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"Mikan"

All that she could hear clearly at that moment is the racing beat of her heart. They're on a situation she never wanted to be part of. The thought of something unearthly is circling inside her head. Could this be it? She wanted to prepare herself from whatever she might experience, but she can't handle these sorts of matter. The temperature dropped, her face paled, no words from her companions can be heard. Mikan grasp on Natsume's shirt, she's afraid. The strange noise seemed closer and closer by the moment, and just when it seemed really close, they saw something that made Mikan scream.

Natsume was also taken by surprise that he forgot to cover her mouth, now, she started screaming, that made him snap back to reality. He hastily covered her mouth again and pulled her down so that they could hide their presence in the tall bushes, hoping that those "things" won't notice them in their location. But this may not be their lucky day 'cause now, the two large glowing blue orbs are slowly approaching their direction.

Mikan realized what she just did; she endangered their lives! She feels so stupid, she wanted to apologize and was about to say sorry, but Natsume was the first to speak, "Ruka," eying at his friend, confirming if he's paying attention. Seeing that he is, he continued "take Polka dots here back to the building, I'll handle this," he said in a low voice so that they're the only ones who can hear it. Ruka, understanding the whole situasion, followed Natsume's orders, but he said to himself that he would come back to help him after he assure Mikan's safety.

The creatures seemed to move closer towards their location. They must act quickly. "In a count of three, we'll run for it, okay?" Ruka whispered on her ear, she nods. "One…" her heart seemed to leap out of her chest, "Two…" cold sweat slowly dripped from her chin, she gulped, preparing herself for the expected run, "Three!" Ruka pulled her up and dragged her along while running.

Her heartbeat didn't slow down a bit as she turned her head towards Natsume's location. She felt like a piece of her heart was left behind when they ran, it's left there, at that exact spot, and she felt helpless because she don't know what else to do at that moment than to run and escape for herself. Ruka felt the same way as Mikan, he can't bear leaving his friend alone. Though he knows Natsume isn't that weak but still he's afraid of the thought of what kind of beasts may Natsume face. He might not survive! He shook the thought off, Hang on there, Natsume, I'll come back for you!

Mikan's eyes are teary, she wanted to call out his name but her throat was dry and no words could come out of her mouth. She was just staring at his standing figure until the trees and the mist covered the view. She regretted leaving him alone.

They were gasping for air when they arrived at their first post, they rest for a while to catch air. "Mikan-chan," Ruka said as he eyed her, "Can you go on from here? I'll go back to Natsume and find out if he's alright, meanwhile, can you get us some back up, okay?" he's not waiting for a reply for he didn't want to waste more time, he was just about to run back towards that direction but Mikan held on to his right arm, he turned his head back to Mikan. "Ruka," her voice is a bit shaky, "be careful okay. Promise me you'll come back with Natsume alive." That made him chuckle a bit, "Of course Mikan-chan, we'll be fine, no need to worry." "Then why do you need a back up?" "Well…we don't know if those things are actually intruders, just in case we can't handle them ourselves." there is some truth in what he said but it was really meant to hide his doubts, lucky for him, she is dense and is easy to convince, "I must go Mikan-chan, you should go straight to the building as well, okay." And there he goes, leaving Mikan all alone in the thick mist.

She wanted to believe Ruka, that everything's alright, but something inside her still kept on bugging her senses making her so worried. She fell into her knees as her tears clouded her sight. She knows that she should stand up and do what Ruka instructed her but her knees felt no strength to help her stand. No one else was there but silence. She really hated silence for it seems to burden her heart as if there was a heavy rock attached to it. Her thoughts are in chaos, but she was pulled back to her senses when a voice called out her name.

The room was illuminated with the sun's rays. Warm wind blows from outside the room, carrying fallen leaves from the tree near the window and the melodies of the birds' chirps as they peek on the window at the brunette in her deep slumber. Some of her hair strands as well as some beads of sweat covered her angelic face while her mouth moved to utter murmurs. Nats—e, then, she suddenly sat straight up, her hands tightened its grip on the blanket and her eyes bulged out. She's panting hard as if she was chased. Obviously, it wasn't a very pleasing dream, she had. She calmed herself down, and slowly laid back to her bed, closed her eyes and recalled what happened.

-flashback-

"Mikan-chan?!" Hariko said unintentionally surprising the hell out of Mikan. "Oh thank goodness its only you, I thought it was a ghost, you see, I was strolling around when suddenly I heard a shriek, no, wait, there was another before that, oh well, and then I thought that maybe the rumors were true, that there really is a ghost. Oh Mikan-chan, you don't know how tha-" Mikan tugged her shirt that caught her attention. She didn't notice Mikan's face was very pale before. Now that she does, "Oh my god, what happened to you, you looked as if you've seen a ghost, and, hey, why are you crying?"

"Ruka and Natsume are still there, we must help them." at last she was able to speak her thoughts out.

"What? I don't understand. Why would they need our help, and why are they on that side of the forest, isn't that supposed to be forbidden?"

Mikan pulled her shirt even harder, "They're in danger. We must hurry!"

"Okay, okay, I get it already, you don't have to pull me hard, you know, I'll get choked." Mikan let go of her shirt, "Sorry…". Hariko slowly turned her back, then glimpsed at Mikan "So are you coming or will I leave you here?" then she reached out her hand to her, "Let's go, come on."

When they arrived at the building, they hurriedly asked help from their classmates and sempais which also responded to their pleas. Mikan felt somehow reassured but she would appreciate it more if she could go with them to see for herself that they're in a good condition, but she was too weak to even stand up properly. Her vision was blurred, she felt her body was numb, then, someone stood in front of her. She raise her head as she rubbed her eyes to have a clearer view at the person standing in front of her, "Hotaru…" her voice trailed of and she collapsed.

-end of flashback-

She could hear people talking from outside her room, "She's awake!" one of the voice that she recognized as Anna's said, "Really? Thank goodness, do the others know?" said the other girl's voice, she knew it was Nonoko's. "Hi guys, what's up?" came another girl's voice that was familiar but she could never guess who it was. "She's awake! She's awake!" said Anna's voice with excitement, "Really? I'll tell Hotaru-chan right away!" then she heard the owner of the voice started to run but then stopped, "Wait did she ate already?" , "Oh my god, I totally forgot. I'll be off then, she might be starving!" she heard Anna's voice said.

GRRRRR… speaking of hunger, she really is starting to feel hungry and her tummy won't lie. She slowly moved herself up to get off the bed. She walked towards the window and breath in the fresh air when someone opened the door behind her.

"Mikan-chan, are you feeling better? Anna's out to fetch some food, don't worry, she'll be back right away." came in a smiling Nonoko. She was wearing their regular school uniform, carrying two large bags in each arm but what caught Mikan's attention was a glittering pendant of the necklace around her neck. Mikan returned the smile with her own as she move closer to Nonoko so that she could see the pendant clearer.

"Wow, that's a nice necklace there Nonoko-chan, where'd you get one?" pointing at the pink necklace with an arrow-pierced heart-shape-pendant.

"Wha- oh this… this is a cupid merchandise. They say that when you have one, you'll have a good love-life, they're top selling and top quality merchandise being sold around, as expected from Hotaru-chan." she said proudly, clasping her hands together with twinkling dreamy eyes.

"Sugoi ne, that's Hotaru for you! Well, does it work?" excitement filled Mikan's eyes as she moved her head closer to Nonoko. She's very dumbfounded with these topics, but speaking of Nonoko's, or someone else's love-life can caught her attention very well, whenever her friends are happy, it lightens her day as well, whenever her friend is in love, in trouble, etc. she wants to be there to help and support them, even though she messed up sometimes. "Nonoko-chan?"

Nonoko's spacing out as her face turned redder every passing second, "Nonoko-chan?!" Mikan asked again, but Nonoko's on cloud nine for the moment, "NONOKOCHAN?!" at last, that brought her back to earth. "Huh? What? What is it? What are you talking about? I'm not in love with him! Who told you that?!" she frantically said, now turning tomato red.

"Nonoko-chan, what are you talking about?! I didn't say anything" asked Mikan as she gives Nonoko a confused look.

-Hotaru's lab-

"So, the Baka finally woke up, huh." she while fixing one of her invention. "Where are you going with those?" she stopped what her doing for a moment and faced her companion, "Going to work of course." Hariko said while filling a bag with some stuff. "Its useless to sell her those, she's broke. And besides, she's dense, that's why she's loveless until now." she returned to her work's finishing touch. At last, she's finished with what her doing and then stands up.

"Eh? Mikan-chan is your best friend, right Hotaru-chan?"

"Who told you that?"

"I heard from Yuu-kun and the others."

"…."

"That means you know her better than anyone of us, right?"

"…."

"That also means that you already know that she'd experienced being in love, right? I mean to say that everyone experienced it, they just don't realize it or they just don't want to acknowledge it."

"What's your point?"

"I'm saying that you are being overprotective." (wow, how could she say those words as if it wasn't Hotaru she's talking to?)

Hotaru glared at Hariko that made her sweats drop and gulp, "I mean, don't you think that she deserves to fell in love and be loved in return?"

"That's if he would return it." Hotaru said as she moves towards the door of her lab. She turned the knob and opened the door, she stopped for a moment and said "I'll deduct 50 from your share."

"What?! Why's that?!"

"For calling me her "best fiend" and "overprotective"." then, with no other word, she closed the door behind her.

Sigh, It's not only her that deserves those things, Hotaru-chan, all of you do. Don't worry, that's the reason why Boss sent us here, right. Everything will be alright, we assure you. Cupid won't let you get hurt. We will give our 100, the best!

-back to Mikan's room-

The door slowly opened and revealed a certain black haired girl with emotionless look in her eyes. She noticed three girls making a lot of fuss and noise which made a vein pop on her head, so…

BAKABAKABAKA!! The certain brunette was going nuts, by the looks of it, and she made her other companions trip, not because she did it in purpose of course, but thanks to that, her two friends was spared from a tragic torment of agonizing pain brought by the baka bullets. She's the only one hit by the combo blow from the ultimate bakagun.

"What do you think you're doing?" came Hotaru's monotonous voice.

"Hotaru-chan?.." Anna said nervously.

"Itai…Hotaru-chan, you menie, what was that for?" as she rubs the part of her head that was hit.

"For being stupid. You're too noisy." she said while walking a few steps forward to let someone else to enter, and in came a blue haired girl with a huge backpack on her back.

"Hello, Mikan-chan! How're you?" said Hariko while closing the door behind her and placing her backpack on the floor.

"Hariko-chan?… I'm all right. Thanks."

"Good to hear that. We were worried because you've been sleeping for almost three days now. You see, that's not normal, you know. Ah, anyway, I would want you to take a look at these." she opened her backpack and revealed pink and red items. Mikan and the other two, Nonoko and Anna moved closer to take a peek.

"You're a special someone to Hotaru-chan and myself, so I'm gonna give you a whapping 25 discount! So, choose well." Hotaru glared at what Hariko said, but lucky for Hariko, she didn't notice, so, "That 25 discount will again be deducted from your share."

"Hotaru-chan, you already deducted 50, that's cruel." She gave Hotaru a pleading look but it was useless. Hotaru was facing another direction to avoid eye contact.(my dear readers please do remember, NOBODY MESSES WITH THE ICE QUEEN! Or else you might regret doing so.)

"Nonoko-chan, this one's like yours, see?" Mikan noticed an identical necklace to Nonoko's necklace and slowly picked it up.

"Look, this one's cute too." said Anna as she picked up a pink cupid figurine.

"Every kind of cupid merchandise has it's own purpose and use, for example, that one is for loveless people, specially girls. This guides her Valentino to meet with his Valentina."

"How about you buy one Mikan-chan, you're still loveless until now, right? "Nonoko said.

Hariko shook her head, "If you'd ask me, I don't think that would be the right one. It's only for someone who didn't found his or her beloved."

"Then, what would you recommend?" asked Anna.

Hariko reached for a red hair clip, "This… actually, this is a rare item which normally costs 200 rabbits, but for you, I'll sell it for a hundred. It will suit you well, I promise." she winked an eye at Mikan which was amazed by the hair clip. It was pure red and it seemed to glitter, making it look majestic, but that's not all, there's something behind it that capture Mikan.

Rare, huh? It's true that that was the only hair clip that we made. I thought of it as a reject so I told her to sell it for 20 rabbits. Hotaru can't help but smirk in her thoughts; Seems like I chose a right partner, and then, her eye formed into a currency sign.

"50 rabbits."

"100."

"How about 60?"

"100."

"Hariko-chan, it's just a hair clip, these costs 10 rabbits in the central town, so how about 65."

"I already gave you a discount, so, 100."

"Credits?"

"No."

"Come on Hariko-chan." making her puppy eyes.

She could only sigh in defeat, "…5 interest."

"Yay! Thanks Hariko-chan, it's so pretty." She gently pursed it on her hair.

That hair clip is actually worth a million, in fact, it's priceless, and so are the other special items I made. It won't be a coincidence that someone chooses an item, it's meant to be. Hariko smiled at Mikan, it's that meaningful smile again but no one noticed this.

"Any way, why are you so noisy when we entered a while ago, are you fighting or something?"

"It was Mikan-chan, she wont eat the food I brought her."

"Anna-chan, you've known me for almost five years now, you know I can't eat that… thing…" Mikan said in disgust.

"What's wrong with the food?" Hariko asked while scratching the back of her head.

"Is this it?" Hotaru showed them a plate of something. At first, you would think that it is a giant jelly cake, but later, it move! And then, it forms a monster-like figure as it wriggled.

"Shocks." That's the only word Hariko was able to say. She was… deeply… AMAZED by the creature, or so it seems.

"That's my latest recipe. It's supposed to be served exclusively at the party but I thought since she just woke up and just recovered, she would be the first one to taste it." Anna lowered her head while saying those words, she really mean it all.

"No offense Anna-chan, but I really-" Mikan was cut off by…

"It's outstanding Anna-chan, is it really edible?" asked an excited Hariko.

"Of course it is I won't let Mikan eat something inedible, you know! If you doubt, you're free to take some."

"Nah, I'll pass for now. Any way, Mikan-chan, have they already mentioned to you what happened to Natsume-kun and Ruka-kun when they found them?" Hariko changed the topic.

Mikan's eyes grew wide and she gulped in saliva, she almost forgot about them. Then, she speedily moved close to Hariko, "What happened, are they hurt, are they alright, how're they, where are they?" , "Calm down, Mikan-chan." Hariko said as she holds her hands in front of her for defense, "Nogi was carrying Hyuuga when they're found. Nogi was alright, but Hyuuga was unconscious and wounded. When they came back, he was quickly brought to the hospital." said Hotaru as she returned the plate with Anna's dish on the table.

Mikan's expression then, was priceless. Worries filled her mind and you can see it clearly on her face. She didn't wait for another minute, she hurriedly left the room with saying, "Thanks guys but will you excuse me for a minute." It was obvious where she would go, but she should have let Hotaru finish what her saying first. Yes, Hotaru wasn't through with the story yet.

I already have permission from Boss, no need to worry. We still have almost two weeks for the plan. I trust you Diary-san, I know this mission will be a success. I was hoping that I wouldn't use IT, but if it's for their sake, then so be it.

Whew, that was tough; I'm running out of words here, gosh. You may ask why Hariko's "diary-for-the-chapter" was this short and you might also ask why it doesn't seem to make sense. Well, all I can say is… Just keep on asking, maybe you'll have the answer someday.

Thanks for reading, guys. I would also thanks Meme-chan, she got improvements on herself, you know. She's not calling me those things again! Well, sometimes, she does, but at least not all the time.