Disclaimer: I do NOT own Gakuen Alice
Chapter 8: Plan in Action
The next day, in the afternoon, when Mikan and the others were at lunch, there were many clouds in the sky. It was raining heavily with strong harsh winds. As Mikan stared outside the window of the lunchroom, she became gloomy. She sighed. "Why is it raining now? I hate it when it rains..." she mumbled, playing with her food. "It makes me feel so weak... I don't like it when I feel this way."
"No one does, dummy." Hotaru told her, sighing a bit as well. "On days like these, even I don't feeling like working on any new inventions."
"Yeah, it makes me feel like something bad will happen." Ruka said, shaking his head as he started eating again, after playing with his food while he staring out the window.
Hotaru's head shot up from its drooping position as she looked at Ruka. "What do you mean by that?" she asked a bit coldly. "You mean like... with Reo? Perhaps?"
Ruka held up his hands, shaking his head. "No, I didn't mean anything big by what I said. It just made me feel that way..." he told her quickly, not wanting to get into any trouble with Hotaru.
"Really? Well now that you've brought it up, I feel that something bad will happen too. Especially with Reo... I don't think he's backed off yet." Hotaru scowled, staring at her food but not really looking at it at the same time. "I wish he was never even born..."
"Hotaru, isn't that a bit harsh?" Mikan asked questionably. " I mean, everyone deserves to live no matter how bad they are."
"That's--" Hotaru started before she was cut off. "I have noticed that you've been speaking your feelings and just talking a lot more lately." Natsume noted, looking at Hotaru with his blazing fiery eyes. "Don't you agree?"
"As have you." Hotaru responded, meeting his look with her own fiery gaze. "I would think or know that Mikan likes it better when I open up with her, don't you, Mikan? Unlike you, who is her boyfriend and hardly ever joins in the conversations. Less so than back when I hardly spoke, hm?"
Natsume growled as he got up from his seat, leaving the cafeteria. "I'll see you later, Mikan, Ruka." he said, leaving angrily with his hands in his pants pockets.
Mikan sighed, "He's always like this…"
Soon, Kei entered the cafeteria, walking with hands by his side and a straight face that showed almost no emotion. He calmly walked to Mikan and her friends' table, stopping next to Mikan. He looked at her, still with no emotion until Mikan called out his name. "Kei-kun? Are you all right? You look kind of scary…" she told him, looking up at him worriedly.
Hotaru eyed his suspiciously as she narrowed her eyes dangerously. She looked at his eyes and saw no emotion. She tried to look deeper and thought she saw a glimmer of evilness. 'Strange…' she thought, still staring at him.
At the sound of her voice, Kei snapped out of his drowsiness for a while, but was still under Reo's control. "Huh? Yes? I'm all right. Sorry for scaring you." He said apologetically. "I was just deep in thought."
"Deep in thought?" Mikan asked. "What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing much, really. I was just thinking what Reo would be up to now." Kei explained, smiling a bit as he sat down where Mikan gestured him to sit as she patted the seat.
"Really? Hotaru was just saying that she thinks Reo will act soon too." Mikan told him. "Well, Ruka pointed it out first, then Hotaru continued on with it… but that's not the point. The point is, that all three of you thinks something will happen. But I don't get it. Why is that?"
"Mikan-chan, I told you that it was just a feeling I had when I was looking outside the window at the heavy rain and fog." Ruka said, bowing his head down a little.
"I see… so it was just a feeling you had, huh? So then that doesn't mean that something bad will have to happen, right?" Kei asked with a wide smile on his face.
"Hey." Hotaru said, coldly staring at him. "Are you up to something? Your face looks very evil. Another thing, why are you acting like an idiot? What you just said could've been inferred by almost anyone. Do you really think I will accept you? Do you really think you can just come up to us and act all cozy? Who do you think you are, huh? You once tried to hurt Mikan and now you're all over us, acting like nothing happened. What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she shouted, getting angrier after she said the second line.
"Hotaru… why are you saying that now?" Mikan asked, noticing that Kei's head had drooped a bit with a gloomy but slightly dark aura around him. "I thought you had said it's okay…"
"Yeah, but you know what? His face was too evil to even look at anymore. Just looking at him, I knew right away he wasn't someone who had changed after doing bad deeds." Hotaru told her, eyes flashing with anger as she looked at Kei. "Look at him Mikan, does he look like a good person, to you?"
Mikan turned to look at Kei, not noticing anything different about him. "Yeah… he looks normal, Hotaru."
Hotaru sighed, shaking her head. "You are too dumb, Mikan. You can't possibly realize it. But what about you, Ruka? What comes to mind when you look at this guy?" Hotaru asked determinedly.
Ruka snapped his head to Hotaru saying, "Huh? What? Oh… um…" he turned to look at Kei. When he saw Kei's face, he shuddered, becoming slightly scared. "Mikan-chan, get away from him!" he gasped, not wanting to look at Kei any longer.
"Why? Kei-kun is my friend!" Mikan exclaimed, looking at Kei again as he thought in his mind, 'Thank god she's so stupid… She won't suspect me for life! Probably…'
"Whatever. Believe me or not. It's your choice." Hotaru told her. "But class will be starting, so I advise you not to stay here any longer."
Hotaru and Ruka got out of their seats and headed towards the door with one more deadly glare at Kei. Mikan soon followed with Kei as they walked to class together.
That night, in Kei's room, the lights were all shut off, with just one candle lit. Kei said through his phone to Reo, "Reo-san, Mikan doesn't suspect anything, but her pesky friend already knows something's up. What shall I do about her?"
"Which friend?" Reo asked. "Don't tell me, that lavender-hair girl that invents things?"
"That's exactly the one." Kei told him.
"Don't worry about it. She probably won't be able to convince Mikan. She's too gullible." Reo told him.
"Yes. I'll report back more tomorrow." Kei said, closing his phone. But just as he was about to get into bed, he heard heavy knockings on his door. He asked, "Who is it?" as he turned the knob and opened the door. But when the door was opened, he found a gun pointed at his head, held by none other than a girl with lavender hair by the name of Hotaru Imai.
"Imai-san…" he gasped, trying to laugh. "What brings you here tonight? What's with the gun?" he asked, holding his hands up to show he wasn't carrying any weapons.
"Nothing much." Came the reply. "So long as Mikan is left alone, nothing will happen. But so long as you keep bugging her, Hell will erupt." She whispered dangerously.
"But I simply can't do that." Kei told her.
"Really?" she asked as he nodded.
"Then go to hell."
Just as she was about to pull the trigger, Narumi came running towards them screaming, "STOP!" When Hotaru turned her head to see who had shouted, Kei took his chance to karate chop Hotaru on the neck and make a break for it. He ran and ran until he was at the garden. "I'm going to kill him…" Hotaru whispered just before collapsing, losing consciousness.
Narumi caught her just before she fell and brought her to the hospital wing. The next day, everyone in Hotaru's class was notified that Hotaru had been knocked unconscious. Mikan, Ruka and Natsume went to check up on her in the hospital wing. It seemed like her neck had been damaged heavily and that she would be unconscious for at least one week. It was unfortunate that Narumi wasn't able to see who had knocked Hotaru unconscious and who Hotaru had pointed the gun at, but it would all be clear as soon as Hotaru woke up.
Mikan kneeled on the floor by Hotaru, holding her hand as she cried, sniffling between her words, trembling as she stuttered, "Hotaru… who did this to you?! Wake up, Hotaru! Wake up!!!!!!!" No matter how much Mikan pleaded Hotaru to wake up, it didn't work. Hotaru just lay there, sleeping.
Two days later, when Hotaru was still unconscious, Kei made his move. He slowly crept into Mikan's room and stood next to her bed where she was currently sleeping in. When he drew closer to her, her eyes snapped open, staring up at him. "Kei-kun? What are you doing here?" she asked him sleepily, getting up from her bed. "How did you get in here anyway?"
"Oh… I just wanted to ask you something." He said, looking down at his hands. "Can we go to the Sakura tree instead? It's more appropriate over there."
"Sure, can you wait for me outside while I change?" Mikan asked. "I'll be very quick."
"Okay." Kei left the room and stood behind the door quietly waiting. A few minutes later, Mikan came out with a sweater and sweatpants. "Okay, let's go now!"
When they arrived at the Sakura tree, Kei began to speak. Well he didn't exactly say anything, more like just stutter. But finally, when Mikan asked what he was trying to say, Kei nodded at someone; Reo, behind the tree and a few men popped out from behind the tree with Reo, quickly knocking Mikan out. They carried her back to Reo's headquarters and locked her in an empty room. Then, they sent a letter to Natsume, saying,
If you want back your precious girlfriend, dear Natsume,
come to the Sakura tree tomorrow at midnight. Take note to come alone,
or don't you blame me if the girl gets a few bloody scratches on her face.
You have been warned.
-Reo & Kei
When Natsume read the letter, he scowled angrily, hollering Reo's name loudly. Since his room was sound proof, no one heard him. He kicked everything he saw in sight, broke his computer, burned the garbage can, created holes in his bed, and trashed his room.
The next day, he came to class, kicking the door open. Ruka noticed this and asked him, "What's wrong, Natsume?"
Natsume just replied with a grunt, but Ruka continued to press on. "Where's Mikan-chan? Is she sick?"
"No."
"Then where is she?" Ruka asked him.
"Taken away by Reo…" Natsume growled, gritting his teeth together, as his hair covered his eyes.
Ruka stood there wide-eyed. He fell to the floor, depressed. "Mikan was taken away…? Why? How?"
"I don't know." Natsume told him darkly. "But I will save Mikan no matter what."
"When? I'll come with you." Ruka exclaimed, eager to help.
"No. You have to stay. Reo won't give me her if you follow along as well." Natsume said. "Besides, it's less trouble if you don't come."
With that, when it was time for Natsume to take action, he went to the Sakura tree and spotted Reo and his men standing around the tree. "Hey. I'm here." He announced. "Where's Mikan?"
"Oh, no worries, she's right here." Reo told him, holding Mikan in his arms. Mikan had duck tape on her mouth and her hands were tied to her back. She was squirming, but it was no use. Natsume stared at her and asked, "Did they do anything to you?" Mikan shook her head.
"Well then, since I'm here, give her back." Natsume said.
"Ah ah ah!" Reo smiled, shaking his head. "That's not how the world works, Natsume-kun! You will hand yourself over in order to get her."
"Not if I can help it." Natsume smirked, already setting fire on all the men. Now, just Reo and Kei were left who was standing in the shadows. Natsume glared at Kei as he socked Reo in the face, making him bloodied up. "Mikan, are you able to nullify their Alices?" he asked.
Mikan nodded as she quickly worked her Alice. Instantly, everyone's Alice except for Natsume's didn't work. Natsume set Reo's head on fire, kicked Reo between his legs, snapped his neck and set him on fire right after that. But of course, Natsume was kind enough to let Reo live. Then, as he walked towards the now trembling Kei, he got slugged in the face by a soccer ball. He spotted two little kids walking by coming back to get the ball, so he kicked the ball back to them. This way, they wouldn't be put into any danger. But as he was doing this, Kei had already stuck his fist into his stomach. He punched Natsume in the nose, but Natsume was able to withstand the pain as he kicked Kei in his private part extra hard. Then, he set Kei's legs on fire and punched him in the mouth, causing Kei's two front teeth to fall out. Finally, he finished off the men, Kei and Reo. With this done, he untied Mikan, took off her duck tape and brought her back to her room. "Thanks." Mikan smiled. "But I don't understand why Kei-kun acted that way."
"He was under Reo's control. But don't worry, he'll come to school tomorrow, so we'll take care of him then. Rest for now, Mikan." Natsume told her, tucking her into bed as he kissed her forehead.
End of Chapter
Author's Note: I think I might try to make the next chapter the last. Tell me what you guys think, ok? Because if you don't, it just might be the last chapter and you guys might be unsatisfied.
