Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or its characters.
Heir, Heiress
Chapter 14: Anxiousness
"Fifteen million yen?! I just can't pick that huge sum of money easily!" Izumi paced out around the room, biting his lip every now and then. Even Yuka didn't make an effort to calm him down; she herself was also frenzied about the whole thing.
"I will not say 'relax' because I know you will not." Hotaru's mother stated as she sipped on a porcelain cup calmly.
Izumi fleetingly glanced at her before looking back at the floor. "I could deposit Fifteen million yen. But in an hour? No way."
"Hotaru how's the police?" Yuka asked to divert her fretting husband's condition, even just for a minute to make his head cool off a little bit.
Hotaru clicked her tongue. "Like any other dramas on the television, the kidnappers wish not to call the police."
"It's like they would know, right?" Yuka said the last part undoubtedly.
Hotaru, in return, shrugged her head. "The kidnappers planned this well. They had connections with the police. And the bigger ups at that."
"What?"
"They believed that it's just a sham. So they ignored it. Even if I introduced myself, they wished not to acknowledge the problem. I put some listening devices to make sure and I found out that they're working with an unknown man. I'm trying to extract information on them, though."
"What do we do now?"
"As of the moment, keep this issue hidden from the public. No matter what the circumstances are, do not leak any information regarding the kidnapping." Izumi stated when he decided to sit, also tired from pacing around the room aimlessly.
"We understand."
"And Yuka, call the bank to withdraw fifteen million yen. Say that I need it ASAP and I will no longer attend to their services if they hadn't prepared the money in less than an hour."
"Is Mikan sick? She's not attending school for two straight days already." Sumire asked the moment she spotted Hotaru walking on the hallway.
Hotaru replied her with a nod. "Don't worry, she's getting better." She lied.
"Can we go see her?" Hotaru impassively looked at Sumire. No one else knew about Mikan's kidnapping, even her closest friends. Izumi wished not to inform them to avoid ruckus. Hotaru couldn't agree more. Knowing Mikan's group of friends, they would do anything just to search for her, even if it means using their power.
"Sadly, you can't. Her disease is infectious so her mother prohibited any person visiting her. It's for the good of her condition." She lied smoothly, as if all she said were true.
Sumire pouted. "I guess next time then."
"I'll go. Thanks, Hotaru." Hotaru nodded and proceeded to go to her next class. Luna and she share the next class that she looked forward to have.
And no, she wasn't considering Luna as a friend. Instead, she was treating her as an enemy.
A suspect to Mikan's kidnapping.
Hotaru was watching a close eye on Luna. Based on the facts that she had accumulated these past days, Luna always bite her nails while she dozes off into space and judging how precious her perfectly painted nails are to her, something's bothering her.
Now, it was the time to confront her.
As she entered the room, she immediately went to Luna's table. "Speak."
To make Luna submissive to her request, she took out her shiny baka gun and pointed it at Luna's hands. "Speak or you will have nothing to bite."
Luna instantly hid her hands behind her back. "I-I don't know what you're talking about, Imai." She replied, avoiding Hotaru's intense glare at her.
Hotaru pointed the gun at the ceiling and fired, startling everyone at the room not just because of the sudden shoot but also because of the dent left by the bullet. Hotaru pointed it back to her, this time on her face.
Luna raised her hands in surrender, looking at Hotaru guiltily. "I swear I didn't mean it. I-I didn't want to trap her on that dressing room—"
"Wait," Hotaru lowered the gun but still held on it in case something happened. "—You trapped her on that room?" Hotaru would've made revenge on Luna but finding Mikan was her first priority.
"Y-Yeah."
"Is that all you did?" She stressed out the 'all' in her inquiry, implying something.
"Did something more than that happened that I don't know of?" Luna continued. Hotaru saw the truthfulness in her eyes and she knew she was not exactly lying.
Hotaru snapped out of her reverie and glared fiercely at her. "It's none of your business." She spat out and left the blonde's table.
Positively, Luna's not the one responsible for Mikan's kidnapping. Because of that, she had no leads on whoever the culprit may be. It just drove Hotaru to the edge.
Who could possibly be Mikan's captor?
"Cheater! You-you tricked me!" Reo exclaimed as Persona rolled his eyes. They were playing solitaire at a table with a few empty beers settled beside the cards.
Persona shrugged that meaningless accusation and looked at his wristwatch. "It's time for lunch."
And just like that, Reo's predicament earlier disappeared. "We should feed her now." He said as he glanced at his back, where he could see their victim, tied with a chair.
Persona crossed his arms and looked intently at Reo, conveying something with his eyes.
Reo raised his arms. "No way am I going to cook! I don't know how to do it."
"Fine." Persona said defiantly and stood up, making the chair scrape against the floor. Minutes later, the smell of something delicious surrounded the whole room. Persona entered the room with a plate on his hands.
"Since I'm the one that cooked, you feed it to her." Persona said as he brought the plate closer to Reo.
"I'll be glad to, but shortie assigned me to run an errand." Reo was opening the door while saying that.
"Sheesh." Persona helplessly muttered as he heard the door closing. He went to Mikan and went on his knees. He removed the gag that was preventing her from talking. He scooped up a big serving and fed it to her. He didn't know it was too much until he saw her coughing violently.
Persona, his first time coming across this problem, grabbed an unopened beer that his arm could reach out and gave it to her. Mikan stared at it and looked at him weirdly.
"What the fuck—a beer? You know she's underage." Reo commented on the sidelines, frantic when he saw Mikan choking.
"Then go fetch a damn water!" Persona didn't mind the fact that he went back to the house again. Reo scurried on his feet and went to the kitchen. Seconds later, they could hear Reo exclaiming, "How the hell don't we have water in this house?"
He reappeared in front of them as soon as he heard him shout. "I'll go and buy some water outside."
"She is choking and you expect me to wait for that?" Mikan coughed violently again that left the two more agitated.
Reo looked at her one last time before sighing resignedly. "Fine. I give up." As soon as he said that, Persona opened the beer bottle and made Mikan drink it. The two of them knows that they're going to get in trouble for this but they don't have a choice.
Mikan finally calmed down and Reo took it into his own hands to feed her or else another predicament might have happened again.
"Good thing we avoided it or it could lead to death." Reo sighed in relief after Mikan ate her lunch.
Persona snorted, cynical of the information he heard from his worthless partner. "Choking? I didn't know it could kill someone."
"I read it on the internet so that makes it authentic."
"Internet? What's that?" Persona furrowed his eyebrows, clueless of the new word he just came across.
Reo raised a brow. "Did you live on a cave or something? You don't know what an internet is?"
Persona shrugged. "Well, it's close to that."
Reo sent him a weird look. "Really?"
In response to his question, he nodded. "Kuonji made me avoid the media or anything from the outside world. All I know that I've been doing for the past years are just waking up, studying, and eating then sleeping again."
"You had a pretty boring life there."
Persona shrugged again. "Yeah, it sucks."
Izumi Yukihara cannot sleep last night because he was so worried about Mikan's condition. Questions ran to his mind. "Are the kidnappers feeding her well?" "Is she treated nicely?" "Is she in good condition?"
He hoped that she was perfectly fine wherever she was. All the happenings going around made him stressed and now, there was something adding to all of his headaches. He spat out his coffee when he saw the headlines of the morning newspaper he was reading.
HOTARU IMAI'S BESTFRIEND KIDNAPPED
Hotaru Imai, the elusive heir to the Imai Corporations owned by her parents, was seen entering the double doors of the five-star, Zircon Hotel with her rumored best friend, Mikan Sakura to attend the exclusive Yukihara Corporation's centennial celebration. After the party, Miss Mikan Sakura was nowhere to be seen with Hotaru Imai. We later concluded that these two friends fought that would have made this article on the showbiz section. But from a call from a reliable source, we later found out that Mikan Sakura was kidnapped by some unknown men. The reason wasn't clear—
He stopped reading after that. It was the front-page news, along with a picture of Hotaru and Mikan sitting together at the hotel. Seeing the story fueled his anger because the newspaper was the Amethyst Bulletin.
It was one of the Imai Corporation's chain businesses.
"Maria! Hand me the phone!" He shouted. Seconds later, an old looking, stout woman with fair skin tone went beside him and handed him a black phone. She later left briefly when he received it.
Izumi punched in a series of numbers he memorized long ago and put the receiver on his ear. He tapped his long fingers impatiently at the wooden dining table, as every ring would pass by.
When the ringing had stopped, he immediately spoke. "How did this happen? How did this happen?" Izumi's grip on the phone tightened. "—I told everyone to keep this issue a secret. But why did the story get published? Your own paper at that huh, Serina Ai Imai?"
He heard a sigh from the other line. "We put the CFO in charge temporarily to handle the business ever since we received the news that Mikan's kidnapped. It's to minimize our distractions to track her down. The news that is published on our newspaper starting last Monday wasn't checked by us."
"Then who wrote that story? This wasn't supposed to go public! Did you—"
"Will you calm down just for once?" There was a hint of venom in her voice but Izumi didn't pay any heed to it, blinded by anger. "Your wife is not only worrying about Mikan, but she's also worrying about your state too. I know that we have no leads for the moment for your daughter's kidnapping. But please, for the sake of everyone around you, CALM. THE. FUCK. DOWN."
Izumi winced at her language. But he can't deny that she's right. "I haven't told anyone about Mikan's kidnapping and I don't know who the hell told my people about that. But if you really want to know, I'll track it down immediately."
"No thanks. I just wanted to know if you're really behind this."
"We have been friends for a long time and it's quite offensive on my part to accuse me something you know I can't do."
Izumi sighed tiredly. "I'm sorry, it's just… I'm very concerned about Mikan's safety. She's the only daughter I have and I can't afford losing her."
"…"
"Serina? Are you still there?"
"I understand you. Don't worry, we'll find her very soon. I will broaden the search area and I think I have to get working." She ended the call without a proper goodbye. Izumi removed the phone from his ear and smiled. It was nice to know that there were still people sticking around him at the time where he was troubled.
It was good to know that he still have friends.
Natsume just woke up and he wasn't exactly feeling well. It didn't help that it was a Wednesday and he had to go to school.
He put his hand on his forehead and groaned. Today's not really his day. He proceeded to go down the stairs to eat something, hoping that it could make him feel a little better.
He was grabbing the bread across him when he noticed the rolled newspaper beside his plate. He was reading newspapers for the fun of it, but now, his mind was everywhere so he decided to skip reading newspapers today.
Eating wasn't really making his mood get better so he stood up and left the dining room. "I'm going out for a walk." Natsume declared to the head maid and left the mansion even before he could get an answer. It was still early to go to school anyways.
When he passed by the enormous gates, he pulled the hood of his jacket and put his hands on the pockets. He didn't bother driving on his Black Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren because he wasn't on the mood to drive. He wanted to feel the breeze outside for a change to clear his mind a little bit.
He didn't decide where he was going so he was just walking aimlessly.
Mikan's the whole reason for his dilemma right now. His favorite brunette made him worry. She hadn't attended classes for a while now and, as much as he hated to admit it, he's missing her.
Knowing Mikan, she would not try to skip school, as she has to see her wide range of friends, except if she had a bad sickness that required her to rest and stay home. He had heard from Hotaru that Mikan caught an infectious disease, the reason for his agitation.
He didn't realize he was walking around the bustling streets of the city until he felt the growing number of people around him. His surroundings got much louder because of people chatting around him and the cars swiftly passing by.
It was enough to distract him from his thoughts going haywire.
But not long enough.
His gaze spotted a figure not far where he was standing.
Actually, make those two figures.
He saw Mikan, the subject of his thoughts, at a dark alley… with an unknown redhead.
No, he had seen the man. It was the person he saw when he picked Mikan at the waiting shed.
From that moment on, he knew he sensed danger.
Author's Note: This chapter's rushed, I know. I just finished this typing today so that's the cause of it. My schedule's hectic for me nowadays. With the examinations coming up, I think the next update will be on next month or two. But I promise I'll make it up to you, if ever you're still reading this fic.