It's the place of everything bizarre and colorful, they said. It's the place where you sing about love, It's the best year of your life, they said. The fountain of youth. The dazzling constellation of hopes. And in the beginning of the year, it was supposed to be colorful like the cherry blossoms.

She saw everything but colorful. In front of her was the ocean of black and white and grey and nothing else. It was nauseating, how it pricked her insides until she is hollow. She wanted to scream but her surroundings were deafening. She was empty.

She saw lies beneath the surface. And it was sickening, suffocating her.

She refused to believe.

♢♢♢

“Oi Seungyoon, your twin sister is missing from the school again this year? Even though it's the first day of the new academic year... Didn't she skip her entire classes last year? You know if she misses another semester she has to fall a year behind right? It's luck that Mr. Kim promoted her to the next grade just because she showed up on the final exam week.”

Seungyoon sighed, he stopped writing and looked up to his new appointed student council secretary, “Tried to call her this morning, no luck. Couldn’t even go to check up on her on my way to school because that goddamned school opening ceremony forced me to be here 30 minutes early.”

The new secretary, Jung Ilhoon who happened to be his former classmate last year let out an airy laugh, “Well it's part of your job, Mr. Student Council President. But uh, that you have to live apart with your sister yeah? If only my sister were as pretty as yours, i would never even want to leave her side.”

“I'm sorry I'm not as sick as you, and stop mind-harassing my sister.” a pen flew across the desk and landed on Ilhoon’s forehead with a loud flicking sound.

He cried in pain, picked up the fallen pen and threw it back to its rightful owner while hoping it would somehow landed on the owner’s eyes. It didn't.

“Damn, i hate your super reflexes.” Ilhoon grumbled after seeing his student council president catched his pen without even looking and resumed to continue writing whatever it was with that pen. “I also hate that super human side of you.”

"I don't like to break your sweet bromance moment to you but Seungyoon you have a visitor." came a deadpanned voice from Kwon Sohyun, their treasurer.

"I do?"

"The head of disciplinary committee is looking for you."

♢♢♢

That day was a rather bright and sunny day for spring. The clamorous sounds of after school hours resonated throughout the school's ground down to its most hidden corner. Students were busy doing their club's activities. The soccer club was setting the goalpost on the field, several members from the school's wind orchestra was practicing their number on the school's east balcony, and a girl from the tea ceremony club was so eager to hand out flyers to attract new recruits among the first-years. It was a rather normal day, indeed.

On the west wing of their enormous sports field, the baseball club did their usual warm-ups. The pitchers and the catchers were already hitting the bullpen, practicing their battery. The newly recruited members already did their third round of running around the field. However, the ringing sounds of metallic bats hitting the balls from the pitching machines were especially loud today.

"You shouldn't overdo it, Jongin, it's only the beginning of our practice."

"I know, I'm just too excited because i get to practice after weeks of resting." Another loud clanking sound. This time, the ball flew across the field and only stopped after it bumped the fence. A home run.

Jackson, his batting practice partner for today, let out a low whistle, "To think that you just recovered from your injury, you really are monster."

In return, Jongin chuckled a bit and already took his position to bat again. "My injury was nothing big. If i didn't step up my game after that, i better kiss my goodbye to nationals."

"You better kiss your goodbye to your career too if you don't take care enough of your shoulder." a distant feminine voice interrupted their batting practice. With the baseball club practically reeked of boys' sweat and full of testosterones, even their managers were boys too, a girl's existence in this part of the school instantly stole their attention.

If it were any other girl, loud wolf whistles must have had filled the entire place already. Unfortunately, it was not any other girl. Son Naeun was the feared head of disciplinary committee with a threatening red armband attached on her left arm, the sign of her authorities in disciplining the whole student body. Even from afar, everyone could see her cold facade mirroring her steel gaze. She stood out even more with her long straight raven hair and her porcelain pale skin, perfectly contrasting the sportsmen’s tanned complexion.

The baseball club boys were stunned to find the head of disciplinary committee in their training grounds. To see her in the middle of their practice without any warning for an inspection, it could only means trouble. However, there was only one person who was not intimidated by her presence. Jongin casually waved his metallic bat and flashed his signature boyish smile to her. “Yo Naeun! What are you up to?”

“I'm here to see the head coach. I have a report that the baseball club stayed here until late at night and had far exceeded the time allowed to use the school’s facilities. If this continues again i am obliged to suspend the baseball club’s activities.” Jongin was already used to Naeun’s monotonous and business-like speech, he just felt sorry for his teammates who weren't as strong as him and were already burned by her scrutinizing gaze.

“Ah, sorry, we just thought we needed some little practices before. I think the head coach already asked the principal for permission to use the training grounds. We have an upcoming tournament after all.”

Naeun kept silent and just stared back at Jongin without even batting an eye. “I hope your head coach has a legit permission just like what you said. If so, then I'm willing to let you guys free.” She swiftly turned her heels and headed to the coach's office, ignoring the silent murmurs behind her back.

“Holy is the Black Witch finally set her eyes on us now??”

“Keep your voice low Jackson, she could hear you.” Honestly Jongin could care less, Naeun would never hurt him or anything that is as precious as baseball to him. However the same thing couldn't be said for the loud and whiny Jackson. Better be safe and careful rather than taking a deadly risk.

Imitating what Jongin did, Jackson continued his batting practice, “I can't believe you actually survived living together with the Black Witch, man you are the real MVP.”

“For your information, i don't live with her. Naeun’s house is just practically around the corner of my neighborhood.” CLANK! Another hit, “I know her since we were kids. We just happened to go to the same school since god knows when.”

“Well even that took a great damn courage.” Jackson snorted in between his missing swings, “That girl’s hobby is to ruin our lives, you know. The ones that are not afraid of her in this world are probably you, the North Koreans, and Obama. Even the Student Council slightly fear her. Did you know she threatened the Student Council President?”

CLANK!

“What about it?”

“You know the president’s always-missing twin sister right? She is supposed to be in our class too, but she was absent today even though it's the first day of our second grade. Apparently Naeun told the president to bring her to school as soon as possible. If not, then she will inform the school'’s direction board and force her to stay a year behind, or even expel her at worst.”

That was the first time Jongin missed his ball today, “What did you just say?”

♢♢♢

Seungyoon knew that her sister is somewhere in this shopping district. He just had to look closely whenever there were a group of young people hanging out in the street without a definite purpose. Chances are his sister must be there with her ‘friends’. Especially thugs. He needed to look for one.

In just around the corner of his eyes, he catched a glimpse of youngsters in the alleyway beside a convenience store. They were a group of funny looking people with crazy hair colors and fashion intolerable enough for his opinion. All he needed to do was act natural and pretend to be a normal passerby. It would be just a quick glance and then it would soon over.

He took a deep breath and let it out with a heavy sigh. This is why he hated to look for his troublesome sister, and prefer to wait until she return to her home. Unfortunately, the neighbors told him that no one's been home for the last three days. Neither his father nor sister came back from wherever it was they were going. Which led to his quest on searching for his sister.

Seungyoon was already close enough with them, and finally it was clear that his sister was nowhere to be found among these mofos. Alas, poor Seungyoon, it was not his lucky day. The tallest guy with shocking purple mohawk and a piercing on his left eyebrow accidentally noticed his curious eyes.

“Huuuh? Watcha lookin' at you ing brat??”

Right at that moment he knew he was done for.

“No sir, i wasn’t looking i was just passing by--”

“You dare to talk back to us?! Wanna go at it huh??”

Damn he should have stayed quiet and ignore them just like everyone else.

“N-no, sir--”

A shorter one with muscular build and head as bald as a monk suddenly grabbed his collar. Seungyoon instantly closed his eyes when he saw a fist raised at him, he waited for the impact to come. But nothing happened. Instead, they were interrupted by a feminine voice he was so familiar with.

“What the hell are you guys doin’?”

Seungyoon swear he could have cried right there and then.

“Soojung!”

“Boss!”

The two of them turned at each other with equally surprised look. Seungyoon could even hear the sound of gasps and chokes behind him, probably from the purple mohawk guy and the rest of his friends. Once again, Seungyoon looked toward the girl to make sure she was the real Soojung.

Indeed, she was still Soojung. Her long wavy dark chocolate hair was still attached to her head (after all, he wasn’t ready to see Soojung with a shocking purple mohawk).

“Oi, Gaepal, let him go.” Soojung was now munching on her croquette (most likely she got it from the convenience store) with a bored look. She tucked her right hand inside the pocket of her bomber jacket.

“Boss-- you know this guy--”

Soojung was never patient enough. She couldn’t even wait three minutes for her instant cup ramen to be done. But, she hated to repeat herself even more.

In a blink of an eye the poor baldy slammed onto the wall with soojung’s white vans dangerously choking his throat. Seungyoon was freed from the baldy’s grip on him, while the rest of the delinquents behind him made screeching sounds and backed away immediately.

The short baldy was obviously trembling from the imminent danger. Soojung’s glare skinned him alive and she pushed more pressure on her right foot, choking him even more, until he gasped for air.

“I said… let my brother go.”

He could only reply with a weak squeaky sound from his throat.

♢♢♢

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? You were missing for three days straight and now you’re part of a local gang?? And on top of that, a boss?”

Soojung’s head was throbbing from Seungyoon’s constant shouts and lectures. Her eyes were already drooping after the warm bath Seungyoon told her to take “Shut up, Kang. I’m Sleepy. And hungry.”

Seungyoon appeared from the kitchen wearing her pink apron while holding a fry pan. The fragrance of kimchi fried rice filled her nose and Soojung quickly got up from her sofa to the dining table. She was no longer sleepy.

After he put down the kimchi fried rice to Soojung’s plate, Seungyoon continued to clean up the place who was terrible enough it would take a whole week to make everything clean as new. Soojung gladly took a full spoon of her fried rice into , nothing could beat her brother’s fried rice after a warm bath.

The sight of her twin brother in this house was one of the best thing in life, she thought. Seungyoon was practically the only reason why she hadn’t run away from home. Well, she did, three days ago actually. But only because she thought Seungyoon would find her so easily just like today.

Soojung was still mindlessly chewing down her food when Seungyoon suddenly turned around from picking up the trash. “I want you to go to the school starting tomorrow. This time for real.”

“Why?” She stared at him blankly. Of course, it wasn’t the first time to hear it from Seungyoon. He always nagged at her about skipping school every time he visited her once in a week. Usually Soojung would ignore his nag and he would give up immediately. However this time Seungyoon had this serious look with him that Soojung couldn’t help but to think something must happened before.

Seungyoon sighed when the memory from today rushed in, “The head of disciplinary committee personally asked me to force you to go back to school. If not, you might get expelled.”

“It’s fine by me.” Soojung answered without a delay.

“Well, it’s not for me!” Seungyoon let out his exasperated tone, one that was loud enough from his usual tone to Soojung. The girl immediately went quiet and forced herself to swallow her food. “I don’t want you to get expelled, Soojung. We’ve been to the same school since we were born and i want to graduate from high school together with you too.”

The thickening silence were building up and Seungyoon could no longer take it. “I can’t… i can’t lie to our mother anymore…”

Soojung felt her stomach knot up and flip upside down. There he said it.

“And… And just because father is always gone... you know he would find out sooner or later. So just… let’s stop this okay Soojung?” this time, Seungyoon’s voice softened to her.

Soojung closed her eyes for what felt like a whole minute, under the table and unnoticed by Seungyoon, her left palm curled up to a fist and slightly trembled. But in the end she let out a whisper, “If you say so… then…”

Her brother’s eyes suddenly lit up and he grew a smile. Soojung was thankful at least she could make her brother happy with this.

Even though her insides were crumbling to a dark pit she could no longer feel anything.

♢♢♢

The clock just struck at 8.00 am in the morning and Naeun was already looking through the pile of documents Youngjae, her second-in-command, dropped at her desk. Thirty minutes again the class would start but she had to finish looking at her files before it. She was so immersed in her job that she didn’t realize sooner there was a knock from the window behind her. It took another loud knock for her to turn around and to see the person behind the window.

Kim Jongin flashed her a bright smile, one that was mirroring the morning sun and the fresh breeze of spring. He motioned for her to open the window and Naeun got up from her seat to open it.

“Good morning, Miss Commander.” Jongin lifted up his baseball cap to her to which she responded with a flat look.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Well, ‘Miss Head of Disciplinary Committee’ is definitely too long, and that was my only choice since you wouldn’t want me to call you ‘The Demonic Black Witch’ now would you?”

Naeun smacked his head with her papers while managed to look as nonchalant as ever. “You finished with your morning practice?”

“Yeap. And thanks by the way.”

She raised one of her eyebrows to him, “What for?”

“For not disbanding the baseball club just for a petty reason like that.” Again, the boyish smile.

“It wasn’t a petty reason. It was a clear violation of the school’s rule but i let the baseball club to pass because you have the principal to back you up.” She was clearly irritated but Jongin could even see behind her iron mask, an honest gratitude for an old friend.

“Why are you so busy in the morning by the way? Are you going to start ‘the purge’ from now on?” Jongin looked at the papers Naeun was holding with an uneasy feeling. He hated ‘the purge’ just like the rest of the students, even if Naeun was her close friend.

Naeun stayed silent for a moment and she looked lost for awhile. “Yes, we are going to start early this semester.”

Jongin pointed to her papers with his chin, “Who’s on your list this time? You can tell me one name.”

She eyed her friend with her usual cold gaze, Naeun contemplated for a moment before she finally gave in.

“Jung Soojung.”

Her friend suddenly froze, and Naeun didn’t miss it for a second how his pupils went slightly wide. But they were interrupted by the sudden noises from the school’s gate. Not far, Jongin’s teammates from the baseball club were also talking to each other in loud voices.

Vaguely, they could her some things.

“Man, she is a real catch. Told you, she is prettier than Jun Jihyun!!”

“I thought i saw a real moving doll, no, an angel!”

But they couldn’t clearly hear what the sudden fuss was about, until Jongin had to call one of his teammate and asked him what was actually going on.

The boy answered with an excitement, “They said the Student Council President came with his twin sister! It’s Jung Soojung!” and then just like that he disappeared into the crowd.

Another commotions, murmurs, and loud noises. Jongin and Naeun were only standing there without making any movement. They were lost in their own minds to even properly react.

Not long after, Youngjae rushed into the disciplinary committee’s office with heavy panting and loud banging on the door the thing almost break into pieces. “Commander! Commander-- I saw-- Jung Soojung!”

“Yes Youngjae, i am perfectly aware of that thank you.” said Naeun flatly, her upper body turned into Youngjae but she did not move away from the window, where Jongin still stood outside. The boy did not make any move or sound, he just leaned his front body into it and crossed his arms on the window sill.

The usually calm and collected Youngjae was unusually restless, and Naeun found out sooner that it was because the Student Council President actually trailed behind him to say his special morning greetings for her today. With his sister.

“‘Morning, Naeun-ah!” Seungyoon barged in with his loud voice, his smug face appeared to be exceptionally proud today. “Look who’s here! Just like what you said, i bring my sister to school!”

Naeun eyed the girl who stood uncomfortably behind the Student Council President. Indeed, she was pretty like everyone said. To say that she was pretty might be an understatement. She was ethereal. Her long eyelashes matched her droopy eyelids. The long wavy chocolate locks framed her sharp face even more, she looked even prettier with her perfect side profile. However what made her different from any other pretty girl was her unintentional intimidating aura. It was as if she looked at a royalty with a common school uniform just like hers. Even Naeun was stunned by her beauty for a second.

“Now that she’s here, can you please please please take her name out of the list?”

Naeun shifted her attention to Seungyoon this time, “I’ll see to it if she behave accordingly.”

“What?! But you already promised me!”

“I didn’t promise you anything. Rules are rules. I can not take her out of the purge’s list if she keep skipping her classes after this.”

Seungyoon seemed to be dejected while his sister visibly frowned because they were talking about her as if she wasn’t there at all, not like she wanted any attention at all though.

“Well then i just have to come to school everyday right?” Soojung chimed casually, she just wanted to disappear from this room as soon as possible.

“Soojung!” Her brother actually turned to her with his twinkling eyes, “That’s the spirit!”

Naeun could no longer wait even more, her patience was thinning and her time was running out. “Now can you please excuse yourselves i have my jobs to do.”

“Don’t worry we’re just about to leave-- Ah! Jongin!” Seungyoon suddenly exclaimed, “What a perfect time!”

The boy jolted a bit from Seungyoon’s call. Soojung didn’t even realize there was someone else there the whole time. Jongin looked startled and didn’t know how to respond, after all it was so sudden.

“Soojung, this is Jongin, i believe you guys are in the same class. Now Jongin, can you please take care of my sister while she is in school? Make sure she always attend her classes okay? I am somewhat busy since i have the student council jobs to do too.”

Soojung stared at Jongin, he stared back. Naeun just silently stared at the two of them while Youngjae was so sure everyone seemed to forget he was there. Seungyoon then clapped his hands together.

“Now everyone, let’s be friendly to each other, alright?”