A fine afternoon it was. The sun was like a golden orb in the bright blue sky. It was an excellent day indeed for another dodge ball game.
Mikan stood in the middle of the field with a ball in her hand. She was waiting for the others to tie their shoe lace. Dodge ball game's regulation in Gakuen Alice was very simple: No Alice uses in the game.
The players started to spread in their position. Mikan grinned at them and threw the ball right at Sumire.
"You're out!" cried Mikan happily. Sumire gawked at Mikan. She wasn't very happy being thrown out from the game.
"You're a cheater! I'm not ready yet, so you can't throw at me!" replied Sumire.
"What? The game had started like minutes ago. If you're out, you'll have to step aside. Excuse me, please!" said Mikan. Sumire walked out from the court.
Natsume picked up the ball and the game continued.
He was breathing hard when he finally woke up. His mum, his mum was lying on the floor. Blood was oozing from her wound. He took her hand. They were still warm. Thank god, she was still alive. There was still hope.
He rose on his feet and tried to walk to the phone. He was feeling dizzy so sometimes he tripped. He quickly reached the receiver and dialed the ambulance. Tuu… Hurry up, hurry up!
Finally, a nurse answered the phone call. "Hello, may I help you?"
"…." he tried to speak but his voice wasn't coming out.
"Hello, may I help you?" repeated the nurse.
He hanged the receiver back on the holder. He was panic. Why did he go dumb? Where was his voice?
He crawled to his mother and grabbed her hand. The blood was at this instant flooding the marble floor. He tried to call her name but no word was coming out from his lips.
"Huh", she suddenly regained her consciousness and was gasping for air. "Kazuya, Kazuya", her eyes were wandering, looking for him. Kazuya held her palm tightly.
"Kazuya", she muttered again. Her eyes widened. "Kazuya", she repeated.
He wanted to say "I'm here mother" or "You'll be safe". He wanted to let her know how much he loved her. But all he could do was moving his lips in silence. Tears rolled down on his cheeks.
Persona came out from his hiding place. He had been watching the family the whole time. He drew nearer to Kazuya and kneeled.
"How sad, she is dying. What can you do now?" asked Persona defiantly.
Kazuya looked intently at him. The assassin! He was the killer. He was sure because there was a loud bang just before he fainted. He saw Persona torturing her mum until she looked grimy and dull.
Persona grinned.
"I've changed my mind. Join me and I would let her live", whispered Persona in his ear. "Join me", he repeated in a bitter tone and rose on his feet. He leaved Kazuya to make up his mind.
Kazuya pursued after him and held his arm. He had no choice. Persona dropped down a very weird looking bottle on the floor. There was a green potion inside it. The potion looked dead; no sunlight was passing through it.
Kazuya swallowed the potion down his throat. The potion was really thick. The taste was like its look; lifeless. He closed his eyes to get it over with.
All of a sudden, he felt really sick and the pain was as if somebody was stabbing his liver and reaping his organs out of him. He collapsed on the floor and suffocated for air. His body pressure rose out of control. He was struggling on the floor and screamed in absolute silence. He couldn't bear the pain any longer and was unconscious within a few second.
Persona lifted Kazuya and walked out from bloody huge mansion.
Mikan sat down and stretched her legs. She was very happy after playing. Hotaru too sat down and picked up a cherry blossom flower which had fallen from the tree above them. Natsume and Ruka had gone to get themselves some drink.
"What a good game it was!" praised Yuu. He too had joined to play with them.
"Let's have a cheer for that!" said Mikan. Both of them cried Hooray together.
"Hey, polka dots! You look stupid", said Natsume who appeared out of nowhere. Then, he made the loser sign on his forehead to Mikan. Mikan was really angry but swallowed her anger in her gut.
Hotaru, Mikan and Yuu marched to their classroom. They were just a few paces away from the court when a body rolled out of nowhere before them. Mikan and Yuu screamed in terrified but Hotaru picked up a twig and poked on the body.
After recovering, Mikan and Yuu observed the boy.
"Is he dead?" asked Mikan.
"No, he's alive", answered Hotaru.
"I'd better get somebody to help while you guys watch on him", said Yuu and hurriedly dashed to the teacher's room.
A few minutes later, Mr. Narumi and Mr. Misaki came into sight. They checked on the boy. Mr. Misaki nodded at Mr. Narumi and lifted the boy to the teacher's room.
Mr. Narumi turned to look at them.
"Is he going to make it?" asked Mikan.
"Of course he is. Don't worry, Mikan. He'll be fine", said Mr. Narumi with a convincing smile.
"His body was rolling before us and we were very terrified. We thought he was dead", said Mikan. She was still shivering a little when she remembered how scary it was. Mr. Narumi laughed to see Mikan's feat.
"He was bleeding badly. Bloods were all over his body", said Mikan.
"It was not his blood. He is fine. Only receive a few wound on his forehead. There was a big bump on his forehead as I remember", said Mr. Narumi.
"A big bump? That must be really hurt!" cried Mikan.
Mr. Narumi smiled again at her and messed up her hair. He waved goodbye to them and headed back to the teacher's room.
As he walked, questions by questions emerged in his mind. Who was that boy? How did he get into the school ground? Why was he covered with blood? And where did he come from? Was he…
: ) Smiley