chapter IV
"Mikan.. I love you so much, Mikan. It's going to be okay, Daddy and Mommy will visit you when you grow older.. So please, stay strong and always walk forwards."
I slowly opened my eyes to a world of compressing darkness. I blinked rapidly as I felt something warm slide down my right cheek. Hastily, I wiped the lone tear that managed to squeeze out of my eye. Where am I? I turned my head to the right and saw a rectangular window with its curtains down. I proceeded to look to my left, where I saw the door that led out to my salvation. Ugh, I hate hospitals. I plucked out the IV needle that was attached to my hand, and was halfway out of the sterile white bed I was in, when I heard two people walking down the hallway outside. The steps halted right in front of my room and I could hear them murmuring to one another. I was debating with myself, whether I should eavesdrop or not, but my curiosity got the better of me. I quickly padded over to the door and noticed it was ajar. Perfect. I sat down next to the door and listened to their conversation.
"Are you certain that she is an Alice?" Said a hoarse voice. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. There was something about that voice that made me sense he was a person you should never trust.
"I'm certain of it. Principle Yukihara came in while she was unconscious and told me that she has two Alices. It came as quite a shock when I heard them." The second voice sounded like the complete opposite of the first, but it had a crueler presence to it. Unconsciously, I wrapped my arms around my trembling body.
"Oh? Let's here it then, Principle Kuonji." I searched through my mind to remember where I heard his name before. Ah, the principle of the elementary division? What is he doing here?
"Mikan Sakura has the Alices of nullification and insertion." I have the Alice of what?
"Nullification? Insertion?"
"She can negate one's Alice and she can insert Alice stones into one's body in quick succession, without the backlash." What is that supposed to mean? How can I negate one's Alice? I thought Hotaru said that Alices were the ability of the supernatural... This makes absolutely no sense. And what are Alice stones?
"Meaning that she can insert a completely incompatible stone into one of us, and we won't experience the repercussions?"
"That is correct."
"This is an amazing discovery. I remember the last two students who were here who had those Alices... Hold on, does that mean she's the..." A slight rustling noise distracted me from what the man was going to say. I quickly spun around to see Hyuuga slumped on the ground under the window. I glared at him pointedly as the two men began to walk away from my room.
"It seems so."
"But the child of those two doesn't have that woman's other Alice?"
"Unfortunately, no. We will have to continue our search for..." Their voices died away as I angrily marched over to him.
"What are you doing in my room, Jerk face?" He didn't respond. Instead, his heavy breathing filled the heavy silence. "Hyuuga? What's wrong? Are you okay? Oh God." I kneeled down next to him and placed my hand over his forehead. Whoa, he's really sweaty and warm. Oh God, what am I supposed to do in this moment? I have no clue how to take care of a fever! Okay, calm down Mikan. Remember what you learned from Nana... what was it again? Oh yeah, stop, drop, and roll? No, no, no, you do that when you're on fire, stupid. Well, for now I guess I have to wake him up and convince him to get into my bed... as weird as that sounds. "Natsume, wake up already!" I gently shook his shoulder.
Unexpectedly, his crimson eyes snapped open and he shoved me to the ground. His garnet eyes were glaring at me with an animalistic intensity, as he grabbed a fistful my hair.
"You are NOT going to get away with kidnapping my sister, you bastards. I will join that stupid group, but you will regret it. You'll see, one day I will surpass this school and you, Persona, and I'll make sure to take my revenge on all of you." He gritted out, panting in between. His sister's been kidnapped by the school? What kind of pain has he been through just to protect his sister... where are his parents? Shouldn't he hire a lawyer to deal with this? This is definitely against the law. Oh Mikan, what have you gotten yourself into? This academy is bonkers, that's for sure.
As I laid there, staring up at those blood red eyes, I saw something in that fog of hysteria. He's scared out of his wits... Hesitantly, I reached for his shaking hand that was desperately clinging to my hair. Upon contact, he flinched, but I continued, quietly humming the first tune that came into my head. After a minute, his eyes seemed to come alive again; the Hyuuga I first met was coming back slowly. I continued to soothingly rub his hand, as he reluctantly let go of my hair. I sat up, relieved that he was finally calm again.
"Are you alright Natsume? C'mon, lets get you to sleep. You look extremely tired." Then, I saw the confused expression on his face. "What is it? Finally noticed that you're in my room?"
"No, it's just- why aren't you on fire?"
"Come again? Okay, now I'm certain that you need a rest. Let's go-" We both stood up at the same time, but Natsume toppled against me. Unconsciously, I wrapped my arms around him to prevent him from falling to the ground. I noticed that my heart sped up considerably. What's wrong with me? My heart's beating irregularly and I feel kinda warm.. I snapped out of my daze when I heard him murmur something. "Sorry, repeat that again? I didn't hear you."
"I said, 'Wow, you have no chest, Strawberries. What are you, a ten year old?' You seriously need a hearing aid." My attention immediately reverted to his hand; it was on my chest. I looked up at his face and saw his stupid smirk.
"UGH, you.. you..." I pushed him out of indignation and watched him land on my bed. "I frickin' helped you, you jerk, and you reply back with 'Wow, you have no chest, Strawberries'? Remind me to never-" My sentence was cut off when he pulled me to him. Wait, wait, wait a moment. Okay, so let's rewind for a sec here. First, that pervert barges into my room, half delirious from a fever he still has, then he acts all crazy, after that he becomes his usual perverted self, and now he's... he's HUGGING me? Is he on drugs? Maybe one of the symptoms of having a fever is being incredibly PMS-y. Or maybe he's bipolar, or he's always been like this his whole life. If that's the case, then I feel terribly sorry for his parents.
"Thanks for the help I didn't need. Who knew you were secretly in love with me." I sputtered incoherently. "Well, you did call me Natsume- twice, might I add." I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to remember when I called him by his first name. Ah. Unfortunately, I remember now. I began to blush, angry at myself for being so caring.
"Well, I'm absolutely not in love with you."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, really, you stupid jerk."
"Then why aren't you struggling to get out of my embrace?" He caught me unaware with that comeback and the excellent retort I had ready, died at my lips. After staring at him with my 'deer caught in headlights' face, I began to attempt to squeeze out of his stupid hug. That was when I glanced up at the door and saw Hotaru leaning against the wall.
"Hotaru! How long have you been there?" Natsume turned his head to look at Hotaru.
"So you finally noticed. I just came in a second ago, Mikan. But who knew you and Hyuuga were together. I was debating whether or not I should leave you two alone or I should give you two a condom and then leave."
"Wait, no, this isn't what it looks like!" This has got to be the worst situation. My friend thinks I'm going out with this guy.
"Don't get the wrong idea, Imai. I would never date, much less fall in love with this chest less girl." At last, I managed to get myself out of his bear hug. I felt a subtle sting in my heart, but brushed it off as my imagination.
"I was just teasing. Anyway, why are you here Hyuuga?"
"None of your business." Hotaru rolled her eyes at his childish response. "And what about you? What are you doing here?"
"I was taking care of Mikan, because this idiot collapsed from shock." The Jerk looked at me with emotionless eyes.
"So she knows?"
"Duh, why else would she faint?"
"Then the school is willing to let her in?"
"Yes, but they still need a reply-"
"Can you guys please stop talking to me in third person? I would appreciate it a lot if you could tell me what decision I need to make." Hotaru looked at me with surprise.
"You don't remember? The school needs to know whether you want to continue to come here or not." Natsume snorted.
"The school is giving her a choice? The school never cares about what others think. They make their damn decisions on their own. You're going to have to attend this academy, whether you like it or not." Hotaru ignored him.
"Do you have your answer?" I mulled over the question until I remembered the conversation I heard earlier. "I have a couple question I want to ask first, though." She motioned me to continue. "Well, I heard these two men talking in front of my room, and they were talking about me." Natsume and Hotaru glanced at one another. I ignored their looks. "Actually, the two were talking about my Alice, and they said I have two Alices." I glanced at Hotaru and saw that she was rubbing her temples.
"Continue, did they say what your Alices are?" Hotaru inquired in her usual monotonous voice. I could tell that it was a bit strained.
"One of the guys said that I had the Alice of Nullification and Insertion. I can 'negate one's Alice and insert Alice stones into one's body in quick succession, without the backlash.' What does that even mean?" Hotaru looked at me with calculating eyes.
"Your Alice of nullification prevents anyone from using their Alice on you, which would explain what happened earlier. And your other Alice, from the sound of that guy's explanation, means that you can force an Alice stone into anyone." Natsume explained suddenly.
"But what's an Alice stone?"
"People with an Alice learn the ability to create Alice stones. An Alice stone is the physical form Alices take on, but an Alice stone is only a fraction of the actual Alice. Alice stones can be incredibly useful. For example, if a person who has the Alice of teleportation creates an Alice stone, then that Alice stone can allow certain individuals to teleport. But, this is only temporary, because the Alice stone loses its power, as it is only a portion of the actual thing." Hotaru clarified. Everything from the conversation the two men had began to make sense.
"So why can only 'certain individuals' use them?"
"Well, Alices are just like people. Some individuals' personalities work well with one another, and others' personalities aren't compatible. If an Alice stone is used by an incompatible person, then it will rebound; giving the person headaches, nausea, bruises, sometimes even fevers." Just when Hotaru finished, I saw Natsume collapse on the bed. I gasped suddenly. That's right, I forgot to about Natsume's fever! "Mikan?"
"Hotaru, thanks for the enlightening lecture, but can you please get the nurse? I totally forgot about Natsume's fever!" She looked at me curiously as I rushed over to the bed. "COULD YOU GET THE NURSE ALREADY?" She rolled her eyes and complied. I gently touched his forehead. Oh no, his fever just got worse. What should I do, what should I do? I looked around the room in a frenzy, luckily, the nurse came in with Hotaru. She ushered us out of the room without another word and closed the door behind us. After a moment of silence, my stomach growled deafeningly. I felt my blood rushing up to my face. Stupid stomach. Hotaru rolled her eyes slightly.
"Let's head over to the cafeteria while we're waiting. You should be glad that tomorrow is the weekend."
"Since when did you become so caring?" I grinned. Hotaru let out a suffering sigh.
"We are roommates, have you forgotten already? Roommates are supposed to watch each others' backs and be concerned." My grin got brighter as I looped my arm around her pale one. At last, something was looking up for me, and it was then that I knew my decision.
"I'm going to stay here. At the Academy with you, Hotaru." I looked over at her face to see her reaction.
"Moron, you're not supposed to tell me. You're supposed to say that to Mr. Narumi." She turned her face towards me and smiled slightly. "But I'm glad you told me first. And I'm glad that you decided to stay." I abruptly stopped walking along with Hotaru.
"You know..." I looked down at our linked arms and fidgeted. "To tell you the truth, you're probably the first person who I feel immensely close to, besides my grandparents." Hotaru walked up beside me.
"Well I'm honored to be your first best friend, then." I looked at her uncertainly. I don't want to be hurt again... I felt Hotaru's analyzing gaze on me. She held up her pinky. "I pinky swear I'll be there for you. Through better or worse. I definitely won't be there for you if you become poor though." My smile was renewed and I wrapped my pinky around her offered one. Simultaneously we linked arms and at that moment, I realized that the relieved feeling I was experiencing was all because of Hotaru.