Dedication: This story is for Erika(Black Maya on FFn) because she helped me a lot with this fic. She offered me suggestions, she pointed out my mistakes, and she was like my consultant. She sort-of beta read the story, too. She's an awesome friend, writer, and person as a whole. You should go check her stories out.
Special thanks to: Riya (Carolle Royale on FFn) because she also helped me a lot this story. She even took the time to read it while it was in the making. She's an amazing person, too.
Author's Note: This story is sort of related to Lost. This is set a week after that story.
Disclaimer: Naaah. I don't own Gakuen Alice, people.
Kitsuneme has never been a fan of metaphors, partly because he doesn't understand the logic behind them, but mostly because, well, he sucks at them.
No one has ever succeeded in making him create a single metaphor, even his teachers. But as they say, every rule has an exception.
And in Kitsuneme's case, it is Anna Umenomiya.
He doesn't know why, but Anna seems to…defy all his principles. She's a different case—a special one.
But what he does know is that when it comes to her, he'll always be thinking of metaphors—from the way her pink hair is like cotton candy, soft and fluffy, to how her eyes are like the stars, bright and shining. Sometimes, he'll just find himself thinking that her smile is like the sun, because no matter how clichéd this sounds, it just lights up his world, or like, that she's just like strawberries, sweet and refreshing.
He finds it weird how easy it is to make metaphors for Anna, when why, he can't make a single decent one for every other thing.
"One must never play with his food, you know," comes a voice suddenly.
Kitsuneme looks up, only to see Koko taking a seat beside him. They are in the cafeteria, and Kitsuneme has been sitting alone until Koko came. Kitsuneme has a plate of pizza in front of him, though he hasn't eaten it yet. And now that Koko has mentioned it, he realizes that he has been stabbing the pizza with his fork the whole time he has been thinking about Anna.
"Hey, mate! I didn't notice you there." Kitsuneme says with a small smile.
"Yo, dude. Well, how can you notice me when you're busy thinking about Anna? Tut, tut. You're in deep, mate," Koko replies with a slight grin. His smile, however, does not quite reach his eyes.
"Wait, you were reading my mind? Freaking hell, Koko. Since when?" Kitsuneme replies, surprise evident in his voice.
"Oh, you know, from the 'her hair is like cotton candy' thing," Koko replies in a fail attempt of imitating Kitsuneme's voice. He glances at the untouched pizza in front of Kitsuneme afterwards. "I take it that the pizza serves as a cover for you, then? So that you won't arouse suspicion? Dear little Kitsu's becoming cheesy now, huh?" he jokes halfheartedly.
"Fuck. That's like, the start. You nosy brat!" Kitsuneme says as he pretends to be annoyed. "But anyway, how can you joke about something like that in an occasion like this?" Kitsuneme asks him, his voice suddenly solemn.
"Well, everyone's tense and all. I am sad, really, but I was hoping I could lift the atmosphere, even a little. But hey, how can you think about your undying love for Anna right now? It's just been a week since the end of the Alice War," Koko asks him.
"Well, dear mind reader, I was not finished with my thoughts yet, and then your voice suddenly came out of nowhere. Anyway, just look at Anna," Kitsuneme gestures to Anna, who is sitting at the table adjacent to theirs. It is obvious that she has been crying. Her eyes are quite red and puffy. "You know how she has this cheerful, bubbly aura around her? It's gone. That smile that lights my world? It's dim, and it's almost disappearing." Kitsuneme adds sadly.
"Mate, the sun can't always be up at the sky. It will be covered by clouds at times. At some point, it will set. And when that happens, night falls." Koko says with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Yes, I know that. But I can't help but worry. With Mikan gone, Anna's the only remaining…sun in our lives. And ever since Nonoko's death, her light has dimmed quite considerably already," Kitsuneme answers.
"Hey. You know, night ends. There will come a time that the sun will rise again, right?" Koko says, a little hint of hope apparent in his voice.
"Yes, there will. I hope it does. I really do." Kitsuneme tells Koko, as his eyes wander towards Anna, who is now being surrounded by her friends, all trying to cheer her up.
"Now, come on. Don't think so negatively. This is Anna we're talking about. Surely she'll go back to how she used to be, one way or another." Koko tells him, as some sort of encouragement.
"Well, we can't really be sure. We're what, 16? We've faced a war and we've lost some of our friends. We have seen them die, right in front of our very eyes. We've gone through more shit than an ordinary person will face in his lifetime. I've been thinking this past week, that maybe it's better if we just forget about what happened and start life anew. That's what they would have wanted, right? But no, I just…can't. I doubt that the others will be able to do that, too. Every fucking night Koko, I have nightmares. Anna's the only reason why I believe in hope, even though it seems so unattainable. And look at her. Just look." Kitsuneme explains, his frustration and pain becoming apparent as his eyes fix on Anna once again.
"Really, Kitsu, do you think we don't feel the same? Nobody's been happy this past week, because honestly speaking, whoever becomes happy is mad. All of us get nightmares, you know. It's hard, and I know that. I have experienced all of the shit you've gone through, too. We've been through all this fuckery together, man. But then, I still believe that this…situation we're in won't last long. I still hope for the best. It may not come now, but little by little, we'll be able to move on and be happy." Koko replies with a slight crack on his voice. His eyes, however, shows complete will and dedication.
Kitsuneme merely looks at him, a shocked expression present on his face. He cannot believe how Koko has managed to stay optimistic at a time like this. He can't help but admire his dedication and faith that maybe someday, things will get fixed.
But maybe, he muses, he's right. This too, shall pass.
And with that, their conversation comes to an end, and Kitsuneme is back to thinking by himself.
"Sure, there were a few times in the past that as Koko so intelligently put, the sun—my sun, rather—became clouded. Oftentimes, it was because of Anna and Nonoko quarrelling. During those times, I was so confident that Anna would come back to her usual bubbly self, since she and Nonoko can't stand bickering for a day or so, anyway." Kitsuneme smiles sadly as he reminisces those times when they were all happy—when the biggest problem they had at hand was two best friends quarrelling.
This time, though, he thinks, the case is different, isn't it? And with that, he sighs.
The sun has set, and this time, it is night. It is no ordinary night, however. The moon is covered, and the stars aren't present. This time, Kitsuneme's in a world with no light at all. He's in darkness. Pure darkness.
Three people dear to him have died because of the Alice war. And now, he's on the verge of losing his friends too. They may still be present physically, but they're changing. Slowly, they're becoming different people from the ones he met, loved, and cared for. They're all lost and in darkness, and little by little, they're just going down the wrong path.
It is night, and there's nothing he can do but hope, and maybe pray.
Because now, he only wants a single thing:
This time, it is night, and he hopes it won't last long. But maybe, if it's just possible, he hopes their sun will return, and once again, give light to them all.
END
Author's Note:
Natsume, Mikan, and Nonoko all died in this fic because of the Alice War. If you've read Lost, you should have understood why I said Mikan was dead. If you didn't, however, well, there goes the explanation. :D