CHAPTER II

The morning sunlight was streaming from the crystal glasses of the greenhouse. Rei was there with Misaki. He turned into a different person when the second day comes, as it made her mind to work together. That time they were researching the plants.

"Is this Saffron?" Rei stopped. There was a little plant with vibrant purple colored flowers. Misaki nodded to say 'yes.' His dark brown eyes had filled in liveliness. "It needs protection. You know in here it's not about if it can or it can't, we can make it happen," Misaki had a friendlier attitude than the other members of her class, completely unlike his friend Ruka. She looked again at the plant that could make her feel somewhat happy and then walked ahead with him.

"It's my next exam project," she heard him again. "Exam project?" Rei muttered once more. It was a surprising thing. She came to the Academy two days ago, but now there was a project except the hard examination. "Weren't you told about it? It's imperative. You have to choose something valuable Rei, don't forget your non-star rank," he picked off some dry leaves of a Bonsai plant, walking a few steps away from Rei. "You've already won with these flowers, and yeah, I know. I have to get one. It's tough to go ahead like this. I have nothing, neither honor nor respect," Misaki stopped. He looked at her carefully by the last few solemn words of her answer, then signaled her to follow behind him to the other side.

The entire morning they spent in the greenhouse. That place reminded Rei's home, where there were so many Sakura blossoms. She loved it. Yet Misaki was not close enough to understand her undefined feelings. Rei's first day at the Academy had ended up badly by the same place, even though she used to love those works more than everything.

At that moment, the calm nature was disturbed. Rei realized that the shadow was not Misaki. She knew how he reacts when someone comes into the greenhouse without his permission or hers since now she was also a part of that place.

"Are you planning to steal or..."

Rei asked, coming behind from the stranger. She was suspicious. The white colored hoodie did not give her a chance to recognize whether it was a girl or a boy.

"What?" That one turned to her while putting off his hoodie. It was a boy. The thief had a beauty mark under his left eye, and not quite accomplished; she felt like those emerald eyes were smirking at her. The one who she suspected as a thief was gorgeous in comparison with both Ruka and Misaki, also he looked a bit similar to Shiki.

"You think of me like that?" His soft voice came out very carefully. It was one of the most awkward moments in her life. He seemed so innocent to her eyes, not to her mind. Rei did not have any idea about those strange students of the Academy, even about her classmates. She took a few seconds to find something to say. "No, I, umm… No, but yes I didn't see you coming," she got a weird stammer.

The sparkle in his eyes was frozen by her words, almost with his innocent facial expressions. Rei was staring at him without a perception of his intention. He also had a confused look on his face. It was by the girl who was standing in front of him. He felt curious about her Alice, and it was the first time he saw her inside the Academy. He felt something that he never knew. For a moment there was a dead silence except the rustle of the trees.

"What's going on here? Narumi, not again…" They heard Misaki's rough voice, as they turned their heads to look at the entrance. It was the first time Rei saw him angry. And his sudden appearance drew a thin smirk on the guy named Narumi's lips. "We came back last night. I'm here to see you," he nodded carefully at Misaki, making a hidden conversation in front of her.

"He's not-" Rei whispered, and when she noticed Narumi's glaring eyes, she went on, "-perhaps,"

"It's okay Rei. This's one of my best friends, Narumi," Misaki had an answer. It was unexpected. She went cold to accept him as a friend. Narumi had a careless look on his face for some unknown reason. It came with a dull frown, as she was troubled by his evil aura. Rei felt like Misaki would be wrong in this case, not knowing their long-term friendship. "I'm sorry, excuse me," walking away from the boys, she dared to dump the part of introducing herself back. It felt really uncomfortable. Her non-star rank had also reduced her worth in so many different ways, and so the Academy itself.

"You have a new girl, who's she?" Narumi asked while looking around the greenhouse. He was up to something, not with Misaki but with his foxy mind. "Shut up man. I can't say this again; do not let me catch you in my greenhouse, now leave… Don't say that I didn't say," Misaki's words seemed like a threat, and his friend waited in silence for a second. "Keeping in mind that I replied to you," Narumi responded in queerly. He walked away, after putting something into his pants pockets.

Both Misaki and Narumi had a very close friendship until it comes to the greenhouse. Narumi was someone who could not be controlled without his own will. Sometimes he used to listen to his friends if there were no any other choices left. He was one of the most careless and stubborn people, who was living on the Academy grounds. On the other hand Misaki was unable to catch the theft since Narumi almost left the place with those Bean seeds before something happened.

"Do not let him in," Misaki came back to Rei. She was working there in her block. "Why's that?" She removed her hand gloves. It was already the interval time as she thought of going back to the hostel. "You know Rei, the best fish always swim near the bottom. Be careful with him," he smiled at her for the first time. It had a light that made the blind see. "I'm glad to hear that," she ended up it as a good thing. Rei packed her bag and came out of her block with him. "Don't expect him to be nice to you," Misaki warned her, knowing every cruel incident that happened in the Academy because of his cold-blooded friend. "I won't," she replied before he grabbed her bag with a chuckle. Then he went to the greenhouse restroom where there was a little kitchen that had all the types of kitchen equipment and ingredients. "You're gonna make our lunch," not giving her a chance to say 'no,' he said as the first step of a new friendship. Misaki was finally able to get a girl as a friend that he never had. The life he used to spend alone in the greenhouse had ended up like that.

Rei and Misaki came to the classroom for the next period. Their classmates were shouting, and it seemed like a total mess. When they entered, she found out something about her place in the last row. There were another two boys sitting with Ruka. She recognized the familiar careless look. The other one was wearing a Black Cat mask which hides his face.

"I arranged your place on the left side," Tobita came to her with a solution due to the situation. There were another two girls behind him. Rei had seen them before in the class though they did nothing more than looked at her once or twice.

"I'm Mikan!" The brown haired girl who had a very cheerful voice interrupted. "Hi," that was all Rei said. "This is my friend, Hotaru," Mikan introduced the other girl. She had short Black hair. "Nice to meet you," being a quiet person, Rei tried not to act like the majority. "Welcome to our class," that girl had a dreamy voice which was too calm and cold. Mikan said so many things within a few minutes in their little conversation. Rei did not understand many of them, and so Hotaru. They kept their silence because they loved the way Mikan talked like a kid, or like a little baby.

The four of them were standing in front of the class entrance. Rei saw Misaki was coming towards her with his friends included Ruka, Narumi, and the Cat masked boy. She noticed both the new boys as the special-star students. "If you want to know something, you can ask now," Ruka stopped in front of her. "Thank you, everything is fine," Rei answered him after managing to blink. It was the first time she talked with this guy, he almost acted like a dumb. "Keep your things with you. I'm done with your silly partnership," Ruka was sharper than she expected, and Rei found her fingers digging into her palm. There was a moment of silence before she handled her anger by the name of Misaki who signed her to say 'to be calm,' while closing both his eyes. "Get lost!" She muttered still staring at the Cat mask.

"Excuse me?" Ruka was about to go unless he took a step back by the thing he heard.

"Yeah, I don't like it at all," something popped out. Rei tried hard to conceal her anger from everyone. Misaki felt desperate. He did not forget to glance at her one last time before walking out of his friends.

Time passed quickly. It brought to the last few hours of the school time. Narumi had been laying on a tree branch for fifteen minutes. The cold wind of spring closed his eyes while giving him a peaceful sleep, however a strange noise broke his trance. 'Oh, my brilliant girl,' seeing Rei who was reading a book under the tree, he thought like that.

(Fan girls of the school)

"Look… there he is. Guys, hurry up. We can't be late, hurry up before the juniors come,"

"What are you talking about? He's all ours,"

"Not ours, only mine. Just stay away from him,"

"Stop your drama. Don't you want to talk to him? He's about to go, hurry up,"

"Senpai… Wait…"

Rei raised her head hearing some things like that. Her eyes caught the huge crowd of fan girls who were shouting on the road. 'Why do I feel like that they're coming towards me or-' she said to herself for the sake of her own peace. Rei was determined to go away, having so many problems other than that, whether they had good intentions or not.

"YOU'RE MINE…!" All of them screamed together. There were more than twenty girls which included her classmates.

'-yes they are,' it caused Rei to stand up unknowingly.

"NARUMI... WE LOVE YOU…!" She heard something weird. 'What the… I'm not a guy, but wait… Am I?' Suddenly Rei looked at her figure, then smiled alone for her silly thoughts which somewhat reminded Misaki's words 'anything is possible with the Alice people.'

"Ah, girls…" Rei heard Narumi as if she was in a dream. 'Where were you?' She asked herself, still was not aware of his desire to taking revenge from her for accusing him in the greenhouse. She turned her head with a view of looking at his face.

Holding his neck from behind, Narumi bent his head left and right while coming near her. His look was appealing to her eyes, so there was nothing to surprise about his fan girls. Rei felt uncomfortable at the moment when their eyes met each other. The worst doubt endured there inside of her mind.

"Stop-" All of them started to screamed once again with his voice. They did not even let him finish. It could be able to pull Rei back to reality. She muttered to herself cursing for their wild nature, as took her book before walked away from them as soon as possible.

Narumi was confused about Rei. 'What's wrong with me? My Alice didn't affect on her,' she walked away from him, yet she was on his mind with a tremendous confusion. And Rei had something else in her mind. 'What's wrong with me? My distrust is always affecting him,' she was unable to forget the notable difference between his beauty mark and his evil mark.

The days of the great spring were fading away from them. Some teachers were using to teach outside due to the lovely climate. Those thousands of Sakura blossoms could bring the feelings of Heaven, even though there was another place where there had a beauty that could defeat Heaven. 'The greenhouse,' it was something more than a herbarium.

"What are you doing?" Rei saw Misaki was claiming flowerpots in his block. She kept her bag inside the cupboard and went to him. "Just started my project, what about yours?" Having so many pots around everywhere, he tried to move them away from him without a space to walk. Then he whipped off the mud on his hands. "I should choose something like Cinnamon, still don't have a clear idea about this project," she looked away from the glass wall through her talk. Misaki felt something wrong with her. He did not know whether it was Ruka or another thing. "Is that the Chinese one?" He asked back, obstructing her thoughts. He knew that if it was 'Cassia,' it would not be a good choice for the project. "No, ah it's the Ceylon one. Throw it away, can I call you Mi-"

"It's Michio," he cut her off. There were only a few people who allowed calling him like that, especially three of his friends. "-alright Michio, what's your expectation of doing this project?" Rei sat next to the cupboard. "I need some money for my work. I'm trying to get a sponsor, what's yours?" He started to claim the pots again in addition to talking. "Nothing, but… If I get a star, I can avoid the MSP, sometimes…" Rei took a short and unwanted breath after answering him.

"The MSP?" Misaki tried to remember the thing she said, immobilizing for a second. He looked at her face, although she was drowning inside of her own thoughts. "He wants me to be there. I can't do anything for my relief with this star rank," she explained very patiently to her friend, turning her head to look at him for a while, and again she went silent. "Why's that? Mikan was also a non-star student at the beginning. She never had a problem like that," Misaki wanted to know more. He was looking at her for further information, having a look of a mess.

A few seconds passed away from them without breaking the deep sleep of the light breeze, so he sat next to her instead of expecting some answer. He wondered about his friend. She was definitely out of the ordinary people who were living around him. "I don't know. To tell you the truth, I'm afraid of seeing him day and night. I wish if I've never met him, but look what I've got…" Rei's voice came out as a whisper. "Listen Rei, you have to stand against your fear before it stands against you. Dare to look back, if you ever afraid again. There's always a friend behind you," he acted very dearly in front of her. The Academy named Misaki as a cold person like the same way as his friends, though he knew how to deal with an innocent heart.

"Thank you," Rei accepted what he said, giving him a satisfied look. He noticed the smile in her eyes. Until then he did not know that her look was truly amazing.

Thank you for reading.