DISCLAIMER: THE SCIENTIFIC STATEMENTS SAID IN THIS CHAPTER IS BY NO MEANS REAL. THIS IS ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF THE STORY AND IS PURELY FICTIONAL.
Mikan was looking through research files when a knock came from the other side of her door. A robot servant entered and informed Mikan that dinner was ready.
"Okay thank you!" Mikan replied with a smile on her face.
She placed the files back on her desk and walked down to the dining room. As she entered she noticed that everyone was there except for Hotaru. Tanaka saw Mikan enter the room and immediately stood up to greet her.
"You must be Mikan. It's nice to finally meet you. " She said quite professionally and held out her hand. Mikan shook it, noticing Tanaka's tight grip.
Hotaru finally arrived, and everyone sat down to eat. The robot servants served them appetizers first. Dinner at Hotaru's is like eating dinner in a fancy restaurant. There are six courses, each being served by a robot servant. After a couple of weeks together, everyone seemed to be used to it by now, but Mikan still gets amazed every time the food gets served. Her eyes widen as she happily eats the food.
"Hn. Stop smiling, it's just food." Natsume said
Mikan stuck out her tongue at Natsume. "Whatever Natsume. I'm happy with the little things in life, what's so wrong with that?"
"It's annoying."
"You're annoying." Mikan replied trying to mimic Natsume's voice
"At least I know how to dress my age, polka."
"AHH! Pervert!"
"Hn. Don't flatter yourself. Learn how to stop sitting with your legs open polka"
Tanaka seemed to be containing her laigher. Mikan looked down, and immediately closed her legs tight together in embarrassment.
"Okay..." Ruka said, finally putting a stop to the argument, "So Mikan, will you be needing to head back to the Academy any time soon?"
"Nope," Mikan replied, "Persona's back and he'll be in charge of my class until I return."
"I still don't trust him." Natsume muttered.
"Persona's good now. He's been taking his medications, and he gets a monthly check up to make sure he has medication in his system. He even helped bring down some threats. We can trust him."
"Well I still don't."
There was an eerie silence in the room until Ruka broke it.
"So tomorrow we'll go to the morgue and check out Anna's body." Ruka said, "Are you ready Tanaka?"
"I am." Tanaka replied, "Let's find out who did this."
...
The next day Mikan teleported all of them to the Alice Mourge where Anna's body is being kept. When they arrived there the place was filled with Alice security. With Tanaka being there, they couldn't risk her being taken by the AAO.
Tanaka walked towards Anna's dead body and touched her hand.
"Well?" Hotaru asked,
"Nothing. I didn't see anything." Tanaka replied
"How is that possible?" Ruka asked,
"I'm guessing that Tanaka's alice taps into a person's memory in order to see everything that person has seen," Hotaru said, "And since Anna's brain isn't active anymore, she cannot trigger the memories."
"Then what about the heart?" Mikan asked, "The brain may be inactive, but the heart would still be active until now. It will be faint, but still active. The heart may not hold memories, but it's worth a shot."
"Hey scientist dude, where's the brain?" Natsume asked,
"It's in the other room." He replied, "I'll go get it."
A few minutes later the scientist came back with a box. He opened it, and inside was Anna's heart. Tanaka held it with both hands then suddenly started screaming in pain. She dropped the heart and her knees gave up as she fell to the floor, still screeching in pain. She was grabbing her shirt in the same way someone with a heart attack would. After a few minutes she started breathing normally again, and the pain was gone.
Mikan walked over to where Tanaka was sitting, and handed her a glass of water.
"Here. This will help you feel better." Mikan said,
"What happened?" Ruka exclaimed,
"I didn't see Anna's memories." Tanaka started, "But I did feel them. All those emotions up until the moment she died. I've felt them all as if it were happening to me."
"Interesting." Hotaru murmured. In spite of everything, she still remained calm and monotone.
"So what now?" Natsume asked,
"We should all go back to Hotaru's" Mikan answered, "Let's give Tanaka time to rest, and we can work up a plan later."
And so they did. They all held hands and teleported back to Hotaru's mansion.
...
That afternoon Natsume decided to read his manga to keep his mind off things for a while. He walked to his favorite spot in Hotaru's island, a big oak tree with a view of the ocean. When he got there he was surprised to see that there was already someone who was reading on his favorite spot.
"That's my spot. Get out." Natsume said,
"I was here first." Tanaka replied, "Find another spot."
"Or I could just burn your hair."
"Oh please. I'm not scared of you."
"You should be."
Tanaka sighed with annoyance and looked at Natsume. She noticed the manga that he was holding.
"You read Blood Plus?" Tanaka asked,
"Yeah. You know it?" Natsume asked. Tanaka held out the manga she was reading and it was the same manga that Natsume had, only a different volume.
"If you want we could just share the spot."
"Hn." Natsume replied, and climbed up and sat on top of a thick branch while Tanaka stayed sitting under the oak tree. They continued on with their reading in a peaceful silence.
...
After Natsume finished reading, he headed back to his room and made a phone call.
"She's more powerful than I thought, but also very stupid." Natsume replied to the voice on the other line. "Yes I'll keep an eye on her...Have you found her yet?... Tsk. I'm not stupid. I won't blow my cover"
"Good." The person on the other line spoke, "Because they can't know what you're really up to."
