"There we go," Ling said as we finished putting away her clothes into the closet. Yen, Arima, Xue, and Yuzu had taken Kanja and Mira out shopping. Turned out that neither of them had brought any luggage with them. Likely due to the nature of how they joined.

Tamara stared at her bag as I turned around.

"Having trouble opening it?" Ling asked, pointing at the zipper. It did appear to be jammed.

Tamara blushed and nodded.

"Here, let me help," I said. Holding my right hand out, I poured prana into the jammed zipper and moved it from a distance.

Tamara jumped as her clothes slid out of her bag, catching them. Most of them were dresses.

"Sorry," I said. Should've opened it slower.

She smiled, closing and opening her hand.

"What does that mean?" Ling asked.

Tamara reached into her clothes and pulled out a black necklace. Though, it didn't resemble a piece of jewelry. It reminded me of some digital watches from ages long gone.

Once firmly on her neck, Tamara grabbed her phone.

"It means 'it's fine'," a mechanical girl's voice echoed from the necklace.

Ling gasped. "You had that all this time? Why didn't you use it prior?"

Tamara typed rapidly on her phone. "I don't like using it. The voice is so monotone. Not cute at all."

"But, isn't it more convenient?"

"Yeah," Lidia said, sitting up from the bed.

Tamara nodded. "But, I like using sign language better. Maybe because I grew up learning it before I even knew how to write."

"Who taught it to you?" I asked.

She lowered her eyes. "I taught myself."

"Huh?" Ling said.

She climbed on to her bed and continued to hug her wad of clothes. "Back when I was little, I found an old book in Benny's room."

"Benny?"

Tamara smiled. "My big brother. I sat in his bed and continued reading it. Or so that's what Benny says. I was too young to recall. Guess it's unfair to claim I taught myself when he read it to me and helped me practice."

"Wonder why he had a book on sign language," I said, putting a hand against my chin.

"He isn't mute too, is he?" Ling asked.

Tamara shook her head. "No. He can talk. Not that he does so often. Big brother is the reserved type like Huo. When he does, it's usually because he has something important to say, or he's angry at you."

"That so? Sounds nice. Adela and I are stuck with loudmouthed brothers."

I laughed weakly. "I wouldn't call Xun a loudmouth."

Tamara covered her mouth with one hand. "Poor Elliot."

"At least Sir Elliot makes good ramen," Ling said.

"His friends made him sound like a nice guy when I met them," Lidia said, smiling.

I chuckled. "Yeah, he's kind and funny, but can have quite the temper sometimes. Hope he wins," I said, turning around. "I'm going to go check up on the boys."

Ling waved. "Alright. Take care, Lady Adela."

Well, at least she used my name this time. Would've been better if she dropped the title.

"I'll go with you! Want to check up on Huo!" Lidia said.

I smiled. "Is he your boyfriend?"

She gasped. "No! We're just friends! We're basically siblings!" she said, blushing slightly.

So, they were like Yuzu and Lei, but considering how those two felt for one another... Ugh, I'm lucky that Yuzu and Lei were raised almost like siblings. Else they might've been dating by now.

Lidia and I left the girls talking and walked over to the boys' dorm. Much to my shock, Nyima, Sarah, and Kun descended from the air. The water bubble they rode on touched the plaza between the two dorms and vanished.

"Princess!" Lidia yelled, waving.

My eyes widened as they got closer. On Kun's back was Lei.

"Lei! What happened to him? Was he attacked?" I asked, dashing over to them.

Nyima crossed her arms. "Yes and no. It seems he was challenged to a spar by one of the honor students."

Lei opened his eyes and gave me a sleepy smile. "Those guys are tough. Well, the one I faced... was." His head slumped. The brunette snoozed away.

Nyima sighed. "Can't you stay asleep?"

Kun laughed. "He can't stay still when he's excited. Wished I had seen his fight."

"I want to fight Kochi again. His short boss too," Lei mumbled.

Kun jumped. "Hey, don't drool!"

Lei didn't respond, breathing lightly as he slept.

Nyima smiled. "Glad I handed him off to you."

The middle triplet sighed. "Once you wake up, I'm going to charge you for laundry cleaning."

Nyima put her hand on her hip. "Laundry comes with the tuition, which in our case is paid in full by the Director."

Kun leered at her. "It was a joke."

Sarah covered her mouth.

"You two are going to hurt Sarah. She can't laugh too much," I said.

"Huh? She can't?" Lidia asked, blinking.

Sarah lowered her head. So, she hadn't told them everything about her throat's condition.

"Sorry," Nyima said, frowning.

"Yeah, our bad," Kun said. "I-I'm going to go lay Lei down."

I smiled. "Don't worry. We'll watch over Sarah. Take good care of Lei in turn."

Kun chuckled. "Feels as if we are caring for each other's-" He stopped himself and rushed away, his face bright red.

Sarah blinked.

"That guy's as weird as his brother," Nyima said, sighing.

I looked around the empty plaza. "Have you seen or heard about my own weird brother?" I asked.

"Eli's with the others. Hideo and he are tabulating the votes over by the main school building," Kun said.

"Should they really be doing that? They're the contestants," Nyima said, furrowing her brow.

"Well, more like they're overseeing it. Shin'en's the one counting them."

"The Director is?"

"Yeah, he doesn't seem to mind. He actually seems entertained by it."

"Good thing that Eien interrupted Lei from bursting into his office."

"He did that? Why?" I asked.

"He wanted to find out why Iah had been suspended."

My eyes widened. "What?"

Nyima averted her gaze. "Forgot that you, Hika, Yen, An, Orion, and maybe Hal aren't aware of it either." She cleared her throat. "I didn't know the exact details until Eien told them to Lei. If we aren't around during the first day, we get suspended."

I lowered my head. "That so?"

"Wonder why Mayu and her group didn't try to stop us from arriving last year if that's the case," Kun said, scratching his head.

"They probably contemplated that, but felt it was too risky with Koukyuu and regular tourists on board," Nyima said.

"Things probably wouldn't have ended well even if they had. We had you, Sarah, and the twin knights on our side," I said. "The only ones who could make a strong disturbance on their side without raising suspicion were Shiori and the tanuki twins with their wind, Youko with her water, and... Ren who could use both of those when using his special eyes."

"Talking about me?" a voice called out.

My eyes bulged as a brown-haired boy with large hazel eyes ascended the stairs.

"Ren," I mumbled.

Nyima leered at the young man standing behind Ren. "Yuuta, or are you Yuuto?"

The tanuki man put a hand behind his neck and smiled impishly. "What do you think?"

Nyima pursed her lips. "So, you are Yuuta."

"What are you doing here?" Lei asked, lifting his head.

"Were you really asleep or just pretending?" Kun asked.

Lei ignored his brother as he continued to glare at the two boys.

"Shin'en accepted us back. Took a lot of community service, and time, but it was worth it."

Lei growled. "Why did he suspend Iah but let you back in?"

"Are you half asleep?" Nyima asked. "They helped us against the abysmals last year. Even though I'm not happy at the idea of them re-enrolling either."

"Wait, if they could re-enroll, think that Iah might be able to too?" Kun asked.

Lei hugged Kun. "You're a genius, Kun!"

Kun chuckled. "Tell me something I don't know."

Sarah rolled her chair over to him and pinched him.

"Ouch! Why did you do that?"

She leered at him.

"Kun's a big head?" Lei asked, glancing back at his brother.

Sarah nodded.

Kun glared at Lei. "You aren't much better, little bro."

Lei grinned. "True, but you make me look humble by comparison sometimes."

Sarah nodded.

Kun's head slumped. "Don't agree with him."

Sarah smiled widely.

"What a bunch of odd balls," Yuuta mumbled as he passed us.

"You aren't better, Mr. Sleep in a dark stairwell," Nyima said, rolling her eyes at him.

Yuuta chuckled. "Didn't I tell you that I was tasked to guard it?"

Nyima turned away. "Regardless, you are a goofball."

"Thought you liked goofy guys."

Lei grumbled.

"Why are you grumbling?" Nyima snapped, blushing.

"You know why," Lei said, pouting.

"He's wrong! I don't like goofy guys!"

Lei smiled. "You like cool guys, don't you?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to say he's cool? He had his moments, but most of the time he was a goofball.

"W-why do you care?" Nyima asked. She grabbed Sarah's wheelchair. "Let's go, Sarah. You have to rest still."

"Hey, be careful! Not too fast!" Kun yelled.

"Yeah, Sarah might get hurt!" Lidia yelled, chasing after them.

Sarah didn't seem to mind as she had a smile on her face.

It would be nice if she could talk again. She would probably have jumped in during our conversation just now if she could. Sadly, she probably never would. Her vocal cords were too damaged. She had yet to remove her face mask too. Even when we were at the hot springs, she didn't remove it. Good thing she had water powers to keep it dry.

I gasped, remembering Tamara's device.

"Something wrong?" Ren asked.

"No. I got an idea!" I said, running after the girls.

"Oh, good. I think. T-take care!"

Why was he stuttering? He used to speak with confidence. Did he still beat himself over what happened last year?

I waved and continued running. I'd allowed him to help us last time because of the situation. While I appreciated his assistance, I still wasn't sure what to make of him. He did turn against the other masked ones, but not before hurting An, Arima, and Iah. If he had fought Sarah instead of Arima, I would've said those he hurt had been cursed.

I sighed as soon as I entered the dorm. The sound of barks caused my ears to twitch.

"Wudi!" I said, holding my arms wide. Had Eli brought her with him? My now big fluffy dog licked my face. She was almost a year old now. Wonder what Ren would think if he saw the dog he had found...

Nyima and Sarah blinked. "Wait, you named her Wudi?" Nyima asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. I was trying to think of names for her when Iah barged into my room." Though, that was because he had seen me crying on the way upstairs. "Figured that since I named my mouse Lan, I'll name this lovable girl Wudi." I smiled. "Don't worry. If I ever get another pet, I'll name her or him Taiyang in your honor."

Nyima narrowed her eyes. "I rather you not. Name one Xian if you want."

"Xian? Would be odd, given that's my country's name too."

"True," Nyima said.

Tamara peeked out of her room. She had a large smile on her face as she stared at Wudi.

"Wait, Wudi? How did you bring her here?" Ling asked. "I didn't see her on the boat."

I patted my dog's head. "Think my brother must've snuck her in."

Ling looked around. "Wait, that means he was here recently."

"Elliot told me to bring them over," Alex said, smiling. He held out his hand. The white mouse in his palm chirped.

"Lan!" I said, hugging my little buddy.

Wudi sat down. I reached over and scratched her underneath her ear, causing her tail to wag quickly. She loved being scratched there.

Tamara inched forward and pointed at the dog. She petted the air with her other hand.

"You want to pet her?" I asked.

Tamara blushed and nodded.

I smiled. "Go ahead. Wudi loves being petted and hugged."

Tamara rushed over and wrapped her arms around my dog. She pressed her face against her fur and smiled.

Wudi licked her face, causing Tamara to move her mouth up and down as if she were laughing. Yet, no sound came out.

"Say, Tamara. I know this might be a little insensitive to ask, but were you born mute?" I asked, looking into her eyes.

Tamara looked up and nodded. Had expected her to frown or scowl, yet she hadn't.

I smiled. "Thanks for answering."

She shook her head as if to say no problem.

"This girl sure is nice," Wudi barked.

I patted her head. "Yeah!" Though, something about her still felt off. Maybe it was just Hal's words about her maybe being for H.E.H. echoing in my head. Plus, Ren's betrayal. I didn't want to have to go through that again. Nor would I like the others to experience it either.

My eyes widened. Wait, she said her brother was called Benny... Could he be Benjamin?

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Prediction?**