(During Issue 6, Morning after bookshop incident)

"I got it!" Nigel exclaims as he catches the beautiful butterfly with the box and its lid just as before the dawn breaks out. "Good thing I still have the energy to do this after that long night!"

"The problem is how to present it to her." Nigel says as he thinks of a way to give it her. "Flames! I can't even use this old and rotten shoe box to her!" As the time ticks away so as the students who increasingly come to school.

"Oh well! Here goes nothing I guess!" he says to himself as he inserts a letter into the box and writes 'TARANEE' on the box. He then ties it with a white ribbon around the box like a gift.

'Flames! Bad idea Nigel!' he thinks to himself with irritation. 'Surely no one would ever like this! Heck even my penmanship is bad! How could I ever give this to her?'

"Nigel!" Uriah calls him from the school entry. "Nigel! Hurry up!"

"Y-yes, Uriah! I'm coming!" Nigel replies as he hides the box among the bushes. 'I'll just leave it here for a while.' He says to himself as he meets up with Uriah.

Later that day during lunch break, Nigel quickly walks back to where he left the present. But as he looks for it in the garden it was nowhere to be found! 'Flames! Flames! Flames!' he swears to himself. 'I know that I left it—' he stops when he sees his open box, untied. He quickly approaches to it and founds the letter gone as well!

'Flames! Someone must have took it!' Nigel says to himself as he hopelessly finds Uriah and his friends. 'If that letter is spread all out I'll be the talk of the entire school!'

Suddenly, he stops and quickly approaches to see Uriah and his friends bully again Taranee as they throw her backpack to each other. "Cut it out Uriah!" she says.

"Then blame your mom!" Uriah laughs. "Here, Nigel catch this!" he tosses her backpack to Nigel's surprise but manages to catch it. He then sees Taranee's anger but weeping face as she approaches him to retrieve her backpack.

"Nigel!" Kurt calls, "Give it to me, before she takes it!'

Nigel, caught in between a decisive choice, between an act for loyalty for his friends or an act of love, decides to throw the backpack for fun? Or to give it back out of pity? It was a hard choice that could affect great consequences. He chooses to pause, as Taranee seizes her backpack from him.

"Don't you ever come and play with my feelings again!" she yells to Nigel as she embraces her bag, as NIgel felt a tremendous amount of a magical sense in her.

"Nigel!" Uriah scolds as his gangs approach him. "You were told to give the backpack to Kurt!"

Nigel sternly approaches to Uriah and extends his hand to his shoulder. "Uriah, enough"

"What are you saying?" Uriah asks.

"I can't go on like this if you're being too rude to everyone." Nigel explains. "Please, enough is enough."

Uriah then suddenly slaps Nigel's arm away. "You never knew what I have been going through?"

"I do know." Nigel replies. "Because I live the same life as you do, remember?"

As Uriah comprehends him, he turns his back at Nigel and leaves. "Let's go." He says as Kurt and Laurent follows.

"Are you okay?" Nigel turns back to see teary-eyed Taranee, who surprisingly looks at him with bewilderment and confusion. "I'm sorry on Uriah's behalf…" Nigel apologizes as he leaves in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry too, for what I said earlier." Taranee replies back. "I thought that gift and invitation was just a prank to…er—play with my feelings." She blushingly looks down.

"Wait, gift and invitation?" Nigel asks.

"Wasn't you who captured the butterfly and left an invitation for me?"

"Oh! So you read my invitation then?" Nigel asks embarrassingly. 'Flames! So it is she herself who took her present! I think I'd rather be the talk of the school than to accept an awkward rejection!'

"Y-yes" Taranee stutters as she blushingly twirls her hair. "So—umm…when's the date?"


(Between Issue 6 &7)

"A week from now," Ray says as he points to a certain topic on his text book in the Cardano High's cafeteria during lunch time with Eric and Mosquito, seated across him. "And this is all you studied about?" he asks.

After the stop of the invasion force and Lair's true identity revelation, the boys went home. Ray as he arrived from his home received a serious scolding from his anxious and concerned mother as he apologized for the situation and still pleaded to be a legionate. He promised to his mother that what happened to him will never happen again and he will always be safe. They both made amends as they hugged each other out. Ray, then took a day off to rest and to regain strength and the day after Nigel confessed his feelings with Taranee hundred kilometers away, Ray once again comes back to school.

"Yet, it's been like forever I tell you, a hundred light years at that." Mosquito says as he slurps some juice from the straw. "And yes, this is all we have discussed about this past week!"

"Light years are distances not time, Squito." Eric as he rests his head on his forearm which against the table, butts in and points up. As the usual, he rests from the late night patrol with Nigel last night.

Ray holds the book on his hands and reads. "Looks easy to learn" he smirks.

"Easy for you to say, Math wizard." Mosquito says. "You still have to catch up with the other subjects too."

"Ugh!" Ray says as he rubs his forehead. "And now I have to rush a Biology report due next week! Eric, you're good at Science don't you?"

"If it's Astronomy, I could have made the report myself for you." Eric says.

"And I thought you love the sciences, Eric?" Mosquito asks.

"My grades are just average." He says in a sleepy tone. "Please continue and wake me up when this break is over."

"Sleepy much?" Mosquito asks. "Seems like you've been watching a lot of space wars lately!"

"Heh!" Eric looks at Mosquito with a snicker. "I even bought the unlimited DVD edition of the original Star Warfare Trilogy!" he boasts.

"No way! The uncut version with unlimited and behind the scenes features!?" Mosquito exclaims as he shakes Eric's shoulders. "Didn't it cost you your week's allowance?"

"And it did! It cost me for not eating anything today!" Eric says as it slumps back to his arm. "But I think it was worth it!" He holds up his thumb upward.

"After you bought the boxed DVD sets of each episode of Battlestar Trek to Galactico-whatever, in exchange for food?" Ray says as he writes his unfinished home works down on the books. "I would pick the latter."

"Mind you, it's Star Galacticosmos for the hundred time!" Eric explains with an annoyance written on his face.

"Yeah, don't piss him off with this space nerd over here." Rod says as he approaches to their table and fists bumps Mosquito and Eric. "Hey Ray! Welcome back from the dead! It's like been forever since we met." He fists bumps Ray.

"I told you Ray it's been like forever." Mosquito says.

"So what happened to you? Eric told me you got the sick of the flu." Rod says as he sits beside Ray. "I actually wanted

"I just got the hard flu with a high temperature at that." Ray explains with a lie. "You'll never know what it feels like, if you tried it yourself that is!"

"I bet he used the thermometer trick—" Rod tells Mosquito.

"In exchange for a stressful hundred assignments?" Ray hears. "You think I could do that? Heck you could even do that same trick and let your tutor do all the work!" he teases back.

"Eric!" Rod calls him out. "You cheeky—you told him?" Rod flusters as he calls.

"I told you to wake me up when the bell rings." Eric says as his voices echoes throughout his arms.

"So you're now close with that girl—Anita aren't you?" Ray says as he elbow bumps Rod.

"You better shut it; I thought you had some homework to do." Rod embarrassingly stops his teasing and crosses his arms. "Anita's just umm—a friend…"

"You sure?"

"Absolutely!"

"No feelings?"

"Just friends!"

"Well a 'just friends' he says," Mosquito says to Ray then looks back to Rod. "Then will you be my wingman to make Anita as my girl? I actually wanted be honest to her and make my move before she-"

"Look for yours Squito!—Oopps…" Rod places his hand over his mouth and blushes.

The rest of the group laughs hard as they caught Rod in a gullible joke. Eric who also laughs, sees Ray, for the first time after a week of sadness and depression, is able to cackle hard with joy like he usually does at a nothing-at-all prank, together with his friends. Though he may never accomplished his homework in time, their useless conversations are worth his time of what he has been going through.

'Truly, welcome back Ray!' Eric says as he smiles within.