BONK!
illutia mist: (Rubs her head) Ouch! What was that?
She looked around and found something on the ground. It's a bat.
illutia mist: (Picks the bat and observes it) What is this?
Then a paper fell in front of her in the next second.
illutia mist: (Picks up the paper) And what's this?
Baka Bat from ryuamakusa4eva, with a 'thing' attached to it so it'll be attached to you wherever you go.
Great narrator
illutia mist: (Snorts) …Great narrator? Who gave 'it' this title?
Another paper fell in front of her. She picked it up and read it.
Me, freaky author.
illutia mist: (A vein pops on her head) …I'll get this 'thing' one day…
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
13th Piece: Wishes
'Jacklyn, look! Izu got perfect score in Math!'
'You just got 80? You can do it better!'
But mom, I've studied so hard for this. Isn't 80 good enough for you?
'Jacklyn, Izu won the first place on the History contest!'
'Why didn't you get participated too?'
Even if I participated and won the second or third place, you two will never look at me. There's only Izu in your mind…
"Jacklyn-chan."
What? Don't call me now.
"Jacklyn-chan."
I'm not in the mood.
"Jacklyn-chan."
"I SAID I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" Jacklyn shouted as she stood up.
"Umm, sorry?" Narumi said unsurely, surprised at the girl's sudden reaction.
The black-haired girl blinked then realized that she was in class right now, and that she just fell asleep in Narumi's class. All students looked at her, except for the Ice Queen and a certain raven-haired boy with a manga on his face.
"Um…I…I'm sorry, Sensei," she apologized as she smiled. "What's wrong?"
"You're sleeping in my class," he said kindly.
"Um…yeah…I'm sorry, Sensei…" Jacklyn apologized again. She looked confused.
The blonde-haired teacher realized something strange about her. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.
"What?" she raised her head in confusion then replied, "Um, yeah, I'm alright."
Thinking that maybe she didn't want to talk about it, Narumi shrugged his curiosity off and smiled kindly at her. "I let you slip this time, but not for the next. You may sit down now."
"Thank you…Sensei…" Jacklyn said as she sat back on her seat.
She rested her elbows on the desk then put her forehead on her palms. 'Hhh…Bad dream…' she thought as she closed her eyes. 'Maybe because too much thinking of Math…Oh yeah, today is the last day of tutorial. I hope Natsume won't ask for strange thing…'
While Jacklyn tried to regain her full consciousness from the sleepy feeling that started to come over her again, someone stared at her from distance in confusion. He was Koko, who was wondering why he couldn't read the girl's mind.
-x-
Jacklyn yawned while covering her mouth with her hand. "You look extremely tired," Anna said as she stared at the black-haired girl.
It was lunchtime now. Jacklyn, Anna, and Nonoko were on their way to the cafeteria. Mikan didn't join them for she followed Hotaru to her lab while Natsume and Ruka went to nowhere after the class was over.
"Yeah, I didn't get enough sleep last night. It's because of the Math assignment," Jacklyn replied as a smile crept onto her face.
"So, have you finished it?" Nonoko asked.
"No. there's still less than half that I haven't done," Jacklyn told them.
At the entrance to the cafeteria, Jacklyn suddenly stopped. Anna and Nonoko looked at her in confusion, wondering why the girl suddenly stopped. "What's wrong?" they asked in unison.
"I remember that I have something to do. I'll see you later," Jacklyn said as she walked backward and waved at both of them. Then she turned and ran away, leaving a question to both of them. 'What's that something to do?'
Jacklyn took out her pen from her pocket and opened her sketchbook while running through the corridor. She drew a white feather on the empty page in her sketchbook then touched it. In the next second, she could feel the soft white feather in her hand. She quickly slipped the feather and pen to her pocket and closed her sketchbook.
She lifted her head, shifting her gaze to the direction that she headed. And in a few minutes, she finally arrived at her destination, the Sakura tree.
She looked around, making sure that no one was there. She looked up to the branch and found a big trouble there.
Natsume.
'Great! He's here. Now, how am I going to place the feather here?' she thought annoyingly, her eyebrows were bent down. She decided to sit down under the Sakura tree and slowly took the feather out from her pocket when…
"What are you doing?" Natsume's sudden question made her cancel her action and put the feather back in her pocket.
Jacklyn looked up to meet with Natsume's figure on the branch that didn't even look at her. "Oh, it's you," she said, pretending to not knowing about his presence there. "I'm just sitting here. What? Got a problem with that?"
"You disturbed me," he answered simply.
She bent her eyebrows again at his answer. "Hel-lo? I didn't say anything until you asked me. You must be glad that I didn't kick the tree right now," she retorted in irritation.
"Your presence disturbed me," he stated coldly.
Hearing this, a vein popped on the girl's head. "What's wrong with you anyway? This is a public place. So it's okay for me if I want to rest here for some time," she retorted in a more annoyed tone.
"Whatever. Now, shut up or I'll burn your sketchbook again," he threatened without looking at her.
Jacklyn narrowed her eyes at the figure that was lying on the branch. 'Cocky boy!' she thought as she stuck out her tongue at him. She sighed and leaned her back on the trunk, staring at the view in front of her. She saw a few students playing on the field, chasing each other. 'What a calm day…'
After silence engulfed them for some time, Jacklyn slowly took out the feather from her pocket and placed it beside her, hidden from Natsume's sight. She let out a smile before she finally stood up and took a step forward.
Before she left the place, she looked at the raven-haired boy for the last time. "I'm going back now! You better think about what you want for later!" Then she turned and went back to the cafeteria.
Natsume took the manga off from his face and glanced at her running figure. He then remembered about the deal after the girl told him just a few seconds ago. 'Today is the last tutorial, huh,' he thought when his crimson-eyes suddenly saw a small figure running to his direction. 'Youichi?'
Youichi ran to the Sakura tree and directly observed the ground where the tree was, searching for something. A smile escaped from his lips as he found the thing that he had been looking for and bent down to take it.
It's a white feather.
Wondering what the little boy was doing down there, the raven-haired boy decided to call him, "Youichi?"
Like what normal people would do if there's someone calling them, Youichi looked up to the voice's direction and smiled when he saw who called him. "Onii-chan!"
Natsume sat up on the branch as he looked down at the little boy. He directly spotted something in his tiny hand. "What's that?" he asked Youichi, referring to the white thing in his hand.
Youichi was confused at first, but then he realized and looked at his right hand that was holding the white soft thing. "Ah, this?" he asked back as he waved the white feather in his hand at the fire caster. "This is white feather. I ever told you about Miss Angel that promised me to give me a white feather everyday at lunchtime, right?"
"Hn," Natsume responded as he remembered the time when he met the injured angel.
"I'm glad that she's okay. She was injured badly the last time I met her," the gray-haired boy said as he stroke the feather gently.
"NATSUME! YOU-CHAN!" a cheery voice called both of them. Natsume rolled his eyes after hearing the sound, knowing who that was, and muttered, "Not again…"
A brunette ran to their direction with her famous bright smile. She went near them and spotted something in Youichi's hand. "You-chan, what is that?" she asked as she pointed the white feather in his hand.
"A white feather. Miss Angel dropped this for me," the little boy answered her question.
Mikan tilted her head in confusion for a while, then her face turned bright again as she remembered something. "Oh! The angel that appeared several days ago? I saw her from the classroom," she said happily. "So, her name is Miss Angel?"
Youichi shook his head. "I don't know. I call her Miss Angel," he said with his expressionless face.
"Is that so?" the brunette muttered. Youichi gave a silent nod as a response. "Oh…" was all that she could say.
"I have finished my business here, so I'll be going now," the little boy said as he turned to his back.
But before he could move an inch from that place, the brunette stopped him, "Wait!" Youichi turned his head to her, seeing her wearing a smile on her face as she asked, "Have you had your lunch?"
"Not yet. Why?" he asked back, wondering why the brunette asked him about that.
"Actually, I made some cookies last night. Do you want some?" she offered as she took out an orange-colored container. Youichi nodded and approached the brunette. Mikan looked up and smiled at the raven-haired boy. "Want to join us?" she asked.
Natsume raised an eyebrow before he decided to tease her, "Is it poisonous, Polka-dots?"
The brunette pouted, absolutely unpleased with his teasing. "Of course not, pervert!" she replied irritatingly.
At her response, the fire caster just smirked and asked, "Are you sure?"
"It's safe, Onii-chan," Youichi convinced him as he took another bite from the cookie in his hand, "and it's improving a bit too."
Natsume jumped off from the branch and landed gracefully on the ground. "I pass," he said as he walked away.
"Natsume! Wait! Don't you want to taste it?" Mikan said as she chased the raven-haired boy.
"No," he replied nonchalantly without looking at her.
"It tastes good. Really," she tried to convince him.
"No."
"Come on."
"No."
"Please…"
"No."
Feeling a little desperate, Mikan grew quiet and thought for a while. "Natsume! Look at this!" she suddenly shouted, sounding excited.
The fire caster turned his head to her in annoyance as he said, "Wha-" But cut off when the brunette quickly shoved something inside his mouth. He tasted it. 'Sweet…'
It's one of the cookies that she made.
"How is it?" the brunette asked with a bright smile, drawing his attention to her.
"Not bad…" he muttered. "…for a stupid little girl like you," he added as he smirked.
Mikan pouted again after hearing the last sentence. "I'm not stupid," she muttered as she bit the cookie in her hand.
Natsume lifted his hand and took a little piece from the cookie that she bit. He shoved it into his mouth and smirked. "You're always the same stupid little girl," he said before he walked away.
The brunette froze on her spot. "I'm not stupid, pervert," she murmured as her lips curved into a sweet smile. "At least, you ate it."
-x-
"Jacklyn-chan."
The aforementioned girl turned to see the person who was calling her. "Yes?" she responded. She saw Narumi in front of the door to a class. He waved his hand at her, signaling her to come near him.
As what he told her with his gesture, Jacklyn approached him. "What's wrong, Sensei?" she asked.
The blonde teacher smiled and said, "Give me your hand."
Jacklyn eyed him in wonder for a while before she finally obeyed him and gave him her right hand. Narumi brought his right hand on top of her palm then dropped something on it. Jacklyn stared at the thing that was just dropped by the teacher on her palm.
It's a small star.
She then looked at Narumi, confused. "What is this?" she asked.
Narumi still had a smile on his face when he heard his student's question. "After that kidnapping incident, we decided that you're a one-star now," he replied happily.
Jacklyn stared at him for a while then bent her head down. "Um…I don't think I deserve this…" she said, a little sad.
Narumi looked at her with a confused expression. "Why?" he asked.
"I feel that I'm weak, so I was injured at the battle. Besides…" she paused. 'Besides, it's not a stranger. It's the fan girls…' she continued in her thought.
Watching the suddenly-went-silent girl, Narumi started to wonder what the continuation from her sentence was. "Besides what?" he asked after he felt that the girl wouldn't continue her sentence.
"…I was the one who caused her to be kidnapped…I let her go alone…" she muttered sadly.
Hearing her statement, the blonde man sighed and smiled. "It's not your fault. You didn't know that she would be kidnapped. You have tried your best to save her," he tried to cheer up the sad girl.
"…I'm sorry…I told you not to tell the other students about my alice. It must be hard for you to cover the story…" Jacklyn apologized as she kept her head bent down, feeling guilty.
"It's fine. You want to keep it to yourself, right?" he said.
Jacklyn looked up, facing him. "Koko, Mikan, Misaki-sempai, and Tsubasa-sempai have already known about my alice," she said. "But only you and Koko that know I'm an angel," she added in a low voice, almost whispering.
Narumi couldn't stop smiling as he heard this, but then something bothered him. "Talking about Koko, he told me that he couldn't read your mind since yesterday," he said. "He thought his alice has been gone, but he could read the other students' minds, except for Mikan of course."
Jacklyn grew quiet for a while. She knew why the mind reader couldn't read her mind, but yet, she couldn't let them know about it. "He couldn't read my mind?" she asked innocently, pretending that she didn't know the cause. Narumi just nodded as the answer. 'He told Sensei…If I'm not wrong, he ever said that Sensei's alice is human pheromone alice. What if Sensei uses his alice on me? He'll know everything!" she thought in panic while trying to stay calm on the surface.
In the next second, Narumi's smile was gone, only the seriousness that was remained on his face at that time. "Jacklyn-chan, are you hiding something from me?" he asked curiously.
"I don't think so," Jacklyn replied quickly.
"Really?" he asked again, not too sure at her answer. Jacklyn nodded as she gave him a reassuring smile. The teacher couldn't help but smile back at her. He believed in her. "Okay. Now, take your star and you're dismissed."
"Thank you, Sensei," the black-haired girl bowed a little then proceeded her way to the next class.
Narumi stared at her retreating figure while drowning in his thought, 'Strange…I have used my human pheromone alice, but she wasn't affected. Does she have nullification alice too?"
-x-
"So, if we use this formula then…" Mikan mumbled as she concentrated on her Math assignment. "GOT IT! FINISHED! FINALLY!!" she suddenly squealed happily.
"Congratulations, Mikan." Jacklyn clapped her hands as she smiled at the brunette.
"Eh? You have finished it too?" Mikan asked the black-haired girl.
"Five minutes faster than you," Jacklyn replied simply.
"Then congratulations for both of us!" the brunette chirped happily as she threw her arms up.
The fire caster looked at them with a bored face, thinking that the two were weird. "Whatever," he said. "Now, the deal."
Jacklyn rolled her eyes at this, knowing that he would ask for it. She let out a sigh and asked, "Yeah. What do you want? Just one thing."
"Answer my question," he said without any hesitation.
"Okay, but only one question," she confirmed.
Natsume directly arched an eyebrow at her statement. "Just one?" he asked, sounding unpleased.
"One," Jacklyn repeated firmly.
"What's your alice?" he asked directly to the point. The brunette looked at him and then at Jacklyn, wondering what her answer would be.
The black-haired girl raised an eyebrow at his question. "Are you sure you want me to answer that? You better ask for another thing than that," she suggested, hoping that the boy would just agree with her suggestion. She really didn't want to tell him her alice. Well, for a reason.
As if he read her mind, he put on his stern face and said, "Fine. Who did you fight in the kidnapping incident several days ago?"
"Still a question?" Jacklyn asked, hoping that he would change his wish for the second time.
But to no avail, Natsume got even more curious. "What? Are you hiding something?"
'Yes, cocky boy!' she thought as she bent her eyebrows in annoyance. "Fine…Are you sure?" she asked again, still not losing hope.
This time, the fire caster glared at her, and Jacklyn knew that it meant he was serious at that time.
She buried her face in her palms, preparing her mental while wondering she should let him know or just lie to him. But she couldn't keep this secret longer, especially from him. She lifted her head and took a deep breath before she finally answered in a low voice, "…Fan girls…"
But then, it's enough for Natsume to hear.
He raised an eyebrow, finally getting the answer that he had been waiting for. His prediction was right all this time. "So, Koko's lying," he said in a dangerous tone, remembering that the fan girls were the one that kidnapped Mikan and maybe tried to hurt the brunette.
"I'm the one who told him not to tell anyone about that," Jacklyn defended the mind reader. "It's my fault after all…" she added as she glanced at a certain brunette beside her then muttered, "I'm sorry, Mikan. I have involved you in this problem."
The brunette looked at her, spotting the sad expression on her face. "So, that's why Koko said you told him to say that you're sorry to me?" Mikan asked.
"Yes, I'm very sorry," Jacklyn said, bending down her head in guilty. "…Don't tell about this to anyone, even teachers," she added as she took her bag and sketchbook from the table then stood up. She looked at the crimson-eyed boy and smiled. "Thank you for the tutorial, Natsume." After that, she walked to the door, planning to get out from the room right at that time.
When Jacklyn arrived at the door, Mikan stood up and stopped her, "Jacklyn-chan."
And she did stop.
"…Sorry, Mikan. Maybe you shouldn't come near me again…" she said without looking at the brunette, "Good night." She opened the door and disappeared behind it.
Mikan froze on her spot, staring at the door which Jacklyn just closed. "Why…?" she muttered. "It's not your fault…"
The brunette clenched her fist and was about to catch up with Jacklyn when a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist, stopping her from moving further. She turned around to face the owner of the hand. "Natsume…" she murmured.
"Leave her alone for now," he said as he locked his eyes with hers.
Following his suggestion, the brunette slumped back on the couch. "It's not her fault…She has tried to save me…" she said with a gloomy face.
Natsume fell quiet as he watched the brunette drown in her thought. "She thinks it's her fault because the fan girls kidnapped you just to get her," he explained shortly.
Mikan moved her gaze to the fire caster in front of him. "So, what should we do?" she asked, hoping for an advice from him.
But to her dismay, the boy just shrugged. "How do I know? I don't really care anyway," he replied nonchalantly. He thought the brunette would make a pout again on her face, saying that the sketchbook girl is his friend and they would have a debate about it again.
But not this time.
Mikan was just silent as she looked at her lap. "I want to help her…" she murmured. Her face showed that she was thinking hard. After a few minutes, she came up with an idea as she clasped her hands in front of her. "I'll try to talk to her tomorrow."
"Whatever," was Natsume's simple reply.
-x-
"Hey, I just told my first friends to stay away from me tonight," Jacklyn said to no one.
She was in her room at that time. After changing to her orange-colored pajamas, she sat on the chair and stared at her opened sketchbook on the table. The last page was opened widely on it, showing the drawing of a boy with orange-colored hair and a pair of blue eyes.
"What a good friend I am. After they're so kind to me…I leave them…" she said sarcastically, referring to herself. "But I want to protect them…and this is my way to protect them…Maybe I should avoid the others too…" she added with a sad look on her face.
Jacklyn rested her chin on the table and glanced at the boy in the drawing. "If the others see me talking to a drawing, maybe they'll think I'm insane," she chuckled. "But sometimes it's good for me, to think that I can't tell this to anyone. You know why I don't tell anyone about the fan girls attacked us? I don't want them to be punished severely by the teachers."
She was quiet for a while then sighed. "I'm really a strange person. Why must I protect them when they have bullied me like that?" she murmured, annoyed.
Then the answer suddenly came out in her thought. "Or maybe because I want to make them payback by myself?" she said as a grin graced her lips. "Maybe the statement that saying we have both angel and evil in ourselves is true."
Shifting from her early position, she tilted her head a little, resting her cheek on the table. "I hope I can make you alive, you know. But what the fun of it when it will just last for twenty four hours?" she said in an upset tone.
Staring at the moonlight that shone in the dark sky from her window, Jacklyn straightened herself on the chair and shifted her gaze back to the drawing again. "Thank you for hearing me out all this time," she smiled, "You're my secret 'very' best friend."
She torn the paper from her sketchbook and slipped it into a drawer at the table. "I'll talk to you again later. Good night," she murmured before she closed the drawer and then her sketchbook.
After staring at the night sky for the last time, she climbed onto her bed and lay on it. She stared at the ceiling in silence, thinking what had happened in these few days. "I hope I can go through the next day smoothly…" was the last sentence she said before she closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
--To be continued--
illutia mist: (Swings the Baka Bat and sings an unclear song) Nice day, nice day. They won't find me here…
Someone: Who won't find you here?
illutia mist: Of course (Turns her head to the voice's direction) th-EM?! (Eyes widen)
What she saw was Mikan, Jacklyn and Hotaru behind her, with Natsume holding the top part of her Baka Bat.
illutia mist: (Speechless) Ah…
Jacklyn: (Smirks) Got you, freaky author.
illutia quickly got up and planned to run from there quickly. But something prevented her from that…
illutia mist: (Flails her arms desperately) Darn! What happened to me?? Why I'm just running on my place??
Hotaru: It's because of that Baka Bat, dummy.
Mikan & Jacklyn & Natsume & illutia: (Turns their head to the inventor) Eh?
Hotaru: I gave it to Bourne.
Mikan & Jacklyn & Natsume & illutia: Who's Bourne?
Hotaru: The original character by ryuamakusa4eva.
Mikan & Jacklyn & Natsume: (Points to illutia) So why does she have it?
Hotaru: (Shrugs) Figures. That author must have stolen it from Bourne.
Natsume: (Rolls his eyes) Whatever. (Smirks at illutia) At least this thing is helpful.
illutia mist: (Mutters) Oh no…
And with that, illutia was being dragged by the four to the torturing place again.
illutia mist: HHHEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!!
Mikan & Jacklyn & Natsume & Hotaru: SHUT UP, FREAKY AUTHOR!