Hi there! SilentVisionary here! I just want to wish you guys a Happy New Year!

So... I think this is the longest chapter I have made for this fanfic so far. I'm actually deliberating if I should make the chapter longer. What do you guys think? I was going to post this one sooner but the internet was malfunctioning. Anyway, please enjoy this update! Hope you guys would like it!


Chapter 9: The Beginning of Trouble

Both men faced me. A wide smile was on Tsubasa's lips when he saw me. "Mikan!" he said with his usual cheery tone.

A wide smile graced on my lips as well. And the next thing I knew was that I have already thrown myself to Tsubasa (not really caring that my uncle was there watching). He let out a chuckle as he caught me in his arms. "We were talking last night! Why didn't you tell me?!" I asked before detaching myself from him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Tsubasa shuffled my hair. "I was given a teaching job for the engineering department," he said.

My eyes widened in shock. I looked at Tsubasa and he was just smiling at me. For a moment, I just stood there letting the information sink in. When it finally did, my head snapped to my uncle's direction. I was about to open my mouth to accuse him of not telling me when I felt a hand grab my arm.

I turned around to look at the owner of the hand. It was Natsume. I mentally slapped myself for forgetting that Natsume was with me. "We're going to be late," he said.

"Oh! Class, right," I said then turned to both my uncle and Tsubasa. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later then!"

Natsume's hand found mine and he pulled me as he started to lead me towards the classroom. I took a peek at him and his face was stoic as ever. But somehow, it felt like he was annoyed about something. I was about to say something but opted not to realizing that he must be annoyed that we're going to be late.

Thankfully, when we arrived at the room, the professor wasn't there yet. His hand was still holding mine when we entered that room. I blush a little as I look down on our entwined hands. "Natsume," I said softly.

"What?" he asked. A hint of irritation was evident in his tone.

"Your hand," I said shyly.

He looked down on our hands then quickly let my hand go. He cleared his throat and went to his seat. I turned to look at him. I could not help but sigh.

Before I knew it, my morning classes have ended. I gathered my things and went to exit the room with a small smile on my lips thinking that Natsume was waiting for me outside. But to my surprise, Natsume wasn't there. I looked down on my watch and frowned.

Normally, Natsume waits for me outside the room. We always walked together to the cafeteria even though we separate to our respective set of friends. I let out a soft sigh and shook my head. "What's wrong with him?" I asked myself softly.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate. Thinking that it was probably Natsume, I quickly pulled out my phone. It wasn't Natsume. It was a text from Tsubasa. "I'm at your uncle's office," it said. "Want to join us for lunch?"

I smiled halfheartedly and shrugged off my disappointment. I took another glance at my phone before putting it away.

It didn't take me long to find myself standing in front of my uncle's office. As much as possible, I usually avoid meeting my uncle at school. It wasn't because I was embarrassed about it. But it was more of I don't want to be treated differently from the others.

I took a deep breath before knocking on the door. "Uncle, Tsubasa-nii," I called once I entered the room.

"Aah, Mikan-chan!" my uncle said greeting me warmly. "You're here. The food would be here in a minute."

I smiled and walked over to the couch where my uncle was seated drinking tea and Tsubasa was overseeing some papers. I stared at the papers for a while before clearing my throat and turned my attention to my uncle. I gave him a playful glare. "Why didn't you tell me?" I asked in an accusing tone.

Uncle Kazumi let out a chuckle. Instead of answering me, he reached out to drink his tea which made me pout. "Sorry Mikan," it was Tsubasa looking up from his papers.

I redirected my glare at him. "Why?" I found myself whining.

"I wanted to surprise you," Tsubasa replied in a cheeky way which made me blush. "Didn't you like it?"

"It's all nice but you know I don't like it when other people keep things from me," I countered which made both uncle Kazumi and Tsubasa chuckle.

"I told you that's how she'll react," uncle Kazumi said.

I pouted at the two of them. Just then, there was a knock on the door. All three of us looked over. It was uncle's assistant who brought lunch with her. It was a bento from the cafeteria. I smiled and thanked her. I grabbed one and settled on my seat. My attention then shifted to the papers that were still in front of Tsubasa. "So, what are those?" I asked, my curiosity getting a hold of me.

"These?" Tsubasa asked. He picked up the paper and smiled at me. "It's my contract."

"Hmmm," I said with a nod of my head and took a bite of my food. "So, what made you decide to teach?" I asked. Tsubasa was now signing the contract. He looked up briefly and smiled at me.

"I just felt like teaching," he said with a shrug of his shoulders as he finished signing. "Besides, I've always wondered what it was like to be a teacher."

"I thought what you always wanted to do was travel the world while heading all those big construction projects," I said. My head tilted to the side as I looked at him.

Tsubasa gathered all the papers and put it back in a folder. He stood up and lightly pats my head. "What's that for?" I asked but he just poked his tongue out. He placed the folder on my uncle's desk. "That settles it then?" he asked to uncle Kazumi which uncle replied with a nod of his head.

Tsubasa settled himself back to the couch and grabbed the remaining bento. For the rest of the hour, the three of us enjoyed our lunch together. It was so fun that I almost lost track of time. The ringing of the bell brought me back to reality.

I looked at my watch and let out a sigh. "I have to go now. I still have classes," I said before standing up.

"You could be late for a few more minutes. I could make an excuse for you," uncle Kazumi offered to me. But I shook my head and gathered up my things.

"You know I don't like using your name in school," I said to him. I went over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek and waved goodbye to Tsubasa.

I looked at my watch once more and frowned. I'm pretty sure I was late already. I let out a groan and rushed to my classroom. Upon reaching the room, my eyes widened. Natsume seemed to have just reached the room as well.

"Natsume," I called letting a small smile escape my lips. "Late as well huh?"

Natsume was halfway to pushing the door when I called him. He stopped midway and looked back at me. I was almost sure he would greet me like usual but he didn't. Instead, he went inside the room without speaking to me. It was as if he didn't see me.

I frowned. "What's wrong with him now?" I asked myself. I let out a groan and shuffled my hair. Natsume was definitely fine just a while ago and now he's ignoring me?

I glared at the door before deciding to enter the room. I quickly went to my seat which was beside Sumire. Once I was seated, I let out a huge sigh. It didn't go unnoticed by my green haired friend. "Did you guys fight?" Sumire asked me.

I looked at her weirdly. "Fought who?" I asked not really sure what she was on about.

"You and Natsume," she said in a matter of fact tone. "He seemed really annoyed a while ago at lunch and you didn't show up."

"Aah, that," I replied while taking out my notebook and pen. "Something came up. And regarding Natsume…" I glanced towards Natsume's seat. "I'm not sure what's wrong with him."

Sumire let out a 'hmm-ing' sound. "Are you sure?" she insisted.

I faced her and nodded her head. "Besides, you know how moody he can get sometimes. It's probably one of those times," I said as an excuse. That seemed to settle it. She turned her attention in front. I then shifted my gaze to Natsume where it lingered for a while before focusing at the class.

Classes went by fast and it was dismissal time already. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, the day was over and there wasn't much homework to deal with. I smiled and made my way to the lockers where I found Natsume dropping some of his stuff.

Instantly, my smile fell. It feels weird that Natsume was ignoring me a while ago. But I would like to think that it was just a misunderstanding on my part. Natsume isn't the most social guy out there. And it was true that he has the tendency to be cold to other people. But after this past months hanging out with him, I have become used to the Natsume that would give me a small smile/smirk. It was usually the other girls that he ignores.

I took a deep breath before walking up to him. "Natsume," I called him. "You're ignoring me. Why?"

He glanced my way. "I'm not," he said with his usual nonchalant tone.

"Yes you are," I argued. "Why?"

Natsume shrugged his shoulders. Once he was done dropping his things, he closed his locker and turned to me. "Need to drop some stuff?" he asked which took me aback.

I stared at him for a while. "Oh! You're back to normal," I said more to myself. "Maybe I was just overreacting."

Natsume raised an eyebrow at me. He clearly heard what I just said. "You were overreacting," he said with a smirk which made me smile a little.

After that misunderstanding, which was technically only me since I was assuming he was pissed off or something, Natsume offered to go with me to the café that I was insisting we go to just the other day. I agreed with a huge grin on my face.

And so, we found ourselves walking to the parking lot to get Natsume's car. I could not keep myself from smiling as we walked towards his car. As usual, I was the one talking more but it was nice when Natsume would say some little retorts every now and then. And before I knew it, we were comfortably settled in his car and were off to the café.

I was so happy that it was only a misunderstanding in my part about Natsume and that he asked me to go to the café with him. I was all so giddy that I did not notice Tsubasa was also by the parking lot and was watching the two of us until the car disappeared from his view.


That's it for this chapter. So... what do you guys think?

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