Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice and some of the lines during Natsume's and Mikan's exchange of remarks.
Author's Note: Here's the continuation. Hope you'll enjoy.

Blazing Encounters
Chapter One

Part Two: A Night of Laughter


I walked out of the computer laboratory after dumping my bags together with Hotaru's and Sumire's on one corner of the room. On my way out, words wouldn't suffice to describe my astonishment when I saw Natsume, Ruka and Koko with their bags in their grasp. In pursuit of them were Hotaru and Sumire, the former in her nonchalant stance and the latter in her annoyed expression.

"Yo, Mikan!" Koko accosted, his Cheshire grin on his face.

Ruka smiled at me good-naturedly. "Good evening, Mikan."

I gave them both a wide grin in return, taking note that Natsume was as usual, being silent again in the background.

I closed my eyes, imagining the image of Natsume and me inside a room.

Then, the three boys passed me and entered the laboratory. I raised an eyebrow at Sumire, demanding for an explanation.

She gritted her teeth. "It's going to be the six of us tonight."

"I was open to the idea of having some classmates with us tonight but why him?" I asked, tension rising within me. Heck, Natsume will be in the same room with me? Those teachers sure weren't afraid that the lab would turn into ashes.

Hotaru rolled her eyes, acting as if nothing of these circumstances is bothering her. "The teachers chose us because of our writing skills. We will be the ones to fill in the content of the web pages. They, on the other hand, were chosen for their skill in making the site with all those codes," she pointed out.

In the end, we were left with no choice but to join the boys inside the laboratory.

In fairness, I was sort of impressed because we arrived at the sight of them with their computers already turned on and their hands busily encoding codes.

Natsume was in his usual black attire. Girls said he looked cool having been clothed with black shirt and pants. I say he looked like someone from a satanic cult.

To my amusement, I caught Ruka, the one I'm close with aside from Koko, throwing fleeting glances at Hotaru who skidded to a halt in front of a computer.

What could be the meaning of this? Ruka sure fancies Hotaru, eh?

Suddenly, a bang sounded in the room and for a moment, the lights flickered on and off before it went to normal.

"Argh!" Sumire screamed and everyone's head turned their attention to her and Koko.

What a sight, I mused.

Koko's computer was smoking; hovering over him was a furious Sumire who was clutching her right hand as if it was in pain.

The scene was amusing and I wasn't able to contain my laughter.

Ruka joined in with my boisterous laughter but the heated atmosphere within the boundaries of Koko and Sumire didn't change—it even worsened, if that was possible.

"I got electrocuted, you jerk!" Sumire yelped and rubbed her right hand over and over again.

A goofy grin plastered itself on Koko's face and he shook his head. "Whose fault was that? I wasn't the one who attempted to irritate me by unplugging my computer. I wasn't the one who plugged it back in in a much higher voltage."

Sumire huffed and glowered at him. "You could have warned me. Electricity ran through my veins and I thought it was my end."

"Bad little girls don't die that easily," Koko contradicted.

Before we knew it, Sumire lunged herself towards Koko and slapped his arms multiple of times. Koko tried to hold her back but lost his balance and fell of the chair, bringing Sumire down with him.

The loud clamour that their bodies made led us shaking our heads. Those two childhood friends will never change.

You might conclude that Sumire and Koko treat each other as arch nemesis. Actually, the two of them are the best of friends. They grew up together and have known each other since god knows when. Hotaru and I were sort of Koko's childhood friends too but Sumire was the one who got extremely close to him.

"Koko!" Sumire yelled. "My hand, goddammit!"

The two of them stood up and composed themselves. Koko shot Sumire an apologetic glance and grasped her right hand. "I'm sorry."

It may look like Sumire was annoyed at Koko's presence earlier but inwardly, I think the witch's happy. Even though they don't show it, they care for each other.

Sumire retrieved her hand back and scowled at him. "Lollipop. Thirty pieces."

Koko smiled at that.

I turned around to see that Natsume, Ruka and Hotaru had resumed with their work.

Guess it's time for toiling.

With my arms crossed to give me warmth since it was so cold, I walked towards the computer beside Hotaru's. There were two rows of computers—one row, with ten computers, was set on one side of the wall and the other was set across it. That meant that there was an ample space in between.

Sumire followed suit and chose the computer beside mine.

"Permy," Koko called out, using the nickname that we baptized the sixteen-year old girl with.

I felt Sumire shift her chair and rotated her position in order to see Koko who was across her. "What?" she responded, this time not minding the nickname.

"Just send me your write-ups and I will take care of it," he answered. "Including you Mikan and Hotaru."

I grunted in approval. Hotaru said nothing.

For thirty minutes, no one breathed a word and a comfortable silence wrapped the place.

The coldness brought by the air condition seeped through my system and even though I was wearing pants, I felt naked under the frosty temperature. Since I was only wearing slippers, my feet were like it was freezing.

A moment later, I felt a sudden tickle on my right foot and thought at first that I was just a sensation yielded from the cold. But the tickling feelings seemed to move upwards.

Oh no. This is weird.

I looked down and shouted.

"Cockroach!"

I bolted from my chair and dashed towards Sumire who was laughing her head off. "You sure look like you've seen a ghost."

"That horrendous brown creature has a lot of legs!" I exclaimed, frightened at the thought that it touched my foot. It crawled on me. Walked on me.

I saw Natsume walk from his chair to my spot. He bent down, looking for something—for the cockroach, maybe. Then, he propped up, his fingers holding the offending thing.

"What is there to fear?" he asked and dropped the cockroach. The creature scuttled away from our sight. "You need not be so loud. Don't bother others."

With that said, Natsume continued his work.

I would have lunged into him like the way Sumire did but I knew he had a point. I had a fault so I'm gonna lie low for the moment.

My spirit low, I sat down once again. Hotaru nodded at me in acknowledgement and I nodded in return. Sumire became silent and the only sound heard from her side was that of pressing keys on the keyboard.

A little later, without breaking from her task, Sumire voiced out, "Do you find it wrong or weird if you argue with yourself?"

I shook my head even though I knew Sumire couldn't take note of the gesture. "There is nothing wrong with arguing with yourself. It's if you argue with yourself and lose is when it's weird."

Hotaru snorted on my other side and I threw a questioning look at her. She just stared back and said in a flat tone, "You're stupid."

"I second the motion," Koko added.

Sumire giggled. "Third."

"Fourth," Ruka joined in.

To my chagrin and surprise, Natsume spoke up. "Fifth."

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" I turned around and shot at him, indignant. I may sound childish but argh, every inch of Natsume makes me boil with anger. And I will never forget how he shoved the ice cream to my face.

Natsume quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Assuming, much? I was talking to Ruka. Ruka, fifth line from the top needs correction."

"Oh, really?" I responded, not deterred. "As if that's the truth."

I looked at Ruka and was rendered speechless when he nodded and smiled sympathetically at me. "He's right. He was talking about the codes."

"Hear that, idiot?"

My face turned red but I won't succumb to the arrogance of this bastard. "Keep in mind what you just said, because tomorrow, I will have a witty and sarcastic comeback and you'll be devastated then."

"I'd love to have a battle of wits with you but you appear to be unarmed," Natsume answered, his voice taunting and infuriating.

"Why, you! What did you mean by that?!"

"I want to explain it to you but I'm afraid your brain would explode."

My brain heated to boiling point at his remark. Smart, arrogant mouth. I so hate it. "Say sorry or else, you're dead."

Natsume's dark eyes stared at me dully. "I never apologize. I'm sorry, but that's just the way I am."

Huh? Did he seriously say that? Never apologize, huh and then he said sorry.

I gave out a guffaw. "My imaginary friend thinks you have some serious problems."

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice," Natsume said, his voice gradually losing the flatness in it. His back was still on me but I could see that he had stopped typing codes.

"Haha," I laughed. Gosh. Absurdity was sprouting out from Natsume's mouth! "As I said before, I never repeat myself. But you have some serious problem, dude."

By this time, Sumire was giggling at our exchange of remarks and I won't deny that throwing each other foolish lines was getting fun.

Natsume turned his swivel chair around, facing me this time. Crossing his arms, "Do you have trouble making up your mind? Well, yes or no?"

I wiped the tears of laughter from my eyes and pointed my finger at him. "You know what, I have some advice. Cheer up, the worst is yet to come."

My eyes glowed with delight when in a split second, I saw the corners of Natsume's mouth fought against gravity. I was sure that I have seen a ghost of a smile on his face. "Open your mind."

I gazed upon Natsume. "I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out."

Everyone—excluding Emerald who just raised an eyebrow and Natsume who turned around again, shaking his head in the process—broke down and laughed at the statement and Koko literally rolled on the floor. My stomach ached with all the giggles that I sounded and Natsume appeared to have been experiencing more or less the same enjoyment in the air. And oddly, that idea was enough to make me smile in content.

But, wait.

What got into Natsume?

-;-

It was already eleven in the evening when we decided to eat our dinner. After a session of laughing, we became serious and the goal of finishing the project was set in our minds. If it were not for my grumbling stomach, perhaps, we would have entirely forgotten that we haven't eaten yet.

But I was really embarrassed at the thought that it was my stomach which roared like thunder.

"Just lay a cloth there on the floor and place the food containers," Hotaru directed. We have decided to share food with the boys and they in return, intended to do the same thing.

Sumire did the work of setting our eating place and moments later, we squatted on the floor with the food before us. A great diversity of food was presented before me and I started wobbling some down. I'm hungry, okay?

"Pig," Natsume muttered under his breath but since he was sitting next to me (why the heck was he beside me, again?) in the circle that we made, his words were so audible.

I shot a glare at him but unfortunately, he didn't give a damn. He continued feeding himself, chewing and swallowing. Chewing and swallowing. Chewing and swallowing. When will he choke?

Oh! By the way, speaking of choking, I remember a line I heard somewhere. "Life isn't about how many breaths you take but rather, with how many moments took your breath away. Like choking."

Okay. So if you didn't get the humor in that then you're stupid. Don't worry. Stupid is something positive. Stupid stands for 'Smart Talented Unique Person In Demand." Well, on second thought, you're not stupid. Insert grin here.

"Why are you smiling like an idiot?" Sumire inquired, slapping me in the forehead with her greasy hand. Eww. Seriously, she could have used her forehead in her attempt of banging my head. But with her greasy hands? Gawd.

I tapped her hand forcefully and gulped down a spoonful of tocino. I don't know if it was bad karma for wishing bad of Natsume but I choked.

Coughing strenuously, I reached for my glass of water but it was empty. My throat cried at the thought. Was I going to die?

"W-Wat—," I managed to utter. Tears were forming on the corner of my eyes with the effort of vomiting what obstructed the passageway for my air.

Then, Sumire all but forced water on my mouth. Seconds later, I was able to breathe again and when I looked up to the faces of my companions, I saw that they were highly amused.

"Charming, as always," Hotaru sneered, shaking her head and continuing with her eating.

All I could do was pout and tear my food into minute pieces.

Silence fell like a curtain on us and the only sound prominent was that of clinking utensils. Sumire and Koko were throwing each other uneasy glances while Hotaru was being her usual self. Ruka didn't seem to have the energy to break the ice either.

Minutes passed and the deafening silence wasn't suiting me well. I needed to speak. "Does any of you plans to sleep tonight?"

"No. Staying awake during overnights has been my vow, remember?" Sumire replied, taking a swig out of her soft drinks.

Stabbing a hotdog from Sumire's plate and wolfing it down, Koko scoffed in disbelief at Sumire's statement. "Don't make us laugh. Everyone knows you easily falls a sleep. Last time we had an overnight together, you were sleeping with your face on the floor and your butt in the air."

I watched as an intense red colored Sumire's cheeks and she sent daggers to Koko's way. Hotaru smirked at the boy's statement, fully knowing that he hit the nail.

"You placed a sleeping pill on my drink!"

How was it?

Care to review?

Jessicha Therese