Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Gakuen Alice.

"You cannot argue with reality.

You can either deny it or admit it.

I like admitting it only because it is so

much easier than convincing

myself it is deniable." – Kay Barcelon

It was Sunday morning and eventually there were no classes inside the prestigious Gakuen Alice. Mikan Sakura, a lovely brunette woke up very early that day.

'I better take for a walk and after that; I'll go to Central Town to buy Howalons. Yay, can't wait for those goodies!' she thought happily.

She was strolling happily along the corridors when she suddenly met Subaru Imai. She greeted him with her usual trademark smile, "Ohayo, sempai!"

He greeted back with a small smile crept along on his face. While they were going on their separate ways, Subaru heard someone whimpered in pain. He turned his back to see who it was and to his surprise, it was Mikan, wincing in agony. Just when he was about to approach her, she fainted and her whole body dropped on the floor. He carried her into his arms and went to the clinic.

In Hotaru's Lab

'Odd. How come she's not pestering me today? Maybe she's still asleep. That sleepyhead'. Hotaru thought while she was busy making her new invention.

On the place near the Sakura Tree

'Where is polka dots today? Chotto-matte, why am I thinking about her? Tch. Well, better take a nap for a while'.

It was already late in the afternoon and they haven't seen the brunette.

'I guess I better check on her. What is that idiot up to now?' Hotaru thought as she hurriedly went out of her room to go to Mikan's room.

She knocked on her door but there was no reply from the inside. Every second passed, she grew quite impatient and somehow worried. She turned the doorknob open but unfortunately, she didn't see Mikan in her room.

'Great! Where could that idiot be?' Hotaru angrily thought while she was busy thinking on what were the possible places where her friend could be.

When she was about to leave the room, he saw Subaru.

"Have you seen Mikan?" Hotaru said with her usual monotonous voice but deep inside she's really worried of her one and only best friend.

"I haven't seen her lately. Well, ah- I've got a lot of things to do. Ja!" Subaru uneasily answered.

'Strange. He is acting really weird. Subaru never stammers. Maybe there is something wrong. I must find out right away. Could it possibly be that there is something wrong with Mikan?' Hotaru thought while her anxiousness exceeded to a whole new level because something was telling her that Mikan could be in trouble.

Flashback

Mikan woke up inside the clinic and Subaru quickly went near her.

"Thank goodness, you've finally regained consciousness. You were asleep since this morning." He said that still in his stoic features and monotonous voice but deep inside of him, he was really worried and pitied Mikan's current condition.

"What happened to me way back this morning sempai? I totally forgot." Mikan asked sheepishly while scratching her head.

"We met along the corridors this morning then suddenly you've fainted." Subaru breathe in before he continued. "Mikan, don't be shocked of what I'm going to tell you."

"What is it sempai?" She managed to give him one of her sweet smiles though deep inside of her, she was anxious on what Subaru would say to her.

"Mikan." He bit his lower lip and rubbed his temples then continued. "You only have two weeks to live."

Mikan's eyes were as big as saucers and she gulped heavily and said quite panicked, "Huh? Why?" She was out of words of too much dumbstruck.

"You already knew Mikan that too much use of your alices decreases your life span and one cause of this is your ongoing dangerous missions. Keep this in mind; there is also a possibility that you can have only less than two weeks or maybe a week if you are extremely depressed or happy."

"But, your alice can heal me, right?" Mikan inquired hoping for a positive answer.

"Gomene" Subaru said with a low voice. "My alice can't heal a person especially if he or she is about to die." Subaru said while his bangs covered his eyes.

'Me? Destined to die?' These words keep echoing inside her mind. Mikan bowed her head and she clutched her skirt while she tried herself not to cry. 'Of all people, why me? Why is my fate cruel? I'm still young. I haven't done anything much with my life. I still want to see my father, my mother and especially my grandfather whom I left on the countryside. I don't want to leave my friends especially Hotaru and the rest. What about Natsume?'

The mere thought of Natsume made Mikan's heart skip a beat. She didn't know what kind of feelings she had for him but she knew that he had a special place in her heart. She became Natsume's shield without Natsume knowing it since Mikan decided that she wanted it a secret from him — that she was the one doing the missions instead of him. She didn't want to lessen Natsume's lifespan.

"Sempai, will you please keep this as a secret? I don't want my friends to worry about me especially Hotaru. I want to live normally and happily until the last days of my life." Mikan asked hoping that he would keep it as a secret because she didn't want anyone be worried for her. She needed everyone to treat her the same without them noticing that she only had two weeks to live her happy days with them.

"I will, Mikan. I promise. Promise also to me that you will be strong enough to overcome this." Subaru assured her while he tried his best not to show his weak side to Mikan. True that he considered Mikan not only as a friend but as a younger sister as well. It was very heartbreaking on his part that he couldn't do anything to save her life so the best thing that he could do was to follow her secret.

"I will, Sempai. Arigatou." Mikan said with a faint smile.

End of flashback

When Hotaru was going back to her lab, she saw Luna. Luna gave her a wicked smile that Hotaru disliked the most or rather disgusted.

"What are you up to?" She said in the most serious, coldest and deathly tone ever.

"Who me? Up to something? Not at all." Luna grinned.

"Don't play dumb. I know you are up to something." Hotaru shot back.

Luna just smirked at her and said, "Nothing. Nothing at all. Ja!" Luna bade goodbye at Hotaru but Hotaru only gave her death glares at her retreating figure.

'I have to think something nice for a very special friend of mine. How to make her live happily and normally? Ah, scratch that! How about making her life miserable like hell? Now, we are talking!' she thought evilly obviously having evil schemes to someone.

Her evil thoughts were gone when she saw the person to whom she wanted to share her darkest plans with.