A/n: it took a lot of time for me to perfect my writing of a character as complex as Arina...that's why I had to go back and rewrite her scenes for the fourth time already. And I'm too exhausted by now to continue editing further from this chapter on, that's why starting from here she will appear more different than she was in the initial chapters which is how I write her nowadays and yeah, I think after finishing writing this book I will come back and edit everything at one go.😭

Class 3-E building wasn't as hellish as Arina imagined it to be. It was, rather, a warm place in her opinion, but the mood of the students here surely demeaned the aura.

"At least there's something here the students from the main campus couldn't have," said Arina. A smile broke across her face. She took in the beauty of nature around the old building and wandered her dreamy eyes around. "Do you know what that is?"

"A main campus student like you shouldn't associate with us failures..." one of them said. Acknowledging his position in the school hierarchy, he kept his head low.

"It's freedom!" Arina spun around, her skirt twirled in a circular motion as how her body moved. Her arms spread out freely in a thrilling manner. "Freedom! Ooh, how delightful is that? It's a place where one could unleash their fullest imagination. It's ever so..."

She twirled around dreamily. Instead of the school uniform, she'd imagine herself in a beautiful gown, taking a deep sniff of the environment, "Heart-warming," she said, putting herself into a stop.

"You know, I once shared an idea with my friends. I told them instead of studying in a room, which for me is like a cage that traps you inside, we could study in the wood! I thought to myself that it was such a splendid idea! It was even revolutionary to even think about it, but none of them cared! But what I'm seeing here is like a dream come true, don't you think? You guys are staying so close to the wood..."

The class 3-E senpais still refused to gaze directly into her eyes as their heads were still hanging low. Arina noticed it.

"The sky surely is beautiful today!" she said merrily, intertwining her hands together. "What's your thought upon gazing into such beautiful sceneries?"

Without thinking, they looked up at the sky to confirm what she said. There was nothing special to it, the sky was blue and the clouds were dangling around like usual.

"Right? I can see an elephant!" Arina said, pointing at the cloud with a shape of an elephant, at least in her perspective.

"Uhh...no that's a mouse," a guy with lots of wrinkles on his face (despite his age) replied. Arina laughed at his commentary.

"See? you can't see the world if you keep hanging your head low," she said gleefully, pulling on an ok hand gesture over an eye, and continued observing the sky. The 3-E senpais weren't exactly getting what she meant.

"Oh! Oh! Can you show me around?" she said eagerly, jumping up and down. "I'd like to know how you guys are learning here!"

The guy with wrinkles on his face whose name was Ito Itachi, was the class 3-E's monitor; therefore, he nodded and took the responsibility to show Arina around--inside the building, where they study for each subject and where they have P.E lessons.

"Our headteacher doesn't even have a pedagogical degree..." Ito said, his voice was so low his classmates who were trailing after him, didn't even know he had just opened his mouth to speak. Arina chortled and asked him further.

"It's alright! Let's put that aside then! Firstly, I need to know what is his character as a teacher, is he open to you, his students? Or is he strict? Or is he--"

"Depressed," a student replied.

"Just like any of us," one added as they produced this kind of uneasy, dark, and moody aura.

"Oh pardon me!" Arina said quickly, she understood their disappointment and sorrow perfectly well. However, she was determined to light up possible hopes for them.

"Okay, let me show you what's so great about this place, and how you could use it as an advantage!"

They watched her entering the mountainous area behind the class building and returning a moment later.

"Guys! You're not coming?" she asked, turned out she was expecting them to follow her into the wood, which they were not too fond of, and slowly shook their heads.

"I won't dirty myself in there!" a guy with loads of what seemingly makeup on his face whined, his voice was so high-pitched a tattooed girl whacked his head in annoyance.

"Stop being so girly!" she snapped. On the contrary, her voice was so deep that if anyone ever hear her without meeting her in person, they would've mistaken her for a bulky old man.

"Come on! You got everything under your nose, it would be such a pity if you miss out on these wonderful opportunities!" said Arina with a bright smile, she came and prompted them to enter the wood with her. They were skeptical at first but eventually sighed and agreed.

"Surely doing P.E in the gym isn't quite exciting as having a training session in nature, isn't it?" called out Arina, there wasn't any sign of panting in her voice as she casually climbed to the top of the ridge.

"How are you so fast?!" Ito exclaimed from below, the students behind him looked slightly fatigued from the sunburn. They wiped the intense sweats rolling down their chins and the feminine-looking guy moaning over his foundation-free face.

'Almost there' he thought, grinning whilst didn't acknowledge he had merely climbed six feet from the ground.

"Hurry up, Neko!" bellowed the tattooed girl, who was almost caught up with Ito, into which Arina, from the top of the ridge, overheard and was intrigued by his name. (A/N: Neko means cat in Japanese :3)

'Then I'd like to name my future kid 'Doggo' too! Good idea, Arina, good idea' she thought to herself with a beam, as dogs were her favorite animals.

Neko snapped out of his delusion, disappointed, and tears started to form, he desperately yelled back at her, "I--I can't!...carry me like a princess, Baba-san!!"

Arina quickly covered her mouth from the outburst of laughter. The following seconds later she saw Baba spitting on Neko's face, her expression went bewildered at their friendship.

At last, they all climbed to the top with a high-five waiting for each of them from Arina.

"Hmpf! Seems like the Corps of Nightmare's secret base is around here on the Wicked Mountain, luckily I've used my special skill 'Gecko Limb' to climb up here!"

A guy who was swaying his invisible sword around instantly caught Arina's attention, she was wondering how on earth can he still see things despite his eyesight being blocked by wearing two pirate eyepatches on both his eyes.

"There's no need to hide, come out here and face me, the honorably Scarlet Knight! You wicked--wicked members of the Corps of Nightmare!!"

He was twisting his body around weirdly, pretending to grab on to things that didn't even exist. Arina just assumed for now that he was into miming.

Neko was no doubt the last among the senpais to reach the destination, "Climb...climbing this mountain is too much for a fragile little neko," he spluttered, hand on his knee, exhaustedly panting from the climbing, although it was merely twenty-two feet at least from where they began climbing. Arina sweatdropped, it wasn't even a mountain, to begin with.

"You," said Arina sternly, to which Neko jumped; she surveyed him up and down, "I think you should very much start working out..."

Neko's fragile soul was shattered by her barbaric words, his tears splattered as if one was using two bum guns at the same time, "I'm...I'm not fat at all! You monstrosity of body-shaming people!!"

The senpais all rolled their eyes and ignored his whine while Baba even busied picking her nose. Arina, on the other hand, was the one to freak out, she was confused and recalled her choice of words.

"Oh my! I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! I mean...I just thought...you know, being fit is better for your health?"

Neko paused and broke into tears once again.

"Ignore him, Arina," suggested Ito, with an 'I'm too used to it' kind of expression. However, the sight of him crying was unbearable for Arina as she eventually gave him a hug, and it worked. He stopped crying.

Afterward, Arina taught them how to make use of the nature around them to exercise, find food ingredients for home economics classes, and study outdoors as a breath of fresh air, neglecting Neko who was wheedling on the dirty ground due to exhaustion and was kicked by the annoyed Baba.

"It wouldn't change anything..." Ito said, his usual old-looking self was even increased to a few years of age.

"Hm...you see," Arina said, gazing in the distant sky, "a strong person once told me that adversity sometimes can be a blessing."

Her words somehow helped the students of class 3-E to gain some positive energy. Although it was only a small portion, Arina was determined to prise them away from the dark hole they were supposed to fall in.

"I'll come here once a week," she said while they were walking back to the class E building, "I could've just reported this problematic school system to the media, but I know for sure it wouldn't be easy under the chairman's watch."

She whirled around to face the senpais, still delivering a smile, they gasped at her bright aura, "It's a good chance to overcome deep down insecurities, after all, whether you will fall or rise higher after adversity, It's up to every decision in your life. And I want to remind you that--never give up hope! Life sometimes will drag you down but you have to stay strong and fight for it! Be optimistic under any circumstances, because I do think that life will reflect exactly how you perceive it! But honestly, the way everyone treated you guys today...this school system is just SO barbaric--It's unbearable!"

The senpais widened their eyes seeing the girl started to sob.

"Oh no, what shall I do? Guys, what shall I do? I'm getting too emotional over this, I'm going to burst into tears!"

Burst into tears she did. The girl proceeded to run over and flung herself into the arms of the shocked-looking 3-E senpais. Squeezing some of them into a hug, she cried, "My dream is to be able to witness a harmonious world! Why DOES it have to be so hard? Why does everywhere I go, there is discrimination? I just want EVERYONE to be loved!"

Having Arina's tears soaked into his shirt, Ito didn't mind it as he and the other two patted her head and back.

"I love you all!" she sniffed. "Stay strong!"

The senpais were touched by her kindness. Some of them went over to Arina to comfort her as though the roles had been reversed. As a result, she embarrassingly used a napkin to wipe her tears away.

"W-well, (she sniffed) thank you for a lovely tour around this place, I (hiccuped) I have some caramel candies for you,"

The 3-E students' expressions lighten up as soon as they saw Arina taking out a handful of caramel candies from her messenger bag. They stuffed their mouths with the unlimited candies she supplied them with until the sweetness was getting too overwhelming.

"Want some more?" Arina kept asking.

At last, the sky shifted into a different shade: orange, and they knew it was time to say goodbye. Although Neko was still wailing about how he didn't want anyone to witness his bare face, which received a smack on the head by Baba telling him to shut up, while Arina was giggling non-stop while being kissed on her hand by the chyuunibyo guy, and he was saying something like it was his honor as a knight to save the princess from the dark forces. According to her, he had a brilliant imagination.

"So you will visit us once a week?" Ito asked, the others were also wondering.

"I will!" Arina said, waving her hand preparing to go downhill, "with a lot more sweets next time!"

The 3-E students waved back at her, beaming, and Arina noticed something--they were a lot more open and confident than they were an hour ago. She let out a lively chuckle as she turned to leave.

"Oh and--" she whirled around suddenly, half facing them, "I'll join class E next year if I get more time here! To show the cowards what being strong is like!"