrived at her for being selfless all along and totally forgot about her own well-being. It was the day when Asano decided he should add more to his profile for the later MIT application that he gathered the Big Fives and announced to them his future plan for the side talent path.

"You want to form a band?" asked Ren wide-eyed.

Asano confirmed the idea and went ahead to appoint each member an instrument to play, which Koyama eventually was left with a piano keyboard. The problem was that Koyama still didn't know how to play it, as Asano popped an idea and pulled his phone to call Arina over.

Minutes after Arina arrived at the music classroom with a delightful face. Her eyes sparkled as she heard Asano's offer to join his band. Of course Arina would join them; no doubt ain't it? She jumped up and down in extreme happiness whilst squealing in merry.

At first, Asano told her to take charge of the keyboard and Koyama to test his voice out. And as you know, the rest concealed their precious ears from hearing it. Asano sighed in an undertone and thought of another solution. At last, he came up with a decision to train Koyama to play the piano keyboard and requested Arina to help him with it.

"I'd LOVE to!" she exclaimed in excitement. "From now on you might've to call me your teacher then, Koyama."

The last part was for Asano to feel impressed by Arina's voice if she ever wanted to stay a part of his newly formed band. Teppei and Seo reassured him that they had heard Arina's singing quite a few times and it was more than enough to qualify. However, Asano needed to hear it out before officially taking her into the band, since the last time he had heard her sing was that weird ass song 'Pebbles and Bam-Bam'.

Arina giggled cheerfully for she knew she'd pass the qualification for sure. And indeed, one of her prowesses was again exposed to Asano Gakushuu. His face heated up unconsciously as soon as she breathed into the mic and began to raise her angelic voice. She was surprisingly...better than most Japanese idols right now.

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

How should Asano respond after this? His eyebrows furrowed in unfathomableness for her many talents. She kept on surprising him from time to time, and it never ceased to impress him. Her voice was ethereal to the point it allayed him and so were the guys.

"You're in," said Asano in assertion with a smile plastered on his face after Arina finished her audition.

"Oh, Asano-kun! Asano-kun! Say those blessed words again!" cheered Arina with an unmatchable brightness. She couldn't help but jumped up and down again and circled around him.

"You're in my band now," restated Asano genuinely.

"Am I? Hooray!"

Arina couldn't cease her laughter. She skipped away without Asano's permission to celebrate the event. Arina luckily ended up being the lead vocalist; Asano was the lead guitarist; Ren was the bassist; Teppei the drummer; Seo the rhythm guitarist; and Koyama the pianist.

After a while when they thought she was gone. Arina reappeared with slices of cake she brought from her cooking club and shared them with the guys. That was her way of celebrating things.

"Boys! Do we have a name for our band yet?" asked Arina enthusiastically.

"Not yet," said Teppei.

"Oh, I know! How about we name it 'Written in the Stars'?" suggested Ren whilst flipping his two-block hair. Arina wholeheartedly nodded in agreement on this.

"It does sound very romantic, Ren!"

"Heck no. Let's name it 'The Rebels'," Seo barged in. The rest gave him a look of disapproval.

"How about 'The Invicibles'? Nishishishi," Koyama lifted his glasses whilst laughing. Asano cringed hard at all these suggestions.

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Arina clasped her hands together in excitement. "Could it be 'Blooming in the Frost'? I put meaning in here for despite harsh and unfit circumstances we will still bloom into beautiful blossoms. Oh, guys, how romantic and profound it is?" she said dreamily, placing a hand on her tender heart.

"No," unfortunately was the answer she received from Asano.

"Oh, why?"

"It sounds too cheesy," Asano furrowed his eyebrows. You might think he'd come up with names like 'Captain Gakushuu and the minions' or similar stuff but eventually, he thought over and settled down with 'ONE'.

"Why, Asano-kun, it is too PLAIN!" protested Arina wide-eyed.

Unfortunately, as much as they didn't like the name Asano came up for the band, he was the leader and they had no choice but to follow his decision.

Though Arina tried her best to be unbothered by it. She happily accepted the band name 'ONE' despite its simplicity since her prospect of their future having fun playing music across the nation was too overwhelming.

"Alright! ONE members! Let's take a photo in celebration of our first-day establishment!" announced Arina merrily.

And followed by a 'Click!' the photo of Arina Avenira and the ONE members was taken on that autumn day and forever a piece of old recollection for their future selves to look back and cry.

Under Asano's leadership, the members were extremely hard-working. Koyama applied his memorization skill to the tips of his fingers and managed to learn piano keyboard within a week while Ren and Arina were busy writing lyrics for their first debut song.

During that Arina discovered another of her talent. She was a wizard at composing songs! Even Asano had to gasp at whatever she was up with every single time. There he reckoned to put Arina in the band was the best decision he could possibly make.

They will have their first debut at school during the school's Talent Contest next week to set the foundation. And it was all very worth the hype according to every student and teacher. In addition to their success, the newspaper will also announce their debut performance to the nation.