Those Days in Japan
Friends
It was a beautiful and warm sunny day with birds chipping and leafs flying with the wind. No one would guess that the autumn has already begun for the temperatures were so high. And because of that, many people were spending their Saturday afternoon outside, just hanging out in the park, walking through the streets with shopping bags, or drinking ice tea at the nearest Cafe.
Of course there were even more brave people who ate ice cream in the city park. One of those people were of course Natsume and Mikan, and not because of the high temperatures, but simply because eating ice cream became one of their habits.
It was actually more Mikan's habit, but Natsume had nothing against it for he loved to try out different ice crème flavours every time he had the chance to. Today he went for the Cherry blossom Ice Crème and he actually had no idea what was in it.
He could not even describe the taste, less knowing what it tasted like. But it was cool. If nothing else, he could use the colour for his painting of cherry blossoms in autumn.
While the black-haired lad licked his ice crème, his eyes were watching his surroundings with curiosity. Where else could he get inspiration than in a beautiful park full of laughing people. Colours and sounds were everywhere and his mind already created pictures of so many things that he already regretted not listening to Mikan and bringing his note book with him.
She told him to take his pencil and papers with him, but noooo - he had to be the smart one and did not listen to her when she clearly knew best that his mind went crazy as soon as there was a cosy atmosphere in the park.
By the way, Mikan was unusually silent today, he noticed. She was sitting next to him on the small wooden bench and eating her ice crème, not saying a word. She seemed lost in her mind and Natsume had to think if there was something that happened today.
It was not possible. She had a free day – no work, no worries. So it had to be something else.
Was today's date an anniversary or something?
Hmmm…
It is the third of October.
Did something happen on this date in the past?
Well, maybe…
He did not really know if it had been the same date as today that time, but it did happen in autumn.
Six years ago in autumn, Mikan Sakura has found her first college love. Natsume did not know Mikan that well at that time. It has only been a couple of months since they were neighbours and they did not talk that much.
He remembered how they met for the first time. The petite brunette came walking up the block's stairs a few months before college started, her arms carrying box after box into the apartment next to his, ignoring the fact that there was a brand new elevator she could take and make things easier.
She was always smiling and greeted anyone who passed her. She was a country girl who was taught to be polite, but the city people just did not register that.
When she brought her last box into her apartment that first day and disappeared in her new home, Natsume stepped to go out and take a walk – he did not want to meet the new girl because all girls who saw him, always started to flirt with him.
It was not really that bad, but sometimes he just needed a break.
He assumed this girl would not be any different.
But then she suddenly walked out of her apartment the same time he did. She just wanted to put that small 'welcome' carpet in front of her door, when she came face to face with her handsome neighbour.
''Oh…'' she blinked and put the carpet on the floor. ''Good evening.'' She greeted him and smiled.
''Um, hi.'' He replied back, not sure how to react.
''You must be my neighbour. Nice to meet you. I'm Mikan Sakura.'' She told him, when she gave him her hand and shook his.
It was the first time a girl did not bat her eyelashes at him and Natsume had to admit that he was slightly surprised.
''Uh… Natsume Hyuuga.'' He replied and watched his neighbour smile and step back.
''I suppose you were about to go out. Have nice evening, Hyuuga-kun.'' She told him, opened her door, waived her hand and disappeared. All Natsume could do was blink at her door.
It really was unusual for him to experience a friendly reaction from a girl. At his primary, middle and high school, many girls talked to him just for the purpose to flirt with him. He had never had a girl as a normal friend, which is why his neighbour caught his interest immediately.
He soon realized that Mikan Sakura really had no idea how to be a city girl. She was nice to everyone and she was pretty naive – but strangely, people did not use that against her. It was funny to watch his other neighbour, who was always in a bad mood, struggle whenever Mikan was near. The old lady just was not able to be mean to Mikan even if she tried.
The young country girl crawled her way into the old lady's heart with ease and soon found a person to chat her Sundays away.
Mikan also tried to befriend other people on the same floor and soon she managed to gain their trust with polite greetings and smiles. Even Natsume's, but he was by nature a solitary and she noticed that right away. She did not bug him with neighbour cookies and she did not get on his nerves with music blasting from her radio.
She was just the most perfect neighbour a person could have.
And Natsume found her too perfect.
He refused to be nice to her. That entire 'nice girl' could just be a farce to gain his attention, which she – if he is honest – already did.
He never talked with her, nor did he help her carry her shopping bags, full with food and soda drinks. Mikan soon realized that he was a quite self-centred teenager who thought that all girls liked him – but she waived the thoughts of him away and went on with her life.
When college lectures started, almost 19 year old Natsume saw his neighbour go to school every morning and coming back in the afternoon, always working on her homework. That time he still did not know what she actually studied.
He already thought that she was a nerd, but that she had no interest in him, had to mean that she was a lesbian. Because, let's be honest – even girls with boyfriends wanted him.
And his suspicions were proved right when sometime in the beginning of July Mikan brought home her new 'friend'. She introduced Luna Koizumi to him when they met him by chance in the hall. Luna was a pretty blonde girl with perfect make-up and fashionable clothes, slightly taller than Mikan. Of course he noticed her figure, he was a guy.
But what he also noticed were the strange looks the two girls send each other. They were complete opposites – Luna was studying something with fashion and Mikan physics – he knew that now. But the attraction between the two girls was so obvious that even the old lady neighbour saw it – and she was blind for the most of the time.
Natsume, who was usually painting at his balcony, often heard the two girls watch romantic movies and all that giggling and loud kissing were giving him a headache. His brain even registered the time table the two girls had for their visits – Luna came to Mikan's apartment at Tuesdays and Fridays and Mikan went to Luna usually at Sundays, when she was free.
When they could not see each other, the girls were talking over the phone - Mikan always went to the balcony when she phoned and Natsume, whose balcony was actually separated from hers by just a granite railing, had a huge problem with it.
All that ''aww, you're so cute'' and ''mwa! Sweet dreams!'' and ''I miss you soooooo much!'' were getting on his nerves and he really wanted to kick both girls out of his lives.
But on the first Saturday in October those six years ago he noticed something strange.
Mikan and Luna came back from an evening walk hand in hand and were giggling at something they were talking about. They met him in the hall of their floor, when he came back from his evening jogging.
His eyes caught the nice figure of Mikan in her blue jeans skirt and T-Shirt and he just could not help but stare for a moment too long at her big brown eyes.
''Good evening, Hyuuga.'' Mikan greeted him politely as usual. Luna eyed him from his head to toes, her eyelids batting at his surprised glance.
''Yo.'' He greeted back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He quickly unlocked his door and stepped in. He heard the girls chat again and tried hard to get that smile of his neighbour out of his head.
Later that evening, when he was making a sketch of the fat cat that was always sleeping on his balcony railing, he heard the girl open their balcony door, but not coming out. They were obviously sitting on the floor of Mikan's living room and making out.
''Ts… Can't they stop with that?'' he muttered under his breath and sighed annoyed. But then he heard Mikan laugh at something Luna whispered into her ear and he just could not stay angry. The lonely country girl finally found someone to love and he should at least give her some privacy.
The boy was about to stop drawing and go in when he heard his name in the girl's talk.
''You neighbour… What was his name again?'' Luna asked Mikan.
The brown haired girl just hummed back while kissing her girlfriend on her neck and back on her lips.
''You mean Natsume Hyuuga?'' she finally replied after a few moments and gasped when Luna nibbled at her ear.
''Oh, Natsume is his name…'' replied Luna for the last time and claimed Mikan's lips again.
The dark-haired lad stared at the sky over him; there were a few stars over his head, surrounded by darkness, but in front of him was still the strip of gentle gold and orange that was about to disappear in les than a minute. He heard the two girls kiss again and with horror he realized that his neighbour Mikan Sakura was about to be played.
Because you just don't talk about someone else, while you are kissing your girlfriend.
His suspicions were confirmed the Tuesday after, when loud music came blasting through his walls right from Mikan's apartment. He had a lot of paintings to finish that week so he got pretty angry and marched out of his apartment and went knocking on his neighbour's door.
What he did not expect was Luna opening the door, wearing short yoga pants and a tight T-Shirt.
''Oh, Hyuuga-san.'' She greeted him with a smile and let him in. She did not close the door behind him, but walked straight to the living room. The loud music came from the TV where a yoga show was going on.
''I apologize. I didn't realize that I was so loud.'' The blonde giggled and stepped towards him. Natsume raised his eyebrow in annoyance at her obvious innuendo and sighed. ''Yeah… Just lower the sound.''
He glanced around for a second. ''Where's Sakura?''
''Oh, Mikan? She just went to buy some ice crème. She's going to need it tonight.'' Luna giggled again and played with a curl of her hair. Natsume did not actually understand what she meant by that so he just started to walk away.
''Oh… Ok. Bye.''
''Hey, wait!'' the blonde suddenly called and grabbed his arm. She batted her eyelashes at him, and smirked.
''Would you like something to drink? I think Mikan still has her apple juice, which I'm not allowed to touch, but I think we can make an exception with you, hmm…'' she flirted so obviously that even Natsume got embarrassed.
''Um… No thanks. I'll just-'' Luna came dangerously near his face, when they heard a bag drop of something heavy on the floor.
''Oh…''
They both turned at the door and saw Mikan standing there, the small ice crème pot she bought lying in front of her feet.
''What is going on if I may ask?'' she brought out with an unsure smile and cleared her throat.
''Um…'' Luna quickly jumped away from Natsume and turned her back at them. Natsume looked at Mikan who already had tears in her eyes and walked past her. He put his arm on her shoulder for a second, saying ''I did nothing wrong'' and then walked out of Mikan's apartment, closing the door behind him.
He did not hear a sound from his neighbour's room for all day, just the silent click of the door and slow steps walking to the elevator.
Later that evening he was again making a sketch of the fat cat when he heard soft sniffing on his neighbour's balcony. He looked over the low railing that separated their balconies and saw Mikan lean on the front railing, eating the ice crème she bought.
She sniffed here and there and wiped some tears from her cheeks.
Even the fat cat noticed her hurt state and jumped on her balcony. Mikan flinched in surprise at the sudden visit, but smiled when she saw the round animal. She patted his head and played with his adorable ears.
''You're the first stranger he allowed to pat his head.'' Natsume suddenly spoke up, referring to the cat. Mikan did not seem surprised at him standing there.
''He's cute.'' She told him with a hoarse voice and cleared her throat.
There was silence for some moments and the cat started to purr in pleasure when Mikan stroked his stomach.
''I swear I didn't do a thing.'' Natsume started again, knowing that Mikan's relationship with Luna was most probably over.
Mikan nodded her head, finally turning her head towards him, showing him her teary eyes and wet cheeks a weak smile on her lips. ''I know. Don't worry.'' She sighed and leaned on the railing again. ''No one talks about someone else, while she's kissing her girlfriend…'' she told him the exact same thoughts he had that day he heard the talk about him.
''Yeah…''
''She wanted to break up with me anyway. That's why she told me to buy some ice crème. It's a typical sign for a break up.'' Mikan continued to explain and put the ice crème pot on the wide granite railing between them. Natsume noticed that there were two plastic spoons in it.
''I bought them thinking that we would eat it while watching a movie.'' She told him when she noticed him watching the two spoons in confusion. She sighed then. ''I should stick with boys for some time now…''
''Huh? You mean your n-''
''Noup.'' She popped the p at the end. ''I'm bisexual. I like boys and girls…'
There was silence again.
''Want some?'' she finally asked and offered him the other spoon.
Natsume looked at her in surprise and took the other spoon.
''Yeah…''
And they ate the ice crème, while leaning on the railing, looking at the sky, not saying a word. And because Mikan was an ice crème fan, they repeated the act a lot of times, never actually inviting one another – they just found themselves on the balcony at the same time and enjoyed the ice crème.
That was the first friendly thing they did together. And soon, there were more friendly things they did. They became friends.
The ice crème eating also became a habit as soon they started to talk about things and today, six years later, they could not imagine a week without the sweet candy.
Natsume often asked himself if Mikan actually got over Luna – she did talk about the relationship with him a few months after the break up, and told him that she and Luna stayed kind of friends; but she never talked about her feelings. She never told him how hurt she was. Because she actually did like Luna. Because she actually thought that Luna might be her partner for years.
But like Mikan, Luna was also attracted to boys and girls – and seeing the handsome Hyuuga was enough to make her feelings for Mikan change.
Natsume never saw Luna again. He was happy about that because even if the girl was beautiful – if she was able to cheat at her girlfriend, she was also able to cheat at her next love.
Mikan sighed next to Natsume and brought him out of his memories. He looked at her and watched her throw the paper napkin into the garbage.
When she turned her head towards him, she smiled and then giggled.
''What?'' he asked.
Mikan just laughed harder and reached with her hand towards his face. His heart began to race when her knuckles touched his cheek and wiped some ice crème away.
''You had some on your face.'' She told him with rosy cheeks and a gentle smile. She was so beautiful.
''Oh… Um, thanks…'' he suddenly had a problem with breathing and his fingers itched to touch her hair. He really had to calm his heart down…
Mikan watched him for a moment and then got up from the bench. She looked at him cheekily and giggled at his surprised expression.
''The loser buys another ice crème!'' she called and ran towards the end of the park.
Natsume jumped up laughing and race after her. ''Hey! That's not fair!''
And so the two twenty four year olds played tag like small children, ignoring all the smiley looks they received from other people around. Natsume felt happy seeing Mikan happy and his worries about Mikan were soon blown away when he realized that her beautiful smile she wore was directed only at him.
He was happy that he was the cause of her red cheeks and he was happy that he was the cause of her racing heart he felt against his back when he caught her from behind.
They did not need words to know what the other felt. The signs were all there. They will give themselves time to explore these emotions first before they would make the next step.
As long as they were friends it would be alright.