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DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

CHAPTER 2

"I-Imai-san?" he had asked tentatively. Given the number of drinks in his system, he might just be mistaking some stranger for a girl who was so unlikely to be there in front of him.

The raven-haired girl turned around on her stool to face him, her thin eyebrows raised, her amethyst eyes serious and slightly unfocused. Up close, there was no mistaking it: this girl was Hotaru Imai.

"Natsumeeeee!" Mikan called, setting the table. "Breakfast tiiiiime!"

Natsume emerged from their bedroom wearing nothing but boxers and a grumpy expression.

"So… noisy… in the morning…" he grumbled in a hoarse voice, ruffling his still-messy raven hair.

"Good morning!" Mikan rushed to his side and kissed him. "I made breakfast! Look!"

"God, tell me it's cereal. The last time you cooked, you nearly killed us," Natsume mumbled, sitting down at the table.

Mikan pouted.

"B-but… they're cheese omelettes! I made cheese omelettes! I followed the recipe to the letter…!"

"Polka Dots," Natsume said, poking her omelettes with his fork, "They're. Rubbery. And burnt. Please stop cooking, you hag,"

"Natsumeeeee," Mikan wailed, "I don't see why you're complaining, you eat my cooking all the time anyway, why can't you be nice about it—"

"I was nice, I said please, didn't I?"

"Yooouuu—"

Knock knock.

"Oh!" Mikan exclaimed, clasping her hands together and rushing to the door. "Were we expecting Ruka-pyon? Maybe he'll eat my eggs!"

"I'll never let him eat your eggs," Natsume mumbled while taking a bite of the omelette.

"Good morning, Ruka-pyon!" Mikan greeted, opening the door wide. "Ah! What happened to you?"

Ruka stood in the doorway, wearing his clothes from the night before, looking disheveled and faint. He raised a hand in greeting and immediately sank down into their couch.

"Ruka-pyon! What—Are you okay? Natsume!" Mikan called into the kitchen before rushing to sit beside Ruka.

Ruka nodded and motioned for her to keep quiet.

Natsume entered the living room. Taking one look at Ruka, he went back to the kitchen and came back with a glass of water and a bottle of aspirin.

"Hangover?"

Ruka nodded, taking the glass of water from him and swallowing a pill.

"Thought so,"

Ruka smiled faintly. They've been through this a couple of times before, so Natsume knew the drill.

"Wha—what?" Mikan said, a little too loudly, "Ruka-pyon, why did you drink too much? Could I get you anything else? I made omelettes! Cheese omelettes—"

Ruka groaned.

"Quiet down and stop torturing him, Lacy," Natsume scolded.

"Ho—how did you know—?" Mikan cried indignantly, covering up her skirt with an apron.

"I bought them for you, airhead, why can't you remember stuff—"

"Sakura… " Ruka cleared his throat. The two stopped bickering at once and turned their attention to him.

His throat was dry, his head was pounding, and his body was aching suddenly in the most random of places. Plus, some hazy, questionable, and very uncomfortable memories kept popping up in his head, and he couldn't quite shake them off. But despite his jumbled thoughts and sleep-deprived state, he knew he had something important to tell Mikan.

"I—I have some—news," he managed to blurt out. "I—I…um. I…"

"What? What, Ruka-pyon?" squawked Mikan.

Ruka took a deep breath. "I ran into Imai-san last night."

Mikan's jaw dropped. Even Natsume afforded a look of surprise.

Mikan was speechless for a few moments.

"…Ho-Hotaru?"

Ruka nodded.

"Ho—" Mikan gulped, then gaped again. "Wha—how—where…? Ho—Hotaru—she—"

Natsume reached over and placed a hand over hers to stop her from stammering. Then he addressed Ruka.

"Tell us what happened exactly."

He still wasn't sure what happened exactly.

(Well, really, he knew—his hungover brain just couldn't quite get there yet.)

They hadn't seen her for more than six years. The summer after their high school graduation, with all the hustle and bustle of everyone preparing for college, Hotaru kind of disappeared from the scenes. Sure, she had hung out with Mikan and the rest of their group sporadically throughout their summer break, but, of course, being the Hotaru Imai, she did not disclose any of her plans to her friends.

It was already a month after the school year started when Mikan received a snail mail from her, explaining that she had to study abroad on a scholarship (and to send back some watermelons). Didn't even leave any email or mobile number. Mikan had wailed and cried and demanded from everyone some sort of clue, but to no avail. Not even the Internet could help them find Hotaru.

But Ruka had seen her. He had talked to her. Bought her some drinks—no, wait, she gave him some drinks. Then—

Ruka shook his head to clear his thoughts. The night before was like a blurry, badly-edited movie full of cuts and blackouts and weird, disconnected events that had the same buzzing sound in the background.

"Imai-san!" he exclaimed. "Wow, I never really thought it was you—I—I mean, it's been so long—I can't believe it—"

She cut him off. "Who are you?"

"O—oh. Um," Ruka stammered, taken aback by her frankness. Did he really change that much since high school? "I—I'm, uh… It's Nogi, Ruka Nogi. From high school?"

"Ah," Hotaru blinked at him emotionlessly before turning back to her drink.

"W—wait, Imai-san!" he grabbed the stool beside her and sat himself unsteadily in it. "Did—did you hear what I said?"

"Yes," Hotaru replied uninterestedly, taking another free drink from one of the guys at the opposite end of the bar. "Ruka Nogi from high school. You're that little bishounen who had a hopeless crush on Mikan,"

Ruka blushed at the mention of Mikan's name. "That's… uh. Aren't—aren't you even curious about how they are now? Sakura, Natsume?"

"I know how they are," Hotaru replied matter-of-factly while sipping her complimentary cocktail, "Mikan doesn't really filter out her Facebook profile that much. It's full of selfies and stupid rants,"

Ruka started to laugh but stopped short. "Hey, how come you didn't contact any of us at all? We were really worried about you,"

Hotaru didn't seem to hear. She made a face at her drink and pushed it towards Ruka. "Do you want this?"

Ruka looked at the drink suspiciously. "Um, no thanks, Imai-san, I don't really like their coconut rum here,"

"I know," Hotaru answered with a hint of a familiar evil glint in her eyes. "It tastes awful. Take it,"

"N—no way! There might be drugs in there!"

"I already took a sip, didn't I?" Hotaru pushed the glass closer to him.

"B—but, it's for you, that guy over there gave it to you—!" He pushed the glass back to her.

"Take it, or I'll tell that sparkly group over there that you're looking for a hell of a gang bang,"

Ruka glanced over at the group of gay men lounging on one of the couches. A couple of them winked at him. He just smiled awkwardly and waved them off.

"Fi—fine…" Ruka took a sip of the coconut rum and winced. He could definitely see a little smirk on Hotaru's face. Apparently, blackmailing him was a habit that had not changed in the last six years.

"So." Hotaru turned away and rested her chin on her hands. "Mikan and Natsume, huh?"

Ruka sputtered on his drink. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Yeah. He's gonna propose to her,"

"Hm."

They were both silent for a few moments, each mulling their own thoughts over alcohol. Ruka thought back at how extremely bizarre this day's events were—Natsume planning to propose, him suddenly running into Imai-san, getting free beer from a girl… could this day get any weirder?

I gotta use the bathroom, Ruka thought, setting down his now empty glass.

"Ruka," Hotaru broke their silence. "Let's dance."

Ruka took a deep breath before answering Natsume's question.

"I think I know where Imai-san is,"

Mikan gasped. "You—you do? Ruka-pyon, that's—where is she? Ho—how, how do you know?"

"I think…"

Ruka's face turned bright red.

"I think I lost my virginity to her last night."

A/N: Yes, I'm sorry, I made Ruka a 24-year-old virgin, but let's find out why in the next chapter, okay? :D