Disclaimer: We do not own Gakuen Alice.

Star Crossed

Chapter Four

One second, they stared at each other, which made Jinno think he finally had Rei for himself, but the next second, Jinno and Nissa heard a loud thud—Rei had fainted.

"Oh, good Lord!" Jinno screamed in panic. "I knew I shouldn't have worn a wig! He thought it was you he was kissing, which disgusted him to a whole new level of vomit-worthy kisses. I should've just been myself! He would've loved it even more!"

Jinno ran away, not knowing what to do with the man he thought had died.

"I think you've got it all wrong," Nissa told an imaginary Jinno once he was out of sight. "That was disgusting," Nissa laughed to herself.

She walked over to Rei, afraid of what people might think if they saw her alone with an unconscious teacher. "I should get you out of here." Nissa grabbed him, but he was too heavy for her to carry. "How on earth do I move this guy?" Nissa looked around and saw the scooter the girl she saw earlier was riding. "I hope she doesn't mind if I borrow this." She brought it over to Rei's side and lifted him onto the seat, trying hard not to hit any part of his body to any part of the duck's body besides the back. "That should do it." Nissa gave herself a pat on the back for her hard work and got on the duck scooter.

Rei felt extreme pain on his head. He opened his eyes and saw pink walls. He felt dizzy, but tried to get up.

"You shouldn't get up," he heard a girl's voice. "I think you hit your head hard on the ground when you fainted. You should rest more."

"Where am I?" Rei lied back down and closed his eyes.

"You're in my room," the voice said.

He opened his eyes and looked to his left. It was Nissa. Rei shot up, ignoring his headache.

"What am I doing here?" His face went red.

"You fainted, and I didn't know where the infirmary was, so I took you to my room instead. I hope that's okay."

Rei rubbed his temples and noticed his mask was gone. "Where's my mask?"

"I had to take it off," Nissa said, "It's okay, I have it here. I couldn't treat your wound without taking it off."

"I need it back." Rei took the blanket off and reached for his mask which sat on the desk beside Nissa. His face was inches away from hers when he got a hold of it.

"Err… I think you should lie down if your head still hurts. It might go away if you sleep a little more," Nissa said nervously, hoping he'd move away.

"Thank you for taking care of me," Rei said softly and leaned in for a kiss, this time hoping Nissa wouldn't turn into Jinno again.

His lips touched hers and brushed lightly against them, but a second after their lips touched, the memory of him and Jinno doing the same rushed back to him. He tried to stop it, but he couldn't help it… He threw up.

The second kiss was supposed to be fairytale-like, as it could never be supposed as an accidental kiss anymore.

But no, some stupid circumstance just had to ruin everything.

Rei covered his mouth and ran to the nearest window as he continued to throw up whatever he had eaten that lunch at the thought of Jinno molesting his lips earlier. Nissa was shocked beyond compare as she watched him lean on her balcony. This was not what she expected from this school at all. The moment she set foot inside the academy, she had her fingers crossed in hope to find someone just as sane as she was, someone who could withstand her mild insanity over 'normal' things and whatnot.

But no, what she found was a bunch of seemingly insane teachers wearing tutus and twirling all over the place, people kissing each other — no, make that snogging—running away from each other, and people with weird hairdos and hair color, whipping their hair back and forth.

If one could rate their insanity from afar, even a mental hospital cannot cure their illness.

She continued to pierce his back with her stare as he, in turn, continued to barf senseless on her balcony, not minding whoever was under it. She neared him and, watching his face turn scarlet by the minute, started to run her hands on his back in hopes to soothe whatever it is that bothered him so much he had to barf.

After minutes of unending barf moments, Rei finally stopped and turned to face Nissa, his cheeks bright red.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Nissa." He looked at her apologetically. Nissa, in turn, just smiled at him and offered her lavatory so he could wash up.

Rei sat on her couch after he washed up and looked at Nissa with such intense feeling she didn't know she could ever explain. It was just beyond anything she ever felt before.

She felt… loved… as she got lost in his eyes.

"So, what do you say we continue where we left off?" He winked at her and neared her as she remained rooted on the spot.

A part of Nissa wanted to give in to him. The sound of his velvet voice cut through her like butter. Despite the crazy circumstances that have led them up to this point, they were finally alone together in her room, just like how she wanted it to be. Rei was evidently still sick, but the gentleness in his scarlet eyes reassured her that he was serious.

He ducked his head again slowly, ready to catch her lips, but before he could do so, Nissa covered his mouth to stop him. Her hand moved to his face and she pinched hard on his cheek.

Rei yelped in pain. "What are you doing?"

"No," Nissa retorted. "Not with those lips."

The thought of Jinno and Rei's make-out session earlier sent shivers down her spine. This wasn't how she pictured her first kiss to be like. She wasn't going to kiss a man who had just had his lips devoured by another man—a gender-confused, cross-dressing man, to add.

No. It just wasn't right.

"You should leave," she added as she pulled on his arm and pushed him out the door. "And you should probably go rinse off whatever Jinno left in your mouth before you even think about kissing someone else."

With that, Nissa slammed the door in Rei's face before he could respond. She leaned her back against the door, sighing. All she wanted to do was break down and cry. Never had she felt so pathetic in her life.

"Turn that frown upside-down, doll."

She was startled when she saw the unnamed seaweed head dude again who was now in her room.

"I swear, you keep popping out of nowhere!" Nissa pointed an accusing finger at him. "How did you get in here?"

"I sneaked in, but that's not the point," he replied, shrugging. "Rather than moping around here in your room, you should probably go get ready for the Halloween party."

Nissa did not bother to ask any further questions. She figured she had to get used to the insanity in this school sooner or later. "I don't have a costume yet. I'm supposed to go as a tree."

The unnamed seaweed head dude winked and said, "I can help with that. Come with me."

Nissa followed him out of her room and they made their way towards the school's main building. She didn't know her way around the school very much yet, so she had no idea where they were going.

"I'm taking you to a group of people who I'm sure will help you with your costume." Seaweed head led her to the second floor of the building, and stopped at the second door to the right.

"Do we just enter? I think we should knock." Nissa stared at the door, "Who's in here, anyway? I hope it's not Narumi. I'm trying to steer clear of him for now." She looked behind her only to see an empty hall. "Wha—? Where'd he run off to again? That weirdo."

She breathed in and knocked on the door. An older boy with a star tattooed below his left eye opened the door, "May I help you?"

"Err… Hi… " Nissa smiled nervously. "I was told that you could help me with my Halloween costume. I'm supposed to go as a tree. Some weird boy with permed hair led me here. I don't know his name and he seems to have disappeared, so I'm not sure if I got the right room, or if you guys even help people look like trees, but—"

"You must be Nissa," the boy interrupted. "You arrived sooner than we expected. They told us we'd meet you tomorrow, but it's nice to meet you. I'm Tsubasa."

"Hi, Tsubasa… err…" Nissa didn't know what to say. She was being welcomed. She didn't even know she had a class with older people.

"Come in so I can introduce you to everybody." Tsubasa opened the door wider and revealed a room filled with students of different ages.

Nissa entered and everyone stopped what they were doing to look her way. She was intimidated at first, but they all smiled and welcomed her. "Everyone, this is Nissa. The new student Noda-sensei told us about."

"It's nice to meet you all." She looked around. There were costumes being prepared in one corner, and candies being sorted in another. There seemed to be something pink with the pile of candies; they looked like balls of cotton candy, except fluffier. She saw someone grab it while no one was looking and put the whole thing inside her mouth. It was Mikan.

"Oh! Mikan!" Nissa yelled as if the girl who stood feet from her was in the other side of the room.

"Huh?" Mikan dropped the fluffy object and looked behind her. "Nissa!"

"What are you doing here?" Nissa asked. "Are you also here to get help for your costume?"

"Oh, no, I'm actually helping with the costumes of the Special Ability types." Mikan put her hands together. "Do you need help with yours, too?"

"Eh?" Nissa looked confused. "Special Ability types?"

"You came here without knowing what the Special Ability class is?" Tsubasa asked, "I thought you were told about us."

"No," Nissa scratched her head, "I'm sorry. I was just told you guys would help me out with my tree costume."

"Come this way, then!" A pink haired girl called her over to the other side of the room.

"I'll take your measurements!" An identical girl held up a tape measure. They were probably twins.

"And I'll see what colors look good on you!" Another one appeared. Triplets, then.

"And I'll find the right material to use!" A fourth identical girl appeared. Quadruplets?

"And while we're on that, maybe we can get to know each other!" There were five now?

She could've sworn there were only five, but one of them multiplied and there were now six. The sixth pink-haired girl looked towards the corner of the room and saw Mikan eating all the fluffy pink stuff in the box. "Mikan! Don't eat all the fluff puffs!"

"What is this," Nissa muttered to herself. She looked around, and realized there weren't just six identical pink-haired girls, there were… fourteen?

Noticing that Nissa was getting more and more confused, the pink-haired girls approached her and said in unison, "Hi! I'm Misaki."

Nissa stared at the fourteen Misakis and said, "Uhh… Hi. Your mom must've had a hard time giving birth to all of you, huh? I guess that's why she just named all of you 'Misaki'. How can she tell that you're Misaki number 1, or 2, or 3 or whatever?"

"She's funny," the Misakis said. Then, the Misakis started disappearing, leaving only one. The only Misaki left grinned at her, extended her hand for her to shake, and said, "I'm the one and only. What you saw was my alice. I have the Doppelganger Alice."

Nissa was about to take her hand when she suddenly couldn't move her body. She tried to move her head to see what's happening, but she's frozen.

"What's happeni—"

She suddenly started dancing the Caramelldansen. The man who opened the door for her, Tsubasa, stood in front of her, dancing the same thing as well, but what was weird was that he was stepping on her shadow. He grinned at her and said, "This is my Alice. I'm controlling your shadow."

"You are controlling my what?" Nissa tried her very best to break free from his invisible clutches. Tsubasa was still dancing his Caramelldansen as she involuntarily copied his movements with such struggle and reluctance when, for a fleeting moment, she suddenly felt stiff and finally, she was able to feel her limbs and move them on her will again. She looked at Tsubasa and saw him scratch his head in an ignorant manner whilst looking back at her.

And, as if on cue, all the others did the same weird stare.

"What? Don't look at me like that!" She felt awkward and scared as she remembered the times she had been constantly pierced with the same looks outside the Academy. Where was the comfort she had expected from them?

Why is it like this?

"Do you have the null—" but Tsubasa was cut off mid-sentence.

"Relax. I did it, alright? Don't go ogling on our new friend!" Mikan beamed at her as she stole another fluff puff—or whatever it is—from the box. Misaki's doppelganger immediately ran to the brunette and slapped her hand before she could touch any of it. Nissa turned to the lot and let out a sigh of relief as she realized that they weren't looking at her weirdly anymore.

One of Misaki's doppelganger led her to the fitting room as she tried on her tree costume, complete with all the leaves, branches and whatnot. Three Misakis helped her put it on and did other finishing touches. She looked at herself in the mirror and was so astonished with what she saw that she didn't recognize herself at first.

"Voila! The epiclicious tree!" Misaki declared proudly. She presented her masterpiece to the mob and she heard tons of praises here and there.

Wow.

She. Looked. Like. A. Real. Sakura. Tree. For. Freaking. Real.

She twirled in front of the mirror to assess her new look for the Halloween party that night. She was admiring every feature of her new body—err, trunk—when a velvety voice broke the chaotic chatter that made up the noise of the room.

"Is Nissa here?" was what it said. The noise died down and a long, icy silence greeted her ears as she turned to the direction of the voice.

Several people were covering their mouth as they looked at the man outside the door. Some turned red and were looking at the other side just to avoid the piercing stare of the man, but before she could fully understand why they were acting that way, Mikan's bubbly voice already broke the silence.

"Rei-sensei, why are you dressed like a banana?"

TO BE CONTINUED.

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