Disclaimer: I do NOT own Gakuen Alice, and I never will. I do not own Yumeiro Patisserie as well.(HINT, but not a big one) Both stories belong to their rightful owners, Higuchi Tachibana and Natsumi Matsumoto respectively. This is just a piece of fan fiction written for fun.
Chapter 4: Practice ,Preparation, and Surprises
"Jii-chan! The stuffed bear is moving," Mikan exclaimed.
Nonno calmly replied, "I see. Why don't we eat dinner now? It's seven-ten already." The stuffed bear continued to wipe the table as if nothing was wrong.
"Jii-chan! This is not something you should be nonchalantly ignoring. This is big. Wait a second. Is this why the house seems cleaner lately?"
"Yes, I wonder what it is. A heaven-sent gift? Or maybe it is a re-incarnation of Buddha. Anyways, leave that nice bear alone, and please arrange the table. I've already cooked dinner."
Mikan batted her eyelashes in disbelief. This was so weird. No, no. Weird doesn't even describe it. This as insane. A stuffed bear was moving. A stuffed bear. No joke. And Jii-chan wasn't bothered a bit by that. That was just ludicrous. Moreover, this was the fourth strange thing that happened to her this week. "Gosh," Mikan murmured, "On closer inspection, you're kinda cute."
She inched her hand closer to Bear's head. Out of nowhere, Bear turned behind with a deadly look in his eyes. Pow! A punch on the face. Honestly folks, that punch had the power to kill.
"Meanie! You'll pay for that," Mikan shouted, horrified by the taste of hell she just received. She got ready to punch back. Bear stood in boxing stance. They were ready to crush each other.
Jii-chan intruded their what-could-have-been Olympic battle. "Mikan. For crying out loud, leave that bear alone, and bring in the plates and food for dinner. It's all in the kitchen," Jii-chan berated. Mikan nodded. She wanted to take revenge, but Jii-chan meant business.
"Fine," she muttered under her breath giving bear the stink-eye. Bear returned it. It was a mutual hate. Mikan wasn't going to forget this. Never. She'll settle her score soon enough.
She arranged the plates and brought in the dinner. There wasn't much to do. She needed to bring two plates, some miso soup and the rice cooker. "Here you go Jii-chan. The miso looks delicious."
"Thanks honey. Now, sit down. How was your day?"
"Pretty normal. I met Mio-nee today. She's going to Tokyo this summer."
"I see. More modelling work, eh?"
"Uh-huh," Mikan replied, while drinking up the last of her miso soup.
"I owe Mio a lot. She took care of you when I was too busy with senior citizen committee. That time you could hardly walk."
"I know right. Mio-nee's so cool. She's smart, beautiful, hardworking and kind. It is hard to find such people on earth. And I think what makes her so perseverant is her stubbornness. If I had a sister, I would want her to be like Mio-nee. But I have a feeling that I had another older sister figure. Not Mio-nee, another one."
Bear halted stacking up the plates, and shot Mikan a deadly glare for no apparent reason.
"HEY! What was that for," Mikan screamed, as she pushed her chair behind to get up. She forgot about the older sister she knew.
"Halt young lady, you still have to help out with the dishes," Jii-chan reminded Mikan, while bear very quietly walked away, as if nothing of importance happened.
"Fine," Mikan grunted under her breath, and started to clear out the table.
Jii-chan knew why bear glared at her. It was so that she wouldn't remember the one named Misaki-senpai. If he were given a chance, he would probably thank Misaki for taking of Mikan for two years.
Concurrently, Misaki and Tsubasa were having dinner at the Alice Academy cafeteria. Misaki suddenly started hiccupping.
"What's wrong Misaki? Did you gobble down your food too fast? You shouldn't do that you know. I noticed that you are becoming chubbier lately," Tsubasa teased.
"Shut-hicc-up Tsuba-hic sa, you jer-hicc. Gimme some -hicc water," Misaki struggled to speak.
Misaki's other classmate, smiled and passed some water. Misaki gulped it down and her hiccups stopped. "That's better," Misaki said, breathing a huge sigh of relief.
Her friend smiled and said, "You just started hiccupping out of nowhere. I wonder if someone is remembering you. *
(AN: In India, we have a certain myth which says that if you start hiccupping out of nowhere, it means that someone is remembering you.)
Later in bed, after finishing her homework, Mikan was strategizing ways to exact vengeance on Bear. How about choking him death? Nah. If that failed, she would be the one getting choked. Wait? Can Bear even die? What if he is the re-incarnation of the Buddha? If she killed him, then she wouldn't get a proper a place in heaven. Alright, let's scrap killing him. Suddenly, Mikan's phone buzzed.
It was a text from Mio-nee. It read, "Dear Mikan, meet me at the local shrine tomorrow at five. Before school. I have a surprise for you. Ps. DON'T. BE. LATE."
"Mio-nee means business. Better not make her mad. She can be quite scary sometimes," Mikan muttered to herself. She was planning to sleep at 11, but she put herself to bed at once.
The next day, Mikan reached the shrine before time in fear of Mio-nee's wrath. She looked at her watch. It was 4:50. Mikan hoped that she'd reached early enough to save herself from Mio-nee's wrath.
"Ah, Mikan you're here," Mio-nee said emerging from the shadows.
"Gahh!" Mikan squealed, "Don't scare me like that Mio-nee. You know that I'm scared of ghosts. Anyway, what did you need me for? It's still so cold."
"This is my surprise for you. I'm gonna train you for the contest. I am after all, your senpai. In school and in the firm."
"What," Mikan said, kinda bewildered. "But why?"
"Because, I want you to build a good reputation for the firm. See Mikan, competitions are crucial for the candidate but more so for the firm. They are good means to market your agency. I really wanted to do this, to repay all the help that Shouko-san has given me. You and I both are indebted to her. This is the least the we could do."
"Yes," Mikan took a deep breath, puffed out her chest, and saluted, "Please guide me sensei. I want to bloom under your tutelage."
"Alright your first job is to run ten rounds around the shrine. I will start and you follow suit. But first, don't forget to stretch."
For the next two months, Mikan did everything she was told to do. The practice kept getting harder and harder. She had to wake up at 5, run and practice, go to school, voice lessons, and she even couldn't fall behind her studies, otherwise Jii-chan and Mio-nee would grill her. Mikan couldn't even forget to hang out with her friends, Ami and Saaya. But they were also busy with their own stuff. Ami practiced hard in drama class. It was clear that in no time at all, Ami would debut under Starstruck as an actress, and Saaya was working hard to get a scholarship at St. Marie's Academy, a prestigious school that hones the talent of young patisseries. She wanted to join earlier, but her age didn't fit in. She had to be at least 14 to join in.
Her schedule was jampacked. No doubt. But she had fun. More or less. Mio-nee literally become an Oni during practices. Also, Mio-nee had ridiculous exercises like, "Walk the plank", which involved doing the runway walk on an extremely thin high wall near the shrine, or "Statue" where she'll have to hold an end pose for at least 5 minutes. Not to mention, learning how to walk in high heels. Those battle wounds caused by high heels were not going to go away too soon. Despite being the Oni, Mio-nee always taught Mikan something important.
Mio told Mikan, "Mikan, this industry is such that without a little vanity and lots of confidence, you cannot make it far. You need be a little vain, and confident. Shouko-san told me that while walking down the runway, you need to believe that you are the most beautiful girl in the world. But, I don't want you to become like one those egoistic child stars, who simply believe that they are the centre of the world. Remember your Japanese roots and be modest at the same time."
"Yes, Mio-nee. I will always remember to be humble and modest," said Mikan, with a serious face.
"But I don't think someone as naïve and dense as you can ever have an ego," Mio joked, "Anyways Mikan, you have told Jii-chan about this competition, right? Online registrations have opened, and you need his permission. Did you sign up yet? If you didn't, then you better sign up soon. The competition is in less than month."
"Yes, I have. Jii-chan was a little reluctant about sending me anywhere outside Kyoto, but when he looked at my improvement, he decided to let me go."
"Alright, great. A little more practice, then you are all set up. By the way, when the school closes, don't forget to finish off your homework without procrastinating."
"I won't," Mikan pouted like a child. "Geez! I am different from before. Give me some credit!"
Academy
With the ESP gone, students got more freedom at the academy. They were still not allowed to leave campus, but they could read magazines and the newspaper from outside.
One such day, Sumire excitedly ran in class with a copy of the Weekly Shine, something she most definitely read every week.
"Hey guys look here! They say that Yuko Takeuchi is coming to Tokyo in two weeks to be a judge for the annual rookie Ms. Princess modelling competition. I want to meet her so bad!"
"Really," Ruka said looking up from his book about a famous veterinarian, "Let me see, too."
"Sure," Sumire ran up to him and showed him the article about the Ms. Princess competition. Anna and Nonoka also ran up to Ruka's seat.
Ruka was in awe. Not that he was interested in anything about modelling, but he had heard so much about Yuko Takeuchi from Sumire, Anna, Nonoka and Wakako, that he was curious. But his eyes also fell on something else.
"Hey guys, look here!" Ruka excitedly waved the magazine around in the air. "In the list of participants, Sakura Mikan is listed in the Junior High category." Anna and looked at each other with ecstatic eyes.
"Wow!" Iinchou cried, "I wish that we could she her competition if not talk to her."
"Seriously," Sumire said, annoyed. "Grr… Why does that girl get a chance to meet my idol before me?"
"Shut the jealously perms. We know that your happy that she's coming to Tokyo. Everyone is," Koko interrupted
"Don't get all excited. It's not like we can go see her or she is going to come here. She doesn't even remember us," Natsume, who gave no crap about Yuko Takeuchi, sourly added. But that didn't change the fact that among everyone, Natsume wanted to see her the most.
"You guys are such idiots," Hotaru sighed and closed her book on engineering. "Even if we can't go, we can convince Mr. Narumi to broadcast it live for us at school. If he doesn't, then we can just create an underground society and watch the competition using one of my projection monitors. I can very easily intercept and manipulate TV satellite signals."
"Imai, you're scary," Ruka commented, and everyone else nodded. Not that Hotaru cared.
A/N: I made changes! Actually, I made them long ago, but they didn't show. So, I just uploaded a new doc! Yay! Sorry for the bad chapter last time. Yeah, I hated it too. Anyway, please like and follow my story, and please, please, please review it. They really help! Please sit tight for the next chapter, I will be done in a few hours time.