Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice, oh why can't you be mine?
Author's Message: Another update! Please have fun reading! Feel free to say anything in your reviews~ The grammar will be checked later by my proofreader. Please bear with it for awhile.
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S T A G E – N I N E
Rumble
minahoru
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"S-So that's what happened…" Misaki muttered.
After the incident two hours ago, Mikan, Natsume, and Ruka immediately called everyone to tell them what happened because it would certainly turn into big talk by tomorrow. Of course, Mikan and Natsume told their parents that they had business to take care of and bid their goodbyes.
Mikan nodded and bowed her head for the nth time. "I'm really sorry. I should have stopped things from happening!"
"W-Well, you really can't do that." Anna sweatdropped.
"Yeah, after all it was Hyuuga's fault." Hotaru smirked.
Natsume snapped and glared at Hotaru. "What did you say? You didn't see what happened so don't just blame me."
"Mou, let's stop blaming people here. The important thing now is to solve this problem. This is now everyone's trouble!" Nonoko folded her arms and pouted.
"Has anyone thought of a plan?" Tsubasa asked and looked at everyone. He heaved a sigh when no one even reacted.
"It's not that easy, Tsubasa. Although I thought of a plan," Mochu bit his lip, "I don't think it'll be fine with Ruka."
"E-Eh? Me? What does this thing got to do with me?" Ruka blinked his eyes. He pointed his index finger to himself as an act of stupidity.
"For a boyfriend, you sure act composed, Ruka." Natsume commented. He looked at Ruka in a scrutinizing way.
Ruka turned pale at this and stared at the floor.
The silence turned the whole place awkward. Mikan blinked a lot as her jaw dropped down the floor. Anna, Nonoko, Sumire, and Hotaru slowly turned their heads to Mikan. Misaki, on the other hand, stood up and made the table shake.
"B-Boyfriend?" All of them shouted in unison.
Misaki stretched her arms and pulled Mikan's hair as all of The Strangers hit her hard. Well, except for Hotaru. She sat with her legs and arms crossed and waited for the beating to end. After some time, they all got tired and returned to their seats. Mikan became unnoticeable for her messy hair and crumpled dress.
Mikan sobbed. "I-I didn't mean to keep it a secret. B-Besides, Ruka's the one at fault…" She glanced at Ruka and sniffed.
Everyone snapped their attention to Ruka as he choked himself on his saliva. "M-Mikan!"Why in hell are you passing the problem to me? He thought.
Sumire heaved a big sigh and brushed her hair with her fingers. "When did you two start going out?"
"Two months."
"One month."
Sumire raised her eyebrow. "Seriously? Whom am I going to believe? So you're saying Mikan that you both went out for two months already while Ruka says one month? What? What?"
Mikan and Ruka looked at each other, nodded, then looked back at their friends.
"One month."
"Two months."
They looked at each other and widened their eyes asking the same thing. What?
"You two…" Sumire gritted her teeth.
"I understand you Mikan." Hotaru stated. Everyone turned to the ice princess. "I understand now that you really are stupid from the rest of the stupid."
"Hotaru~" Mikan said, teary eyed.
"You two are not seriously going out, right? Do you actually plan for the media to find out about your relationship and use it to make yourselves popular?" Natsume glared at Mikan. "I'm sure you planned this all, little girl."
"What did you say, you jerk?" Mikan curled her fist into a ball and banged the table. "Can you hear yourself as you talk? Huh?"
"Shut up." Natsume said. "If what I'm saying is not the truth, then what the hell is your relationship with my best friend?" He shouted angrily.
"Ruka, tell him! Why are you keeping your mouth shut when I'm already being accused so badly here?" Mikan screeched in anguish and burst into tears. She felt hurt. Never in her life had a person pointed a finger at her so badly. Worst, she was being accused of using a ridiculous idea to achieve her dreams.
"Everyone, please. Listen to me now." Ruka closed his eyes. He went towards Mikan and pulled her up from her seat. He hugged her and whispered sorry to her. He faced them. "Mikan and I have been going out for a month. I courted her a month before she answered me so it confused us. "
Mikan looked at him in disbelief. "Ruka—"
"We didn't tell everyone because we knew that it would turn into something like this. Our bands are absurdly rivals, and we thought you would all just be a hindrance to our relationship." Ruka made Mikan take her seat while he returned to his own.
All of them went silent. Everyone felt guilty that they got crazy about the relationship of their friends. Natsume gazed at his best friend. He was still in doubt about Ruka's words, but for now he would believe him. He never saw Ruka take things seriously before. Ruka didn't even smile once. Just that made him realize that Ruka was trying hard to convince him.
"Ruka, if you don't mind, in the eyes of public I will be Mikan's boyfriend. In our eyes, Mikan is your girlfriend. Don't worry because I will find the perfect time to end this fake relationship with Mikan in front of the media." Natsume said.
With that, the conversation ended and everyone went to their houses.
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"It's already good that, that happened Nee-san." Youichi said as he munched a part of an apple.
"How can you say that, You-chan? I'm stuck in two fake relationships for Pete's sake!" Mikan screamed and sulked.
When Mikan got home from the meeting, she immediately ran to Youichi and cried her eyes out like a child. She ended up telling Youichi about what happened from the beginning to end. You ask why? In this way, at least someone, even one, knew the truth. At least someone could listen to Mikan wholeheartedly without her lying.
"Don't you have brains? I thought you knew the benefits because you agreed to be their girlfriend." Youichi coughed out a laugh and rolled his eyes as he put his arm around his sister's shoulders.
"What do you mean?" Mikan asked.
"Ruka-nii is your boyfriend and only the band members know that. So if you'll walk inside the Notes Company, the band will not mind you. Natsume-nii is also your boyfriend and the whole public knows that. So if you'll walk inside the Notes Company, not even Jin-Jin can chase you out because you are the girlfriend of his famous singer. No one can ever be an obstacle to you spying on The Outsiders. Do you get me?"
"Well…" Mikan muttered. "Even so, I wonder why Ruka lied when he can already tell the truth."
"Nee, that's what I want to know too." Youichi replied, putting his arms behind his head.
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"Oh my freaking gosh."
"Have you heard?"
"You won't believe it!"
"I know! I will never ever believe it!"
"Ahh! This is killing me."
"I'm going crazy!"
In the big city of Tokyo, an enormous LED Billboard flashed the latest hot news for the people to know. The new headline for the day was always the first one to show on the said billboard. Today, people gathered at the center of the city with shock. All were looking at the billboard in disbelief.
NEWS FLASH
MIKAN SAKURA & NATSUME HYUUGA ARE GOING OUT?
WATCH THE INTERVIEWOFTHEM TOMORROW AT SHOWBIZ BLAB!
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"Ahh, really. It's super loud." Sumire irritatingly shouted and covered her ears with her hands.
"Do you actually expect for those fans to keep quiet about the issue? Huh?" Nonoko snorted and rolled her eyes.
They were in the classroom waiting for their homeroom teacher to arrive. All of their classmates were making noises and crying their eyes out as they found out about Mikan and Natsume's relationship last night. All of the political issues in Japan were washed out by Mikan and Natsume.
"Once they find out that I am Mikan, I think I won't be able to see the sunrise again." Mikan stared at the students who were crazily ripping her face off of the magazines and news papers. She turned pale.
"Nodacchi!" One student called.
The Mathematics teacher entered the classroom and smiled. Students cheered in glee. Nodacchi was the most favored teacher in Gakuen Alice with his hateful subject.
"Hi class! Today, someone is going to be your classmate. He is known by everyone so I bet you'll be happy to be his classmate." Nodacchi stated as he looked out of the door and signaled for someone to come in.
All of the girls started squealing at the sight of the new student with his back being supported by the wall. Natsume was the first one to enter the classroom and stood in front beside Nodacchi. He blankly stared at the students who were gawking at him. He rolled his eyes. The other members of The Outsiders came in and made the students gaga.
"We know that they transferred here a long time ago, but because of their schedule we weren't able to fix what classroom they should go. Please welcome them wholeheartedly." Nodacchi explained. Students clapped their hands in happiness. "Please sit on the vacant seats." He said to the boys.
Ruka sat beside Hotaru while Koko went beside Sumire. Mochu sat beside Anna and Yuu was next to Nonoko. Mikan was at the back of everyone alone but not until Natsume took the seat next to her. He leaned on his desk and rested his chin on his palm. When Mikan looked at him unintentionally, he smirked. Mikan's eyebrow twitched. She curled her hands into balls as she tried her best to stop her annoyance.
The Strangers, except for Hotaru and Mikan, weren't able to stop their perspiration due to nervousness. If this sitting arrangement was going to remain, they wouldn't be able to talk about showbiz ever. They all looked at each other then heaved a sigh as they hoped to climb this new kind of test.
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After classes, The Outsiders went to the studio to meet their back-up dancers for their new music video. They would do their first dance version of a music video with first class dancers. Because of this, they were forced to study dancing. Especially Natsume who couldn't even skip to the beat of the song he personally made.
"I am telling you, for the longest time that I've known Natsume I have never seen him dance." Ruka stated comically.
"But I'm sure he can, right?" Koko looked at Natsume who was banging his head as he listened to his iPod.
"He keeps on ignoring us. It looks like he is not interested in this." Mochu said. He sat on the floor then looked up to Yuu.
"Don't look at me like that, Mochu. I know what you're trying to tell me." Yuu said as he rehearsed the steps to their song. Yuu was a great dancer and he wanted to help the people who would teach them to dance.
"I'm just saying, Yuu, that you can persuade Natsume about this. You're good on that!" Mochu put his hand on Yuu's shoulder and gave him an assuring smile. "Right?"
"Do not talk to me for the next one hour or I'll punch you." Yuu moved his shoulder to put Mochu's hand away.
Mochu immediately faked a smile and wagged his hands in front of him. H-He threatened me. He thought.
"By the way, do you guys know who these back-up dancers will be?" Ruka asked, "Because I have no idea who they are."
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"No way!"
Luna shrieked and folded her arms. She faced her back to her friends as she glared somewhere. Wakako, her best friend, walked towards her and rubbed her arms. She laid her chin on Luna's shoulder and pouted.
"Best, please don't make this hard for everyone. This is big time money! We're only doing this because we are in need, right? Besides, it is you who needs this the most. Just bear with it for a short time." Wakako pleaded.
Luna slapped Wakako's face playfully and sighed. "Why does it have to be The Outsiders?"
"It's actually better than The Strangers." Yura, who was checking her newly manicured nails, coughed out.
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Do you want a piece of me, Yura?"
"What? Do you want to?" Yuri shouted and went in front of Yura acting like some kind of gangster.
They were about to start the chaos when Yuna intervened with her hands raised in front of their faces. Wakako stopped Luna as she was ready to scratch Yuri's face off while Yura kept on persuading Yuri to kick Luna's butt.
"P-Please stop fighting!" Yuna shyly shouted with her eyes closed. They all stopped and admired the cute red face of Yuna.
"Ahh, really. You all bunch of idiots. Stop all this nonsense and sign the freaking contract. I need money to buy my new clothes." Shizune said. She put her feet on the table and reached for the white paper on it. She signed the contract swiftly and offered Luna to do the same.
"I won't sign it Shizune. No matter how many times you sign on it, I'll just rip the contract." Luna stubbornly said and shoved Shizune's hand.
"Damn it, Luna. Don't go begging us to lend you money later. You'll definitely regret not signing this. I just want to remind you that we can still friggin' dance without you. Bitch. Tch." Shizune angrily said and let the other girls sign on the contract.
Luna pouted. She thought of her sister lying on the white bed of the hospital moaning her name. Her tears formed on each side of her eyes. "Fine. I'll sign it."
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Mikan walked slowly around the streets of Tokyo. She swung her bag back and forth. She smiled happily for the people around her weren't able to recognize her as a singer of The Strangers. She was right about putting a wig on and colored contact lenses.
Today will be her first time coming to their band's mortal enemy, The Outsider's, territory. She didn't feel nervous or excited. She just felt evil overflowing throughout her body as she thought of lots of things to find out The Outsider's whereabouts.
As she was about to walk in the building of Notes, a jam-packed mob of paparazzi and journalists surrounded the entrance and made her stop. She blinked her eyes then grinned. If the people before weren't able to recognize her, that only meant she would not be identified by anyone. And the press was one of those who wouldn't know her.
She, with dignity and calm, walked in the middle of the media with matching skipped steps. It all became quiet as she walked. The whistle of the air was the only one heard. And then out of the blue, one shouted.
"It's her!"
Mikan's eyes widened as she looked from her right to left. She covered her face with the big bag she had and ran towards the entrance, but before she could reach the door the crowd went berserk and approached Mikan with their cameras, videos, recorders, pens and papers, and questions.
"Now that you're here, Miss Mikan, the rumors are true!"
"So you lied when you said that you'll never be Natsume's girl?"
"Are you here to visit Natsume Hyuuga?"
"When did your relationship start?"
"Who was the first one to confess?"
"Are you afraid of Natsume's fan girls?"
"Please answer the questions, Mikan-san!"
Mikan covered her ears since she was getting screamed at by the interviewers. She felt so afraid of the entire ruckus. She regretted not bringing bouncers with her because of a silly thought of changing how she looked like. She thought a lot of possible ways on how the people could torture her about her relationship with Natsume. Not only that. From her perspective, she couldn't understand any questions coming from the press because it was asked at the same time. It was like ASDFGHJKL!#$!$%^&*(words to her ears.
The press was about to jump on her to force her to talk when all of a sudden, a black coat flew and wrapped around her body. Mikan felt hands on her shoulders, the same hands that afterwards picked her up. She sighed as if her life was saved and decided to thank the person. So when she looked up to do that, she saw...
"N-Natsume?"
"Please," Natsume said, loud enough for everyone to hear. The media went calm and listened to him as he continued, "stay away from my girlfriend."
T.B.C
Author's Message: I'm very sorry for the delayed update. Our midterms just got finished and I'm still trying to get my grades high. And, well, I'm watching bleach again. I stopped watching it before because I got tired of it. So…yes, I got addicted. Haha. But anyway, thank you for waiting! I appreciate it. I hope you like this chapter.
