Back inside their hotel suite, Ruka, Mikan, Hotaru, and Natsume sat down in a circle ready to discuss the events that unfolded at the masquerade ball.
"So what did you guys find out?" Hotaru asked as she opened in laptop. She was preparing to to type down every new information they could gather.
"I was able to listen in on Nanami Nagasaki's deal with the AAO. If the AAO helps her take town Mr. Tsuri, her corporate rival, then she would place alice detectors on all her products." Mikan answered
"Mr. Tsuri. Isn't that your business associate Hotaru?" Natsume asked,
"No. Just an old aquiantance." Hotaru replied.
"But what does any of that have to do with the killings?" Natsume pointed out
"Nothing. That's just another plan of the AAO to recruit more people on their side. They didn't mention a lot about how the killings are done, but they did mention their next target, someone named Tanaka Yunogi."
"Who's that?" Ruka asked,
Hotaru started typing in Tanaka's name on the search database and read aloud, "Tanaka Yunogi is a law student in Tokyo University. Her father's the owner of a big real estate group. Tanaka's also a fashion icon, and a part time model."
"So why is she AAO's latest target?" Ruka asked,
"Because she has the touch alice. She can see the past of any object as if it were her own. She'll be able to see everything that ever happened to whatever she touches, but only in that object, or person's point of view." Mikan answered.
"Then we need to get to her first." Natsume said, "If she does have the touch alice, she could find out what happened to Anna if she touches her body. We'll be able to find out what AAO's secret weapon is."
"I'll book us a flight back to Tokyo that leaves tonight." Hotaru said
"I have a friend who works in Tokyo University" Mikan said, "I'll go give him a call."
"No need." Hotaru said, "She has a photoshoot two days from now with Reo Mouri, and since it's the weekend, we have to get to her before that photoshoot. She has an interview tomorrow for Fashion Magazine."
"We can infiltrate the building and replace the interviewer with one of us." Mikan added,
"But how are we going to get her to go with us?" Ruka asked,
"Tell her the truth." Hotaru replied,
"No we can't." Mikan said, "She isn't aware of her alice just yet, if we tell her the truth right away, it might be overwhelming for her. Either that or she'll think we're crazy. We need her to trust us first."
"And how are we going to do that?" Natsume asked,
"I dunno."
"If all else fails, I could just hit her with my baka gun until she gets knocked out." Hotaru said,
"and then what?" Mikan asked,
"We drag her to a secluded place where we can talk to her and get her on our side."
"That's kidnapping."
"What choice do we have baka? It's impossible for her to trust us within a day, and unless you want her part of AAO or dead, then we have to do it."
"Hotaru has a point. If kidnapping Tanaka means finding a way to stop the killings, then the end justifies the means." Ruka pointed out
Mikan was silent. What the rest of them doesn't know is that Mikan's been kidnap countless times. She hated the feeling of vulnerability and pain. It scarred her, and she didn't want the same to happen to Tanaka.
Natsume stood up.
"Let's just get to Tokyo first and focus on getting inside the building. We'll decide what to do once we're there." He said, breaking the silence.
Mikan was still silent, while Hotaru continued typing, and Ruka was looking at Natsume looking at Mikan.
...
The next day they entered Fashion Magazine's building with a plan. Mikan pretended to get lost and entered the computer surveillance room.
"What are you doing here?!" The guard shouted.
"I'm sorry, I got lost. I thought this was the comfort room." Mikan said looking innocent.
"Well it isn't, so get lost."
Mikan walked closer to the guard, looked into his eyes and said, "You feel really sleepy and will take a nap until I say so."
"Okay that's it, I'm calling the cops." The guard said. He obviously was not affected by the manipulation. Mikan was taken by surprise. How could he not be affected? There was only one other way to keep him down.
"I'm sorry." Mikan said right before she knocked him out. She sat him up a chair and tied him up. She took out her phone and called, "okay. I'm in the surveillance room."
Meanwhile, Natsume walked over to the front desk.
"Excuse me, I'm applying to be a model. Which floor should I go to?" He said as he gave the girl at the front said a flirty look.
"It's on the 10th floor." She said with a huge smile on her face.
"Thank you." Natsume replied. He started walking to the escalator when the girl at the front desk stopped him.
"I could walk you there if you want." She said in a flirty manner.
"Why thank you. That would be amazing."
They both went inside the elevator and got off the 10th floor.
"I heard Tanaka Yunogi is going to be in the latest issue of the magazine." Natsume said casually.
"Yeah she is! She's actually here right now getting an interview. I know everything that happens around here." The girl said, obviously trying to make a good impression.
"Oh really? That's so interesting."
"Yeah, she's actually going to be having her interview in that room." The girl said as she pointed to the room they just passed, "but of course I can't tell you when she'll be here. Anyway, here's the room where auditions are held for aspiring models."
"Thank you so much for showing me around." Natsume gave her a kiss on the cheek and the girl died and had gone to heaven. She was red all over as she walked back to the front desk.
Natsume opened his phone and texted the room number where Tanaka would have her interview. Hotaru then replied,
Good. Just stay there until we're done.
Natsume texted back
Hn. No way am I staying here in this casting.
Hotaru replied,
Just do it. Or I'll hit you with my baka gun. Let's see your pretty face after that.
FINE. Natsume texted, giving up.
Back to the room where the interview would take place, Ruka and Hotaru were standing just outside the room. Hotaru walked inside, while Ruka stayed outside the door to keep watch. Inside the room, Hotaru hacked into the company's system and changed the date and time of the interview so as to keep the interviewer from catching them.
A few minutes later Tanaka Yunogi was in the 10th floor and was greeted by Ruka. He opened the door for her as she entered to meet Hotaru. Ruka texted mikan.
Tanaka's here. Everything is set.
...
In the surveillance room, Mikan was looking through the cameras and suddenly spotted something peculiar. There were five people suspiciously walking to the 10th floor and heading the room where Hotaru and Tanaka were.
"Shit!" Mikan cursed and she ran out the room and headed to the 10th floor as well. She didn't teleport because she couldn't risk anyone noticing her on the off chance her alice wouldn't affect them as well. While running she took out her phone and called Ruka, "Ruka, AAO sent five men and they're heading your way!"
By the time Mikan arrived, the five men were already fighting Ruka. One of them spotted her and lunged at her. She threw him off just in time to punch the gut of the second man attacking her. One of the men had the teleportation alice and teleported behind Mikan to grab her. The other man used his alice to send Mikan frequency waves untolerable to man. Mikan screamed.
Natsume heard the faint scream coming from the outside. No matter how faint it was, he knew it was Mikan's. He asked to go to the comfort room, then ran outside to see the fighting going on. He used his alice to set the suit of the man hurting Mikan on fire. He jumped in pain and got too distracted to keep Mikan in a state of frequency pain.
Mikan tried to take a swing on the man that was holding her, but he teleported just before she could. He teleported to Natsume who was trying to throw fire balls at him, but continuously miss.
On the other hand, Ruka was also having a hard time. His enemies were strong, and with no animals in the premise, his alice was useless. Mikan ran to help him out. She took them down, but they keep going back up. They were all powerful. Mikan knew that if this kept us, they would lose. She then knew what she had to do.
She ran to Natsume and the man with the teleportation alice. She focused all her energy and managed to throw a ball of light on the man. It hit him and he vanished.
"Where'd you take him?" Natsume asked,
"No time for that." Mikan replied, and handed him a stone. "here, take this. Use it to teleport all of you. I'll follow up."
"No."
"What?"
"I'm not leaving."
"Now is not the time, just go!"
Natsume hesitated, but ran to where Hotaru was. He told Ruka what Mikan told her, but Ruka didn't want to leave Mikan behind.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of her." Ruka said
"Thank you." Natsume said before barging in the room, "We have to go. AAO is here."
"What? What's going on?" Tanaka asked worridly.
"We have to go now. I have a teleportation alice stone." Natsume said,
"What's an alice? Someone tell me what's going on!"
"We have to go or else you'll be killed." Hotaru said frankly, "now come on!" She grabbed tanaka's hand and then held Natsume's, "Wait, where's Mikan and Ruka?"
"They're outside stalling."
"But—" before Hotaru could finish her sentence, they were transported out of the building.
...
Meanwhile outside the door, Mikan already got rid of four men. Her body was weakening, but there was only one more guy left. She knew she could still manage to get rid of him too. She focused her energy once more and BOOM! It hit the last of AAO's croonies, and the hallways was quiet and peaceful once more. Mikan's body was too weak, and she crashed down on the floor.
"MIKAN!" Ruka ran to Mikan, "What's happening?"
"Bring me inside the room." Mikan said softly. She was breathing heavily. "We can't affort to let anyone see us."
Ruka did what Mikan asked and carried her to the room. Once they were inside, he opened one of the bottled waters set on the table and gave it to Mikan. As Mikan drank the water, all Ruka could do was watch. As he looked at Mikan, he could tell she was in the same state Natsume was in when he overused his alice.
"You lied, didn't you" Ruka said after taking a seat. Mikan didn't say anything. "Why? Why lie about your state Mikan? You could have died!"
"Okay okay. The truth is... the effects of using my alice is like that of Natsume's, but the difference is that it only affects by body by a small amount, but with all the alices I use everyday, especially on missions, it's taking a toll on my body. I take this medication that enables my body to regenerate and take car of the side effects of overusing my alice."
"Is that medication enough?"
"Sadly no. It can help me, but it takes time to do so. If I overuse my alice at one instance and it's too much for me—"
"You could die."
"Yes."
"So why do it?"
"Because... I've spent years trying to make Alice Academy and the people in it happy. I got them to let parents in, and to allow the students to go out, but the price for that is to ensure complete safety. That means I have to stop a potential threats all the time. I want those kids to have the life I never had. To enjoy their time with their family while inside the academy. I don't want them finally graduating, only to find out they had only a few years to spend with a loved one before he dies."
"Wait, are you saying—"
"After graduation I went straight to my grandpa and my parents were there. We were happy. Then a year or two later my parents disappeared. They said they needed to leave to keep me safe. I never saw them again. A few years after that my grandpa died. I felt so terrible that I didn't get to spend as much time with him because of a stupid rule."
"Mikan, I'm sorry about what happened to you, but you can't be so willing to lose your life. You have to want to live it too, to experience living, and not just dying for others. If you died, all the people who love you will be sad, and you should be too. If you do, you'll look back at your life and see that all you ever did was prepare for death. Mikan, if we knew that-"
"Don't. Please don't tell anyone."
"but—"
"Ruka I kept your secret. The least you can do is to keep mine."
"Okay I will, but this is a secret I wish I didn't have to keep. They deserve to know."
"That's my decision Ruka, not yours. I'll tell them when the time is right, or never."
