Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

Hi guys~ I'm back. Finally. There were (or actually, are) a lot of problems; not only about school and family, my wifi and laptop didn't seem like they wanted to cooperate with me as well. *sigh* I kept on writing the stories but I can't seem to upload them. Today, I tried again and voila, here I am! I'm super excited. Moreover, I got an idea for a new story, probably published soon ;) (I know I haven't even finished this but I think I can manage... yeah... I guess so.)

I hope you guys are still alive and kicking even though I took forever to load. Now, enjoy :)

"What is the music of life?"

"Silence, my brother."

-Skyrim

As the tour continued, Mikan grew more and more suspicious of Luna. Luna had been visiting frequently, and sometimes during her visit, something would happen. The girls had been able to handle the disruptions well, but that didn't seem to discourage Silence's active attacks.

Their second last concert just finished, and the boys just returned to their respective vans for a slumber. Mikan was walking to the van while arguing with Natsume about the performance ("You almost missed the first beat of the song!" "I didn't—it was supposed to be like that!") when Sumire pulled her aside. "Hyuuga, I'll be borrowing your bodyguard for a quick meeting. You can return to your van to rest. Good job just now." Sumire smiled sweetly at Natsume.

Natsume shrugged. "Sure."

"Well, see you later," Mikan hurriedly said before Sumire pulled her away to regroup with Hotaru and Misaki.

"Hi guys," Mikan greeted them cheerfully. "So what's now?"

"I'm reporting my findings," Hotaru started while she flipped through a stack of papers. "It is confirmed that recently, during one of the concerts when the electricity went out for a while—fortunately we have prepared a backup power supply—the nearby security guard saw a suspicious shadow around the electricity room," she said. "The shadow had been said to have the figure of a young girl. I have confirmed too that this statement is credible. Then just now, around an hour before the concert, Ruka got locked in the toilet, remember? Two staffs had stated that they saw a young girl wandering around before they found Ruka. They said the girl looked familiar, but they couldn't exactly explain why."

"It made sense though, if it is someone famous… like Luna Koizumi, for example," Mikan chimed in. "Right, guys?"

She turned to the others, but the three of them were exchanging looks.

Mikan furrowed her eyebrows. "Guys?"

"Mikan, we need to talk to you," Sumire said.

Mikan laughed nervously. "Uh, guys? What is this? Is this some kind of joke?"

Sumire nudged Misaki. Misaki glared at her, but Mikan had shifted her attention to Misaki. She sighed. "Fine. Listen, Mikan… we think you've, uh, forgotten about your job. We think you're getting too attached to Hyuuga, and you're way too biased against Koizumi because of that."

Mikan blushed slightly. "What?! Th—that's ridiculous! I'm just doing my job! Can't you guys see it?!"

They didn't respond—just more looks exchanged.

Mikan sighed in exasperation. "Seriously, guys?"

"Mikan, have you been meddling with his personal life?"

Sumire's question made Mikan's mind jump back to the nights in the van when they exchanged stories about each other. About their families. Their childhood. Their hobbies. Mikan remembered that night when Natsume was staring at the moon and he opened up for the first time about Aoi.

And that thought kept her mouth shut.

Sumire sighed. "As we thought."

"Mikan, you can't involve your feelings in the job," Misaki said sharply. Mikan was taken aback. Misaki never spoke to her in that tone before. Never. And somehow that made Mikan angry.

"You guys are such hypocrites," she snickered. "You're telling me to stop befriending Natsume? Why?! Take a good hard look at yourselves! Do you think I don't know what's happening? Huh? Misaki, you've been taking a lot of pictures together with Tsubasa, and I know you usually don't like taking pictures with guys." Mikan glared at Misaki, who widened her eyes at that statement.

"Mikan—"

"Hotaru has been goofing around with Ruka—taking pictures of him and selling those pictures, and teasing him like a little baby. And you guys only scold me for being a friend? Seriously, guys?! And Sumire, I know you have feelings for—"

Slap!

Mikan couldn't believe it.

Sumire just slapped her.

Mikan's cheek was aching painfully. She slowly brought her cold hand up to cool the burning sensation on her reddened cheek—but doing so just make everything feel more real. Sumire had really slapped her.

Misaki gasped. "Mikan! Are you okay?"

She hurriedly approached Mikan and tried to embrace her, but Mikan slapped her hand away. "Go away," she said coldly. She glared icily at Sumire. "I understand, Sumire. This is what you want? Fine. Thank you for reminding me."

Mikan turned and walked away.

SLAM!

Natsume lifted his head in annoyance. He was peacefully sleeping when the loud slam on the door woke him up abruptly. Must be Mikan, he thought irritably, drowsily. "Polka-dots, can you not? An idol is sleepi—"

And he was instantly cut off by sobs.

Natsume jumped upright on his bed. Mikan was slumping against the door. In the darkness, it was hard to tell how she looked, but she was certainly crying. Her shoulders rose and fell subtly as she tried to suppress her sobs. Her hair fell messily, framing her now-hidden face like a ripped curtain.

Natsume's sleepiness was gone at that second. He stood and walked with big steps towards Mikan.

"Mikan," he called. "Mikan, what happened? Are you alright?"

Mikan didn't respond, but it looked like she tried to. "G—g—g—ggo—aw—a—w—wa—y," Mikan said with jagged breath, in-between the tears and uncontrollable sobs.

Natsume crouched, so now he was the same height as Mikan, who was now practically sitting on the floor.

"Mikan," he called again, gentler this time. He put his hands on her shoulders. "Mikan, look at me."

When Mikan failed to respond, Natsume cupped her face with his big hands, and lifted them up gently to face him.

Mikan's face was a mess. Her eyes were red. Tears were everywhere, wetting his face and stubbornly sticking strands of brown hair to her face. Her mouth was half-open, breathing in and out with difficulties. Her usual cheery smile seemed like an illusion now, and Natsume wondered, how long had she been keeping this side of hers away?

Natsume took one hand off her face to grab a tissue. He wiped her face clean. "Calmed down?" He asked again softly while handing her tissues for her to blow her nose.

She gratefully took them and blew her nose in front of Natsume without hesitation. She then took a deep breath and slowly blew it out, trying to even her breath.

"Much better." Her eyes fluttered open. "Thanks, Natsume. Sorry for making such a fuss. You should go back to sleep now."

Instead, Natsume pulled her wrist, forcing her up. Then he brought her to the bed. "Sit," he commanded. Then he walked away to the fridge, opening it.

Mikan was puzzled, but she obeyed anyway. At that moment, the walkie-talkie buzzed. Mikan glanced at it, afraid it would be any of the girls. She didn't feel like talking with them at that time—not after what had happened. How could Sumire slap her? But also, how could she lose her control like that? She was supposed to be a professional. Now she realized it—she was no professional. She was just a hot-tempered little girl, feeling on top of the world after she was given her first mission. That thought made Mikan's eyes hot again, but she quickly shushed the thought away.

"Why don't you pick it up?" Natsume closed the fridge. Now two cans of soft drinks were on his hands.

Mikan fumbled with her reply. "Ah, I—uh—that's…"

Natsume threw one can to Mikan. She caught it in surprise as Natsume picked up the walkie-talkie. "Yes, Hyuuga speaking… ah, yes. Okay, okay. Thank you. Please proceed." He set the walkie-talkie down. "Just the guards, they're informing us that we're leaving now."

"Oh." Mikan's shoulders relaxed. "Okay."

In a short moment, the van drove away. Only the sound of engine filled the silence for a while.

"So, why did you not want to answer that? What happened?"

Mikan sighed. There's no escaping Natsume, she thought. Natsume was way too adamant to shake off.

She took a deep breath. "I had a fight with the girls," she mumbled.

Natsume's expression was unreadable for a while, but it immediately turned sympathetic. "What happened?"

Mikan shook her head. She couldn't tell Natsume about it. "It's nothing. They just thought I'm… not doing my job properly, that's all." She forced a smile. "It's nothing, really. We'll make up in no time. It's not a big deal—we've been living together for a very long time. This much is nothing to our relationships."

"Why did you cry, then?"

Mikan paused. "Because," she spoke, almost inaudibly, "I realize that they are right." She looked up and her eyes locked with Natsume's. I like Natsume.

"What?" Natsume furrowed his eyebrows. "No, Mikan. You're doing great. Your job, I mean. I'm still alive, right? And nothing has happened so far—then why did you say that they're right?"

"Nothing." Mikan turned her face away, now looking out of the window. "Say, the moon's pretty bright tonight, don't you think?"

So. Oh well. Yeah. Just usual girls' fight and that moment when you realize you like someone and you're like "shiiiiiit".

Thanks for the constant support guys, I'm really thankful for anyone who follow/review/favorite my story. I can't name all of you one by one but bear in mind that you guys are always in my heart 3 (cheesy, I know.)

~sassgoddess