Chapter 2: what happened?

Mikan looked straight at Hotaru.

"Hotaru, you can make us see the dead?!" Ruka asked, surprised.

She just ignored him. She turned to Mikan and asked, "Well, do you want to see her?"

"Yes…," Mikan quietly replied.

"Tell us what happened first."

"Ok. This morning, I overheard from some people that Mimi was missing. So I tried to look for her," she started her story. "Then, I heard two guys talking and they said that Mimi was kidnapped by the AAO. I also heard that they wanted to exchange her for another student."

"Who's the student they wanted to exchange with?" Yuu asked.

Mikan didn't speak for a long time then a tear rolled down her.

"… Natsume."

All eyes then looked at Natsume. He still wore that plain face of his. Then he glared at them.

"What're you staring at? Hey polka, continue your story," he said. Somewhere inside of him, felt pain at the thought that he was the reason why Mikan was suffering. He didn't want to see her sad.

"Natsume wasn't the only student they wanted. They also wanted Mimi. Exchanging for Natsume was just one of the reasons they took her. They also wanted to use Mimi's alice to get top secret information about the academy. They were also planning to use her to brainwash Natsume into staying with them and then they will blackmail her to stay too. Then they will brainwash other students into joining their organization," Mikan paused, probably to breathe deeply for a while, before continuing.

"But how can they do that? Mimi's alice is only the alice of dreams," Anna asked, confused.

"Well, you see, Mimi's alice isn't really the alice of dreams. Her real alice is mind control alice. She can control all your thoughts and even your whole mind. The academy only thought it was alice of dreams because she always used it to let the people remember their happy memories by controlling their mind. The people, thinking they were just dreaming, assumed she had alice of dreams," Hotaru said.

"Like I was saying, they were going to use her. I didn't want the academy to exchange Natsume for Mimi and I didn't want others to get hurt so I..."

"So you went to the AAO's headquarters to save her yourself so I don't have to face them, is that right?" Natsume finished her sentence smartly. "You are such an idiot."

"Yeah, maybe I am," Mikan sadly replied.

"Yeah but that was pretty brave of you, polka dots," Natsume whispered to her. Then, he blushed a little.

She was surprised. Then, she smiled a small smile.

"Then what happened to you in the AAO's headquarters?" Ruka asked.

Flashback

"Whew! I didn't think I'd made it this far. Now, all I have to do is find her and… Hhmpf!"

Out of nowhere, someone gagged her and she was suddenly knocked out when the guy hit her back.

When she woke up, she was in some kind of storage room. She strained her eyes to see if Mimi was there. Then she heard a familiar voice.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Reo said with an evil grin on his face. "Look who the cat dragged in? Did the academy send you or did you just run away like the last time?"

"It's none of your business. Where's Mimi? Give her back!" Mikan shouted.

"Don't worry. She's right there," Reo pointed to the other side of the room. He laughed maniacally and left.

Mikan had a face of pure horror at what she saw. Mimi was tied up and gagged in front of her. She was already pale. In a few minutes, Mimi began to stir.

"Mimi-chan!"

"Neechan!"

Mimi squirmed to Mikan and they hugged each other.

They tried to untie each other's bonds and to their luck, they managed. Then they tried to escape. They went from room to room to find the exit. Then while they were just about to run, they heard voices coming from the next room so they hid behind a couple of crates.

"Hey, what are we gonna do with the annoying brat that sneaked in here?" one man said.

"I think the boss wants to use her to blackmail the academy then he's gonna have her killed. She knows too much already. She's that same annoying brat who ruined our plans with the Black Cat," the other man replied. They started to laugh.

Suddenly, Mimi shouted, "I'm not gonna let you hurt my neechan!"

The men, surprised, suddenly tried to grab them but they ran. They called for reinforcements and soon, almost all the men in black were chasing after them and shooting bullets at them.

They gave them the slip but three men saw them and chased after them. They were suddenly trapped.

"Come with us and we promise we won't hurt you," one of the men tried convincing them.

"We won't come with you! You're liars!," Mikan shouted then she rushed towards one of the men with Mimi at her back. Mikan and the man fell. As she was trying to get up, one of the men planned to shoot her but Mimi noticed. She used her alice on one of the men but she wasn't able to stop the other one. So she rushed to Mikan's side and blocked the shot.

"Mimi!!!" Mikan shouted in horror.

Mimi was shot right in the stomach. She fell but Mikan caught her. Then she used her alice and made the men see illusions. It was a chance for them to run away.

As they we're running, Mimi was starting to look pale due to loose of blood.

"Mikan-neechan, thank you for coming to my rescue," Mimi said and smiled at her.

"Mimi, don't talk now. I'll bring you to the academy so they can cure you. Then we'll be together again," Mikan said smiling but she was holding back tears.

"Mikan-neechan, I… love…you."

As Mimi said those words, her eyes closed and her hand fell down. She was dead.

"Mimi! Please wake up! Please don't leave me. We're still going to play right? Here, why don't you take this pill that Hotaru made? You'll be lighter then I can run faster," Mikan said. She placed the pill inside Mimi's mouth and she suddenly turned into a baby. Mikan took a white cloth from the bag she was carrying and wrapped it around her. Then she continued running.

When she got out of the forest, she rested under the sakura tree and wept. In a few minutes, she saw everyone coming her way.

End of flashback

"So that's what happened?" Yuu asked.

Mikan just nodded.

"Wait, Mikan, this just came into my head. Why did you try to rescue Mimi all by yourself?" Koko asked.

"Yeah Mikan. Koko's got a point. Why did you try to rescue her all alone? That was too dangerous, even for us," Ruka asked.

"You really are idiots, aren't you?" Hotaru said sarcastically.

Koko and Ruka both stared at her, annoyed.

Then, Mikan suddenly cried again.

"Look what your stupid question did," Hotaru said.

"Just tell us the answer, will you!" they both shouted.

"It's because…" Mikan started to say but was cut of by Hotaru.

"No Mikan. I'll tell these idiots. Do you know why she did it? Well, here's the answer." They all looked at her, waiting for her answer. Even Natsume was listening.

"Mimi… is Mikan's sister." Everyone gasped. "Now that you know, are you happy?" she said sarcastically. All eyes went to Mikan.

"We're sorry Mikan. We didn't know," Nonoko and Anna apologized.

"Yeah, we're sorry too," the boys said.

"It's okay." She tried to smile.

"Well, let's go," Hotaru said.

"Where're we going? Narumi-sensei told us to stay here," Ruka said, still annoyed at Hotaru.

"I told you we're going to see Mimi again, didn't I? Well, we have to go now if we want to do that," she replied.

"Okay!" they all said. Mikan looked at them with one thought in her mind.

"Thank you."

To be continued…