The Grand Ball is finally here!

All students and teachers of Alice Academy gathered in the Grand Hall for the event. The hall is heavily decorated with elegant ornaments and fresh flowers. The soft glow from the overhanging chandeliers bounced off the polished marble floors. At one corner of the hall, buffet tables were heavily loaded with tantalizing dishes ranging from appetizers, main courses and desserts.

Yomi's eyes were glinting with excitement when she first entered the hall. It was better than what she'd imagined. She looked down at her costume: a soft pink ballgown, before she felt the mini-tiara on her head and smiled. She truly felt like a princess. Speaking of princess-y stuff, her thoughts were on Yuki-chan, her best friend. Yuki would be ecstatic if she attends this ball.

"Wah!!! Yomi-chan, you look beautiful!"

Mikan exclaimed as she pulled her into an embrace. It's a good thing that Yomi was used to Mikan's antics. She looked over her shoulder and noticed Hotaru, Sumire, Nonoko and Anna. They also wore soft pink ballgowns but the designs were different. However, Mikan's and Anna's ballgowns were similar with Yomi's.

"Thanks Mikan-chan," Yomi said as she pulled away from Mikan. "All of you looked beautiful tonight."

"I'm always beautiful, thanks" Sumire gloated haughtily while tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "We almost didn't recognize you when you put your hair up like that."

"Oh, this?" Yomi pointed to her hairstyle. She had put it up like a half-bun style. "I decided to put it up for today's event."

"It suits you, Yomi-chan," Anna and Nonoko said in unison. "You look like a real princess."

"And you even wore the hairclip that Inchou had given to you." Hotaru added with a smile. "How sweet of you to do so." Yomi blushed in embarassment while the rest of the girls had meaningful smiles on their faces. Only Mikan appeared clueless.

"Ooh~" she said. "I also wear the hairclip that Natsume had given me. See?" She pointed at a pink hairclip. 

"Lucky you," Sumire snorted in disgust. "Natsume always have dibs on you."

"Oh, please," Hotaru said flatly. "You already have Kokoro Yome yet you still crushing on Natsume. I pity him though."

"Shut up!" Sumire seethed, her face pink from embarassment. Both her and Hotaru looked like they wanted to pull each other's hair out.

"Look at you girls, you looked wonderful tonight!"

The girls turned around and they were face to face with the boys; Natsume, Ruka, Kokoro, Inchou and Youichi. All of the boys were looking dapper in their prince-like outfits. Their outfits were the same but with two colour choices; black (Natsume, Kokoro and Youichi) and white (Ruka and Inchou).

"Kyaaaa!!! Natsume and Ruka!!! Both of you are looking great!!!" Sumire squealed in delight as she dashed towards them.

BUMP!!!

Sumire fell facedown on the marble floor.

"Oops, I think you should see where you're going next time. Ahahahaha!!!"

Apparently Kokoro Yome had stuck out his foot on purpose. He even laughed unapologetically at Sumire and he was still laughing while Yomi and Mikan helped her back on her feet.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Sumire seethed as she chased Kokoro around the venue.

"Errr... shouldn't we stop them or something?" Yomi commented as both of them disappeared from sight. 

"Nah," Mikan shook her head. "Those two always fight with each other."

"But they truly cared for each other." Ruka added. "They're always like that since they're small. Besides, they're partners when they're little." 

Yomi nodded and noticed that Inchou was looking at her.

"Why are you gaping at me like a fish?"

Inchou was stunned at her question. Natsume who was nearby, also heard her question. He tried his best not to laugh at poor Inchou.

"Err... Nothing..." He stammered. "It's just that..."

"What?"

"Err..."

"You look lovely tonight, Yomi."

Everyone froze when Kokoro Yome popped up beside Inchou. "He said that you're lovely like a princess tonight, Yomi." Kokoro said gleefully before he disappeared again when Sumire chased him. 

Inchou's face went red as a beetroot. 

As for Yomi, her heart was beating rapidly.

"Can we have our dinner now?" Hotaru tapped her foot. "I'm hungry!"

The crowd dispersed, leaving Yomi and Inchou.

"I will say it again... properly."

"What?"

Inchou gently took Yomi's hand. Startled, Yomi tried her best to calm down.

"You are lovely tonight, Yomi." Inchou smiled at her. "You're lovely like a princess." Yomi was over the moon from Inchou's compliment. Before she could reply, worry began to spread across Inchou's face.

"Are you okay Yomi?" There was concern in his voice. "Your hands are cold."

Alarmed, Yomi quickly snatched her hand away from Inchou's. She looked at her hands. She did wear her Alice prevention gloves but how come Inchou could feel the coldness from her hands? 

"Are you okay, Inchou? Don't you feel dizzy or anything?"

Inchou was confused with her sudden behaviour but he shook his head anyway. 

"I'm fine, Yomi. I'm the one who should be asking you that question." He sounded worried. 

"Me? I'm okay, Inchou." Yomi took deep breaths to calm herself down. "No worries, okay?"

"Err... okay... If you say so, Yomi."

"Hey you two LOVEBIRDS!" Natsume called them from the dining table. "Come and have dinner with us!"

Both Yomi and Inchou blushed when Natsume called them out like that. But they both just smiled in response. 

 

"How could he felt it through the gloves?" Yomi wondered as she was poking at her dinner. It was her favourite dish; seared salmon with asparagus and mashed potatoes, but somehow her incident with Inchou just now had totally killed her appetite. "That was a close call." She looked around and wished that she could enjoy her dinner like everyone else; Hotaru had her plate loaded with crabs, blowfish, clams and crab roe, Kokoro casually stole a few cakes from Sumire's plate, and Mikan, Natsume and Ruka were having a pleasant conversation between mouthfuls of food. 

"Are you alright, Yomi?" Inchou who was seated beside her lowered his cutlery. "You haven't eaten anything."

"N... no..." Yomi shook her head in a panic, her hair gently slapped her face. "I'm fine, no worries."

"You should eat, Yomi," Inchou said gently. "I don't want you to starve yourself and fall sick." At first Yomi wanted to lash out at him because she thought that he was being sarcastic. However, he sounded sincere as he truly cared about her wellbeing. 

"Alright, Inchou. I'll eat... for your sake."

In front of everyone's bewildered eyes, Yomi had managed to finish everything on her plate within 30 seconds! She even surprised herself. Only then she finally realized that she was indeed ravenous.

"Wow, Yomi!" Mikan gasped in shock. "I never knew that you can eat really that FAST!" 

"At least she's eating faster than you, that's for sure." Natsume replied while taking a strawberry off her plate before popping it into his mouth.

"Natsume!" Mikan cried while hitting Natsume on his shoulder. "You meanie! I was going to eat that!"

"Oh, really? Who asked you to be slow?"

Before Mikan could say anything else, Yomi stood up and disappeared for awhile, leaving everyone else stunned with her sudden actions. Inchou was about to look for her when suddenly she reappeared with a huge plate of juicy strawberries and a small handful of cherries.  

"Here," Yomi smiled as she set the plate down. "I noticed that they just added the strawberries. There's PLENTY for everyone," she side-eyed Natsume. Natsume nodded with a sly smile. 

"Oh yeah," Ruka spoke up. "I do remember that Natsume really LOVED strawberries. He always snacked on them whenever he had the chance." Sumire and Mikan listened to him with interest while eyeing at Natsume who was munching on strawberries non-stop.

"But what's with the cherries?" Sumire pointed out towards the cherries.

"Oh, those are mine." Yomi giggled as she bite into one. "Cherries are my favourite." Inchou's ears perked up with interest. "So cherries are her favourite? Okay." He thought to himself. 

 

"It's time for the Grand Ball Dance. If you and your partner want to join, please come down to the dancefloor. If you don't want to participate, please stay off the dancefloor."

Many students made their way towards the dancefloor and only some of them stayed behind. Yomi saw Mikan dragged Natsume and Kokoro dragged Sumire whereas Hotaru and Ruka just stayed by the sidelines.  Someone tapped her shoulder and she spun round in shock.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Yomi." Inchou apologized.

"No... Not at all."

Both stood in silence as they watched the other students dancing to their hearts content. 

"Hey Inchou?"

"Yes, Yomi?"

"Have you ever danced with a girl?"

"No, I haven't. I'm always at the sidelines since I don't dance that much. Besides, no one really wants to dance with me." 

"Well then, do you want to dance with me?"

"EH???"

"Come on, Inchou. It's not going to be that bad."

"But I'll..."

"Do you want to dance with me or not?"

"I would love to dance with you, Yomi. I really do. But..."

"But what?"

"What if I danced terribly?"

"Nonsense!" Yomi giggled as she pulled his hand. "This is not a competition. As long as we're having fun, that's all that matters."

 

As they danced through the dancefloor, both of them were thinking deeply. 

Inchou: This is my first time ever dancing with a girl... especially a girl that I liked the most. I couldn't believe that Yomi would ask me to dance with her. Besides, she really is beautiful tonight with her hair up like that. She even wear that hairclip that I've given to her. I'll definitely cherish this moment forever. 

Yomi: He is bashful indeed. Wasn't it supposed to be the guy who ask the girl to dance? But I'm the one who asked him instead. Talking about reversed roles! Hahaha! His nervousness is quite overwhelming but he's still cute though. I can feel the bliss coming from those brown eyes of his. 

They were looking through each other's eyes as they danced. They kept on dancing as if like they owned the dancefloor without having a care towards their surroundings. Then, a slow song began to play. The slow and romantic rhythm of the song resonated with their feelings as they were dancing. 

"Hey Inchou," Yomi said softly as she was leaning her head onto Inchou's shoulder with her eyes closed. Inchou was startled with her sudden actions especially when they're in public. He tried his best to gain his composure so that Yomi would not be offended by him. 

"Yes, Yomi?"

"This is one of my best moments here in the Academy. Thank you."

"Me too, Yomi. Me too."

Yomi paused for awhile because she could feel like Inchou wanted to say something else but that moment never came. She opened her eyes and her eyes widened in horror.

"Inchou?"

 

Meanwhile, Natsume and Kokoro were taking a breather with Ruka after a round of dancing with their partners. Mikan and Sumire were at the drinks' counter, getting drinks for the four of them.

"My feet are tired. Sumire is a dance machine. Ahahaha!" Kokoro laughed and panted at the same time.

"Well," Natsume panted with a scowl on his face. "At least your feet are just tired from all that dancing... without getting stomped on. Jeez!" 

"Ahahahah! I forgot that Mikan is bad at dancing" Suddenly Kokoro stopped laughing and pointed towards the dancefloor. "Hey, isn't that Inchou with Yomi? He looked like he's in pain and was about to faint." 

Natsume looked up towards Inchou and Yomi. Sure enough, Inchou looked like he was about to pass out. As for Yomi, she was horrified. Strangely enough, the other students did not notice at all. 

"Shoot!" Natsume spat as he dashed towards Yomi and swiftly took hold of Inchou who was dozing in and out or consciousness. Ruka was also by his side to lend a helping hand. 

"What should we do now, Natsume?" Yomi asked while her hands were trembling in fear.

"We have to get him out of here. Quickly!" Natsume said with his voice quivering. "Ruka, I need you to help me out. And Yomi," he turned towards Yomi. "You must come with us." With that being said, the three of them swiftly left the Grand Hall while carrying an unconscious Inchou.

Little did they know, their actions were being seen by a man with malicious intent. He had an evil smile on his face when he saw Yomi's panic-stricken face.