Youichi was still debating mentally to whether or not he should tell Natsume the truth. Meanwhile, Natsume was waiting impatiently for Youichi to start talking. Finally, Youichi briefly shut his eyes as a decision came out victorious.

Youichi loved his sister too much to let her continued her suffering.

Youichi let out a sigh before he faced Natsume with a serious expression.

"Natsume-nii, when I tell you this, promise me you won't tell anyone,"

Natsume eyed Youichi suspiciously but nodded anyways.

"Fine,"

Youichi bit his lower lip nervously and asked himself one last time before a new determination filled his eyes.

"Mikan-nee is actually...a singer,"

Youichi steadily held Natsume's eyes so that he won't see the lie, or at least the untold truth. Natsume sharpen his gaze before he finally nodded.

"I know. She's Snow Angel," Natsume said in a matter-of-fact tone like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Youichi was taken back.

"How did Natsume-nii...," Youichi trailed off, unsure how to continue. Natsume only shrugged.

"It was obvious," Natsume said bluntly.

Awkward silence filled the room as Youichi shifted uncomfortably under Natsume's hard gaze.

"Ther's something else," it wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Youichi avoided Natsume's eyes as he tried to think of something.

He couldn't do it.

He just couldn't tell Natsume the truth.

The truth about Mikan's abuse.

Before Youichi could come up with a logical excuse, a knock interrupted them. Youichi let out an inaudible sigh of relief.

"Natsume-nii! Mom ask you to come back home!"

Natsume'e eye twitched.

"I'll go back later! You can go back first!"

Suddenly, the opened and Aoi came into view.

"NO! Mom's making my favourite curry tonight and I can't eat it unless you come back home! So, HURRY UP AND LET'S GO BACK NOW!"

Just when she stormed into the room, she was stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widen and her jaw dropped. Worried, Youichi was about to ask her what's wrong when she suddenly exploded in excitement.

"OMG! YOU GOT THE LATEST XBOX, A SIXTEEN INCH FLAT SCREEN TV AND YOUR OWN MINI FRIDGE ALL BY YOURSELF!"

Before Youichi could react, Aoi appeared in front of him. She clasped her hands over his own and she made her infamous puppy-dog eyes.

"Please,please,please,please and a hundred times please! Let me play in your freakingly awesome room!"

Youichi was at loss for words. But when he saw Aoi's puppy-dog eyes, he almost blushed and stammered.

Almost.

Aoi suddenly disappeared and the next thing he knew, Aoi was struggling and screaming to be freed while Natsume was dragging her. As soon as Natsume arrived at the door, he roughly shoved Aoi outside and slammed the door shut. He made sure to lock it. Youichi sweat-droppd at the scene.

It wasn't long before banging and screaming could be heard on the other side of the door.

"NATSUME-NII! YOU HAVE TO LET ME IN! I'M GOING TO DIE IF I DON'T PLAY THAT XBOX!"

Natsume twitched in annoyance. Suddenly, couldn't take annoying screams and banging, he said darkly with an irritated voice, "Give me 5 minutes and I'll let you come over to Youichi's house and play whenever you want,"

It was silent for a moment before they heard a reply,

"Fine! But if you don't come out in five minutes I'll break down the door!" Aoi threatened.

Youichi sweat-dropped even more when he heard this. They talked as if the owner of the room wasn't even there.

Natsume let out one last sigh before he turned to Youichi with a serious expression.

"I'll give you one more chance. Tell me the whole truth, Youichi,"

Natsume's intense stare almost made him crack but he held his ground. When he thought about Mikan begging to him that he won't tell anyone, all resolve to tell Natsume disappeared.

After a long silent, Natsume let out a sigh before he ruffled his hair in frustration. He knew too well that Youichi would never tell no matter what he did.

"NATSUME-NII! THE FIVE MINUTES ARE UP! HURRY UP AND COME OUT BEFORE I KI-" Aoi's sentence was cut short when the door suddenly opened . Aoi fell flat on her face.

"Ouch!"

Without another word, Natsume left.

"Youichi-kun! I'll come some other day to play with you, okay!" Aoi gave one last wave before she hurriedly catch up with her brother.

As soon as they left, Youichi closed the door.

BAM!

Pain exploded in his knuckle from where he punched the door. Blood dribbling out from the little wounds on his knuckles but Youichi didn't care.

"Mikan-nee, I'm sorry I couldn't help you,"

It hurts... Everything hurts all over...

Mikan sat in the middle of her room, staring blankly at the ceiling. In just two more hours, she had to go for a shooting.

She was going to be on the cover of a girl magazine. Her father was pleased but he made sure that Milan got the message that she must NEVER make any mistake. The bruise on her arm was proof of that.

Lately, for some reason, her mother had been quiet. She didn't receive anymore blows and hits from her mother but she was still wary. She didn't know the reason but she was grateful. That means one less job to worry about; covering the bruises from her mother.

All that's left is from her father but she didn't worry too much. Her father was ruthless but he was smart. She would be getting more pictures taken because of her rising fame so of course she was required to wear more revealing clothes.

It would be suspicious if a teenager girl like her refused to wear a little revealing clothes.

She stole a glance at the clock beside her and realized she had only thirty minutes to get ready and arrived at the studio. She reluctantly got up as pain darkened her vision.

Sometimes, Mikan wished she wasn't born at all.

"Mikan-nee..." Youichi softly called out.

Mikan had just finished her shooting and everyone had already left the place. She was already changed into casual clothes but she seemed to be lost in thought when Youichi came in.

"Mikan-nee...!" Youichi called out a little louder as he pulled on one of Mikan's pigtails.

Mikan snapped out from her thoughts and saw a worried Youichi beside her. Mikan smiled happily and placed Youichi on her lap.

"How did you know I was here, You-chan?" Mikan asked, curious on how Youichi knew she was here. She was sure she didn't tell anyone that she was here, well the exception of her father of course.

Well, her supposed-to-be father.

Mikan smiled bitterly when she remembered the truth that Hotaru and Natsume told her about her , she was lost in her own world again as she recalled the bitter memory.

"Mikan-nee, are you okay?" Youichi asked when he realized that Mikan was staring off into space again.

Again, Mikan smiled and hugged him

"I'm fine, You-chan. It's just that I'm a little tired from all the shooting," Mikan answered half-truthfully. Well, it was true that she was tired from all the shooting. It's just not that main reason why she was like this.

"Mikan-nee, let's go get ice-cream," Youichi asked while he tugged on her hair. He knew it was childish of him but he would do anything to make his sister happy.

Even if they weren't related my blood.

Mikan's face immediately lit up when she heard the word ice-cream.

"Let's go!"

Soon, Mikan and Youichi exited the building and went to the nearest ice-cream parlour. Inside, Mikan was ordering every flavour existed in the ice-cream parlor as Youichi could only sweat-dropped and watched she Mikan shovelled the ice cream into her mouth. He let out a laugh when ice-cream covered Mikan's whole face. Not knowing why Youichi was laughing, Mikan laughed along because it was really too rare to see Youichi laugh.

However, unknown to them, a pair of indigo eyes saw them exiting the building.

"Mikan?"

Hotaru Imai did not like to be lied to.

Especially if it's her best friend, Mikan Sakura.

Earlier when she saw her best friend exited this very building, she didn't know what to think.

Why was Mikan even here in this building anyway?

Currently, she was strolling down the list of name on the company's database. She carefully examined each name until one particular name stood out.

Snow Angel.

She remembered the singer. Truthfully, she was actually quite shocked when she first saw the singer during the festival.

You could say that the singer was different somehow.

The way she walked gracefully with her body in perfect posture even when she was wearing the heavy kimono. The way she held her head as if to say she didn't care what everyone thought of here. The way she slightly cracked at the tiniest bit during upstage but managed to recover before anyone noticed.

Except for her.

It was as if she was too perfect. As if it was her first time being that way and she had to perfect it in every way possible.

For some reason, she felt as is she knew the singer even when she didn't see her face. Her aura was too familiar.

She was too familiar.

Her suspicious grew when the said singer gave her friends only the limited and rare hand fan with her signature. It was too much of a coincidence.

Hotaru never believe in coincidence anyway.

She clicked on the name and information about the girl appeared on screen.

For some reason, even when she was posing for the camera, she had the mask worn the entire time.

The reason?

She wanted her identity to be kept a secret.

And it looks like the cameraman didn't mind a bit because the mask only add the mysterious aura on her. She didn't reveal her real name either saying it was for the same purpose. Every other detail seemed normal until one particular information caught her eye.

Manager : Izumi Yukihara

Hotaru's mind went blank for a while as she tried to digest the information.

Yukihara Izumi... as in Mikan's dad?

No. that was wrong. She knew that the real Yukihara Izumi was dead so this must be the imposter. Hotaru tried to think of any other logical explanation but the chances of a man having the name Yukihara Izumi was very low.

Hotaru tried to piece everything together.

Mikan come out of this building this evening, the same time Snow Angel finished her shooting, the singer Snow Angel has a manager that had the same name as her father, the singer refused to take off her mask and reveal her true name and...

Mikan wasn't there when Snow Angel performed at the festival.

Hotaru immediately shut off the computer and left the building. Even when she called her limo, even when she arrived at her house, even when she was on her bed, the question kept taunting her.

Was Mikan really Snow Angel?

I have a solid excuse! Really! I actually lost the book where I write the story when I'm in the hostel so I lost motivation and had a MASSIVE writer's block!

But thanks to my friends, I finally found my motivation back and successfully overcame the writer's block!

Yay me!

As usual, thanks to the generous reviews from my devoted readers! If it wasn't from all of you, I would seriously consider deleting this!