Chapter 4
Suiri Estate- Himeno's room
Himeno opened her eyes as the sunlight glimmered on her face waking her up. She quickly pulled out the covers and sat up. She looked at the clock. It was six thirty in the morning. School starts at eight thirty. It was half an hour before she has to wake up. Feeling that the sleepiness has worn off, she decided to just kill the full thirty minutes by reviewing her previous mission before sending it to Mistress Moon Raven tonight along with Anemone. She crept up from her bed to the bedside drawer where her body bag containing her laptop is. She quickly opened it at the same time, took out a small camera pin that was on her jacket the whole mission while eavesdropping on the target last night.
She then connected the camera on her laptop and replayed the scenes last night. She then made sure to make copies of the video. On the camera, the computer and on her USB which consists of all her assignments this year, and finally, on a disk.
But before copying it, she first watched her favorite part of the clip. The fight scenes of the Varia children which she got because of the camera's retractable lenses did she manage to get it. As she watched the clip, she remembered the time when Mistress Moon Raven called her and Anemone before the mission, which was rare on any occasions. She became intrigued about why did she have to bring her parents along with her in such short notice from Japan to Italy. But she remembered that Vendetta owned a series of fast flying jets and other vehicles that were made by the organization's mechanics.
Something was up, and something inside her knows it and involves her. And the only way to find out is to investigate it secretly, even from her parents, since they tend to keep some secrets of their own for her own good. So she fished out her phone and dialed a phone number. The phone rang five times before someone answered it.
"White Lotus, do you have any idea what the time is?" a girl's voice complained.
"Lycoris, you know very well that we live on the same country," Himeno implied.
"Yes I'm aware of that, but you know my wake up time is not until seven thirty," Lycoris answered.
Besides Anemone, she has worked with several agents her age. Lycoris is one of the three spider lilies assassin group of siblings of the organization.
"Hey, I woke up thirty minutes before my wake up time," Himeno complained.
Lycoris growled on the other side of the phone. "Just tell me what you want so I can go back to sleep," she instructed rudely.
Himeno chuckled after hearing the rudeness. She's not a morning person. "I want you to research about Vongola Decimo," she answered.
A faint surprise of Lycoris reached Himeno's ears, "Why do you want to know that?"
"Out of whim perhaps; I've been drawn to the mafia for a while now," Himeno said.
Himeno heard Lycoris groan, "Fine. I'll send you the info in your e-mail. Do you want me to send it to your permanent partner?" she asked.
"No. Anemone doesn't need to know. It's practically my interest, so he's out of it," she explained.
"You got it," Lycoris approved. "Can I go back to sleep now?"
Himeno giggled and hung up.
Vongola Japanese Base
Everyone was huddled up in the dining room eating breakfast, except for one particular red-head.
"Hey, has anyone seen Shiori wake up?" Spinel asked.
"She's been awake since thirty minutes ago. She must be watching the footage of the mission we had last night," Athena answered, remembering the mini camera attached to each one of them.
"And she tends to watch each and every one of them," Regine added.
As Regine said it, the red haired girl came down the dining room in a flash with her hair still messy, and still in her pajamas. "Guys you've got to see this," she quickly informed the group.
"Judging from you appearance, it is an emergency," Spinel teased.
Shiori growled which made the mechanic's son shiver. She then went to the screen and played a video footage, "This is the video footage form last night's mission. It was attached on Yohannes's camera."
It was shown in the footage that while Yohannes was fighting, the camera lens was faced at Himeno and Anemone fighting. Then the guardian's children noticed something about Himeno that they know that Tsuna is also capable of possessing; going on Dying Will mode.
"S-She's just like Juudaime!" Ayako shouted.
"I agree," Seishiro said. "Only him can go to Dying will mode excluding Basil-san,"
"It's impossible…no one can go to dying will mode except for Tsuna-jii-san," Narumi added.
Martin placed a finger under his lips, "Come to think of it, we did see White Lotus do that when he was fighting Anya last night before we left,"
The others then looked at him in surprise.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Gilbert demanded.
"We didn't know only Juudaime can do it. And we only have a faint memory of it since we were still on the age of forgetting memories when he was in combat," Jonathan informed. True enough, the Varia children are always in the Varia mansion training and doing whatever they want to their heart's content without going out. They only met the others just last year when their stay in Japan was arranged.
"So now, we have two possible candidates as the real Eleventh boss of the Vongola." Spinel stated. "The first one is Himeno Suiri who is the look-alike yhat seems to have no combat skills, and this mysterious White Lotus, an assassin of the Vendetta Assassination Organization who has the abilities of Juudaime…quite a dilemma if you ask me…"
"Not for long," Shiori said making the others stare at her like piercing daggers at her. "Dad and I have connection in the World Wide Web from all over the world and we have access to any information we want from anywhere by our knowledge of numerous hacking codes. I can find out who is behind the mask of White Lotus, though it would take some time, since I've received information that the organization is connected to Vendicare," she explained.
"You can do that…but if you did do it, it could be possible that they might send a virus to your computer and corrupt it. You know they only get the best people in every task," Athena explained. "Unless you have my virus eliminator system that I built myself," she added while showing a disk which was labeled, 'Pallas Athena Virus Eliminator System Installer' on the disk.
"You're really into your dad getting your name from a Greek god huh?" Anya said raising an eyebrow.
Athena chuckled, "It just came to me after I finished this." Then she looked at Shiori, "Want to have it in your laptop?" she offered.
"Would I ever!" Shiori agreed. Besides from Shiori and Spinel, Athena is also a genius when it comes to computer programs especially in privacy and security, heck, she can even invent indestructible viruses.
"Am I noticing that Athena is becoming a tech geek like the two?" Rinsel asked Regine.
"Well, Lussuria-san's wife is a virus and privacy and security system maker, so to say, she has her mother's traits," she whispered in the blonde's ear.
"Yeah, I forgot that one," Rinsel whispered back.
Athena then gave Shiori the disk and the red-head happily received it.
"So, how long will this thing take to be completely installed in my laptop?" she asked the multi-colored haired girl.
"About five hours. It has a lot of installation to go on, so you have to endure it." Athena answered. "But I believe it would take a month prior before you could use the system completely, since you laptop has to adapt and get used to the new system. Sorry about that," she apologized.
Shiori shook her head, "No, I understand. As long as it can prevent my laptop to be corrupted, I'll gladly accept it," she assured.
"You know, you should get changed Shiori. You look like a blizzard passed you," Spinel teased.
Shoiri then looked at herself. She was still in her pajamas. "Geez! I can't believe I'm still dressed like this!" she said.
Spinel smirked, "You better get ready, we'll be leaving for Yuumei in thirty minutes," he informed.
They all watched in amusement as the red-head tech girl stormed in her room to get ready for school.
Namimori Private Academy School Gate
Himeno got off her car and went inside the school grounds. She was greeted by numerous students as always, as respect for her superiority. But at times, she didn't need that kind of praise. A simple good morning would do. As she went to the school, she spotted a white haired boy going inside the school. She then ran to the white figure and patted him on the shoulder. The white haired boy looked at her with his violet eyes.
"Did you get enough sleep from last night?" she merrily asked.
"Of course not; because of the extra conversation last night, I almost had eye bags," he sarcastically complained.
Himeno giggled slightly "Well at least it didn't happen," she replied.
"Ha, ha," he mocked.
Suddenly, a voice called Himeno. "Kaichou!"
The two looked behind them and saw a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes who was wearing glasses.
"Shinkiro-kun, what is it?" she asked the boy.
The boy named Shinkiro stopped in front of them panting. When he regained his stamina, he stood up properly and gave a piece of paper to her. "What's this?" the brunette asked while taking the paper.
"It's the memo for this year's annual music video contest at the Music Festival. The theme for this year is Korean pop music," he informed.
Himeno looked at the memo sincerely and quietly. Julian and Shinkiro knew what was going to be her next reaction. "Really!?" she asked the class vice president with shining eyes.
The two boys sweat dropped. They both know that she is a fan of Korean music since her parents has exposed her in Japanese and Korean music.
"Y-Yes, the Namimori Middle school across the town will also be with us in this school on the days of the festival, and will also be competing. Hence, on the day of the festival, things will get a little busier, especially for the school police," he explained.
"Never mind that!" she replied. "Shinkiro, prepare a meeting at class 2-SS in homeroom period! We need a major meeting and preparation for this!" she ordered happily.
"A-As you wish Kaichou," the blonde replied. He bowed at her before he left to talk to their homeroom teacher.
Julian laughed softly, "Namimori Middle school huh? This will be fun," he said.
Himeno smiled like a fan girl, "You said it! I already have a plan for this year!" she exclaimed.
"I wonder who will be you next victi- I mean participants this year," the white haired boy wondered.
"Enough about the participants, I need to think of the music video we will imitate, and there's still an hour before classes starts," then she grabbed his hand. "To the office computer!" she shouted as she dragged Julian to her school office.
"H-Himeno!" Julian shouted as he was dragged inside the school.
Unbeknownst to them that the mini-Varia saw Julian being dragged by the fan girl mode brunette, "Heh, I want to see a picture of that," Anya said with an amused face.
Martin then showed his camera, "I already did. Five thousand yen if you want a copy," he informed.
Rinsel frowned, "No fair," she complained.
"Nothing is fair when it comes to money business. Besides, this is a priceless picture if you ask me. I thing I'll sell this to the others," he answered.
"Che, you're more like a Mammon clone than a Fran clone," Regine insulted which didn't seem to hit the green haired boy.
"Thank you," he just plainly replied.
School Police Commissioner's Office
Himeno was browsing her music video files in her computer while Julian was sitting in the right of her desk taking a peek.
"Himeno, what exactly are you searching for? The participants are still not decided," Julian started.
"At least I have alternatives and I have tons of them." Himeno replied still paying her attention to the computer screen.
She stumbled upon her file of the K-pop singers, KARA, 2NE1, 4 Minute, SHINee, Girl's Generation, TVXQ, Super Junior, Big Bang, JQT, f(x), and many others. She then burned the audio music to her disk. After a few minutes, the disk was done.
"Now all that's left is the performers," she said to herself while raising the disk proudly with glimmering eyes.
Julian sighed. No one, even he can stop her fan girl antics once it's been turned on. Well, that's what you get from parents working on the entertainment industry. She then placed the disk in her bag.
"I can't wait 'till homeroom period," she said with a blinding smile.
Julian just sweat dropped while gazing at her.
Class 2-SS
Himeno got to the classroom while listening to her disk she just burned. She took her seat on the second row, fourth column to the right. Just in time, she noticed a demure girl with black hair and red eyes.
"Well good morning Ai-chan," she greeted as the raven sat beside her. Ai Emma (not the one in Jigouko Shoujo, but only looks like her. you'll see what I'm thinking soon) is a girl with a brain full of information because of the researches she does. But Himeno always beats her to being the top of the class and the school being in second.
"Yeah, morning," she greeted with a sleepy face.
Himeno smiled, "Still sleepy?" she asked.
"Because of research that's all," Ai explained.
A few hours later…
Homeroom was today's third period. Now, Himeno was beyond happy that this can go on smoothly.
"Okay, as we speak, the music festival is almost here, and we are to be with Namimori Middle School this year. The theme for this year is Korean music. Now, what should we choose?" Himeno started while sending a cue to Shinkiro, the vice.
"Class 2-A has already chosen the group of SHINee; class 2-B chose Super Junior, and class 2-C has chosen Girl's Generation. Basically, all of the class in our year has already chosen their choices but us. Does anyone have suggestions?" he asked.
Then, hands were seen up, except for the seven seated beside the window in a column; specifically, the mini-Varia, and Ai who was busy with her reading. They are never interested in this stuff, except for Athena who is always energetic when some things sounds fun.
Suggestions then came like a storm shouting their favorite K-pop artists.
"What about MBLAQ?" a boy suggested.
"I vote for U-Kiss!" said a girl.
"No, no! I prefer 2NE1!"
"Absolutely not! I prefer KARA!"
"No! f(x)!" suggested another girl.
At that last argument, they all looked happy with the girl group, f(x). Himeno started the vote, and it won. Now, it's up to the participants what song will they use. But…who are the participants? Voting is hard for things like this because some people are embarrassed, but they have a solution for it. She snapped her fingers and called, "Shinkiro,"
Shinkiro saluted, "Yes Kaichou,"
"The bowl of names for the girls please," she ordered with authority. When Shinkiro got it from one of the shelves, he placed it at the teacher's table and their teacher, Megumi Hasegawa or Megumi-sensei to pick five names of girls.
She picked five at once and placed them on the table. She picked up the first paper and read it aloud, "Anya-san," she called out the first name, since they don't have the same names in the class.
Anya stood up quickly from her seat, "Megumi-sensei, can I reject it?" she asked.
Megumi-sensei shook her head, "I'm sorry Anya-san, but in the class rule, if the name of the person picked from this bowl cannot reject the position meant for the chosen person," she explained.
Anya growled as she sat back on her chair and mumbled something about breaking the bowl full of the girl's names.
Then, Megumi-sensei picked up another paper, "Next is Athena-san," she said.
Athena gave a smile, "This will be fun," she murmured.
Then the next one was opened, "Rinsel-san," she said.
Rinsel's eyes (Not that they could see them) widened and gave a frown. 'Damn that bowl' she thought. But as the teacher said, she can't refuse.
Then she picked another paper, "The next is Regine-san," she called.
Regine just stayed quiet because she was reading a book and no one seems to notice.
Then the teacher opened the last one. Everyone was exited to know who it could be. "The last one is Himeno-san," she declared.
Himeno is quite happy hearing this, but hid it for a while. "So there goes all the members, all that is needed is the résumé, and we are officially registered. She said writing on the application paper and gave it to Ayaka, the secretary.
"Ayaka-chan, to the principal's office," she ordered as she gave her a hall pass. The girl, being a member of the track team, then stormed out of the room in a hurry in full speed.
At lunch hour
The bell rang indicating that their English class is over. The students rushed out like a storm in the room. The mini-Varia waited until the students are all out leaving Himeno in the room. The girls approached Himeno quietly, but Himeno felt their presence.
"Yes?" she asked the four.
"Why on earth do we have to get picked by this event?" Anya demanded.
Himeno gave a sigh, "It's not my fault at all. This has been our way of deciding participants that will represent our class ever since school started," she explained "So don't blame me,"
Then, a voice was heard that is hated by the seven, "Himeno," Julian called from the door. His face looked like he was in panic.
The brunette went to him worriedly and asked, "What is it?"
Julian looked seriously at her, "The students from the school a few blocks from here are rebelling just outside the school gate. They are the ones you mashed to pulp a month ago," he informed.
"I only did that because they were bullying the first years, and I have the permission that if they use brute force, I can do the same. What's happening now?" she asked with an angry face.
"The teachers and the principals are reasoning with them. They are about ten students outside," he informed.
Not wasting time, Himeno went to her seat and took out metal gloves from her bag and rushed out. Julian was about to follow when he was stopped by Yohannes' words.
"Why didn't you people take care of it yourselves?" he asked.
"Because I have no right to," he answered. "It's Himeno's problem and we have no right to interfere. If you want to watch her, I suggest you come," he added.
Since they don't have anything to do now, and they needed more information about Himeno, they decided to come.
So what do you guys think? This chapter is a little long right??? I think I can't write like this one…but I'll try to. And yes, I got the name of Athena from the Greek god herself because I can't think of a good Italian name. Here's a tidbit, I named some characters from Code Geass R2, and so it's up to you to guess.
Lycoris, the one Himeno talked to; I got her name from one of the three types of Spider Lilies, the one from Jigouko Shoujo. You will know who she is soon, but I doubt you will know who Anemone is soon. So start guessing!
As for the K-pop groups, they are my favorite ones that I have been listening to; even my friendster has a playlist full of it!
Now enough nagging, please review!
=Cathy Rin=