Author's note: Hi folks! It's my first time ever publishing a fic on this website. Still getting used to the layout and formatting features. Sooooo please let me know if you have any issues reading this first chapter. Also, kindly R&R.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Gakuen Alice and its marvellous characters. Only the following story is mine.
Without further ado...
- The Powers of Showers -
by AuroraNotturna
1. The one with the Bridal Shower
"Mikan."
Oooh no.
"Mikan."
It couldn't be morning already! Nu-uh. No way.
"Mikan."
"Mmh... five more minutes, Mum."
A knowing sigh reached her ears.
"Open your eyes, dummy", said a voice that sounded nothing like her mother's.
Reluctantly, Sakura Mikan obliged. As her irises adjusted to the light and started taking in her surroundings, she noticed that her current location didn't look like her childhood bedroom at all - she was in a queen-sized bed with light-blue sheets that matched the delicate curtains fluttering by the window at one end of the room. Under said window, a wooden desk was cluttered with stationary, a pair of headphones, half-drunk coffee mugs, a laptop and a few second-hand textbooks. At the other end of the room, two posters were hanging on the wall, on either side of a slightly-opened door. A raven-haired girl was leaning her head in through the gap, looking straight at her with a pair of violet eyes.
Then it clicked.
"Oooh!", cried Mikan while sitting up, "morning Hotaru! For a second there I thought I was still in high school, can you believe it?"
"Clearly", her best friend - and flatmate - replied with an eye roll. "Say, sleepyhead, any chance you remember today's main event?"
The 22-year-old brushed her brown bangs away from her eyes, and looked down to her left, checking the desk calendar on her bedside table. Out of the thirty squares June had, two particularly stood out because their dates - Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th - had been circled three times in red, and the words ANNA'S SHOWER were scribbled all over in glittery ink.
Oh yes! The bridal shower! Or hen-do! Or whatever people called it these days!
Mikan, who usually took twenty minutes to crawl out of bed in the morning, leaped up as though her back was on fire.
"Oh Hotaru! This weekend's going to be amazing !", she declared as she rushed around the room gathering clothes and accessories.
"Mikan", her friend said as calm as always, "I know you're excited, but you can pack at a normal pace - no need to run around like a five-year-old."
"Muuuu! How can you say that? We have so much to think about! Remember, first we're meeting the girls at Sumire's apartment since she has the minivan. Then we go to the beach - yay! - by the way, you need to see the swimsuit I bought yesterday, it's really cute! Anyway, then we have to drive up to-"
"I'm perfectly aware of what we're going to do", was her friend's calm response.
"Then you know that we have to bring sooo many things! How can you be so calm?"
"Because I got my bags ready three days ago."
Mikan's mouth shot open in shock for a second, before she resumed her packing. Of course Hotaru had been ready that long.
She grinned at her friend. "Then you can help me with my stuff!"
Another eye roll. "Nope, I'm off to Narumi's diner. I'm craving crab cakes. I'll meet you directly at Sumire's".
Mikan watched stunned as her friend took off, then she slumped on her bedroom floor, surrounded by clothes, shoes, hair clips, and bags. Not fair! How could Hotaru go to their favourite restaurant without her? A squeak from the door made her look up. Her friend was looking at her with a smile. "I'll pick up a strawberry tart from Narumi's and have it waiting for you at Sumire's place. So you better be on time". And, with that, she left for real.
Ah, that was more like it! The brunette grinned to herself. The idea of strawberry tart was enough to get her off her feet again.
With newfound resolution, she started packing - for real - while humming a merry tune.
"Best. Day. EVER", Shouda Sumire declared rather dramatically, as she laid down on her beach towel.
"Not that I'm disagreeing", Wakako replied while tying her black her in a bun, "but you kinda say that every time we're hanging out."
"Of course, darling! That's how much I enjoy spending time with you guys!"
Mikan laughed and looked at her friends' faces, just in time to see Anna and Nonoko beaming at each other, Misaki shaking her head in amusement, and Hotaru rolling her eyes (she tended to do that a lot).
The group had been enjoying an amazing few hours at the beach - swimming when it got too hot outside, drinking tea and eating fruit if they craved something sweet, and sunbathing whenever they were too tired for anything else. And, most importantly, chatting non-stop.
Of course, there was one main topic they kept coming back to.
"I can't believe my best friend is getting married - and so young!", Nonoko announced for the third time that morning.
"It's not that surprising", replied Misaki, "Anna and Yuu have been together for six years."
"Well, what about you and Tsubasa-senpai? I heard it was your fourth anniversary last week", countered Hotaru raising her eyebrows.
"Wow, is Imai Hotaru actually participating in gossip?!", Wakako chimed in, visibly excited.
"Nah", said Misaki, "my guess is that this has something to do with that bet she made with Sumire last year."
A confused look crept up on Hotaru's face. She glanced at Sumire who shook her head quickly, as to say 'I didn't tell her'.
"How did you... Oh."
Mikan suddenly felt a death stare on her, and started readjusting the towel underneath her.
"Baka", she heard.
She looked at Hotaru and apologised. "Ok ok ok! I told Misaki! But, in my defense, I didn't know it was a BIG secret!"
"What secret?", said Anna, genuinely clueless.
"Oooh this sounds juicy!", Wakako exclaimed.
"Yeah! Care to explain?", Nonoko asked.
Mikan saw her best friend sigh. "Well, a few months ago Sumire made some wedding predictions for us all", Hotaru started, "and, you know me, I saw an opportunity. I wrote down her thoughts and we made a bet on them turning true or not. Of course, nobody was supposed to know except us, but Mikan walked in on our conversation and apparently" - at this point Hotaru glared at her - "she told Misaki."
"But I have no idea what the predictions are", Misaki interjected smiling, "so your bet is still safe, girls."
"Trust me", replied Hotaru, "had Mikan heard that part, you would have all known by now."
"HEY!", the brunette protested, "what's with all this Mikan-bashing?"
Her friends grinned. "Oh come on, Miki", Nonoko said, "you know we love you to death, but you are utterly useless when it comes to keeping secrets."
Mikan opened her mouth to vehemently protest this statement, but was cut off by a cute lifeguard approaching them.
"Hi ladies, sorry to disturb you", the man started.
"Oh trust me, you don't disturb us at all", replied Sumire with a wink.
He smiled back. "Excellent. I just wanted to let you know that strong winds are coming in around 12, so the coastguard is advising against getting in the water after that time."
"Thanks", said Misaki earnestly.
"If you girls need anything, my colleague and I are just over there", he added, pointing to the lifeguards' tower a hundred feet away. Then, he returned Sumire's wink to her and took off.
Mikan grinned, bracing herself for the hot-guy conversation they were inevitably going to have now.
"Hey Sumire, are you actually capable of not flirting whenever a guy appears on your radar?", Misaki asked laughing, once the man was out of earshot.
"Oh come on, give me a break! You and Anna might have forgotten what it's like, out here in Singles' World, but it's hard for the rest of us to find a decent guy! So my plan is to get to know as many as possible and weed out the bad. Right, ladies?", she asked Mikan and the other girls of the group.
"I don't know", replied Nonoko, "I just figured that when the right guy comes around, you can tell that he's the one."
"Oh puh-leeeease", protested Wakako, "I'm with Sumire on this one. No point in sitting around, it's better to seize the day and put ourselves out there! Hotaru?"
Called upon to share her thoughts, Hotaru shocked everyone for one simple reason: she did not hold back. "I think it's different from person to person. We can draw comparisons, but there's no point in trying to conform to one way of dating. Some people might know immediately that the guy or girl in front of them is their ideal partner; others just need a bit more time. But, in either case, you definitely need to click with them - you know?"
Mikan was flabbergasted. Was she dreaming, or had her best friend - the one some people called Ice Queen - just shared a very introspective and thoughtful answer on the subject of love?
Apparently, she wasn't the only one surprised by this.
"Where did THAT come from?", asked Sumire.
"Just my two cents", Mikan heard Hotaru reply as stoic as always. However, there was a certain twinkle in her eyes that she had never seen before. Weird.
"Oh. My. God!", exclaimed Misaki, making all the girls turn their heads towards her.
"What is it?", asked Nonoko.
"Isn't it obvious?! Hotaru has the hots for somebody!"
Mikan slowly shook her head with a smile. Hotaru wasn't the type of girl to simply "have the hots" for anyone. Plus, she'd been so busy studying for finals lately that there was no way she-
Hang on.
Her thoughts went back to the times her flatmate had returned home after her study sessions in the past few weeks, looking more relaxed than anyone should after hours of intense revision.
"Imai Hotaru!", she shrieked, making everybody jump. "Misaki is right, isn't she?"
"Well-"
"All those group-study sessions were just an excuse, weren't they?"
"Now listen to m-"
"How could you not tell us?!"
"Mik-"
"How could you not tell ME?"
"Mikan. Let the girl speak", Nonoko interrupted, visibly amused.
The brunette looked at her best friend, who seemed a tad annoyed. "Oh, sorry Hotaru. You were saying?"
"Ok", the girl started, "first of all, Misaki, I do not have 'the hots' for him; and secondly, Mikan, the group study sessions were 100% real. It's just that, well..."
Mikan noticed her friend's ears slightly reddening. Wow, this was a first. She smiled sweetly. "Just that..?", she asked, encouraging her to go on.
"Oh, I'm not even sure!", Hotaru exclaimed, looking frustrated, mostly with herself. "Well, one day a couple of people cancelled last-minute and it ended up just being me and this guy. We studied and talked for hours and, I don't know, we just..."
"Clicked", Anna finished for her, using her own words.
Hotaru smiled tentatively. "I guess", she ventured, "and over the past two weeks we've had a couple more study sessions just the two of us, which were just as good as the first one. But hey, I'm not even sure he likes me that way, so don't you all start harassing me about this."
"So ask him!", exclaimed Wakako. "Nothing wrong with that!"
Mikan nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Seriously, Hotaru. I mean, you NEVER talk about guys, so he must really be something else... you have to do something about it."
But her friend was back to her usual, passive façade. "We'll see... Enough of that, though. This is Anna's special day after all. We should be talking about her and going along with whatever she feels like doing."
"You're 100% right'", the bride-to-be agreed, "and I would really, really appreciate it if you told us more about this mystery study partner, my dear Hotaru".
Mikan laughed heartily, while her best friend rolled her eyes. Again.
Wakako yawned. "How can I feel so sleepy when it's only seven o'clock?", she asked as she slumped next to Mikan on the soft maroon sofa.
"It's because we've been having an awesome day", Sumire replied from an armchair at the other end of the living room, "and awesome days are always tiring."
Mikan wasn't sure about that, but it was true they'd had a rather packed Saturday. After a morning at the beach - and the sudden discovery of Hotaru's crush, for lack of a better word - the group of friends had had lunch at one of the best seafood restaurants in the area; they had then taken a drive around countryside, stopping for leisurely walks and/or selfies whenever they had to stretch their legs. Then, they had reached a small villa rented for the occasion, where they were going to spend the evening and upcoming night. Anna's eyes had grown wide when they'd arrived, and she'd started fussing over how expensive it must have been for them (as she wasn't paying a dime, being the bride and all) - in fact, she was still worrying about it even though they'd been there for two hours already.
As she came into the living room, Mikan heard snippets of the conversation she was having with Nonoko and Misaki who were just behind her.
"Seriously Anna", Nonoko was saying, "don't even think about it."
"Think about what?", Mikan couldn't help but ask.
"This sweetheart", replied Misaki pointing to the pink-haired girl, "was trying to sneak into the kitchen to cook for us. You know, as compensation for the villa and everything else."
"Anna!", they all exclaimed.
"It's no trouble, really!", was her answer. "You know I like cooking."
"Yes", replied Mikan, "and you practically feed us every week, so just relax for once."
That was no lie. Anna's skills in the kitchen were so good that she dished out new recipes faster than you could say 'cookbook', while her friends gladly took on the role of food critics, tasting and reviewing her creations.
"Besides", added Sumire with a smirk, "if you want to repay us, there's a very simple way to do that."
"Really?", asked the bride-to-be as she plopped down on a soft bean bag chair.
"Yup. Just go along with anything we ask you to do tonight!"
Anna's eyes narrowed, looking around the room. "Girls...what did you do?"
But everybody seemed clueless as to what Sumire meant. After all, when they had planned this whole bridal shower, they had agreed to a particular schedule and had specifically avoided things out of Anna's comfort zone.
Mikan scratched her head, trying to figure out if she had somehow forgotten a part of today's plans. Nope, nothing came to her. "What the heck are you talking about, Sumi?", she asked.
"Oh", her friend replied, putting on an innocent expression, "nothing much. It's just... oh alright, I'll give you a hint. Anna will be getting an extra special delivery tonight. And she has to make good use of this, uhm... package."
Before anybody could inquire any further, Sumire gathered her things and started heading out of the room. "Weeell", she said with a grin, "all this talk has made me exhausted, and that hot tub in the back garden has been screaming my name since we arrived. Feel free to join me!"
A few moments of stunned silence ensued.
"Sooo...", Misaki started.
"...what was she on about?", asked Nonoko.
"No idea! But I'm going to find out for sure", declared Wakako, before darting off.
"Hotaru", said Misaki, "you'd better go with her. You know how those two get when Sumire doesn't want to share and Wakako is adamant on finding out".
Mikan saw her best friend nod and calmly walk out too. At this point it was just her, Anna, Nonoko, and Misaki left in the living room. She brought her hand just below her face and rested her chin between her thumb and index finger, thinking hard. She repeated Sumire's words in her mind. An extra special delivery. But what? Surely it couldn't be anything related to the beach, because they'd already been there. And nothing to do with cooking, because they'd agreed not to let Anna near the kitchen. What else had Sumire said?
But Mikan's musings were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell. She noticed the surprised look on her friends' faces, which she was sure mirrored hers.
"Is that...?", started Misaki, unsure.
An extra special delivery.
"It's got to be what Sumire meant!", said Nonoko.
"I'll go get her", said Misaki. "They probably haven't heard the bell with all the noise from the jacuzzi. One of you girls should answer the door in the meantime."
Mikan rose to her feet, knowing all too well that Anna wouldn't budge from the living room and that Nonoko wouldn't leave her side.
As she walked along the corridor that led to the front door, she couldn't help but keep guessing.
An extra special delivery.
She scratched her head as she got to her destination.
She has to make good use...
She turned the knob.
...of this package.
The brunette opened the door and stopped breathing for a second. In front of her was one of the most handsome guys she'd ever seen. Tall, dark, charming. And wow, were those crimson eyes actually real?
"Hi", he said with a quick smile, "I'm here for" - he took out a crumpled note from the front pocket of his denim jacket- "Miss Umenomiya. Is that you?"
It was at that point that a light bulb went off in Mikan's head.
Delivery? Check.
Extra special? (She looked again into his eyes.) You could say that.
With a package? (She felt her body temperature rise, as she thought about the double meaning of the word.) Most definitely.
Oh sweet Lord. Sumire had hired a stripper.
"So, is that you?", the young man asked again, interrupting her trail of thoughts. He ran a hand through his dark hair, making it look as though he was feeling hot. And hot he looked. God.
Mikan had to think fast. Had this been Sumire's or Wakako's - or even her own - party, she would have not minded letting the guy through the threshold. But this was Anna's night, and she knew she wouldn't appreciate it - what on earth was Sumire thinking? She was well aware that Anna and Yuu had expressly agreed on a 'no strippers' policy. Plus, they weren't the types to go for this kind of entertainment anyway!
She smiled at the guy. "Uhm, listen... We really appreciate you coming all the way here, but your services are no longer needed. Don't worry, I'll pay you for the trouble."
He looked confused. "It's not you who has to pay me, Miss", he explained.
"Oh, right. I guess the agency does that?", she asked.
"The agency?", he repeated, leaning against the door frame. Wow, he was really pulling off this casual look. Mikan realised her will to turn him away was slowly decreasing, so she shook her head and resumed her stance.
"Yeah, if you want you can give me their number and I'll explain to them that we changed our minds - well, not exactly 'our minds' because, you see, it was just one of my friends who arranged this. The rest of us literally found out five minutes ago. But still, you get the point, I hope?"
She noticed she had been rambling a fair amount, so she added a polite "sorry", for good measure.
"You talk a lot", said the guy, giving her a quick smile. "Seriously though, it doesn't really matter who ordered it. I just need to give the package to your friend so if-"
"There's really no need", Mikan insisted, getting a little desperate now. Could he not get a hint? And where the heck were the girls? Especially Sumire!
"Look", he said, "I get it if you don't want a stranger coming into your house, so how about you call your friend to the door and I just take out my package here?"
"NO!", she cried out, making him jump back a step. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud. It's just that, our friend, the one who's getting married, decided long ago not to have strippers. So if you could-"
"Hang on", the guy said, interrupting her for the first time, "you think I'm here to strip?"
Mikan tilted her head, utterly confused. Why would he ask such a question? Unless...
She examined his face. He had a cocky smile now.
Oh, freaking hell.
"You're... not a stripper, are you?", she asked with a voice so low it was merely a whisper - yet she couldn't get her vocal cords to function properly. In fact, she wanted to crawl into the wall behind her and just disappear within it.
He slowly shook his head, with that annoying smirk never leaving his face.
Mikan felt her cheeks grow hot and she knew, she just knew, that she had become as red as a ripe tomato. A loud voice served as a temporary distraction from her shame.
"Hey Mikan!", Sumire called out as she approached the door. "Misaki said the delivery's here! Where did you- oh!", she exclaimed with a bright smile as soon as she noticed the guy. "Well well... hello there! I'm Sumire, enchantée."
The not-a-stripper guy gave her a polite nod. "Are you Miss Umenomiya?", he inquired.
"No, she's in the other room. But my last name should be on the invoice - it's Shouda."
The guy's crimson eyes quickly scanned the crumpled piece of paper in his hands. "Yeah, I see it. Ok, I'll just go get my package - be right back".
He marched off to his van, but not before glancing quickly at Mikan once more - with what must have been a taunting look, she gathered.
When he'd reached his van, parked a few metres away, Mikan felt her friend's green eyes on her. Ah, great.
Three… two… one…
"OH - MY - GOD", Sumire whispered in that excited-yet-hushed tone that only girls can produce, "I think I've died and gone to heaven."
Mikan, still reeling from embarrassment, felt like she had died. Period.
"And he was TOTALLY checking you out!", her friend continued, elbowing her.
The brunette sighed. "I'm pretty sure he wasn't…", she managed to say.
Sumire got closer to her, and scanned her face with that feline look of hers. "Why are your cheeks so red, Miki?", she said with an amused tone.
Before she could come up with a good excuse, the delivery guy (it was strange thinking of him as just a delivery guy, but hey) came back, carrying a huge box. He had rolled up his sleeves, and Mikan couldn't help but notice his flexed biceps. She felt her face get hotter, and she was pretty sure her skin had just reached a new shade of red - probably about the same as the guy's eyes.
"Where would you like me to leave the stuff?", he asked, looking at Sumire.
Mikan, in the meantime, examined the parcel (yep, parcel - why the hell couldn't Sumire have called it that, instead of 'package'?!). It looked heavy, and it had been wrapped up in neutral, greyish paper - so there was absolutely no indication as to what it was.
"Oh, you know what", she heard her friend reply, "normally we would love it if you could help us carry it inside, but it's our friend's bridal shower today, so we have a strict 'no-guy policy' in the house."
Mikan thought she heard the guy chuckle. "Yeah, I had a feeling", he said.
"How-?", Sumire started saying, but she was cut off by a beeping sound.
It was his phone. "That's my boss, better take this. So, can I leave this with you ladies?", he asked, looking down at the box in his arms.
"Of course!", replied Sumire, "just leave it here on the front step and we'll take care of that."
He did just that, and gave them a single wave. "Have a good one", he said, before turning on his heels.
"Bye!", Sumire called out.
Mikan, whose eyes had been glued to the parcel up until then, decided it was safe enough to look up. As the delivery van started driving away, she released a breath she hadn't realised she was keeping in.
Thank Heavens that was over - except for the part where she'd have to explain her rosy cheeks to her all-knowing/all-observing friend.
"Don't look at me like that, Sumire", she said, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible.
"Like what?", her companion replied with a lopsided smile.
"Like that. As though I have some big secret to tell."
Sumire didn't reply. She just kept eyeing her with that annoying, I-know-something-happened look on her face.
"Aargh, alright alright!", the brunette exclaimed, frustrated. "Besides, it's all YOUR fault anyway!"
"Woah! What are you talking about?"
"Why the hell did you have to be sooo mysterious about the delivery?!"
"I wanted it to be a surprise, obviously!"
"But did you have to put it that way?"
Sumire looked at her with genuine confusion.
Mikan knew she wasn't making much sense but, really, it wasn't every day she made a complete fool of herself in front of a guy - and a freaking handsome one at that.
"What way?", her friend prodded.
"The way were you went on and on about an extra special delivery, with a package, and-"
"So what?"
"So if you had told us exactly what you meant, I wouldn't have thought he was a stripper!"
Ooops, there it was. The proverbial cat was out of the bag.
It took Sumire's face roughly two seconds to morph into an expression of pure delight. "You thought he was a STRIPPER?"
"Yeah...", Mikan replied in a defeated tone.
"Wait. Did you - no, it can't be - did you tell him?"
Leave it to Sumire to immediately hit the nail on the head. Mikan couldn't even reply - all she managed to do was bite her upper lip in frustration and nod her head.
Sumire mouthed a silent 'oh'.
Before she could get any more information, Mikan quickly asked: "So, what did you order for Anna?"
"A-ha! Excellent question. This" - she pointed at the box - "is a DIY photoshoot set."
The brunette was so puzzled that she momentarily forgot all about the stripper-non-stripper fiasco. "A what?"
"Well", her friend started, "I wanted to do something really fun - I mean, flirting with lifeguards is great and all but we can do that every day, right? - soooo I ordered something we could do here, by ourselves, that is still kinda sexy yet tasteful! We're going to dress up in all sorts of costumes and take photos around the house! By ourselves, in twos, threes, as a group... you get the idea. And, if Anna wants to, she can send her photos to Yuu! What do you think?"
Mikan was speechless. That was an excellent, excellent idea. Everybody would appreciate it - even Hotaru, who was always looking to improve her photographic skills. She told Sumire as much.
Honestly, as much as she loved to be the 'party girl' of the group, she was also one of the most thoughtful people Mikan knew.
Except that she loved making fun of her friends.
"I'm going to get the others so we can open the parcel here - oooh I can't WAIT to tell them about your stripper fantasy!", she sing-songed as she went to fetch the rest of the group.
Mikan mentally facepalmed herself, and prepared for the jokes, banter and sarcastic lines she'd have to endure for the next few hours.
But hey, at least she wouldn't have to see the guy's taunting smirk again, right?
For some weird reason, that made her even more annoyed.
A/N: That's it for now. Hate it? Love it? Tbh, it's going to be a very simple story. I didn't want to go for anything complicated for my first fic here. I'm not planning many chapters - maybe three or four altogether. This first one served as a bit of an intro, showing typical banter among friends, before introducing a certain crimson-eyed fellow. I wanted (and needed) to write something light, after such a miserable year.
PLEASE NOTE, I won't have access to my laptop in the next few days, so the earliest I'll be able to update is in January 2021.
On that note, I wish you all Happy Holidays & a happier, healthier and better New Year.
Stay safe!
- Aurora
