When they entered the elevator, Mikan caught a whiff of a certain scent. It smelled like honey tarts and strawberry shortcakes, only slightly more sugary, almost sickly sweet.

Scrunching up her nose, Mikan said, "Who's wearing perfume? It's going to get washed away by the sea water, ya know?"

Immediately, Anna and Nonoko giggled to themselves. Not wasting a chance to tease her friends, Mikan pounced on them, "Don't tell me you guys are wearing perfume? Oooh, trying to attract Misaki Sensei's attention, eh?" Then, she wriggled her eyebrows mischievously.

At this, the twins blushed furiously, a bright red staining the apples of their cheeks. A moment later, they exchanged looks that, well… Looked rather sly.

Suddenly, Anna dug into her seashell-decorated cotton tote and pulled out a flower-shaped perfume bottle while Nonoko held Mikan down. Not even having any time to react, Mikan squealed as Anna sprayed tons of sickly, sugary perfume on her.

Her first reaction? To scream in protest. Loudly.

This resulted in her inhaling possibly hazardous amounts of perfume and setting her lungs on fire.

As she gasped for air and jumped away from her fiendish friends, Mikan yelled at them, "That -cough- smells like –cough, cough- unicorn FART!"

The lift shook with tremors as Sumire, Anna and Nonoko burst into peals of laughter. Meanwhile, Hotaru who was already wearing a gas mask, merely chuckled as she thumped Mikan's back hard.

Mikan, the pitiful victim, then attempted to shoot venomous glares at her friends while she swatted away the cloud of perfume hanging over her head.

The moment the lift doors parted, Mikan bolted out of it and ran for her life, gulping in huge breaths of clean, fresh air.

"Aww… Is our little Mikan feeling out of breath? I guess the perfume didn't sit well with you at all." Taunted Sumire, as she grinned evilly at Mikan.

"No shit, Sherlock!" snapped back Mikan, wiping away tears from her eyes had which watered when she was choking on the revolting smell.

This response just led to another round of snorting, giggling, guffawing and smirking as the girls worked themselves into a frenzy.

Abruptly, Hotaru hissed at the noisy bunch who was causing a ruckus, "Keep the noise level down, idiots! Everybody is staring at us!"

True enough, the staff of the hotel was looking quizzically at Mikan and group. Noticing the group staring back at them, the staff members quickly turned away. However, they were still some thick-skinned ones who continued to gossip softly among themselves, even taking the time to point at the group.

Turning even redder in the face, Mikan, Nonoko, Anna and Sumire left the hotel lobby quietly and headed for the front entrance. Hotaru on the other hand, had her lips set in a grim line and her eyebrows twitching as she glared at the rude staff. Honestly, people nowadays, she thought.

(For your information, they are wearing robes over their swimming outfits, except Hotaru who is not even wearing a bikini in the first place.)

When the group finally reached the entrance, which was already crowded with students, they breathed a sigh of relief. It was a rather awkward feeling indeed to have those people's stares glued to your backs.

Hardly a minute after their arrival, a smiling Tobita waved to them, clutching the class attendance list in his other hand. Upon seeing their faces however, his smile disappeared.

As he approached them, Tobita had his face scrunched up in worry and he asked them in a voice full of concern, "Hey, your faces are awfully red. Are you guys okay? Are you feeling feverish or anything?"

At first, they shook their heads emotionlessly in unison. They certainty were not feeling ill, they just felt completely embarrassed after making a fool out of themselves in the lobby. Though Tobita's concern was sweet, it merely reminded them of their ridiculous act that took place a few moments ago.

Then again, it had been rather hilarious.

Anna's lips twitched, and soon, laughter bubbled out of her mouth, causing a chain reaction that left the group in fits of laughter. Sans Hotaru, of course.

Why am I friends with a bunch of brainless buffoons? Hotaru sighed heavily and slapped her palm on her forehead.

With a confused expression on his face, Tobita shot one look at the giggling group before asking Hotaru, "Was it something I said?"

She bluntly replied, "They're just high."

Further out of the entrance, Natsume and gang were just milling around and chilling out. The moment he had heard the loud commotion (which was Mikan and her friends cackling like witches), Natsume turned around. Upon seeing Mikan, his eyes lit up a teensy bit. She somehow looked more beautiful than usual, with her face glowing and her glossy, plump lips, and Natsume suspected that it was probably Sumire's doing. But he really did not give a damn about such girly things.

He was just glad that her hair was finally in another style instead of her signature pig tails. They were cute all right (not that Natsume would admit it) but seeing her with her hair piled up in a loose bun with a few curls framing her face was rather refreshing.

A minute of admiring later, he frowned. He was sort of disappointed in a way when he saw Mikan wearing an annoyingly fluffy and humongous coat over her swimming costume. It was freaking hideous for pete's sake! Then again, Natsume was not sure if he could stand seeing other guys blatantly ogling at her.

I mean, who would want to ogle at her? Definitely not me, that's for sure. She doesn't even have a smoking hot body. Snickering to himself, he turned back to catch Ruka giving him a weird look.

"What" He asked, lifting one of his eyebrows into a perfect arch.

"Something on my face?", He drawled before continuing, "Or did something else behind me catch your eye, eh Ruka?"

He smirked mischievously the moment Ruka's face blushed to a crimson red.

"Oh, k-knock it off, Natsume!" He protested, casting a glance over his friend's shoulders at Mikan before looking down embarrassedly.

"I was just-" said Ruka before he was cut off by Narumi's booming voice coming from the megaphone.

"HEY there, my adorable students~ I bet we're all itching to dip ourselves into the sea, aren't we?" Narumi sang, sailing into the room like a… Complete nutcase.

Without pausing for a response, Narumi Sensei continued, however his voice was suddenly solemn, "However, I have to introduce some rules which you must abide by! Firstly, do NOT, and I repeat, do not tell any staff member which school you are from. If they persist in finding out your school, inform me immediately! The school will take care of them for you. Secondly, you will notice that there are barriers around this beach. They are to keep you safe from any unwanted intruders with unkind intentions. Thirdly, I really hope that you kiddos continue to wear the jewelry given to you earlier as it helps us to know whether you are safe or not. Remember, we care about your well being!"

At this, Natsume snorted loudly, drawing the attention of his classmates and Narumi Sensei. He shot a defiant glare in his teacher's way, making the temperature drop quite a few degrees. Despite the fact that they were under the blazing, cheery sun, everybody could feel the icy shivers down their spine. Yet, Natsume on the other hand, felt a fire in him, blazing with hatred. It wanted to consume. To destroy. Natsume felt so tempted to burn that disgusting fellow to nothing, or at least point his middle finger at him, when Ruka put a firm hand on his shoulder.

Looking into his eyes meaningfully, the message in Ruka's eyes was clear. Calm down, man! If you blow up now, you will only get into more trouble!

Shaking slightly with anger, Natsume managed to calm himself enough that Ruka felt that okay to remove his restraining hand from his best friend's shoulder. Looking to the side, Natsume tasted a bitter taste forming in his mouth. They were treated like slaves who were supposed to be grateful for this little "holiday" their masters have given!

Frowning a bit, Narumi decided it was best to ignore his fiery, bad-tempered student and continue with his rules.

"As your Sensei, I truly hope that all of you will follow the rules. If you don't, I'm afraid then that the school will have to take action against you. That would be very unpleasant indeed!"

The whole class listened warily to this, their mood further dampened as they wondered if any students in the past had tried to break these rules… And whether they had faced the consequences…

Then, rather boldly, Hotaru broke the silence to ask, "What happens when we try to run away?" This question caused a great reaction among the students. They were greatly startled by it and while some students gasped loudly, others. That topic was like the Forbidden Pandora Box to them! To try and open the box was utterly foolish and dangerous!

Hotaru, meanwhile, remained steadfast in her cool and collected disposition. She stared at Narumi, searching his face for any clues as to whether he was facing any inner conflict or anything due to the question.

Masking his worry quickly with a brilliant smile, Narumi Sensei responded in a cheery voice, "Then you'll have to answer to them!"

(The fact that he responded in a bubbly voice only made the students feel more afraid and creeped out. It was definitely not soothing to them.)

Afterwards, he nodded his head in the direction of five, humongous men wearing black suits and matching sunglasses. They had bulging muscles that were struggling to be free from the confines of their clothes and these men easily towered over everybody, even if there was a 190cm guy in the crowd. Moreover, they were all so eerily still that you could not tell whether they were breathing or not.

They're like the Men in Black, thought Mikan to herself, giggling at her little joke in her mind. Only Mikan could find the bright side of things in such a tense situation!

Meanwhile, the rest of the class was quiet, not only recovering from their previous shock but also feeling clearly intimidated by the scary "bodyguards".

*CLAP!*

Like soldiers listening to their Marshall's orders, the students' heads whipped around.

"All right, sweethearts!", Natsume fought the urge to vomit at this, "Let's get to the beach and have some fun!" whooped Narumi Sensei as he marched to the beach with a straw hat clamped under one of his arm.

Hesitantly, the class followed their teacher, with some glancing back to stare at the men in black trailing closely behind them.

When they had arrived at the beach, everybody perked up slightly. The sight of the gorgeous teal-coloured sea waves lapping gently at the shore and sweeping away golden crumbs of sand cheered them up. Still, they were wary of the bodyguards. Would they stalk them and later report their every move to the Elementary School Principal?

The class was especially worried about their infamous bad boy, Natsume, knowing all too well about his temperament. The ESP could very well use this opportunity to incite Natsume's fury, causing him to explode and use his Alice, before framing him for whatever reason they had concocted.

As her classmates bit their lips in worry, Mikan had other plans in her mind.

She had thrown all caution to the wind and wriggled her toes deep into the warm, sun-baked sand. It felt so delicious! She felt as though she was dipping her feet into milk powder and she barely resisted the temptation to taste the powdery sand. Giggling to herself, Mikan then bent down to scoop a handful of sand. Observing the tiny grains of sand cupped in her hand, she enjoy the feeling of the sand leaving her palm as it trickled through the gaps between her fingers and flew away with the wind…

Pursing her lips slightly, Hotaru observed her friend playing with the sand before staring at Narumi with a steady, contemplative gaze.

He had an expectant smile plastered on his face as he watched his students shuffle onto the sand carefully, as though it was filled with ticking bombs.

Soon, many students began to separate into their groups (which is the people they usually hand out with).

I guess I'll just have to observe the situation silently, thought Hotaru to herself as she shot a last glance towards the "bodyguards".

Then, she walked towards Mikan and was slightly surprised when Mikan suddenly jumped up and shouted, "Woo! Let's go crazy, people!" Then, she raced to the sea and plunged into it, to which the sea responded with a roar as it washed over her. Bubbles gurgled at the surface before Mikan emerged, flinging her wet hair backwards like a drunken mermaid.

Waving like a mad person, she beckoned her friends to join her in enjoying the soothing coolness of the sea.

With bewildered expressions on their faces, her classmates just stared at her. The taut string of tension was just so abruptly cut by Mikan's silliness that they were too stunned to respond. However, before long, a breathless giggle carried by the sea breeze could be heard and just like that, Mikan's classmates snapped out of their confusion and burst into laughter.

Sigh. "She's definitely one heck of an idiot." Remarked Natsume, his lips twisting into a half-smirk.

Hotaru shook her head almost exasperatedly as a tiny smile bloomed on her face. Quickly hiding her smile though her eyes still twinkled, Hotaru baka-gunned her friend in the face.

Author's Note- Ugh, I am such a procrastinator... Honestly, I can't believe it took me this long to release a new chapter. -.- Therefore, I sincerely apologise to all of my readers who have been tearing their hair waiting for a new chapter! :(

Anyways, what do you think will happen next? Will Natsume later lose him temper or will his classmates be able to prevent him from falling into the hands of the ESP?