"Um…if you win and you keep the high school student…" I stammer. "What will you do with me?"

"Make you be my slave." Hotaru says with a malicious glint in her eye.

"Hotaru!" Mikan yells, looking aghast. "Of course, we'll let her go free!"

I sigh. "I'll help you in your scavenger hunt. But if you win, you have to let me go in the end."

"What help will you be?" Hotaru asks emotionlessly, looking at me with blank purple eyes.

I turn my head toward Tsubasa, who is pointing at Natsume and Ruka's skirts and laughing his ass off. I walk over to him and kick the back of his knees, sending him to the ground, laughing and wincing at the same time. "That's how I can help." I smirk, pointing at Tsubasa, who had tears running down his face.

"Ooh…Tsubasa-senpai…" Mikan's knuckles are at her mouth, as she kneels down beside Tsubasa with a worried expression on her face. I feel a large unpleasant vibe coming from my right side. Jumping slightly, I turn to find Natsume standing beside me, with a scary expression of hate and…jealousy? I muffle a giggle.

"Come on Mikan-chan!" I whisk her off the ground and run to the door. "Hotaru-chan! Yuu-kun! Hurry while they're distracted!"

"Isn't this breaking the rules?" Yuu asks as he runs out the door with Hotaru.

Over my shoulder, I shout, "It's not called breaking the rules if they don't catch you!"

"Go to the Elementary School Branch!" Hotaru calls from behind. "That's where we'll get the answer to our clue!"

"Break!" Yuu calls piteously. "I can't run anymore!" I stop for his benefit. Hotaru looks rather tired too.

"Wow, you're so energetic, Karin-senpai!" Mikan says perkily after I put her down. "You carried me the whole time!"

"Yes. Yes I did." I say absently. "Now why don't you tell me more about this scavenger hunt of yours? Like, for starters, why do you have to wear the opposite gender's uniform? I almost pissed my pants when I saw Natsume…"

"It's one of the rules of the scavenger hunt." Mikan says solemnly. She pats her skirt pockets casually. Slowly, her patting becomes more and more frantic. "Oh no!" she frets worriedly. She looks up sheepishly at us. "I think I lost the rule list."

"It's right here." Yuu holds it up with a slight smile on his face, while Hotaru pulls out a gun out of nowhere and shoots Mikan with it.

"Idiot." Oh sure. Pulling guns out of nowhere and shooting your best friend with it is just a part of everyday life here at Alice Academy. Yes, indeed.

"Here you go, Sakurai-senpai." Yuu hands me a small slip of paper. I resignedly take it.

Rules

Go in order.

Must not change your clothes.

No cheating.

Everyone must participate…or else…

Group who wins gets to keep anything from the things collected.

"I see…" I can't think of anything else to say to this. "I see…"

After resting for a couple more seconds, Hotaru takes the lead and says, "Come on, we've got to find Fukutan-sensei and get a lock of his hair."

"Fuku who?" I protect our rear, feeling uneasy, like someone is following us.

"Fukutan-sensei is our homeroom teacher when Narumi-sensei cannot be here to teach us." Yuu explains to me.

I nod. "Oh, is that so? He's your substitute teacher then. But why do we have to get a lock of hair from him?"

Mikan smiles brightly at me. "He has a very special Alice. His Alice enables his hair to grow super long, super fast!"

"Wow." I say sarcastically. "That's so useful."

"He is rather useless." Hotaru admitted. "But in this case, his uselessness will help us achieve what we want."

We're now outside the staff room, where teachers from all the school branches come to meet. "Can we go in?" Yuu frets nervously.

"Who cares?" Mikan whispers. "Let's go in." Wow. The little girl certainly has a sense of adventure. I smile mischievously. The game is so on. But first, I have to get rid of three lurkers leeching off our answers.

"How long did you think you would follow us undetected?" I ask, flaring up a fireball in my hand, whirling around. Hotaru, Mikan, and Yuu look at me questionably. I scan the halls. "Come on, come out. I know you're there." I throw a curveball around a corner nearby, and I produce the desired effect. Tsubasa jumps up, yelling and patting his bottom gingerly.

Natsume and the blonde haired boy emerge after Tsubasa, Natsume with his usual stoic expression, and the blonde haired boy with a hint of a blush around his cheeks. "Natsume!" Mikan calls with surprise in her tone. "Ruka-pyon!"

Ruka-pyon? I'm guessing that's the blonde boy's name then? What's with the –pyon though…

"You wanted to win that badly, eh?" Hotaru says in her emotionless tone. "You would even cheat in order to win. You disappoint me."

Everyone becomes exasperated, as memories of me kicking Tsubasa down probaby resurface in everyone's minds. "What are you talking about, Hotaru…" Mikan asks sheepishly. "Karin-senpai kicked-"

"Never mind that." I say hastily, muffling her with my hand. Mikan wiggles out of my grip.

"Let's go and get a lock of Fukutan-sensei's hair now!" She crows triumphantly, not realizing what she has just done. Yuu grins defeatedly, while I hang my head in exasperation. Hotaru shoots Mikan with her random gun that screams "Idiot!" again.

"Hey." I look up in surprise at the sound of Natsume's voice. His voice has a commanding air. "It's a competition then. First one to get a lock of Fukutan's hair will continue on."

"You're on!" Mikan yelled with an up-for-anything smile.

"Better hurry then…" Natsume sets the edges of Mikan's pigtails on fire. "strawberry panties." Mikan's mouth drops open.

"NATSUME! YOU PERVERT!" She screams and lunges for him. I back away from Natsume slowly. So the little boy is a little pervert too huh? I never expected that…

"Tsubasa-senpai!" Mikan hugs Tsubasa, hugging him and crying into his shirt. Natsume has that scary expression on again. He's so jealous. He looks like he's going to burn Tsubasa to ashes.

To save Tsubasa's butt, I grab Mikan by a pigtail and drag her off, murmuring, "Don't fraternize with the enemy, strawberry panties."

"Wah!" Mikan cries, waving her arms up and down. "Not you too, Karin-senpai!"

We huddle down in our respective groups. "Okay Hotaru-chan." I whisper seriously. "What's the game plan?"

She holds up a pair of normal looking scissors with a gleam in her eye. But, since its Hotaru, you wouldn't be wise to say that the scissors really were normal. Mikan jumps in, saying, "We jump Fukutan-sensei and Hotaru will snip off some of his hair."

"But how will we beat Natsume-kun and the others to the catch?" Yuu asked worriedly.

Hotaru pauses. "You have the Illusion Alice, right?"

Yuu looks at Hotaru. "Yes…"

Hotaru has a scheming look in her eye. "Then, this will be too easy…" I shiver. I sure don't want Hotaru to become my enemy…

We finish planning. Oh my God, Hotaru is an evil genius! "Yuu-kun, are you clear on your part of the plan? Your part is perhaps the most crucial." I say with a veteran air about me. Yuu nods his head with a determined expression on his face.

I turn to Hotaru. "Hotaru-chan, do you have a video camera?" Hotaru whisks out a camcorder.

"Are you ready?" I ask everyone.

"We were born ready!" Mikan replies fiercely.

"All right then." I say, pounding one fist in the air. "The game starts here!"