CHAPTER III
Rei and Misaki arranged the flowerpots as a line. It took a few hours. After the comforting words, they did not feel tired of working until the evening.
Time flowed slowly. When the moonlight embraced the Academy earth, Misaki and his friends were lying on the hostel roof. This middle division's gang had a unique way of dealing with others. They had to grow up with the help of the each other and no one else, neither teachers nor families. It made a bond deeper than friendship.
"I heard that," Ruka raised his voice. "Heard what?" Misaki asked staring at the sky. He found a bad feeling in a corner of his mind. He wanted to not to hear anything about Rei. "I'm willing to see the end of your friendship with her," Ruka made it clear. He was charming like his ability 'the Animal pheromone Alice,' only until he gets angry. There was not so many who saw him when he was angry. So he became a loved one in the entire Academy. "It'll take some time," Misaki smirked. He remembered the thing she muttered at the classroom 'Get lost.' It was all that she said to make his friend that mad.
"Does she have the Nullification Alice?" Narumi's emotionless voice echoed around the space.
"Don't say yes," the Cat masked boy came into the conversation because he got a desperate feeling by Narumi's question. His girlfriend had the Nullification Alice, as he did not want another one who can go ahead of him. This guy was able to handle the students having the Alice of Fire. Sometimes the teachers also had to toe the line, but never with his friends. He looked at Misaki with the other two.
"Maybe, Natsume…" Misaki did not even know about Rei's hidden abilities to answer them. "Is she alright?" the Cat mask boy whose name happened to be Natsume, asked back. "For what?" Narumi interrupted again. It was not all about the greenhouse incident. Also he was curious about her quiet behavior, unfortunately every time it ended up with a revengeful thought.
"I'm fed up. That idiot is always talking about her," Natsume meant about his girlfriend 'Mikan' by saying 'idiot.' It was his usual way of expressing his authority over her. "I think so…" Misaki muttered. "You're getting close to her," Ruka gave his viewpoint. "Thank you for reminding," Misaki said shortly, not completely controlling his ire. He was annoyed by the topic. He did not want to hear rubbish about Rei after knowing her problem, and he was glad. They did say nothing.
"What has happened to you next time?" Ruka did not mean anything other than what he said, so he asked him in surprise. "It's nothing. Just wanna sleep. Good night!" Misaki said and left, leaving others alone. "This's the first time I see him like this," Narumi smirked. It was powerful enough to take Natsume's attention since Rei was not the first girl they met at the Academy. "We'll see…" behind an evil grin, they heard a cat meow.
In the morning those four friends had to meet again. Misaki, Ruka, Narumi, and Natsume were walking to the class through their fans. They saw both Shiki and Rei, who was covered by a huge crowd of Shiki's fans. They entered the classroom, having only a day left to the examination. Their homeroom teacher Makihira had announced it already, as everyone had to complete their projects.
A few hours passed after the first period. It became their Science lesson. "Excuse me, Sensei!" Everyone was concentrating on their lesson with Jinno until Rei disturbed them. That was the first time they saw her after the morning with Shiki. Jinno ordered her to sit. He did not worry to ask too much. Day by day her disappearing behavior became a common thing. "Meet me after school," she heard him again before he left the class, though she did not have a problem with his extra homework. Rei appreciated it as a gift. She could build her skills. Hotaru gave her the past notes, knowing about her secret since she was no one but the girlfriend of Misaki.
"I'm sorry," Rei entered the greenhouse with an apology. She walked to her block to get ready and came back to the main hall. Misaki was working at that time along with his favorite plants. "Miss Rei, could you please help me now? What are you thinking that you're doing? Where were you in last two days?" He had not had a composed mind to talk to her. "Leave it for now. I have to do this all night long," Rei wore her hand gloves quickly. They worked all evening. Even after taking their dinner, they continued the working.
"I'm done with mine, now we have yours," Misaki said in addition to cleaning. He used an Alice stone for that. It was a natural thing that they use stones to make their lives easier than outsiders. "I know," Rei walked to her block with a frown which made him smile. She had started to put the soil into the small flowerpots and she got his help after a few seconds. Rei worked hard. Finishing her project was the only thing that was on her mind until she saw Misaki. He was sleeping in the middle of the pots. It was not the right place with all the mud and other stuff. Yet he was in the best part of his sleep. "It's almost five. How can I do this alone?" She bothered whether she should call him or not. He had already done much more than her, and she decided to let him sleep.
It was seven in the morning. "What happened? Are you mad? Why didn't you wake me up?" Misaki came to her with a fussy look. Rei smiled at the boy looked like a wet Cat. "I've finished them all," she said to the surprised boy, making him surprised again. "Did you?" Misaki raised his eyebrow at her. He was confused about the thing he heard. It was only possible to a powerful Alice user, unlike him who had 'the Plant Growing Alice.' But she said nothing.
The soft morning sunlight was there to embrace them, and the cold wind made them sleepy. At the last minute they heard the bell ring. "NO…" Both of them yelled a bit with the same tone after coming back to their senses. They had to be in the classroom before the first bell. That was a rule. "Let's go, Rei," Misaki said, running to the main door with her. Then walked slowly to the hostel as if nothing had happened.
"Good morning!" Misaki gave a strange gaze to the girl who was waiting for him near the hostel main entrance. "Ah, good morning!" Rei smirked. The two of them walked to their class, keeping the silence. "Thank you," finally Misaki broke it in the classroom corridor. He was thankful to her for helping him finish the project. "Do not consider it as a help, we worked together," Rei's little-loud voice came out without any disconcert because no one was present other than them. "Alright, now please stop shouting, will you?" He got a dramatic smile, as he got her all kinds of evil looks within a second.
"Excuse me Sensei!" Jinno raised his head by that very familiar female voice. He saw Rei and Misaki who looked alike with their same aspect, were standing in front of the class. "I had to let you go if you're alone, but with Misaki? Just come here…" Jinno flew off the handle and ordered her. Everyone was staring at the scene with their feared eyes. They forgot to breath, and could have heard a pin drop.
Rei was punished by his stick with the Lightning Alice. "You won't repeat again," he said cruelly, using his Alice for more than three minutes until she fell on her knees. That kind of punishments was very rare with Jinno. They happened once or twice in a year. "Look what you've done to yourself. You can repeat in spite of my order, but it'll be too late to turn back," Jinno said again.
Rei was not in a position to look at him or listen to him. She had been biting the inside of her lip to bear that pain for the entire time. She never knew how the Lightning Alice works until then. And somehow Rei could be unable to get the strength to get up, as she stayed calmly in the same position. The students did not see her face because of her messy braided hair. Finally Jinno signed, and told Misaki to take her to her seat, knowing her weak condition.
"Can you?" Holding both her shoulders from behind, Misaki whispered to her while trying to make her straight. Rei nodded at him. Then she tried her best to stand and did with the help of his. They walked to the last row of the class, avoiding the faces of so many diffident students. "Thank you!" Rei was not even able to raise her head, yet she was polite enough to thank him, having some noble qualities. That electric shock made her suffer from sitting there. But it was the only thing she could do at that time. All she wanted was to sleep after the tiring day and night.
Jinno started to talk again after both Rei and Misaki sat down. "I'm saying again that you are the only non-star student in the middle division. If you fail the exam with your irresponsible behavior, you'll have to go back to your old school," he said roughly as everyone stared at her for his words. There were three guys whose friend had to be humiliated because of her, and they were glaring at her. Even though Rei kept her silence, placing her head on the desk.
"Are you alright?" Yome asked her after Jinno left. Hotaru also came near her along with Mikan and Tobita. Misaki too wanted to do the same. He did not though. Rei nodded them to say that she was okay, which was not that much true. She suffered a lot by reason of those strange people, and there was not anyone to share her pain even Misaki was not there for her. She tried not to fall with those uneasy feelings, the shocking pain, and the sleepy condition.
The spring brought a dreamy delineation to the Academy. Everyone finished their examination projects during the time as much as they could. It was a crucial part of the exam. Because it could change the star rank which was what everyone wanted to happen.
"Misaki, what is Akeshiya's project?" Mikan asked while going to the greenhouse. All of them were present with their class teacher Makihira, other than Rei. She thought of staying in the class with her bad condition. "You'll see after we go there," Misaki said, and entered the greenhouse main hall.
Many of them surprised. It was by the fragrance that they smelt when they went in. Mikan, Hotaru, and Misaki's friends were also surprised by that smell. The students were gathering around Makihira. But Misaki's eyes were after the boys who were running around the greenhouse, and Narumi smirked at his friend's killing face for their own secret.
"Is this your project?"
Misaki came back to his senses by Makihira's voice. They were already in his block where there were thousands of purple colored Saffron flowers. "Ah... This is... Rei's project-" he paused till he managed to give him a straight answer. "Good job," Makihira crossed his talk. Misaki noticed Natsume and the other two were looking at him. They knew that he was lying. Therefore he felt lazy to speak more, and no one asked anything.
"Where's yours?" Makihira asked again, as Misaki showed the way to the other half. Everyone followed behind him to Rei's block. It was completely covered with the emerald green Cinnamon leaves, which somewhat reminded Narumi's glance. Anyhow, Rei did not get a chance to see the results of their hard effort, since her health did not permit her. And taking advantage of that, Misaki did something unexpected with their own projects.
It was almost the English period of the day. The students were sitting in the class with their teacher Serena. It was peaceful until she asked Rei to go out of her class because of her sleepy eyes, instead of looking into the reason for her weakness.
As a non-star student, Rei had the same life that Mikan used to spend at the beginning. Her bedroom located on the third floor of the hostel. She was the only one who was in there along with those spider webs and dust.
The hostel had two sections. The left side had the girls' bedrooms and the right side for the boys. Those two parts were separated by a long dining hall. It had the main kitchen and all the other things. Many of them usually ate there. Although the special-star students and the three-star students were not there to eat. Most of the times they refused to have their meals together with others. The non-star students like Rei did not get the permission to eat with the rest. She had to bring the meal to her bedroom.
That day, Rei refused to take her lunch and dinner due to her piteous sickness. The first thing she did after school was sleep. No one was there for her, even the Robot who was working in the hostel, did not come to the third floor.
The moonlight was filtering into the room through the window. It was almost ten o'clock at the night. Rei was laying on the bed, thinking about the past incidents. There her thoughts got disturbed by a strange knock. She got up and opened the door to see the person who had come to see her at that time.
Rei went speechless. "Ah, Shiki…" Then she asked him to come inside with a thin smile. He entered the room with a middle-sized cardboard box. Rei followed behind him after locking the door. "What happened so far?" Shiki asked while eating a piece of Chocolate.
He had come back to the Academy a few hours ago. Holding the powerful Barrier Alice gave him a very busy school life. There were only a few students in the middle division who leave the Academy for missions. The students like Natsume or Narumi did not have so many missions the same way Shiki had. They went out for long-term work, unlike Shiki. He had to take care of every other thing all around the middle division's missions under the supervision of the MSP.
"Nothing much, tell me about your stuff," Rei sat on the chair near the table. She tried hard to hide her weak health without letting him know about the morning incident. "I have to go back early morning to complete our last work. To tell you the truth, sometimes I don't feel myself as a student with these works. It's not like your beautiful classroom life with those friends, everything is dark and lifeless. You have no idea how I go through with this loneliness," his voice had a grave sign about her wealthy school life that she never had. "I know… But sometimes it's not what you think," she gave him an emotional answer. "What do you mean?" Shiki raised his eyebrow at her. He wanted to know everything, not only about her answer but also about every single thing that happened to her in past few days when he was not there.
Rei was annoyed by his talk about her friends. She wanted to explain even though she did not. "Forget it. I meant nothing. Just tell me, what's inside of this?" She looked at both his face and the box with a curious look before she walked near to that thing. "Some of my past notes, you can take a little help," he said carelessly while crunching another piece of Chocolate. Her nerveless hand made its way to the box, which was on the table, to open it.
Thank you for reading.