Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice

Hi everyone, it's me again~ thank you all for your reviews, I'm happy you find my story interesting! So now please go ahead and enjoy, as usual, feedback is much appreciated! :)


"What is the music of life?"

"Silence, my brother."

-Skyrim


After the brief introduction, Sumire dismissed them to have a "get-to-know" session with their respective pairs. And so the guys brought the girls up to their respective rooms.

Compared to the other guys, Natsume spoke the least. On the contrary, Mikan was a chatterbox, so Natsume's silence made her mouth itchy.

"So, you're Natsume Hyuuga!" She said as they walked up the stairs. "Can I call you Natsume?"

"Hn."

"You can call me Mikan."

"Hn."

"I heard you're the drummer."

"Hn."

"Can you say anything besides 'hn'?"

"Hn."

Natsume opened his door, revealing his messy bedroom to Mikan. Mikan didn't mind—she herself was a messy person. "Can I come in?" She turned to him, because he didn't say anything.

"Hn."

Mikan grew annoyed at his attitude. "Look, we'll have to work together, whether you like it. You're unfortunately stuck with me, but I promise I'll just be a mere bodyguard, all right? Now we'll have to discuss the limitations and stuffs." Mikan sat down on a chair. "The faster we do this, the faster you can get away from me."

Finally Natsume complied. He walked in, shut the door, and sit on his bed, across from Mikan.

"You set the rules, so go ahead," Mikan leaned back on the chair.

My rules? "First rule, no complaining about my habits."

Mikan tilted her head. "Alright, acceptable, unless it involves cigarette and drugs."

He glared at her. "Do you think I'm that low?"

Mikan shrugged. "Who knows?"

"Then, don't hang around too close. You're annoying me."

Mikan rolled her eyes. This Natsume guy was extremely unfriendly. "No can do. I'll have to stick with you like white on rice. Just set the clear boundaries."

"I'll set it later." Natsume thought about other rules. "Let's see… don't meddle with my personal life."

Mikan's pretty hazel eyes showed disappointment. "Aw, c'mon. Can't we be friends?" She pouted. She really wanted to befriend Natsume. She liked befriending people, after all.

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I have no intention of befriending flat-chested girls."

Mikan blushed madly. Her arms subconsciously moved to cover her chest area. "Y—you pervert!"

"I'm merely stating a fact. Wait, let me think of some other rules."

Mikan scoffed in irritation. As she waited, she let her eyes wander through the room. It was painted dark crimson—like his eyes, she thought. There were one king-sized bed, one huge closet, a TV and PlayStation and some other game consoles, a door which she presumed led to the bathroom, a set of gaming computer, and—to her amazement—a complete set of drums. Maybe I can ask him to play it for me later, she hoped.

Her eyes wandered again and stopped on his desk. Besides some books, there was only one other thing on that table—a photo frame. Mikan squinted, trying to see what picture that was.

"What are you doing?" Natsume knitted his eyebrows in suspicion.

"Oh, I want to see the picture on the photo frame," Mikan answered honestly, pointing at the frame. She could see Natsume in the picture… with a girl.

"That's none of your business."

"Is that girl your girlfriend?"

Natsume looked at her funnily. "You don't recognize her? Do you even read news?"

"Uh, sometimes?" Mikan answered hesitantly. "Who is she?"

Natsume sighed. "She's Luna Koizumi, the daughter of Koizumi Music Industries, our current employer. And yes, she's my girlfriend."

Mikan gasped. She recognized that name. "So you're together with her? I heard she's very beautiful and talented. I'd love to meet her."

"Well, you can't. She doesn't have time for people like you."

Mikan pouted and turned to Natsume. "You don't have to be so… WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Hm? Taking off my shirt, of course." Natsume was already halfway doing so.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO?! I CAN DO MARTIAL ARTS! IF YOU TRY TO RAPE ME, I CAN SCREAM TOO!" Mikan jumped back and stood in a ready-to-attack position.

Natsume threw off his shirt somewhere on the floor, sighing. This girl is so freaking loud. There goes my peaceful days, he thought wistfully. "You're already screaming anyway. Listen, Miss Mikan Sakura, this is a habit of mine. And you have agreed to accept all my habits, unless it involves cigarette and drugs, am I correct?" He smirked in triumph.

Mikan blushed at the sight of his naked body. "W—well," she squeaked. "I—I guess that's fine, then." She forced herself to keep professional. It's okay. Imagine he's another guy in swimming pool. It's… perfectly… normal… for him… to be shirtless.

"And for your information, this room is soundproof. You can scream as loud as you want, nobody's gonna hear you." Natsume grinned at her. "We can have a lot of fun together, Miss Mikan Sakura."

Mikan, still blushing, bit her lip. Apparently her first job was going to be tougher than she imagined. Elimination, the word repeated in her mind with a singsong voice.

No, Mikan toughed herself. I can do this. I can handle Natsume Hyuuga…

Mikan's eyes accidentally landed on some mangas on the floor, which covers showed things that obviously were not supposed to be seen by underage kids.

Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. …or maybe I can't.


"Thank you for the food," Mikan set her cutleries down, satisfied with the dinner. "Thank you for the hospitality, too."

"This is nothing. You guys are the ones helping us, after all. It is only natural to pay you back," Ruka smiled politely at her.

"So, how did the get-to-know session go, guys?" Sumire opened the conversation.

"Well, apparently Misaki-chan here is a big fan of our band," Tsubasa pointed at Misaki.

"I think your songs are great!" Misaki grinned cheerfully. "My favorite song is Red Memories. It was so nice. I heard you guys wrote the song by yourselves."

"Yes, I made the lyrics," Tsubasa said, "while Ruka there made the melody."

"It was nothing much," Ruka humbled.

"I really envied you guys! It must be nice, being able to play musical instruments and sing," Mikan blurted out.

"We can teach you in our free time," Koko suggested.

Mikan's hazel eyes sparkled. "That would be awesome!"

At that moment, the maids came and set plates of chocolate lava cake in front of each of them.

"Chocolate lava cake for dessert? Thank you so much!" Mikan beamed at one maid, who just nodded politely.

"It looks so nice. Let's dig in," Misaki took her spoon excitedly.

"Wait!"

Everyone turned to Sumire, who had a serious look on her face. "Don't eat," she said sternly while standing up.

"What? What happened?" Koko asked in confusion as Sumire lifted his plate up.

After a few seconds, she set it down. "Koko, don't eat the cake. It's poisoned. Just now I smelled a really strong smell of poison. Now it's faint, but I can still smell it." She walked around the table. "I guess only yours is poisoned. Guys, you can go on eating."

The boys shifted uncomfortably on their seats, already lost their appetite after Sumire's announcement; but Mikan dug into her cake without hesitation, followed by Misaki and Hotaru.

Ruka caught Hotaru's arm. "Hey, what if it's poisoned?!" He looked at her with worried eyes.

Hotaru shook his arm off easily. "Sumire has a very keen sense of smell and taste. She was never once wrong, and I don't think she'll break the record anytime soon. I have absolute trust in her," she said quietly as she put a spoonful of cake into her mouth.

Ruka stared at her. "I—I guess I'll eat too," he said timidly as he lifted his spoon.

Hotaru took a piece of his cake.

"Hey!" Ruka protested.

Hotaru ate it and said, "Yeah, no poison. Eat, scaredy-cat."

Ruka looked at her, dumbfounded. "You were checking for poison?"

"That's our job, Mr Ruka Nogi." Misaki smiled as she, too, took a piece of Tsubasa's cake. "Mm, delicious. Go ahead, it's safe."

Tsubasa smiled back as he wiped the corner of Misaki's mouth with tissue. "Eat slower." He chuckled. Misaki blinked, but joined in the chuckle soon enough.

Mikan glanced at Natsume. "Look, I know you don't like this, but I have to do my job."

Natsume didn't reply, so Mikan just took a piece of his cake. Nothing unusual. "It's safe to eat," she declared. "Go ahead. Eat it."

Natsume rolled his eyes. "I don't believe in you."

"Fine then!" Mikan took his whole cake and ate it whole. Natsume stared at her. "Hey, hey! You just ate my cake!"

"I thought you're scared of poison?" Mikan said sarcastically. Soon enough, both of them were involved in a heated argument. Everyone else just laughed at them.

"You can take my cake," Sumire slid her plate to Koko. "I'm on diet anyway."

"Why are you on diet? You're thin enough. I think you have to eat more," Koko said.

"I know you like chocolate cakes. Just eat it."

Before Koko could ask, Sumire said, "You wrote how much you like chocolate cake in your blog. I researched about you."

Koko pondered for a while before dividing the cake into two. "I like chocolate cakes," he admitted, "but I guess, I like seeing pretty girls smile more than cakes." He gave Sumire half of the cake.

Sumire lightly blushed, but she quickly hid it. "That's so cheesy," she exclaimed.

"Oh? But that's true. You're pretty." Koko said lightly.

Although Sumire had dealt with a lot of compliments while disguising, the way Koko said it—lightly, while smiling, as if they were just talking about the weather—made her blush a bit. Pull yourself together, Sumire! She mentally slapped herself. You're the head of the group—you'll have to maintain your professionalism! She punched Koko's shoulder to hide her embarrassment.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Koko rubbed his shoulder. Sumire was undoubtedly strong, and although she wasn't using her full strength, her punch still hurt.

"Nothing, sorry," she replied to him inaudibly, trying hard not to show that she was actually freaking out. She then took a spoonful of the cake.

All the girls agreed: the cake was absolutely delicious.


So, yeah, that's it for chapter 3. It may take me longer time to update because currently I'm working on another multi-chaptered story. (Spoiler: it's the sequel for Ogygia.) So if I update this one very fast, I'll take longer time to update that other story, and vice versa. I always go with the flow, so I only write stories when I'm in the mood.

Again, thanks for reading! Hope to see you in chapter 4 :)

~sassgoddess