Sorry for the longgggggg wait. Enjoy! ;) I guess Alicia actually likes Hiro, huh?
Oh, we're getting near to the truth...hehehehe

Chapter 7

"So, you're saying that a girl visited him today at the café?" Asch reconfirmed.

"Yeah. She was a tanned girl, who wore a hoodie…with your school's initials on it," Alicia explained.

They were in her room and it was passed 10 pm. Asch thought hard of the girl Alicia mentioned. His sister also told her that the girl was blonde.

"I think I have a vague idea of who she is. She's my senior, Carla…" the brother said.

"Carla? Who is she?" Alicia couldn't help but ask.

Shaking his head, he replied, "That's all I know…I mean, I hardly know her. She's popular for her talent, they say…"

They heard a knock on Alicia's door. It was their father, checking up on her. Asch made an excuse for her so that their father won't question her. She was relieved to have such a reliable brother. After turning of the light, she went to bed.

The next day, she went to school as usual. It was the final week before summer vacation. She sighed as she got another task assigned from her Chemistry teacher. It was a group work, sadly. Then, she got her timetable for her swimming club and also, for the Annual Summer Festival. Her class had decided to set up a café, saying that she might have some ideas on what to sell and how to decorate the classroom. Could this day get any more hectic? She screamed in her mind.

"Chill, girlfriend. You're lucky enough to have the most popular guy in town as your boyfriend," one of her two best friends, Arietta said.

"That has nothing to do with this…" Alicia replied to the black haired girl.

"Come on, it's not the end of the world if you accept to do the decoration. We'll help," her other best friend, an orange haired, said, handing her the latte she ordered.

"I guess…" Alicia sighed.

"So, how's it going with Hiro? How is he?" the orange haired girl asked.

Alicia took it. "I don't know, Meredith. It's not like I'd want to see him now…"

"Why? Did something happened?" Meredith asked.

"Meredith, don't ask her questions she won't answer," Arietta interrupted sternly.

"You wanna know too, right?" Meredith replied.

Alicia shook her head, meaning that she would tell when the time is right. Her best friends raised their brows. The girl fixed her hair and rushed back to class as lunch time was over. The two friends followed her. They came to a stop when a pink haired girl, the one who pushed Alicia into the fountain appeared in front of them. She warned Alicia, threatening her that she should break up with Hiro. As always, she would ignore the girl. A scream was heard and in an instant, a crowd of girls were blocking the entrance of Alicia's classroom. It turned out they were screaming over Hiro as he was there. Alicia shook her head, handed her books to Arietta and walked away. Meredith took Alicia's Biology text book to reduce the weight that Arietta had to carry.

She leaned closer to her best friend, whispering, "Why is he here?"

Shrugging, Arietta replied, "Must have something to do with what Alicia won't tell us…"

Hiro made his way out of the crowd. They groaned when a teacher told them to get back to class. Hiro apologized for the disturbance and explained why he was here. The two girls rushed into their classroom before Hiro could spot them. He knew them because Alicia had introduced them once. The boy excused himself after that, mentioning that he would wait for her after school. A few minutes after he left, Alicia entered the class with almost all girls glaring at her. She went to her seat, ignoring them.

Arietta whispered, "He'll be waiting after school…"

"He won't be seeing me because I have to go shopping for the materials to decorate the classroom," Alicia replied calmly.

"Wait, already? But it's still too early," Meredith replied, disbelieved.

"I have to pull a stunt like that. I need time," the brown haired girl muttered.

Hiro rushed to the park after that. He was meeting with his gang but he was also expecting Carla to show up. She did show up and Hiro introduced her to his gang. Honey and Gogo pierced their gazes at her. She knew why.

Gogo was the one who asked, "So, what's her specialty?"

Getting a glance at Hiro, Carla explained, "I guess I should start with what I do. I'm an information cracker. I can gather information that others could hardly get. I can crack websites and passwords easily. Hiro here needed my help with the murders that are going on around San Fransokyo."

"I needed her to search about the tattoo I saw on all of the victims' back. They all have the same green clover leaf tattoo," Hiro continued.

"So did you find anything about it?" Wasabi asked.

"Yeah. It turns out that tattoo used to belong to an assassination group, but the group disbanded two years ago," Carla replied.

"You're saying we can't get this on the net?" Honey reconfirmed.

"I tried every net I know…" Hiro muttered.

"So what does this have to do with the murder?" Gogo asked.

"Maybe someone is trying to bring justice to this world by eliminating all of the remaining members of this group?" Fred suggested.

Hiro invited Carla to sit down. The girl sat between Honey and Gogo. She opened her laptop and showed them what she had found. She had found one of the journals of the group, but it was hard to read as it seemed it was written in a code.

"Can you crack the code?" Hiro asked.

Shaking her head, "No. I've been trying since last night till before I was getting ready to see you," she replied.

Honey interrupted, "Hiro, this is more than enough. We could go to the web and see if we can find a list of all the members."

"Yeah, and maybe we can get to these members before the killer could kill them! We'll be a step ahead of him!" Fred exclaimed.

"That's a good idea. I guess we could try that," Hiro muttered.

"I'll see what I can do about this journal," Carla said, smiling. "So, who's the lucky girl that had stolen your heart?"

The gang giggled at her question. Hiro was flushed, rolling his eyes.

He stuttered, "Her name is Alicia Hamada. She's working at the café."

"Wait, is she the girl in the maid uniform?" Carla asked.

"Yes, Carla! Isn't she cute?" Honey asked.

"She is. You are perfect for her…" Carla stated, smirking.

She took her leave after confirming what she had to do to help them. The groups decided to leave too because Hiro said that he had to 'bump' into Alicia before she could reach the café. He took his motorbike and made his way back to her school.

Alicia, Meredith and Arietta walked out of the school building to find another crowd of girls at the entrance of the school. Alicia groaned.

"Oh my god! Is it really him?!" a girl screamed.

"Ahhhh! He brought a motorbike! Is he expecting someone?!" another one screamed.

Meredith and Arietta turned to Alicia. The girl was practically trying to think of a way to slip away without him noticing.

"Look, we can help you out…" Meredith said.

"Yeah, we'll tell a lie and you can go back through the back gate," Arietta suggested.

"It's okay. I think I should confront him…this time," Alicia replied, forcing a smile.

The two nodded. She walked up to the front gate. Hiro's face brighten up when he saw her. Alicia faked a happy smile as she approached him. Some girls were whispering and some were glaring at her. She ignored them as she would all the time. Hiro gave her the helmet she would always wear when he took her out for rides.

"I'm sorry, Hiro. Something came up and I can't make it to work today. I've already told Aunt Cass about it," she muttered before walking away.

Meredith and Arietta saw that as a sign to follow her. Arietta apologized to Hiro and told him that Alicia wasn't feeling very well. Hiro entrusted her an envelope to give to Alicia. She nodded and rushed to catch up with her two best friends. Hiro went home after that, knowing that his aunt would need his help to run the café that day.

The three girls went a store Arietta suggested. It was a mini store that had mostly every types of materials for decorations that they could use. They discussed about costumes as they walk around the store.

"Doesn't your brother always follow you around when we're shopping?" Meredith asked.

"Don't ask an obvious question, Mer," Arietta muttered.

"Nope, he can't today. He had some stuffs he had to take care of at his lab. He said he'd rely father the message…but, Kate could be anywhere near me," Alicia explained.

"Your family is controlling you too much," Meredith groaned.

Chuckling, Alicia replied, "At least they still let me hang out with you two even under supervision. I mean, we never break the rules…"

Kate made an appearance, saying, "Why don't you get those plastic wrappers over there? I can help make the snacks much cuter with just that."

"See," Alicia said at her two gaping best friends.

"Sorry, Sis. The Chess Club of the school needed my help to win a tournament just now," Kate explained.

"She could have been here earlier than us?" Meredith asked.

Nodding, Alicia replied, "It's my family we're talking about. So, Kate, anything you'd like to buy?"

"No, nothing at all. Though I'd like it if you make me my favorite brownies when we get home," Kate replied.

"Deal," Alicia said, smiling.

They continued their shopping. They bought the wrappers Kate suggested and some strings and ribbons. Then, they head to a café for a drink. They had Kate to help draw the maid and butler costumes for them. They had to agree that Kate was an acceptably good designer. She was proud of it, too. When that was done, they decided to go home.

"Okay," Kate started, catching her sister's attention. "I just have to know… Did you and Hiro had a fight?'

"Why would you say that?" Alicia asked.

Kate raised her brows and rolled her eyes. She said, "Well, you haven't been talking about him since Tuesday. I thought something was up…"

Sighing, Alicia replied, "It's complicated…"

"I guess… I mean, the first lovers' quarrel in our family," Kate teased.

"Haha…very funny, Kate," her sister replied, rubbing her head.

"Hey, you'll ruin my hair!" Kate complained, fixing her hair.

They made a stop at the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner. Then, they went straight home. The two was surprised to see two policemen exiting their front door. Their parents were talking to them. Kate and Alicia turned to look at each other. They bowed to the policemen before stepping into their lawn. Their parents didn't say anything to them at all. Alicia decided not to think about it because she may have an idea of what they were talking about. Kate, on the other hand, was dying to know. She had a hint of what was going on but she wanted to know why that day. Why couldn't it be any other day?

It was her birthday.

Hiro got a call from Carla, saying that she was able to crack some of the paragraphs of the journal. Hiro told her that he didn't want to know about it until it was fully deciphered.

"But Hiro! There's something you should know…" Carla said.

"What?" Hiro asked.

"Not over the phone. I'll text you," the girl replied.

"Okay. Thanks, Carla," Hiro replied.

They both hung up at the same time. Hiro was actually with Asch at the time. They were planning a surprise birthday party for Kate. Hiro was going to give her his Megabot and some of his techs that he thought she could fidget over.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to use your garage? This is your hideout," Asch asked.

"Sure. I'm good with it. Aunt Cass seemed delighted to meet your family too. It'll be fine," the boy replied.

"Thanks, Hiro. I owe you…I'll convince Alicia to talk to you. I promise," the older brother replied.

"Thanks… Let's get everything ready. Is she coming tonight?" Hiro asked.

Shaking his head, Asch answered, "No. she has a group discussion."

A bungalow stood, far from the other ones. A man, the owner, was getting ready for bed when he heard some clacking in his kitchen. He wondered what it was, but because he was so sleepy, he ignored it. Suddenly, something jumped onto him, in bed, disabling all of his movements. His breathing turned frantic when he knew who it was.

"Why are you here?!" he asked.

"You know why… To avenge her…" the person said.

"You're..!" before he could say anything, his throat was cut.