Chapter 11: On Writing Letters
Thanks to The ANxioGeNiC and tentenshi31 for placing Flame on your Alerts List! Thank you also, mikan26 for showing much love to this story.
It take trust to show your vulnerability to another person.
Featuring playtime and a picnic.
Gakuen Alice and its characters are the wonderful creations of Tachibana Higuchi.
Mikan and Hotaru walked to the Elementary School Division. Today, they were spending time with the youngest children currently enrolled in the academy. Mikan was willing enough to help out, especially since it was Shuichi Sakurano who asked. After all, she considered him and Subaru as her beloved older brothers.
It was a pleasant surprise to Mikan that Hotaru came with her. She had a suspicion that her best friend would be getting something in return. Maybe she was thinking of getting some very interesting pictures and learn a few secrets of her older brother. Nevertheless, Mikan was happy that Hotaru was accompanying her.
They were halfway there when the topic of her Alice recovery came up.
"In any case, you're an idiot. You're the one in greatest danger of letting anyone know about your unique situation," said Hotaru.
"Hey, I got it all under control with my Nullification. Uncle Kazumi trusted me and it's worked out fine. Aren't I supposed to be worrying about you, Natsume and Ruka? You know about it."
"Oh please, Mikan. We're good at keeping secrets. Koko or the others haven't got a single detail about the low-risk missions we've worked on before."
"What if… their memories have been tweaked?" Mikan shuddered at the thought.
"You underestimate our ability to keep things confidential without memory manipulation being involved. And do you really think me, Hyuuga and Nogi would allow that, after what they did to you?"
"I'm sorry! By the way, Hotaru, are you ever going to go into specifics of what you three did? My uncle only told me general things." She put on her best pleading look. As usual, Hotaru didn't fall for it.
"That's all you need to know. Don't pester me about that. We need to talk about your plans after graduation."
"There's nothing to talk about, Hotaru. I've made myself quite clear," Mikan started to walk faster but Hotaru easily reached her side and clamped a hand on her shoulder.
"I agree with Hyuuga, you're making a great mistake. I believe Nogi's not in favor as well. We both left the gazebo so you and Hyuuga could commence with your screaming session. It's about time we have our own discussion, preferably after we're done with the kids today."
"It wasn't a screaming session, Hotaru. Natsume and I were just… making our points clear. That's all there is to it. Anyway, what's inside your suitcase?"
"Toys. One of my Italian clients had a new nephew. He asked me if I have some new inventions to impress the new addition to their family. I'm testing my prototypes today."
The children were curious about the sleek, black suitcase. Sakurano, Fukutan-sensei and Misaki-sensei were also intrigued. Narumi-sensei wasn't there because he was attending a merchant's party in Central Town.
"He told me to send you his deepest regrets for being absent. I think it's fine. He'll be more hard to deal with than the students," Misaki-sensei said.
Mikan's jaws dropped as Hotaru brought out the first toy from her suitcase. She thought that even Ruka might have been hard-pressed to distinguish a real bear cub with the robotic one Hotaru invented. Thankfully, Hotaru did not program it to make scary expressions.
"You look like you want to bring that bear cub to your own room," Sakurano told Mikan.
"Onii-san! How can you just teleport by my side? You almost gave me a heart attack!"
"I apologize for scaring you, Mikan-chan. I do have to tell you that I approached you normally," Sakurano smiled.
"Oh, it's my fault then. I was too engrossed! I wonder what else Hotaru will pull out from that suitcase. It looks so compact but I think it can hold a lot of things."
"I'm sure it does, Mikan-chan."
The suitcase also contained a cute virtual reality set, a mini-weather station, clothing that could change patterns or colors with the help of a remote, more robots, race cars that could run smoothly on any surface and learning aids for various subjects.
Sakurano, Fukutan-sensei and Misaki-sensei did their best to maintain order. Mikan, for her part, enthusiastically read stories for the younger students. She also helped them build small wooden houses, finish jigsaw puzzles and sew puppets.
At the end of the playtime session, she was covered in paint and glitter. She giggled at Hotaru, who was obviously very exhausted.
"Got enough data for developing your products, Hotaru?"
"Yes, in exchange for copious amounts of energy. I underestimated their enthusiasm."
"They really loved you! I hope Anna's free to tag along next time. Her cookies and brownies would be a big hit."
"Idiot, you just want to eat them. Whatever, let's talk about your situation some other time. I'm too tired."
The next afternoon, Mikan excitedly relayed to Natsume all that transpired in the Elementary School Division.
Natsume half-listened to her detailed narrative about charming children and interesting alices. He was partly amused and partly incredulous.
They were sprawled on a large picnic blanket somewhere in the Northern Woods. Bear was spending time with Kaname. No one was bound to walk in on them.
"You should have seen Kaito-kun's delightful Bubblegum Alice! His twin sister Aya, meanwhile, was very enthusiastic about performing..."
His eyes roamed over Mikan's tousled hair and the creases on her blouse. She was using her hands to make big gestures as her story went on. Those hands had gripped his shirt earlier. Finally, he observed the movement of her lips. Just a few minutes ago, she had bitten them in an attempt to stifle a whimper. Then she told him abruptly that he should hear about what happened yesterday and started her story.
It was as if she had a switch, Natsume thought and smirked and ran his fingers through his own disheveled hair. He concluded, not for the first time, that the most important person in his life was not only energetic, beautiful, courageous, but also a bit strange.
"...and then Shuichi-nii-san promised to be my Calculus tutor, so that gave me hope for a better score though I'm starting to believe he might be stricter than I thought!"
Mikan slowly sat up and picked up a discarded hair tie. She gathered her tresses and made a passable pony tail. She turned pensive.
"He also told me some things that really resonated with me. He said that I'm more than just the daughter of Yuka Azumi and Izumi Yukihira."
Natsume believed that the latter would gladly drag him to the depths of hell. He felt a little guilty. Just a little bit. He sat up and listened intently as Mikan continued.
"He said that their legacy should guide me without pressuring me. He said that I'm my own person."
Natsume retrieved the still-unopened picnic basket from the far side of the blanket to get the sandwiches.
"You're supposed to know that already, Polka dots."
"Yeah, you're right." She smiled and grabbed a tuna sandwich. "Do you want to come along to the Elementary School Division next week? It would be… interesting to see you interact with the children."
"Are you implying that I can't handle children?"
"Your experience with Youichi doesn't count, Natsume." Mikan looked smug.
"I also have experience in dealing with you. You've always been more childish than Youichi."
"How dare you say that, Natsume! That's not true! Take it back right now or I'll…I'll…"
"What? What will you do, foolish little girl?" Natsume inched closer to Mikan but that only made her more furious. He backed away when her face suddenly turned apologetic.
"Oh, Natsume. Of course you'll do very well. You're already a good older brother. How could I forget? So, if you don't mind me asking, how is Aoi-chan?"
"She's fine, Polka dots." Natsume's eyes softened as he thought of his precious sister. Their Dad had written in a letter a month ago that Aoi was still sweet, but she was becoming more like their Mom in terms of confidence.
"Go on, tell me more."
Natsume hesitated. "Aoi said in her latest letter that she feels a bit sad because a close friend of hers moved to Canada. She also claimed that she's surpassed our Dad's painting skills. I''ll take her word for it."
"I think I'll agree. How's your Dad doing?"
"Dad's just happy that he and Aoi have become very close over the years."
"That's great!"
Mikan sensed that Natsume had more to say. She wished that he would do that.
He took a deep breath before speaking again.
"A year after they forced you to leave, they told me that I could send and receive letters. I didn't believe them. How could I? It had to be a trick."
"The letters came and I still doubted their authenticity. I wanted to burn the envelopes but in the end, I didn't. I read everything but didn't reply. Ruka told me later that he assured Dad and Aoi that I was receiving and reading their letters. I didn't ask him if he told them I was fine."
"You did start writing back at some point," Mikan said, holding back her tears.
"I sent them a very short reply after three months. Just three lines. I've tried hard to write longer letters since then."
"I'm sure they understand, Natsume."
"Mikan."
"Yes?"
"I want you to meet them."
"I'd like that too. I'd like that very much," Mikan smiled. "Hopefully, you can improve your musical skills by the time that day comes!"
"Why would that even matter?"
"It was a random thought. Isn't it funny?" She was relieved that Natsume didn't sound sad anymore.
"It's not funny, it's childish. There, you've proven your sheer immaturity." Natsume glared at her.
"It's not my fault you're not perfect!" Mikan laughed. "Okay, I'll stop. I'm sorry, Natsume."
"You better be sorry, you foolish little girl."
Right now, Natsume didn't really mind Mikan's teasing because it made her face light up with joy.
"Today's been a really, really good day. Don't you think so, Natsume?"
"Hn."
"I guess you've reached your conversation limit for today, huh?
"Just eat."
Three sandwiches later, they packed up their stuff.
End of Eleventh Chapter
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary says that aren't I has become quite acceptable to use, so yeah.