A/N: Um... hahaha *late*
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Chapter Two: Welcome to Alice Academy!
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The main gate of the academy was actually a bit further away than they expected, however, it was quite easy to find. The walls was huge, and hard to miss.
"We're finally here..." Mikan stared up at the imposing gate with her eyes filled with wonder. It was big, and scary, and magnificent, sort of exactly how she imagined the school to be, other than the fact it wasn't on a deserted island. "I'm going to see Hotaru for sure!"
"Then I guess this is where we part ways," Suzu said hesitantly, it didn't feel right to leave already, something just didn't feel right, like walking through molasses.
"Eh? You're already going to leave? You didn't even get to meet Hotaru yet!"
"Well I don't really..."
"Oh, what do we have here?"
Two shady looking guys walked up to them, both with leering grins on their faces.
"Wow, so cute! What are you kids doing here by yourselves?"
Suzu immediately went on defense, guys like these always meant bad news, "Sakura-san, we should come back later."
"Come on... we're not bad guys, we're teachers at a prep school to guarantee entry to Alice Academy, see? It's such a hard school and all!"
"There's a prep school that'd get me into the Academy?" Mikan asked, surprised, and completely sold.
'Sakura-san... you're so gullible...' Suzu sighed mentally.
"The classes are already full, but you're so cute, I think we could make an acception!" one said happily, patting her shoulder.
"It's okay sirs, she can get in with her own abilities I think, especially if the class is full. We don't want to bother you..." he held onto Mikan's arm.
A vein seemed to throb in the temple of the talker, "Well, well, even so, what about yourself? I'm sure that you two can get in, but wouldn't you like to have some reassurance with classes?"
Mikan smiled widely, "Yes!" she jerked her arm out of Suzu's hands, "They are such nice people Suzu! We should accept their help!"
"But..."
His retort was too late, the three were already marching back to the car arm in arm, "Let's GO~!"
A figure sitting in the shade of the wall sighed, a bit exasperated, 'Oya, oya, it seems I've found some lost lambs.'
Mikan turned her head, "Come on, Suzu!"
He hesitantly followed after her, "Sakura-san... I really don't think that..."
"Ara? Where are you taking this little kitten?"
The atmosphere completely changed, Suzu's eyes widened and he flushed, turning warm, his pale skin making him a muddled red. Something engulfed his mind in a haze and made his heart beat at least twice faster than usual. 'This isn't right... this isn't right... what is this feeling?'
For the tenth time that day, he turned around. A blond-haired man... woman... was walking towards them... sparkling.
'Sparkling... that's ridiculous.' Suzu scampered away from the approaching person, for some reason, this person made him feel drunk, and that alone told him that he was somehow much more... er... 'dangerous' that the other two put together.
"Wh-what are you doing?" asked one of the two men.
"What? I'm a teacher at Alice! You can call me 'Narumi-sensei'."
The answer seemed so flippant.
"Liar!"
Well of course it would seem that way, the blonde-person, Narumi, seemed too much like a hippie to be teaching anyone.
Suzu plastered himself onto the wall, as far away as he could from the blonde, without running away and leaving Mikan behind.
"There's no way that he's a teacher."
"Yeah, he's too much of a hippie."
"Let's just go!"
Suzu jumped, about to stop Mikan from leaving with them, but when the blonde moved, he retreated back to the wall.
"Hmm..."
The so-called 'teacher' moved towards them slowly, hand held out gently.
"Let us say..."
He lightly touched the cheek of one of the men.
"... goodbye?"
Suzu pushed himself further back, the voice, it was the voice and the presence, it made him want to follow those orders, not even orders, the words. He closed his eyes.
The two men both blushed, it was strange, and unsightly, but hey, it worked.
"Y-yes... we just wanted some ransom money..." they left wordlessly and without a fight, both seeming in a daze.
Narumi smiled in satisfaction, tucking his hair back in a graceful manner. He looked down at Mikan.
"You should also go now!" he said with a gentle smile.
It was the same voice again, but this time, the suggestion seemed to be much stronger. Suzu slid down the wall, sitting against it, his head felt so foggy.
Mikan tilted her head, she thought she felt a weird tickle, but brushed it off as she saw Suzu sink to the ground. "Suzu-chi!" Mikan ran over to him, "Are you okay? Are you feeling faint? I'm so sorry for not listening to you!" she took his hand, and the foggy feeling quickly faded.
Suzu blinked a few times, utterly confused, he looked at Mikan. "Ah... no, it's okay, I'm glad you're sa---"
Over her shoulder stood the blonde teacher, approaching them both.
He felt an irrational fear, but still stood when Mikan helped him up. It wasn't the same feeling he got from the two from before, but it still felt... weird. Suzu watch the blonde with a wary eye.
"I'm glad you two are safe, now, shouldn't you be heading home?"
Mikan looked at the teacher again, with a slight look a concentration on her face.
"Ah! I got it! You're a transvestite, right?"
"Eh?"
There was an awkward silence, Suzu still kept his distance from the so-called teacher, even when Mikan went back over to him.
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"You came to Alice just to meet your friend?"
"Yes! Ah... and um... I'm sorry! You saved me, but I just called you a transvestite. I'm really really sorry. I'm Sakura Mikan, nice to meet you!"
"It's alright, it's alright Mikan-chan! So, you want to get into Alice that much?"
"Yes, no matter what!"
"Would you like to try?"
"Yes sir! Wait... eh?"
"I'll let you enroll, of course there will be a few tests..."
Mikan looked at the teacher in wonder, and from the wall, Suzu was keeping a wary eye.
"...but if it's you, I'm sure you'll pass."
"..."
3...
2...
"EHHHHHHH?!" she snapped out of her stupor faster than expected.
'Oh, she's freaking out.' Narumi thought with a smile.
"DON'T LIE!"
"I'm telling the truth!"
"But I'm not like a super genius or anything!"
"Well... that's only what we tell people. The truth is that Alice Academy is for those who have a special talent or gift, that's what an 'alice' is. Basically, this is a super-elitist school!"
"Special... talent? Does that mean I have a special talent too?"
"Maybe, of course!"
"Sensei! Show me! What is it then, what is it? Do you know?"
"Hahaha, your excitement is making it hard to tell."
"Whee! Hurray!"
Suzu stared incredulously, the sparkling was back full force, he could almost see the pink flowery backdrop behind the two.
"So, Mikan, how are you feeling? Strange at all?"
"Huh?"
That was Mikan for you. Suzu, shrunk in on himself again, yes, he felt strange that time, like he didn't have his own free will anymore.
"What about you, wallflower-chan?" the teacher addressed him for the first time.
Mikan was running around alone, laughing, crying, dancing, and professing her love for Hotaru, of course none of these were too surprising.
"Eh...?"
'What the... wallflower-chan...?'
"Do you feel anything?"
He didn't look at the teacher, "'M fine."
He wasn't.
His cheeks were still a bit warm from before, although not half as bad as it was.
"Hmm..." Suzu tensed as he heard footsteps, he stared intently at the ground before his ratty sneakers.
"Is that so?"
'I should send this little one home before I bring Mikan into the academy...'
Mikan was bouncing up and down behind, wondering what was happening, 'Do sensei and Suzu-chi know each other?'
"I..."
Suzu saw the teacher's hand move up in the same way it did when he was confronting the kidnappers. He quickly knocked the hand away, glaring up at the owner of the offending appendage.
"A-ra?" Narumi seemed a bit surprised.
That was all he could say before the wall exploded.
The impact wasn't so bad, Suzu saw the debris flying around him, and the smoke, black, thick, and slow to disperse. Like it was from a fire. Even with everything happening around him, not a grain of brick touched him, though his clothes were a different story.
"Narumi-sensei!" Mikan cried, unable to see anything in the smoke.
"Ah~ I guess that rumor was true then. Good thing I was on the lookout."
The teacher stood, holding his right arm. The fabric on his sleeve was ripped, seemingly from a larger chunk of the wall.
As the smoke thinned, Suzu looked up, eyes squinting a bit at the glare of the sun.
A boy was standing on the cast iron gating above the wall... a boy with the mask of a black cat. 'Unlucky...' Suzu thought as he frowned, using a hand to take the edge off the light.
"This is the academy's youngest, most talented student, Hyuuga Natsume. His natural born ability is fire." Narumi commented, taking something small and seed-like out of his pocket.
It was a bean, what use would a bean be against a wall-bombing, cat-mask wearing fire lord?
'Wait... fire? Was he talking about that type of special ability?'
The cat-boy jumped, landing only a few feet from where he stood. Even his movements were like a cat's.
"But... I think this is going a little too far," the bean suddenly grew to a whip-like vine, "Natsume!"
Narumi cracked the whip, however, Suzu and the cat-boy being so close together, aiming was a bit harder than it should have been 'Crap, I overshot a little...'
Suzu stared at the whip coming towards his face curiously, it seemed to be moving in slow motion. Just before it connected, a loose piece of rubble fell from the wall, sending the whip off-course.
The cat-boy took the chance and started running.
"Don't run away!" Narumi swung again, and with the distance between the two boys widened, he knew that he got the right kid.
whack
The cat-boy tripped and fell, mask also falling off, 'That's weird, he didn't have anything to hold it to his face... spirit gum? But that wouldn't unstick so easily.' Suzu remained motionless, observing the scene with the same expression of apathy, but inside, he was shaken, and adrenaline was pumping through his veins.
"Ooh! I'm afraid I hurt his cute little face!"
'He sounds like a pervert.'
"Hey! Are you alright?" Mikan ran over to the fallen not-anymore-cat-boy with a worried expression. He stirred a bit, and an orange light seemed to glow under his hand before Narumi crushed it with his foot.
He looked down with a sly smile, "It's useless to try to escape using your powers, I'll just use mine, and you'll be embarrassed, just like before."
"Crazy teacher...!" the boy scowled.
"This is the rewarding punishment for you," he bent down and blew into the boy's ear. The boy blushed red before fainting.
"Gyehh!" Mikan seemed to be in shock, and slowly inched over to Suzu again. He couldn't blame her, 'That crazy teacher really is a pervert...' They stared at Narumi openly as he heaved the knocked-out student into a fireman's hold.
"Are you two okay? No injuries?"
"A-a... some rocks hit me, but it doesn't hurt too much anymore!" Mikan said nervously, 'If I tell him about my scrapes, I'm sure that he'll do something weird! Sh-should I really trust this fellow?'
Suzu looked away quickly, dusting off his sweater, "I'm... fine."
Narumi looked at him, 'This child... could this also be an alice?'
Suzu sighed, a bit annoyed, there was alot of looking and glancing and discreet peeks today.
"Well, it's time, we should go! Come, take my hand."
Suzu quickly stuck his hands in his pockets, "Um... I was only here to help Sakura-san."
"So you're not coming?"
Suzu stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground again uncertainly.
"I'll follow..."
Mikan grasped Narumi's hand, still a bit spaced out, 'This 'Alice Academy'... just what kind of place is it?'
The gate opened slowly, creaking a bit and making the entire thing a bit more magnificent.
"The two of you, welcome to Alice Academy!"
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