chapter one.
Mikan Sakura
Name: Mikan Sakura
Major: Philosophy
Class Standing: Junior Status
Mikan Sakura was the girl no one placed their bets on. She was a girl from a small, barely recognized village that had a small building that acted as a school during the day, and a town hall during the evening. She grew up without a lot of things: money, privilege… parents. So it wasn't odd that many from her hometown believed she would marry one of the local boys and contribute to the town's ongoing existence. It's what most girls from the town did, because the education wasn't really that renown and the most you could receive was a makeshift high school diploma which wasn't accepted much of anywhere. So, no. People didn't place their bets on her.
But they should have.
After graduated "middle school", Mikan skipped town. It was in the dead of the night just after she put the other kids in the orphanage to bed. It was a difficult decision for her to continue in that moment, as these were kids she grew up with and partially raised. And suddenly she was abandoning them? She couldn't truthfully say that she felt good about herself. But it was adamant that she go and make something of herself, so these kids could make something of themselves. Though they weren't forced to stay within the town, they weren't exactly raised with the belief that they could leave. After all, what would anyone want to do with a small-town, barely educated kid? That's right. Nothing.
But Mikan set out that night to prove that one small-town, barely educated kid could become someone society revered. Upon skipping town, Mikan entered the foster system in Tokyo and attended a public high school, where she learned of the opportunity in foreign countries. One of her classmates was bragging about how her brother had gotten accepted into a university and people couldn't stop sending him job offers, so Mikan did some digging and what she found was pure gold. It was the next step in her plan for success, and it started a fire within her that would soon engulf her and fuel her determination. What resulted shocked each and every one of her teachers.
That brings us to today: the first day of the Autumn Quarter. Mikan now is a junior at a beautiful campus in Boston, Massachusetts where she pursues a degree in Philosophy in hopes of getting accepted into the law school. If you were to ask her advisors and professors, they would say that she has a determination like no one else that they have seen, and they are already prepared to write splendid recommendation letters for her should she ask.
But that's jumping so far ahead, and what Mikan is worried about most is getting to her class on time. See, she knew accepting a clerkship at a local, renowned law firm would be adding stress onto her ever-growing pile, but she couldn't pass up the opportunity. She was recommended to this lawyer after her previous internship came to an end, and her boss didn't want to "see her potential fade", so she transferred her over to a friend of hers. His name? Anju L. Narumi. Mikan heard of him, of course, having heard of the crazy successful lawyer that could turn from a sweet, loving angel to a conniving devil in two seconds, but did she expect his workload to be so demanding? Not at all.
So now she is almost late to her very first class of the day, and it's when she comes barreling through the doors of the Philosophy Building, taking a sharp left, does her hopes of reaching the class before the bell rings come crashing down. Literally. She collides with what she knows is a person walking peacefully in the opposite direction, and all she can do is release a seemingly unholy gasp before both her and the stranger fall to the ground. Well, in all reality, it is only Mikan who goes falling to the ground. She luckily catches herself with her hands, saving her face from hitting the cold tile, but the same couldn't be said for her binder and all of the papers it contained. She looked back to make sure no one lay writing on the ground behind her, but rather finds that only she was the one who took the dangerous tumble to the ground.
Standing above her is a man of tall stature and of obviously strong build. Mikan imagines the collision was like being hit by a feather for him, which is probably why he is simply standing there, looking down onto her with indifferent eyes. For a moment Mikan is held by his gaze, shocked that there can even exist irises as red as his, but then she remembers just how late she is for class. Cursing, she collects her papers and apologized profusely even though she was the only one that fell. "I'm so sorry!"
Mikan stands, not even bothering to sift through her papers to properly put them in their rightful places. She simply shoves them into the pocket of her binder, and turns again to look at the man standing before her. He is saying nothing, and it makes her slightly nervous, but Mikan has never let her nerves get in the way before, so she has no intention of starting the habit now.
Looking at the clock in the hall, she finds that class has already begun, and she imagines the bell had rung sometime between the beginning of her descent and her hitting the ground. No matter, because she completely resigns to the fact that she hadn't made it in class on time and it doesn't matter how late she is so long as she still attends the class. She sticks out her hand in an apologetic manner, and holds a gaze with a deep sea of red as she tries to identify who she has encountered. After all, this is her major department so she is practically there all the time. But she can't, for the life of her, ever recall meeting this person.
"Are you lost," she asks, out of the blue. And it's this question that finally spurs a response.
His voice is deep, and it seems to reverberate about the hallway perfectly. It catches Mikan completely off guard but, given his appearance—clean cut and a freshly pressed suit—she didn't know what she expected. "Why do you ask," he responds with a question of his own, reaching out to grip Mikan's hand with an unnecessary amount of strength. It doesn't hurt, though, it's just… shocking.
"I've been around this department for the past couple of quarters quite often," Mikan responds professionally. "I just feel like your face is not one I would forget."
A low hum rumbles throughout his chest, and he responds with a thoughtful, "Is that so."
"Well, yeah," Mikan says in a joking tone, releasing the stranger's hand, allowing her own to drop to her side. "I've seen what this university has to offer and let me just say: not that impressed."
Finally, she receives a chuckle from him and she can't help but feel that it's the most satisfying sound she's ever heard. "Are you divulging your sex life to a stranger?"
"Not so much my sex life as my habit for people-watching. Good guess, though."
Again, he hummed, looking at her thoughtfully before her turns to look at the clock. "Aren't you late for class," he asks, turning back to her. He offers a smirk when she curses and apologizes once more before excusing herself and racing down towards the lecture hall.
When she silently sneaks in the back and finds an empty seat in the back grow, an unrelenting blush bombards her cheeks as she recalls the conversation she just had.
What in the world got into me?