CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: RUKA'S DARK SECRET
"It's because..." Yuu started, "It's because he is so possessive at times. Yes, you could say it's normal. But he becomes OVER possessive that he made other boys that even look at his past flames (other term for girlfriends) move out of the country. And he is ten times worse than Natsume if he is in that state. Once a boy try to flirt with his girl, he could skin that boy alive, feed him to the crocodiles, crack his skull open. Well not really, but you get the idea. And so far, after the past one year and a half, he still hasn't found any girl to be hers, until Imai came." Yuu explained.
"Why how many 'flames' did he already had?" Mikan asked
"If I'm not mistaken, Hotaru is the third girl he ever showed interest in." Anna said
"What! Since when did he started dating?!" Mikan exclaimed
"Since we were eleven. But he said those girls are more of a fangirl than a girlfriend, so he dumped them." said Koko
"But don't get on the wrong side." Kitsu said while shaking his head them glared at Koko for saying what he said earlier, "Ruka is a gentleman, but sometimes he gets irritated by girls who just like him because he is popular here in school."
"W-where are those two girls now?" Sumire asked
The others looked at each other as if telepathically asking one another, whether to tell or to not. And finally, decide on the earlier.
"They were taken from the academy, and brought to another schools." Nonoko said her voice quivering as she remembered the happenings.
...ooOooOooOooOooOooOoo...
"Explain." was all Hotaru said after she dragged Ruka out of the classroom into the middle of the Northern Forest.
Ruka sighed and finally uttered his explanation, "Hotaru, I don't know why but I don't like that guy. and don't ask me when it started but I was always like this whenever I'm being over protective."
"Why are you being over protective anyways? Protective over what? Who?" Hotaru asked again.
"Over the people that I like! That I love! And Hotaru... Hotaru you are one of them!" Ruka exclaimed
Hotaru was taken aback with Ruka's words. She could not find her voice after that. With no particular reason, her throat went dry. She just looked into the eyes of Ruka. Not knowing what to do next,not even moving, not even blinking. They stayed like that for a few minutes of complete silence, with the occasional blow of the wind and rustle of leaves.
"I-I am sorry for my sudden outburst. I didn't mean to raise my voice." Ruka apologized
"It's alright. And about what you said earlier..." Hotaru started when she finally found her voice
"That I'm sorry?" Ruka asked
"The other one, dolt." Hotaru said while rolling her eyes.
"Oh, that." Ruka said in realization, "What about it?" Ruka asked again
"I still don't know my response about it. If it's alright with you, can you wait?" She answered
A smile crept on his face, "Of course... I will."
...ooOooOooOooOooOoo...
"They were taken from the academy, and brought to another schools." Nonoko said
"B-but w-why?" Sumire asked her voice shaking
Nonoko started to sweat, "I-it's because..." Nonoko bit her lower lip, "... They have suicidal tendencies."
"WHAT!" Mikan practically yelled
"The first girl, Eri Kawaguchi. Was at the rooftop, ready to jump. But thanks to Mochiage, the bald kid in our class remember him? Thanks to him, Eri wasn't able to jump from the roof, and after that her parents took her away. And her parents didn't even know as to why their daughter was acting like that, they tried to ask her about it but she would just look at the person who asked her then look at the thing she was looking at before. And now we had lost contact with her." Anna shared
"And the second was Michiko Fujioka. A girl whose personality was the complete opposite of the meaning of her name. Yes, she's pretty indeed. I'll give her that, but Michiko means 'beautiful WISE child' and that was what her parents had wrong in giving her that name. She isn't wise. In fact, she's stupid. She was found in her dorm room with her wrist cut and was bleeding profusely. She couldn't have survived if she wasn't found by her friend earlier. But to much of our surprise, she lived. Ruka visited her at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers with him, and the idiot thought that he was getting back with her. But she was oh-so wrong, Ruka said that he just visited to wish her a get well soon. And the next thing we know was that she was kneeling on the floor crying and she literally BEGGED him to get back with her. Ruka as the natural gentleman, he helped her stand up and apologized because 'It will not work anymore.' Then he left her. After a few days she was discharged from the hospital, she left the academy silently. And it was also said that whenever her parents ask her what caused her gesture of stupidity of cutting her wrist, she wouldn't answer. Instead she would just curl up to a ball and cry her eyes out. But soon enough we also lost contact with her." Natsume was the one who explained this, but of course, monotonously
Sumire and Mikan listened carefully to what they said. Every word, every pause, every detail. They listened carefully. And after their tales about those girls, they just blinked and looked at each other. Not muttering a single word.
"But we also know the reason why Ruka dumped them." Yuu said
Mikan and Sumire whipped their heads to look at him.
"What? Why? Who?" they said at the same time.
"Actually... she's a who." Koko said
"Wait. She?" Sumire asked
"The main reason of it all..." Kitsu started then he sighed, "Is actually Hotaru Imai herself."
"How did Hotaru get involved here?!" Mikan suddenly yelled, but nobody could blame her. It is he BEST FRIEND they blaming here, people.
"Answer me!" she yelled again
"Do you still remember the seventh birthday of Ruka?" Natsume asked
"How could I forget that? The day when Hotaru and her parents left, Mikan's sobs and sniffs were the loudest." Sumire commented with a roll of her eyes.
"They danced the Last Dance together, and after that night he couldn't seem to remove Hotaru's face in his mind. Especially her 'mesmerizing' eyes, as he put it. But he doesn't still know her name by then. And he just dated those girls to get rid of Hotaru's face in his mind, but he can't get rid of it, so he broke up with them. Hotaru was the main reason why he dated them. But trust me Ruka LOVED, LOVE, AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE Hotaru and Hotaru only." Anna piped in
Mikan sighed heavily, "I trust your words, so I don't want to see Hotaru ending up the same way as Eri and Michiko. I don't want to see her in a coffin, in a peaceful yet eternal slumber." she said.
And their friends just smiled at the hidden but oh-so obvious meaning of her words.
disclaimer: i don't own Gakuen Alice, only Michiko Fujioka, Eri Kawaguchi and the plot are mine.
P.S. it pains me to write Ruka as a bad boy. i didn't enjoy it even a bit
P.P.S. it's finally the 26th chapter and i am really proud of myself! bwahahaha!
P. . i seriously don't know where my typing fingers are taking this story, some past chapters are quite different from my hardcopies but i still hope it will turn out just fine :D GANBATTE! :D