Notes:

I decided not to give the HiME group a particular name like HiME Rangers, or Anti-Orphan Squad just to leave Arika in the dark about exactly what kind of club it is.

Aoi and Arika walked through the front building's doors. Directly in front of them was a large circular railing, decorated with colorful ribbons. Arika gazed at the stunning room. It was too beautiful for her to even describe.

"Well I guess I'll start by telling you about this room," Aoi said walking pass the gaping girl. She stopped at the railing and signaled for Arika to come toward her. "This is Fuuka's wishing well. This is where couples come to wish for long and happy relationships," she explained, "Each of the ribbons tied here represents a couple's wish. It's against the rules to tie ribbons here but, the faculty and student counsel pretty much turn their heads to it." She pointed to a small sign near the end of the railing.

As Arika looked around the railing she noticed a small section where there were only four ribbons evenly spaced out. These ribbons were decorated with fancy designs unlike the other plain one color ribbons. "Is something special about those?" she asked turning to Aoi.

"Those are the wishes of the members of the school's most exclusive club," Aoi explained, "They receive many special privileges."

"Why is it so exclusive?" Arika asked curiously.

"Well… let me put it this way, not just anyone can join; you have to be cut from a certain cloth," Aoi replied. "Wow!" Arika shrieked excitedly. "Yeah, there are only eleven members and most of them are on a special scholarship just for qualifying for membership," Aoi continued, "Ok enough of that, let's go outside so I can show you the athletic facilities."

Nina sat quietly in her seat while the teacher went through her standard "welcome back" speech with the class. The side of her head rested softly on her hand as she thought over what had happened this morning. She just couldn't figure it out. What did she really want from me? The thought had been running through her mind ever since. She didn't know whether the president, rather Natsuki knew her secret, the one she had been hiding since last year, or not. It was really important to Nina that no-one found out about her secret until she had corrected it. No one meant no one, not even her best friend and roommate. She only knew of one other person at Fuuka who knew her secret and it was fairly safe if only that other person knew. She couldn't let anyone else know about it, especially not Natsuki. It made them both alike but also different at the same time. It was this difference that she didn't want anyone to know about; it was too embarrassing.

"Nina…" she heard someone call her from behind, disrupting her thoughts. She turned her head to see a girl with short blond hair staring at her concernedly. "Is something wrong? I've been calling you for a while now," the girl asked.

"It's nothing Erst," Nina replied calmly.

Erstin knew better that there was something bothering Nina, but she also knew that if the girl was hiding something, it was useless to pursue. So she decided to change the subject. "It looks like we only have one new student this year," she commented pointing to the empty desk behind her.

"Yeah, I guess," Nina replied sitting up, "Looks like Tamoe hasn't come to school yet too."

Erstin turned to look at the empty desk two rows in front of her. She could tell it was Tamoe's because in the adjacent seat sat a girl with long straight auburn-colored hair who constantly looked over at the empty seat. "Yeah, I heard that she wouldn't be back until tomorrow," Erstin smiled. Her smile vanished as the teacher called for silence and Nina returned to her moping position.

Natsuki sat quietly typing on Shizuru's laptop. "That girl…" she muttered bringing Nina's information up onscreen. She looked up as the door opened and Shizuru walked in,

"I see you still don't go to class like always." Her tone was cheerful, and her smile was soft and gentle.

"I'm just…" Natsuki began closing the laptop but stopped when Shizuru smiled her down.

"It's ok, I don't mind." There was an awkward air, like always, about the two girls. "Want to go for a walk?" Shizuru asked sweetly.

Arika and Aoi made their way toward the cafeteria. It was about two and a half hours since they had started their tour and it was almost lunchtime. They had been almost everywhere on the campus and had built up an appetite.

"That's Fuuka's world famous café," Aoi said pointing at the large building in front of them.

Arika gazed in anticipation, she hadn't eaten since the night before and hunger pains were beginning to develop.

"There shouldn't be anyone in here right now since lunch doesn't begin for a few minutes, but we can still get something to eat now," Aoi said opening the door.

Inside there several rows of long tables, each with ten chairs, in the middle of the room. Along the edges where small circular tables, that could seat four people and on the left wall there was a glass door which led to a balcony where there were more small tables with parasols over them. At the back of the room was the kitchen where the cooks were busy making the final preparations for the quickly approaching lunchtime.

After ordering their food the two girls walked outside onto the balcony and took a seat at a table near the edge. It had a nice view overlooking the school's campus. At that moment they heard the voices of chattering students entering the cafeteria.

"So this is our new hall-mate," Arika heard a girl's voice. She turned to face the orange-haired high school student standing behind her. Next to the girl was a girl with short charcoal black hair.

"Yes, that's her Mai," Aoi said placing some of her stew in her mouth.

"Hi there, my name is Mai Tokiha. Nice to meet you," the orange-head introduced herself.

"Hello my name is Arika Yumemiya," Arika introduced herself.

"Hi, I'm Chie Harada," the girl standing next to Mai said leaning toward her, "I'm the definition of gossip around here, so if there's anything that you want to know feel free to ask me."

"Ok…" Arika said uncomfortably.

"Don't mind her," Mai said sweetly, sitting in the chair next to Arika, "So how do you like Fuuka so far?"

"Everything here is so big and gorgeous. I thought this place was good, but not to this extent," Arika replied. She had already finished her meal.

"My, my you must have been hungry," Aoi commented looking at the girl sip the drink in front of her.

"Yeah, I hadn't eaten since last night. I didn't get a chance to eat this morning since I thought I was late," Arika explained. Not that she could've eaten anyway. She had been too excited to eat.

The garden was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the soft breeze blowing across the pink flowers surrounding a white gazebo. The garden was extravagantly decorated with ficus arches and a fancily designed path which looked like a symbol from above.

Nina leaned up against one of the gazebo's pillars looking at her phone. After taking a short sigh she dialed on the touch pad and placed the phone to her ear. "Hello," a warm male voice answered on the other side of the line. Nina cheeks began to turn light pink, "Hello father."

"Oh, it's you Nina. I've been meaning to call you to find out how things were going so far," her father replied, "Everything ok?"

Nina's face turned an even brighter shade of pink. Her father seemed worried; something she couldn't allow. "Yes everything is fine, I just wanted talk to you," she replied into the phone.

"That's good…" her father began but she could hear a door opening on the other side of the line.

"Major Wang, the package you were waiting on has arrived," she heard someone say on the other side of the line.

After a short pause she heard her father's voice again. "Sorry Nina but I can't talk with right now. I'll have to talk to you later. Just remember, you've always made me proud."

As she heard the phone hang up on the other end of the line she heard a familiar voice.

"Talking to that old man again?" Nao inquired leaning up against the other side of the pillar. Her tone was full of amusement.

"What do you want?" Nina asked coldly. She made sure not to turn around so that Nao wouldn't see how flushed her face was.

"My, my, is that how you address an old friend from back home, especially one who knows your little secret?" Nao countered playfully.

Nina's faced became even more flushed than before. "Fine, sorry. Did you come to collect on your favor?"

"No, I was just taking a little walk. The way things look I probably won't ever have to collect on that debt. Lucky you," Nao yawned teasingly. She never really planned to make Nina pay her back for keeping the secret unless it was absolutely necessary. For some reason she just enjoyed talking to the young girl.

"Anyway, you have a new roommate this year right? I think I met her this morning. She seems rather clueless," Nao smirked.

Nina seemed slightly interested, "Let me guess…"

"Wrong, I felt like being nice for a change," Nao said playfully inspecting her fingernails.

"You can be nice?" Nina remarked showing a slight smile. "

Well if I'm so mean then maybe I should tell your secret," Nao reminded her.

Natsuki and Shizuru walked through the shaded path. Natsuki had been unusually quiet since leaving the office which worried Shizuru. She could tell something was bothering her but she didn't know what. "Did you speak to Nina this morning?" Shizuru asked breaking the silence.

A smile appeared on Natsuki's face. "Yes, she's a little too hard on herself," Natsuki replied.

"Did she tell you…?" Shizuru began but stopped as Natsuki shook her head no. "I see… that's not what is bothering you is it?"

The smile on Natsuki's face vanished and an awkward silence fell among the two again. "I see…" Shizuru muttered softly. She had known from the start that it wasn't that. As she began to ask what was bothering the girl her phone rang.

Fumi's sweet voice came over the line as she put the phone to her ear, "Miss Shizuru, Miss Mashiro would like you sit in the next two meeting she has."

"Ok I'll be right there," she replied closing the phone, "Sorry but I have to go."

"That's ok," Natsuki replied flicking her long black hair behind her shoulder, "I'll just speak to you later."

It was halfway through lunch. Arika had spent the time asking the four girls questions she had about the school. Some of the answers were nice and clear but others were a little strange. However there was one question she had wanted to ask since the beginning of the tour.

"What kind of club is that one you told me about earlier?" she asked facing Aoi.

"You should ask Mai, she's a member," the girl replied drinking the last of her stew.

A surprised look appeared on Mai's face, "You mean that club? Well what do you want to know?"

Arika couldn't believe her luck. She already got to meet a member. "Well I was wondering what the club was like," she answered scratching her head.

"Uh, let's see," Mai began thinking, "Well the club doesn't really have a set name per se. We haven't decided on a name yet. Meetings are twice a week, no particular days. We pretty much spend our meetings arguing with each."

Arika's curiosity was struck, "Argue?"

"Yeah, more than half of the club's members don't want to be there so arguments are constantly starting," Mai explained. She seemed annoyed by that fact. "Well, the club consists of eleven members, most of which are high school students. There are two faculty advisers who are both members of the club, and a Fuuka alumnus is also a member. That's pretty much it."

"Aw Mai, you make it sound so boring…" Chie commented leaning her head backwards to see Yayoi and Lilie walking in their direction. Crap! She hadn't spoken to Aoi about their promise yet. This was going to be a problem.

"You ready Chie-senpai, Aoi-senpai?" Yayoi asked walking up to the table. She was beaming with anticipation. Her companion also had a certain delighted aura about her. This made things even harder to deal with than she had anticipated. Things were going to bad; she knew it.

"Yeah, in a moment," Aoi replied flashing a smile. What the hell! Chie thought. She was wearing a weak smile on her face.

"First let me introduce you three," Aoi continued walking over to where the two girl were standing. She placed her hand gently on Lilie's shoulder, "Arika this Lilie Adean, she is my mentee, and that is Yayoi Alter, Chie's mentee. You three are all in the same class."

Chie still could figure out what Aoi was getting at. Doesn't she have to escort her to the Chairman's office? She thought.

At that moment Tate made his way over to table where the girls were sitting. "Just in time!" Aoi announced as the boy stopped next to table.

"Is she ready? Her meeting starts soon," Tate asked rolling his eyes.

"What's the matter, mad we stole Mai for lunch?" Chie smirked.

"It's nothing like that!" he protested. His turned his head to hide the fact that his face had turned bright pink.

Arika stared at Mai's equally pink face. They must be a couple.

"Arika, this is the current Student Counsel Vice President Tate Yuuichi," Aoi said pleasantly, "He will be escorting you to your meeting with the chairman."

"Ok," Arika replied noticing the boy staring at her funnily. What's he looking at?

"Ok, let's go you three!" Aoi announced signaling for Chie and the two middle school girls to come with her.

Damn you Aoi! I will definitely get my revenge for making me worry for nothing, Chie thought standing up.

"We should be going too," Tate said to Arika, "Mai do you want to come too?"

"Sure," Mai replied getting up from the table.

"Aw you're no fun today," Nao whined playfully. She could tell something was bothering Nina. She wasn't enjoying their conversation as much as she usually did. She was ready to leave the girl alone when she noticed Natsuki walking into the clearing. This could be interesting.
Natsuki walked to the edge of the beautiful garden. Her mind was still running through the events of the morning. She really wished Shizuru didn't have to leave; discussing what was bothering her was probably a good idea. Things were a little too weird.

Ahead of her she noticed Nao leaning up against the gazebo. The girl appeared to be talking to someone, but she couldn't see who it was. As Nao look up at her she could see the girl say something. The way she said it was so clear that Natsuki could read her lips from where she stood, like it was intentional. She had said…

"Nina," Noa called from behind the pillar.

"What?"

"Nothing…" the girl replied teasingly. Something about Nao calling her made her uncomfortable but, she didn't know why. Things were awkward. She didn't know if her secret was out yet, and if it was who knew. "Nao …" she began but was cut off by a loud cry from the forest surrounding the clearing.