I'm making it up to you for not updating for a very long time. And of course I'll finish this fic! I just got distracted by reading Twilight Saga and all, but now my mind is up and running and ready to write. Hope you enjoy this chap!

DISCLAIMER: Pfft. Gakuen Alice? Mine? Impossible! I wish.

NatsuMikan383 signing in!

Chapter 8

Friends will be Friends

Mikan was discharged from the hospital after two days of stay. And even though she disagreed, Hotaru had aided her to her room and be her personal tour guide from now on. Then, the ice queen gave her a set of GA uniforms to put on during her come-back to school the next day.

"Mikan-chan! You're early today..." a certain pinkette remarked. The nullifier just brushed past her and went straight to her new seat, which was beside her bestfriend. "Why's she so cold all of the sudden? And we thought she only had amnesia..." Anna murmured to Nonoko as the latter nodded in agreement.

Class started when Mr. Narumi came wearing a costume of a clown. His grand entrance was he entered the classroom by juggling balls in his hands, and when he finished, "Ta-da!" The students remained silent. Some were starting to stifle laughs and giggles. Just seconds later, the whole class chorused into a big fit of laughter. Class that morning was uneventful.

During lunch break, Mikan sat on her desk quietly with a bored look on her eyes. Hotaru went out, desperately looking for some crab brains, so she was left alone. The raven-haired girl had narrated to her how she entered Alice Academy and explained how her alice works, too. The brunette was rather disappointed with her past life when her bestfriend confirmed that she was all bouncy and...as what Hotaru had described her before; annoying. She was a tad bit proud of once being a loser and earning her classmates' respect by passing the black cat's test. The brunette also liked the part of her who stood up to whoever she would have to face just to help her friends. She thought it was actually kinda...uh, sweet.

A certain boy with dirty-brown hair in spectacles noticed the brunette's far-away expression and approached her."Um... Mikan-chan? Are you alright?" Iinchou asked worriedly. The nullifier looked up, looking annoyed, "Why do you care, nerd?" she replied coldly. He winced at her harsh words. Yuu frowned, recalling that Mikan probably didn't know him since she had amnesia.

"I'm sorry for being rude, I forgot to introduce myself to you," he started. "My name is Yuu, by the way. Everyone calls me Iinchou, though."

The tangerine-named girl suddenly softened a little. She was wondered why the boy apologized for being rude when she misjudged him as a nerd. She then concluded that maybe the spectacle-boy was her friend so he was nice to her despite her arrogance. Mikan then let a small smile spread across her face as she fully looked up at the boy. "Perhaps you already know me before, since you called me by my name. Actually, you shouldn't be the one apologizing, I should be. For calling you a nerd," she said sheepishly.

Iinchou laughed lightly at that. 'She's still friendly, I can see that. Now why was Anna very angry with her? She goes about muttering something about Mikan being a snob and how it's not related to amnesia...' he thought. "Yes, we were friends. And It's fine, really. I was just checking if you were alright," Yuu said. "I'm fine, thank you," Mikan replied curtly. "Hey, so are we still friends up 'til now?" she added a question. "I-if you don't mind..." Yuu trailed off, hesitant that the brunette he was speaking now was not as friendly as the Mikan he knew before. "Sure," the auburn-haired girl answered lazily. With that, the illusionist mumbled "Thanks" before he went back to his seat.

Out of boredom, the brunette trotted down the classroom's narrow aisle, making her fellow classmates stop at what they were doing and gawk at her. She was just planning to escape the place and find her 'tour guide' because without the inventor, she felt like an alien in her own home planet. She scowled at their stares. Before she went out the door, she faced the gaping crowd, scowling fiercely, "Mind your own business." Everybody in the room flinched from the coldness of her voice. Mikan finally stepped out the door, leaving her classmates who were still dazed from her out-of-character words and actions.

"I thought she only has amnesia?" Ruka worriedly asked Iinchou. Anna butted in, "That's what I thought, too. But this morning when I greeted her, she just walked past me. And ignored me!" A dark-blue haired girl patted her friend's shoulder. "There has to be an explanation to this." Yuu suddenly interjected, "Wait!" the gang stopped in their tracks and looked at the class rep. "What, Iinchou? We don't have much time here. We only have lunch break to find someone who can explain this," a seaweed-haired girl said. Since Mikan's accident, Sumire had been worrying over her like a real friend. Well, she is. "I think you're just overreacting, guys. Mikan has amnesia, remember? So we're back to basics here. We just have to reintroduce ourselves to her in order to be friends with her once again," the boy with eye-glasses explained.

The animal lover, the pinkette, Nonoko and Sumire let out noises of realization and awe for the genius guy. Anna contradicted, "But did you just see what Mikan just said a while ago? She was acting like..."

"...Natsume-sama!" Sumire finished the gal's sentence.

Everyone pondered on that thought. Just then, the goofy mind reader had joined in the conference. "I'd been reading Mikan's mind since this morning..." he started. The others turned to him, now paying full attention to him. "It was nothing, really. I just found out that she thinks more about Natsume," Koko said impishly for the unwanted interest of his classmates. Permy raised a thin brow, "And why is that?" All she got was a freaky smile from the mind reader, giving her a I-know-something-you-don't-know look.

"Aw, come on!" she pressed. The mind reader shook his head, smiling teasingly. "Just spill, Koko-kun!" Anna said urgently making Koko blush before answering, "I really don't know. But she always addressed Natsume her..."--he formed two quotation marks with his hands--"...secret lover."

SILENCE.

"What?" The seaweed-haired girl bursted into hysterics. "This isn't the best time to tease poor Mikan-chan, Koko" Nonoko scolded. "But I was telling the truth!" the mind reader defended himself.

Ruka rolled his eyes before opening the door, "We've wasted enough time. Now let's go," he slipped through the door followed by the rest of the gang. While the blond-haired boy with ocean blue eyes deliberated on his bestfriend's whereabouts, the mind reader meekly followed him, but still sulking.

On the way, Anna asked stupidly, "Wait a minute, where are we going? Who's gonna explain Mikan-chan's behavior?" They were still running then, and Nonoko who was at the lead with Ruka and Sumire, had to look back to answer her friend's question. "Of course. My father," she chuckled before fixing her eyes on her running path again. The pinkette seem mortified at the obviousness that made her decelerate her pace.

Koko ran back to the girl's side, "Don't worry. You weren't the one who was being laughed at," he said to comfort her. Anna turned her head sharply to the boy beside her. "So it was true? You weren't joking that time?" she said incredulous. The mind reader shook his head. "Nope." The pinkette frowned. "Sorry for that. I really didn't mean to--" The eccentric boy interuppted, "It's nothing." And they continued darting towards the Academy's hospital.

"Otou-san!!!" the dark-blue haired girl called out once she caught sight of her father. "Oh. Nonoko, why are you doing here? Lunch break is almost over," the doctor glanced at his watch as he spoke. "Doc, we just want to know if you could explain some things..." Yuu started. Anna continued, "You see...Mikan walked out from the hospital with an amnesia. But she's out there somewhere with an attitude like Natsume-kun." The azure-eyed doctor stroked his chin, in deep thought. "Yeah. Just like a while ago, she said 'Mind your own business' and went out the door," Sumire added, mimicking the brunette's detached tone.

Ruka also did some explaining, with wistful eyes, he said, "And most of all, she doesn't smile anymore..."

"The Mikan now is the opposite of Mikan before." Nonoko concluded. Dr. Mitsuki's eyes widened in sudden realization. "That's it!" he mysteriously said. "Uh, what's it?" Permy asked. "The case of amnesia among alices are rare. So when it happens, it has more side effects than with normal people," the doctor explained. Koko, who was quietly listening to the conversation, nodded in understanding as it seemed that he already knew what the doctor's gonna say.

"Well sorry if we didn't study medicine that we didn't know those side effects..." The blond-haired boy mumbled, utterly irritated at the man's riddle-like words. Nonoko stared at him and he was suddenly back to his gentle side. He stared back at her with an apologetic look, he wasn't perfect. Even people as sensitive as him can snap.

Dr. Ogarasawa said sourly, "The last emotion that she experienced before her brain cells got locked will be what she's feeling right now. Most likely, amnesia cases like this is caused by continual physical abuse, specifically the head." He looked at his audience' dumb-founded expression with a glint of admiration to him. "It's either frustration, anxiety, anguish, betrayal or...pain."

They all cringed from the last word. It must've been Mikan's last feeling the last emotion she felt that last moment. Maybe it was the cause why she was so bitter and unfriendly to others.

She suffers inside. And alone.

"It's all in her head," Sumire mused. "Literally."

Yuu asked wearily, "So, she'll be like this just until we get her memories back?"

"If...we get her memories back." Nonoko corrected slowly.

An exasparated sigh escaped from the gang's lips. "Why is everything such a mess?!" Ruka whined. Just then, they heard a crashing sound from behind them. Just to find a broken jar of crab brains, its contents spilling all over the room. "Hotaru..." the animal-lover muttered before running off to the direction he believes the raven-haired girl went to.

Waaahhh. Poor Mikan. Oh no, it doesn't have any hint of humor, right? No! I'm nonsense. I don't have a sense of humor...got it? If not, well then maybe that's why you're not laughing your head off. And if yes, please review and tell me that I still have that little bit humor in me. Really, I've been so morbid these days, my fanfics are slowly turning into heavy drama. And I don't like that. I just hope you don't get bored.

I BADLY NEED A REVIEW. Let me know if I suck or I rock. Either of the two. And hey, do you have comments, suggestions? Violent reactions?! Tell me. Tell me something I don't know...something I don't know. Oh. Just got the hang of it. This is getting longer and it fascinates me if you're still reading this. If you're too lazy to review, can you just, story alert? I'd be glad to know that people out there are waiting for the next chap. So it ends here.

Ta-ta for now...[[mwahugz]]

NatsuMikan383 signing out!