Chapter 1
The hot summer month of August dragged itself across the bustling city of Tokyo. The sky was a smoggy blue as the sun pierced straight through and into the heart of Alice University campus. As torturous as the weather was, the students comfortably indulged in the air-conditioned classrooms, that is, until class was over. They would either linger for a few more minutes or step back into the scorching heat.
Mikan Sakura was as lost as ever, dragging herself back to the outside directory every five minutes. Her brain sizzled into a lump as her eyes struggled to open through the humidity. After countless circles, she finally bought an iced water bottle from an outside vendor and collapsed on a shady bench.
With a simple yet forceful twist of the cap, she brought the cooled bottle to her lips and gasped in delight when the icy water trickled down her esophagus. Mikan shivered to the cold contrast while bringing the bottle's side to her forehead. Another sigh of relief came from her lips as she leaned back.
It was her first day at Alice University, and it was already hell. She picked at her white button-up shirt, which clung to her body and revealed a black tank top inside, and she proceeded to flap an edge in effort to cool her dehydrated body. Mikan was relieved that she chose a small bag over her backpack; it would've been ten times worse with a suffocated back. And she was more relieved that she chose to wear a tank top; Lord would've known what the white button-up shirt would reveal.
Mikan took another swig of chilled water and emitted a delighted sigh. She felt revitalized enough to stand and to walk away robotically from her oasis of paradise. Through the blinding rays of the sun, she squinted at the map and trailed her hazel orbs from the 'You are here' to the Administration building. After glancing at the compass, Mikan raced towards the library, averted a right through a shady trail, and followed in between the Music and the Humanities buildings. Before her eyes was the towering cathedral-like infrastructure that she had longed to see.
"I'm here…." she breathed at the surrealism. On either side of the Administration building were dormitories. Her cheeks flushed a blissful red. "I'm really going to enroll here!"
O w O
A blast of cooled air greeted Mikan as she opened the door. A number of office clerks and a few college students turned their heads for a few seconds and turned back as if no one had entered. She breathlessly strolled to the sign 'LINE HERE' and welcomed the refreshing air that kissed her boiling skin.
"Next." A bored voice called out. Mikan stumbled to the front, muttering an accidental 'sorry' to a pole.
"Hi, I'm the new student who transferred from Sapporo Gakuin," Mikan began as she handed the papers to the pink-haired woman.
The woman grunted, disinterested. In the background, clerks noiselessly clattered on their keyboards, tuning into the silent buzz as student aids watched invisible paint dry on the walls.
Mikan scratched her head. "I was wondering if I could see Izumi Yukihira."
Finally, the office clerk responded by raising an eyebrow. "You want to see the president of Alice University?"
She nodded furiously. "My name is Mikan Sakura. I'm..uh his niece."
The clerk's eyes widened. "Oh…oh! M-Mikan? Sakura? Oh, uhm, oh dear." She scrambled madly, looking for something as she pulled out a pair of reading glasses. With a flick, she pulled out the desired document and scanned the context. "Ah, your name is here. He has a meeting right now though…." She hesitantly looked up to Mikan. "He's busy at the moment….my apologies."
"It's ok," she cheerfully replied, "When will Uncle Izumi be done?"
The clerk smiled guiltily. "Depending on how well the meeting will go….I would say, three hours at minimum….?"
Mikan froze instantaneously. Her first class would begin in an hour. Suddenly, the heat rushed back as she tried to protest, "This…I can't-I have class—"
"That's alright. Ah, Sumi—"
"I have dance practice soon. How can Uncle Izumi—" Mikan fretted. "He promised me he was going to greet me and buy me chicken wings for lunch!"
The rest of the office members looked over curiously at the commotion. The woman noticed and turned back to the frantic brunette. "She will he—"
"I'm so hungry too! I was waiting all day for chicken wings too! They're my source of energy, they're my life—"
"What's with you and chicken wings?! Not the point, but I will ask—" As usual, Mikan cut her off again.
"What's with chicken wings and me?! What's with chicken—ok. Chicken wings are the bomb-diggity," she dramatically raised her hands, "Wings equal protein and happiness. And protein and happiness equal my abilities' birth." A few students, who didn't know what to do, clapped in a confused yet awed manner. "So you see…..uh….Mrs….Excuse me, what is your name?"
The woman twitched an eye. "Misaki is fine."
"Ah!" Mikan clapped her hands happily. "So you see, Mrs. Misaki, that is why, in my personal opinion, chicken wings are—"
Finally, Misaki slammed her palm on the desk, causing a deafening crack to echo within the buzzed silence. "First of all, shut your mouth. Second of all, I'M NOT A MRS! I'M PROBABLY FIVE YEARS OLDER THAN YOU, AND I'M…still single," she suddenly dropped to a whisper but continued loudly, "THIRD OF ALL, I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU HAVE AN INFATUATION WITH CHICKEN WINGS! AS I WAS GOING TO SAY, BEFORE I WAS RUDELY INTERRUPTED TWO TIMES, SUMIRE WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY!" Misaki whipped a finger at a green-haired girl, who suddenly took interest in staring at her lap.
"Oh, thanks, are you Sumire?" Mikan asked, oblivious to Misaki's cracking form, "Nice to meet you!"
The girl dragged her eyes away from her lap and snorted when she scanned her clothes, making Mikan self-conscious. "Couldn't you have picked a better outfit? And you're damn late. I had to wait for your sorry ass."
Mikan twitched in annoyance. Unconsciously, her mouth shot off. "Couldn't you have picked a better attitude?" She blinked in surprise at her own response, and a few bystanders whistled in approval.
Mikan had expected hatred to be emitted from her, but instead she found the permy-haired girl in a collected manner.
"Cool, I have a spunky roommate." The girl named Sumire grinned widely at the confused Mikan, but she dropped to back to a frown. "Seriously though, we're going shopping. I don't approve of that."
"And that was Sumire Shouda's test of approval, no formal introduction required," Misaki sighed, shaking her pink locks side to side.
Sumire only rolled her emerald eyes in response. "Fine. I'm Sumire. You're Mikan. We're roommates. Bam, done. Done, Misaki." Emphasizing her sarcasm, she clapped her hands once and smirked.
"And we're going shopping," Mikan added.
Her eyes glittered. "Oh em gee yes, and we're shopping buddies. See? She catches on pretty quick." Without a moment's hesitation, she strutted over to Mikan and picked up two lollipops from a nearby basket. She popped one in her mouth while tossing the other to the brunette. "Your stuff has already arrived. I'll lead you to our room and give you a directory map if you haven't already picked one up." And without waiting for Mikan's stuttering response, she opened the glass door and walked out into the microwaved heat. The two watched her shrinking back.
"Wow, I think she forgot to wait for me."
"It's ok. She tries to act really cool towards newbies here, but in reality, she's a bit of a sassy ditz," Misaki explained. Then in a hushed tone, she added, "…especially towards him."
"Him? Why so much stress on him?"
"Just wait for it," the coral hair woman muttered. "Hyuuga's gonna appear any second."
"Hyuuga?" she began before Misaki clamped her mouth shut. She didn't know what was going on, and she needed to organize her belongings stat, despite her curiosity for Hyuuga. But as she blinked, she directed her gaze back to Sumire and unclasped the fingers from her face. "Who's Hyuuga?"
"Three, two, one," Misaki counted from her fingers.
And just as she struck one, a lean muscular figure appeared from the corner and in sight from the Administration building's transparent windows. His plain ivory shirt plastered against his chest and emphasized the definition of his toned muscles, much to Mikan's embarrassment. What stood out most was his crimson-red eyes that pierced from a distance in contrast to his obsidian hair. He was handsome. Indeed very handsome. Until Mikan made out his scowling expression that resulted in the obliteration of his pre-beautiful image.
"Is it the heat?" Mikan asked out of curiosity.
"Huh? The hottest guy on campus is model-strutting this way, and all you can comment on is the damn heat?" She threw up her hands in exasperation.
"I mean he is pretty hot," the brunette admitted, "but his expression is quite the opposite."
Following Mikan's analysis, Misaki turned back to the advancing raven-haired male, who was still dragging himself towards the Administration door. "Yea, he looks like he's constipated. But whatever, he's hot and that's all that matters."
"Aren't you a staff member?" Mikan deadpanned.
"Hey, nothing wrong with a single woman in her mid-twenties checking out hotties. Oh and by the way, your roommate's hitting on him now."
Mikan glanced to find the once-cool green-haired model to be on her knees drooling at the angry, constipated—as Misaki had termed—male. Sumire tripped when she hopped over to Hyuuga-boy's side and quickly scrambled to her feet. With a visible and inaudible squeal, she clung to his arm with a happy, flushed face while he shook her off with an irritated scowl.
"That, Mikan," Misaki turned to the brunette, "is Sumire's third personality: Hyuuga mod—"
"You're drooling, Misaki," she interfered.
The pink-haired woman blushed and furiously wiped at her mouth. "Sorry, I looked at him for too long. He's cute even though he's a brat."
"You mean me?" A pair of toned arms wrapped themselves around the woman's waist as a head drooped down to the crook of her neck. "Misaki," he purred. Mikan had to look away from the couple with a blushing face.
"Oh Tsubasa," she answered rather stoically. With a swift spin, she untangled herself from his arms and landed a pin-pointed punch on his face, earning his pained grunt. "That was for sexual harassment, but I digress. I need you to fill these forms out for the choir students."
"Ah, for the New York City trip?" Tsubasa asked with a swollen eye as he turned to the still-flushed Mikan. "Oh who are you?"
"Uh-I-I'm M-Mikan," she stammered.
"No need to be scared around me, cutie." He winked a bit flirtatiously. "I'm Tsubasa, student teacher for choir."
"You've already intimidated her. Nice job," the woman rolled her eyes and smacked him on the back. They modeled a married couple, to Mikan's interest. But she thought….
"I thought you were single, Misaki," Mikan blurted out, causing the woman to flush the same color as her hair.
"We're not like that! We're acquaintances! Tell her, Tsubasa!" she shouted.
Instead of complying, he grinned and shot a fist in the air. "I'm not friend-zoned yet!" And earned himself a smack in the head.
The bell tinkled in response to the opened door. An irritated Hyuuga-boy and a blissful Sumire appeared in the midst of their attention. The crimson-eyed boy, in seeing Tsubasa, growled.
"Tsubasa."
"Natsume." He tipped his head in acknowledgement. A tense atmosphere condensed inside the room, but Tsubasa's demeanor suddenly transformed. "Why do you not address me formally?" he whined.
"Stop screwing around with me!" he roared.
Tsubasa innocently cocked his neck to the side. "With what, Natsume?"
"This!" He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from his jeans pocket and smashed it on Misaki's counter. "You signed me up for fucking dance minor!"
"OH~~ THAT! PFFTT!" Tsubasa flapped his hands at Natsume.
"Get. This. Out. Of. My. Schedule," he growled menacingly, much to Mikan's fright for her first impression of this…Natsume-Hyuuga guy. Scowl, growl, slam, yep.
"But you looked so cute dancing in that sketchy, dark alleyway," the sapphire-eyed male sighed. "What was that called again? Beakdancing?" Mikan's ears perked up. Dancing?
"It's BREAKdancing. You better get this out of my schedule, old man," he warned.
"Or else….?"
"I'll make your life a living hell," Natsume snarled. It didn't help when Sumire patted his arm because he immediately swatted her hand away. "Why the fuck are you still next to me? Get out."
Her emerald eyes watered as she obediently trudged back outside.
"Hey, don't treat my roommate like that!" Mikan seethed. After realizing she had spoken to the scariest person on earth, she bit her lips and clenched her hands.
His crimson orbs swiveled to Mikan. "Who are you?"
"The roommate of that heartbroken girl and the defender of dance major," she announced, secretly admiring and hating on her courage.
Misaki gasped next to her. "Mikan, you're majoring in dance?"
"Yep, and this person will not diss my major," she hissed, glaring at Natsume, who glowered in return.
"Speaking of dance," Tsubasa interrupted, "it's starting right now."
"Wait what?" Mikan looked like a deer in headlights. "CRAP! I STAYED HERE FOR TOO LONG! WHERE IS THE DANCE DEPARTMENT?!"
"Actually it's pretty close. Natsume, you good-for-nothing student, go with Mikan. You both have dance with Narumi."
He hissed. "Why should I go?"
"Well, I don't know. Because it's on your schedule?" Tsubasa sardonically answered.
"I'm ditching, you old fartbag."
"I am not a bag filled with E. Coli gas production. I am not old…yet. And you are not ditching unless you want to go back to that sorry-ass place." Suddenly, his blue eyes turned frostily cold. "Do you?"
For the first time, Natsume hesitated before turning back to his fiery glare. "Do you always use that bastard as a threat?" And with that, he whipped around and slammed the door behind him, tossing the helpless bell back and forth.
An awkward tension stretched itself over the office room as bystanders went back to work.
"Well!" Tsubasa reverted back to his cheerful form. "You better follow him, Mikan. He'll go there for sure."
"But—" she began.
"No but's!" He gently nudged her out towards the door. "He's one moody kid, but he won't do anything to you. Go on and enjoy class! You'll love Narumi."
Mikan stepped back into the drenching heat wave as she felt her eyelids droop to midway. Already exhausted in her first step, she stumbled after the distant fuming figure.
She was going to love class? Her hazel eyes tiredly looked up at Natsume's back.
Because she already doubted it.
O w O
(A/N: This is a completely experimental fanfiction, I don't know. Totally blank. Life. AP classes. Yea. Thanks for reading! Not sure if I should get going with my first fanfiction. Have a nice day? Yea? Yea. YAY! xD) Most awkward person on earth.
