Joumae Saori leaned against her office chair, the final remnants of paperwork finally done for the morning. As the rays of sunlight nearly reached the midpoint in the sky, she looked back at the clock.

19 hours since Rio was shot. Since the revelation of those bullets that they were so intimately familiar with its functionality. And just like that, everyone in Arius began their search for Beatrice.

For bloody vengeance.

"......"

Two months. Two months had passed by. The sheer time scale of it all truly felt like insanity to her.

Only in two months, Arius began their journey into sovereignty. Only in two months, they began to prosper.

Only in two months... Did they continually, unequivocally, supported their ghost. Just as he did for them when they rebuilt Arius with their bare hands.

"You're thinking again, Saori," Atsuko called out to her, smiling softly.

"Why wouldn't I?" She closed her eyes soon after. "Everything is moving too quickly. Too fast to even process. Our sovereignty, our alliances..." She glanced at the vice president.

"Why did you want me as President?"

It was a genuine question. One that, initially, hesitated to ask. She had responsibility. One that she took due to the masses suggesting for her.

Kize never said anything about it. He gave them the choice. But he didn't know that the President role was hereditary. And Atsuko should've been the President.

So why Saori?

"... Because we're still in turmoil, Saori," she replied, before straightening her back. "There was a book Hiyori managed to salvage back when we still struggled together. The Art of War? Appear strong when you are weak, weak when you are strong."

A giggle left her.

"Everyone knows your strength, Saori. That's why you're best suited for it."

Saori bit her bottom lip. It made sense. They were still fragile, even with all the alliances of both Shanhaijing and their former enemy, Trinity. But was she really what they needed?

"I... Didn't do much."

"Saori." Atsuko heaved a sigh. "You volunteered to leave to make sure Arius Squad didn't have a target painted on our backs. You almost broke your back trying to work and sustain for us."

She approached Saori's desk.

"And wasn't it you to suggest asking Sensei for help, even when he's in a coma?" She let the silence stick for a while. "And because of that, we let a ghost into our lives that we refuse to let go of."

"..."

Saori scoffed, but even she knew that Atsuko was right.

Whether he liked it or not, the ghost was always theirs. Nothing, not even his decision, will change that.

"What happens then? When Arius finally knows peace. Or relative peace?"

"Then it'll be your choice. Keep trying to see if you can lead a peaceful Arius. If you can't..." Atsuko looked outside. Some Arius students marched across the courtyard. Others, mainly first years, chasing each other in a game of tag. The plum blossom tree, still growing, yet its branches persisted.

"We'll make sure you know how to."

"..." Another scoff from Saori.

"And yet that bastard didn't even teach me how to exploit politics," she managed out. A stifled laugh left them both. One that slowly died down when they think back on it.

He doesn't really like being Sensei. But he sure as hell knew what to do with students who just can't see themselves beyond being tools. Probably because he sees himself in them, but doesn't think that they should just be that.

Or because it's his job. He's always been a constant show of force for that kind of occupation.

"Whatever he's doing now... I do hope he's doing something for the betterment of himself, or other students."

Saori silently agreed with Atsuko. One could only hope.

—

Kize couldn't tell if it was morning or not when he arrived at Red Winter Federal Academy. The Shittim Chest told him he was.

"It's currently 10:32 AM!"

Kize almost refused to believe it, considering the fact that it felt like he walked through a blizzard to get here. Another puff of vapor heaved out his lips, with him noticing a crowd forming around Cherino's statue.

"RED WINTER MUST HAVE EQUAL PUDDING TO ALL!!"

Of course. Pudding rationing. The greatest injustice of all in the glorious land of Red Winter.

Looks like the Labor Party is acting up as usual. And as usual, the leader, Yasumori Minori, was at the forefront. Closer observation revealed that she stood right beside the statue, currently defaced and graffiti sported all over.

Hm.

Maybe they could be allies, after all.

Kize kept walking, straight towards Red Winter Office, past the protestors too focused in their bubble of passion to notice the man who seemed out of place in Red Winter's taiga. The protest grew quieter as he approached the office building, staring at the lit windows, light in fluorescent yellow and walls of concrete painted red. Pillars adorned across the building in sections, indicating separate rooms for purposes he couldn't peer through.

Did he have any reason to?

He pushed the doors opened.

"Halt!" Red Winter officers, all wearing pristine white uniforms and officer hats, aimed their weapons to him. An intruder in the wild.

"... I am here to consult with President Cherino as SCHALE Liaison Officer."

"... Sensei?" One whispered quietly under her breath.

"Why?" Another inquired, her PPSh-41 raised.

"I have a proposition that benefits..."

He kept silent for a bit, his eyes squinting only slightly to keep them on edge. To test the waters in a way no one else could. After all, if Cherino's guards were trigger happy and open fired, then it's grounds for aggravated assault on a superior authority.

Their trigger fingers didn't move to their triggers, however.

Good.

"Benefits Red Winter in the long run."

"..... Would it benefit our glorious Tsar-President Cherino?"

"Dubitably."

"....." Kize could hear a whisper, inquiring what that word meant. None of them had a concrete answer, but assumed that it should benefit Cherino in some manner.

"Very well then!"

Doubtlessly.

Kize walked alongside the guards, who acted as his guides as they walked through an unnecessarily long hallway, lit up with fluorescent lights that he swore were too bright. The warmth within was too artificial, too, with how the very existence of it screamed less of communism and more so 'dictatorship'.

Then again, so was Stalin's rule. Communism was just a veil.

And then, the hallway decorations.

It wasn't every day you'd encounter someone so enamored with themselves that they decided to conjure it into every facet of the office. Portraits depicting her winning victories while clutching a Nagant revolver, one of which was her seemingly shouting a war cry against some unseen opposers, and another is just her crossing her arms together while a sparkle of light blew up in the background.

Pompous.

"Oh, Arius's Ghost?"

A voice. One that he should intimately be familiar with. Or he shouldn't. He couldn't tell.

A glance, and it was a girl with light magenta hair in two long braids. A white Russian hat was upon her head, alongside a white coat with fur at the edges. Fur also surrounded her neck; the ultimate symbol of warmth.

He remembered as the one right beside Cherino, a yeswoman.

"Sashiro Tomoe."

"What brings you to Red Winter? An excursion request from Arius to repay Cherino's boundless charity during their lowest?" Tomoe began.

Kize reminded himself of that half empty crate of aid amongst Arius reports. How said aid couldn't even cover the students, and how it caused further cracks within Arius Satellite School.

He could almost sneer if he wasn't so emotionally exhausted.

"A proposition. One that requires your President's ears."

"Oh? Are you planning to rip them off?"

"Less violence is appreciated."

"I kid, I kid." Tomoe smiled. It made Kize uncomfortable. And yet, the two began to walk to the same destination, the guards leaving them to their own lonesome companionship.

Kize guessed that they could trust Tomoe with a man as enigmatic as himself. Then again, that was his thoughts, not theirs.

"It's rare to have a man of your prestige come here, Arius's Ghost. In my very personal opinion, you should have stayed in Arius."

"There are other students."

"That need help? Oh, I see. So that's why you're meeting with The Tsar?"

"....."

Did she know? The yeswoman and effectively secretariat of the President was someone he underestimated in the short time he listened to her. For a girl that revered Cherino, she was deceptively sharp.

"Why? They have violated the rules placed by the Tsar. Rightfully so, may I add."

And he would have agreed. Distilling vodka even before being suspended was a crime. Stalking people through telescopes, potentially even watching them in an inappropriate manner, was a crime.

And yet, his eye twitched hearing it, the empty thermos in his pocket spun one full rotation in a questioning notion none can see.

"Ever questioned why they resorted to do what they did?"

"Because they can."

"Because you left them with no choice but to do what they could."

A giggle left Tomoe.

"Didn't think you'd empathize with them so well."

"Didn't think you'd be cruel enough to let them rot."

"If that is what you choose to believe."

Kize half wondered if she was indoctrinated, or had been very well trained in sharp wit to get to where she is now. He didn't pry his lips open after, slowly realizing what lay before them. A pair of doors. The left, a plaque with the word, 'President.'

The right, another plaque. 'Cherino.' It had seen so much wear, with how the plaque's supposedly sharp edges had been dulled, as if it had been slammed into rather than smoothly slid in.

Clearly, even those under Red Winter Office don't like her.

Tomoe opened the door before Kize could even try to.

"President! Arius's Ghost has arrived."

He entered soon after, and then, a blink.

He expected opulence. Busts of Cherino in every corner, every facet of the walls, paintings adorning her glorious fashion. A plaque that would grace his eyes in the sheer knowledge that the president did as she pleased and what she desired.

What he got instead was singular painting. That same painting he remembered seeing from the picture of Cherino resembling Stalin.

But that was the only one.

The room otherwise, had a desk made of polished wood, a kind of care and effort than shouldn't have been possible for Cherino. An office chair modified to resemble a throne on wheels, and another chair, much more resembling normal furniture for once, perpendicular to the office chair. Behind said throne chair was a bookshelf. From what little he saw, stacks of red, blue, green and yellow, amongst other colors, were stored correctly.

And who else sat on the throne but she herself?

Cherino leaned against her chair, a gloved hand on the tips of her fake handlebar mustache, with the simple hums of a hymn that once sang praises of their hardship, turned forced worship of Cherino. Her clothes were paradoxically form fitting, yet too large for her stature, considering how Cherino seem to have her coat drag across the ground at the smallest move she could make.

White.

A colorful tradition retained in the uniforms of Red Winter Office members. On her desk was a single, gold plated spork that he almost refuses to acknowledge.

Both because of its gold plating, and the fact that it was a spork.

"So! It seems like Comrade Ghost-Sensei has decided to visit the great Cherino! Fu! It is undeniable that my power reaches even in the hearts of SCHALE!!"

Kize didn't blink, but his eyes went half-lidded and reminded himself to breathe.

"And in the minds of SCHALE do you continue to be a cancer."

"Hah!" Cherino leaned against her chair. "I do hold many powers, Comrade Ghost-Sensei! So! What is it that you wish to see? My masculine, strong rule? The very smart rationing of my people--"

"A proposition."

Like a confused tyrant, Cherino looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. Then, like a person suspicious of another, her eyes narrowed, her fingers stroking the fake mustache to a proper symmetry.

"And what may that be, comrade?"

"... I've met Spec Ops Number 227."

A stifled laugh left Cherino.

"Ah, but of course. Makes sense that a man who defies laws goes to lawbreakers, why am I not surprised?"

"Because you expect it."

"Of course I do!" Cherino puffed her chest out. "I am strong Cherino!"

"......" She was a walking whiplash of shrewdness and childish and he can't exactly tell which is where.

She was petulant in appearance, but was she true to her threats?

"Then you should know how much potential you're wasting."

Cherino went silent. A blink, a look away. A very sharp inhale, and then a return to look eye to eye.

"I don't deal with outcasts. I purge those that disobey my laws. And my words are my laws!!"

"Does your law not allow the clubs to do something that benefits Red Winter?"

"It will go against my power! And my power is absolute!"

Kize glanced at Tomoe, who had a nervous smile. Was it because he was hitting the right spots? The wrong spots? Or simply because she was holding herself back from laughing?

"Then consider it an extension of your power. If you allow them trade to the other districts, you would effectively allow Red Winter to be less rationing and more pudding."

"..." She squinted again. This was clearly something that did benefit her. Less rationing meant more prosperity.

And more governance.

And more power to her.

... And less coups. Especially less coups.

Then Kize glanced at Tomoe. Their eyes met.

"It'll make your staff less cumbersome to deal coups and paperworks. And a happy worker are those that love a benevolent leader like you, don't they?"

Tomoe's eyes had the slightest tint of a glint, the corners of her lips raised to form the smallest smile she could show. A revelation of his character, perhaps? Cherino squinted even harder than before, trying to gauge his prerogative, his initiative in the grand scheme of things.

"What are they even trading in the first place? The hot spring water had dried up, and they have no incentive to continue."

"Moose meat."

"!!!"

Almost immediately, Cherino stood up on her desk, spork in hand as she pointed such a piece of cutlery towards Kize.

"Don't lie to me!! There is no way they could even hunt!!!"

"PTRD. You gave them the utmost grace of anti-tank bullets to let them hunt."

Kize closed his eyes, hands crossed.

"And among others, they reside in the wild taigas. And I bore witness to something you have yet seen."

"What could you possibly--!!"

"Aurora borealis."

".............."

He knows too much. How could he even see such a thing? A rare event that should be occurring soon in the federal academy...

Did the wilderness gave them early access?

"Remember, President Cherino. This is for your glory. Not theirs," Tomoe added.

"But they got to see the Aurora borealis before me..."

"Capitalize."

Kize's single word earned him a stare.

"This is a rare opportunity for the districts to see. Let them pay to arrive in Red Winter's taiga. And let them watch the borealis."

"And what exactly do you plan next?" Tomoe questioned.

"Two requests."

A beat passed.

"One. Modernization of Red Winter Federal Academy's dormitory, including hot water. It will raise your standing, and considering how the Labor Party outside are arguing for better pudding wages, this gives them a reason to work for it. Since they live in said dorm as well, everyone in Red Winter will benefit from your endless charity."

"..." Sound request. Tomoe nodded subtly, agreeing with Kize. Long had the dormitory been an ancient, but working relic compared to the office.

"And the second?" Cherino questioned.

"227's dormitory refurbished to allow the same standards of the academy's own dormitory, as per the first request. This takes priority."

"... And why must I comply to make criminals comfortable?"

"So they won't disobey you. By allowing them trade and letting them be tourist attractions, with the additional advent of teaching students how to live in the taigas, you will have less rationing to do. Moose has plenty of meat for a single animal."

"........" Cherino closed her eyes. The hymn he heard previously had emerged again. This time, less of a farce, but a more in tune rhythm.

Tension was high. The world seemed to tick like a bomb waiting to go off. It went on, and on, and on, and on until...

"For MY glory, I accept!!"

Kize blinked once, and a breath left his lips.

"My secretariat will see that my decrees will be heard! Comrade Tomoe!"

"Yes, Comrade President?"

"Tell the Red Bear news of my generous acts!! And then, collaborate with Comrade Ghost-Sensei in his requests!! You will leave this office with this!"

Tomoe bowed her head, before looking at Kize. A smile appeared.

Kize's eyes glanced away, turning towards the door, before he exited. Tomoe followed soon after.

"You are ingenious, Arius's Ghost."

Kize didn't reply.

He was just doing his job.

But the revolution for a better Red Winter had begun.