Aries opened his eyes wondering if he should fake ill. 

Sleeping did seem quite fun at the moment, or at least more fun than going to the Training Ground and embarrassing himself like yesterday. 

Aries didn't know why he got picked as the captain. He had never become a leader before, he also didn't seem to glow leadership in the interview he first went before he was accepted. Why, then? 

Not only that, Aries didn't really come from a rich family. He hadn't got the money to get sword and achery lessons, so he didn't know how he would be able to fight. 

Honestly, Aries was never sure of what Zodiacs actually do. He heard they fight off bad people, but that was the same as policemen and policewomen. So, what do they actually do? 

Do they spy or something? If so, well, he might need to retire and become a baker instead. Aries was very clumsy, after all. 

Well, whatever. Aries couldn't care less for that at the moment. He finally decided to get his butt out of bed and shower. One good thing out of this place was they had warm water... and hot water if you wanted to burn yourself, he supposed. 

After showering and using his clothes, he went to class. Aries hoped that they wouldn't have to go back to the cursed place called Training Ground because that would be absolute hell, thank you very much. 

He smiled at a person who he passed by, continuing throughout the halls of the building and then turning on a corner. As he neared the classroom which he so-hated, someone pulled him into an empty classroom. 

Mind you, empty classrooms were pretty common. There were barely any people around, that's why. 

"Hey-" 

A hand quickly clamped over his lips and he couldn't speak any coherent words. Aries immediately regained his vision, but everywhere around him was dark and he could not see a thing. 

"It's me, Gemini, and we're ditching class today, cap'n." 

The voice came from in front of him, which means someone else was holding him from behind. 

The so-called Gemini continued, "All four of us." 

Then, someone turned on the lights. Everyone instantly flinched except Gemini who was smart enough to close her eyes. Aries jerked away from his captor's embrace and jerked forward. 

Hearing Taurus squeal so manly, Gemini opened her eyes. In reflex, she quickly pulled a table to shield herself from Aries. It caused the captain's vulnerable body part to clash with the table instead. 

Whilst letting out a string of curse worda, Aries held the area between his legs. The three people around him was amazed for a second, but the silence was quickly broken by a male's laughter. 

Obviously, Aries wouldn't cry over his own pain; he's not that crazy. It was a laughter that Aries knew all to wall

"Ta- u-" Aries whimpered, letting out another dozen curse words. "Taurus, I'm gonna- kill- yo- u! Ugh!" 

He turned around and let himself down on the cold floor, leaning on the table that nearly erased his future. 

After calming down a little, the red-head asked, "What do you people want from me?" 

The other three looked like they were having some intense telepathy session until Taurus explained, "We're going to investigate something, actually." 

Aries raised an eyebrow, finally recognizing the person behind Taurus. "Pisces? Why are you here?" he asked in surprise. Never in a million years would he ever imagine that Pisces grow up to be a delinquent. 

The girl being questioned just gave an awkward wave and chuckle. "Well, Gemini somehow managed to persuade me to do this thing. She's very persuasive." 

Quickly, Aries turned around and right in front of him was the female vice-captain, standing proudly with her purple hair behind her back. 

"This is our vice-captain? Ditching class on the second day?" Aries criticized, even though he was technically doing the same thing. The difference is that he never meant to ditch class in the first place. 

Gemini chuckled, flipping her hair like it was no big deal. "I'm sure one-hundred percent we won't get caught. If we do, they won't kick us out of the RJ254 anyways. Probably would just make Aqua captain, but I can easily prevent that from happening." 

The captain of RJ254 stood up and was about to explode when someone put their hand on his shoulder. 

"Aries, I bet it'll be fun," said Pisces in her small shrilly voice.

Aries' eyes softened. "Fine." His head hung low until he sighed and finally looked at Gemini in the eyes. "But if we get caught, I'm blaming you." 

To the roof they went. Somehow, Gemini managed to memorize the map of the school and each location they put cameras in. Moreover, they all got to the rooftop without problem, even though they all weren't in a good mood--Gemini was an exception. 

That girl sure loves playing around. She's so childish, yet I am also falling into her trap. Aries was starting to really regret joining this thing. 

"So, what do we do now?" he asked once they all arrived on top of the roof. He looked around, finding that nothing looked out of the ordinary. However, Gemini and Taurus told him on the way here that there was something unexplainable here. 

Honestly, Aries didn't believe it. This building is the ZODIACS building. It's heavily protected with cameras and all that kind of stuff. He thought that the female vice-captain was just playing around and she was intending to bring the whole team down with her. 

Gemini walked to a very large pile of boxes. The stack was so high and huge that it covered whatever was behind it. 

Pisces quickly approached her. "What are you looking for? Careful, you might bring the whole boxes down," she warned in worry. 

The bossy vice-captain shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Wait a minute. Taurus, come here. Where's the button again?" 

As Taurus walked over to help Gemini, Aries wondered what kind of drugs were they consuming and how much. Why in the world would there be a button in the middle of boxes? That doesn't make sense at all. 

A sound of a click could be heard clearly before the boxes started moving away and letting the Zodiacs pass through. It was like an automatic manual door, which didn't make sense at all. 

The four of them walked to the other side behind the boxes in awe before Gemini suddenly stopped walking, causing the others behind her to do so. 

"What in the world is this?" 

Aries looked to the floor where she was painting. The tiles were mostly white, but there were some red ones. After a while, he realized that the red tiles presented the word "DIE" in capital letters. 

He gaped before blinking a few times and shutting his mouth, pretending nothing happened. "So? Where do we go from now?" he asked, bravely putting his foot on a white tile. Instantly, the white tile beneath his foot cracked and fell to who-knows-where. 

In reflex, Gemini pulled him backwards so strongly that he fell to the safe floor. Pisces knelt next to him, worriedly asking if he was okay. 

The person who brought them all here pursed her lips, looking at the floor carefully. "Well, fudge it," she decided before running down the "I" in "DIE" and safely making it to the other side. 

Gemini panted a little before waving and smiling at her teammates. "Come on!" 

After a little bit of running, they found themselves in front of a weird looking blue building with a window-like thingy in the middle. Taurus raised an eyebrow and approached the window-thingy. He tried to push it because there was no handle, and it easily opened. 

A bit too easily, if you ask Aries. It all seemed like a trap to him and he knew the others thought the same thing. However, they need to try, even with the risk of getting caught and expelled in their second day. 

After successfully getting inside the building, Aries took the lead and started walking towards their right. It was very dark, but not to the point where they couldn't see. "It's bigger than how it looks from outside." He assumed it was some kind of laboratory from the weird smell. 

Pisces loudly gulped. "Guys, what do you think that is?" she asked, making the other three follow the direction she was pointing at with her hand. 

It was a large tube filled with floating human organs such as hands, legs and eyes. The Zodiacs gaped and their eyes couldn't be wider. They didn't believe what they were seeing. 

"I... think we should go," Taurus said, breaking the icy silence. He frowned deeply, unable to take his eyes off the floating fingers. Is this also the work of the Zodiacs? 

Out of nowhere, laugh could be heard, followed by a question, "Why are you leaving so soon?!" None of them knew who said it, but they knew they were surely in trouble. 

Suddenly, the ground they were standing on gave out and they fell. Pisces was the only one who made a sound; a squeal. The others were too dumbfounded to even react. 

Somehow, they found themselves standing in front of a grinning old man. The tube of organs were on the floor above them. The suspicious stranger said loudly, "I'm not sure who you are, but I obviously can't let you go now that you've seen things you aren't supposed to." 

The four teammates looked at each other. Surprisingly, Gemini looked more mortified than Pisces did. She also appeared to be holding back something. 

The two Zodiac males were also equally troubled, even though they didn't show it. After mustering enough courage, the captain asked, "What are you going to do to us? Cut off our arms and legs?" 

The old crazy man laughed. "Nope, that's for the Opiuchus project and as far as I know, you guys aren't royalties," he said as if cutting off people's organs was an everyday thing. 

"What do you mean royalties?!" Taurus exclaimed in shock. Were those the organs of the king and queen? But they are alive... 

Again, the annoying laughter of the insane human could be heard. "Well, you know royalties are royalties because they have magic power, right? So-" 

His answer was cut off by someone throwing this large object at him. Apparently, that weird man wasn't that durable considering he fainted just from Gemini throwing a large piece of floor at him. 

"We need to go," she grimaced, pointing at a ladder on the corner of the room. 

"Don't say a thing to them," Gemini warned with a weird expression. She didn't have time to explain why because the door in front of them suddenly opened. 

Scorpio was in front of them. "Huh? Where have you guys been? We covered up for you saying that you were sick and all. The teacher somehow bought it, but I think it's just because she was in a hurry." 

Behind him, Libra appeared and added, "By the way, the teacher just left. She said that we are going on our first mission today. We need to save the princess who just got captured. Crazy, right?" 

The four Zodiacs looked at each other, each one with a worried expression. Gemini looked most troubled out of them, though. Like there was something she was hiding. 

Scorpio then chuckled. "Who's that, Aries? Your girlfriend?" he teased. 

The vice-captain glared at him. "I'm your vice-captain, you idiot," she said in annoyance. "By the way, the reason we're late... I actually tripped and none of us knew where the infirmary is, so can anyone help me?" 

Tripped? Aries looked at Gemini whose left hand was holding this thick book and her right hand was holding an area around her knee. 

That knee was badly bleeding and her skin was ripped off. Pisces gaped, not noticing anything of it earlier. She knew she fell on Gemini, but she didn't think she caused any injuries. The vice-captain was pretty good at hiding it, too, since she was the one who ran the fastest to their classroom. 

Libra gasped in worry. "Geez, how reckless could you be? Come on, we need to get you to the infirmary," she scolded, even though she honestly was just shocked. She quickly wrapped Gemini's arm around her shoulder and started walking away. 

Sagittarius followed behind them, ready to give her assistance. 

"I didn't realize," Taurus whispered to Aries. 

"Me neither. She's a weird one. A really good actor."