Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice is not mine…

Previously, on the last chapter!

"Do you ever… ever like anyone?" Mikan questioned.

"Yes I do. And her name's Sumire Shouda."

Sumire's Triumph

"That baka …" Hotaru said softly, looking at her computer, which showed the scene between Natsume and Mikan. "So that's where my Slave Machine-gun went. I haven't charged her for taking it without permission."

Hotaru then stood up, and walked mechanically out of the classroom, while others observed. "W-Where are you going?" Aoi asked.

"To ask Sumire to pay my theft bills. It won't be cheap." Hotaru then shut the door.

No way! This mission is…a failure? Aoi grimaced, but how could it be? When we planned it…so perfectly…but then again…it was impossible to ignore all the loopholes…

"Aoi-chan, it's not your fault," Iinchou started to say, touching her shoulder lightly, as a way of comfort.

"I-I thought we might succeed," Aoi choked, tears running down her face. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, "We can't give up now, can we?" She bravely forced a smile and made way for the door.

"Where are you going?" Ruka asked.

"I want to ask something." Aoi stopped, ignoring Ruka's previous question.

"Y-Yes?" Ruka said, startled.

"Does Sumire hate me?"

Ruka did not want to state the obvious. "Well…" he trailed off.

"I thought so." She gave Ruka and Iinchou a rather sad smile, then walked out of the room and shut the door.

Sumire leaned against the sakura tree, apparently waiting for Natsume to make his daily visits to this particular tree. Natsume-kun, she smiled gleefully, we can finally…

"That would be 5,500,000 rabbits." A cold, slightly sneering voice sounded.

"What?" Sumire snapped back to reality and looked over at Hotaru, "Oh, it's you, Imai. What do you want?"

"Baka, you're still able to act all calm and collected even though you hurt Mikan's feelings. I won't forgive you. Zettai yurusanai!" Despite all the cold words that came from her mouth, Hotaru still looked irritatingly indifferent. She then retrieved an object from absolutely nowhere.

"W-What…"

Baka! Baka! Baka!

Every single shot hit Sumire's face and she fell to the ground. "Ooh…" She groaned.

"Amazing," Hotaru said, but her tone of voice suggested the exact opposite, "It seems that you have not lost consciousness yet. Should I use the Baka Cannon?"

BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!

As Sumire rolled over, hopelessly unconscious, Hotaru nudged her with her foot. "Hey, wake up," she glared icily, "I'm not finished yet. I wanted to find a candidate to try out my new Baka Turbo Cannon. Congratulations for answering my prayers."

Hotaru then retrieved a bigger, and meaner version of the Baka Cannon. It was as big as a large branch. But she appeared to carry it with apparent ease. She aimed, and lazily shot her.

BAKAAAA!!

"WHAT? YOUR SLAVE MACHINE-GUN WAS A FAKE?" Aoi shrieked.

"It's not a fake, baka, it's just a trial version. To get it to work, Sumire needed to reactivate and readjust the parts inside the machine-gun. And it would be a miracle if that moron could actually tell the difference between reactivate and readjust." Hotaru said, not taking her eyes off her book.

Aoi was in Hotaru's room. Hotaru wasn't pleased to see Aoi barging in and clumsily messing about her blueprints, and so kept her cold and indifferent demeanour.

"I know that Sumire couldn't have attacked Natsume-oniichan with that-," Aoi paused, and glanced at the machine-gun with apprehension, "that….thing, because I was right next to him all along! Then how could Sumire have…have…bewitched him?"

"Are you stupid or something, baka? Of course she couldn't get to him directly! But she probably got an idiot that had the right alice to charm Hyuuga."

"Y-You mean, someone like, Narumi-sensei?" Aoi exclaimed incredulously.

"Yes, but nothing fits. I specially designed that Slave Machine-Gun for IDIOTS ONLY. Narumi-sensei isn't an idiot (though I always thought so whenever he does something dumb, like cross-dressing) and he wouldn't be affected at all by the Slave Dart. And also, if Sumire didn't reactivate and readjust the parts inside, it wouldn't have worked." Hotaru finally looked up from her book, and was looking coolly at Aoi, "So that means-"

"-Narumi-sensei w-wasn't bewitched when he charmed Natsume-oniichan? But…why?" Aoi spat at the ground spitefully.

Hotaru looked at the floor and said, "For spitting on MY floor, that will be 500 rabbits, and also, you have to clean it up, no exceptions. I will have to make you a bill like I do to Mikan, with all this. And don't forget, you owe me my 4,999,999 rabbits."

Aoi gaped at her, mouth hung open. Her left eye twitched. "So, someone's being a money-minded jerk, isn't she?"

"Yes, glad we sorted that out." Hotaru then resumed reading her book, "If you're done with your business here, you may leave, meathead."

Aoi paused, and then looked at Hotaru with a wistful expression on her face. Hotaru looked up, and said, "Remove yourself from my presence, blockhead. Unless you have some other business to state with me, you should leave. And, just in case you don't know where the door is, it's there, behind you, and to get it open you need to twist the doorknob."

Aoi giggled, apparently thinking of something else. "You sound like my oniichan at times like this. You're practically the girl version of Natsume-oniichan!"

"Unless you want to say something important, please leave," Hotaru retorted, "And it gives me a headache to hear your relentless, irritating voice yakking on about some pointless insult. And don't forget you owe me for listening and giving you advice. I shall decide on the price later. Good bye."

Mikan lay on her bed, curled up in her blanket. Her face was tear-strained.

Wait, why am I thinking so much about this? It shouldn't bother me at all… right? He's just my friend! Wait, he shouldn't be counted as my friend, that pervert! He should be with Sumire, they make a perfect couple! Mikan thought, though tears welled up as she thought that, but why am I making such a big deal over this?

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Came a series of knocking on her door.

"This is Iinchou. Nonoka and Anna are with me."

"Don't come in. I don't want to talk to anyone right now!" Mikan shouted, not believing her harsh tone.

"Please Mikan-chan. Aoi-chan told us everything. Natsume-kun wasn't acting like that on purpose." Anna's voice sounded.

"Well, its too late now, isn't it?' Mikan sniffed.

"Just let us in Mikan-chan!" Nonoko cried beseechingly, "Nobody will get a chance to explain if you just shut yourself in and isolate yourself from everybody!"

Mikan sighed, and reluctantly opened the door.

"You did something cruel to Sakura-san, Naru," Yamada-sensei looked at him in the staff room, "Not only that, you tricked Sumire too. She really believes that device of Imai-san worked."

Narumi-sensei looked around to make sure no one was listening, and then hung his head in shame, "I know how Mikan-chan and Natsume-kun feel for each other, but I can't let them get any closer than they already are. It's for their own safety."

"Is this about the higher-ups again?" Yamada-sensei inquired impassively.

"Yes, Mikan-chan has been under close observation for the whole of last year and this year. If the higher-ups know about their relationship, they will probably take Natsume-kun and see what happens to Mikan-chan…" Narumi-sensei looked at Yamada-sensei rather miserably, "and it's the other way round for Persona. He might just kidnap Mikan-chan to tick Natsume-kun off. So either way, we don't want that to happen."

Yamada-sensei gazed at Narumi-sensei, waiting to see if he had anything more to say. Then she cleared her voice, and said matter-of-factly, "I still think you should leave them be. Remove your alice from Hyuuga-kun. Sakura-san might get even more depressed if this continues on."

"I know. I've sworn to myself to protect my students, regardless of who it is. I shall protect both Mikan-chan and Natsume-kun should anything get rough."

Hmm…when I named this chapter "Sumire's Triumph", I failed to mention what she would triumph against. Yappari, she was still a million years too early to challenge the Baka Gun….haha…anyways, thanks for reading the 4th chapter! Please don't hesitate to review! Onegaishimasu