Chapter 16: Greetings from Genesis
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Crucial messages are sent.
Featuring skills and missions.
Gakuen Alice and its characters are the wonderful creations of Tachibana Higuchi.
Mikan watched from her window as the rain drenched the academy grounds. Then she sighed. She had delayed doing something important longer than necessary. It was time.
After all, her training was going to begin soon. It was already five days after Natsume's declared date to start training. However, they had to reschedule. They had academic requirements that could not be delayed.
She turned on her desk lamp and took a piece of scented paper carefully from her stationery stash. She began to write a letter to her beloved grandfather. She paused every so often as she wrote.
Dear Jii-chan,
I'm as healthy as ever! Specialist training in the academy is surely different. Since everyone is trying out for different careers, my friends and I attend classes separately under our respective mentors.
It's kind of sad, actually. Time has passed by so quickly. Still, I'm excited for all of us! I strongly believe that my friends and I will continue to have a strong bond even after we graduate. You still have my bellflower bouquet with you. All those Alice Stone embedded in it are a tangible proof of the strength of the bonds I have with my friends.
Now, on to happier things. Only Natsume, Koko and Kitsu still stick together because they're all aiming for a course called Game Production in HAL Tokyo College of Technology & Design. I'm going to tell you something romantic in connection with that.
Jii-chan, do you remember me telling you that Koko is Permy's girlfriend? Permy wants to study Fashion Business & Technology in Tokyo Mode Gakuen. The two schools are located in the same tower. They are so adorable!
There are four other students who want to work in social welfare like me. Our instructor is a very nice lady who is always in the classroom before all of us. She begins each session with a song. She also belongs to a tea club. You'll like her.
It's such a small world. Our instructor's husband works in Hattori Nutrition College, and that's the school Anna is aiming for. By the way, Anna is very happy that the members of your tea club liked her pastry recipes!
Jii-chan, I appreciate that you took time to find out some potential workplaces for me near our house. The juvenile reformation home in the next town seems like a really promising prospect. I'm pleased that they will get more funding soon.
I've come to help out with the youngest students we have in the academy and it's a lot of fun. Hotaru comes with me sometimes. She enjoys it, even if she has a weird way of expressing it. The kids love her and the toys she brings. I want some of them for myself.
I'm not really sure where I want to work after finishing my online course, but I'm sorry to tell you that I won't be coming home after graduation. I'm going to stay here in the academy with Uncle.
Please don't worry, Jii-chan! It's not going to be permanent. Two years. That's a promise. There's just some things I have to learn. It's not my grades that are keeping me from seeing you sooner.
I'm sure you'll ask Narumi-sensei a ton of questions when he brings you this letter. Don't be too harsh on him, for my sake. I also want you to know that I made my own choice. You told me to be brave, Jii-chan and I am doing my best to heed your advice.
I've enclosed some photos I took again. I hope you like them as much as you liked the earlier ones I sent you. Bear and Ruka-pyon helped me pick what to send to you.
I love and miss you so much. Take care!
Your lovely granddaughter,
Mikan
P.S.
Apparently, I have a fan club. Unfortunately, Natsume might have disbanded it. He denies that he's jealous. It's cute.
"Do you mean I'm cute or my jealousy is cute?"
"Oh, hush Natsume. It's not for you to read. I meant it both ways. And you still haven't given me back the picture of us where you were actually smiling."
Mikan folded the paper and put it inside an envelope. The pictures were already there. Natsume sealed it. Mikan turned her desk lamp off.
"I'm sure you have a digital file, Polka dots. Just print another copy for yourself," Natsume said as he tugged on Mikan's arm. They snuggled in her bed.
"It's not polite to steal, Natsume."
"I didn't steal anything."
"Well, whatever. Are you still keen on training me?"
"Hn."
"You haven't told me what we're doing."
"You mean what you'll be doing, not me. It's something you're good at, for starters."
"I'm good at a lot of things, Natsume. That's not much of a clue."
"Dodgeball."
Mikan sat up abruptly.
"Did you just say dodgeball? I don't understand. You can't be serious." She tried to determine if Natsume was joking.
"Polka dots, tell me what skills are needed in dodgeball."
"Dodging, throwing and catching of course."
"Good. What else?"
"Is there more to it?"
In the darkness, Natsume smirked.
"Why are you giving me a quiz?" Mikan said as she crossed her arms.
"Making use of your brain is also part of training. Where's that persistence you were bragging about?"
"Fine. Hmm. Teamwork. You need teamwork in dodgeball. You need an effective strategy to win. You also need to move constantly to make sure you don't get hit. There, are you satisfied now?"
"You also need to have good awareness of your surroundings and to be calm enough to make proper decisions. You shouldn't be rash."
"Okay. I'm still confused, Natsume."
"All the skills essential in dodgeball are also essential in missions."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't think about that."
He tugged on Mikan's arm again and she went back to her earlier position in his arms.
"You have nothing to apologize for, you foolish girl."
"It just that…it must bring back some memories you don't really want to remember."
Outside, the winds picked up. It was going to be a thoroughly stormy night. It was easy to forget when he was with her, like this, warm and safe and loved.
Over time, they had perfected their own way of being intimate without the need to take off any of their clothes. It was an unspoken agreement between them that they would not cross that line. There were many reasons why.
"Yeah. But I can't run away from them forever, Mikan."
"I said this before but you can tell me anything when you're ready, okay?"
"Dodging, throwing, catching, teamwork, awareness of your surroundings, quick and rational thinking. All of those skills increase the chances of completing a mission and ensuring you and your teammates' survival. I'll explain."
"I'm listening."
"You dodge bullets and daggers and Alices. You throw smoke bombs and other stuff. You catch important packages and other stuff. You follow the plan the team leader set up. You need to be aware of where you are, where your teammates are and where the enemies are. More often than not, things don't fall into plan. You need to act accordingly. Of course you need proper equipment too."
"Hotaru will have proper equipment."
"She does."
"You must have trained so much. You and everyone from the Dangerous Ability class."
Mikan thought about her conversation with Shiki. Persona, Rui Amane, Hajime Yakumo and Hayate Matsudaira were still out in the field, helping to weed out the forces of Genesis. Why didn't the remnants of the Z organization just give up?
Were the former members Dangerous Ability class doing well? Were Nobara and her little child safe in their home or wherever they may be?
"Please, Shiki-san. Can you at least tell me Persona's whole family is safe?"
"I understand how worried you must be. All I can tell you is that we have not received any distress signal from Persona."
"What if an emergency situation arises and he can't even give the distress signal? Do you know where his family is? Can the academy send someone to help them right away?"
"You have to trust him like you did when you took his hand for the first time. Nobody knows where they are because they keep moving and it's better that way, Mikan-chan."
Natsume's grave voice forced her to come back to the present.
"When I first came here, I replaced someone who he didn't make it out of training. The idiotic Matsudaira told me that so casually. At least I had a clear warning of how it was going to be like."
Mikan bit her lip. She didn't know what to say to that.
"Tell me if I should stop talking. Tell me if I'm scaring you."
"No, it's alright. Please go on."
"I lost a teammate on my third mission. That day, I realized how selfish people can be."
"What do you mean, Natsume?"
"I was relieved it wasn't me. Mikan, I felt relief before I mourned the guy. He wasn't even unkind to me. Whenever I saw him, he was just practicing card tricks over and over again until it was time to head out."
"You mourned him, Natsume. You did. Isn't that what matters? If you were really selfish you wouldn't have mourned him at all. You remember him even until now. You're not a selfish person. Never. Forgive yourself. You were so young and you were exploited."
"You think too highly of me."
"No, Natsume. You think too highly of me. Besides, I would have reacted the same way as you did. The situation called for that reaction."
"I wonder about that."
"For my part, I'm wondering about how I'm going to train. Are we going to have a dodgeball tournament or something?" Mikan tried to sound as upbeat as she could.
"You'll just be having fun if we do that and it we don't need to involve others. We'll be in your best friend's laboratory. I've convinced her to help out. It's a controlled environment. We'll be in no one's way there."
"Laboratory. Hotaru's laboratory."
"Do you have another best friend, Polka dots?"
Mikan knew better than to scream in happiness so she settled for jumping in her bed. She had wanted to get inside Hotaru's laboratory for a very long time. Natsume turned on Mikan's bedside lamp and watched her smile.
"Somehow, training in Hotaru's laboratory is kind of scary. She'll be more severe on me than you would." Mikan settled down.
"You won't be playing dodgeball. You'll just be using the skills necessary in dodgeball in mock field work settings. Ruka helped build your training course. You can think of it as a highly advanced version of the Special Ability Class' role-playing game. But remember, it's not going to be a game. It's —"
"Training, got it. I'm going to take this seriously, Natsume. I won't be qualified to protect others if I can't defend protect myself. I'm guessing that I'll also have to be good with equipment. My Alices aren't exactly on the offensive side. Besides, my Alices are of the third type. I don't want to run out of it again because of using too much."
"You sound very smart, Polka dots. It's very refreshing."
"Oh, really? Good night to you." She turned off the bedside lamp. Natsume sniggered.
The lights were still on in High School Principal Kazumi Yukihira's office. Shiki, Jinno and Minami were with him.
"They can't get in the academy so they've resorted to this! My uncle won't be the last. They'll attack other former academy directors too. This is a clear signal that they won't stop bothering us," Minami said. He started pacing around the room in large strides.
There was no trace of amusement in his green orbs now. He had received an urgent message from his sister, informing him that their uncle was found dead in his own house with two bullets in his head. Fortunately, there were hidden cameras in the house that showed who the culprit was. It was a woman who was a rookie operative of Genesis.
Tohru Noyamano was a beautiful soprano. She was a recent graduate of the academy, graduating in the same year Tsubasa and Misaki did. She was also fancied by one high-flying prankster close to Natsume and Mikan. That last fact wasn't known outside their circle of friends.
Shiki received similar information from Persona through Yakumo, an hour later after Minami got his message. Yakumo had two additional details for them to consider.
The first one was that Genesis' leader was suffering from a terminal illness and was cooped up in an underground hospital. The second was that Noyamano was a favorite of the leader.
"Kyousuke, look at me. Take a two-week leave," said Principal Yukihira.
"One week will be more than enough, Sir. And I promise I won't do anything reckless."
"I'll beat you up if you do."
"I understand." Minami shivered.
"I'll start getting in touch with as many other former directors as I can," said Jinno.
"I'll conduct a thorough review of the academy's security arrangements at once, just in case. I'm expecting that Yakumo will bring in additional information soon," said Shiki. The others nodded.
"I'll let you know if my sister tells me anything new from the Ministry of Defense," said Minami.
The three left the high school principal's office with troubled thoughts as the storm continued to rage outside. In the hours that followed, the other former academy directors woke up one by one and barely slept after Jinno reached out to them.
End of Sixteenth Chapter