Disclaimer: I do not, I repeat, do NOT own Gakuen Alice!!

"OK. 3 seconds. One. Two. THRREEEE!! STrrrriiikkee!!

Sumire Shouda had planned it very carefully. She had researched about it as well. With the help of a couple of girls in the fan club, she was able to get a few reports about Sandy. Her reports were like this:

1. locked room. Natsume + Sandy Not talking (Comments: GOOD)

2. Sandy: multi-alice user. Has ice, energy draining, and fire alice (as said by Mikan Sakura, confirmed by Ruka Nogi)

3. Attacked Mikan Sakura. (Comments: HIGHLY dangerous)

4. Likes Natsume (As mind-reader confirmed)

Those, to Sumire, were enough reasons for her to be the club's target. However, Sandy seemed to be extremely lucky, these past few days, since the attacks never even landed her a single scratch.

"Not again!" yelled Sumire in frustration.

"She's so skilled!" said a girl in awe.

"This is not the time for admiration! We will get her someday. Lets go!" Sumire said.

"Too easy," muttered Sandy, as she burnt a hand bag of a girl. Thinking about the battle with Mikan the other day, she thought, "I just knew it. She has a couple of alices up her sleeve."

Mikan left the hospital the next day, feeling quite bothered. She wanted to talk to Natsume, but he was not really around. The last time she's seen him was from Natsume's visit from the day before, and she had not been able to have a decent conversation with him ever since.

As much as Mikan wanted to properly converse with Natsume, he was never really around. Playing and experimenting with countless alices that she possesses, coincidentally, she found Natsume sitting on a corner near her, reading a book.

"Why is it that whenever I see you….You're always…Alone," said Mikan.

"It was sort of weird seeing you like that," said Natsume all of a sudden.

"What are you talking about?" asked Mikan in confusion.

"You. Unconscious. I mean, you usually keep on talking."

"Oh. You must have liked it. I mean, I'm not there to annoy you. But it was nice of you to visit."

Natsume raised his eyebrows.

"In my dreams, I mean," added Mikan quickly, in case Natsume would find out she was listening the day before.

Suddenly, feeling the urge to blurt it all out, Mikan said:

"Thank you."

Taking a deep breath, she added, "You didn't really have to do that to Sandy, but-thank you."

"What? Is it clairvoyance now?" asked Natsume.

"What do you mean?"

"Your alice."

"N-no! Ruka-pyon told me. I mean, the birds told him, who told me."

"I see…No, I actually don't. Why are you thanking me all of a sudden?"

"You see, it's because I…." Mikan made an abrupt stop.

"Natsume…I'm sorry." Close to tears, Mikan said, "I …know about it already. Please don't hide it anymore. I- I heard you yesterday. From your visit, I mean. I'm sorry…I… I'm…"

But before Mikan could end her sentence, Natsume finished it for her:

"An idiot….Because…I know."

"Know? Know what?"

"That you were pretending to sleep."

"But –but you told me all those-?!"

"Because I know I wouldn't be able to tell you all that without you making my ears hurt."

Mikan wasn't sure.

"I guess it wouldn't be too bad if… I only want to confirm something…" thought Mikan.

After a few seconds, Mikan spoke.

"No, you didn't. You thought I was asleep…You really thought that but since it came to this, you just decided to…" Mikan stopped.

"...Mind reading now, is it? When are you going to stop using your alices unexpectedly? Seriously, I don't want to go find you unconscious from alice overuse," said Natsume.

Mikan smiled.

"Thank you. For worrying…. Natsume don't try to isolate yourself, OK? I'm here. We're here. Ruka-pyon and Hotaru and everyone. We're your friends."

Much to Mikan's surprise, Sandy approached her the next day. Expecting an apology, Mikan was rather surprised with the manner she was spoken to.

"I need to talk to you," said Sandy.

-The 6 words Mikan had heard Sandy said before.

"Definitely not going to be an apology. You could just tell," thought Mikan.

"Funny how you said exactly the same thing the other day, and I ended up in the hospital," replied Mikan.

"It was your fault to begin with. You're so weak."

"Who wouldn't be? You used energy draining-"

"You have nullification. Your fault for not using it," said Sandy.

"But-"

"Say, let's have a battle. All those girls from that ridiculous fan club are so boring. Have you seen their attempts? Just futile."

"Battle? Another one-?"

Before she could say another word, Sandy striked.

Unfortunate for her, this time, Mikan was able to dodge.

"You're not getting me this time," Mikan thought.

(A/N: About time. I felt like Mikan was so weak the other chapter, that I needed to do another battle with Sandy. She couldn't just lose easily. Anyway, I was supposed to be doing this tomorrow- but I just couldn't procrastinate any longer. Besides, I don't feel at ease without doing a chapter. It's been like 2 weeks, and I've been reading Special A lately. And Gakuen Alice 96 is getting so good. )