Only one review for the past chapter. Sigh. Thanks, anyways, Yoyo-chan, for cheering me up with your encouraging words. I will soon post a chapter that would explain everything you want to know. Better stay tune, so you won't get left behind. Thank you, thank you! Coming from the bottom of my heart. I hope you keep reading this story, and my amateur writing skills won't bore you. Sorry for being a pessimist, I just can't help it. I'm not usually like this....
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gakuen Alice. I mean, whoever in this site do?
[[[NatsuMikan383 is signing in]]]
I'll always look back as I walk away This memory will last for eternity.
~~some lines from the song 'Queen of my Heart' by Westlife~~
I'll be there
Chapter Eight: The Past is Catching Up
Lying down once again, after realizing she was still sleepy, she pressed the button to answer the call. "Hello?"
A monotone voice of a female said from the other line, "Mikan, it's me."
Her forehead was scrunched up in confusion. The voice sounded oddly familiar, but she couldn't point out when, how, and WHO. What kind of person would call in such an ungodly hour?! A stalker, maybe? Or a terrorist coming to bomb her for some unknown reason...? Who knows? Such thoughts are purely out of her over-imaginative mind. What an eccentric brain she has, in that reason.
"Excuse me, who are you?" her voice was slightly shaking, and she was trying to conceal the fear she was feeling at the moment. It's just a wrong number, it's just a wrong number, she repeated to herself. But then she realized that cover-up had a hole--the mysterious caller knew her name!
A bitter laugh came from the other line. "I'm not surprised. You're still the same," the cold voice said. "You seriously don't recognize me?" This made the brunette baffled even more. Huh? A moment of silence passed uneasily. Now why does she feel that once in her life, she had been accustomed by the bluntness of the woman's voice? Hmm. Just...who could it be?!
Anna?
No, no. That friend of hers was probably snoring in her bed right now.
Think harder.
Ding!
Mikan's face lit up in excitement, as realization finally dawned on her.
"Hotaru!!!" She had said the name a little too loud. Somehow she had forgotten that people were still snoozing in their beds, off to their dreamlands. "Idiot. Don't shout, you're waking all my neighbors," the voice reprimanded in a blank tone. "I can hear you three meters from my phone so stop screaming before my ears start bleeding."
Mikan ignored her friend's statement. "How have you been? What happened to you after graduation? How'd you get my number? Why did you call me so suddenly? Why now? At three in the morning?" All of these questions, all in one breath. Wow, this girl is probably more than we give her credit for.
"We'll talk about that later. Tomorrow...do you have plans for tomorrow?"
The brunette tried recalling what day was tomorrow, and knowing it was Friday, she answered truthfully, "I have work from morning 'til 7:30 PM. After that, I'm free."
"Good. Meet me at our old place. At about 8 in the evening, got it?" The girl on the other line sounded urgent.
"Wait. I'll write it on paper, in case I forget," Mikan fumbled for a pen and a piece of scratch paper. She wrote: Meet Hotaru tomorrow at Old Place, 8 PM. Although the brown-eyed girl couldn't see her raven-haired friend, she was sure she had rolled her eyes at her. She could almost hear it....
"Got it."
Another roll of eyes. "Yeah, right," was the reply before adding, "Don't be late."
"Bye, for now."
"Wait, Hotaru! What is this all about...?"
The phone went dead even before Mikan uttered a word. Sakura Mikan had to sigh. No matter how hard she tries to run away from her past, it always seems like it would always find a way to catch up.
Ladies and gentlemen, another addition to Mikan's chaotic life; Imai Hotaru. She was her bestfriend throughout High-school. Before, Hotaru was tagged as the "Ice Queen" mostly because of her icy stares and stoic, amethyst eyes. But Mikan knew more than that≈she knew that if you looked beyond the walls Hotaru built around herself, you would find out that she had a kind and loving, but frozen heart, waiting for the warmth of love. Despite their differences, their friendship was solid through the years, even becoming stronger through the test of time. Sure, they never ran out of things to argue about, but there was only one time that their precious friendship was deeply scarred.
During their Sophomore Year, Ruka started courting Hotaru. Back when the time that the emotionless bestfriend of hers knew all about her 'pathetic crush'≈as Hotaru had put it≈on the blond boy. One day, Mikan's anger bursted out of her that she started screaming words like "Traitor!" or "Bitchy Snake!" at her bestfriend. That was when everyone discovered that the Ice Queen had feelings. Mikan's spicy words stung, that for the first time, Hotaru sounded uncertain and anxious...with a distinguished emotion. All her hurt was probably poured out when she said, "I made a huge mistake. I was so cold, that my heart froze, so when you tried penetrate it, my heart shattered into pieces, " A lone tear fell from her cheeks. "I never knew it would hurt so much. Even now that the broken shards pricked my feet." She wiped away the crystal tear then....
......she ran away.
Being the dense person she is, the teenage brunette didn't really know what Hotaru's words meant. She did know one thing though; she had hurt her bestfriend. Bad. It took one week for Mikan to gather up the guts to apologize to her cold bestfriend. Hotaru forgave her easily, too easily. As if nothing ever happened between them. They both were resilient concerning the setback. The girl with chestnut brown locks told the emotionless teen that she wouldn't mind anymore if Ruka went out with Hotaru. After all, she wasn't his girlfriend. She had no right, and she was stating the facts. The purple-eyed girl shrugged the matter off and even said, "Like I care about him."
Neither of them knew they were lying to each other at that time.
After the big conflict, they came back to normal again. Daily squabbles, Hotaru avoiding Mikan's hugs, and that strong connection between them; even stronger. So strong that there came one time they treated each other more than friends. Wait a minute! Don't freak out just yet! They were sisters in their own secret worlds...
Mikan and Hotaru are two lucky persons to find such true friends in each other. They gave more meaning to the saying, "Opposites attract." Sadly, when they graduated, they've been busy with their own separate lives. They lost touch, but they always remained in each other's hearts.
The brunette was slowly slipping into unconsciousness. She fell asleep, still holding her cellphone up to her ear, while muttering, "I knew you'd come back, Hotaru..."
It was a fine day the next day. Birds chirping from a nearby tree, no signs of possible rain, or a humid day. Just temperate. The sun was still peeping through the thick haze of orange skies. Sakura Mikan voluntarily wakes up, for the record, in such an early time. With so much excitement over her appointment with her old bestfriend, she woke up feeling hyper. Did you ever experience waking up, and you're in a good mood like nothing bad's gonna happen to the day ahead of you? For our protagonist, today was one of those days.
She swiftly did all her morning rituals with more energy than needed. When it was all done, she practically skipped towards her car and sped off heading to her work place. The streets were almost empty≈you would spot one car in every other 10 minutes or so. She put on a Westlife CD, blasted up the volume, as she cruised along the highway. The first song made her bang her head with its bouncy tune as 'When You're Looking Like That' blared from her car speakers. She was glad she hadn't woken people up from their beds, or so she thought.
6: 20 AM, Nogi Technologies Company
Mikan parked her faded yellow pick-up car in an empty lot across the big building. She turns off the engine, ejects the CD, then gamboled towards the glass doors of the company she'd been working for. To her surprise, Anna Ummenomiya (sp?) was already behind the information desk, smiling while the brunette approached her. Right, she almost forgot that her pink-haired girl was best known for punctuality back in their Grade School days. Such a sharp memory she had, she boasted mentally.
Anna asked with an amused smile, "Mikan-chan, you look blooming today. What's up?"
"Everything's up! Hotaru just called yesterday! And we're meeting up after work," Mikan replied chirpily.
Confused as she was, the pinkette had a puzzled look on her face, "Um. Who's Hotaru??" The brunette smiled widely that it looked like her face was gonna rip into halves. Freaky. She said, "She's my high-school bestfriend."
7:00 AM, Mikan's office, Nogi Technologies Company
She opened her laptop the instant she sat on her swivel seat, a good 30 minutes ago. She was working on some presentation that her boss requested her to do. In result, she got strained eyes and a stiff neck. She had to cock her head to the side, hearing some sound of bones cracking, to ease the pain. When she looked up, she saw through her superior's office. Only to find a blond person, snoring lightly, his head on the table. Ruka?
A chuckle escaped from her lips. He slept in, she thought as an explanation. Mikan slowly shook the man to wake him up. His ocean-blue eyes flung open, and seeing the brunette's close proximity, he had to jerk up. Mikan laughed lightly at his panicked reaction. Why was he so fidgety all of the sudden? Maybe he's not a morning person? Huh. Probable.
The girl with amber eyes smiled widely and said, "Good morning!" Ruka gasped. "Mikan?! What are you doing in my house?" he hissed. Brown-haired girl smirked. "Are you even sure you're in your house?"
Looking around, the man saw the large glass window in at his back overlooked the city, there was no sign of home in the room, and most of all, there wasn't even a bed around. He soon realized that indeed, he wasn't home. He blushed in embarrassment. "Um...I..." he started to stammer helplessly. "Sorry," he sighed.
Mikan grinned even wider. "You were snoring," she teased.
"What?! I did not...." Ruka trailed off.
With a disgusted sound, she said, "You were even drooling." She made a face as if to prove her statement.
The blond boy's hand immediately went to his mouth, wiping it madly for any signs of icky liquid. The brunette guffawed. "I was joking!" She said after she finished laughing her head off. His eyes became lethal as he glared at her. Mikan giggled. "You're not a person who actually likes morning, are you?" she prodded. "You look awful. Try looking at yourself at the mirror, and see if it breaks."
His glare intensified, clearly not enjoying the jokes she'd been cracking. If she wasn't his bestfriend....
She was feeling playful today, but realizing he's not up for it, she frowned. She apologized then said, "Sorry for making you feel more horrible. I just feel....ecstatic today, that's all." She spun on her heels, her back facing to him. And she looked over her shoulder, now with a composed face, "Just call me when you need help. I'll be at my office." With that, she forced herself outside the room, away from her grumpy boss. When she was finally out the door, she heard a soft sigh from inside the room.
Mikan went back to her table, holding back the tears. He never changed, in her opinion. Every day, he became a different person. One day he was acting all nice, the next day, he was aloof and distant. The next.....she wouldn't know what to expect. Why was she affected by that little thing? The most obvious explanation was Ruka usually acted crabbier in the morning. But why was she getting all emotional? It's not like they had a relationship, she didn't have the right to snap on him about this.
This was one of the negative things about him. She knew she would encounter this every now and then. Yet, before, she had accepted it all willingly. She knew nobody was perfect. But what changed now? Is it because Natsume was included in the picture? And she would accidentally compare them with each other?
She saw her bright sun fade in the sky. A gloomy cloud took its place and it started to rain.....
Oblivious to her, tears were streaming down her eyes. Her brilliant smile was gone, and was turned upside down. Her energy dropped down to zero, to a negative level even, if it was possible. It was a such petty thing to upset her. Why did she have to cry? This was nothing compared when Ruka asked Hotaru out. This insignificant part of him would pale in comparison to his cluelessness about what her feelings she had for him by them. She was weak; that was the answer. This was karma striking, for secretly loving a man she knew would never loved her back. Then wait for someone to be there when she needed someone to love her. Yes, that was it.
The door to her executive's office opened so sudden, that it startled her and made her jump to her feet. In one quick movement, she wiped her tears away and pretended to be busy encoding something on her silvery-blue Apple Notebook. (a/n: Is there a model of Apple that matched my description? If not, then just imagine :-D) Out came Ruka.
Because of her outburst moments ago, she was still sniffing. Most likely, her eyes looked all puffy and red like she'd been crying all night. But she was determined to fool her boss for the sake of maybe some distance from him. From her unrequited love for him. She loved him so much that if he would ask her to lie, she would say, "I don't love you." Something she was avoiding to do. Denying her love for him would ache as much as hiding in the shadows while admiring him from afar.
On the other hand, the blond boy's intention was mainly to borrow his secretary's cellphone to call his grandma. He hadn't been in all night. His phone had ran out of battery, and he had no idea how much this worried the person who raised him. Maybe she already called a search party for him, assuming he'd been kidnapped because of his millions in the bank. Hahaha. He could already imagine the old lady, scolding the police for not doing their work and instead, just sitting pretty while eating donuts.....
The continuous sound of someone's fingers typing on the keyboard broke his trance. He noticed Mikan's condition, and frowned. "Were you...crying?" he reluctantly inquired the 'busy' girl. As if. She smiled, fake of course, and he knew that for the fact that it didn't reach her eyes. "Of course not," she reassured, but her shaking voice gave her away. "Why would I?" He scrutinized her face carefully, he was sure he had seen some flicker of anger mixed with sadness in her eyes. What did he do now? He knew nothing.
"Then why.....?" his questioning tone was almost out of suspicion, but he couldn't blame himself for that since he knew, she was hiding something from him. Not taking her eyes off the flat screen, she replied, " *sniff sniff* I cried in laughing because of the expression you had a while ago...." Finally, a genuine smile. She was still lying though, he noted.
His voice was critical when he asked, "Are you sure there isn't anything else?" Was Mikan starting to lose her trust to him? That she couldn't even say what was wrong? Long ago, it seemed like another lifetime, when both of them were like a transparent glass. They knew what they were feeling, the pain, the emotions they shared. It wasn't that hard to express it when they're together. But now, he thought maybe because he didn't take notice of that glass anymore, that moss started to outgrow it, and the dirt accumulated through time was enough to cover that glass. They needed a general cleaning. That's it, that's all he needed to restore their transparency with each other. WRONG.
Mikan looked at him fully this time, stopped typing, stared straight right through his eyes, and spat, "Do you care?"
Did he care? The hell he did! She's his bestfriend. Well, was, anyway. He never really realized how far they grew from each other. Just now. "Of course, I do! What makes you think I don't?" was his shocked response. His question came by as a reflex. The brunette fixed her stare back to the laptop, and started tapping on the keyboard once again. She quietly said, "Go ask yourself."
What did he do to deserve this? He simply wanted to borrow her cellphone, but then he got worried because she looked like she was crying, and now he gets this? What's the drama all about?!
"Mikan," he whispered. She didn't respond. "Mikan," he repeated. "What!" she hissed, and looked up from the screen. He laughed impishly, "Hehe. Can I borrow your phone? My phone is off, and I forgot to bring a charger so...." he didn't finish his plea anymore, he was too mortified to do so. She glowered at him before she got her bag, and fumbled for something in there.
Ten minutes later, the girl's bag already spilled all its contents. The stupid cellphone was found at the bottom of Mikan's bag. She seemed embarassed by this too, but tried to keep up her 'tough girl' attitude around him. She could find someplace where she can scold herself......
She handed him her mobile phone awkwardly, and went back to work. While Ruka was dialing a number, Mikan sighed inwardly. Stupid me, she thought. He just came out to hitch a call, then you go spitting hurtful words at him. Genius. She was blaming it all to herself again. The truth was, she wasn't really busy doing stuff in her laptop. She just had to put that charade as an excuse to ignore him. And whenever she typed something, she would eventually end up typing, "I hate you." or "I Love ?" So maybe that was something to be busy about. After a conversation on the phone, Ruka returned the phone to her. When she refused to accept it, typing her fingers away, he decided to just put it in the table instead. He said, "I'm going home for an hour. Take care of everything here while I'm gone." Afterwards, he was headed back home. She wasn't looking forward for that.
The blond executive did come back after an hour. But she spent the rest of the day giving him cold shoulders, deadly glares, and dirty looks, like he was some kind of a WANTED criminal. He was affected by this, but in his bewilderment, he wanted not to make the problem go from worse to worst. He'd had enough.
7:20 PM, Ruka's office, Nogi Technologies Company
"I'm going," Mikan said blankly as she entered Ruka's bureau. He glanced at the Timex watch in his wrist and found out that it was 10 minutes before it's called a day. "Why so early?" he wondered aloud. She simply replied, "I have an appointment. I'm not supposed to be late so..." her eyes were distant, as if remembering a far-away memory. "I've got to go." With a wave of her hand, she was out of the room.
Ruka was left there feeling...abandoned? He couldn't find a valid reason for feeling betrayed all of the sudden. He didn't like being left by her friends, especially the best ones. But it's more than that. What if Mikan had a date? No. Did he just think of that? Yes. She said appointment, did she? Precisely. So it couldn't be. That man better take care of her or else...wait, why did he care? Maybe...it's what an overprotective brother would do?
Of course, nothing more, he tried convincing himself with no help.
7:45 PM, On the Road
HONK! HONK!!!
A certain brunette gets stuck in traffic because of some stupid vehicular accident. The queue was long; longer than you can imagine. She blamed the officials for having difficulties in towing away a ten-wheeler truck that was causing all this commotion. "Ugh! I'd be late. Again." Mikan muttered in her seat. Then, after scanning through her words, she realized she had used the wrong term. She was late, as always.
Ever since, she would always be late for a meeting. Now she wondered, do accidents happen on purpose? And did they happen for her to be late? Come to know that, she even went out the office early, though another reason for that was you-know-who, but this came up! She was destined to be late for the rest of her life. Apparently, she's late for the love train, too. It seems like she had been left all behind. The idea of romance should've been included in her life long before she got herself into this spider's web of a mess.
So she had to make a snap decision. About two options she had in her crazy mind. First; leave her car on the road, run all the way to Hotaru, then come back and get the car. She assumed it won't take that long to talk. Funny how this thought came from a very loquacious person. Second; wait for the road to clear up, then drive as fast as she can to the Old Place. But the second option had its risk; it could cause a traffic she's currently in. Accidents can happen. Mikan shuddered involuntarily. That's, well, scary. The first option, then......
8:30 PM, "Old Place"
An emotionless girl with short black hair sat in the corner of a run-down Ice Cream Shop. She'd been waiting for half an hour already. Still no sign of the perky brunette. She looked expectantly at the door, hopeful that Mikan would burst in it any sooner. But she was damn bored, so she worked up her mind for some moments with herself.
This was the place she had met Sakura Mikan who, although she didn't know how it happened, eventually became her bestfriend. They went here during hot, sunny days. But they didn't come here for ice cream, which was the shop's specialty. Specifically, her brown-haired friend liked to eat what was inside the green box with pink ribbons on the table. Howalons. A cotton-like candy with a milky-cream filling. It never failed to bring a smile to Mikan's lips everytime she devoured it like a mad beast. Seeing that, it made the stoic girl happy inside too.
Both of them were too lazy to utter the actual name of the place. At the entrance, was a big neon sign saying, "Sugar & Spice, and Everything Nice". To make it short, they called it "Our Old Place". It was a perfect place to relive memories of the past. It would be the very place where she'd walk back in her life, too, for an unknown purpose in the future.
The minutes passed slowly, as the lady's impatience bothered her that she didn't want to think about anything anymore. She swear if Mikan didn't come up in a second--
"HOTARU!!!!"
Some of the store's customers whipped toward the direction of the scream. There by the door, panting like she just ran in the Olympics, was a girl with messed up hair and beads of sweat rolled down her face. "Mikan," the amethyst-eyed girl murmured in recognition. Despite the grown height, and without the pigtailed hairstyle, her bestfriend still looked recognizable. That high-pitched voice screaming her name sure rang a bell for Hotaru.
The brown-haired girl blushed, mortified. Then the people who had seen her grand entrance went back to their own businesses, except some really nosy people. Mikan sighed in relief, glad that she had made it before her Hotaru decided to leave, then scrambled towards the impatient-looking girl sitting by the corner.
"H-Hotaru?" she squeaked. She's had enough embarrassment for a day, she can't stand a scolding from her very bestfriend. She managed to survive the long run to the shop she always went to as a child. She was even grateful she was still alive. But being clumsy as she is, she always tripped on a rock or something, or sometimes her own feet. As evidence, she got three bruises in her right leg and five in the left. Not to mention the scars in both her arms.
The raven-haired girl twitched an eyebrow. "Sit down. Now." Her demand, although said in a tone devoid of emotion, sounded dangerous and deadly. She sat obediently on a vacant seat across Hotaru. An uncanny silence was shared for a moment, but not until Mikan tried to explain her tardiness. "I'm really, really, really sor--" But Hotaru raised her hand to make her stop talking. "I decided to meet up with for three reasons," she started.
Although the day was ending, Mikan's day certainly wasn't. And with that starting sentence, the brunette knew it'd be a very long time before she gets back to her car.
And the chapter ends there. Sorry if characters in my story babble on and on, because it's my fault. I've got a lot on my mind and I really needed to release it. Sometimes I got carried away, you know. I hated how I ended this chapter, but I hope this gave you some juicy information to use in the future chaps. The next chap is supposed to be Luna's explanation. But this chap had been too long that I divided this into two chapters. Again, I apologize if my story bores you. I really am serious about my writing. And it's the beginning of summer, classes just ended yesterday for me.
PS: SOMEBODY, please review something. ANYTHING. I really am interested to hear your opinions of this story. Tell me if I suck or I rock. Don't be afraid to push that button down there, 'coz I won't bite. Well, only for those who are good to me. Lmao.
"Bye, for now." -Hotaru
[[[NatsuMikan383 is signing out]]]
