Chapter 1

"Kokoroyomi-chan!" a girl's voice exclaimed. Someone jumped on Kokoroyomi's shoulders.

"What?" Kokoroyomi asked confusedly, turning around. He tried to read her mind, but the girl was thinking in English. Of course, that didn't matter, but Kokoroyomi was surprised. "You're… my new partner?" The girl nodded excitedly, grinning.

"I'm Lee Soo-hyun. I'm an exchange student from America. Oh, and if you're wondering about my name, I'm Korean." But her Japanese was perfect. "Oh yeah, this is just a translating device I got from Central Town, just in case you're wondering," she said, pointing to a star shaped device clipped onto her uniform. Ah.

"America?" Oh. Narumi-sensei had announced a few days ago that they would have an exchange student from America. The boy with super hearing (Kokoroyomi couldn't remember his name at that moment) would go to America for a year while this girl would stay in return. "Oh. What's your Alice?" the girl grinned proudly.

"You mean my three Alices," she said proudly. "I have the Borrowing Alice, Life Alice, and Invisibility Alice."

"Wow!" said Kokoroyomi excitedly. Soo-hyun would be the first one in his grade to have three Alices. "Wait, what's a Borrowing and Life Alice?"

"You don't know?" she asked, surprised. "A Borrowing Alice is a standard Alice in my school. Well, a Borrowing Alice is similar to a stealing Alice, except you take an essence of the person's Alice that returns to them when it's used up. Also, the person can still use it while it's borrowed and I can store up different Alices." Kokoroyomi nodded thoughtfully.

"And what's a Life Alice?"

While they walked, Soo-hyun explained that a Life Alice was like a healing Alice, but the user could control consciousness and that in extreme cases, control the length of someone's life.

While Soo-hyun finished explaining, they approached Natsume, who was sitting on a bench.

"Wah! It's Natsume-kun!" said Soo-hyun excitedly, standing next to the bench. Before Kokoroyomi could ask how she knew, Natsume pushed Soo-hyun away by her chest. Soo-hyun's jaw dropped open and she slapped Natsume in the face

"W-Where do you think you're touching, you pervert!" she yelled. Natsume glared at her.

"Get away from me, baka," he said coldly. It was the first time that someone was treating him like this. "Or I'll burn you up." Soo-hyun stood her ground, a new angry excitement dawning into her.

"Fine, if it's an Alice duel you want, it's an Alice duel you'll get!" she yelled.

"An Alice duel is a fight with Alices," Soo-hyun thought. "Kokoroyomi-chan, you're reading my mind, aren't you?"

Surprised, Kokoroyomi looked at Soo-hyun and nodded.

"Uh, so an Alice duel is just a fight with Alices," Kokoroyomi said to Natsume. Natsume snickered.

"Fine. I'll fight you," Natsume said, getting up. Kokoroyomi read his mind again.

"This is going to be a quick fight."