Chapter 10 Happy B'Day, Mizu!

The day passed. The week passed. And the month passed since the Alice Festival. Everyone got back into the normal day routine like it was nothing. Well, except for one person.

Mizu.

It wasn't that she didn't want the Alice Festival to start again.

It was a note she had gotten earlier that month, from her sister that worried her.

Mizu,

How is she doing? I'll try stop calling you because Shiki is suspecting something. I hope she doesn't care for me anymore. Though I get this feeling, if she's like me, she will continue to. Never, ever, reveal my identity to her, as I don't really plan on seeing her.

Sorry.

Yuka.

I hope she doesn't care for me anymore. Those words were words practically etched in her brain for life. A lifetime lie. She could almost hear it from her mouth, as if she was right next to her. Her peers, colleagues and students saw her sadness, and they all showed their concerns. Even Natsume showed a little concern, which wasn't normal.

Her loss of enthusiasm leaded to many physical changes. Her change of clothing, as she wears slightly darker clothing, the constant frown, the loss of laughter and most importantly…

The awkward feeling of when she actually fakes that she is fine.

It was a cold autumn day. No one spoke, apart from Narumi, who was only doing his job. This day was weird, since she wore a full black dress and a black coat, and well, wearing black. She would sigh in class, thinking about something. Every time someone would ask, she would reply with…

"Me? I-I'm fine! I'm fine…" And she would always trail off at the end, after the hesitation.

"Miki? What's wrong?" Mikan asked, as she appeared next to her. She turned around and found herself basically facing the whole class.

"Oh, c'mon Mizu? What's wrong?" Naru asked, smiling, wearing his… weird attire, which even I can't describe properly. It was a feminine type t-shirt and a normal pair of white slacks.

"Are you seriously that worried with me?" She asked, fake smiling, like she would always do. The only difference was that she replied differently this time.

"Of course! You're gloominess has infected the whole class!" Permy shouted, as if it was the end of the world.

"G-get back to your teachings." She said, as she pulled out a packet of tablets, taking one. The whole class, apart from Narumi gasped.

"You take medication?" The all basically exclaimed. She sighed.

"Not really. This is so-" And she stopped. She felt weird, but definitely not in any sort of mood to cough.

"Damn it." She muttered as she stood up and ran. Though she couldn't get the door to open as she felt her energy start to deplete.

"Darn." She said, as she slowly disappeared. She fell to the ground, back on the floor.

"Mizu…?" The whole class asked, as Narumi ran to her side. But before he would make it, Mikan jumped on her and screamed, which freaked everyone out.

"STOP THIS!" She screamed, but to no avail. Mizu laughed as she pushed her off.

"I'm going to go see… someone. I'll be back. Adios." She muttered as she completely disappeared. The class could only look in shock as Mikan started to… well, be Mikan.

"Well, here we go again." Hotaru said, smiling, slightly with a camera, as Ruka ran up to her.

"I don't get why these things get more and more frequent." Mizu muttered as she walked up. This time, she was in an even more familiar place. It wasn't too far from the Academy, actually, since she was still technically on the grounds. She looked around. She was in the section near the gate. She then notice where she truly was.

"I'm in the Western Forest?" She asked no one in particular, expecting an answer. And she did.

"Yes." She turned around and looked at the figure walking up to her.

"I've heard from my primary source that you've been gloomy. Being your sister, I needed to see what was wrong with you." Yuka said, smiling. She couldn't take this anymore.

"You know? Your daughter, as I've heard from Takahashi, keeps calling for you, asking you if you're really in the stars. And you go writing to me as if you don't care anymore?" She growled as she walked to her direction.

"So?" She asked, oblivious at the situation. She looked at her, apologetic for a second before lifting a hand and smacking her on the face.

"So? I've put up with her complaining about 'Where is my mother?" or 'Is my mother really in the sky?' or 'Will she visit me?' almost every day. And your there, going, 'I hope she doesn't care for me anymore'. You know what? There is something wrong with you. You have changed. You're not the sister I once knew." Mizu said, huffing at the end. She wasn't too happy at her older sister, since she acted like the younger and vice versa.

"I'm sorry… It's just I think it's better if she doesn't see me." Yuka said, face full of regret and those puppy eyes that would just come out of the most awkward situations.

"Why is that? If she sees you, the lighter weight there is on my shoulders. I mean, the whole entire elementary school is worried for my mental health. You called me right in the middle of when they were trying to make me feel better." She said, sighing and frowning ever so slightly again. Yuka looked up, with those puppy eyes again.

"I'm so sorry…" She said, trying her best no to cry. Mizu smiled.

"I'll forgive you if you promise me one thing." She said. Yuka had a questioning look.

"Have a formal meeting with her." Yuka looked at her, scared out of her wits end.

"B-but… that girl will hate me." She panicked out loud. They heard a rustle and a voice, quite familiar to them. Well, at least one of them.

"Sir, I heard people talking here." It was the Class Pres.

"Stay here." Mizu said, as she nodded. She walked up to her and used her camouflage Alice and then teleported, to the Eastern Woods.

They found themselves near a big tree in the Eastern Woods. The sunlight could only just get through the canopy, so there was limited light, but it was nice, soothing and quite fresh, in her opinion.

"W-why? Why did you help me there?" Yuka stammered, afraid. Mizu sighed, as she placed both hands on her shoulders. She looked at her straight in the eye.

"I'm not forcing you to meet her now. You can take as long as you want. Just, meet her once. That's all I ask." And she smiled at her. The two girls laughed.

"And, by the way Mizu, black doesn't suit you." Yuka said, laughing. She smiled.

"This is what happens when I'm all gloomy." And Yuka started to walk further into the forest. And then she remembered something. The other reason why she was there. So she stopped, turning around and throwing her a package. Neatly wrapped, about the size of a tissue box, with a card stuck on it.

"Happy Birthday, Mizu." Was all she said, laughing softly before she disappeared. She blinked and then teleported back to the classroom herself.

As she expected, there was no one in the classroom. They had all left to search for her. She sat on the stool, looking at the neatly wrapped package before opening the card.

Mizu,

Happy Birthday!

Best Wishes,

Yuka.

P.S- I didn't write much in it since I know someone's going to look at it. I made the card plain to be secretive.

She giggled at the postscript and placed the card on her lap, before looking to her right, where she heard the door open.

"Miki? Are you alright?" Mikan asked, concerned. Everyone heard what she had asked and rushed over immediately.

"I'm fine. No need to worry." She said, smiling. The whole group bought that, actually. And then along came Naru, who saw the present, and the card.

"Who's the gift from?" Naru asked. She smiled, quite brightly.

"Her." She said, nodding, to emphasise the point. Naru's eyes opened like saucers and walked outside, motioning the whole class to follow him.

Once all of the classes were over, she left for her own little staffroom, which was the room for supervisors, but since the other supervisor in the elementary school usually didn't use the room, she would always be in it. It was half the size of the faculty room, and was stocked to the full with ice-cream, under her request, and basically, payment. But when she walked into there that day…

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIZU!" She heard the shouts of. She looked quite shocked, and paled somewhat significantly.

"Huh?" Was all she could manage at that moment. The rest of them smiled as she saw a lot of presents piled in the corner. She laughed.

"What's so good about a birthday? You get older. And I never knew twenty-seven was a good age." She said, giggling. The group looked at her.

"You're twenty-seven today? We thought you turn twenty-five today!" They exclaimed, looking at Narumi quite dangerously. He flinched and broke a bead of sweat as he started to inch to the door. She grabbed his arm and pushed (or pulled) him back, smiling, almost identical to hers.

"Hey, hey. No fighting, before I have to drown my own party." She said, waving it off and smiling, yet again. Then the whole class laughed tremendously. She walked to the somewhat humongous pile of presents.

"Man, this makes me feel… soo… weird." She said, picking up a present and smiling at it. The class gathered around.

"A present from each group of students?" She asked, laughing. The class nodded, which does include the teacher.

"And there were some individual ones too." Narumi added. She smiled.

"If this was to cheer me up, I wasn't sad because you forgot. I also forgot, so, no difference." She said, quite seriously, something quite strange for the bubbly woman. The class looked at her in confusion.

"Then what is bugging you?" Hotaru asked, unfazed, un-everything.

"Nothing, absolutely nothing." She said, closing her eyes and smiling, while thinking about her sister's somewhat stupid and smart words. Some bought it, some didn't. Actually, many didn't but hesitated as they tried to retaliate.

As she opened the presents, there were only about half of them from groups. Some included some Howalon, others went to the extreme, like a Relaxing Plaster.

"Here." She heard from behind her. Mikan passed a present.

"Thank you Mikan." She said, smiling as she opened it. Her eyes immediately went to the camera.

"It's a single use camera. It can also record sounds." Mikan explained. She laughed, more like giggled.

"Let this moment last forever, huh?" She muttered to herself as she placed all of her presents down and started to disappear.

"I'll be back." She said, disappearing fast.

There were many more presents almost twice the amount as when she first came, when she got back from her room, where she changed into a pale pink dress, with a large smiley face on it.

…As the list goes…

A Plant of Truth, from Misaki, which I intentionally (actually no) forgot in mention that he was her best friend too.

A Calculator that could write down the equation from your brain, from, well, what do you know, Jinno does have a heart, and a kind side.

A Card with Sight, from Selina, who felt like she really needed something like that, instead of bugging her at 12am in the morning to watch somebody.

A birthday card, and that camera from before, which came from Mikan.

A plushie that would listen to you, like a real animal (which, by the way, was a chick) from Ruka.

-------------BLANK From Natsume, since he wasn't really into this in the first place.

Surprisingly, everyone was amazed at how Suzu got something Mizu actually liked. Her response:

"I read her mind. She really wanted this." And they all sighed.

She had gotten her a pen, which would change colours and spit ink at people, if they weren't doing the right thing.

Hotaru got her the Baka Gun 2.0

"The Baka Gun 2.0 is the updated version of the 'Baka Gun'. It now allows the user to 'load' their Alice into the device and use its affinity (be careful that you don't have a Healing Alice loaded, otherwise you'll be healing your enemy) to attack their enemies. It can also chance shape, colour, size and of course, strength. Because this feature has been added, there is an added problem. This device must be used at least once a day, or the product will self-destruct." Came Hotaru's explanation of the Baka Gun 2.0

The whole class stood there, shaking at they could feel the pairs determination for revenge.

"Thank you, Hotaru. This will make a good thing, for a particular someone." And that someone froze.

Speaking of that someone, he gave her a stuffed plushy puppy, which would turn warm in the winter, and a pillow, which illuminated in the dark. She smiled.

"What's your excuse this year?" She asked, looking at the man in question. She laughed and then shrugged.

And this was his excuse.

"To help you get a better night sleep." She laughed before hugging the pillow.

And then she fainted, the pillow miraculously saving her from a faceplant with the floor. The only things she heard were a shout and a million pitter-patters of feet before losing consciousness.

Me: Fillers!

Mikan: She means this is a filler chapter!

Me Oh yeah!

Suzu: She says that she's changed the story line, though is still taking it from the anime! She doesn't really like the anime's chronological order of events!

Me: And!

Suzu: She's going to add scenes from the manga to make the story longer!

Me: I'm aiming!

Suzu: Twenty-ish chapters!

Me: Disclaimer!

Suzu: She doesn't own GA. She would like a review, and thanks to the one who did review! -insert giggle here-