Natsume was absolutely amused by the girl who sat beside him in class and partner in school. She wasn't like the other girls in school, swooning and gushing over his looks that rivalled Adonis' for some reason. After all, when did Adonis sport red eyes that were apparently a new fad among girls who love vampires and are now wearing red contacts as it was the fashion of late?
That would always be a mystery to him. Girls are always a mystery to him, and Mikan Sakura was just another species of girls' altogether. In fact, she was a rare species, one that was naturally dense and stupid, treated boys as friends and not eye-candy, unnaturally childish, naive and loud for a thirteen year old girl who should be all gossipy and flirtatious with the hot guy down the corridor whom she will aim to seduce and keep like a display trophy to show off to her equally gossipy and flirtatious friends.
Mikan Sakura could wear a white bathrobe and oversized ducky slippers and wear bright yellow glasses and sing a crappy tune while prancing down the street, and she would care less on how anyone thought of her. She could appear on the news, and she would just toss the newspaper in the bin and ring up the newspaper editor on why the hell she appeared in the newspaper and show herself to the public unashamedly whereas most girls would wear a paper bag over their heads and lock themselves away from civilisation.
Okay, maybe that won't happen in a long, long time (he doubted that Mikan would be half as idiotic as to degrade herself by wearing that and prance like a happy unicorn down Central Town) but with Mikan Sakura, the unexplained species of womankind, anything is possible. Well, almost anything.
He won't be expecting a happy-go-lucky Mikan to start doing that in the middle of Central Town anytime soon.
'' Natsume, can you accompany me to Central Town this afternoon after class? Hotaru is busy with her current invention and told me to ask you instead. I need to get more Howalons as I have run out of them. Please Natsume, please accompany me to Central Town!'' pleaded Mikan with an irresistibly pitiful look on her face and her hands clasped together.
Natsume, surprised himself by agreeing to Mikan's request, and then lit the fuse when he added in rather casually, ''I will go, if you send me a photograph of you dressed in a white bathrobe, oversized duck slippers, gigantic sunglasses in Central Town Polka.''
The dynamite exploded. ''WHAT THE HECK SERIOUSLY NATSUME?!'' Mikan was chasing Natsume around the class again, much to the amusement and horror of the watching classmates. Hotaru set up a small booth and a plain dark purple popcorn machine was situated beside the it. A gigantic sign read, ''Popcorn For Sale, One Packet For 50 Rabbits. Betting Station Here As Well''. You can bet that Hotaru got great business income from that.
And at one in the afternoon, a full one and a half hours from their appointed timing to meet and precisely thirty-seven minutes after the incident, there was a few hurried raps on the door. He resentfully put down the manga that he was currently reading beside a tall stack of them as he answered the door.
There was no one outside except for a plain manila envelope that was addressed to ''Natsume Hyuuga the Jerk''. He couldn't help but smile as he opened up the envelope to find a picture of an embarrassed Mikan in a bathrobe and ducky slippers with ridiculous sunglasses that covered half of her face and a blue cap that she tucked her hair under to reduce chances of people recognising her.
There was a small slip of paper that was hiding deep inside the envelope, and there was three words written in Mikan's distinctive handwriting.
I hate you.
And with that, Natsume made sure to bring more money to reward Mikan's desperation and stupidity with more of those disgustingly sweet Howalons. After all, there is only one species of womankind who would go through such extreme measures to get her partner to accompany her to Central Town.
Namely, the rare and not well known species called Mikan Sakuratis.
