Your Typical New Kid

by

Stars of Gold

Chapter 8: Toxins in the Food

Just as Mikan stopped laughing, Emi had noticed – as it had been quite dark previously, but now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark – something different about Mikan. "Mikan-chan, what happened to your ribbons?" She asked, pulling on a lock of her hair. "Hmm? Oh, they must've fallen off in my struggle. Besides, I wanted Natsume to notice I was kidnapped." She said, shrugging.

"Do you need your scrunchy? I'm getting quite hot in here, and my hair's pretty long." Emi pulled off the scrunchy at the top of her braid and handed it to Mikan. "Here. We're going to be stuck here for a while, aren't we?" Emi sighed. "Thanks. Yeah, we're going to be stuck in here until Natsume and Taiki-kun bust us out of here, and what with all the traps in this place, that's going to take some time. But I think Hotaru invented some stuff that could help them."

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"So we're in," Taiki stated the obvious for the third time that day. Natsume glared at him. He shrugged. "Sorry." Natsume rolled his eyes as they reached the first booby trap of the day. "Lasers. Criss-cross pattern." Taiki noted, seeing the red lasers criss-crossing, making it hard for anyone to get past. "The button to inactivate it is on the other side." Natsume commented, peering through the laser minefield. "I've got it covered," Taiki said, a branch extending from the potted plant beside them. In, out, in, out. The branch weaved through the deadly laser beams and tapped the button on the other side. The laser beams disappeared, and the branch returned to its original state. "There," Taiki said, scratching his head. "Problem solved." Natsume rolled his eyes and pulled Taiki through the previously deadly patch of land.

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"Why do I feel like we're forgetting something?" Emi voiced out loud. Mikan blinked. "...Maybe it was your…familiar…?" Emi's eyes widened as she snapped her fingers. "That's it! Michiyo! Come!" The small snowy dog materialized outside the door. "Master called Michiyo?" She asked, looking around for Emi.

"Michi! In here!" The dog's head turned, and she tried to open the door by jumping and turning the knob with her paws. As soon as her paws touched the knob, she yelped in pain and jumped back. "Itai!" She muttered. "Michi-chan! Daijoubu?" Michiyo whimpered. "Fire…I see fire…" She said, hallucinating. "Michiyo! Michiyo!"

"I will go now…the door does not allow the touch of a familiar…" She replied in a hazy voice as she slowly disappeared.

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Taiki raised an eyebrow from his crouching position on the floor. "A gigantic robotic SPIDER? Seriously? Oh, come on! The AAO can do way better than that!" He ducked as the spider swiped at him. "Dude, that is so overused!" Natsume sighed in annoyance. "Stop making stupid comments and start destroying this thing! Do you want to see Ice Girl again or not?" Taiki became serious at the mention of Emi. "Point taken."

He leaped as the spider attempted to whack his ankles and landed on its main body. In two moves, the spider started to malfunction. In one more, Taiki jumped off as the spider keeled over and stopped moving altogether, apart from the occasional twitch of its legs.

Natsume raised his eyebrows, impressed. "You destroyed it in three moves." Taiki shrugged. "If you're trying to save someone you've loved for five years, you'd be determined, too." He stated simply, his eyes glittering darkly. "Come on. I know you want to see Sakura-san again, and dawdling around here won't get us anywhere." It was as if the mention of Emi was a trigger to his darker, more dangerous side. Natsume made a note of this, thinking that he must really love that girl. After all, he noted. He's usually so carefree, even before Ice Girl came.

Indeed, he was a prankster, but he usually kept the quiet, smart and hardworking façade, so no one ever suspected him. He once sent his fangirls flowers that would attach itself to their faces because he'd had enough of the fangirl mayhem. The message came across clearly, but it only worked for two weeks; on the third, they mobbed him as if nothing had ever happened. But ever since she came, he's been very cheerful and sociable.

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"We have to get out of here!" Mikan cried in exasperation. "Well, other than what we've just tried, do you have any ideas?"

"…No…"

"Well then, we're just stuck here, aren't we?"

"Yeah, but we can't just sit here!"

"I know."

"So what do you suggest we – " But Mikan was cut off by a tray of food being slipped through the flap in the otherwise steel door. "And don't you think 'bout trying to escape through there, sweeties, 'cause it ain't gonna be plastic for long, ya know. There's a steel reinforcement 'ere, and I ain't allowed to unlock it for over two minutes." The voice of an American lunch lady, by the sound of it, filtered through the door, in English, of course.

"Sorry, hun, I wish I could let ya out, but the AAO won't let me," The woman said apologetically. "And don't eat the food 'ere, they put something in it," She added in an undertone. Emi blanched as Mikan said from behind her, "Mmm, not bad,"

She spun on her heel in panic and knocked the bread out of Mikan's hand. "Hey!" She cried. "Mikan-chan! You just swallowed something toxic!"

Oh noes! Mikan ate toxins! What is it going to do to her? Review and send in ideas for traps, please. I'm running out of ideas. :P

Reviews highly appreciated.

Stars of Gold

(Daijoubu are you alright)