illutia mist: (Watches the scene from the top of the tree) Hehehe, they're arguing. (Sneers evilly)

Mikan: (Hugs Hotaru) Hotaru!! Do something!

Hotaru: (Sighs and takes out her Baka gun then shot Jacklyn and Natsume with it)

Natsume: (Avoids the bullet) What the hell??

Jacklyn: (Gets shot) Ouch!!

Hotaru: (Blows the smoke) Done.

Jacklyn: What's that for??

Hotaru: Instead of throwing mockeries to each other, why don't you just catch someone up there? (Points to the top of tree where illutia is sitting)

Jacklyn & Natsume & Mikan: (Looks up to the top of tree) YOU!!!

illutia mist: …Am I dead now?

Jacklyn & Natsume & Mikan: HELL YEAH!!

illutia mist: …Oh man…

Hotaru: …Idiocy is everywhere…

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

22nd Piece: Cornered

When she opened her eyes, the first thing that greeted her was the white color of the ceiling. She stared at the white surface for a while and sighed. She already knew where she might be. The feeling was so familiar to her.

She was in the hospital…again.

She tried to lift her body and felt a bit hurt on her head. When she placed her palm on her head, she sensed a soft material wrap around her head. She blinked. '…What happened to me…? Why is my head being bandaged…?' she thought as she trailed the bandage on her forehead.

She stared at the sheet on her lap blankly while her brain traced her memories to find out what had happened before she found herself waking up in the hospital a few seconds ago. Her fingers ran a small circle on her forehead as she closed her eyes and concentrated more on remembering the past event. A few blurred images flashed inside her head. Her eyebrows wrinkled as she forced herself to remember.

In the next second, her eyes shot open in surprise. She remembered what had happened.

Marika was mad and she seemed to be out of control.

She let out a small sigh when she realized what she had done to the wavy-black haired girl until she turned to be angry. She felt a little guilty. Her taunt must have passed the limit. She wondered if Suzuka could prevent the ice alice user from breaking her limiter.

Not only dragging them in danger too, she also almost claimed a suicide for herself. Oh well, at least she could get a lesson from this dangerous experience. Never mess with angry people.

"I see you have awakened."

Jacklyn turned her head to the window upon hearing the voice. A tall figure with blue mask was standing in front of the opened window. She knew who the person was. "…Hirai-san…?"

A small soft chuckle was heard from the figure. "Don't say you have forgotten about me after you're unconscious for three days," he joked.

The black-haired girl blinked. "I've been unconscious for three days??" she repeated while pointing at herself with surprise. Her eyes were wide opened.

"Yup. Brain concussion," he stated. "But not a serious one."

"I see…"

"And the doctor also said you're tired too," he continued while taking a few steps approaching her. "It seems like your stamina dropped down so much just because of your first mission." He chuckled.

Jacklyn frowned. Sure she was lack of sleep at that time, but she was aware when she confronted Marika. She just didn't know that some part of her words hit the girl perfectly and made the ice user angrier than she already were.

Not only that.

She also couldn't use her alice, since her things were inside the bag. She had no chance to bring it out. "Why did you walk in from the window, Hirai-san?" she asked irritatingly. "There's a door there." She pointed to the door with her index finger while looking at the man with unpleased expression.

Hirai shrugged and relaxingly answered, "I feel more comfortable to walk in from the window. Maybe it's because I have been used to do it in missions."

"Oh yeah…" Jacklyn muttered while rolling her eyes. She didn't really care though. She just wanted to tease him. But it looked like he didn't catch what her real intention at all. "So?" she asked as she looked at the man knowingly. "I believe there's another thing you want to say beside that."

Chuckling, the silver-blue haired man nodded. "Did the brain concussion make your feeling sharper than before?" he teased while smiling.

"No. I'm just guessing," she remarked. "Don't say it's true…?" He kept on smiling. Wondering what it was, Jacklyn bent one of her eyebrows in confusion. "…A mission?" she presumed, a half joking.

A grin was formed by his lips. "Bingo."

The black-haired girl groaned. She never expected any mission when she just woke up from her three days slumber. Her head was still a bit hurt. Well, not that much. But she still wanted to enjoy the nice and peaceful rest. "What time is it?" she asked dispassionately as she stared at the blue sky.

"It's 7 am," he answered lightly. "Better get prepared now. Hyuuga has already gone to his mission a few minutes ago."

Jacklyn stared at him in disbelief. "This early??" she whined. "The sun is still up there!" She pointed up to the ceiling.

"Correction. The sun is in the east." Hirai pointed to the direction where the bright light of morning sun was seen.

The girl rolled her eyes." Yeah, whatever. But it's still early!"

Hirai nodded relaxingly. "I know. But he got mission, and should I remind you of your job?" He smiled.

The girl shook her head in defeat while thinking if the man was already insane. If she was careless, people would find out what her secret job was and that would violate her deal with him. She didn't know what the man had in his mind when he told her to catch up with Natsume right at that time. He should have been thinking clearly what the consequence was.

"No need," she grunted as she swung her legs to the edge of bed and touched the cold surface of the floor with the tip of fingers. She glanced at him. "What if I'm found out?" she asked seriously. She needed to know she wasn't going to be punished because of the bad possibility since he was the one who told her to do it at day.

To her surprise, the silver-blue haired man just smiled at her. "You won't," he intoned confidently. "I know you can do this."

She blinked. 'How could he trust me this far?' she thought. Her gaze was focused on the man in front of her. He acted like he had known her for years and known well her capability to do the missions. He trusted her too much.

But Jacklyn didn't ask him why. She didn't bother about it too much.

All she did at that time was just nodding her head slowly, and she got a reassuring smile from him in return.

-x-

"Good morning, everyone!" a brunette greeted the class the moment she opened the class door energetically. Without warning, she got a few shots from the inventor which made her lay on the floor with many lumps on her head. "What did you do that for?" she wailed as she sat up and rubbed her poor head. "I haven't even hugged you yet!!"

The pair of violet eyes stared at her unemotionally. "Preparation before you hug me," was her simple answer. She pulled her weapon back and blew the smoke away.

Unpleased, the brunette pouted as she stood up. "You never did this before."

"Well, that noisy voice of yours disturbed me." Hotaru walked to her desk and continued working on her invention. The students in the class were silent, shocked by what just happened. Though the same thing happened everyday, they couldn't help but to feel amazed and scared at the same time. No one could defy her.

Still pouting, the brunette approached the inventor and paid close attention to what the raven-haired girl did. People might think she suddenly had interest in that kind of thing, but Hotaru knew better. The stoic girl looked up to her best friend and asked, "What's with the sudden silence?"

Upon hearing her question, Mikan blinked. "Nothing. Why?"

"You're noisy, not a silent type," she answered simply.

The brunette sweat dropped. "Can't I be quiet sometimes?"

"Then that means something bothers your mind."

At her comeback, the auburn-haired girl grew quiet. Hotaru never shifted her eyes from the girl. She wanted to know what was bothering the brunette's mind. It was so unusual for her best friend to act like this. "So?" the owner of the violet eyes asked, still looking at her intently.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to hide it from the inventor, Mikan sighed in submission and uttered, "I wasn't permitted to see Jacklyn-chan…"

The raven-haired girl's gaze looked bored. She knew why the brunette wasn't permitted to do that. It was so obvious. "Of course you can't," she replied coolly. "It's early in the morning and you also have classes too. Don't be stupid, Mikan."

Mikan's lips curled down, forming a frown. "I just want to see her. It has been three days since we found her unconscious in the classroom," she reasoned out. "…And she didn't show any sign of consciousness…"

WHACK!

"What the hell?! Hotaru??" she wailed while rubbing her head which was just being hit by the oh-so-mighty inventor. She glared at the horse hoof in her best friend's right hand. Yup, that'was the cause of the big lump on her head right now.

"You're talking like she's in comma or between the dead and live condition," was her relaxed answer as she took off the hoof from her hand. She opened and closed her palm then focused her attention back to the invention in front of her. "She just had brain concussion. And it's not a serious one too."

Yuu stood beside the pouting brunette and asked her if she was fine. Mikan smiled at him and nodded. He gave her a friendly smile in return. But when he saw the frown returned to her face, he couldn't help but feel he needed to cool down the situation. "Imai-san is right, Sakura-san. Jacklyn-san will be just fine," he said reassuringly.

The pair of hazel eyes looked at him in anxiety. A small smile, which appeared on her face in the next second, then swept the worry and gloomy mood away. Her bright beam had come back to her face once again. "Yeah…"

"Troublesome dummy…" Hotaru muttered, her eyes still on her invention. Upon hearing her mockery, Mikan pouted.

Yuu just smiled at those two. He knew the raven-haired girl didn't mean to mock her best friend. It was just some kind like her way to make the brunette act like her normal self again, the usual happy-go-lucky girl.

Another sound of door opened was heard. The whole class turned their heads to the class door to see who it was. Ruka Nogi was standing at the door with his white bunny. He wondered at everyone's stare which was on him. Having no idea what was wrong with them, he smiled a little and greeted, "Good morning."

All Natsume and Ruka fan club's girls fainted upon seeing the smile and hearing the gentle voice of his, except for Mikan and Hotaru of course. Sumire also didn't faint too. She just had love sign in her eyes. Most of the boy sighed watching this regular scene. A few of them even muttered about having no chance to get a girlfriend in this class.

Sweat dropping, Ruka tried to ignore the commotion and walked approaching Mikan and the others. The brunette was the first who greeted him back with a bright smile, followed by his other friends. The only one who didn't say anything was the inventor. Instead of greeting, he was greeted by her with a few photo sessions. Of course, he complained about it.

While the inventor and her prey were arguing, at least Ruka was, the others just stared at them in silence. Mikan and Koko shook their heads at the same time. Well, the mind reader just imitated her. It had become his habit since he befriended with Mikan in elementary. He accidentally read Ruka's mind and chuckled when he knew what the animal lover thought about.

His chuckle drew the brunette's attention. "What's funny, Koko?" she asked confusedly.

"Nothing," he said between the chuckles, making Mikan more curious.

The door opened once again, revealing their wavy-blonde haired teacher who got curious at the commotion. "I smell something interesting," he singsonged as he approached Mikan and the others. When he saw what the commotion about, he sweat dropped and shook his head. "Poor Ruka-kun…" But the show must be ended soon because their teacher had come and the class should be started.

Students walked back to their seat reluctantly, except Ruka, who was glad that his suffering finally ended. Well, that was what he thought until he caught malicious glints in the raven-haired girl's eyes when he was on the way to his seat. Those mysterious glints sent a scary feeling that made him shiver. He wasn't sure the stoic inventor would let him go just like that.

Mikan reached her seat not long after she saw Ruka sitting on his own seat. That's when she spotted an empty seat between her and the blonde-haired boy. "Ruka-pyon, where's Natsume?" she asked, catching the animal lover's attention.

Ruka looked at her with a sad smile on his face. She didn't need word to know what he meant.

The fire caster was on a mission again.

Sighing, the brunette sat down on her seat and focused her eyes to the blackboard when Narumi had started the lesson. Sometimes, she couldn't help but steal a glance to the empty seat beside her.

Worry started to develop in her heart.

-x-

"Damn it!" Natsume cursed as he hit the wall beside him with his fist. He glared at the unconscious guard who was lying on the hard floor a few meters in front of him. 'Damn! If this stupid guy didn't activate the trap, I wouldn't have to be here right now!' he thought annoyingly. 'It's good that I broke two or three of his bones for this.'

Lifting his head up, he tried to find the hole where he fell from before, but he didn't see any hole up there. He cursed once again and gazed around his new surrounding. The place looked like a cave with a few ways. He saw three ways in front of him. The lad assumed this place was functioned as a maze-type trap to keep the spy here so they couldn't get out easily.

The only illumination in the place he was standing now was a light, which was attached on the rough wall. He didn't see any light came from those three ways.

Using his sharp sense as the expert in doing missions, he chose the left way to be explored first. Stealing a last glance to the other two ways and the still-fainted guard, he entered the path he chose without looking back again.

The path was dark. Natsume had no choice but to use his fire alice to illuminate his way. He walked in silence for a quite long time. There's no another sound inside the place, even the sound of wind passing by.

This would take a long time…

SREK SREK SREK

Natsume stopped walking upon hearing the faint dragging sound. His alice was also being turned off, leaving the darkness to engulf the place once again. He couldn't be careless. This was enemy territory. Except he wanted to be caught by them, he better didn't take any risk to do something that would drag him into the worse situation.

SREK SREK SREK

The sound was heard louder than before. It looked like the sound was coming to his direction. The raven-haired lad kept his guard up, ready to beat up the owner of the strange sound. It's a big chance if it was an enemy.

SREK SREK SREK

The sound came nearer to the spot where he was standing now. He was ready to confront what would happen next.

SREK SREK SREK

The sound was getting nearer…nearer…and nearer…

TAP!

Something in front of him poked his right arm which was leaning on the rough wall. Feeling certain that it was an enemy, Natsume initiatively grabbed the thing and twisted it a bit hard.

"OUCH!! IT HURTS!!" came the loud response from his opponent. But what made him surprised was it was a girl's voice. Though he was surprised, he tried to keep his face expressionless. He could feel his opponent keep on struggling under his hold, and she didn't give any sign she would stop her act soon. "DARN IT! LET GO OFF MY HAND!" he heard her shout again.

He didn't make any attempt to hold her, except to tighten his hold on her what-she-called hand. He also didn't make any sound, waiting for her to calm down. While his prey was struggling for her freedom, Natsume felt something moving around his feet, something like passing wind. It looked like the girl was trying to kick him in the dark.

"OUCH!" the most miserable voice was heard in the next second. The girl suddenly stopped squirming. He wondered why. "Damn it…I sprained my ankle…" he heard her mutter in a low voice.

The fire caster rolled his eyes at this. 'What an idiot…'

"Okay," she said in submission. "Now you have caught me, you stupid guard. Just bring me to your boss or whatever…" she grunted irritatingly. She sounded like she had already given up.

Natsume got confused at her two last sentences. 'Stupid guard? Boss?' he thought quietly. 'This girl isn't one of the guards?'

He heard a soft 'humph' come from the submissive girl. Being engulfed by the curiosity, he decided to end his mute. "Who are you?"

A soft gasp escaped from the girl. "…You're not the guard who's patrolling in this place?" she asked hesitantly.

Natsume cast a small fire on his free palm, illuminating the place where they were standing at that time. He then stared at the mysterious girl that her hand was still being held by him. The moment he saw her figure, he felt familiar with it.

Her long dark-colored hair that reached her waist, the wing-shaped note which was hanging in front of her chest, and the white mask that she used. The only difference was the mask which she used today only covered her face until above her mouth.

The pyromaniac didn't need much time to know who the girl was. He remembered she was the girl he met two weeks ago when he was in his mission and almost got captured.

The black-haired girl's lips formed a small 'o' when she saw him. "Hey! It's you!" She pointed her free index finger to him. "I thought you're the guard! You almost gave me a heart attack back then!" the girl complained while pouting; but actually, she was relief she hadn't gotten captured.

"You again…" the raven-haired lad muttered. There's an annoyed tone in his voice. Certainly, he wasn't happy to see her at all. "What are you doing here?" he asked in boredom.

"Do you think I want to be here? They trapped me here!" she protested while clenching her fist in front of him.

Natsume raised an eyebrow at her fiery comeback. "Who trapped you?"

"That stupid guards up there," she murmured in annoyance. "They chased me and I suddenly fell into this place when I wasn't paying attention too much to my surrounding…"

"It's your fault, stupid," he commented.

A vein popped on her head. "Who did you call stupid just now?!" she asked angrily.

"You. Who else?" he remarked while looking at her boringly. "You're the one who got careless in the first place."

The girl huffed. "Just call me Little Angel, will you? That's a good nickname after all," she suggested as she glanced at him.

Natsume was smirking behind his cat mask. "Where's the part of you that is an angel?" he mocked.

"At least we have nicknames for each other than you call me stupid and I call you meanie," she retorted.

He rolled his eyes again. It's not like he cared about the stupid name-calling. "Whatever. I don't care anyway." The lad let go off her hand and leaned his back on the wall. His hands were being shoved into his pockets.

They stayed in silence for a while. Even so, Natsume could feel he was being observed by the girl beside him. He didn't like it. He was about to complain when the girl broke the deafening silence between them. "Then I'll call you Black Cat. You're wearing a black-colored cat mask," she said.

"…And you want me to call you White Mask?" he teased her.

Gritting her teeth in irritation, she complained, "I have told you! My nickname is Little Angel!" She was sure she was going to be insane if the lad kept on mocking her like this. It's just about time before her anger passed the limit of her patience.

He snorted. "I won't call you that."

"And why is that?"

"Because there's no part of you that is an angel," he reasoned out calmly.

"Cocky Black Cat…" she murmured annoyingly.

"Whatever," was his only response. He looked at the direction where the girl came from and thought for a while. "…Is the way where you came from just now a dead end?" he asked by all of a sudden, drawing the girl's attention to him.

"No. There are still two ways back there, I took the middle path and here I'm now, being bullied by you," she ended mockingly.

Placing his bended-index finger on his chin, the fire caster grew quiet once again, thinking. "There are still two ways there, right?" he asked as he straightened himself. "We're going there." He then walked to the way where the girl just came from without hesitation.

"Hey! Wa-ouch!!" she winced in pain as she squatted and massaged her sprained ankle. Her sudden action just now reminded her to be careful of her wound. "Damn it…" she grunted.

Upon hearing her wince, Natsume glanced at her through his shoulder. "What now?"

She glared at him as she kept on massaging her ankle. "It's because of you that I sprained my ankle, you meanie!"

He stared back at her in boredom. "You're the one who kicked aimlessly," he retorted. "It's your own fault."

"Tch." She clenched her teeth, cursing the lad inwardly. She knew he was cold, but she hoped he wasn't as cold as that. Holding back the pain, the girl stood up and walked approaching the fire caster. "I'm fine now. Let's go," she grunted. 'It's not that hurt anyway…'

-x-

An hour had passed. Natsume and Little Angel were still walking in the dark cave, with his fire as the only light which illuminated their way. None of them was talking along the way.

Surely, there's an awkward feeling between them, but that's not the only reason they silenced each other on the way. They had to be more careful since they're in enemy's territory. They had fallen into a trap and didn't want to get into the deeper problem by arguing until the guards found them. So the silence was a good thing and also the right choice for their safety.

Nonetheless, something strange happened.

Little Angel realized the light got dimmer and dimmer in each second, until it was totally dark in a few seconds later.

Anxious with the sudden darkness, she closed her eyes to make it used to the dark place, hoping she could see her surrounding when she opened them later. But it's futile. The darkness was too thick for her to see.

"Um…Black Cat? It's dark all of a sudden. Are you okay?" she asked unsurely, but the said boy didn't reply or make any sound. "…Black Cat?" she called once again. Still, no one answered her.

The thought about she was being left behind made her feel more anxious. "Black Cat?" she called desperately as she took a step forward. Her leg bumped into something and she had an idea what it was…or rather, who it was. She brought her right hand in front of her, trying to feel anything.

But she felt nothing except the cold air.

She moved her hand down, followed by her body which was lowering down little by little. That was when her hand touched something.

"What are you doing with my hair?" Black Cat finally spoke out in the dark.

"Oh? It's your hair?" she asked as she pulled back her hand. "Are you okay? You didn't answer me when I called you."

"…None of your business," he replied coldly.

She frowned upon hearing his answer, dissatisfied. Somehow, she felt something was wrong with the lad. She lifted her hand again and brought it in front of her. It collided with something soft, yet wet. She guessed it was his shirt. Feeling the damp material, she assumed the lad was sweating heavily. This, of course, worried her for a bit.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked gently.

"Shut up."

Little Angel twitched her eyebrows at his rude answer. 'What's wrong with him?' she thought as she felt sudden heat creeping onto her hand from the contact with his back. At the unusual degree of heat for a normal body of healthy person, she got more worried. 'Something's not right…'

The image of the brunette's sad face flashed briefly in her mind.

'His alice is eating his lifespan every time he uses it.'

'Is it…?' She had her eyes widened when the familiar feminine voice rang inside her head. Then the face of her trainer appeared in her mind replacing the brunette's image in the next second.

'His alice will shorten his lifespan every time he overuses it.'

'…Is it…because of his alice…?' she thought as she attached her attention to the darkness in front of her, the place where she believed he was kneeling at that time while trying to suppress his pain. Biting her lower lips, Little Angel pulled back her hand. She took out her pencil and opened her notebook. She wasn't going to let him use his alice for now. "Can you light up a fire? Just for a moment," she asked, trying to sound kind.

There was no reply or any reaction from Black Cat for a few seconds, but then a small fire suddenly appeared between them. Little Angel managed to catch the expression he had briefly at that time. He was pale and looked sick.

Not wasting any time again, she scribbled something on her notebook as the raven-haired boy glanced at her from the corner of his eye. After twenty seconds, she looked up and smiled at him. "You can put it out now," she said.

Natsume stared at her for approximately five seconds before he finally followed her suggestion to extinguish the fire. The moment the fire was being put out, darkness engulfed the two teens once again. But the darkness didn't last long this time.

A small light suddenly appeared from nowhere and illuminated the place where they kneeled down. Natsume turned around slowly and carefully, searching for the source of light. And to his question, he saw a flashlight in the black-haired girl's right hand as a silent answer.

He immediately wondered. He remembered perfectly he didn't bring any flashlight with him and neither did she. She just had the notebook in front of her chest with her. Then, how could a flashlight suddenly appeared in her hand from nowhere?

Panting, Natsume tried to focus his gaze on her. "…Where did you get it?" he asked while trying his best not to show his weakness in front of her.

"Just now," she replied lightly. "Sorry, I should have prohibited you from using your alice…" She looked at him with an apologetic gesture, since he couldn't read her expression because of the mask.

"…And why is that?" he asked suspiciously. He never shifted his gaze from her. The girl had so many mysteries lingering around her. Even what she said just now gave him feeling that she knew about him and his alice. But she was a stranger. A random girl he didn't know that suddenly appeared and got in his way when he's doing his missions. This could mean danger, especially because he hadn't known if she's an enemy or an ally.

She smiled at him, much to his surprise. "You know, your life is worthier than that," she said. "You still have friends you have to protect. Don't use your alice if it's unimportant."

'Hey, don't use your alice too much. Your life is worthier than that.'

'Hmph. That sketchbook girl also told me the same thing before,' he thought as he closed his eyes and leaned his head on the wall. He breathed deeply, hoping the pain he felt in her chest at that time would be gone in any second. "…So, where did you get that flashlight?" he asked in a bored tone.

Instead of replying, she kept on smiling at him. She then leaned her back on the wall too and hugged her knees while placing the flashlight on the floor, with the light facing the ceiling. "Are you tired?" the black-haired girl suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Tch. Who said I'm tired?" he asked back annoyingly. The truth was: he was tired. But his pride prevented him from admitting it in front of her, and everyone.

"I did. You're sweating and the fire was suddenly put out," she intoned. "You're tired."

"Whatever." He looked away.

The darkness might be gone, but not the deafening silence. Both of them drowned in their own thoughts. They didn't know how long they had been in the place. They knew they had to get out from there quickly, but they chose to stay silent, not arguing like what they would do if the lad was fine.

In the silence, Natsume's crimson eyes were roaming around their tiny spot and they stopped at the flashlight. He stared at the thing for a few moments as he remembered his discussion with the inventor at the cafeteria three days ago.

'It has no machine in it. Nothing.'

Without saying anything, he grabbed the flashlight, catching the attention of the girl who was sitting beside him at that time. "What's wrong?" she asked, confused by his sudden action.

Natsume didn't answer. He's searching for some kind of cap on the flashlight and finally found one at the bottom of it. He opened the cap with a 'click' and found no battery inside it. He shifted his gaze to the confused girl and asked, "…You have an alice?

Little Angel fidgeted uncomfortably. "Um…what's wrong with it?" she asked back.

"There's no battery inside this thing. How could it work? You must have used some kind of alice," he cornered her with his explanation.

"…Uh…Okay…You're right," she hesitantly admitted while playing with her hands.

He stared at her intently. "What's your alice?"

"Uh…you…don't have to know…" She looked away.

He bent his eyebrows. Suspicion arose inside him. "What are you hiding? …You're an enemy, aren't you?" he accused. His patience had almost reached its limit.

Upon hearing his accusation, the girl directly turned her head to him. "No!" She waved her hands in front of her. "Believe me! I'm not your enemy!"

"Then why don't you tell me what your alice is?" His voice deepened. Little Angel grew quiet, thinking what she should do so he would believe her. She couldn't tell him what her alice was. If she told him, there's a chance the enemy would know and she would be easily defeated by them.

"…Sorry…I can't tell you…" she muttered.

That's it. His patience had been gone. "What is your intention?" he growled, showing her that he didn't trust her at all.

A pang struck her heart. She felt hurt. Hurt because she wasn't trusted.

But what did she hope when she didn't trust him herself? Not telling her alice was the silent proof she didn't trust him, afraid the enemy would find out.

"…I can't tell…" she whispered, clutching the front of her shirt where the pain was felt.

Natsume was about to ask her once again. But before he could say a word, a bright light was suddenly being directed to them. Both of them instinctively lifted their arms to cover their eyes from the unexpected light.

"My, my. Look what we have here."

-x-

Setting his feet on the ground steadily, he looked up, seeing a certain gate standing firmly in front of him. Gentle breeze played with his hair and clothes, touching his bare skin lightly. A determination smile graced his lips.

"So, this is the Alice Academy…" he muttered. "…I've come for you…"

--To be continued--