The next day, Lianne couldn't wait for lunchtime to arrive.

Anne noticed her excitement – or rather, the fact that she kept looking at the clock and mumbling, 'hurry up hurry up'.

Even a noob would know she was excitedly waiting for something, let alone someone who was trained like her.

Lianne completely ignored Anne – not in a bad way, mind you. It wasn't as if Lianne could contain her excitement, but she wasn't really willing to share with Anne.

Well, not yet anyway.

Let her stew for a while.

If Anne was to ask, Lianne would tell her but since she didn't, why should she satisfy the former's curiosity?

Finally, as the last class before lunch ended, Anne turned to Lianne and said under her breath, "Just what is it that is making you all excited?"

Lianne's lips curled up to a smile, as she tilted her head a bit to look at Anne, "Finally couldn't hold it in, huh?"

"Oooohh," Anne said, hitting herself on the forehead, "You're so mean, you know that?"

Lianne looked at her innocently then laughed, "It's nothing, really. Don't think so much into it. Zero's coming later …"

Anne squealed out loud, then put her hand over her mouth.

Lianne's eyes went wide open, completely taken aback at this reaction from Anne. During this entire time she had known Anne, this was the first time Anne actually acted like a normal teen.

Albeit, a … lovesick teen?

No, that's not right.

"You," Lianne began, shook her head then said, "Why are you acting like … like you're going to be meeting an idol or something?"

Anne grabbed Lianne by the arm, saying, "This is Zero we're talking about, right? THE Zero? Part of the Diamond Group? Lucka? Edward? Yume? Akira? That group?"

"Ye-es," Lianne replied, raising one eyebrow.

Wasn't this reaction of Anne a little bit exaggerated?

It wasn't as if Lianne had never talked about Zero but there had been no indication at all that this was the sort of position Zero and the group had at MIB. Sure, Lianne knew that they were highly respected and admired but this was like …

Idol style admiration?

"You may not know this," Anne said after collecting herself, appearing a bit more calm, "But the Diamond Group members are like, legends in MIB. They're untouchable. No one has come close to the skills they have and everyone strives to be them."

"Oh come on," Lianne said as she started packing up, "I know they're good but I find it hard to believe that no one has been able to surpass them at all in these … what? 17 years?"

Lianne remembered from the file she had read in Kyle's room the first time she came toCountry Tz about how the First Team had been formed.

Her mother had arranged for everything through Oreo, and how Zero and the others had been picked and trained. That was at a time when resources were low and her mother didn't have the skill as yet.

Now, MIB was huge with all the resources that they could possibly want, and numerous people with their expertise training them.

"Yes, no one has," Anne said resolutely and with conviction, "The unique thing about them is that they're an all-rounder. If you are to pit each of their skills with someone, they may not necessarily win - but even if they lose, it won't be by much."

"However, there isn't anyone who can be both an asset to MIB and Smith Industries. Each of them has their skill like Lucka is a great hacker, but he is also skilled in martial arts and able to aid Sir in the business world," Anne explained.

Lianne was enlightened.

It wasn't that there wasn't a better hacker, like Anne said. But there was no hacker that could also fight well or be able to be one of the main pillars in helping her mother in running Smith Industries.

Conversely, there would be someone who could help her mother in the business better than them, but they would not be able to do any MIB business.

And …

There was no one as fiercely loyal to the Smiths as the Diamond Group were and there was no one else that her mother trusted more (other than the Elite Five). .

"We rarely get to see them anymore," Anne said with a sigh, "They're not at HQ and have their own base. They work in the shadows though you do see them in the distance. What I mean is, we don't get to interact with them so much anymore."

"Zero? Interact?"

"Oh, you know what I mean! They used to be at HQ once in a while but now, no. More so because they're training the Team for the Smith Babies," Anne said with a sigh, "If only I was younger."

"Waaaaaay younger," Lianne said with a slight laugh. After all, the twins were only two years old. Which meant that the current team that were being trained would be at least 4 years old. Perhaps 5?

After putting her things into her desk, Lianne told Anne, "Don't wait up for me. I don't know how long I'll be."

"Okay, sure," Anne replied in slight disappointment. She was hoping that she could tag along, but she guessed that this would be for the best.

If both of them disappeared during lunchtime, people would think that they had found a secret spot or something to have their meals. Or maybe she was overthinking it.

After all, she wasn't Joseph with his group of friends and gaggle of girls always keeping an eye out for him. At least she could move about easily. The only time she had trouble was in the first year when Byron was frantically looking for his 'Cinderella'.

That incident lasted for a few months before he finally gave up.

He figured that the girl was not a student of the school, and that was why he couldn't find her. After all, who wouldn't want to acknowledge him, right?

Lianne took her sketchpad and quickly hurried out.

Unfortunately, she met with a little accident that caused a certain annoying fly to start buzzing again.

It occurred when Lianne was heading out.

As she turned the corner, she met with a solid wall.

It was so unexpected, and that wall was so hard that she had tears in her eyes because of the impact. She had smashed her nose right on her sketchpad, that she had held right in front of her.

She stumbled from the impact, her head snapping back while her hands dropped the sketchpad she was holding onto the floor. She felt her waist being held, steading her, as the solid wall talked, "Hey, be careful."

Those who saw this scene, would swear that it was right out of manga.

Girl smashing into boy. Girl about to fall when said boy catches her. Girl looks up at him, guy looks down at her and when their eyes met, sparks fly.

In this case, however, the girl was holding her nose while the guy was staring at the girl, seemingly dazed.

"I'm sorry," Lianne said, as she blinked the tears away. She steadied herself and quickly looked for her sketchpad.

To her horror, the pages were open and one could see the sketches of Zero in it. Some loose pages had scattered about as well and Lianne quickly gathered them up. She stuffed them back into the sketchpad, thinking that she should have kept the loose sheets away long ago.

Without even looking at the face of that solid chest, Lianne thanked him and quickly headed out.

Lianne could feel as if her back was being stared at, but she ignored it.

After all, she knew that the person she had bumped into, was probably shocked she had not turned into some rabid fangirl instead.

That was the typical reaction girls would have around him.

Byron, the baseball ace pitcher.

The last thing she needed was to have him think she had engineered that whole thing as an attempt to get him to notice her. Hence, she acted as if she didn't recognise him and wasn't interested at all.

She headed out through the door, looking about and was happy to see that Zero had already arrived.

However, she was completely shocked to see that he was dressed in casual clothes.

Not the suit that he always wore, but in T-shirt and jeans!

Zero actually looked like some young college student, just having graduated from high school, instead of the young adult he was. Seeing him like this, inspiration hit Lianne and she got all sorts of ideas.

A casual dressed Zero was a feast to the eyes indeed.

However, before she could take another step, her elbow was grasped from behind and she was pulled back and twirled around. She gasped as two strong arms held her arms and desperate eyes bore into her.

"It's you, isn't it?!" Byron asked desperately.