When Rei found himself established in Murakumo's offices he was filled with utmost glee now adorning the red band on his left arm, he spun in the desk's chair alone in the room of splendid students. Though he was once opposed to their positions, being a part of their group brought a new feeling of determination he hadn't felt since Judith invited him to fight in the superdimension. Not all of it was good however. He walked into the school only to have his peers giving him scornful glances and former friends not completely understanding his motives, and how could they when Rei was instructed to keep his mouth shut about all supernatural occurrences under the world–-let into Murakumo on the condition he'd help defeat Judith and the others in the secondary group; he slouched back in his seat reminded that it was half and half his choice and not. When he came to Maine and Remy to discuss about Judith, they revealed to him the blackmail they would use to force him into joining the council, feeling unsafe that he'd act alone in the superdimension if he wasn't in the group. He sighed and threw up his feet atop the desk thinking to himself what blackmail did they have that wasn't already known. His perversion? His knowledge of girl's underwear? His thoughts would quickly come to a close when he nearly fell out of his seat at the sudden arrival of Pro and Maine, and which the wolf would now tell Pro.

"I didn't tell you Pro but… Rei Valoris has joined the student council."

To which Pro reacted… Well, not reacting at all towards his presence in Murakumo, only wanting his feet off the desk else Kris will scold them harshly.

And he did just that, awkwardly laughing away his fears of being caught here by his new leader, "Sorry about that erm… Shijunko senpai..?" His tone rose confused with what honorifics to use--shifting through titles. "President Shijunko? Taichou? Kaichou? No, no…"

Pro waved her hands at all of his formalities. "I'm not council president anymore. You can just call me Pro."

"Tch!" Unavailable to deny the reality that was, he clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. Cocoa was the leader but he still wanted to know. "Why did you give up your position to that shitty kitty? She's crass and not fit to be the leader here."

So many times they asked her this and over time her answer grew more deluded in a puddle of ever increasing false hopes. Was it a bad decision? "..." She paused for a moment and closed her eyes letting out a soft sigh before smirking. "I'm not fit for council president. I don't have the same leadership Cocoa possesses."

Maine called her bluff. "If it weren't for you then most of us wouldn't be here! Cocoa is going to tear apart our friendship."

"Trust me." In that moment Pro moved towards the desk with a determined stride, and with a swift motion, swiped a request form. As she returned to the door, her words were filled with inspiration but lacked conviction. "Cocoa will lead us to a greater victory! I can feel it in my heart."

With those words she left for them to linger about the future of things. A sense of anticipation and curiosity for them to dwell on as she sought out Cocoa, finding her there, on the school's rooftop which was formerly the council's resting place.

It was here where Pro begged, "Pleeeease Cocoa you have to get along with everyone or else they'll kick you out of the council!"

"G-get off me you weirdo f-freak!"

Cocoa struggled breaking free from her tight hug. "And who's they? I'm the leader, I can't be kicked out."

The resistance was strong, Pro gave up and sat on the ground beside her so she could calm herself. "Cocoa, you're making me rethink my decision. I gave you the position of leader because I don't think I can fulfill the empty hole the previous president left behind. I don't know why I feel so inadequate."

"E-eh..?!" Cocoa leaned above the seated former president. "The hell you getting all mopey for? It's not like you to be so sentimental. Besides, I'm filling the role as president just fine."

"Being disliked by the school and us isn't just fine."

"Agh! You don't get it either, Pro." Cocoa faced the fence again. "We're wasting our time solving mundane issues here when we could be focusing on actual problems like the dragons and killing that bastard blonde in the superdimension with us."

Pro would take a guess, "This is about your dad isn't it?" and correct it was when she saw Cocoa flinch, not that she was hiding her intention on revenge.

"Yeah, So what? Don't you feel the same? You were unfairly bullied and pushed around. You're a witch the world hates because of your magic. What's the point in helping people who don't like us?"

"Because we have to save the world from despair and that means helping as many people as we can even if they hate us. Our friendship is the power we need to defeat the dragons, otherwise we'd be dead a long time ago." She looked at the request she took from the desk and chuckled seeing as it was really just another mundane problem.

"Don't laugh. Killing dragons is all I can do until my father wakes up, and I'm not sure if he ever will…"

"I thought you didn't like him."

"He's still my father and was once kind to me. If he died then I would have nothing left."

Pro's smile faded. "I think I understand. I already lost both of my parents so I had no one to turn to when I first fell into this position. But I know everything will be fine if I keep my head high."

A nonsense answer to Cocoa. "You're simple minded."

"Our battles aren't that complex." She stood up and waved the form in her hand. "Let's do this together. Just this once. Next time we go fighting dragons I promise to take you with."

"...Fine." Cocoa reluctantly followed Pro back inside the school and out of her despairing world.

Together they would finish up the shallow request to trim the school's back path bushes. Having practiced on the flowers in Cocoa's garden, this request was a breeze and not as hard as cutting the stems of the poisonous bloom. Their male client wiped the sweat off his forehead and laughed off "Thanks Miss Prez!" He bowed for their service. "I probably could've done this myself but I need to head home early today to make sure my Father doesn't fall ill due to his drinking."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"It's nothing to worry about." Pro said, having replied with the same phrase many times and seeing students grateful for her work all the same but Cocoa was disturbed by the kindness and the new nickname being towards her rather than Pro, having been the direction the male student bowed at. Hearing the small snippet about his father only bothered her more, a feeling of her not belonging in the position she was in, and her fist tightened with furrowed brows as the student talked more about his situation between him and his father being one similar to her own; abusive.

"Quit being weak you idiot! why are you going to sit there and let your father do that to you?!" Her outburst came from seemingly nowhere and though their client was shaken by it, he returned to a small smile and rubbed the back of his head aloof like "He's my only caretaker, and he used to be good. Although I hate what he's become now. If I give into that hate I feel for him then neither of us will be happy. "

"But he drinks himself to death and beats you for fun. How can you stand that..? Why don't you teach him a lesson and… and…"

"I thought about it many times but I could never find the strength to do it. It might have been some divine intervention telling me not to. I can solve this without hurting him and if I can't then at least I can rest without that weight on my shoulders."

"Ugh…" Cocoa's shoulders dropped, defeated by his words.

"Thank you for worrying Prez. This is one problem I want to solve myself, with the same strength you had enduring your bullies." He bowed again and walked away with a real smile and determination.

The disturbed feeling subsided completely and Cocoa felt the grip around her heart gone. No longer lying to herself and finding the right words to say, she returned to her comatose father without revenge on her mind but instead vowing to save him because she valued him. In other words she loved him dearly the whole time, and wanted him to return to his good self. Maybe his change in behavior was caused by the despair and had nothing to do with Judith. Thus she let go of her insistence to let Pro take her to the superdimension realizing that their mundane requests had some importance, admitting it in a roundabout way, too embarrassed to say her true feelings completely yet.

And her world became less grey.

"My time has come, Luka!" Sophie said while salivating from the mouth, stepping closer and closer to Luka as she back pedaled further and further until she hit a wall, then assaulted by the poster thrusted in her face. "Help me start a band to participate in the Nobel School Festival this year!"

She snatched the poster to glance over it, barely reading the contents and immediately questioning what a Nobel School Festival was and Sophie changed back to a false bluntness explaining to her. "A talent show you could say. Where the most talented students come to show off their skills on stage whether it be musical, magical or theater. Most of the time it ends up being a musical battle between rival bands. I've always wanted to be in it myself."

"A contest?" Kyokai took the poster from Luka to read over it and his eyes widened upon seeing the date at the bottom. "We have less than 2 weeks to practice! And the entrance examination is soon! We're not gonna make it at the skill you're at…"

To which Silique and Eric agreed, but not saying anything more than that to avoid trampling on her feelings. But she wouldn't be deterred, having found new confidence in an unknown and therefore no longer needing the council's help. Declaring her request fulfilled she walked towards the door with a smirk on her face. "Thanks Murakumo. From here on I'll continue finding my way."

"Wait! A-are you sure you'll be able to…" Kyokai trailed off.

"You shouldn't be hasty about this." Silique added.

Luka rubbed her chin with a plan. Turning to Kyokai for his thoughts. "Kyokai, maybe we could get Rei to help us as his first request in Murakumo. I've heard people call him an idol. He might be more musically inclined than us."

"He's shifty but he's our only option in this situation." Kyokai snapped his fingers. "Okay! Let's do it."

"R-Rei is in the c-council?!" This changed Sophie's entire plan. Being taught by Rei was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and she wasn't going to pass it up. She accepted the offer with a frantic nod and Kyokai hurried to grab their newest member. Their pervert in the council, more fit to have the title My Harem in the Student Council. When he arrived he was more than willing to assist with their efforts to turn Sophie into a radical guitarist, setting aside pervy antics and pointing to a guitar, he asked her to play it. That alone was enough to make Eric and Silique worry. They covered their ears just before Sophie stroked the strings then unleashed an ear piercing screech followed by strings breaking one by one and their eardrums doing the same, the music coming to a halt when blood dripped from Rei's ears and Sophie saw him hiding his hurt behind a smile.

"C-cool right?!" She said while becoming a sweaty mess.

"Please give us a moment." Said Rei, grabbing his newly made companions by the back of their collar and dragging them out of the room. It was there he had the look of a maniac and hissed. "You expect me to fix that?! She's faaaaar too gone-- I can't do shit to make her play better!"

"Is it too late, Rei? We tried our best." Luka hung her head low.

Kyokai raised his fist filled with more bravery than before, now seeing their efforts have brought them no closer to success he proclaimed. "We can't give up now! Overcome this despair, and let's teach Sophie with all our might!"

False hope, Rei saw right through it. "Sorry Kyokai-san but this is one guitarist I cannot save." Then he paused to think over his words, notably 'cannot save' and it was there he bit his tongue and swallowed his grief. He bore the red armband of the saviors and silently took an oath to help more students than Cocoa. He turned 180 with his attitude and grabbed the door handle muttering. "I can fix her…"

"What was that?"

"I can save her!" Rei bursted back into the room with his arms spread wide rushing to his new apprentice who dodged the hug with an accuracy of 1%, watching his face hit the window with a loud thudd! Ignoring his hurting face from colliding with the window, he walked over to her guitar picking it up to inspect the strings that were cut and noticing hints of red left on the two strings intacted. With a swift grab, he pulled her hand closer much to her dismay, finding her fingertips bleeding from multiple small cuts.

"You idiot!" He released his grasp forcefully. "Have you been strumming with your fingers this entire time?!" A hint of confusion leaving his tone, wondering how her fingers managed to break the strings of all things. He turned to Silique and Eric. "How could you let this go on?! Why did you let her in when she suuuucks?" His words became more blunt.

Silique crossed her arms firmly. "Because she doesn't suck. I have heard her playing once--Playing perhaps the most radical guitarist solo I've heard. It's been awhile since it happened but I've been trying to get her to do it again ever since."

Eric shrugged. "I haven't heard it but Silique talked to me endlessly about it. How Sophie was the chosen one to save this club out of the shadows--"

"Ahem!" Silique cut him short for good cause, and returned to the more important matters "She didn't use a pick then, or maybe she did. My mind was scattered at the time so remembering that moment is difficult."

"Alright…" Rei covered his chin skeptical about the story. "We'll return later after her fingers heal. Don't worry about finding a new guitar pick, I'll handle that."

Luka never had the chance to bring up Juno's relationship with Sophie, feeling their shared story and Imperia's involvement was too… inconsistent? She rested the question until the next time she met Sophie alone.