Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice/ Alice Academy
Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 17
December 26th…
It started snowing since last night. Mikan is still in her room. She hasn't come out of her room since yesterday. Her friends check on her every hour. She doesn't face them but she assures them that she is fine and just needed some time alone. It is either she was lying on her bed or standing beside her window and watching the snow but either way she keeps on reading her Grandfather's letter over and over.
It's strange, I don't feel that much pain. Somehow I am much more concerned in the last message that was written in this letter. If she's alive, why does she have to leave me with grandfather?. She was in deep thoughts when she heard her grumbling stomach. I need to grab something to eat. Mikan stood up from her bed and fixed herself. I also need to talk to Mr. Narumi.
Mikan walked out of her room and when she is on the stairs someone called her.
"Mikan, wait"
Mikan looked back just to see Natsume catching up with her.
"Where are you going?" Natsume asked when he caught up with her.
"I was just going to get some food" they continued walking together.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm feeling good, thanks for asking, and also thank you for yesterday"
"It's nothing. Didn't tell you before that I too can listen sometimes"
"Yeah, you did listen to my cry" she smiled.
"You're over it already?"
"No. let's just say that somehow I know that it would happen, and besides I can't lock my self to my room and cry forever, right?"
Natsume was surprised to what he just heard. Is that really Mikan, I mean they were talking about the death of her grandfather? The Mikan he knows always cry when she misses her grandfather and when she doesn't receive any news about him, but the way she's reacting now, she may be grieving but she's grieving in a mature way "I guess you're not the stupid little girl anymore." He muttered.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing"
They reached the canteen. Mikan bought a sandwich and a juice.
"Where are you heading now?" Natsume asked her.
"Uhm, well if you don't mind, will you come with me at Mr. Narumi's place?"
"Let's go"
"Thank you"
"I thought you hate saying thank you to me?"
"I do, but you always help me out so I guess it can't be helped"
The two of them walked through the snow and headed for Mr. Narumi's place. When they reached his place, Mikan knock and seconds later the door opened. Ms. Serina opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" she asked them.
"I would like to speak with Mr. Narumi" Mikan answered.
"Come in"
Mikan and Natsume entered. They went to the main hall and there they saw Mr. Narumi sitting in the couch and Mr. Misaki standing beside the window.
"I'll make some tea" Ms. Serina said.
"Why'd you have to walk through the snow?" Mr. Misaki asked the both of them.
"She wanted to see Narumi" Natsume answered.
Mikan and Natsume look at Mr. Narumi and they noticed him being pale.
"Are you sick, Mr. Narumi?" Mikan asked concern.
"Just a little" he said then smiled at her. "I'm sorry Mikan, about your grandfather. I didn't tell you earlier because I saw you enjoying celebrating with your friends. I don't want to ruin your fun" he said apologetic.
"I understand, and even if you had told me earlier, it won't make any difference anyway. I just came here to apologize for running away yesterday"
"What you did was a natural reaction? How are you feeling now?"
"I'm feeling just fine. I guess I am already prepared for that"
They were all surprised with what Mikan said.
"You mean the dream?"
"Yeah, I had that dream over and over. I guess it was really a warning and also before I came to you yesterday, the fortune teller at central town already gave me a hint"
"Fortune teller?" Mr. Narumi asked.
"Yeah, the same one we went to last fall. I saw her again yesterday and she told to prepare myself from the news I would receive that is about the person I cared most outside the academy."
"So you mean you're ok now?" Ms. Yamada asked again.
"Yeah, just a little sad though because I wasn't able to say goodbye to him. And I wasn't able to apologize to him properly as well"
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault" Mr. Narumi said looking down.
"You have nothing to be sorry about Mr. Narumi, you did what you can to keep me in touch with him and besides you didn't force me to enter the Academy I decided it myself."
"Do you regret entering the academy now?" Mr. Misaki asked her.
"No, even though entering the academy is just a part of my childhood selfishness and silliness I enjoyed my stay here"
"That's good to hear" Mr. Narumi smiled.
Their conversation took for almost 2 hours. Mr. Narumi told Mikan every detail that he knows about her grandfather's death, she was just listening when she heard something that caught her attention.
"Your neighbors said that before your grandfather died he had visitors. A woman and a man, few days after that he died. No one knows who the visitor was because they say it was the first time they saw them."
"It was my mother" she said. It was the only thing that entered her mind.
"I thought Hotaru said that your Grandfather is the only relative you have left?" Natsume asked confused.
"I thought so too, but in my grandfather's letter, he wrote there that he just found out recently that my mother was still alive"
Narumi, Misaki and Serina were surprised but they didn't show it. They waited until Mikan and Natsume leave.
"Could it be possible that she's alive?" Serina asked Narumi.
"Could be, we didn't hear any news of her dying" Narumi said.
Natsume was walking ahead of Mikan. Seeing the serious Natsume, Mikan got possessed with her childishness again. She kneeled and made a snow ball and suddenly throws it at Natsume. When Natsume turned around Mikan look the other way pretending that she knows nothing. Natsume continued walking and Mikan throw another snow ball on him. He ignored it for a moment and pretended to continue walking, suddenly he turn around and caught Mikan holding a snow ball. Mikan with no escape threw the ball on him. He avoided it then he started making his own snowball and throws it to her, she got hit. They started running around throwing snowballs at each other. They didn't notice they were already in front of their dorm and their friends are already watching them.
"Is that really Mikan and Natsume?" Yuu asked surprised.
"Definitely" Koko answered smiling.
"We were worried for nothing" Sumire said while looking at the happy Mikan.
"This is the first time I saw him having this much fun for years" Ruka said, no one heard him but Hotaru who were beside him.
"I guess being around each other makes them forget everything" she said while smiling and looking at her best friend.
"Yeah" Ruka said and he noticed the smile on Hotaru's face "Does this mean, your not angry with him anymore?" he asked smiling.
Before Hotaru could answer someone threw a snowball on her, it was Mikan. "Join us and have fun" it was then when they noticed that the others was also there playing with the snow already. They have no choice but to join them as well. Once again they feel like normal kids, they doesn't care about anything, all they know is their having fun.
From one of the dorm room someone was watching them while they were having fun.
"I guess making a move now is not worth it" Itsuki said to Kaoru. "Why don't we go down there and join them?"
"Go down your self" Kaoru is already pissed.
"What are you so angry about?" Itsuki asked her smiling.
"Was that a trick question? We've been here for months and yet we haven't done anything worthy"
"Are you really pissed about that or by the fact that until now you aren't successful in getting his attention?"
"Same goes for you"
"Nah, I know she feels something for me, it's just not as strong as she feels towards Natsume but if Natsume is out of the picture I can have her."
"Conceited aren't we" he stared back at the people playing outside.
Why am I competing for her attention anyway? It's not part of my mission. My mission is to get her trust not for her to get my heart. But if I get her to our side, that wouldn't be a problem anymore. Itsuki's thoughts while watching Mikan.
The past few days gone perfectly fine for Mikan and the others. They didn't care what happened in the past they just enjoyed the time they have. Mikan's relationship with Natsume is still unclear but it was obvious that they are much closer than before. Natsume's changed completely.
Mikan watched her friends laughing together. I hope time like this never ends. She smiled.
"Hey, Mikan" from behind her Kaname popped out.
"Hey, what's up?" she greeted him with her smiling face.
"Can I speak with you for a while?"
"Sure" Mikan looked at her friends and supposedly excuse herself but she noticed that they are having so much fun so she decided to just go. Unknown to her there are few people who noticed her leaving.
"Where are they going?" Ruka asked Hotaru who is looking the same direction he was.
"I don't know" She answered but looks curious.
Where is he going with that guy? Why didn't she say a word? Natsume frowned in irritation.
Another competition, huh? Itsuki said to himself.
Kaname and Mikan went to Mr. Bear's cottage.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Mikan asked when they were already there.
"You're Alice is nullifying alice, right?" Kaname is looking at her seriously.
"Yeah, everyone knows that. What is this about?" she was confused.
Kaname look outside at the direction of the stuffed dolls that were playing "Who made him?" Kaname asked her pointing at the Teddy Bear Mikan made. "I saw him in this cottage few days ago, I asked him who made him and he answered me clearly that it was you who created him" he looked back at Mikan curious to see her reaction.
"I – I just– I just bought him at central town" she said stuttering obvious that she was lying.
"Mikan, there's no one else in the whole academy who has the same ability as I have. They can make stuffed dolls move but in a different method, maybe by attaching devices but not the same way that I do. I checked him and there's nothing on him, he was made the same way I made the other stuffed dolls"
"I really don't know, I swear I just bought him at central town"
"Fine, then come with me at central"
"I can't. I have a lot of things to do" Mikan said and attempted to escape from Kaname.
"Will you stop lying to me Mikan" he grabbed Mikan at her wrist which prevent her from leaving.
Mikan stopped. "Ok, I'll tell you the truth. I made him. I don't know how he was able to move and talk. I just put him together normally and when I finished he just talked to me"
"How is that possible?"
"I don't know. I really have no idea. Please don't tell anyone else until I find out what's happening" she told Kaname.
Kaname just sighed. He doesn't know what to say. He himself can't explain how did that happen so maybe for now the best thing to do is to keep it a secret "Ok, I'll keep it a secret"
"Thank you" she bowed to him as gratitude.
After that Kaname walked Mikan back to her friends. "see you around" he said then waved goodbye.
"Where have you been? You always disappear." Sumire asked her.
"Oh, I'm sorry guys. I just had a talk with Kaname"
Sumire looked at her suspiciously.
While having dinner, their talk suddenly ended up talking about their families. At first everything was going fine but then…
"How about you Mikan, tell us about your family" Kaoru looked at her with a fake smile.
Mikan's face saddened automatically.
"Hey, shut up" Sumire shouted at Kaoru.
"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot about your grandfather. Anyway what about your parents?" the same smile was painted on her face.
Mikan can't control it anymore, Kaoru is really pushing her to her limit. With irritation she stood up from her seat recklessly that cause her chair to tumble. The sound of the chair caught the attention of the other students that was having dinner. "I don't have any. Now if you'll excuse me" Mikan said with an obviously angry tone then she walked straight out of the cafeteria.
"What's wrong with you? Why can't you keep your mouth shut for once?" Hotaru faced Kaoru angrily then followed her best friend. That was the first time they saw Hotaru that angry but no Ruka he saw her once that angry and it was also for Mikan.
Kaoru smiled mockingly then asked "What did I do wrong?"
The others just look at her then shook their head and one by one they walked out including Itsuki. But before Itsuki left he said something to his cousin "You've gone overboard this time"
Hotaru followed Mikan to her room but when she reached the door she Mikan talking with someone already, which means someone gone after her friend before she did. She didn't bother knocking she just listens…
"Just ignore that girl" Natsume told Mikan. Mikan was sitting on the side of her bed while Natsume was standing beside the window.
"That's what I do all the time, but she's really pushing me to my limit"
"I understand" he said then for a moment there were silence when a question entered his mind " Why did you say that you don't have any parents?"
"Because I don't" her voice is starting to rise.
"But in your grandfather's letter it says that your mother is still alive"
Mikan stood up from where she was sitting and look at Natsume with an angry face "Look, I never met her, I didn't know how she looks. I don't even know she existed. For almost 13 years the only family I knew is my grandfather and that won't change just because of a letter" Natsume was looking at Mikan and that was the time Mikan realized that she lost it again. "I'm sorry" she said then get back to where she was sitting before.
From outside the door, Hotaru heard everything. Her emotions were mixed up. She felt like Mikan is being so far from her. She's keeping a lot from her. With that she turned around and headed to wherever her feet brings her. She hasn't walked that far yet when she bumped to someone, it was Ruka.
"Sorry" she said then continued walking.
Ruka followed Hotaru "Hey, what's wrong? Where's Mikan, didn't you go after her?"
Somehow Hotaru and Ruka ended at Hotaru's lab and there they continued their talk.
"She's changed. Mikan changed a lot. I didn't notice when all I know now is she's not the Mikan I know" she sighed while saying those words. "I don't know whether I should be happy or not"
"Seems like even you don't know a lot of things" Ruka smiled teasingly. "but really what's wrong with the Mikan now?"
"It's a fact that she matured a lot and I'm happy for that. But lately she's growing away from me. She keeps secret from me. She didn't even tell me about what happened between the two of you if I didn't ask her to. She didn't tell me how she felt about her grandfather's death. I can't tell what she's feeling right now, but Natsume, he knows everything about her. Even though he hurt her once, she trusts him completely" Hotaru don't understand but somehow she felt angry.
"You're just jealous. But don't you think it's partly your fault?"
"What do you mean by that?" Hotaru looked at Ruka.
"Come on, you always shove her off when she comes near you. You spend most of your time in this laboratory creating that" he pointed at Hotaru's ultimate invention that she was working for years. "No matter how many years you spend on working on that you can never create a replica of Mikan, why do you have to anyway? Mikan is right here, and she will always stay here with you. But you yourself is putting a barrier between the two of you. You say you don't how she feels anymore because she's been secretive to you, what about you have you ever shown her what you really feel? Have you ever told her that your there for her? You may have shown it once in a while but that's not enough" Ruka continuously lectured Hotaru.
Hotaru was silenced, she know he was right. What's happening between her and Mikan was partly her fault. She always shove her away just so she wouldn't be disturbed. She just don't want to admit it to herself.
"But you know, you're not the only one with that problem. I too is having a problem with Natsume. We were together since we were kids but I was never able to him laugh the way Mikan does. But I'm not jealous of Mikan, in fact I am very grateful to her, because she was able to bring the real Natsume back, one thing I was not able to do. I can't really tell what he's feeling because he never shows it to me, but to Mikan, he never hesitate to let her see his true side" Ruka added.