Five more days until New Year and also, Asano Gakushuu's birthday, though one of his minions -- Sakakibara Ren was highly likely to be excluded from the invitation list. Just the morning after Christmas, the students of class 2-A were blessed with a never before better comedic performance. Ren was seen to be pushed by an army of boys behind his back, chanting, "Go on!", as if they had a well leftover deal to be made and Ren in this context had to swallow and timidly undertake it himself, making his way to the president.

"Well, have you finally understood the consequences?" said Asano, crossing his arms as Ren felt his palms sweat more nervously with each step he steadily took toward Asano. The boys lowkey screeched. Fujii took his phone out, tapping on the record button.

"What's that idiot doing?" Sae rolled her eyes, watching from afar. No one had any idea either. Arina was watching the sky from the window, taking herself to infinity, unattentive to whatever was happening.

"Have anything to say?" Asano irritatedly raised an eyebrow, didn't know why the minion had not moved or said anything whilst remaining immobile in front of him for half a minute already. His suspicion, however, grew when the boys in the background kept chanting how Ren oughtn't to break his solemn promise.

"Asano-kun, please forgive me, alright?" said Ren finally, clasping his hands together begging for mercy, winking nervously at the terrifying threatening look of the puzzling Asano Gakushuu. Without further ado, the boys unleashed their overflowing thrills when Ren bravely grabbed Asano by the collar and pulled him into a ki--

"GYAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAa!!" everyone in the class and mainly Asano's fangirls exploded over the top of the building, sending their voices to the hallway. The janitor man who was working nearby had to stop and pull off every possibility relating to Akeboshi the barf guy and frenetically ran with his cleaning supplies to class 2-A once again.

"Wh-What is it!?!" he exclaimed, sliding the door open. To his relief, Akeboshi was sitting at his desk waving at him, unpaled and pink. On the other side of the classroom, the infamous student philanderer even he knew was lying on the floor, writhing as if had been hit hard in the private part.

"You know it's a fraught decision to do that to Leader, Ren," sweatdropped Teppei, approaching Ren. Seo did too, though all he did was laughed at the suffering guy, the same as Koyama with his 'Nishishishi'. Arina was alerted out of her fantasy; 'Ren indeed is an infinity himself,' she thought admirably. Torii, Fujii, and the other boys who participated in the challenge flowed with Seo and Koyama, preparing to upload the embarrassing moment on social media. Most girls and mainly Sae and Juria cringed hard and pretended to not witness anything. Ami poked Ren to see if he was still alive, struggling to not let any laughter escape from her mouth; Teppei lowkey wished he was also poked by Ami. Kimi, Kaguya, and Kokomi on the other hand, sat Ren up and choked him, swaying him back and forth for daring to steal Asano Gakushuu's first kiss. "He is TOO pure for this world! How DARE you!!" they screamed. The janitor man wiped the sweat on his forehead and walked away.

"Enough with this farce!!" began Asano's imposing voice, then his infuriating gaze shifted to Ren. "Ren, I'm GREATLY disappointed in you. Not only did you not admit your fault and apologize to the girls you assaulted but ALSO have the audacity to disrespect your leader by doing this utterly deplorable action out of the persuasion of others! What a low-leveled human being. I can't be having a low-leveled human being in my group, Ren! Nor do society will accept you. You're officially kicked out of my social sphere."

Ren already had a vision this would happen, but shrugged it off thinking there might be plenty of ways to regain his leader's trust. Arina, however, was horrified, thinking Asano may have made the final blow on his decision.

"NOooooOoo! Oh, Ren-- no, please don't abandon dear poor Ren," pleaded Arina tearingly, sliding across the room to where half of the class was.

"Please, Asano-kun, I was thinking about infinity and my oh my would it be a real deal breaker for the infinity of our happiness together when one day you decide to wave a wand at Ren and then pouf! He's GONE! Who-who would play the bass anyway? No-o-o-o-- please, don't, Asano-kun. I can't imagine anyone than Ren. Spare him!"

Asano formed a perplexed look of 'nonsense!'. Ren upon hearing her plea smirked in pride and reassured Arina. Seo and Teppei facepalmed and proceeded to speak to Arina in private and confirmed that Ren's reassurance was legit considering this situation had happened a few times before due to his stubbornness in living a carefree life of a philanderer and always got things settled down with his family's wealth and contribution to the school, which relieved Arina. But naive were they, because this time things had gone too far and Asano was dead serious.

"Bu-but Asano-kun will likely still not forgive Ren when his birthday party arrives," said Arina mournfully, intertwining her fingers and her face paled when imagining how big of a deal an important person in excluded from a party was.

"So what? It's HIS fault," confronted Seo bluntly, who clearly did not see anything big of a deal out of it. Teppei, too, thought so.

Preparing for New Year and birthday gifts for Asano Gakushuu required some hardship. At least for the New Year, it was for Arina. Her house was big and she was alone in the quest of cleaning it. And to mention she was LAZY! Not necessarily dirty, but still, the house needed purification for New Year resolutions and she lacked the motivation to clean it all by herself and all her acquaintances were also not fond of this activity, at all! Noted that they had to help clean their houses as well. On the quest to pick gifts for Asano, like-- what else did he need? He was a filthy rich boy living a fulfilled life. Arina could get away with this easily but people like his minions were having headaches over coming up with whatever fitting idea for his birthday present.

On Tuesday evening three days before New Year and Asano's birthday, several girls in class 2-A set off to the shopping mall to find gifts for him.

"You think he'd like this?" asked Kimi, holding up a heart-shaped key chain with a cheesy 'I love you' on it. Kaguya verbally objected.

"I think we should focus on something of more practical use, a soap for example."

"Are you alright, Kaguya? That would make us look as though we are saying he's unhygienic."

"What are your thoughts, Kokomi?"

Kokomi gazed open-mouthed at the ceiling, scatterbrained.

"Can we put oxygen in a box and gift it to him?"

Kimi and Kaguya helplessly slapped their foreheads once again.

Coincidentally, Nagasawa Juria also went shopping on the same day, and so as Morikawa Mika and Tanaka Sekai...unexpectedly.

Since she was rich, even richer than Asano himself, Juria didn't hesitate to enter high-end stores and wave her black card around. One gift wasn't enough, as she thought. After buying a pile of high-end products and walking out of a Rolex store with her butler helping with carrying the stuff, he suddenly had another suggestion.

"Lady Juria, had it occurred to you that perhaps we could um-- make it a little different than all the previous years? I'm sure Asano-kun would appreciate it better that way."

"Then tell me, Hide, what is better than receiving a fortune worth of gifts?" said Juria. The butler had a hard time navigating directions given his vision was blocked by a pile of presents in front of him. When Juria turned, it was easy to lose track of her. And this girl moved too much to his exhaustion! Now he found himself stopped where she was, ordering an XL-sized bubble tea from a counter in the mid of the shopping mall.

"Well, things become less valuable when it's too much, isn't it?" said Hide, sweating from the burden of the heavy pile of gifts. He secretly peeked at the sight of the holy bubble tea Juria was sipping on with bedroom eyes.

Juria halted to think for a moment.

"Hm, I never consider this since I always thought combining both quality and quantity is ideal, but maybe you're right. Though what else would he want other than the best of the best?"

"Then how about returning all this stuff and sparing only one left? Then that one stuff would instantly become more valuable straight away," said Hide quickly. His inner self frantically screamed Juria to agree so he could give himself a break from the heavy pile he was carrying.

"No way!" cried Juria denyingly. Hide felt like his back's bones could break at any time. Why did they decide to walk here instead of driving!?

"But hey, I have another idea!" she said suddenly. "Like a cherry on top, how about we visit another store to buy Asano-kun something so unique that he would exclaim out of delight?"

Hide sighed. They wandered around the shopping mall for another half hour until Juria finally found the perfect unique gift that she would like for Asano. By that time Hide was already a walking zombie with broken bones. He was already in his 60s for goodness's sake.

"Look, look, Hide!! A dog collar! PERFECT for his dad! I've been eavesdropping from outside of the chairman's office whenever Asano-kun is summoned for a while now and I bet that THIS would be the most perfect present for his wish! And to make it better, Hide! This is the limited edition -- there is only one left around!"

"Right, right, hurry up and take it," said Hide urgently.

Juria smiled gleefully, about to take the collar when another hand touched it first.

"Wait?" she raised an eyebrow, tilting her head around to see that it was the f*cking b*tch Morikawa Mika! Along with Tanaka Sekai standing b*itchily behind her.

"You--" gasped Juria. Her face instantly turned red, "It's mine! I noticed it first!"

"Who said so?" sneered Morikawa, her eyes sockets darkened, "We had it in mind and came for it first. Juria, you are so rich, why would you even be bothered by this?"

Juria clicked her tongue, "Having too much money sometimes could be a backfire, alright? -- Hide! Come here!! -- Now, take a look at all this high-end stuff that you both are too poor to afford and pick some as your present for Asano-kun. In exchange, you will have to leave that collar for me. I'm being too generous to you two already."

"Like hell!" laughed both Morikawa and Tanaka. Juria popped a vein out of annoyance.

"You expect us to satisfy your intention? No way," Tanaka shook her head, crossing her arms.

"It's still better to see Asano-kun leashing the chairman with the collar we gifted him anyway," Morikawa muffled a laugh, talking as if a psychopath.

"And where is that plastic surgery monster that you casually walk with anyway? Being abandoned already?" added Tanaka scornfully.

Hide sweatdropped. Kids these days...

"Abandoned? Huh, ridiculous. Sae doesn't want to come to the party let alone bring Asano-kun birthday gifts, is that clear?" said Juria.

Tanaka and Morikawa exchanged glances, thinking up something.

"Aaah, I get it!" said Tanaka. "There must be a reason behind this, Mika. That plastic surgery monster had definitely fallen for that philanderer the moment he bewitched her with his kiss! That's why when he couldn't come, she wouldn't as well! Ughh, girls these days, so easy to fall for a jerk."

"That makes sense!" said Morikawa wide-eyed.

Juria gritted her teeth in anger, "I'm warning you; one more time you dare to call my friend 'plastic surgery monster' I will--"

"Wait, what, friend?" a pause. Then the two b*tches both burst into laughter.

"My, my, my! I always thought you get along with that monster just to use her or something, bu-but friend!? Totally unexpected of you, Juria."

"But it makes sense, isn't it, Sekai? Two pieces of trash hanging out with each other," said Morikawa.

"Oh? More like I'm listening to two pieces of trash conversing with one another and have to pull others down to their level to satisfy their inferiority complex," rebuked Juria, causing her counterparts to lose their temper.

Where were the days when the three of them still happily hanging out with each other? Looking down on every other girl for not being as pretty as they were; excitedly following Asano Gakushuu everywhere and eavesdropping on him. But now, Juria realized, it was all immature and nonsense.

"Fine, we're leaving now, Hide," she turned and walked away from those two pieces of trash that weren't worth bickering with. Hide confusedly asked about the limited collar.

"I don't need it anymore," said Juria. "I could give it to them as they want. And for the presents, Hide, I will just give Asano-kun the deer head. I bet he has any. The rest is my gift for you, Hide. Thank you for always helping my family out."

Upon hearing so, his face brightened up. Oh, after so long had Lady Juria finally appreciated his presence? And it was odd to say that walking home whilst carrying a pile of heavy presents wasn't half as bad anymore, since almost all were going to be his eventually.

For the rest of the girls, Mizuno Ami had ordered something overseas for Asano. Minami Mei carried on with her baking talent. Arina Avenira made the gift herself. For the boys in class, most of them just followed what their parents advised and took whatever they bought home to the birthday party, didn't even bother to go shopping themselves. The Big Five members, Torii Hidetoshi, and Yano Takaaki, however, made an extra effort in choosing gifts for their leader.

At Arina's house, she had been busy making a birthday gift for her bosom friend, catching up with the current politic news, studying, and cleaning the house simultaneously with a limited time. Sometimes Seo would come over to help her out a bit but she found it to be more of a distraction instead. On Thursday night at 11:55, after finishing mopping the house and done with cleaning, Arina wiped her sweat and congratulated herself on her hard work.

She was about to dress up and go over to Seo's house to celebrate New Year with his family when she realized it was merely three minutes before 12:00 after checking the clock.

"Oh, my, my!" Arina panicked and ran to fetch the TV remote. Flopping herself down on the sofa, she turned the TV on and switched to the right channel.

["Right now is 11:59 p.m., one more minute until we enter a new year!"]

As the TV commenter announced, Arina quickly unlocked her phone and went on Line to text everyone a happy new year. What time it was in her country right now? Arina felt guilty that she did not want to know.

["Only ten seconds left!"]

"Aah haa! Soba Ramen!" exclaimed Arina in sudden realization. She immediately hopped out of the sofa to flee to the kitchen.

["Nine!"]

Just then, the bell door rang, Arina rolled her eyes and frenetically diverted her direction to the entry door.

["Eight!"]

'Wait,' that imaginative kid stopped in front of the door, sweating nervously. Why -- why this time at midnight? What if it was a serial killer behind the door? The commenter had already counted to four yet this girl still stood there seizing the prospect of a possible tragic death and a funeral filled with white roses.

'My wicked -- wicked past self, why would I even want to die just for the shame of my womanly flowering time? How nonsense! That would make it a comedic death -- nobody would agree to go to a funeral of a comedic death! But this could possibly be tragic death. It's alright, a tragic death is not that bad. It's so much better than being ignored. It's beautiful. But then, I don't sense anything as bad as my imagination made it be. Perhaps it would be alright. But if not, rest in peace, Arina Avenira, twenty o-two to twenty-sixteen.'

["Two!"]

She unlocked the door and pushed the door handle down, opened the door to reveal--

["One!"]

"Happy New Year, my bosom Arina."

Strands of strawberry blonde hair fluttered in the windy night. Icy cold. There went Asano Gakushuu's warm voice. He stood at the entry door, gazing down at his girl's confused face with an amused expression.

'Wicked — wicked imagination,' blinked Arina in bewilderment.

["HAPPY NEW YEAR!"]

They stared at each other for a moment until Arina realized something and spoke up:

"Oh my word, right! And I wish you a very happy birthday, Asano-kun! Oh, how perfectly lovely it must be to celebrate your birthday right when stepping into a new year. But hold up, Asano-kun! Aren't you supposed to be with your family? This ain't right, Asano-kun! A bosom friend is never to be as bosom as a family is. You must learn from me, then. I've imagined eating Soba ramen with my Father and well, mother in the living room earlier in preparation for the new year! We laughed and talked and planned our new year ahead; even though we are so far apart from each other very sadly. And oh boy, oh boy, dearest Asano-kun! Come on in or you would catch a cold! I can not just send you home now for that would be very wicked of me; I can video call your mother if you would like."

Asano laughed. Arina further blinked in confusion.

"She's also here for you, Arina. I know you're far apart from your family, that's why. Isn't this what bosom friends would do for each other?"

Arina already felt the urge to excuse herself when Mrs. Asano Sayaka came flying out of the black limousine parked behind and rushed straight up to her potential daughter-in-law and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Why would anyone let my daughter alone in a foreign country during New Year celebration like this!?" cried Mrs. Sayaka dramatically. Asano was embarrassed by his mom's behavior and told her to stop, especially with the 'daughter' thing!

"Oh, please don't, mommy, you love me so much that I'm going to cry-y-y--" choked Arina.

"Mommy!?!" blurted Asano. When did they start calling each other that way!?

"How alike are these twos," the chairman appeared behind his sobbing wife, laughing. At last, the whole Asano family was there because Mrs. Sayaka started it out by asking, 'How is Arina-girl doing?'

But the Arina girl honestly could not get it. Why was this such a big fuss? For such an optimistic child like her, even sleeping on the street was a fun and adventurous experience. Therefore, the prospect of the entire Asano family coming to her for this small matter was too unfathomable. And alas! She only had enough Soba ramen for one person! And even worse she wasn't in her going-out mode! Her hair was unbrushed; her eyebrows were faint; she was in her nightgown.

"Asano-kun, I think I might have to get changed now. It feels rather uncomfortable to be ugly in front of your parents and I pity myself for being ugly and unprepared," she whispered to his ear.

"It's fine, we don't mind that," said the chairman, a fake smile Asano inherited plastered on his charming face. Arina freaked out by his sharp ears.

"I don't think 'ugly' is the right word to define your state," said Asano, then smiled genuinely. He wasn't sure if it was an illusion that Arina had recently turned significantly prettier than before due to his feelings for her or if it was a result of the puberty she was undergoing. She was delayed and who knew if she will be as pretty as Lilliana or even more.

"Oh, Asano-kun, you really do think so? How good you make me feel," Arina wore a rapt face, clasping her hands together in a sense of dreaminess.

To her utter surprise and happiness, not only the Asano family but her comrade brothers also showed up later and so was Seo after his parents had gone to sleep. 'Is this a dream?' Arina wondered, rubbing her eyes and so as pinching herself to see if this extreme moment of happiness was indeed real or not.

It was real! For an attention seeker like Arina Avenira, this was pure heaven as she felt like the center of the universe and proudly established herself as the main heroine of any media, laughing merrily.

'It's supposed to be Asano-kun's birthday, but I can't help but feel wicked for stealing the spotlight. It feels good to know that everyone loves me and I won't ever take it for granted. Am I being too arrogant? But I couldn't help it that everyone loves me. (A/n: Is this result of being influenced by the people you're close with??) Oh, my dear, how beautiful you are; I'm so very proud of you,' she gazed dreamily in the mirror of the bathroom whilst everyone in the living room was chatting to one another and slurping the soba ramen Mrs. Sayaka brought over and was preparing in the kitchen.

"There's no way you don't have feelings for Big Sis! Don't deny it," confronted Ryuuki to Asano. As always, he faked his charming facade and declined his feelings in a dignified manner.

Seo almost spat his Soba out.

"Have feelings for that childish girl!?! Not even in dreams would Leader have feelings for Arina. Don't be ridiculous."

He laughed for being entertained. The whole gang upon hearing what he said went infuriated for underestimating their Big Sis. Seo honestly possessed the power of making everyone hate him wherever he go.

Asano acknowledged the situation and spoke up, "Seo, mind your words. As part of what you must learn to succeed when stepping out of society, never judge a book by its cover. Plus, make as many allies as you can rather than triggering more enemies, understood?"

Never judge a book by its cover, that could easily apply to Chairman Asano as well. While everyone was gathering in the living room for New Year celebration, he was sneaking upstairs and to Arina's room to gather some information. Arina, as the young naive girl she was, thought the chairman was one of those who loved her for coming, but she still got a whole lot deal to learn.

"Hmm," hummed the chairman, scanning around her room to find some source of information about why the Comrade Chairman sent his daughter here to Japan and Kunugigaoka in specific.

The room was painted in a baby pink color, though chairman Asano could not distinguish it from not risking turning on the light. There was a makeup table filled with beauty products; a closet with glass door that displayed porcelain dolls and books; a wooden basket with a pink knitted blanket laying as decor and sat stuffed animals from big to small; a bed that would suffocate you with the number of pillows on it from normal to fluffy and flowery, and a silly looking stuffed lamb; a study desk right beside it. A room that screamed dreaminess and girliness that would drive people like the tomboy Ami insane.

With the purpose of finding out the truth about his city in his mind, the chairman, however, found out about something else. Everywhere in the room the dictator's daughter seemed to like his son the most with the proof of all the picture frames revolving around the two most of the time. So all these times, instead of going out for group study like his son claimed, he was in fact, going on dates instead. The more the chairman scanned around the room, the more he recognized the items his son bought home before giving them away. They were all here, in this room. He recognized this bottle of lotion; this headband; this pouch; this hand mirror; and so on.

He picked a picture frame up from the desk and observed it: are these two secretly dating behind his back?

"Father, what are you doing here?"

The chairman put the frame down, whirling around, smiling, as their gazes met.

"Asano-kun, I will have to have you explain your relationship with Arina. And what are you doing here anyway?"

"I'm getting a board game downstairs for Arina wants to play it with everyone," said Asano, "and I hereby declare we're only friends! Nothing more."

"Oh? Friend, just for a friend you already submit to her and do whatever she told you to?" said the chairman darkly, then, placed a knuckle on his chin. Asano froze in place at the sight of his dad.

"You did a great job, Asano-kun. I'm proud of you," he said suddenly. Asano's eyebrows furrowed in perplex.

"But unfortunately, being close friends isn't enough, my son, I want you to get closer to her."

The birthday party will start at 18:00 that day and not until noon that Arina finally rose from bed after an exhausting yet fun night. Today was the start of a new year ahead. What will it be like? (A/n: joining class E babe!! ^o^)

In her New Year resolutions wrote: freeing lab subjects.