Reina tapped her chin as she observed the menu. “Hmmmmm.”

“Hey, can you hurry up!?” somebody behind her yelled.

“Give me a second!” she retorted back. Finally, she chose Korean rice cake soup.

“Here you go!” The nice lady handed her a sheet of paper with the number 59 on it. “Just come up when we call your number, all right sweetie?”

“Thanks!” Reina chirped and bounded away, finding her friends. She quickly headed over and clambered into an empty seat. “What’s up?”

April moaned. “You are so lucky, Reina.”

“Why?” Reina eyed the scrumptious-looking steak on April’s plate. Was she really the lucky one?

“Yeah, you got to skip most of it!” Monica said.

“What was that about anyways?” Juliet asked.

Reina’s mind short-circuited as she scrambled to think up an excuse. What was something they were going to believe? Dog? House falling down? Bathroom?

“Bathroom?” she squeaked out.

The girls eyed her a bit more before shrugging. “Well, all right. Anyway, May! Those were some epic moves!” Juliet insisted.

May, who was extremely shy, bent down and lowered her head. Reina knew what they were talking about, and she wholeheartedly agreed.

“I know, right?! He was like ‘raaaaar’ and you were ‘oh no!’ but then you smacked him in the nuts! It was insane!” Reina cheered.

May whimpered and buried her head. April smirked and slung an arm around her. “Aw, is somebody feeling shy? Is that it? Don’t be like that,”

“How old are you, Reina?” Monica asked out of nowhere.

Reina blinked. “How old am I? 14.”

Everybody, minus Felicie, Dawn, and May spluttered. “14?! You’re 14!?”

“Yeah, why?” For a brief moment, Reina panicked. What if she missed up and this was a different Academy that had the same name and looked identical but was for older kids?

“You look like you’re 10!” Monica exclaimed.

Reina pointed. “No, I don’t!”

Juliet nodded sternly. “You’re right, Reina. I have to say, at max, you’re 12.”

Reina’s eyes widened and she pointed at her. “Hey, that's what the lady said to me as well! Remember, Felicie?”

Felicie agreed. “Well, you do look like a kid kind of.”

Reina growled, an adorable sound (though she didn’t know it). “I am not a kid! Look!” Reina stood up and flung her arms out, almost smacking somebody in the face. “What about me makes you say I look like a kid?”

The girls exchanged looks before in unison saying, “Your height.”

Reina grasped at her shirt as her heart was killed. No, not killed. It was wrapped in chains, plunged into lava, and shattered. “I am not short!”

Dawn eyed her. “You look like you’re 4’10, am I right?”

Reina beamed. “I’m 4’9!”

There was a brief pause before-

“Oh, that’s even worse!”

“You’re hilarious, Reina, you know that? A riot!”

“You admitted it yourself!”

Reina felt like crying. “You’re all meanies!”

Maybe they saw the tears in her eyes because they quickly picked themselves back up. “Sorry, Reina. It’s just, that you’re so adorable! Look at those little cheeks of yours!” Monica reached over and grabbed her cheeks, stretching them out.

“Monica!” Reina said.

Monica gave one last pat before sitting back down. “Anyway, how about we spare Reina some embarrassment here and talk about something else?”

Dawn perked up. “How about where we’re going tomorrow?”

Juliet grinned. “I like where you’re going, sister!”

Reina felt Felicie gazing at her and remembered the promise. She winked, or at least attempted, and Felicie giggled. Monica turned to her.

“Where do you want to go, Felicie?”

Felicie stammered, caught off guard. “Oh, well, I don’t really know. I’m just trying to get used to Neverstien, I haven’t really searched any places up.”

April nodded. “Yeah, me too. I heard from a friend there’s a great tea place, I wanted to try out.”

Monica gagged. “Tea? What is this, the 17th century? Boston Tea Party?”

April rolled her eyes. “Boba tea, Monica.”

Monica blinked. “Oh. Well, that’s good.”

They all laughed at the absolutely confused look on her face. Monica pouted. “Guys!”

Reina smirked. “That’s how I felt!”

Monica light-heartedly slapped at her before frowning. “Got to say though, isn’t it cold?”

Reina pursed her lips before nodding. Now that Monica mentioned it, it was really cold. She shivered, hugging herself. When was the rice cake soup coming?

Dawn sighed. “I love these new uniforms but the skirts are kind of not that practical during winter.”

Juliet shuddered. “Not to mention those pervert boys. Ugh! Disgusting!”

April nodded in agreement. “I know, right? You’d think they'd have a shred of decency. I suspect even that is too much for them.” She clenched her fist.

“What was going on between you and Matthew? You guys were rolling on the ground!” Monica exclaimed.

“He was......my boyfriend.” April eventually gritted out.

“WHAT?!” Felicie and Reina screamed together. Everybody stopped talking and looked at them.

“Uh, just having a chat! Nothing to see here!” Dawn insisted. Luckily for the girls, they all turned away again.

“Don’t be so loud!” April hissed. “Matthew and I were dating until a few months back when he broke up with me because he got a scholarship here.”

All of us winced. “Ooof.”

April shook her head grimly. “And the guy had the nerve to break up with me over text!”

Our mouths fell open. Granted, Reina didn’t know much about modern days culture but she was at least sure breaking up by text was a big NO-NO.

“Please tell me you punched him when you saw him,” Juliet said.

April looked down at her cup of steaming tea. “Well. . . . “

Juliet dragged her hand down her face. “Girl, you can’t let him stomp all over you! You’ve got to stand up, beat him to a pulp, and show you’re over him!”

“I am over him!” April’s reply was a tad bit too fast and hasty for Reina to believe that.

“I concur,” Monica said. “In fact, I’m going to go over there right now and punch his face in!”

“Me too!” Dawn chimed in, getting up.

“No no no no no! All of you are going to sit down right now! No face punching, no fighting, no nothing! I’m completely over him and don’t feel a single thing towards him!” April shouted.

“Sure, and you were fighting simply because he was a pervert? Believe me, I’ve seen fights about those and I’ve seen fights over love. They are two different things.” Monica said.

April flushed. “Who said I loved him?!”

May piped up. “Um, I hate to interrupt, but I think you’re being called up, Reina?”

“Hm?” Reina heard 59 being repeated over and over again. “Wow, it sounds familiar. I wonder-“

Dawn picked up her hand and shoved her card into her face. Reina’s eyes widened as she registered the number in the bold text printed across the surface.

“Oh no!” Reina bolted over to the nice lady, got her dish, and quickly left before making more of a fool of herself. As she traversed the wasteland that was the cafeteria, she could have sworn somebody was watching her. When Reina turned around though, she couldn’t find somebody.

“Huh, weird,” Reina commented before making her way again. She plopped down next to Felicie and readied herself.

“Chillax, little R. If I was that soup, I would be traumatized by how you're looking at it,” Juliet snickered.

“Heh? Little R?” Reina asked over a mouth full.

Juliet had a positively evil grin on her face. “You know, because you’re so adorable-sized?”

Reina wanted to yell but yelling would mean less space for this delicious thing so she held it in. Juliet’s grin widened. “What? No response?”

“Hey, stop picking on Reina!” Felicie cried. Juliet raised her hands.

“I plead, I plead.”

“Can’t we talk about something else?” Reina pleaded. Dawn shrugged.

“Sure. Favorite legends about this place?” she suggested.

“Oh, I heard from my brother there’s a ghost haunting this place!” Monica exclaimed.

“There are no such things as ghosts,” April said.

“You never know. You wander into your room late at night, ready to hit the sack when you hear a creak. You freeze and turn around. There’s nobody there. You go back to getting ready for sleep when you hear it again. You check. Nobody. At last, you finally get into bed when you feel something cold. You slowly turn around, to find the ghost with razor-sharp teeth biting your head off!” Dawn exclaimed in glee, waggling her fingers.

Everybody had a differing reaction. Reina thought it was quite a good story, and slurped down some more soup. May on the other hand looked like she was going to faint.

“Geezus, Dawn!” April finally broke the silence. “What is this, a horror movie?”

“Well, I do like horror movies,” Dawn commented.

“Besides, how come the ghosts made noise? I mean, I can get behind them being cold, but noises? Seriously?” April continued. Dawn glared at her.

“If we can get past critiquing my amazing story?” Dawn raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry, sorry-“

“The Prima Noxa!” Felicie blurted out.

Reina froze, feeling all the warmth the rice cake soup gave her drain out. No no no no no! Why would Felicie bring her up?!

Her friends looked at each other uncertainly before facing Felicie. Reina prayed with all her might they would just let it go. Unfortunately, Dawn asked, “Who?”

Felicie was all too happy to fill in the blanks.

“The Prima Noxa is the ruler of Nevertsien! Apparently, she’s also the leader of the superheroes, and fights crime all day!” Felicie flicked food around everywhere.

Juliet looked skeptical. “Are you sure she’s real and not from a comic book?”

Felicie shot her a death glare. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

“Actually, you look more like you’re going to kill me,” Juliet answered.

“No, I think I've heard of her before. Isn’t she also known as the Precept Prime?” Dawn slowly asked. Curse Dawn and her knowledge from being rich and having extra education!

“The Precept Prime? Of course, we’ve heard about him! But, isn’t he a-?” Monica was cut off when Felicie rammed her hand down against the table.

“She is not a male! People who call her a male are just assuming she’s a dude because she’s so powerful!” Felicie retorted.

This coming from the always happy and peppy Felicie? Yeah, not normal. “Uh, Felicie? I think you’re overstretching it a little-“ April tried.

“No, April, I’m not!” Felicie said.

Reina groaned into her soup, hoping this conversation would end soon.

“Fine, fine, fine. Let’s say she is a girl. So what? She’s the leader of Neverstien, sure, but there’s no evidence she’s a superhero. Besides, that sort of thing would be on the hero registration list!” April said.

“Not true. Heroes have to apply, yes, but they don’t need to go public. Most heroes don’t, it’s only the ones who want to get more well known that does,” Dawn said.

“Exactly!”

Juliet grinned, her eyes glimmering as she went along. “So you’re basically saying there’s a secret government organization that protects our world without us even knowing?”

“Or maybe they’re not even government, but basically yes! I bet even Full Force is in it! What do you think, Reina?” Felicie and the rest turned to her.

Reina sighed, swirling her fork around. She saw flashbacks of herself, in the middle of a fire. Reina saw her fall, stabbed through the chest with a wooden stake.

“-eina? Reina? Reina!”

Reina jolted awake, accidentally smacking the table. “Sorry, what?”

Her friends had amused looks on their faces. “Don’t tell me you’re sleeping already? It’s not even-holy cow! It’s past noon?!” Dawn shrieked.

“Dang that Arcturus! He made us stay in for 5 hours!” everybody realized. Reina took this moment to gain some levity for her. She stuck out her tongue playfully.

“At least I didn’t have to do any,” she boasted.

“Like, did you have diarrhea or something?” Monica asked out of nowhere.

They all burst out laughing, even Reina though she secretly swore inside she would get revenge. She went down for some more soup and was surprised when her fork scraped the ceramic of the place.

“Oh, I’m going to get seconds,” Reina told them.

“Already? You got your food the last! And it was the largest portion!” April said, aghast.

“You go!” Felicie cheered.

Reina chuckled. “Guess I’m kind of like a living, walking black hole.” She left, heading back over to the buffet. The kind old lady (Karen) smiled at her.

“Ah, back again. Want some more?”

Reina eagerly nodded. “And if it’s not too much, can I get some steak and iced cream as well?” She blushed, worrying Karen was going to think she was a glutton.

Karen laughed, but in a good-natured way. “Of course, my dear. You’re a growing girl, and you need to get tall and big!” Karen scooped some more soup.

Reina pouted. How short was 4.9 anyway? She could think of a lot of girls shorter than her. Granted, they were years younger but still. . . .

“Are you liking the Academy so far?” Karen made small talk.

Reina eagerly nodded. “It’s been so fun, and I’ve made a whole lot of new friends! But Arcturus is being a jerk!”

Karen sighed. “Yes, Arcturus can be like that. You know, he wasn't always this way?”

“Really?” Reina gasped.

Karen cracked a smile. “Yes, as impossible as that may sound; he was of course not cheery by any means, but not this harsh either. I don’t exactly know what happened, I wasn’t there, but something about a little girl? Anyway, he’s been heartbroken ever since. I miss that girl, you know? We always used to talk like this.”

Reina nodded stiffly, feeling wary. Her hair twitched and she panicked. No! Rabbit, no! Not for the first time, Reina wished Rabbit could use telepathy.

“Everything all right there, darling? You seem to be shifting a lot.”

“Absolutely fine!” Reina said.

Karen nodded. “All right then. That’s a nice hat, darling. Mind if I see it more clearly?”

Reina practically had a heart attack. She’d seen! She saw Rabbit! Saying no would be rude though, and she didn’t like being rude. It made her tummy feel weird, so she agreed.

Praying Karen wouldn’t tell the difference, Reina brushed past her kitty hood to reveal Rabbit.

Rabbit had three modes or ‘phases’ as she christened it. One was his default, where he was round and fluffy. The second was whenever he became shocked or just wanted to. His body form shifted and morphed into a flat-topped conical form, as fuzzy and soft as his default. The third and last occurred whenever he was tired or bored. Rabbit essentially became a white beret.

Right now, he was just as shocked as she was and was the top form. Karen pondered him, reaching out and running her hand through his fur.

“It feels magnificent! Where did you get it?” she asked.

“Shop, sorry, bye!” Reina squeaked as she grabbed her plate and ran off. “Please don’t hate meeee!”

“Wait!” Karen cried but by then, Reina was already safely back with her friends.

Who was looking at her weird.

“What?” Reina asked. Did she do something strange? No, she didn’t think so.

Monica finally spoke. “What the heck was that?”

“What was what?” Reina dug into her soup, enjoying how its heat slid down her throat.

“You went up to get lunch and out of nowhere began screaming like you were getting tortured!” Monica exclaimed.

Reina shuddered. “Torture isn’t fine,” she said before eating another spoonful.

“Well, duh, Reina. Seriously though, are you okay? Did she threaten you?” Juliet asked.

“Karen? Threaten somebody? Not even May would be scared of her!” April said.

“Um, maybe?” May whimpered.

Reina sighed. “It’s fine. She was asking questions I didn’t want to answer. I have my privacy, you know!” Reina pouted and crossed her arms.

Monica grinned. “Are you sure about that? Maybe you’re hiding some sort of secret information!”

Dawn laughed. “Don’t be funny, Monica! Reina can’t be hiding any secrets, look how cute she is!” Dawn reached over and pinched her cheeks, much to Reina’s distress.

“Dawwwwn!” Reina protested, not enjoying the feeling of her mouth being stretched apart.

“Let me try, let me try!” Felicie exclaimed.

Reina broke free and backed away, clutching her cheeks. “You people are monsters! Monsters!”

Instead of having the intended effect of making them call burst into tears and apologize, they exchanged glances before laughing. Reina frowned. What was wrong? She was intimidating!

When Reina said this out loud, they only burst into more laughter. Juliet wiped a tear from her eyes. “You’re many things-adorable, cute, squishy, but you’ve got a long way to go before being considered intimidating.”

When all the other girls nodded in agreement, Reina reached out to her only ally in this war. “Mayyyyyy! Help me, they’re teaming up on me!”

May fidgeted with her skirt and avoided her gaze. Reina’s mouth dropped in shock. Was May abandoning her to these monsters? “NOOOOO!” Reina screamed.

“Mwhahahahaha!” Monica cackled. “Your precious innocence is mine! All mine!”

Reina didn’t understand what could have been interpreted by that sentence and so kept on struggling. The other girls paused and gazed at her in shock. Monica giggled and raised a finger to her lips, which made all the others go into a frenzy over Reina.

As Reina was about to die from lack of air, the bored voice of Arcturus was heard. “Listen up you brats. No doubt you have later plans tomorrow, probably to go into Neverstien.”

Reina’s friends let her go and Reina clambered back to her seat. What was Arcturus going to announce? Maybe he was going to apologize for his rude behavior and suggest hanging out? Oh, but then she would have to leave her other friends! Pooey, what to do?

“Forget it. Neverstien is locked down.” Arcturus stated.

The cafeteria collapsed into chaos as everybody demanded for an explanation. Reina cocked her head, thinking about. Why would Neverstien be shut down? Did something happen? Did a dog die? That would be so sad!

“Why, teach!?” Logan asked.

Arcturus glowered. “First off, don’t call me teach. I don’t like it. And secondly, it’s none of your business.”

“But it does affect us, sir,” April spoke up. “Some of us have dorms in Neverstien and if we don’t know how long it’ll be under lockdown for.....”

Arcturus waved his hand dismissively. “Bunk with somebody, I don’t care.”

Grumbling filled the cafeteria at those words. Why was he being so mean? It was only the first day of school, some people might not have made friends. It seemed most of the room felt the same but none dared to speak out, especially when Arcturus stared at you with those eyes of his. He nodded once before turning on his heels and exiting the cafeteria.

Once everybody was sure he was gone, the room was filled with noise as the students and facility members conversed. Monica groaned and leaned against Reina.

“I need a cute de-stressor,” was the only explanation she gave before glomping Reina into a tight hug. It was nice and Monica looked like she needed it so Reina let her keep doing it.

“Hey! Give me some too!” Felicie said, reaching out for Reina. Monica shoved her away unceremoniously.

“No, she’s mine.” Monica tightened her grip around Reina.

“I can’t believe it! That guy’s a teacher? He’s so-ugh!” Dawn said. “We should report him to our parents!”

“We can’t do that, remember? We’re not allowed to have outside communication with anybody.” April sighed.

Reina bolted up, throwing Monica off of her by accident. “Y-you mean it!?”

Monica raised her head, rubbing the sore spot where she hit the table. “Yeah, why?”

Reina whimpered and curled up into herself. “I promised my friend I would always talk to her. What if she hates me for not talking to her?” she cried.

“If she does, she’s a horrible friend,” Juliet murmured but not quietly enough so Reina wouldn’t hear it.

“That’s not true! Avery’s a great friend! She’s kind, amazing, beautiful, and a great friend!” Reina said.

“You said ‘great’ twice.” Felicie pointed out.

Reina floundered. “W-well, that means she’s twice as great! So there!” Reina stuck her tongue out.

“I think it’s great you have a friend you care so much about,” May whispered. Monica slung an arm over her and she squished.

“What? You don’t think I’m good enough?” she teased.

“N-no! I only meant-“ May stuttered.

Monica shook her head sadly. “What a pity. It appears I’ll have to re-educate you on the true meaning of our friendship.” Her voice turned slightly husky at the end and May turned red.

In fact, everybody but Monica was blushing. “Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.

Dawn shook her head. “You don’t need to know. Keep your innocence a little while longer, all right?”

“Why does everybody mention my innocence?” Reina asked.

Felicie chuckled. “Because it’s sooooo wonderful!”

Reina tilted her head. “Huh?” What did Felicie mean by that?

Felicie opened her mouth to answer but Dawn clamped a hand over her mouth. “No need to worry about it. The problem is, what are you going to do about your friend?”

Reina pouted. “I don’t k ow. I guess I have to go and see the Headmistress.”

“Again?” Felicie asked, having wriggled her way out of Dawn’s grasp. Reina nodded, sighing heavily.

“Back up here, again? What do you mean by again?” Juliet asked.

“Reina went to the Headmistress’s office the instant we got here, something about disturbing the check-in or something?” Felicie looked to Reina for clarification and Reina nodded.

“Yep, that’s right. Still can believe she made me go through that....” Reina shuddered.

Monica laughed. “What are you, some kind of secret daredevil? Oh, please tell us your secrets, all mouthy daredevil!”

Reina leaned into Dawn. “She’s weird,” she whispered worriedly. Dawn shrugged and pattered her on the head.

“She’ll be fine.”

“You know she’s right in front of you?” Monica asked, annoyed with all the badmouthing she was receiving.

“Yep.” Reina and Dawn said in unison. Monica groaned and slumped onto the table, her head in her arms. May tentatively patted her on the back.

“What do we do now?” Juliet asked. “There’s still a lot of time before curfew and I’m not going to waste it fiddling away.”

“Shouldn’t we figure out our sleeping conditions first? Whose sleeping in Neverstien? I was.” April said.

“Me too.” Dawn raised her hand.

Monica whistled. “Rich girls, aren’t you? Say, if I was ever in a money crisis, would you be willing to lend me some moola?”

April raised an eyebrow. “Keep this up and people are going to think you’re only my friend for my money,” she said.

Monica gasped. “I am shocked! Shocked and dismayed at these baseless accusations! How could you, April! I thought we knew each other better!”

April rolled her eyes. “Drama Queen. Anyway, who wants to be the hostess? Who wants to show they have a heart of gold and open their doors for poor us?”

“I call dibs on Reina!” Monica yelled.

We looked at her strangely. “You’re not even sleeping in Neverstien, you have a dorm here.” Juliet pointed out.

“And what’s your obsession with Reina?” Felicie almost growled. Monica pouted and slouched further down.

“I can take April.” Juliet offered. “We’ve known each other for a while before this so I know she’s not the type to sneak off in the middle of the night and kidnap me.”

Reina considered this. “Is it really kidnapping if you enter their house willingly?”

“Huh, I never thought abou-hey, where am I going to live?” Dawn asked. “I don’t want to sleep outside, guys, come on! Reina?” She looked at her hopefully.

Reina grimaced. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have things in my room I don’t want anybody seeing.” Simple, straightforward, and most of all, the truth.

All of her friends recoiled. “Don’t tell me you have a dead body in your room!” Dawn asked.

“What?” Reina asked. Did she hear wrong? She must have.

“Are you one of those little sister-type girls who seem cute and fuzzy but are in reality the biggest pervert in the universe?!” Monica asked, appearing way too happy with her question.

Reina shook her head so quickly that she became dizzy. When she regained her bearings, she pressed on. “It’s not like that, I swear!”

“Hm, definitely suspicious. Wouldn’t you say so, girls?” Juliet asked. They hummed in agreement and she felt like crying. Was she going to lose her friends? Not like this! Tears formed at the corner of her eyes.

Monica gasped and clutched her bosom. “Please be still, my heart!” she proclaimed.

“Reina? What’s wrong?” Dawn asked, kneeling next to her.

Reina looked up, sniffling loudly. “D-do you hate me?” she asked. Dawn wore a confused expression on her face.

“No, of course not! Why?” Dawna asked.

Words couldn’t describe the joy and relief Reina experienced when she heard Dawn say those words. They didn’t hate her! She didn’t ruin anything! “Y-you guys were saying I’m s-suspicious and I was worried that-“ The rest of the sentence came out in an incomprehensible babble.

Meanwhile, while Reina ranted, her friends were looking at each other. They all made a pact: Reina was the most adorable little cinnamon bun and nobody would hurt her or they will suffer their collective wrath. As they said, hell hath no fury as a woman scorned.

When Reina got a hold of herself, she stared at her hands, embarrassed. Even if Dawn had said they didn’t hate her, she was sure their feelings for her had dropped considerably thanks to her uncontrollable crying session. Little did she know, it only went up.

“Are you all right?” Felicie asked in a surprisingly gentle tone. Wiping away the last of her tears, Reina nodded.

“Good! Because we’re going out right now!” Felicie stated.

“What? We are?” was the general reply from everybody. Felicie’s face dropped.

“I’m not going to spend my time here! There’s got to be a bunch of cool places in the Academy, it’s packed! I bet there are secret passages!”

Secret passages? They always interested Reina when she was younger. Pumping a fist, she nodded. “Okay! We’re going to scour the school for secret passageways!”

“.....okay?” Juliet more asked than said before getting hauled to her feet by the combined strength of Felicie and Reina.

“We need to go, go, go!” Reina hopped up and down. She hadn’t been this excited since Xia created a monster and let it loose on the first years! Hopefully, she didn’t do that this time around. Not only for their safety but because Wynn had threatened Xia with being fired if that happened again.

“W-wait! What about my sleeping arrangements!?” Dawn asked as she was pushed along the wave of emotions.

“You can deal with it later!” Felicie said. Dawn fumed.

“It’s not something you can simply pass off! What if we arrive late and everybody already has a partner?” Dawn ranted.

“Then you can sleep with me, roomie!” Felicie cheered.

Dawn hesitated but only for a second, breaking under all the intense stares everybody was sending her way. “Fine,” she sighed before she beamed. “Let’s do this!”

"Yay!"