With the Royale Preliminaries finished at the school, life would normally go back to normal but the gossip between the students was one of the last matches of the event between Sachika Ito and Yuki Uwara. The focal point is the intensity that the match brought.

It wasn't unusual for such matches to occur between Familiars around the world where they'd lose a limb or end up in a bad shape. What shocked the students was the brutality in which Yuki Urawa demonstrated in the match.

Aiko was in her classroom in the middle of a break sitting at her desk next to the window looking out onto the clear ocean blue sky.

She was startled when a pair of hands grabbed her by the breasts.

Aiko's cheeks blushed at the sudden action. Slapping the hands away she spun around to find Uli smirking behind her as if achieving something truly great at that moment.

"Uli!" Aiko exclaimed making heads turn in the classroom.

Uli just responded with a charismatic thumbs up something that wasn't commonplace when it came to her.

"Oh chill, I was only making sure there's a soul inside that body of yours!" Uli laughed "I got to say Aiko, have you been drinking a lot of milk lately?"

Aiko gave her friend a perplexed look, "I...I don't follow?"

Uli once again grabs onto Aiko's breasts the latter letting out a small whelp.

"Because these beauties sure have grown since last time!" Uli then decided to proceed with tickling the sides of Aiko's torso, the latter started to laugh hysterically.

"Oi! Sit down!" 

Both Aiko and Uli immediately stopped their playful antics when the instructor entered the classroom. The woman was in her mid-twenties, she was one of the very first Familiars. The ones that were used to experiment with Nebula tissue at the time.

She wore a vibrant variation of the students uniform with more decals and attachments. The biggest difference between her uniform and the students was her pure white cloak.

Her hair was dark green that hung just past the nape of her neck and a fringe covered her left eye. Her stern look sent a few shivers through the spines of some of the students.

Aiko and Uli stood to attention at the sight of their instructor standing in the doorway. Uli quickly scuttled to her desk.

"To think that we're relying on the likes of you two to safeguard the human race" the instructor marched to her desk.

Emike sat in the seat right next to Aiko.

"You two can be right klutz'" she muttered to Aiko.

"It's not our fault that Instructor Takamura is so stuck up!" Aiko whispered back trying to argue her point across to Emike.

"Aiko!" Instructor Takamura shouted once again this time her expression was getting to borderline psycho. "If I see or hear you doing something whilst I'm speaking! I'll personally go up there and knock the word shut up into your head myself!"

"Y-Yes Instructor Takamura" Aiko stood up quickly then bowed slightly before quickly returning to her seat.

"Point proven" Emike muttered with a smirk on her face.

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Aiko scoffed feeling rather agitated that Emike got her in trouble with Instructor Takamura who was the last person that Aiko wanted to be on their bad list.

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 As the class finished all the students were getting ready to up and leave so they could have some free time to themselves. However, Instructor Takamura had something that she had to tell her students before they left.

"Before you leave as all of you may well know summer break is coming up so if you're going off campus during that time make sure you inform the academy in case any emergencies come up!"

Everyone replied in chorus, "Yes ma'am"

Aiko was about to pick up her things and leave when the Instructor called for her.

"Aiko!" Instructor Takamura indicates to Aiko to follow her "We need to talk"

Aiko bowed slightly, "Um, Yes ma'am" she quickly grabbed her belongings chasing after Instructor Takamura who was already walking down the corridor.

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 Instructor Takamura entered her office followed by Aiko who, to say the least, was a bit anxious as to why she was called her by her instructor. Instructor Takamura sighed as she walked to her office seat, she sat down looking at Aiko for a moment.

"Well, take a seat then" she motioned her hand to the seat on the other side of the desk.

Aiko looked embarrassed at first, "Uh, yes ma'am!"

Aiko quickly sat on the seat feeling more anxious as Instructor Takamura's glared at her.

"So, what are your plans for summer?" the instructor asked somewhat surprising Aiko at first.

"I-I don't understand?" Aiko replied stammering a little bit.

"Well correct me if I'm wrong but, you're an orphan, are you not?" 

Aiko nodded, "Yes ma'am"

"So do you have anywhere to go for summer?"

Aiko shook her head a memory of her days in Essentia High School flowed through her head. Every summer she'd spend it at the orphanage that she was brought up in, she never tried going out of her way to do something new and interesting. She felt that she didn't have the right to do such things because of her background.

"No ma'am, I'm currently just planning on spending it here"

Instructor Takamura nodded like she understands where Aiko was coming from. "That's fine, but the academies tend to persuade students to take the time to see family and friends so they can have that small semblance of a normal life"

 "Are you sure there's no one you can spend your summer with?" 

Aiko sat there thinking for a moment, the thought of spending her time with Uli or Bethany with their families during this time would make her feel out of place and that she was intruding on their privacy. The one thing that Aiko didn't want to be was a burden to her friends in any way.

Putting on a smile Aiko replied, "I'm sure ma'am, it's fine I've become quite used to it now"

Instructor Takamura nodded, "Okay if you're fine with that I'll let it be"

Aiko nodded appreciating the fact that her instructor understood where she was coming from.

"You can leave now" the instructor announced.

Aiko stood up then bowed, "Thank you, ma'am, see you in two weeks"

"You too" the instructor simply replied. And with that Aiko swiftly left Instructor Takamura's office, the latter sat there thinking to herself remembering just how many girls like Aiko she had met during her years as an instructor.

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 As Aiko walked along the cobbled path back to her dorm block she looked around seeing many girls ecstatic about the summer break. Aiko knew that many of them would be going back to loved ones whether their family was blood-related or they were adopted they had somewhere to go back to.

The gardens filled with exotic trees and flowers made the scene more pleasant especially with the overabundance of cherry blossom trees.

However, Aiko had nowhere to go back to she always felt like an outsider when girls like her were being adopted at the orphanage she on the other hand never had anyone turn an eye towards her.

As she reflected on her past Aiko didn't expect the neck grab from an anonymous source.

She started to cough feeling the strain around her neck. A few seconds later the pressure was lifted from her neck, she turned to see Hibiki standing there smiling at her.

"Hey there, sorry about that got a bit too carried away" Hibiki laughed nervously.

"Hibiki-san?" Aiko replied somewhat confused.

Hibiki cleared her throat, "Anyway I came here to ask you if you have anything planned for the summer?"

Aiko looked at Hibiki for a moment before responding, "Er, no why?"

"Huh, that's weird I thought Sachika would have invited you to her beach house in Okinawa" Hibiki stated somewhat cautious.

"Beach house?" Aiko hadn't a clue what Hibiki was talking about.

Hibiki's expression soon changed to that of shock, "Wait! You don't know?!"

"Know what?" Aiko was getting more confused by the second.

"Sachika! You bloody idiot!" Hibiki chastised her friend under her breath. "She's the daughter of the CEO of Ito Corporations, she's a billionaire, to put it bluntly"

"Huh!" Aiko hadn't a clue how to react to what Hibiki just said. Instead, her face showed off a look of disbelief in what her senpai just announced to her. A billionaire, you've got be kidding me! Was the only thought going through her mind at that very second.