Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry for disappearing! " I'm working really hard for my upcoming exam (which is starting next week, by the way, bless my soul) and my internet also thinks that I should focus studying so yeah, again, apologies :( I hope you can bear my slow pace of updating and continue reading!

"What is the music of life?"

"Silence, my brother."

-Skyrim

"All the vans have arrived safely."

Mikan was on alert the whole time, and it tired her, but fortunately nothing happened to Natsume. She sighed loudly as the van stopped. At least now we're together, it will be easier.

"Where is this?" Natsume asked.

"Gas station," Mikan replied. "We're halfway your first concert place. Do you want to go buy something at the convenience store?"

"I want, but I don't want to move. Buy for me." Natsume jumped onto the bed.

"I am not your servant! Go buy it yourself."

"Even if I go by myself, you'll need to come with me, right? Then it's gonna be the same—you'll need to go there anyway."

"That's a different story. My mission is to protect you."

"And outside this van, I believe some guards would have been assigned to protect this van. I don't see what all the fuss is about. Nothing had happened so far." Natsume yawned. "Nothing will happen, geez."

"Nothing had happened?!" Mikan narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "Don't you remember the poison in Koko's cake?! The brick thrown to Tsubasa's window?! And for your information, this morning Ruka's van had to stop, because some people spread nails on the road and they had to change all four wheels."

Natsume rolled his eyes. He didn't even look surprised. "And did any of them impact our trip?"

"If Sumire wasn't there yesterday, Koko would've died."

"I doubted that. We can bring him to the hospital as fast as possible and nothing would happen."

"Gosh, why are you so stubborn? Do you hate us so much?" Mikan sighed heavily.

Natsume stared at her right in the eyes before answering, "You're a hindrance."

Mikan gritted her teeth. She didn't know it would hurt so much, having someone to tell you that you're only a hindrance.

"I'll go buy some things at the convenience store," she quietly said as she turned.

"Grab some Doritos while you're on it."

Mikan didn't reply. She walked out and slammed the door shut. After saying to the guards that she'd leave for a moment, she made a walk to the convenience store.

You're a hindrance.

Mikan could feel her eyes stinging. She blinked rapidly to get rid of that feeling. I can't cry because of this, she bit her lower lip and walked faster. I'm a professional. I can't get swayed just because my client doesn't like how I do my job.

"Mikan!"

Mikan turned in reflex to find Misaki waving at her. Sumire and Hotaru were behind her, catching up to her.

"We tried to contact you but you never picked up," Misaki said while trying to control her breath.

"Oh. Oh," Mikan remembered taking off her Bluetooth speaker after they arrived and put it somewhere. "Sorry, my ears were hot. I was thinking of taking them off for a moment but I forgot to put them back in."

Sumire glared at her. "Stupid! We think something had happened! No more forgetting to contact, is that understood?!"

Sumire could be really scary if she wanted to. "Yes, sorry," Mikan murmured.

Misaki sighed. "It's okay to make mistakes, Mikan. Don't be so down." She pat Mikan's shoulder reassuringly. "Sumire only wants to make sure you learn from them."

Mikan only nodded. It wasn't Sumire's harsh words that made her down. It was Natsume's. Why? "I'm okay," Mikan tried to sound cheerful as she lifted her head up. "So, any updates?"

Sumire's face turned grim. "Actually, yes. Our mission has been changed," she said.

Mikan blinked. "What? I don't understand. Changed?"

"More like updated," Misaki explained.

"Now our mission is no longer only to protect Fire," Sumire quietly said. "It's now 'protect Fire, and eliminate Silence'."

Mikan walked back from the convenience store with a bag full of snacks on her hand when she saw a small commotion in front of Natsume's van. She hurried there, worried something might have happened when she was away from Natsume.

"What happened?!" She asked, out of breath.

"Ah, Miss Sakura," a guard said in relief. "These—these girls insisted to meet Mr Hyuuga."

"Not all of us!" A pink-haired girl said. "Only one person!"

"Yes, yes!" A blue-haired girl chimed in. "Only our Miss needs to see him!"

"I—It's okay, Anna, Nonoko," suddenly a soft voice interrupted their rain of protests. "If I really can't see Natsume, it's okay. I understand, this is for safety measurements."

Mikan turned to the source of voice.

A beautiful girl with medium-length blonde hair was standing behind the two girls—Anna and Nonoko. Her skin was pale, as if she had never been under the sun for years, but her lips were rosy pink in contrast. Even though Mikan rarely saw the news, she knew very well who that girl was. She had seen her in Natsume's photo frame, after all.

"Luna Koizumi?" Mikan stared at her, disbelieving and confused.

She turned her attention to Mikan. "Sorry, do I know you?"

Mikan dismissed the guards. "I'll take care of her," she said, before turning back to Luna and her companies. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Koizumi. I'm Natsume Hyuuga's new personal bodyguard, hired from Alice. My name is Mikan Sakura." She smiled at them.

"From Alice?" Luna looked surprised. "I suppose Mr Tono hired you?"

"Yes, me and my friends."

Luna sighed in relief. "I'm glad. They all need as much protection as they can get now, considering the threat from Silence. Actually that is one reason I come here—I just want to check on Natsume."

She's his girlfriend, after all. Of course she would be worried. "I understand," Mikan smiled warmly. Luna seemed like a really kind and polite girl. "Of course, you have every rights to see him. But just for safety reasons, do you mind if I conduct a body search on you? Oh, and I'm afraid your companions cannot go with you."

"It's okay," Luna smiled gratefully at her. "Thank you so much, Miss Sakura."

"Just call me Mikan, please."

While Mikan was performing body search, she noticed that Luna's right arm was bandaged. "You're injured? What happened?"

When Mikan's hand touched the bandage, Luna moved her hand surprisingly fast. Her already pale face turned paler.

"I—It's nothing," she quickly said. "I—I tripped."

That was the lamest excuse Mikan had heard in her whole life, but she said nothing. She just smiled sweetly. "You have to be careful, okay? It's not good for girls to be having injuries, Miss Koizumi."

"Call me Luna, please. How about you, Miss Mikan? Your job is dangerous, after all."

She's diverting the topic to me. "Just Mikan, please. And yes, I got a lot of injuries. But I don't mind. This is my job, and I love it."

Luna smiled at her warmly, but Mikan couldn't help but feel suspicious after finding the injury. She felt that Luna was hiding something.

After Luna walked into the van, Mikan called her companions.

"Hi," Mikan greeted them. "Your names are Anna and Nonoko, I suppose?"

"I'm Anna," the pink-haired girl said.

"And I'm Nonoko," the blue-haired girl continued.

"We're both Miss Luna's maids," they said together. "Nice to meet you, Miss Mikan."

"Just Mikan, please. Nice to meet you too," Mikan smiled. "Is it okay if I ask a few questions about Luna? You know, I'm her fan. She's so pretty," Mikan pretended to fangirl over Luna.

"Yes, Miss Luna is so pretty!" Anna said dreamily. "Of course we don't mind."

"Say, how long has she been dating Hyuuga?"

"I think it's been around seven months," Nonoko said. "Miss Luna was extremely happy, we remembered that. She'd liked Mr Hyuuga for quite a while before that."

"Come to think about it, Miss Luna changed around that period of time."

Mikan's suspicion perked up. "Changed? What do you mean?"

"Yeah, she started hiding things from us," Anna frowned. "She would go out late at night and came back injured, but she wouldn't tell us what she did or where she went."

"And she's been going to meet Mr Hyuuga more often," Nonoko added. "Well, I'd say it's because she's worried. But nowadays, every time she met Mr Hyuuga, she would have a… weird look on her face. I couldn't really tell what that means. How about you, Anna?"

"Same here," Anna said, still frowning. "It was as if she's… hesitating."

Mikan's heart beat faster. Could it be…? "Uh, guys, by any chance, is she… y'know, able to defend herself and stuff? I mean, it looks rather dangerous, going out by herself only with you two…"

"Miss Luna is very capable of defending herself," Nonoko cut Mikan off.

"She knew martial arts, and she could handle guns quite well," Anna elaborated. "She might not look like it, but she actually can be quite a tough opponent in a fight."

Nonoko nodded in agreement. "That's why she can roam around freely."

Mikan glanced at her watch. Luna's going to finish soon. "One last question. Do you know anything about the injury on her arm?"

"Ah, she left in the middle of the night yesterday and came back like that," Anna said, sighing. "She didn't say anything, but her right arm was injured. It was like a graze or a cut, and it's bleeding. Fortunately we were still awake and could perform first-aid on her."

Gotcha. "Thank you. Oh, and can you not tell Luna about this? I'm sure she would be shy if her fan knew about these stuffs."

Anna and Nonoko nodded eagerly, and at that moment, Luna came out from the van.

"Thank you so much, Mikan," she said, smiling faintly at her. "It was nice, seeing Natsume safe. I'll take my leave now."

"See you around, Luna," Mikan said. "And… did something graze you, that you have this injury?" She pointed at her bandage, smiling.

Luna turned pale again. "N—No. As I have said, Mikan, I tripped and fell." She quickly turned away. "Anna, Nonoko, let's go."

The two girls followed her and walked away. Mikan waved at them, but after they disappeared, she quickly climbed into the van and grabbed her Bluetooth speaker.

"Guys, I think I find a—"

At that moment, she heard something exploded outside.

Sooo. How was it? Okay, yeah, the end is an annoying cliffhanger. I like giving cliffhangers. *smiles evilly*

Anyway, thanks for reading all the way here. Oh and thanks too for people who give their suggestion for the ending! Sorry I can't mention all of you one by one but please know that I love y'all :*

Well, wish me luck for my exams!

~sassgoddess