The Ice Will Melt Some Day

Chapter Two "Divine Punishment"

Disclaimer: I didn't make Gakuen Alice. Misaki Harada, Tsubasa Andou and Subaru Imai are real characters from the manga. Enjoy it though.

In the middle of the night, a girl with wavy hair wakes up from the couch she slept on. The windows were wide open, the curtains were tied up and the cool air had set inside the room. The moon was glowing in the clear sky and stars were twinkling at the same time, as to showcase the beauty of the moon's radiance. It was truly a sight to see. She changed her position so that she was sitting criss-crossed on the couch now. Yesterday was a roller coaster ride, meeting a new friend and now staying in this room for a while. Nobara was staring into the night sky and thought intently about the future.

The boy rolled onto his opposite side on his bed to face her. He asked her in a low voice, "Ira-chan? Is the couch all right with you? Something on your mind lately?"

"Yes. What are we going to do about school? I'm in the dangerous class and…my classmates don't like me. So I stayed with Persona and such, but…if I go back to class, he's going to find me again. What should we do Hiki-kun?" Nobara asked with a concerned voice.

"That's a good point," he replied. Daichi got out of his bed and walked over to Nobara's side and sat down next to her. "I want to ask you something first."

Nobara looked at him, as if to say that she was ready for any or all questions.

Daichi looked back and asked, "Do you want to go to class? If so, then there shouldn't be much of a problem. Just come to class with me and I'll make sure the class will accept you and keep it a secret for as long as possible. Okay?"

Nobara's face was blank. She couldn't believe the offer she was just given. In her moment of dullness, she slapped herself to reassure that it wasn't a dream or even a nightmare. Daichi laughed at her weird, but adorable little actions.

"Can you really do that Hiki-kun?" she wanted to make sure.

"I can, and I will. All we need to do is change your hairstyle a little bit and give you some type of alias. That way, other faculty members won't notice you as quickly." He reassured her.

It was as if, he already had a plan thought out from the moment Nobara caught his eyes. They continued the conversation a little longer and talked about other things that Nobara may have been concerned about, such as; attendance, seat and things within that kind of category.

Daichi finished talking and he left Nobara to go back to sleep. Good nights were passed to one another and both slept with pleasant dreams that night.

-----Next Morning-----

Birds were chirping and the sun had risen. Constant knocks banged on the door. Nobara and Daichi were still in a daze from waking up so abruptly.

"Daichiiii! Wake up and open the freaking door already. I got what you asked me for yesterday! Wake up, wake up! Time for school!" a voice commanded over and over again.

"Shut up!" complained Daichi. "Sorry, Ira-chan…This girl is so loud."

"Oh, it's okay." She said quietly.

Daichi opened the door angrily. "Give me the clothes Misaki."

There in the doorway, a 13 year old girl wearing the middle school uniform with red shoulder length hair was holding a bag of clothes. She walked into the room and caught sight of Nobara.

"Oh, so you're the infamous Ira-chan I've been hearing about. Here's your fresh new set of uniforms and some of my old clothes. Hope you like." Misaki handed Nobara the bag of clothes. "By the way, I'm Misaki Harada, I'm gonna be in the same class as you today. I'm in the special class and I have the doppelganger alice. I'm your senpai too!" she said cheerfully.

"No one cares Misaki. Nobara, you can go change now, I'll make breakfast again." Daichi said.

"Ah yes, thank you very much, both of you. I'm very grateful for all the things you have done and the things that are you going to do for me. I'm really happy," thanked Nobara. She hurried off to the restroom and closed the door behind her.

"She's a cute kid. I should go help her with her hair and stuff. Do you mind?" commented Misaki.

"I, personally don't mind if you help her. But you have to ask her whether or not she minds," he replied casually while putting on an apron.

"Alright then." She skipped along to where Nobara was and knocked on the door.

Daichi was cooking food and suddenly remember something odd. He asked Misaki, "Hey, Misaki…I noticed that Tsubasa wasn't with you today. How come?"

Misaki looked back at Daichi and replied, "That's. None. Of. Your. Business." Then she turned around again and went into the restroom with Nobara to fix her hair.

Moments later, as Daichi was placing the plates of food down, Misaki and Nobara came out of the restroom. Daichi took off his apron and walked up towards Nobara's general direction. "Wow, you are so cute Ira-chan! That hairstyle looks nice on you. Is it easy to make?"

Nobara shyly answered him back, "It isn't too difficult. Thank you." Her hair was tied into two pig tails on each side of her head. Her bangs were side swept and held with a black hair clip. Her face was visible and eyes were accented by her dark blue hair.

"That's good to know. Thanks Misaki, you two can go eat now. I'll go change. Then afterwards it's class. Exciting isn't it Ira-chan?" Daichi said. He left the two and went into the restroom after getting his uniform.

Misaki and Nobara went to the table and ate Daichi's food. It was delicious and fit the mood of the day. They had a bowl of rice, strips of fried egg and soy sauce. Within ten minutes or so, Daichi joined them and finished his breakfast. The three left the room and set off to class before they were late. Unfortunately, time got to a point where it had all three of them sprinting to class. They barely made it.

Misaki had reluctantly sat down next to Tsubasa, a 13 year old boy who had a beanie and spiked hair. Daichi guided Nobara in and told her to sit next to him in the middle back of the room. Class started and most of the students' eyes were on Nobara, which made her feel awkward. She glanced at Daichi for some kind of reassurance that this was a safe thing to do. Below the vision of wandering eyes, he held her hand in reassurance. Her face was hot.

The teacher noticed the strange girl in the back of the classroom and asked Daichi who she was. Daichi came down and told the teacher. For whatever reason, the teacher just went with it. Daichi came back up and whispered to Nobara, "Your alias is Ira Koori, you're 13 years old and your alice is ice of course. Everyone knows you are in the dangerous class, but that won't be talked about. Good luck Ira-chan." He sat straight again and faced into the direction of the board and listened to the teacher.

Nobara continued to listen to the lessons as 'Ira Koori', which was felt weird for her, but she tried to adapt. It was nice that people weren't staring on her back coldly with rejection like what happened with her class before.

The bell rang, the next period was about to begin, but everyone was taking a stretch after such a long lecture. Nobara stood up as well and Daichi took her hand and led her to some of the classmates to get introduced to each other.

"This is Tsubasa Andou, Misaki's boyfriend." Daichi pointed out, but then Misaki whacked him on the head and Daichi corrected himself, "I mean, umm, one of her closest childhood acquaintances. If that makes any difference." He muttered to himself. "And this is our new classmate, Ira Koori."

Tsubasa took a second and examined the new kid in class, and then he shook her hand and welcomed her to their class. Most of the class was watching as well, so others introduced themselves and greeted Nobara.

In the back of the classroom, a small group of girls and boys, were huddled together and whispering things to each other.

"Who does that girl think she is?" one girl ridiculed.

"I heard that she was the infamous Ice Queen. That would fit her name so well, it's disgusting," another girl said.

"Even her look is hideous, what's with the pigtails and the stupid look on her face? Trying to act all innocent, but she's secretly just trying to get them to like her." A boy mocked.

The insults kept coming, and Nobara felt an airy look from behind her. Someone or somebody doesn't want her here and she has to be careful about what she does or says.

The break ended as the teacher arrived and the rest of the classes were the same. Once it was time for homeroom, everyone sat down and the homeroom teacher started talking.

"Settle down everyone, we have to discuss some things," the teacher stated and continued talking for the rest of the period.

The bell rang again and everyone left.

Nobara was feeling pretty good about the whole day overall. Although there were a couple things bothering her, it was okay. She followed Daichi, but then he got called off somewhere.

"Sorry, Ira-chan, can you stay here? I'll be back. Or you can go with someone else, like Tsubasa or Misaki alright? Sorry again," he told her. Thus, Daichi left to run an errand for someone.

"I'll wait here or just wonder a little, I'll come back to the...I mean my room eventually," Nobara said to herself. She waited for a few minutes and some of the girls from before came up to her. They asked Nobara if she could come with them and help them with something. Nobara agreed and went along with them. "Where are we going? What do you need help with? Do you think I can help you with it?" Nobara asked cautiously.

The girls looked at each other and said, "You'll know. Don't you worry one bit...yet." They whispered the 'yet' part so that Nobara couldn't hear it. Once they got down the hallway, they turned left into a secret little garden. The garden was filled with all types of herbs, vegetables and fruit trees. It was beautiful and had almost everything you needed to cook a variety of dishes. In the middle was a wonderful little fountain with a stone humming bird spurting out water from it's beak.

"It's beautiful..." Nobara complimented. "Whose garden is it?" she asked the girls.

"This garden belongs to and was entirely grown by Daichi Hanahisaki. He used to use it to create wonderful dishes and have tea parties for the people he loved, but he stopped because of some tragedy. Do you want to know what happened, Koori-san?" a girl told Nobara.

Nobara was wary of these girls, but she wanted to know more about Daichi's Garden. "I do, if you may?"

Another girl stepped in a starting telling the story, "Some months ago, Daichi was madly in love with a girl who had the alice of equivalent trade. She loved him just as much, but one day she had lost her sight, her eyes were not physically injured in any way, but she became blind all of sudden. He found out that she healed a person who needed to see to be able to use their alice. She gave that person her sight and took in his blindness. Daichi comforted her day and night, helping the one he loved as much as possible. That person came back, however, attacked Daichi. Daichi's heart was almost frozen and he almost died until she heard of it. She traded her own heart so that Daichi could live. He became extremely depressed for months and only recently got better."

"Now, do you know why we are even telling you this Koori-san or shall I say Ice Queen?" the other girl asked.

Nobara answered, "No..." She started backing up because the girls were getting unusually close to her.

The girls got annoyed and got closer to Nobara as she moved back. "We're telling you this because you have the ice alice and the person that caused Daichi's unhappiness had the ice alice too. In order to protect our 'fire's flower', you have to leave and stop causing him so much suffering. It would be better if we could get him to hate you. He forgave that damn person! That will not happen this time though..."

All of a sudden, the girls ripped out the tomato vines, stomped on the chilie peppers and used their alices to completely devastate the garden. They pushed over the fountain and it broke into large pieces, seemingly unrepairable. The once glittering garden had become dark and broken. Everything was in destruction's path. Some of the boys came and threw dirt at Nobara using their alices, afraid Nobara might use her own alice to retaliate. In their sick and distorted minds, they wanted her to attack them, all of them. It would have made it so much easier to set their plan up and frame her for the destruction of the garden.

Nobara stood her ground and did not retaliate; she took the blows of dirt and crushed vegetables. Her uniform was in a mess, soaked in mud and various plant liquids. Her hair was littered with stems and remains of fruits. Her body was sore and weak.

The group of girls and boys smirked devilishly at each other and took shards of the broken fountain and cut Nobara everywhere on her body. Their original plan of setting Nobara up and getting her in deep trouble had changed. All they had on their minds now, was to cause her endless suffering.

You could hear muffled screams coming from the dark, isolated corner of the school. After they were satisfied, they tried to leave without anyone noticing them. Nobara was left in excruciating pain and just seconds after they stopped abusing her, she fell unconscious. Half dead in the ruins of Daichi's Eden...

Daichi sensed something was terribly wrong. He ran over to where Nobara was supposed to wait for him. She wasn't there. He heard some voices coming his way, he dashed into the corridor.

Nobara, what in heaven's name happened to you? Just wait for me, I promised you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you.

He stopped running when he saw the group of girls and boys from his class. "Have you seen No- I mean, Ira-chan?"

The girl said, "Nowhere to be seen."

"You should be thankful to us though, we took care of your problems," a boy told Daichi.

Daichi examined the group of classmates. They were dirty and their hands had marks on them. "No...I should kick your sorry ass because you messed with the wrong person, bastards."

The group was stunned by the foul language. One of the girls, heartbroken, had to ask, "W-why do you say that Daichi-kun?"

Daichi looked them straight in the eye, "You touch Ira-chan again, and I'll hurt you from the inside out. Probably should report you because your clothes tell me everything, you know, I don't only cook good food. I try to cook up hot justice and throw away any rotten food like you losers."

Misaki, Tsubasa and some other students were passing by the hall. Daichi called out to them.

"Take care of these rotten pieces of shits, I have to go find Ira-chan," he told them.

Misaki and friends knew the situation was serious and found out immediately what was happening. "Hurry up you idiot, she won't last forever." Misaki warned him. It didn't take twice for him to speed down the hallway.

"Now what to do with these troublemakers?" Tsubasa inquired. An idea sparked in his head. "Got it. Misaki help me hold these guys down and the rest of you go and get the teachers, they need to see something interesting." The others left quickly. Misaki and Tsubasa used both of their alices keep the guilt ridden students in their place.

Meanwhile, Daichi reached the garden panting hard. He saw the apocalypse in such a small area. Then he saw Nobara, on the ground laying still. She wasn't breathing. Daichi rushed by her side and saw the mass amounts of brutality inflicted on her body. Her clothes were barely strips of cloth and her hair all messed up and...It was just a horrific image.

He lifted her up and ran back through the hallways, crying for help on the top of his lungs. Daichi was getting tired from running so much and the sheer weight of Nobara's seemingly dead body made things just as dim. Until he spotted Subaru Imai, the student who had the healing alice from the high school division. Daichi cried out to Imai-san and Imai saw the girl.

Imai hurried over and asked Daichi, "What happened to this girl? She looks...well..." He stopped his sentence, feeling the sorrow of Daichi. "I'll do my best to keep her alive, is that acceptable for you? If not, then...there's not much else I can do."

"I understand, just heal her dammit," Daichi said with anguish.

Slowly, Nobara's external wounds were disappearing, but her internal wounds were barely taking shape again. Daichi's face was filled with regret and anger. He knew that there was only one way to save Nobara and keep his promise to her.

"Hanahisaki-san, this is as far as I can go without overdoing it. What do you choose to do now?" Imai-san inquired.

"I-I...have to do it. Thank you Imai-senpai. I really thank you for all you've tried to do so far. I'll take it from here. You know, I just can't let her die, whether or not I've known her for one day or one year," Daichi said solemnly. He held her body close to his own.

A bright light engulfed the halls of the middle school division. Within this area, everyone felt a new sense of refreshment. Nobara had finally awaken from her meeting with death. Her eyes set on Daichi's tear flooded face. He tried to smile, and such a sorrowful smile it was.

Typer's Note -

'How could you do something so evil to my favorite character? D:'
Happy Halloween...
But I hope it brought powerful dramatic feelings.
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