Chapter 9

Mikan's POV

This is it. The much awaited Gakuen Alice Food Expo. Kashino and I arrived at the Gakuen Alice Main Hall three hours earlier than the expected time so that I can bond with my friends before the competition starts.

"Ne, Mikan-chan what are you going to cook for the food expo?" Anna asked me.

I just smiled at her and replied "Secret."

"Just make sure that you'll win this okay? Or else, I am going to transfer to the winning class due to embarrassment" Hotaru threatened.

"I know you'll never do that Hotaru" I replied confidently.

"Oh, don't dare me" she replied back

"I know you will never leave me!" I said and hugged her tight "You're my best friend after all!"

Hotaru just sighed and I chuckled.

As minutes passed, the Main Hall was filled with students of each Class with banners as a sign of their support for their class and its representatives. There would be five classes competing in this extra curricular examination. Class A up to Class E. Each class has a designated color assigned to them so that the judges can have a distinction between each class. Class A is color Blue, Class B is color Red, Class C is White, Class D is Green and Class E is Yellow. The Main Halls' bleachers were filled with students wearing color coded shirts representing their class. I scanned the area and was taken aback when I saw Permy wearing a Red shirt and a skirt holding a red banner with my picture on it with words saying "Go Mikan Sakura, you are Class B's pride!" and on her side is Koko who was holding and waving a red flag with Class B's logo in it.

"Seriously, are we having a cheerleading competition here?" I asked myself but Hotaru answered the question

"You know Permy, she's quite ecstatic about this and she is exaggerated with actions especially after Koizumi barged into our room to challenge you."

Hearing Koizumi's name makes my stomach flinch. After I heard from Natsume that she went to our classroom to challenge me and declared that she is making me lose in this expo, my determination to win this grew stronger. I do not know if Luna may use underhand tactics to get me down but I swear, I will not let her win this. If I could not win this, neither does that Luna. I even asked Kashino to train me double time so that my skills would increase abruptly even though it drained my energy to death; I am still determined to learn so that I can beat Luna.

Normal POV

Narumi, who was dressed in his most flamboyant clothes so far gets up to the stage with a microphone in his hands. "Good day my dear Gakuen Alice students!" he said, catching the crowd's attention.

"What the hell was he wearing?!" Ruka shrieked. He was already seated in the bleachers together with the others.

"It was a dress robe obviously" Hotaru snarled

"I know, but isn't it a bit lurid? I mean, that dress robe is technically fitted for girls to wear!"

"Why do you even care about what he wears? Do you want to wear that kind of dress too?" Hotaru teased.

"Funny, Hotaru" Ruka replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm ashamed that he is my class adviser" Hotaru scowled.

"Welcome to Gakuen Alice Food Expo!" Narumi happily exclaimed "To start off, I would like to introduce the judges who will critic each representative's creative work! First off, we have Serina Yamada-sensei followed by Misaki-sensei and last but not the least is Jinno-sensei!"

The crowd applauded as the three teachers goes onstage and Narumi continued with his speech "And I will now announce the criteria for judging. 15% is the presentation, 15% is the taste and 20% is its relation to the theme which sums up to 50% of the total score which will be coming from the judges and the remaining 50% will be coming from the total sales that will be garnered by each representative making it 100%. Of course, the theme is a surprise and obviously, the participants are completely unaware of this thus making the food expo more thrilling! The formal competition will start in an hour so the participants must be ready! I'll come back in an hour to introduce each participant! Adieu!" and with that, Narumi left the stage.

"I'm getting excited!" Nonoko squealed in delight.

"Me too! I can't wait to see Mikan-chan onstage!" Anna replied.

"Ne, Hotaru did you bring your camera?" Sumire asked

"Do you think I will leave my camera in my room at this time?" Hotaru replied.

Sumire rolled her eyes "Whatever. Just make sure you will take splendid shots"

"Hey, where is Mikan anyway?" Anna asked.

Nonoko shrugged her shoulders "Who knows? Maybe she is at the backstage or somewhere else, preparing herself"

"Natsume is not yet here either" Ruka butts in.

Hotaru looked at him and muttered "I smell something fishy"

"Huh?" Ruka said.

"Never mind" Hotaru replied back


Outside the Main Hall, at a lone Sakura tree stood the brunette who was obviously trembling due to nervousness. Mikan left the Main Hall a few minutes ago because she cannot stand the feeling of anxiety that was gushing all throughout her system. She breathed in slowly and deeply, trying to ease her tension.

"What are you still doing here?" a husky voice she knew too well surfaced in the quiet environment.

"Where are you, Natsume?" Mikan asked. She roamed her surroundings but her partner is nowhere to be seen. But suddenly, someone jumped from a branch behind her and as she turned around, it is no one else but Natsume.

"You didn't answer my question, Polka" Natsume muttered.

"I'm nervous. That's why I am here, to breathe some air to relieve my anxiety"

"I never expected you to become nervous. As far I as I can remember, you're only nervous and afraid when you're in dark places, not stupid events like this."

Mikan blushed a slight tinge of pink as she remembered what happened when they were inside the Haunted House in Central Town few days ago. "I know but I am still frightened. Who knows what will happen right? What if I lose? What if my cooking skills were still horrible? What if the food I cooked tasted nasty? What if no one buys my sweets? What if Luna uses some underhand tactics to bring me down? What if-"

Mikan was cut off when Natsume suddenly pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arms around her petite body. "Enough with your stupid 'what ifs', you will really get nervous if you think of those uncertainties. All you need to do is focus on what you are doing and just think of the positive things and discard the negative ones."

"N-Natsume..." Mikan's voice was quite trailing off. "Is that really you? You didn't insult or tease me today; rather you give me words of encouragement. That's a first"

"I know and you know that it doesn't fit in my personality, I am quite shocked that I can give some stupid encouraging words to a polka dotted panty girl like you"

"There goes your teasing" Mikan smiled "Thank you, Natsume. I guess my anxiety was lessened now"

"Lessening your anxiety is not enough, Polka. It should be completely gone"

"Then what am I going to do for it to vanish completely?" Mikan asked.

Natsume smirked "Simple." And with that, he broke the hug and cupped Mikan's face and planted a chaste kiss on her lips "That should do the trick" he snickered.

Mikan's face was flushed when Natsume broke the kiss "W-w-what w-was t-t-that?"

"A kiss, you moron"

"W-why did you do that?"

"To make your anxiety go away"

"You stole my second kiss!" Mikan retorted.

"So what? If you want, I can steal your third, fourth, fifth kisses and so on"

"You dimwit...!"

"Now I can see that your anxiety has vanished, since you can quarrel with me once again. See? The kiss did really work" he said, smirking.

Mikan was stunned and unconsciously touched her lips "I'm going back, the event may start any minute now." And with that she left without any other word.


"Where have you been, Natsume?" Ruka asked as Natsume took the seat beside him.

"Just roaming around." Natsume replied bluntly.

Natsume quickly scanned the area to look for a certain brunette and as soon as he spotted her, his brows were quickly narrowed at the sight of Kashino beside her.

"Are you feeling nervous, Mikan?" Kashino asked.

Mikan remembered how Natsume helped cast her fears away and so she replied with much confidence "Not at all"

Without any warning, Kashino pulled her into a hug making her yelp a little bit "I know you can do it, besides I am the one who trained you after all."

Mikan just muttered a simple "thanks" before going to the backstage.

"Did Kashino just hug Mikan-chan?!" Nonoko asked as she watched the two near the stage.

"Apparently, he did" Hotaru replied nonchalantly before turning into Natsume "Did you see that, Hyuuga?"

"Of course, I have my eyes you know" Natsume bluntly replied with a smug look on his face and his fist clenched.

"Jealous?" Hotaru retorted.

"Dream on, Imai" Natsume muttered under his breath.

"I really envy Mikan!" Sumire butts in "First, she got Natsume as her partner and now, she was hugged by Kashino-sama!"

"Oh, shut up Permy" Hotaru sneered.

"That bastard is really getting on my nerves" Natsume muttered in his thoughts "Anyway, I am Polka's first and second kiss, that's my advantage...wait, what am I thinking?! Natsume get your mind straight!"

Narumi then entered the stage once again and greeted the students to gain their attention; he cleared his throat and started his dialogue "Well then my precious students! This is the moment that we have been waiting for! I will now introduce the participant of each class so that we can start our food expo! To start off, let's give a round of applause to Blue Team's representative, Yura Otonashi-san of Class A!"

Cheers and applause from students of Class A hollered into the walls of the Main Hall as Yura Otonashi goes up to the stage.

"The next participant is from my advisory class, my beloved Class B!" Narumi continued "Everyone, I am very proud to introduce to you the Red Team's representative, Mikan Sakura!"

As soon as Mikan entered the stage, she gave the crowd her most radiant smile and waved at them. Mikan also looked at the bleachers were Class B are seated and as soon as her hazel orbs met the crimson ones, she mouthed the words "I am not nervous now!" which of course only Natsume was able to understand thus making him nod and smile at her.

"What did Mikan say?" Nonoko asked, trying to comprehend the words Mikan just mouthed.

Sumire shrugged "I don't know but whatever it is, I think it is something good since she's smiling"

Ruka was still clapping his hands when he turned to Natsume and it surprises him that Natsume is actually smiling, not that wide smile like Mikan's but a small smile was obviously etched on his face. "Did you understand what Mikan just mouthed just now?"

Natsume quickly regained his usual composure and replied back "What do you mean?"

"I saw you smiling just now right after Mikan looked at us and muttered some words we cannot decipher." Ruka replied.

"I'm not smiling"

"Oh, yes you are" Hotaru butts in "No one escapes the lenses of my camera" and with that, she showed him the photo of himself while he is still smiling.

"Whatever" Natsume groaned, while Hotaru smirked. "I'll give you 100 rabbits, just delete that photo"

Hotaru thought for a moment "I'll think about it Hyuuga"

Narumi cleared his throat and introduced the Class C's representative "Let us welcome the representative of the White Team, Luna Koizumi!"

When Luna appeared on stage, the whole Class B groaned while the Class C cheered with delight. Luna walked beside Mikan and said in a soft voice "Scared, Sakura?"

Mikan quickly retorted "You wish"

"Let's welcome onstage Green Team's representative, Class D's Yumi Hanazaki!" Narumi continued and as the crowds cheered, he called onstage the last competitor for the said event "Last but definitely not the least, let us welcome Yellow Team's representative, Class E's Mizuki Yamamura!"

When all of the participants were onstage, Narumi continued with his speech "Okay, to start this competition, I already said the criteria for judging a while ago and so, I will now announce the theme for this event okay? Now, all you need to do is create a dessert that you think is related to the theme. And, the theme for this event is..."

Mikan kept her eyes closed, waiting for the theme to be announced. A lot of ideas were now currently running on her head.

"...FIRST LOVE!" Narumi finished.

Mikan opened her eyes with shock upon hearing the theme.


End of Chapter 9!

I guess, this one is quite short compared to the previous one...

Well, spare me for some grammatical errors if you've noticed any!

Can you share me your thoughts about it through your reviews?

~Natsumi Yuki-Hime