Notes:

Well here are a few things I thought you should know before reading. This fic takes place one year after the events of the anime, and binds together the worlds of Mai HiME and Mai Otome. Also some of the original HiME characters will have a bit of their attitudes from Mai Otome to a certain degree and there are one or two manga references here and there as well(nothing major though). Oh and as you probably can guess, I don't own Mai HiME or Mai Otome. Both are the property of Sunrise, and Bandai holds the US license.

The Chairman's office

The room shone red, as the sun rose on the horizon. In the middle of the room sat a young girl staring out of the window at the glorious sight. Her soft purple hair laid gently on the light blue sweater she was wearing over her white dress. She had been thinking about the upcoming school year and making plans for the new students all night. Being the chairman of Fuuka Academy wasn't an easy task, especially with the kind of people who go to school. Under normal circumstances she would've done it today but her schedule was way too grueling to give her any sort of free time. Meeting after meeting she would have to sit through, with faculty, parents and students as well as a board meeting tonight. Today was going to be a busy one; one she wasn't looking forward to.

"Miss Mashiro, the Vice Principle has arrived," a sweet voice called from the other room.

"Thank you Fumi. You may let her in," the chairman replied turning her wheelchair toward the door. This meeting was the only one that Mashiro really looked forward to. After all this year's vice principle had been a valuable asset to her last year, as her assistant. She had lightened her load of work by a lot, as well as kept the school in order, even though she had to deal with last year's Student Counsel and its bullish president. It was only natural to want to keep her around, which is why Mashiro had offered her the new job. Sure she was young but being recent alumni of Fuuka and a former Student Counsel President herself, she was well known and respected around the school.

"Good morning Shizuru!" Mashiro greeted pleasantly as the two wooden doors of her office opened and a woman with long brown hair, wearing a lilac and white dress stood in the doorway.

"Good morning Miss Mashiro. How can I be of service?" Shizuru asked as she walked toward the middle of the room.

"First of all, I'm sorry about the timing of this meeting. It was the only time I would have free today. I hope I haven't inconvenienced you in anyway," Mashiro apologized.

"Oh, it is no trouble at all," Shizuru replied politely. She was cool and calm as usual.

"Ok, down to business," Mashiro sighed, "One of the reasons I have called you here is to discuss the principle's absence."

"Ah, yes. She told me that she will be out for the entire year once again," Shizuru replied.

"Right, which is why I have to ask you take on some of her duties," Mashiro said calmly, "Fumi and I will also be taking on some of her duties, so you won't have to stress yourself too much. Is that ok?"

"That is fine," Shizuru smiled.

"The other reason I called you here is to discuss this year's Student Counsel, its President to be precise," Mashiro said calmly.

"Oh, I don't think we will have any trouble with the new president," Shizuru replied politely, "I trust her with my life."

"Ah!" Arika exclaimed as the train exited the tunnel and she got her first glance at the city. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, growing up in the mountains. She had always wanted to visit a city. The thought had always crossed her mind back at home and she couldn't wait to go there. However, she would have to wait a while. Her stop wasn't here in Tsukimori, but about 15 minutes away in Fuuka. She was going to be attending Fuuka Academy, a coed private school, starting today so she was really excited; she had barely slept during the long train ride. This was going to be her first time away from home as well as her first time at a coed school.

She had looked forward to this day since she received that mysterious letter. She had found the letter a few days after her grandmother died on her doorstep. It wasn't signed or marked in anyway, and no one in town had seen who had put the letter there either. So there was no way for her to know who wrote it.

The letter gave instructions for her to apply to Fuuka Academy and said that all fees and expenses would be taken care of. At first she thought it was a practical joke but the reason she decided to trust the sender was the fact that it mentioned her mother. She had never known either of her parents. Her grandmother had told her that they had died shortly after she was born. Also since she was an only child, she had no blood relatives. Even her grandmother, who had raised her, wasn't related to her. She had found her in basket in the river and decided to take care of her. The only thing that she had from her parents was a necklace that she was wearing when her grandmother had found her. According to the letter her mother had attended Fuuka as well, so she figured that it would be a good place to begin researching her parents.

The chairman once again sat in solitude. Shizuru had only left her about ten minutes ago, and she was busy preparing herself mentally for her upcoming meeting. It was the same thing every year, but she still hadn't gotten use to it. As she had finally gotten her head straight, she heard a familiar whiny male voice come from the far corner of the room

"Aw how boring… Mashiro."

"Nagi…" the chairman sighed, coolly, as a young boy with pale blue hair took a step out of the corner.

"Ah, so you're not surprised to see me?" he said calmly, spreading his arms out emphatically.

"Of course not," the chairman replied, closing her eyes. In so many ways, she wanted to rip that annoying smile off of his face, but it wasn't necessary. He wasn't a threat anymore.

"Aw is that how you welcome an old friend?" Nagi whined, his smile widening.

"What do you want? I don't have time for this," Mashiro said smoothly. This was something she really didn't want to have to deal with, not today. There was way too much work to be done.

"You're such a little meanie, Mashiro," Nagi said extending his hand forward, "I just wanted to discuss some HiME business with you."

"HiME?" the Mashiro asked confused, "Isn't it a little early to be discussing that again?"

"Ah, that's right. You wouldn't know anything about what's going to happen really soon," Nagi sighed. His tone was very condescending. "You weren't conceived yet the last time this happened."

"What are you talking about? It's only been two years since the last Princess Star came to Earth. Those girls don't have anything else to do with it," the chairman said, regaining her composure.

The smile on Nagi's face grew even wider. "You are right you know? Those girls don't have anything to do with this," Nagi said slowly dancing across the room, "However there is still some business that has to be attended to."

Mashiro stared down the aqua haired boy harshly.

"I see you don't want to chat so I'll just leave then," the boy said turning around.

She didn't have a clue what he wanted but, she knew he wasn't someone to be taken lightly; she had to hear him out just incase. "Wait…" her tone was low and defeated "If those girls aren't involved, then what is this "business" about?"

"You expect me to tell you after such a harsh welcoming?" Nagi asked cutting his eye playfully at her. She knew that he was only pretending to be shocked. "Very well, I just wanted to ask you what you would do if Orphans started to appear again."

Mashiro was caught off guard. Things just didn't add up. "Why? It's impossible for orphans to start reappearing; there isn't a Princess Star near enough for that to happen," she replied rubbing the handles of her wheelchair nervously.

"You really think so? You are so blind," Nagi giggled.

He was really beginning to push her patience now but the shear shock was a far greater annoyance. "What do you mean by that?"

"Mashiro… Mashiro… that is all I can say to you," Nagi said as his body began to disintegrate into black vapour.

What was that about? Mashiro thought, resting her head into her hands. Nagi's words had instilled fear within her. She could tell something big was going to happen really soon, but she didn't know what. Things really weren't looking good for Fuuka.

Aoi sat on her bed silently brushing her long brown hair. It was the first day of her final year at Fuuka, a day she had both looked forward to and hoped would never come. It was going to be a great, yet sad year, but she planned to enjoy every minute of it. "Sleeping as usual…" she said softly turning her head to the other side of the room where her roommate's bed was. She was shocked by what she saw; the bed was empty. Normally this wouldn't have surprised her, but what was strange was that the bed looked like it had been slept in. Did she really spend the night here? Aoi thought curiously.

Her roommate was a real reckless one. Always sneaking out at nights to do who knows what in Tsukimori Town all night. Usually she would return in the morning, either before or after Aoi had awakened and slept most of the day away, skipping all of her classes. It had been a miracle that she had made it to her first year of high school. Then again she had always had a way with persuading male teacher to do anything she wanted, not to mention as a member, even if it was against her will, of the school's most exclusive club and was on a special scholarship, she was allowed a large amount leniency.

Anyway, whatever was going on wasn't really a major concern for Aoi right now; she had to finish getting ready as soon as possible. She had to be ready before the last new student arrived this morning. It was her job as the new Resident Assistant of the fifth floor to make sure that everyone checked in without any problems. The last person from her floor was going to be arriving soon, so she had to deal with her this morning. Because of this late arrival both girls had been excused from morning classes, so that Aoi could give her a short tour of the school. "Ready!" Aoi announced grabbing her bag and heading toward the door.

Just before Aoi could reach the door there was a sudden knocking. "Coming!" she announced grabbing the handle. When she opened the door there stood a girl wearing a gold vest, with a short sleeve shirt under it and a grey skirt similar to the one she was wearing. The girl looked really familiar but something about her didn't seem right to Aoi.

"Ready for the first day of school?" the girl asked leaning in close.

"Uh… yeah," Aoi replied smiling nervously.

"Good, because we have a lot of things to do this year," the girl said leaning back smiling, "I have a ton of gossip to catch up on…"

"Chie?" Aoi asked scanning the girl up and down, "almost didn't recognize you."

"Huh?" Chie asked surprised.

"Uh…" Aoi said pointing to her nose.

"What's wrong with my face?" Chie cried touching her face.

"…your glasses," Aoi said pointing to Chie's vacant nose.

"Oh, yeah I got contacts just after the break began," Chie explained running her fingers through her short charcoal colored hair nervously. "Anyway I heard about the new student. You're so lucky," Chie said as they walked down the hallway.

"Yeah, but I really wanted to go to homeroom this morning. Midori said she was planning something special before the break," Aoi sighed. She knew it had to be something good, because Midori had been a really good teacher to them for the past two years.

"Yeah, that's too bad," Chie replied turning her head. In front of them a door opened and a girl with short orange hair hopped out of her room.

She wore the standard high school uniform, which was clung slightly snug on her body. In her hands were two lunchboxes wrapped in decorated cloth and she held her book bag in her mouth.

"Uh, Mai class doesn't start for another hour," Chie sighed casually.

"Huh…" Mai said as her bag fell to the floor.

"I guess things went by a lot faster than usual this morning since Mikoto was missing this morning," Mai said smiling embarrassed.

"Huh, Mikoto went missing? So did Nao," Aoi said in astonishment, remembering that her roommate was also missing this morning.

"Really?" Mai asked shocked.

"Hmm this is an interesting situation," Chie broke in excited, "two girls, renowned for skipping class waking up early on the first day of school. I smell gossip."

"Maybe they are just growing up, it is both of their first days of high school," Mai said thinking.

"I doubt it, something big must be going down," Chie said grinning excitedly.

"Actually I saw Nao under a tree outside of my window this morning," a voice came from behind them.

"Good morning Akane," Mai greeted as a girl with a tiny brown ponytail jogged up to them.

"Good morning," Akane said catching her breathe.

"Hold on, back up a little. What was Nao doing under the tree?" Chie asked leaning toward Akane.

"Uh, I think she was texting someone," Akane replied.

Mai sighed placing her hand on her head, "Crap, not again, that girl…"

A suspicious look appeared on Chie face. "Hmm…" she muttered leaning toward Mai, "What did you just say?" "Uh, nothing," Mai replied shaking her hands violently, Not as if she would even care if I said something.

"Come on, you know something don't you," Chie said leaning closer, her smile widening.

"Oh, I have to go meet Kazu," Akane said running off, "bye!"

"Ah… I'm late!" Arika cried. Her long brown ponytails waved behind her as she ran toward the gates to the dorms. The man at the station had told her that classes at Fuuka would be starting in half an hour, so she had run all the way from the station. As she ran toward through the gate she skidded to a stop. She had heard something weird. It sounded like music but it didn't sound like it came from any instrument she had heard before. It sort of resembled the sound of a flute, but just barely. The sound was coming from a patch of trees nearby. As Arika moved toward the trees the sound stopped and she could hear the sound of a girl's voice.

"It worked, it work! Just you wait. No one tries to steal my Onii-chan, especially some second year middle school brat! It's bad enough…"

"Um, could you tell me which one of the buildings is the female dorm?" Arika asked looking around the tree at the girl, who had long dull red hair kept in four pigtails. She was wearing a gold high school uniform, and was hiding something what looked like a stick with strange markings behind her back.

"Did you hear?" the girl asked sweating bullets. Her voice was full of fear.

"Yes," Arika replied shaking her head.

"Really?" the girl asked examining the pink top and white pants she was wearing. "You don't go to this school do you?"

"Well…" Arika began as the girl took a huge sigh of relief. "How fortunate," the girl said turning around, "Then I'll send you to hell!"

"Eep," Arika whimpered as she turned and ran. Her first day here and already someone wanted to kill her. What kind of people go to this school? She thought looking back at the girl who was charging behind her. As she turned the corner to run to one of the dorms, she tripped on something and fell into a nearby bush. When she looked up she saw a girl with cherry red hair sitting under a large tree rapidly typing on an open cell phone in her hand. I must have tripped over her leg, Arika thought noticing the girl's legs were stretched in the middle of the walkway.

"Where is she!" the girl who was chasing her yelled angrily, coming to a stop. She suddenly became calm noticing the girl under the tree. "Oh, if it isn't Nao Yuuki," she said casually to the girl who was texting under the tree.

"Oh, it's only you Octopus head," the girl replied standing up. Her poise was one of confidence and arrogance.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" the girl yelled angrily.

"Then stop calling me by my full name," Nao replied casually, "Anyway what do you want Shiho?"

"Uh, I'm looking for someone who ran this way. Did you see her?" Shiho asked.

"Hmm, I think she… no," Nao replied smiling wickedly.

"Why you…" Shiho grumbled stomping down the path.

"You do go to this school don't you? First day?" Nao asked as Arika crawled out of the bush.

"Well, yeah," she replied brushing herself off, "Thank you!"

"Let me guess, you're looking for the entrance to the girl's dorm right?" Nao asked flipping her phone close, "Just go back the way came until you reach the edge of this building, and then walk all the way around until you see a door."

"Thank you!" Arika relied running down the path.

Stupid girl, Nao thought as she walked off looking at the entrance two meters in front of her.