Mai froze as the silver-haired girl called Arika by her name. How does she know her? The girl had only arrived at the school today and she had spent most of it with Aoi. Also Miyu hadn't been absent either, so there was no possible way for them to have met. Could she have done research on Arika? But why would she of all people be interested in Arika. What was going on?

Arika watched as the mysterious girl walked passed her and Mai. She had never seen the girl before in her life, but somehow she knew her by name. "Who was that?" she asked the older Mai curiously.

"So you don't know her… her name is Miyu. She's a little different from everyone else who goes here," Mai replied scratching her head.

"You mean like you and that girl?" Arika asked timidly.

"Uh… yes, and no…" that was only way Mai could think of answering the question. It was a little difficult to explain Miyu, especially since she didn't know the specifics about the girl herself. "Anyway here we are."

Arika stared at the white two story building in front of her. It was probably the only thing Aoi hadn't shown her on the tour. At the top of a small set of stairs stood a woman wearing a pink maid's uniform with pink hair. The expression she wore on her face was a happy one.

"Ah Miss Mai, did you escort Miss Arika all the way here even though classes will be started soon?" Fumi smiled pleasantly at the two girls.

"Yes, actually I was hoping to speak with the chairman briefly before the meeting," Mai replied, "It's very important."

"I don't see why not; just let me ask Miss Mashiro first."

Midori slowly raised her head from the small grey table. Without even realizing it, she had fallen asleep during her usual lunchtime routine. All of her research was really beginning to affect the amount of sleep she got at night. It seemed as if every time she began to decipher the current story she was working on, she couldn't put it down. She didn't really know why. The story itself didn't seem very interesting and it wasn't very eventful either. As a matter of fact nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be happening in it. But for some reason she was being drawn into it, probably due to its plainness. So far it had been a direct contrast to all of the other stories she had deciphered before. In a way, it was too uneventful. Something important had to have happened for it to have been recorded which is why she was holding off presenting it to the chairman until it was completely deciphered.

"Ah so you're awake," a familiar feminine voice came from behind her.

For a second Midori had forgotten that she was in the nurse's office, "Being a burden on you again?"

"Of course, but I've been use to it since college," the dark purple-haired woman replied sliding the curtain behind Midori open. She wore a long white lab coat over a blue mid-drift tang top, and long grey pants.

"Don't say it like that Yoko…"

"Why not when it's true," she smiled, "Either way want to go out drinking tonight?"

"Is that all you think about?"

"I just feel like celebrating. Besides it's the perfect way to hear about your vacation."

"I told you already that I spent it conducting research on Fuuka," Midori sighed.

"So you're telling me you flew all the way back to America to do research on this place?" Yoko eyed her impliedly.

"Shut up," Midori muttered cutting her eye at the woman.

Yoko giggled at her friend, "Well shouldn't you be going now, classes are about to start."

"Sure whatever," a yawn escaped Midori's mouth as she rose to her feet and headed toward the door. But before she could get there it opened and Natsuki walked in with a middle school student on her back.

Alyssa turned around at the sound of footsteps coming down the stone staircase. She had been busy writing down the lyrics to a song she was working on. One she was planning to sing for a special audience whenever she got the chance.

"Little Miss I've returned," Miyu's voice came from the bottom of the stone stairway, "The mission was successful. Shall I escort you to class now?"

"In a moment," Alyssa said picking up the communicator and placing it to her ear. "Mission accomplished," she spoke into the microphone.

After a few seconds the female voice responded, "That's good, now we'll be able to move on to step two."

"How long do you think we have before they start to act?" Alyssa asked.

"More than enough so don't worry," the woman answered gently.

"Understood," Alyssa responded, "And what are you going to do about…?" Her question was cut of by the woman.

"I'll handle her in my own way, understand?"

"Roger," Alyssa said turning off the headset, "Let's go Miyu,"

The sound of her cell phone vibrating snapped Nao out of her daze. She had been sitting under a large tree since the little incident with the orphan. She was probably going to regret saving the girl, but Natsuki didn't seem to want to do it for whatever reason. Now, because of her there was a chance Nina would get the wrong idea; the girl was sharp after all. Then again what did she care? What people thought of her, never really mattered to her anyway. Let her think what she wants.

She snapped open the phone and began to read the new message she had just received.

'Great to hear she's doing ok. I can't thank you enough for taking such good care of my daughter.

Sergey'

It had been the second message Nina's father had sent her today. She had received the first early this morning, just before she had run into that dimwit earlier. He was really becoming a nuisance to her, always asking her about the girl. If he wanted to know bad enough, he could've at least asked Nina herself, instead of bothering her all the time.

'P.S. I got a chance to visit your mother today. The doctors say that there has been some more progress, which is good.'

A small smile appeared on Nao's face as she read the news about her mother and not the usual smirk either. It was a more genuine one, one she didn't show very often and never around anyone else. "Idiot, who told you to go see her," she muttered under her breathe. The man had been a friend of her mother's, before she had become comatose and had recently been visiting her frequently lately. It had annoyed Nao to no end at first, but more and more she was getting use to hearing about her mother from him. It was the only reason she had grown to put up with him.

"Miss Mashiro, Miss Mai would like to have a word with you," Fumi's voice came from the other room.

"It is fine with me, let her in,"

Shizuru noticed a little shakiness in the chairman's voice. It was as if hearing that Mai wanted to speak with her made her nervous. She couldn't help but wonder if it was the fact that it was a student, or the fact that it was Mai that made the little girl nervous. More than likely it was the latter, which made her curious about the situation.

"Is something the matter, Mai?" Mashiro asked as the flaming-haired girl walked through the large wooden doors.

"Something is going on at this school again, isn't it? Why didn't you say anything to us?" Mai asked walking over to the table where Mashiro and Shizuru sat. Her voice was soft but full of concern.

"What do you mean by that?" the smile on Mashiro's face was fading quickly.

However before the conversation could continue further the sound of a young girl's laughter resonated throughout the office, "Really is this how women do things these days?"

The three girls watched as a cloud of black vapor oozed from the ceiling and accumulated in the center of the room, slowly forming a small human-like shape. After the shape was complete the vapors dispersed revealing a young girl with pallid white hair, wearing what looked like a typical middle school uniform along with black netted gloves. Her eyes were covered by her long stringy hair and at her feet laid a black cat-shaped ball. She appeared to be preoccupied with the uniform she was wearing, holding up the edges of the skirt inspecting it like it was the first time she had ever worn it.

"Who are you?" Mashiro asked breaking the long silence that had fallen on the room's original occupants.

The pale girl raised her head at the sound of the chairman's voice and gave her a confused look, "Tell me, does this look good on me?"

"Huh?" a bewildered look had appeared on Mashiro's face. What was this girl?

"Nii-chan said that it would look cute on me, do you think so?"

Was she really being serious, and 'Nii-chan?' She couldn't be referring to Nagi, "Who are you?" Masjiro asked again. Her voice was slightly sterner than before.

"Uh, uh… If you won't answer my question, I won't answer yours," the white-haired girl replied shaking her head.

The grin on the girl's face reminded Mashiro of the one Nagi always wore. Could she really have been his sister? "Fine, fine it really suits you," her tone was defeated.

"Really?" the girl giggled twirling around, "You're lying aren't you? This uniform doesn't match my gloves does it?" she paused for a second, "But… whatever, an answer is an answer so I'll answer you. My name is Izu, I'll be handling the upcoming carnival."

So there was going to be another carnival, Mashiro had heard it with her own ears but what now?

"So this is the 'Queen of Hell' huh? So that's his preference…" the girl giggled staring at Mashiro, "Never thought the Obsidian Lord was such a dirty old man."

Mashiro winced at the remark; her cheeks were beginning to turn red. "What is that you want? What is going on?"

"Anywho, since I hold no authority over you I'm only here to give you some advice," Izu continued ignoring the purple-haired girl's questions, "Your place is on the sidelines, stay there ok?" With that her body transformed back into black vapor and disappeared from the room.

"Orphan?" Midori asked scratching her chin. The thought of them appearing again had crossed her mind a few times, but she never really thought that they would. Based on the research she had done so far there wasn't any precedence for such a thing. All of the carnivals she had studied ended after the Princess Star had left the Earth. Sure their case was a little different from those in the past, since the star had been destroyed but what did that have to do with it? If anything, it should be less likely that they would show up. There was also the possibility that it wasn't connected to the results of the carnival, but what? Hadn't she done enough research?

Natsuki shook her head. She knew exactly what the woman was thinking. It was more than likely the same as she was thinking. The thought of another carnival wasn't a nice one, especially after how horrible things were during the last one. The confusion had been tough on everyone, herself included. The last thing she wanted was for Nina to experience anything remotely near what she had gone through. The only reason she hadn't approached the girl earlier about being a HiME was because the next carnival, if one were to even take place, shouldn't have occurred for another three hundred years, long after her lifetime. If she had known, she would've spoken to Nina a lot sooner. But it was already too late to regret keeping her silence; all she could do now was focus on the present.

"Very well, I guess I'll have to do some additional research. The more we can find out about what's going on, the better. Also someone will have to talk to Mashiro about this; she may know something we don't. We may have another carnival on our hands." Midori sighed. Having to do research on this meant she would have a lot less time to research her current project, if she could even do it at all anymore. Her marking was already going to decrease her free time.

"I don't think we will have to worry about speaking to Mashiro. Mai said something about heading that way with a new student," Natsuki replied flicking her hair back.

At that moment Yoko returned from behind the white curtain in her office, "She seems to be ok; nothing broken, just a few scratches and bruises. We should let her rest for now. She must've been really lucky to come out as unscathed as she is."

Midori cradled her chin in her palm. The girl had been a little too lucky, and Natsuki still hadn't told her exactly what happened. If she had been attacked and Natsuki had saved her before anything happened, she would've been in perfect condition. And if she had taken a blow, which it was obvious she had, the chances of only receiving a few scrapes was very unlikely, "What exactly happened?"

A simple yet tough question to answer. She could tell the redhead was on her way to figuring it out and if there was another carnival on the horizon, it was probably better to let the girl's secret out. "Like I said, she was attacked by an orphan; or rather she attacked the orphan."

"She's a HiME right?" Midori asked.

"Yes,"

"Very well, we'll just have to speak with her when she wakes up," Midori said stretching her arms. She didn't understand the circumstances, but it was probably better left alone. "But for now, the two of us have to get to class, right?"

"Actually I was…"

"You were going to class right?" Midori cut the brunette off mid-sentence. Her tone was serious and her eyes were boring holes into Natsuki's skull, "For someone with your class attendance record, you can't afford to skip class."

"Bu… but…"