The male student's face was beaten to a pulp -- bloody, swollen, and almost unrecognisable. He laid limply on the floor, unmoving, like a fallen log.

Hikaru rushed over, bending down to check on him.

"H, hey...!" Hikaru called out in a shaky tone to the male student. "Are you okay...?!"

No response.

That meant he wasn't conscious.

Hikaru bit onto her lower lips, feeling a sense of dread fill her stomach.

"What are you doing, Hikaru?" Risa asked, blinking at her confusedly.

"Y, you..." Hikaru turned to glance in awe at Risa and Hachiro. "Why would you two do this...?!"

Hachiro shrugged non-chalantly. "Beats me. I only did what Risa asked me to do."

"W, why...?!" Hikaru directed her question solely to Risa this time.

"Hikaru..." Risa said slowly. "That boy hurted you. I saw it from the window inside the classroom. He only got what he deserved. As your friend, it is my duty to keep you safe."

"That's not a reason to... to do this...!" Hikaru replied in disbelief.

Hikaru glanced around the crowded classroom, but no one was paying any attention. They were studying in their desks like a chain of factory robots. It was lunchtime but none of them were even eating lunch.

No doubt this was a product of Risa's doing.

Hikaru turned her gaze back at the male student and winced at the sight of his face.

Grabbing onto his arm, Hikaru slung it over her shoulder and tried miserably to pull him up from the ground.

"Hikaru, just leave him for goodness' sakes..." Risa said, watching Hikaru's puny figure trying to lift a boy twice her weight.

"I, I have to take him to the nurse... then, I will get help..." Hikaru breathed out. "No one else will help... if I don't do something..."

Risa sighed, placing a hand to her head. "Hachiro, take that boy to the nurse."

"Eh, me?!" Hachiro said.

"Of course you, or do you want me to do it for you?"

"..."

Without another word, Hachiro headed over to Hikaru and Hikaru reluctantly stepped away.

Hachiro pulled the male student onto his back, lifting him up easily, surprising Hikaru due to Hachiro's lanky figure.

Then, Hachiro left the room with the male student and the door to the classroom closed.

"Violence... is wrong, Risa..." Hikaru said. "What you did... was completely wrong..."

"Hikaru..." Risa plopped herself on top of the teacher's desk, sitting at the edge whilst facing Hikaru. "Shoving my friend is bad enough, but do you also know who that boy was?"

"I, I don't see why that matters... you shouldn't hurt--"

"Takeru Amano. In his first year of junior high, he brutally assaulted a female classmate in the girl's bathroom after an extended length of bullying that went on for a year. After the incident, he used his family's influence to threaten the girl's family to stay quiet through blackmail. The girl was so traumatised from the incident, she dropped out of school and hasn't left her house, much less her own bedroom, since the incident."

"..."

"In addition to that, that boy's family are directors in an insurance company that takes up aggressive illicit strategies to deny insurance payouts in order to boost profits. These are families trying to claim insurance over tragic circumstances like permanent disabilities, terminal illnesses, death, etcetera."

Risa swung her legs lightly from on top of the desk where she sat.

"So what do you think?" Risa asked. "Do you still think what I did was wrong?"

Hikaru felt astounded, but doubt lingered in her mind.

"...You could just be saying that, Risa... how do I know you're telling the truth?" Hikaru said.

"Izumi Goto." Risa replied without a pause. "That's the name of the girl who was assaulted. You can look it up for yourself online, Hikaru. Her name was leaked by Takeru's family, and the articles are all biased against her but the facts of the case remains. Of course, you won't find Takeru's name on any of the articles though."

Hikaru flinched. "We should do something about this then... why didn't you--"

"Tell someone?" Risa finished Hikaru's sentence for her, and upon seeing the look on Hikaru's face, confirmed that it was what she was going to say.

"Hikaru..." Risa said slowly. "These are some of the most powerful and affluent families that are sending their children to study at Hibiya High. As far as the law is concerned, the students here are basically untouchable."

"..."

"The whole system is corrupt. I should know. My father is the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party." Risa said. "I've seen the inner workings of this country's joke of a legal system with my very own two eyes."

"...then, what about the girl that was Fumiko's friend before... did you tell people to attack her...?"

"Oh, that." Risa waved her hand casually. "Nope, that was what it was."

"W, why would you do that...?'

"That girl broke the rules, Hikaru." Risa explained. "Rules are there to be obeyed -- no matter who you are. Otherwise, they just become an arbitrary system of bias."

Risa pushed herself off from the desk.

"That's why we need to change the way things work around here." Risa smiled. "And, that's also why I asked you to be my friend, Hikaru. You're different to the rest of them. You weren't born with a silver spoon to your mouth. You should know what it's like to struggle in a broken system that mercilessly punishes the weak and reward those that are unfit."

"And to do that," Risa elaborated, "I need to be in a position of power -- one that allows me to make changes. To firstly climb the ranks of Hibiya High, elimnating those in my path that can challenge my authority."

"For example, Aya Kuramoto." Risa tilted her head and smiled at Hikaru.

"...I don't understand..." Hikaru said quietly, "Aya is a good person, Risa..."

"Oh? Did she ever tell you the reason why I stopped going to school one year ago?" Risa asked, watching Hikaru's expression carefully. Hikaru hesitated and Risa chuckled. "I thought not."

"A year ago..." Risa said and her face darkened a little. "Aya and I used to be friends... or that was what I thought anyways."

"She was my only friend... because she was the only person I had met in my life that I could really talk to..." Risa said, and there was a sweet bitterness in her tone. "We were both... trying to fit in... to a world we couldn't relate to..."

"I trusted Aya..." Risa said, and her teeth clenched, a hint of anger lashing out across her eyes. "So then, I told her a secret... Something about me that I had never told anyone in my life before..."

"Then, one day Aya and I had a fight... And the very next day, I came into school to find everyone giving me these funny stares..." Risa said. "That was when I found out that an online blog had spread across the school... with the very secret I told Aya plastered openly on it for everyone to see..."

"..."

Risa started walking towards Hikaru.

"You can't trust Aya, Hikaru..." Risa said quietly. "Surely you must know what I'm talking about..."

"I... I don't know..."

"She's selfish...." Risa was circling around Hikaru now, studying her expression. "Incredibly ampathetic... A natural born liar... Everything she does is an act to lead to the result she wants..."

"..."

"Also, there are things that Aya is hiding from you... things she doesn't want you to know..." Risa's voice grew quieter as she talked. "That girl has done terrible things too, Hikaru... Perhaps even worse than what I have ever done... Don't you want to know the real Aya...?"

"...Stop it..."

Risa stopped in her tracks, surprise on her face.

"I don't know what Aya has done to you in the past, and it's true, there are many things that I don't know about Aya..." Hikaru said. "Maybe you're right, Aya might had done some horrible things in her past... But I know Aya... And the Aya I know would never do something intentionally to hurt another person."

"Risa, what you're doing... I don't understand..." Hikaru said, shaking her head. "But hurting others is wrong, Risa... And I can never stand by that, ever."

"So you will stand against me?"

"...I think... hatred will only spawn hatred... Being kind to others... is what will change people..."

"Hah..." Risa breathed out with a bemused smile. "Interesting... You're a peculiar person, Hikaru."

"What do you think, Risa...?" Hikaru asked encouragingly. "Won't you stop what you are doing to the class...? I will talk to Aya for you... I'm sure there was a reason why Aya let out your secret..."

"Hahaha..." Risa crackled, pulling her head back for a second, before glancing back down at Hikaru.

"Thank you for coming to talk to me today," Risa smiled. "I think after this conversation I have to be honest with you now."

Risa took a step towards Hikaru, now standing right in front of her.

To Hikaru's surprise, Risa grabbed strands of Hikaru's hair that had fallen over Hikaru's shoulder, raising Hikaru's hair gently in her hand as Risa stared at it, playing around with it with her fingers.

"The real reason I had asked you to be my friend was that I wanted to use you against Aya." Risa said, staring at Hikaru's hair. "But now you really do have my curiosity."

Risa sighed, letting Hikaru's cotton-soft hair fall from her hand then turning her back to walk away from Hikaru.

"Unfortunately, I have no interest in entertaining your childish dreams of an utopia where everything is perfect and everyday is rainbows and sunshine."

"What I do wonder though..." Risa said, turning to glance back at Hikaru with a mischievous grin. "How long will it take for me to break that silly idealism you hold so deep?"

"Risa..."

"This isn't Disneyland, Hikaru. You're not Cinderella, and there's no dashing prince to come save you. The world is a terrible and dark place. The only way to force change is by force. The only way to create equality is to destroy inequality."

Risa perched herself back on top of the teacher's desk, staring down at Hikaru with her cold lapis lazuli eyes.

"Kindness is weakness, Hikaru. You will do well to remember my words."

Risa grinned at Hikaru, the open spots in the shielded window behind her unveiling a cloudy gray sky.

~x~

"Aya..."

Aya glanced up from her desk, seeing Hikaru standing by with a wary expression on her normally bubbly face.

"Ah! Where were you, Hikaru? You were gone for so long!" Aya blurted out worriedly without thinking, getting up from her seat.

Fumiko and Sana who had been sitting around Aya's desk, eating lunch, also glanced up at Hikaru with concerned looks on their faces.

"Didn't I tell you not to go wandering around...?" Fumiko said. "With what's been happening lately..."

"I... I'm sorry, Fumiko..." Hikaru bowed her head. "I couldn't keep our promise..."

"Huh?" Fumiko blinked at Hikaru confusedly.

"I... I went to talk to..." Hikaru trailed off, glancing to the side.

"It's Risa, wasn't it?" Aya asked, and everyone turned to look at Aya, surprised.

"How did you know...?" Hikaru asked.

"Did you find out...? That she came back to school..." Fumiko asked Aya hesitantly.

"I'm not stupid, you guys..." Aya sighed. "I knew when she came back on the very first day. I just didn't think I needed to do anything about her."

"It's okay, Aya... don't worry about her, I will handle it...!" Fumiko said encouragingly.

"If I let you deal with her alone, you might end up getting seriously hurt, or worse." Aya told Fumiko. "Risa's not a joke, Fumiko."

Fumiko fell silent at that.

"What about yourself, Aya?" Sana asked. "We're worried about you too..."

Aya shook her head. "You guys don't have to worry about me. I know Risa. I know what she's capable of, how she thinks and what she wants... After all, she was my friend once..."

Sana nodded, giving Aya a small reassuring smile. "We're also with you too, Aya."

"Y, yeah!" Fumiko chirped in, blushing. "If Risa lays even a single finger on you, Aya, I promise you I will make it my life's mission to destroy her!"

Aya laughed at that. "Thank you, Fumiko. I appreciate that."

Fumiko's face burned bright pink at Aya's words.

Aya turned to Hikaru, smiling at her consolingly.

"So there you go, Hikaru..." Aya said. "We're all here for you. Please don't worry about Risa, and next time, let us help you out."

"Thank you, Aya..." Hikaru smiled back, her face lifting up. "Thank you, everyone..."

"Jeez..." Fumiko sighed, staring at Hikaru. Then, she went over smothering her with a hug. "Next time you do something stupid like that, you bring me along!"

"Ahh, Fumiko..." Hikaru said in a jokey complaining tone, muffled by the hug. "You're squashing me..."

"G, ga--! What are you doing, Fumiko?!" Aya flushed, seeing the two of them hugging, then rushed forward to separate them.

"W, waah... I just wanted to give Hikaru a hug, Aya..."

"H, hey! You were the one that you said you never thought about hugging her before...!"

"What?! That was ages ago! I can't believe you still remember that..."

"Anyways, no hugging, okay?!"

"Wuah..."

~x~

"So... what should we do about Aya Kuramoto?"

"..."

Risa was staring outside the classroom window disinterestedly, her legs swinging slowly from on top of the teacher's desk where she sat.

"Risa...?"

Risa glanced sideways at the girl with strawberry pink hair that was questioning her.

"Are you still thinking about that girl...?" Kana asked, her large auburn eyes blinking behind her fringe. "You've been quiet for a while now..."

Risa shook her head, smiling at Kana. "No... I was just a little surprised, that's all."

Risa hopped down from the teacher's desk, walking up to Kana.

The height difference between the two of them became immediately evident, with Risa having a slender, almost lanky, build, while Kana was a head shorter with a petite figure.

"Kana, what do you do when you see a lively lone sunflower amongst a field of withering greenery?"

"Hah...?" Kana was taken aback for a second, before regaining her composure.

It wasn't like this was the first time that Kana couldn't understand what on earth Risa was talking about.

To Kana, having a conversation with Risa was often like trying to converse with an extraterrestrial being.

Nevertheless, Kana had to humour the belligerent class leader.

"Uhm... I guess I would leave it alone..." Kana said. "If there is one flower growing healthily alone in the fields, then that might mean it could lead to more flowers eventually growing too..."

Risa smirked, walking past Kana to head for the classroom door.

"...What would you do...?" Kana asked out of plain curiousity, turning around to face Risa's back.

Risa paused for a second, stopping by the door.

"...A flower is only most beautiful when it is at its full bloom, Kana..." Risa replied. "I wouldn't hesitate to walk right up to it, then stomp as hard as I could on top to crush it beyond recognition."

"What...?" Kana felt stupefied. "Why would you do that...?"

"Well, wouldn't it be sad to see the flower wither away like the rest of them?"

Leaving Kana to ponder on that, the door opened and fell shut with the disappearance of Risa.

Kana let out a sigh, feeling a huge tension leaving her body as soon as Risa left. Kana walked to the lone window that had its blinds opened from which Risa was staring out earlier.

"I'll never understand that girl..." Kana muttered underneath her breath, staring out the window.

Outside down below, at the school grounds, a boy with chocolate-brown hair was being talked to sternly by a teacher, looking apologetic with a hand to the back of his head.

Next to them was another male student that laid on the ground limply.

"Another school fight, huh...?" Kana mumbled, staring at the scene for a moment before yawning and turning away. "Why are there always fights at this school..."