23 Shorts

Just as she jumped down from the last flight of stairs, the front door opened and Youichi walked in, wearing a jersey and a pair of shorts. His hair was down, messy and wet and he was holding a basketball ball in one hand. "You went out and played basketball?" Mikan had asked.

Youichi who just took notice of his sister's presence, stopped at the door and rolled his eyes at her question. It was pretty obvious he went out and played basketball. He's carrying a ball for god's sake. "No. I went out to get my nails done," he answered sarcastically while showing his nail of his other free hand for a more dramatic effect. When he saw she clicked her tongue at his answer, he added, "You're asking a stupid obvious question. Since when do you have SQS?"

Mikan raised her brows. "What SQS?"

Youichi smirked. "Stupid Question Sydrome."

Mikan gritted her teeth in pure irritation. She was about to let him have it for making fun of her when suddenly; she heard loud voices coming from the front door. Immediately she halted her intentions. Why it so loud?

Youichi, who happened to be aware of the noise, spun around and growled, "This is not a pub so don't act like a bunch of effing fucktards screaming. Your annoying voices hurt my ears."

Forgetting whoever Youichi was talking to outside the door, Mikan placed her hands on her hips and glared. "You-chan, you went to a pub?!"

"Figuratively speaking, baka," he remarked with a sneer before releasing of the ball so the ball fell and rolled into the house. He motioned for the people—whoever they were—outside the door to come in. Then in came a bunch of guys wearing sport attires with their loud roaring voices. Mikan stood there, watching with puzzled eyes. You-chan's bringing friends over? She raised her brows; he actually has friends?

Mikan found herself grinning. "You actually have friends."

Youichi walked in, totally ignoring the still nosy bunch behind him. "Do you think I played with a freaking wall? Though I take pride in being a loner, I'm don't have mental disorder."

Mikan recognized some of the people. She had met them before, when she went to the park to fetch Youichi.

"Ah." One managed to spot her by the stairs as he walked in. His hair was tied up in a small pony tail behind his head and he had this huge grin etched on his face as he looked at her and back at Youichi. "Holy shit! You live with your girlfriend?" He smacked Youichi's back. "Dude, you're too awesome! I really respect you now."

Mikan had her face crinkled in annoyance as she heard it. The guys were giving her the looks and whistles. Youichi was close to snapping at Tono. He held his pony-tail friend back by the neck, attempting to drag him away, making another commotion with the guys guffawing like monkeys, all the while teasing Youichi for being shy but just then Hotaru came down the stairs with Luna slowly followed at her back. They stopped when they spotted her by the lower staircase. "What are you still doing here?" Hotaru had asked. "Don't just stand here doing nothing. You're blocking our way. Move."

The guys froze immediately and their gazes directed at the two new ladies now joining the hot brunette, standing on the staircase. The lady with the strawberry blonde hair was the bomb. The raven haired one was a classic beauty. They didn't know what to do but stare. The two girls too, finally realized the scenes with the newcomers just across them by the front door.

Luna was first to react when she saw Hijiri—and his unusual silver-hair was the reason why she spotted him first—in the room but then Hotaru was quicker in handling her friend's honest surprise. She could pretty much predicted Luna's reaction so she immediately smacked her one hand over her lips. She knew Luna would open her lousy mouth if she didn't. Pulling an overly-bulging-eyes-Luna close to her, Hotaru whispered, "Don't be too surprised. Hijiri's here because he is Mikan's little brother." Hearing that, Luna was even more flabbergasted. If her eyes could pop out from the socket, Hotaru would be the first one to witness it in history.

Tono was the quickest one to respond. He was ecstatic beyond compare. He pushed Youichi away but only to jump on his back again after that. He wrapped one arm around a disgruntled Yuichi to congratulate him with a strong ruffle of his silver hair. "You demon! Three girls at the same time!" He smacked Youichi's shoulders. Clearly he had misunderstood the whole situation. "One at a time, man, one at a time." He laughed.

The rest of the guys too, finally able to pick up their consciousness as they started to congratulate Youichi one by one. Hayama, one with a purple highlights, actually sighed as he gave a friendly smack on Youichi's back. "Man, you have the life I want. I'm sure as hell jealous of that." He continued feasting his eyes on the ladies. Not always he got to see girls this pretty and in this close distance. Well, clearly all of them misunderstood the whole situation.

Youichi was at the state of exploding. First, he failed to realize sooner that his nee-san's wearing a pair of pants shorter than what he could call a proper pants. Second, his stupid friends misunderstood the whole situation. Third, they're checking her sister for fuck's sake. And fourth, what kind of person they think he was for having three persons at the same time? They thought he had that low of a morale? One is his sister so incest is not his forte, the other one is her devil best friend whom still frightened him till now so for sure as hell he won't try to hit her up and the other one was a complete stranger to him.

Youichi spun around, smacking a fist on each of everyone's head. "For fuck's sake, stop ogling at my sister like you're trying to undress them!" he snarled.

Tono and the rest of the guys blinked. Hayama rubbed his sore head. "All of them?"

Mikan had to admit, she was quite surprise with Youichi's temper. So when her little brother suddenly turned around with a sour looking face, she knew he was dissatisfied about something. "And you, baka," he pointed one finger at her, "I told you not to wear those kind of shorts. Go and change them now."

Mikan crossed her arms on her tummy with a disbelief look on her face. "Excuse me?" She's older than him and he got to order her around? Tsk.

"You heard me the first time," he growled, "Go and changed them NOW," he pressed. "And I'm not gonna say it for the third time. If you want to go out, you better change them." He gave his sister a stern pointed look.

He turned to the rest of the guys. "And the rest of you lots, shut the hell up or I'll kick you all outside." The guys actually made an attempt to properly clamp their mouth shut. They even stood rigid by the door, not moving. Not sure whether they were scared or they just didn't want to piss Youichi off even more. Youichi narrowed his brows looking at the frozen Tono. "Are you not breathing?" He sighed in response when Tono shook his head. "Are you dumb? Do you wish to die that bad?" He went to nudge on his ribs, resulting in Tono doubled over, groaning—and finally breathing. "Damn Hijiri! That fucking hurts!"

"Baka's finally breathing again." Youichi smirked. "Be grateful, I save your life."

He walked up the stairs and passed Mikan, before stopping and turning around to look at the rest of his friends. He furrowed his brows. "What are you guys standing there for?" He motioned them to follow him. "My room's upstairs. Get going." The guys started trailing after him one by one, taking their time slowly passing the girls who were still standing by the stairs. Oh they're taking their time real slowly alright, sniffing whenever they can—before blushing scarlet red like little virgins when their eyes met before rushing up the stairs.

Hotaru waited for the last guy to pass them with an icy look and then dragged Luna who was still perplexed of the whole situation, down the stairs before pushing Mikan along in front of her. Just when Mikan grabbed the doorknob and the door opened with a little gap, the brunette squealed in surprised and stumbled backwards when a ball suddenly came flying and hit the door with a loud bang, slamming it close. She watched the ball rolled on the floor in horror after that with her heart beating like crazy.

A basketball ball?

Luna too stared at the ball like it was some kind of a ghost. Hotaru was calm enough of the whole thing. "I told you to change your shorts, didn't I?" They heard a voice said from the stairs. Mikan slowly looked up and saw Youichi by the top stairs, peering down at her with his usual blank expression look on. He had his arm propping his chin on the rails of the top stairways. "I'm not letting you out if you're not changing them."

Mikan took a deep breath and heaved it out with a huff. She calmed herself down, waiting for her heart rate to return to normal before grabbing for the ball and threw it back up the stairs, partially hoping her aim would be perfect and her throw would hit her brother straight on the face. She watched in dismay when Youichi effortlessly avoided the ball and smirked. "That's the best you can throw? Man, that's so weak."

"Stop bugging me, You-chan!" Mikan yelled in irritation. "You don't get to order me around. I'm older than you!" She puffed and went for the door again.

Again, the door slammed back, closing it again after another ball came flying down hitting on it. Mikan was already pissed. She ignored it and tried to open the door again but only ended up the door slamming close again. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands. She spun around and screamed, "Damn it, how many balls do you have?!" She remembered him carrying only one just now.

"As many as I need to get you to change your shorts," Youichi answered shortly. Mikan saw another ball was already in his hand, just waiting to be thrown like the ones before.

Hotaru ended up sighing. She pulled Mikan from the door and pushed her towards the stairs. "Just go and change your shorts. You heard him. If it goes like this, we won't be able to leave with you." Mikan was about to retort, not wanting to bend to Youichi's order, when Hotaru smacked her forehead, stopping her whining all together. "Just change the bloody pants, Mikan Sakura or we'll leave without you!" She gave her one last push towards the stairs and grabbing for Luna—still silent why is that—towards the door. "We'll wait for you in the car. Be quick." And then the two were gone, leaving a speechless Mikan on the stairs.

Mikan looked at the two figures now gone through the doors in disbelief. Why do she felt as though Hotaru was not on her side as her best friend? Mikan mentally teary eyed. Hotaruuuuu!

"Trust Hotaru-nee to be able to understand the complete sense in my words." She heard him snickered before continuing, "You on the other hand, once a baka, always a baka."

Now Mikan was utterly fed up. When did You-chan become so mean?—the thought came across her mind. But she soon quickly forgot about it when she heard him talked again. "Do you want another throw? I don't mind giving you one for free service."

Her head was steaming now. She had not remembered Youichi been this sarcastically mean before but nevermind that now at this state, she knew how to get even. She walked back down the stairs, picked up one of the ball and took it along with her as she walked up the stairs again. As she reached the top stairs, just as she passed her brother who was the least aware of her intention, quickly spun around. She pulled her hand back and swung it forward with all her might, throwing the ball forward straight to back of his head, literally slamming it hard. With their close distance, Mikan she guaranteed she could aim it perfectly without missing this time. She thought she had heard the 'bang' noise rather loud.

Just as she heard a loud rumble of what sounded like a painful growl of a mad lion, she changed her pace and ran to her room, slamming the door shut and locked it afterwards. A second after she leaned against the door, she heard the roar of her brother's voice. "THAT FUCKING HURT, BAKA! SHIT!" Then came the thumping of heavy footsteps and the banging on the door of her room. "I'm letting that one go just because I know you're pissed. But you better change your pants before you go out or I will get even for what you did just now!" She heard him walked away, not after hearing him mumbling a few cuss words.

Mikan laughed. Now she felt better. She made her way to her built in closet to pick a modest pair of pants that will suit to her annoying brother's standards.

On the other hand, Luna sat motionless in the passenger seat inside the car. Hotaru had started the engine ready, waiting for Mikan to get in. She glanced at the person next to her before her hand reached out to turn on the radio. "Why are you still surprised?"

Luna suddenly moved to switch off the radio before fully turning her whole body to face Hotaru. Her face was serious. "Why didn't nobody tell me about Mikan Sakura having a brother?"

Hotaru was expressionless as usual. She shifted her attention outside the glass window. "Because you didn't ask."

"How do I know I should ask when I don't know about it in the first place!"

"Well, now you know."

Luna's getting irritated by Hotaru's short responses. She wanted to know more. Moreover, she hated been left out. It's itching her inside even more. Mikan Sakura and Hotaru Imai had been gone for three years and suddenly turning up at AA just last week. No news, no notification—they were just there! And Hijiri had recently transferred at that time too, she had heard. If she put this and that together, it's not really coincidental. And now she just got to know that Youichi Hijiri, the one being the sole reason of a new rumor spread in the junior division, turned out to be Mikan Sakura's brother. So Mikan Sakura came to AA last week because of him. There's no other logical explanation besides that. Why else would she come anyways.

But why now? Mikan Sakura had never mention she had a brother. Throughout the years Luna knew her, she only knew her friend's living with her dad only. Aside from that, she didn't tell her friends much. But Luna was sure Hotaru Imai knew more than just that because they had been friends since before they got into AA. "But, Youichi Hijiri and Mikan Sakura both have different family name," Luna stated obviously. She gave Hotaru a quizzical look. She still couldn't understand. Are they half-siblings? Or either one of them was adopted into another family that their family name's differ from one another?

"I don't think it's in my place to tell you that." Hotaru gave her a brief look before staring out the window again.

Not in her place? Luna's vein twitched. "Hotaru Imai, I suggest you to tell me that much since you already told me Youichi Hijiri is Mikan Sakura's brother. I even saw that kid in her house." Yeah, with a bunch of other smelly kids, ugh.

"Mind you, Youichi is just a year younger than us," Hotaru corrected Luna's assumption of Youichi's age. Luna mentally raising her brows—why is Hotaru Imai defending Hijiri?

Luna scoffed. "Like I give a damn about it."

Hotaru sighed. "Mikan's parents got a divorce. That's why their family name is different. Her okaa-san took Youichi with her while Mikan is left under her otou-san's care. That's that."

Luna, startled, shifted in her seat and stayed silent after that. Hotaru wondered why but then the door opened and Mikan slipped in on the backseat. Hotaru peered from the rearview mirror and snickered. Mikan was wearing a three-quarter jeans and she's sulking about it. When their eyes met in the rearview mirror, Mikan growled, "Don't say anything and just get going, Hotaru."

"Alright then." Hotaru chuckled and push in the gear.

xxx

"You're being awfully silent. What's wrong?" Mikan asked, her hand casually flipping the stacks of clothes on the rail.

"Nah, I'm good." Luna short reply came. She glanced at Hotaru once before aimlessly continuing flipping the clothes on the rail.

But Mikan, she was dubious still. She stopped whatever she was doing to stare closely at Luna. "You're lying." She noticed Luna's eyes actually quivered when she stared at her so close. She's uncomfortable, Mikan had thought. "Hey, did Hotaru say something to you?" She noticed Luna glanced at Hotaru too before this.

Luna had thought about denying it but Hotaru's reply caught her off guard. "She asked me why you and Youichi have different family names so I told her your parents got divorced." And she said it so calmly too, Luna was astounded. She sent a look of betrayal to Hotaru and the girl just shrugged it off like it was nothing!

"Ah, I see." Mikan's low reply came.

Damn it, Luna could hear the despair in her friend's voice. Now she felt guilty.

"I'm sorry. I know it wasn't in my place to—"

"It's okay, Luna. It's not much of a big secret anyway."

"…ask such private matter and you—what?" Luna blinked. She looked at Mikan in bewilderment. "It's okay?" She repeated what Mikan had said in incredulity. "I feel as though I've barged in a person's private life without her consent and you're saying it's okay?"

Mikan actually laughed at that. "Don't exaggerate things, Koizumi. It's not much of a big deal anyway." After all, she owed her that much explanation since she didn't tell her anything about her family and just disappeared off after she got kicked and moved house, and yet, she had to found out under such weird situation like bumping into You-chan at home just now. They're in the same school too. Bet it was pretty awkward for them. Though she doubted You-chan would recognized her as one of his schoolmates. The kid never really pays attention to the people around him.

"But still," Luna mumbled under her breath, "I'm sorry."

Hotaru came and smacked a hand on Luna's head. "You're making the mood heavier, Koizumi." She gave her an icy stare. "The girl said it's okay so knock it off already. Man, you're such a wet blanket."

"That's mean, Hotaru," Mikan scolded her best friend. But Hotaru, she was smirking.

Luna flipped her strawberry blonde hair and returned Hotaru's remarks with a glare. "Piss off, Hotaru Imai. Don't ever call me a wet blanket again. That's such an insult to my face." She puffed her cheeks in irritation. "Fine, we're here for work right?" A cunning smile started to edge on the corner of her lips. "Try to keep up with me if you can."

They watched as Luna started to head somewhere.

"Where are you going, Koizumi?" Hotaru called out.

"Yeah, I thought we're finding clothes." Mikan scratched the back of her head out of habit.

"You two are finding clothes." Luna pointed at the two of them. "I'm gonna go somewhere and find something essential first." She left afterwards.

Mikan looked at Hotaru. "What's more essential than the clothes?"

Hotaru just shrugged in response, continuing what she did before; flipping through the clothes at the rails. She picked up something that perked up her interest. "How bout this one, Mikan?" Her amethyst eyes twinkled in a strange amusement.

As it happened, Mikan's mood turned to sour. "Hotaru, I think Luna strictly told us not to get any of those kind of clothes anymore!" She gritted her teeth in irritation, glaring at the gold spandex legging Hotaru was holding up. "And besides, I don't get why you keep on suggesting me those kind of clothes."

"Because it's funny. Seeing you wear them, it's funny." Mikan thought she had heard Hotaru's mean laugh after that.

So it's for the sake of her own amusement? Mikan gasped. "Meanieeeeee! Hotaru, you're mean!" She threw a shirt at her.

"You're so loud, Mikan Sakura."

The two of them turned to the said voice and watched Luna walking towards them with a paper bag in one hand. "You're fast," Mikan commented.

Luna scoffed. "No. It's just that you're two are slower than a snail."

"Don't group me in same one as hers." Hotaru held up a basket filled with clothes. "I've done mine."

Mikan looked at the basket in bewilderment. When did Hotaru pick up all that? Didn't they were talking just now?

"Good. Let's get going then."

"Wait!" Mikan held up her hands. She looked at the pile of clothes in the basket skeptically. "Are you sure Hotaru didn't pick up any more weird clothes? Just now she showed me—"

Hotaru quickly cut her off, "I was playing with you just now. Now I'm serious." She shoved the basket to Luna for a check up. Luna pulled them up one by one and nodded her head in acceptance. "These are good to go." She put the pile back in the basket and took it to the counter.

Mikan watched helplessly by the side. She didn't do anything yet. She didn't have a fair share of her own choices of clothes.

Hotaru stared at the paper bag Luna was carrying. "So what's the important thing you went to look for just now?"

Luna grinned mischievously and threw her the paper bag. Hotaru peeked at the content—something blonde but not exactly so. Maybe a bit whiter and paler but at the same time, striking. Hotaru looked closely. The she smirked, realizing what it was. "You sure this will look good one her?"

Luna grinned and winked. "She'll look perfect. Trust me on this."

TBC.

A/N: So Ellys Emerys is finally making an appearance in person soon. Shall I make her wear a demi-mask? Yes? Or nah?