"Natsume...Natsume!" Mikan struggled against Sumire's grip, looking like she wanted to help the boy that had just passed out, but she was unable to get free.
"Shh! It's too dangerous to go out now!" Sumire insisted.
"But…!" Mikan protested.
Reo stood up suddenly, startling the two hiding girls, and headed across the room, opening the window. A bodyguard immediately teleported from outside into the room.
"Teleport him to the car trunk," He instructed.
"Yes, sir." The bodyguard immediately obeyed, and he vanished with Natsume.
Reo looked out the window briefly. "In truth, I wanted the girl as well, but she's being watched...oh, well, can't get everything I suppose."
He turned and headed out of the room with a small smirk to himself, passing the two girls hiding under a table without even noticing in the slightest.
"What's going on?" Mikan asked as the door closed.
"Can't you tell?" Sumire replied. "This is a kidnapping!"
"But why would Reo kidnap Natsume…?"
"How would I know? But if this isn't a kidnapping, what is?"
There was a sudden yell in the room, startling both girls.
"Why did you stop me, Shiro?"
"Don't be crazy. I told you not to do anything reckless."
Kuro appeared from the ground first, rising out of a black vortex and looking angry. Shiro emerged from the wall nearby through a white vortex, her blue eyes calm but angry. She hopped down next to her twin, holding up her hand and closing it in a fist, shattering the white chain she had used to tether his power down.
"But you really had to make me watch that happen in front of my eyes without doing anything?!"
"What would you have done?" Shiro fired back. "Reo has a lot of influence on the academy. You would have only landed yourself in trouble!"
"Yeah, but still-"
Shiro sighed irritably, brushing her white hair back out of her eyes. "Well, arguing here won't do us any good. At least we know he has the Voice Pheromone Alice now, so be aware."
"What good will that do us now?"
"Kuro, Reo's car should still be on campus. Follow it out."
"Shouldn't I stop it from leaving?"
"That'll only disrupt the crowd. Do you think anyone will believe you?"
"Fine. You go and tell Kurumi-ojousan."
"Kurumi-ojousan isn't awake yet. I'll tell the teachers for the time being."
"Got it. We'll keep in touch. Keep your aura open."
"Kuro! Shiro! You were here too?"
Crap. The two whirled around when the two other girls crawled out of their hiding place.
"When you say Kurumi-ojousan-" Sumire began.
"I said Kurumi-oneesan," Shiro interceded. "You must have heard wrong."
"No, you said-"
"Hurry up, I'll lose the car!" Kuro interrupted.
"Right!"
"Wait-" Mikan began to protest, but the two had already vanished.
('^') Time Skip ('^')
Kuro passed through the crowd with ease, given all of the shadows merged together from the crowd all knit together in one big pack, and easily approached the car. He popped up behind the limo amidst the crowd of students, blue eyes narrowed in determination.
The gates opened slowly and the car started outside. There was a sudden poof of pink smoke, and the crowd settled down from the attack as the car slowly drove outside the academy. This had no effect on Kuro, however, as he took off in a burst of speed the moment the area cleared.
"Stop! No students are allowed outside!" A security guard ordered, stepping in front of him.
Kuro easily slid across the ground before dropping into a shadow vortex and reappearing outside. The guard was shocked, whirling around to face him, and two familiar girls took the distraction to roll out of the closing gates, narrowly making it out in time.
The gates closed, and Kuro was left facing Mikan and Sumire in surprise. "What are you guys doing?"
"Saving Natsume, obviously!" Mikan insisted.
"What about you?" Sumire demanded.
Kuro smirked. "Ehh, it seems we have the same thing in mind for once."
The guard ran over to the closed gates. "Three students have escaped! Open the gates!"
Kuro swore. "Holy hell, we'd better get a move on!"
Sharing a nod, the three elementary schoolers broke off in a run.
('^') Time Skip ('^')
"That's enough! You three sure have guts!"
"Makihara-sensei!"
The elementary schoolers' history teacher Makihara-sensei appeared behind them not far away, grabbing them all firmly.
"You'd better be prepared for a punishment!"
Kuro bit his lip. This is not good. The car's getting away!
"Sensei, we saw Natsume get kidnapped, and-" Mikan tried to protest.
"I'll listen to your nonsense after we get back to the academy!"
Mikan and Sumire's eyes were both wide, shocked by the sudden turn of events.
And then Kuro spoke in an icy tone.
"Sorry, Sensei, I don't have time for this."
And then he brought his fist straight up into the teacher's chin in a sharp and professional uppercut. Makihara-sensei yelled and collapsed on the sidewalk.
"Why, you-" The other teachers shouted, grabbing the girls and reaching for him, but the elementary schooler hopped back onto the guardrail.
"You'll thank me later," Kuro replied before dropping backwards into a black vortex.
No sooner than he vanished did the pack of crows come straight down on the teachers.
('^') Time Skip ('^')
"Natsume's been kidnapped?" Ruka repeated in slight disbelief as a crow landed on his arm. "Reo really did that…?"
"I knew he was up to no good again," Kazu muttered under his breath.
"What?" Ruka frowned, but the boy just shrugged, so the blond continued, "But Natsume is in the main campus hospital. It's not an easy place to break into."
"How should I know how he got in?" Hotaru replied. "But Mikan's always been a terrible liar. There's no way she could lie to me so convincingly." She pulled a ring out of her pocket. "See this? It's the Recorder Ring she had on."
She turned the top, and Mikan's voice came out.
"Natsume...Natsume!"
Ruka looked surprised, and the crow flew away.
"Shh! It's too dangerous to go out now."
"But…!"
"Well?" Hotaru asked. "Still don't believe me?"
"Wait," Kazu interrupted suddenly, his green eyes holding some degree of seriousness for once. "You said Kuro was there too, right?"
"Yeah," Hotaru nodded.
"Then that means…" He frowned slightly, and at that time a blue light flashed from his ear. "Give me a second."
He turned and put his hand to his Bluetooth, turning it on.
"Kazu!"
"Oh, perfect timing, Shiro. Where are you?" He asked nonchalantly, ignoring Ruka and Hotaru's surprised looks.
"On my way to the faculty office. But there's no time for that, Natsume was-"
"Kidnapped, right?"
"So you knew."
"Imai was just telling me about it. What are you planning on doing about it?"
"Kuro went after them. For now, I'm going to report to Narumi-sensei. Could you tell Akashi-oniichan to tell Kurumi-ojousan once she wakes up?"
"Sheesh, such a pain," Kazu sighed. "Yeah, I got it, I'll do that. Take Imai and Ruka with you-I think they've got something interesting for you to use."
"I got it. As much as I hate to, I'll leave it to you, Kazu!"
"Yeah, yeah, you can hate me all you want later."
Kazu switched off the Bluetooth and turned back to the two he had been talking to.
"Kazu, that's-" Ruka began.
"I have permission from the academy," Kazu said shortly. "But more importantly, that was Shiro just now. You guys join up with her, find Narumi-sensei, explain the situation, and confirm Natsume's current whereabouts. I'm going to run an errand."
The boy took off in the sky.
"Shiro?" Hotaru repeated with a frown. "Where is-"
"Right here," Shiro appeared from the wall next to them, grabbing both of their arms (as well as Yo, who was on Hotaru's back). "Let's clear this in one jump!"
"Wai-"
As irrational as her brother, Shiro pulled both of them through the light vortex and straight to the office.
('^') Time Skip ('^')
"Oi, Aka-nii!"
Kazu kicked down the door to Kurumi's hospital room mercilessly.
"Ojou awake yet?"
Akashi looked up from where he had been reading a book at Kurumi's bedside, setting it down and removing his reading glasses before standing up.
"Not yet."
He didn't bother with scolding the boy on his loud volume, since if Kurumi had been put to sleep forcefully then she would most likely be out for quite some time.
"Did something happen?"
"Natsume got kidnapped, so Kuro went chasing after Reo's car."
Akashi was surprised. He hadn't met the kid before personally, but he knew of Hyuuga Natsume's infamous reputation-and more so from Kazu, so he had never thought that someone like him would get kidnapped.
"Do the teachers know about this?"
"Shiro's on her way to tell them now."
"All right. But this isn't going to end well...for an Alice Academy student to be kidnapped-"
A sudden, sleepy voice cut him off.
"Who got kidnapped…?"
('^') Time Skip ('^')
"What? Reo kidnapped Natsume?"
As expected, Jinno-sensei was stunned by the mere thought. But Hotaru nodded calmly, like it was no big deal.
"Mikan and Shouda-san went chasing after Reo's car."
"Why would Reo do such a thing?" Yamada-sensei asked.
"I don't know...but there's no reason for Mikan to lie," Hotaru answered.
"I know."
"Shiro?" Narumi-sensei turned to the girl in surprise.
"I know why Reo kidnapped Natsume."
Shiro bit her lip, blue eyes looking at the ground.
"But I can't explain in detail. It's up to you whether you want to believe me or not."
"What do you mean?" Jinno-sensei demanded. "This is an emergency situation-"
"Those are my orders."
Shiro's harsh tone interrupted him, and the room fell silent.
Finally, Yamada-sensei spoke up.
"Hasegawa. Why would Reo kidnap Natsume?"
Shiro nodded and looked up. "Mouri Reo is part of an Anti-Alice Academy Organization."
"Anti-Alice Organization?" Ruka repeated, but the teachers remained quiet.
Shiro nodded again.
"Why do you think so?" Jinno-sensei asked. "Mouri Reo rose through the ranks to become a Special, and graduated with top grades! Why would a star like him associate himself with an Anti-Alice Academy Organization?"
"I don't know the answer to the last question, but the answer to the first is classified."
"Do you know so for sure?" Yamada-sensei inquired softly.
Shiro nodded again.
Narumi-sensei looked down at Hotaru's Recorder Ring that he held. "Then that really was…"
"According to the test results," The doctor reported, "there's absolutely nothing wrong with Reo's leg."
"Then…"
"Most likely, it was just strained. In that condition, even the slightest shock would feel painful. Or maybe visiting his old school felt so nostalgic so he wanted to take a break from his busy schedule?"
"...Reo was planning to kidnap Natsume all along."
"That's preposterous!" Jinno-sensei argued.
"Most likely," Shiro nodded, ignoring the math teacher. "At first I thought…" Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip. "No, never mind. Anyway, we need to hurry and-"
She broke off suddenly with a gasp, doubling over and clenching her body in pain. She broke into a fit of coughs, dropping to her knees on the floor, breathless.
"Shiro?!" Narumi-sensei shot to his feet and so did Yamada-sensei.
Hotaru knelt next to her, feeling the girl's forehead. "She's burning up!"
"I'll go get a doctor-"
"Kuro…"
Narumi-sensei froze from where he was running to the doorway when Shiro managed to get out one word painfully. She coughed again, covering her mouth with her hand. Her blue eyes were wide.
"Something happened to Kuro…!"
Narumi-sensei hesitated.
Yamada-sensei knelt next to the young girl, who was burning up, and quickly ordered, "Hurry, Narumi-sensei!"
Just as Narumi-sensei reached for the door, it burst open and Kurumi stepped inside, her high heels clicking across the floor.
"Excuse the intrusion!"
"K-Kurumi-chan?!"
She stalked across the room and directly over to Shiro, handing the girl a small tablet and pill. Akashi and Kazu both followed her inside.
"You shouldn't just-" Jinno-sensei began when Shiro swallowed both without any hesitation.
"It's Alice balancing medication," Kurumi said shortly, standing back up and examining the room once. She unplugged Jinno-sensei's computer (that the substitute teacher was using) before grabbing a pen, clipboard, and a stack of blank papers and sitting down on the couch. "I'm going to borrow these."
"Kurumi-chan, you can't just-" Narumi-sensei started, but he was cut off as well.
"Aka-chan."
Kurumi simply held out her hand, and Akashi unclipped the Bluetooth from his ear and handed it over to her. She adjusted it slightly and turned it on, announcing loudly, "Miya, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, 'Rumi-jou!" Miya's voice replied.
"Set default listening status."
"Default listening status set!"
"All right. Kuro, can you hear me?"
"Kurumi-ojousan!"
"That's good. Stay quiet. Who else is with you currently?"
"Natsume's here, and so are Mikan and Shouda. But they're all asleep."
Kurumi tapped a couple of keys on the computer, writing it down on the paper as well.
"Describe the scene to me."
"It smells of an ocean, so probably a harbor. It seems like some kind of warehouse to me…"
"How many people are there?"
"I can't tell...something's blocking my Alice…"
"Most likely a Barrier Alice...stay put for now. Miya, new background update on Mouri Reo and anti-Alice Academy organizations."
"I'm on it!"
"What's she doing?" Jinno-sensei asked with a frown.
Shiro stood up, leaning against the desk and putting her hand against her head. "Getting as much detail as she can about the situation at hand so she can put together a plan."
"A Barrier Alice and a Teleportation Alice, huh…" Kurumi mused, writing it down by hand. She checked the computer screen before returning to writing something down. "Kuro, wait until they wake up, and then give me a periodic update from there. Yui and Sonata, remain on standby. Miya, continue trying to locate Kuro's location."
"Did you come up with a plan, Ojou?" Kazu asked as he walked over to her with Shiro right behind him.
"More or less," Kurumi switched off the Bluetooth. "The two of you, prepare to mobilize at a moment's notice."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Narumi-sensei, Jinno-sensei, Yamada-sensei, Hotaru, and Ruka could only stare at the girl in surprise.
Eh...the hype is up, but nobody even reads this anymore, do they? :( Tear. Oh, well, I guess I'll just keep posting and see how it goes.
~Chikage