Karaoke nights
It was a wonderful and peaceful, sunny day for the two boys, to relax under their favorite sakura tree. Natsume was busy, reading his manga novel, as usual, while his best friend Ruka was petting his pet rabbit. Everything seems to be going well, until something, or rather, someone disturbs that peace
"Hey Natsume! Ruka-pyon!"a little girl with semicurled pigtails was running her way towards the two boys. Ruka was startled to see his crush running towards them, while Natsume, simply ignored.
"Hello Mikan!"Ruka greeted
"Hi Ruka! Natsume!"Mikan greeted back, with a cute warm on her face. The smile, that the two boys can't resist
"What do you want, little girl?"Natsume asked coldly
"Don't call me little girl! For your information, I just wanted the both of you to know that I'm inviting you to our karaoke night at Hotaru's place! So, wanna come?"Mikan asked ethusiastically
'Karaoke night eh..' Natsume thought and smirked "Why would you want to invite me to your little karaoke night?"
"Well, the more, the merrier, as they say"Mikan giggled "So Ruka-pyon, are you coming?"
"I..I ah.."Ruka was unsure if he should go or not. He looked at Natsume, giving him the cue to decide. Natsume recognizes his best friend's unusual stare at him, so...
"You better go Ruka"Natsume said, flipping the page of his manga novel
"But, what about you? Aren't you coming?"Ruka looked at his best friend with a worried look
"Yeah Natsume, it's such a shame that you couldn't come"Mikan frowned and the tone of her voice, caught Natsume's attention
"Um Mikan, thanks for the offer but-"Ruka was about to turn down Mikan's invitation but Natsume manages to cut him off
"When is the karaoke night?"Natsume asked, still not looking at the pigtail girl
"Well, it's tomorrow at 5pm...So, did you change your mind?"Mikan asked, but Natsume didn't respond
"Everybody will be there, even Narumi-sensei, Jinno-sensei, Tsubasa-sempai.."Mikan tries to persuade Natsume with the names of her invited guests until Natsume twitched his eyes, when he heard the name TSUBASA
"Fine, I'll go"Natsume said
"Really Natsume?"Ruka was startled by Natsume's sudden response
"That's great! Well, I'll be seeing you two tomorrow night! Wow, this is going to be an awesome night!"Mikan waved goodbye to the two boys, with a huge grin on her face. Natsume and Ruka were alone, again. This time, feelings of excitement were felt, even though, it's not shown on their stoic faces.
Five o'clock, at Hotaru's place
"Hey Hotaru, is everything ready?"Mikan asked impatiently
"Don't rush perfection Mikan"Hotaru responded to her annoying best friend. Hotaru was still, connecting some wires and screwing some bolts, until she's finally done with her work
"Wow Hotaru! It's great! Uh, what is it ?"Mikan asked
"Ugh, well Mikan. This is invention #35, the karaoke stage. When a person steps on this stage, the computer can read the person's thoughts and selects the song that person wants to sing"Hotaru explained to her curious best friend
"That's neat Hotaru!"Mikan praised Hotaru's work until she heard a knock on the door
"Hey! Looks like our first guest is here!"Mikan eagerly opens the door and saw outside..
"Misaki-sempai! Tsubasa-sempai!"Mikan greeted her two older friends and allows thems to enter Hotaru's room
"Hello Mikan-chan, thanks for inviting us to your karaoke party"Tsubasa said to the little girl
"Oh, my pleasure, Tsubasa-sempai"Mikan blushed and closes the door
"Wow Hotaru! That's some karaoke system you got there"Misaki was amazed to see a technolized stage, with holographic screens and unusual shaped microphones
"Well, this is Hotaru we're talking about"Tsubasa said
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
"Hey! More visitors coming in! So, you two better find a table over there, and I'll just get the others to come in"Mikan said and rushed towards the door
"Hi Mikan! Are we late?"Yuu asked with Anna, Nonoko, Koko and Mochi behind him
"Well, just a few minutes but still, you're on time! Come in!"Mikan happily welcomes her guests until the others came along
"Sensei's! Welcome!"Mikan greeted her teachers and they greeted her back
"Hmmm...I wonder where's Natsume and Ruka-pyon? Well, I hope they can make it"Mikan murmured and closes the door until a hand appeared
"WAAAAAH!!"Mikan tries to loosen the hand's grip on the door until someone shouts her name
"Stupid Mikan! Open the door!!"a familiar scream rings a bell on Mikan's ears "Permy?!" so Mikan opens the door and sees
"Don't call me permy, Mikan. Call me by my name would 'ya?"Sumire asked rudely
"Whatever, so what are you girls doing here?"Mikan asked Sumire, along with her girlfriends outside
"How could you, Mikan! Not inviting us to this, party of yours! You've invited the teachers, but how come you didn't invite us? The life of your party Mikan! And..."Sumire continues to complain until Mikan finally gave up
"Fine Sumire, you're invited. And, you two as well.So are you happy now? "Mikan asked Sumire with a hint of anger in her voice
"Well, that's more like it. Come on girls"Sumire said in a snobbish manner, along with her two friends as well. Mikan sighted and looked at her watch, showing that its already 5:35pm and still, no Ruka-pyon and Natsume, anywhere
"Awe, it's already late. Well,I better close the door"with disappointment, Mikan closed the door. When she was about to walk away..
KNOCK!
"Huh?"Mikan heard a knock on the door and paused for awhile if it's real...
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
"Oh, could it be?"Mikan's frown turns uside down when she opens the door and saw Natsume and Ruka, panting deeply
"Natsume! Ruka-pyon!"Mikan exclaimed
"Geez polkadots! You don't have to shout!"Natsume teased
"Sorry! I'm just so glad to see you two made it! Well, come in, come in!"Mikan eagerly assisted the two boys inside the room and closes the door. Mikan went up on the stage, along with Hotaru and greeted their invited guests
"Okay! Looks like everyone is here so...WELCOME TO OUR KARAOKE NIGHT!"Mikan greeted and everybody clapped their hands
"Before we start our singing and dancing to the beat, we start off with Hotaru, in explaining the...rules of this stage"Mikan walked at the side of the stage, giving Hotaru the spotlight
"Listen, this stage is no ordinary stage. The stage, actually scans the person standing on it, and identifies the song that you want. You could sing as a duet or a triplet or whatever, just be careful with the equipment, or else.."Hotaru glares at the audience for a moment and then gaves Mikan the microphone
"Okay, now you know! Well, about the rewards, this stage is also capable of ranking the performance of the person. Whoever has the highest ranking will have the mystery prize from Hotaru! So that's all!"Mikan bowed and the audience cheered wildly
"Wow!I wonder what's the mystery prize"Anna said
"Well, I guess this mystery prize must be something from Hotaru's collection of inventions"Yuu said
"Whatever it is, I better win this mystery prize!"Koko shouted
"YEAH!!"the audience impact was extreme and Mikan was also excited to know what's that mystery prize Hotaru's been secretly keeping from her
"To start our karaoke night, computer, shuffle"Hotaru said and then rays of light begans to circle around the room, until one person was spotted
"Alright! Come on up!"Mikan greeted and the crowd cheered at the lucky performer