I still can't believed i finished this chapter. Ok, I'm taking ages to update, I know. I actually feel very bad because I have at least one story update in my email inbox every day and I haven't been updating often. I'm so SORRY !!! Please forgive me, fellow readers, for my incompetence. Please enjoy the latest chapter of Feathers of an Angel!

Black Halloween Central Headquarters, conference room.

The conference room was currently housing ten individuals, all seated and staring at the only one standing –obviously the boss of the place. They were fidgeting and were either taping their fingers impatiently on the wooden desk or toying with their pens, having a silent competition to see who could produce the most amazing pen trick in that time. All were irritated by the stuffy room and the long wait.

'Hey, old man, get on with it!' One of them complained impatiently. 'At least explain why we're in this room instead of the air-conditioned NORMAL conference room that is more suited for meetings with all the higher-ups.'

'Patience, No.6. You may be the 6th highest ranking in this room but you are in no position to kick up such a childish fuss, especially when No.1 is here,' a lady seated primly near the head of the desk scolded with a severe tone. 'Anymore and you'll be forced to leave this room.'

The old man smirked and laughed, 'It's quite alright, No.3, I don't mind answering that question. No.6, this room is protected by any possible means you can possibly think of. If you threw a bomb at the building, this room will remain standing. If there was a smoke attack, all vents can be turned off with a flick of a button and we'll be safe from any outside attacks for at least the next 24 hours. Most importantly, it's Alice proof. No effects of an Alice would be able to enter or escape. No Alice can be used to attack, infiltrate or spy on this room. This is necessary, since the meeting cannot be leaked to those other than the ones in this room. Now… let us start…'

At once, ten gold objects were raised. All of them held out a golden pair of bat-wings attached to a chain. Each pair of bat wings had a number inscribed on the right wing. Some held it out proudly, while others dangled it from the chain with their fingers. The old man, holding up this own pair that was hanging from his neck, scanned the room and nodded. He sat down and began the meeting.

'Good, all is in order. We're here to discuss the alliance with the AAO, one of the possible organizations for our alliance. Recently, it has been reported that an agent from the AAO kidnapped the two experiments under Project A and intended to ship them to their own base. It has been concluded that the AAO had no intention of forming an equal alliance with us, judging from their actions, and thus we have to re-evaluate our decision of letting his be part of the alliance.' The old man pressed a button on the desk and a slide show showed up on the screen. It showed pictures of Reo kidnapping the students, as well as the events that transpired.

'Ah… the little pigtails and the short stack Black Angel…' No.6 raised his eyebrows. He sniggered when he saw the pictures of Yuki pointing the gun at Reo and him fleeing the scene.

'He dared to aggravate the injury of our Angel?' No.3 slammed a fist on the table, completely shattering her calm and demure mask. 'The Angel is our gem! The sole person we can rely to stand Project A! What will he do to compensate for her is she is unable to continue on with the Project? The other girl is completely unreliable!'

'Now, now. That's of no worry right now. Inside sources from the Alice Academy has confirmed that our Angel is resting and recovering well from the incident. Right now… Kisaragi-kun, come out,' the old man barked at the side door. It opened and a teen hiding under a hoodie and skinny jeans came out. He bowed and proceeded to give his report.

'I'm Kisaragi Jin, copper-silver rank,' Kisaragi lifted his pair of bat-wings. It was half copper, half silver. The old man nodded and gestured for him to proceed. Sighing, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and continued, 'At around midnight, I was informed from agents at our key harbor, also known as harbor 241 to us, that some AAO goons were transporting our two agents into a warehouse. Further investigating revealed that they were planning to bring them to their own headquarters. I was not informed of such a move that had obtained approval by the higher-ups, so I acted to retrieve both of them.'

'Wise decision, Kisaragi-kun. Anything else?'

'Sure do, No.1,' Kisaragi's smirk was directed to the old man. There were a few outraged glares at the young teen but they were dismissed with a wave of a hand. 'The AAO is a wimpy organization.'

'Very nice observation, Kisaragi,' A young man sitting near upper part of the desk said dryly. 'I'm sure we can see from here that the AAO is worse than wimpy, seeing that not even one of them are able to defend against girls half their age and can barely remain standing when faced with a gun barrel.'

'No.5…' No.3 murmured. 'I have never heard you made such a great inference before. Who was your teacher? I must have this wonderful benefactor's name so that I can reward him with enough money to fund the whole of his life for ridding the organization of a stupid higher-up.'

'Shut up,' No.5 huffed and leaned back into his chair.

The old man at front, No.1, smiled and tapped the desk, raising everyone's attention immediately. He cleared his throat and said, 'It appears that we have gone too far off topic… Now… say, No.10, what do you think we should do to handle this situation?'

The last man at the table, sitting farthest away from the old man, looked up and said, while fiddling with his pen, 'Ah… they're still a valuable organization. After all, they're the first group we approved of, so it'll be a waste if we give them up completely. Uh…I suggest… why not make them start over…?'

'Erase their records and make them redo their negotiations? Oh… nice…' a lady sitting next to him grinned and rested her head on her palms. The bat wings hanging from her neck glinted and showed the numeral "8". 'That's a nice suggestion. It's so amusing too… to see them frantically negotiating and bargaining to get back into our good books… hey, why not we send ambassadors to the AA too… that way their reactions will be even more hilarious!'

'A sadist as ever, No.8…' No.6 sniggered. 'I like it though.'

'Hm… No.2?' the old man gestured for the man sitting on his right side.

'It's an acceptable solution. I see no problems in doing it… although it shouldn't merely be for entertainment, No.8.'

'You're no fun, No.2. You never were!' No.8 whined and pouted. He laughed briefly.

'It appears that we have a plausible solution. All in favor?' the old man raised his hand. Everyone in the room raised their hands, including Kisaragi who hid his behind his back. The old man nodded, and got up. 'I shall put No.10 and Kisaragi Jin in charge of this mission.'

The meeting was over.

Alice Academy, Hospital Room 253…

Light streamed in from the window and made the impossibly white room even whiter and more glaring to the eye. The small occupant on the bed groaned at the blinding light and shielded her eyes, curling into a ball.

'MIKAN!'

'Eh!' Mikan shot out of bed and sat upright. She looked around and saw her classmates sniggering and laughing at her reaction. She turned around and glared at the person at the window, who was responsible for pulling back the curtains, only to find the offender to be Yuki.

'Awake yet, sleeping beauty?' Hotaru loaded her Baka gun, ready to shoot regardless of the answer she will receive.

'I am! I am!' Mikan said in a panic. 'I'm wide awake, thanks to Yuki-chan!'

'I'm sorry. I was not aware of how bright the light actually was. I'm blind, you see,' Yuki smiled sweetly from the window, sending chills down most people's spine. 'You were asleep for quite a while. It's the day before the official start of the Alice Festival now. You should get back up and help out with the remaining preparations for the Festival.'

'Yuki-chan…' Mikan pouted and looked down. She spotted the strips of white bandages bounded tightly around Yuki's lower thigh and gasped. She exclaimed, 'Yuki-chan! Your leg!'

'Hm?' Yuki raised her injured leg. 'This? I got it from the incident. Someone shot me, I think. It's a gun-shot wound. At least, that's what the doctor told me.'

'Yuki-chan…' Mikan's eye watered and she lunged forward to hug her friend.

BAKA! BAKA! The mysterious bullets from Hotaru's Baka gun shot out quickly and whacked Mikan on the head. Mikan yelped in pain and stopped dead in her tracks… uh… lunge… and clutched her head. Hotaru wielded her gun expertly and prepared to shoot if Mikan made any more reckless and possibly dangerous moves.

'Hotaru-chan…' Mikan whined. Hotaru raised an eyebrow at her, provoking more whining and tears. Yuki sighed and shook her head.

'Anyways…I think I've got to go…' Yuki said as she turned towards the door. In no less than a second, it opened and two nurses rushed in.

'Yukiko-chan! Why are you out of bed? I know this is just the room down the corridor but you're still injured! Your wounds are extensive! You shouldn't b moving about so much. How's your leg? Is it bleeding again? Oh, I can see blood there. Yes, that little spot. That wound shouldn't be bleeding anymore. Look what you did, you little stubborn girl. Do you want to get better or not?' The nurses pushed Yuki onto a wheelchair and wheeled her out, nagging at her all the while. The occupants of the room stared as the scene unfolded, most eyelids twitching at the "motherly love" showered onto Yuki by the nurses.

'Hotaru-chan… what happened to Yuki-chan?' Mikan asked as she sat back onto her bed.

'Gunshot wound on her thigh, as you can see. She also had burns from the explosion,' Hotaru informed. Seeing Mikan's blank look, she said, 'Didn't you see? The explosion was quite big. You and Natsume barely escaped the fire. Yuki, meanwhile, was stuck in one of the warehouses that caught fire. It took a while before she was rescued and she suffered burns.'

'I didn't know…' Mikan whispered. 'Why didn't Yuki escape? I… I don't remember what exactly happened at that time…'

'Neither does she. She said she forgot what happened in the warehouse after you attempted to escape. She must have hit her head or something…' Hotaru pocketed her Baka gun. 'I've got to go. There are still preparations for the Festival that needs to be completed. You should go around to your attraction too. They must be behind schedule, with two of their members hospitalized and all.'

'Ok…' Mikan pouted. The rest left the room and left Mikan to wait for the doctor to give her the green light to be discharged.

'Oh yeah,' Hotaru paused by the doorway. 'You owe me 150 rabbits for the infiltration kit. You used nearly everything inside so I'll have to charge you for the whole set.'

'Eh?' Mikan exclaimed. Hotaru left the room quickly. Mikan pouted some more and frowned. 'Strange… I don't remember touching even half of the stuff in there…'

Hospital Room 270…

The nurses wheeled Yuki into the room and lifted her onto the bed. They locked the bars on the hospital bed so that she couldn't get out without outside assistance. One of the nurses gazed at her disapprovingly and scolded, 'You shouldn't have gone out, you know. Now we have to redress your wounds… You aren't leaving this room until a healer comes and heals up your leg! And that's if you're good. If you're not, we'll keep you here for the rest of the week.'

'But isn't a doctor's job to keep the patient's well-being at the peak of what they can possibly manage?' Yuki retorted gently, almost sounding as if she was not retorting at all, as she had been doing for the past 5 minutes when the nurses started their nagging.

The nurses looked at each other and sighed. They shook their heads and left the room wearily, as if the short 5 minutes spent with the girl was the most exhausting eternity ever spent. Yuki smiled. Hospital: 0, Yuki: 1.

'But… it is quite lonely here… I should have climbed out of the window just now to escape… but an injured blind person shouldn't be able to do that… A normal patient who has absolutely no tolerance for pain, that it,' Yuki thought to herself and smiled faintly. She fingered the black blindfold covering her eyes. The one with red designs had apparently come loose during the fire and had been burnt to nothing. 'A pity… I really liked that one too…'

The door opened again, and Yuki's ears picked up the sound of footfalls.

'Yes…?' Yuki turned to the direction of the door.

'Shirogane-chan,' the mature voice sounded in the quiet room. It sounded deep and stragely familiar… too familiar.

Yuki stiffened a bit. She licked her lips and replied smoothly, 'Sakurano-senpai, what brings you here today?'

'Can I not visit an injured patient, victim of our lack of vigilance at such a crucial time?' Sakurano walked over and sat down on the plastic foldy chair beside the bed. He smiled at her, though he knew she couldn't see it, and asked, 'How do you feel?'

'I've never been any better,' Yuki replied lightly, smiling as well. 'I almost didn't know I was injured.' Sarcasm was obvious.

Sakurano chuckled, 'I'm sure Subaru did his best on healing you. When you were brought into the hospital, your injuries were so bad that we almost thought you wouldn't survive. Subaru wheeled you into the operation room immediately and began healing your burns… he kept at it until he nearly passed out. Though, he says that you were very strong to have held out until your condition was finally stabilized. You healed quickly too.'

'I must thank him then.' Yuki brushed her fingers across her arms, feeling the layers of bandages wound around her. She imagined that she looked like a mummy on the outside. She touched her blindfold and told him reluctantly, 'I apologise. The blindfold you gave me… was lost in the fire.'

Sakurano shook it off. 'It doesn't matter. I'm just glad that you managed to get out in one piece, that's all… Not that you made it out in entirely one piece though. A bullet took a chunk out of your leg…'

'I can see… no, actually I feel. …Is there anything else?'

There was a brief pause. 'Nothing ever escapes you, does it?'

'If it was a gust of wind outside then of course I'd miss it,' Yuki replied.

Sakurano laughed lightly. 'Well… Actually, Subaru asked me if you were interested in… participating in a developing therapy for blindness. It's aimed at those that have lost their sight without actual damage to the eye itself. Well, we don't have many patients to work on so he'd appreciate it if you could join in the trial therapy.'

Yuki's figure was frozen. '…Is there a chance…?' Her voice became a whisper.

'It's a theory, but a very good one. I'm sure… that there's a high chance that it will succeed,' Sakurano leaned forward. 'We have the forms prepared. If you agree with it, just call me and I'll bring them over.' He got up and made his way to the door.

'Senpai, are you going to get the forms?' Yuki called. Sakurano stopped and looked back, puzzled. Yuki grinned and said, 'I've already decided. I'll do it.'

Sakurano said, 'You never fail to amaze me… I heard you did the same thing to Jinno-sensei.'

'Is that wrong?' Yuki tilted her head to the side. Sakurano shook his head and let the room with a slight smile.

Dark room in Black Halloween Central Headquarters.

Kisaragi lowered his hood and stared at the mirror in front of him. He clenched his teeth and punched the mirror, causing a large crack in it. He growled, 'Too much… Every time I look at myself, it reminds me too much of him…' He gave the mirror another punch. 'Damn…'

He grinded his teeth together and looked away, casting his gaze onto the stones lying on the bed. Sighing, he walked over to them and picked them up. The three cloudy white stones had a pink sheen to them and they glowed faintly. He cradled them in his hands and stared at them forlornly. 'So long since she has requested for me to do something like this… so long since I have pulled myself away from those fake ideals and tampered with another's memories…' He fished another one from his pocket and looked at it too. The stone has a brighter shine to it and it sparkled in the darkness. He remembered who it was taken from. And what he had taken along with it.

'They're memory stones, aren't they?' his reflection in the mirror taunted. Even the broken glass couldn't mask the look of contempt on his reflection's face.

'You.' Kisaragi growled.

'No need to get so angry. After all, I am no more than a fragment of your very own mind… placed by Father dearest,' the reflection laughed. 'What did you do now? You listened to the little pip squeak, you fool. Not that I have any qualms with you using your powers… you're a hypocrite, you know that? You stressed how wrong it was to tamper with minds, yet you had no problems when it came to your father or the Angel. What is it, favoritism?'

'Shut up, Shin!' Kisaragi yelled.

'Shut up, Shin,' Shin repeated sarcastically. 'Looks like you took some of the pip squeak's memory too…'

'I did not. I duplicated it,' Kisaragi defended angrily.

'Even so… You tampered with it and created one more copy of a memory that should not have existed. Memories with pleasant feelings glow brighter than others. That one looks very pleasant… Ah… I got it. You duplicated memories of her meeting with someone else, right?'

'Shin…' Kisaragi warned dangerously. 'Shut up.'

'How mean of you. If she knew… oh boy, she would be so mad…' Shin laughed and threw up his arms. 'You took something else too, right?' Shin reached into his pocket and revealed a black blindfold. Kisaragi bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying anything. Shin fingered the blindfold with a look of amusement. 'Really, Jin, you never took interest in someone else's possessions. Could it be… that you're jealous? Or that you're attached? Surely that can't be good for an agent of the Black Halloween.'

'Shut up!' Kisaragi threw something lying on the bed at the mirror. It shattered into countless pieces, but not before Kisaragi could hear the maniacal laugh that echoed in his ears.

The door cracked open a fraction of an inch. 'Kisaragi-sama… preparations for you to enter the Academy is complete… No.3 has requested that you make your way down to the departure lobby in half an hour with your belongings.' The door closed abruptly and the room was once again cloaked in darkness.

Kisaragi lifted the four stones in his hands. He drew out the blindfold he had stolen from Yuki and sighed. Tossing them into the side pocket of a bag, he began throwing clothes into the bag messily. He paused while he was packing his things, glancing again at the brightly glowing stone in the bag.

'…The barrier of the room conceals what happens inside, but it doesn't conceal the hearts of the occupants. She will find out what happened in that room, surely. What happened just now, and what happened before.'

Back at the Academy Hospital…

Sakurano tidied up the papers scattered around the desk which Yuki was currently sitting at. Yuki sighed and stretched her hands, feeling the stretch after straining her hand to sign at least a hundred or so documents. She moaned softly, 'What kind of therapy needs 109 forms to fill out?'

'You counted?' Sakurano looked surprised.

'I guess. I was kinda bored,' she shrugged and yawned, remembering to cover her mouth as she did so. 'Is that all?'

'Yes, that's all for now. When the therapy is over, you may have to sign a few more documents,' he said as he tied the documents into a few stacks. He caught Yuki's twitching fists and chuckled, 'It's not that bad… it won't be as many as this time. At least… that's what I was informed of.'

'Thank you…' Yuki smiled at him and held out her hand. Sakurano took it and they shook hands. She winced and pulled away abruptly.

'Is something wrong?'

Yuki smiled apologetically. 'I'm sorry… I seem to forget that my shoulder isn't exactly ready for that kind of stuff yet.'

'I'm sorry, I should have known,' he bowed his head. 'Does it hurt?'

'It hurts like you had a drill driving full blast at it while having bags of salt being poured simultaneously on top,' Yuki shrugged, winced and grimaced. 'But I have a good tolerance for pain so it's alright… It doesn't hurt as much. I should be ready for the Alice Festival by tomorrow, so it's really nothing at all,' she laughed and got up slowly, using her good hand to support her. She limped over to the bed and sat down, massaging her stiff legs.

'I'll get the nurse to come in to check on you,' He picked up the forms and made his way to the door. He turned back just before he left the room and said, '…Get better soon.'

Yuki sighed the moment the door met the frame. She touched her eyelids, drawing a finger lightly across the skin. 'It's not that I can't see… I don't want to see. But I want to know… what exactly can you do to make me regain my sight back… and what exactly you can do to convince me that the world isn't as dirty as it seemed the last time I saw through this pair of eyes.'

Next day at the Special Abilities Class attraction…

The sound of a pair of metal sticks making contact with ground was heard.

'Sorry, I'm late!' Yuki limped over in a pair of crutches to where majority of the class was sitting. She smiled a bit and asked, 'How is it going?'

Mikan sobbed and wailed, 'Yuki-chan, no one is coming to our attraction!' She plunged forward and knocked Yuki to the ground, hugging her at the waist. 'Why isn't anyone coming?'

Tsubasa gave a friendly laugh and pulled Mikan up, hugging her so that she wouldn't go attacking Yuki again. He said, 'Sorry about that. We haven't been having any customers lately, and Mikan is very upset. Are you ready for your post? It looks like you're still injured.'

Yuki patted her leg and got up with the aid of Misaki. She shrugged and said, 'I'm alright, I guess. Mikan and I have shifts, right? Is it alright if she goes for the first shift then?'

'Alright, alright,' Tsubasa produced a clipboard and did some scribbling on it. He winked at Misaki and she grinned back, a glint in her eyes.

'Yukiko-chan… let's go get you changed!' Misaki picked Yuki up and charged towards the back room where the costumes were held.

'Huh?'

A few minutes later…

'Ah, Yukiko-chan, I'm so amazed that my sense of style is as great as ever!' Misaki looked as if she had won the Nobel Prize for best costume design., winking ever so often.

'Praising yourself, I see,' Tsubasa sniggered from behind. Misaki rounded on his and gave him a right hook to the cheek.

Mikan, meanwhile, looked at Yuki from head to toe and her eyes popped out. She drooled and said, 'Yuki-chan… you're so pretty!'

Yuki blushed and fingered her hair. She was in a light purple costume of different shades. The top comprised of a tube top that exposed her belly button. A translucent scarf was wrapped around her, draping her body like a long blanket and its edges caressed the floor as she walked. Her pants were like Mikan's except that it had slight embroidery at the edges and it had a belt around her thin waist. Misaki had combed her hair into two high ponytails and tied them with gold hair bands. She then went one step further and tied them into loose plaits, attaching little bells at the end. Her blindfold was replaced with a violet one with gold outlines.

'Eh… dash on some make-up and this girl can become the next model…' some random guy from the class commented. 'Hey, is we sell her photos, we can get funds to renovate our classroom!'

'Yuki-chan doesn't need make up!' Mikan pouted and hugged Yuki tightly. 'And she is not a cow you can squeeze money out of!'

The guy scratched his head and sighed, 'Ok, I get it. It's not like she has anything to squeeze out anyways. Look how thin she is…'

'Yuki is fit and slender!' Mikan nearly screamed at the guy. He flinched and backed away, raising his hands to signify defeat.

'Misaki-senpai… Are you sure about letting me wear this costume?' Yuki asked softly.

Misaki laughed and gave a thumbs-up, saying, 'Why not? I took into consideration your task and your injury. This outfit is the lightest I could find so that you can move without much burden and it's so cute too. The bells, well… wasn't really in it but you looks so cute!' She gushed with tears and pride.

'I see…' Yuki sighed and pried Mikan off her. 'Shall I go fishing then?'

'Fishing?' Tsubasa and Misaki asked in union.

'For customers, of course,' Yuki gave a mischievous grin and Mikan perked up.

'With our undeniable charm…' Mikan blew a kiss and clung onto Yuki.

Yuki stood stiffly in Mikan's arms but continued, 'We'll get you all some customers to start the flow.'

'Yuki-chan! You were supposed to say: We'll sweep them off their feet and start a waterfall of customers!' Mikan pouted and smacked Yuki on the arm. She winced and grasped the spot where Mikan had hit her and massaged it.

Tsubasa laughed nervously and said to Mikan, 'Please be careful with her. I think she's still injured.'

'Ah! Sorry, sorry!' Mikan apologized to Yuki. Yuki waved a hand and shrug it off.

'Now are we going or not?'

'Yes! Yes!'

Less than 5 minutes later…

Mikan winked at a passing group of boys and smiled brightly. She gestured for them to come over, which they did curiously. Mikan grinned at them and said, 'How would you like a free go at the Special Abilities Class' attraction. It's completely free of charge, and I guarantee you that you will not regret it.'

One of the boys in the group hesitated and said, 'The SA Class… aren't they the usual outcasts?'

'Yeah… will they do something creepy to us?' another boy expressed his thoughts.

'Like what?' Some soft voice called out from behind them. They turned around sharply to see Yuki, dressed confidently in her costume, staring up at them with her hands behind her back. They jumped at her appearance but once the shock was over, they found themselves staring at her with eyes the size of tea plates.

'Uh…'

'You'll come, won't you?' Yuki asked sweetly, giving them one of her bright smiles. They leaned back, trying not to get mesmerized. She asked again, 'You're coming to our attraction, right?'

'Uh…' one of them stuttered. 'If that's… fine with you… I guess…?'

'Great!' Mikan exclaimed and clung onto one of the boys' arm. She pulled them over to the gym they were using, saying cheerfully, 'It's right here! Don't be shy, step right up!' She turned back briefly to wink at Yuki. Yuki smiled and gave a thumb-up.

They got the river flowing… and soon the river became a waterfall.

And then an hour later…

'No! I don't wanna go with you!' Mikan yelled as she was dragged away forcefully by Natsume. Apparently… he had been forced to enter, got past all the obstacles and asked Kokoroyomi to pick out Tsubasa's lamp for him… only that Koko picked out Mikan's instead. And so, Mikan was now subject to Natsume's beck and call for the rest of the Alice Festival. Everyone in the Special Abilities Class shivered. Who will be next? They had been having good luck until Natsume came and broke past all the supposedly unbreakable obstacles and tricked Mikan to get off her platform, successfully becoming the first to make it past the game.

Yuki sighed and got up from the chair she was sitting on, pulling her hand out of the basin of water. An hour ago, she was given the task of watching the contestants should they do something undesirable, and now, before her actual shift arrived, she was already going onto the battlefield.

Tsubasa walked over and slung an arm around her shoulders, asking, 'You okay?'

'Nothing unmanageable, Tsubasa-senpai,' Yuki replied. She dusted her costume –though there wasn't much point or use for doing that –and was led into the maze by Tsubasa.

'We'll probably get someone to take over every two hours or so. We'll also try to limit the routes to that junction… though I think it wouldn't be much of a problem since you're taking the final obstacle. Well… if you're feeling unwell, just tell us and we'll take you off the shift pronto,' Tsubasa patted her on the back and smiled.

'…Thank you, senpai. You'll make a great leader in future,' Yuki said. Tsubasa blushed and looked away, embarrassed. He increased his pace and led her through the back, and into the junction where her obstacle was set up. He glanced around, checking for anything that was obviously out of place, found none, and nodded with satisfaction. Yuki stepped into her obstacle and smiled.

'Perfect. This will do just perfectly.'

'Glad to hear that. I entrust you the freedom of the SA class. The best of luck,' Tsubasa bowed, with a weak Arabic style, and set off to assume his post somewhere in the maze.

'Customer #354 entering the maze!' The announcement echoed in the gymnasium.

'Sa… who will be my first customer…?' Yuki sat down cross-legged and smiled mischievously. 'I won't let anyone pass me… not even Mikan or Hotaru.'

How was it...? I read it through a few times until I was totally satisfied, but I'm sure a month from now I will be horrified at this chapter. It happens all the time. I'll put off rewriting until I complete the whole story, but if there's somthing really wrong, please drop me a review and I'll see if there's anything I can do.

THE POLE FOR YUKIXPAIRING IS OUT! PLEASE VOTE!

Thank you! RXR!