It had been a few days since the freaky author was sent to the Mars for the second time (the first time is in When I Met You). The four of them lived happily, but not ever after.
One day, a few papers dropped onto them, drawing their curiosity out of their minds.
Hotaru: (Takes the paper from her head) What's this?
Jacklyn: (Takes another paper from the ground) Figures.
Natsume: (Leans on the tree trunk and smirks) Now you're working as the garbage picker, sketchbook girl?
Jacklyn: (Glares at Natsume) Want to taste my punch? It's good than the sketchbook.
Mikan: (Sweat drops) Um…so what does the paper contain of?
Hotaru: (Scans the paper) Let's see…
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
18th Piece: Suspicion
"Ne, Hotaru…"
The aforementioned girl turned her head for a bit to the brunette beside her. Both of them were in the cafeteria by now, eating their lunch with their friends, Anna and Nonoko. It was quite crowded in there, so many of the tables were already being occupied now. They were lucky to get one.
A few seats beside them were empty, exclusively being reserved for their friends who said they would catch up with them later. And there was an empty seat beside the brunette, which was always being glanced at by her now and then.
The raven-haired lass saw this and realized who her best friend had waited for, though she just kept being silent about it.
"What?" she asked the brunette with her trademark stoic face.
Mikan didn't have her eyes on her best friend. Instead, she just stared at her lunch in a brief silence and spoke, "Am I an annoying person?"
As she heard the question, she knew what the brunette talked about. She was still thinking about the incident that happened four days ago. The new girl, Jacklyn, suddenly broke their friendship thread without any reason. That girl just left a warning: not to getting close to her again.
It was so obvious that something had happened to her, forcing her to do that thing. What the inventor didn't understand was…was that girl stupid or afraid of something that she did that thing meekly?
Afraid? Wasn't that too late for her to realize since she had made a few enemies from the beginning?
No. There was something more to it.
"Hotaru?" the brunette called again, snapping her out of her thought.
Hotaru glanced at her. "Should I say it?" she said before she continued eating her lunch.
Mikan had that sad look on her face, which was noticed by Anna and Nonoko. "No. You're not annoying, Mikan-chan," Anna said, trying to cheer her up. "You're a nice person and you always make us happy."
Nonoko nodded and confirmed, "That's right, Mikan-chan."
The brunette managed to show a smile on her face as she heard this. "Thanks, Anna, Nonoko." She then looked down again in the next second. Somehow, she still couldn't get off the feeling that she was annoying. Natsume always said that too. She was annoying.
Mikan heaved a sigh and took a spoon full of rice before she continued speaking, "I thought a few people don't like me because I'm annoying…" Then she shoved the spoon into her mouth and munched her lunch.
Hotaru, Anna and Nonoko remained silent. Without hesitation, the inventor raised an eyebrow and asked, "You just realize it now?" The brunette looked at her with puppy eyes, forgetting that the technique didn't affect the Ice Queen at all. The raven-haired lass poked her forehead, dismissing the pity look from her hazel orbs. "You may be annoying, but you should also realize you have another positive side that makes people around you feel happy. You should believe in yourself."
Anna and Nonoko smiled upon hearing the inventor's wise words. The raven-haired girl maybe looked cold and money-lover, but she cared about her friends, mainly Mikan. She knew what to do to make the brunette happy again.
Just a simple sentence. It was enough to paint a smile on the brunette face.
And it surely worked.
The corners of Mikan's lips tipped up and formed a smile. She hugged the inventor in the next second, saying 'thank you' in a whisper. How happy she was to know that her best friend cared for her.
Surprisingly, Hotaru didn't shoot her with her Baka Gun like usual. She didn't even make any move to pull out the Baka Gun which they believed she kept somewhere in her uniform.
'Just for this once,' the inventor thought as she sighed.
Though she wanted to smile at that time, she held it back and chose to smile inwardly. She was glad that she could make her smile again.
Well, she would take the payment later.
Back to shoot her with the Baka Gun.
-x-
Kokoro Yome was inside the classroom, having fun in reading a few students' minds that he found interesting to be known. While smiling at their thoughts, he packed his things and was ready to go out from the class to catch up with Mikan and the others.
Waving his hand at his other friends, he stepped out from the class and turned to a certain direction when suddenly…
BUMP!
He wasn't too aware at what had just happened. What he knew was the impact made him land on his butt hardly. "Ouch!"
"Hey! Watch where you're going to next time!" a little boy's voice scowled him.
The mind reader opened his eyes and looked at the person that bumped into him. He directly knew the owner of the grey-colored hair and eyes who shot him a glare at that time. "Youichi?"
Youichi got up and dusted his pants. He looked at the mind reader. "Have you seen Onii-chan?" he asked.
Koko got up too and stared at the boy. "No. Why?"
Youichi shook his head then thought for a while. A certain girl was unconscious at the roof and he needed to tell someone. He needed the fire caster now for he wasn't too close to the other and he couldn't find a certain brunette everywhere.
He stared at the mind reader that stood before him. "Do you know the sketchbook girl?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Huh?" The mind reader tilted his head in confusion. 'Sketchbook girl?' he thought as he twisted his brain, trying to remember who the person was.
It didn't take him five minutes to realize who the person that the spirit manipulator talked about. "Oh, you mean Jacklyn-san?"
The other nodded then turned away. "Come with me. She needs help," he said before he started to run, followed by the curious mind reader.
Koko had no idea what the boy meant by 'the girl needed help', but he was sure something happened to her at that time, though he was curious how the boy found out about that. As far as he knew, the boy didn't have any special relationship with the black-haired girl. He ignored her like the other, except when the girl turned to Miss Angel that he admired.
…Only one way to know what he thought about now.
Reading his mind.
Yup, that was the only way. He knew the risk and it would be bad if the boy knew about it. He didn't want to…well, at least, he tried to convince himself that he didn't want to read his mind. But you knew that the curiosity was the biggest enemy in this world, especially for a person like him that could read people's mind.
Just a bit…It wouldn't harm…
While the mind reader concentrated on his alice, Youichi didn't pay too much attention at the older boy's act. What he needed to know was he was still following him. His mind focused on a certain girl that was lying in unconsciousness at the roof and another doubtful matter.
The image of her lying there on the floor couldn't be erased from his mind.
Yes, it was carved clearly in his head as another almost same image also showed up; a girl that lay on the branch of the Sakura tree with a pair of white wings on her back.
He twisted his brain, thinking the possibility that could happen. Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Yes. A coincidence.
Koko gasped silently as he read the young boy's mind. 'He almost found out!' he thought while running. Staring at his back, he knew the boy was getting confused at what he had just seen.
He was between belief and disbelief.
It was just a thin line that separated those two different matters. And it was just about time until he found out one of the secrets that was hidden by her all this time.
After a few turns and stairs, the two of them finally arrived at the roof. Youichi slammed the door open and approached the unconscious girl. Koko followed him from behind, not bothering to close the door. He approached them and knelt beside the little boy, checking on the girl's condition.
Lifting a hand, the mind reader brushed a few strands of hair from her face and touched her forehead. 'She doesn't have fever…' he thought as he stared at her face. 'So why is she lying here and unconscious?'
Wonderment filled his mind. He observed her figure briefly but found no evidence of violence there. He pressed his lips together in curiosity and shifted his gaze back to her calm sleeping face.
All of sudden, her expression changed. The face that looked so peaceful just now showed a pain look. Slowly, her even breathing started changing to a few small pants. Not long afterward, she gasped for air and sweats started to form on her forehead. Seeing this, the two boys exchanged looks.
Something surely had happened to her.
Koko lifted the girl into the sitting position and put both of her hands on his shoulders, carrying her by piggy back. Youichi looked at them until the mind reader turned to him and said, "Please find Sakura and tell her about this. If you couldn't find her, tell Yuu or the others. I'll bring Jacklyn-san to the clinic."
The spirit manipulator usually didn't take any order from the other people, except the fire caster and the animal prince. But in this case, he nodded reluctantly. He hated to admit it, but somehow, he felt something inside him forcing him to agree with the older boy.
The mind reader nodded at him for the last time then went to the door with the girl on his back. Youichi looked at the black-haired girl for the last time before the two of them disappeared behind the door.
After he was sure they couldn't hear him, he turned to face the fences. Hands inside the pockets, he closed his eyes and muttered, "I know you're here. Show yourself up."
For a few minutes, there was no one on the roof except the gray-haired boy himself. But it was how it was seen in a mere human's eyes. In fact, he indeed saw someone standing beside him.
A transparent girl with knee-length dress and shoulder-length red-hair stared at him without expression. She was the same girl that told him to go to the roof at the Junior High School building, where he found the black-haired girl lying unconscious.
As she already knew what the boy wanted when he told her to show up, she opened her pale lips and asked, 'What do you want to ask?'
Youichi glanced at her. "Are you the ghost of this roof?"
The girl stared at him in silence for a few seconds and slowly nodded. 'It's not exactly what you wanted to ask…' she then said as she locked her blue eyes at the boy's grey eyes.
He sighed. "I just wanted to know…I've been at this roof for several times and I never sensed your appearance here before. I suspect that you have already slept for a long time but woken up again because of something. Am I right?"
The ghost closed her eyes and leaned on the white steel fence as if she was touchable. 'The girl…her confused and sadness aura called me…it was so strong that I woke up from my slumber…' she said. 'I thought…she has the same trouble with me…'
Arching an eyebrow in confusion, the spirit manipulator turned to her. "Same trouble with you?"
She nodded and lifted her head to face him. 'Before I died, I have a same wish with her. I want someone to be by my side in my happiness and sadness…because I lost my parents and my friends… ' She looked down. 'My parents were dead in an accident. Since then, I moved from one relative to another. But sadly, they treated me badly…and my friends…they avoided me…I don't know why…I never know…'
Youichi stared at her in silence, waiting her to finish her story. 'That's why I decided to end my life, sleeping in deep calm slumber for eternal…until this girl's mind pulled me out from my peace slumber…'
Being alone…
It was the worst thing that could happen in every person's life. The pressure inside your mind could never be brought up and just stayed there, piling up, until one day it exploded.
It was either you could lose your sanity, or commit suicide. But somehow, a few people could survive from those two words of self havoc. That was what the black-haired girl had by now after the event four days ago.
Strangely, she was the one who avoided them when they tried to approach her. Well, it's not him, but a few people like Mikan, Yuu, Anna, and Nonoko.
Could this be one of the possibilities that caused her lying unconscious? Or there's something deeper than that which he didn't know?
Turning away his gaze to the sky, the little boy said, "The difference is…she's the one that broke her friendship with her friends…"
The ghost looked at him and murmured, 'I know. She's confused with what she should choose between her selfishness and their safety…' Youichi looked at her again. The ghost smiled then giggling, 'Don't worry, she didn't show any sign that she wanted to commit suicide. She just ditched classes.'
Heaving a sigh, the little boy inquired, "So…you just woke up from your slumber…huh?"
The girl nodded. 'Why?' she asked, curious.
"No…nothing," he murmured.
She looked at him confusedly, wondering what the boy wanted to know beside of what he had asked before. 'Is there anything that you want to ask again?' she tilted her head, her hands clasped behind her back.
Youichi shrugged his head. "No. You can go back to sleep now," he intoned as he looked at her. The ghost nodded and mouthed 'goodbye' before she started to fade, going back to her deep slumber.
When he was finally alone, the little boy pulled out his right hand from his pocket and put it on the fences. Actually, he wanted to ask the ghost if she knew anything about Miss Angel that showed up more less a week ago. If the ghost could travel from the roof to the Sakura tree when she told him about the unconscious girl, maybe she had ever seen Miss Angel there.
Was Miss Angel the same person with the black-haired girl?
That was what he wanted to ask.
He was a bit upset when he knew that the ghost just woke up, which meant she didn't know anything about the angel. As he recalled his conversation with the ghost, a sentence caught his mind. "Choose between her selfishness and their safety…" he muttered. "I wonder if Onee-chan knows anything about this…"
He gazed around the green field in the Alice Academy from up there. His eyes then caught a certain Sakura tree, the place where the angel should have dropped the feather at lunchtime. But to his dismay, there was nothing at the tree when he arrived there.
"Miss Angel…are you just fine…?" he murmured, not taking his eyes off from the remembrance tree.
He knew no one would answer him. He just wondered…and was a bit worried. The memory where the angel was injured badly still lingered in his mind. It's like it just happened yesterday.
Another five minutes of pondering and he dismissed it quickly, recalling that he still had a request to be done. Walking to the door, he turned the doorknob and opened it, going to search for the brunette as what the mind reader had told him.
If he was lucky, maybe he would find her together with the fire caster.
-x-
"She has overused her alice," the female doctor in the clinic said to the mind reader.
"Overused?" Koko asked, making sure that he didn't hear it wrong. 'What did she do?'
"Yes. She used her power beyond her limit in one or a few blows. It will cause an extreme tiredness and your heart will beat faster because of the lack of air," she explained. "What did she do until she reached this state?"
The lad shook his head. Truth to be told, he didn't know. Youichi was the one that told him about her. When the little boy took him to the roof, he had found her lying there, unconscious. He had no idea what the girl had done that she overused her alice like this. "I don't know. When I found her, she has been unconscious and she started to gasp for air all of a sudden," Koko said.
The doctor just nodded and approached the bed where Jacklyn rested now. She had been calm again not long after the doctor examined her. Before, when he was on the way to the clinic, the girl's condition got worsened every minute. He could just run, murmuring that everything would be okay along the way, hoping that the girl could hear him at that time.
When he finally arrived at the clinic and handed Jacklyn to the doctor, he just realized that his hands trembled badly. He leaned on the wall and took his breath, trying to calm himself. He convinced himself over and over that she would be fine. He must be strong in this situation. He must be strong for his friend.
A few minutes passed and the doctor went out from the clinic, telling him that the girl had overused her alice. Of course he was confused. There was no sign of violence on her body; something like scratch or bruise. So what did she use her alice for?
The mind reader stood on his spot while staring at the black-haired girl who was in her deep slumber. He thought back to the time where he couldn't read her mind. Was there a connection between it and the overuse of her alice?
Letting out a tired sigh, he held his head and approached the empty seat beside the bed where she was lying. He sat down and fixed his eyes on her sleeping face once again.
The girl surely kept many secrets within her small and calm appearance. Before she suddenly blocked her mind from him, he managed to read a few secrets of her past that still haunted her. The past that also had been her reason to stay in this prison when she arrived at the academy and attended the classes there without any hesitation.
She didn't like to be compared to her sister. She had been fed enough with the same complains and babbles about that.
To search for someone that wanted to see the way she was.
That was why she ran from her house, from her old life, from the community behind the cold wall; the wall that separated the academy with the outside crowded world.
Many students wanted to go back to their parents, but she thought the opposite.
Maybe she was still in her rebel state of puberty, being lost inside the maze of her mind.
Well, this was just his theory anyway. He was also only fourteenth for God's sake, the same age with her. He couldn't comment too much while he, himself, was also experiencing the puberty age.
Oh well…
"What took Youichi so long?" he muttered as he leaned his head on the wall, staring at the white ceiling.
BRAK!
"Koko! I heard from Youichi that-" Yuu paused when he saw a sleeping girl on the bed. He looked at Koko who nodded at him. Silently, he went inside the clinic. Behind him, the wavy-blonde haired teacher smiled at the mind reader.
Youichi went in along with him. "I didn't find Onee-chan and the others nearby, just both of them," he said as he pointed Yuu and Narumi.
Koko nodded and smiled. "It's fine. Thank you, Youichi."
The spirit manipulator nodded and went to Yuu's side.
"What happened, Koko?" Narumi asked as he approached him. He saw the mind reader's tired face and got worried. "Are you okay?"
The mind reader nodded once again. "I'm fine, Sensei."
The teacher sighed in relief. "Good." Then his blue purple eyes fixed on the sleeping girl. "Is she alright?" He had been worried when he heard the news from the class representative and the spirit manipulator. Why wasn't he? One of his students was unconscious and the cause was unknown.
"Doctor said that she has overused her alice," Koko said. "I don't know what it's for though, but it looks like she didn't use it for battle like what happened at the kidnapping incident before."
Narumi gave him an understanding look and stared back at the girl. He had gotten wondered at her strange behavior lately. And after what he had heard just now, he knew that something had gone wrong with her.
But how he could make her admit what had happened lately? His alice didn't work on her.
"We have to wait until she tells us herself," was Koko answer after the lad read the teacher's mind.
All of them were silent and just stared at the unconscious girl. They had no choice but to agree with the mind reader's suggestion.
It's the only way they could think of for now…
--To be continued--
Jacklyn: …Tell me that this isn't real.
Mikan: This is real…
Hotaru: She told you to tell her that this isn't real, dummy.
Natsume: (Raises an eyebrow) What's wrong?
Hotaru: (Stares at Natsume and flaps the paper in front of her) This.
Natsume: (Takes the paper from Hotaru) What's with this paper?
Mikan: She has come back…
Jacklyn: And she must be around here.
Someone: (Somewhere) WOOHOOO!! I'M BAAACCCKKK!!
Hotaru: Looks like you're right.
Jacklyn & Mikan & Natsume: …Darn it…