Motivation
by Autumn Win-Dow
(AoGA House Cup. Words: 689)
As he lay in his bed, Natsume found that the living room sounded strangely silent. Usually the rackets and complaints of his girlfriend would be heard even from his bedroom – with the door closed, of course – but for once, it was silent.
A part of him wanted to stay in bed as he scanned the fresh pages of a manga he had just purchased from a corner store, but the longer he remained in the comforts of his own room, the more he was questioning himself as to why Mikan was so quiet to the extent that he could hear the dim sound of the late night news.
With a sigh, he pushed himself off his bed and after tossing the paperback onto the mattress, made his way into the living room. The television was still on – the news was announcing its 'breaking news coverage' about something which was said by the President of Japan, which was in fact nothing at all to even pay attention to. The window had been left ajar, with the orange curtains – chosen by Mikan, of course – being lifted by the soft breezes of autumn. The pet cat – which she had also chosen to include in their apartment – had long given up in untangling the ball of wool, and was sleeping beneath the coffee table, where his girlfriend was sitting at.
And Mikan? She was in a deep slumber – she laid her head on the many loose leaflets full of both notes and aimless Mr. Bear doodles, which she had written (and drawn) for the sake of her university entrance exam. Why she was taking the exam in the first place, Natsume had no clue about. He was already 'destined for greatness' – which was, luckily, her quote instead of his – but instead of accepting the so-called 'fact' meekly, she decided that she would attend university too.
Despite his awareness that she wasn't exactly the smartest kid in the bunch – in fact, she was the most regular visitor of Jinno-sensei's make-up exams.
"Why the hell would you try to make it into university?" He had scoffed the day she had told him of her decision, slightly amused by the idea overall.
"…You probably wouldn't want to date an idiot, right?"
Natsume never really meant what he said about her IQ (well, sometimes he did, but that's beside the point) and she never really became offended by said words (which he thought). So her reasons for a university entry baffled him completely – not only about the straightness in which she had said it, but the fact that he knew that she had some other purpose.
As he walked around the couch and stood behind the sleeping Mikan, he took a sneaky glance at the notes on her paper.
Journalism.
Even after being in a relationship with her so many years, he hadn't known that she held a fondness for writing nor prose – let alone the news. It explained the reason why the news channel was on instead of the prime-time anime which she usually watched.
But it wasn't just the notes which surprised him. In her now slack hand, there was a pen – and to his bewilderment, it was a free pen from the university she was trying out for. A post it was also taped on her arm, with the words 'Go, Mikan! You can do it!' messily written on it.
When he saw her determination, Natsume couldn't bring himself to argue with her any longer – not that he did very much. He could tell that like always, she was the most motivated girl he knew.
Perhaps that was part of the reason why he had fallen in love with her – because of her crazy motivation, he had been saved countless times by her, both physically and emotionally.
Natsume lifted a hand to stroke her brown hair, tied up with a vibrant orange ribbon. However, before he was able to lay a finger on her, Mikan suddenly jerked up.
"Nine times thirteen is forty-two!"
"…It's one hundred and seventeen."
A/N: I haven't written a fluff in a while. Is this even fluff? I don't really know what it is, really. But I wrote it in ten minutes, so I hope it isn't incoherent.
Also, this story is so uneventful. I'm not used to my stories being uneventful. I really am not... WHAT IS THIS.
