The next day, Annie awakes to silence. Which was not what she was expecting, to be honest. She stood up and opened the door, walking out quietly as she saw Loid and Anya sitting down, studying. This was drastically different from how things went in the manga. In the manga, Anya fought with Loid about studying. Mostly due to her trauma revolving around the word 'studying'.
"Ah! Annie, I was just tutoring Anya here on her studies." Annie blinked, and then smiled. She was glad that Loid had taken her words into account, and she walked over to the coffee table, sitting down across from Anya.
"Anya is going to ace Eden Academy's entrance test!" Anya proclaimed, and Annie couldn't help but chuckle. She was happy to see the girl so excited about school. Although, she did feel somewhat concerned about Anya's age difference. In a few hours Anya would be legally six years old. She's going to have to mature two whole years to ensure that their father's mission goes smoothly. She then turns to Loid.
"I've got to go get my hair bleached again, but when it's done I'll come back." Annie stood up, and waved them off as she walked out of the house. She was eager to get this next treatment over with as her hair was just a horrible shade of dirty orange right now. It was honestly horrifying to look at. She pulled her hair up and tucked it into a hat. She carried her own book with her to study as the treatment was going on. They did two more treatments while she was there, and towards the end of the last one, she got a strange feeling. Like she had forgotten something important, but she brushed it off. Until she began thinking about the main premise of the story, and was horrified that she didn't remember it at first. When she finally did, she remembered what was supposed to happen.
"Oh no." She said, out loud. The hairdresser turned to her with confusion all over her face.
"Are you alright?" The hairdresser asked, and she shook her head, standing up quickly.
"I've got to go... How much was the treatment cost?" She asked, and the hairdresser told her, but still insisted that she wait. Annie didn't listen, she just paid and ran out. She did hear the hairdresser yell that she had fifteen minutes to wash the bleach out of her hair. She ran to her house, and found the barricade from the manga still in place. She quickly shoved it out of the way, and walked into the apartment. She found Anya sitting innocently at the coffee table, reading and learning everything she could to ace the exam.
"Big sister Annie, Anya missed you!" Anya exclaimed, and Annie felt a sense of relief wash over her. She walked in and then looked at the clock. She had five minutes to get the bleach out of her hair.
"Anya, I've got to take a shower. Do me a favor and stay right there, okay?" Anya nodded innocently, acting as if she didn't do anything. But she knew differently, she intended on keeping it a secret so that Loid doesn't send her and Annie away. Annie walked into the bathroom, and removed her clothing. She turned on the hot water and let the water spill all over her back. She closed her eyes tight and washed the bleach out of her hair. She was glad she had bangs and didn't need to dye her eyebrows. The bleach is a real threat to the eyes. After washing her hair, she stepped out. Wrapping a towel around her body as she began to dry off. She then put her clothes back on, and was just about to plug in the hairdryer, when all the sudden someone covered her mouth with a cloth. She tried to scream, but it took mere seconds before she was unconscious.
It was only about an hour when Annie came too, she was laid on the ground in an abandoned supermarket. Her hands and feet were bound, and she was gagged. She sat up, and glanced around quickly before her eyes landed on Anya. Who was also bound and gagged.
"Okay so... What's the deal with the kid?" A man asked, he looked vaguely like he could be the leader of the gang, but Annie wasn't sure. "Don't tell me they're Twilight's..."
"Don't know, but they were both in the apartment where we got the transmission." Transmission? What? Annie was confused, she thought she had arrived to the apartment before Anya had gotten to mess around with Loid's spy things. She glared at the men who kidnapped them, but they just ignored her, they assumed she was nothing more than an innocent little girl.
"There was some kind of barricade outside of the apartment." One of the lackeys spoke up, sparking a bit of confusion in the man.
"A barricade? Why?" He asked, turning to look at the man talking to him.
"We don't know." the lackey explained, and the man shrugged, turning back to the girls.
"Well... maybe we can use them as hostages to turn Twilight." He smirked softly, as he stared down the two girls. "We'll make him tear off the Foreign Minister's hairpiece off personally." He stated.
"Boss, I think it's time to move on from the headpiece thing." The man just grunted, lifted his gun, and shot the man in the head without another word. Annie had been expecting a bang, but all she heard was a click. Anya stared in fear and astonishment as she noticed that it was a silenced pistol.
"Transparency is essential in government, toupees are a no-go." The man started, crossing his arms as he spoke. "Also, the Minister is a traitor who has been backing the West. Anyone who advocates for a traitor, is themselves a traitor." His speech was interuppted when the sound of screeching tires is heard.
"Boss, Nguyen and his guys are back from the apartment!" Anya and Annie had no choice but to watch in horror. Annie tried to remember what happened next, but she couldn't. It's almost like she isn't in the manga... but in a different version of it. Another universe... Was this caused because of how many rips she caused in the original story? She wasn't sure, but as of right now she was terrified of her and Anya's fates. Unsure of what destiny held for them. A group of more men walked in, carrying a person who was wearing Loid's suit. Her heart dropped into her stomach, she was nervous. She doesn't know what's up, she doesn't know what's going to happen next... She is utterly terrified. They toss him onto the floor between Anya and Annie.
"Looks like they got the guy." Someone stated as they watched the scene unfold.
"Nngghhh... Guy moved like a pro, I think it's really him!" Nguyen stated, staggering softly. While they were paying attention to the man on the floor, Nguyen ran over to Annie and untied her, and then ran over, grabbing Anya and they all made a break for it. Anya cried out for Papa while they ran, Nguyen, who was obviously Loid at this point tried to calm her down. As they ran, it almost seemed as if he had some sort of flashback. But Annie wouldn't bring it up. When they got outside, he handed Anya to Annie.
"Listen up." He said, making sure not to say their names. "You know the game 'tag'? My buddies and I back there are pro tag players. When we see people that look like they're good at tag, we challenge them to a game." He then proceeds to give them instructions to the nearest police station, although he could tell that Annie didn't quite buy it. Mostly because she was a teen, excuses like this wouldn't work for her. He then ushered them away, and Annie ran down the street. She sat down nearby and sat Anya on the ground. Trying to resist the urge to cry. Loid had honestly begun to grow on her, but she heard his thoughts. He was intended on having them sent back to the orphanage.
"It's okay, big sister Annie." Anya spoke, and Annie opened her eyes, letting the tears begin to fall, Anya with her. "We will stay here... Papa won't leave us, I promise." Anya wrapped her arms around Annie's body, hugging her as tightly as her little four year old arms could. About an hour passed, when the girl's heard footsteps, and Annie stood up, ready to begin fighting but then Anya spoke up.
"Papa!" She cried out and ran towards Loid, who was surprised to see them. Annie came out from behind the tree, and also ran towards him.
"Anya, Annie?!" Loid exclaimed in surprise, staring as the two girls ran towards him.
"Pappaaaa!" Anya cried out, wrapping her arms around Loid's leg as he watched in surprise, she then looked up at him with her bright green eyes.
"How did you- I mean, uh, what're you doing away from home?" He asked, glancing at Annie and then down at Anya. "As for me, I just came here to shop... It looks like they're out of business though."
"We were playing tag with strange men." Anya said, and Annie walked over wiping the tears from her eyes, but Loid noticed anyways.
"I... see. Was that fun?" Loid asked, looking at the two girls.
"It was kinda scary..." Anya admitted, clenching her hands around his pantsleg. "I want to go home!" She suddenly exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes. "With you papa!"
"Are you sure about that?" He asked, looking down at the girl, and then Annie stepped over. She picked up Anya and looked over at him.
"Yes, we are." Annie stated, walking over and wrapping her arms around Loid's body, Anya doing the same as her. Just at that moment, Loid thought about what Frankie said. Frankie had brought up that Anya had been adopted and returned four different times, and that Annie, she hadn't been adopted out at all. It was easy to forge documents for them.
"Alright, let's go home." Loid said, taking a moment to rub the girl's heads before they began to walk. "But we need to move, I found a venomous snake inside of our apartment."
"I don't like snakes." Anya admitted, and Annie shared her feelings. "I want to live in a castle!" Anya exclaimed.
"We'll see if one is on sale." Loid said, already becoming tired again. "But after we move, we need to get back to the tutoring." Loid said, careful not to say studying as to not set off Anya's trauma. Anya nodded happily after this, they quickly went and had Annie's hair died pink. Now she matched with Anya, and they looked vaguely related.
The next day
"You may begin the test!" The teacher announced, Anya looked around the room, looking for her sister. The school had arranged the student's by age, so Annie was quite a bit back. But when she met Anya's eyes, she smiled and waved at her. Giving her a thumbs up for motivation. And then they both got to work. They did their hardest trying to get as high of a grade on the test as they could.
Outside at where Loid was waiting for the test results, the girls ran up. They smiled happily as Loid looked at them, Annie could see he was completely exhausted. But he was so nervous about the exam results he barely slept a wink since he adopted them.
"K-212... K-212... There!" He announced, pointing at the towards the higher middle of the board. Annie looked on her board, looking through it for hers, but Loid walked over and began scanning with her. Repeating her application number over and over.
"Pa, it's number two." Annie stated, laughing as she picked up Anya and waited for it to dawn on Loid. Who saw it, the 'F-212' it meant "Freshman 212". It was at this point, that Loid grabbed his adoptive daughters, and swung them both into the air. It may have been a bad idea, but he wasn't thinking about it at the time. Right at that moment, he fell over. The girl's falling with him.
"Paaaapaaa!" Anya shouted as they fell, they both landed on the ground next to Loid, and then they quickly sat up. Shaking Loid as Anya begged him not to leave them. They did, eventually make it back to their new home, with Loid on the couch.
"Special Delivery!" Anya ran towards the door, and opened it. Retrieving the mail and then running back into the apartment. Anya crawled up onto the bed with him and cuddled him. Only for Loid to be startled awake.
"Whhaahhh!? What're you trying to do, give me a heart attack!?" He asked, terrified.
"You got mail, pa." Annie said, handing him the letter. Anya and Annie both sat on the couch with him on either side of him while he opens the letter.
"Mail? It must be from Eden Academy." Loid started, as he tore the side off and pulled the letter out. He read it out loud. "The second phase of the admissions process..." Everyone was hanging off every word, the tension was high. "A mandatory family interview..." This didn't seem too bad until the next words came out of his mouth. "Both parents must attend with the applicant(s), absolutely no exceptions." The tension boiled over, and Anya looked up at both Loid and Annie.
"But... there is no mommy!"