"So far, she's done... Nothing, nothing, and...nothing."

They were all in class, forcing themselves not to pay attention as they watched Saiko and Akuma. Saiko was absentmindedly playing with her hair, while Akuma was focused on the lesson itself. Phoenix had volunteered to watch Saiko, and the Afterlife Academy Angels went along with her.

"Have some patience, Allegra!" Phoenix scolded, a stern look on her face. Upon seeing Allegra's subdued and sad reaction, Phoenix sighed and took a deep breath. "Sorry. I'm just...bored, and worried."

"Worried? Why are you worried?" Lydia questioned, worried for Phoenix. Once again, she was practically on top of Phoenix, only separated by a margin. "Do I need to obliterate someone?"

"What? No!" Phoenix shook her head from side to side. "I'm worried that something will happen to Saiko. I know nothing has happened yet, but Akuma is always unpredictable."

"No need to worry. We're all here," Celeste reminded the leader of the team. "I'm a world famous dancer, I doubt Akuma would mess with me."

"...Hasn't stopped her before," Viola muttered quietly, and Allegra snickered from beside the magenta haired girl. Celeste turned around and glared at Allegra, but didn't scold Viola.

"Jealous?"

"Not quite. I'm aware I can dance pretty well,"Allegra retorted with a fierce look in her eyes. "I don't need to remind people every five seconds to feel good about myself."

"Take rhat back right now-"

"Stop fighting!" Phoenix interrupted, a furious look on her face as she scolded her poms squad. They all  stopped speaking, a remorseful look on their faces as they were scolded by Phoenix. "We are here to make sure Saiko isn't associating herself with Akuma, and to protect her! We don't need to argue!"

"Sorry," They all murmured simultaneously. Phoenix sighed again, and turned back towards Saiko...except a certain red haired demon was now at Saiko's desk.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"Your friends are now staring at me," Akuma mused as she stood over Saiko's desk. Weirdly enough, her uniform was now buttoned to cover up more of her chest, probably because of Saiko's remark. "They think they're stealthy, don't they?"

"Saiko's not sure," Saiko happily played with the eraser on her desk. "So, why did Akuma come over to play? Was she bored?"

"Akuma...? Is that what you call me?" The red haired female snickered. She tapped her fingers lightly on the desk as Phoenix stared her down. "I might be forced to harm them if they bother me further."

"Please don't. They're really nice people," Saiko pleaded innocently with a doe eyed look in her blue eyes. "They are just overprotective!"

"Overprotective? Why?"

"They think you might hurt Saiko," Saiko inadvertently and innocently spilled the reason why they were watching Akuma. "But Saiko knows better!"

"Hurt you...? I would never hurt you....Although I should be the one worried that you'll hurt me."

"W-What? Why?" Saiko was confused as to why Akuma looked so upset. "Saiko would never hurt you! Akuma is friendly to her! Saiko wishes Akuma wouldn't hurt everyone else though..."

"You've already hurt me way more than you think," Akuma said quietly, a remorseful look on her face. "Even if you don't remember it."

"Saiko doesn't...remember it..? What?"

"Alright, let's go Saiko!" Phoenix approached the desk where Saiko sat with a protective look on her face. Behind her stood the rest of the poms squad, looking mighty determined. It might have been Saiko's imagination, but she swore she saw Phoenix's hair flare brighter.

"Okay!" Saiko stood from her desk, blissfully unaware of Akuma's deadly glare towards Phoenix and the rest of the crew. "Goodbye, Akuma!"

They strode away, leaving Akuma alone. Once they had gone to the corridor, the group immediately began to worry.

"Are you alright?" Phoenix protectively glanced at Saiko. "I know she didn't physically harm you, but she wasn't mean, was she? We couldn't really hear..."

"Nope! Akuma was nice to Saiko!"

The Afterlife Academy Angels all glanced at each other tensely.

"...I'm going to have to tell Akinari," Phoenix sighed pensively. "Come on. Let's go report back."

"Following you!"

hey everyone! been a long time...last time i updated was may! so sorry about that.

sorry it's short, i'll write more on the plane.

question of the chapter: who do you wanna see more of?

thanks for reading!