Chapter 1- Mysterious adversary

The room was rather dark when Natsume went in. "You called?" he said.

Persona turned around and faced the boy. "Yes…and as usual, you came late."

"What do you want from me now?" Natsume said coldly.

"I never call you except when I have a mission for you." Persona casually said, his emotionless voice echoing across the vast room.

"Yeah right." Natsume sat on the chair.

"You never get use to this don't you?" Persona gave out a queer smile.

"Get to the point…what's my mission?" Natsume snapped irritated.

"A mafia syndicate has been doing dirty little businesses near the shores in Kitakyushu. Drugs are shipped from Shanghai to the unguarded Kitakyushu shores. Our target will be the storages kept near the ports. You'll have to destroy the whole supply." Persona put down the information folder in front of Natsume to let him see the details.

"Piece of cake…when will we carry this out?" Natsume ignored the material.

"Don't be over-confident…" Persona smiled queerly again. "This may be your hardest and your last mission young man."

"Don't play around with me. I can take them all down ." Natsume said.

"It is a law in battle that you should never underestimate the enemy." Persona said.

"What are you trying to get at?"

"The syndicate must have sensed that the Japanese government will resort to asking us for help…and it seems they took every preparation." Persona said. "In fact, I think they have prepared pretty well."

Persona took out a picture from a folder he pulled out of the drawers.

Natsume took a good look at the photo. A pale girl with blue hair and green eyes seemed to look back at him.

"Setsuna Hiya, the asset of the Kukuryo syndicate, 16 years old, your age, blood type A, and lives in Okinawa."

"And?" Natsume kept looking at the picture.

"She's an alice." Persona said. Natsume was surprised but he quickly regained his composure.

"So what if she is?" Natsume said.

"She has the alice of ice…the archenemy of your kind." Persona said.

Natsume froze in his seat. The elemental Alice…of ice? There's just no way…

"You should ready yourself. In two weeks time we should be ready to go to Kitakyushu." Persona dismissed Natsume.

Mikan heard every word in the conversation. She put her ears away from the door and was about to silently tiptoe her way so as not to get caught when the doorknob turned. Mikan was totally freaked out.

"Eavesdropping little girl?" It was Natsume.

"Uh…uh…no it's not like what it seems…you're mistaken…I was just passing by and…then I…"Mikan was obviously in panic when she explained.

"You can get caught and punished for this you know." Natsume crossed his arms sternly.

"Gomen…I'm really sorry. Oh please Natsume…please don't tell anyone." Mikan played nervously with her fingers.

"So you heard?" Natsume suddenly asked looking away..

Mikan turned speechless. Yes. She heard everything…but…

"I…"Mikan started.

"At the roof…tonight…meet me there." Natsume cut her words.

"Huh? Hey, What if I don't want to?" Mikan said.

"Then I guess I'll have to share our little secret just now…you wouldn't like that now, would you?" Natsume shrugged his shoulders.

"Why you little…" Mikan grunted as Natsume walked away through the dark hallways.

"What does he want to talk about anyway?" Mikan wondered.

What did Natsume want to talk about? The alice of Ice…Hiya Setsuna. Who is this mysterious adversary? Will she become a threat to our Natsume? Find out what happens in the next chapter.