Ayano was tired out from the all the hard work she had done. All the sneaking around, alongside the "studying", and somehow her grades were slipping.

She sighed, deciding to take 2 weeks to improve her grades, and then after that she would confess to Senpai. She was quite confident enough yet, but she realised if she could kill in the name of love, she could tell Senpai how she felt.

Except, she got another message.

Info-Chan: Just warning you. Senpai's little sister, Hanako is joining the school. She's very attached to her brother. It borders on creepy. She doesn't want him to get a girlfriend... you'll have to put a stop to that if you don't want her to convince him.

Ayano sighed. Anything she did would directly affect Senpai - it's his little sister, for God's sake. Expelling seemed out of the question; it wouldn't really matter when they see each other every day anyway. She wondered if Hanako had any problems she needed help with. That if she helped her, she'd approve of her for her brother.

That Monday, Ayano found Hanako quickly, hanging on the arm of her brother. She decided if this was going to be her sister in law one day she would have to make a good impression.

She waited until Senpai left her alone for a few seconds, and immediately went to talk to her.

"Hey! Are you new?"

"Yeah! My older brother attends here, and I wanted to come join him. I'm Hanako, nice to meet you!"

"I'm Ayano. Hey, why don't you come hang out with us?" she motioned over to where the popular kids were hanging out.

"Well... I'm waiting for Taro, but I'll come say hi to everyone!"

Ayano brought her over to her friends. Hina looked up.

"Oh, hi! I'm Hina, nice to meet you."

"I know you! You're like, my favourite model. You are so beautiful." Hanako said. "I wish I had your bone structure."

"Oh, how sweet, thanks." Hina said, returning to her phone.

"This is Budo, leader of martial arts club."

Budo smiled at her. "It's great to meet you. You'll love it here at Akademi. You should check out the clubs when you get the chance."

"Oh, thank you. I will."

"This is Akane, student council."

"It's so lovely to meet you. I promise everyone here will do their best to help you feel welcome. You're free to sit with us at any time. And if you have any questions at all, look out for us in the white uniforms, we'll be happy to help you." Akane smiled.

Uekiya nodded. "Yep. I'm Uekiya, I run the gardening club. If you just want somewhere to relax and enjoy the outdoors, I'm sure you'd love our club. And again, if you need anything at all, you can come to me."

"Wow, thank you, guys! You're all so nice. Anyone I should stay away from?" Hanako asked.

"Well, I shouldn't gossip, but there's some blonde girls with different coloured highlights. They can have a bit of a nasty streak. I'd be wary of them. There was some issues with delinquents, but they actually just recently got expelled. I can't think of anyone else who you might want to avoid." Akane said. "If anyone gives you grief, come let me know. We'll sort it out."

She nodded. "Thank you guys. I'd better get back to my brother. It was nice meeting you!"

"Bye!" Akane said. Uekiya waved, Budo nodded, and Hina smiled at her as she walked off.

"Ayano, who was that?" Budo asked.

"New student. Thought I'd introduce her."

Hina looked at Ayano and caught her eye. "Isn't that Taro's little sister?"

"Oh, Yamada? I thought he made her up to get out of that party."

Hina smiled at Ayano, who looked down so they wouldn't see her blush.

"How old is she? She looks like a 12 year old." Akane asked. "Like, no offence. She seems sweet. But she looks way too young to be here."

"Well, Taro's in his last year, and he's 19. She'll be 18." Uekiya said.

"No way. She's 15, max." Budo shook his head.

"She probably just has a baby face. Anyway, I say we let her hang out with us. She seems really nice. And that's like, our only requirement."

"We have requirements? Since when?" Akane said. "It's hardly like we're a club. Speaking of clubs, I literally left all my pens at home today."

"What does that have to do with clubs?" Budo asked.

"Nothing. I just remembered then and couldn't think of a segue."

There was a silence. "How did you ever get in the student council?" Hina shook her head and laughed.

Ayano spotted Hanako walking from her brother to take a call.

"I'm just going to the bathroom. Be right back." she said.

"Go piss, girl!" Hina called after her.

Ayano listened into Hanako's phone conversation.

"Look, please just give me some more time. I'll pay you back, I promise. Just give me, like 2 weeks.... 1 week? Or you'll... do something bad? Oh... oh, okay... okay, I'll get it to you. Okay. Bye." Hanako ended the call Ayano looked at her fearful face. She almost felt pity.

She made a note asking her to meet her on the roof that lunchtime.

She returned to the table.

"Good piss, Ayano?" Uekiya asked.

"Oh, yeah."

Budo shook his head. "You guys are so fucking weird."

That lunchtime, Ayano met Hanako on the roof.

"Oh, Ayano. Hi. You wanted to speak?"

"Yeah. Hey, sorry, I overheard your conversation on the phone earlier and I wanted to check everything was okay."

Hanako frowned. "Well... basically... a few weeks ago, I was with my friends, and I was... kinda drunk. I made a mistake, bought some drugs from a guy, and told him I'd pay him back. I don't have the money to pay him back, and now he's threatening me, and..."

Ayano took her hand. "It's okay. I'll get you the money."

"I can't let you do that, Ayano..."

"Don't worry, Hanako. I'll get you it by tomorrow."

"Then you have to let me pay you back."

She shook her head. "No. If you let me do this, there is one thing I'd like you to do. But we'll discuss that tomorrow."

Hanako nodded. "Okay. Thank you. So much."

That night, Ayano gathered her money. She had been earning by working at the local maid cafe, and she had also been left some cash by her parents. She had more than what Hanako needed, so she gathered it in an envelope, and asked her to come to her house the next morning.

Hanako let herself in the next morning.

"Hi, Ayano. I love your house, it's so nice."

"Thank you. Here's the money."

Hanako took the envelope, and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, Ayano, I could kiss you. Thank you so much." she threw her arms around her. "You are the kindest soul I've met."

"Let's sit down. I just have one thing I ask of you."

Hanako sat down. "There's not much I wouldn't do for you now." she smiled.

Ayano sat. "Your brother, Taro. Look, I'm aware you're opposed to the thought of him getting into a relationship, but... but I have deep feelings for him. And if you'd let me have my chance, I would... I would be so grateful."

Hanako thought for a moment. "Well... if anyone was going to get in a relationship with my brother, I always wanted it to be Osana. But she's not here now. Well... you're a good person. You have my approval. You can try to win his love. Which won't be hard. He's really quite a pushover."

Ayano smiled. "Thank you, Hanako. Please, come round for tea at any time."

And the two girls walked to school together.