Please note before continuing on with the story.
Mikan, Natsume and the group are 15, 16 or 17.
Aoi and Youichi are both 11 years old.
Misaki and the other senpais are around their 20s
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.
And, I suck at grammar
Italics are flashback (I might tell you beforehand, but at times… yeah…)
"Italics + bold" are telepathic messages.
Nonoko had left the classroom to take a walk around the school when she suddenly decided to go to Central town to pass the time. So, she went back to class and asked Anna if she wanted to go with her.
"Hey, Anna, do you want to come with me to Central Town?" she asked. She let out a small 'oh' when Anna replied that she was going to go with Yuu. She then waved good bye to Anna and went to find someone else. Anna couldn't come, so she decided to go ask Sumire, only to see her busy working on something. Heaving a sigh, she turned around and continued to think. Who would be available to go to Central Town with her? Anna was already going with Yuu, Sumire's busy and she wouldn't even bother to go near Mikan, having the feeling that she was probably hanging out with Natsume somewhere.
She turned and walked to the hallway where the lockers were, leisurely and mindlessly walking in the middle of the hallway that she bumped into someone that was also walking without looking. She was about to fall on ground when she felt someone catch her. She looked up to see Koko, smiling sheepishly at her.
"Uh, hi, sorry about that, I wasn't looking at where I was going…" he apologised to her. Nonoko couldn't help but laugh at his awkwardness. "Koko, it's alright. I wasn't looking at where I was going either. We'll call it even" she said, smiling. Koko smiled in return, dug his hands into his pockets and leaned on one of the lockers and spoke,
"So, what were you thinking about?" he asked casually. Nonoko raised an elegant brow at him. "Did you seriously ask me that, Mind reader?" she asked him. Koko shrugged.
"Well, I don't always go around peeking into people's mind. I only do that…most of the time. The rest of the time, I try to look into my own mind, wondering about random stuff, like, how would the world be like if pigs suddenly flew"
Nonoko burst out laughing. "Hah, that's… I never thought of that before… Hm…" she trailed off. She then shook it off and decided to answer Koko's question.
"Anyway, I was planning to go to Central Town. Only, no one's available to go. I asked Anna, but she's going with someone else, Sumire's busy doing some kind of work- most likely thinking about her outfit for the Masked Ball next Friday, and I wouldn't even bother asked Mikan, knowing Natsume would be somewhere with her" she told him. Koko nodded and leaned off the locker and grabbed Nonoko's hand and started dragging her somewhere.
"Hey! Hey, Koko, Where are you- where are we going?" she called out, struggling to get her balance right. Koko suddenly stopped, causing her to hit her head on Koko's back. Koko turned around and replied, "Well, you want to go to Central Town, right? So let's go!" he told her, enthusiastically, and continued to drag her to the bus stop that takes students to Central Town. Nonoko smiled and jogged in order to keep up with Koko's long legs.
Koko and Nonoko were 10 minutes early for the next bus to come, so they decided to relax a little bit. They were talking about random things when they spotted Anna and Yuu looking down at a notebook. They decided to go over to them. Anna and Yuu looked up when they heard someone calling their name. They turned to see Nonoko and Koko jogging towards them. They smiled at them, and greeted them.
"Hey, Anna, hey, Yuu" Nonoko and Koko greeted back as they then looked down at the notebook Yuu was holding and then looked up and gave Anna and Yuu a questioning look, mutely asked then what they were looking at. Yuu took the role in answering.
"We're figuring out a few things for the Masked Ball, adding in a few final touches to the plans before we actually start decorating the auditorium for the Masked Ball. We're also going to go around and look for different designs for masks" he told them. Just as he finished, the bus came. Yuu and Koko let Anna and Nonoko go on first before hopping onto the bus themselves. Anna and Yuu sat on the left side on the bus while Nonoko sat on the right side of the bus (when you walk into the bus, walking in the walkway- that left and right), Anna and Nonoko both taking the seat next to the window, while Yuu and Koko were next to each other, only separated by the walkway in the bus.
While Anna was busy looking through the notebook and writing down notes and Nonoko was looking out the window, busy daydreaming, Yuu and Koko decided to talk to each other.
"The Masked Ball's next Friday, isn't it" Koko said, more like a statement than a question. Though, Yuu answered anyway with, "yeah, it's next week."
Koko suddenly thought of something. "You know what I don't understand? I don't get why Narumi introduced Watanabe Akatsuki into our class today, it's already the end of the week… could have waited a few more days" Yuu nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I was wondering that, too. Watanabe-san seemed to have some sort of history with Mikan-san…"
Then, something clicked in Koko's mind. "Hey, we never knew Mikan's surname, did we? We were only introduced her first name." Yuu thought for a moment before realising it as well.
"Yeah... Never thought of that, I wonder why she didn't tell us her last name..." Yuu wondered to himself, aloud. As soon as Yuu said that, he suddenly sweat dropped, realising what he just did. 'Koko's going to start making random scenarios again...' he thought, sweat dropping.
"Hm... MAYBE, she's the daughter of a celebrity that we all know, and she doesn't want attention!" Koko suggested. Yuu only shook his head as Koko continued.
"Or, she could be some sort of terrorist, and everyone only knows her last name!" Koko exclaimed. Yuu sweat dropped.
"Uh, I doubt it... Koko..." he spoke. "Yeah, you're right..." Koko said, thinking. "Maybe, she's an undercover agent that uses part of her last name to be her agent name! Maybe, she could also be an assassin!" he exclaimed, then, he added, "I wouldn't be surprised if she were an assassin, with that body... whoa... I'm sure no man would mind dying, having that as the last thing for them to see..."
Yuu frowned and looked at Koko weirdly. Who knew the mind reader was such a weird pervert? Hah.
"Well, Koko," Yuu started off, as he pushed his glasses up, "I don't think she would be an undercover agent, nor an assassin... I also, uh, never knew you would have such... uh, interesting scenarios" Yuu spoke, awkwardly. He didn't like the idea of having someone talk about a classmate of his in such a way, it was plain rude and mean. At the same time, he was wondering how the other people in the bus weren't able to hear their conversation.
Koko nodded a couple of times before letting the subject drop. Minutes later, he asked Yuu if he had a partner to go to the Masked Ball with. Yuu replied that he would be too busy and he might not even be able to go to the Masked Ball, having all the studies that he wanted to do.
Koko raised an eyebrow. "You want to do? The studies you want to do" he repeated. "Do you need to do them?" Koko asked. Yuu stuttered for a while before answering a silent 'no'. Koko cheekily grinned and leaned over his seat to lean closer to Yuu. "So then, who are you going to invite to the Masked Ball?" Koko asked Yuu, still having the grin on his face. Yuu stayed quiet and thought for a moment before answering he had not a clue who to invite to the Masked Ball.
Koko thought for a moment before letting a smirk slowly appear on his face. Seeing this, Yuu started to feel weird. He then saw Koko look past his shoulder with the wide smirk on his face. Yuu turned around and looked where Koko was looking. It was obvious Koko was only looking at one person. Yuu turned his head around to look at the pink haired girl seat next to him who was currently in her thinking position with the top of the pencil on her chin, and her right elbow on the frame of the window of the bus.
Yuu quickly turned around and stared back at Koko, who was smirking. "You read my mind didn't you" Yuu stated (TT_TT). Koko, still having the devilish smirk on his face, nodded as he back up again, leaning his back on the seat again. There was silence for a few minutes when Koko hear Yuu mutter a small "fine"
Koko face Yuu to start rubbing in his victory, only, when he faced Yuu, he saw Yuu looking past his own shoulder, exactly like what he had done to Yuu when he was thinking of who would be Yuu's partner. Koko sweat dropped. 'No way' he thought. Koko slowly turned his head to face the blue haired girl next to him for a moment before turning back a devilish-looking Yuu Tobita. Koko couldn't help but sweat drop.
After a short staring contest, Koko heaved a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, yeah" he muttered, not liking the fact that he was caught.
Moments later, the bus arrived at Central Town. Koko and Yuu stepped back to Anna and Nonoko could walk out first before walking out themselves. Later, they then parted ways. Koko and Nonoko headed to a cafe to eat, since Koko was hungry while Anna and Yuu started to go around, searching for designs and masks.
Natsume woke up to the sound of some of the students yelling, laughing and shouting. Sitting up properly, he heaved a sigh and rubbed his eyes before standing up and headed towards the study table to get some paper to write down the performances that Mikan would be doing for the Masked Ball. He was about to take a seat and list the performances down, something caught his eye- a draw.
'Hm, this looks similar to the draw that I have... The one that is given to the people who do mission, so they can put their masks and stuff in... It looks similar...' Natsume thought. Though, he decided to push the subject aside and went back to the study table to quickly list the performances down.
After he finished writing, he stood up and tucked his chair back in. He was about to leave when he suddenly thought about the draw again. He turned back and headed towards it. 'There's a special way to open the draw... I wonder...' he wondered to himself. Slowly, he placed his hand on the draw. He was about to open it when someone suddenly opened the door. Quickly turning around, Natsume saw Daichi standing there, leaning on the door frame.
"What is it?" Natsume asked. Daichi merrily shrugged before answering.
"Persona calls for another job- go to the Northern Forest" he said, nonchalantly before disappearing. Natsume stood there in silence, wondering how he knew Persona. Though, he face palmed himself when he remembered one of the guy's alice- Fire. 'Of course he would know Persona, then' Natsume muttered to himself. Then, he quickly left, not caring about the draw anymore and went to his room to get his mask before going to the Northern Forest.
As soon as Natsume shut the door and opened the door to his room, Mikan had woken up. Actually, she was awake even before Natsume woke up. She just wasn't bothered to get up.
Mikan quickly hopped onto her feet and headed to her closet to get ready. She opened her closet door, went in and closed in behind her. About five minutes later, she went out in a black skirt and a light blue blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her hair was in a low ponytail, swung onto her right shoulder. She then headed over to her draw with all her mission things and put her hand on it and closed her eyes, and concentrating. The draw opened, revealing her mask, three golden armbands, three earrings, and two pairs of shoes- Black patent Glint heel boots and Black Kerfield Suede and Mesh Boots.
After putting on her three alice control armbands on her right bicep, light blue earring on her right earlobe and two golden earrings on her left earlobe, she stepped back and stared at the two shoes, wondering which pair to wear. After a minute, she decided to choose the Black Kerfield Suede and Mesh boots. After putting the shoes on, she picked up her mask and made her way to the balcony. She stared at the view for a few minutes and quickly remembered something. She rushed back into her room and opened the draw filled with her mission stuff and look out a packet of tablets.
Holding up the packet at eye-level, she had a disgusted look on her face. She was never one to like tablets. Not bothering to get water, she opened the bag and popped a tablet in her mouth and swallowed it, before gagging over how disgusting the taste was. 'God, I'm going to hate this' she thought.
-Flashback-
"Ne, Hotaru, I need-" Mikan started off, only to be cut off by Hotaru.
"It'll cost you" Hotaru spoke, not bothered to look up from her invention. Mikan sulked as she pulled out her purse full of money ready.
"Alright… Um, I need something… that will change my voice a bit. So, Natsume won't recognise my voice, since I always have to make sure my voice sounds different all the time, and I'm worried that I might slip sometime soon. Can you make some sort of tablet or something, which changes my voice for a whole day?" Mikan asked. Hotaru looked up from her invention and started thinking- her mind already processing on how to make whatever Mikan wanted.
After a few minutes, Hotaru snapped out of it and gave a small nod. Mikan smiled, but it soon disappeared when she realised it will probably cost her A LOT.
"How much will it be, Hotaru?" Mikan asked, sulking.
"It'll be…" Hotaru trailed off, making Mikan more anxious. "It'll be 650 rabbits per packet"
Mikan let out a relieved sigh. "Thank goodness, I thought it'll be much more than that…" she murmured. Then, suddenly, something struck her. "Wait, Hotaru… how big is the packet?" she asked, anxiously. She sweat dropped when Hotaru nonchalantly held up a small bag- only big enough to fill about 8 tablets- 10 at most.
"Oh geez…" Mikan muttered, as she opened her purse to get out the money. Though, she stopped for a moment and looked back at Hotaru who was already working on the tablets.
"Ne, Hotaru?" she called out. Hotaru didn't answer, though, Mikan knew that she was listening. "Hotaru, I need the tablets to last the whole day, as I said before, but, I need to stop when I need to it. So, like… uh, do you know what I mean?" she asked, hoping she explained to good enough for Hotaru to understand.
"So you want the tablet to last for the whole day, but when you do something, your voice will go back to normal. I got it" Hotaru said, as she finished off the last thing need and turned around with a small packet of tablets in her hand. Mikan smiled and took out her money. "You know, I don't know why you're coming to me for this… isn't Nonoko the one to be making the chemicals" Hotaru stated in a bored tone. Mikan didn't bother to answer since she knew Hotaru was just saying that for the heck of it.
"Anyway, in order to get your voice back, you're going to have to…" Hotaru told her. When Mikan heard this, Mikan's eyes widened.
-End of Flashback-
After taking the tablet, Mikan headed back out onto the balcony and spread out her arms and breathed in the fresh air.
"Well, this is going to be interesting" she said to no one in particular. She then smiled when she heard her voice. Her voice had changed into the huskier kind of voice that she used to talk when she was 'Sakura Kana'. She liked it. 'Hotaru never fails' Mikan thought, still smiling. She then got ready and just onto the tree branch that was near her balcony and continued to jump onto another tree, making her way to the Northern Forest where the meeting, that her older brother called for, would start in less than ten minutes.
Natsume had already reached the Northern Forest and saw no one in sight. He heaved a sigh and went over to a tree and leaned on it.
Exactly five minutes before the meeting was about to start, two people landed onto the ground about three meters away from him. They were wearing masks as well. Only, unlike his mask which covered his whole face, their masks didn't cover their mouths. The girl's mask was black with silver swirls. The boy's mask was the same, only, his mask had green swirls.
'They look somehow familiar' thought Natsume. Though, he dismissed the thought when he felt Persona coming their way. As he turned his head to where Persona would usually land, he felt someone else with Persona as well. When Persona landed on the ground without a sound, Natsume started to wonder where the other presence is from. He leaned off the tree trunk and dug his hands into his pockets and looked around a bit, pretending as if he was leisurely looking about for the hell of it. Though, he almost jumped when he felt someone lean their chin on his shoulder. Quickly turning around, ready to attack whoever it was, he only glared at the person in front of him.
"What the hell, Sakura?" he spoke, irritation evident in his voice. He was never fond of being caught off guard. "Aw, I was just having a little fun" she said, acting hurt. Natsume merrily grunted in reply. He also noticed a change in her voice. 'Her voice sounds different' he thought to himself.
"What's with your voice, anyway? Last time, I remember it was more annoyingly weird" he stated, he then looked at what she was wearing. A light blue blouse, with the sleeved rolled up to her elbows, a black skirt... and high heels. He commented, "And what is with you and high heels during mission stuff, anyway?"
"Well, Kuro Neko, I'm a girl, if you haven't figure that out already, do the math" she stated. Natsume scoffed, making Sakura pop a vein. Though, before she could say anything, Persona interrupted them, telling them that the meeting starts now. So, instead of raging at Natsume, Sakura childishly poked her tongue out at him before going walking towards the two people with the black masks.
Clearing his voice, catching everyone's attention, Persona started speaking.
"Alright, the four of you are going to work on the following mission together. Kuro Neko, you already know Sakura Kana, meet Ken and Rose. They will be working with the two of you"
Natsume raised a brow behind his mask. 'Ken?' he asked himself. Then, as if hearing his thoughts, Rose and Ken took off their masks, showing their faces. 'Just as I thought... Arakaki and Nishimura' thought Natsume as he took off his own mask. He then turned to Sakura who still had her mask on. He was about to tell her to take off her mask when she spoke.
"Don't even bother. I won't take off my mask" she said in a bored voice as she went over to a tree and leaned against it while gesturing Persona to continue, which he did.
"Your mission is to go and collect data from the AAO. You have a week. But I expect you to get all the needed data within ONE day, if you go in there more than once, the AAO will start to notice and suspect that we know what they plan to do- if they are doing anything, that is" Persona told them, "the academy would prefer to know if the AAO has any surprise attacks so that when they do their surprise attack, we won't be surprised." Persona then looked at all the students in front of him before adding, "Though, me being me, I expect you to finish the mission within less than four days, maybe three, even."
Natsume suddenly heard three people groan, obviously knowing what Persona was about to say. Confused, he looked back at Persona, who had an evil smirk on his face (not that it was a surprise), that had not been there for a couple of days. Before Natsume could speak, Persona started speaking again as he made his way to a tree and leaned against it. In the corner of his eye, he saw Sakura leaning off her tree and dusting off invisible specks of dust off her skirt.
"Alright, there will be special training for the four of you- you four will be the main group- the main group fighting in any battles. Though, Sakura and Kuro Neko will be the main people to participate in all events. Therefore, you all are to have special training. Especially Kuro Neko and Sakura- not the she would need it anyway" said Persona, carelessly leaning on the tree, with his eyes showing a tiny spark of amusement.
"Will be the main people to participate in all events?" Natsume hear Sakura murmur, "He's making it sound as if we would want to participate in the damn thing..." Natsume almost laughed at the way she exaggerated her words when she said main people, participate, all events and want.
"Alright then, training starts now, first off, you are to fight each other- females against males. Rose, Sakura, take the left side. Kuro Neko, Ken, take right side- obviously..." instructed Persona.
He waited until all four prepared himself, and for Natsume, Hana and Daichi to put their masks back onto their faces before nonchalantly announcing, "Alright... begin"
'HOW THE HELL CAN HE ACT SO BORED IN SUCH A DANG TIME... Stupid brother' Mikan called out in her mind as she prepared to jump out of the way as Ken and Kuro Neko advanced towards her and Hana. She slightly jumped when she saw her brother pop a vein. 'And... He was obviously reading our minds just then... Damn... I knew I shouldn't have given him the mind reading alice... dang it'
"Damn right. Now deal with it, idiot" Mikan heard in her mind. Yep, her brother was listening to her thoughts. She inwardly sulked again as she attempted to kick Ken. 'I shouldn't have given him any alice apart from the barrier alice, actually. WHY did I have to give him nullification as well? I can't nullify his damn mind reading alice because he combine nullification and mind reading together...' she sulked. Though, she soon let go of it and payed attention to what she had to be doing now.
At the moment, Hana and Daichi were fighting each other- scratch that, they were more playing around, not taking it seriously. While her and Kuro Neko, at the moment, were going full at it, obviously because they had to, and Mikan had to train him.
After a few hours, both teams were still fighting each other, this time, they were actually working together- unlike before, fighting one on one when they were meant to be working together. Though, seeing that it was enough for one day, Persona call it to an end and dismissed then, announcing that he will see them all at ability classes, excluding Sakura.
Natsume was about to make his way out of the Northern Forest when he saw Sakura tip toe up to Daichi so that she could whisper something in his ear. Seeing Daichi suddenly smirk, Natsume didn't know why, but seeing Sakura near Daichi was irritating, exactly the same as when Mikan was near any other guy. Natsume shook his head, as if trying to get back to reality. As he looked back at Daichi, Sakura had already disappeared. Not bothered to care, Natsume headed back to the school, decided to go to the teacher's lounge room to give Narumi the list of performances Mikan was going to do on the night of the Masked Ball.
Taking off his mask, and throwing it on the tree trunk of the Sakura Tree as he went past it. Minutes later, he reached the teacher's lounge room and shoved the list in Narumi's face and disappearing before Narumi could even read it. He then went back to fetch his mask and made his way to Mikan's room to check if she was asleep or not.
As Natsume made his way up the stairs and took a turn to the hallway where his and Mikan's room was, he never expected what was met before him, in the hallway, right there, in front of Mikan's room.
Natsume had come at the exact time when Daichi had just pulled away from kissing Mikan's cheek, and she was millimetres away from kissing Daichi's ready-to-be-kissed cheek. Natsume's eyes unconsciously widened as Mikan returned Daichi's kiss on the cheek and smiled at him as she pulled away. For an unknown reason, Natsume felt a tug on his heart, as if it were ripping. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' he asked himself as he quickly made his way into his own room to put away his mission mask, not wanting to look at Mikan smiling at Daichi in such a way.
Only, he didn't bother to know why Mikan and Daichi kissed each other on the cheek.
Mikan continued to smile at Daichi for a moment. She had whispered for Daichi to do her a favour and meet her at her room to do something for her before quickly going back to her room to change back into her school uniform. Daichi had arrived at her room a few moments after and Mikan explain what she needed him to do. She playfully slapped him when he smirked and teased her that she was probably faking the whole thing and only want an excuse for him to kiss her. Though, nevertheless, he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, and after he pulled away, Mikan tip toed up and kissed him back on the cheek and leaned away, smiling thankfully at him.
"Thanks, Ken!" she said, in her normal voice again, as she watched Daichi walk away to his own room, not seeing him put his hand on his cheek, as if keeping the kiss in its place. Not so long after, she went into her room as well.
"In order to get your voice back, you're going to have to have a guy kiss you, and you to return the kiss- not that you would have a problem with that anyway…" Hotaru told her. When Mikan heard this, Mikan's eyes widened. 'Ooh boy…' she thought as she handed Hotaru the money, took the packet of tablets and walked out the door, waving goodbye.
Too bad Natsume didn't know that that was the reason why Daichi kissed Mikan, and Mikan kissed Daichi.
HIYO~ Wow, it's Chapter 14 already... it's all going so... slow, yet, fast -I don't make sense at times, nevermind me (:
How have you all been? I'm goodish... I guess.
So, How was this chapter? I'm trying to add more 'other characters' moments, you know? Hm.
Thanks for reading! Please REVIEW~ (: