illutia mist: NOOO!! (Hugs the tree tighter)

Jacklyn: You're lucky that I didn't find any saw! Let go off the tree now! (Pulls illutia by her waist)

illutia mist: I WON'T!

Hotaru: (Takes out her Baka gun) Then this is the only option.

Hotaru then shot the tree, sending the tree to the outer planet with illutia attached on it. Jacklyn stared in shock then looked at the inventor.

Jacklyn: Where did you send her?

Hotaru: Mars. My favorite place. (Blows the smoke that comes out from her Baka gun)

Jacklyn & Mikan & Natsume: …

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

17th Piece: When Being Alone

Things had never been easier in this life.

Sure, it didn't.

A few of temptations always came after her, wishing that she would fall into one of them.

Many times she had almost surrendered. But there were also many times she managed to shrug them off.

The temptations called…

Feeling…

It had been three days.

Three days since Mikan said that they would always be friends.

Three days since her fight with the fan girls that involved Anna.

Three days since her only gift from her mother was ruined.

Three days since she broke their friendship.

Three days since she made up her decision.

And three days since she decided to avoid them.

She felt no hesitation at first. She believed that she could do it. It's an easy thing to do. She just needed to avoid them, not talking if it wasn't important. It looked so easy, didn't it?

Yeah.

It's easy for her to say.

It's easy when she thought about it.

But it turned to be a difficult thing to do when she confronted the reality.

She had convinced herself repeatedly. Yet, it's no use.

Fate was playing with her, letting her encounter with them wherever she went. At the dormitory's corridors, on the way to the class, cafeteria, washroom, and all place in the academy.

Well, as long as she was still in that academy, she would always see them. She couldn't blame Fate for this. But she couldn't stand it if she always met them every time, everyday.

Couldn't Fate give her any compensation?

She always hid and ran every time she caught a glimpse of them, except Natsume, Hotaru…and maybe Ruka too. Well, they had no business with her anyway. She just had to smile when she met Ruka, a greeting smile.

Yuu ever tried to talk to her, but she just smiled and left him behind. Koko couldn't read her mind and she was glad for it, but she realized that the mind reader had gotten suspicious at her. He didn't try to go close to her though. Good.

Anna and Nonoko were a quite hard one. Actually, if she thought about it again, she had no reason to avoid them. They didn't get too close to Natsume or Ruka. They were on the neutral side. But she didn't want them to be hurt. She still remembered the incident clearly, which Anna got involved in. That's the reason.

Mikan.

The brunette was too dense and innocent to be involved in this matter. She was glad that the fan girls didn't attack her, though she had no idea why.

But the brunette was a persistent one.

The bubbly girl had tried to approach her many times. Yet, the black-haired girl quickly went away before she could ask her anything. And if it was needed, she just gave a quick smile and ran away to she-knew-where.

That was what she needed; smile and run away.

It had been three days…

But those were the most tired days she had ever felt in her life.

RIIINNNGGG!! KLAK!

A hand that stretched out from under the blanket turned off the alarm, preventing the thing to disturb the owner of the hand any longer. After making sure that the thing didn't ring again, the hand went back and disappeared under the white blanket.

The lump under the blanket stirred and a head with black-colored hair stuck out from it. The black-haired girl rubbed her eyes sleepily and tossed the blanket aside. She got off from the bed as she stifled a small yawn.

Slipping her tiny feet into her white bed slippers, she walked to the window and stared outside. The sky was painted in grey color, which meant the weather was gloomy today. There was no any hint that it would change to a better weather later. The sky looked like it wanted to cry at that time.

She never liked this kind of weather. There was no good thing that came out when the weather was gloomy like this. She preferred the bright sunny day which always made her day though she had a bad time sometimes.

Bright sunny day…like Mikan…

Jacklyn's eyes wandered to the green field. A few students could be seen walking to the school building. She spotted a few of them bringing their umbrella with them, maybe as a preparation if it's suddenly raining later.

From the window, she moved her gaze to the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was 6 am and she still had some time to prepare herself for the classes, so she went to the bathroom and did her morning routine.

She was about to brush her teeth when she looked at her face in the mirror and saw a girl with a tired look on her face. That reminded her of these three days that she had gone through by avoiding the gang.

'I wonder if I can stand this longer…' she thought as she heaved a tired sigh and started to brush her teeth.

It didn't take more than five minutes for her to brush her teeth. After she finished brushing her teeth, she turned the faucet on and got a hand full of cold water. She splashed it onto her face, wishing she would get fresher after this.

Wiping her wet face with a white soft towel in the bathroom, she took a look at the girl in the mirror again. She still looked tired but it was better than before.

Jacklyn proceeded doing her mourning routine. Stripping off her clothes, she turned on the shower and stepped under it, feeling the millions cold water drops touching her bare body. And here she was again, spacing out as she recalled the days when she broke their friendship.

She felt no guilt. Of course she didn't.

The only thing that made her feel guilty was the fact that she had hurt the brunette, though she could get through of it in these three days. That feeling had disappeared slowly as she busied herself in avoiding them.

She stepped out from the shower with her damp hair, snatched a white towel then wrapped it around her body. She wouldn't get late again just because she pondered too much in the shower.

Grabbing her uniform that she had hung behind the bathroom door the night before, she took off the towel and changed into her uniform. She dried her hair with towel while walking out from the bathroom and approached the window once again.

Many students had gone out from the dormitory at that time. She even saw Yuu walking to the school building along with Koko. Behind the two, she spotted Anna and Nonoko walking and chatting. She let out a small smile at the sight.

She cast a glance at the alarm clock again. It was 6.30 am. She had wasted a lot of times to ponder under the shower once again. Deciding that this was the right time to go, she combed her half-dried hair and went to the bathroom to hang the towel.

Going out from the bathroom, she approached her desk and took her bag. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

'Today is the fourth day…Another day to go…'

-x-

"Mikan-chan."

The aforementioned girl turned her head to the voice's direction and saw the blonde wavy-haired teacher approaching her. Hotaru, who was with her at that time, also stopped on her track to hear what the teacher wanted to say.

As Narumi arrived in front her, he smiled and asked, "How are you today?"

The brunette beamed at him and replied, "I'm fine, Narumi-sensei!"

Narumi's smile widened, glad to see her happy. He was quite worried when he saw Jacklyn and the brunette barely went together these days. Of course he wondered if there was something happening between them. But after seeing her could still smile like this, he shrugged that thought off for now. "Good. By the way, have you seen Jacklyn-chan? There's something that I want to ask her," he said.

At the mentioning of the name, Mikan's face directly changed into a sad one. Narumi realized this. "I…don't know, Sensei…I haven't gotten any chance to talk to her…" she muttered while looking down.

The teacher got curious upon hearing the girl's statement. 'So there's really something happening between them…' he thought as he eyed the sad brunette. "Did something happen between you and Jacklyn-chan?" he braved himself to ask, though he didn't want to bring up the gloomy topic.

Mikan shook her head slowly and looked up. A bright smile was back on her face. "It's nothing, Sensei. She's just a bit busy these days," she assured the teacher. She wouldn't tell him about the thing that Jacklyn asked her not to tell. If she told him, the problem would get worsened and the teacher would ask the black-haired girl many questions which would just make the girl got more pressure than she already had.

Besides, she believed that they would be back to normal, though she didn't know when.

And she had faith in it.

"Are you sure, Mikan-chan?" Narumi asked unsurely. He didn't remember giving his students much homework. But then again, he's not the only teacher at the Alice Academy.

The brunette nodded briskly. "Yes, I'm sure of it," she confirmed without any hesitation, hoping that teacher wouldn't get suspicious at her.

And her pray was granted.

Narumi gave her a big smile, relieved that there was nothing happening between his students. At least, that was what he thought. "That's good then. I wonder what she's doing these days. Did the teachers give all of you much homework?"

"Well…not really. But I believe she has other things to do beside homework," the nullifier girl said as she smiled awkwardly while scratching her cheek.

Hotaru was watching the brunette from behind, knowing that the brunette tried to hide the fact that there was a problem between them. She, herself, had many conclusions in her mind about the drawing alice girl and if her best friend knew something about this.

No. She was sure that the brunette knew the suspect of the kidnapping incident before and the incident that involved Anna four days ago, though she just kept silent about this.

Narumi just smiled and said, "Yeah, she must be." Mikan just smiled back at him while the inventor stared at the brunette in silence with all hypotheses she had concluded in her head.

-x-

Jacklyn stretched her hands up, welcoming the gentle breeze to swap her dark mood away in that morning. She lifted her head and stared at the sky. It was still that grey-colored one. She tilted her head and bent her eyebrows unpleasantly before she finally shrugged her shoulders and proceeded her way to the Junior High School building.

On the way, she glanced around her, seeing a few students who also went to the same destination with her. She saw a few of her classmates, though she hadn't seen the persons that she avoided recently.

Heaving a sigh, she kept walking while drowning in her own thoughts again. She had gone back to her old self, being alone again. The one and the only thing that accompanied her along those quiet times was her own thoughts. She didn't care about what she thought at that time, anything as long as she could distract herself from the loneliness and spend her leisure time in the day.

She must admit, since she befriended with Mikan, something inside her had changed. She used to be able to stand a week in loneliness without talking to any person, even her parents. Heh, she couldn't talk to them because they would rain her with many complaints and what-they-called advices even before she finished her first sentence.

Yeah, but did they know that they gave her many complaints than advices? Well, she didn't care. Not since her parents always talked about the same things everyday.

She decided to lock herself up in her room after she came home from school and had her food.

She didn't talk much because, once again, if she tried to talk, they would just bring up the topic about Izu or whatever-it-was.

And now, it had just been three days and she had already missed them so much. Um…okay, not Natsume. The boy was out from her count.

Not that she hated him or what, she just simply didn't like him. Well, she was concerned if he suddenly got injured badly like the last time. Who wouldn't? Right?

Ruka…not really. She wasn't too close to him.

Youichi…no. He was just kind to her when she was Miss Angel.

Hotaru…not really too. Not only she wasn't close to her, but the Ice Queen also never talked to her after the incident, just like what she had told her before. But she never talked to her even before the incident anyway. Recently, Jacklyn felt the inventor staring at her in a kind of way, like sending many questions through the telepathy.

It surely was a silly thinking of her. She must shrug that off. It was impossible that the inventor had an interest in her.

Koko…a bit. To think that he used to can read her mind and he knew about her problems with the fan girls, yeah, she quite missed his innocent look and simple thinking. He was a cheerful one too.

Anna and Nonoko…yeah, she missed them. Those two always cheered her up and showed her a few fun things to do. Hey, thinking about them, she missed Anna's cookies. Jacklyn let a small smile make its way onto her lips when she remembered those two.

And the brunette…

The black-haired girl stopped when she saw a certain blonde-haired boy leaning on the tree trunk before her. It looked like that the boy also realized her presence there because he turned his head to her. A smile was on his face when he greeted her, "Good morning, Jacklyn-san."

Jacklyn managed to let out a small smile as she greeted him back, "Good morning, Nogi-san."

"Just call me Ruka. It feels strange when you called me Nogi-san," he said kindly, still smiling.

The black-haired girl raised her eyebrows. "But Imai always calls you…"

"Uh, yeah, she also calls Natsume by his surname too," the animal prince said in an…awkward tone, if she didn't hear it wrong. "But just call me Ruka. I feel more comfortable with it," he added.

Jacklyn chuckled lightly. "Fine. It's Ruka then."

Ruka smiled and, somehow, was glad when he saw her chuckling. "It has been three days since the last time I saw you this comfortable. It's good to see you like this," he said, making the girl instantly look at him. The chuckle was gone from her lips, replaced by a surprised look on her face.

She looked down and stared at her shoes for a few seconds. The boy got confused at her silent act. A half of him thought that he had said something wrong just now. "Jacklyn-san?"

At the call, Jacklyn lifted her head and looked at him. A smile graced her lips when she said, "Don't worry. Everything is fine. I'm just fine."

"Oh…okay…" Ruka muttered unsurely.

She widened her smile. "And just call me Jacklyn. The 'san' addition makes me feel old or something like that. Tell Koko and Yuu about this too."

Ruka smiled back. "Okay. But why don't you tell them by yourself?"

The smile was wiped off from her face. "Nothing…I just…forgot to tell them. That's all," she said as she started to walk again. "Anyway, I'll be going to the class first. See you at class!" She smiled at him and ran off to the junior high school building, leaving a few questions in the lad's mind.

Ruka watched her back in silent. "Until when she could stand this?" he muttered as the running figure started to disappear from his sight.

-x-

'You're not worth him!'

'Get out of my sight! You already get on my nerves!'

'I don't need you again! You're a traitor! Slut!'

'How about if we teach her a lesson? It must be fun…'

"NO!" Marika shouted as she shot her eyes open. As she sat up, she found out that she had just fallen asleep on a seat in her fans club headquarter. She felt the cold sweats trickling down on her face and her hands were trembling badly. Wrapping her hands around her body, she tried to calm down and convinced herself that it was just a dream.

…Yeah…another bad dream…

"Marika?"

The familiar kind voice attracted her attention. She turned her head slowly to the voice's direction and saw the light-green haired girl approaching her. Her face showed that she was worried at that time. Of course, she suddenly shouted like that. Who wouldn't get worried when they heard that kind of panicked shout?

"…Suzuka?" the black wavy-haired girl murmured. She was still trembling badly.

Suzuka stopped by her side and knelt down. "Are you alright? You're sweating and trembling badly. Your face also looks pale." She stretched her right hand and put it on Marika's forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Suzuka," she said as she put her left hand on the other's hand and pulled it away from her forehead. "I just had a bad dream. It's okay now."

"You have been like this since the last time we taught the girl a lesson. Do you think this is her doing? Her alice?" Suzuka said, getting suspicious at the possibility. She was concerned about her friend's condition lately. Marika always had a bad dream, whether it was when she slept at night or day.

The result was the ice-alice wielder had been lack of sleep in these three-four days. Suzuka realized that she could get sick or have a bit mental problem if this condition kept going on.

Marika shook her head. "I don't think so, Suzuka. This is just a bad dream. This used to be happening until I enrolled in this Alice Academy. When I entered this academy, it has stopped. I wonder what makes it come again…" she uttered as she touched her own forehead.

Suzuka patted her shoulder gently. "Maybe you're tired. Take a long rest. I'll ask permission from the teachers for you," she said as she stood up and went to the door.

"Suzuka," Marika called her before the light-green haired girl walked out from the door. Suzuka turned to face her. The black wavy-haired girl smiled and said, "Thanks for your concern."

Suzuka smiled back at her. "You're welcome." Then she went out from the room.

Marika let out a sigh and stared at her hands on her lap. "Darn those dreams…" she muttered in annoyance.

-x-

KRRIINGG!!

The bell for the lunchtime could be heard from the roof.

"Ah…I have missed the class, huh?" Jacklyn said while staring at the gloomy sky above her.

As what she had just said before, she didn't attend the first and second period today. It's not a big problem though, considering that the first and second period were Narumi's class.

What was the reason?

Simple. She had no mood to attend any classes today. She wouldn't be able to concentrate anyway. Three days in loneliness surely had drawn out her good mood. If she knew she would ditch the class today, she would better choose to keep on lying on her comfy bed even though she had to destroy her alarm clock for that.

What could she say? The idea to ditch the classes suddenly popped in her mind when she almost reached the class. Her feet suddenly turned at a corner and here she was now, leaning her hands on the white steel fences that prevented her from falling to the ground down there.

Seeing the grey sky, she was once again drowning in her deep thought. She had gotten tired of this. She didn't know when this avoiding game would end.

Game…

If this was only a game, then it should have been easier for her to end it right here, right now. But this wasn't. She had thought about this many times, what should she do? Which should she choose? Her friends' safety? Or her egoistic need?

Jacklyn sighed and took her bag that she put down on the floor beside her before. She opened it and took out a paper from inside.

It was the last remain from her drawing book, which contained a drawing of a boy.

"What should I do?" she asked the drawing, as if it could answer her.

She spent a few minutes staring at the drawing and there was still no answer. Of course it wouldn't answer. If it could, it would be very creepy, you know.

She held the paper closer to her chest and muttered, "I wish you could be here with me at time like this. Not as a drawing that will be gone after twenty four hours…"

Yes. Deep in her heart, she hoped that it would happen. She prayed hard and held the drawing closely in her embrace, until she suddenly felt her eyelids getting heavier and her hold on the paper loosened.

'Oh, darn it…what…happened…?' she thought as she started to breathe heavily and clutched her chest in pain. 'I hardly…could breathe…' was her last thought before she fell on her knees then lay on the floor and lost her unconsciousness.

'Darn it…'

-x-

'Hm…no feather today?' Youichi Hijiri thought as he walked around the Sakura tree. 'Did she forget? Or she's injured again?'

A cold presence disturbed his thought. Youichi turned to his back and saw a transparent girl standing before him. Peoples might not be able to see her, but not Youichi. His spirit manipulation ability made him can see that kind of things which a normal person couldn't see, the wondering spirit.

The girl lifted her hand in front of her and waved her palm back and forth, signaling him to follow her. He lifted an eyebrow, wondering what the girl wanted from him.

'Roof…Junior High School…'

The crystal clear voice suddenly rang in his head. The little boy stared at her again and asked, "What's with the roof?"

The girl started to fade. 'Go to that place…you'll know…' were the last words he heard before the transparent girl was completely gone from his sight.

Youichi took a last glance at the Sakura tree before he moved his feet to the place the girl had told him. Though he wanted to see Miss Angel if she would drop the feather later, he couldn't help but get curious at what the girl wanted to show him.

It didn't take him more than thirty minutes to reach the Junior High School building. The building was close to the place where the Sakura tree was anyway. Without waiting again, he went to the roof, which he remembered the way because the fire caster always took him to the place before. It was their favorite place after the Sakura tree.

He stepped on the last stair and placed his hand on the doorknob. Turning it slowly, the door to the roof opened.

When the door was fully opened, he saw a black-haired girl lying on the floor with her bag by her side. He quickly approached the girl and knelt down on one knee. His eyes widened in the next second and he stared at the unconscious girl for a while before he murmured, "I must call someone."

Not wasting any time again, he stood up and ran to the door. He went down the stairs and turned at the corner, going to a certain direction. Lucky if he could find someone near there.

But there was something that he couldn't take off from his mind at that time. The image kept showing in his head.

'It's impossible…but…'

His pace got slower until he finally stopped. He panted lightly as he kept his head down.

'But why…the view when she was laying back there…her black hair that covered her face…'

He felt something strike him as he remembered the familiar scene.

'…It's the same…as the time when I found Miss Angel for the first time…'

--To be continued--