Ren was stunned too – he only knew too well the high-pitched voice coming from the milky-skinned girl with hair as blue as the sunny sky.

Ah, how could he forget the first girl who rattled his mind and his heart by asking straightforwardly how he feels for her?

Even if she had grown gracefully taller and her body had taken a more feminine form, the same unabashedly spirited Ainu woman remained, as evident with her air of confidence and her eyes that weren't afraid to match gaze with his.

He knew she recognized him.

He allowed a smirk to form on his face in return. This enraged the girl some more.

"You may take your seat now-" The teacher was stunned when Pirika suddenly sprang into action.

Slinging her shoulder bag to her side, she made his way to him and without prelude, punched his face.

Chapter 1: Bai Zhan Bai Sheng

Jun peered at her brother's eye, then smiled. "I think it's healing well."

"She should count herself fortunate that her punch didn't do much damage," grumbled Ren as he touched his bilateral periorbital hematoma. "Or she'll be in big trouble."

"It has been a week since you went home with that black eye-"

"It's bilateral periorbital hematoma," he interjected, his pride unable to accept that when he could defend himself from a hundred kyoshins, a mere girl could injure him like this without so much an effort.

"Right," said his sister, smiling strangely.

"What?" he snapped.

"I was going to say that it has been a week since you got your injury but you still haven't told me why your classmate punched you," she said, smiling.

"It's not funny!" he barked.

"Hai, hai." But Jun looked like she was losing the battle of keeping a straight face. The thought of her powerful, snobbish little brother getting clouted by a girl was terribly amusing.

"Anyway, you won't get any story from me. It's insignificant anyway." He rubbed his eye again. "It won't ever happen again."

"You must have done something to irk her," she said.

Ren paused, debating whether to tell his sister what transpired between him and his aggressor. In the end, he decided not to. Women could get irritably emotional at the smallest things, plus even if he was her brother and her own flesh and blood, he was sure Jun would take Pirika's side anyway. When men created brotherhood and camaraderie, women were already a step ahead- they built the foundation of universal Girls' Night Out.

"Did you do something sexually insulting to her?" asked Jun, giving him a stern stare.

He rolled his eyes. Even if he wasn't vocal about it, he has high esteem for women's honor. The descendants of Eve may be irritating and bothersome nuisances in life, but he has a sister, and it was enough for him to make him pay proper respect to women.

Her face relaxed into a smile. She patted his hair. "I would like to meet that spunky girl one of these days."

He gave her a saccharine sweet smile. "I would rather shave my head."

"Wow, lately, you have been eating a lot," remarked Horo Horo as he watched his sister devour the usual egg-rice-milk breakfast he cooked for her.

"I need all the energy I can get, onii-chan," she explained in between bites. "Soldiers who go to the battlefield on an empty stomach will not survive!"

He whistled. "I didn't know we're going to a war. Against whom?"

She shook her head vehemently. "This is my battle alone, onii-chan! And I will emerge as the victor!"

He examined her, then touched her forehead. "Your temperature's fine, so what's wrong with you then? I've never seen you act like this. Who's the enemy?"

She looked at him, deliberating whether to tell her big brother about Ren Tao. In the end, she decided not to. The two may be friends, but they were fiercely competitive with each other. Their own desires to defeat Yoh didn't make things easier either. Besides, she knew she was perfectly capable of handling her battles all by herself. She wasn't born as Horo Horo's little sister for nothing.

"I'll tell you when I know that I need help already," she said instead.

He smiled. "Just don't forget that no matter what, Onii-chan is your biggest fan and your staunchest supporter. I will defend you against anyone or anything, just give me the date and location."

She gave him a thumbs-up. "I know, and I am grateful for that, Onii-chan. You're the best!" She decided to shift the topic away from her already- she wasn't used to lying to her brother, and she knew that the danger of Ren's name slipping out of her mouth was very possible. "So how is Tamao nee-chan?"

He shrugged, "She's doing well."

"Iie! You know what I mean!"

"I don't, actually."

"Have you started your moves on her already?" she asked.

He groaned. "Her mind is composed of the same stuff the Dead Sea is made of. Penetrating it would take awhile."

"Work faster," she urged him. "You may never know if another guy lays his eyes on her."

"Unlikely," he said, grinning. The men in the Asakura house are Yoh, Master Yohmei, and Master Mikihisa only. The two other options are out already, Yoh even more so. He's crazy about that sadistic itako."

"We will never know," she said thoughtfully. "Destiny has this senseless sense of humor."

In her mind, she added, who would have known that Ren Tao and I would meet again?

Silently, she wondered if he still remembered her confession. When she remembered how he smirked, she deduced that he must still do.

Only one word echoed in her mind because of that.

R-E-V-E-N-G-E.

For the shame he made her feel for flatly insulting her love for him.

And for ruining her one and only set of school uniform.

She remembered that she was almost in the same situation where her favorite manga shoujo was- she was going to fight against a man with unspeakable power.

And that gave her another idea.

Ren was rummaging through his locker when his eye caught a piece of red paper inserted hurriedly in the hinge of his locker door. He took it, and to his surprise, it was a red car that simply said, "The war is on".

He turned to his right and found Pirika standing near him, watching him.

"What is this gimmick all about?" he asked.

Her eye turned to his black eye first. A satisfied smile crawled to her face.

"I said, what is this red card about?" he repeated through gritted teeth. Once again he remembered the fleeting passage of time. The girl who used to adore him so, the girl who reminded him of a mouse that when barked at would flee in fright- she was now a cat. Cute but cunning.

"I'm staging a war against you," she explained. "I'm taking revenge on you, for what you did to me years ago."

"You haven't forgotten that yet?" he asked, smirking. "I'm flattered."

She narrowed her eyes at him, and he hated to admit it, but she was literally looking down at him. The tip of his pointed hair barely reached the top of her head. "Don't be. None of my stupid schoolgirl infatuation remains here." She pointed to her heart. "Only hate."

"So what is your battle plan then?" he asked curiously despite of himself.

She smiled insincerely, making him worry a little on the high calorie content of her sugary smile and how it could kill anyone easily. "I will make you cry, Ren Tao."

He snickered. "That's a tall order."

"Not for me," she said, shrugging. Her eyes roved on his vertical form once again, and he realized the felony he made by his last statement. He scowled. "You talk too much. Let's see if you succeed." He turned his back on her, aware of the amused gazes their classmates were throwing them. An idea formed in his mind.

"Our class is assigned to stage a play for the school," announced the teacher. "And since Pirika is our best student in English class, she will be the director."

Pirika smiled shyly as her classmates heartily congratulated her. She turned to Ren expectantly, but discovered that he was looking out at the window, a living lexicographical representation of the word boredom.

"Now what play do you suggest, Pirika?" asked the sensei eagerly.

Eyes set on Ren, she stood up. "Thumbelina."

When Pirika opened her locker that afternoon, she found a red card in her locker too. She picked it up- it looked exactly like the red card she received, but there were four Chinese characters in it.

"Bai zhen Bai sheng," said Ren, arms crossed. "That is my motto…to be ever-victorious. You have tested my patience long enough, and it's time to teach you a lesson- and that is not to cross my path. You staged a war, and I'll win it."

"This is the thanks I get for making you the lead star in the stage play?" she asked, crumpling the red piece of paper.

His face darkened when he remembered how she humiliated him in the classroom awhile ago. "That is the last time you'll get away with making a fool out of me. You have my word." He turned his back on her abruptly.

Pirika clenched her fists, crumpling the card some more. "I'm not scared. I'm not the girl he can intimidate years ago. I'm stronger now." She watched his retreating figure. "You'll see."

tsuzuku