"You seem sluggish today," Dongwoo commented offhandedly as he watched her write down a few things on a piece of paper.

"Sluggish doesn't even cover it yet," she replied. Then groaned. "It doesn't make sense! How can anyone expect an answer like that? It doesn't add up!"

Dongwoo peered over her hand and replied, "Well, you know, you've been going about it all wrong. You need this-" he said, pointing at a part of the equation before them, "-before you can get this. Are you all right, Ailee? You were doing so well yesterday."

Ailee squinted at the page and replied, "Well, shucks! No wonder I feel like I've been going around in circles! Thanks, Dongwoo."

He grinned in response to her smile. Then furrowed his brows, his grin turning into a faded smile. "You still haven't told me why you seem so distracted. Are you all right? Are you sick?"

"No," she replied with a shake of her head. "My brother and I had a little detour on the way home yesterday, and that little detour took a lot longer than we both thought. I got home at 3."

He frowned. "Were you able to sleep?"

"About an hour," she replied. "But since it's a Friday, not too much of a problem. I can sleep in tomorrow."

"That's not exactly a good habit."

"It's not exactly a habit," she replied. "Besides, I think it was worth it--we had a lot of fun."

"If you say so," he said, warily. "But I don't think you'd be able to sleep in anyway."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"You promised you'd go with us to Sunggyu's congratulatory party."

"But that's if he passes the test for a weapons developer," she reasoned, worry creasing her brows as she tried to knit together the information.

"Yes, and he just did. With the stamp of approval of Dr. Billy Katagiri himself! Results came out this morning--Dr. Katagiri is impressed, especially with Sunggyu's assessment of the military's solar reactors," he said. There was a lilt in his voice that said he knew perfectly what he was talking about, and suddenly, Ailee wondered how much an enemy she would have in the people she called 'friends'.

"He already has thoughts about those?" Ailee asked, shaking off the unwanted feelings that were unknowingly pulled into the light.

"Well, yeah. Why not? His Dad works for the military, he should, too," he replied with a shrug.

"Is that how all of you think?" she asked.

"You mean do we think of following our parents' footsteps as the determining factor for our future careers?" he asked. She nodded. "No, not really. It's just part of who we are, you know? You kind of get sick of fighting back at one point or another or you get rid of everything that ties you to them--which will, inevitably, lead to you needing to go back because you have things that you need to do anyway." He shrugged. "It gets tiring, and not as pretty as the media makes it seem."

"You sound sad, though," she replied, hoping he'd take it as the prompt it was and not as a condemning reaction.

"I'm a fresh graduate of that phase, Ailee, and even my brother's breathing down my neck for it," he replied with a laugh that aimed for nonchalance. It ended up sounding awkward, instead. "But hey, I learned earlier, and not the harder way. Life is good enough."

~°~

Two figures leaned on either sides of the hallway, one physically facing the window that gave a view of the academy's vast grounds, the other physically facing the window that showed the interior of a classroom.

There was a carefully constructed mask of nothingness on one. The only thing that gave her away was the intensity and the rage that burned in her eyes. The other stood there, his face turned to something else down the corridor, but watching her through the corner of his eye.

He moved closer to her, leaning on the same set of windows as she, and glancing at the same people that she stared at. He reached for her hand, fingers gently brushing across the back of her hand, when she clenched them tightly and held them tautly behind her body--pinned against the wall and herself. He crossed his arms over his chest without a word, and continued his vigil.

Myungsoo stepped out of a room not far from where they stood, and began to walk towards where they were with a smile on his face. Setsuna's eyes briefly flickered towards the approaching figure and discreetly wrapped his hand around her wrist. With a soft squeeze, he brought her back to reality.

A small, sad, smile flickered on her face briefly before tossing it away for a smile that everyone on the campus had come to associate with her.

"What are you two doing here?" Myungsoo asked. "Everyone else is already at the cafeteria!"

"Everyone but the three of us," Mia replied, a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Sungjong and I aren't going to go anywhere today," he shrugged. "We got saddled with Sunggyu's party tomorrow, and next week, the whole school will be celebrating it with us. It will be on Monday, if Dongwoo can help it."

"What's the celebration for?" she asked, Setsuna tugged her hand gently.

"Sunggyu passed Dr. Katagiri's scrutiny. He's finally going to be working as his apprentice," Myungsoo replied. "Sunggyu's not going to college, or at least that's what his Dad says, so he can learn from 'the best'.

"Which reminds me! The two of you better be there, okay? We want it to be the most amazing thing ever for our crazy leader."

"Sure," Mia replied with a smile.

"Great," he grinned.

Faintly, they heard Sungjong saying things from within the classroom. Shortly after, he screamed, "Kim Myungsoo where the hell are you? You better not be out there wasting time!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called. He shook his head and told the two, "Well, I gotta go. The boss is calling." He flashed them a devilish grin before jogging off.

~°~

Mia arrived at the venue of the party, dressed in a red sleeveless button-down shirt and a black, pleated skirt that hung just above her knees. A pair of closed, leather shoes were on her feet, her short black socks barely peeking above the shoes around her ankles.

She didn't think there was a need to dress up--this was a congratulatory party to a friend! But the moment Sungjong had laid eyes on her this morning--when she was in her faded jeans and a cartooned shirt with a decent pair of sneakers--he'd glared at her and made her swear that she would not wear that to the party.

"There's no point in dressing up if it's just us," she'd said.

"But it's not just us," he replied. Apparently, even on such short notice, there were a lot of people that would be attending. Big names.

She gave in to Sungjong's request--that she dress up just a little bit at least, or she should come in her uniform. As pretty as the uniform was, she didn't feel it was appropriate for such a gathering.

Her hair was a dark, brownish black mess on top of her head and not her naturally golden locks. She couldn't risk getting recognized by someone who might know her, but she couldn't make herself look like an entirely different person, either. The guys might get suspicious.

She quickly scanned her surroundings, noting the entrances and exits that she could take if she needed to leave in a pinch, before walking off towards the main entrance.

Sunggyu was the first person she saw. He waved her over, and she congratulated him, handing him the small gift she'd brought. He told her that she didn't need to, but she insisted on him accepting it.

"May I open it?" he asked, noting her eagerness for him to accept it. She nodded.

He untied the pouch, and a thin, silver stick slid out of it.

"You'll still be writing down your ideas, I hope?" she asked.

"Thank you, Mia," he said gratefully, sliding the pen into the pocket of his sleek, black coat. "I will."

"Good. You never know who wants to delete all your hard work! Make it difficult for them, too," she commented with a wink. He laughed. He'd noticed how she was the only one among the members of the student council who actually wrote down everything that she needed to take note of, rather than filing it away in her laptop like everyone else. A run-in with a nasty computer virus might have steered her clear from depending on electronic memory more than anyone could imagine.

He commented about her hair colour, claiming that it made her eyes more stark than her yellow hair, though she didn't believe him. Not much, at least. She told him that it was a temporary dye, one that would wash away with shampoo, and he seemed genuinely sad to know that it would go away soon.

"Oh, by the way, where is Setsuna?" he asked.

"Sorry, Leader-nim," she replied cheekily. "Setsuna had to pass on tonight's festivities. His friend needed an extra hand with a household emergency, he was the fastest to get a hold of."

"I see. I do hope his friend is all right," he replied, genuinely worried.

She smiled. "No worries. They'll be all right." She was about to continue when she spotted Ailee, dressed in a beautiful light blue dress. Half her hair was pulled back, away from her face, the rest fell in beautiful ringlets around her shoulders. She was on Dongwoo's arm, who was dressed in a dark blue, almost black, suit. He beamed positively, greeting everyone they passed and making small talk.

Sunggyu smiled, and offered her his arm.

"I'm not your date," she replied--puzzled.

He shrugged. "But you're here, I'm here. Why not? Besides, I'm your senior in school, and you're my junior. Think of it as my way of trying to be a senior."

"All right. But just this time," she replied as she slipped her arm into his. He smiled.

"And here I was hoping I could ask you to join me," a voice behind them commented. Myungsoo stood there, dressed and pressed in a sleek, black suit. There was a playful smile on his face as he looked at them. "Though I guess the boy in the spotlight can get the attention." Sunggyu chuckled, Myungsoo shrugged. "You look good, by the way."

Mia glanced at Ailee again and said, "No, I think there's someone else that l would rather look like."

The two men followed her gaze and chuckled. Myungsoo said, "I never knew a girl like you could be jealous of Ailee."

"We girls are a fickle kind," she commented. "We like and hate most the beautiful things about others while hating the most the things that make us beautiful in others' eyes."

"Speaking from experience?" Sunggyu asked.

"You could say that," she replied vaguely, following Ailee's movements with as much intensity as a wolf and its prey.

~°~

Ailee was getting just a little irritated at the questions that some of the other guests had asked--none of which were in any way connected to the reason they were all here. In retrospect, however, she realized that none of them would actually be talking to her about Sunggyu's achievement. Except probably Sunggyu himself or someone who wanted to talk about the nitty gritty stuff of the science.

She realized she probably wouldn't be able to understand half of what they'd say. Politics, art, history she could handle; but machinery? Somehow, it was out of her league, even if she did pilot a Gundam. Vaguely, she wondered how Mia was faring.

Dongwoo tugged on her arm gently, bringing her back to the reality they were in. There was an odd smile on his face, a knowing smile, and she couldn't resist but ask, "What?" while feeling like a fish opening and closing fruitlessly.

"Our dear friend Mia is staring our way and so is the celebrant," he replied, a hint of laughter in his voice. She followed his line of sight, and sure enough, the two said people were there looking at them.

Sunggyu smiled. Mia was with him. Their arms were looped together.

Dongwoo and Ailee approached Sunggyu and Mia, smiles went around immediately, and knowing looks creeped up. They began to set up a comfortable conversation, when a tall, thin man with long hair pulled back in a high pony tail and glasses walked towards them. He was clad in a white suit, with tails. He wore a black dress shirt under the coat.

Mia glanced purposively at the man quickly. Ailee nodded discreetly as she thought, So that's Billy Katagiri.

"Teacher Katagiri," Sunggyu beamed, welcoming the man into the circle. The younger man introduced his schoolmates to his new mentor. Ailee was shocked to note that he sounded as young as he looked--perhaps about the same age as the man she was currently calling brother.

Billy Katagiri, to Ailee, seemed like a pleasant man. He spoke gently and tactfully, keeping just the right amount of eye-contact with them. Sincere was the word, Ailee realized, that she would use to describe him. Why such a man was working with the military to create weapons of war was beyond her--but that was not her task. Her task was to find out what he knew.

"Will you be showing all of us what you've done tonight?" Mia asked smoothly. Ailee almost sighed in relief; between the two of them, Mia would remember more because it was her specialty.

"That was not the plan, but if Teacher Katagiri wouldn't mind us showing them to you..." Sunggyu trailed off, looking at his mentor, who nodded. "Would you like to see?"

"May we?" she asked, excited.

"Come on, then, I'll show you," Sunggyu replied. He motioned for them to follow. Billy and Sunggyu walked together, Mia falling into stride beside them as they began to introduce Sunggyu's work. Ailee and Dongwoo drifted after them.

They entered a room with shelves and desks neatly lined and piled with books, computers, and other tools that a scientist-in-training like Sunggyu would need. Ailee felt her jaw drop in shock as Mia stiffled a gasp. None of the men reacted, as if it was an everyday thing to have things like these at home, and Sunggyu sauntered over to a computer and opened it. He hooked it up to a projector and aimed at an empty whiteboard as it booted up.

Not long after, Sunggyu flashed his discovery to them, and Ailee noticed the eagerness with which Mia's eyes ate up the information.

"It's like..." she muttered unconsciously. "A controlled nuclear bomb..."

"You can tell?" Sunggyu asked, caught off guard. Katagiri was, too.

Mia panicked. A flash of worry swept over her face for a brief moment, and a calm, blank expression took over. She chuckled. "Of course, I can. I told you my Dad didn't think that school was particularly important, remember?"

"But this is highly technical stuff, not the stuff of Anthropology," Dongwoo quipped.

"What, girls can't be mechanics?" Ailee asked, reflexively defensive.

"No, no, that's not it," Dongwoo replied sheepishly. "We never would have thought, that's all--really. You both look like you're just normal people, nothing like Sunggyu."

Sunggyu's brow twitched upward.

Ailee could almost see the gears in her colleague's head turning to get her out of this pinch. "Looks can be deceiving," she commented, suddenly regretting saying it.

"No wonder you're getting so much special treatment from the school, your grades must have knocked their socks off," Sunggyu commented.

"Who knows?" she shrugged nonchalantly. "You never really know what goes on in the heads of educators."

Sunggyu gave a wry smile. "Would you like to see the rest?" he asked.

She nodded, and quickly glanced at Ailee. There was something interesting to report tonight.