Disclaimer: The writer lawfully respects the prodigious work of Tachibana Higuchi.
Author's Note: This is set three years before my first fanfic, Who's That Girl?
Lucky
"Lucky I'm in love with my best friend…"
Summary:
Sakura Mikan's been gone for three whole years and still counting, and in the midst of those years, Shouda Sumire— along with many others— noticed Hyuuga Natsume's obvious feelings towards one-star Mikan. She then accepted that her manic approach towards the Black Cat is nothing but a mere infatuation. Seeing that, she gave up her Presidential position in the Natsume-Ruka Fan Club and, eventually, the rest of her cronies had let it be, too. She then started to become conscious whenever her best friend and long-time class partner is around. Unknown to her, he's been hearing her thoughts...
Chapter 1: Test Tense?
Kokoroyumi's Point of View
'Stupid Social Studies test. I don't care about the Heian period; I don't live in that era!'
'That Sesshu Toyo being so great with art… I can't memorize it all!'
'Narumi-sensei's so weird he'll probably ask us to make him a love letter again. Piece of cake.'
'I wish Misaki-sensei shows up.'
'They think it's so easy to make one stupid pot.'
'My soup will probably taste like crap.'
'A boring math lesson comes with a boring math teacher.'
'That stupid Polka dots. Doesn't she has any intention of showing up?!'
"So, heard anything interesting?"
I turn towards the voice to find my best friend, her hair flourishing and jumping to her seat. She smiles at me like always as a morning greeting, and I joyfully grin back, giving her a thumbs-up. She sat beside me and bent her ear towards my head. She was thinking, 'Great, new gossips!'
I quietly whisper to her, "Yeah, from Natsume, but I don't want to risk my second-best uniform, okay?"
Sumire sighed, knowing that she can't share the piece of information, "Yeah, okay, just tell me!" she silently squealed.
"He was thinking, 'That stupid Polka dots. Doesn't she has any intentions of showing up?!', followed by an image of Mikan waving her hands and smiling."
"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!" she whispered excitedly, clapping her hands in ecstasy.
Confused, I asked, "Knew what?"
She rolled her emerald green eyes before continuing with an all-knowing smile, "The Great Hyuuga is hopelessly in love with Mikan!" When I didn't reply, she shook my shoulders and said, "Hey, I said—"
I quickly covered her mouth and hastily look around, "I know, I know, I heard!"
She bit on my hand and I yelped, earning annoyed stares from those near us, "Then why didn't you react? You know I hate it when I don't get the right reactions."
"Well, you know how he gets touchy because I rarely read his mind."
"You're just afraid of him, Koko."
"Don't need to rub it in, Permy." I smirked.
"You called me Permy!" she freaked out, "I told you not to call me that!"
And we were running around the room, ignored by the class as this is an everyday routine. She walks up to me, asks, I answer, then she freaks out, then I tease her, and then she freaks out… again. After about twenty rounds more or less in the room…
"Quit it, you two," Yuu scolded from his seat, "You're bothering the rest of the class."
"Aww, don't be such a party pooper, Yuu!" Mochu said, clapping his backside resulting to Yuu bump his head on the desk, "Oh, sorry about that. Anyway, you can see the two having fun, let them be!"
"Yeah, Yuu," Kitsuneme grinned from his seat, "It's quite rare these days seeing two love birds having a love quarrel in action ever since," He stopped, careful not to mention Mikan and Natsume's used-to daily fights, "Well, whatever..."
I gave him a look clearly stating, 'You traitor.'
Yuu sighed, "Look, everyone's cramming for the test—"
"No, they're not," Mochu commented, grinning, and started to levitate all his books, "Exams are such a pain in the arse!"
"Mochu, stop that and act like your own age!" Yuu sighed exasperatedly/
"I'm sixteen!"
"And I'm the Class Representative, and now I'm asking you to shut your mouth and sit down." Yuu barked, rubbing his temples.
'Koko, I think we should head for our seats, too.' Sumire thought urgently, almost shouting.
As we walked to our seat, I whispered to her, "Don't need to shout. It's enough that I have to swallow everyone else's."
'Sorry!' she thought as she propped open her books.
I did the same, afraid that Yuu might get back to his 'Class Representative' attitude when he gave up his glasses and formal-looking hair for contact lens and messy 'do. From what I've heard from his admirers, Yuu's a hot hot hot man that comes with a neat attitude. But he gets perky at times.
'Sorry that I fell for my best friend…'
Say whaaaat?!?!
I know the voice all to well; without turning; without thinking; without doing any unnecessary actions…
The haughty, all-knowing voice of my long-time class partner and best friend…
…Shouda Sumire.
Sumire's Point of View
Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!
The thought slipped in my mind, it came by and passed too quickly that I wasn't able to hold it still and erase it to oblivion!
Oh no, what am I saying?! Heck, what was I thinking?! Isn't this the whole point of not thinking about it at all, so I won't lose a friendship with him? Please, no!
Wait, what am I thinking? He can read minds without even trying to! To make matters worse, I'm sitting right beside him, I'm practically shouting straight at his ear! But, then again, he won't break the trust I gave him, right? I can trust him; he treats me with respect; he barely reads my mind.
Then again, he hates reading Natsume's mind, but he just read it minutes ago.
No, no, no, no! This is all wrong, wrong, wrong!
Okay, I have to calm myself. I'll think of Natsume! Right! Hyuuga Natsume, a handsome sixteen-year-old, his cold-looking crimson eyes, his raven hair dancing with the wind as he lays his back against the Sakura tree, his manga grasped tightly on his perfect hands and… and… and…
A blonde mind-reading freak pops right beside him.
No, I have to stop this! Change subject!
Ruka's innocent-looking eyes gaze lovingly at the animals, a sincere smile playing on his lips as he pats each one of them gently with his handsome hands… and then Hotaru comes in with her Baka Gun.
Okay, so maybe thinking about Ruka won't be the best thing to do. Beside me, I noticed Koko was trying to fight a laugh escape his lips.
No…
Can he…?
Did he…?
But…
No…
No…
No…
Absolutely not!
Wait— what am I thinking? He probably just heard a completely different person's thoughts… or he caught the last thoughts I was gushing in my mind… Well, it's better if he thinks that I like Ruka… well I like Ruka, but not like like… he's practically my brother… okay, so maybe not, he's just someone I can talk with and feel comfortable with.
So I guess Ruka won't be the best choice.
Kokoroyumi's Point of View
"So," I started as Sumire and I headed for the dining hall for dinner that night, "How was the test?"
She stiffened and her face turned pale, and she all she was thinking was, 'I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed…'
"Don't be ridiculous," I said airily, waving a hand, "I think it was pretty easy, and you and I both know you're way smarter than me."
She didn't say a thing, which is quite unnatural, so I got really worried and placed my arm around her shoulder.
Which, I realized just now, is a really, really bad move.
She pushed my arm away and bit on it— she bit on it!
She damn bit on it!
"What the—?!" I yelled, though my suspicions proved me correct.
"Oh no!" Sumire screamed, snapping out of her insanity, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
I rubbed my arm and gave her a reassuring smile, "It's cool, come on, you're probably hungry."
"Yeah," she sighed, "I guess I'm just pretty stressed out."
"Well, neither of us in the whole gang is in good moods anymore. I mean, not like back then."
"Yeah… Mikan sure is taking a long time to come back, huh?"
I wanted to tell her, 'Mikan may not be coming back' or 'Stop hoping' but I knew better, because we all feel the same. We walked in silence and entered the dining hall, lost in our own thoughts.
As we started swallowing our supper, the rest of the gang came. When I saw a certain classmate, I turned to Sumire and asked, "Sumire, do you love your best friend?"
She choked on her orange juice and I started clapping her in the back, "W-W-Wh-Wha-What?" she stuttered.
I rolled my eyes, "I said, do you love your best friend?"
"Of- of course I do!" she mumbled, "And I love the rest of the gang, too!" she added defensively.
"Sheesh, what got you so shifty?"
"Nothing!"
"Oh come on! I'm asking because I'm not reading your mind out of pure respect!"
She sighed deeply and said, "Why'd you ask such a thing?"
"Well," I hesitated, "I heard you awhile ago, and I just want to reassure you that even though you love your best friend, I won't think wrong of you."
"What?"
"Hey Sumire!" We turned. It was Wakako, smiling so wide you'd think she just kicked her worst enemy out of the Academy, winked and then said, "I'll meet you later, okay?"
Sumire nodded her head and when she turned back to me, I was amazed at how many shades of red a person can turn into.
I leaned forward and whispered to her ear, "Look, Sumire, you don't have to hide it."
"Wha-what h-hide?" she stuttered, her whole body shaking.
I shook my head and chuckled softly, "I saw you during tests throwing glances at Wakako like you'll die if she won't look at you. And…" I hesitated, but thought better of it, "I saw you blush when she winked at you."
"W-What a-are y-y-you s-s-sa-say-ing..?" she continued stammering, refusing to meet eye contact with me. It took all of my forbearance to resist not reading her mind. She's a freaking puzzle.
I rolled my eyes, "I mean that it doesn't matter to me and that I'll still be the same Koko, even though you're now a, well," I leaned forward, knowing that she doesn't want anyone to hear it, "A lesbian."
I leaned back to my chair and closed my eyes. That felt good. Yep, that really felt good. Friends don't hide things from one another, and they accept each other for who they are, and I guess that just proves my loyalty towards her.
I heard a chair scraping, but I ignored it for I was meditating. I felt someone's eyes on me, and a soft whimper, so I opened my eyes.
And Sumire did another thing that I don't expect her to do in her whole life.
She punched me hard on the face.
"Ow!" I yelped. I opened one of my eyes and glared at Sumire, whose eyes were watering. I thought— I knew she was about to punch me again.
But then she changed her mind, and screamed at the top of her two-star lungs, "Yome Kokoroyumi, you are the biggest, most insensitive jerk ever set foot on earth!"
Then, she ran out of the room, her eyes filling with tears. The whole dining hall was embraced in silence. No one was talking, but they were thinking the same thing, 'What the hell happened?'
I dunno either, so all I said as I continued rubbing my swollen jaw, "Ouch."