A/N: Thanks for the feedbacks. It made my day.
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Disclaimer - I honestly DO NOT own Gakuen Alice. So please, DO NOT waste your precious rabbits to hire a lawyer.
True Smile
Chapter 3
"Hi! My name is Raidon Mine. It is my pleasure to meet you all."
The class was in an uproar, the girls were hysterically giggling and the boys were, well, grumbling. This guy sure made a great first impression.
"Sensei, what is his alice?" I asked.
"Well, I don't know. Why don't we ask Raidon-kun, ne?"
Mine-san smirked widened considerably. He seems to be gloating. Well, I can't really say such thing about him. It's not polite. He just arrived anyways. I need to keep an open mind. He may just feel awkward. It is his first day after all.
"First, I will like to point out that, I am a special star student."
Again, the class was buzzing with noise. How about that? Another special star student in class. This makes two special star students in this class. He is the one doing missions, a replacement for Natsume. I'm sure he has a powerful alice.
"Hn. So, what's your alice?"
Now, that was unexpected. The Natsume Hyuuga just asked a question. Everyone was quiet. Perturbed by this change of event. It's not everyday he spoke in class and when he does it's like a miraculous event.
"Yes, what is your alice? If you don't mind me asking."
Ah. Sweet Mikan, thank goodness she broke the silent. The only person, who, until now seems immune to Natsume's scary effects. She smiled warmly at the new addition to our class. If someone needs a warm welcome, ask Mikan to give the greeting.
She has such a warm smile and a big heart. I think, even Natsume is affected by her. Raidon Mine is no exception, he smiled back at Mikan. A charming smile, the girls are saying. I'm a guy, that is why I think it's a smirk he has on.
"Well, I have the alice of thunder. It is an intermittent alice. Only when I use it in a certain way it becomes somewhat like a limitless alice. I try my best to avoid using the limitless one. I don't think I want an early death."
The class gushed.
"Hn. It's the same as Jinno's alice." Natsume grunted.
"That's where you're wrong. His alice is different from mine."
"How is it different?" Narumi-sensei piped up.
"Hn. His alice is lightning. Lightning is a discharge of electricity. Thunder is different. It doesn't discharge electricity. Thunder is a sonic shock wave, a shock wave that turns into a booming sound wave, better known as thunder."
"In other words, you can create a sonic boom." I simplified it for the whole class.
Mine-san shrugged and nodded. That is an amazing alice. It is an intermittent alice, yet it can become as limitless as Natsume's fire alice. The class seems to have the same opinion as I do. They stared at Mine-san in awe, the boys begrudgingly respect him and the girls more fascinated by him.
"Wow. You're amazing."
Mikan chirped happily. A gleam of awe and happiness can be seen in her eyes. Her compliment made Mine-san smug superiorly at someone. I could not catch it, who that someone is because the next second his face went blank.
"Now that all of the introductions are done, it's time to pick a partner for you."
Just with that statement, almost all the female population began to volunteer themselves by raising their hand and shouting their names.
"I want to choose my partner."
"Oh well, since everyone here has a partner already, I guess you can pick anyone you like. That means you have two partners."
"Whatever. I pick the brunette with pigtails."
Mikan look stunned, Ruka flabbergasted, Hotaru is smirking and Natsume look like he just eaten something really sour. The females were glaring at Mikan, while the boys were sending sympathy looks at Mine-san.
This is going to be an interesting term. I just know it. I let out a big sigh. Being Iinchou is hard work.
"Nii-chan! Nii-chan!" 10-years-old Aoi-chan shouted from a far. The freedom of Yukiaoi Hyuuga made Natsume Hyuuga and the people around him feel glad and relive. The uptight Hyuuga loosen up a bit. Let me emphasize on a BIT, though he did became scarier.
Anyone who looks at Aoi-chan the wrong way gets a deadly death glare and anyone who even touches a strand on that girl's hair suffers from severe burn. This is only a small warning for the male population who is besotted to the young Hyuuga.
Unlike her big brother, she does not have a fiery temper. In fact, she is the exact opposite of her dear Nii-chan. Soft-spoken, sweet and kind. She is also smart and confident in herself. A likeable person by nature and loves her Nii-chan very much.
Once, when a senior started a nasty rumour on Natsume, she got angry and burned the guy. Thankfully, it was only a severe burn. From that point on, everyone knew not to mess with the Hyuuga's. On a lighter note, Aoi-chan likes Mikan very much that she started to call her Nee-chan.
It was a shock for both Natsume and Mikan. Mikan blushed furiously, while Natsume scowled viciously when Aoi-chan called Mikan, Nee-chan. When Natsume told Aoi NOT to call her that, she scolded her big brother. It was funny, but we did not laugh, afraid of what Natsume's wrath would inflict on us.
The only person who smiled on amusedly was Mikan. She is safe as long as Aoi is nearby. Mikan dotes on Aoi and vice versa. Somehow, to me anyways, Mikan is different when she is with Aoi. She smiles more and easily too. A completely different person lights up her feature.
With us though, she holds back and is self-conscious. It is as if she no longer trusts us. Slowly, I can see that she is distancing herself from us. Subconsciously, I knew this is the truth, this is what's happening, but logic and from what I see dictate other wise.
She acts the same and to everyone else she is just her typical self. Unless of course, someone else sees what I see. For now though, only I notice it, so perhaps it is my own imagination. Mikan is not that kind of person. She would not hold grudges or keep problems to herself. That much I know.
"Mou, Nii-chan. What took you so long?"
"Hn. New student and polka-dots."
"Huh?"
"Hey. Stop calling me that Natsume! Hello Aoi-chan."
"Nee-chan. Ano, who's that, nee-chan?"
"Aoi, meet Raidon Mine. He just transferred in yesterday."
"Oh. Hello. My name is Yukiaoi Hyuuga. Call me Aoi."
"Hi. It's a pleasure to meet you, Aoi-chan. You're Hyuuga's imouto?"
"Yes. You're a special star aren't you?"
"How did you know that, Aoi-chan?" I was surprised she knew.
"I have seen Kamen no Kimi trained him once."
"Oh."
With that said, our discussion ended. Persona is a delicate subject, especially when the Hyuugas' are involved. Natsume hates him and Aoi-chan is scared of him. Still, it is strange of her to call him Kamen no Kimi.
"Erm...how about I show you around, Mine-san."
"That would be nice Sakura-san."
Again, Mikan dispersed the completely tense atmosphere. She has a talent, to soothe the atmosphere with her bright personality. Mikan and Mine-san walked away, leaving us behind. I guess it's okay, she's just showing him around after all and the rest of us wants to pry out information from Aoi-chan.
"So, you've seen him before. What exactly was he trained for, Aoi?"
"I don't know Nii-chan. I think it's a worse version of your training. He is badly injured that time I saw him. I also think his mission is harder."
"He doesn't look to concern about it though. He seems content doesn't he?" Ruka spoke out his thoughts.
"He sure does. Wait, that means he really did not just transferred in yesterday."
"Aoi-chan, when exactly did you saw him?"
"It was three years ago. I think."
Raidon Mine, a person whom is shrouded in mystery. We tried to get more information from Aoi-chan, but she didn't know much. I went to Narumi-sensei too. It seems even he doesn't know much about Mine-san.
The few days went by with all of us trying to find more information on Mine-san. Mikan keeps Mine-san busy, Natsume doesn't seem to be happy with this though. It amuses all of us. Unfortunately, for us, Mine-san isn't a talkative person. He only answers certain questions.
He talks when he deems it is necessary to talk and even that is limited to a few words. The only person who can actually converse with him is Mikan. He has few expressions, mostly he smirks and sometimes smiles, but only to certain people.
These certain people are usually Mikan and occasionally Aoi-chan. This little thing did not go unnoticed, Natsume gets more irritated by Mine-san. I knew from that point on, Mine-san and Natsume will not get along.
Aoi-chan noticed this and tried to pacify her brother. Her efforts did help a bit, but not much. In Mikan's case, I don't know if she notice it, but if she did, she did nothing about it. She seems oblivious to her surroundings, sometimes I think she has other things on her mind.
I even told Kokoroyomi to read her mind, only he couldn't. Mikan's nullifying alice has gotten stronger, she can block out Kokoroyomi. It's difficult for me to understand her nowadays, I know there's something different about her, but I just can't put my finger on it.
I asked Hotaru about it, only to get the baka gun on my face. I wanted to talk to Mikan about it too, I just don't know how. Other than that, I just can't find time to talk to her. Every time I tried, someone keeps calling me. Iinchou this and Iinchou that. It's hard.
Sad even, I have time for work but no time for my friend.
- Tsuzuku -
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