Disclaimer: If I did own GA, then it would've been longer and I would make Jinno-sensei die miserably. (-smirks- Ah, the sadist that I am.)
……
CHAPTER 1: The Arrival
Mikan Sakura woke up with rays of sunlight beaming on her smiling face. She yawned and stretched for a moment and then drowsily gazed at her alarm clock. The large red numbers read seven-thirty. Good. It hasn't alarmed yet. But wait. "SEVEN-THIRTY?!" Mikan sat bolted upright, her eyes wide in shock. How could she forget to put the alarm on?
She immediately crawled out of the sheets and stood up. The sudden contact of the smooth texture of her floor carpet against her bare feet gave them a tickling sensation, but she ignored that and sprinted towards the window just next to the bedside table instead. She pushed aside the long thin curtain hanging to cover it, and it revealed a wide grassy field, an outskirt of their remote yet lively town. The morning sun had already risen and it was as if it angrily threw hot beams of sunlight all over the field. She frowned and hurried to the wardrobe to pull off her uniform.
She hastened to put on her uniform and fix her hair, and then got her bag. She decided to take a last glance at the circular mirror just hanging at the wall, but found herself staring at a brunette at her early teens who was wearing a rather exhausted look, red ribbons held up her waist-length hair and maintained its pigtail-arrangement. Her eyes were wearily focused on the mirror, which then suddenly grew wide due to a new realization. "I'm gonna be late for sure!" She swung her bag onto her shoulder and scurried downstairs.
Mikan ran to open a door that leads to a dark room, and though she turned the lights on, it was still dimly lit. "Ah! There it is," she whispered to herself as she spotted a dusty, yet neatly arranged medium-sized square box. She struggled a bit to reach it, and was actually about to slip when she finally got it.
"Whew," she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, and then placed the box at the floor. She blew the excess dust away, then gently untied and removed the red ribbon fastening it. She then detached the lid and it revealed a glistening silver boots with some small buttons covering it. She carefully placed the box to its original position at the storeroom. She removed her leather shoes and replaced them with the boots, then put them neatly in a paper bag.
"I will be late!" Mikan hurried to the doorway, and just before she could push the sliding doors aside, she waved goodbye at her grandpa's picture.
……
The trip through the grasslands wasn't the most enjoyable thing; high bushes just kept on stinging her and absolutely weren't comfortable against her skin. Surely, Hotaru's invention was fast and recommendable for those people who are on rush, but she swore she would not use it ever again. The boots made her fly a few centimeters above the ground and definitely gave her quite a fast ride due to those rocket-like structures implanted on them. But the safety of the ride wasn't ensured and the boots had so many buttons, plus the only buttons in there that she knew the functions were the red on and off buttons.
After the horrendous ride through the fields, Mikan found herself turn and arrive at the town's main square, though there weren't so many people. Some of the townsfolk there were children, few were just strolling around, some were giving their dogs a walk, and most of them were quietly sitting on a bench, enjoying the cool morning breeze and the lovely scenery of innocent playing children.
As she hurtled past the park, she set off to the Sakura Road wherein a number of cherry blossom petals whizzed by. Mikan smiled as she felt the smooth air and soft petals brush against her skin. This familiar feeling brought back memories some five years ago. She walked along that road with her best friend when they were ten, and looked at the flower petals falling from tall cherry blossom trees as they awaited the coming summer festival. She sighed. Her friend Hotaru did manage to send her some letters, but her promises of coming back to their town didn't happen even once. She said she could not leave their school due to some circumstances, but will be able to do so once in a while. Mikan assumed she could never see her best friend until they reach high school.
She came nearer and nearer to the school gate but still failed to push the off button of the boots because of its high momentum. Considering that she might just bump the huge steel gate with a high impact, Mikan used her full force to push the buttons on the sides of her heels. The boots then stopped moving, and so as Mikan, thus she fell on her back with a loud thud.
"Ow…" she said, massaging her thigh. She reluctantly got up, grabbed her paper bag, and adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. She finally approached the gate and the guard noticed her.
"You're a minute late, Sakura," the old man narrowed his eyes on Mikan.
"I suppose that means I'm not allowed to go in anymore…" she looked at her feet gloomily.
She was just about to turn away when the guard mumbled something. "Well… Since it's your first time coming to school late," Mikan suddenly looked at him, "and besides, it's only a minute, maybe we could break the rules once in a while," the man glanced at her, smiling.
"Really?! Thanks, mister!" Mikan beamed brightly.
"But it will be only just for now... The next time you come late, I will make sure you go home crying," he came to open the gate.
"Yes!" Mikan drove off after waving the guard goodbye.
……
Mikan sat on her chair, trying to listen to the teacher carefully. However, she couldn't help but muse of when Hotaru will come and visit her. She doesn't even know how Hotaru looks like now, nor was she sure if her friend still knows how she looked like. Five years passed by so quickly without her around.
She started to amuse herself with a pencil on her hand. Good thing the teacher was pretty late, she had the opportunity to change to her shoes since the boots were obviously heavy. She intently gazed outside the window, since she was just sitting next to it, wondering what kind of life Hotaru's having at her school. One time, she overheard her classmates talking about how the academy treated the students like some kind of prisoners, not having the chance to visit their loved ones. They said the students there were sort of endangered species, so they were not allowed to escape or something. The teacher's deep voice crushed her thoughts.
"Sakura, read the first paragraph on page seventy-seven."
"Hai."
……
Mikan was on cleaning duty, and though she would've wanted to go to work earlier than usual, she wouldn't be able to. She seized the eraser with her dainty hand and wiped it on the blackboard, erasing the writings at once. After cleaning the board, she clutched the handle of a broom and swept the floor, sending the litters and dusts away to the trashcan. Then, she arranged the chairs neatly to their position. Mikan wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and sighed.
"You can go now, Sakura. Your duty for today is over," her cleaning companion for that day, Hiroki, was busy closing the windows.
"You sure you don't need help anymore?" Mikan asked, starting to gather her things.
"Nah, I can do this myself."
"Arigato," she mumbled.
"I would've accompanied you to the cake shop if I'm not busy. You know, ladies aren't supposed to be going alone on late hours," Hiroki glanced at her and beamed.
"It's still early, silly. Just four in the afternoon," she chuckled quite a bit.
"I guess so. Well then, you can set off now."
Mikan nodded and walked out of the door, her bag at her shoulder, a paper bag clutched in her right hand.
She passed through empty corridors and hallways and then made her way to the stairs to go down. She reached the ground floor and stepped on the cemented floor. The sun was setting; the sky was orange with a tinge of red. Mikan was about to go to the entrance gate when she heard wailings.
"Shut the trap, boy, or I'll rip your lungs out," a voice of a male hissed in a distance.
Mikan hurried to the location of the sources of the voices and saw a figure of a boy lying on the ground and some bullies surrounding him whom she supposed were of her age. The poor boy had some cuts and bruises all over his body.
"Why don't you pick on someone of your own size?!" she bellowed at the bullies.
"Why, if it isn't miss popular," one teased her.
"Here to play heroine, huh?"
"I'm sure there still are teachers in the faculty room. If you guys don't stop this," she paused and grinned evilly, "I'm gonna make sure your instructors will fail you harder than how you are now."
She was about to run and play tag with them when the bullies walked away.
"There's no point chasing her, I heard she's as fast as a horse," one nudged his comrade.
"Yeah, they say she'll be star runner if she joins the sports club."
They were quite in a distance when the blond one yelled at Mikan, "You'll be sorry for this, missy!"
She just sighed, then turned to the injured boy and crouched.
"Hey, you alright?"
"Yeah… Thanks to you, miss, or I would've been blown into smithereens now," he smiled weakly despite the cuts on his face.
"Don't be silly. Hey, why were those guys after you?"
"Looking for money. I don't have a penny anymore, but since I was the only one they spotted, they asked for some; and when they found out that I don't have any, they beat me up."
"Oh…Well, I believe you'll need to be brought to the clinic. To tell you the truth, those wounds look bad," she gave him a pitied look.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Hop onto my back, then," she urged the young brunette.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary. I don't have a broken leg, after all."
"But I can't just leave you alone like that," she insisted.
"I heard you have a job after class, you might be late for that if you will accompany me."
Mikan's eyes grew wide as she remembered. "Hey, how did you know?"
"This school's not that big, you know, and it will not be a great surprise if we happen to know everyone here, especially you, Miss Sakura."
She smiled. "Now that's flattering… But are you sure you won't need help?"
"Thanks for the concern, but I can handle this myself."
She stood up, "Bye then. And take care, will you?" Mikan then walked away to reach the gate.
……
It was half past four when Mikan arrived at the entrance of the cake shop.
"Time to work, I guess," she murmured to herself.
The chimes hanging on the glass door tinkled as she moved it to go in.
"Konnichiwa… Oh, it's you, Mikan," a raven-haired girl at her early teens turned her gaze to Mikan after checking the cash register. She was the daughter of the owner of the shop.
"Hello, Hitomi-chan," Mikan greeted her co-worker with a pleasant smile, and then tossed her things to the employees' drawer.
"Sorry I'm late… I'm on cleaning duty today."
Hitomi nodded, "Hey, Mikan-chan, what's in the paper bag? You don't often use that, do you?"
"Hrm… It's just one of Hotaru's crazy inventions," the brunette answered as she grabbed a pink cloth and an apron with a blue printed name on it: Crème Cake Shop.
"Really?! What is it this time?" Hitomi asked excitedly. Mikan always informed her about her best friend and her talent in making gadgets and some impossible inventions. She already knew that Hotaru's currently studying at an infamous school called Alice Academy, and she gets money from the government by doing so.
"Boots. Those ones used to boost speed and fly around," she answered while putting on a pink bandana.
"Cool! You know what? I really want to meet this Hotaru!"
"I told you, she's not allowed to go out of the school," Mikan replied gloomily. She hasn't been cheerful these days, ever since Hotaru stopped sending letters. What's the point of being happy if she's not with her?
"Oh… I forgot about that," the black-haired responded back almost apologetically.
Mikan wore the apron and pinned her ID on her left breast-pocket.
"So why do you have that with you?" Hitomi raised a question yet again, still referring to the contents of the paper bag.
"Well, I woke up late this morning, and I used that so I won't be late for school," she took the seat next to her friend.
"Silly! You shouldn't have, I heard you're a fast runner!"
"Yeah, I guess so. But I suppose it won't hurt to try. And good thing I used them, I arrived a couple of minutes earlier," she beamed.
"So you were not late?" Hitomi asked reassuringly.
"Hmmm… To tell you the truth, I was. But the guard let me in," Mikan chuckled.
"You used your charms, didn't you?" the black-haired grinned widely.
"No way! That's disgusting! Totally absurd!"
"Haha, just joking!"
Their conversation was interrupted by a sound of chimes, and a man emerged from the door.
"I need a chocolate-mousse flavored cake."
"Sure. Just a minute, sir."
……
Mikan waved goodbye to Hitomi and made her way outside the shop. She looked at the glowing blue letters above it which read 'Crème Cake Shop,' and then fixed her eyes on her wristwatch, which said seven o'clock.
She sighed. She still need to cook dinner after going home, good thing the fridge wasn't empty.
She walked. The sound of her heels in contact with the cemented sidewalk echoed in the silence of the road. There were no cars. No people walking at night. No vendors on their stalls. No sound. No nothing.
She started to walk rapidly when light drops of rain started to pour down.
"So that's why the road's empty," Mikan mumbled to herself in relief.
Just then, two muscular arms locked hers so that she couldn't move them.
"Not totally empty, actually…" a deep voice of a man whispered to her ear.
Mikan struggled so hard to free herself form the grasp but she just couldn't. It was just then she realized that at least five men, all taller than her that is, were surrounding her.
"No… Please don't," she still struggled, but the grasp was just too tight.
"I told you you'll be sorry for your interference earlier," a familiar blond man walked to her front.
"Please… Please let me go…" she pleaded, her voice entirely trembling.
The man smirked, "You think we'll just let you go after that? We were enjoying harassing that boy, and you came meddling," the man concentrated his vigor to his fist and punched her hard at the gut.
Mikan gasped in pain, shaking due to mixed pain, fear, and coldness of the rain.
"I beg of you… Let me go," she was sobbing, but all the guy did was smirk nastily. "That's what wannabe heroines get."
His comrades cackled their malevolent laughs, completely ignoring the loud sound of heavy rain falling.
Mikan was soaking wet and hungry at the same time, she wished she was home at the moment. When she noticed that the grip wasn't so tight anymore, she freed herself, smacked the blond one hard on the face with the heavy paper bag, and scurried away. But five was just too much for her, she was too tired, and eventually they caught up with her.
"Want to play hide and seek, then? Well we don't want that. We want to play some mature games…" the blonde smiled evilly as he grabbed her hair to stop her from fleeing. Mikan assumed the guy was thinking of one thing: rape.
"Don't…! I'm too young for this! Please don't!" her sobs turned into loud cries, desperate to remove those strong arms wrapping around her. The man was just about to remove the buttons of her uniform when a deafening sound of gunshot came rustling amidst the noise of the heavy rain. Together with the sound was a weird voice saying "Baka!"
"Argh!!!" the man screamed in pain for he was the bull's-eye. He instructed his friends to escape and so did they.
Mikan simply slumped down on the wet ground, crying endlessly. The figure who seemed to own the pistol slowly walked to her and offered a hand to pull her up. Mikan gazed at her savior dreamily. She had short raven hair which barely passed her shoulders, stoic violet eyes, and an attractively friendly face. She wore a wide umbrella top which was attached on her head which made her look like an adorable mushroom, a pink pistol-like item clutched on her hand. It was the person she had been waiting all these years. The person who had always helped her out in times of trouble.
"Hotaru!" Mikan jumped from the ground and hugged her friend, totally ignoring the offer of help from the one referred to as Hotaru.
"Hotaru! Hotaru! Hotaru!" she continued, jumping up and down while crying on her friend's shoulder. Hotaru didn't move a centimeter from where she was standing and she motioned Mikan to get off her.
"You know what? You're as careless as ever," she stated without a tinge of emotion traced on her face.
Mikan simply looked at her. Her friend had certainly grown more beautiful… Her attitude, however, didn't.
"I saved a boy from those bullies early this afternoon, and so they went for me… I know you would do the same thing too if you were in my place, right?"
"I guess I would've saved the boy, but I would've been extra careful, knowing I'm in grave danger," Hotaru answered ironically. "I had been waiting at your place since five --- you're really so careless, leaving the door unlocked --- and left my luggage there. You weren't there so I decided to take a walk. Good thing I brought this umbrella cap, I didn't know it would be raining."
Mikan remembered the fact that she forgot to lock the door for she was about to be late early that morning.
"Oh Hotaru, I missed you so much!" she changed the topic, face still stained with tears.
"The Mikan I knew was so energetic and full of life, and she was more beautiful than you," Hotaru simply stared at her as if not caring about the world.
With this, Mikan immediately wiped her tears though it was still raining and her face was wet, and put a wide friendly smile on her face.
"Yeah… That's more like it," Hotaru then turned and walked away, Mikan simply followed.
"Hey, thanks a lot for the money you're lending me, that's so much help to me, you know!"
Her friend didn't respond and acted as if she didn't even hear her.
"Hotaru, when did you start using pistols?" she asked, although she was still behind her friend.
"This one's called the Idiot Gun. It's intended to be used to you only, but we can't deny that those hoodlums are idiots too," she answered without much emotion, still not turning to her conversationalist.
"You're still mean, you know?"
"Whatever."
……
The two arrived at Mikan's home: Mikan soaking wet, Hotaru's boots all muddy.
"Good thing this place's hidden. Perfect," Mikan heard Hotaru mumble to herself.
"You're saying something?"
"Nah, don't mind that," she stated, detaching the umbrella cap from her head.
"Let's go in," Mikan pushed the sliding doors aside and made her way in. Hotaru followed.
Mikan went to the fireplace and made it produce blazing fire. She then went to her cabinet, grabbed her robe and wore it. She also seized a towel and dried her hair with it. She came back to the living room to see her friend sitting at the couch.
"I noticed your grandpa's not here. Where is he?"
Silence.
"He's dead. He died a year ago due to heart attack."
"Oh…" was all Hotaru could say, not even bothering to say sorry.
The brunette approached the fridge and looked for something to eat. She then decided to bake some pasta.
"Hey, thanks for your help earlier. I really don't know how to express my gratitude, maybe I could let you stay for the evening?" she glanced at her companion who seemed to smile for the first time since they met that night.
"Well… I'm staying at our house tonight --- got to visit my parents, of course --- but I have a little favor to ask you."
"Anything," Mikan focused her attention on her childhood friend.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I promise I'll do what I can to help."
Hotaru approached a suitcase --- a very large once --- which had holes that weren't big enough to peek in in order to see the contents, and then she entered a code to open it. As she revealed what the content was, Mikan gasped in shock.
"A-A b-body!!!" Mikan fell backwards, eyes wide in surprise, "Y-You didn't --- did you?!"
Hotaru was confused for a moment, and after realizing what Mikan's outburst was all about, she replied, "You really are an idiot. Take a closer look, this guy's still breathing."
The brunette hesitated, but had the urge to take a look at the guy lying on the floor. And so she did.
She sighed after resting his palm on his chest, "Good thing he's still alive… I thought you had been a murderer for a while there, Hotaru."
"Anyway, I need you to take care of that guy there. I'll need to go back to school tomorrow."
"Is he in coma?" Mikan asked while pinching the poor guy's cheek.
"No, he'll be waking up tomorrow. It seems like the sleeping spray I sprayed on him was pretty effective."
"But… Why won't you let him stay at your house? Why is he wearing a uniform identical to yours? Is he an escapee? And most of all, why was he in a suitcase?" Mikan asked continuously that she needed to inhale great amount of air afterwards.
"I just helped him flee from the academy, that's all. I'm an honor student so I had the privilege of visiting my home and stuff," the raven-haired said, gazing at the light pouring of rain outside.
"And why does this fellow here want to get out of the school?"
"I'll tell you later, help me set this device up first," Hotaru stated, pointing at a huge gadget which looked impossible to be stocked in her backpack. She led Mikan outside and she followed.
"What are these for?" Mikan referred to the four metal boxes that her friend was setting up.
"Listen, put those on the four corners of the exterior of the house. And remember to leave at least twelve inches from the corner. Understand?"
Though Mikan didn't get the answer of what she had interrogated, she nodded and hurried to set the heavy boxes to their positions and told Hotaru that she's done.
"Okay. So I'll tell you what this thing is for. Once I turn on the switch in there," Hotaru pointed at a switch she put on the lawn just near the front of the house, "a barrier will be formed, connecting the four rectangular boxes that I told you to set up earlier."
"What's that for?"
"The barrier will stop students from our academy from going in or out of your home, and of course, that guy in there counts," she explained, referring to the person inside Mikan's house.
"Why do we have to put this up?"
"Because," she shot her friend a nasty look, "that guy is dangerous."
Mikan smiled sheepishly, "You must be joking… Right?"
"Oh Mikan, don't you still understand?"
"Understand what?! Things got complicated here since you came," Mikan said a bit too sulkily, but it didn't seem to matter to Hotaru. She went there to leave a dangerous person to her care and talked to her as if she was still a kid. But she guessed Hotaru's just Hotaru.
Mikan went inside the house and so did her companion.
"Look. I'm grateful you're here to help. I really am, and I'll make sure I'll be able to pay you back a little later on when I get back, it's just that things at the academy's getting complicated, and I'm counting on you."
Mikan was glad Hotaru still considered her as a friend, but she just couldn't understand what the significance of what they are doing now is. She slopped down on a couch and rested her chin on her palm.
"I'll just tell you what's happening when I get back to school. Of course, via mail."
"But Hotaru, you're saying that this guy here is dangerous. I believe you're trying to keep him away from the people to prevent them from harm, but how about me? What if I'm already dead when the mail arrives?"
"Well, as I said, the barrier outside will prevent him to go out of the house, but you won't be, simply because you're not a student from our school."
"But… But how will I be able to get some food, or pee, or take a bath, or get anything from the house with him lurking around? How will I be able to sleep on my room? How the heck will I be able to go inside my house?" Mikan worriedly asked, afraid to hear Hotaru's horrible answer.
She sighed, "I'm afraid you should play tag with him."
Mikan, being Mikan, didn't get it at once when she heard her friend, but as she tried to comprehend, she understood.
"NO!!!" Mikan screamed, falling to her knees. She will need to sleep outside when the guy's awake and sneak in to get things. Horrible. Simply absurd.
"Don't shout too much, or you'll wake him up earlier than expected."
"Hotaru, don't leave me here," she said, tugging on her friend's uniform.
"Oh come on, I'll need to get to our house now," Hotaru brushed away her hand, grabbed her bag containing some of her gadgets, and then dashed away to the door. But then she stopped. "Thanks a lot. I owe you so much… I'll switch the barrier on now," Then she scurried off.
Mikan sighed heavily and whispered to herself, "She didn't even bother to close the door," then approached the door to close it.
She then gazed at the sleeping figure lying on the floor. "I can't just leave you lying in there," she then dragged him to the futon with difficulty and wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
She crouched and looked at the guy's sleeping face. "You know what? You don't look dangerous at all. And if you can be my friend, I will be more than happy to have company here at home," she smiled at him though still frightened.
Mikan then suddenly stood, "Got to take a shower first… I hope you wouldn't be mad to see yourself awake in an unfamiliar place tomorrow morning."
She left the unconscious guy and went upstairs to get clothes and a clean dry towel. She hurried to the shower room and undressed herself.
……
Mikan got up from her bed reluctantly, she was still extremely sleepy, actually, since her night of staying with a dangerous guy under one roof wasn't exactly comfortable. Hotaru said the guy would probably wake up early in the morning, so she had to get up early and stay away from him.
"Got to hurry," she got a big backpack and packed her necessary things, so she could bring them outside, not in reach of the dangerous one.
"Okay. Ready…" she finished packing up and sneaked downstairs, tiptoeing so she wouldn't wake the guy up.
When Mikan got to the entrance door, she immediately pushed the sliding door aside, and then made her way out. But she wasn't even a foot away from the walls of the house when she shrieked in pain because an electric shock hit her. No doubt, the barrier device.
She panicked, weren't only the students of Alice Academy supposed to be affected by it?
As she spun around, much to her surprise, she had awoken someone. She's trapped inside the house. With him.
"Answer me in five seconds or I'll burn up your hair… Just who the heck are you?!"
……
END OF CHAPTER