Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice or Thirteen Reasons Why.
Dedication: To KidTantei (of course XD), Saltwater Romance, daa3fan, mikan12345, Dreaming Reverie, HearMeNow12345…. And everyone else who reviewed ANY of my stories! XD
Her black hair flowed through the wind. She looked so… beautiful, and yet so lifeless.
'Nogi.' She called, 'Hey, Nogi.'
As she touched his hand, he pulled away quickly, his body temperature unable to handle the frostiness of hers.
'What is it, Nogi?'
Small strings of blood started streaming down from her head.
Her words started to become indecipherable; her voice so soft he couldn't hear her anymore.
Suddenly, all was black. And in big, bold letters read:
I'm not afraid anymore.
4:37 am, Ruka read from his alarm clock beside his bed. He sighed out deeply, staring at the ceiling for something to motivate him to sleep.
Mikan, Natsume, Narumi, Principal Kuonji, Matsudaira, Shouda, Subaru. They were all in the list that she created, and she went for them one by one.
A sudden spark of inspiration entered his sleepless mind, and throughout the night, he pondered over the one question:
What if I was in it?
It was surely possible. Through the last few months of her life, he had played a big role. But still, he hadn't done anything at all to provoke her, much less make her do such a thing.
Soon, morning came, and he realized he hadn't gotten a single minute of sleep since the dream.
He picked up the headphones for his reminder for why he was awake the entire night. But a knock on the door stopped him.
'Ruka.' A familiar voice behind the door called, knocking furiously.
'Oh, hi Natsume. Why are you here, so early in the morning? It's only Saturday…' Ruka shifted his weight from side to side, drowsy from the all-nighter.
'Look, Ruka. I'm gonna say this quick and easy for you. I'm worried about your mental health.' Natsume breathed a lungful of air, and continued. 'Ever since… well, I think about last week, you've only been listening to those headphones. And look at you.'
'What?' Ruka cocked his head, genuinely confused as to why he was concerned. After all, it was just a week…
'Face it, Ruka. You look like shit.'
Ruka rolled his eyes and resisted the urge for him to forcibly make Natsume take that foul language back.
'Okay, okay. I promise to reduce my hours on the headphones. Happy?' Natsume nodded, slightly suspicious about what those headphones may have been about.
'Okay. But the next time I see you like this, I'm having a family intervention.'
Natsume let himself into the house, and got comfortable. Ruka, on the other hand, took the headphones and started making use of his Saturday morning, to which Natsume rolled his eyes.
Click.
Okay. This'll be brief. I don't want to go rambling on and on about this certain fellow.
He's the kind of guy that could get anyone, anytime, anywhere. And people who know him either love him to bits, or hate his guts.
Akira Tonouchi.
Ah, you knew this would come, didn't you? After what you did? I mentally wrote you down on this list even before I knew I was going to make it.
First of all, you are, quite assertively, an asshole. You take advantage of girls without even thinking about their feelings, and you think you're the king of the world. I'm sure you knew that I hated who you were.
Which is why you were probably surprised when those rumors about me liking you rose up. And that slumber party…
But anyways. It was over and done with. I had completely ruined my friendship, reputation, dignity all in one blow. Not your fault, by the way. I take complete responsibility.
I just wished some day that someone would love me. Not for the 'slut' I was known to be at school, not the ice-cold inventor who doesn't understand how we feel, but as Hotaru Imai.
Then, after Shiki's hospitalization, as if on a cue, you asked me out.
'Hey,' You asked me, smiling, 'are you okay?'
God. I wouldn't have said yes at all if I was the person I was in the beginning of this whole thing. I really wouldn't. But you asked me if I was okay, and I really wasn't.
And at that moment, I realized that you were the only one in the world who noticed.
So I put it on myself by saying yes, and letting you take me out to a small little dinner. And time and time again, I repeated to myself, 'it's nothing formal, or even remotely serious. Just a casual date.'
With that encouragement, I went.
You were there, waiting for me. Smiling, as usual. We ate dinner, like normal people do, and I actually enjoyed talking to you. It was me being human, for the first time in a long time.
Well, I don't really know what went wrong in that dinner.
Oh no. Ruka sensed the deep sarcasm in her voice, knowing her for so long. He knew that she was about to reveal something terrible.
Really, I don't. I would've stayed with you all night if I could, just talking.
Maybe it was the part when you forcibly pushed me into your car, or when you tried to kiss me that I thought I never wanted to see you again.
'What's the problem?' you asked me, 'I heard you do this with every other guy. And you like me, remember? I saw you at the party.'
I suppose I knew I didn't want to see you again when I didn't reply that moment. Because the next thing you did was so… degrading, undignified.
Swiftly, you took out your wallet, and asked me:
'How much do one of you cost, anyways?'
I stared back at you, dumbfounded, and slapped you across the face.
You're on this list because you thought you could buy my time, my love. And I thought…. Well, it was sheer stupidity, but I thought that you were going to be a different guy around me.
The thought still makes my blood boil.
Very nice, Tonouchi.
You really are the best.
Ruka stared at the headphones, after taking them off. For a strange reason, he wasn't surprised why Tono was in this list. But he certainly didn't expect Hotaru Imai to be one of his conquests.
Things could only get worse. Knowing that she didn't want to do this during that time she met Tono, Ruka knew that there was going to be something far worse happening, that pushed her off the edge.
Natsume looked at him, confused. 'What's up, Ruka?'
'Nothing.' Ruka quickly answered, and changed his mind. 'Do you think Tono is still going out with plenty of women at a time?'
Natsume shrugged, 'I heard he's taking a break from that for a while.'
Because of Hotaru? Ruka hoped so.
'Ruka, what's the song you're so obsessed about?' Natsume asked finally, 'I wanna critique it.'
Ruka picked up the headphones, and passed it onto him mindlessly, only realizing last second that Hotaru's voice was in it.
Natsume put the headphones onto his head, and stood for a while, surprised.
Finally, he spoke:
'What the hell, Ruka. I can't hear anything.'
Author's Note: Did you get the last part? Hehehe.. tried to make it discreet for all of you. XD BTW, sorry for the OOC ness, and also really sorry for being well… stupid.
Also, I had, in mind, two endings for this story. The sad, and the happy. I'd love it if you guys could tell me which one you would like to see happen here! XD