Mikan: Wow…This chapter is quite long…
Jacklyn: You said it.
illutia mist: It is, isn't it?? So let me go!! (Struggles because she is tied to the tree)
Natsume: No.
illutia mist: What?! Hotaru!! (Looks at her pleadingly)
Hotaru: A hundred rabbits for that.
illutia mist: I'm broke!! (Cries waterfall)
Mikan: (Shakes head) Poor girl…
Natsume: Scratch that. Poor freaky author.
Mikan: I better say the disclaimer. illutia doesn't own Gakuen Alice and its characters. And Bourne Severity belongs to Ryuamakusa4eva. (Smiles) Oh, and there's an addition in the previous chapter. Just skim to the last scene!
illutia mist: Hey!! Let me go!! Mikan!!
Mikan: Oh man… (Sweat drops)
Jacklyn: Noisy…
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
23rd Piece: Breakout
"…This isn't what I think would happen to us…"
Natsume glanced at the black-haired girl who was sitting beside him. She drew her knees close to her chest and rested her chin on it. "And? You think we could escape while your ankle is injured?" He snorted. "If it's not because of you, we didn't have to sit behind these iron bars right now." He nodded his head to the iron bars in front of them.
Little Angel scoffed. "You know you could run without me back then. Why would you bother to save me?" she inquired while looking away and added in a low voice, "…It's not like you believe I'm here to save you…"
The raven-haired lad grew quiet as he thought about what had happened before. When they're engaged in small argument, a guard found them there. Well, he thought it's just one person, so he stood up and knocked him out. Right at the time when the unconscious guard fell to the floor, he heard footsteps come from the direction of their destination. Initiatively, Little Angel turned off the flashlight and they saw a few faint lights coming to the spot where they were standing.
They moved away from their spot, of course. They couldn't stay there and let the guards find them.
But luck wasn't on their side.
The wound on the girl's right ankle prevented her from walking faster. Natsume knew he could just leave her there and escape from the place alone, but something was bugging his conscience and telling him to help her.
So he did.
Grunting, he approached her and offered her a piggy back ride. And both of them went into another argument again, which caused them to be found after a few seconds later.
And here they were now, sitting side by side in one of jails in the small dark dungeon. Little Angel's flashlight as the only illumination they had. The dungeon wasn't too dirty, just a bit dusty. There's another jail again in the dungeon, but it's empty. It seemed like they're the only one who ever got into this place after God-knows-how-long.
Natsume sighed tiredly after he finished recalling the event. How stupid they were to be caught because they argued over a simple thing like a piggy back ride.
Yeah, it's just a simple thing. Little Angel rejected his offer, saying she could walk by herself. And here's the result of her stupid thought.
"We wouldn't be here right now if you threw away your damn pride and let me carry you…" he muttered annoyingly and saw her stiffen. He mentally cursed himself. He didn't mean to say it loudly.
Little Angel gritted his teeth. "I told you to go by yourself, cocky boy. You're the one who insisted to carry me," she retorted. "And besides, like I said before, you don't believe I'm there to help you, so why should you care?"
"Who said I care?"
"You gave the hint!"
"I'm not. You just concluded it by yourself."
"Oh yeah? So how about the piggy back ride offer?"
"You're slower than a turtle and look what that led us into now!"
"I told you to go away! You could just leave me there!"
"I was planning to-"
"Then why didn't you do it?!"
"Shut up, you two!!"
Both of them glared at each other while panting before they shifted their glares to the voice that told them to be silent. A tall red-haired man was standing at the other side of the iron bars and glared at the two captives. They didn't know when he came in and didn't bother about it.
"What?!" Little Angel and Black Cat said simultaneously. Both of them were still annoyed at each other, not to mention the situation they were at now worsened their temper.
The red-haired man shook his head at their rude comeback. "Do you realize your situation now? Don't make thing even worse."
"He started it!" Little Angel accused as she pointed her index finger to Natsume.
The fire caster glared at her and shoved her accusative finger away. "You're the one who started it," he growled. Then both of them exchanged glares once again.
Staring at the two, the man sighed while rolling his eyes. "I wonder what connection you two have…" the man said. "While here I thought the academy has sent another tool to accompany the Black Cat…"
The black-haired girl looked at the red-haired man with a frown forming across her lips. "I'm not the academy tool…" she grunted, which caught the older man's attention.
"You're not?" he asked, one of his eyebrows rose in wonder.
"No," she confirmed, still frowning.
"Really…?" His fingers rubbed his chin while he was thinking. "…So…Which organization you belong to? And what intention you have by sneaking into the AAO's branch base?"
His questions got Natsume's attention. Sure he was wondering about it, but he never asked her before. She had gone before he could ask anything. Now that the red-haired man asked the mysterious girl a few questions, he perked his ear to hear her explanation, hoping he could get some information from it.
The black-haired girl grew quiet for a few seconds before a lopsided smirk formed on her lips. "S.e.c.r.e.t." She stuck out her tongue.
The older man's smile twitched at her action. "Girl, I'm trying to be nice here…" he said as he forced to smile kindly. Too bad he couldn't hide his anger well, because the two teens saw one or two veins pop on his head.
Little Angel stood up and faced him, her hands on her hips. "If you're trying to be nice, then why don't you just let us out and we have a tea party?" she mocked.
Natsume looked at her in amusement. A moment ago, she looked concerned about him and hurt. And now, she looked annoyed and asked for a fight. Seriously, what's with this girl? Was she PMSing?
"Girl, look…" The red-haired man rubbed his temple in frustration. "Could you just tell-"
"Reo," another man walked into the dim room and approached the red-haired man, cutting off his sentence.
"What?" Reo shot him a glare. He had been annoyed since their female captive acted up and he didn't want to hear any bad news. The man moved his lips near to his ear and whispered something. Whatever it was, it was a good news for him since Natsume saw a smile tugging at his lips.
"I see…" the red-haired man muttered as he looked at Little Angel. His eyes glinted maliciously and his smile turned into a smirk. He looked back at the other man and said, "Well, don't worry. I won't do anything to her…for now…"
The other man nodded and walked out from the room, leaving the three of them alone once again. Reo then turned his attention to the captives and smirked. "Lucky, aren't we?" he said. He fixed his gaze to the black-haired girl again and smirked wider. "You don't know what you have gotten yourself into, little girl," he mumbled as he walked away.
Little Angel's gaze followed his movement until he stopped at the door and stretched his hand to grab the doorknob. "Poor pawn," she heard him say before he opened the door and walked away from her sight.
Natsume blinked and glanced at Little Angel. She was just standing there, not making any move. Her attention was still on the door where Reo just walked out. There's no anger or irritation emitted from her, only wonder.
Maybe she was thinking the same thing with him. The last word which Reo said sure brought another question to his head.
'Poor pawn.'
He wondered who the man referred to. Was it him…? …Or her…?
-x-
Mikan was lost in her thought. Her eyes were on the blackboard, but her mind was somewhere else.
Misaki was the teacher of the day. He taught Biology and now he explained something about respiration to them. Most of students were holding their heads in frustration. They would have a pile of beautiful terms of Biology to be memorized later for the exam next week.
But the explanation couldn't enter the brunette's head. The thoughts of a certain fire caster filled her head, acting as a barrier which prevented them to get in. She surely would have problem to learn all of it by herself again, but she didn't seem to care anything about that right now.
She stole a few glances to the seat which was just beside her now and then, and couldn't help but feel anxious about her partner's safety. It's almost lunchtime but there's no sign that he would come back soon. She wondered if he would come back in fine condition.
To think about the difficulty of the mission he did now already made her shiver. What if she never saw him again?
The thought made her bite her lower lip unconsciously. Her heart got ache by all of a sudden as she thought of that possibility. Her hands moved and laced to each other under the desk as she closed her eyes. The teacher seemed not to realize her small action and was too engrossed in his own explanation as he scribbled more words on the blackboard to definite the lungs and its function.
Her jaw clenched as she prayed inwardly. She didn't know since when she started this habit every time he went to his mission. But at least, this was the only thing she could do.
'Please be alright…'
-x-
If there's something could definite how bored it was not to be able to do anything, maybe it's like what they did now: trapped in an abandoned dungeon in enemy's base without knowing when the freedom would approach them and did nothing, except waiting and waiting.
Jacklyn was bored. She didn't know long she and Natsume had been waiting there for someone to come, either it's to save them or punish them. She would be glad if it's backup, but she doubt it.
It's good that she had her small sketchbook with her; the one which Hirai gave to her in her first mission. At least she had something to do than the fire caster, who just could stare at the ceiling or close his eyes and lean his head to the iron bars helplessly. Well, that's one of the advantages to have drawing alice.
As she started to scribble on the small sketchbook, she could feel Natsume's gaze on her. She tried her best to ignore the uncomfortable stare. Her hands didn't stop scribbling on the white surface in front of her. She tried to concentrate, at least until she finished her first drawing.
Minutes passed and the fire caster had no intention to avert his eyes away from her. Jacklyn's eyebrows twitched at the burning stare…or glare. The last line was pulled successfully before she sighed and shifted her attention to him.
"May I ask why you look at me like that?" she asked boringly.
The fire caster raised an eyebrow while tilting his head slightly. "Like what?"
"Like you would burn me into a crisp," she mumbled in a sarcastic tone as she pretended eyeing her artwork.
"I would be glad if you turn to a crisp for real," he replied nonchalantly. Jacklyn glared at him, wishing she could choke him at that time. Oh yeah, she would, if it's not because she was there to make sure he come back to the academy in good shape.
Rolling her eyes away from his figure, Jacklyn sighed and wondered when she could get out from this dusty jail and had her peaceful life again. She also wondered if there's someone who had found her missing from the hospital. She hoped there's no one coming to her room, at least until she came back.
BAM!!
Jacklyn and Natsume turned their heads to the door in alert upon hearing the loud explosion. The door was still standing there, untouched. She wondered where the loud sound came from and what happened outside.
The next things she heard were the sound of alarm announcing there's an intruder inside the building and a few sounds of explosion again. Was there really someone who was sent to save them?
Correction. To save Natsume.
No one in the academy knew she was in mission except Hirai, so it's quite impossible if the academy sent someone to help both of them. Well, it would be another story if the intruder was Hirai.
…Except if Hirai told the academy that she was in the mission with Natsume too. That would be bad for her. She would be found out. There were two possibilities she could think of if she was caught: the academy would think her alice wasn't good enough to be used in missions, or they would give her more missions because of it.
And it would be worse than making sure Natsume was fine in every mission.
BRAK!!
Jacklyn let out a surprised shriek when the door was suddenly thrown to the other side from its original place by all of a sudden. Placing one hand on the wall for the support, she used her free hand to rub her chest trying to calm down her heartbeat because of the flying door.
Natsume stood up in alert and shifted his attention from the broken door to the opened way at the other side of the room. The drawing alice-user followed his gaze to the way where the light came in. Two figures were thrown to the same side where the door was thrown before in high speed.
'Wow…poor wall…' Jacklyn thought, flinching at the loud 'thud' when the poor men dropped to the floor. The damages they had weren't that bad, but it must be hard enough to knock them out at once.
She shifted her gaze to the door-less way and saw a figure walking inside calmly. She scrutinized the new person. It's a boy with spiky blonde hair. The midnight-blue color mask was blocking her from seeing his face. But somehow, the aura he emitted was almost the same with Natsume's. He wore simple black T-shirt and pants, with both of his hands in the pockets.
He stared at the unconscious men for a while, making sure they really passed out before turning his attention to the captives. He approached them casually and stopped right in front of the fire caster. The only thing which separated them was the iron bars.
"…You…" The drawing alice user heard the raven-haired boy say. His tone was somewhat surprised and also annoyed.
The spiky blonde-haired boy tilted his head to the side slightly. "He sent me here, since you took too long to come back," he said coolly.
"…I don't need your help…" Natsume grunted.
The other boy shrugged and pulled his right hand out from his pocket. A key was dangling between his index and middle finger. "So, I assume you don't need this?" he asked as he shook the key in front of the annoyed fire caster.
The raven-haired boy growled quietly. Jacklyn looked at the two and blinked, wondering if they had some kind of relationship. And she was sure it's not a good one.
-x-
He didn't remove his glare from the spiky blonde-haired boy in front of him. He knew perfectly who the boy was. An old friend, or rather, an old enemy. "I thought you were sent out to the abroad academy?" he asked irritatingly.
The other boy shrugged again, moving his fingers and playing with the key in his hand. "Well, apparently the academy in USA is quite safe for now and they decided to send me back to Japan. What could I say?"
Natsume clicked his tongue. "In other word, they gave you vacation in Japan, huh?"
"You could say that," was the blonde-haired boy simple reply. He turned his gaze to the black-haired girl with white mask. "Who's that? Your girlfriend?"
The fire caster snorted. "Hell no. I don't have anything to do with the stupid white mask. She's the one who got me into this situation."
"Hey! Don't you dare to blame me!! I have told you to go and you're the fool one to stay with me!" Little Angel protested, clenching her fist in the air.
Natsume rolled his eyes. "See who's talking. PMSing girl…"
"What did you say?!" she snarled.
The blonde-haired boy shook his head. "I think you two need more private time here…"
"Hah! No way!" Little Angel crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I'll be dead if I'm being locked here with him for another hour!"
"I'm the one who should have said that," the fire caster grumbled. He had been tremendously bored ever since Reo left him alone with her for hours. She also just ignored him and drew something random on her small notebook. If there's someone who wanted to get out from this place quickly, it's him. "Just open the door so we could get out from this place quickly."
The blonde-haired boy shrugged. "Su-"
"There he is!"
Two guards ran into the room and attacked the spiky blonde-haired boy. Instinctively, the boy stomped his foot on the ground where he stood and jumped quite high into the air, flipping his body swiftly and sent a kick to the guard's back hardly before landing gracefully on the floor with another foot.
He quickly ducked right at the time when another guard sent a punch to his direction from behind. Stretching his right leg, he slid it swiftly and kicked the guard's legs. The guard lost his balance and fell down to the floor.
But that wasn't enough to make the man unconscious.
He rolled to the side right on time when the first guard sent a punch to his previous spot. He then kneeled on one knee, his eyes never leaving the guard. The second guard stood up and moved behind the first guard.
He saw his chance.
Leaping towards the guard, he prepared his fist which was being wrapped by a chain of sparks. When he was near enough, he shoved the sparkly fist to them and planted it right on the stomach of the first guard. Both of them were thrown to the outside of the dungeon and hit the wall hardly before sliding down to the floor in unconscious.
"What a troublesome." He clapped his hands to sweep off the dust from it and looked at the fire caster. "And you were caught by them?"
Natsume grunted. "The stupid white mask is the one who made me be caught by them," he mumbled while jerking his head to the frowning Little Angel.
"And I told you-"
The blonde-haired boy raised his hand to the black-haired girl. "We better stop this conversation before it turns into argument and more guards come here for us," he suggested as he shoved the key into the keyhole. Little Angel grunted in reply.
Natsume stared at the lock while the blonde-haired boy turned the key and 'click', it opened. He pushed the iron bars and stepped out when he remembered something. "And who will take stupid white mask? Her right ankle is injured," he said coolly.
"I'm Little Angel! Not white mask!!" He heard her say, rolling his eyes at her protest. Didn't she realize he had called her 'white mask' three times?
The spiky blonde-haired boy looked at him. "Is that the cause of this trouble?"
"You guess it right."
"I think she'll be okay by her own."
Upon hearing this, Natsume stared at him in confusion. "And why is that?"
The other boy pointed to Little Angel with his thumb. Natsume followed the direction where his thumb pointed and looked at the black-haired girl up and down. A pair of black roller-skates was on her feet.
She grinned widely. "Need one?"
-x-
He couldn't move his eyes from her after what had happened. The question in his mind was bugging him once again after they were forgotten for hours since he was caught by the guards. Now they were on the escape, the question came engulfing him once again. Where did she get those roller-skates from?!
THUD!
"Okay. That made it twenty." Little Angel huffed, sweeping the sweat on her forehead with the back of her hand. Her right hand clutched her gun close to her chest as her eyes were still on the guards she had tied just now.
"Not good enough," Natsume commented as he knocked down another guard by hitting the nape part.
The black-haired girl sent a glare to the raven-haired boy. "At least, they're tied. It's better than nothing."
"And if you two keep on arguing like that, more of them will come," the spiky blonde-haired boy said while approaching them. "Are you two always like this?"
She stretched her right hand and moved it up and down in rhythm, relieving it from stiffness. "Strangely, it's always him who starts to mock me first," she grunted as she glared at the fire caster knowingly.
"THERE THEY ARE!!"
"Oh hell…" she muttered in annoyance. "Why don't they decide they need a rest and stop to chase us?" She pushed her roller-skates a bit and fled from the place.
"They're paid for this, not resting," Natsume remarked calmly while running behind her. After he rejected her offer to get another roller-skaters, he couldn't stop eyeing those roller-skates she used to glide on the floor smoothly. And now, he also had another thing to be eyed on; the rope-gun in her hands.
He didn't know how she managed to bring those things since he didn't see her bringing bag or anything with her earlier. It seemed like all those things just popped up from nowhere like a magic. Oh yeah, she might just need to say out what she wanted and 'poof!', they're already appeared in front of her just like that.
This was ridiculous. There's no such thing like magic in this world!
…Wait. Magic was almost the same with alice. But what kind of alice that resembled magic like that?
"We couldn't keep on running in this corridor until the exit," the blonde-haired boy said by all of a sudden while running beside the fire caster. "I believe they have blocked it by now after the alarm."
"I know," Natsume muttered. "If there's another way…"
"How about that?" Little Angel suddenly stopped after they turned at a corner. The spiky blonde-haired boy and Natsume stopped to see the girl pointing her finger to one of the large windows on the side of the bright corridor.
"…We crush the window?" Natsume asked unsurely. Behind the window was a forest. It's thick enough to hide them from enemies after they ran into it.
"Well…" the girl mumbled as another gun appeared in her other hand. Its shape was like Hotaru's Baka Canon. The fire caster raised an eyebrow again seeing the gun. Where did she get that from now?
"What are you trying to do?" he asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Little Angel smirked. "Of course, shoot it."
The moment she pulled the trigger, a stone with the size of an adult's fist came out from the hole and crashed the window in high speed. The sound of shattering glass was so loud that he was sure the guard would find them easily if they were close to their current position.
"What the heck was that?" the fire caster asked after he recovered from the shock.
"Do you know what a group of people do if they do remonstration?" the black-haired girl asked calmly as she took a few steps back until her back was just a few inches from the wall.
Natsume saw her every movement, wondering what she would do next. "What?"
She smiled. "Throwing stone." After that, she ran to the glassless window and jumped before the stuck-out glass could tear her clothes or skin, going into the thick forest.
The fire caster was stunned for a while at her action, watching her shadow being swallowed by the trees and bushes. In the next second, his right arm was being grabbed by the other boy and both of them ran to the glassless window like what the girl did just now.
"If you stayed like that, they would find you," the blonde-haired boy said as they jumped to the other side of the building and ran into the forest until they were sure they were already safe. "Who's the girl?" he asked while running deeper to the random direction. "Another student?"
Being in daze, Natsume didn't answer his question. He kept running until he felt something sting his right arm. "Ow!" he yelped before he abruptly stopped and turned to the blonde-haired boy with a hard glare. "What the hell was that for?"
The blonde-haired boy stopped and looked at him. His left hand was still being surrounded by the sparks, which Natsume suspected was the thing he sent to shock him before. "You're daydreaming too much, Black Cat. If you keep on like that, you'll meet your death sooner," he reasoned out. "And I asked you, is the girl another student the academy recruited for the mission?"
Natsume grew quiet for a while. "Maybe not. She doesn't know Persona or AAO," he answered as he cupped his chin, thinking. "…I don't know why she always showed up when I did mission too. Maybe it's just a coincidence…"
The other male nodded in understanding. "I see…How many times she showed up when you're in mission?"
"Just two times. This is the second time she showed up."
"Two times straight?"
"Yeah."
"Hm…Anyway, have you gotten what Persona told you to get?" the blonde-haired boy asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Yeah." The fire caster took out a small tube from his pocket. "It's good that they haven't interrogated us back then."
"Good. Then we have no business in this place again. Let's get out of here," the blonde-haired boy said as he walked away nonchalantly.
"I know," Natsume grumbled. The irritation he felt when the boy showed up in front of him had come back again. "You don't have to tell me that." He followed him, noting inside his head that he would ask Persona about the sudden arrival of his old enemy later.
-x-
"My poor body…" Jacklyn muttered as she sprawled her upper body on her desk. The missions started to kill her slowly, draining her energy from her body in a huge amount. Not to mention what she had just experienced this morning.
After she thought the fire caster was safe with the mysterious spiky blonde-haired boy, she decided to leave them and come back to the academy as fast as she could. She managed to get into her room at the hospital in time, greeted by the face of her current trainer, Hirai.
What she couldn't believe was: Hirai hid in the restroom and pretended to be her when the nurse came to check on her!
The nurse thought she had stomachache after the long sleep. She even needed one hour to convince the nurse before she finally let her go to the class; of course after the nurse did a few examinations to her. That trainer of hers really just made her mood turn bad.
She wasn't fast enough to get lunch when it's lunchtime. The bell rang when her feet stepped at the entrance door and she quickly ran to her class before she was late. Could this day be even worse?
"You look like you just did marathon through all Tokyo's streets, Jacklyn-chan…" Mikan said, staring at the suffering girl in front of her.
Jacklyn straightened herself and stretched her arms up, earning a few cracking sounds from her own body. Her lips mouthed 'ow' silently as she massaged her shoulder with her hand. "Let's just say…This isn't my good day…" she muttered gloomily.
"Okay…" The brunette looked at her unsurely.
The door opened and Narumi came in with his usual smiling face, only it was brighter today. He strolled to the teacher's desk and placed his books on it. When he clapped his hands, the students grew quiet and paid their attentions to him; probably didn't want to be his alice's victim.
Jacklyn rested her elbows on the desk then put her chin on her palms as she heard the teacher speak, "I have good news, my dear students! We'll have new students today! Aren't you happy?"
'Boo!' was heard everywhere after he finished talking. The black-haired girl shook her head inwardly. Tthe only thing that might make the students squeal in happiness was: if he announced there was no class for today and no homework. That was what you called good news.
Narumi sweat dropped at their reactions. "Okay, we better just call them and immediately start the lesson." He sighed in upset. He thought they were happy to have new students in the class. "Come in, my children!"
The door opened once again, revealing Natsume who walked into the class casually. Students looked at him then they turned to Narumi with confusion written on their faces. Jacklyn sighed at the quietness. She just watched the fire caster walk to his seat and sit down on it without any care.
Mikan smiled. Seeing the fire caster in good condition made her relieved after the worry she had felt since morning.
"Er…Not him," Narumi quickly commented. "He's not new here. Er, you could come in now!"
A boy stepped in and walked to the center of the class. His hair was blonde and spiky. His eyes were closed as he walked. Above the academy's uniform that he wore, there's a black jacket which was reaching his bottom. When he finally reached the center, he faced the students and opened his eyes.
All of them gasped.
His eyes color was red, but it's not the same red with Natsume. It was blood-red.
"Ehm, why don't you introduce yourself?" Narumi asked nervously. Jacklyn raised her eyebrows at this. Somehow, she had a hint that the wavy-blonde haired teacher was a bit scared of him.
The new boy shot their teacher a glare before he looked at the students again. "Bourne Severity. Alice: electricity," he said. "Don't mess with me if you don't want to be sent to the hospital," he warned as he sent a dangerous glare to the class. Almost all of the students swallowed at his tone and glare.
Jacklyn blinked, noticing he was a bit similar to someone. She silently glanced to a certain fire caster from the corner of her eye. The raven-haired lad was sending a glare to the new boy. Strangely, there was a smirk on his face. She raised an eyebrow upon seeing the rare view, wondering what the expression meant.
She shifted her gaze back to the new student, only to find him standing in front of Hotaru's desk right now. The Ice Queen stood up and…what the hell??
He hugged Hotaru without being afraid he would be hit by her Baka Gun!
"It has been a long time, Hotaru…" he said.
All students, except Natsume, had their eyes widened and their jaws almost dropped to the floor, as if they saw something which could destroy the world in front of them. Yes, Jacklyn was one of them too. As far as she knew, the Ice Queen wouldn't let herself be hugged by anyone just like that! Not even Mikan!
They waited for the Ice Queen to use her Baka Gun or Baka Canon on the new guy, but it didn't come. Instead, the violet-eyed girl just sighed and replied, "Yeah, whatever. Can you let go off me now?"
Bourne did like what she asked. He let go off her and a smile was on his face. Smile! The second Natsume actually smiled! It hardly to be imagined after the glare and the warning he gave to the class. It looked like he would eat someone alive if they ever tried to approach him.
From the corner of her eye, Jacklyn accidentally caught Ruka's expression. His expression was somewhat surprised and hurt when he saw the scene. She raised her eyebrow again. Somehow, the animal-lover looked like he was…jealous…? …Was that even possible? She didn't know he had a crush on the girl who had blackmailed him for years.
She looked at Mikan, who had the same surprised expression like her before. She had feeling the brunette would ask her best friend a few questions later when they had time.
Jacklyn paid her attention to the blackboard once again and stifled a small yawn. She started to get tired. Folding her arms on the desk, she lay her head on it and closed her eyes. She wasn't sleeping for real, her ears still could hear the 'ah' and 'oh' sounds in the class.
"Okay. Bourne, your partner is Hotaru and you may take a seat beside her now," Narumi singsonged, as if the event was something that happened everyday. Tell him what? It's not!
As what he had instructed, Bourne took his seat beside Hotaru. The students' attentions were on Narumi once again. Narumi stared at the door confusedly. "I'm sure there's another…" he muttered.
Not long afterwards, a boy rushed into the class. His orange hair was a bit messy from the running. "Sorry! I bumped into a teacher and the papers she held was flying everywhere, so I helped her first!" he said as he tried to catch his breath.
Narumi smiled. "It's okay. You're not that late anyway."
The boy grinned and walked to the center of the class, still panting lightly. There were a few whispers in the room escorted him as he walked. When he finally arrived in front of the class, he faced the class and smiled brightly. "Well, good afternoon, everyone!" he said cheerily. He glanced around the class with his bright smile.
"I'm-" He stopped by all of a sudden. His blue eyes were looking at a certain direction. His face had a surprised expression on it for a few seconds before his lips finally curled into a smile. Students whispered a bit louder this time as they saw him walking to a certain direction. Satisfaction was seen on his face. Narumi's gaze followed his movement in wonder.
His feet stopped right beside the desk in front of Mikan. His eyes brightened up when he saw the sleeping girl and his smile widened.
Jacklyn wrinkled her eyebrows. She could sense someone standing in front of her because the light, which was piercing through her eyelids before, was gone by all of a sudden. She opened her eyes for a bit and stared at the academy's boy uniform. Bending one of her eyebrows, she inwardly asked, 'Who the heck is this?'
"I never thought we'll be in the same class," she heard him say. Now she really wondered who had disturbed her peaceful rest.
Reluctantly, she lifted her head and moved her eyes up until she saw his face. Her face then turned shocked like she just saw a horrible monster in front of her. A loud gasp escaped from her parted lips by accidentally. The orange-haired boy was staring down at her, still with the dazzling smile on his face.
"I found you at last."
--To be continued--