CHAPTER 1: EXPLANATIONS

I took the seat next to my best-est friend in the world whom I missed too much. It felt so brilliant to be with her again. I spared a glance around the room and saw all of my old friends: Anna, Koko, Inchou and Ruka. I waved at him... he smiled uneasily and looked away. Even Sumire was here, although she seemed to be torn between being happy to see an old face or becoming angry to see me again...

"Up here, Mikan," said Jin Jin sternly. "Your sudden arrival is no means for you to distract the whole classroom."

"Sorry, sir," I said quickly.

The class went by normally. I, of course, didn't get half the things that the teacher said. I was frequently being told to pay attention. But, how could I? It's so surreal to be back here again. My best friend seemed as annoyed as Jinno-sensei. Hotaru kept nudging me with some new invention. I will have several bruises tomorrow. She was sitting abnormally close to Inchou...

The bell rang and we were dismissed. Outside, I sat with Hotaru and all of my old friends under the Peach tree.

"Mikan! Why are you back?" asked Anna. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"She beat the Elementary School Principal!" exclaimed Koko. Great, he's only seen me for an hour and he's already reading my thoughts.

At this, I was bombarded with questions. Most of them asking what happened. I sighed and decided they might as well know, there's no point in not telling them. It was this reasoning and Hotaru's tell-me-or-else look that made me tell them.

"Well, where do I begin... So, after my mother, Narumi-sensei and I left the school we were always on the move. We couldn't risk someone catching us or even tailing us. Our teleportation Alices helped a lot. Shiki came with us too. He was very useful in putting up barriers. We kept on the move for several months until we met at checkpoint with High School Principal. We devised a plan on how to overthrow the Elementary School Principal. It would take a while but it was the only way.

"Mother and I pinpointed the whereabouts of all of the ESP's clones. It surprised us how many there were, all over the world. Over two dozen at that. We tracked them down, one by one, stealing their Alices. It took us years. Finally, only the original ESP was left. He was suspicious by then and it was very difficult to catch him. After many trials and errors, we finally got him. We had split up and I had found him hiding in a heavily guarded prison. I... spoke... with him and stole his Alice. He's a heartless man. I'm glad to be rid of him.

"He was arrested by the government yesterday morning. I said goodbye to mother and Shiki, but they promised to drop by as soon as their names were cleared. We parted and I got here last night. So, here I am."

My audience was silent.

Hotaru broke the silence by slyly asking, "You got here last night. I suspect it was late...So where did you sleep last night?"

I felt my face turn red as my friends looked at me expectantly. "I...um," I began. But before I could get a proper answer out –

"In my room," said a deep voice behind me.

"Natsume!" cried a few of my friends, including Sumire, who seemed especially shocked. Her surprise melted away into annoyance. He was dressed in uniform now, unlike when I left him, or rather, when he left me.

"Again?" asked Anna, she probably couldn't restrain the mischief. I felt my face go hotter as I nodded slightly.

I desperately tried to think of something else. I looked around me searching for something else to talk about. That was when I saw that Hotaru and Inchou were holding hands.

AN: Sorry it was so short, I wrote this a long time ago and only recently continued it. I will get the next few chapters up soon. Reviews are appreciated ^ ^.