Stella Star Arc

The Stella Star Arc is the fifth story arc in SPY x FAMILY.

To become an Imperial Scholar, Anya Forger begins trying to get Stella Stars with the help of Loid Forger and Yor Forger.

Summary
Henry Henderson starts his early morning by taking a jog around Eden Academy. After completing his jog, he heads to Cecile Hall's dormitory to take a shower. Afterward, he dons his elegant attire and starts making some tea. The dorm tutor walks in and the two wish each other a good morning. Henry invites the tutor to have tea and the tutor gladly joins. Henry pours hot water into the kettle, puts his tea blend into their teacups, and then pours water from the kettle into the cups. The tutor comments how it has been a while since Henry was in charge of the grade school children and asks how they are, and Henry says they have promise. The tutor then mentions how Henry had to give Anya a Tonitrus Bolt on her first day. Henry admits that it was a rare occurrence for their school and only did what was necessary; good deeds shall be praised and misconduct will be met with punishment. The tutor says he has much to learn from Henry, while Henry says that as the elementary students continue to learn true elegance every day, the school traditions will live on.

In the dorm common room, Damian looks solemnly at the group photo taken during orientation, where he stands alone. Ewen Egeburg and Emile Elman run to him with a photo album. They show Damian a photo of his older brother and find more photos of him in the album, awed by his accomplishments and status as an Imperial Scholar while Damian wears a sad look. Ewen tells Damian that he is sure that Damian will become an Imperial Scholar even faster and be the first to get a Stella in their grade. Emile mentions that they still have a while until exams and says that his first opportunity will be in P.E. class next week, where there will be a dodgeball tournament with the other classes. Ewen then discloses that he heard from his friend who heard from their friend that the MVP of the game will be rewarded a Stella.

While waiting for classes to begin, Henry reads a book on the history of Eden while listening to music on his phonograph. He finishes reading and looks out the window, ready for another elegant day at Eden Academy. However, he is instead greeted by Damian, Emile, and Ewen fighting with Anya and Becky Blackbell. Henry gives a look of disappointment having to deal with this so early in the day.

Anya returns home to tell Loid a rumor she heard from Becky that she has a chance to earn a Stella Star in P.E. class. Loid doubts this, but determined to help Anya do well, Yor and an excited Anya train for the dodgeball game. Yor puts Anya through several training methods and teaches her a "killer move".

On the day of the game, Anya, Becky, and Damian's gang have a bit of an argument before they go line up on the court. Henderson announces that he will be overseeing the interclass dodgeball match between Cecile Hall and Wald Hall as Coach Bobby is out sick. Damian throws the first ball of the game, aiming for Bill Watkins, a large muscular student from Wald Hall, who easily catches it. Bill throws the ball back at Cecile's team, eliminating 4 of its members. Bill is confident in his victory and thinks back to his training for the game, remembering his father's words of encouragement. Becky attempts to take him out, but he eliminates her. Damian, Ewen, and Emile try to take out Bill together, but Ewen and Emile end up getting eliminated, leaving Damian, Anya, and another student left in the Cecile Hall team.

While Damian plans to survive and stand out, Bill decides to go after Anya next. He throws a low ball at her, but she reads his mind and jumps to avoid it. He throws 3 more shots, but they all miss her, with the final one hitting the unnamed student. Becky notices Anya nearing the out-of-bounds and yells at her to watch out for the people outside the line. Anya tries to step back but trips and falls. Bill sees his chance and hurls a ball toward Anya. Damian looks at her pitifully but ultimately jumps in the way of the ball and tries to catch it. He ends up failing to do so and eliminates himself. Anya acknowledges Damian's selfless act and announces that she will get revenge for Damian's "death." After thinking back to Yor's training, Anya uses her "killer move" and throws the ball at Bill. However, the ball hits the ground and bounces toward Bill, who throws the ball right back and hits her. Bill and his team are excited, thinking he was going to get a Stella Star. However, Henry informs them that they do not give out Stella Stars for a simple P.E. game, but he may need to give Bill a Tonitrus Bolt for his improper language when throwing the ball at Anya earlier. Damian rushes over to Anya and yells at her for wasting his sacrifice. As Ewen, Emile, and Becky join in and start to argue, Henry considered the children worthy of a Stella Star for their teamwork, but he changes his mind.

Later, Loid sees Anya's grades and sees that she failed all the tests. Loid calls out to Anya, who claims to be busy watching cartoons. He turns off the TV and carries her away so they can study as they promised, but Anya starts throwing a tantrum. They begin studying, and Loid scolds her for being unable to spell correctly. Yor joins them, takes a look at Anya's test, and compliments her for her score being not bad despite still being a failing grade. Anya only had difficulty with the idiom test because she read another student's mind who also failed. She plans in the future to learn who is the best at each subject so she can read their mind for tests. Loid considers having her grades changed in the school's records but realizes that would be suspicious if she did not also have some real improvement as well. He also believes that if her classmates might resent her for her unearned accomplishments. Anya reads his mind and contemplates whether it is a good idea or not for her to cheat by reading her classmates' minds. Loid decides maybe he is being too strict with studying and decides to instead see what other activities she excels at. Anya tries drawing, music, and sports but she fails horribly at all of them. Loid contemplates his mission and the hopes WISE has of her getting eight Stella Stars in four months. While he contemplates this, Anya gets herself tangled up in the jump rope. She tells him she will work really hard before asking him to untangle her. After helping her, Loid asks if she will go with somewhere tomorrow and she agrees.

The next day, they go to the hospital to do some community service in hopes to have her earn a Stella Star that way. Through his intel, Loid knows that outside of academic achievement, Stellas can be awarded for long-term community service and heroic acts like life-saving and police assistance. The nurses assign Loid and Anya to start by cleaning the locker room by the pool. Anya ends up breaking 2 flower pots while cleaning so the nurses decide to reassign her to tidying the books in the library. Instead of cleaning though, she ends up just reading manga. Anya says she is tired of cleaning and runs off to find a surgery room so she can assist a doctor by handing them tools, but ends up bumping into a nurse. The nurse yells at the two of them and excuses them from service. They dejectedly begin to leave the hospital with Loid realizing Anya will not be able to get a Stella Star this way. Ken, a patient at the hospital, passes by them in the hallway alongside his trainer and heads to the rehabilitation pool. When Ken's trainer leaves him near the pool while she goes to change, he reaches his hand in the pool to check the temperature but ends up falling in. Unable to swim, Ken begins to drown, and his thoughts cry out for help. Anya hears his cries through her telepathy and is about to tell Loid about it but fears exposing her abilities.

She tells Loid she will earn a Stella from swimming and runs off to practice at the pool. There, Anya frantically looks around for Ken before seeing his air bubbles and hears more of his cries for help. Anya dives into the pool after the boy, but is unable to swim and starts losing air. Luckily, Loid dives into the pool in time and saves the children. After Loid explains the situation to the adults, they praise Anya for her efforts, despite her recklessness. At the next day of school, Anya is awarded a Stella Star for saving Ken's life. Becky and Henderson congratulate her for getting the first Stella Star in their grade, while Damian scoffs at her for getting one before him. Back at home, Ken and his family thank Anya. Yor hugs Anya tightly, and Loid pats her head, proud of her achievement. Anya realizes she can use her powers to help people and gets very happy. Yor proclaims that she will make them a special dinner, but Anya rejects the idea, shocking her mother.

A disguised Handler and Twilight meet in a subway car and discuss Anya's recently earned Stella Star. Handler mentions that several businesses linked to Donovan have made suspicious financial transactions recently and tells Twilight to quickly find a way to get close to Desmond, as the signs do not look good. Anya arrives at school proudly wearing her Stella Star on her chest. Several students begin talking in awe about how she was apparently the fastest student to get a Stella Star. Becky greets Anya who instructs her to call her "Starlight Anya" from now on. Becky states that with this fame, Anya could probably make 100 friends just today. An image pops into Anya's mind of Damian asking her to be friends and Loid praising her for helping to complete his mission. However, Damian instead greets her by telling her to not get too full of herself before walking off which disappoints Anya.

Becky and Anya head to their class where the students immediately begin to badmouth Anya for wearing her Stella Star in class. Other students try to assert that the whole incident was faked and she does not deserve the Stella Star. Two girls looking for support in this ask Damian what he thinks. Instead of support though, he tells them that Eden Academy is not a third-rate school that would give out Stella Stars without merit. The girls worriedly try to take back their words before Damian cuts them off telling them to transfer if they have a problem with Eden. However, these words only hurt Damian because he knows that he has lost to Anya.

Becky and Anya head to lunch where Becky asks Anya what she got as a reward for earning a Stella Star. Anya thinks maybe she could get peanuts but Becky pushes her to think bigger like the gifts she has gotten, from dresses, tiaras, and a tank. Seeing all of Becky's gifts makes Anya frightened at the amount of money the Blackbell family has. Anya decides that she wants a castle but Becky tries to get her to lower her request size. Becky brings up the dog that she got which makes Anya curious. Anya sees Damian and his gang walking by so she asks Damian if he has a dog. Damian shrugs off the question but Anya reads his mind and sees him playing with his dog Max. Anya envisions a future where she tells Damian that she got a dog which makes Damian want to compare the cuteness of the dogs. Loid and Anya then head to Donovan and Damian's house where Loid asks Donovan Desmond to end this war.

When Anya arrives home, she tells Loid and Yor that she wants a dog as a reward for her Stella Star. Loid tells Anya that he will give the idea some thought. He then envisions a buff guard dog that can be used to protect Anya whereas Yor envisions a dog that would attack and kill her. After reading their minds, Anya tells the two of them that she wants a small cute dog which makes Yor envision a small dog slashing Anya's throat with a knife in its mouth. Loid decides that they should go to a pet shop over the weekend to see what's available.

Meanwhile, two men are discussing the sales of the dogs they have in holding. They plan on selling them to some revolutionaries who are going to use the dogs as bomb dogs. They look over the dogs and see that some of them are not doing well. One of the dogs sees an image of Loid, Anya, and Yor welcoming him, and this makes him stand up.

Anime Segments

 * This includes Extra Mission 1 and Short Mission 1.

PENGUIN PARK
Loid visits a subway store and purchases a drink. The woman working there is a WISE contact, who gives him another mission. As Loid leaves, the woman wonders if a day would come where they won't be needed anymore.

Loid completes his new assignment and meets with a man from WISE, who thanks him for completing the mission so quickly. The man asks him how is Operation Strix going and Loid explains its going smoothly and have secured a wife and a child. While smoking, Loid coughs, making the man wonder if he quit smoking and Loid confirms, since he got a child now.

Back at the Forger home, Yor comments that Loid said he will be late and suggest they eat out tonight and Anya agrees. Yor thinks to herself that doctors are busy. Anya who read Yor's mind, knows that Loid isn't a doctor, but a spy and went to take out an arms dealer. Yor washes the dishes, but is still able to smell the blood on her hands from the yesterday's kill.

Tired, Loid heads home, commenting that he keeps getting side missions even though he is busy with Operation Strix and that would mean HQ have personal shortage. Entering his building, Loid overhears some ladies gossiping about him, wondering if he is saying he is working late, but is cheating or he got fired and can't confess to his wife. As he doesn't want to attain more suspicion around them, Loid returns home and announces they will be going out as a family next weekend. He sees Anya had draw a penguin and suggest they go to the aquarium. Yor finds him tired and suggest that he rests a bit, but Loid explains that in order for their pretend family to continue, they must do what normal happy families do.

The weekend comes, but Loid have been working hard to complete his extra missions and is quite tired now. The moment they go out, they meet some of their neighbors, who comment its rare to see them all three together, but Loid explains they are going to the aquarium. When they get to the subways, Loid notices there is a mission for him. Loid decides to buy some drink and tells the woman working there that he can't take on the mission. She tries to explains its directly from WISE HQ, but Loid still refuses it, stating he is on an important mission for Operation Strix. As the woman overhears Anya mentions the aquarium, she tells Loid that his mission location is exactly at Berlint Aquarium. Loid still attempts to decline it, but the woman proceeds to explain the mission and that some important intel will be traded at the aquarium. An instructions on making a new chemical weapon and if a terrorist obtains that intel, many people could die. Having no choice, Loid ends up taking the mission.

At the aquarium Anya is excited to see all the animals. Loid is glad that he at least showed his neighbors that they are a good family and can focus more on the new mission, however, one of his neighbors then sees him, making Loid realize he can't relax at all. Yor then suggest they join them, which makes Loid mission ever harder. Loid recalls that the intel is smuggled by a capsule inside a penguin and suggest they should go and see the penguins. As they go, Loid sees there are 200 penguins and wonders which one is his target. As he can't check each one of them and can't just wait and see if someone will try obtaining the capsule, Loid wonders if there is some mark to recognize the right penguin. Seeing that Loid is troubled, Anya decides to try and read the penguins mind. She manages to focus and finds a penguin who have a hard time swallowing. She points it to Loid, who then suspects he could be the one. Loid excuses himself, saying he is going to buy some drink and goes to disguise himself as a newbie staff in order to get close to the penguins.

A senior staff then takes Loid to the penguins, to show him how to feed them. He asks him if he started learning their names. Loid states he glanced at the list with their names, but gets scolded as it takes a lot of time to actually learn all 200 names and be able to recognize them. However, Loid quickly recognizes the penguins around them, which surprised the senior staff, but also annoys him as even he still have trouble recognizing all of them. Loid spots Parles, his target penguin, but then realizes he is surrounded by other penguins, who wish to eat. The senior staff wants to show Loid what each penguin species eat and how to feed them, but not having time for that, Loid express desire to try figuring it himself and recalls what veteran aquarists have done before. Figuring it all out, Loid easily controls the penguins and feeds them, opening his path to Parles. He goes and picks Parles, stating that he doesn't seems hungry, so he might be sick and decides to take him to the treatment room. The senior staff is shocked at Loid's skill.

Taking the penguin elsewhere, Loid notices there is something stuck in his throat. He also notices a red dot on his left foot. A man the shows up and asks Loid what he is doing and Loid explains he is taking him to the treatment room. The man states he will take him, but Loid tells him only staff is allowed to do so. The man apologizes and introduces himself as "Hurry Taylar", a professor from the Berlint University's marine biology research lab, and explains he is in charge of the marine animals. Loid takes his ID and smells it. He then wets his fingers and smudges the ink, stating its a fake ID, not even well made. The man is surprised and takes out a gun, but Loid disarms him with a bucket. The man runs, but Loid states his priority is to take the capsule and as he doesn't know how many enemies are there, he must give up on chasing him. Anya secretly observes Loid and decides to chase after the man. The terrorist wants to go outside and inform his comrades, so they can kill Loid. Anya manages to grab on him and tells Yor that she is being kidnapped. Yor rushes in and kicks the man, knocking him out. Loid's mission is a success, obtaining both the intel and information from the captured man.

As Loid haven't returned from getting the drinks, the neighbors gossip and tell Yor that he is probably cheating. Loid then shows up with a large stuffed penguin, which he explains was the prize from a penguin name-guessing challenge, and he played over and over, until he manages to get it for Anya. The neighbor ladies comment that Loid is actually a better father than they were thinking. Loid wants to complain to HQ for overworking him and get some vacation, but seeing the smile on Anya, he realizes he can't sit idly if he wants a world without war, where children don't cry. Meanwhile, the newbie that Loid disguised as, is getting promoted to Chief as the senior staff Chief has nothing else to teach him.

At home, Anya introduced Penguin to Director Chimera, the boss her secret organization P2. She then accepts Penguin as a new recruit known as agent Penguinman. Anya then shows Penguinman around the hideout and shows him the TV, from where they obtain intel each day. She introduces him to Agent Papa, who can do anything and Agent Mama, who is strong, but fails at everything else. Anya proceed and shows Penguinman around. She then shows Penguinman the most secret spot in the hideout, her Papa's room and Mama's room. Anya attempts to enter Loid's room, but he captures her, scolding her as he told her to not enter his room without permission. Anya starts to cry, saying she hates both Loid and Yor and will run from home. Worried about Operation Strix, Loid picks up Penguinman and pretends to be him, saying they should wrap up the tour and head out for their next mission. Yor picks a robot and supports Loid. Anya stops crying and tells them to follow her as bad guys have taken over the candy store on 2nd street. Anya then takes them to the candy store, where after they buy her some, she gets happy.

Story Impact

 * First appearance of Wald Hall.
 * Anya Forger earns her first Stella Star.
 * Keith Kepler and Bond appear at the end.

Characters Introduced

 * Bill Watkins
 * Ken