What? You mean I don't own Gakuen Alice? What do you mean it was all a dream?
A Matter Of Time
By Koalas
CHAPTER 4
A discreet black car was parked slightly farther away from the curb than it should be. Two large men in dark attire sat in it, watching.
Watching the silent and morose rivulets of the rain, sliding down their windows.
Watching the stillness of the external world, save the grey puddles rippling at each drop.
But most of all, watching for something beyond that. Someone.
Both watches ticked in perfect synchronisation.
One thought about the task at hand, as he had been for the last 5 hours, anxiously tapping his right foot against the carpeted flooring on the passenger side.
One sighed, and shifted in his seat, covering his physical nervousness with a façade of boredom, and in result breaking the fragile silence surrounding them.
Finally, something stirred that gained their attentions. The one in the passenger seat took out a file from the glove box, and pulled out a document with four pictures on them. He consulted it quickly, then observed out the window again.
Seemingly satisfied, he replaced the file carefully and locked the glove box. He gave the other man a quick nod and a fleeting hand gesture, then, perfectly in time, the two exited the car and started walking, completely disregarding the rain.
In no time they reached a barrier, but one easily overcome. One of the men's hands began to glow, a deep blue iridescence. The gate swung open, and the two men made their way inside, past the pearly gates marking the entrance of Gakuen Alice.
O-O-O
Mikan sat down in her seat with a massive, weary exhale. Her partner peered at her from behind his comic, and quirked an eyebrow upwards. He had noticed her sudden lack of energy the past two days. At first he had thought she was prematurely stressing about the upcoming exams, although in this sense, 'upcoming' meant three months away.
Although that made sense, he had enough intelligence to realise that not even Mikan would go as far as three months advance for stressing over exams. Especially exams that she'll delude herself into thinking she'll pass.
He considered other possible reasons for his partner's mood, and the thought of someone getting her down or making her feel bad crossed his mind. He immediately bristled, and tightened his grip on his comic. As much as his pride didn't want him to do, he couldn't help feeling slightly protective of the little creature Narumi had forced upon him as a partner. And if bullying was the case, he felt himself responsible, or at least gallant enough to sort the little twerp out.
He observed Mikan again, to see her heave another fretful sigh and slump down in her chair, head resting on the desk. He definitely had to do something about her.
Wholly oblivious to her partner's perusal, Mikan nestled her head in her folded arms on the desk, and blocked out the rest of her class. Her mind was completely full.
After Tonouchi had left his room that night to search for the envelope, Tsubasa had managed to calm her down to just occasional moans and whimpers. Tonouchi had seemed to be taking ages, though, and the two were getting restless, hungry, and mostly worried.
Tsubasa offered to go and look for Tonouchi, but after less than a minute's discussion, it was decided a bad idea, especially to leave Mikan on her own. She would have been scared out of her wits to be by herself in a Boys' Dorm, above all the High School Division's ones. And of course, given to the current speculation of danger, it wouldn't seem very wise.
So instead, they raided Tonouchi's room, ate some snacks, and waited. Oh, how they waited. It had almost been two and a half hours before Tonouchi finally flurried into the room, his face screaming disappointment and frustration.
"It's not there- I mean, everywhere- I've looked everywhere, and it's not anywhere!" he gasped.
Both Tsubasa and Mikan were dismayed by the news. But the real horror struck when they realised that if the envelope wasn't found, then someone else must have it…
Mikan moaned loudly turned her head to face the other side, earning another unseen yet concerned glance from her partner. She wished Tonouchi and Tsubasa hadn't urged her to go to classes, she felt so jittery, and, if she dared to think about it, rather unsafe.
Out of the blue, a note flew through the air and landed on her desk right next to her head, making her jump extraordinarily loudly. She thought she heard Natsume give an inaudible scoff. Mikan, however, couldn't stop shaking slightly, after the shock, her whole body. It took her a good five seconds to calm her shaky hands, and another few seconds to calm her nerves.
But as she looked around the room, eagerly craning her neck to find the giver of the note, she saw no-one even paying attention to her, or giving off any reaction that a note had been thrown in the middle of class. This spooked Mikan out to an end, and she couldn't help beginning to hold her breath as she unfolded the note. She read it silently, once, then again. It stilled her, her eyes transfixed on the message. It was an instruction, but Mikan was too petrified to think about it. Her main concern was whether the sender of the note was 'on her side' or out to get her. A friend or foe.
She then turned her attentions to the actual instruction. Was it safe to do so alone? Should she let somebody know? She decided, after class she'd show Tonouchi the note and get his opinion on the matter.
As the buzzer rang for end of period, she quickly scooped up her school books, stuffing the note hastily into her pocket, then rushed out of the room. Her partner observed her curiously. Mikan was clearly unaware to the fact he had managed to read her note over her shoulder, and he wasn't pleased with what he saw. His mind was definitely made up now. That idiot had gotten herself into some sort of trouble, and he would be there to sort it out…
He passed by the freak inventor Imai on his way out of the classroom, surprised to see her give him an intense stare, when she saw him looking at Mikan. It was safe to say he was rather confused, but Imai just steadily held his gaze, and gave a solid yet almost imperceptible shake of her head. She carried on walking, not taking any more notice of him.
O-O-O
"What did you say? I mean, ma'am!"
The Brigadier General looked sympathetic. "The General of the Army. He arrives tomorrow. I only just found out..."
The General of the Army is flying in.
The Brigadier General's words repeated over and over inside the Colonel's head. Is this what the Lieutenant General was being so evasive about?
The Colonel wondered about the situation at hand. This didn't necessarily have to be a bad thing. Presuming that ... Yes! It was one of his biannual inspections on their divisions. Everyone knew about them, and the division leaders always put in more effort when they happened. Now that the Colonel thought about it, that must have been why the Lt. General had requested intensity in their training.
The inspections happened every year, an inspection in April and then in October. But, the more the Colonel thought, the more it seemed…wrong. For one, they were in the middle of June. What could this mean? If the GoA wasn't coming for inspections, then the Colonel had no idea what was going on.
"Brigadier General, ma'am. Do you know any further information regarding the General of the Army's visit, ma'am?" the Colonel looked hopeful.
"I'm sorry Colonel, I have no other information to disclose," replied the Brig. General, "As a matter of fact, Colonel, I am not 100 percent positive I should be disclosing this information to you right now. You should be tending to your squadron, apologies for taking up your training time,"
The Colonel nodded solemnly, and watched as the Brigadier General walked idly away.
She couldn't quite let the matter go, though. Perhaps there was a formal meeting for the Army's officials?
Her team finished their drills with a final snap to attention, and the Colonel slowly walked towards them. She wasn't ready to deal with them as of yet, her mind still elsewhere. Instead she, yelled at them for sloppy drills, ordered them to do five more - properly - followed by a round of the obstacle course. Despite being fully aware that she could be punished for neglecting her team, she left them to it, and let her mind wander once more. After a couple minutes' thinking time, it occurred to her, the only other reason the GoA would ever stir from his practical hibernation is if there's a-
The Colonel gasped and shook her head. She left her division, still doing their consecutive drills, and broke into a brisk walk, heading for someone in particular.
Things were bad. Very bad, indeed.
O-O-O
Unless she was being aggravated by a certain 'chimpanzee', Misaki Harada was usually a laid-back person. However, at the moment, as she walked down the gravel path leading to her dorm, she was incredibly on edge. Misaki was very aware of a hidden presence, which seemed to be following her, or had been for the last five minutes. It was awful and unpleasant, making her very bones uncomfortable.
Then, she heard the footsteps. Footsteps that could only belong to more than one person, how many, she wasn't sure. The footsteps weren't getting quieter or louder, just an incredibly steady distance from her, but still undeniably following her. She chanced a glance behind her back, but found nothing. Misaki was beyond freaked out.
This time Misaki made a full 180 degree turn to face her pursuers. Still she couldn't find anything.
"What do you want?" she shouted. She got no response. "Why are you following me?" she tried again but in vain.
"Just so you know, I am very capable of kicking butts, here, including yours!" Misaki tried intimidating them, but the words came out more desperate than she hoped. "Whoever you are…" she muttered.
Giving up on communication, Misaki continued her walk, though in her haste to get away from this unusual and possibly threatening presence, she quickened her pace. The footsteps quickened.
Misaki was becoming more and more scared by the second as she broke out into a sprint. She couldn't hear the footsteps anymore, with her heavy breathing and the wind rushing past her ears. She was completely pumped with the adrenaline of it all.
Finally, she reached the dorm and slammed the entrance shut behind her. Thank goodness nobody was around, otherwise she would have serious explaining to do, and risk looking like a mad woman. As her breathing calmed down, she leant an arm on the door. Everything had quietened now.
BLAM! Just then, the door began to shake violently, something from the outside jostling it around. Misaki screamed and fumbled for the multiple locks on the inside. She backed away from the door, and ran all the way to her room, eyes blinded with the hot tears of being frightened. Hurriedly, she searched around for her room keys and struggled to insert them into her lock.
Before she could enter, though, she spotted a tiny clockwork turtle, continuously trying to run into her closed door. There was something attached to its shell. Uncertainly, she looked around her before crouching down to retrieve a piece of paper. It was addressed to her and she had to gruffly wipe away her tears before reading it.
She gulped, tucked the note into her shirt pocket, and looked around her once more before setting off down the corridor, in a different direction to her room.
O-O-O
Hotaru knitted her eyebrows in annoyance. The idiot was late. Which meant the meeting was late. Unfortunately, Hotaru knew why Mikan was late, and it irked her. She was deliberately disobeying Hotaru's instructions. She was pretty sure, any moment now, Mikan would enter the room, timidly, dragging along-
The door creaked open and one of Mikan's silly pigtails flopped into view before her eyes peeked around the door. She took a sharp, inward breath when she saw Hotaru, Tsubasa and Misaki all sat down around one of Class B's desk.
"What-? What are you guys doing here?" Mikan asked, shocked.
"What's going on, Mikan?" a deeper voice said, before Tonouchi stepped into the room, quickly changing his expression from confusion and wariness, to confusion and surprise. "You guys…?"
"Tonouchi? I would have thought you'd drag along Hyuuga, Mikan. Oh well, glad to see you're finally here," Hotaru said monotonously, with a hint of sarcasm. "Though, I see you've disobeyed the instructions on the note I gave you," Here she narrowed her eyes at Tonouchi.
"I'm sorry I brought him along, Hotaru, I was scared!" Mikan apologised, at the same time Tono exclaimed incredulously, "The note was from you, Imai?" Mikan thought for a second, before parroting,
"Wait a minute, the note was from you, Hotaru?"
O-O-O
Ugh, that was an awful chapter, at least I feel so. I dunno, it just didn't flow as well for me as the others did when I was writing it. ^sigh^ It was also meant to be longer, much longer, but I have decided to split it into two, because too much info in one chapter spoils the broth... or something like that.
If any of you happen to know about the position of General of the Army, you will probably already know what the end of the Colonel's sentence was ;)
Okay, I just HAVE to special mention those of you who gave reviews. Here you guys are: Alice-Lover-3, Crimson-midnight-Moon, and TheCrimsonThatStainsMyHeart. You guys are just too awesome for words (ignore the ones I'm using right now). They all touch my heart in the most sincere, sweetest way possible :3
I shall update soon! And please review, they're like energy drinks to me. Glug.
Lisee xx
