"Bye! I'm leaving!" Mikan, said while waving goodbye to her classmates. When she walked down the hallway, she saw the principal and Mrs Imai, Hotaru's mother , were talking. Curious, she hid at the back of a nearby cupboard and listened to their conversation.
"I must thank you and your family for you generous donation. Without your donation, the school might have been closed down by now." the principal said.
"You shouldn't thank me, it was Hotaru's decision to go to Gakuen Alice and help this school, since the Gakuen gave us an amount of money for Hotaru's transfer." Mrs Imai replied.
Mikan was shocked. Mrs Imai sent her daughter to another school for money? Mikan was confused. She could not believe what she was hearing. Just when she was about to rush out to scold Mrs Imai, Mrs Imai continued with her speech. "Hotaru went to the school willingly, she wanted to get the money so that this school would not shut down. She wanted Mikan-chan to be happy." Mikan was so touched when she heard that. She never thought that Hotaru did it for her sake. She was glad that Hotaru thought about her, but she felt somewhat guilty that she 'took away' Hotaru from everyone. She didn't want to continue eavesdropping, thus she tip-toed her way out to the school,not wanting the principal and Mrs Imai know that she was listening to their conversation.
"Have you heard about it?" Mikan's classmate, Ayame whispered to Emiko. "About Gakuen Alice?" Emiko whispered back. "Yeah, I heard that pupils who went in there will never get to see their close ones again, it's like a prison!" Ayame said. "Shh! What are you going to do if Mikan hears it?" Emiko said in a low voice. Despite Ayame and Emiko's effort to make sure that Mikan does not hear what they are saying, Mikan could hear it clearly. Mikan was even more touched that Hotaru sacrificed so much, just for her. However, Mikan wanted to meet Hotaru one more time, even if it was just a short time.
Soon, it was night time. Mikan decided to put her plan into action….
-To be continued-