Hello, my friends! :) I`m sorry if updating took a long time. Stressing out with school and stuff. Lol. :) Anyway, for the obvious, here`s another chapter for ya`ll. :D Oh, I also changed my pen name. :D I was previously known as .casanova. :D Anyway, sorry for the babbling. I bet you`re itching for this author`s note to end so you can read now. =)))
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.
This earned a shrewd smile from the Elementary School Principal. "Thank you for answering my question." He stood up and walked away. While he was walking away, he whispered, more to himself. "I got all I needed."
Chapter Twelve.
The limo brought Mikan back to the dorms. It was already late but Hotaru was there, waiting for her best friend and anxious for all her stories. As Mikan went out of the limo, she faked a smile and waved at her. Hotaru smiled as she saw running towards where she was.
"Hey baka." It was her usual greeting. "Where`s my food?"
Mikan laughed. She always wants food. "Right here." She raised a paper bag containing leftovers from the restaurant. Mikan was worried about the ESP coming so she wasn`t able to finish her dessert. And who else would be better for it than Hotaru?
That night, as Mikan lie on her bed, memories of the dinner kept flashing in her mind.
The Elementary School Principal chuckled. He reaches out to her and holds on to her chin. "I just want to know one thing. Do you have the stealing alice?" He asked, straight to the point.
"Yes." Mikan admitted.
Mikan was worried of what was to come next. Troubles kept coming to her life. Before all this fuss, she remembered living with her grandpa and mother, and then the next thing she knows is waking up in a hospital bed. It was all weird for her. One mystery after another.
When will everything be cleared up for her?
~.~
The following day, Mikan decided to act as if nothing had happed last night. All she was going to tell her friends was about the delicious dinner and nothing else. As she entered the classroom, everybody crowded around her asking about all the details. Even Natsume and Ruka were interested on what happened.
She smiled at all of them and patiently answered all their questions.
The class begun when Narumi entered the room. All of the students went back to their seats and pretended to listen to whatever Narumi is talking about.
"After the disturbance of classes due to the Alice Competition, we shall have regular classes from now on."
This earned whining and complaining from everybody. They didn`t want to experience hell and stress again. But whatever, they can`t escape it though.
Narumi lit up, remembering something. "Ah yes, I forgot to congratulate Mikan!" He clapped his hands and the class followed. "What a splendid performance."
Mikan bowed to all of them, still with a smile. "Thank you everybody for your support."
"Okay, now back to what we were talking about." Narumi continued. "Today will be alice-based classes!"
Mikan knew about alice-based classes. Every since she came to Alice Academy, she`s had one class with the Somatic Class where Narumi was the teacher. She was excited since she`ll be able to spend time with other people with pheromones, see how the girls drool for Yuri-senpai, and see what activities were set for today.
But before the class was dismissed to their different classes, the front door of the classroom opened. Entered was a tall black-haired man with a white mask on his face. He had black clothes, black nail polish, and black high-heeled shoes. This man was indeed very creepy.
As Mikan looked up to see who came in, shivers went through her spine. She knew this man. He was the man with the Elementary School Principal whom has tricked her into telling them about her Stealing Alice.
"What are you doing here, Rei?" Narumi asked him. Ahh. So his name is Rei. Mikan thought to herself, still afraid.
"I have come here to pick up a student." He said, in a low, dangerous voice.
"Ahh, yes." Narumi said, thinking it was Natsume.
Natsume was about to stand up since he knew he was the only one that Persona knew. "Mikan Sakura." Persona said. This shocked everybody, including Narumi.
What would he want with Mikan? Both Narumi and Natsume thought.
There was a small smile on Persona`s face as he spotted Mikan in the middle of the classroom. She stood up without saying anything. She actually had already expected this. After the previous night, she knew she would not go on with her life in Alice Academy, unseen by the administration. Mikan knew action had to be done since they found about her alice.
She walked towards Persona, leaving her class with dumbstruck faces. Persona closed the door behind him and started to walk. Mikan followed him, keeping quiet because she was afraid people would find out.
As they finally got out of the middle school division classrooms, Persona walked towards the forest. Mikan stopped a few meters away from him. Knowing his companion was just standing, Persona decided to turn around and look at Mikan.
"What do you want now, Rei?" She asked with cold eyes. She referred to him the same way Narumi had.
Persona chuckled. "First, I prefer being called Persona." His voice kept giving Mikan goosebumps. "And to answer your question, you have been moved to the Dangerous Ability Class."
"But why?" Mikan asked, though she already knew the answer.
"The Elementary School Principal believes you will be useful. Your alice, I mean."
Mikan took a step back. "What makes you think I will allow myself to give my power to you?"
Persona took his mask off, revealing his brown eyes. He took five steps to the nearby plant. "You don`t want to loose any more happy memories, would you?" Persona threatened and placed his hand on a purple flower. Once the flower felt his touch, it wilted and was blown away with the wind.
"H-how did you do that?" Mikan was scared and shocked. "D-did you just kill the rose?"
"Indeed." Persona turned around and walked towards the location he was bound for. "If you don`t want to see it in a more bigger scale, I suggest you continue walking."
Mikan recalled the purple flower and its death. Instantly, Hotaru came into her mind and it pushed her to run after Persona.
~.~
After minutes of silently walking, the two reached a gazebo in the middle of the woods. It was quite a big gazebo and had a dangerous aura surrounding it. The structure seemed to fit perfectly into the setting of the dark forest. Inside, there were several students talking to each other. Mikan was surprised to see students whom she expected to get lost in this place.
"Welcome to your new class." Persona said before stepping foot on the structure. Once he entered, the chaos inside suddenly stopped and all the people became uniform. They first looked at Persona, then turned their gazes to look at the girl beside him.
Mikan recognized some of them, some students were from the middle school division, while others were from high school and even one was from the elementary division.
"This is Mikan Sakura." Persona introduced her. "She has just been moved to this class due to her power."
A little boy was the first to come near her. He was about eight years old, and had light grey hair.
"Onee-chan." He said as he tugged unto her sleeve. "I`m Youichi."
Mikan smiled at the little child. "Hello there. I`m Mikan."
After so, Nobara, Rui, and Hayate introduced themselves to her. Only Hajime stayed glued to his place. While they were all getting to know each other, Natsume came through the woods, panting heavily. It was obvious he just ran.
When he entered the gazebo, he had a furious look on his face. "What does this mean?" Natsume shouted at Persona. "Is this another bait for me to do your missions?" The other members kept quiet. Among this class, only Natsume was rebellious on doing missions for the school. The others didn`t complain much.
"Tsk. Tsk." Persona stood up and faced Natsume. "Don`t be so conceited, she really has been transferred to this class."
"What?" Natsume stopped dead in his tracks. Persona looked over to Mikan, now ignoring Natsume.
"Tell him." Persona demanded. With the looks of it, Mikan was hesitating. "Remember, bigger scale." Persona reminded her of their previous conversation.
Mikan nodded. "I have the stealing alice."
Everybody went silent, Nobara gasped, and Persona chuckled. "See how amazing she is?"
Natsume took a step towards Mikan. He stopped a meter from her. "You do?" Mikan said nothing and just nodded. Her hopes went down and went to sit down for a break from all the stress. Natsume, left standing there, sighed and followed Mikan to her seat.
"Why didn`t you tell the truth about your alice?" Natsume asked her, just looking at his hands.
"I promised my mom." Mikan admitted. "It was the last thing I remember."
He noticed Mikan shaking. "Are you okay?" He asked her, sincerely.
"I`m nervous." She told him. "Nervous for what is to come."
Natsume forced Mikan to look at him by holding onto her chin. Once she laid eyes on him, she blushed furiously.
"Don`t worry." He said in a comforting voice and let go of her chin. "I`m here for you." As he said it, he looked away, trying to hide his face from Mikan. She was left speechless and stared at the opposite direction.
Persona had their attention when he stepped in the middle of the gazebo. Today, there weren`t any missions assigned to them so they just get to practice their alices.
"As a friendly gesture to our new member, I want you to show her your alice." He demanded them all. The class nodded and went to the center behind Persona, except for Natsume.
"Kura no kami." Persona was referring to Natsume, whom remained seated beside Mikan.
"It`s okay." Mikan said, trying to defend him. "I already know his alice."
And so the other members showed her their alices. First was the youngest of them, Youichi Hijiri. As the rest stepped away from him, evil spirits came out of him, following his command. Mikan applauded for him, making him smile and stop the ghosts. He went to Mikan and sat down in between her and Natsume.
"Thanks, Onee-chan." Mikan smiled at him and once again looked up. It was Nobara`s turn. She sat in the middle of the gazebo and ice suddenly went berserk around her. She was freezing almost everything until fire surrounded her ice. It melted and Nobara went back to her usual self.
Mikan was surprised at what had just happened. "Gomen." Nobara was speaking. "I can`t control my alice just yet."
Followed after Nobara were Hayate, whom showed her his wind manipulation, and Hajime showed his. Rui wasn`t able to boast about his since there was nobody to curse.
Once everybody was done, Persona had an idea. "Face-off."
"What?"
"Since it was an alice competition that got Mikan here and gave her the title of greatest alice, why not see if she really is the greatest one?" Persona said, clapping his hands. Mikan wasn`t in the position to complain anymore, worried about her friends. She stood up and went to the center. She was to first face off with Youichi, that young, sweet boy whom she instantly adored.
But this wasn`t the time for her to act generous towards him. She wanted to prove her worth.
Once Youichi`s ghosts appeared to attack her, she instantly had to do something. Mikan decided to do what she did to get her to this position. "Stop." She demanded and instantly, the evil spirits were gone.
The next two matches with Nobara and Hayate went on this way, too. They were instantly under Mikan`s control whenever she used her alice. Persona was disappointed. He wanted to see more alices from her, this is the alice she usually saw. And so he devised a plan for Mikan to be forced to show another alice.
After Rui, failing to use his alice on Mikan, it was time for the last member, Hajime. He didn`t waste any time as insects started crawling out from under the gazebo, and from the forest. They were all targeted towards Mikan. Hundreds and thousands of insects may have been aiming for Mikan, making her panic.
"I hate insects!" She screeched, not able to hide her fear. "Stop!" She used her pheromone on Hajime but nothing happened. He had an anti-pheromone potion, making him unaffected by her alice. As the insects continued to crawl, she took a step back and was already against the wall. Mikan tried to use her telekinesis to try and make them fly away but they just came back.
Natsume was concerned for her. "Isn`t this too much?" He asked as he started to create fire on his hand. Persona restrained him from doing anything to help Mikan.
"This is for her own good." Persona lied.
Mikan had no other choice. As insects crawled towards her, she concentrated on them. After a second, they were frozen solid as stones. Insects were still coming towards her but she immediately decreased their number by making all of them stones. This earned a smile from Persona. He had made her show another alice, an alice he was suspicious that she had after their game of Alice Dodgeball. Thus, he put a hand on Hajime`s shoulder, making him stop. Finally, the insects went back to their hiding places and left Mikan alone.
Natsume ran towards a panting and teary-eyed Mikan. She was shaking and gasping for air after using her alice in panic mode.
"Stone Alice." Persona said with a proud voice. "You continue to impress me, Iwa Sakuya."
Persona had given Mikan a name for her to be called which meant a rock that blooms. This was due to her Stone Alice and her flower name, Mikan.
As Natsume heard Mikan being named by Persona, he knew right away that Persona would use her like he was doing with him. He clenched his fists and wanted to punch Persona so badly.
After orienting Mikan of her newly given duties as a dangerous ability student, the class was dismissed and given the day off.
"Rest." Persona told them before they went out. "Especially you, Iwa Sakuya, you will have a tiring day tomorrow."
Mikan sighed and just nodded. She had already accepted her fate. It was bound for her since she had this alice. She was careless enough to let herself be trapped. She should have been more cautious of her actions.
As Mikan was walking back to the dorms, Natsume caught up with her. When she heard him coming, she looked back and a smile went to her face. Seeing her friends would always cheer her up, no matter how horrible her life was.
"Mind if I walk with you?" Natsume asked as he got to her side.
"No, not at all." Mikan shook her head, making her look adorable to Natsume`s eyes.
As they silently walked, Natsume had the urge to hold Mikan`s hand. He gulped and sneaked a look at Mikan. She looked serene and was just staring in front. He took a breath and slowly held Mikan`s hand. He checked to see what her reaction would be. And to his delight, Mikan squeezed his hand and didn`t let go.
Hihi. ;;) I hope ya`ll liked this. :) I promise to update soon since I`m lazy to do school work this weekend. Please do not copy my procrastinating.
xoxo,
Terence.
