"So can anyone tell me what the color of the curtains is supposed to represent?" Yumeko asked the class. "…Anybody?" Not a single student raised their hand, not even the star student, Olivia, who would usually at least try to guess the answer. She seems to be still upset about yesterday, with Ichigo bringing up her old club and all. On the topic of Ichigo, Yumeko came close to ask her personally. "Do you understand why the curtains were-"

"Auntie, I'm busy! Jeez, you've been yapping all day…"

Yumeko looked at Ichigo's desk, she was making some sort of arts and crafts project in the shape of a heart. The woman rolled her eyes, at least Ichigo was doing something sort of related to studying, if you count art class. Just a few seats close to her was another girl that had been silent all day. "How about you, Archer?"

"I think you made that whole story up, there is no Shelly Tomes book where blue curtains play a large role. Lin told me about this, it's just a test to see if someone is simple minded or a pretentious know-it-all." The longer Yumeko stared at Lucia's face, the deeper the girls' eye bags seemed.

Yumeko sighed. "Well excuse me for trying to make lessons a bit fun, I thought you'd grow tired of me stuffing your heads with actual information so I wanted to shake it up a bit…since some of you immediately dump all that info out by the next day." Several students gulped as they could feel judgemental stares from their teacher, even if they didn't dare to look.

Sieglinde's head trauma had resurfaced yesterday. According to Ms. Hanagaki it's because she overexerted herself, but according to Olivia, all that happened while Lucia was gone was that Sieglinde and her had accompanied the new student to a few spots around the school. Sieglinde isn't a serious athlete or anything, but she sure as hell has enough stamina to walk around the school for less than half an hour. It just didn't make sense, it couldn't have been that she overexerted herself…

It was that girl.

Ichigo Hanagaki.

The last bell chimed and everyone went on their merry way home like usual…for Lucia though, her trip is going to be a bit unusual today. It is going to be the first time that Ichigo will visit the Archer residence. The two girls sat inside Yumeko's car, a very small space that felt even smaller due to Ichigo's luggage cases.

"I meant to bring over Ichigo last night, but because of what happened with Neapolitan I couldn't find the time."

"…So...Lin is still at home, right? You didn't have to bring her to the hospital or anything?"

"Of course not, after all, the Neapolitan mansion has their own family doctor."

That was not the answer Lucia wanted to hear. She also doesn't want to have the pink girl living at her home and she doesn't want to be stuck in a tiny car getting squished by her luggage. This day was just not going her way at all.

Yumeko put on another one of her CDs, it yet again played music that Lucia didn't expect her teacher to be into. Aside from the tunes reminiscent of the 80s and 90s, the car ride remained quiet from start to finish. Yumeko glanced back a few times, but neither Lucia nor Ichigo would bite at any of the loose small talk bait she threw out.

The ride wasn't long as Lucia lived pretty close to Sellavie Elementary. Yumeko stepped out of the car first and dug out the cases, Ichigo and Lucia were the ones forced to carry it into the house though. As they headed in Yumeko noticed Lucia's mother wasn't home. "Is Isobel still at her job?"

Lucia grunted as she laid the large luggage onto the begging steps of the stairs. "Ha…Ha…Of course…She always has to work extra hours on Friday…sometimes the whole weekend."

The short haired woman rubbed her chin for a while. "I'll go talk to her at McTonsils then, I have to warn her about everything while Ichigo will be living here after all." Lucia wanted to ask what Yumeko meant by "warn her" but Yumeko rushed out in a hurry, leaving the two girls alone.

There they stood at the entrance hall, Ichigo still holding onto her case as the stairs were blocked by the other one.

"You're still angry at me for mentioning your dead dad, right?"

"…How could you tell?"

"Every time you look at me your brows get bent into an angle, the furrowing kind." Ichigo explained, with her fingers bent down around her own eyebrows. "Besides that, you're probably even more angry about Lin passing out on coincidence-"

Lucia rushed forward and grabbed Ichigo's collar, slamming the pink haired girl against the wall. "Ms. Hanagaki told me you've never been to Berrymarrel, yet somehow you knew about my dad and the murder rumor. Somehow you also managed to make Sieglinde pass out...It's no coincidence at all."

"It is though! I swear!" Ichigo freed up her hands and raised them up in a sort of giving up motion. "Auntie told me some lore about this town, as for Lin, it's not like I have anything to do with her getting brain damage."

"That-…That actually makes sense." Of course Ms. Hanagki would try to soothe a likely homesick girl by talking about the town, it also makes sense why she talks about the dark past as that is one of the most interesting parts about this place. Lucia also had no reason to believe that Ichigo had anything to do with Sieglinde getting hit in the face with a soccer ball at mach speed and strength. "There is one thing still bugging me though, why in the world did Sieglinde show you around the school in the first place?"

Sieglinde is not the most friendly kind, especially to strangers. It seemed highly unlikely that she volunteered to help out a new student out of the good of her heart.

Ichigo's eyes grew wide and she suddenly burst into laughter, Lucia thought it was weird but her hold still held tight. She soon realized that was a mistake as Ichigo still had her hands free. The pink haired girl grabbed Lucia's braids and brought her face close, causing their foreheads to bump. The pain made Lucia stumble back, which was yet again a mistake. Ichigo raised her leg high while Lucia stumbled, kicking the girl directly in the face.

Lucia lay on the floor, her dark skin covered in warm, red fluid due to her nose leaking blood. When she raised her head she saw a sinister smile on Ichigo's face, one unlike her usual cat-like grin. "Isn't it obvious?" Ichigo asked. "Helping each other is what best friends do!" Next up she opened her case and dug out something, at first Lucia expected a weapon of sorts or some sort of torture device. Instead it was a pack of tissues. Ichigo took two tissues out and swirled them around, she bent down and stuffed them inside Lucia's bleeding nose holes.

"See? Besties are always there for each other."