Later on in the day, after Kanari's unexpected transformation and the defeat of Renge's third Delinquous, the first day of after-school clubs began. Renge hurried to the art classroom and felt the need to gasp out for air as she ran at full-speed, the second bell had just rang! She held all of her supplies that were compulsory for the club in her hands and made sure that was where they would stay on her mad dash to the classroom. She skidded to a stop as she reached the front of the classroom. She took a deep breath and immediately coughed out of disgust. She moaned, why of all hallways did her beloved art classroom have to be stuck in the middle-school hall? The kids were pretty gross in regards to everyone above middle school and no high schooler in their right of mind would be caught anywhere near this hall if it wasn't for the art room. Renge walked into the classroom in a brisk manner that deviated her away from her original frantic wave of panic. She acted in a calm, cool manner as she looked towards the classroom, pretending she had little to no interest in the people around when in truth, she was somewhat desperate to know who was going to share the joy of being in art club this year? Most kids were unrecognizable, they all appeared to be first-years actually and she could only distinguish a few second-years out of the bunch around her and only about five third years seemed to be present in the classroom. Renge then noticed one of her better friends, Ayano, was seated in the spot she had pre-chose on the opposite side of class. Ayano didn't appear to notice her as she deep too absorbed in the book she was reading, her glasses falling lower onto her nose as she got literally deeper into the book. Ayano was seated by one of her other friends and there was one spot beside her that happened to be vacant. But her own pre-chosen spot was also vacant. Eventually, Renge came to a decision and took her pre-chosen spot. There were going to be other times for her to socialize with Ayano, but her spot actually meant a lot to her. For two years straight she would sit in that spot in Art club and for two years she'd watched people enter this class for the first time, reappear after a fulfilling vacation, or disappear after a tiring year. The spot on her left was empty and on her right sat a boy a year junior to her with an indifferent expression on his face as he peered down to the tablet he had hidden in his bag on his lap. His dirty blond hair hung over the sides of his face and his glasses were probably reflecting whatever he was watching. It appeared to be some anime, but it was likely some obscure one considering Renge herself couldn't identify it. What was bugging Renge now was not remembering what this kid's name was.

"Nobu? Or wait..-Nao!" Renge felt quite proud of herself for remembering that. He had been in this class last year, but he sat with the rest of the first-years on the opposite side where they had all decided to sit that year. But now, he was seated between Renge and one of the other students that were in third-year with Renge. After the rest of the club assembled into the room, a few students engaged in conversation before the club actually began. The teacher that was in charge of the club explained what was going to happen during the club and what kinda of supplies would be useful to have for the class. Renge zoned out for a couple of moments but snapped back to reality when the teacher began to rant about the name for a certain art tool.

"Now, class please. You may either call them tortillions or even stomps, so whenever you want to borrow one from me do not call them blendy-sticks or smudgers, otherwise chances are you're not getting one." He explained as if he had done this for the umpteenth time today.

"And this year, I'm afraid we're going to have to rush through all the fun projects I had planned for this year. Thanks to the new schedule."

A few students exchanged some confused glances as others stared the teacher down in anticipation for a continuation to that sentence.

"Well, judging by all these stares, I'm assuming a select few of you read the fine print on the notice for the club sign-up sheet this year."

"Fine print?" A few first years muttered, with the most audible repeat coming from Renge.

"Why yes, and of course being the diligent third-year student you are you must have noticed it." The teacher said to Renge, who smiled sheepishly and sunk into her seat.

"This year, some clubs have been shortened to one semester, rather than the whole year. This club being one of the clubs that got shortened."

"Why?" The first years asked quietly amongst themselves.

"Goodness, you're all so shy! If you really want an answer you may as well just ask as loud as Miss Kotori over here." The teacher exclaimed causing Renge to sink further into her seat,"This club along with a few others, has been shortened due to enormous club sizes, so to accommodate to everyone's choices, we've made two different…sections for one club so everyone gets a chance to be in it."

"So, if anyone gets confronted by one of the student council members unexpectedly,don't be afraid, they don't bite. But I can't be so sure about Mayushiro.." The teacher explained, causing a few students to giggle.

Renge then wondered," Is my Drama club going to be for only one semester too?"

"Boy, think of it Nao," The boy sitting beside Nao, Marco,remarked," A semester of Band club."

"Yeah...that's not gonna happen.." Nao said uninterestedly, his eyes still on his tablet.

"…I know. I said think of it." Marco repeated.

Nao looked up from his tablet for a moment and squinted at Marco. After that moment he then returned to his tablet as if nothing had happened.

Renge rolled her eyes and continued to listen to the teacher.

"And for those of you who are in second or third year, next week is the College fair week for those of you who are interested in a post-secondary education." The teacher added just before he assigned the first project of the year. Renge felt that anxious, bittersweet feeling from within her arise again. The feeling was enough to tie her stomach in knots for hours and cloud her mind more than a major assignment could. This was probably why she avoided thinking about post-secondary for those last few weeks of summer vacation. But still, even though her 'career' as a high-school student was drawing to a close in the near-but-distant future, she really needed to start living in the present. Meaning not worrying about what was yet to come and focus on the now so she wouldn't regret it later. No matter how many times she told herself that, it was just something her brain simply couldn't wasn't easy to think about her third-year in a possible manner but she always kept telling herself, she'd regret it in a year from now when all of this was over. After a couple of minutes, Akemi had popped into the classroom to distribute permission forms for the college fair.

"I really hope you all can come!" Akemi exclaimed, sounding genuinely excited for the college fair. It wasn't too surprising that the student body vice-president seemed so thrilled for such an important date, but she seemed almost too thrilled as she handed out flyers to every second and third year student.

Renge looked over to the other third years amongst the classroom to see what their initial impression to this slip of paper would be. Most of them seemed to be reading the page with much intent as their eyes darted from the left to right of the page. And then there was Marco and Nao who simply didn't take a single glance at it, the latter muttering he'd read it later. During class, after being issued the first assignment, Renge flipped through the pages of a book that featured many pages of illustrations and paintings. Their first assignment had been to recreate a piece of art and remake into their own, as if the original piece was to draw inspiration for it.

Renge found a few pieces she liked that she could use for inspiration so maybe she could use them for inspiration. They all seemed to be circled around a certain theme, pop-art. She really enjoyed Liechtenstein's pieces. They all seemed be inspired by comics, which was pretty cool.

Once again, after club, Renny pleaded Renge to have the "Pretty Cure information session" with Kanari, considering they tried limiting Kanari on her Pretty Cure Intel when hadn't yet awoken as Cure Arithmetic.

As Renny painted out the scene of absolute tragedy, also known as the disappearance of the Book of Omnipotence, verbally for Kanari, the newfound Cure was listening, enticed by this story that Renny was sharing with her. Meanwhile Renge was just impressed with how adept Renny was at storytelling. He didn't apprise Renge in such a manner that made his situation sound so, fascinating. Perhaps he told Kanari the ordeal like this in order to capture her attention. Kanari felt herself undergo a roller-coaster of emotions as Renny spoke about the disappearance of the book and how Univer City became powerless without it. Once Renny had completed telling his story about why the Pretty Cure needed to defeat Temptasia, Kanari then put her hands onto the bird's very tiny shoulders.

"I'm so sorry for you and everyone in Univer City. I had no idea it would be this big of a deal. But now that I'm aware of how crucial it is to get the book, I won't give up until we find it." Kanari declared.

"Me too, but a thought just came to me." Renge began," What's the relationship between the Inner Scholars and the Book of Omnipotence?"

"A complicated one." Renny responded, still trying to think of reasonable answer for the girls," They can't really exist without the other but it's not like they balance themselves out; like light and dark. The Inner Scholars do draw out some of their own power from the book…but other than that, it's a little hard to explain."

Renge nodded, seeming still slightly confused but decided to put the little debate to rest. But suddenly, Kanari lunged for something in Renge's bag.

"What're you doing?!" Renge cried as she swooped down and grabbed her bag before Kanari did. Kanari looked up at her wide-eyed, with the college fair paper in hand.

"Where'd you get this?" Kanari asked in a curious, almost child-like tone. Renge's eye-brow twitched, she would never, not even after fourteen years, become adjusted to Kanari's abnormal tendencies.

"At Art Club.." Renge responded, sounding a little bothered by Kanari's unexpected lunge from before.

"Ooh, A Collage Fair…" Kanari marveled as she held the page between her very pale hands, the unheard of colleges on the page catching her eye.

"College fair…" Renge corrected in a deadpan tone,"Come to think of it, Kanari have you picked a club yet?"

"Nah, screw it." Kanari responded as she waved her hand in dismissal with her eyes still on the paper.

"Alright, the next thing on our to-do list is find Kanari a club." Renge stated to Renny who nodded rapidly in agreement.

"You still want to go into Law right?" Renge asked Kanari whose eyes were still glued to the paper.

"You know it." Kanari responded quickly as if she didn't even need to think about the question.

"Don't you think your attendance records are going to affect your chances of admission?" Renge questioned.

"Not unless I give an honest response as to why I'm so absent." Kanari responded candidly as she checked the back of the page to see if there was anything written on it. She pouted a small pout when she realized it was blank.

" 'I don't like school' is probably not going to be a sufficient response." Renge insisted as she folded her arms.

"Then I just won't say that.." Kanari shrugged with a tiny smirk,"All it takes for something to seem honest is just how plausible and real it sounds.."

Kanari actually had a point, which scared Renge. Kanari's confidence in her career choice also made Renge feel a little inferior as well. Renge wished she had the some of the confidence Kanari had when it came to her career. After a little while, Kanari went home and by ten o'clock, Renge was already in bed.

"The future isn't as far as I thought it was huh?" Renge said aloud softly as she took a deep breath. Tonight, she dreamt of light-hearted things, just a regular school day, enjoying normal classes, talking with all of her friends as usual, a perfectly normal school day. The only problem was, these people in her dream, were getting replaced by a new face Renge couldn't identify almost instantaneously. It began to feel overwhelming and she began to search for her friends helplessly. She ran into every hallway of the school and when she finally found her group of friends, she woke up.

Renge sat up in an instant and breathed heavily. She glanced over to her clock and found out it was only 6:59. Well, there wasn't going to be much point in going back to bed now but she could at least shut her eyes for a few more minutes before she'd actually have to get out of bed. But, after only a few mere moments, she got out of bed anyways, feeling too disoriented from that dream to even lay in bed.

When Renge got to school, she decided focusing on that dream that made little-to-no sense was pointless, so as usual, she tried focusing on the lessons being taught in class. But throughout her first two mornings classes, she found herself unconsciously doodling pictures of her friends as her classes droned on. It was such an oddity for Renge, at least for this year. She had made sure she was going to spend a hundred percent of the class paying attention like her life after high school depended on it (Which it sorta did.) So why was she spacing so frequently today and drawing away onto her notes as if she was in sixth grade again? It was frustrating her greatly and just to keep herself from doodling she attempted to take notes with her right hand, because if she could barely write legibly with her non-dominant hand, heaven knows how she would be able to draw with it.

After that class, she looked over her crudely written notes, feeling both satisfied and embarrassed with herself.

"I guess I can just rewrite them later.." Renge finalized as she put them away into her binder. She took out her Literature binder and felt a little more at ease, since the chances of her doodling were much lower in this class since they were reading a book today. But, when the teacher entered the classroom, it appeared she had something else planned for today as she began to write instructions for some kinda of project on the white board.

"Shoot, I was looking forward to seeing what happens to after Stanley hits Stella..." Renge grumbled as she tucked the book back into her binder. After the teacher was finished writing on the board, she then spun around to face her class, a large enthusiastic grin plastered onto her face.

"Good morning class!" She greeted in a singsong voice," So, instead of reading our book today, I decided to do something else. Considering the college fair's in less than a couple of days, I thought it'd be a great idea for you guys to write a paper on where you you see yourself in five or ten years now. The paper is to be at least two and a half pages long, five pages double-spaced.

"How many marks is it worth?" One girl questioned.

"Only five marks, but I really want you guys to take this assignment seriously, ok? I think you all should get a head start on thinking about the future anyways." She answered," But, before you begin your papers, I'm going to pair you into groups of twos so you guys can bounce ideas of each other and get to know at least one person in this class a little better."

The teacher took out a tin can from the desk and shook it up,"Alright so the first group will be..."

"Kotori and Endo!"

The class didn't seem to care at all actually, the only reaction given to the teacher was Renge and Endo looking up and taking brief glances at each other before staring back into their notebooks. After the pairing was done, each pair sat at a desk and tried to engage in conversations. Some pairs seeming more awkward than others, with Renge's being no exception. As the boy looked down to his notebook Renge looked over to him, feeling a little uncomfortable in his presence. Shigeru Endo, Renge in fact knew this boy a little better than some of the other students in this class, but not by much. She remembered in first year, she had a massive crush on him but looking at him now, she wasn't so sure why. Their desks were next to each other in first year but they seldom spoke a word to each other. And soon, their desks were rearranged, and they were consistently seated on opposite sides of the classroom for the rest of year. After so little interaction, Renge's crush faded, and she sort of forgot about him. In first-year, Shigeru was on the soccer team and he got major attention from the girls because of it, but he wasn't very good. A few months later, to Renge's and his own relief, he quit that. Sitting in front of Renge now, he was as shy as he was in first year. The only different thing about him was his hair colour, as he was a blond in first year but apparently dyed in brown by the end of second.

Soon, Renge decided to break the ice, realizing this endless silence was getting the both of them nowhere,"So, what are your plans after high-school Endo?"

"Not too sure," He murmured as he looked up to face Renge. His pale blue eyes had little emotion behind them, as did his voice. Nothing had change since first year.

"Have you thought a lot about it?" Renge probed, feeling a little guilty for these somewhat constant questions for this quiet kid.

"Can't say I have.." He confessed, with a small smirk. Renge shared the laugh with him, feeling a little less tense.

"Well, what did you want to be as a kid then?" Renge asked as she placed her folded hands onto his desk.

"A national league soccer player, but sadly, I don't think that's in the cards for me." Shigeru answered, his voice full of sarcasm.

"It could be." Renge shrugged.

"After how badly I did on the soccer team during first year, I personally don't think it could happen.." Shigeru responded, trying to make as light of the subject as possible.

"Is that why joined the team?" Renge asked, not realizing how personal that was," Oh-! You don't really need to answer that, if you don't want to..."

"Eh, it's cool. But, yeah..that's sorta why I joined. Well, that and all of my other friends were on the team." Shigeru explained, sounding a little vague to Renge,"But, what about you?"

"What about what?" Renge sputtered, forgetting almost entirely was the pairing-up was for.

"What are you going to do after high-school?" Shigeru questioned.

"Oh! I..I wanna go into Graphic design," Renge answered, appearing a little defensive after saying that.

Shigeru simply nodded and responded with a,"That's cool. Ugh, I don't really want to do this assignment."

"Do you think anyone here does?" Renge said with a slight scoff. Shigeru laughed with her. In truth, Renge didn't mind this assignment, it was just the idea of actually doing it that slightly turned her off.

"Miss Kitaouji is a bit of an air-head..." Renge noted quietly to Shigeru.

"Air-head's just putting it mildly.." Shigeru whispered back, causing Renge to actually hold in a laugh. After realizing they didn't need anymore brainstorming now, Renge decided to change the subject.

"Are you going to go to the college fair?" She interrogated.

"Maybe..." Shigeru blandly responded, drawing his attention back to the notebook on his desk,"...I'm not too sure if there's anything there for me."

Renge thought about his response for a few moments, trying to figure out exactly what he meant. From what she heard, it sounded as if, he had no interest in post-secondary at all. Which did concern Renge, put she had to put her concerns to the side as class was over.

Renge, Kanari and Ayano sat together outside during lunch.

"It's great to see you again, Kanari." Ayano said while chomping down on a few spoonfuls of rice.

"You too, Yano.." Kanari responded as she gulped down huge sips of her french vanilla coffee.

Renge took a deep breath in irritation as she watched these two wolf down their lunches while attempting to engage in conversation. They were both pretty big eaters, but they honestly didn't need to eat as if they were in a rush. She just shook her head and nibbled on her rice-ball.

"So, Kanari I saw you got paired up with Mitsuru.." Renge stated as she continued to eat.

"Yeah, god can that girl talk! She literally has her entire life planned from what university she's going to go to to what elementary school her children are going to be enrolled in." Kanari lamented as she dropped as whole packet of fruit snacks in her mouth.

"Well, damn." Renge simply responded upon hearing that.

"I know, I can barely decide on what colour binder I should use for science, let alone think about my future kids.." Kanari responded, taking another gracious gulp of her coffee.

"Implying you're going to have kids.." Renge smirked, causing Kanari to throw a fork at her.

"Watch it, I was just kidding!" Renge shouted in defense," But, I guess it isn't so bad to have a plan."

"So, how was working with Endo?" Kanari asked, catching Renge off-guard.

Renge didn't feel too comfortable telling her the entire story, so she simply said," It was fine."

"He's the only kid I've seen that went from loner to classic jerk to total loner again within the span of three years..." Kanari stated, emptying out her lunch bag in hopes there may have been some food she had yet to devour.

"I wouldn't say he was what you would call a jerk..." Renge defended quietly, her claim unheard by the girls.

"All of his other friends don't even show up to school anymore.." Ayano pointed out.

"Aren't they all in a gang or something?" Kanari asked as she ripped open the wrapper of the granola bar she found in the bottom of her lunch bag.

"Probably not a gang, that's such a nineties thing.." Renge noted as she stretched out her arms,"..Either way, all his friends are gone."

During math, Renge found herself staring at Shigeru unconsciously and unwillingly. He was staring down vacantly into his notebook and it worried Renge slightly. She knew she was in no position to worry about him like this, but...she also couldn't stand to watch him look so desolate. But, maybe he wasn't as desolate as he seemed. Perhaps that was just his neutral expression or something. Maybe Renge was in truth just looking too deep into this whole matter. But if that was the case, then just why was she doing this? Because she was a Pretty Cure? Or because she used to have a thing for Shigeru Endo? After realizing how long she was staring at Shigeru without him noticing, Renge immediately looked down into her own notebook and pretended to be immersed in her notes. After a moment, her expression softened a bit. That moment reminded her of first year, when she was constantly stealing stares of him shamelessly. All of a sudden, she felt saddened that those days were over, despite the fact that she found first year her most awkward year. As class ended and club time was in session, Renge took a peek at Shigeru as she walked by, who sat in his desk as if he didn't realize the bell sounded. On his desk laid the permission slip for the college signed by him and shy of one signature from his parents, which made Renge feel quite at peace upon seeing that. With any luck, that meant Shigeru had decided to go to the college fair after all. She secretly hoped that Shigeru would find a career that suited him better than the one went amiss. As she was walking to her class, she noticed her bag was peculiarly empty. She then opened it to find that a certain orange bird was missing from her bag. She freaked out internally but after a few moments, she composed herself, now having an idea of just where he might've been.

She headed to the school's library and try to search for Renny in a discreet manner. She also tried to find him as quickly as possible, considering she needed get to her club.

Just as she thought, she discovered Renny looking up and down the shelves of the reference section of the library. Judging by how intent he seemed on this search, he must've has been looking for the Book of Omnipotence again. Renge rolled her eyes, still unseen by Renny. She then noticed the giant encyclopedia the school kept on a podium within a glass case had gone unnoticed by Renny. Or had it? Renge kneeled down and grabbed the bird and put her into her bag within a matter of seconds.

"Come on, just what do you think you're doing?" Renge whisper-shouted as the bird shifted around uncomfortable in the bag.

"Looking for the book?" Renny whispered back.

"In broad daylight?" Renge pointed out in frustration. Later after Art club was over and the school day ended, Renge had a stern talking with Renny.

Before she began to speak, she paced around her room with her arms crossed.

"You know, your school's library isn't as big as I thought it would be." Renny stated," Quite small if you ask me and of course it can't even compete with the size Of Univer City's libraries."

"Don't do that." Renge dictated imperatively.

"Make comparisons?" Renny asked innocently.

"Go searching for the book like that. It isn't safe. At all." Renge advised.

"But-"

"I get hat the book needs to be found as soon as possible, but next time, wait for me if you want to search. Otherwise someone may find you and that someone could even be from Temptation."

Renny exhaled a large sigh,"You're right, I didn't think of it like that. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Renge simply shook her head," It's fine. Just don't let it happen again." Renny noticed Renge seemed a lit more sullen than usual and it bothered him slightly that he didn't know why.

"Is everything alright?" The orange bird suddenly asked. Renge seemed slightly alarmed for a second.

"Yeah..I just, I'm worried about this one kid in my class. He doesn't what to do with his life after high-school." Renge explained. If this was anyone else, Renge probably wouldn't have even voiced her worries. But, she liked venting to Renny. There was just something so soothing about talking to a talking bird about her problems.

"Really?" Renny responded, sounding a little bewildered.

"Well, he had a plan and it didn't really work out. He wanted to be a soccer player but he wasn't exactly MVP material." Renge explained.

"Plus, he seems a little lonely…well, at least, to me he does." Renge added, thinking back to looking into Shigeru's eyes. His eyes looked hopeless, lost even. Renny gave her a look that was saying 'Elaborate please.'

"Well, I just don't really know. He's always been kinda shy and most of his friends aren't here this year." Renge explained, sounding a little flustered.

"It sounds like you may need to keep an eye on him, because it sounds like he could fall victim to Temptation." Renny warned.

"Yeah, I should. I just kinda wish I could become friends with him at least. Then maybe he wouldn't be so lonely." Renge confessed after drawing out a sigh.

"So then, why don't you?" Renny asked naively. Renge took a moment to form a response that would be at least comprehensible because right now, she herself was experiencing difficulty in trying to explain why.

"Well, at this point in high-school, everyone's established their friend groups. Some may end up with mixed genders, a mix of grades, but either way, the group is a group. It's kinda hard to make new friends by this time in high-school. It also feels a little pointless too." Renge explained.

Renny understood what Renge was trying to say, but he just couldn't stand behind it,"But if he really wants friends-!"

"Then he'd do something about it right? Well, maybe he actually isn't in much of need of friends as we thought. That's partially why I don't want to try and befriend him." Renge answered.

"But how could he not want to have friends?" Renny questioned.

Renge shrugged,"Maybe he actually does have friends and they go to a different school or something. But I just feel so bad for him every time I see him sitting all alone. Doesn't even have a girlfriend…"

Renge remembered the time in second-year when she found out that Shigeru was dating some girl on the volleyball team. It crushed her when learned that the boy she crushed on hard during first year was dating some random girl. It wasn't as if she still liked him at the time, but she never expected that of him.

During the next couple of days, Renge did as advised on tried to keep an eye on Shigeru. There weren't any significant signs of improvement from him but it wasn't like he was getting worse at least. When the day of the college fair came, Shigeru found himself standing in solitude in the library where the college fair was taking place. He came earlier than intended but he didn't want to leave. Booths were getting set up and pamphlets were being stacked on a table near the front door of the library.

"Did I seriously ditch out on math for this?" Shigeru muttered under his breath. To kill time, he sat at one of the tables in the library and opened his binder to his literature section without realizing it. He was on the page of the project outline for the 'Where I see myself in five or ten years' assignment. The assignment was due yesterday, but he failed to hand it in, which was something unusual for him. The paper was just so aggravating for him to even think about, he didn't even try to begin to write it.

Shigeru scoffed,"Ten years in the future..."

He then thought back to a much more favorable time in his life, ten years in the past. It was a simpler time, and everything was just perfect. No worries for the future, no bad influences, limited freedom. This wasn't so bad, not at all. When he could still dream as freely as he wanted to, without having to think hard about anything. Everyone was his friends, well actually everyone was friends with each other. Nothing to separate them except appearances, there was nothing he wanted more than to return back to those easy-going, careless days.

"Oh, look this boy wants to go back in time~! Such a darling soul!" Jika gushed from within a room filled with wide-screens that displayed pictures of Temptation's next target.

"Well, you're going to have to go down there and take his Inner Scholar before that Pretty Cure girl arrives." Zephora suggested sitting down on a bench with purple orchids growing along it.

"What? I thought Rishi got rid of her..?" Jika said, her voice sounding more remnant to her regular frantic tone. The two girls looked up at Rishi, who was laying down on a floating platform.

"I never said I got rid of her, but rather...the opposite of that happened.." Rishi responded vaguely.

"They multiplied?!" Jika shrieked, her voice brimming with shock and worry.

"How could you let that happen?" Zephora chided as she crossed her arms at Rishi. The boy simply shrugged and yawned as he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Relax, at least now they'll be more entertaining to watch.." Rishi stated.

"We're not doing this for our entertainment, we're doing it because we need those Inner Scholars for-"

"I can't take this anymore! Listening to you two argue is wasting my valuable time! I'm leaving!" Jika screamed as she vanished into the human realm.

"Have fun~" Rishi sing-songed in a dull tone.

"So...it's more time you desire?" Shigeru heard a voice behind him croon. He turned around attentively and nervous, finding himself face-to-face with Jika. Completely petrified in seat, Shigeru was standing up thanks to Jika and her calmest hand.

"What an extraordinary specimen, has anyone ever told you that?" Jika asked as she placed the clock face she always kept on her onto Shigeru's chest. Shigeru simply stood, frozen with fear and unable to even try and respond to her. She then took out Shigeru's Inner Scholar once the clock opened up his chest and then shouted,

"Run amok, Delinquous!"

A nearby table had the misfortune of turning into a Delinquous, growing limbs of its own and a consciousness.

"Delinquous!" It bellowed as the horrified representatives from the colleges ran off in total terror. Meanwhile, in Renge's math class, the class heard the cry from the Delinquous and everyone began questioning just what that could've been.

"Class, let's calm down!" The teacher said, sounding rather flustered," I'm pretty sure if just some demo clip from one of the colleges, likely a theatrical course."

"But, Ms. Okada, how can you be so sure?" A student asked, sounding somewhat unsettled.

"Well, what else could it be?" She scoffed. That led the students to wondering just what it could've been and some of them seemed to have became even more worried.

Renge really needed to slip out from classroom knowing all too well what this probably was. She looked over to Kanari who nodded as if she already had a plan. Renge looked at her questioningly but waited to see just what Kanari would do.

" Ms. O! If you're so sure that the sound was just from a video, then let's go to the library and see for ourselves!" Kanari interjected, shooting her hand up high even though she had yet to be called upon and stood in her seat.

"What? No!" Ms. Okada snapped, causing the majority of her class to give her some stares of suspicion.

"Why not?" Kanari asked, her voice sounding much more calmer and soothing, as she slowly crossed her arms.

Ms. O took a deep breath," Fine, you and...-Kotori! Go along and check and see if it was a video."

The two girls walked out, bumping fists and dashed to the library. When the girls reached the library, they were surrounded by a fortress of life-sized pamphlets and trapped after a matter of seconds within stepping foot into the library.

"Yep, totally Temptation's doing!" Kanari shouted as she took a step back into Renge, the pamphlets closing in on them.

"There's probably only one way to blast them out of here.." Renge stated as she took out her Fountain Pen of Knowledge,"..You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Without a doubt!" Kanari exclaimed as she drew out her pen from her pocket.

"Pretty Cure, study session!" The girls cried in unison whilst getting smothered by an array of red and blue lights.

"The subject of awe-striking writing and powerful empathy, Cure Literature!" Literature announced.

"The subject of calculations and absolute precision, Cure Arithmetic!" Arithmetic announced.

The pamphlets were indeed blown away but as they stood there, Arithmetic noticed something was, missing. She stood there for a moment in deep thought and remained like that until Literature snapped her out of it.

"What is it?" Literature asked impatiently as she found the urge to begin attacking the Delinquous.

"I feel like we should say something at the end of our transformation..you know what I mean?" Arithmetic asked.

"Yeah, I guess we'll have to think about that later though.." Literature responded as she darted towards the Delinquous.

"Guess so..." Arithmetic sighed as she followed behind Literature.

Literature jumped right in front of the Delinquous and startled both the monsterfied table and Jika, who sat down on the librarian's special desk, which was now floating.

"Oh..Pretty Cure's here already?" Jika said actually sounding uninterested for a change.

"It's a talking clock!" Arithmetic gawked as she met her gaze with Jika.

"You, denizen of evil! Prepare to face defeat yet again by the hands of the Pretty Cure!" Literature declared. Arithmetic looked at her partner skeptically as she narrowed her eyes.

"Dude, what's gotten into you?" Arithmetic asked flatly.

Literature whispered," I can't really explain, but I just feel really hyped up when I do that.." Literature whispered, her response followed by a simple shrug.

Literature delivered the first blow as she rushed up to it and drove her fist into the Delinquous' core, causing it to fall backwards and land on a row of computer desks.

"Ouch! Do they always cause this much damage?" Arithmetic asked, cringing at the sight of the computers.

"Well, I've never had to fight them indoors up until now.." Literature explained as she resumed her fight with the Delinquous. The Delinquous began running after her and attempted to jump onto her, but Literature ducked and skidded down against the floor as the Delinquous unwillingly attacked a helpless chair. The chair snapped in two and while the Delinquous was fighting to get back onto it's feet. Arithmetic appeared from above drove her foot into it's back. For a a few seconds, she was causing excruciating pain for the Delinquous, but then it grabbed her without looking and swung her around.

"I don't think I can do this anymore!" Arithmetic screamed in mid-swing, beginning to feel more and more as the swing lasted longer. Arithmetic was thrown onto Literature and the two collided with an aisles of books. The first row tumbling down onto them.

"Next time, we fight outside!" Arithmetic gasped out as she fought to stand up. Her knees were wobbling but she didn't let that get in her way. She bolted up towards the Delinquous and recklessly slid down between it's leg to attempt to attack from behind again.

"Pretty Cure, Geometric Frenzy!" Arithmetic called out in mid-jump. This time, her attack was able to missile out electric blue shapes from her palms and into the back of the Delinquous. The Delinquous appeared to have lost it's balance and just to make sure it would be knocked off it's feet, Literature went over and brought on what she liked to call a "Literature barrage" which was basically a full-on attack filled with punches and kicks.

"Way to go!" Arithmetic cried in mid-jump, not realizing where she was heading.

"You might want to keep an eye out of where you're going..." Literature called out to Arithmetic. The blue Cure spun around and realizing she was falling towards a smaller aisles of bookshelves.

"Whoops!" She cried as she managed to land on top of one bookshelf.

"This Delinquous is just so relentless..who could it be from?" Literature asked quietly as she looked around for some clues to answer her question. She noticed Shigeru lying on the ground unconscious and she felt incredibly guilty as she pieced together all of this.

"I should have known this was going to happen..." Literature grimaced as she held her hands close to her chest.

"Could it be...you had something to do with this darling yet sadly worthless human?" Jika questioned curiously.

"He's not worthless!" Literature shouted out.

"Oh is that so? Then tell me, what would you call a human who can't find what to do with themselves when they've failed to pursue their dreams?" Jika interrogated, her sentence ending with a snicker.

"Lucky! Because now, they don't have to chain themselves to a dream that isn't for them. They have this boundless world to explore and re-find themselves, who cares if they get a little lost on their way? Can you blame them?" Literature cried out," It's ok if things don't work out. After all, it's better to try and fail than fail to try!"

"Wow, now I get what she means when by hyping up..." Arithmetic noted quietly as she watched Literature charge full-throttle at the Delinquous. She fought long and hard, and tirelessly against the Delinquous, making sure that she wouldn't miss a beat during this fight.

Arithmetic felt a little guilty for sitting back and letting Literature do all the work, so she reentered the fray. Her pace was a little slower than Literature but managed to keep up. She noticed how passionate Literature looked as she fought against the Delinquous and Arithmetic couldn't help but wonder, why? Was it because of Shigeru? Or was it this inner sense of justice she never knew Renge to have?

"Arithmetic, finishing blow!" Literature yelled as she continued to deliver punches to the Delinquous. Arithmetic nodded and the two struck the finishing blow with the Delinquous crashing against a row of tables.

Literature desperately tried to catch her breath so she could purify the Delinquous, but Arithmetic put a hand in front of her protectively.

'I got this one." She casually insisted.

"Pretty Cure..." Arithmetic began as the atmosphere turned blue,"...Problem-solving Paradox!" The atmosphere turned blue like it did before and shapes appeared from out of nowhere to purify the Delinquous. The Delinquous was cleansed and Shigeru's periwinkle coloured Inner Scholar retreated back into him.

"A second defeat?! How could they..?!" Jika sputtered out hysterically," I'll make sure I'll be the one to make your days numbered, Pretty Cure!" !" That ominous, unearthly claim from Jika made Arithmetic a little uneasy, but she shook off the feeling moments after. Renny then hopped out from Renge's bag that had lain haplessly on the ground the entire time.

"Literature, this time you have to talk to him face-to-face and give him the support he needs! No notes this this time, he needs more than an anonymous supporter!" Renny reasoned, flapping his wings towards the still unconscious Shigeru.

Literature pursed her lip and looked towards Shigeru. She never would never have expected to talk to Shigeru ever again, let alone attempt to become his friend. But Renny was right, Shigeru needed a companion now more than ever. So, when Shigeru came to, he uncovered Renge sitting beside him on a chair and Kanari standing over him while he was on the floor. He rose up very slowly, in a quite composed manner as he mentally tried to figure out what had happened.

"Kotori, what you doing here?" Shigeru asked after a long period of silence.

"Kanari and I were told to come down to the library 'cause we heard some weird noises. But we don't know if anything happened." Renge lied.

"Okada said that it was a demo clip from a video but we weren't too sure…" Kanari added.

"Oh…" Shigeru responded listlessly.

"Uhm, Endo, was there any reason as to why you were in the library?" Renge then asked.

Shigeru blinked for a couple of moments, trying to remember just what he was doing there.

Eventually he answered her, having remembered him reason," I skipped just to see the college fair by myself. It made me feel weird when I looked at all these colleges and I guess I was getting so stressed out I fainted."

"Lots of choices huh?" Renge said with a half-smirk. Shigeru nodded and just simply looked down. Renge could tell how lost he appeared, and made her feel bad for not saying anything before.

"Um, Endo..this might sound a little strange but..you have friends right?" Renge asked shakily, avoiding all eye-contact with Shigeru.

Then he did something that Renge wasn't expecting at all; he smirked and he gave her a questionable look.

"They all kinda go to different schools. So don't worry, if I seem like a loner to you, I get it." Shigeru answered, sounding as if he was prepared to answer this question.

"But, I've lost a lot of friends in favour of others, and then lost those friends after some things. It's as if I've reverted to my first year self."

"Well, if you really wanted a friend at this school…actually no. Endo, I want to be your friend, do you want to be friends with me?" Renge, sounding much more serious than usual.

Shigeru didn't even seem surprised. He did appear very much grateful for Renge's offer, yet he still appear to be a little hesitant, not giving her a response immediately.

"Sure.." He answered, in his typical, indifferent, uninterested tone. Renge had a giant smile painted onto her face. He said yes! Not enthusiastically, but that was the best she was going to get out of him. She helped him up and the three of them walked back to class.

But, once they reached the classroom, the bell for club time rang and everyone scrambled out from the classroom.

"Oops.." Renge and Kanari said in unison as they watched their classmates exit the room.

"Whatever, I've got Wood-shop club to go to. I'll see you guys tonight.." Shigeru disclosed as he headed off to his club.

"T-tonight?!" Renge stammered, her face red and her body now shaking.

"At the college fair?" Shigeru and Kanari reminded the blushing girl. Shigeru smiled at that and waved to the girls.

"Later.." Shigeru called out quietly.

"Later." Renge waved back feeling satisfied with herself for the day.

During Art club, Renge was immersed in her project and lost track of time. By the end of club, Renge found herself stuck with a great amount of things she had to carry back to her locker. But it was too much! Paint bottles, paint brushes, her pencil box, her binder from last class, not to mention her piece. It would've taken her two trips for her to bring this all to her locker and she didn't have that kind of time. She looked around to see if there was anyone left in the class to be of aid to her. Thankfully, she found someone.

"Ah, Nao!" Renge called out to the boy who was gathering his own things. He didn't have much to carry compared to Renge.

He looked over to her and waited for her to say something more. She felt a little odd, this was her first time calling out Nao's name.

"Do you think you could carry my books to my locker for me?" She asked sheepishly, gesturing with her hands full that she could use the help.

"Sure." Nao responded quietly as he took her books from the top of the table. The two walked back to her locker in silence, with Renge stealing stares of him almost too frequently that she may as well have looking at him the entire time.

"He's actually kinda good-looking, why didn't I notice him last year? Or maybe I did and just pushed the thought to the back of my mind…" Renge thought. They reached Renge's locker and Nao handed her all of her binders as she put the contents in her hands on the floor.

"Thanks!" Renge rejoiced in gratitude as she took her stuff from Nao. He nodded and left, waving a single wave to Renge.

Renge waved back, feeling her heart flutter in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.