OH MY GOD! I'M FINALLY BACK! AND MY EXAMS ARE OVER! I want to express my deepest gratitude to the one that had supported me all the way.
Arigatou minna!
But... I'm still not completely free yet. I still have to return to my school and I'm only here for a short while so don't expect too much. But I'll try my best :D
Once again, thank you so much for supporting me and I will try my best to update faster, but don't get your hopes up.
"Ohayo, minna!" Mikan greeted cheerfully. Suddenly, her body fell onto the ground with two burdens tackling her.
"Anna-chan? Nonoko-chan?" Mikan asked hesitantly when she saw two girls with dark blur hair and pink hair hugging her.
"Mikan-chan! We were so worried! Why didn't you come to school for TWO whole weeks!"
Mikan scratched the back of her head sheepishly while being bombard with questions by the two friends.
"Gomen, Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan but a relative of mine got into an accident and was immediately hospitalized. I'm pretty worry about him so I went to visit. The reason it was so long because he lived in America so... yeah, I just got here yesterday,"
Anna and Nonoko pouted, clearly not satisfied with the answer.
"You could at least call us! We were worried to death, thinking that some crazy guy kidnap you and sold you and you had to be a slave and force to work all day and night with no food!"
"Poor Mikan-chan!" both of the girls cried in unison.
Mikan gave them both a guilty smile.
"Gomen, Anna-chan, Nonoko-chan. I promise to call next time,"
"Mikan-chan! I'm glad you're okay,"
Mikan turned to see the relieved face of Yuu Tobita.
"Iinchou! I really miss you!"
Inside her mind, Mikan was truly grateful that she was given friends like them.
They were worried about me. I'm so happy to have friends like them.
Unknown to her, a pair of crimson eyes were watching her suspiciously.
"Good morning my beautiful students! Ah! Mikan-chan! You're finally back! How is your cousin doing? I hope he will recover soon! Well, enough of that! Now class, today, I will be giving you an assignment! Isn't that exciting?"
Narumi ignored the groans of protest from the students.
"Now, for today's class, you are going to pair up with a partner and write an essay about any problems that the world is facing and ways to prevent it. You and your partner will present it in front of the class next week! You may choose your own partner!"
"NATSUME-SAMA! PLEASE BE MY PARTNER!"
"NO, NATSUME-SAMA! BE MY PARTNER!"
"RUKA-SAMA! I WANT TO BE YOUR PARTNER!"
"NO WAY! I'M RUKA-SAMA'S PARTNER!"
"Che, this is annoying," Natsume said with an irritated voice.
"Iinchou! Do you want to be my partner?" Mikan asked sandy haired boy.
"Sure, Mikan-chan. I don't mind, but..."
"Oi, little girl. Be my partner,"
Mikan's head snapped towards Natsume and she stuck out her tongue.
"Don't wanna!"
Natsume's eye twitched.
"Oi, little girl..." Natsume sent out a dangerous aura.
"Kyaa! Iinchou! Help me!"
Yuu only sweat-dropped as he watched Natsume pulling Mikan's hair and Mikan shouting for him to let go.
"Gomen, Mikan-chan, but it think it's better if you partner with Natsume-kun," Yuu smiled apologetically before he bowed to Mikan and went off to find another partner.
"Natsume you meanie! Now, Iichou won't be my partner!" Mikan pouted.
"Hn,"
"That's all for today's class! I'm expecting you all to finish the assignment by next week or not..."
Suddenly, Narumi's face turned dark.
"You all will fail this class!"
The class shivered when they saw the creepy smile on their teacher's face.
"Hai, sensai!"
When Narumi left the class, everyone buzzed about how Narumi-sansei could be a little scary at times.
"Ne, Natsume-kun, what topic are we going to write about?"
"Che, I don't care, baka."
Hearing his respond, Mikan pouted.
"Mou! Natsume-kun is a bigger baka! Be serious! I'm not a genius like you so I can't fail this class."
Natsume rolled his eyes and gave an irritated sigh.
"Fine, we'll discuss this at your home after school."
Mikan froze.
"I-I don't think my house would be a good idea. It's small and messy so let's go to your house instead!" Mikan prayed vigorously that Natsume would agree.
Natsume became suspicious.
"Whatever, baka."
Mikan let out an audible sigh of relief.
"Arigatou, Natsume-kun!"
After that, class went on like normal and soon, it was already the end of school.
"Wow~ Natsume-kun, your house is so cool!" Mikan practically gawked at the sight in front of her. The house was HUGE!
"Baka, don't make that stupid face. Hurry up and get in!" Natsume said annoyed.
As soon as they entered, a very familiar voice greeted Mikan just before she was tackled into a bear hug.
"Mikan-nee!"
Mikan giggled at the figure that was hugging her.
"It's nice to see you again, Aoi-chan!"
"You're so noisy! Let's hurry up and finish the homework already!" an irritated voice was heard.
"You-chan!"
Youichi was surprised to see the girl but none of it showed on his usually calm face.
"Mikan-nee, what are you doing here?" Youichi asked, curious. The meeting did caught him off guard. He hadn't hear anything about the older girl for two weeks since he found the letter in his desk. She hadn't been to the company too when he heard that she didn't have any song to sing.
"I'm here with this meanie because we were partner up with an assignment," Mikan complained.
"Oi!"
Mikan stuck out her tongue.
Aoi only giggled at her brother's and the older girl's behavior. Youichi was also watching them with an amused smirk.
"Natsume-kun you big meanie! Let's just hurry up and finish the assignment already!"
Mikan stormed off angrily.
After a few moment, Mikan came back looking sheepish.
"Um.. Natsume-kun, where's your room?"
Aoi couldn't hold back her giggles while Youichi was chuckling. Natsume only rose his eyebrow with a smirk plastered on his face. Mikan blushed, knowing full well that she had just embarrassed herself.
"Let's go, ugly,"
Mikan only followed Natsume in silence with her face still slightly red from the embarrassment.
As soon as Natusme opened the door, Mikan was shocked.
The room was surprisingly clean.
There was a queen sized bed in the middle of the room and a huge closet beside was a door that led to the bathroom on the left wall. Opposite to it was another door that Mikan wasn't sure it led to. In one corner, there was a mini library with a desk beside it.
Mikan was amazed.
"Oi, baka! Are you going to come in or gawk like an idiot all day!"
Mikan snapped back to reality.
"Hehehe...gomen, Natsume-kun,"
When Mikan entered the room, she looked around uneasily.
"..."
Natsume sighed.
"You can sit on the bed,"
Biting her lips, she went near the bed. Ever so gently, Mikan sat on the edge of the bed. Natsume looked weirdly at Mikan's strange behavior.
"Oi, baka! You're gonna fall if you sit like that,"
Mikan shook her head and smiled awkwardly.
"It's okay. I won't fall!"
"Hn,"
Natsume went to the bed and sat beside Mikan, making sure there was some distance between them.
"Well, first of all, what topic are we gonna do about?" Mikan broke the awkward silence.
"I don't care. Anything's fine," Natsume answered lazily.
Mikan pouted.
"Mou, Natume-kun baka! I can't think any topic suitable! It's hard! You're a genius one! You pick one!"
Natsume let out an irritated sigh.
"Fine, what about child abuse?" Natsume answered lazily.
Mikan froze.
"Um.. w-w-why don't we pick a different topic? I bet other students already picked that one," Mikan tried to control her composure but to no avail. That's one topic that she never want to discuss about.
Natsume eyed Mikan suspiciously when he heard the slight crack in her voice.
"Don't wanna. It's too troublesome to think another one,"
"Please, Natsume-kun! Let's pick another topic!" Mikan was desperate. She did not want to remember about her parents.
Suddenly, she felt a grip on her wrist and was pulled by the hand. As soon as the hand came in contact with her, memories about her mother's and father's abuse flashed through her mind. Without warning, she felt her body tensed and trembled in fear on its own. Natsume immediately released her hand when he felt shivers under his hand.
"Oi, little girl!" Natsume was getting worried when he saw Mikan's face turned petrified and her body won't stop trembling. Her eyes were widen in fear and there were glistering with unshed tears.
Not knowing what to do, his body moved on its own. Before he realized it, he was hugging the trembling girl. Natsume heard Mikan murmuring softly under her breath.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,"
It was a few minutes after that before the trembling creased and finally stopped completely. Mikan also stopped talking to herself.
"G-G-G-Gomen, Natsume-kun!" Mikan's face instantly turned beet red when she realized the position they were in. She immediately broke the embrace while Natsume looked as if it was the most normal thing to do.
"I-I-It's getting late so I better go home now, Bye, Natsume-kun!" Mikan hastily grabbed her beg with a still red face and was about to dash out of the room when she felt a hand grabbed her and pulled her towards it. Caught off guard, she stumbled and fell onto Natsume's lap.
"N-N-Natsume-kun!" Mikan squeaked, her face instantly turned crimson red.
"Why didn't you come to school for two weeks? It was getting boring without your annoying voice."
Despite her red face, Mikan tried to glare at Natsume but failed when she saw him looking at her with those ruby red eyes.
"I-I-I-I w-w-went t-to visit m-my cousin i-in America w-when he was h-h-hospitalized!"
"You're lying," Natsume stated bluntly.
"N-N-No I'm not!" Mikan defended.
Mikan squeaked when she felt Natsume placed his hand on her cheeks.
"Mikan, you should already know by now that you're a bad liar," Natsume stated bluntly.
Mikan was speechless when she felt Natsume softly caressing her cheek. She knew that the lie won't work. Especially on Natsume Hyuuga. Before she could say anything, the door opened and Mikan quickly jumped off from Natsume's lap with a still blushing face while Natsume looked like nothing happen.
"Natsume-nii! Mikan-nee! Youichi-kun is bullying me again!" Aoi complained as she entered the room.
"I'm not bullying you. I'm just asking you to do things for homework," Youichi replied irritably as he followed behind Aoi.
"You-chan! That's not nice making Aoi-chan do all the work," Mikan scolded lightly. The said boy only shrugged.
Aoi looked at Mikan curiously.
"Ne, Mikan-nee, why is your face all red?"
Mikan unconsciously touched her face and the earlier events flashed back into her mind. If anything, her face turned a deeper shade of crimson and she stammered out an excuse,
"I-I-It's h-h-hot in here!"
Natsume slightly rose his eyebrows knowing full well that the air-conditioning has been turned on for a while now.
"Looks like it's getting late! I have to go! See you tomorrow guys!"
In a flash, Mikan grabbed her beg and made a dash to the door. As soon as Mikan was out of the room, Aoi turned toward her brother and gave him an irritated glare.
"It must be your fault, Natsume-nii! Otherwise, Mikan-nee won't go home so early!"
Aoi continued to complain as Youichi dragged her out of the room. He knew that something had happened between Mikan and Natsume for her to react that way. But when he saw the cool indifferent expression on Natsume's face, all worries vanished from his mind. He knew all too well how protective his older brother figure could be so he only shrugged it off.
"Why do I have a troublesome partner?" Youichi muttered as both of them disappeared from Natsume's view.
Silence filled the room as Natsume was left all alone. Suddenly, Natsume's phone rang. He lazily answered.
"What business do you have with me?"
"Really, Hyuuga? Is that how you answered your phone?"
Natsume was silent for a second when he heard that voice.
"What do you want?"
"I'm just asking if you already told her."
"No, I haven't."
"Good, change of plans. Don't tell her until I tell you to do so."
"Fine, whatever."
Without another word, both caller hung up.
