Ailee laughed as a ball came sailing towards her. She slapped it back towards its source--her fellow student council member Sungyeol, who had been keen to bother all the members who were busily going through their work. Sungjong complained, as the ball nearly hit his laptop, on which he was applying the finishing touches to the final proposal that he and Ailee would pass for next month’s special event.

Sungyeol eyed Sungjong’s laptop and complained, “But Sungjong, the due’s not until next week.”

“I detailed everything already!” he complained. “And I would be grateful if people won’t destroy that for me.”

“Have a little fun, Sungjong,” Woohyun commented, coming into the room with Hoya right behind him.

“We’re going to go out for a few games, care to join us?” Hoya asked, raising a soccer ball in his hands.

“Later,” Sungjong said.

“How about water ball?” Sungyeol asked.

“Later.”

“Hey guys! Let’s go grab some pizza!” Dongwoo announced, poking his head into the room. Sunggyu was outside, leaning by the door’s frame.

“I said LATER!” Sungjong screeched, but his eyes widened with shock when recognition of the voice that suggested pizza sank in.

“All right, all right, no need to get too loud, Sungjong,” Dongwoo said with a sigh, entering the room. Sunggyu was chuckling to himself, whether due to Sungjong’s embarrassment or to Dongwoo’s reaction, they didn’t know. “We’ll go later, when you’re free.” When Dongwoo saw Ailee, he asked, “You can come, right?”

“Me?” she asked.

“Yeah, we were hoping that this would be something for the whole club,” Dongwoo said. “What with our numbers going down and all, because everyone’s just so darn busy.”

“It’s the host club’s fault,” Sungyeol commented jokingly. “Why’d they have to all be so effective?”

“Although I have to admit, they are lacking in a few areas,” Ailee said with a sly wink.

“You’ve been there?!” they all reacted in shock.

She laughed at their reaction, and responded, “Why not? Our dear batch representative, Nam Woohyun is a member of that club, after all. Wouldn’t it be nice to support our dear friend in his endeavours?”

There was a sly twinkle in her eye that Woohyun was not entirely pleased with, and he narrowed his eyes in response. That was supposed to be their little secret! But now, all the members knew about it, and even responded with resounding guffaws.

Pouting, Woohyun said, “I’m never welcoming you as a guest ever again!”

She laughed. “Is that really a convincing retort?” she asked. “My brother’s friends can be very charming when they want to.”

“I’ll show you-!” Woohyun exclaimed. “I’ll show you sweet that you’ll have cavities without even eating a bit of candy! I promise!”

They all laughed heartily, entertained easily by their friendly banter. Ailee had integrated herself quite seamlessly into their life, but the novelty of her existence has yet to wear off. As a friendly youth, she always seemed to make more and more friends, even though there seemed to be no more people in the school to actually make friends with.

"Oh, by the way. Ailee, when is your friend transferring?" Dongwoo asked, remembering what Ailee mentioned not too long ago. It's been over two weeks since classes started, and no new transferees have come in.

"Ah, yeah. About that..." Ailee said. "It seems he can't transfer as soon as he'd like because his best friend is coming with him. She's having problems with her papers."

"Eh? Why?" he asked.

"Uhmm... I can't really say. Setsuna asked me not to," she replied. "It's a bit of a touchy subject."

"Ah, I see," Dongwoo replied. "Well, I hope it gets cleared out soon. Imagine, two new bloods to bother with all the intricacies of student life here in Ashford Academy!"

~°~

"Mia, the week's time that Tieria asked for is up. He's asking you and I to go to Ptolemaios to pick up your machine. They want you to be on stand by here on earth, too," Allelujah said.

"I see. When are we going?" she asked.

"We can go today," he replied. "But you might want to pack an extra set of clothes--he says there was something wrong with the program you gave them that they weren't able to get it going flawlessly."

"I still have most of my things packed," she said.

"Hey, have you finished with your application papers?" Lockon asked. "Setsuna's passing his soon."

"Yes. Will you please sign as my guardian as well, Allelujah?" she asked.

"Wouldn't that be odd? I mean, the three of us don't have the same surname?" he asked.

"Setsuna's cover story is that you're friends, right?" she asked, to which they nodded. "And my cover story, as Setsuna and I have discussed, is that we'd be engaged-"

"-And speaking of which," Setsuna said, cutting in while pulling out something from his pocket. He suddenly took Mia's hand and slipped a ring onto her finger. It was just a simple, silver ring, but it was enough to catch the meisters' attention. "I've been meaning to give you that, so we'd be more convincing," he said nonchalantly. Mia had a caught-off-guard expression, but she wasn't the one blushing. Rather, all the others--Lockon, Allelujah and Marie--were the ones that seemed like they'd just witnessed a very intimate scene.

"You actually went out and bought a ring?" Lockon asked.

Setsuna didn't reply. Instead, Mia said, "I'll wear it well while it's with me, thanks, Setsuna." Then, she asked Allelujah to sign her forms as well, which he did so without objections. It turned out that no one else even had to lift a finger, yet they'd discussed the matter in detail, trying to find the best course around it.

Everything had been cleared not long before they needed to get to the train station.

When Ailee arrived at the station, they only had a few moments left before boarding. It was the first time that she'd met Mia, even though talk of her had reached her about a week ago. Mia didn't live with the rest of them, but in the "shoe-box apartment", as Lockon described it, Setsuna lived in.

Lockon had also briefly commented that he wasn't too sure that that was quite a bright idea, what with the possiblity of "funny business" going on. However, everyone else seemed all right with it. Sumeragi, their tactical forecaster who was in Ptolemaios with most of the crew, had commented that it didn't really matter. Even if there was, she said that it might be for the better--another Celestial Being member with her (Mia's) IQ would be useful to them, just like Mileina.

Somehow, that didn't sit too well with Ailee. And a myriad of reasons shot through her mind when she even tried reasoning why. First was that the child would be born out of wedlock--not exactly a very favorable position. Besides, they were both too young. Second was the possibility that the child would be a burden to them. Setsuna was a meister, there shouldn't be anything tying him to the ground helplessly. But then, whether or not that child existed, somehow, Setsuna would still be tied--to Mia, to the meisters, and to the other members of Celestial Being. It wasn't something she could cut so easily. Third was that she wasn't sure how to take their relationship. Setsuna was quite a distant person to her, simply because he hardly spoke. He was an enigma to her in many ways, and a part of her envied how close and unguarded he seemed to be with Mia. How that was when the man barely spoke even around her was a question she could not answer.

Last, though she didn't completely admit it to herself, was the fact that she felt that she envied Mia.

Mia had beautiful blond hair and clear blue eyes--colours that could never be found in her. She was black and white, and even her brown hair had been the results of her trying to change that fact. She dyed her hair that colour to give herself some more colour, which Mia naturally had. Not to mention that the girl turned out to be quite the genius that even Ian, their developer, was quite caught off guard. And now, she was going to space with Allelujah to get something they'd built with her designs.

Ailee sighed as she entered her room. She threw herself onto her bed and stared at the ceiling, not knowing what was going on with her, but sure that she wasn't entirely happy with it. With a sigh to clear her thoughts, she decided that she would not let these stray thoughts ruin the possible relationship she could have with the new one. It was something she was determined to do.