Part 1

"I want meat!"

"There won't be any more meat for a while, so you have to settle with this instead."

"No, I want to eat meat!"

Beri hid behind her stuffed teddy bear, rejecting the infamous symbol for sin; the apple.

"Geez," her roommate sighed. She stuffed the fairly-large apple in the stuffed-bear's mouth. "See? Even Kuro likes to eat healthy fruits."

"Kuro, bad boy," Beri snapped at the bear. It promptly opened its mouth, making the apple fall and roll across the floor. "You know I'm dying and you bring me something that tastes like sandpaper and feels harder than concrete? How could you, Fumio?"

Beri was in tears at her friend's betrayal to the food pyramid.

The Tokiwadai Gardens were giving away surplus amounts of fruits, especially apples. A certain Esper who specializes in such food groups had recently achieved clearance to Level 4 during the most recent System Scan, and the plethora of fruits were the results.

Fumio thought this would be a good opportunity to teach Beri on how to eat healthy. However, Beri's stubbornness of only eating meat was becoming too much.

"Listen, if you eat nothing but meat, you will stunt your growth. You might even grow in places you wouldn't want."

Kuro was squirming around in Beri's arms, suffocating in her grip.

"Every girl has hidden potential stashed away inside their hearts, and they can only unlock that potential if they actively take care of themselves. I, too, am only beginning my journey of finding my true self in order to unlock my full potential."

Beri's eyes followed Fumio around the dorm room as she went through her usual lecture of improving one's self. However, Beri's eyes were locked on a certain area of her roommate's chest.

"You bitch," she said under her breath. "If you're still 'unlocking your potential'… then what does that make me!?"

She slammed both her fists against the small coffee table. Kuro leaped from her lap and lunged towards Fumio with killing intent to preserve its master's dignity. It let out a "rawr~!" that was less threatening and more adorable than it believed it was making.

As it flew across the air, the claws on its tiny paws grew an inch and were razor sharp, ready to cause bloodshed. Fumio didn't react. She only gave a warm, motherly smile.

Instead of going straight to Fumio's face, Kuro changed its trajectory and landed into her arms, tamed and docile, hugging her chest like a small pet animal it's supposed to be.

Beri pouted, half-expected the outcome to be like this. Fumio had an aura around her even the coldest beings of the universe wouldn't be able to withstand. The air simulated that of their own mothers, if not more powerful.

It was natural to her.

"Now, Beri, I'm talking about your ability as an Esper. Academy City's researchers have reached on a major advancement in Esper research. If you don't keep up, you'll be left behind. And, we both know how Tokiwadai takes pride in producing the most talented Espers. As a Level 4, you should really put more attention to these things. Everyone looks up to you."

"In envy, maybe. I'd rather have lunch…" Beri planted her whole body on top of the table, sulking.

"Here, I brought a whole box of apples—"

"I WANT ME-EE-EAT!"

Part 2

"Miss Lacoste, I'm terribly sorry, but I can not afford to waste time helping you with your personal problems when I must keep the place spotless.

Beri clung onto the waist of Ran Tsurugi, a maid-in-training, while Kuro hung onto Beri's back. Due to Beri's weight, Ran clutched onto any nearby support, dragging her across the floor. The maid might as well be climbing a steep mountain with a boulder tied to her.

The maid leaned against a nearby counter, gasping for air.

"I don't have time for this… Please, Ms. Lacoste, why not eat the delicious fruit we have in stock?"

"But Raaaaaan…" Beri whined, her eyes welling up with tears. "You're supposed to be our maid, and a maid lives to cook food for me and make me happy, don't they?"

"What's with this distorted view on maids? Look, I can't do anything about the meat shortages, so you have to just deal with it."

Ran held Beri by her shoulders, helping her stand on her feet, but that proved to be harder than she thought, because Beri preferred the idea to rot on the floor than to live a life void of meat.

"Please, get up… I don't want to give the supervisor any more reasons to replace me…"

Beri's stomach growled as loud as her groan. Thinking her life would wither away any moment now, an enchanting aroma filled the air. Beri sniffed the air like an intrigued animal.

"Wait a minute… is that…?"

Through the large double doors leading to the dining hall, a fellow student held a wooden stick pierced through chunks of cooked chicken.

"Oh," the student said as she noticed Beri and Ran. "Is Fumio not with you?"

A waterfall formed from Beri's mouth, marveling at the beauty of the seasoned chicken. "Is that yakitori!?"

"Mm! Would you like some?"

Stars sparkled in Beri's eyes as she could already taste the chicken in her mouth, experiencing an incredible high as the scent of sauce and peppers filled her nostrils.

For far too long, Beri was deprived of meat; God's gift to humans. At this moment, she was about to climb the staircase to heaven. The tender, savory meat coated in spices was waiting for her, ready to satisfy her burning desire to eat the food of the angels.

She took her first step up the staircase.

As if stepping onto a trigger, the stairs broke into different sections, leaving a pile of broken steps. The chicken up in heaven then started to fade as she ran after it, but it seemed to get farther and farther until it disappeared. Seeing it all unfold before her eyes, something inside Beri broke. Her illusion shattered and the real world soon materialized in front of her. Greeting her return was the sight of yakitori chopped into pieces on the polished wooden floors.

Beri thought of giving up her decency to finally have the taste of meat in her mouth. Before she got the chance to act, small stars made of steel flew passed her eyes, piercing and mincing the meat as it was swept away. Immediately realizing the source of the steel stars, her head, along with Kuro's, turned nearly 180 degrees. Ran yelped as she forced in a scream that could have alerted the whole district, frozen in fear from gazing into the sunken, red demonic eyes of the broken Beri.

Beri spoke, "Raaaan…. Whyyyy would you dooo something like thaaat?

Her voice sent shivers down Ran's spine. Adrenaline shot through her body, and like a flash of light, she pulled the girl who brought the chicken and whispered something into her ear.

Beri reached out to them, motioning her hands, preparing to devour their souls as substitution for the spoiled meat. "You there, girly, where did you get that meat?"

"O-oh, I, uh, I got it from home. Y-yeah, that's right, my mom is a wonderful cook, she sure is!"

The girl's legs were shaking to the point she had to rely on Ran's support to prevent collapsing.

The sound of the large double doors opening echoed throughout the room. Two more students walked through the doors, each holding a box containing pork cutlets. They were having a friendly conversation until they felt a foreboding aura within the room.

They quickly hid the box of meat behind their backs. "Oh, hi Beri…! H-how ya' doing?"

Beri carefully observed Ran from the corner of her eye, noticing her trying to escape. "Ran, why do they have specially-made tonketsu in a Tokiwadai-branded box?"

"W-well, you see, funny story, so that, um…"

Having enough of her rambling, Beri rushed towards the double doors, shoving the two students to the floor.

Panicking, Ran threw steel stars to scare Beri away from the doors, but Kuro leaped from her back and sliced the steel stars into pieces with its sharp claws.

"Please, Ms. Lacoste, let me explain!"

Beri went ahead and threw the double doors aside. On the other side was the dining hall packed with students. Tables were lined up with large plates of different types of meat, from pork to beef to seafood. Students bunched up around tables, while others had their own plates or boxes heading to find an open seat, and some were standing around eating patties and skewered chicken.

The festive atmosphere ceased when they were frightened by the loud bang of the double doors. They stared at Beri who stood frozen in shock, mind blown from the secret buffet being revealed to her. The room was filled with gasps while some started to swear. Some students were confused and asked questions such as, "Who told her?" and "What do we do now?"

Ran placed her shaking hands on Beri's shoulders. "Ms. Lacoste, please understand. Fumio is only looking after you, so of course all of Tokiwadai were fully willing to support her wishes."

Part 3

Fumio was walking around the Tokiwadai school grounds. She always took pleasure in seeing the happy faces on her fellow under and upperclassmen as they greet her. Along the way, Fumio bumped into Ichigo Hisaki, her junior and Tokiwadai's Garden Supervisor, who just recently achieved Level 4.

During their walk around campus, every student that walked by took their time to stop and greet Fumio, as if to them it was some sort of law. Ichigo found it to be a bit annoying having their stroll interrupted every few minutes, but she couldn't help but admire the respect the whole school had towards her. Fumio simply greeted them back, struck a quick conversation, and sent them off their way with a smile that would make them feel blessed or their hearts flutter.

"That's the 'Mother of Tokiwadai' for you," Ichigo pointed out.

"Hm?" After dismissing another classmate, she turned to Ichigo, her smile still emitting lingering effects.

"N-nothing," Ichigo averted her gaze. "Anyway, do you really think Beri will honestly change if you keep her away from eating meat? I think it will go from bad to worse if you deprive her for way too long."

"She's stubborn, but I believe she'll pull through. Once she has a taste of one of your delicious fruits, she'll have a new addiction."

"That's what I'm worried about…"

After walking around the school a number of times, they found themselves loitering around the far side of the school building. It was quiet and they were away from all other students that could be walking around as well. They were finally able to relax and observe the trees that were about to bloom. There was a long silence, but neither of them seemed to mind. The rustling of the leaves and gentle hiss of the wind was enough ambiance as they watched the trees.

After what felt like hours, Fumio broke the silence. "These trees have a lot of potential, don't they?"

Ichigo giggled. It was always amusing whenever Fumio starts rambling on about someone's, or something's, "potential". She always encouraged others to become the best they can hope to be, especially in recent times with the rapid progress in Esper research. It was amusing, because the person who insists on pushing others to reach their true potential, is the very catalyst of unlocking it.

Ichigo's eyes were fixated on Fumio; the only thing present that was more eye-catching than Tokiwadai's famous foliage, more elegant and beautiful than nature itself. However, what broke that attention was a single cherry blossom that found its way on her nose. Normally, she would just wave it off, however, she was suddenly showered by a rain of cherry blossoms.

The green trees that lined up the outskirts of the school grounds were no more. Ichigo only took her eyes off the trees for a few minutes, and the trees were already fully blooming with cherry blossoms. It looked completely unreal — as if it was something you could only see in an anime — the trees were like pink lollipops.

She was in another world right now.

A loud explosion shattered that vision. The world that was filled with white and pink turned to gray.

A giant hole was made on the wall near them. Bursting through the wall was an over-sized grizzly bear standing on both of its hind legs. There was a blonde girl hanging onto the back of the bear's shoulders, yelling in a mix of French and Japanese.

"[To the guillotine, all of you, filthy peasants! If I can't eat any meat, than none of you should either!] Ahh! Abandon ship, Kuro, abandon shiiiip! [They will never take us alive!] Waaah, I hate you so much, Fumioooo!"

Fumio and Ichigo were utmost astonished by the sudden event as they watched the large bear jump over the school gates. Once gone, they poked their heads into the large hole that it created.

It was total carnage.

Tables were destroyed, the inner walls were exposed, the roof was crumbling, and the floor was flooded from exposed pipelines. It did not help the situation when the room was filled with powerful Espers, some of which were wielding conventional and unconventional weapons, or had their abilities lingering without them knowing. One of them nearly started a fire. Some of the students started to panic, some were apologizing and begging for mercy, while others started to cry when Fumio stepped through the rubble, hands on her hips as if she was about to punish a group of children.

Ran, on the other hand, was like a corpse. Her soul had left her body after witnessing the tragic event.

Part 4

The sun was setting and Beri has yet to eat anything all day. Discovering the meat shortages to be a lie and the whole school went out of their way to keep the surplus of meat a secret from her was the final straw. Beri decided to take drastic measures before she finally goes insane.

Beri had escaped after causing a little bit of chaos — justifiable, in her opinion — and sprinted towards a grocery store.

Ignoring who tried to greet her, Kuro — hanging onto her shoulders like a well-behaved stuffed toy should be — growled at anyone who dared to come too close. She went straight towards the freezer aisles and grabbed a ten pound slab of beef. She then rushed towards the front. Blinded by her hunger, she gave little courtesy and safety towards those around her. After everything she's been through, those things were the last thing on her mind.

The cashier was left stunned by Beri's manners, and more so at the slab of beef being slammed on top of the counter. What horrified him the most, however, were the loony and demented eyes that stared at him, along with the waterfall seeping through the teeth, a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat, and the muttering of indecipherable words that the cashier believed to be of an alien language.

"[Meatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeatmeeeaat…]"

The cashier decided to just go ahead and service the demon child, else he gets dragged into the depths of hell for not complying. However, the cashier took a closer look at the customer and noticed the Tokiwadai uniform. Looking past the demonic aura, she fitted the description of someone he should be keeping a lookout for.

"Excuse me, Miss," he said. "You don't happened to be the one and only 'Beri Lacoste'?"

"Why, yes I am," she said in glee, snapping back to her cheerful self — an instant, drastic change. "But, how did you know who I am?"

"Ah, a sweet girl named, I believe it was Fumio, came in and told me to keep on the lookout for a blonde girl from Tokiwadai, who, very much likely, barge in searching for meet like a rabid animal and threaten the livelihood of my business."

The cashier continued on about how he was informed. He also mentioned that every source where meat is supplied — grocery shops, malls, distributors, ongoing parties, freight ships, and online shopping websites — will deny services to a certain 'Beri Lacoste'.

Beri had already blocked out the whole world. The moment the cashier mentioned the name "Fumio", the final thread in her soul snapped. She stared into an empty void. Images of Tokiwadai students appeared laying in a pool of water dyed red, accompanied with various cuts of meat. It was difficult to tell whether the cuts were from farm animals sold in stores, or the limbs of her classmates, but Beri was too lost to give a damn. Perhaps, there was still another way to find food to eat, she thought.

In the real world, Beri's abandoned body was left standing in front of the store's front counter. Customers surrounded her wondering what stopped the massive line from moving. The cashier waved his hand in front of her face and asked questions, but there was no response. Even Kuro was worried about its master's health and it started bashing the back of her head with its soft, plushie paws.

Finished with her morbid dreams, she was brought back to the physical realm and into her body. She slouched, dragging her feet as she headed outside. The clouds moved across the orange sky; her only source for comfort.

Her eye twitched. Her body started to shake. She held her head within her trembling hands, and with a deep breath, and a lack of sympathy for her throat and lungs, she screamed, a blood-curling screech shattering the glass in all of Academy City.

The sun had set and time had reached curfew. Students of Tokiwadai have already settled in their respective dormitories, getting ready for bed, if not already.

Fumio was wearing pink pajamas that contrasted with the motherly air she had, yet somehow befitting her young looks.

She sat on one of the two beds laid parallel of each other, and looked at the other that was occupied by a stuffed lion. The lion laid lifeless on its side, its eyes pointing straight at Fumio, as if looking at her with contempt and disappointment.

"Don't be like that. I'm sure she's fine."

She looked at the box of apples left on the desk on the far side of the room, and then glanced at the digital clock right next to it.

It was almost midnight.

The door slammed open. Fumio jumped, for a moment she thought she was being attacked, but her face brightened at the sight of Beri standing in the doorway. Beri dragged her feet towards her bed, her shoes scratching against the polished wooden floors, her face looking as if she died twenty times over during the past few hours. Fumio, however, paid no mind to her appearance.

"Beri, I was so worried," she said. "Where have you been? After what happened at the dining hall, I was sure you went to hiding for the rest of your life. Please, don't scare me like that ever again, okay? I don't want you hurting yourself. Beri?"

Beri refused to respond. Instead, she glared at her with cold, narrow slits, the dark bags making her eyes stand out. Any moment now, Beri was going to become Academy City's most wanted criminal.

Fumio tilted her head to the side, confused at Beri's out-of-character reaction.

With a long and loud grown of surrender, Beri turned away and threw herself on her bed. The lion toy that laid motionless moved and jumped out of the way to avoid getting squished. Fumio tried to reach out to comfort her, but Kuro and his lion friend growled at her. There was an even louder rumbling noise that drowned out the growling. It was followed by weak whimpers and soft cries.

Part 5

"Get ready, Kuro. We're gonna settle this once. And. For. All."

Kuro pumped its tiny paw in the air while Beri stomped towards Tokiwadai's large dome conservatory. With each step, Beri huffed, exerting more energy than necessary. It was harder on her, because she didn't have much energy to even use. She didn't have much time to sleep, and most of her energy was used up during her adventure all over Academy City, but Fumio's influence reached far and wide. She thought of going out of the city, but didn't; not because she thought it was too much work, but because she believed Fumio could have actually gone that far to stop her.

Today, Beri had only one simple goal: mass extinction of all plant life. Minor details aside, it was a genius plan worthy of multiple awards. IF this plan succeeds, human civilization will greatly benefit.

She opened the glass double doors, almost passing out in the process, leading to a long tunnel. Each side had a variety of flowers; one side native to Japan, the other foreign. The plants were between the glass exterior and running water. At the end of the tunnel, it opened to a much larger, open area. The sudden transition was like stepping into a portal to another world. Due to it being Tokiwadai, assuming that probably wouldn't be wrong.

A smooth stoned path split off towards three directions; the middle path leading across a bridge to a large patio with white decorative picnic tables and chairs, all under a roof that looked like a small flying garden. The other paths were lost in the depths of the bright and beautiful flowers. It probably just lead into a circle, but it might as well have been a path leading deeper into the garden much, much, much larger than what Beri can immediately see. What gave the garden its color and character were the fruits and vegetables lined up against the channel of water circling the inner patio and following the stone paths. Oranges, grapes, tomatoes, corn, every fruit and vegetable one could think of, or at least those that Tokiwadai students desire, were grown and displayed with striking elegance. Even fruits and vegetables that shouldn't be able to grow with this given environment were present.

She narrowed her eyes and said to Kuro, "You know what to do, mon chéri~"

Kuro jumped off Beri's back. After taking in a large amount of air, it let out a growl — more like a big puff of air. Kuro then grew in size and shape, increasing its mass and now looked like an overgrown grizzly bear. Its cute growl also turned into a ferocious, deafening roar. The only way to distinguish it from a real bear are the stitches and unnatural coloring.

Kuro went on a blind rage of fury, swinging its large arms and slashing its sharp claws at anything resembling the color green and other vividly bright colors and anything that could be considered healthy. A path of destruction was left in its wake; minced foliage, misplaced dirt, and splattered juices. The running water was also contaminated by the mess.

While Kuro went on with its business, Beri didn't take her eyes off her primary target; her mortal enemy since yesterday: the apple, and its army of even more apples, taking solitude inside their fortress of green leaves and tower of bark.

She walked towards one of the apple trees near the patio, her eyes boring a hole through its trunk. She clenched her right fist and locked onto a single area of the trunk. With a step back, she lunged forward, throwing her fist in an attempt to destroy the tree with one punch. However, before her fist could make contact with the tree, Beri collapsed, falling forward from the momentum. She curled up into a ball, rolling around and crying in pain.

"I'm so hungryyyyyy!"

"Then, why don't you take some to eat?"

A voice came from the garden entrance. There stood the garden's supervisor, Ichigo Hisaki.

"Did you want some?" she tilted her head to the side. "You could've just asked. We have plenty to go around."

Beri struggled to her feet as she gave a devilish smile, laughing at the foolish redhead, and placing her hand on the nearby tree trunk to keep her balance.

"And that's the problem," Beri said. "You thought you could take me out, huh? Now that you're a Level 4, you actually believed you could stand toe-to-toe with me, Academy City's greatest puppet master? No, no, of course you didn't. You knew you could never take on the almighty me, The Empress of the French, Beri 'Joséphine' Lacoste!"

"'Empress of—'…Wait, who's Joséphine? Do you have some kind of fantasy?"

"So, instead, you went on to take away my source of energy, the meaning of life, the very reason why us humans continue to live on in this cruel and dark world. Meat. Well, listen up you damn devil-bitch. I, Beri 'Joséphine' Lacoste, will never let a lowly peasant like you get away with it and vanquish you to the depths of hell for all eternity. Kuro, tear her apart— buwah!"

Gallons of apples fell from the tree and buried Beri under. More apples instantly sprouted from the tree's branches until the mountain of apples was as tall as the tree itself.

Part 6

"But Noel… you taste like my pillow… come here…"

Beri had fallen asleep after getting knocked unconscious by a barrage of falling apples. She talked in her sleep, slurring words that made Ichigo uncomfortable.

A blanket of lavender petals were laid on top of Beri's chest. A plate of chopped apples sat on a tray table positioned near her face. Ichigo leaned over the bench and dangled a small container of black powder over Beri's face.

Beri's nose started to twitch, her eyes opened and stared groggily at the cheeky redhead.

"Had a nice nap?" Ichigo giggled.

"Ichigo…? What are you—" Beri's stomach growled.

Panicking, she rolled off the bench spilling the lavender petals and knocking over the tray table. Crawling backwards as she pointed at Ichigo, she said, "What were you doing to me? Don't think for a second that I lost. I can still fight you, you—…"

Looking past Ichigo, she found Kuro completely immobilized, wrapped head to toe with grape vines. She choked, realizing that there were no signs of Kuro's rampage throughout the garden. In fact, the garden looked more magnificent and carried more fruits and vegetation than when she first came. She looked at the ground knowing full well she had been defeated. Feeling disgraced, tears in her eyes, she slowly bowed down — head to the ground — to her opponent, who was too occupied picking up the mess Beri made.

"My mom was a perfumer."

Beri looked up, confused at Ichigo's choice of words for a victory taunt.

"And my dad was a baker. They were a good match for each other. My mom loved sweet desserts and my dad made the best pastries, meringues, cakes — well, pretty much everything — in all of Japan. Sometimes, he would bring raw ingredients to my mom so she could use them in her perfumery.

"Of course, when I was born, I helped both my parents and got acquainted with lots of different ingredients. I learned what ingredients made the best sweets, and which notes to create the best scents; even ones with medicinal effects. I loved every moment of it, being with my parents. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long. I was living with my aunt. My parents were on a cruise. They never came home. The ship they were on was reported to be hit by a lone monster-sized glacier. Turned out that the glacier was actually the ship itself frozen in ice. Needless to say, there were no survivors.

"Then my aunt took me to Academy City for new opportunities for wealth and fortune. She made me take the Power Curriculum Program to become an Esper. Turns out, the System Scan determined that I was a Level 0. After that, my aunt decided to disown me. If only I could have shown that I had even a tiny bit of potential, Academy City would have provided my aunt with more money.

"Soon after, that's when I met Fumio. She saw how much promise I had. You know how she is. 'Potential', and all that. Thing is, everything she said sounded like some stuff you hear in one of those shounen anime, but somehow, she helped me believe in myself more. I couldn't believe it when I realized she was telling the truth. One day, I buried some seeds I kept from my mom's collection of perfume materials. They were dead seeds. They can't grow. But, before my eyes, a sprout appeared where I buried the seeds. It was that very moment I became a true Esper, and since then I lived my life knowing full well that anyone, even me, can unlock that tiny bit of potential inside of them, and bloom, like that dormant seed."

Ichigo smiled, holding in her emotions by distracting herself by juggling the apples slices in the air before tossing them back onto the plate. The slices grouped together as they landed, fitting each other until they formed complete, whole apples, as if they were never sliced in the first place.

"Um…" Beri bit her lip, holding in her tears. "Why are you telling me this?"

Ichigo sighed, but shook her head. "Don't worry. That was all just useless time filler. Here, eat this apple, please?"

She poked Beri's lips with the reformed apple. Beri, pouting, refused to give.

"Stop being so stubborn. Just eat one apple, and maybe that will be enough to satisfy Fumio."

"Sacrilege," Beri burst through her shut lips. She kept her mouth shut, despite her whole head being violated by an apple. Her forehead, eyes, ears, cheeks, back of her skull; Ichigo was relentless.

It was time for drastic measures. Ichigo came back with a long, thorny vine. It made a loud snap as she whipped the air, spewing out rose petals. The sound it made almost gave Beri a heart attack.

"[Stop! Mercy, mercy, I'm sorry, please, spare me! I'll eat the apple, I'll eat it!]"

Ichigo stepped forward, ear-piercing scraping as she dragged the thorny whip across the stone pavement.

"[Wait, what are you doing? Step back!] Kuro! [I said I surrender! Please, I'm sorry, I'll do whatever you saaaaay!]"

Afraid for her own life, Beri couldn't help but yell in French. While the fear on her face was apparent, Ichigo wasn't hearing the magic words in her language.

Beri might as well have been begging for a whipping.

Looking through the tears welled up in her eyes, she could barely see the colors of the apples sitting on the table behind Ichigo. In a final effort to save her life, she threw away the last of her dignity and rushed toward the table, grabbing one of the apples.

"Look, I'm going to eat it. Are you happy— buwah!?"

As she turned around, Ichigo's face was suddenly inches away from hers. Ichigo stared intently, wondering what Beri was going to do next, as if she was some kind of object or animal on display.

She took a deep breath, slowly opening her mouth as she brought the apple up closer. For a moment, she froze, thinking carefully of what she's about to do.

She shrugged, tossing the whole apple in her mouth and started munching on it. Suddenly, her eyes widen, pupils dilated, drool escaped her lips, staring straight through Ichigo as if she didn't exist. Ichigo waved her hands and poked Beri's face. She didn't respond, still staring blankly into her eyes.

"Ah… hahaha… I may be a Level 4 now, but it looks like I still have a lot more work to do…"

Part 7

"Oh my, so that's what happened?"

Fumio had come to the conservatory to visit her old friend, but she also had a feeling that Beri would be here and do something senseless and hurt herself. Fortunately, Beri is fine; sitting motionless on the stone pavement, staring into space.

Fumio took a seat at the glass patio table. Kuro, back to a normal-sized teddy bear, sat on top of it sharing a carrot cake with Ichigo.

"Perhaps, this approach of depriving her of meat in order for her to eat healthier food was the wrong way to go about it," Fumio said.

Ichigo looked at her with a face that said: "you think?"

She said, "In the end, her condition is my fault. I still have a lot more to work on."

Completely immobilizing Beri with an apple was not her intent. She only wanted to change her opinion on fruits by giving her the most delicious apple she will ever taste in her life. By altering the apple's genetic structure, she can determine the apple's freshness, taste, effects, and many other properties; a technique that granted her Level 4 status, and she only started doing it recently. However, due to a tiny mistake in calculations, the apple that was supposed to be absolutely sweet and delicious, turned out to be equivalent to multiple doses of hardcore drugs.

"You've come a long way," Fumio smiled. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You did what you could. You know, you've grown so much since you were just a Level 0, and you went from living in a shelter to being a student in Tokiwadai. I'm proud of you, and I promise that there are others out there that are just as happy to see you grow."

"Y-yeah," Ichigo turned away to hide her immense blushing, but mostly to avoid seeing Fumio's smile.

"We didn't get a chance yesterday, but how about we celebrate right now?"

Fumio sat a small box on the table. Inside the box was a collection of fine cuts of various meats, octopus, and sashimi.

"It's not much, but I think it will suffice."

"You kept all that from Beri and you decide to bring it out NOW!?"

"Well, I actually intended on giving this to Beri after I realized this plan was a mistake. But, it seems like she won't be able to join us for quite a while."

Beri's body started to tilt and fell over like a doll.

"Well, in a way, the plan sorta worked. In any case, I don't want all of this to spoil. Care to have some, Miss Level 4?"

Part 8

Yomikawa Aiho was driving, visiting elementary schools scattered around Academy City. There were only a couple of months left until summer vacation. This year, she was selected to teach kids the life of an officer in the hopes of inspiring even just one child to pursue and preserve the peace and justice throughout Academy City.

"Yeah, my hands will be pretty full for the next couple of days," she said through her cellphone. "I hear one of the schools I'm visiting is where a certain 'child prodigy' is currently attending, and she's about to hit middle school. What do you think?

"Hey, I'm not going to force her to join, but you're definitely right that having her will surely make things a lot easier. She'll be our most valuable recruit. Her ability will come in handy as well.

"Don't worry about me. I told you I was excited about doing it this year. All right, I just made it to the next school. I'll speak to you later."

Disconnecting her cellphone, she pulled over to the side and stepped out of her car. Marveling at the school in front of her, she took a deep breath, looking forward to seeing Academy City's bright future.

In the middle of the open area in front of the school were students in blue and white uniforms lined up to formally welcome their visitor. Out of all the kids in attendance, only one stood out from the rest; a girl with chestnut brown hair and bright red cheeks.

"How's it goin'? My name is Yomikawa Aiho, and I'm an officer of Anti-Skill. Nice to meet all of you. Before we start, does anyone have any questions?"