[FFML] [Alice Academy][fanfic] A Clockwork Tangerine, Chapter 7

[Henry J. Cobb]

[Alice Academy][fanfic] A Clockwork Tangerine, Chapter 7
By Henry J. Cobb

The Gakuen Alice characters and situations are the creation of Higuchi
Tachibana and this parody is not intended to cause any damage to that
property.

Chapter seven: Dog show.

"They're all in there, all of the teachers and some people I've never
seen," Mikan looked at the closed door to the teacher's lounge then back to
her feet.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to use your Alice?"

She looked at me, "I'm sorry Natsume, but I can't help it.  Was it like
this for you?"

"I knew the Academy was up to no good long before I ever set foot here.
It's just a warning for your own good.  One of these days you'll go
sniffing around with your Alice perception where it doesn't belong and
somebody will bite you on the nose."

Mikan reached up to touch her nose, "Why did you betray me like this?  Is
it because you wanted me to join you on your missions?"

"Don't flatter yourself.  You showed how useless you were against Reo,
going down after one bullet to the arm."

"You would have just burned your own arm off and kept going, wouldn't you?
You're so smug behind your eyes of ice.  You've got it all figured out and
you think you know when I'll figure it out, don't you?  You won't just come
out and tell me why you did it.  Is it because we're under surveillance
here?"

"Yes."

"Well tell me now, because none of the Alices are looking just this
moment."

"Not everything is an Alice."

Mikan turned towards the door and it opened.

Persona stepped out and nodded to Mikan, "Miss Sakura your transfer has been
approved.  Please report for Dangerous Ability training after the finals.
In the meantime feel free to enjoy the festival.  Oh, and the Headmaster
requests that you respect his privacy in the future."

Mikan followed me out of the building, then asked, "Who's the Headmaster?"

"One of those nose biters."

Some of the girls in our class passed by and Mikan ran up to them then came
back and put her arm through mine, "Come on, Ruka's in a play."

We followed along with the crowd to the auditorium, where Mikan read the
sign aloud "The Somatic Players Present Snow White / Sleeping Beauty,
what's that about?"

"I don't know," Anna said, "but Mr. Narumi's directing it so it's got to be
weird.  Let's go backstage and see if we can see what Ruka's costume looks
like."

The girls wandered around the backstage area then Mikan leaned into a
dressing room where a student was applying makeup to a blond in a fancy
dress, "Excuse me, but do you know where our friend Ruka is?"

"Urk!"  It was Ruka in the dress and he kept his back to us.

"Hmm," Hotaru tiptoed up and blew in his ear.

"What did you do that for?" He jumped up.

Hotaru pulled out a flash camera and started to take pictures of him.

"Hey stop that!" Ruka ran after her as she backed away while continuing to
take pictures.

"That was Ruka?" Mikan walked after the pair and I hung back a bit.

When we got backstage Sumire looked up from directing some other students
doing some set work, "Natsume!  You came to see me in the play!"  She
was still in her school uniform.

I ignored her and looked over to Mikan who was talking with Mr. Narumi.

"I said to stop taking pictures!" Ruka jumped, bounced off Yome and tacked
Hotaru.  The two of them rolled next to Mikan, who jumped back towards me.

"Now that you've caught me what do you want to do together?"  Hotaru
relaxed under him.

"It's nothing like that," Ruka sat up and waved his hands.

A box had been knocked out of Yome's hands and released a dozen balls as it
bounced off a support beam.  The balls exploded overhead and sprayed a
sticky substance overhead.

"Eeek!"  Somebody grabbed my arm, but I was watching Mikan.

Mikan stood looking back at Hotaru and Ruka as two balls released overhead.
The contents flowed over her skin and clothes then puddled and froze to the
ground.  She stepped away leaving two perfect shoe prints.

"What?"  Sumire was the girl who had grabbed my left arm, "I can't let go."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Yome was now stuck back to back with another boy.

"Fix this,"  I waved Mikan over with my free right arm.

"Okay,"  Mikan placed her hands over Sumire's, "Huh, there's no Alice?"

"No, the Alice is only in the catalyst,"  Nonoko seemed happily attached to
one arm of a senior girl who was dressed as a prince, "Once that's done
it's just an ordinary adhesive.  It should wear off in a few hours."

"But the play will be over by then,"  The senior girl had Anna glued to her
other arm, "There's no way I can go on stage like this.  Can the rest of
you help us out here?"

Every girl in the backstage area except for Mikan turned towards her and
blushed.  It seemed to be another pheromone Alice, but more selective than
Mr. Narumi's.

"Of course we will,"  Hotaru seemed oddly cheerful, "Right Mikan?"

"I suppose?"

"What's the damage Mr. Narumi?"

"Well with Sumire and Yuri knocked out we're down a prince and a princess,
their backstudies and a few minor characters."

"I'll be the prince and Mikan can be the princess.  Now let me see that
script," Hotaru sat down and flipped through the pages, "Too conventional,
here" Hotaru took out her notepad and started writing.  She tore off the
first page, handed it to Mr. Narumi and continued on the next.

"My, you do have a talent for writing fairy tales," Mr. Narumi read through
the pages as Hotaru continued to write.

"In my field we call them grant proposals."

"Your Alice is so wonderful Hotaru," Mikan leaned over her shoulder to
watch.

"Better start at the beginning," Hotaru pointed at the pages that
Mr. Narumi held, "You and Ruka have the first scenes together."

"Me and Ruka?  But we're both playing girls?"

"Get Mikan in costume.  We're on in ten minutes."

"Let's grab some seats while we can," Sumire pulled me away.

As the other students took their seats in the audience I could hear their
whispers.

"That's Natsume, but who's that girl holding his arm?"

"I thought he was with that plain girl?  Mikan or something?"

The light dimmed over the audience and a few spotlights started to play
over the curtains.

Some students walked out in animal costumes and each said one line.

"A long long time ago a beautiful princess lived in a castle on a hill in a
deep forest."

"She never knew what it was like to have a mother as her mother had died
when she was very little."

"Her father the king was always very sad so she took to walking alone in
the woods."

"She needed no guard because she had a special talent with the animals and
they would always rush to her defense."

"One morning Snow White sang and danced with her only friends, the
creatures of the forest, as usual."

The curtains opened on a forest scene and Ruka sang and danced as the other
students in animal costumes hopped around him.  How he could go on stage
like that was beyond me.

At the end of that crude musical number the students in animal costumes
circulated to the front of the stage and resumed their narrative.

"Suddenly the animals scurried out of the way as they heard the footsteps
of another person."

Mikan walked onto the stage in a princess dress of a different style than
Ruka's.

"Oh, you must be the princess of this kingdom, the one with the special
talent for animals, she said to Snow White."

"Snow White asked the other girl why she had come out into the forest."

"I have come to fetch you, the other girl said, for my mother, the queen of
the next kingdom, has come to marry your father."

"Then we are to be sisters.  Come, let us prepare for the royal wedding."

Ruka took Mikan's hand and they walked offstage.

The curtains closed and the animal players gathered in front.

"As for the name of the other princess..."

"She is known to us now only as the Sleeping Beauty."

The animal players bowed their heads and walked slowly off to both sides.

The curtains opened again to reveal a throne room.

The animal players gathered at either end of the front of the stage and
continued to say just one line each in turn.

"Soon after the wedding the King's health took a turn for the worse."

"And even though the Queen never left his side, he was soon dead."

Four students dressed as knights walked on stage carrying a casket and laid
it in front of the throne.

Mr Narumi walked on stage in a dress with a black veil, followed by Ruka
who was being comforted by Mikan.

Mr. Narumi sat on the throne and gestured to the knights as the two
princesses sat to his side.

"Go, the Queen said.  Spread the news that I sit as regent for Snow White
until a prince may come and marry her."

The four knights walked off the four corners of the stage, then Ruka walked
off with Mikan holding his arm.

The stage darkened with a single spotlight on Mr. Narumi.

"Oh, the Queen pondered her fate," A second spotlight moved to each animal
player as they said their line.

"What will be my fate once Snow White is married?"

"Much better if I could sit as regent for my own daughter."

"But how to arrange this?"

The lights came back onto the stage and Mikan walked on with a picnic
basket.

"Where are you going my daughter?"

"To the woods, the princess responded.  For Snow White sits there and weeps
for her lost father.  I have made her a lunch."

"That is so thoughtful of you, but your sister is so pale.  Here, take this
apple for her health."

Mikan placed the apple into her basket and walked off as Mr. Narumi watched.

The curtains closed and then reopened to the forest scene again, with Mikan
sitting next to Ruka.

"Here, I have a special treat,"  the student dressed as a robin said as
Mikan pulled out the apple.

"The wolf sniffed at the apple and growled at it," the student dressed as a
wolf walked up to Mikan and growled.

"Do not treat my sister so," a student dressed as an owl said as Ruka
shooed the wolf away.

"Snow White accepted the apple, took a big bite and fell over, as cold as
death itself."

Ruka hammed up his death scene, but Mikan really did look concerned as she
knelt over him.

"My mother, she tricked me, the other princess said."

"She ate the rest of the apple and laid down beside her sister.  Wishing
never to be parted from her in this world or the next."

"As night approached the Queen came out of the castle alone to survey her
handiwork."

Mr. Narumi walked out onto stage.

"My daughter!  How can this be."

"She gathered the Sleeping Beauty into her arms and left Snow White
behind."

Mr. Narumi, with Mikan in his arms, took one last look at Ruka before
leaving the stage.

"Let her rot or be torn apart by the creatures of the forest.  I will seek
a cure for my own daughter."

The curtains closed.

"This Snow White, the queen announced to the people."

"She has poisoned my daughter and fled."

"Should she ever be seen again, bring her to me for her trial and
execution."

"The people of the kingdom looked for their missing princess, but none
dared to go to the one spot in the woods that the animals defended so
fiercely."

"And so the matter remained for many months."

"Our play continues in ten minutes with Act Two."

The lights came back on in the theater and the audience got up.

I remained seated and tried not to consider what I'd do if Sumire insisted
on using the facilities with both of her hands glued to my arm.

"What happened to the Prince?"  She asked.

"Busy changing into her costume after writing the play,"  I tried not to
let my relief at her distraction show.

After a few minutes Sumire leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Watch it."

"Sorry,"  She scooted back in her seat.

Finally the lights darkened for the second act.

The animal players came to the front of the stage and delivered the
narrative as before.

"A prince from a far away land came to the woods."

"He was the seventh son of a minor king which meant that he had a title,
but no dominion or chance for one."

"And so he took to wandering incognito."

"He had heard rumors of a Sleeping Beauty and decided to see her for
himself."

The curtains opened to the dimly lit forest scene again and a cloaked
figure walked onto the stage under a single spotlight.  It was revealed to
be Hotaru as she pushed back her hood.

"That isn't Yuri," One of the girls in the audience complained.

"It must be her understudy," a girl sitting next to her said, "I hope she's
okay."

"If she's in the hospital we should take flowers to her after the play."

The animal players ignored this interruption and continued their narrative.

"From afar he spotted the sleeping figure of Snow White."

A second spotlight revealed Ruka on a flower bordered dais.

"But as he moved closer, a ferocious bear stood in his way," the student in
the bear costume stepped onto the stage between Ruka and Hotaru.

"The prince moved to draw his sword, then stopped."

"The bear stood there watching him, but did not attack."

"The prince backed away and watched."

"Over the next several days he noted how the various animals watched over
Snow White."

"The bear, the fox, the tiger and the owl would each take their turn,
then yield to the next."

"The prince's curiosity grew at this.  Who was this strange girl who caused
mortal enemies to conspire together?"

"He resolved to see her up close for himself."

"One day as the bear's shift started, the prince crept up and tossed a
pebble."

"As the bear went to see what the sound could be the prince rushed to the
side of the princess."

"Struck by the beauty of this sleeping princess, the prince could not
restrain himself."

"He knelt and kissed her on the lips."

Hotaru straddled Ruka and her hood fell forwards over their faces so we
couldn't tell what happened next, but when she sat up again he had a drop
of saliva on his lips.  I couldn't tell if it was hers or his.

Sumire growled at this.

Ruka coughed, sat up and scurried back to face Hotaru.

"Snow White told the prince her story and he filled in the details he had
heard."

"Snow White sang of her sorrow for her fallen sister and the creatures of
the forest gathered to listen to her."

Ruka did another musical number, more sombre and better paced than the
first and at the end Hotaru stepped forwards and grabbed his hands.

"But if your sister has fallen to the same curse then perhaps the same cure
can awaken her, the prince suggested."

"Yes, Snow White agreed.  Come my friends, we will storm the castle, rescue
my sister and throw out the evil queen."

The pair walked offstage, followed by the animal players.  Then the
curtains closed and the animal players gathered in front of them.

"As the guards saw the creatures of the forest rushing at them they fled in
blind panic, leaving the gates wide open."

"The pair searched the deserted castle until the found the queen and the
Sleeping Beauty in a room at the top of a high tower."

"The queen had selected the room so that the cool breezes might speed her
daughter's recovery and now waited by her side as the animal army climbed,
slithered and flew to the top of the tower."

The curtains opened on a room with Mikan lying on a bed and Mr. Narumi
standing behind her.  Ruka entered with Hotaru behind him.

"Kill the usurper, Snow White commanded, and the bear rushed to do the
deed."

The student in the bear costume growled and charged the bed, flailing his
paws at Mikan.

"No, not my sister.  Snow White grappled with the bear and in the confusion
they fell out the window."

Hotaru looked down out the window Ruka and the bear had exited by then
turned back to Mr. Narumi.

"You have slain my love.  Breathe no more."

Hotaru drew her sword and stabbed at Mr. Narumi.  He crossed his hands over
the blade and fell to the ground.

"The prince turned back to Sleeping Beauty and saw that even though she was
horribly injured she did not bleed."

"As long as her life was suspended she could not die."

"And so he studied the notes of her mother, trying to find a cure that
would awaken her, without killing her."

The lights dimmed until a single spotlight shone on Hotaru as she knelt
before Mikan, but she was looking directly at me as the curtains closed.

"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King."

"What is that gibberish?"

"Nothing," I must have let that slip, but Sumire seemed to be the only one
to catch it over the applause of the students.

As the cast gathered on stage for the final bow, Mikan glanced at me, then
back to Hotaru as they all joined hands in a line.

"That girl," Sumire crossed her arms, "She stole my big chance to be an
actress and then Hotaru rewrote our script to grab all the attention to
herself."

"What does the Prince sound like?"

"Dashing, bold, commanding."

"And Hotaru?"

"A geeky, mousy little girl."

"That's why she didn't give herself any lines," I stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"The sticky balls have worn off."

"Aren't you going to come to the cast party?"

"Neither of us were in the play."

"I guess this means we have the rest of the night to ourselves then?"

I headed towards the backstage area.

Next Chapter: "Slip the leash"