Thanks for the reviews! Hope that you'll hang around for the next chapters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 2- The Fatal Outing part 2
"Oh! Oh! Look Hotaru! These are so pretty! And look there too! Aren't they cute?"
Mikan exclaimed as she flitted from one store to another. "Can I buy this? Please?" she pleaded with her passive best friend with puppy dog eyes.
"Use your money baka."
"Of course! I'm going to buy fluff puffs!"
"Sakura-san, ano, why don't we split up so that we can visit the stores we'd like to visit. That way, we can conserve our time and we can still have a snack before the last bus arrives." Ruka shyly offered his suggestion.
"That's a great idea!" Mikan exclaimed happily.
"Alright. Is it alright with the two of you?" he turned towards their other two caompanions, asking for confirmation. At the two's nods, he continued:
"Well, it's settled then. I' off towards the pet shop, and I assume that Imai's to the hardware and metal parts store and Natsume is going towards the manga store. So then just in case of emergencies, we'd know where to find each other. How about you Sakura-san?"
"Me? I'm going to the candy-store!"
"A-Ah." Ruka sweat dropped. "That's all decided, then. So lets just meet after, say, 2 hours. It'd be 5 o'clock in that clock", he said, gesturing with his head the time piece that can be seen by everyone in the town. "Our venue would be the--" he trailed off, searching for a suitable meeting place. His gaze alighted upon a cozy eating place just by the corner and he gestured towards it with his hand. "There."
"Alright!" Mikan crowed and set off towards the candy shop.
"Hmph." Was Natsume's only reaction.
"Idiot." Said Hotaru.
And so the four of them set off towards their intended destinations.
Mikan, after buying two boxes of fluff puffs, was sitting in one of the benches under a tree in the park and was in candy lover's heaven. Hotaru meanwhile, was busy haggling down the prices of the metal pieces she was intending to buy. Ruka was in the pet shop playing with all of the animals, and Natsume was adding another handful of mangas to the growing stack of the stuff carried by the manager who was trailing behind him.
All was well and it was peaceful aside from the noise of the shoppers when it was all shattered by a large explosion that can be heard through-out the place. And just as suddenly, pandemonium reigned as all the people panicked around them. Hotaru, Ruka, and Natsume ran swiftly towards their meeting place while all the people around them were running towards the opposite direction. They saw smoke and a fire that was swiftly spreading in the direction from where the people all ran from. The three of them put their efforts into keeping from being swept away by the crowd and in staying together. Ruka suddenly noticed that Mikan was nowhere in sight.
"Hey, where's Mikan!"
"She's probably lost in the crowd. The idiot." Hotaru replied, seemingly unconcerned.
"She'll probably think that it's the circus come to town." Natsume added.
Ruka sweat dropped at his to companions' comments but then got serious and said, "Either way, we have to find her. I think something serious happened."
"(sigh) She'll then have to pay me my baby sitting fee." Hotaru commented in an emotionless voice.
Ruka sweat dropped again at Hotaru's comment. "I-Imai…"
Just then, the loudspeakers located around Central Town was put into use, "Attention to all shoppers! The Anti-Alice Organization is now attacking Central Town. Please don't panic in order to avoid more accidents. Vehicles are waiting to transport you into safety in the bus station. Move together in groups for safety. Evacuation is in order. I repeat. The Anti-…".
"The Anti-Alice Organization! What are they doing here?" Ruka worriedly asked to no one in particular.
"Those bastards." Natsume muttered angrily.
"It's now more imperative that we find Mikan." Ruka said while starting to run towards the direction of the candy shop with the two following immediately at his heels. When they arrived there, there was no sign of any people left, least of all Mikan.
"That idiot. Where could she have gone to?" Hotaru said.
"Why don't we try the park?" Ruka suggested, refusing to give up on their search.
And in the park, there still was no sign of the brunette.
"Damn. Where could she have gone? She's really a lot of trouble." Natsume angrily said.
"You could just have said no to her when she asked you to come." Hotaru coolly replied.
Suddenly, they heard a shout coming from the opposite direction, and as they turned towards the owner of the voice, they saw to their surprise that it was Narumi-sensei coming towards them hurriedly. When their teacher reached them at last, he was out of breath and was having difficulty in speaking, "M-….Mi-…"
"What's the matter Narumi-sensei?" Hotaru asked.
"Mikan!" Narumi got out at last. "Where is she? I thought she was with you!"
"Well, she was", Ruka said defensively. "We're now trying to find her."
"We've got to find her, fast! She's in danger!" Narumi replied frantically.
"What do you mean she's in danger?" Hotaru asked ominously.
"The Anti-Alice organization is after her." Narumi answered quietly.
"That idiot? Why ever would they be after her? She'd be of no use to them." Natsume replied angrily, somehow trying to cover up the fact that he's in fact now getting worried.
"You don't know anything about Mikan's past. I think that you should just keep your thoughts to yourself until after you know the bare facts." Narumi flung back at him angrily. Surprisingly, it kept Natsume quiet, as he was taken back by Narumi's words.
"How did you know that they're after Mikan?" Hotaru coolly asked.
"We captured one of them and used the Truth-telling alice in order to know their real motives. Unfortunately, he didn't know as to the 'why' they were taking Mikan. So the primary thing that we have to focus on now is finding Mikan. That's our top-most priority. The other teachers are now trying to find out their means of getting inside the campus so that we would know their route of exit." Narumi explained while running at a fast pace. After a few minutes of running back and forth, they still haven't found a trace of Mikan, even after separating to make their search faster. Drawing abreast a copse of trees, they paused to get back their breaths.
"Where on Earth is she? It would be disastrous if the Anti-Alice Organization get their hands on her." Narumi panted.
"Disastrous in what way?" asked Hotaru, who, when they turned to glance at her, was riding her scooter.
"I-Imai! Why are you riding on that? It's unfair!" Ruka protested.
"I'm tired. If you want one you can buy one from me for only 1500 rabbits." Hotary returned.
Ruka: (sigh).
Then suddenly, they heard undistinguished voices just beyond the copse of trees. The sources of the voices were too far away, but it seemed that one was urgent.
"We'd better check it out. It might be someone who needs help." Narumi said as he walked hurriedly towards the voices. As they came to a clearing, they were startled to find that the source of the frantic voice was none other than Mikan. And with her was a man who seemed to be trying to cajole her into something. Mikan, seeming to sense the presence of others, immediately looked up and cried, "Narumi-sensei! Onegai na taskete! This man wants me to go with him!" The man, who was now also aware of the arriving party, sighed and grinned evilly.
"Well, I tried to get you to go with me nicely, but now it seems that I have no choice. I'd just have to force you. And he suddenly hit the back of Mikan's head, rendering her unconscious.
"NO!" Narumi shouted. Natsume tried to throw some fireballs at the man's direction, but he easily evaded them. Hotaru got out her 'baka gun' and started to shoot him herself while Ruka requested the animals that were present to help him. But the man just laughed and said, "You don't even know her worth, now do you? Making her a no star and treating her as no body. Now you would pay for your ignorance." And he gave off an evil laugh. He picked Mikan up and when Natsume got ready to fire another barrage of fireballs, Narumi surprisingly stopped him.
"No, Natsume-kun. If you try to hit him now, you'll only end up hurting Mikan too."
"Damn."
"Well then, better get going now." And before the three's stunned gazes, he suddenly disappeared.
"W-What! Where did he go!" Ruka wildly looked around them, somehow irrationally expecting to find Mikan somewhere near them.
"Oh, no. This is a disaster!" Narumi lamented.
When they finally got back to their classroom, they found out their classmates were all gathered there, waiting for them. Yuu rushed towards them and began to speak,
"Hotaru-san, what happened? The teachers are in a panic and they mentioned something about Mikan…" and he suddenly realized that Mikan was not with them.
"Where is she? Is she alright? What on earth happened?"
Hotaru sighed. She knew they would all know sooner or later, and answered Yuu's question with devastating frankness,
"Mikan got kidnapped."
Thanks for the reviews guys! Anyways, can you please give me more reviews! Please? Thank you!
Chapter three may just come a bit late, but please tune in for the on coming chapters! The suspense just about begins now…
Hehehehe…
