Chapter 18

"Minari, look at me! Look at me!"

Mina tears her attention from her novel to see Momo prancing around the living room. All nine of them are now currently lazing around in Wheein's house, as the owner said that she's having a sleepover at Hyejin's to work on some assignments. The now-adult-Anihumans are also wanted to have a sleepover, so Nayeon and Tzuyu begged Wheein to let them take over the house for the night.

Ever since Momo and Jeongyeon came from their work, the vixen has been running around the house giddily. She's on cloud nine, finally having her whole body works like how it's supposed to be. Momo giggled after Mina put her whole attention to the vixen. She then proceeds to do three cartwheels, nearly knocking herself on Chaeyoung who was idly eating her cereals.

Mina smiled. "I'm glad you're back to your prime, but please be careful."

"I will! I'm just trying to make the most of it now!" the vixen exclaimed while sitting down beside Mina on the couch. She was just doing that for a second before she jumps up and facing the wolf. "Do you know that I lost my scars, too, Minari?"

Momo then lifts her shirt all the way below her chest, showing her now scarless stomach and, together with it, her perfectly defined abdominal muscles.

"See? I'm pretty, now!"

Mina faints.

Somewhere in the background, Chaeyoung dropped her cereals.

###

It was nearly midnight when Jihyo called them all to Nayeon and Tzuyu's bedroom. Despite the late hour, none of the girls are actually feeling tired, so Jihyo decided that they should do something more productive than just lazing around.

Dahyun whined. "Unnie why the hell are you making us having a meeting in the middle of the night?"

"Because none of us are sleepy yet," Jihyo cleared . "Besides, it's been five days since the second exam. Fany-unnie is going to visit us at the end of the week so we should talk about the thing she asked us."

Sana tilted her head innocently. "What thing?"

"The organizational position?" Tzuyu asked. Jihyo nodded in agreement.

Chaeyoung scrunched her nose. "What? I thought we have that established already."

"No? We haven't? Because I'm sure we've never talked about this team's leader, and so on," Jihyo said as she collapsed to the bed. Jeongyeon who is already curling on the bed groaned in protest when the bed creaks.

"You kidding?" Nayeon scoffed. "I thought we all have come to the understanding that you are our leader."

Silence.

Jihyo coughed. "Sorry what?"

"It's true," Jeongyeon nodded sagely. "We've all having a silent agreement that you're our leader since like... day one."

"But, why?" Jihyo cocked her head, confused.

"You're nice," Mina blurted.

"Whatever you're doing, you do it for the team," Momo adds.

"You're really smart! You know how to make us into sub-teams and you plan things thoroughly!" Sana exclaimed happily.

"Jihyo-unnie is the sanest person in this group," Dahyun giggled.

"I think what Dubu meant is that you're always keeping a cool head in any situation, unnie," Chaeyoung sighed.

"You're patient, Jihyo-unnie. I think the only one not once feeling fed up with this team is you," Tzuyu smiled.

"You've always been the one standing strong for us when we're in trouble. If that's not leadership I don't know what that is," Jeongyeon said matter of factly.

"No one in this team is capable of bringing the group together like how you do, Ji. That's why we choose you as our leader," Nayeon concluded.

By the end of their speech, Jihyo was stunned. She'd never thought that her friends regarded her so highly. She takes a look at her friends, all wearing their genuine smile. Jihyo felt a warm feeling in her chest. She chuckled, trying to hide the blush forming on her cheek.

"You girls are the worst," she said, but the team just grinned at her. "Okay, fine. Besides it's not like you'll accept a 'no' as an answer, right?"

"NEEE!!"

"Now that it's settled," Nayeon clapped her hands, bringing the team's attention back. "We need to establish the other position, too. I think it would be better if we follow the Soshi team's role."

"Mm... I don't think it's going to work for us," Jeongyeon mumbled. "I mean... Soshi team has only seven members but there are nine of us. Maybe we could follow some but we have to made other roles too. And we don't have any teleportation power so Sooyoung-unnie's role is a big no."

"Jeongyeon-unnie's right. But at least we could assign the more obvious roles first," Tzuyu her chin. "I think... a region defender like Hyoyeon-unnie... then the ambassador, advisor.. then whatever that is Yuri-unnie doing... what else?"

"We need a vice leader. In case anything happened to the region while Jihyo-unnie's gone," Chaeyoung proposed. "Then... hmm... maybe someone that will stay at the castle despite everything?"

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, like.. you know. In case there are a lot of issues to solve, someone has to stay and watch the castle. But, not just watching the castle. The one doing this also has to be able to solve minor issues happening in the region when most of us are unavailable," Chaeyoung explained despite her apparent confusion.

"Okay I get it. I also know the person perfectly made for that," Jihyo smirked and leered at someone. "Mi~na~ri~"

The wolf squints her eyes. Jihyo snorted. "Oh, come on! That's the most suitable job for you! Aside from your knowledge and skills, you're also don't really fond of going out frequently, right?"

"I can help you, Minari!!" Sana threw her arms around the younger girl. "Can I? Can I?"

Mina pouts but nodded anyway. Sana squealed while Jihyo grinned widely, patting Mina's shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll help from time to time. Now, next. Who will become the vice leader?"

"You should choose it yourself, Jihyo," Jeongyeon slapped Jihyo's arm softly. "Someone you deemed worthy to stand beside you. The same with your advisors."

"Then I choose you," Jihyo grasped Jeongyeon's left hand. "My bro."

Jeongyeon put her right hand above Jihyo's. "Bro."

"Disgusting," Nayeon grimaced. "You better stop with these 'bro' words or am I going to–"

Nayeon was given no time to finish her sentence because Jihyo points at her. "And you'll be my advisor with Tzuyu."

"Eh?" Tzuyu blinked. "I understand Nayeon-unnie. But me?"

Jihyo waved her hand. "You're at the right side of my sanity spectrum in this group. You're also the one who helps me a lot with making strategies. So I choose you. You okay with that?"

"Well, if it's for the best," Tzuyu shrugged nonchalantly, but everyone in the room could see the faint blush on her cheek.

Dahyun and Momo snickered. "Tsundere."

Tzuyu scowled.

"Okay, next! Ambassador! Any volunteer?" asks Jihyo as she waved her hands to refocus the group's attention.

"I think Dubu suits the job," Sana said. She threw a wink at Dahyun who shot her a surprised look. "You're really friendly! No doubt everyone would like to be our associate if you're the one reaching out to them!"

"I agree!" Chaeyoung slapped Dahyun's back playfully. "And I would love to become the one managing internal issues, like Yuri-unnie! How's that?"

"Personally, I'm okay with that," Jihyo nodded. "Dahyunnie, you're cool?"

Dahyun saluted. "Anything for you boss. Then.. if I'm the ambassador, Momo-unnie would be the defender, am I right?"

Said girl blinked innocently. "Momo? Momo who? I don't know her. Haven't seen Momo for quite a long time."

Nayeon smacked the younger's head. "Quit it, Hirai. You're the only member who hasn't been appointed yet. Also, you're the second Legend in the team and it's only logical if we put the strongest member to become a defender."

Momo sulked and whispered a silent, "Okay."

"Great!" Jihyo clapped her hands. "So... now, the last question. What should we call our team?"

Everyone fell silent after that to think. After a few seconds, Nayeon giggled. "How about.. Once?"

Tzuyu whipped her head and glared at the older girl. "Isn't that the name of the girl group you've been stanning since we arrived here?"

"You're right!" Nayeon hollered in laughter. "You know me so well, Tzuyu-ah!"

"Those girls are trash."

"How dare you said that to Once! Fight me, Chou Tzuyu!! FIGHT ME!!"

"Who is Once?" Dahyun hummed. "Chaenggie, you know them?"

Chaeyoung nodded. "I think I've heard Hyejin-unnie sang some of their songs back home. I don't really follow them aside from the songs Hyejin-unnie sang, though."

"These girls are cute," Momo said, already using Wheein's laptop illegally. "I'm gonna stan them from now on."

"Oohh! I knew them!" Sana adds, leaning against Momo to look at Wheein's laptop. Mina and Jeongyeon followed her to peek at the screen. "Their songs are the best! And they're also really pretty! I think, if we're not Anihumans, we can easily pass as them! See, there are nine of them! Just like us!"

Jeongyeon chuckled. "Oh, I wouldn't mind falling into idol hell with them."

"Guys, seriously?" Tzuyu sighed tiredly. "We can't just name our team using another group's name! Especially that idol group."

Nayeon sneered. "Said the girl screaming their songs on top of her lungs whenever she's bathing."

The eagle glared at the deer. " you."

"You're gorgeous but not my taste! Sorry!" Nayeon winked before laughing out loud.

"On a more serious note, though," Jihyo remarked in a loud voice, stopping the group's argument. "Tzuyu's right. We can't just name our team with the same name. But if you girls like it, maybe we could tweak it a bit."

"How about Twice?" Chaeyoung suggests. "I mean... Once? Twice? Or do you want Thrice?"

"Force."

"That's not a word, Dubu."

"It is a word!" Dahyun pouts. "Just not in the same category."

"You're lucky I love you else you'll be dead by now."

"Girls, focus," Jihyo wailed. She glanced at the clock to see that it's already half past midnight. "We should wrap this up fast and go to sleep. I'm tired."

"You're the one calling a meeting in the middle of the night," Jeongyeon shook her head. "Well, then. Do you girls agree with Twice? I personally agree because it sounds really cute in my ears."

Jeongyeon question earned her a collective, "Yes!" from most of her friends. Tzuyu rolled her eyes while Jihyo only giggled. "Alrighty then! From now on, we're team Twice! Our leader's Jihyo, I'm the vice leader with Nayeon-unnie and Chewy as advisors. Dahyunnie would be the ambassador, Chaeyoung as internal relations, Momo as the region defender while Mina and Sana..."

Jeongyeon hesitates. "What name would your role called by?"

Dahyun snickered.

"Housewives."

Sana launched herself to strangle her fellow teammate.

###

It's 2 o'clock in the night, but Jihyo can't sleep. She'd been the one crashed on the bed first when they finished the meeting, but no matter what she did, sleep never comes to her. Momo had immediately gone to the dream world the moment her head met the bed. Chaeyoung curled herself beside Momo, both unmoving when Mina draped a blanket across both girls.

Dahyun can't find herself a comfortable place in the bedroom and ends up sprawled at the couch. Jihyo had heard Tzuyu and Nayeon fought about something in the kitchen, while Jeongyeon happily watching the drama unfolded before her eyes. They were fighting for a good fifteen minutes until Sana whined and pulled Tzuyu to cuddle with her.

It hasn't even been a day but she's starting to question herself for choosing the three as her most influential sidekicks.

Jihyo exits the house to take a breather. She sat at the porch, mindlessly watching the shrubbery of roses in front of Wheein's house. One thing she noticed about their keepers is that they (with the exception of Byulyi) love plants. Chaeyoung once said that Hyejin kept a lot of cacti and some bonsais while Yongsun herself has a bunch of lilies at her back garden and some other flowers given by Hyejin.

The Phoenix had the guts to pick one of Wheein's flower. She's admiring the faded red color, unlike the other roses in the bush that's blood red in color. Jihyo was just swirling the flower in her hand when a soft voice startled her.

"It's pretty, don't you think so?"

The surprise made her instinctively gripped the stalk and she hissed at the feeling of the rose's thorns pricking her skin.

"Omo, I'm sorry, Jihyo-ah! I thought you've sen me!"

Jihyo was stunned at the view before her. Sunny is kneeling in front of her, inspecting her bleeding palm seriously. Sunny blew the younger's palm, sending her healing turquoise aura and closing the wounds in a matter of seconds. The red-haired ruler then lifts her head to smile at the younger girl.

"Good evening, Jihyo-ah. Or should I say.. good morning?" Sunny giggled. She moved to sit beside Jihyo.

Only when Sunny had sit did Jihyo realized something. "Eh? Unnie? What are you doing here?"

Sunny shrugged. "I just wanted to take a walk at the human world. Turns out you're awake so I decided to come by."

Jihyo raised her eyebrow at that. "Visiting the human world? At this time of the day?"

"The silence calmed me down," Sunny said nonchalantly.

The Phoenix hummed. The sensation of being alone in the middle of the night is addicting. Sometimes, Jihyo would feel as if she's in a distorted dimension by watching the serene darkness. She joined Sunny in appreciating the tranquility, taking a glance to the ruler beside her once in a while.

Jihyo only notices this the tenth time she glanced at Sunny, but there's a flurry of emotions inside her dark brown orbs.

"Unnie?" Jihyo called, making Sunny snapped from her reverie and stared at the younger girl. "Is everything okay?"

Sunny laughs a breathless laugh. "Ah... am I really that obvious?"

"Unnie?" Jihyo grasped Sunny's hand. Thankfully the latter didn't shy away.

"It's just.." Sunny sighed, closing her eyes to prevents the tears from falling down. "There's so much going on in the Ani-world since the second exam, Jihyo-ah. We're having some trouble with the high council and Tiffany's not getting enough sleep and nutrition intake. I've tried to persuade her to eat but she snapped and I... I yelled back at her. I shouldn't do that. I should have been the one helping her, not turning against her. I was going to apologize but everything just went downhill and she hasn't returned to the castle since yesterday."

Jihyo nodded, rubbing the elder's hand. She knows nothing about their problem and she doesn't think she'll have the right words to comfort Sunny. So she holds the ruler's hand tight, letting her know that she'll be here to listen.

"I'm... I'm sorry I'm telling you this. Haha, you're supposed to just focus on the exam, okay, don't think about this. We'll be fine. I'm just a little down," Sunny laughs as she wiped her tears. "Thank you for listening, Jihyo-ah. I just need to talk to someone about this."

Jihyo smiled. "You're welcome, unnie. You know you can talk to us if anything."

Sunny giggled. She was about to answer but a flare of blue caught their attention. Standing at the road in front of Wheein house is a woman unfamiliar to Jihyo. She has long, bangless black hair reaching her chest. Her dark eyes are cold, but there's kindness in it that made Jihyo feels safe. The woman is wearing a white shirt covered by a red coat and a pair of jeans. Her boots made soft clicking sounds as she approaches the two red-haired female.

Sunny wiped the remaining of her tears and stood up.

"Sunny," the unknown woman addressed. Her voice is deep, sweet and rich with character.

Jihyo was immediately drawn to the woman, as if she wanted to submit to the woman for the rest of her life. The unknown woman radiates a powerful and authoritative aura that dwarfed even Tiffany's. The young Anihuman can barely breath when Sunny bowed.

"IU," the red-haired ruler whispered.

'So that's her name,' Jihyo mused. 'IU. Where have I heard that?'

IU nodded curtly. She grabbed Sunny's wrist and Jihyo caught a tint of panic in her onyx orbs. "You are needed at the castle. Tiffany collapsed. I've already told her to leave the tracking to Ailee but she's too stubborn to listen."

Sunny's expression immediately harden. "I'll go with you. Jihyo-ah..."

Jihyo stuttered when Sunny called her. "Y-Yes?"

The ruler smiled and pats her hair. Jihyo could feel the slight tremor on her hand.

"I'll see you later. Don't mind this, just focus on your exam, okay? We'll meet again two days from now, as promised. Take care, Jihyo-ah."

With that, Sunny and that woman called IU disappeared into thin air. Jihyo gawked at their former position for a good few seconds after their departure. She scratches her head, noticing the leftover shining blue sparks of IU's aura at the grass before her.

"What kinda hell was that about?"

To be continued...