Sweet Days
Chapter 29
Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice nor the characters but this story is entirely mine.
When the guard was called out by the famous Aoi Hyuuga during his lunch break, he thought he had committed a serious offence of some kind. His assumption was proven incorrect when she thanked him for his hard work and cheerfully told him to go home a few hours early - one and a half hours to be precise. He didn't question her intentions; after all who would say no to a day off?
"She's on her way, right?" Aoi pestered him for the gazillionth time.
"Yes."
"And you got the keys for the gate?"
"Yes."
"What about their phones?"
Youichi rubbed his temples and swirled his chair around to face her. She seemed like an overgrown child obsessing over her new toy with that out on her face.
"I'll handle it; stop worrying."
She cheered. "Then should we set up the security camera to record it?"
He enjoyed watching her bubbly self prance around for a minute before he went to burst her daydreaming bubble.
"You know this might not work out."
Aoi stopped moving.
"If they meet each other now, in circumstances that they didn't arrange, the things might get even worse. They might not be ready to face the other yet. Plus, I saw her - she's happy. And I'm sure if you give it time, your Nii-San will get over it too. Maybe they don't need each other."
There was nothing shocking about that statement. They both knew it but Aoi still give an expression of despair. She drifted over to Youichi like a mourning ghost, placing her dainty fingers on his cheek.
"Is that how you felt when we broke up? Would you rather have been left alone and never seen me again?"
"That was different."
"It's not. If you truly love someone, no matter how long, they won't forget. You need them in your life. And I know it's not my business to meddle in their affairs but I - "
"Don't cry."
It was then that Aoi noticed her voice was coming out as pathetic whimpers and that there was actually droplets of water splattered on the ground.
"They'll be fine."
Youichi didn't really care if he was lying to her or not. All he knew was that he didn't want Aoi suffering, crying, hurting. It wasn't even want - it felt like his life's ambition to keep her smile on her face. And if all he needed to achieve that was for Natsume and Mikan to be together then he wouldn't mind having to play Cupid forever.
The cake was horrendously small for any sort of celebration, in Natsume's opinion. Aoi could probably eat it whole.
'Maybe it's their anniversary or something.'
He sighed as he rummaged through the cupboards for some colourful marzipan.
He wouldn't lie: Aoi was much better at relationships than he. Heck, she even had more friends than he ever would. And with Youichi, she was lucky. Each time he heard him champing on their door to pick her up on some spontaneous date he would be jealous. Jealous of how Aoi didn't hesitant in kissing his cheek as a greeting. Jealous of how she wasn't afraid to tell him silly insignificant things for fun. Jealous of how easy it looked.
He could have had that. But no, he never made anything simple. Natsume hadn't even celebrated an anniversary, ever.
As he selected some food colouring, he thought back to Mikan. It was always her in his thoughts now. Maybe the separation was driving him mad. The colour orange reminded him of her. As did the colour red, blue, yellow, purple, white, black. Everything did.
If they were still together, their one month anniversary would be coming up soon wouldn't it?
Then there was a clatter.
At first he thought he had dropped the colouring in his reverie. But it wasn't. The noise was a bag dropping onto the ground outside. And the gasp that followed meant it was caused by shock.
Natsume responded to his instinct like a reflex. "Mikan?"
Heels clanking as they ran to the exit. Natsume followed suit and caught a glimpse of a familiar handbag. Of course it was Mikan. But was it just him imagination acting up again? He'd been playing with scenarios in his head like a director would after all.
"Damn it, why is it locked?"
He knew that voice but it sounded a lot grumpier, a lot thicker.
"Mikan."
They were at the gate now, the sun reflecting against her brunette hair. He couldn't see her expression - more like he didn't want to.
"Natsume."
"We should talk."
Ruka Nogi was raised in a righteous family. He had been taught not to steal, not to murder, not to lie. So why was it that a single girl was converting him?
"This isn't right," he finally muttered under his breath. He still hadn't gotten the courage to declare it loudly but Hotaru had heard nonetheless.
"So?"
"So we shouldn't be doing it," he added.
"But we are."
He faced her directly.
"What if we get caught? We could get arrested for things like this, you know."
"And?" she shrugged as she pulled out a small vial. "It's only for a little while. And if we were to be brutally honest, he never stood a chance against Anna Umenomiya."
"But Mikan-chan does?"
Hotaru uncapped the tiny vial and sighed. "This show is for entertainment right? This should make it more entertaining, therefore it's valid. And it's not like you're doing it, I am. All you need to do is make sure Mikan is selected as the replacement."
And that wasn't a crime.
But he was helping a criminal.
"For the greater good," Hotaru smirked in victory as she poured the liquid over the eel that would be used for the show in less than a day.
It felt nostalgic falling into step with Natsume. Mikan had always tried to match their steps when they went to their lessons together. She just enjoyed the way Natsume walked so steadily yet so lazily. Just like always, he wouldn't need to put effort into things yet make them seem so good. But he was nervous.
She could tell by his uneven steps and his unsteady breath.
"What do you want to talk about?" she asked once they had fallen silent for two whole minutes.
"I... I heard you weren't well."
"Well I was in hospital."
"I visited you."
"I know. Aoi-chan told me. She also brought me the porridge," Mikan replied sharply. There was no reason to hide the fact that she had accepted his gift. She wanted him to feel hurt and sorrow for leaving her. She wanted revenge.
"I see."
But just hearing his voice made her falter. She wasn't that person who wanted people hurt. She was the one that wanted them to reconcile, to at least be friends.
"Thank you for that. I feel fine now."
"Did you eat it?"
"... No."
"Oh."
Another lapse into silence.
"So why are you here?"
"Aoi told me to help her decorate... We were tricked."
Mikan's eyes quickly skimmed across the studio, stopping at the messy desk with multicoloured marzipan like a rainbow in the cloudy sky.
"Can I help?" she inquired, "If I can, that is."
The nervousness and uncertainty fluttered again in Natsume's bright eyes. Mikan could tell even if it happened in a flash.
"You don't mind?"
"Do you?"
He shook his head. "I'm making some fondant flowers and buttercream to go with it. She told me to decorate it but I think this was meant for us."
She trembled at that word: us.
Was there still be 'us'? Did she want it? What if the whole Nobara thing happened again? They were bound to hit another wall if they couldn't even get past the first obstacle in their relationship.
"We're stick in the studio again, just like last time."
"Hn."
Natsume scrubbed his hands before shaping the marzipan. Mikan stood and watched for a little while. It was like an artist, perfecting shaping their masterpiece. It was weird how he could inspire her. Before she knew it, she was beside him again, forgetting the things he had done.
They were in sync again. Without a single word, they worked together to fill the plain cake that acted like their canvas.
"A Sakura?"
Mikan didn't realise she had spoken out loud but it surprised her. Why was Natsume making Sakura blossom when she was focussing on sculpting blooming white roses.
He shrugged, "It looks nice."
Then they were back to the stillness.
"Do you forgive me?"
The question had slipped out sort of by accident. Natsume regretted it the moment it came out but t he stood strong. If he didn't ask now, then he'd never know.
"... Yes. But it doesn't mean anything."
"I see."
Diligently, he placed the tiny Sakura blossom onto the cake. That was enough for now wasn't it? He hadn't expected her to completely forgive him anyway. This was already enough for now.
"Can you pass your flowers?"
Mikan nodded and handed over the carved roses, their hands grazing each other's shyly. But she wanted to touch him again. Being close to him was cancelling out the anger that had accumulated inside her.
"It looks beautiful."
"Well now we're going to eat it."
"What?"
Her eyes widened as Natsume brought out a knife.
"But you said it was for Aoi-chan!"
"They say revenge is sweet," he smirked as he sliced the cake open. "It's red velvet."
And maybe it was the sugar, but Mikan couldn't stop giggling.
Ruka had told Hotaru to stay away from the show today but now he regretted it. Sitting on his own to watch the show crash and burn wasn't exactly fun for him. But he sighed and watched the unfortunate contestant grab the live eel.
He didn't ask what exactly was in the vial but he knew it definitely wouldn't be anything good. Even when the eel was being sliced up, there was no sign of sabotage.
"There's no doubt that Anna-chan is going to win," Nobara commented from behind her.
"Nobara-chan!"
"Hello," she greeted him, "No one else here?"
Ruka shook his head. "Weren't you going back to your dad?"
"Actually... I found another teacher. And he's willing to give me a job if I do well."
"That's great," Ruka smiled, "I'm happy for you."
Suddenly Tsubasa Andou's voice boomed through the speakers.
"And that's it! The judges will now commence their judging."
Ruka's eyes focussed on the eel dishes laid out. By the next month, there would be a winner. And he was determined that it was Mikan.
"And then what happened?"
"She forgot about it," Natsume answered.
They were having a casual conversation, eating cake and enjoying themselves. He really could not ask for more. It had been so long since he had last heard her laugh so freely.
"Well it was so long ago so she must have. I wonder if we should leave her some cake," Mikan pondered on the thought. "It'll be good practice for me."
"You still planning to be a chef?"
She stiffened. It was like it hit her that she was supposed to be mad. "I do."
"That's good."
Then it was like half hour that they had conversed disappeared and they had fallen back to the awkward silence. But Natsume decided to break it.
"I didn't want to affect your dreams."
"You didn't. But you inspired them."
"Listen, about what happened, I really didn't mean it."
Saying the words out loud was even stranger than he thought. It was foreign on his tongue and the feeling bubbling in his stomach felt less like butterflies and more like tiny needles pricking him.
"It's fine; I forgive you."
"That's not what I'm looking for. Mikan, I want to go back to what we were. It was a stupid fight."
"I don't... I don't think it's going to work."
He stared at her.
"I just don't know! Give me some time."
"Are we at least friends?"
"I guess..."
"Then that qualifies me to ask you to prom."
End of Chapter 29
Sorry for the wait guys! I know this chapter is a little cruddy, I'm sorry. I wanted to make it longer but I was in Greece and I got distracted. Sorry. Anyway, one more to go and that's it!
YellowOrangeRed - As always, thanks so much for your support! You have no idea how reading your review makes me really happy. It's awesome motivation and I hope I don't disappoint you when this ends.
RockingAngels - To be honest, I was a little disappointed in their meeting myself. I hood you'll forgive me after building up to this anticlimax. But I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks again!
.roses - I hope you didn't have to wait too long. Thanks a lot for your review! (I don't know why my iPad is doing this but your name won't show up!)
Guest - I will do my best with the last chapter. I promise! Thanks so much for reviewing!
Night's Warrior - Again, I'm sorry if the reconnection was terrible. I'm so sorry! But thank you for reading!
