SILLY STRING

Of all the humiliating, capitalizing, or generally ridiculous things Hotaru Imai has done for money, this has got to be the worst. And really, he should've known better than to accept anything from Hotaru, as accepting anything from Hotaru would involve being in her debt, and being in her debt is a very bad idea. And, for the love of God, if Hotaru offers you a gift: DO NOT ACCEPT.

So now, Natsume Hyuuga, of all people, has a long, red strand attached to his pinky finger and he can't find the goddamn end of it. The thing is wrapped around tree trunks and buildings and every object imaginable, and he has to weave himself through every nook and cranny just to have a chance at getting the end of the string.

And Hell, maybe it might be easier to find the end of the string if everyone in the damn school didn't have one, too. There are red lines snaking over the whole academy, and every girl in the school just hopes Natsume Hyuuga is on the other end of theirs.

It's just one great, big, red love fest, and Hotaru Imai is to blame.

So, to understand how the school ended up at this point in more detail, that would mean to go back in time, and to understand the perplexing relationships among the many individuals involved.

Firstly, Hotaru Imai is an evil genius. She's a genius because she is the proud owner of the Invention Alice, has a vast knowledge of business and turning the booming economy in her favour, and she is incredibly put together. She's also evil because she uses her genius abilities to exploit others to make money.

"This is such a genius idea," Mikan gushes, unaware of the fact that she's accidentally become Hotaru's slave, "I always knew you were a romantic underneath that cold exterior!"

Hotaru snorts. Mikan sets down the last of the boxes in Hotaru's rented out (yet still very flashy) stall in Central.

"To think, you could be responsible for so many weddings! You'd have to pick dresses for each one, and, oh wow, think of all the wedding invites ––"

"I'll only go if there's crab."

Mikan begins to unpack the boxes that contain various packets and business cards. "I'm sure crab is a small price to pay for true love!"

Hotaru is as stoic as ever, not missing a beat. "I always knew there was no brain underneath that skull."

Mikan pouts. "Come on, don't you think this isn't at least a little wonderful?"

"I only care about others' love lives if I'm getting something out of it."

"The joy of being a good person?"

"Money from this matchmaking service I now provide. Love is so easy to manipulate."

Mikan pauses from her unpacking, jaw dropping and her brows furrowing. "That's so harsh! You can't tell me you don't believe in love!"

Hotaru seems completely unaffected by Mikan's outburst – as she always is. This is an average 2pm for her, after all. Just another day of making fat stacks. "Of course you'd believe in love."

"Don't make it sound like an insult!"

"Oh, it's not." Hotaru's eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. "It is a very useful thing."

"Hotaru Imai, don't be cryptic with me!"

"Why, because you can't understand it?" Maybe Hotaru is being a little too harsh; after all, Mikan had given her this idea in the first place, albeit accidentally, and if this is to be a hit invention… "I have a lot riding on this. I don't expect you to understand, but I don't underestimate the risks people will take for love. Providing them with a way to find their soulmate is a perfect money-making idea."

"Come on," Mikan smiles, just a bit, "you can't tell me you're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart – I know you have a heart deep, deep down."

"You flatter me." Though Mikan has a point; there is another motive behind this that isn't entirely self-indulgent. Two particular individuals, one she holds close to said nearly-nonexistent heart, and one she's grown to tolerate. Their relationship can only be defined as complicated.

Of course, she's talking about Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuuga's relationship. Which is complicated. It consists of mostly squabbles (which is honestly the base of their relationship), and a few more tender moments that have started to become more prominent in their everyday life, and something they no longer bother to hide. It's simply irritating to Hotaru because of their openness about it, yet their inability to label their relationship as anything other than 'friends'.

So this is how Hotaru Imai plans to finally make or break their relationship.

She may as well have fired a cannon.

Either their string leads to each other and they realise they are so hopelessly in love because a piece of red string told them, or it'll lead to other people, and they will resume their so called 'friendship' as if the whole thing had never happened.

Everyone wins.

Everyone wins.

Except Natsume.

"Natsume, my dude, my man, my bro." Koko settles down beside him, ignoring the dirty look Natsume sends his way. "Look, this red string thing is funny and all, but I found mine three days ago and you're sending bad thoughts my way. If this red string thing is annoyin' you so much, why don't you just follow it and see where it goes?"

A breath of highly condescending laughter escapes Natsume. "You act like I care about this thing."

"Well, getting annoyed by something is still caring for it, yeah?" Natsume hates the way Koko's lips lift in a little grin, like Natsume's some science project Koko's finally got nailed. It doesn't help that Koko can dip into Natsume's mind at will, either. Natsume mentally flips Koko off.

"It's not like this thing won't go away in a few days."

"Yeah, 'cause whoever's on the other end is definitely gonna find you. Come on! Every girl here is chasing the end of their line to see if it's you who's their 'soulmate'. She's gonna find you sooner or later."

Natsume props his arms behind his head, leaning back, carefree. This unnerves Koko. Normally, Natsume would be sending more bad thoughts his way and looking irate, but instead he looks far too calm for this kind of witch hunt. "I don't think that's a problem."

"Do tell."

"Imai gave me my string for free."

"And?"

The corner of Natsume's lips lift in a smirk. "And," he draws his words out, "that means there's some catch to it. Maybe she wants me to chase it to embarrass myself, only to find out there's no one on the other end. Or she's setting me up with you."

Koko's immediately on the defense. "Hey! First of all, Permy's on my other end. And secondly, what's so bad about me? Huh? I'm sure you'd love it if I was your soulmate!"

"Keep dreaming."

"Oh yes, you caught me. I'd love to shack it up with the great Natsume Hyuuga, I faked the entire red string thing with Permy, it was you all along–"

That's when Natsume notices it.

"Shut up." He growls.

"Oh no, not this time Natsume. I'm declaring my love for you–" Koko's eyes drift over Natsume's face, his jaw suddenly hard and his eyes fixated on something in the distance. "What?"

Natsume's red string is moving.

"Fuck."

He immediately jumps to his feet with the grace of a tiger, gaze hardening with determination, and starts doing the only logical thing one can do when they want to get away from their soulmate. He starts running. Over everything, snaking it around buildings, doing loop de loops, stringing it through the boys' bathrooms. He even tries burning it at one point, with no luck (Imai obviously planned ahead for this).

He sets Koko's sneakers on fire when the git finds it funny.

Wolves and lions in particular generally look toward one individual to be the leader of their herd or pack; the dominant animal who is also the main source of the population. Now, Natsume is no father (he hopes), but he is the alpha male of the Alice Academy population. So it is very important that said alpha male doesn't let anyone else hunt him down or keep him grounded.

That being said, the idea of an alpha male having to crouch or hide in order to avoid being hunted down is simply the most ridiculous idea. Yet that's exactly what Natsume is doing.

"You look far too calm for someone in hiding."

Natsume stiffens, glances over his shoulder, and immediately relaxes. "Did you bring my comic?"

Ruka chucks a book over. "How long are you planning on keeping this up?"

"I figure there's gotta be a timer on this string," he says with a scorn, "I'll just lay low until it disappears."

"I'm sure it's not gonna be as bad as you're making it out to be."

"That's because it's going to be worse."

"So let me get this straight," Ruka is completely baffled. "You're going to hide in these bushes until everyone calls this whole thing off – which could be days, even weeks?"

"Yes."

"Because you don't want to know who your soulmate is."

"Yes."

"And you're well aware of the fact that everyone's already been paired up?"

"Yes. Now leave. You're blowing my cover."

Ruka is completely perplexed, but decides to leave Natsume to it anyway. After all, it makes a good show in the end.

Mikan is genuinely disappointed in the fact that she hasn't found her soulmate yet. She's not going to give up – no, definitely not! Especially when just about everyone's already paired up, so there's only her seemingly never-ending string and a few other's stretching around the place.

Though, hers seems to make an obstacle course.

She's gathered a small army following her along (namely Class B), curious bystanders as to who Mikan Sakura could be paired with. Quite frankly, this whole thing is exhausting. She's growing more and more irritated as the miles of string go by. She's already walked the entire circumference of the school twice, and she's beginning to grow scared that she'll never reach the end in time for the string to wear off.

It seems to glitter menacingly from its perch on her pinky. Mikan groans.

Now, she's walking further into the heart of the actual academy, the string tugging every now and then to let her know that there is someone on the other end and not just a cardboard cutout. Her mood seems to lighten considerably with every tug, before slinking back into a more negative state when she realises she's been at this for days.

As she rounds the corner in one of the dangerous ability corridors, she gets the sinking feeling of 'this is very bad'.

And very bad it is.

He's there, peeking over a rather large leaf at the end of the hall, and unless her soulmate is a plant, then ––

"Oh my god!"

That is the sound of Sumire Shouda squealing, and Mikan is currently without the presence of mind to care whether the squeal is one of delight or horror. She feels rather like someone has slipped an ice cube into her stomach.

She'd seen Natsume trudging along with a little red string tied around his pinky earlier, and her heart had gone out for the poor soul who happens to be paired with him.

That poor soul is her.

"Wh–what the Hell are you playing at, Natsume?"

Natsume's jaw clicks, and there's a few moments when everything is still; no one moves, no one breathes. Then, Natsume rises, stepping out from behind the plant. The red string around her pinky finger is attached to his, too.

"I've been following this string for days and it leads back to you! What are you even doing here? And why is this string looped all over school?"

"I can explain that." Koko adds helpfully, but Mikan's attention is trained solely on Natsume.

"This is obviously Imai's sick idea of a joke."

Hotaru doesn't even bat an eyelash. "No, it's not, actually. Though it is pretty funny."

Natsume steps forward. Then another step. It's only steps, but it feels like his ribs are cracking as an all too familiar emotion swells within him. He has never felt so undone before.

Because, no, he doesn't think this is a joke; part of him always thought that. Hotaru Imai doesn't do jokes, after all. The only joke here is how foolish he has been this whole time.

He'd run because he had been scared it wouldn't be her. He'd created an obscure obstacle course because he couldn't bare the thought of her ending up with someone who isn't him. He'd hid because he didn't want to be there to see her find her match.

Though he's not going to say any of this aloud, so he won't.

But Koko will.

"Damn, Natsume. I didn't know you could be so sappy."

"What?" This time Mikan can't be called thick for missing several non verbal connections.

"He was thinking about kissing you. Several other possessive thoughts, a little defensive stuff thrown in–"

No one is surprised when there's a blaze of fire dancing at Koko's feet, and there's only his yowls and pleas to fill the silence between Mikan and Natsume, whose relationship is still as complicated as ever. But maybe now, it's a little less so.

Natsume has never been a good sport anyway.

this is for chocolatelikelife over on tumblr! me being the generally awful person that i am left this to the last minute (literally) to write this and this is why it's so bad! i apologise. maybe i will come back to this when it isn't 12am on christmas eve eve

anyway merry christmas and a happy new year if that's your thing! if not then nevermind it's not rly my thing either

other fics will be updated in january. probably