The next day, Yiernoshi headed to school.

"Good morning, Fourteenth!"

"Good morning, Yiernoshi!"

Yiernoshi heard the voices of Christine, Se Ern, and Victoria. Strange, she thought. They're surprisingly early.

"Yiernoshi, do you know what this is about?"

"Huh?"

Se Ern held out a ring.

"This was in my mailbox."

Victoria and Christine also held out rings.

"We got them too."

Yiernoshi freaked out.

"Eek! Those rings! Aren't they..."

"Oh, Yiernoshi, you knew about this?"

Yiernoshi frantically waved her arms around.

"If you have those, you'll be targeted! Why do you even have them?"

"Because they were chosen."

A new voice sounded. Yiernoshi spun around.

There stood Mun and Sam.

"What do you mean?"

Sam sighed.

"There is a total of 7 Carbonara rings. The six other than yours were delivered to the six who are worthy of protecting the next boss, Yiernoshi Lai."
-----
Meanwhile, back in Italy...
In a dark room sat six shadowy figures.

"It's checkmate."

"Hey, who knew that they were going to be distributing those half Carbonara rings? It makes our job so much easier."

"Yeah, and now that we have them, all we have to do is to wait for Chip to get back."

"The one fit to be the Fourteenth is you, boss."

The 'boss' in question looked up, piercing eyes gazing at the other five around the table.

"Whatever."
-----
"What?! You mean that the rings were distributed to other people?!"

Sam nodded sagely.

"Yeah, it's a tradition of the Carbonara. The Carbonara rings belong to the 7 core members of the Carbonara family and are passed on as proof of being in the Carbonara family. In every generation, the 7 core members will have to take on the rings. That's the rule."

Christine's eyes shone.

"Wow! Fourteenth, I feel so honoured!"

"The rings are different."

Everyone looked up at Sam's statement, and proceeded to examine their own rings.

"You're right!"

"Christine's is the Ring of Storm, Se Ern's the Ring of Sun, and Victoria's the Ring of Cloud."

Yiernoshi blinked.

"Storm...sun...cloud...is this some kind of weather forecast?"

Sam shook her head.

"The members of the first generation were very unique. Their characteristics are carved onto the ring as well. It was said that the first boss was like the sky, which colours and engulfs everything. Thus, his ring was called the Ring of Sky. His followers, who became his Guardians,, were portrayed with different types of weather that colour the sky."

"Thus, we have the 6 different rings. The shower that washes everything away, the Ring of Rain. The wind that fiercely whirls about, the Ring of Storm. The floating cloud that won't be caught by anyone, and goes its own way, the Ring of Cloud. The sun that illuminates the sky, the Ring of Sun. The illusion that cannot be captured, the Ring of Mist. And the lightning that holds a harsh strike, the Ring of Thunder."

"Wait! Stop!"

Yiernoshi started flailing her arms around desperately.

"Either way, I don't need this!"

She started tugging at the ring held by a chain around her neck.

Victoria held out her ring.

"I play golf, so I don't need a ring."

Encouraged, Yiernoshi continued.

"That's right! And if you have that, the weird girl from yesterday will target you again! She's gonna come in 10 days!"

"10...days?"

Yiernoshi stared at the change in Victoria's expression.

Christine was the first to react.

"I'm going to train! In 10 days, I'll become stronger to beat her!"

Victoria closed her palm around the ring.

"This is mine, right? I guess I'll take it."

Se Ern was the last one left.

"Cool! I want to train too!"

"Se Ern, I've arranged a tutor to train you. She'll be here any moment."

Sure enough, footsteps sounded in the hallway.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Yiernoshi spun around. Standing in the doorway was a girl in a blouse and jeans. Yiernoshi vaguely remembered her as one of Mun's family.

"I'm Rachel! In 10 days, I'll train you up to be a great fighter!"

Sam nodded.

"Right now, we are short on time, so for everyone with a ring, I've arranged a personal home tutor."

"That's right! Well, Se Ern, are you ready to start training?"

"Yes!"

"Well, then let's go!"

The duo charged out of the classroom.

Mun stuck her hands into her pockets.

"Well, I'm going to train one too."

"Really? Who are you tutoring? Christine?"

"Nah. This one is even creepier."

Sam nodded.

"Besides, Christine will find her own tutor, as will the others."
-----
"What? Claire has a ring too!"

"Yes."

"Eeep! She'll kill her tutor!"

"Don't worry about that. Mun will survive. Besides, you should really worry about yourself first. We've got a lot of training to do."
-----
In Italy...
"Chip will return soon."

"Yes, and then it will be complete."

In the shadowy room, a half Carbonara ring sparkled on each of the figures' fingers.

"The Carbonara ring will become whole at last."