illutia mist: …Guys, how about if we stop this?
Mikan: This what? (Tilts head)
illutia mist: …This. (Nods to the rope that ties her to the tree)
Jacklyn: No. (Lifts up a board)
illutia mist: (Eyes bulge out) WAIT! Wait! We can discuss about this! Just…don't use that board…
Natsume: (Searches for a torturing tool between the piles of torturing tools) Board? Nice. Is there another board in this mountain of tools?
Hotaru: That will be twenty rabbits to make the same tool.
illutia mist: …All of you are so cruel! (Cries waterfall)
Hotaru: Making a flood in this place will be a thousand rabbits.
illutia mist: …
Mikan: Okay… (Sweat drops) Anyway, illutia doesn't own Gakuen Alice. And Bourne Severity belongs to Ryuamakusa4eva.
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
27th Piece: Between Him and the Secret
Do you believe that a coincidence can happen numerous times?
Well, Hotaru Imai didn't.
If something that should be called coincidence was always happening, then there must be something behind it. It wouldn't be called coincidence if it always happened.
And right now, she saw a scary coincidence in their class.
The class was silent like usual, since Narumi was the teacher for the first period. Most students were jotting the entire note on the blackboard to their notebooks. There were a few of them that had a bored look on their faces, but they couldn't make some commotions in the class like what they had done when Fukutan was their teacher. Unlike Fukutan, Narumi didn't hesitate to use his alice on them if they tried to make any commotion and ruin the teaching atmosphere.
Hotaru had finished jotting down on her notebook and she had her attention on a certain seat at the back of the class now. A seat between Ruka and Mikan was empty, a sign that a certain fire caster was absent from the class. It didn't bother Hotaru too much since she knew the fire caster had a mission yesterday (after blackmailing Ruka with his latest embarrassing photo) and he might be absent because of it.
What bothered her was the empty seat in front of her best friend's seat.
The fire caster didn't come. He might be ditch Narumi's class or get wounded after doing his mission and get rest to heal his condition. But the black-haired girl?
Sure, the black-haired girl also had been absent for a few times before and Narumi would tell them what was happening to her that she had to be absent. But today, even Narumi himself didn't say anything about the girl's absence.
Did Jacklyn's absence have something to do with the fire caster's nonappearance today?
Hotaru shifted her gaze back to the blackboard in front of the class after a while. She glanced at her pretending-to-sleep seatmate and nudged his elbow lightly. At this cue, Bourne opened his eyes a bit and looked at her, his eyebrows raised in question.
"Are Hyuuga resting in his room again?" Hotaru asked in a low voice while leaning her chin on her palm, pretending to pay attention to Narumi.
"Nope. I've checked it this morning," Bourne answered smoothly.
"Hospital?"
"Haven't checked it. Maybe later. He's not in his mission again for sure."
Hotaru quirked an eyebrow at his statement. "How do you know?"
Bourne closed his blood-red eyes and tipped his head back a little. "I stopped by the building where he should do his mission last night and he wasn't there. Moreover, there were two ambulances and I saw two corpses being lifted into it," he muttered. "I guessed he had finished the mission."
The raven-haired girl looked down at her note book. "…Is there anyone else doing missions beside the two of you?"
The blonde-spiky haired lad was silent for a while, thinking, before he answered, "There are a few students in the Dangerous Ability's class that do missions beside us."
"…How about…the one that is from other class?"
Bourne turned to Hotaru and tilted his head. "Who do you mean?"
The raven-haired girl turned quiet and stole a glance at the back of the class. Curious, Bourne followed her gaze to the back of the class and saw two empty seats near Mikan. He recognized the empty seat beside the brunette was Natsume's, but barely remembered the name of the black-haired girl that owned the empty seat in front of her. He had never talked to the girl anyway.
"Since when you get worried about Hyuuga?" he asked his raven-haired seatmate while eyeing Natsume's empty seat, thinking that it was what Hotaru had been watching since a few minutes ago.
"I'm not worried about that boy. He can ditch this class or lay on the hospital bed for all I care," was Hotaru's cold answer.
The corner of his lips tugged up a bit at her reply. "Then why are you stealing glances at his empty seat now and then?" he teased.
Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Not his seat, but the one that's in front of Mikan."
"What's wrong with that seat?"
"The wrong isn't with the seat, but the owner of the seat."
One of his eyebrows rose at her statement. "What's with the black-haired girl?"
"I'll tell you if you tell me what your mission in Japan is," Hotaru said, turning back to the blackboard and writing down another new note to her notebook.
"Well, that's a hard choice," Bourne murmured as he leaned his elbow on the desk, watching the pen in her hand move with ease on the white surface of her notebook.
Not long afterwards, the bell rang, bringing a happy look to the students' faces as they sighed and yelled in happiness when the class had been over. A loud greeting was given to Narumi, who smiled and walked out from class, and then the sound of shuffled chairs and desks was heard next. One by one, the students walked out from class and headed to the cafeteria.
Hotaru closed her book and shoved it into her bad along with her writing utensils. She stood up and bent down to grab her bag, leaning her face a bit closer to Bourne to whisper, "It's called trading information."
Bourne gave her a smirk, not bothering to get up from his seat. "It will have to wait longer then."
Hotaru returned his smirk with a small smile on her face that only could be seen by him. "I'll be waiting for that day to come."
"Hotaru!" Their conversation was disturbed by Mikan who ran to their direction with a delighted face while dragging Ruka along behind her. "Let's go to the cafeteria!" she exclaimed, looking at Hotaru and Bourne by turns.
Bourne got up from his seat and slung his bag on his back. "I pass," he said as he shoved his hand into his pocket. Before he took any step to walk out from the class, he glanced at the raven-haired girl from the corner of his eye and spoke, "I'll see you later, Hotaru." He then walked away from them, lifting the earphones that was dangling around his neck and putting them on his ears.
"What's wrong with him, Hotaru?" Mikan asked, putting a finger to her chin while staring at Bourne's walking figure in wonder.
"Nothing is wrong with him. He's like that anyway," the inventor replied without any interest. She turned to Mikan and Ruka, raising an eyebrow when she caught Ruka's envious stare while he watched Bourne walking away. "Something's wrong, Nogi?"
Ruka snapped his head to her and shook his head rapidly. "No, nothing's wrong," he lied as he smiled.
Hotaru raised an eyebrow at him for a while, unconvinced by his answer, but then she let it go and headed to the door.
Just then, a small yellow bird flew into the room and landed on Ruka's head. Hotaru and Mikan stopped on their track and looked at Ruka. The bird was chirping as loud as it could, trying to say something to the animal-pheromone alice user. Ruka nodded and heard it calmly at first and his eyes widened in surprise after a few seconds.
Both girls sensed something wasn't right, judging from his expression. Hotaru had a hint what it was, but Mikan was clueless about it. Curious, the brunette asked the still-surprised lad, "What's wrong, Ruka-pyon?"
Ruka didn't answer her question right away. He continued to hear the bird chirping to end before he patted the bird's head to show his gratitude and dismissed it. Once the bird had been out of the class, Mikan shifted her gaze to the blonde-haired lad again. His face was pale, a sign of a bad news.
"…Ruka-pyon? Are you alright?"
"…Natsume is in the hospital…" he muttered, covering a half of his face with his right hand.
Both girls froze on their spots. "…What?" Mikan queried, trying to confirm what he had just said.
"Natsume is in the hospital," he repeated, trying to keep his voice low despite the shock and worry he had now. "He got injured badly from his last night's mission."
-x-
She awoke to the uncomfortable feeling on her back. Turning to her side, she tried to ignore the feeling and swim into oblivion again, but to no avail. Something soft caressed her cheek, as if it was nudging her to wake up. She lifted her hand and slapped the thing away, opening her eyes a bit when her hand made contact with something fluffy instead of human skin like what she expected. She found herself face-to-face with the green curtain that was draping over the window.
'…Where am I?' Jacklyn thought as she rubbed her eyes and yawned a bit after the deep sleep. It seemed like it had been a long time since the last time she could sleep well without any dream. Usually, this was a good starter of a good day for her.
Getting up from her laying position, Jacklyn found out that she still had the pair of white wings on her back, which she believed was the thing that tickled her cheek before. She sighed and took her time to look around the room where she was now. She was familiar with the room and she knew she had been there for a few times before. White color and antiseptic smell; both things were so familiar in her senses that she was sure she was in the hospital right now. Only, she didn't remember how she could get there.
She brought one hand to her head and closed her eyes, trying to recall the event before she found herself waking up in the familiar place. A few vague pictures were flashing behind her closing eyelids and she couldn't grasp what they were. Her eyebrows wrinkled as she concentrated more to remember. And when yesterday's event dawned to her, she shot her eyes open and leapt off of her bed.
She ran to the door and was about to reach for the handle when the door suddenly opened revealing a nurse. The woman smiled down at her and said, "What's wrong with the panicked face, dear?"
"Um…uh…I…How could I get here…?" Jacklyn asked in uncertainty.
The nurse walked in and closed the door behind her. She placed her hands on Jacklyn's shoulders and turned the younger girl to the other direction. "You fell unconscious after you walked into the hospital, dear," the woman answered while pushing Jacklyn to the direction of the bed by her shoulders. "You shouldn't move too much when you have that ugly bruise on your waist. It worsened. It's good that you came to the hospital at the right time. It would be painful if we didn't treat it immediately"
Jacklyn looked up at the nurse and blinked. She placed one hand on her waist and pressed the part where it should have been hurt, and realized that she didn't feel any pain again. She felt glad for it. "Thank you," she uttered. "…And…I didn't mean to make it worse…"
"It's okay." The nurse smiled and withdrew her hands when they had arrived at the side of the bed. "Just be careful next time."
Jacklyn nodded and climbed on the bed again. She watched in quiet as the woman moved to the window and slid the green curtain to the side. Sun light bathed the room in the next second, not living any corner in darkness. Jacklyn narrowed her eyes at the sudden brightness and then turned her stare to the nurse who was walking to the end of the hospital bed.
"…What about the boy who was with me at that time?" she asked, worry and curiosity filling her head.
The nurse stopped walking and looked at her, sorrow in her eyes. "Ah…Hyuuga, you mean?"
Jacklyn didn't like the gaze the nurse gave her. No matter how much she hated the lad, she didn't want something bad happen to him, not when she had pushed her body to its limit just to bring him back to the academy. Jacklyn clenched her hand to brace herself for the answer the nurse would give later. Clearing her throat from the nervousness, she parted her lips and spoke, "Yes. How is he?"
The nurse didn't immediately answer. Hesitation could be seen in her eyes. It seemed like she was contemplating whether to tell Jacklyn about the truth or not, while the younger girl clenched her fist tighter trying not to lose her temper at nurse's silent treatment.
"…Miss…"
The nurse sighed. "I don't think I have any authority to tell you about his condition, but…"
"I just want to know if he's fine," Jacklyn intervened, trying to convince the nurse to tell her about Natsume's condition. The longer the nurse avoided her question, the bigger the uncomfortable feeling in her heart grew. And Jacklyn didn't like it at all.
The woman heaved another sigh and walked to the side of the bed, her eyes staring at the younger girl in sympathy. "His condition isn't that good."
A loud thump was heard from somewhere in her heart. Jacklyn felt like her breath being drawn away for a few seconds as the statement escaped from the nurse's lips.
"The bullets had been taken out from his body, but…" The nurse closed her eyes and bent her head, her clutch on the paper in her hand tightening. "…Hyuuga has a more complicated condition then you think…He has passed the critical moment though, but still…"
Jacklyn didn't need to ask what it was. She had had a hint what the nurse meant with 'a more complicated condition'. "His alice is the fourth type…" she mumbled unconsciously, gaining a surprised look from the nurse. "…He overused his alice…"
"How do you know?" the woman queried.
This time, it was Jacklyn's turn to be silent. She looked down on her hands that were on her lap. She thought about the day when she found him at the hospital for the very first time. She always wondered if the lad was sick and now all of it was clear to her.
Jacklyn snapped out of her trance and looked back at the nurse. "Did he always do check-up routinely and get medicine in this hospital?"
The nurse looked at her in astonishment and confusion. "Yes, but how do you-"
"Where is he now?" Jacklyn butted in, grasping the bed sheet in her hands. She needed to see him now, to make sure that he would be fine.
"You don't mean to-"
"Yes. I want to see him," Jacklyn stated, her dark-brown eyes staring sharply at the woman. "Where is he now?"
-x-
"How's your short reunion with Imai yesterday?"
Bourne looked up from his bag and smiled at Persona. "I have a good time. Too bad I couldn't stay longer," he replied. After groping inside his bag for a few seconds, he finally took out a small, brown envelope and placed it on the desk in front of him.
Persona raised one of his eyebrows when he saw the envelope. "I assumed you have gotten the information then?"
The blonde-haired lad shook his head. "That doesn't contain all of the information we need. It's just a small part of it."
"Hm…" The white masked man took the envelope, opened it, and took out a few papers from inside it. He leaned his back to the back of his comfy seat and read the paper thoroughly.
Silence engulfed both of them for a few minutes and Bourne filled it by putting on his earphones and listening to his i-pod. He crossed his right leg over his left leg and leaned back on his seat, his head bobbing a bit following the beat of the music. This had been his habit for a long time now, because he wouldn't have to hear unnecessary sounds by listening to the music.
He gazed his eyes around the empty Dangerous Ability class where they were meeting now. It was dark and cold like usual. Nothing changed. The only difference his eyes could catch was the curtains that was draping over the windows, making the room look darker than usual.
"So, it states about their plan which they would sneak one person from their side into this school to act as a spy," Persona broke the silence, dragging the lad's attention to him. "But they didn't say who, how and when."
Bourne shrugged. "As I said, it just contained a small part of it. We need to get more information about the spy that they send."
Persona put the paper down on the desk and nodded. "I agree with you." He looked up and smiled. "So, I assumed you don't mind to be put in charge in this case."
A confident smile touched Bourne's lips. "No, I don't. Besides, this is the reason why I came here, right?"
Persona gave him a sideways smile.
The blonde-spiky haired lad then stood up and slung his bag over his shoulder. "Well, I should go to the hospital now," he said as he walked to the door, waving at the masked man over his shoulder. "I want to check if Black Cat is there."
"He's there."
Bourne stopped on his way and turned his head a bit to Persona. "How do you know?"
Persona didn't look at him, his eyes remained on the paper on the desk. "I got a call from the hospital this morning. A girl brought him there."
One of Bourne's eyebrows rose at the last statement. "A girl?" he repeated. He wondered who she could be, since there should be no one wandering at the academy's field after passing the night time. Everyone should have been in their dormitories by the time Natsume finished his mission.
Persona leaned his elbows on the desk and intertwined his fingers. His lips formed a small smile at the male's interest. "She ever entered the hospital a few times before. There are one or two nurses that recognize her. I'm planning on doing further research about her."
"Who is she?"
"I bet you know her. She's in your class."
Bourne bent an eyebrow in confusion.
"Her name is Jacklyn."
-x-
"Sorry, but no one is allowed to see him now."
The doctor's speech brought disappointment to the two of three middle school students who were standing in front of him. Ruka and Mikan tried to convince the doctor to let them in, but the man didn't change his mind. He just shook his head and ushered the tree students out of the hospital. Hotaru didn't show any emotion at the rejection, unlike the other two that stared at the hospital in dissatisfaction.
"Why don't they let us see him?" Mikan mumbled, looking down to the ground. "Is his condition really that bad?"
Ruka didn't answer her question. His blue eyes kept staring at the entrance of the building in worry.
The raven-haired girl spared them a brief glance and started to walk away from the place. This action of hers got both attention and, soon, the two followed her from behind. However, when the smart inventor didn't take the usual way to go to the dormitory or school, Ruka and Mikan started to get wondered.
Hotaru walked out of the path and into the trees and bushes. She turned her head a bit to her companions and put her forefinger onto her lips, signaling them to be quiet. Ruka and Mikan nodded before following the inventor again.
The owner of the violet eyes walked further into the bushes and trees, knowing well where she would go, while her companion were completely clueless at what their destination was. When a huge, white outer wall came into their views, they stared at it in awe and shock.
"Isn't this the hospital building?" Ruka asked, trailing his eyes up the building.
Mikan gazed around the place they were standing now. It was quite secluded since they were being surrounded by bushes and trees. They wouldn't be found out if they peeked into the patient's room through the window.
Somehow, she remembered she ever did it once years ago, when the fire caster were also being hospitalized in the same building because of his unwell condition; except at that time, she was with Sumire. But thanks to their single-minded action, they saw something unexpected in the room. Natsume was drugged and kidnapped by Reo, the superstar who was actually one of AAO's members. But of course, they managed to be free from Reo's grasp after going through a few hard things.
Mikan's eyes softened at the memory. That was also the event that broke the first invisible wall between them. And as time passed by, the cold walls that separated him and her started to disappear, bringing them closer than before. The lad had managed to show his emotions a bit, even though he still annoyed her sometimes.
"What are you two doing here?"
Hotaru's monotonous voice brought the brunette back from her trance. Mimicking Ruka's action, she turned her head to the direction where she heard her best friend's voice.
Standing in front of a big window were Sumire and Youichi. The green-haired girl had her forefinger in front of her lips, signaling them to be silent, while Youichi just looked at the three new guests with a blank stare.
"We're not permitted to see Natsume-kun, so we have to take another way to see if his wounds are really worst," Sumire said, turning her head to the window. "It seems like the three of you also have the same purpose."
"Not me. I'm just helping those two lost puppies," Hotaru stated, pointing to Ruka and Mikan who were complaining about the call she gave them.
Youichi just cast them a bored look before turning his attention to the window, joining Sumire watching his dear Onii-chan inside the room.
Mikan, Ruka, and Hotaru moved near to the window, pushing Sumire a bit by her shoulder to get a good look of the room where a certain fire caster was resting. The cat-dog alice girl had no choice but to move a bit, emitting an annoyed grunt as she did so. She didn't dare to protest, knowing well what the inventor managed to do if she pissed the raven-haired girl off.
Mikan was excited, yet unsure at the same time. Sure, she wondered if the raven-haired lad was just fine like what she hoped. But she also couldn't chase away the pained feeling whenever she imagined the fire caster lay on the hospital bed with several heavy wounds on his body. It made her feel nauseous and wanted to wrap her arms around him, wishing she could lift up all wounds and pain he had with the simple action to make him better.
She squeezed herself between Hotaru and Ruka and braved a peek into the room where the fire caster was resting now. Her eyes roamed around the huge room before her attention fell on a certain figure on the queen-sized bed on the left side of the room.
The lad was sleeping in peace. Behind the blanket that covered his body until his ribs, she could see a white T-shirt covered his body. She also got a good amount of view of the bandage that wrapped his arm behind the short sleeve. The IV needle was injected into the same arm, a few centimeters below the bandaged part, right in the middle of the arm. Other than that, she saw nothing that gave her a note that he was in a critical state.
The moment she saw him in a better shape than what she had seen in her head, a strong wave of warmth flowed through her veins, washing the fear and anxiety she felt since Ruka announced that the fire caster was being hospitalized. A sigh of relief escaped from her lips without she realized.
"He's not wounded badly like you said," Hotaru commented, eyes staring at the sleeping fire caster without interest.
A small smile graced Ruka's face. "Doesn't that mean good news?"
"Yes," Mikan breathed, couldn't tear her eyes away from the sleeping figure.
Hotaru turned her attention to Sumire. Her expression was still emotionless. "So, who told you about Hyuuga?"
The green-haired girl pulled herself back from the window and pointed at Youichi, who didn't even bother to turn even though he knew they were talking about him. "It seemed like a ghost came to him and told him about this. I was with him at the corridor when I heard him mutter 'Onii-chan'. He suddenly ran away after that, so I decided to chase him."
"And the doctors and nurses didn't let you two meet them, so you decided to bring the poor kid here?" Hotaru finished for her.
"Well…" Sumire glanced at Youichi and then smiled dreamily. "What won't I do for the little boy's sake?"
The inventor rolled her eyes. "You just did it because he's close to Hyuuga."
The cat-dog alice girl just ignored her.
"Eh? Who's that?" Mikan placed her forefinger on the surface of the window, pointing to the direction of the door.
At the cue, Hotaru and Sumire paid their attentions to the direction where Mikan was pointing at.
A girl in patient's white attire walked into the room, a pair of white wings attached to her back. She closed the door behind before she turned her head a bit to Natsume's sleeping figure. As she detached herself from the door and walked approaching the bed, her waist length black hair was swaying lightly behind her, following her every movement. A white mask with silver ornament along the edge of the shape covered a half of her face, just leaving a small portion of her nose and her pink lips bare to their eyes. The mysterious girl then stopped at the end of the bed, just watching the fire caster rest.
"I don't recall there's a student with wings alice in this academy…" Ruka murmured.
"I don't know either…" Mikan butted in.
"I can ask my brother to confirm about it. Though as far as I know, my brother never once mentioned about a student with wings alice." Sumire scrunched up her nose in jealousy. "And how in the hell could she get into Natsume-kun's room? The nurses or doctors should have banned her from entering even though she's one of the patients in the hospital."
"Well, maybe she's Natsume's friends?" Mikan guessed.
Sumire snorted. "We're also his friends, and most importantly we're his classmates. But we're not permitted to see him."
"Maybe she sneaked in?"
The green-haired girl clenched her fist in front of the window. "I can't forgive her!! I want to be the first girl that visits him and wishes him to get well soon!" she exclaimed and then her eyes turned dreamy. "And then he will realize that I'm the only girl that really pays attention to him every time, every day, and that I'm the right girl for him! But…" A fire blazed dangerously in her eyes. "That unknown girl has beaten me, the leader of Natsume-Ruka fan club, to it!! I'll get her back for this when I meet her!!"
Ruka and Mikan shook their heads at Sumire's obsession. After all these years, they thought the girl's obsession towards Ruka and Natsume had lessened, which turned out it was wrong. Though her hatred towards the nullifier did lessen quite much, but they doubted her passion to be a lover of one of the hottest boys in the middle school would fade anytime soon.
Hotaru narrowed her eyes, eyeing the mysterious female's figure inside the room with caution. She knew she had ever seen the mysterious girl somewhere. Even though it might not be the same girl, but she believed she ever saw the almost same figure. But where? And when?
The mysterious girl's lips curled into a small smile upon seeing the lad sleep peacefully, as if she was glad that he was safe. Her lips then moved, saying something to the unconscious fire caster, which Hotaru managed to read and assumed that they were 'get well soon' words. After saying the three words, the girl turned away and walked to the door. She was about to leave the room when the door opened and a familiar blonde-spiky haired boy showed up in the way.
"Bourne…?" Hotaru said in a low voice, which didn't go unnoticed by Ruka. The animal pheromone alice user grimaced a bit upon hearing the inventor mention the name of the newest stranger in the room.
"Oh, right! He's the one who entered the academy at the same time with Jack-kun!" Sumire confirmed, placing both hands on the window surface. "He also got permission to visit Natsume-kun?!" she whined. "Why we didn't?!"
No one responded to her wail. The four were watching the scene in front of them in silence, wondering what would happen next. Hotaru caught a brief movement of Bourne's eyes at them, flashing with caution, before the mentioned boy grabbed the mysterious black-haired girl by her right wrist, tugged her out of the room, and closed the door behind, leaving the fire caster resting alone once again.
Hotaru squinted in suspicion. As if he read her mind, Ruka voiced out, "It looks like he knows the girl."
"Great! I can ask him who she is and give her a lesson!" Sumire punched her right hand, which was curled into a fist, to her left opened palm.
"Better not. He will just ignore you," Hotaru quipped. "He's the same with Hyuuga, more or less."
Mikan blinked. "Is he?"
"Believe me," the raven-haired lass stated, not realizing the dark aura that come from a certain blonde-haired lad beside Mikan.
"So, who's the mysterious girl? How can he know her?"
Hotaru shook her head and shifted her gaze back to the closed door on the other side of the room. "But I believe I ever saw her somewhere…"
She heard someone suck in a sharp breath on her right and glanced to see who it was. Youichi, who had been forgotten for a while, was standing with his hands resting on the smooth surface of window. His shoulder tensed and his eyes widened, which irked Hotaru's curiosity. His mouth hung open a bit and a single word that came out in a form of soft breath was enough to satisfy her prying mind.
"…Miss Angel…?"
-x-
Jacklyn blinked as she let herself be dragged by the new student in her class, wondering what he was doing that for. She swung her feet fast, trying to follow the blonde-haired lad's speed in walking so she wouldn't trip and fall. "H-hey, where are we going to?" she asked.
Bourne didn't answer and just kept walking, or trotting to be exact. He turned to different corridors a few times, which made Jacklyn confused which direction that would lead her back to her room. She was still in her patient's attire and she didn't want to walk out of the hospital in the clothes. People might think she was running out of the hospital.
Drowning deep in her own thought for a while, Jacklyn didn't realize that they had stopped until her back was being slammed onto the wall a bit rough. The white wings she had with her added an extra pain to her back. Surprise came over her at the hard contact and she unconsciously let out a gasp. Two large hands held her shoulders, pressing her onto the wall so she wouldn't be able to escape. Jacklyn opened her eyes and found two sharp blood-red orbs staring straight back at her. She never thought the red eyes would look scarier from short distance and the gaze he gave her sent a shiver down her spine.
"W-what?" she managed to choke out despite the nervousness that overwhelmed her.
Bourne squinted in wary. "Is that true that you're the one who took Hyuuga back to the academy?"
Jacklyn's eyes widened slightly and Bourne, being so close to her, realized the small changing in the girl's expression. "W-w-what d-do you mean…?" she stuttered, surprised to hear the question coming out of his lips. She didn't think anyone would catch her in action yesterday's night when she flew passing the academy's gate.
…Oh wait.
It could be the nurses and doctors that informed the academy about her. Seeing as she was unconscious before she could tell the nurse not to let anyone know she was the one who brought him to the place, there was no wonder that they ignored the identity protection she needed and did the usual procedure.
"Yes? Or no?" he asked with a deep voice, demanding an answer. "…Jacklyn-san?"
Jacklyn swallowed and ground her teeth inside her mouth in anxiety. How was she supposed to answer this kind of question? She had promised not to tell anyone about the missions and trainings she did, and yet here she was, being pinned to the wall and interrogated by a new student that just entered the academy a few days ago.
Crap.
"Uh…W-well, I…happened to find him near the gate…?" she replied, cursing inside her head at the uncertain tone in her voice when she spoke.
He quirked an eyebrow and loosened his hold on her shoulders. "And what's with the pair of wings behind you?" He pointed at one of the wings on her back.
Jacklyn pressed her lips together and fixed her gaze down at the hospital slippers she wore. "I…accidentally used my alice yesterday…and it caused this wings to appear on my back," she muttered, though she was sure the lad could hear it. "…I…can't do anything about the wings…and just wait until it disappears by itself…"
Silence engulfed both of them.
Jacklyn took her time admiring the combination between light green and white colors on the hospital slippers, hoping it would kill the nervousness she felt. After sometime, she peeked at the male in front of her through her eyelashes, wondering why he was so silent. When she spotted him still staring at her, she quickly averted her gaze somewhere else and, for the first time ever since they stopped, she realized they were in an empty room.
There was an empty single bed and a bedside table at the right corner of the room and the window was being covered by a green curtain. Two steel chairs were standing beside the bed. With just a small number of furniture occupying the room, an empty impression was created in the air inside it.
"Somehow, I have another idea about what happened yesterday," Bourne broke the silence, drawing Jacklyn's attention to him, "and how you ended up bringing him here." The last sentence he said sent a cold chill through her body.
"Nothing happened!" the drawing alice user exclaimed. "I just happened to find him lying near the gate. That's all!"
"No student is allowed to wander around the academy without permission at night," Bourne stated. "And I believe Hyuuga came back to the academy in the middle of the night. How did you get out of the dormitory without being spotted by the robot?"
"I…" Jacklyn glanced away, looking at everywhere but him. Her hand clenched and unclenched in uneasiness. "…I…" She swallowed a lump in her throat, clearing her voice. "I flew out through the window in my room with this wings…" she admitted. 'Well, a small piece of truth won't hurt.'
"And what were you doing there at night?"
Jacklyn bit her lower lip. "…I…couldn't sleep…so I thought I would get some air for a while…"
"Okay," Bourne responded, and they were quiet once again.
Jacklyn's heart thumped hardly behind her ribs, as if it was about to jump out and run somewhere to hide. She also could feel her blood pounding everywhere in her veins, as if they were about to explode. The pressure was too much and she knew she had to make an excuse to get away from the room before her whole body exploded for real because of the tension. Well, it's not like she wished it to happen in the reality though.
"I-"
"I still have a few questions again," Bourne cut her off, "but I think I'll just ask you one more question before I let you go and rest."
Jacklyn nodded and looked up, finally meeting his gaze. His blood-red eyes bore into hers, sending the same fear feeling into her mind, but she braved herself to lock her eyes with his. "…Yes…?" she managed to speak without quavering.
Bourne shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes still on her. "Why do you have to hide yourself as Little Angel?"
Uh oh.
--To be continued--