05 Her Return
The door to class 3B slammed open as though a burst of wind suddenly came in for a greet. Stood there with her palm flat on the surface of the door was Hotaru Imai and she didn't look particularly happy. She found the object of her attention just as quick as she saw him trying to make an escape through the other door at the back of the class. Hotaru fought the urge to click her tongue in irritation when she realized that Ruka actually knew what she came for. That's why he tried to escape.
Just when Ruka took a glance back at his pissed looking girlfriend, he silently gulped. Hotaru was giving off this dark, smoldering look as she clenched her jaw. Her brows lowering, drawing together. She didn't yell nor she raised her voice with a threat but her face right now clearly told him not to mess with her or he would end up with a bald head the next day. Despite feeling fear for his hair, Ruka acted smart and retreated back into the class.
"So you knew," she declared. She didn't move from where she stood. She just stood there at the door with her arms now crossed across her chest and staring, no, glaring at him.
Ruka cleared his throat. "I only heard about it just now," he lied. He tried not to fidget under Hotaru's scrutiny gaze as she observed him. He didn't have a particular habit when he lied but he certainly hope he didn't develop one right now. He had managed to survive well all these years with her with some white lies. But that's only when it's unavoidable. For example, right now. He certainly cannot lose his hair.
He had heard about it during third period. Apparently a junior from the first year saw Mikan Sakura at the teachers office when she was dropping by to send her math homework. Based on the commotion her brother had unintentionally stirred by posting her pictures in his instagram account, now basically everyone in school knew her; 'Mikan Sakura, Narumi Anjou's little sister'. Now that she had returned, he suspected she would become a celebrity herself because of her older brother. Or so, he thought that's how other people gonna view her as.
Yes so he heard about it and he knew well enough that he should have quickly informed Hotaru about it. After all, she may not say it or admit it even, but Hotaru really took it to her heart that Mikan just suddenly disappear like that without even telling her anything. And she only knew about her whereabouts only after Youichi told her. And that only happened because she went to her house. If not, she would know about her whereabouts the same time as everyone else in the world, meaning the instagram photo. He reckoned Hotaru would be even madder if that were to happen. She was after all, her lifetime best friend.
He was in the same class as Natsume and Mikan while Hotaru, being the brightest among them four was in the A class alone. Hotaru didn't mind being alone, rather, they all had thought it would be the best like that since Hotaru actually favored being alone. Less disturbance in class, she would say. But she would come to their class once in awhile to see Mikan. Right from the first time Ruka met Mikan, she knew how important she is to Hotaru. Ruka stared at Hotaru. It wasn't suppose to be made as a big matter to them but taking into consideration that Mikan's not a skipper, not only she didn't come to school two days before summer holidays began, she also skipped two weeks of class after school reopened after that. In short, she was MIA for nearly more than six weeks.
But the thing is, ever since Hotaru knew that Mikan was actually in Brazil, Hotaru had not been herself that well. Scratch that, she had not been herself eversince Mikan went missing. He bet she didn't even realize it herself. She didn't mention it directly to him but Ruka knew that she didn't understand why Mikan chose not to tell her anything, her decision to follow her brother to Brazil, basically everything she thought was a grave matter to her but not to Mikan herself. Not only that, she couldn't even reach her at all. There were no phone calls, no emails. Nothing came from her. She even deactivated all her social medias. For the first time ever, Hotaru was at loss of what to do.
What's more, her reading genre lately really confused him. One day he saw her reading a bibliography about some renowned people in the technology world and the next day he noticed she was carrying a fiction book about homicide. The title was a troubling one too. 'Minced to Death', he remembered feeling his stomach churned looking at the title. He concluded Hotaru had long passed the downhearted state and now that desolateness had turned to indignation instead. Her irritation to Mikan wouldn't be that bad to the extend that she wanted to commit homicide, right?
To the others inside the class, they could only see Hotaru with a vacant expression on but knowing whom Hotaru Imai actually is for years already, they knew it was the calm before the storm. But right now, it was most likely the storm already. They could already guess what it was that brought Hotaru Imai to the next door class in such a state. The same reason why those who were busy talking about what they heard from the grapevine instantly died out upon Hotaru Imai's sudden appearance. The class was thrown in a stand still when the two were continuously throwing each other the fixed stares. But it finally ended when they heard a tired sigh escaped from Hotaru's lips.
"Nevermind." She shook her head and turned around. "Let's go, Ruka."
As she headed out the class, the commotion started to build up. So the news finally reached Hotaru Imai, they whispered to each other. It wasn't really much of a whisper if everyone else pretty much talked about the same thing in their normal voices instead of leaning in close to their friends' ears. Ruka let out a sigh of relief as his head fall back, eyes looking heavenward.
A hand suddenly came and pat his shoulder. He turned around and saw Koko giving him a look of concern in contrast to the smirk he had tugged at the corner of his lips. "If in 20 minutes time and you still don't return to class, don't worry man, I'll go and find you, Nogi." He laughed. "Your wife seems like she wanted to murder you when she came in."
Ruka slapped his hand away. "Get a teacher instead, idiot." He smirked, " Because I don't want to put my life in the hands of the likes of you. " He made his way to the door.
"Your honest words hurt my feelings, man." Koko scowled at his back. Nonetheless, he wished his friend goodluck before the blonde disappeared through the door.
Ruka ran after Hotaru and tried to keep his pace the same as hers. She walked rather fast, he noticed. Hotaru wasn't a runner and they both knew they're not allowed to run in the hallways either way. But her footsteps were surprisingly quick. Didn't seem she realized he was finally beside her too. "You won't kill her, right?" He tried asking.
Hotaru actually slowed down and turned to look at him, finally registering his presence next to her. She narrowed her brows at him. "Why so?"
Ruka was about to start preaching, reminding her that Mikan went MIA on her without any news at all, thinking that she forgot about it, although he doubted she really did. Hotaru was never an absent-minded person, especially significant matter such as this. Maybe she was trying to see what he has in mind. He nearly told her about how concerning he felt towards her choice of reading lately. Thank god he didn't because then he saw the small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. It's almost hard to see but it was there. A smile. He perceived the end of the conversation with a smile of his own, matching her warmness.
Upon reaching the teachers office, Ruka realized Hotaru had slowed down before she finally stopped walking completely. She just stood there stupefied with a sudden stiffening posture. Ruka looked at her and surprised to see that she had a confused look on her face. As she narrowed her brows, she turned to look at him, as if asking him what she should do next. She was at loss of what to do because then a look of alarm passed her face.
Hearing the news of her return, Hotaru was happy at first. No, scratch that, she was actually ecstatic. She didn't even realized she had walked too fast and left Ruka behind and when did he get there next to her? Her mind was occupied with the thoughts of seeing Mikan only. She even couldn't believe her mind can only work one way now. Her thoughts were solely on Mikan. If that baka knew, she would be enraptured for sure. She mentally snickered at the idea of it. Though for sure she won't tell her that.
But when she finally saw her there before her very own eyes after so many weeks, everything inside her mind just broke down and froze. What's more, her mind entered panic zone because she didn't know what she should do. She felt awkward all of a sudden. She used to see that baka every single day before this—and she took if for granted, she realized—and when she didn't see her not more than a few months lately, she felt that Mikan didn't look like Mikan. Instead, she felt odd looking at the said person now.
Mikan was there, standing by the wall next to the door to the teachers office. She was staring listlessly into space, her brown orbs looked distant. She's not wearing her school uniform. Instead, she's in her casual clothes; a pair of jeggings and a crop shirt with a sleeveless cardigan. Both of her hands were stuffed inside the cardigan pockets. She was staring at the ceiling but her one foot was softly kicking the floor, playing aimlessly. Her bangs covered her forehead entirely. Her heavy curled hair cascaded long behind her back. And they're not brunette, Hotaru realized.
"Mikan," Ruka called out.
Ruka's voice broke Hotaru's reverie as she snapped her head to his direction, feeling a slight alarmed. Nevertheless, Ruka smiled at her warmly. Placing a hand behind her back, he gave her a little push. Hotaru stumbled forward, feeling a bit disgraceful with her out of character side. She glared back at him but he only motioned her with a hand wave, urging her to go and talk to Mikan.
She sighed and finally tried to calm herself down. She's losing her character if she didn't and she took so much pride in being Hotaru Imai too. "Mikan," she tried this time, looking at the said person who's already staring back at her with a small smile.
A faint one.
Hotaru tried not to feel taken aback because even if it resembled what looked like a smile, in truth, it didn't reach even the corner of her mouth. Mikan always, always, smiled widely and if she could exposed her teeth while doing it, she would. Hotaru felt her throat going dry. Mikan looked so distant now.
"You're not wearing your uniform," Hotaru pointed out with a frown, trying to change the air a little by breaking the ice. She felt stiffening with the air surrounding them. "Hotaru, hisashiburi," Mikan greeted her, her face held an amused expression on. "Straight-laced as always, ne Hotaru." She smiled, this time a little bit wider than before but that's just about it. It still didn't reach her eyes. There was no twinkle too. The gleam weren't there at all. "Hisashiburi ne Ruka." Ruka return her greet with a nod and a warm smile.
"Your hair." Hotaru frowned at her, picking her hair color this time.
Mikan grinned sheepishly and Hotaru saw a light of the ol' Mikan a little just then. "I got scolded by Jinno-sensei about it just now." For a fleeting moment, she played with the end of her hair but she continued talking, "Rei-nii got a phone call from the school and he was flipping mad." A look of amusement crossed her face. "He threatened Narumi nii-chan to bring me back or else, I'll be expelled from school. It was a last minute flight home." She shrugged, "Didn't have much time to dye it back."
Hotaru thought she had heard her muttering under her breath that sounded a little like, "Then again, it wasn't in my initial plan to come back either." But Mikan was looking directly at her and that effing faint smile was still tugging at her lips like those words did just not come out of her mouth. So she wondered if she had heard it right or maybe it was just her mind playing games on her.
"But it was such a nice colour, isn't it? I really like it," Mikan uttered, showing her hair colour. It was purple and silver ombre. In this close proximity, Hotaru ended up observing her face completely. She's gotten prettier with a little tan. She used to be paler with soft peachy skin. She had some make up on, now that Hotaru looked closely. Both ears pierced and were adorned with black studs. She thought she saw something on her nose too, probably another piercing but it's too small to confirm it. She couldn't shove her face right in front of hers now, could she? Wait, how come she looked more mature now, now that she changed?
"Such a shame I have to dye it back," she trailed off and flipped her hair back. Just then Hotaru noticed the little drawing carved on her neck. She narrowed her eyes to look harder as if to confirm what she's seeing was right and was not her own delusions.
"Mikan, where did—" Her words were halted when the door to the teachers office slid open and an unfamiliar looking figure stepped out. He was tall and had unusual hair colour. He looked at Hotaru first and it seemed his gaze lingered on her for a second before he turned to look at Mikan. "Gomen. It took longer than I expected."
Mikan shook her head. "Iie. Jinno-sensei likes to preach. That's just all." She turned her attention back to Hotaru. "Ja ne, Hotaru. I'll see you around." She swung around and started to walk away with the unfamiliar stranger following at her back.
"You're not coming to class?" Hotaru called after her. Ruka looked oddly at his fiancée. Why did he felt as though Hotaru went out of her way to ask Mikan? She normally would just force her to come, or warned her to come at least. But asking? That's not how Hotaru Imai got things done.
Mikan swirled around and continued on walking backwards, letting the person now walking next to her went ahead first. She shook her head. "Not today."
Hotaru's face fell. "Tomorrow?" She actually tried asking back because she wanted to know, not with some stranger she just met but Mikan. She felt odd doing so.
Mikan thought for awhile before shrugging a respond, "Maybe."
"But you'll come, right?" She tried again. Her crestfallen face began showing. Ruka who stood beside her, blinked in surprise. Doesn't it seem that Hotaru is trying unusually hard this time?
Mikan stared at her, feeling a bit startled by the change of expression going on her best friend's face. The corner of her mouth curled up slightly to a cursory smile and she chuckled. "This is so not you, Hotaru." She then spun around and gave her a backward wave. "Ja ne, Hotaru! Ja ne Ruka!"
"I'm like this because you're like that with me," she muttered, biting her lower lip, feeling somewhat upset. She watched as Mikan walked away, leaving them behind. She didn't realize she was somehow hissing when she saw the two of them holding hands. "Well I for one, doesn't like whom she's with," she announced with a frown.
She found herself clicking her tongue and tapping her foot in frustration. "The man looks strangely familiar but I knew I've never met him before." A look of concern now passed her face. "She's not dating him, is she?"
"Do you realize you're talking more now than you're usually do, Hotaru?"
Hotaru snapped her head to Ruka's direction and a mild blush crept her face. She was about to argue but then Ruka's next words stopped her completely. "You started to speak out your mind more too, so that's good." Instead of bottling everything inside like she usually did, she just blurted everything out just now. Well, probably everything. So that's how much Mikan's return had affected her. He patted her on the shoulder. "Aren't you glad that she's back now?"
"But still, that baka, she didn't even apologize for disappearing." Hotaru let out a sigh but she smiled nonetheless.
"I'm sure she'll talk about it sooner or later." Ruka took out his phone and went to open his Instagram account. Hotaru gave him a long, searching look. "What are you doing looking through your instagram now?" A vein twitched irritatingly. "We're at school, idiot. Can't you just do it later?" He could get his phone confiscated later on.
"Relax, there's no teacher around so just gimme a second." At the top in the search bar, his fingers typed on the keypad swiftly. His eyes narrowed on the phone screen. "He does look familiar, like you said, so I wanna confirm something very quick here." His dragged his finger swiftly on the screen and looked through the photo one by one. Getting curious now, Hotaru peeked in as well. "Narumi nii-san's?"
"It's just a hunch though. I could be wrong," he muttered, although he hoped he's not. His finger kept on scrolling. It wasn't until he reached Narumi's post from four weeks ago that he finally found it. "Gotcha!" It was a group picture of Mikan and Narumi with a few others. Another two looked Asian if not Japanese. Three of them looked like foreigners and the man was one of them. The difference is his skin is a bit lighter than the rest. He could passed as an Asian too if it weren't for his face structure that of foreign citizen. But in the picture he had on different hair colour though. No wonder Ruka couldn't recognize him at first.
"I don't know how you could spot him." Hotaru tried zooming in the picture. The picture was a little distant in the back and it was a little dark too, probably twilight and they might gather there for sunset viewing.
He scrolled further down and showed her another photo. This time, it's clearer and it was bright sunny day. In the picture was Narumi Anjou wearing only a pair of shorts, jumping off a cliff with the blue ocean down below. Stood on top of the cliff was Mikan who was peering down the cliff with the man behind her, holding her hand, presumably preventing her from falling off the cliff. He wrinkled his nose like there's a bad smell. "They could be dating. Or probably in an open relationship? Or it could be just a friendly gesture. I'm just saying."
"I'm more surprised that you follow Narumi nii-san's instagram, " Hotaru said but her vein was actually twitching as she furrowed her brows. She pressed her lips together, staring at the picture. She felt her jaw tense. Heaving a heavy sigh, she threw Ruka back his phone. Ruka locked his phone and shoved it inside his pocket, just in time to hear Hotaru snarled under her breath. "Where is that stupid idiot Hyuuga? I'm gonna punch my fist through his skull."
TBC.
