Alinea

When Suzuki Ara woke up, it was very chilly. No wonder, it had started snowing a while ago, and she had forgotten to completely close the window when she returned from her stroll.

Glancing at the clock made her groan and roll over. It was only six in the morning, but because she was careless to leave the window open, she robbed herself of what could have been another hour of sleep. She wanted to doze off again, but it was futile. She was too cold. Her body was now completely awake and complaining.

Sighing, she dragged herself out of bed to shut the window properly. But when she got near, she heard some noise below the window. Curious, she opened it wider and looked down.

"Good morning," she greeted the servants that huddled together below the transom.

They greeted her back, although they looked troubled.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, but stopped upon seeing the poor smashed bush below.

Ooooops.

She had totally forgotten about that. She was able to deal with the CCTV, but she had no way to fix the broken plant below her window where she landed last night. She was wondering what to do when another person joined the servants.

Errr….

Ara almost palmed her face to see her brother looking concerned as he eyed the damages below the window. He didn't see her, and so he proceeded on asking the servants questions.

"Was it a robbery?" Suzuki Aki asked, and the servants shook their heads.

"But the surveillance is wiped out and is not functioning. Are you sure nothing's missing?"

Again, the servants shook their heads. Ara felt guilty. Because of her, the employees were being scolded. She cleared her throat loudly, and Aki looked up, startled.

"Ara-chan! You're awake," Aki immediately smiled upon seeing her, and Ara almost rolled her eyes. If she had no idea what was going on, this over-protective brother would keep things hidden from her.

"Sorry oniichan about the plant. It's my fault. I was just checking the view from under my window for my worm's eye-view drawing when I fell there. I forgot to tell you about it," she lied, and everyone looked surprised.

"You're the one who did this?" Aki asked, indicating the broken shrubbery, and Ara nodded.

She quickly stepped back and snatched her ripped jeans and then showed it to her brother and the servants. "Yeah - and see? My jeans ripped when I landed."

Seeing as she was telling the 'truth', the servants exchanged glances.

"Master, maybe the surveillance not working was just a coincidence. Maybe something went wrong with the server or the wiring. I will ask the technicians to check," one said, and Aki nodded.

Seeing as nothing was stolen and everything in the house was in their proper place, this must be the case.

Aki looked up at Ara who was still standing there looking innocent.

"Did you get injured?"he asked, and Ara shook her head.

"Just my clothes oniichan. I just sat – it's not as if I fell from my window," she said with a nervous laughter, and everyone believed her.

Of course. Even with the plants below, if someone fell or even jumped from her window they'd definitely have more than one bone broken. It was that high.

"Alright. Get ready and join me for breakfast?" Aki asked, and Ara smiled as she readily agreed.

Half an hour later, the siblings sat around the table sharing breakfast.

"Why are you up so early?"Aki asked.

"I felt stuffy last night, I opened the window a bit but I forgot to close it,"Ara answered sheepishly, and Aki shook his head at her.

"Stop being careless Ara-chan. You'll get sick again," the worried brother said with a frown, and Ara apologized. Afterwards, she remembered her conversation with Ichihara the day before.

"Oniichan, do you think you can arrange for someone to check up on Midori from time to time?"she asked.

"Ichihara?"Aki wondered about the request. "Did something happen?"

Ara shook her head. "Nothing, but I just want to make sure she'll be okay. Koharu's a bit weird lately. She's the real target after all. Just in case…"

Her voice trailed off, indicating the possible danger, and the older Suzuki narrowed his eyes.

"I'll arrange for something," he said finally. "How about you?"

"I don't need it. I'm not Koharu's rival. I was just road kill last time," she answered honestly, but Aki didn't' look happy with her description.

"You still have to take care."

"I will,"Ara assured him. "She will not be able to hurt your little sister again okay?"

Aki however was not convinced. Still, he didn't say anything else. Besides, Homura Ryuu's in the picture now. He would keep his sister safe.

At school, Midori was correct into saying that slots for the Cedar Palace trip were already taken. The two classes who were going however were Midori's class and Rin's class, which meant Koharu would be there too.

TSK

Ara's class would be going to Hakone, so she wouldn't be able to keep watch. Luckily, they would be going to the Cedar Palace so she'd ask Kou to be vigilant in her stead. In any case, even without her saying anything to Kou, the Homura House was heavily guarded so nothing could happen. Koharu wouldn't be able to do anything there.

With that in mind, Ara felt relieved.

At lunch break, Ara was dragged to the cafeteria by the girls again, but this time, Koharu was obviously distracted. She still looked neat like always, but her face looked tired as if she hadn't been sleeping properly.

"What's wrong Koharu-chan?"Rin asked, and the other snapped out of her thoughts and smiled awkwardly.

"Ah, it's nothing. I just didn't sleep well. I studied until late last night," Okada said evasively as she turned her head to the side towards the window, and almost instantly, the smile on her face vanished, replaced by a cold, murderous look that only Ara who was sitting in front of her could see.

She turned to see what Koharu was looking at to see Sonoda walking together with Midori outside. The two were deep in a conversation, and Koharu's expression distorted when Sonoda suddenly laughed and took Ichihara's hand in his, and they continued on hand in hand.

Ara knew based on that look that Koharu had finally reached the edge.