Guess what, I finally managed to make a longer chapter!!

Since nobody said anything, I guess that everyone understood the chapter about Mikan's dream.

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Previously:

"I'm outta here. Please excuse me."

Without another word, she slowly walked out of the class.

Everyone looked at the door which closed behind her. No one said a word.

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Chapter Seven – Safe?

After a few steps, Mikan started running. She didn't care about the few students who turned in her direction. All she wanted to do was to stay in peace. And the best place for that was the Sakura tree.

As she reached it, she knew that it was the most obvious location she would be in, and her friends would find her easily. So she climbed up the branches and sat in between all the leaves, thinking about what had happened this morning.

And even though she felt different, Mikan was still Mikan. She didn't want everyone to worry or to notice that something was different. They would end up asking her, and she had promised Persona that she wouldn't tell anyone about their meetings.

She knew that she was very bad at lying. She discovered that sometimes, it's not bad to have secrets. Everyone she knew had them. She would have to start having some too.

If only Mikan had known that difficult times were lying ahead. She would need someone to talk to more than ever.

The young girl felt strange as she was thinking all of this. These thoughts didn't seem to be hers.

She then just sat on the branch, her back resting against the trunk, her feet dangling. Time passed, and she must have fallen asleep, because the next thing she noticed were the voices of her friends calling her.

The brunette didn't answer.

"Mikan!! Where are you?"

Sighing, Mikan prepared to jump down. After all, she didn't want them to be worried.

That's when a young boy with black hair took hold of her arm; he was sitting on the branch on the opposite side.

"Found ya, polka. So, what's up with you?"

"I don't see why you should care. Let me go!"

His lips were near her ear, and she could feel his warm breath on her skin.

"Not unless you tell me what's wrong. I have time. I know that there is something. Now spit it out."

His hand was squeezing her arm tightly. It almost hurt.

"Leave me alone. And don't you dare touch me!"

"Oh, are you threatening me? Let's see. What now? I think I'll start by burning you hair. What about that?"

"Don't you dare, Natsume."

The sound of his name made him hesitate. He loosened his grip around her arm, and she tore herself away and pushed him back.

That made him angry. A fireball was sparkling in his hand less than a second later.

"Fine. Your hair."

He reached closer to her, his hand almost reaching its target. Then, something neither he nor the girl had expected happened. With a flick of her hand, the flame went out.

Natsume stared at his hand, while Mikan was looking at hers, bewildered.

'I nullified his alice', the girl suddenly realised.

The raven-haired boy felt weird for a moment, a state close to panic. For a second, he wasn't able to reach his powers. As if they simply weren't there.

"Well, how about that, Natsume-kun?" she said, her voice mocking.

The young boy just looked at her in shock. That wasn't Mikan. It couldn't be.

Suddenly, her eyes softened.

"I'm sorry. I'm having a headache right now, and I didn't mean it. I guess I'll be fine after a bit of rest."

She smiled at him.

Natsume looked at her more carefully. She did look sick, just like the day before. He couldn't help but wonder and ask himself what was wrong with her. Maybe it was nothing and she just hadn't had enough sleep?

On the outside, he stayed cool.

"Whatever. Your friends are looking for you."

Both turned away from each other and jumped down the tree at two different sides, walking away in two different directions.

They hadn't noticed that one person was standing nearby, hiding in the shadows. The masked man had heard everything.

But you couldn't tell if he was pleased by it or not.

'I think that it's time for another meeting. The pill seems to have worked well enough, but still. At this early stage, it's important for her to be under the right…influence'.

He grinned, satisfied, as he watched the young girl walk over to her friends.

"Hey guys! I'm here! Natsume just told me that you were looking for me? What is it?"

Her friends looked at each other. What was that all about?

"Seems that Imai was right", Ruka whispered. "That girl is definitely having mood swings."

Anna and Hotaru didn't seem convinced yet.

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just having a bit of a headache, is all. Wanna go to Central Town?"

Now that was really weird.

"Baka. Don't make everyone worry so much. You should have some rest now, you don't look good at all. And what's with your hair?"

"She doesn't want to say that it looks bad" Yuu intervened. "It's only strange that you decide to change hair style all of a sudden."

"I just felt like I had to make something different. Good, isn't it?"

She smiled brightly at her friends, who started to relax. Mikan seemed to be just fine.

"By the way, didn't you say that you saw Natsume? Where is he now?"

"I'm not sure, but I think that he wants to be alone right now. He seemed strange a moment ago."

'So did you', her best friend thought. But she kept quiet.

"I think the best thing for me is to go to my room and sleep. I feel really tired. Hope you don't mind." Mikan managed to day all that in a cheerful voice, then yawned.

Hotaru shot her with her Baka-gun. Don't yawn in public, it's rude. Now go before I hit you again."

"I'll come with you", Ruka offered.

"Yay, Ruka-pyon is coming with me! Let's go."

Mikan took hold of his arm and stormed off with him in direction of her room. Her friends look at the place she had been a second ago, puzzled.

"That girl will never change, will she?"

They should have known better than that.

In front of her room, the brunette let go of her friend's arm.

"Thanks for coming with me. I'll be fine now."

She saw some kind of movement at the end of the corridor, like a shadow, but as she looked closer, nothing was visible.

After the blonde boy left, she entered her room and closed her door, sliding down to the floor. She had her knees up to her chin, her arms wrapped around her legs. She didn't feel well at all.

Outside in the corridor, a raven-haired boy stood in front of her door, staring at it. He had a weird feeling. Shrugging it off, he passed the room and went outside to sit down under the Sakura tree. Whatever it was, the brunette was safe for now.

He couldn't have known that at that moment, she found a note on her bed telling her to meet someone.

Someone he knew very well.

Mikan sighed heavily. She seemed to do that a lot lately. Looking down at the piece of paper, she considered her options.

She could ignore the message and go to sleep as planned, but that would upset Persona and not give him a good starting image of her.

She merely shrugged and headed to the door. It wouldn't be too bad, and she had the whole night in front of her to sleep.

On her way, she couldn't stop thinking about Natsume.

How come he always knew where to find her? In the past 2 years, the two of them had gotten a bit closer, but only as much as Natsume's distant behavior would allow.

The moment she had felt something between them, he had always come back to the way he was before.

Mikan had always been open with him, and yet he had rejected her. The young girl closed her eyes and leaned against a wall for a moment, as if searching for support.

'I will not bother him anymore' she thought. 'Whatever it is that keeps him locked up, I will not try to discover his secrets.'

Continuing on her way, she couldn't help but look out for the Sakura tree.

There he was, lying on the ground with a manga book covering his face. Even though she couldn't see his face, she thought that he looked peaceful that way.

Shaking off her thoughts, she went to meet her new sensei.

He was already at the meadow, waiting.

Faking a friendly smile, he walked over to her.

"Mikan, how glad am I to see you. How are you today? You look really tired."

"I'm not sure. I feel strange since yesterday, and I have been acting weird. I didn't mean to worry my friends or be so distant, it's just that…"

She started to sob uncontrollably.

'It seems to be working' Persona thought, pleased.

"There, there, I'm sure it will pass. I hope you didn't tell anyone about our meetings, did you?"

"No, I didn't. But tell me why I shouldn't. I mean, this isn't a secret or something bad, is it?"

"Oh no, but it's best that way. You wanted to train your alice, but some of your friends might not approve. They might think that you overwork yourself. But that's nonsense. I have faith in your abilities. Trust me."

"Alright." She smiled weakly, even though she had a weird feeling about everything.

"Well then. Let us begin with our lesson. The last one was already very good. Now, if you please go over there and…"

And so started the lesson. Mikan had thought that she was only going to learn about controlling her alice. As she discovered, she could now more easily access her powers and use it to stop Persona from harming the plants.

Still, soon after, she felt terribly exhausted. But she wouldn't give up. She would try her best.

"You have already made progress. Well done. But there is something that I haven't told you last time. I want you to learn the basics of the martial arts."

"But why? I thought that I was going to improve only my alice. Why should I now learn something that I don't really need?"

'This girl and her questions… Still, her character has changed. She talks less and doesn't believe anything as quickly as before."

"Well, you see, to get the maximum control over your alice, it is also best to have control over your body and enough strength to be able to bear some…pain."

Mikan's eyes widened, then she regained her composure. Persona would have expected her to argue some more, but she didn't.

"Well, if that is the case… Let's begin then."

The masked man went to stand in front of her.

At that time, in Imai's lab.

"Bye guys, thanks for coming and helping me. This new invention sure will help me get a lot of money."

The others only looked at her in disbelief before they left her room. Hotaru turned her back to them, put her hands on the table and clenched her fists.

She was thinking about Mikan.

"Is everything alright?"

The young girl whirled around. Ruka was standing in the doorway, a concerned look on his face.

"Yes", she snapped, but instantly regretted it.

Then, she looked away and sat down on her bed. Ruka looked at her for a few seconds, then joined her and sat down.

"What is it? Please tell me, and I will try to help you."

"It's really nothing. But since I know her, I can't help it but worry. That idiot doesn't know what the right things in life are. Most of the time, I'm worrying for nothing, and that's what makes me so distant, but this time, I don't know what it is. I…"

At a loss of words, she looked into his eyes.

He looked back.

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Yay!! I wonder, what happens next?

Don't worry, I'll update soon enough!!