Korolev Senior Secondary. Approximately 0740 hours.

“Kato, I wanna sleep~”

Teto grabbed Kato from behind as she laid her head on his back and closed her eyes.

“No, Teto. Stay awake. There, there.”

Kato brought his sister to his side, tucked her underneath his arm and patted her head. He himself was not a morning person, so it was only natural that his sister was not one either. Usually, though, Teto handles mornings better than Kato.

They were leaning on their lockers, idling there, while people were slowly trickling into the atrium and filling in the open space with chatter. Kato had already equipped himself with the radio set and had his earphones in. Teto too had a radio set, but she also held onto her bag with a portable camcorder in it.

“It’s been more than thirty minutes since we idled here, but let’s stay strong. We might take action today.”

Kato reassured his tired little sister and kissed her forehead. Teto let out a cute sound as he did so, and turned around to wrap her arms around him. To any unsuspecting onlookers, they looked like a couple who didn’t care about showing public displays of affection. Even to suspecting onlookers who knew who they were, it was just as aggravating and embarrassing to see, no matter how many times this happens.

“That was a very wholesome view from up here.”

Eon commented over the radio as he leaned over the second floor railings with a pair of binoculars. As the mastermind of the operation, he was idling on the upper level, overlooking the atrium below.

“C’mon guys, just ignore those two. I’m on sentry duty so it’s really boring here, but I don’t want to hear any of that.”

“Yeah, just ignore them and talk about something else.”

Franco and Caius’s voices also came over the radio. Franco was sitting on the wide steps outside of the main entrance of the school, schoolbag and notebook in hand. The main entrance to the building was very wide, almost as wide as a vehicle road, and multiple glass doors lined it that led right into the atrium. Sitting down on a far side of the steps, Franco watched on as people flowed into the school. Caius, like Eon, was a non-combatant, so his role was lying in wait in the faculty staff room with Sisi next to him.

“Well, we can’t expect something incriminating to happen every day. Today’s vigilance can very well end up as a dud, and we try again tomorrow.”

Evie said with her usual calm voice over the comms. Evie was situated on the ground floor along with her siblings too, but was squatting behind the steps of the spiral staircase instead. From the spiral staircase’s vantage point, the main entrances on one side, the classrooms on the opposing side, and the four corridors on both ends of the atrium were within her vision.

“Only a half hour to go, boys and girls. Let’s go!”

A sweet voice rang through the open channel. It was no doubt Mirabelle’s, and it was her first time speaking into the channel today, surprising the people listening. Mirabelle didn’t join them in the morning, so they assumed that she was not observing them today.

“Mira, you’re watching us, then? Where are you?”

“Student council room. Not watching in detail, just observing.”

“Attention all. Yui is entering the school grounds.”

Franco interrupted the idle chit-chat between Evie and Mira. There was a chance that the plan might take off.

Yui walked up the steps and through the already busy main entrance. Her expression seemed content as she waded past the crowds, oblivious to the elaborate setup around her.

“The VIP is in the building. The targets are also already in the building. Prepare for stage two.”

Eon said as he watched Yui enter the school from his aerial viewpoint. It took a bit of time, but Yui made it to her locker and began changing her shoes. Her locker was several rows down from where the Elites’ lockers were, right around the corner from the scene of the crime from yesterday.

“Eon, can you see the targets?”

“Two of them, including the boss, are still loitering by the art room trash can, but the other two has begun making their way to Yui’s locker. Even with no boss, Kato and Teto, you’re up.”

“Got it.” “Okay.”

The two siblings said in unison. They left their lockers to covertly make their way closer to Yui’s position, skipping a few rows of lockers over.

“Hold the phone. The boss is making his way to the black market. Take caution.”

The black market. On the opposite end of the atrium from the Elites’ lockers, the lockers were not placed in neat columns. Instead, it was a maze-like setup that created several dead-ends and hard-to-reach corners. Not only that, but that end of the atrium was actually tucked beneath the second floor while the rest of the atrium was open to the glass rooftop several floors up. This shadowy part of the atrium, together with its maze of lockers and its tendency to draw in the bad kids, was colloquially named the “black market”.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

Evie commented as she peeked from behind the spiral stairs at their targets. A tall and handsome man with facial hair passed by with a shorter, chubbier man who was obviously the tall man’s subordinate. Ethan Henderson made his way towards the black market with a sinister sneer on his face as his underling trotted behind him.

“Geh. That fake lying scummy salesman face makes me want to barf. How can people like these exist?”

“Evie, I don’t think we have the right or the time to question if certain people are allowed to exist. Not to mention dangerous.”

“I’m pretty sure I can make him disappear for good. I can do that, right?”

“Are you sure you’re not a death machine disguised as a human?!”

Franco exclaimed in futility as Evie ignored his point.

“The two minions have made contact with Yui. It looks like we are at stage three. Ready your weapons.”

The two underlings stood on either side of Yui, surrounding her. With the smirks on their faces along with Yui’s despondent expression, one can only surmise that whatever they were talking about was not good for Yui.

“This doesn’t look good.”

Kato breathed as he and Teto observed from behind a pillar. The conversation only lasted tens of seconds before the minions began to make their way out and towards the black market. Looking forlorn and dejected, she clutched onto her schoolbag tightly as she followed them obediently.

“It’s my turn now. Just watch me, Kato.”

Teto flashed a big smile at her dear brother as she, in an instant, whipped out Evie’s pair of sunglasses, a scarf and a hooded sweater from her schoolbag.

“Displays of inhuman reflexes are forbidden.”

“Rrrrrrrh~”

Kato pinched her cheek as she quickly put on her disguise.

“Let’s get going.”

The two of them made their way across the atrium, approaching the black market that Yui had already entered. As they passed by the spiral staircase in the centre of the atrium, they spotted both Evie and Eon.

“As planned, I’ll stay right here. Teto, Kato: Yui followed the targets onto the S-path of the black market.”

“That’s right. I can confirm that she went on the S-path. But from here on out, none of us will have a good view of what’s going on, so we’re counting on you guys.”

So the secret agent Teto slipped inside the confines of the black market. As she infiltrated the dark crevices of the feared realm, Kato, without a better disguise, waited just outside the maze of lockers, lying in wait for his chance to enter. From the size of the black market, it probably housed around six classes worth of students.

The moment Teto entered the shadow of the second floor, she felt the air around her turn heavy and humid. The students that hung around here were much more dubious in character. From the conversation pieces she could pick up, they were dark and dangerous-sounding, almost as if stepping into the mafia’s world. In some respects, it wasn’t too far from the truth; gangs did exist in this school, and delinquency, traditionally, was tolerated to a great extent.

The students that existed here were from the lower level classes, especially those from below Class F. The hierarchy of classes in this school was defined by their alphabetical rankings: Class A housed the most talented and promising group of students, and with each passing letter, the quality of the students was lower. The assignment of your class was crucial to your social standing within the school. To up-rate your status, you could advance up the ladder by passing your previous year’s examinations with enough points to be “promoted” to the next class; a system defined, in theory, by merit. Historically, entering Class A had a 90-point average requirement, while Class B was 85 points. Ultimately, the final go-ahead was made by the teachers involved.

Class F was the break-off point for any prestige that the class ranks gave. At the very least, Class F enjoyed exactly one seat in the Assembly as well as the Council of Six, the legislative and judicial branches of student government respectively. In addition, Class F’s academics were traditionally considered the “average” of the school. From A to F, they were the privileged six class ranks of the school. For any aspiring first- and second-year students, their first priority would be securing their place in one of these class ranks by their third year, with Class 3-A on top of the student hierarchy.

Beyond Class F, those classes do not have a voice in the school’s everyday operations, and many of their students were marginalized as the unprivileged of the school. On top of their poor academic records, students from these classes tend to fall into the greyer areas of society, possibly even crime. The historical average number of unprivileged classes was around four, from G to J.

That was not to say that criminals could not be smart. Definitely, there would be some individuals from the privileged classes that had questionable attitudes regarding their morals and respect for the law. It would seem that this Ethan character and his followers were such examples.

With her camcorder in her schoolbag slung over her shoulder, Teto walked along the same path into the black market as Yui and the other two did. This particular path, walled up by rows of lockers, formed a large orthogonal S-shaped path like the number five on a digital readout. The ceiling was low, as the second floor was just above it, and dimly lit fluorescent lights lined it. Some of the lockers were left opened, their contents disorganized and messy. Behind her, she could see the well-lit part of the atrium, and of course at the mouth of the path was Kato in wait. In front of her was the first corner, and once she turns around that corner, the light from the atrium would be lost.

Because it was still well into summer, Teto’s wrapped up get-up should have drawn in curious eyes, but it didn’t in this part of the school. Though the school had a uniform policy, the delinquents of this particular sector of the school took it a bit far. For example, she could see some of the burlier guys had their sleeves cut off, some had their ties ripped in a variety of patterns, and some wore their trousers hanging way lower than they should, a practice called “low-riding”; anything to make themselves look cool. The girls were not much better: super-short skirts, excessive makeup, and unfeminine posture.

On top of the evil-spirited mood that these people gave off, the air smelled interesting and unnatural. It undoubtedly had a tinge of cigarette smell in it, but Teto could smell other, more vile and potent substances in the air too. There was a constant drone of white noise on top of the buzz of conversations from the fairly densely packed black market, forcing Teto to continually weave in and out of people’s ways if she did not want to make any fuss.

Upon the second turn she made on this S-shaped path, she saw Yui and the other four men quite a distance further along the path in front of her, out of her earshot. Besides them, the corridor was pretty much clear of other people, so this must be the terminal destination for her infiltration mission. The four vultures surrounded Yui, who remained frozen in place while under verbal assault. Perfect positioning: the locker behind her faced down this path, with the entire scene of the crime in full view. Making a one-eighty turn to face that locker behind her, she reached for her schoolbag.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing here?”

Suddenly, a short, unruly boy with dyed-green hair from behind Teto reached out and grabbed her by the arm as she reached inside of her schoolbag. He squinted at her under the dim lighting as he tried to recognize the Elite in front of him.

“Henderson has business here right now, so people are not allowed in the den. You’re gonna have to get the fuck out. And what’s with this get-up?”

Hearing the midget’s demands, Teto scowled from underneath her scarf. She hoped that she didn’t have to be confronted by the denizens of darkness, but while she still needed to fulfill her mission, she had to find a way to deal with it quick.

“Fuck off. This is my locker. Do you have a problem? And we’re right at the end of the den anyway, so don’t be such a prick.”

Teto gave him the same attitude the short kid gave her. The den that they referred to was the middle stretch of the S-shaped path; the third, middle segment in the number five on a digital readout. It was referred to as such because it was hidden from view of either ends of the path, requiring somebody to walk past two full rows of lockers before being able to peer into the den. The two of them were situated at a corner that turned into the den.

Teto took out a master key from her schoolbag that Mirabelle lent out to her. Of course, the master key looked like any old key, but it opened all the lockers in this school. She shoved the key into the lock and opened it with ease.

Startled by Teto’s terse response as well as the opening of the locker, which confirmed all her assertions, the green-haired boy dropped the arm that he was holding onto. He faltered a bit, but he still tried to go back on the offensive.

“So what? I told you, Henderson has business here, and you’re gonna have to get out. Who the hell are you anyway? Take off your shitter sunglasses and scarf.”

Teto quickly stuffed her schoolbag deep into the conveniently empty locker. Inside the bag was Caius’ military VHS camcorder, turned on to record since the start of the operation. In classic fashion, the lenses pointed out of the partially unzipped schoolbag, essentially a hidden camera snooping on a delicious target. Since the locker faced down the stretch of corridor that was the den, the military machine had full view of Yui and her oppressors.

“The cam is set.”

After muttering it under her breath, hoping that her microphone would pick it up, she turned to the little dweeb in her way and spat (words) in his face.

“And I told you, I don’t care. Henderson can do what he wants, and I can use my locker like I’m supposed to. Capiche? And do you want to get sick? I go through the trouble of wearing a scarf and this is what I get? Being nice sucks, eh?”

Teto turned on him as she forcefully poked at his chest, pushing him backward and out of the den’s sight. By this time, the green kid was definitely taken aback by Teto’s aggressiveness and suddenly, instead of being the bouncer for this end of the den, he ended up getting bounced. Unfortunately for the bouncer, Teto was a trained nearly-superhuman soldier that would be impossible for him to overcome if it became a physical contest.

As Teto was busy with the puny bouncer and the camcorder in place, Kato prepared to enter the S-path as well. Unlike Teto, Kato did not need as many pieces for a disguise, sporting only his baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses that also belonged to Evie. In fact, his disguise was not much of a disguise, but he need not to stay undercover for too long anyway. If he encountered any opposition before he could make it to the den, he intended to scare them away by giving off a strong killing intent, an aura he and his siblings learned to breathe and live by, day in and day out, in order to become deities.

“Teto’s mission is almost complete. It seems like she’s having a field day with the bouncer too. Kato, it’s time for you to go inside.”

Eon said warily as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. Kato nodded at Evie, who was still standing by the spiral stairs, and bravely turned onto the dark path. Without blinking an eye, he walked past the ominous creatures that lived inside the black market, and headed straight for the den.

---

“…!”

The sound of a slap across the face was followed by a shrill cry.

“I know you have money, Tereshkova. I don’t care where you get it from, but it’s nice to have a reliable source of income, don’t you think? Reliable for me that is.”

Ethan sneered at Yui. His three other lackeys hollered at Ethan’s remark; a typical response from the betas of the animal pack to prop up the alpha’s standing and ego. They surrounded her like a pack of hyenas, watching her every move, making sure she remained in place and obedient.

“And what d’ya know, I’ve found something very interesting yesterday, by pure chance. Your name’s on a list of afternoon classes. Now, why’s that?”

Again, he sneered at his cornered victim, who found the perfect blackmail to squeeze more cash out of her. He continued to play with his food.

“A ward orphan who goes to this school has no choice but to be part of the People’s assistance program. But the program prevents you from taking the afternoon classes. So what’s going on?”

“Oh I know, boss! This girl is not on the assistance program! That’s why her name’s on that attendance slip!”

The short minion jeered wildly in Yui’s direction.

“But if she’s not on the program, then she has to be paying the full tuition, somehow.”

The tall minion surmised calmly.

“And if she’s able to pay for her own tuition, that means she’s got lots of money to spare!”

The chubby minion exclaimed in conclusion.

“Isn’t that it?”

Ethan shrugged condescendingly at Yui. She continued to keep her head down, speechless. Only yesterday that she revealed her secret to the Elites, and today her life was about to be turned upside down. Just briefly, she wondered if the Elites, and Kato, sold her out, but she banished the thought immediately. They were friends, and at the very least on good terms with each other, so she could not believe it was them.

Oh, how quick I start doubting the people I thought I trusted, just from a mere coincidence.

It was a very convincing coincidence. Like the dark days of living in the main orphanage building as a child, a sense of despair crept on her consciousness like an infectious disease. Potential foster parents passed by without sparing a single glance at her. The bitterness of betrayal when another orphan she placed her little bit of trust in outed her to the custodians. The punishments for the wrongdoings she never did and was framed for. That kind of pain and misery resurfaced in her mind and locked her whole body in place, unable to make any reply.

Ethan waited another two seconds before he grabbed Yui by the chin and forcefully lifted her head up to face him. He realized that Yui’s face was a face of anguish, and he grinned. He relished in belittling those below him.

“So, you know what to do, right?”

Bringing his face close to hers, he spoke softly into her ear. It sent a shiver down Yui’s spine, shaking her to her very core. However, the fear she felt did not break her out of her stupor either. She remained motionless as Ethan continued.

“If my dad’s business finds out that you’re secretly taking afternoon classes, then it’s only fair that we have to null and void the ward arrangement. You wouldn’t want that to happen, right?”

Homelessness in the ghetto was suicide. No one in their right minds would risk it. In fact, the situation was even worse because homelessness in Livia now only existed within the ghetto; most of the city was gentrified enough to push the homeless out and into the ghetto. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes as the prospect of homelessness loomed over her.

“I’m a generous person, so it won’t be too often that I ask this from you. In fact, it doesn’t even have to be in cash.”

Ethan smiled, probably maniacally, as his carnivorous gaze lapped up Yui’s delicate body. With his free hand, he gave Yui’s left breast an aggressive grope that matched the lust in his eyes.

“Ahh~”

Yui let slip through her lips a sensual moan. Set off by that erotic cry, just like the patrons of Shamshuipo, the complexions of the four men around her changed into something more primal and animalistic. Their hands made contact with Yui, crudely feeling up her breasts, her waist, her butt, and her thighs. Their putrid breaths got heavier as they molested her and the passion raced through their minds and bodies. Though Yui’s body moved together with their lustful movements, her mind was a million miles away.

Will I… survive?

Futility and hopelessness continued to overwhelm her thoughts. Tears flowed from her eyes as she remained numb to the four men forcefully putting themselves onto her. Yui felt a hand reach under her skirt and played with the panties under it. She knew this feeling all too well. The fingers stroked lecherously at the fabric that wrapped her pussy, already moist from the sexual stimulation.

Again, this sensation…

Another hand slipped into her now-unbuttoned shirt and under her bra, rabidly fondling the bare breast that it held. There was no longer any more distance between her and the four men. On her butt, she could feel a certain familiar hot, solid thing poking at it from under her skirt and voraciously stroking along it back and forth. The intense carnal desires emanating from them were overwhelming, and she was suffocated by the heavy air around her.

I can’t…

As Ethan slowly leaned in for a mouth-to-mouth kiss, Yui squeezed her eyes shut and prayed silently.

“Please, Kato. Save me.”

---

Kato reached his arm inside the crowd of men and forcefully pulled Yui out, putting her off balance and causing her to stumble onto the floor behind him. Though abruptly tossed onto the ground by Kato, she was catching her breath from not the fall, but from being freed from the prison she was in. Kato was still wearing his ridiculous disguise, but at least it worked as Yui did not recognize Kato until he spoke.

“Hey, boss. My friend here is needed elsewhere, and it’s an emergency. Do you think you can lend her to me for the time being?”

Kato asked nicely of Ethan and put on a big smile. Perhaps under the dim lighting of the den, where there were no lights lined on the ceiling and only the ambient light filtering from above the lockers illuminated the area, the grin seemed as sinister as Ethan’s own.

“Who the fuck’re you and what the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”

Reflecting Kato’s smile, he advanced towards Kato, grabbed him by the lapel and almost hoisted him off the ground. Despite the cheery expression, the tone of his voice made it clear that he did not appreciate the intrusion. In fact, Ethan was unmistakably bleeding his killing intent.

“Hey now, don’t be so rude. I only needed to borrow Yui here.”

Kato patted the hand that dug into his dress shirt, which was stretching out the cotton fibres that made it. Ethan did not let go.

“You guys were doing some weird shit here though. Are you a half-wit? I don’t think the teaching staff will be too kind about what happened here.”

“What are you even talking about? I was just having a conversation with the kind lady other there.”

Ethan continued to grin at Kato. There was no change in the malevolent ambience around them. Ethan’s lackeys stayed back, spooked by both their boss and the new challenger.

“A conversation that leaves the girl crying, her shirt open and bra exposed? All right then. That’s kinky. Then I take it that you’re done with her then? I really need her to do something for me, so wanna let me go? Or are you just a whiney kid who cries when their toys get taken away?”

Kato challenged him again. Though their smiles were still on their faces, any traces of amiability, if there were any, were long gone. Ethan’s veins were popping off his skin, that was for sure.

“Again, what are you even talking about? Nothing’s going on around here. If you have a problem, say it straight to my face.”

Ethan dodged the first point for the second time.

“The problem is obvious, isn’t it? You’re an eyesore. Sexual harassment is something a scum of the earth would do. If I could, I would turn you over to the police and have society deal with you, but alas, dealing with your existence is such a pain in the ass.”

Kato shrugged, still playing the banter game with Ethan.

“If you think I’m such an eyesore, then just leave. There’s no place for you here.”

Ethan said through gritted teeth, avoiding speaking on anything about Yui. The standoff was stiff, and he had no desire to let this random person do as he pleased, who just waltzed past the bouncers and came in here.

“Then let go of me.”

“…”

Ethan paused as he thought for a moment. He, surprisingly, let go of Kato and snapped his fingers to motion for his minions.

“All right, then. You can leave, but not intact.”

The other three men crowded around Kato, already forgetting that Yui was still there on the floor, her clothes a mess. They grabbed Kato by the arms and prepared to drag him out to the other end of the den but unexpectedly, Kato did not budge. Using his superior strength, he stood his ground and did not let those guys drag him out.

“What the hell…”

Ethan noticed that Kato was able to resist being manhandled by three men, and his fake corporate smile finally faltered. The surprise turned into fear as the scene in front of him unfolded. As hard as his lackeys tried, Kato remained locked in place. They tried grabbing other body parts too, but they struggled to no avail. It was pitiful as it was comical that no matter how hard they tried, nothing happened to Kato.

“This fucking bastard!”

Frustrated that things were not going his way, Ethan snarled at Kato. With his blood rushing to his head in this moment of panic, he aimed a kick with his right leg at Kato’s stomach to vent his anger. However, before his kick was able to connect, Kato broke free from the three minions in an instant and countered. Just as Ethan’s leg was about to connect with his stomach, Kato sidestepped the swing of the leg and responded with a duck and a sweep of his leg at Ethan’s left ankle. Losing his balance and missing his kick, Ethan was knocked over and landed flat on his back.

“Who… who are you?!”

Ethan stuttered. It was the first time he experienced this kind of powerlessness. Usually, he had the muscle as well as the influence to ward off potential challengers against his selfish desires, but Kato was a challenger that was immune to both. Still on the ground, he reared backwards from Kato in a panic, trying to get away from this abomination of a human being.

“I’m Kato Danubius; about to be your worst nightmare.”

In contrast to Ethan, Kato’s grin remained on his face throughout the entire encounter. The minions that were pushed back by Kato already scurried their way behind their boss.

Ethan’s face was twitching in terror as he internally fought his instincts to flee. His pride did not want him to run away, but his minions already backed off of Kato, and he himself already witnessed first-hand Kato’s physical superiority.

“You’ll… you’ll regret messing with me!”

Ethan could only utter this weak accusation as he continued to rear backwards and climb back onto his feet. The killing intent that Kato did not give off until now, was so overwhelming that his legs shook vigorously in fear and almost fell back down. Ethan finally capitulated, and turned tail and tumbled towards the opposite end of the den, away from the direction that Kato and Teto came from. Similarly, his minions cowered in fear and followed behind him, leaving Kato and Yui to their own devices.

“How did you…”

Yui said, dumbfounded. She was still in the same state as she was when she was thrown out of the ring: her shirt untied and exposing her chest; her skirt pulled up to an awkward position; her hair dishevelled from the rough handling she was subject to. Tears still welled up from her eyes, blurring her vision. A swirl of emotions raged in her heart, a mix of happiness, relief, incredulity and regret.

“Let’s get you out of here, Yui. Your days of suffering are over. Everything’ll be all right now.”

Kato kneeled down and spoke softly to Yui. He expertly tucked in her bra and buttoned up Yui’s uniform, to which Yui made no response to, other than the reddening of her cheeks. Kato wiped the tears away from her face the same way he did yesterday and ruffled her hair in reassurance.

“I told you. I will come and take you away. And I’ll still do. Now, hold your hands around my neck.”

Kato smiled at her and picked her entire person up off the ground and into his arms. Like carrying a new bride, Kato turned around and jogged back in the direction he came from. Yui, who still remained silent, could only bury her face in Kato to hide her own smile and scarlet face. With Kato now here, she felt her worries and fears slip away from her body, and in this moment of physical contact, she also felt warmth that was not from the touch, but from the happiness that Kato was able to give her.

“Let’s go, Kato! I’ve got my stuff.”

Teto was waiting for the two of them at the end of the den, very visibly forcing her will on the bouncer that was on her case. She had already zipped up her schoolbag, camcorder tucked away, and slung over her shoulder.

“Let me go! What the fuck!”

The bouncer continued to complain as Teto held him up against the lockers by the neck with one arm. This was how Kato was able to dodge the bouncer initially to enter the den.

“Right, Teto!”

Kato ran past the two of them and along the path back outside to the atrium. Teto immediately let go of the poor bouncer to follow behind Kato. With Yui clutching tightly onto Kato’s person and Teto holding onto her schoolbag, the three of them re-emerged in the light of the atrium, where Eon was waiting to meet them.

“Here ya go!”

Teto chucked her bag wildly at Eon, who just barely caught its arms in his grasp, leaping off the ground to do so.

“Hey! You can’t expect me to catch that!”

“I made sure that it was just enough for you to catch it~”

Teto winked and saluted at Eon, who comically pretended to be heart-struck.

“All right, let’s regroup for a bit here. Evie’s in position, then?”

“In position.”

Evie replied to Kato’s question over the radio.

“Then let’s get everyone to where Evie is. The end of the operation is near.”

---

Evie stood at the other end of the S-shaped path that snaked through the black market, after receiving info from Teto that the crooks took flight in that direction. She was disappointed that her role in this operation was being the mop-up guy, but she understood she could not replace Kato in his role, and she did not have the impromptu creativeness like Teto to go undercover inside the black market. Her way of thinking was too linear and predictable for that kind of a nuanced role.

This particular entrance was right at the end of the atrium: to her front was the S-shaped path; to her left was a wide path that traced the boundaries of the black market, leading to the open part of the atrium that was the spiral staircase; to her right was the hallway to the classrooms.

Evie saw the perpetrators approaching her from the path in front of her. Like a routed band of soldiers, they limbered their way towards the exit where Evie was waiting in plain sight.

As the first two minions tried to run past her, Evie swiftly knocked them down to the floor without breaking a sweat. Dumbstruck, the chubby minion and Ethan behind them were visibly spooked.

“What’s going on?!”

Exasperated, he did not expect the situation to go out of control like it did. A simple, textbook case of extortion turned into a fiasco that jeopardized his standing within the black market, was what he thought. But unbeknownst to him, it was about to get a lot worse.

“Nothing. I just need you to stay honest for a short while.”

Evie said emotionlessly. The other two were still grovelling on the floor in agony. No doubt Evie had struck their vitals. Her form was impressive as it was intimidating. She rubbed her hands together before delivering the final blow.

“Our classmate is not one you can bully around. I’ll come back and knock you out, every single time.”

Evie quickly dispatched the boss and his right-hand man, giving them both a good strike at the solar plexus, bringing them down to the ground like the other two. Though some onlookers gathered to watch the spectacle, there weren’t many due to the fact that it was the black market. Most normal students steer clear of whatever happens in there.

She idled there for a short while, but the cavalry arrived soon enough. From behind Evie, her troops arrived in quick succession. The first to the scene was Franco, followed by Kato’s platoon minus Teto, and then their trump card, Caius and Sisi.

“This looks like the end of the road for Ethan Henderson.”

Eon quipped from behind his army.

“Evianna, what did you do to them? This is the atrium! They’re just normal people!”

Sisi said in disbelief as she saw the four men still crawling on the ground. There was no protection from injury in the atrium during peacetime.

“It was probably necessary.”

“Agh, as long as you remembered not to do any lasting damage, okay?”

Sisi sighed, but patted Evie’s back all the same, who nodded at Sisi in obedience.

“Oi, you guys on the ground! Listen up!”

Sisi shouted loudly at the struggling bullies. Though they were still in pain, they complied nonetheless. Looking up at the source of the voice, they saw it belonged to this short blonde girl who they recognized as the new teacher of Class 3-F, meaning that the teacher from their victim’s class has intervened at long last.

“This shall be an official statement on behalf of Class 3-F.”

Sisi cleared her voice as she approached aggressively towards the men on the floor, who instinctively flinched back a bit despite the small stature of the little girl in front of her.

“From the evidence gathered, there is good reason to believe that the four of you intended to make physical harm to students from mine class.”

Sisi took out a videocassette tape from the camcorder that Teto had been holding onto before.

“In addition to video evidence, a partial recording was obtained as well, detailing the exchange between you and mine student.”

Out of Caius’ radio set was a cassette tape. His radio set was the central hub for the other sets, and he recorded the entire conversation that occurred between Kato and Ethan. To be fair, it wasn’t as incriminating as the video that Teto captured, but it was an adequate supplement nonetheless.

“Though the evidence is not enough to effect immediate expulsion without appeal, it is more than enough for a settlement on the battlefield. In other words, this is a valid casus belli for a Class War.”

Ethan was stone-faced while his minions were quivering in fear. A Class War started solely due to their misjudgement was as fatal to Ethan’s reputation in the underground as it was to his entire class. It would label him as a failure of an up and coming mafia boss.

“With a valid casus belli, Class F will declare war on Class E.”

Kato emerged from behind Sisi and pointed his finger at Ethan. The die was cast.

“You guys… why are you here?”

It was after school and the Elites were at the old playground. Point Alpha was an expansive and easily accessible area, so many other people frequent this spot as well. Today, quite a few other children were present in the playground, so the Elites were huddled together at a corner, away from the little kids.

But it was not just the Elites that were present. The Jupiter sisters stood there too, opposing them. It was a remarkable crowd of extraordinary third-year students.

“The Elites are planning out their great adventures, so naturally the Jupiter sisters are there to bear witness to the spectacle. It’s merely a law of nature.”

The soft, refined and beautiful voice belonged to Callisto Mirabelle Jupiter, the oldest of the Jupiters, Class B representative and student council president. Her silky black hair was tied at the shoulders in two majestic pigtails that flowed smoothly over her generous bosom; it was not the great size like Evie’s, but it still was as bounteous as Teto’s. Mirabelle’s front bangs were very prominent as it almost covered her eyes. As the eldest sister, she was the de facto leader of their playground band. Not only was she a cheerful and easygoing young lady, she was also perfect in every aspect, being at the top of her class as well as being physically superior. For an unknown reason to Kato, around the time Evie started wearing pantyhose, Mirabelle followed suit as well.

“Mira, we can just leave them be. The people involved aren’t from Class B, so there’s no need for us to get involved too.”

A cynical and cool reply from the student council treasurer came from behind Mirabelle. Though she was the third sister, Ganymede Bianca Jupiter was Mirabelle’s right hand woman. She also had impressive but dishevelled bangs in the front and sides, but she tied her messy black hair back in a loose low bun. Unlike the others, her skirt was frilled and she wore white thigh-highs. Appearance-wise, she mirrored Mirabelle, curves and all, but unfortunately, she was not physically superior. Historically, it was Bianca and her fiery passion that triggered many of the wars between the Elites and the Jupiters.

“Bia, it’s fine to just watch them. It’s fun to.”

The owner of this tame, velvety and composed voice was the fourth sister and student council secretary, Europa Ariel Jupiter. Unlike her sisters, she was much shorter and smaller than them, and tended to be reserved and of few words. Her smooth, straight hair was platinum silver like Evie’s, and her hime cut flowed brilliantly all the way down to her small waist. At the very least, her specs from top to bottom were not as regrettable as Sisi’s. Surprisingly, contrary to her aloofness, Ariel was exceptionally good at games and also very competitive, to the Elites’ horror; activated by competition, many of the Jupiters’ victories were carried by Ariel.

“Yeah, Bia. We can leave them be, but we can also watch them from a distance. Like Ariel said, it sounds like it’s gonna be fun!”

The last of the Jupiter sisters, the second sister and student council executive manager, spoke up in excitement with her lively voice. Io Scarlett Jupiter stood almost as tall as Evie, and matched her physical strength as well. Actually, most of her physical appearance roughly mirrored Evie too, curves and chest included. Though she was blessed with immeasurable strength, she was nowhere near as clever as her sisters; in fact she was known for being a big airhead, and it didn’t help her rep that she was a fashionable gal too. Her brown pixie cut stood in contrast with her sisters’ longer hairstyles.

Though the Jupiter sisters were born as quadruplets, it was easy to recognize that only Mirabelle and Bianca were twins. They all shared the same gold-coloured irises that came from their father’s side of the family.

“This is serious business, everyone. Someone’s livelihood is on the line here, so we’re not doing this for fun.”

Kato rubbed his eyes in weariness. Unfortunately, the Jupiter sisters were on to the stolen key the moment they entered the student council room. On the flip side, the Jupiter sisters were not really enemies of the Elites; they were definitely a group of friends they can rely on. Including Sisi, Yui’s situation was known to all those present here in this gathering. As a side note, Yui takes the bus back to the ghetto and was, of course, not present.

“Even so, I didn’t expect Kato to be the one who started this. I thought it would have been another one of Eon’s dumb ideas.”

“Me too. I thought I’d be the one to drag us into the battle, but I let Kato do it this time.”

Bianca started off bickering with Eon, with whom she had a long-time rivalry with.

“I’m glad to hear that you haven’t changed at all, Eon. Luckily, in today’s student council meeting, it was all announcements. There wasn’t a chance for you to make a fool of yourself.”

“If you’re worried that I didn’t get a chance to, then rest assured. You won’t be disappointed tomorrow after school.”

“As long as you stay in your chair, really, no one has any problems with it. Just don’t lean back and fall off of it like last time.”

“That was one time, and it was in middle school.”

“And yet you still haven’t learned to chill.”

“If it means I lose my swagger, I refuse to chill.”

“Eon! You must chill!”

“Nyeh-verrrr!”

Often times, it was because of these two that the Elites and the Jupiter sisters remained rivals. However, their rapport was quite in sync, likely even as close as between Eon and Caius. Bianca getting sucked into Eon’s rhythm just now was as commonplace as their arguments.

“What I’m interested in is that Kato was bold enough to promise that girl that he’ll take care of her. That’s a dangerous promise to make to a girl~”

“I… got caught up in the moment.”

Mirabelle winked at Kato, who could only scratch at his head and laugh nervously. Mirabelle had always taken a liking to Kato. In fact, Kato could guess it was probably more than just a liking, but Mirabelle’s lips consistently remained tight about it over the recent years.

“I’m surprised that Evie didn’t make a fuss about it.”

“On the contrary, Mirabelle, I’m surprised that you’re not making a fuss yet.”

Evie said rigidly as her eyes narrowed, wary of Mirabelle as always.

“Oh? What do you mean by that? I’m not the one who gives Kato the cold stare every time he makes a pass at another girl.”

Mirabelle smirked as she folded her arms.

“If I don’t, it’ll only encourage him further. Babying him like you do only makes it harder for yourself.”

“Ah, I’m glad you’re looking out for me too. But your method only keeps him away from you, doesn’t it?”

“It means that I’ve already progressed way farther than you have, so you should be looking out for yourself. How many years has it been already, and nothing has changed?”

“I could say the same to you. What else have you been doing this whole time? A rival who can’t challenge me is not a rival.”

“I never thought of you as a rival to begin with. In fact, you’re not even a threat, much less a rival. Go back into your stables, little pony.”

Evie flicked one of her pigtails. Needless to say, Mirabelle was up for game too.

“Likewise, an obedient sow should stay fenced up where she belongs so she doesn’t get in my way.”

Suddenly, in a moment of revenge, Mirabelle grabbed onto Evie’s left breast as she said that and gave it a good squeeze. Evie stared on unperturbed.

“It doesn’t matter if that’s what’s desired. Ponies can just flip off with their stupid tails.”

Evie flicked the other pigtail. Perhaps not surprisingly, Mirabelle maintained her composure just as well as Evie’s poker face.

“We don’t know that though, and all this only confirms your lack of progress. Dead-end for you, perhaps?”

“If you want to measure it this way, then you’re dead-ending just as bad.”

“At least I’m not the sister. I won’t be dead-ending on that route.”

“News flash, but Teto is not a dead-end. Not to him.”

“I’m not a part of this.”

Teto cheerily cut the exchange between the two beautiful girls. Evie and Mirabelle had been advancing towards each other with each passing remark. By the time Teto interjected, their faces were only inches apart and the onlookers could feel the electricity in the air around them.

But Teto’s existence reminded the two of them that they were both trailing far behind Teto in the metaphorical race, and they clutched each other’s hands in gloom. Cynically, Teto’s response could have been a pun referring to exactly this.

“I don’t need you to remind me about that, Evie.”

“It bothers you as much as it bothers me. If you can just ignore it, it can make living more bearable, Mira.”

Though they were eternal rivals, they did share some common ground. They both grimaced at Kato, clearly putting all the blame on him. Kato held up his hands in defeat. A scene like this happens on occasion, and he could only watch on. More amazingly, they always seem to be able to come to an understanding after the fact, which confused Kato to no end.

“Okay, boys and girls, if the obligatory flirting session is finished, we can go back to the master plan, eh?”

Eon clapped his hands together to get hold of the attention of the group. As Evie and Mirabelle returned to ground zero, they blushed in embarrassment. The rest of the group wore different expressions, ranging from indifference to incredulity to smugness.

Caius was sitting on the rubber mulch, clutching onto a huge piece of luggage perched on a tiny trolley that he brought with him from his home. Eon returned the favour for Caius in morning recess; Caius went home early to pick it up and bring it to the playground while Eon sat in student council. Caius opened the luggage to reveal to the group a set of electronic devices, fit snugly in their hollow plastic moulds. The devices were hand-sized metallic boxes with several buttons and ports, as well as an attachment that seemed to allow it to be hooked on other objects.

“These are the sets of radios that pops used to use in the reserves back in the day. Today, these kinds of devices are smaller, more durable and last longer in the field, but for a budget platoon these would have to do. I’ve already configured all of them to communicate through a single, open channel.”

Caius began to explain the set of what were really walkie-talkies. He took one out from its mould, and then pulled out a pair of earphones that were hidden underneath, which was also fit snugly in the mould. He plugged its connector into the radio box, wore the earphones, and snapped the attachment on the radio box to his belt. He adjusted the microphone that was on the wire of his earphones. There was a pin on there too, and he clipped it to his tie.

“And this is how we will communicate.”

“Really? The plan is this complicated?”

Ariel questioned Caius lazily as she mindlessly started twiddling with his earphones and the radio box. Evie and Teto joined her in admiring the piece of technology. Together, Teto and Ariel were at the same height while Evie stood tall and proud above them.

“So this is how we’re gonna do it. I guess there are no better options.”

“No. I’ve tried to come up with something that didn’t involve anything physical, but frankly, without knowing the tendencies of the ghetto dwellers well enough, any outcome would probably remain unstable. From what I understand, that Ethan fellow is a nasty piece of work. The physical alternative has the greatest chance to succeed in the long term.”

Eon explained to Kato as he picked up three sets of radio boxes and their earphones, and passed one set each to Kato and Franco, who put them on like Caius demonstrated. Eon then put on his set and jogged to the opposite side of the playground and out of vision.

Mirabelle also speedily picked up a set from the open luggage and put it on as well. She was just in time to catch what was being said in Eon’s testing.

“Testing, testing. Those who are tired of Kato forever being the target of affection by all the girls, say ‘go die in a fire, Kato’. Those who are named Kato, say ‘okay, I’ll go die in a fire now’.”

“Go die in a fire, Kato.”

“Go die in a fire, Kato.”

“Go die in a fire, Kato.”

“…”

Kato didn’t speak yet. Instead, he looked nervously in the direction of Mirabelle, who noticed it and turned and smiled innocently at him. Kato was sure that not only Mirabelle caught all of that and responded accordingly, but Eon knew full well that Mirabelle was on the comms too.

“Okay, I’ll go die in a fire now. And the radio is working perfectly, so let’s wrap this up and get out.”

Kato spoke into his mike in exasperation. At the very least, Evie didn’t get to hear what Eon had said.

“Wilco. So Kato admitted that he is a lucky bastard. Over and out.”

Eon’s parting jab brought snickers to the other radio users besides Kato, who was feeling his face heating up. Not only was Eon burning him figuratively, but he was burning himself up literally too.

“He’s not wrong, you know.”

Suddenly, Mirabelle put herself in front of Kato, her bright and beautiful face filling up his field of vision. Staying outside Evie’s line of sight, she gave him a radiant smile, one of pure bliss and happiness.

“Mira…”

“Yes?”

She continued to smile at him, somewhat enigmatically. Kato didn’t respond either, preferring to continue watching her beautiful, timeless smile. In moments like these, Kato felt as if he was looking on from afar, just as a god watching the world move forward, from outside of the glass case that encapsulated it. It was her smile that made him forget his sense of self, and compelled him to indulge in this moment of aesthetic perfection and disbelief.

Moments later, when Eon returned to the group, the two of them snapped out of their trance and joined the rest of the group without a word. An abrupt end to the incomplete dream.

Most of the other girls were digging through Caius’ luggage for more funky gadgets. Things like flare guns, ammo spares, gun cleaning tools, spray cans, a camouflage camcorder set, and even a portable encrypted typewriter were pulled out, all laid out on the playground floor.

“It doesn’t look like we’ll be going home without digging through all the treasure in that case.”

“I just hope that nothing breaks. It’s not really my stuff——woah.”

Eon and Caius exchanged a bit of conversation until they heard a large crackling from the earphones in their ears.

“By the way guys, how do I turn off this thing?”

Franco came up to them with his radio set still hooked to his belt and the radio itself still broadcasting. The crackling was most probably from Franco messing with the mouthpiece.

“You are just comprised of fail, aren’t you?”

Eon shook his head, and showed Franco how to disarm the radio set. Then, out of nowhere, Franco made a triggering offhand comment.

“You know, I found some weird-looking pills in a bottle, prob from the pharmacy, in Yui’s schoolbag when I was grabbing it as we went for the rooftop, but I didn’t make the connection until she mentioned the Shamshuipo part.”

The guys turned around, stone-faced. Eon made a really frustrated face, and sighed in irritation.

“Once again, you are just comprised of fail, ain’tcha. If Yui wasn’t as agreeable as she was, we would have been running in circles trying to figure out what was happening to her, so that detail could have saved us time if you had told us sooner. We could confront her directly if she refused to tell us the truth.”

Franco blinked at Eon, who sighed again after explaining. Caius and Kato sighed as well.

“His stupidity knows no bounds.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“How was I supposed to know if it was important?”

“You idiot! As a student holding onto something as suspicious as drugs, it would have triggered a big red warning sign for anyone who discovers something like that.”

“You’re the only one who doesn’t respond to a signal like that.”

“…”

“At least we can confirm the nature of Yui’s line of work.”

Franco fell silent, and with Eon’s final comment, they dropped the subject. Franco hung his head in shame as the rest of them left him behind and joined in the gold digging.

---

More than half an hour passed before the inquisitiveness of the girls has abated and they decided to vacate the grounds for the day. From the playground looking on over the ridge from which they came, they could see the sun setting over the city and the surrounding rocky mountains. The road and buildings behind them were bathed in full orange from the sun’s rays, while the playground had gotten busier and crowded as more children finished dinner and went out to the park to play.

“So we’re meeting up here early tomorrow then? Get here by seven?”

Caius asked as they were, once again, about to part ways. The three younger Jupiter sisters were already making their way home, in the same direction that Caius and Franco would go, towards the rich neighbourhood.

“Seven. Everyone remember to bring your radio sets.”

“Got it.” “’Kay.” “Alright.” “Understood.” “Of course.”

Upon hearing more than two female voices, everyone turned to look at Mirabelle, the one Jupiter sister left remaining.

“Are you joining us on this charade too?”

Evie challenged her immediately, narrowing her eyes again.

“As student council president, I have to follow up on dangerous plans like these.”

Mirabelle shrugged at Evie again.

“Besides, I want to know more about Yui, her own future and her future relationship with the people here.”

Then she revealed her true intentions nonchalantly; not that she intended to hide them anyway. Although they haven’t brought it up with Mirabelle, the question was what the fate of Yui would be if the plan succeeded. Most likely, Yui would not be able to live in that orphanage anymore, so what would happen to her then?

Also, just as obviously, Mirabelle made it pretty clear that she was interested in Yui and her intentions towards certain members of this group of kids. There was no doubt about who those certain members were.

“In any case, I will make sure I get the green light from our side. Sisi is already on board, so I only need old man Karl to confirm it for us.”

Kato quickly dodged the topic and moved on to another, fearing Evie’s wrath if they continued any further.

“If everyone is okay with the plan, then let’s call it a day here and prep for tomorrow.”

With Teto closing out the conversation, the three siblings and Eon waved their goodbyes at the rich boys and girl. Mirabelle sprinted to catch up to her sisters, leaving behind both squads of Elites, who leisurely made their ways home.

“Hold on a sec. Sisi is living with you guys?”

“What the eff? That’s some weird-ass shit right there.”

Caius and Franco reacted to the news with disbelief.

“I said that too; both those things actually, when I first heard of it from them earlier.”

Hanging around in the great, high-ceiling locker area before heading off to their classroom for their morning classes, the five Elites debriefed each other on yesterday’s events. As usual, Eon met up with the three siblings first on the way to school, and was the first to hear of the spicy news.

Though Sisi initially was resting inside the spare room of the siblings’ flat, she eventually decided to convert one of the guest bedrooms in Karl’s flat into her own room. Her intuition serving her well, Sisi realized that in order to live with the whirlwinds, it was best to give them a wide berth. As she was partially replacing Karl as their guardian, this aspect of the arrangement also panned out nicely.

“It’s good news and bad news. Good news is that it is possible to make her one of us.”

“One of us, one of us!”

Kato beat his chest twice in quick succession with the thumb side of his fist. His men replied in song as they nodded in earnest.

“Bad news is that our operations will probably come under scrutiny. Therefore, we must act with care when carrying out our duties, soldiers.”

Suddenly, Kato became the sergeant of their little platoon. He took his baseball cap out of his schoolbag and Evie’s sunglasses from her schoolbag, and wore them.

“As such, our main base of operations, the old playground, is even more important. Whenever we need to gather, we’ll gather there. Codenamed Point Alpha. Corporal, please take note.”

“Hey-yo. Point Alpha, registered as a rallying point.”

Caius saluted him merrily. The other two snickered.

“Private Koziko. You live the closest to us and therefore the closest to Sisi too. While we’re under surveillance, you’re not. If anything happens, you’re our first line of communication.”

“Hey-yo. I’ll make sure everyone else knows how Sisi bosses you around.”

Eon saluted him haughtily. The other two snickered.

“And Private Atkinson. I… don’t think I got anything for you, actually. Maybe the occasional Alpha Charlie, I dunno.”

The three other guys outside of Franco snickered.

“Wait, what the eff, guys! Don’t snake me like that, Kato! I already get enough ass-chewing from you guys.”

Franco cried out a bit, clearly dying a bit inside.

“Your warrant officer is not amused that she’s been left out of the conversation.”

Evie clasped her hand on Kato’s shoulder, who immediately got the chills from the stare that was drilling holes in the back of his head. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face before he turned to Evie and repeatedly bowed in repentance.

As they finished changing into their indoor shoes, the crew started to move out towards the main set of spiral staircase that stood majestically in the spacious centre of the locker area. The locker area was colloquially called the “atrium” due to this expansive space in the centre. It was in this open area that the aforementioned corporal punishments were carried out. These main stairs led to the upper floors of the building; the second floor housed the second-years and the third floor housed the third-years. Looking up, one could see the balconies of those floors. On the ground floor beyond the atrium housed the first-years. The crew’s lockers were at a corner of the area and at the very tail end of their row of lockers, so they were far away from the staircase.

“Huh. What’s up with that there?”

Right before they set off, Kato noticed something intriguing several locker columns over. Behind one of the few pillars that stood from the ground floor to the ceiling several floors up, a few boys from another third-year class were huddling around a crouching girl, apparently sneering at their victim. Because they formed a tight circle around that girl, as well as being plainly too far away, Kato couldn’t see who that girl was.

“Dunno. Doesn’t seem to concern us though.”

Franco shrugged at the circle of vultures, which was very clearly a disturbing scene. But Franco was right nonetheless. Relations between the different classes were rocky at best, and it was best to leave each other to their own devices.

“Still looks really bad, though at least they’re bullying the poor girl in a corner where it’s hard for others to see them. That’ll look shameful as ass.”

Just as Eon finished his sentence, one of the bullies aimed a kick that produced a fall and a muffled squeal from the girl. Then they heard the sound of coins dropping on the floor. Almost immediately, the circle of boys hastily picked up the fallen coins from the floor, broke away from their encirclement, and ran off as quick as possible.

“Ah. Like always, what makes the world go round is the sound of gold.”

Caius remarked at the sound of things as he, along with most of the crew, already turned around from the spectacle and left for the stairs. But Kato, who was still intrigued, took a final glance at the scene of the crime before turning around too.

Though he only caught a glimpse of the ponytailed girl who had her back turned to him and took off quickly too, Kato still caught sight of both her old and new bruises and cuts along her legs, especially the fresh and rosy one blooming above her right ankle. Despite being far away, Kato thought the girl looked like someone he knew, but there weren’t anybody from the other classes that he knew of that would match this girl’s description, so he remained puzzled at that familiarity as he followed his brethren to class.

---

“A casus belli is a reason which can justify a war between two classes. A valid casus belli is a casus belli that a Supervisor of the Class Wars is willing to accept. All teachers and staff are Supervisors, so therefore, if a teacher thinks a casus belli is reasonable enough to warrant a settlement of the conflict on the battlefield, he or she can bring it forward to the headmistress, and she shall announce the opening of hostilities.”

Sisi explained to the class further about the Class Wars.  For the next week or so, it seems like homeroom would consist of Sisi drilling the class on its rules.

“As war can break out at a moment’s notice, remember to bring to school and wear your cleanse tags. Although you all already know, as you have had them many times in your previous years’ Class Wars, the faculty staff cannot stress enough how important it is to keep it on you at all times. Not only does it protect you even if the cleanse tag is fully saturated in black, only those with cleanse tags can participate in the Wars.

“Even more importantly, your cleanse tag is only fully replenished once a month, at the start of the month. At the end of a War, your cleanse tag shall only be replenished a small percentage. So it is possible for multiple classes to snipe a certain class within a single month to take advantage of their battle fatigue.

“Therefore, a single War is not a be-all and end-all. A single War is merely a battle. The real war is the entire competition throughout the year. Don’t be discouraged if the enemy is ahead at the moment. The only thing that matters is where the score shall settle come next July.”

“Teach, what if we don’t want to participate?”

A hand went up in the air.

“Standard diploma students are always entitled to conscientious objection. At the start of the war, if you wish, you are allowed to retire from the war without punishment. To do so, simply remove your cleanse tag to signal your retirement, and Lady Eterna’s divine protection shall protect you for the rest of the war. Sisi recommends putting the cleanse tag back on once you’ve retired, since you may forget about putting it back on after the war concludes. The cleanse tag prevents injury outside of wartime.”

“Miss, are you allowed to rip away other people’s cleanse tags?”

Another hand went up.

“If you do, you both shall retire from the war immediately and receive divine protection. A period of arbitration by a Supervisor shall follow, and usually, the offender shall get punished while the other gets to re-enter the war. That is the precedent set.”

Then, right as the bell rang, the classroom door opened. At the door was Yui, her hair a bit messy and her expression a bit gloomy.

“Sorry, Ms Romana. I am late to class.”

“That is fine. The bell just rang, and class has not begun yet, so Sisi shall not take your late attendance. Take your seat.”

Yui bowed in appreciation and trotted off with her head down, and she seated herself in her usual spot in front of Caius and the Elites.

It was in this moment that Kato realized, in a flash, that the girl who had her money stolen this morning was Yui. Though Yui did not wear that ponytail she had downstairs to class, it was obvious now, with the real specimen right in front of him, that this was undoubtedly the girl hunched back, crouching on the floor, being kicked around by those scumbags. The new injury above her right ankle was definitely the same one he saw mere minutes ago.

Kato stiffened as he took out his notebook and quietly ripped pieces of paper out of it. Taking out a pencil, he quickly wrote a short note on one of the scraps, rolled it up and handed it to Evie to his right.

Yui was the girl being beaten this morning.

Evie furrowed her eyebrows upon reading the contents. Then, she also took out a pencil to write on the scrap of paper she received.

If that’s true, it might be become a complicated situation. Kato, are you sure?

She wrote on it, scrunched it up and threw it to her northwest, at Franco’s head while Sisi was facing the chalkboard. Franco flinched a bit at the unannounced hit, turned around smoothly and caught the rumpled scrap nicely in his right hand. He took out his mechanical pencil as he opened and wrote in it.

We don’t know which class those goons are from though. Either way, I feel a cross-class conflict incoming.

Franco folded the scrap expertly in a neat square and passed it under the table to Caius on his left, who received it without moving his line of sight away from the front of the class. Caius flipped out a blue rollerball pen and wrote on the back of the piece of paper.

Think she’s been struggling for some time already? She has many injuries.

Caius folded the paper in the same manner Franco had, and passed it behind him. Eon picked it up and wrote in it as well with a ballpoint pen.

She seems to have enough money to be the target of robbery. What do you think, Kato?

 And finally, Eon scrunched the note again and returned it to its owner for him to read. This was the Elites’ note-passing path while class was in session.

The four others had markedly different handwriting. Caius had the most beautiful and clear handwriting; Kato’s was decent enough but clearly not a practiced writer; Franco’s was clear but wrote his characters with heavy strokes; Evie’s strokes were light, slanted and elegant; Eon’s was cursive to a nearly illegible fault. After reading its contents, he took a fresh strip of paper to write on, and began passing them to Evie again.

I’m certain it is Yui. We’ll investigate her to start. Then we’ll deal with the other classes. Who’s up for morning recess?

In.

In.

Out. Going to student council. I’ll fill in for Eon.

In. Skipping student council.

And the note returned to Kato, who mused over their responses for a brief moment before quickly writing another message.

I will clear the way forward and wait on the rooftop. Evie will drag her there. Eon and Franco, clear the path behind us. Caius, I’ll leave the Jupiters to your discretion.

The Jupiters. It was the shorthand for the Jupiter sisters, just as Elites was shorthand for the Elite Four. Very concise and clear instructions were written on the third and final message, and when the slip returned to Kato, it came with “Understood” from all four of them. And so the plan was set in motion.

---

“Glad you can make it here, Yui.”

If Kato had a swivel chair, he would be sitting in it with a cat on his lap and swinging it around to face Yui. Unfortunately, he did not, so with his baseball cap and Evie’s sunglasses, he only could only stand in front of her, hands on hips, while Evie had a lion’s grip on Yui’s wrist, clearly not going to let her go.

“I brought the goods.”

“Good, good. Soon, we’ll complete the grand transmutation circle and summon the great mythical beast Nessie. No, of course not. We’re here for Yui.”

Kato dropped the antics as soon as Evie started to open her mouth to respond. No doubt she has some pleasant remarks for Kato. Behind Kato now stood Franco, who trailed behind the two girls as they came up and holding onto Yui’s schoolbag.

The plan went quite smoothly. The moment that the bell rang for morning recess, Evie and Kato stood up immediately, the former headed straight to Yui while the latter ran for the door. Too surprised to react, Evie only said “we need your help, come with me” to her before taking an iron hold of Yui’s arm, pulled her off her chair and out of the classroom.

While the rest of the class was a bit startled by it, it wasn’t too uncommon to see Evie using physical force. As Evie hustled Yui out and up towards the rooftop, Franco tidied up and grabbed her belongings before following Evie and Yui out the door. Eon, expecting a reaction from Sisi, already headed to the front of the class to explain to her their intentions. Perhaps surprisingly, Sisi tentatively bought his story at face value, and let Eon and the others go.

Kato, on the other hand, ran full speed down the hallways to make it to the student council room, where they stored the keys for various doors in the school, including the key for the rooftop door. Due to his speed, he arrived at an empty student council room. He proceeded to snatch the key to the rooftop door, which he has stolen before on multiple occasions. With the key, he wasted no time to bolt for the rooftop.

Caius, of course, was no stranger to this setup. He would cover Kato’s back in the student council room if he was caught in the act, or if he wasn’t, Caius can do damage control if anyone actually notices; what he chooses to do, was in his discretion.

“The deed is done. We are in the clear.”

Eon appeared at the top of the stairs to the rooftop, surreptitiously notifying the crew of his mission being accomplished along with an “OK” hand gesture. Kato nodded appreciatively at Eon’s words. It was wise to not startle Yui with Sisi’s knowledge of the proceedings.

“Now, let’s get down to business.”

Kato rubbed his hands together as Evie let go of Yui to come over and stand by Kato. Eon also made his way over to the crew, and everyone there faced Yui. The sky was overcast and the light winds were uncharacteristically chilly for a late summer morning. The rooftop was bounded by an old chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, and the ground was tiled with plain white ceramics, a few of them broken. The rooftop was probably used at some point in the school’s long history, but has long since fell into disrepair.

Ditching the baseball cap and sunglasses, Kato advanced towards Yui, who instinctively took a step back; but it was not in the manner of a cornered animal. Because of how long they had known each other, Yui knew the Elites and their personalities well enough, and vice versa. The gesture was not an expression of fear, but of her wariness and did not want to answer their questions. But of course, Kato was not taking a ‘no’ for an answer.

“We’ll make this quick and go straight into the issue. This morning, we happened to witness an armed robbery, but with no arms and just kicks to the ankles.”

Kato glanced over at Yui’s now swollen ankle as he said so. Yui’s expression, which was already forlorn to start with, gradually turned more miserable and lost. Avoiding eye contact with the faces in front of her, she could only look down at her feet in grief.

“It happened on the far side of the atrium, behind one of the pillars at the end of a column of lockers. It involved some students who aren’t in our class. We have good reason to believe the victim was you. So is it?”

Several moments passed, but Yui still did not respond. She closed her eyes and stand in place motionlessly as she struggled internally with the question presented to her.

Of course it was Yui who was the victim of that robbery. It wasn’t the first occurrence either. It happened on and off throughout the course of senior high, but the physical violence only began at the end of the last school year. Before that, she would give up a bit of money to those bullies and would try to avoid them as much as possible. However, they have grown bold enough to physically abuse their victims to get them to give up more money.

Yui did not know whether she could explain to the Elites about her predicament. But as she opened her eyes and looked up at the four of them, she found her vision blurred and watery.

“Huh, what…”

Yui sniffled as she put her hands to her face. Only when she touched her tears, she realized that she was crying.

“Hey, wait! Don’t cry! Oh god, we didn’t come here to make you cry. We’re here to help you with whatever it is, alright? We can go beat them up in your place.”

“I’m a bit disappointed, Kato. Is your special ability making girls cry?”

“Don’t listen to her, Yui. She’s just jealous that you’re more of a girl than she is. It’s perfectly acceptable to cry. I just hope it wasn’t because of me.”

“A woman’s tears is sacred, Kato. She’s crying here because this is damned important to her. Right, Yui?”

Kato and Evie exchanged conversation as they both walked up to Yui. Kato gently wiped away her tears while Evie wrapped herself around behind Yui, tenderly brushing Yui’s back with her hand as Yui continued to sob ever so lightly.

“Crying like that, my guess is certainly right, right? Then the next step is simple. We’re gonna go look for those kids in the other classes, find them, and beat the shit out of them. Isn’t that right?”

“Sure, boss. You’re doing the beating anyway.”

“Just don’t get any blood anywhere, please.”

Franco and Eon replied to Kato in their usual attitude.

“Yui, you don’t need to be afraid of them with us here. I promise that we’ll take care of you and the consequences that follow.”

Kato said soothingly as Yui continued to remain silent. Yui still did not know whether she was able to trust them. Even so, a sense of helplessness crept upon her as she was stricken by the Elites’ generosity in extending their help to her.

“We just need to find an opportunity to beat them until their mothers can’t recognize them. And naturally, I have just the way.”

Perhaps because Evie said something really dangerous juxtaposed with her calm and cool voice, Yui finally woke from her stupor and broke her silence.

“W-wait! You can’t just do that!”

“Why not?”

Evie asked innocently. Though she feigns a lack of common sense often times, apparently she was still missing some of it as she still comes to physical answers to problems.

Either way, Yui choked as she struggled to find the words to explain herself. After calming down a bit, and knowing Evie as she did, she realized it was almost certain that the Evie and the Elites would cause an uproar, with Yui herself at the centre of attention as the root cause. She shuddered at that thought, and with courage, she turned around to face Evie.

On her face was exactly the expression Yui imagined it would be: a look of childlike curiosity. Yui then turned back to Kato, whose expression was warm and soft. She closed her eyes in helplessness once more. She would have to tell them about her situation, or else the Elites might run loose with it.

“I’ll talk about it, just please, don’t go beating them up on your own. It will ruin my life for good.”

Yui sighed in resignation. She buckled as her knees and hands hit the floor. If it was anybody else who saw that scene, they would not have pursued her as the Elites did, and life would have moved on unabated. But now, her future seemed fraught with danger as the whirlwinds of Class F entered the fray with her.

Satisfied that Yui was willing to talk, the two siblings smiled, and kneeled down to Yui’s level.

“Then let’s hear about it. We can stay here for as long as we need. We can skip classes too, so there’s no need to rush.”

Kato reassured Yui as he nodded to Eon, who understood his question and nodded in response. Luckily, Eon was indeed smart enough to ask for mercy from Sisi in case of needing to skip classes. Seeing that the two siblings in front of her were now listening attentively, Yui took a deep breath. Slightly in awe at the impressive assembly of friends in front of her, she began.

“Then I’ll start from the beginning. As you already know, I live in the main orphanage of the ghetto all my life. By middle school, I was too old to go to a foster home, so I was put in the post-foster ward of the orphanage. Going to that ward usually meant that the kid has no future. It was homelessness if you haven’t found a job or a place to stay after you turn eighteen, so I knew I had to do something before I graduated from senior high.

“There aren’t many ward children, but anyone who gets there, knowing what awaits them in six years’ time, inevitably become desperate; desperate to leave the ward without living on the streets, and I’m no different. We have to make something happen, somehow.”

Yui paused here for a moment as she prepared herself. The four other human beings present also tensed up.

“To make ends meet, when senior high started, I’ve started working in the north Shamshuipo area of the ghetto. Jobs only poor girls are willing to take on.”

Yui paused here again as her audience’s faces hardened. As people who lived in this city for years, it wasn’t hard to figure out what she was implying. The north area of Shamshuipo was one of the largest red light districts in the city. There was no doubt about the nature of work that Yui would be doing there.

“You guys… don’t seem too shaken by that… maybe?”

Yui asked hesitantly as there was still no response from them.

“… I don’t have to judge what kind of work you have to do. After all, you have your hardships to overcome, and only so many options are available to you. My resolve hasn’t changed. I’ve already promised you that I’ll take care of you, so nothing you say’ll change that.”

Kato said finally. For sure, he was surprised that Yui was working in the red light district, a notorious part of the ghetto. From what he knew of her as a long-time fellow classmate, she was a quiet and polite girl who wore a soft and content expression often times, though her mannerisms were obviously not of someone who was well-off. She definitely did not seem like a girl who would be part of the city’s sex industry.

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Yui smiled at them for once. Having been living in near-poverty throughout her life, she tended to be cynical and less trusting of other people, despite the friendliness she expresses outwards. Instinctively, she tried to suppress that feeling of hope, but at this moment, from the bottom of her heart, she really wanted to believe in Kato’s words.

“With the money, I could pay for the advanced classes in the afternoon to make work towards a Standard diploma. With the Standard diploma, hopefully I could balance post-secondary with work and be able to support myself. I’m not sure if I have to continue with my job in Shamshuipo by then. It’ll be up to luck whether I can find a stable part-time job while studying.

“But first, until I graduate from here, I have to put up with the stupidity from those idiots from Class E. The reason why I have to just endure it is because one of them is the son of the director of the orphanage.”

Yui shook her head in frustration as she explained the crux of the problem. The siblings understood instantly why Yui did not want them to turn her world upside down. As long as Yui lived under that roof, she could not rebel against the master of the house.

“The orphanage doesn’t know that I’m taking advanced classes, nor do they know that I work in Shamshuipo. All they know is that I work a part-time job somewhere in the ghetto and making some money. It was enough for that bastard and his minions to start taking away my money. One saving grace is that as long as I give up money regularly, they don’t seem to care where I get it from.”

“Who’s the son of the director?”

“Ethan Henderson. Class E. He’s the tallest guy in the group from this morning.”

Yui answered Kato’s question, to which he immediately recognized the description. Ethan was the bloke with a fairly large frame and an unshaved and handsome face. On first impression, it was hard to imagine he would be a bastard, but it turned out that there was more than what meets the eye.

“Do you know if he’s a racist scum from the fatherland? I would imagine that knowing you’re half Yue and half Avian, he would have no remorse stealing from a half like you.”

Evie presented a good point to the group around her. Evie herself is half Yue and half Avian as well, and despite how beautiful and impressive she was, she still occasionally encounters the racial discrimination that other, less gifted halfs suffer from.

“Definitely. It’s not hard to pick up on these details after having these kinds of interactions with that bastard for so long.”

Yui confirmed Evie’s suspicions as her speech veered into vernacular territory. Both Kato and Evie were pleasantly surprised that Yui had some defiance in her.

“Whoever that Ethan guy is, his mental is probably twisted as fuck. Yui is already a beautiful enough girl to shut most people up, so for him to have the balls to rob her is just fucked up.”

Kato said as Yui blinked in surprise and her heart skipped a beat. Though she heard words of praise for her looks more times than she could remember, this was the first time that it took her aback and made her heart race. Perhaps it’s because she held the people here as those that she cared about, or because those who complimented her in the past were merely unimportant passersby to her in the long list of clients in the alleyways of Shamshuipo, she was more sensitive to it and reacted so.

“So the orphanage never found out that you were taking afternoon classes or that you were taking up work in Shamshuipo? At the very least, the custodian of your ward should be receiving your report cards, right? Also, if you’re with the orphanage, aren’t you on the People’s assistance program? That’s the only way they can let you go to a school as expensive as this one.”

Eon finally spoke. Pushing up his glasses with his finger, he asked another pertinent set of questions.

“No, they aren’t that invested in finding out what the ward orphans are up to, as long as they’re there when they need them, which is almost never.”

“At middle school age, they no longer need to take full legal custody of ward orphans, but usually still provide shelter until they reach adulthood, because normally, renting out property to minors is illegal. It’s sort of like a homeless shelter kind of situation. There’s probably some kind of contractual arrangement for it.”

Caius added onto Yui’s explanation, to which she nodded in agreement.

“That’s right. And then, I pay a press artisan to forge my report cards for me. I have to be timely and intercept the mail that arrives at the orphanage, but so far, nothing’s been blown over yet.”

“Wow. You’ve been living on the edge.”

“Always have.”

Yui shrugged at Eon’s quip.

“As for the People’s assistance program, I don’t have it set up because I take advanced classes. Similarly for my report cards, I need to forge all the required documents. Luckily, both things that I need to forge only needs to happen three times a year in total, so it isn’t too much of a hassle to do.”

The People’s assistance program. It was a loan scheme set up by the school to allow poorer students to get a loan and stay in school to complete the People’s diploma. As a rule to prevent abusing the system, students within the program were not allowed to take advanced classes.

“So the orphanage thinks you’re still on the People’s assistance program despite being not on it. Then that Ethan chap never found out that you were taking afternoon classes? I’d assume that he would make that connection at some point.”

It was Caius’ turn to interrogate her.

“It’s pure luck. He doesn’t take any advanced classes, so he probably has no idea about the scheme. The orphanage seems to still believe I’m on the People’s diploma, so I’m not complaining about it. Of course I take precautions, like appearing to leave the school after lunch…”

Yui said sheepishly as the rest of them flipped their shit out in comical fashion.

“Yui had such a great setup around managing her life, up until I heard this.”

Evie put her hand to her forehead as shook her head helplessly.

“That flimsy straw can break the camel’s back, but its back survived up to this point because of pure luck. That’s insane.”

Eon sat down on the ground, clearly deflated.

“At least she only has one year left to go.”

Caius joined Eon, crouching on the floor, amused at the incredulity of Yui’s situation.

Yui could only smile weakly at the Elites, feeling a bit sad that she couldn’t give a better answer than that. While the rest of his crew was taking a break from the tension, Yui turned to Kato again to address him.

“So that’s all I have. Do you think I’m wrong to believe that I can continue on like this?”

Yui asked softly. A question filled with insecurity and hope.

Kato gave a moment’s thought before he replied.

“Yui, that’s the whole story, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll definitely take you with me, away from the bullshit you have to go through. You can leave it to me.”

Kato said confidently to Yui as the Elites around them nodded. Yui felt the same glimmer of hope that Kato gave her earlier. She tried to shy away from it, but it was hard to do so as Kato’s figure filled her field of vision. Yui felt guilty that she allowed herself to believe in them, but at this point there was no turning back. She felt that somewhere at the very start, Kato had already stolen her heart away, and she could only follow behind him and his crew.

“Am I not enough? I certainly think I am.”

Though Yui knew full well that Kato was talking about his abilities as an Elite, but for a short moment, she let herself believe that it was something more equivocal and fanciful.

“Then, as you’ve promised, I’ll have you take responsibility for me.”

Yui buried her face in Kato’s chest, wrapping her arms around him. Her blazing red hair danced lightly in the cool summer wind, mirroring her swirl of emotions in this moment of tenderness.

As Sisi had explained, the third-year classes participate in a physical competition, the Class Wars, to determine the strongest class of the year. The Class Wars were a martial tradition of Korolev Senior, as historically this school was the alma mater of many legendary deities that fought across the continent for various causes, chiefly the secret society of Eternia, who was the sole patron of this school for the entirety of its existence.

The other martial institution that produced enough deities to challenge Korolev Senior was the Central Imperial Academy of Military Arts, the prestigious officer school for the empire. Central Mil produced many deities that went into service for the empire’s army. In a sense, Central Mil was the rival of Korolev Senior, as historically many of the deities who graduated from these two schools often fought on opposing sides during times of conflict.

Almost the entirety of the school grounds was enveloped by a magical barrier, which functioned as a defensive shield against trespassers as well as alerting the school of an intrusion. Moreover, the barrier serves another purpose in the Class Wars. During a war in the Class Wars, cleanse tags would prevent injury to the wearer while within this barrier, permitting an all-out physical brawl without fear of injury.

The headmistress of the school, the mysterious three-hundred-something-year-old Lady Eterna, maintained the barrier around the school as well as restoring any physical damage done to the school building during a war. She was also responsible for the protection of people who did not wear cleanse tags during a war. Eterna was an extremely gifted alchemist, and together with her two sisters, founded Eternia as an underground secret society. She based herself in this school precisely to produce talented fighters to fight for Eternia.

However, in this day and age, the rapid progress of society and technology required a shift in focus to the rational subjects of the day, such as mathematics and science. In the past, Korolev Senior was a very martial school that taught a variety of specific fighting techniques, but as time passed the curricula evolved into something more like those in commoner schools. Today, martial arts were non-credit afternoon classes that did not contribute to the Standard diploma credit requirements, so they were classes that ultimately got skipped over by many students aiming for post-secondary education.

“No one brought lunch, right? Aight, we’re gonna go to the caff to get some food. Sit tight here, brothers.”

With that, Franco got up from his seat along with Evie and they both ran out the door for the cafeteria. Unlike a typical school cafeteria, this school cafeteria was famous for its traditional Oriental-style food from the Yue homeland, and would always attract long lines of students every day. There have been many Class Wars fought over the privileges in this cafeteria.

“And there goes the finest man I’ve ever met.”

“You mean the fattest man you’ve ever met.”

“Eon says it every time Franco goes to fight that long-ass line to get food for us. You don’t need to correct him every time too, Caius.”

Kato rolled his eyes at the in-jokes exchanged between the remaining two boys. Franco used to be a chubby boy when they first met, but after meeting his goddess Evie, he finally got the motivation to get rid of the extra fat.

Eon and Caius, however, were not perturbed at Kato’s complaint.

“Heh, and now that Franco’s gone, his role goes back to the original straight man, Kato.”

“Heh, it’s time for some callback humour.”

Eon and Caius grinned at each other. They were not going to be pulling any punches at all. Kato knew the routine already though, and usually the easiest way to get out of it was to segue the topic at hand to something else. Later, when the Elites look back on their year, they would come to laugh at how the future came to be from this little twist of fate.

“Hey, Yui, are you all right? You’re bruised everywhere.”

Kato called out to a classmate sitting in front of the Elites. Yui Tereshkova. She had been in the same class as them since primary school, so she was no stranger to the Elites. She had shoulder-length red hair with ends curling inwards and her eyes were light indigo, an eye colour of the Avian people.

“Eh? Um, yeah, I’m all right. It happens when you live in the ghetto.”

Yui smiled weakly at the three of them. The ghetto. Yui lived at an orphanage that was based in the city ghetto in the heart of the city, an area where people lived in near-poverty. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of a rapidly developing city was the widening gap between the rich and the poor, segregating areas of the city by economic class. Although across the city there were several areas that could be considered ghettos, only the one in the city centre was called a “ghetto”.

Even though she came from the ghetto, if one examined closely, her face was very impressive, perhaps enough to be second in their class behind Evie. As her emotions animated her face, the allure of her various expressions was truly something to behold. But alas, her natural beauty never surfaced within the boundaries of this school, nor did she ever try to do so.

“I’ve lived in the ghetto as a kid, but did things get even worse over the years?”

“And there’re no plans for gentrification either.”

“The ghetto is a lost cause, my friends. There’s no other place that the people of the ghetto can go, so it’ll be here to stay.”

“It’ll be fine. Yui’s taking afternoon classes, right? D’ya have any plans after graduation?”

Kato, Eon and Caius quickly roped Yui into their conversation, and though it wasn’t often she get to talks to them, it was often enough to know their individual tendencies, so in a sense she was already used to their mindless banter. She turned around in her chair and faced the boys in their conversation.

“We brought back the best of the best, my little piggies. A fitting feast for the return of us, the legends, to this great institution.”

Evie appeared in the doorway, triumphant with a lunch box in her hand. Franco followed her inside, clutching onto everyone else’s lunch boxes with his life.

“Ah, the fight to the front of the line was a long one, but we got’em in the end.”

Franco struggled with his five lunch boxes as he stumbled inside.

“Oh, Yui’s joining us for lunch too? Sorry about that, we didn’t get enough boxes.”

Evie asked as she saw Yui talking to the boys. As Yui replied, she took out a cloth-wrapped box from her bag.

“It’s all right. I’ve brought my own lunch.”

Yui again smiled timidly as she spoke.

“We’re not your little piggies! We are the greatest beings to have ever lived!”

“So same thing as being my little piggies. No difference.”

Evie brushed off Eon’s objection easily and sat back down at her desk. Then, another familiar figure appeared at the door.

“Hey everybody! I’m gonna be eating lunch with my friends from now on, so can I have my lunch box now~?”

Teto appeared at the door waving her arms at the crew with very unfortunate news for Kato, who instantly started bawling his heart out.

“Enjoy yourself! Remember to come back once in a while to entertain us.”

Franco, who was still standing up, tossed one of the boxes over to Teto and gave her a wink and a thumbs-up. Teto winked back at the crew and immediately skipped away, headed back downstairs to her classroom.

“It’s all right, Kato. Your little sister won’t be coming here anymore, probably because she wants to avoid your sister complex. But at least we still got Yui here.”

Eon pretended to console Kato, of course. There was not a moment that Eon wouldn’t take to take a shot at Kato.

“Hey, I’m not Teto’s replacement!”

Yui pouted at Eon’s last remark there. She managed to settle in among the Elites and speak more confidently.

“And no one’ll ever be. I only have one little sister, now and forever.”

Kato laid his face onto his desk, not wanting to see a world without his dear little sister.

“Eheheh, Kato’s taking it a bit too hard this time around.”

Caius poked at Kato’s cheek, the man still unresponsive to the world.

“The moment he sees Teto again, all will be forgotten. We can just start eating lunch without him. And if he still doesn’t eat his lunch, I can eat his for him.”

Evie shrugged at the antics for once. She took the boxes away from Franco and passed it to the boys who stayed behind in the classroom. Kato immediately sat back up as Evie threw his box in his direction, allowing the box to land gracefully on top of the desk instead of on top of his head.

“Evie!”

Kato stared at his stepsister wide-eyed, who also matched his critical gaze. The staring contest continued for about three seconds before Kato broke off contact from Evie’s eyes, which were slowly turning into the dead, hollow eyes that pierced right through his poor soul.

“Th-thanks.”

Kato choked on his words as he came off of Evie’s intense gaze. The rest of the crew laughed at their incredulity as Evie recovered and smirked at Kato, claiming victory once again. Kato bowed to Evie in defeat and opened his lunch box along with everyone else.

---

After the end of the afternoon classes, the Elites met up in the locker area to change from their indoor to outdoor shoes and close out their first day of third year. The lockers were where students would pass through first when they arrive, and then pass through again as they leave. Traditionally, the locker area was where corporal punishment was carried out. As such, a hole in the barrier was intentionally created here in the locker area to allow corporal punishment, even when people wore the cleanse tags.

Grabbing their personal belongings, the Elites were satisfied with their first day of school and began to walk home, five o’clock on the dot.

The road home was a bit long, and unfortunately the paths home between Franco and Caius versus the other four would diverge. As they did from last year and the year before, they all agreed to make the split-off at the old playground they and the Jupiter sisters used to frequent, which although it made the way home a little longer for everyone, the extra distance was reasonably short enough to take it. If they needed to, they could all meet up here in the morning on the way to school. They passed by many apartments, shops, a factory, and up a very long hillside path before reaching the playground at the top.

The playground grounds were not made of sand, but of rubber mulch, as the city is essentially devoid of open grass or soil; a city of pavement. Behind the main playground were a jungle gym, then a fair amount of space, and then a large chain-link fence with a locking door that shielded it all from a narrow road, lined on the opposite side with many short apartment buildings with small shops on the street level. Turning around from that road to face the direction of the hillside road they came from, there was a very clear and majestic view of the city below, as well as the hills and mountains that surrounded it.

“See you guys tomorrow.”

“Eon, we have student council duties starting tomorrow, so we won’t be heading home immediately, guys. It’ll probably last an hour after school if you guys want to wait around.”

Franco and Caius called out and waved to the siblings and Eon as they parted ways at their old playground.

“Got it, shorty.”

Eon responded with a simple quip as they all waved back at Franco and Caius, bidding them farewell as the cloudless sky began to turn slightly orange. They went in opposite directions along that road beyond the playground; the siblings’ party towards more apartment buildings in one direction, Franco and Caius toward the more suburban-like area with large houses in the other. As a side note, the Jupiter sisters’ home was also in the direction of the suburbs.

Passing by many apartments and a few more lights, the four had come back to their familiar road. Eon’s building was the first, so he broke off from the party first.

“I’ll see everyone in the mornin’ then.”

The brother-sister duo saluted the bespectacled man, while Evie flicked her hair as if she was in a commercial for a hair product. Eon replied with a similar salute, opened the steel doors to enter the apartment and disappeared up the stairs. The siblings walked on for only a few buildings before they also reached home.

As noted before, they lived in a doubled-up flat; two flats combined together by removing a part of the wall that separated them, connecting the two living rooms together. The second flat’s front door was then sealed so that only the door into the first flat remained open to the apartment’s stairs. In the first flat there was a living room complete with colour TV and couches, an Oriental-style kitchen, an indoor balcony with the washing machine and laundry tools, Karl’s home office and bedroom, and two guest bedrooms. To the children, the first flat was Karl’s territory, and referred to the rooms in the first flat as “Karl’s kitchen” or “Karl’s washroom”, etc.

So the three of them entered the first flat, called out to Karl to notify him of their return, threw their schoolbags on the couch, sped past the living room, and into the second flat. There was another kitchen but much less equipped compared to Karl’s as it only ever cooked instant noodles and had a microwave oven. The living room and bedrooms were carpeted in comparison to Karl’s tiled floors. Their living room had couches and a large old radio atop an expensive stereo sound system that played records and cassette tapes, as well as a messy array of clothes and other personal effects among the three of them strewn across the floor and furniture. The siblings’ flat had separate rooms for the large bathtub and the tiny shower, whereas Karl’s side only had the shower.

There were only two bedrooms in their flat, but the bedrooms were big, and they only used the larger of them; the three of them all shared one room ever since they were children, and it had not changed to this day. The carpeted room had one huge bed that Teto and Evie slept in, while Kato had a futon set up on the carpeted floor next to it. The wallpapers were blue on one side and pink on the other, reflecting Kato and Teto’s favourite colours. Each of them had a small office desk to put away their possessions if they ever wanted to. Like the living room, their belongings were laid out in the open for the world to see, especially Teto’s clothes.

The slightly smaller bedroom, though it also had a large four-poster bed, was not occupied and was left as-is for a long time. It did not have as much furniture as the siblings’ room, save the small counter for the bed light. When the day comes to clean house, they would clean it up, but for whatever reason they never used the room for something else.

They kept that bedroom closed to prevent spreading the mess that is the siblings’ flat. However, that bedroom’s door that was usually shut, was mysteriously open today, which caught the siblings by surprise. Slowly and quietly, as though they were sneaking upon an unsuspecting victim, they peeked through the doorway from behind the wall, standing right outside of the bedroom door.

Upon the old four-poster bed laid a small girl with blond hair, her person somewhat obscured by the mosquito net that hugged around the bed. Though she seemed to be still wearing a dress shirt, a sign that she had went to sleep without changing, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully nonetheless.

“Wait a minute…”

Kato murmured to Evie as he pointed to the roller luggage that was tucked away in the far corner of the room next to the bed. They had both seen it before. It was within their view for the entire morning in fact.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Suddenly, hands belonging to their guardian, Karl, clasped on Kato’s and Evie’s shoulders. They were a bit too focused on the girl in front of them to notice Karl coming into their flat.

“I forgot to mention it to you guys, but we have new orders from the top. I’m sure you’ve already seen her at school, but she’ll be staying with us for the coming year, until the two of you graduate.”

“Nyaa~”

A cute sound came from the direction of the bed. The girl slowly got herself up and out of bed, parting the netting around it away. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand before she stepped onto the carpet and faced the people standing in the doorway. Those people in question stood in silence as they watched on and waited for her to address them.

“Kato, Evie, Teto. Sisi shall be in your care for this year.”

She smiled radiantly as she said it simply and honestly. Sisi did not wear any of the pompous attitude she gave to her students at school, and not only that, her dialect changed slightly as well. Though she still spoke in the same archaic style, the intonations were less perfect than before.

Her dress shirt was unbuttoned completely, to the horror of Kato at first, but immediately realized that besides her lack of development in the women’s department, she also had a lengthy scar down the middle of her chest. On top of the scar, squarely between her breasts, was a tattoo in the form of a stylized unicursal hexagram, which designated her status and allegiance: a Guardian of Hearts for Eternia.

---

Since long ago, Livia was famous for being a base for the secret society of Eternia, which has in recent years became a public secret. Eternia was an underground organization that essentially operated as a shadow government over the continent of Candor, in direct opposition to the imperial government in Auxiria proper. Livia was able to maintain its autonomous status due to Eternia’s influence here. Similarly, the neighbouring city of Lien, the origin of and a major centre of research for Western alchemy, was able to do the same.

 It was estimated that Eternia controlled at least a third of the Auxirian economy and maintained its own underground paramilitary forces. Eternia was headed by a mysterious group, the “Three Eternal Leaders”, who wielded exceptional alchemical and magical abilities, both in their genius as well as their bodies being powerful alchemical catalysts themselves: Eterna and her two sisters. Eternia espoused of an egalitarian utopia on earth, held together through authoritarian rule by the Eternal Leaders and supported by alchemical and scientific progress.

The siblings’ final destination would be to join the prestigious group of deities that stood above all others inside Eternia, the “Guardians of Hearts”, whose members are referred to as “Hearts”. As orphans, Kato, Teto and Evianna were taken in by Karl von Habsburg, an Eternian agent, due to their physical superiority. They were then set to train with Master Chang over many years of their youth to become Hearts candidates. Ever since they became part of the von Habsburg household, they have aimed to become such, both to repay Eternia for their lives to which they owe, and to use such a position as a means to their own ends, whatever they might be. From the very beginning, they did not believe in Eternia’s ideological theory.

So once they graduate from high school, they would be formally inducted into Eternia as deities who would fight for Eternia’s interests across the empire. Eventually, they would join the ranks of the Hearts to fight against Eternia’s strongest enemies. Nearly all of the Hearts, past and present, graduated from Korolev Senior, and as headmistress of the school, Eterna essentially handpicked the Hearts herself.

Moving the coffee table and various pieces of clothing aside, the three children were on their knees on the carpet floor in their living room, folding their legs underneath their thighs and resting on their heels in seiza style. Kato occupied the centre, flanked by his two sisters. Facing them was Sisi, who sat on the couch in front of them with an Oriental teacup in her delicate fingers. Meanwhile, Karl stood to the side in wait, giving off the impression as though he was the butler to Sisi instead of the homeowner. It made it the more realistic as he usually wore a vest with his dress shirt and black pants, giving off the appearance of an attendant.

Sisi got up from her seat to move to the coffee table at the side, pour more tea into her cup, and sat back down with it in both hands. Her eyes and facial expression relaxed as she began to speak, almost as though she was a grandmother speaking gently to her grandchildren.

“Sisi shall introduce herself once again, this time in full. Mine name is Elizabeth Miklos Romana, one of the deities of the Guardians of Hearts. Mine title is the ‘Two of Hearts’, as in the second in command of the Hearts. In the past, Sisi contemporaneously served in the multinational unit of deities, the Winged Emissaries, who fought in the Candoran War many years ago on Eternia’s behalf.

“It is mine understanding that the three of you shall join Eternia in official capacity as well as the ranks of the Hearts in the near future. To facilitate your entry into our ranks, Lady Eterna has decided that Sisi shall return to this institution to observe your abilities for the year.

“Though Sisi says she shall be assessing your abilities, Master Chang and Karl are already very well-versed in your physical capabilities as well as personalities, so that is not part of mine assessment. There is only one criterion for your assessment; Sisi’s judgment. If you are able to impress Sisi, then she has no doubt that you shall be able to join the Guardians of Hearts.”

As Sisi had been sipping away at her tea, she paused here to get up once again to move to the coffee table. This time, Karl had offered to refill her teacup, to which she accepted graciously. She sat down once again in the same fashion.

“While Sisi may be your overseer, unless Sisi needs to assume the role of the Two of Hearts, Sisi is merely your teacher and guardian. In other words, you can treat Sisi as you would a normal teacher or guardian. That is all.”

Sisi smiled innocently again. She did not mention when she would need to assume that role, but regardless the children nodded at her respectfully. Though she was clearly finished, the air in the room remained light and pure, almost as if they were at a temple praying at a goddess’ altar. It was most definitely Sisi’s doing, as her demeanour up to this point had been one comparable to her actual age. As Sisi remained a grandmother, the siblings remained obedient.

“While Elizabeth is staying here, I’ll be staying away from home more often to wrap up the work needed to get you guys out of here safely when the time comes.”

Karl spoke in his deep voice as he scratched at his thick moustache. His long black hair, tied in a small ponytail, had grey streaks in them for as long as the children had known him. It was only at this moment, as he declared that he would be away from home for some time, that the siblings realized the grey had spread tenfold. It has been almost twelve years since.

The children also knew what kind of ‘work’ Karl was talking about. The work referred to the efforts to erase the children’s existence within this community. Once they become deities, it was imperative that enemies of Eternia could not find any evidence of their pasts. In other words, iconoclasm: destroying physical records and memories of their existence. The only evidence expected to remain of them in Livia would be in the memories of the people they were close to, and the class victory photograph, should they win the Class Wars.

“Thank you, Karl. Sisi shall leave those matters to you, as mine own guardian had done for Sisi so many years ago.”

“How often will you be gone?”

Evie was the first to speak among the children, maintaining the politeness and formal atmosphere that lingered.

“I hope not too often. There will definitely be some nights or weekends where I’ll be gone, but if meals are what you’re worried about, I’ll make sure arrangements are made ahead of time.”

Karl smiled as he gave a vague answer to Evie, as he did not and would not know the scope of his work and where it would take him, but he patted the side of her head all the same as Evie closed her eyes. While Evie was slightly upset, the other two looked a bit distant as well. Karl was obviously loved by the three of them.

“If that’s the case, then Sisi’s arrangements too have already been decided with it together some time ago, I take it?”

Kato asked his question carefully. His implicit question was to confirm if Sisi would take over his role as their primary chaperone.

“Yes, this entire arrangement has been decided a while back, though I’ve only been informed of this recently. It’s not like I’ll be a delinquent and disappear for days on end. From what I expect, I’ll be working out of Aunt Maddie’s place.”

Karl confirmed Kato’s suspicions. Though the sudden change of life circumstances were not unfamiliar to the children, who had went through their own troubling and uncertain times before coming to the von Habsburg residence, it was not something that anyone got used to.

“Aunt Maddie? That is Madeleine di Parma, Sisi presumes? Sisi did not know that she owned property here in Livia.”

“It’s more like a safe house that Madeleine and we use on occasion. She does own it, but she doesn’t live here of course. She has much better things to do as a cabinet.”

Madeleine di Parma, known to the children as Aunt Maddie, was Karl’s direct superior for his assignment as the paternal guardian of the siblings. Almost like a typical eccentric relative, Madeleine occasionally visited their residence to play with the children and shower them with gifts. The visits were quite involving, usually amounting to staying over at the safe house for a week or two. To the children, it was an exciting time to temporarily stay in a different home, do different things and eat different foods, so they always looked forward to Madeleine’s visits.

Madeleine was a member of the Eternian cabinet, the uppermost echelon of Eternia that ruled over all of it. In essence, the cabinet was the Eternian equivalent of the Auxirian aristocracy. As a member of this elite class, it was not surprising that she owned this property on top of probably many more. While Madeleine lived on the top of the Eternian hierarchy, Karl was part of the nomenklatura, the bureaucratic middle class in which Eternia governed its organization and territories through. The nomenklatura, while not purely equivalents of civil servants, they resembled more of the Auxirian landed gentry: the bourgeois middle class and lower nobility.

“If you’re going to be using the house, is Aunt Maddie not coming to visit us this year then?”

Teto asked out of curiosity. Out of the three, Teto liked Aunt Maddie the most.

“She won’t be affected by my use of the house. Aunt Maddie is going to be visiting us during the usual time of the year, so don’t worry about that.”

Karl said gently as he ruffled her hair lightly. When indoors, Teto would take off her hair ties so her curly hair flowed freely around her.

“So all in all, we’ll be doing the same things as planned, then?”

Kato asked his two elders in the room. “We” referred to him and his sisters, while “the same things” meant going to school as planned, staying away from the Eternian life for the year. Because of their exemplary performance, which was immortalized through their formal graduation rites at the Chang temple just a day ago, the three of them insisted that they stay in Livia for one more year to complete their secondary education without disturbance from Eternia’s side.

“Exactly as planned. Up until the moment you graduate, there’ll be not a single expectation for any one of you.”

Karl nodded in assurance. While Karl and Sisi handled their own respective assignments within Eternia, the siblings were going to live this year as normal people.

“Wait, I thought Sisi was going to be assessing us for our Hearts candidateship.”

“Ah, that’s right. Is there something more about the assessment?”

Kato questioned again, which Evie also wanted to know the answer to as well. Evie was easily the strongest of the three of them, and was expected to become the future leader of the Hearts.

“It is Lady Eterna who decides the membership of the Hearts. So while Sisi shall be assessing you based on mine personal preferences, in the end Sisi can only recommend to Lady Eterna for your initiation. So Sisi’s assessment is merely a formality Sisi must perform.

“Sisi was one of the Hearts who agreed with your request to stay in school for the year. Sisi believes in having a fulfilling life if you are to join the Hearts. Sisi does not believe in a Heart without a heart. Thus, that is mine criterion for your assessment. If you can show Sisi that you can live your life, then Sisi shall most delightedly recommend you to the Hearts.”

Sisi laid down her teacup on the coffee table for the third time, went up to the three of them and pulled them all together in a warm hug.

“Even though it actually is an expectation, it is an expectation that you shall, without a doubt, be able to meet. Is Sisi not correct?”

The large balcony-windows, secured with the usual iron cages to prevent unwanted entry, were open, letting in the summer air which blended splendidly together with Sisi’s warmth as she closed her eyes and asked of the children in her embrace. The children could only nod in response.

Candoran Calendar, Year 1887.

“Kato! Wake up, Kato!”

“It’s time to go to school, Kato.”

Kato stirred as he slowly got up from his futon. The calls of two very familiar voices from outside his room beckoned him.

Kato was a light sleeper, but he was not a morning person either. It took him several moments, but he was finally awake enough to recall yesterday’s events. Kato and the owners of those two voices had completed their lifelong martial arts training with Master Chang and performed their personal graduation rites last night.

It meant that Kato and his two sisters are finally freed from training and can go to school full-time.

“Kato, breakfast is already ready.”

An older male voice echoed through the apartment. Upon hearing this voice, Kato quickly readied himself. This was his last year of senior high school, and would be the first and last time he would be able to attend it full-time. With a quick smile he left his room, filled with anticipation for his long awaited golden year.

---

Kato Danubius lived in the border town of Livia, which was enclosed in a valley in the great Mid-Ranges mountains that spanned the continent of Candor. The valley had once separated the two former kingdoms of Auxiria and Ava, until the union of the two crowns in the early modern era. Today, Auxiria’s empire spanned the entire continent of Candor, having conquered and united the continent under a single dynasty.

The town itself should not be called a town, however. It has grown large enough to be called a city, and the progress of science and alchemy together can be seen through the tall apartment buildings that now flooded the city’s skyline, a scene that would have not been possible a mere thirty years ago. The town was founded by Yue refugees who travelled here after Auxiria had conquered their homeland long ago, and even today the locally spoken language is Old Yue. Many Yue migrant enclaves like Livia exist all over the empire.

This particular valley in the Mid-Ranges, the Tyrolian Pass, was blessed with fair soil as well as warm weather all year round, perfect for human settlement. The valley’s winds were gentle, its rain came often, and it snowed only for a couple of weeks a year. Most of the city rests on the valley floor, though it has since expanded into the hills surrounding it. The city was multinational in nature, as many migrants from other lands settled in Livia due to its high tolerance for foreigners, and many learn the local vernacular language of Old Yue as well as its language of education and administration, New Yue. The national language of Auxiria was Standard Candoran, but due to Livia’s autonomous status, the local languages were preserved alongside the use of Standard Candoran.

Kato lived in a relatively spacious flat with his younger sister Teto Danubia, his stepsister Evianna Misaya, and their guardian Karl von Habsburg. In fact, it was two flats merged into one, effectively doubling the living space of his small family. They lived immediately above the shops, on the second floor. The building was on the edge of the valley floor, in close proximity to the hills and mountains.

For most of their lives, the three of them spent the majority of their time with the martial arts expert, Master Chang, who oversaw their training to become talented fighters. The temple grounds were some thirty minutes away up in the hills behind them by foot. There with Master Chang, they trained in various aspects of combat to become “deities”, a highly skilled individual fighter.

This is due to their disposition as being “physically superior”, a term used to refer to those who have predisposed superior, perhaps superhuman, physical ability. More specifically, they were people who had significantly higher upper limits to their physical abilities compared to your average human limits. People who could be considered physically superior were rare, and so those who could become deities were even rarer. It took years of training to climb above your natural limits, so even if you were physically superior, most only end up having above average abilities because most could not handle nor even encounter such training.

“Kato, which afternoon classes did you decide to take this semester?”

Teto, his cute younger sister, asked as she glued her whole body onto his left arm. Her cheerful voice rang through the warm late summer air like chimes, and her short hair tied in twin drills bounced softly as she walked in step with her dearest brother. She was the spitting image of Kato, and if she had cut her hair and grew several inches taller, no one would be able to tell the difference between the two. Still in the summer uniform, it accentuated all of her curves which have matured greatly in a recent growth spurt. Teto was one year behind Kato, in the second-year class.

“I’m interested in it as well. You haven’t made your choices until the very last day.”

Walking together with the two of them on their way to school was Evianna, their stepsister, who was in the same year as Kato. Her outer appearance was quite impressive. She had pure silver-coloured hair in a bob cut, with her bangs held to the sides by hairclips. She stood almost as tall as Kato, who was at an average male height; Evianna was always the tallest girl in her year. In addition to having the perfect supermodel face and body, her chest size was the biggest of her year as well, to the envy of her peers.

“I picked the sciences, Evie. Just chose the things I’m good at.”

Evie. Evianna’s pet name, called by those close to her.

“But why did you wait until the last day to mail in the request forms?”

Kato shrugged and gently pushed Evie with the back of his right hand, as though he was waving her away.

“Eon and I were talking about which classes to take. We didn’t come to a conclusion until the last day.”

“So you’re going to be taking the same classes as Eon? Will you even pay attention in class?”

Kato sighed, realizing that Evie was already starting the day off by picking him apart. Just as he thought he’d avoid some of Evie’s antics this early in the morning, a fourth voice called out to them.

“Nonsense. Even if I were to horse around in class with Kato, I would still be at the top of the class.”

“I have no doubt you’ll be on top of the class academically and physically and in whatever manner else there is too. But unfortunately Kato can only manage one or the other.”

Evie responded to Eon Koziko, who had just appeared around the corner, also on the way to school. Eon was a childhood friend of the trio and lived only a street and a few apartment buildings over, so it was only natural that they walk the same way to school.

Kato let out another sigh as Evie struck at him again. He thought that he might as well join the fray too.

“Evie, it doesn’t matter because I’ll be skipping most of them. If I don’t skip my classes, how else would I be able to watch over Teto while she attended her classes?”

Eon turned his head away immediately, almost as though refuting Kato’s existence and his little sister complex entirely. He placed his hand on Kato’s shoulder with pretentious exaggeration.

“There are some things that should be kept out of the light of day, for the good of humanity. But rest assured, young one, one day your stalker skills will be just as good as mine.”

Eon readjusted his glasses and replied in such a serious voice that if you didn’t know him well enough, it was hard to tell if he was joking or not. Kato let out a groan of disapproval in any case, while Evie and Eon both grinned widely. With their morning banter routine over, they proceeded onwards to school.

---

Kato had auburn-coloured hair, short, unkempt, and slightly curly. Teto’s hair mirrored her brother’s, except with more curls. Wearing a simple dress shirt, it was his preference to never wear the tie. As a typical young lad, this was his idea of looking cool given the limited wardrobe options for school. In contrast, Eon unexpectedly always wore his uniform properly despite his personality.

The girls, on the other hand, were allowed much more freedom in their choice of attire. Teto’s shirt was sleeveless in comparison with Evie’s sailor uniform with long sleeves and length, extending over her miniskirt. Interestingly, Evie has not always wore pantyhose, but ever since she was put on exemption from Master Chang’s training last year, she began pursuing fashion as a hobby to occupy the extra time, and has since wore them outside of training. Teto, however, has a habit of wearing as little as possible, to the point where she sits in her undergarments at home. It was all it could take to get her to put on her socks.

“I’ll see everyone at lunch!”

Following Teto’s exclamation and parting with his dear sister, they have arrived at the 3-F classroom of Korolev Senior Secondary School, and despite being in a different classroom from last year, they have come upon a familiar scene. It seemed that most, if not all, the students from last year’s 2-F class has remained in Class F. Not everyone was here yet, but there was some time before homeroom started. The arrangement of the desks was as per normal; individual seats in rows and columns.

Second from the back of the classroom sat two very familiar faces. Caius Evans and Franco Atkinson both sat there with their usual demeanour; Caius with his blonde curly hair and a soft expression, while Franco had a red bowl cut with an excited and slightly goofy air around him. However, their builds were polar opposites; while the feminine Caius was short and had a cute baby face, the masculine Franco stood tall and was very handsome, making them both a target of affection for the ladies in the class. Like the contrast between Kato and Eon, Franco wore no tie while Caius did.

“Welcome back, guys.”

“Ayyy, the crew’s assembled now.”

Caius and Franco greeted the trio.

“‘sup, brothers.”

“Yo.”

“Good to see that the Elite Four is here and accounted for.”

Kato, Evie and Eon responded as the men gave each other high-fives. The trio moved into their usual seats behind Caius and Franco, and all five youngsters gave a satisfied expression. The unholy alliance has been assembled once again this year; and perhaps for the very last year as well.

Caius was the last member of the original group of childhood friends; Kato, Evie, Eon and Caius were a tightly knit group ever since the siblings moved into Livia at the start of primary school. As kings and queen of the playground, Eon nicknamed their group the “Elite Four” to face off against their archrivals, the Jupiter sisters. The Jupiter sisters were another group of four children who challenged the Elite Four at school and in play, and thus grew up together with the Elites.

Today, all four Jupiter sisters are executives on the student council. Interestingly, though the moniker “Elites” included Teto in the label as well, they specifically use “Elite Four” to refer to the four older children when contrasting with the Jupiter sisters, especially in a four-on-four competition.

Before they entered junior high, Franco, after emigrating with his parents to Livia from the Kingdom of Rine, joined this group of hooligans in their adventures. Though they immigrated here recently, the distance was in fact not very far and they, perhaps not coincidentally, came from a city with a majority Old Yue speakers.

As the newest member of the group, he was on the receiving end of the many pranks that Kato and Eon devised. Similarly, his advances on Evie were met with constant rejection as he was smitten by Evie’s beauty. When together with the crew, Franco would assume the straight man role that Kato had previously occupied. Though thoroughly tossed around by the others, they nonetheless proved to each other, on many occasions, that Franco was a kindred spirit and joined the ranks of the Elites.

 “So Teto’s on afternoon classes this year too?”

“Everyone’s on it. There’s no more training left for us to do.”

Caius inquired the newly arrived siblings for their confirmation, which Kato gave. For every year up until this year, the two peas in the pod did not attend afternoon classes, which were elective classes. Evie, as well, did not take any afternoon classes until last year. This was due to their continued training to become deities.

If a student does not attend enough afternoon classes over their senior high career, they will miss the requirements for a Standard diploma and instead be granted the People’s diploma, which would be what the siblings would graduate with. The difference between the two was that only the Standard diploma would allow advancement into post-secondary education, and for the siblings, this was not needed. But to bring their golden year to a memorable close, they have decided to take afternoon classes along with the rest of the Elites.

“Kato decided to take extra sciences, Eon again with the advanced math, and I settled on home economics and extra phys. ed. like last year. We’ll see what we’ll take next semester.”

The morning classes were on a regular schedule of compulsory classes running throughout the year following their homeroom classes, with the final exams for them at the very end of the school year. The afternoon classes were divided into two semesters, running on a course selection schedule.

“Hey, I’m taking home economics again too! That makes two of us once more!”

Franco held his fist out to Evie for a fist-bump, which she completed with matching grace. Though Franco may be infatuated over Evie’s looks, they actually complemented each other’s mannerisms and got along quite well.

“I’m guessing that no one wants to take classical literature with me this year either. Kids these days, they just don’t understand the beauty of great cultural works.”

Caius shrugged lightly in disappointment. Out of the Elites, Caius probably had the least interests in common with the rest of the group.

“No one’s gonna just take doubled-up classes, dude. That’s too brutal. Three straight hours of literature, every day? For real?”

“Math is where today’s at. We’re in the age of science now, grandpa. No one has the attention span to appreciate great cultural works.”

Both Kato and Eon shrugged off Caius’ complaint and smirked at each other. Typical.

The bell rang for homeroom, signalling the end of the idle banter between them. However, something was seemingly wrong with the scene in the class.

“Mr Constantinus is supposed to be our homeroom teach, right?” 

Franco asked out loud. Looking around the classroom, it seemed like most of the other students were also confused about the absence of the homeroom teacher. Caius replied to Franco’s question.

“I’ve heard Mr Constantinus went on leave back to Hellenia for this year. If that’s true, it’ll mean that we’re gonna get a new teach.”

“Really, Caius? That’s interesting. Wonder who it’ll be.”

“Caius, how d’you even know about this? Student council?”

“Eon, you’re on the student council too, you dumbass. Not only that, you’re an Assembly member too. After the Jupiter sisters were elected into office last year, you were really gung-ho about joining the council to undermine their rule.”

“And now that I’m a student council and an Assembly member, literally a member of the hierarchy, I may have forgotten about the plight of the lower plebs. I’ve become a hopeless scum of the earth now.”

“Don’t lose hope, Eon. That’s why I’m here. To lose hope for you. Every little misstep you take, I’ll be there to remember your failures forever.”

As he finished that sentence, Caius smirked at Eon, who in turn proceeded to gratefully clasp Caius’ hands in dramatic fashion as the other girls sitting near their area started giggling. It did help the reputation of the Elites that Caius was a very cute boy; otherwise they would really be written off as a ragtag band of hooligans, albeit law-abiding ones.

Kato slapped at Franco’s head for his attention.

“And Caius’ shots are still, amazingly, on-point as always. Franco, it seems like you’re destined to eat our dust forever.”

“I think I gave up trying to catch up to you guys a long time ago.”

As Franco responded in desolation, the classroom door suddenly opened up, immediately silencing the entire class.

A very young-looking girl walked in with a small wheeled luggage as the whole class stared at her in silence. The little girl was obviously the new teacher for their class, but the class was obviously put off by her extremely short stature, no taller than a middle-schooler. She wore a white dress shirt and pencil skirt, resembling an office worker. Her shoulder-length blonde hair was partially tied in the back in a small pigtail, finished with a large Oriental style hairpin, possibly custom-made in the homeland of Yue.

She started writing her name on the chalkboard, which to the students’ surprise was a name in High Candoran, the national language of the Kingdom of Candor. While the continent was named after this kingdom, to distinguish between the two, “Candor” by itself refers to the entirety of the continent, while “Royal Candor” refers to the kingdom. Today, the kingdom is a constituent of the empire after it was conquered earlier in the century.

“Good mornin’, everyone. Elizabeth Romana is mine name. For this year, you shall be mine students, and as a graduate of this school myself, Romana expects every one of you to put in your best efforts to make your final year of high school as enjoyable and memorable as possible. Romana shall be in your most gracious care.”

Elizabeth bowed to the class after a very formal introduction, and the class was immediately surprised at her accurate pronunciation of Old Yue. She used the prestige dialect of Kwangchow of the Yue homeland, the same dialect in use in Livia and many other similar exclaves. Though many people graduated from Korolev Senior, it was a multiethnic school that took in foreign students, so it wasn’t guaranteed that everyone had perfect Old Yue.

“Romana knows she must explain this, but if anyone is surprised at mine appearance, Romana unfortunately has a condition of stunted growth, which means that she shall forever be a short girl. Romana does not remember, but Romana is probably approaching her seventieth day of birth by now.”

And then the class rose up in bewilderment. Conversation sprung up spontaneously amongst the students, including the Elites.

“We got ourselves a loli grandma as our teach!”

Eon shouted out with gusto as he raised his fists in the air in a victory stance, and Kato proceeded to stand up and high five Eon.

“Silence!”

She was not amused at the class’ response, especially from Eon and Kato. The class, unexpectedly, gone back to complete silence once again.

“You two at the back! Come to the front this instant!”

And so they did. Eon and Kato stood at the front of the class facing Elizabeth, both grinning at their new teacher with amusement. Seeing how they were not scared by her anger and how the class behind them were all watching with a curious attitude of anticipation, she immediately realized that these two were the troublemakers of this class, and probably along with the three other children sitting with them as well. She sighed in helplessness and she shook her head in disapproval.

“Your names?”

“Eon Atelier Koziko.”

“Kato Amero Danubius.”

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at the second name.

“Although Romana could guess what kind of students you are, Romana still needs to remind you that that was not proper etiquette in the classroom, especially in the presence of a teacher. No standing up without permission and no shouting out vulgarities, understood?”

Then Kato decided to pick Elizabeth up off the ground and hugged her tightly.

“Got it, teach. Anything for a cute little girl.”

“She’s actually so cute, we should think of a cute name for her too.”

And not a second too soon after Eon’s suggestion, Kato immediately nicknamed her.

“Sisi will be our teach’s name from now on. Sisi, we heard your concerns and will be good children from now on.”

Kato said those corny things to her with no shred of shame. Sisi, who turned scarlet with embarrassment, did not regain her composure in time and habitually started to stutter under her breath instead.

“Y-you are, no, th-this is, v-very awkward indeed. Sisi–”

Then she realized that she used the pet name as her first-person pronoun and she snapped out of her trance.

“Do you know what you are doing?! Let go of Romana this instant!”

Sisi complained loudly as Kato lets go of Sisi from his bear hug. Setting her firmly on the ground, they saw that her head had barely reached his chest. She was a short girl indeed.

“I’m glad you like the name.”

Kato smiled brightly at Sisi, letting her know that he had heard her murmur that name by accident.

“Ahhhh! Romana doesn’t know anymore! As long as you two remain behaved while class is in session, then it is fine.”

Sisi shook her head furiously and dismissed the two of them, clearly still red-faced at the physical contact between her and Kato. Despite her actual age, her heart and mind was racing as if she was at the age of her appearance. She pinched her own cheeks and turned once again to the class, which had watched the situation unfold in awe. The two boys had already returned to their seats and sat in obedience. Taking a deep breath, she continued to address the class.

“You all are entering the third year of school in Korolev Senior, and many things shall change from your previous years here. Romana has won the Class Wars of her year, thus Romana expects the same result from this class as well.”

Sisi cleared her throat as she addressed the class once again, but the class was no longer just in silence. They were in silence and also very sombre. The class was not very enthusiastic about the Class Wars.

“The Class Wars, as you should already know, is a year-long competition between the third-year classes. Many of you most likely have seen it in action already in the last two years. You shall be competing for a limited number of points distributed across the classes throughout the entire year, with the victorious class all graduating with the Standard diploma waiving the academic requirements. Not only that, your final scores shall be granted a fixed boost of points.

“With the appropriate casus belli, a war can be declared on another class. A physical battle between the two classes shall commence, and victory shall be granted when one side’s class representative’s cleanse tag is fully saturated to the opposing class.”

Sisi grabbed out of her baggage a roll of what looked like bandages, tearable into long strips at fixed intervals.

“All of you shall be given cleanse tags. Without a cleanse tag, you cannot participate. These cleanse tags shall protect you from physical injury at all times while within the barriers of the school grounds. However, the more damage you take, the further the cleanse tag shall be saturated.”

She took a strip of the bandage, tied it around her wrist, and proceeded to kick the wall and stub her toe. Showing the bandage again to the class, the bandage that was originally white, began to slightly colour black.

“A completely saturated cleanse tag turns completely to black, signalling the retirement of your participation in this battle. Our headmistress, Lady Eterna, maintains the barrier around the school during a war, so you can do as much physical damage to the school as you want; she can reverse all the damage you make. Those who happen to be in the barrier without a cleanse tag during a war shall receive divine protection from Lady Eterna through the barrier, but of course, no cleanse tag means no participation in this war. If you’re too late to put on one, then it’s too late.

“In this new age of widespread use of alchemy, while we do not allow any use of alchemy itself, we have added the academic Duel element to the Class Wars. In Romana’s time, a war was merely a massive physical brawl between the two classes. Today, teachers or any other Supervisor can adjudicate a Duel between two fighters, which can be a competition of any kind, including academic competitions. The loser of the Duel shall get their cleanse tags artificially saturated.

“Once a war concludes, the peace terms shall be negotiated between the fighting parties and a peace treaty shall be put into force. The peace shall be as binding as any policies passed by the Assembly.

“We can go over more details later, but Romana wants to remind you again that Romana’s class had won the Class Wars and Romana’s class photograph is hung on the Wall of Victory in the West Hall. Now that Romana has become an educator, albeit a temporary one, the title shall not be lost as long as Romana lives.”

Revelling in her moment of glory, Sisi puffed out her small chest with pride while the class remained stoic.

“Sisi, we’re Class F because we suck. How are we going to be able to win?”

Franco voiced his and the rest of the class’ concern out loud, and immediately a slap on the back of his head by Kato followed.

“Worry not. By our first war, we shall already have the advantage. Romana can make sure of it.”

With these words of reassurance from a cute little girl, Eon’s tendencies once again got the better of him and stood up. Kato, unsurprisingly, followed suit.

“Everyone, we have the goddess of victory on our side! This year is it, boys and girls. We’ll beat the shit out of the other classes and win the Class Wars!”

“And there’s no need to worry, because the Elite Four is here to stay. With us here, victory is nothing less than assured.”

And so the class started to be riled up with this morale-boosting speech. Though the class may see the Elites as a bit eccentric, they didn’t have anything to lose anyway, and with the Elites here, it would be at least very entertaining to watch their spectacle.

“Have no fear, everyone. I’m still here; ready to brute-force all our victories.”

Evie chimed in as well, not letting only the two of them have time in the sun. Everyone else in the class also knew that both Kato and Evie were physically superior, and not only was Evie a beauty, Evie already had a reputation to solve problems by physical force, so her reassurance garnered many cheers from the boys.

“You girls can help out too, can’t you?”

“If we can get your support, then there’s nothing that can stop us.”

Caius and Franco both appealed to the female crowd as well. It did help them that they were cute and handsome respectively, so the screams from the girls in the crowd weren’t too surprising.

With the class up in arms only after a mere half a minute, Sisi was impressed by the band of delinquents that sat at the back of the classroom. Though she has already heard of the reputation of this group of children from the other faculty staff, she got to witness their flair first-hand on the first day of classes.

“All right, enough of this already! Romana have just told you to stop misbehaving, Koziko!”

Sisi let the class cheer for about ten seconds before she declared silence again, to which the class was unusually obedient to. After the noise subsided, she smiled to the class and bowed once more.

“This is your most important year of your life. But it is up to you to make it the greatest. Romana has faith in each of you to make it so, and she looks forward to being your teacher for this year!”