As far as Amaya knew, day one of the Culture Festival ended with what was a fair share of profit considering that they were at a satellite campus in the mountains. While three thousand odd yen was undoubtedly her own contribution on the behalf of her siblings who were so excited they wound up ordering, it was still a good turnout.

While Isshin had called her back and informed her that they would come visit on Sunday with a few additional others, it was a prospect she was comfortable with.

While Amaya had decided that she wanted to know absolutely nothing about what was going on with Nagisa's change of wardrobe and his companion, that didn't mean that she didn't happen to see quite a few of her classmates hovering around the two like pests, or hear about bits and pieces of it from spectating. During the whole event, Reiko was giving a wonderfully painful commentary on the events, since she happened to be able to watch the whole thing without being obvious, no matter how many times Amaya pleaded her not to.

However, just as Reiko had come to mention that Karma had wandered over to cause mischief as well, the sudden presence of multiple forms in the area had rerouted Amaya's attention within a heartbeat. A man with a sniping rifle came walking out of the forest with a green pheasant he'd undoubtedly just killed, followed by a looming, frightening looking man less than a minute later.

The scent of blood and gunpowder began to fill the area, and far faster than Amaya could comprehend, many people of frightening appearances came up the mountain trail one after the other. She didn't recognize a single one of these people, but it didn't take her long to realize exactly what they were, and who had invited them.

It was one of the instances that Amaya had been terrified of seeing come to life ever since the incident with the reaper occurred, and she knew it the very instance she had caught a glimpse of her classmates taking down the orders with no qualms or concern about the firearms, or the bloodlust that permeated the air.

'Change of plans.' Amaya spoke as she lifted herself out of the chair as calmly as she could, earning curious looks from both Reiko and Yuta. 'Time to go.'

What?' Samuel squeaked out as he looked back at his unfinished meal. 'But we're still eating!'

'Now.' Amaya reaffirmed.

'I want to finish--'

'Don't argue with her.' Yuta cut in quickly, though he kept his tone quiet as he and his twin quickly pocketed their belongings and got to their feet. 'If she says it in that tone, do as she says.'

'What's wro--' Reiko had begun, though she quickly silenced herself at the look Amaya shot her.

Now wasn't the time.

Even as Amaya quickly lifted an upset, but thankfully compliant Samuel from his chair and proceeded to lead the way towards the back trail down the mountainside, she could feel gazes falling upon her and her siblings, more with every passing second.

She grit her teeth as she tried to keep as straight an expression across her face as she could, hoisting Samuel up a bit higher against her side.

'Amaya-san!' Somebody called out to her, though she didn't slow in her steps. 'Amaya-san, please wait!'

She could hear their footsteps closing the distance quickly, and the slight tug of the back of her jumper by Reiko was enough to bring her to slow to a halt with a frown.

There, she saw that it was Isogai who had come chasing after her, who was still clad in his apron, and his outdoor shoes were tugged on rather haphazardly, undoubtedly in his haste to catch her before she got too far.

'Why are you suddenly leaving?' The ikemen questioned as he stumbled to a halt, with an undeniably confused edge echoing in his words. 'Is there something wrong? Or has something offended you?'

Isogai, always so quick to try and resolve a situation if it was within his capabilities. It was a shame that nothing could fix this.

'No, nothing has offended me.' She responded in as civil a tone as she could, in spite of the underlying anxiety she was being bombarded with.

'Then--'

'I don't want to get into a conversation about this now.' She cut in mercilessly, stunning the ikemen to silence. 'I'm sorry for the inconvenience. I will come back for my belongings.'

And without so much as a glance towards the redhead she could see watching in the background, she turned promptly to leave.

There was no further words, no attempts at holding her up any further. She led the way back down the mountainside at ask brisk a walk as she could manage, in spite of the curious and rather wary looks the twins were giving her.

Her thoughts were exclusively upon the hoard of assassins up atop that mountain and the paranoia that any single one of them were another God of Death.

Before long, they were down the mountain, walking through the front gate of their house, before Amaya ushered them inside as quick as she could. And as soon as she had, she locked the door completely, through to the deadlocks and the chain.

'Amay, what's going on?' Reiko questioned.

'In a minute.' She responded with a sigh as she finally set Samuel down. 'Take your shoes off and go check on the cats.'

'But Big Sister--'

'You can give them a treat each.' She added.

'Oh! Okay!' Samuel chimed with a grin as he practically flung his shoes off with a frantic pair of kicks and took off for the stairs.

'Only one each! They'll get sick if you give them too many!' She called after him, but otherwise received no response.

She didn't doubt he was going to drown the furballs in snacks before the next minute was up.

'Umm, Amay?' Reiko called.

She didn't respond until she was certain Samuel was up those stairs, which came with the sudden squeak of his excited greeting towards the kittens.

Okay, guess she shouldn't leave this too much longer.

Amaya let out another sigh as she leaned her back against the front door, where she fixed the twins standing at attention just in front of her.

'I'm going to be entirely honest with you right now, and I need you to listen to exactly what I'm going to tell you. Because I cannot stress how serious this really is. And you must never speak a word about this to anyone.' Amaya spoke, lowering her gaze to her hands wringing tightly in front of her. 'Do you understand?'

'Y-yes Amay, I understand.' Reiko responded.

And yet while there was no response from Yuta, Amaya knew for a fact that he understood.

She let out a breath as she closed her eyes, struggling to find the words she needed to speak to assure them just how important this really was.

'From this moment, I do not want any of you to set foot anywhere near that school, or talk to anyone from that classroom unless I give you clear permission to do so.' Amaya began, lifting her head to look up at the twins with the most sincere look she had ever worn across her face. 'I also want you to steer clear from anyone who you don't already know through your own school, without question.'

'Okay. But why?' Yuta asked.

The wringing of Amaya's hands worsened, though she forced herself to speak, regardless.

'Do you know why we are in this house? Why we got moved from the apartment to here, and how we wound up with Samuel living with us now?' Amaya asked, hoping more than anything else that she didn't need to explain much, and that she could just guide them to joining the dots on their own. 'I've never spoken to you about this, but Shigure-ojisan told you, didn't he?'

'...No?' Reiko spoke as she shook her head. 'We just thought he asked you to look after Sammie, and we didn't have enough room in the apartment.'

The glance Amaya took towards Yuta told her that he knew about as much as Reiko on that front.

'What did he tell you when he sent you both away over Summer break?'

'Nothing. He just said he changed his mind, and he didn't want either of us living with you.' Reiko answered.

However, Yuta had let the smallest flinch overcome him, drawing Amaya's attention away from Reiko once again.

'Yuta, you never told Reiko about the letters, did you?' She asked.

And if the look of confusion across Reiko's face wasn't enough to convince Amaya of this, the guilt-ridden look she saw across the boy's face as he turned his head away would have easily erased all doubt.

It drew a weary sigh from Amaya as she found that she needed to explain it as simply as she could.

'Okay, listen to me very carefully, and do not get upset about what I'm going to say. But there is a man who is connected to that classroom for reasons I can't tell you. This man, he knows our father. And when he first visited that classroom, he somehow recognized me, got information on where the apartment was and sent that to Toji.' Amaya explained, pausing for just a moment to allow that information to sink in on her siblings.

Judging by the growing alarm over Reiko's face, the girl was not aware of anything in the slightest.

'I don't understand the hows or why's, and it really doesn't matter, but Toji started exchanging letters with Yuta, undoubtedly under a different name. I'm going to assume within the third week of June, if I'm not mistaken. Essentially, to get information on my personality and my habits, right?' The question was directed at Yuta, who gave a short nod in response, and the alarmed Reiko seemed to gape in horror at her twin.

Well... that was just after Itona and Shiro first turned up at the classroom. Painfully prompt, really.

'I'm not going to go into details. But while you were both away at the start of Summer break... He caught me, threw me in a room with Samuel. We managed to get away, but Shigure's still trying to track Toji down. We don't know where he is, or what happened after... well, after Genivierre helped us get away last time.' She proceeded to explain to the reeling Reiko and painfully guilty Yuta standing silently in front of her. 'But part of the precautions taken was to have us move here in a completely different part of the city with better security, and we're here because Shigure has got people watching out for us at all times. If worse comes to worst, I can defend myself, but I don't want any of you in harms way by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

'And ... that's why you didn't want us to come to your classroom today?' Reiko surmised. 'Because people who know our father could still be around?'

'That's most of it, yes...'

'And you don't want us talking to most of your classmates, because...?'

'Because they're thoughtless idiots who make stupid mistakes and expect everything to work out like a fucking children's movie.' Amaya admitted seriously, though her brow furrowed a little more as she heard Samuel's loud chattering from upstairs echoing through the ceiling. 'One of their mistakes nearly got Samuel killed.'

'Wha--?!' Reiko was rendered speechless by the blunt response. 'But how...?!'

'It was when Karma-san had to take you to hospital last, wasn't it?' Yuta spoke up seriously, earning Reiko's startled attention within an instance. 'He told me not to let any of your classmates inside to see you, except for those people he asked to come look after us.'

Amaya inclined her head in agreement.

'How did that lead to them nearly getting Sammie killed though?!' Reiko demanded.

'Because they were standing there watching when we were getting attacked, and they didn't even bother to try and call for help.'

'...Is that... why Sammie got upset with Fuwa-senpai and Okano-senpai came to say hello?' The girl questioned as the seconds ticked by, hesitantly, as if she was apprehensive of even receiving an answer. 'Because of that, right?'

'Most likely.' Amaya agreed.

There was no other conclusion she could come to, no matter how much she thought about it.

Yuta and Reiko shared a grim and rather understanding look for several seconds, before they turned their gazes back upon Amaya.

'Okay. Then who is still okay to talk to?' Yuta questioned, this time.

Amaya let out a small breath as she shifted her weight on her feet.

'Karma, obviously.' She responded, earning a rather dramatic roll of the eyes from Reiko. 'Fine, Isogai-kun, Kataoka-san, Hiroto-kun--'

'Hiroto-kun?' Reiko repeated curiously.

'Ugh, Maehara-kun. Okuda-san, Terasaka-kun and the others that were here looking after you while I was in hospital. Takebayashi-kun, Nagisa-kun and Kayano-san are okay to an extent. At the moment, I'm too angry and distrusting of the others to want to be around them myself, let alone want my siblings near them. Do you understand?'

'Yes.' They agreed in unison.

'Good...'

With all answers provided and the obvious weariness to Amaya's mood, the twins decided to leave it at that; They cast each other one last glance before they kicked off their shoes and wandered upstairs to prevent the unfortunate fate of Samuel drowning the kittens in an ocean of milk-treats.

Slowly, she slid down the back of the door as her energy began to evaporate almost instantly, until she came to a stop at the foot of the door and buried her face in her hands. She didn't know how long she was even there for as she reflected on the glimpse of the world she had just opened up to the twins about, or even how late it was, until all of a sudden, the door handle right over her shoulder rattled, before a faint string of curses escaped the familiar form on the other side.

Seconds later, Amaya heard loud knocking echo overhead.

'Amay! Open the door!' Karma's rather irritated call sounded, wiping all of Amaya's confusion away in a second.

'Oops...' She whispered as she carefully lifted herself back to her feet and kicked off her shoes as quietly as she could. Another barrage of knocking sounded before she had managed to even lift her hand to unlock the door.

Needless to say, Amaya learned that it was far later in the day than she thought by the simple fact that the world outside was remarkably much darker than she remembered it being when she had gotten home, and a moderately irritated Karma was standing on the doorstep with his bag, and hers as well.

'S-sorry, I lost track of the time.' She apologized as she shuffled aside, however oddly enough Karma didn't remark upon her excuse and simply handed her bag over as he walked inside.

Whoa okay, something was definitely bothering him.

Amaya blinked momentarily before she shifted to lock the door once more, which seemed to provide time enough for Karma to disappear from her immediate sight. However, she certainly could hear the shifting of items and footsteps in the other parts of the ground floor, which she associated as his movements.

With nothing more than a brief breath, Amaya discarded her bag onto the floor next to the door and wandered over to investigate.

Her wandering right past a rather upset Koko still in his cage eventually lead her to the door of the room she knew Karma had inadvertently claimed for his use, where she found him appearing to be in the process of carelessly tossing items into his bag. His 3ds among other things were first relocated, and as she came to a stop at the door, she found herself realizing with full certainty that he really did have a surprisingly large haul of his belongings stashed away here.

'Suddenly decided to move out, have you?' Amaya questioned with a raised brow.

'Are you worried?' He responded, tauntingly almost, if it weren't for the edge of frustration that didn't fail to seep into his tone.

'Curious, more to the point.' She admitted. 'It kinda looks like you're in a hurry to grab your stuff and bolt.'

And in a bad mood, all the more obvious the longer she stood there watching him gather his belongings with such poor care.

'Unfortunately.' He remarked without even sparing her a glance.

'"Unfortunately", because?'

This time, she received a sigh as he shoved some clothes in his bag with more force than what was probably healthy for his other belongings.

'My parent's are back.' He answered, with no lack of annoyance on his part.

Which felt undeniably bizarre to Amaya, because while she knew his parents tended to rile him up for fun, she was fairly sure he actually liked getting to see them.

But wait, they were home? After just two months?

'Aren't they usually gone for a lot longer at a time?' Amaya couldn't help but ask.

'Usually.' He agreed.

He didn't seem pleased by the impromptu return of his parents, and Amaya wasn't tempted to pry too much into why that could be. However other questions related to the overall topic, she was willing to broach.

'So how long are they back for, anyway?'

'Why are you so interested?' Karma shot back in return.

Yep, he wasn't happy. Oh well, painfully blunt it was.

'Because you seem more than just a little pissed off about the whole thing.' She admitted with a sigh as she turned to lean backwards against the doorframe. 'Would you rather I didn't care about that?'

There was no immediate response from Karma, though she did hear him let out a small breath before long.

'No.' He relented as he returned to tossing belongings into another bag he had somehow retrieved while she wasn't looking. But it sounded like there was more to his answer he hadn't said yet, though as he remained silent, Amaya decided she probably didn't want to hear the rest of it. So she just buried her hands in her pockets and decided to leave him alone to his pitiful mood.

Of course, that didn't mean she coincidentally missed the exasperated glance he shot her departing form as she wandered off.

Amaya of course had a fair idea as to why Karma was so agitated over the fact that his parents were suddenly home, though it was more speculation than anything else.

His parents were never home for more than a week at a time, not including that one time over summer break just passed where she and Samuel were recovering and essentially homeless following the events of Berlin. And while Karma never so much as implied that their presence mattered to him, she doubted he was as indifferent to their presence as he liked to portray, or lack of, more to the point. Especially since she was fairly certain they hadn't succeeded to actually be home for his birthday in nearly the whole time they'd known each other, which was a very long time, if she had to be perfectly honest.

It sounded like it was going to be the usual and they wouldn't be home at all.

Amaya wandered into the kitchen, her mind amiss with thoughts and questions that were now on the urgent thinking list, now that she'd consciously put a few conclusions together. The evil incarnate was undoubtedly going to be in this mood until he got over it, which could be weeks considering how seriously he could stew over things in excess, and she didn't want to have to deal with this for the rest of the school term.

So, she had to think seriously about what she was going to do about that jerk's birthday, and she also had to quickly come up with something to nudge him out of this foul mood he was going to be stuck in for weeks.

She ignored Koko's squeaks to be let out of his cage for the most part as she went about busying herself with chores for the evening to try and keep herself moderately occupied. Bird snacks were prepared and set atop the folding table she had brought for the bird, said bird was released from his cage, and the sounds of movement still echoed from the hallway, which didn't fail to bring a scowl across Amaya's face.

What to get Karma for his birthday aside, how was she going to improve his damn mood?!

The sudden sound of flapping wings through the air broke through her struggling thoughts, startling Amaya with a squeak as she felt feathers suddenly flick up the side of her face as claws suddenly landed upon her right shoulder.

'Damn it! You scared the living hell out of me!' Amaya muttered as she suffered through the bird's happy squeaking and clicking right in her ear.

She was more or less used to the conure being particularly amorous right after she'd let him out of the cage, even moreso if there was food in the equation, but it still caught her off guard at times.

An exasperated sigh escaped Amaya as she felt the ball of feathers fluff himself up and scoot into the crook of her neck, like usual, and she tried to work out her current problem; Karma and his bad mood.

Talking to Karma was out of the question since he never appreciated being bothered when he wasn't in the mood, and doing anything nice for him was going to be hard when he wouldn't give her the opportunity to do anything.

What was there?!

What options were there that would even work?!

'This is pissing me off...' Amaya scowled as she ran a furious hand through the haywire hair hanging down over her face. 'Why does that bastard have to be so hard to deal with sometimes?'

However, all of a sudden there was a sudden set of gurgling squeaks from Koko as he suddenly pressed his beak to the side of her face, followed by a dramatic chirp as he suddenly leaned right away from her, something that was quite new to Amaya.

And a second later, the colour drained from Amaya's face the instance she realized that her damn bird had been taught a "kiss" trick while she was away.

'Damn it Reiko!' Amaya shouted up towards the stairs, while Koko remained contentedly perched on her shoulder in spite of the racket. 'Have you been corrupting my bloody bird again?!'

'No!' Reiko shouted right back.

'Then what the hell--'

'That was Samuel!' Yuta called down, earning a rather indignant cry from Samuel within an instance.

'B-but Koko's really mean and I want to make him a nice bird--'

'I already told you if the bird doesn't like you, then leave him alone!'

'Uwaaah! I'm sorry!'

The scowl written across Amaya's face only darkened as she felt the bird repeat his earlier actions as if it was his brand new fancy.

'This isn't funny.' She muttered to the bird, who just pecked her cheek once again. 'Cut it out, I'm trying to think.'

The faintest, barely legible sound of "kiss kiss" came from the bird along with a gurgle as he once again performed his new trick.

'No!' Amaya practically cried out as she tried to shoo the bird away.

'Kiss kiss!' Koko announced once again.

Oh god, she was doomed!

Her damn bird was insistent on repeating his new trick for her a million times, and it was starting to corrupt her train of thought.

'Oh my god! Fine!' Amaya cursed as she quickly tugged out a plain rice wafer from inside the cupboard and waved it in front of the bird. 'Drop it and I'll give you thi--'

Amaya practically sighed in relief as she suddenly felt Koko begun to tug the wafer as he tried to claim it, his trick long since abandoned, it seemed.

It felt horribly like the bird was trying to tell her that this was her solution to the proble,, and it was mortifying to even think that her pet bird was even suggesting her to do such a thing.

But at that second, she didn't have any time to rationalize her way to a better solution.

She barely had a second to string her thoughts back together before she heard the telltale sound of a door closing with more force than was probably necessary, and she turned to find that Karma had emerged from down the hall with his gear in tow. While she had expected to see him still in quite a bad mood, that didn't mean she wasn't a little disheartened by the sight.

To top it all off, her attempt at coming up with a way to cheer him up was corrupted by Koko, and that was the only thing stuck in her head, chasing everything else away.

'I'm leaving.' Karma called out rather dismissively as he scooped up one last item from the table in front of the couch on his way to the door.

'What? Already?' Amaya practically spluttered as she managed to relocate Koko and his rice wafer onto the kitchen island. 'Umm, wait a second--'

'I can't, Amay.' He dismissed as he stepped out the door, causing a wince to practically flash across her face. 'I've got to go.'

She got the feeling that she shouldn't let him leave in such a bad mood, but he wasn't giving her any opportunity to even say anything. And with no other options that she could think of right now, she just prayed this wasn't the worst thing she could even do.

With a frustrated huff, she ignored his dismissal as she followed right after him out the door, and grabbed him by the sleeve, bringing the already agitated boy to let out an exasperated sigh.

'Amaya, I don't have time--'

She got the feeling she was probably going to regret this down the track, however, she still leaned up before he'd even managed to turn his head to cast her a frown.

As quickly as she could manage without being horribly clumsy, Amaya pressed a kiss to his cheek, startling the living daylights out of the redhead within an instance. She felt him actually flinch the very instance she had, and before he could so much as comprehend what she had actually done, Amaya was already fleeing back through the front door and slamming it shut behind her before the vivid blush could reduce her to a clumsy mess of embarrassment.

However, as the seconds passed, Amaya thought she heard a laugh echo from the other side of the door, right where she'd left Karma standing.

'That's cheating, Amay!' She heard him call out, though oddly enough he didn't sound annoyed anymore. In fact, as she carefully peeked through the gap in the curtain next to the door, she found herself rather stunned by the sight she found just outside.

She caught sight of a look across Karma's face that was neither his favorite "innocent" smile, nor was it one of his mischievous grins or even that annoyed glare she had inwardly expected. In fact, it was a look that had the vivid blush across her face worsening all the more as she watched him leave through the gate with a bit more of a spring in his step than just moments before.

He looked undeniably happy, as if his bitter mood just minutes before had completely evaporated into thin air. And as she watched him disappear out of sight to head towards the station, she thought she saw that small smile grow just a little more.

'...I immediately regret my decision.' Amaya muttered as she slowly sunk to the floor at the door. 'How the hell am I going to even look him in the eye after this?!'

The fluttering of wings echoed overhead before a thoroughly content Koko landed firmly on her arm resting over her raised knee.

'Kiss kiss!' The parrot chirped as he touched his beak to her nose.

And all Amaya could honestly do was bury her face in her hands with a weary groan.

She hoped that nobody found out she had even decided to take her bird's behavior as a suggestion, otherwise she may very well throw herself off a cliff to end her existence once and for all.

Sunday morning eventually made it's presence known, gracing Amaya with the relief of the swelling of her allergies receding enough for her to look more akin to normal. Amaya left well before 5am to head up the mountain and gather the mushrooms for opening startup following an email from Muramatsu asking her to hunt mushrooms early.

The twins had reassured her the night before that if they were leaving the house, they would email her ahead of time following the arrival of a hoard of assassins at the classroom and her makeshift explanations over it, so she was at least able to sit quietly with that reassurance. She had even managed to shove her embarrassing actions before into the back of her mind and focus on what she had to get done on her way up to the classroom.

There was something peculiar about her arrival at the class E mountain, the echoing of voices across the breeze as she walked, the lack of the more natural sounds of the wildlife echoing, and the smell of many people hung on the air, in spite of the fact that she was walking up the vehicle track of the mountain.

However, as Amaya reached the classroom clearing just at the strike of 5am, she found herself realizing with great clarity exactly why this was.

Even being on the opposite side of the classroom clearing, there was no possible way that she could miss the whopping queue of what looked to be at least a hundred people, all lined up along the main trail from the front door, right back into the trees at the edge of the clearing.

Needless to say, Amaya was fairly sure she was meant to be the only person even here right now.

'Umm... I wasn't expecting this.' Amaya hedged as she pulled out her phone and took a photograph of the bewildering sight, and proceeded to send it straight to Kataoka and Isogai.

[Guys, think I need some help out here!] She emailed them, before she made as discrete a move to the back door of the classroom as she could.

Thankfully, Amaya managed to get herself inside the classroom through a window left unlocked, where she carefully gathered four baskets and a trowel before leaving back the way she came.

The chiming of her phone's notification sounded just as Amaya got back into the forest, bringing her to sigh as she juggled belongings and supplies to pull it out.

[Kataoka :) - Thank you for the warning! We're leaving right now. See you soon.]

'We're leaving right now?' Amaya read aloud before she shook her head in amusement. 'I almost feel bad for interrupting whatever it was they were up to...'

Almost, because she certainly was not going to be left to deal with that hoard of customers all on her own.

Needless to say, Amaya vacated the premises to gather as much of the various mushrooms as she could, all through her efforts, she could have sworn she heard that queue getting louder, and bigger. She got the horrible feeling that she had to drop the four baskets off and leave to get even more mushrooms.

Thankfully however, it was only half an hour later when she heard the arrival of Isogai and Kataoka, who called out her name as she began to make the way up the vehicle trail with the mountain of mushrooms.

'Hey! What do you want me to collect next?' Amaya asked as she hauled the baskets through the back door, where she could see Isogai quickly setting out aprons and other cooking wear he had obviously taken home yesterday to wash.

'Walnuts and the fruit for the juices if you could, Amaya-san!' Isogai called out as Kataoka came tearing through, already dressed in gear. 'The queue's gotten even bigger!'

'Oh hell!' Amaya gasped out as Kataoka quickly retrieved the mushroom baskets and took them over to the ingredient bench. 'I gotta go, then!'

Thankfully, the rest of the class was already present by the time Amaya returned with even more ingredients from the mountainside. Muramatsu was already working frantically on what he needed, and others were already put to work inside, with customers already seated at the tables, with orders taken.

Amaya practically swore as her shoulder ached from the strain she was putting it under, and she was exceedingly quick to drop the heavy baskets inside to relieve herself of their burden.

'Thank you, Amaya-san!' Okuda spoke up gratefully from next to the stack of mushrooms she was cutting up. 'We really needed those for the orders!'

Well, she already knew that.

'What else should I go out and get?'

'Actually, we're fine with the base ingredients!' Muramatsu called out from a couple meters away. 'Thanks for coming in early, by the way.'

'All good. I'll go find something else to--'

'You've been run off your feet since five already, Amaya-san!' An eavesdropping Kataoka interrupted right away, drawing Amaya's attention within an instance. 'Go at least sit down for a few minutes! Koro-sensei's instructions!'

Huh?

Amaya turned her head towards the clock to see that it was just after nine, bringing a small frown to spread across her face.

'I'm not tired.' She responded.

'But Koro-sensei said to, since you've been working the longest.' Kataoka reasoned.

Amaya cast a suspicious glance towards a peculiar acorn sitting atop the teachers desk at the front of the classroom, with Koro-sensei's particularly iconic grin.

'Oh fine, if you insist.' Amaya muttered as she trudged off to go sit in the foyer of the building well out of everyone's way, but within earshot of the others in case they needed her to do anything.

In truth, her shoulder was still aching.

The outside of the classroom was alive with noise, of chatter and the sounds of rushing footsteps as classmates moved to get orders out to the customers who had ordered, and the queue waiting for a free table were all standing comfortably. Amaya took up residence atop the lone crate in the front most corner of the foyer, that which had been brought in by Yoshida as a spare table if needed, and took to watching outside.

However, it wasn't terribly long before her brief moment of rest was disturbed, and that was by none other than a painful redhead who came sauntering in as if there was no hoard of ravenous customers or classmates frantically tending to their needs outside at that moment.

'Heh, slacking off already, Amay?' Karma questioned as he veered to approach her, earning a small frown in immediate response.

'I was kicked out of work by Koro-sensei, actually.' She muttered sourly.

'Obviously he didn't want your bad luck ruining anything.' He responded with a smirk.

'Shut up!'

Odd, he still seemed to be in quite a good mood, if that smirk still plastered across his face was anything to go by.

Maybe her embarrassment yesterday did him more good than she expected?

'So you've got nothing to do right now, right?' Karma decided to ask her all of a sudden with a mischievous glint in his gaze.

'Apparently.' She responded.

That smirk across his face only seemed to grow as he straightened up on his feet.

'Then how about drawing in more customers?' He suggested.

'You want more customers standing out there?' Amaya motioned dramatically towards the still-growing queue of customers still stretching past the line of trees out the front of the classroom clearing. 'Are you serious?!'

'Yeah.'

'You're insane!'

'That hurts, Amay~' He mocked, however Amaya really wasn't joking.

'Hey, Amaya-san!' Came Kataoka's voice just as she'd opened her mouth to argue, bringing the albino to turn her head towards the corridor, where the class rep was standing, leaning over to look at her. 'Can you swap with Hayami soon? She needs a break!'

'Alright, give me a minute!' She called back as she slid off of the crate to follow along, which seemed to somehow earn a rather evil grin from the evil incarnate standing before her.

'So, about drawing in more customers~'

'No.'

'But you haven't even heard me out, Amay.' He snickered.

'Because I already know its going to be something horrible.' She responded within a heartbeat as she wandered towards the classroom to grab a spare apron and notebook from the back bench, with Karma's amused form wandering along behind her.

'Only because you have no sense of humor.'

'Gee, I wonder why?' Amaya bit back sarcastically.

'It's certainly not my fault~'

A weary breath escaped Amaya as she halted in her steps and turned to face the mischievous boy, who was standing there fixing her with that innocent smile he was so fond of.

'Fine! Spit it out! What the hell are you so interested in subjecting me to this time?!' She demanded.

And if it had absolutely anything to do with cats, somebody was going to have to restrain her from punching him in the face.

However, instead of immediately answering her, Karma told her to stay put as he wandered all the way to the faculty room, and entered inside. She did as she was told, with her arms crossed and no lack of the look across her face showing her annoyance.

She could feel the gazes of her classmates working in the classroom glance at her form at the door every few seconds or so, and she could hear Muramatsu actually snicker slightly as he observed her annoyance.

Before long however, Karma came sauntering right back with a plastic bag of what looked like packet-wrapped ... clothes? And what was worse was that innocent smile had grown so much stronger, she was certain she really was about to punch him before long.

'Since you're going to be serving customers, Amay, then how about going in cosplay?' He suggested as he revealed what Amaya found to be costume sets.

A Maid costume, Sailor uniform, a stereotypical skimpy Christmas themed skirt and top, among other equally as embarrassing outfits. There apparently was no cat-themed uniform, though she half wondered if he decided to omit such a costume from the selection purely because it would undeniably manage to set her off.

With a raised brow, Amaya looked up at the mischievous boy in disbelief.

'Why the hell do you even have those?' She couldn't help but ask.

'I borrowed them from the main campus yesterday.' He answered.

'What the he--'

'So how about it Amay?' He cut in over her, still smiling innocently away as he awaited an answer of some description. 'Feel like earning us more money?'

She glanced down at the packaged costumes in the redhead's grip before she cast him a rather suspicious look.

'Why? What do I get out of this?' She couldn't help but ask.

'A favor, of course'

'Well that's rich. What kind of favor are we talking about here?'

'Same as always, I'll do one favor if you can actually bring yourself to do this~' He answered with a chuckle, waving the packets in her face as if taunting her with them.

'That's a load of bullshit.' Amaya responded within a heartbeat. 'The last favor I called in, you conveniently found a way to cut it short half way through!'

'That's just your bad luck.'

'Like hell it was!'

'Alright, then how about this? I'll do any one favor, and if I apparently manage to get out of it again, I'll owe you another.' Karma responded with that damn smile growing all the more. 'So? How about it? Or are you going to chicken out like you always do?'

He was certain she was going to adamantly refuse like she usually did, huh?

Ironically she felt like proving him horribly wrong on that front, not to mention she had actually enjoyed having that unquestionable favor up her sleeve before. And as she recalled his foul mood just last night, she decided there was no harm in humoring him if it would entertain enough to prevent his mood worsening again.

'Oh very well.' She remarked as she quickly swiped one of the items from his grip, which ironically was the maid outfit, earning a surprised look in response. 'You can't go back on your word since there are witnesses, Karma~'

'You're not serious, are you?' He questioned in disbelief.

'Sure I am.' She responded. 'To quote what you usually say, "it's not that big a deal".'

There was no response from Karma as she turned to wander off, though there was the odd chuckle from nearby spectators. The legitimate shock across his face as he stared at her disappearing form was enough to make this worth it, but in a twisted sense she did want to see the look on his face when he'd realize she wasn't just going to toss this into a hidden corner of the building and forget about it.

'One size fits most, huh?' Amaya muttered as she flipped the packet over to read the back. 'Eh, it says it'll fit fine...'

If it didn't, she didn't have to wear it.

However, it appeared that the fits most size was more appropriate than she expected, and it fit relatively well with some readjustments. She just wasn't used to how damn short the skirt was, though she was thankful there were at least some leggings included in the kit.

Even if there wasn't, it would still be worth the miniskirt just to see that look of shock written across that jerk's face.

Before long, Amaya reemerged from the changing room with a small huff escaping her as she smoothed the small white apron down.

And immediately, she felt people staring at her as she wandered back out to the classroom.

'Well this is a surprise!' Came Maehara's voice all of a sudden, drawing her gaze away from the notebook and pen she was just about to grab. 'Since when did you like dressing up like a maid, Maya-chan?'

Amaya turned her head to cast a small frown at her friend, who had just come to a halt right next to her as he looked her over from head to toe.

'I don't. It's just to shut Karma up about "earning the classroom more money".' She responded.

'Oh? In that case, you're not done yet!' Maehara remarked with a grin as he grabbed her by the hand and proceeded to drag her away. 'White doesn't go with white!'

'Excuse me--What?!'

'Trust me, it's gonna be fine!'

'I DON'T TRUST PEOPLE WHO JUST TELL ME TO OUT OF THE BLUE!'

'CALM DOWN WOMAN!'

'HELL NO!'

And just like that, Amaya was not only dressed in a Maid Cosplay, but she had eventually relented and allowed Maehara force a remarkably long, cotton-candy pink wig as well, because a white frilly headpiece apparently didn't work with snowy white hair. He finished off with one last glance over before giving her a broad grin and told her to "Slay those Customers", whatever that meant.

It was annoying, but Amaya let it go for that moment.

Realistically, she didn't actually care too much about how she looked, she just didn't like looking like a fool.

She was handed a pen and notebook by a sheepishly smiling Isogai as she wandered out to take over Hayami's work until she got back from break, and within the very instance that she stepped out in the open, she felt eyes immediately fall upon her.

A few of the customers were currently staring at her, and as her presence became noticed by her classmates, their gazes remained fixed upon her in varying mixes of shock and disbelief.

It was uncomfortable, but rather than scowl and storm around in a foul mood, Amaya took a deep breath and wandered to the nearest customer that looked ready to order.

She could tend to customers with a smile and polite mannerisms, even if she was acting. She'd spent the past three years piling on the uncaring delinquent attitude without much trouble, after all. This was just the same, but in the opposite direction.

She could do this.

She didn't even look like the delinquent called Katsuragi Amaya at that moment, anyway.

'Good morning!' Amaya greeted with the most pleasant smile she could manage, which appeared to go over rather well with the middle-aged woman seated before her, who looked up at her as if she were one of the other girls currently tending to customers. 'Were you ready to order, Ma'am?'

'Oh, yes actually.' The woman responded as she looked back down at the menu. 'I'd like one serving of the Spicy Acorn Ramen and a side of Smoked Char.'

'And would you like any of our drink selection with that?'

'Actually, yes, this grape juice here, that's also something you all have made yourselves like the report said, isn't it?' The woman asked.

'Yes, that's correct. All our items are prepared entirely by us.' Amaya agreed.

'Then I'd like a glass of the juice as well, please.'

'Not a problem.' Amaya responded as she quickly jotted down the order, albeit messily. 'I'll pass the order over, and it shouldn't be too long!'

And she finished with a smile before turning to do as she said.

Amaya ignored the rather stunned stares she was receiving from nearby classmates who witnessed the brief exchange, though inwardly she did wonder where Karma had wandered off to. The bastard could handle most people with greater ease than half the class, so she thought he'd be hanging around out here, just like yesterday.

Though beyond that, she focused more on dealing with customers herself than wondering where that boy wandered off to.

The chaos of the mass of customers certainly kept Amaya on her toes.

Half of the time she was quickly walking back and forth carrying orders and dishes over actually taking them, however it appeared that she was receiving at least a noticeable bit of attention by around noon. She could feel eyes upon her as she weaved between classmates, customers and chairs combined with orders, and upon a glance towards the ever-present line of waiting customers, Amaya noticed that these stares just so happened to be from a large portion of males from what may be a neighboring high school of some description.

And for some reason, their stares were making her very uncomfortable.

'Were you waiting to order anything else?' Amaya couldn't help but ask as she paused in her steps by their table, which seemed to make the more shy members of the table flinch and glance away furtively.

'Y-yes! We have orders!' One of the boys answered, though Amaya found herself inwardly sighing as she noted the tables were loaded with bowls of sides that looked freshly made. 'Can you come back soon?'

She tried to ignore the suspicious emphasis on the word "you", but that was harder than she thought possible.

'Of course.' She agreed as she readjusted her grip of the stack of dishes. 'I'll be right back.

Oh well, that just meant they were going to be making a bit more money off of those boys.

Her return back to their table was met with what looked to be flushed faces and rather questionable smiles, though she pretended she hadn't noticed it.

'Right, what else did you want to order from our menu?' Amaya questioned as she retrieved her notebook and pen from the front pocket of her apron. 'Was that more sides? Or some drinks to go with your order?'

'U-umm! Drinks sound good!' One of the shy boys managed to yelp out.

Okay... these guys didn't really even want anything more from the menu right now.

'Alright, how many drinks would that be?' Amaya asked.

However, as the group of boys seemed to exchange whispered conversation as they pulled out their wallets to check their funds, a passing Nakamura on a dishes run paused briefly at Amaya's side.

'Try and empty their wallets, Amaya-san. A little skin goes a long way!' The blonde instructed her, which didn't hesitate to cause Amaya to practically round on the girl in horror.

'What in gods name are you telling me to do?!' She practically snapped, startling not only a nearby Nagisa, but the group of boys she was currently tending to. However, as she realized her mistake and tried to remedy it as quickly as possible, Amaya was surprised instead by the looks of awe that had spread across the faces of all six boys.

'S-say, Miss.' The larger, more confident of the group began as he lifted a hand to readjust his glasses for a second. 'You wouldn't happen to be a Tsundere, would you?'

'A tsunde-what now?' Amaya bluntly questioned.

'She is!' Nakamura announced with a chuckle as she continued on her way. 'She's as natural a Tsundere as the sky is blue!'

'Nakamura-san!' Nagisa exclaimed in horror.

'A natural tsundere maid?!' The short, rather squat guy at the table gasped out in shock. 'C-can I get a photo taken with you?!'

'Excuse me, what?' Amaya gaped.

'Me too!' Another of the high-school guys added.

'I'm third!' A nearby one exclaimed.

'You're kidding, right?!'

However as another from a completely different set of tables demanded that he be fourth in line, Amaya found herself realizing that they really weren't joking at all.

And it was so alien to her that it was actually creepy.

'If you would like a photo taken with our token maid, I believe we can come to a compromise.' Came Takebayashi's comment, causing the perturbed girl to practically flinch as the male customers all turned their attention to him. 'As I'm sure you're aware that Maid Cafe's all charge for a maid to have their picture taken, or it is otherwise included as part of the customer loyalty program, and here is no difference.'

'How much are you charging?' One of the customers questioned after a brief pause.

'One Hundred yen per picture is what we're charging.' A rather calculating glint crossed the bespectacled boy's face as he straightened up at Amaya's side. 'I believe as fellow Maid Cafe frequenters, you will find that price more than fair.'

As the group of photo-requesting boys seemed to mull over the information provided, Amaya took the moment to cast a rather horrified look at Takebayashi, who merely smiled in response.

The horror across Amaya's face increased by ten-fold as the first of the boys procured three hundred yen and promptly handed it and his cell phone to Takebayashi.

'Very well. Three pictures it is.' The class otaku confirmed. 'I ask that you maintain a courteous attitude and refrain from touching Amaya-san as much as possible. She is fiercely protective of her personal space.'

Protective is right, but what exactly did Takabayashi expect these guys to do?

And why did they suddenly look so disappointed?!

Needless to say, Takebayashi ushered Amaya off to the side away from the tables and other customers, where she had to stand with as natural a smile as she could manage while the boy who'd paid for pictures posed with her for them. It was possibly one of the most uncomfortable endeavors she had undertaken, and what made it worse was the way that each of the boys seemed to want to put an arm around her shoulders in their pictures.

In fact, one of them had made a grab for her backside, which was cut immediately short as a passing Maehara clasped a hand to the boy's shoulder and told him to remove his hand from her general vicinity lest he wanted to give her "boyfriend" reason to come after him with a vengeance.

Of course, that didn't stop the next boy, or the one after that, and all Amaya wanted to do was curl up under a rock somewhere to hide. Now that she was roped straight into an impromptu photo shoot, she regretted even agreeing to Karma's taunting suggestion of cosplay today, even moreso as she consciously realized that she hadn't once seen him at all since she'd agreed in the first palce.

Needless to say, hell continued in such a trend for what felt like hours until finally, all the photographs were taken and the remarkably larger group of seventeen odd boys were gone from the classroom clearing.

And Amaya was exhausted.

'That was some excellent work, Amaya-san.' Takebayashi piped up as he looked over the so called "earnings" from the impromptu photographs. 'We managed to squeeze some extra earnings surprisingly well.'

'I have a damn problem with the fact that you exploited me to make more money!' Amaya grumbled half-heartedly.

'But thanks to that, we made an extra ten thousand yen for the classroom total.' Takebayashi countered.

'Make that ten thousand, one hundred yen, Takebayashi.' Maehara suddenly interrupted from behind as he handed Takebayashi his phone. 'It's my turn for a picture with Maya-chan, after all!'

'Are you serious?' Amaya huffed.

'Trust me, it'll be good! I'll even send a copy to you!' Maehara added as he cast her a bright grin.

'Like hell it will.' She muttered.

But she humored him none the less.

A faint, albeit weary smile spread across Amaya's face as Maehara stepped close to her, with his arm closest wrapping around her shoulders to pull her close. She hadn't failed to notice that the playboy had subtly shuffled the two of them around so that the classroom itself was in the background of the picture, and Takebayashi promptly pressed 'capture' at least three times in the end.

'That was more than one!' Amaya complained as a rather pleased looking Takebayashi handed the phone back to Maehara.

'Friend privileges!' Maehara announced cheekily, though Amaya wasn't amused. 'And ... yes! You will definitely like a copy of these!'

'I'm over pictures, damn it!'

'Really?' Maehara asked with a rather evil grin appearing right across his face. 'Tell me that after you've looked at this!'

'I'd actually suggest running, Maehara.' Takebayashi commented with a chuckle as he turned to head back to his job at the main counter.

'If I was chicken, I probably would.'

'What the hell are you even going on about?' Amaya muttered.

And within an instance, Maehara handed her his phone to find a photograph showing brightly across the screen.

There Amaya could see herself and Maehara at the forefront of the picture, and for once she looked somewhat decent in a photograph. However, as she stared down at the picture in an attempt at figuring out exactly why Maehara was so pleased with the picture, she found herself realizing that there was a particular mop of red in the background right near the classroom door. And as she carefully zoomed in on the obvious presence of Karma in the picture, a rather shocked look actually spread across her face as she saw that the said boy was seeming to glare right at Maehara.

'I'll send that to you later, Maya-chan!' Maehara said as he carefully eased the phone out of her grip. 'Now I really do have to go before the jealousy ends up murdering me!'

And before Amaya even realized what was going on, Maehara was gone, and a tiny smile didn't fail to spread right across her face.

Jealous, huh?

What was there to be jealous of to begin with?

'Amaya-san!' Kayano called out across the classroom clearing, drawing Amaya's attention with in an instance. 'Are you busy?'

Busy? No, she was standing here doing nothing like an absolute idiot. But she guessed the petite greenette hadn't found her just yet.

'Not really! You need me to get back to work?' Amaya called back as she wandered back up towards the classroom.

It was at that moment that Kayano's face popped out from among a group of standing customers, and the girl looked surprisingly relieved.

'Kind of? Maybe? I really don't know!' The greenette hedged, sheepishly. 'I don't know what the man wants, but all I understood was that he knows your name.'

'Oh no. Where?' Amaya groaned.

And without a moment's hesitation, Kayano motioned hesitantly towards the opposite side of the makeshift eatery, where a surprisingly older man lifted a hand in greeting as she turned her head to look at him.

Wait... she actually recognized that man.

But how the hell was he even here?!

Amaya quickly stepped around customers and tables aside, ignoring the glances she received from classmates as she quickly passed them by.

The tall, kindly smiling man waited patiently for her, with his short, mousy brown hair combed neatly and his sleepy blue eyes framed by oval-lens spectacles. He was dressed in exactly the same sort of clothes as when she had met him, from the black dress pants to the white button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled lazily to the elbows, however unlike the last time she saw the man, he had a suit jacket folded over one arm, and a rather hefty looking briefcase hanging from his other hand.

She had only met the man once, and heard his name only a few instances at the time, but the events of that span of time was ingrained so clearly in the back of her mind that she was sure she would never forget him, even if she tried.

'Hello, Amaya.' Heinrich spoke softly as soon as Amaya had slowed to a halt before him, with his smile broadening enough to bring out the crows feet in the corners of his eyes. 'I'm sorry if my sudden arrival startled you.'

'Startled? Umm, no, more like surprised.' Amaya responded carefully. 'What brings you to Japan all of a sudden?'

'My travels aren't by whim. I have actually been looking for you.' Heinrich corrected her with a smile.

He had? What on earth for?

'How did you know I was even here? Not umm, here in Japan I mean, but here on this mountain?'

There was no hesitance or confusion present across Heinrich's face as he promptly lifted his cell from the front pocket of his button-up shirt and tapped away for a few seconds, before turning the screen towards her. There, was a photograph of the campus from that site run by the acquaintance of Nagisa's, where in the background, Amaya could be seen sitting with her three siblings off in the corner, just before those Assassins had come pouring into the clearing.

Oh. That made perfect sense.

However, the fact that Heinrich had found her purely because of a photograph on a gourmet's food blog did not bode well for her, and her concerns over Hayashi's warnings.

But then, as that very thought crossed her mind, Amaya found herself coming to a rather startling speculation.

'Wait, how long have you been looking for me?' She couldn't help but ask the smiling man, who simply returned his phone to his pocket.

'For the larger part of two months, now.' Heinrich answered simply, though Amaya was stunned to silence. 'It's been rather difficult, considering that even now, I can speak very little Japanese, and I can't read it. I have had to rely on others to help me search. The local delinquent youth apparently become quite cagey the very moment your name is mentioned.'

At that very instance, Amaya recalled the description of one lone "searcher" Hayashi had provided her, of a man of foreign nature unable to speak Japanese, with glasses and otherwise plain appearances, which wad a dead ringer for the man standing before her.

Words could not hope to even describe just how relieved she was to learn that, and in fact she visibly relaxed with a smile spreading right across her face.

'Oh. That's actually my fault.' Amaya responded as she let out a rather awkward chuckle. 'They owed me a few favors, and I've asked them to keep an eye out for people looking for me... umm, in case they're ... well, you know...'

'Mm, Genivierre did mention that you are particularly resourceful when it suits you.' Heinrich agreed.

Unfortunately, his mention of the departed woman had wiped the smile clean from Amaya's face.

'She did, huh...?' She let out a trembling breath as she tried to shake herself out of the stunned stupor she found herself within. 'I, umm... do you know that... well, that she...'

'I know what happened to her.' The man spoke up to silence Amaya's struggling words, causing the girl to lower her gaze to the ground furtively. 'She asked me to come search for you in such an event, which is why I am here.'

A shaky incline of the head was all that escaped Amaya at first, though her hands tightened considerably around the notepad in her grip.

'I... see.' She hedged as she took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. 'Well... before that, can... was there anything that you'd like? A drink or something to eat...?'

'Whatever you recommend from the beverages will be fine.' Heinrich answered with a small smile.

Amaya nodded briefly as she glanced back towards the classroom.

'Okay... I'll umm...' A small sigh escaped her as she glanced around at the rather populated clearing furtively. 'God, there's too many people here, and not enough chairs or anything...'

'I have no qualms with sitting on the forest floor, Amaya.' Heinrich commented, earning a startled look from the girl within an instance. 'I work as an outdoor photographer by profession, after all.'

That... made sense.

'Th-then I'll be right back...' Amaya responded, before she began to quickly head towards the door of the classroom building.

Amaya had no idea what the look across her face was, or even if anyone had noticed her discord, but it was the last thing on her mind right now. She didn't spare anyone a glance, didn't even pause to wonder just which number of customers were suspicious or familiar, and she didn't respond to the faint sound of her name being called from one of the girls tending to the other customers.

Instead, she walked straight inside, veering towards the makeshift kitchens as her thoughts whirled in endless circles inside her head.

'Oh, Amaya-san!' Kataoka's voice greeted her as she paused at the front-most door of the classroom, catching her immediate attention. 'Kayano-san mentioned a Customer was looking for you. Did you manage to find them?'

Wordlessly, Amaya nodded as she lifted a hand to passage her temples briefly; It felt like she was starting to develop a bit of a headache.

'About that, I umm... need to step out for a while.' Amaya mumbled as she glanced over the others still working hard in the room. 'I don't know how long I'll be...'

'Really? Is something wrong?'

'No, but umm... can I talk to you for a minute, actually?' Amaya hedged, inwardly cringing as she noticed that some of the others were starting to look over curiously. 'Alone?'

Kataoka didn't appear to need asking twice; Within an instance she waved Hara over to take over the task of dishing up the stewed mountain vegetables to go with the ramen before she stepped out of the classroom and slid the door securely shut behind her.

'What did you want to talk to me about?' The class rep questioned with an undeniable edge of confusion dancing in her gaze.

Amaya hesitated at first, struggling to figure out just how exactly she was going to word this without being excessively impolite, and divulging too much information.

'It's about the customer who's asked for me.' Amaya hedged, her gaze inadvertently dropping to her hands wringing in front of her as she struggled with words. 'Look, I umm, know what everyone in class is like, and I know this is going to be hard, but... could you please try to keep anyone from eavesdropping on us? It's really important for me that it's left alone?'

'Amaya-san, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but you're starting to sound like Okuda-san right now.' Kataoka joked, though otherwise she was actually quite serious. 'Is he here to talk to you about some personal stuff?'

Amaya hesitated, before she took a breath and forced herself to speak.

'You've... met my father, right?' She hedged, wringing her hands tightly as she dared a glance at Kataoka's face and found the girl appeared quite confused. 'Back at Okinawa...'

Within an instance it seemed, Kataoka's confusion was quickly replaced with such a grim look of understanding that Amaya was almost startled by it.

'Oh. Yes, unfortunately I have.' She agreed, seriously. 'Is this to do with that?'

Amaya wanted to say no, and that this was a completely different matter, but she really couldn't.

So Amaya nodded, and hoped that was all the answer she needed on the matter.

'Okay, I understand.' Kataoka said as she cast a glance back towards the others in the classroom. 'I'll tell Isogai-kun and Maehara-kun to help keep everyone away until you're back.'

'Thanks...' Amaya mumbled as she edged towards the classroom door. 'I just need to get a couple things and I'll--'

'I'll get it, don't worry.' Kataoka cut in quickly as she cast Amaya a reassuring smile. 'Just something to drink, right?'

'...Yeah.'

Without a word, Kataoka dashed straight inside and scooped up two of the multiple plastic cups of juice Kurahashi had just poured for orders before returning to hand them straight to Amaya.

'Take as long as you need, Amaya-san.'

Amaya managed a brief nod and left to head outside, in spite of the watching gazes from within the classroom.

Out in the clearing, Heinrich was still waiting just where she had left him, and the customers pouring into the clearing appeared to be slowing, it seemed. The end of the queue was within sight, but she didn't doubt other stragglers would arrive before long. After all, she didn't know if Daniel and Isshin had been yet, because she had been so horribly busy all day.

Needless to say, for just after 3pm, Amaya was already tired and well over the day as it was.

No words or exchange was shared as Amaya caught up to Heinrich and began to lead the way around the side of the classroom building, towards the cliffs, where she at least hoped nobody would happen upon their conversation. Heinrich followed along after her with no care or concern, it appeared, though Amaya was too lost in her own thoughts to truly pay too much mind to him.

They eventually reached a location a comfortable enough distance away outside of view of the classroom itself, and before Amaya could even really say anything to the German man following along, he sat down on the ground and motioned for her to take a seat.

Well, Amaya wasn't in any position to argue, so she carefully knelt down on the grassy ground opposite him and inwardly cursed the maid costume she was wearing at that moment.

There were a myriad of questions just threatening to leap out past her lips at any second, so many questions that went unanswered the instance she was saved from Katsuragi Toji's grasp back in that Berlin alleyway. She wanted to know why Heinrich had come, why Genivierre had asked him to track her down as if she knew everything was going to happen the way it did.

But she kept her mouth shut and waited for Heinrich to begin, to the best of her abilities.

Heinrich set his briefcase on the ground in front of him, straightening out his suit jacket before he lifted his head to cast her a steady gaze. It was perhaps one of the most awkward few minutes she had spent in silence, but before she would have cracked from the strain, Heinrich finally decided to speak.

'Well, I must admit you appear in far better health than when I met you.' He remarked with a gentle smile. 'But I should get to the matter at hand. This is not a visit with pleasantries at its core.'

No... nothing about the events at Berlin was pleasant.

'R-right... then--'

Heinrich however held a hand up to quickly halt her words, before tapping his ear twice and then signing in a brief motion to their surroundings. Most particularly, right behind Amaya.

It surprised her, but she got the message with immediate effect; Their conversation wasn't being held unheard.

A wave of agitation washed over Amaya as she struggled to remain motionless in her spot on the forest ground, with nothing more than trembling hands and a shaky breath to show for her efforts as the faint hint of rustling leaves behind her came to her ears.

Why couldn't these stupid children just learn from their fucking mistakes?!

However, just before Amaya would have cracked and risen to her feet to hurl abuse at the eavesdroppers just on the other side of the bushes behind her, Heinrich cast her a discrete wink before he continued.

'Yes, that's why the Chairman has sent me here to check in with you in person.' Heinrich remarked, catching Amaya's immediate attention with little effort. 'I've been informed that you visited the campus over the last half of August with your guardian but due to familial circumstances, your visit had to be cut remarkably short. Is this correct?'

Amaya gingerly nodded, barely managing to read between the words of Heinrich's cover-up.

'Yeah, it was kind of out of my hands at the time... I was back here before I even knew what was going on.' She hedged, guessing that this was going to turn into a makeshift cover-story about another school, of some sort. And while she instinctively linked the term guardian to Shigure on any other day, she was quite certain that it was actually in reference to Genivierre, more directly. 'I mean, I still want to go. I'd rather drop out of school than be in this classroom with the bulk of the students here, in any case.'

'I see.' Heinrich responded as he popped open his briefcase to peruse its contents. 'I expect it's due to your familial circumstances that your plans to move to Berlin have been overturned at the present moment?'

'Yeah, well... for the most part. I was going to ask my uncle to send me over just a few weeks ago, but I wound up in hospital before I could even broach the subject.'

The faint hint of a gasp from the other side of the bushes didn't fail to come to Amaya's notice, though she was too irritated to be surprised by it. It at least gave her a clear indication that the makeshift cover-story was working.

'I see. Well, rather than having me inadequately explain the full scholarship offer we have for you, I will leave it to this letter from the Chairman personally to fill you in.' Heinrich continued, before he handed a rather weighty envelope over to Amaya. 'Please, take your time.'

Okay, so both "guardian" and "chairman" were replacements for Genivierre's name all the same.

That made it easier to follow.

Somewhere in the distance, Amaya thought she heard Maehara's irritated voice shout demands for someone to get back to work, but her thoughts and attention was immediately upon the letter held in her trembling hands.

Amaya took in a shaky breath as she turned the heavy, unmarked envelope over in her hands, before she carefully eased it open and pulled out a rather thick stack of paper on the inside. What Amaya immediately recognized to be Genivierre's rigid and uniform handwriting stood out clearly across the front. Faint smears of rust coloured fingerprints marred the otherwise pristine pages, and the stench of blood and medicated gauze seeped from the pages, painting a vivid and painful reminder of the last she had seen the woman alive.

To dearest Amaya.

If this letter reaches you in Heinrich's hands, then whether to your knowledge or otherwise, I will already be dead. And while knowing your nature and upbringing to such a close extent, I am fully aware that had my passing come before your eyes, you will undoubtedly be holding yourself to blame for it just as you still do the passing of your mother.

At the time I am writing this letter, Heinrich is tending to your injuries on my behalf shortly after the fiasco at the terminal, and in just a few hours, I will attempt to get you to a safe house within the Black Forest, where I will then attempt to have you returned back to Japan at the soonest possible opportunity. I currently don't know how successful this will be, however I have made many arrangements to ensure at the very least, that you and Samuel are plucked out of Toji's grasp as quick and painless as possible.

Wherever along the line this letter has reached you, I hold no doubt in my mind that you are as safe as you can possibly be when taking your father's umbrella of influence into account.

This letter serves as a testament to my hopes and wishes, a final letter of departure in the middle of the madness that is of Katsuragi Toji's creation. And through this, all my knowledge falls to you.

Along with this letter, Heinrich has been instructed to give you three things;

The first is the original copy of all my record papers and books pertaining to the long-standing experiment line that is of your father's creation.

These records branch from the very moment I was "hired" by your father to work for him to my final days under his spiteful control. In forewarning, this also includes family information on all subjects, their purposes, and all the specifics into their treatment until their death. This also includes those of your siblings undoubtedly now within your care, and yourself. How you use them is entirely up to your own discretion. My own well-being is of no consequence anymore.

The second is all the information I can provide on your father, on his personality and the events that have lead him to becoming the way he is.

While you have never known, but possibly suspected, he has never been the monster he has been for your whole life. I met him once when he was your own age, and although his personality had been painfully withdrawn, and surly at best, he was as protective of his sister as you are to your own siblings. The information is disclosed in another envelope, one of which you will be provided shortly.

And finally, while this will be bittersweet, I leave to you the remaining belongings that exist under my name.

I have no children, no siblings or family to call my own, and my parents have long since left this world. As such I have made arrangements for everything to be forwarded onto you, the sole being who exists closest to my heart, when you are of legal age to control it as you see fit. The last of what I own does not entail an expansive property such as the inheritance from your mother, nor the heir-ship of a corrupted island resort should your eldest uncle come to pass before his time. However, I feel you will find far greater use for what I leave to you, when the time comes for you to be granted it.

In retrospect, even with nothing more to offer, I feel that there is nothing that could ever make up for the damage that has been caused. There will never be anything that could hope to make up for how crippled your life has been, and will continue to be even upon the conclusion of Katsuragi Toji's fate. Blessings all others take for granted have been ripped from your life before you could even hope for them, and that alone is a sin that will forever be ingrained in my very soul. The only gift I can offer beyond what I have already outlined is the promise that arrangements have been made, and your father's freedom will be addressed, with or without Shigure's cooperation.

This will be the end, and even beyond death, I will ensure that Toji will never take anything else away from you.

Eternally in servitude,

Genivierre Bosconavic.

The trembling of Amaya's breath was the only sound that echoed against the crinkling of the many pages of the letter held in her shaky hands. The painful knot that had appeared in her chest continue to tighten as her wide eyes stared listlessly at the eloquently written message within her very hands.

Until finally, she lowered the letter to her lap and lifted her head to look back up at Heinrich's form seated before her.

She had completely forgotten about the eavesdropper or two prowling about, and she had completely forgotten about the cover story Heinrich had strung together to throw them off their real discussion.

Instead, she found herself painfully mute as the words evaded her grasp.

No words were spoken as Heinrich next lifted a hefty carybag from within his briefcase filled with the journals and notebooks Genivierre had mentioned in her letter, nor did he speak as he then passed her three further envelopes, each of which were labeled in Genivierre's own writing.

There was nothing that needed to be said, nor was there anything left to be said.

As Heinrich carefully closed the now emptied briefcase silently, tears spilled down the sides of Amaya's face as she clutched the letter in her hands to her chest.

'Thank you.' She choked out to the mysterious man, who merely cast her a smile in farewell, before he picked himself back to his feet, and left her to pull herself back together again.

Clutching the final farewell in her arms, Amaya wept in the forest, alone.

---=[Authors Note]=---

Ah well, here we are with another chapter lol. Did you guys forget all about Heinrich? I bet most of you did lolol. Hope you all enjoyed the extremely long read, and I'll try to get the next chapter out soon, though chances are it's going to be another Opal Wings or Carnivore Chapter. Oh, in case you're not aware of their existence, I have two small side projects on my account here. Opal Wings is an Akagami no Shirayukihime! Fanfic, and Carnivore is a Boku no Hero Academia Fanfic. Both only have eleven and five chapters respectively as of today, and their chapters won't reach anywhere near to the extent that Marionette is, but if you're interested in giving them a glance-over, then feel free :) They might seem a little aimless, but there is plot behind the scenes.

Anyways, I actually have a favor to ask of some people reading this (And please only those who are legitimately interested in actually helping me with this for real). In my throw-together book that gives a brief rundown of what to expect in my work and dealing with me as a user (formerly "beginners guide to coexisting with your internet penguin") I would like to incorporate a few legitimate reviews from a few people who have been around to get an idea of me as a writer. Umm, it doesn't have to be long but I feel it would help ease the whole plague of messages I receive demanding update schedules and all that other stuff that you all probably already know my reasons for not doing. And it would help new readers who don't consider that they might be about to step into a theoretical minefield by commenting before they read, or whatever else they do.

The review doesn't have to be specific or long or short or anything, just whatever's comfortable for you with a couple pro's and a couple con's you've found with me as a writer, which will be put in the book with your username attached to it. Like seriously, I'm not after glowing praise to throw around or anything, I'm after legitimate feedback on my writing and dealing with me that new readers can use as a guide to whether they want to read my work or not.

Anyways, all good if nobody does, but I figured this would be more beneficial for multiple people than just me.

In any case, our translation notes are as follows:

O wakare no tegami - This translates roughly as Farewell Letter, which is written as お別れの手紙, if I'm not mistaken.

All the best, guys~!

<3 Loki-Roki