Tomorrow
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death.
-
Out, out, brief candle,
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying Nothing
– William Shakespeare; Macbeth (V, v, 18-27)
Dusk colours spilled across the sky and was reflected back onto earth underneath clouds, painting them with different hues of oranges and reds and violets at the bottom whilst the top remained grey. And all of this Mikan observed from the stuffy classroom of the school and a broom in her hand.
Unsupervised detention. Again.
Quite anomalous how teachers these days would simply leave the pupil alone in the classroom with a multitudinous load of work while they go back to their staff room and binge on coffee and cake and all the food they have in their fully stocked fridges there. It figures where half the tuition goes to.
Well at least the school dorms weren't that far off, and there'll probably time to drop off the backpack and textbooks before heading back for dinner.
A swift movement of the broom swept the floor once again. School was always so empty without any students in the desks, chatting away. Rows of neatly placed desks and chairs just didn't seem right, it felt haunted and lonely; heck, even the light filtering in from the windows seem haunted in a strange way, as if the present is slowly being consumed by the past. Narumi exclaimed at the podium, only mere hours previously, something about night being "the death of each day's life", it makes each day seem so sad.
The floor only needed a few more sweeps before all the tasks are done. Perhaps, if she rushed it instead of daydreaming, she'll get out of the building to catch the last streaks of light before it disappears.
After a few more sweeps into the dustbin, and the dustbin was emptied into the garbage, Mikan emptied her desk of the books needed for homework and threw them into her bag before walking out of the classroom with a sigh of relief. Of course, if she wasn't careful, the same thing will repeat tomorrow.
Caught by Jin Jin. Again. So what else is new?
Soon enough, Mikan stepped out into the autumn dusk, and walked in a daydream. The Shakespeare play that they're studying, Macbeth, is quite interesting but unfortunately, a novel study comes with a dreaded horrible essay. A horrible 750 word essay with quotations as proof and page numbers and hours and hours of typing and analyzing and… something was making the ground incarnadine.
The faint trail of blood stained the grass, the contradictory colors makes it possible to see the faint trail if one really looked for it.
What if a birdy, or some other woodland creature, got hurt by one of those ruthless teenagers?
But as her eyes traced the trail to the Sakura tree and caught the shadow of a lump of something or the other underneath it.
Natsume.
Everything else forgotten as dreaded panic washed over her, she ran towards the tree, almost tripping once or twice before she saw him.
A bloody gash across the forearm stained the Alice Academy polo, and the boy wasn't doing very well as beads of sweat dripped from his face. He sat against the tree, his back arced, and his eyes closed shut. Even in sleep, he didn't seem peaceful; perhaps plagued by thoughts?
He woke the moment she was near him, muscles tensed as he met her orbs.
"You're hurt."
"Go away," he snarled, teeth shown like fangs.
But as always, she didn't listen and bent down in search of something in her bag and produced a small first aid kit. "I thought this might've come in handy."
He swapped her hand away from hers, ruby eyes glittering. "I don't need your help."
"But you're my partner; I should help when I have the chance. Besides, you always protect all of us. Why can't I return the favour?"
He snorted, "Whoever said I'm protecting all of your little friends is deranged. If I had the choice, if it wasn't obligatory, then I would do no such thing."
She reached out once again, "But I-"
And again he pushed her away. "Don't get over your head about knights in shining armour because they just flat don't exist. I just don't care."
"I know you're a good person."
Impatience. "You don't know a lot of things. I don't need you; I don't need your pathetic sympathy or whatever. Just leave already."
He always acted like this, says things that makes her burst into tears; recently she doubted that he even felt any remorse afterwards.
"You're coughing up blood, you're bleeding. Even if you are the worst thing under the sun, I'd still care for you."
He glared at her, the expression of anger and impatience replaced by a blank look, the one he always put on before he did something dangerous.
"You don't get it, do you? I hate you. Your presence disgusts me. If you want to care for me then why don't you get out of may sight?"
She bit her lip, the comment hurt. It didn't matter how many times he's insulted her, each time was a pierce to her chest. She was stubborn... "What if I don't?"
"I'll burn you."
But she didn't like to waste her time. How many times have this boy pushed her away? A comment said to many times start to feel like the truth. Maybe she was worthless.
He held a small flame in his hand, and the threat would've been convincing had he not doubled over in coughing.
She quickly stumbled over to him and was dumb folded by how the great Natsume Hyuuga seemed so frail at the moment; merely a piece of broken glass, slowly oozing blood. And in that moment, she did what she could think of, she held him in her arms before he lost consciousness. The wound on the forearm was bleeding really badly and a lighter gash had cut underneath his rib cage.
She concluded life would seem so meaningless from his eyes. In this prospect, Natsume was so much like Macbeth in their view of life as a 'walking shadow'.
Mikan slung his arm over her shoulders and carried her bag before slowly and gently half lifting, half dragging the boy towards her dorm. The hospital wing was simply a bit too far, and she remembered from previous experiences that Natsume detested hospitals. Thank goodness she took first aid as an elective last year.
As she slowly walked to her dorm, Mikan looked up at the sky and found it a dark navy colour. But along the horizon, streaks of orange can still be found.
Perhaps night isn't the death of a day, but rather, the beginnings of a new one.
-
-
He knew he wasn't by the Sakura tree before he had opened his eyes. The bed was hard, different from his special star bed. Natsume opened his eyes and was greeted by the wooden planks on what was supposed to be the ceiling but is actually the roof of the whole building; he was in the attic.
Now the only question is why the idiot have sabotaged him and carried him to her room when he had made it awfully clear that he wanted to be left alone.
Tch, at least it's better than the plain white walls of the hospital with nurses and doctors who served as Persona's spies.
At least she still cares.
He wobbled over to the window and opened the window, savouring the light breeze over and the serenity of the scenery.
"Don't I deserve some gratitude? It wasn't that easy to inconspicuously carry you up to the attic y'know."
"That explains why my shoulder feels dislocated right now," he replied lazily.
"Hey, I tried by best to be gentle okay? You shouldn't have passed out if you wanted it otherwise."
He rolled his eyes although she couldn't see it and faced her. "As if I had a choice…?"
"At least I bandaged you up real nice. You should be more careful next time. I'm quickly running out of bandages and alcohol with you around," she said and grinned. "But at least you came back. If you didn't, then you'll be even more 'pathetic' then me."
He clicked his tongue, "That'll be impossible."
"Glad to hear it," and she wiped beads of sweat off her face.
It had suddenly occurred to him that she was a one-star, and first aid kits weren't cheap since most students just visits the hospital.
"I'll see you tomorrow night," and turned around to climb out the window. Somehow she's discovered his habit of climbing to the rooftop on certain days and decided to join him, much to his annoyance. But her company could sometimes be somewhat pleasant. Up on the roof, away from the prying eyes of Persona, was his sanctuary.
"Yep, see ya."
"Mikan."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." And he was gone.
Apologies were unspoken, his words will hurt as always, but she could always find the will to forgive him simply because he was Natsume.
And no matter what he does, he could simply not get rid of her and as time passes, he wouldn't able to afford losing her.
And tomorrow, with its hopes and dreams, with its new beginnings, will always come.
Fin.