Chapter 3:

I stared at the gang of girls and then to the "most beautiful, ever popular, and soon to be girlfriend of Natsume-sama" Luna. She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at my stare and said, " Well don't stare, how rude! Hurry up apologise to all of us." She looked at me as if I was supposed to do her bidding immediately. An unnatural hush had fallen over the class, and all eyes were now on us, even Narumi-sensei's.

"Well. I sure as hell am not going to obey her majesty over there. Who the hell does she think she is, ordering me around like that?" I narrowed my eyes at her haughty attitude and snorted, before turning back towards the door and began to make my exit

"Hey!" Some random girl shouted, "Where do you think you're going! Luna-sama told you to apologize!" Another boy, obviously head over heels in love with Luna, shoved himself between the door and I, and glared hatefully at me. Mentally I sighed, and turn around again, flicking me eyes towards Narumi-sensei. Did he not know how to control his own class? Everything I did was for his sake in the first place. He caught my gaze and gave me an apologetic smile. Seems like even he can't control Luna and her gang.

I was tired. Not physically tired, but mentally tired. Too many new encounters I suppose, and it was almost lunchtime, so I was hungry too. Enough was enough. Once more, I unrolled the whip and my side and cracked it towards the windows, clearing a path for myself. Students scattered away to avoid getting hurt. My trusty whip unhooked the latch of the windows, swinging them open for me. I took a few strides to the before hopping onto the ledge. I looked back at the stunned class and called out, "It was nice meeting you all, hopefully we'll get better acquainted in the future!"

Then I jumped.

I heard a strangled cry come from Narumi-sensei as I fell down 3 stories to the ground below. There was a rush of footsteps as the rest of the class rushed to the windows to see if I was alive, and then there was a gaggle of voices as my classmates voiced their wonderment at my survival.

I wandered around the campus, and eventually my feet led me to the border of the Northern forest. Why on earth there would be a forest in a school I didn't know, but currently, it fit my mood perfectly. I liked getting in touch with nature to unwind and relax. I found a dirt path that led into the forest, and soon enough, I was venturing deep into the forest, marveling at the diversity of flora and fauna here. The different animals I saw peeping at me as I walked by, the various plants I saw, each similar to one another, but yet still different. I was at peace.

To my delight after about half an hour of walking I came across a small clearing, where a field of flowers grew. There was a decent sized lake in the middle, and trees scattered around the edges. It was perfection. Sitting down beside the lake, I decided now was a good time to have some company, and with a flourish unhooked one of my keys and stuck it in the water and took a deep breath.

"Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"

I twisted the key sideways, as if turning a lock, and a blinding golden light originating from the key shone. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them, I saw my friend, Aquarius in the water looking at me and soaking up our surroundings. "Good grief Mikan, can you not summon me when there's no danger? I'm not your plaything you know!" she spat out.

"Nice to see you too Aquarius!" I responded. Aquarius was always rather rude, but I was used to this by now. Besides, I knew that Aquarius was a treasured friend, and despite what she said, she always stayed when I summoned her to accompany me. "Anyway, I just thought you would enjoy this place, its not often that we chance across such a beautiful location." I told her.

We soon fell into a comfortable silence as we appreciated the nature around us. The peaceful buzz of the forest and the swaying of branches were lulling me to sleep. Just as I was about to doze off, I hear a quiet, discreet "Thud". At once, I was on alert. It was the sound of someone landing on a tree branch. Judging from the direction the sound came from, the intruder was a couple of meters to my left, on the sakura tree at the edge of the clearing. In a hushed voice, I murmured to Aquarius, "Someone followed me here, and he's in the sakura tree to my left. Care to rain out the little rat from his hiding place?" She subtly looked over, and smirked in response. I knew she would get a kick out of this.

Acting like she was just stretching in the water, she started swimming round and round in circles while I just lay back down and waited for her to get to work. Suddenly, a loud 'Shwoosh" sounded, and I heard a strangled cry before there was a loud thud. I tilted my head back and saw the stalker soaked to the skin and on the floor. With a grin I got up and bounced over to him.

"Why hello! Fancy seeing you here Stalker-san, were you following me?" The stalker looked up at me, and for a second I was shocked and mesmerized. "Crimson red eyes?" A face flashed in my mind but I refused to give it any thought. Walking back to Aquarius for safety, I turned around to see the stalker, grumpy at being found out, but highly interested in Aquarius. He had jet-black messy hair, with bangs reaching just above his eyebrow, crimson red eyes; so striking they seemed to be looking into your soul, and an unpleasant scowl on his face.

"Who… What is she?" he asked, trying not to sound too interested. I smiled decided he wasn't a threat. Signaling Aquarius to return for now, she rolled her eyes and disappeared with a small 'Poof'. At the sound, the stalker started, and looked frantically around, as if trying to spot where she teleported to. I giggled and patted his shoulder, saying "It's not very polite to start asking me questions before you introduce yourself to me first you know, Stalker-san!" With that, I left him in the clearing and jumped onto a branch, swiftly making my way back to school.

I approached the dormitories, trying to find my room. Glancing at the small sheet of paper that the receptionist gave me at the entrance of the dorms, I looked around the corridor and the room numbers. 2001… 2005… 2007… 'Argh that's it! This place is stupid!" I screamed internally. Banging my fist against the wall in frustration, I nearly fell back in surprise when I hear the door next to my hand open, and a girl with short purple hair step out, glaring at me. I immediately bowed, apologizing.

"I'm so sorry! But I was looking for my room and I just cant seem to find it and I was frustrated and annoyed and I took it out on the wall so I didn't mean to bother you and I hope I didn't disturbed you too much and…" I trailed off, realizing I was rambling and took a cautious peek at the girl I disturbed.

She was glaring at me, naturally, but abruptly stuck her hand out towards my face. Startled, I raised my head and stared at her hand. "Uh… yes?" I asked warily. In a school full of students whose abilities I had yet to find out, I didn't really want to offend anyone accidentally. Once again, those deep purple eyes that stared right into my soul, or so it felt, glared, and she opened her mouth, muttering, "My god, Mikan, let me see what your room number is. You've always been such a klutz with things like this." Mouth agape, I stepped back even more, hand slowly inching towards my belt. "How… how do you know my name? And why would you know that I'm terrible at things like this?!" I asked in a shrill voice, fearing that I had come across some psychotic mind reader or something.

With a deep sigh, mind you it was really deep, the girl stepped out of her room and into the light of the corridor. "Oh" Was the only thought that passed through my mind before I flung myself at the girl. "HOTARUUUUUUUU! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" I bawled out, and I gripped her neck in a death grip and cried tears of waterfalls. "Yes baka, nice to see you too" she responded in her usual monotonous voice.

Hotaru used to by my neighbour back in my hometown, but she had been scouted for her magical abilities to manipulate technology as she pleased, and we were tearfully separated (though I think I was the only one crying) at the age of 9. I didn't even know I had my own magic then, and I thought I would never see her again. "Hotaru! Why didn't you let me know you were in this school! I would have come here a lot earlier if that was the case!" I sobbed into her shirt. I guess this was taking it overboard for her, because the next thing I knew was that I was lifted by a humongous robot, a dumped over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Oof! Hotaru! That hurts!" I groaned.

"Well you shouldn't have ruined my shirt with your tears, idiot. C'mon, lets go find your room." She responded. With a beaming smile, I handed her the slip of paper and enjoyed the ride to my room. Of course, memorizing the way there. My room was 2 floors above Hotaru's, and for one, the door seemed a whole lot different. While Hotaru's door was tall and large solid brown wood, mine was pale light brown, with some kind of electronic screen in place of where a handle should have been. I frowned at it, wondering how on earth I was supposed to open my door.

"Put your hand in the center of the screen Mikan." I hear Hotaru say. "Huh? How do you know what to do?" I looked at her skeptically. "I made these locks you idiot. Now do as I say." She growled out. "Heheh… Hotaru is still as mean as ever." I groaned mentally. Placing my hand on the screen, Hotaru then instructed me to infuse some of my magic into the screen. "The lock will record your magical signature, and then in the future it'll only response to your magic. As long as you come back, all you have to do is flare up your aura a bit and the door will be unlocked." She explained.

With a loud 'Beep', the electronics confirmed my magical signature and the door swung open with a flourish. "So…" Hotaru started, glancing my way, "How was your first day at school?" she gave me a tiny smile, and with her eyes amused, she walked into my room. Joyously, I rushed in after her talking at the same time. We had so much catching up to do!

"So, first things first, I think my homeroom teacher's gay. Then there's this awful bitch called Luna in my class, and there's a weird stalker with crimson red eyes…"