An hour after the great eruption, all students went directly to the nearest hospital and were cured. Before the teachers left them (to tend to other important matters on fixing their school), it was decided that the students would all wait for their fetchers there.

Since it was already late, they were forced to shelter in the hospital, some waiting for their fetchers, while others, a miracle.

Why could it be called a miracle? Well, it's maybe because of the mere fact that some of the academy's students are already orphans, and with their only home's destruction, where could they go home now? And you might ask "Why didn't they remind the teachers about that?", well, they were concerned about the other troubles their teachers should pay attention to.

And by the time the clock struck ten, only nine students were left glancing at the hospital's clock attached to the cream painted wall of the waiting room.

"Natsume..." little Youichi murmured as he tugged on Natsume's collar. He was sitting on Natsume's lap and was glancing at the clock which he didn't even understand, "It's six-thirty already. Let's eat breakfast. I'm hungry."

"It's ten in the evening, Youichi. And you just ate," Natsume replied in a very low whisper without even looking away from what he was reading.

"Excuse me, sir," A tall male nurse came in with a conceited face," I believe visiting hours would be over in less than ten minutes."

"Oh, but we're not visiting anyone in here, Sir," Yuu explained calmy, pushing his glasses into place, "Everyone else's left and we're just waiting for-"

"Oh, so you may leave now." he groaned at them with his nose stuck high up in the air.

Surprised, Tsubasa jumped to his feet, "So that means we should leave just like that?" Tsubasa asked, stomping his feet off the sofa.

Natsume's eyes glanced up from his five hundred-leaf manga for a few seconds to stare at the airy nurse, and then went back reading with Youichi still complaining on his lap.

"I'm afraid yes, sir," the man replied and after that, he turned to leave yet Mikan's small voice came in the scene.

"But, Mister, can't we stay a little longer? You see, our teachers haven't come back yet. We promise we'll leave as soon as they arrive," Mikan pleaded with nervous eyes she tried to hide.

"This isn't an orphanage. It's a place for sick people. I could see you have no injuries that would claim us responsible to take care of you. There are rules, Miss, and that includes no other people should stay here unless you have a patient admitted. And besides, there're no longer any patients who are students from your academy in here," he said firmly as he clutched his medical board, "They all left."

Oh no... It's... It's nearly midnight, where... where would I go? Grandpa's place is too far and... Mikan thought as her knees weakened. "I couldn't accept Mrs. Imai's offer... She's busy... I know," she said to herself when she remembered the time Hotaru's mom arrived at the hospital to fetch her unconscious daughter.

"...why don't you stay with us for the mean time?..."she remembered Mrs. Imai's voice not an hour ago before she left.

"Mikan," Ruka called. He was sitting beside her and he quite understood how nervous and confused Mikan was on how to go home at that late.

Natsume's eyes glanced up from the manga again. He was now secretly eying Ruka. (BTW, seating arrangement on the sofa... Natsume with Youichi on his lap then Mikan and last was Ruka with bunny on his lap)

"If you want, you could borrow Eagle and go to your Grandpa tonight. I won't mind," Ruka offered with a smile, "If you want you could kee-"

"Don't be ridiculous," Natsume cut in, "With Reo still out there would you trust her with just a bird to bring her home?!"

"No shouting please-"

"Shut up," Natsume grunted at the nurse as he stood up in a flash, "We're leaving."

And with that, he snatched Mikan's hand(cradling Youichi at the same time) and walked fast to the main door of the small hospital and stopped, turning to the others.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Who us?" Tsubasa asked as the others remained dumbfounded.

oXoX

"So, what's the big plan great Natsume?" Tsubasa asked as he slapped Natsume's back, "Got any ideas on where we'll be staying for the night?"

"Um..." Natsume mumbled silently as a sweat dropped along his forehead.

Walking along the crowded night streets of the city, the five of them (Tsubasa, Yuu, Koko, Youichi and Mikan) felt quite relieved as they waited for his reply, yet when the raven haired boy went silent for quite a while, Koko who was also with them had his way.

"He has no plan," Koko said with a smile (after reading his blank mind, of course!)

"WHAT?!" Tsubasa screamed with a red face, "You don't have a plan?!"

"Hey, I'm making this up as fast as I am up to!" Natsume replied with a blush.

As soon as they all heard of this, almost all of them felt a creepy chill along their spine (except for Youichi and Natsume who remained calm as possible). As if it was spell bound, the once calm and harmless street full of strangers turned into a lane filled with killers and gangsters from here and there. In their sight, the once jolly sparkly lights turned out to be adult bars and casinos that forbade entry of the inexperienced teenage world. And last but not the least, the once peaceful atmosphere that they used to breathe in happily when they had exited the cruel hospital, turned out to be an ambiance of smoke from cigars and burnt adult barbecue (plus stingy liquor and root beer) that they have never smelt before! The undiscovered hell of nightlife came into their innocent eyes!!

After witnessing this, Natsume slowly turned to his group and found pale faces who all scrammed in a cluster with both him and Youichi squeezed in the middle!

"What in the world is this?!"

"Let's hide!"

"Wer're going to die! Die we shall!!"

"This can't be! I'm still a virgin to this!"

"Shut the fuck up! They'll hear us!"

They screamed like idiots as their group went smaller and smaller. They squeezed inward, forming a circle that avoided any contact with the unknown people, as if their surroundings were filled with contagious virus. Well, what could you expect of students who just came out from the walls of their academy after ten long years of captivity? And nearby, some gangsters noticed them and just passed by with puzzled faces.

"Quiet down idiots!" Natsume hushed them in an audible whisper, "If you won't quit panicking, we'll all be kidnapped by any of these smelly bastards! And one more thing, we're still dressed in our uniform. We might find ourselves in deep shit of trouble if they'll realize we're from a classified school."

Emerged silence in the group at last.

"Act natural!"

Good for Natsume, he always had night travels in his secret missions that were provided by the school's liason officer, Persona. He was already familiar with these kinds of stuff and was now responsible of the situation. Hey, it was his fault in the first place (disregarding the nurse, of course) and having know-how on the nightlife stuff was a great add-on to the package.

Then, that moment, Natsume glanced around him, I have to find someplace for all of these idiots to stay over the night. Someplace... someplace...

Alas! His eyes halted to a sign plastered at the window of a nearby building and a smirk slowly formed at the corner of his lips.

"Look how lucky we are."

oXoX

NEXT CHAPTER...

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