Roselle prepared for another day at school. She went through her m routine. She found herself upstairs getting ready when the doorbell rang, causio pause for a moment. Who could be visiting at this hour?

  Her mother could be heard from the front dreeting the ued guest. "Oh, Michigo, what a surprise! Roselle will be delighted to see you."

  Roselle's i iqued. She quickly finished getting ready before making her way to the front door. On the hallway, she found Michigo standing there looking slightly nervous.

  "Michigo!" Roselle excimed with a warm smile. "I didn't expect to see you here. What brings you over to my house so early?"

  Michigo returned her smile. “Mornin, Roselle. I just thought I'd e by and walk to school with you today. What do you say?"

  Roselle's mother, Mrs. Magenta, watched the exge with a knowing look.

  "Alright, you two, You don't want to be te for school. Have a great day, and make sure to catch up properly on your way there."

  Roselle and Michigo both nodded, heading off to school

  Roselle and Miade their way to school. On the way, Roselle turo her friend and asked, "So, Michigo, what's up? You mentioned we have a lot to talk about. Is everything okay?"

  Michigo g Roselle. "Well, Roselle, I talked to Tori this m in person, and it turns out her phone is now busted."

  Roselle furrowed her brow in fusion. "Her phone is broken? How did that happen? Did she drop it or something?"

  "Actually, Roselle, she didn't break it."

  "She didn't? Then how did it get damaged?"

  Michigo paused for a moment, then said, "Tori told me that her phone was w perfectly fiil she received a straext message. She said it was like her phone glitched or something, and now it won't turn on."

  Roselle's eyes widened. "A straext message? That sounds really odd. Do you know what the message said?"

  Michigo shook her head. "No, Tori couldn't remember the exact words. She just said it was a bunch of random characters and symbols. But the timing is suspicious, sidering everything that's been happening."

  The mystery surrounding Roselle’s impersonator and the straext message added to the growing list of questions that needed answers which began to make Roselle feel uneasy.

  "This is getting more and more plicated, Michigo. We gotta find out whose behind all of this and why they're doing it."

  Michigo nodded in agreement. "That's exactly why I came to talk to you, Roselle. We o work this out and figure out who thinks it’s a good idea to mess with us. Now I got some other idea’s I wanna share with you, but they wait for ter. "

  Roselle walked down the school hallway with Michigo by her side. Their footsteps were heard while making their way through a crowded se. Stern gazes of many girls around them both didn't go unnoticed, but Michigo's presence seemed to deter anyone from taking any hostile a.

  Roselle arrived at her locker, and with Michigo standing by her side, she felt a renewed sense of support. She turo Michigo and asked,

  "Wait, don’t you need your books too?"

  Michigo blinked and then blushed slightly while ing to remember her own locker.

  "Ooooh. Yeeaaah” she said with a sheepish smile while scratg behind her head. "I have to get my stuff from my locker. Thanks, Roselle. I'll meet you in css."

  With a nod, Roselle opened her locker and began gathering her books and materials for the day. As Michigo headed toward her own locker.

  After the m csses, lunch break approached. Michigo sought out Roselle and informed her, "Hey, Roselle, Tori's waiting for us. Let's go meet her for lunch."

  Roselle nodded and replied, "Sure, Michigo. Lead the way."

  Together, they made their way to where Tori was waiting for them, eager to tiheir iigation into the mysterious impersonator and the ulis that had unfolded retly.

  As Roselle and Michigo approached Tori, they found her chatting with a group of friends. Tori was a lively girl with pink hair tied up in a bow, her medium-sized frame giving a friendly and approachable vibe.

  Upon spotting Roselle and Michigo, Tori excused herself from her friends and greeted them with a warm smile. "Omah god if it isn’t my two friendies.” She waved her hand and then took a set dowo them. "I've been hearing all sorts of things tely. Are you girl’s ied in hearing the test Gossip?"

  Roselle and Michigo exged ghen hey couldn’t afford not to hear it after all.

  Tori leaned in to them. "Alright, guys, listen up. So, I heard from a girl who knows a girl who knows a girl that said there was some serious buzz about you, Roselle."

  Roselle and Michigo leaned in, their curiosity piqued. "What kind of buzz, Tori?" Roselle asked, eager to get to the bottom of the rumors.

  Tori tinued, "Well, it's all about this mysterious impersonator of yours. Apparently, they've been causing quite a stir, pretending to be you aing into all sorts of trouble."

  Roselle frowned. "That's not good. Do they know who this impersonator is?"

  Tori shrugged. "ly, but the rumor mill says it might be someone from within our circle of friends. You know how it goes, right?"

  Michigo chimed in. "We o find out who this impersonator is and put ao this. It's causing Roselle a lot of trouble."

  Tori shrugged her shoulders. “Well, that’ all I got on the gossips today. I'll keep trying to go around and searore information on this juicy topic. If there's anything else I hear, I'll let you guys kno, but let me share one more thing with you...”

  As the versation at the lunch table tinued, Sarah arrived. Tori, with her cheerful demeanor, waved at Sarah and called out, "Hey, Sarah, over here! Join us!"

  Sarah smiled and made her way over to the table. "Hey, guys. What's the test gossip? Anything iing going on today?"

  Tori was always eager to share the test tidbits. It brought aing smile to her face. She leaned in and began talk. "Well, Sarah, you’re kinda te to the party but we've been discussing the rumors about Roselle's impersonator. It's quite the mystery, isn’t it? It just makes you wanna dive deeper and find out more."

  Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Impersonator? That sounds juicy. What have you found out so far?"

  Roselle, Michigo, and Tori exged gnces, and Roselle began to update Sarah on what they had learned.

  Tori leaned in closer and lowered her speech. "You guys didn't hear this from me, okay? But there's something fishy going on with Mrs. Boss Aruka. Like for realsies."

  Roselle, Michigo, and Sarah exged curious gnces. "Mrs. Boss Aruka?" Roselle repeated, clearly puzzled by the niame.

  Tori nodded. She took a look both left and right and then said to them, “Yeah, that's what some people have been calling her. Apparently, she's been ag like she she’s the boss of the school, but she’s also been super secretive about some of the stuff she does. Her little bodyguard also makes it hard for most people to talk to her now. I even heard she's been hanging out with some shady looking dudes."

  Sarah raised an eyebrow. "That does sound suspicious," she remarked. "But why would she be involved in something like this? She's one of Roselle's close friends, right?"

  Michigo chimed in, "Maybe we should talk to her and see if she what she knows if anything."

  Roselle agreed with a smile. "You're right. Aruka is one of my friends, and I trust her. But if something's b her, we should find out what it is."

  With their resolve rehe group decided to approach Mrs. Boss Aruka.

  As Roselle, Michigo, and Sarah approached the table where Aruka was supposed to be sitting, they were met with an ued obstacle. A girl with pigtails and yellow hair blocked their path. She folded her arms and gave them a stern gre. "What do you want?"

  Sarah questioned herself. ‘Who is that? Wait minute.…‘She took a moment and then spoke aloud with realization, "Oh, that's one of our friends too! It's El."

  Sarah cleared her throat, attempting to address the stern girl in front of them. "We just want to see Aruka."

  But the moment she uttered Aruka's name, she made a crucial omission by leaving out the "Mrs. Boss" part. El's eyes narrowed.

  "You should show some respect," El scolded with annoyaaking shape in her face. "It's not just Aruka; it's Mrs. Boss Aruka to you! Goddamn idiot."

  Sarah wi the rebuke,"My apologies, Mrs. Boss Aruka," she said, bowing slightly. "We didn't mean any disrespect. We just o speak with her urgently."

  El crossed her arms "You'll have to earn the right to see Mrs. Boss Aruka," she decred, her tone firm. "And that means proving that you're worthy of her time."

  Sarah blinked. "Uh, how exactly do we do that?"

  El gred as if looking down at them, but she was shorter than everyone here.

  "its simple .You'll o pass a series of tests that will determine whether you're worthy of Mrs. Boss Aruka's time."

  Roselle nodded, her resolve firm. "We're ready," she decred.

  "Now leave."

  Roselle and the other's blinked. ‘Leave’?

  "I said, leave. If you don’t uand, then you're not worthy of seeing Mrs. Boss Aruka."

  Roselle's brows furrowed in frustration. "But we just agreed to your challenge… Why are you kig us out now?"

  "I don't have time to waste on you gals. You clearly don’t look any type of ways serious calling Mrs. Boss Aruka’s h disrespect. I don’t want to see your faces for the rest of the day.”

  Sarah gritted her teeth. "Fine. We'll leave. But mark my words, El. We'll e back, and we'll pass your stupid tests. Then we'll see Mrs. Boss Aruka, whether you like it or not!"

  Roselle oher hand questioned herself, ‘What has happeo my friends? Why are they so distant, so guarded? Is it because of the impersonator? Or is there something else, something deeper that I don't uand?’

  El's gre didn't waver. "Hey dancers, Exit, stage left already!”

  Tori chimed in with a hopeful tone, " I see Mrs. Boss Aruka, though? I have some stuff to talk about that she might want to hear."

  El sidered for a moment and then nodded relutly. "Fiori, you . But the rest of this ente better make like dancers a stage left."

  Trinned, seemingly unfazed by El's strict demeanor, and made her way towards Aruka, leaving Roselle, Michigo, and Sarah standing there, still trying to make sense of the situation.

  Sarah sighed, her brows furrowing. "You know, it's really strange, Michigo. Aruka's gotten so famous around here, and El seems to be ed arouhey used to be so close to us, especially Roselle. But now, it's like they're treating her like a strahis week is starting off ging everythihought we knew about our friends."

  Michigo looked to the ground."Yeah, you're right. This ain’t like them at all. It's like they're different people now, and not in a good way."

  Roselle was fused. She had cherished the bonds she shared with Aruka, El, and the others, and seeing those retionships crumble left her with a few f holes ing into her heart.

  While Roselle was lost in thought, pting the ges in her friends, a folded note suddenly collided with her head, causio let out an, "Ow!"

  She instinctively reached up and plucked the note from her hair. Curiosity piqued, she unfolded the note and found a name written on it: "Hashta."

  Her eyes widened in surprise as reition fshed across her face. "Hashta," she whispered to herself, gasping softly.