Fight for Love!
23rd Fight: Nightmare
The girl with shoulder-length raven hair was waiting at the playground again. She was the first person I had ever admired in my whole life. She was older than me by a year. She had the most charming smile and was very witty for someone at her age. She liked to wear floral dresses and bright red sandals which reflected the same colour as her eyes. However, she wasn't a girly, gentle girl who wore floral dresses almost everyday; I could assure anyone that she had the guts to kick the butts of the neighbourhood bullies without fear.
As I walked towards her, she looked up at me after hearing my footsteps and greeted me with a small yet charming smile.
"Good morning!"
A reciprocal smile flashed across my face and I ran clumsily towards her with my arms spread open. Her arms spread open as well, inviting me over for a hug. When I pressed my body against hers, I quickly tightened my arms around her body and snuggled my face against her warm chest.
Then, I looked up and greeted her like always, "Good morning, Ao..."
Just then, the scene before me changed. I was no longer in the girl's arms. She was lying on the hard dusty ground far away from me. She was badly injured with cuts and bruises all over her body. Her hands and legs were binded with ropes as well. I looked at myself and found myself being tied up too. I was fine, except for the fact that something warm trickling down my forehead, then to my right cheek and finally, it dripped on my dress. My eyes widened in horror when I realised that my dress was stained with the colour red. My head was bleeding.
"Don't touch her... please..." I heard the girl moan.
A man with a scary mask picked her up and growled at her before flinging her back to the ground again. I was terrified by the scene but I was not going to let this person go after hurting her! Since I was all tied up, I let out a scream and began slamming both my tied legs against the floor to distract him from her. True enough, he turned to look at me and a smirk was evident on his face.
"Scream all you want. Anyway, your time is up. Nobody is coming to save you." The man let out a menacing laughter and took out a lighter. "What a bore."
With a swift movement of his thumb, the lighter was lit up. Before I could finally grasp the situation, my vision was engulfed with the colour red. Crimson red, to be precise, just like the girl's beautiful eyes.
"Aoi-oneechan!"
There went my final scream which was consumed by the fire and our collapsing world.
"Mikan!"
A familiar voice jolted me awake and I caught myself clutching onto my father's arm and staring at the worried faces of my parents. I was lying on my own bed and upon seeing the bright morning sunlight shining through the window of my bedroom, I realised it was already morning.
"Are you all right, Dear?" my mother asked as she touched my cheek gently. "You were screaming..."
"Aoi! Where's Aoi?" I interrupted her and quickly sat up. "She... she's in trouble!"
"Huh?" My father stared at me with a questioning look before frowning away and pressed my hand harder against his arm with his another hand. "Apparently, you had a bad dream. What was your dream about?"
I forcefully removed my hand from his and brought my head into my palms. If it was a nightmare, then I needed someone to explain me why it felt so real. I could feel the heat burning into my skin, rough grazing caused by the ropes on my wrists and legs, blood and sweat trickling down my face, and lastly, fear. Of course, anyone in that situation would be fearful of what was going to happen to him or her. I rubbed my temples, trying to calm myself down and bring myself back to reality. It was only a dream because I was sure I did not have any of this kind of experiences before. And Aoi...
Then again, who was Aoi? I did not even know who the person was. Ever since Natsume said that name, I began to picture the person as a female counterpart of Natsume. What worse was that my bad dreams were always associated with that name.
Argh! I knew that Natsume was being no good to my well-being!
"Mi..."
"Mum, I'm fine now! A ghost chased me in my dream," I lied with a sheepish laugh. "Got to get ready for school now!"
I got out of bed and smiled at my unconvinced parents, thanking them for waking me up from that dream. I grabbed my uniform and ran to toilet to wash myself up and get changed. With that disturbing image of the blazing fire engulfing my vision etched on my mind since the morning, I knew that I was going to have a tough time for the rest of the day.
I stepped out of my house and saw Yoichi and Hotaru already waiting for me outside. Yoichi had a opened lunchbox on his hand and he was munching on a squarish brown biscuit while Hotaru kept looking at her watch impatiently. Gosh, I had really kept them waiting. Sometimes, I felt very bad for being their friend. I agreed that I was a slow, not-so-clever and perhaps a loud person by nature, and having them to tolerate my bad points, I thought that I didn't deserve them at all. Hotaru was obviously clever and she liked smart people who could rival her intelligence. But apparently, I was not up to her expectation. As for Yoichi, he was a nice person who would do anything for his friends, even going as far as to hurt himself just to protect them. He didn't speak much but always tried his best to acknowledge another speaker or start a conversation.
"Good morning, Mikan. I see panda eyes today," Hotaru greeted me with a monotonous tease.
I rubbed my eyes and let out a small laugh. "I didn't sleep well last night. The panda eyes... are they really obvious?"
"Not really," Yoichi answered and handed me his lunchbox. "Want a biscuit?"
"No, thanks," I politely rejected with a smile and turned to look at Hotaru who had already started to walk away from us.
Yoichi and I hurriedly jogged to catch up with her. When I finally caught up with her, Hotaru looked at me with a small smile and then faced the front again.
"Mikan, I have something to tell you."
My eyes widened with curiosity and I asked, "What is it?"
"Senpai told me that he had posted another photo on the Internet that will blow everyone's mind," she stated and paused for awhile, probably wanting to create a tension within me who was so eager to know what kind of photo he had uploaded. "They will soon forget the picture of you and Nogi-senpai."
"Really?" I clasped my hands together and a long sigh of relief escaped from my mouth. "I wonder what he had uploaded."
"Me either." Hotaru shrugged. "He refused to tell me."
I frowned. Why did I have a bad feeling about this? It was supposed to be a good thing, wasn't it?
"Mikan, no matter what, please stay away from those crude people. Because of them, you're always attracting unwanted attention," Yoichi said sternly but I knew he meant well so I just smiled at him in response.
"Don't worry. I promise I won't be involved with the Taekwondo Club members anymore... well, except for Hotaru."
Hotaru rolled her eyes and smirked. "And I won't be surprised to see her hanging out with Nogi-senpai and getting tortured by Hyuuga-senpai again."
Upon hearing that, I gave her a hard stare as a gush of heat rushed up to my cheeks. If I had a choice, I wouldn't even want to associate with them! Okay, maybe except for Ruka because he was good to me at least, but Natsume...
My shoulders dropped and I groaned loudly. I didn't have to do anything to avoid him anymore. He totally hated me! He totally avoided me since that day I picked him up in the rain and gave him a cute name! What the hell was wrong with this perverted emo Nekome?
Stop, Mikan. Stop giving yourself a headache.
"Mikan," Yoichi's voice snapped me out of my thoughts and made me turn to face him with a blank look. "If those people disturb you again, I will protect you."
His face turned serious and his eyes was filled with determination as if he was telling me that I could count on him. A soft giggle escaped my lips and I quickly covered my mouth to prevent myself from being heard by my two close friends who was already looking at me with a stunned look. Unfortunately, my supposedly silent laughter came out sounding like snorting sounds which embarrassed me further.
"Wh... What's so funny?" Yoichi asked with a frown.
"Sorry... I didn't mean to offend anybody." I took in a deep breath to calm myself down. "Well, you see... I..."
"You don't trust his ability to protect you," Hotaru interjected with a smirk plastered on her face. "That's why you laughed."
"No! It's not that!" I snapped and turned to Yoichi. "I'm just happy..."
Yoichi stopped chewing and stared wide-eyed at me. I could tell that my face was turning red from pure embarrassment. I had such good friends who were willing to protect me at all cost. Who wouldn't be happy if she had friends like that? I really felt so blessed to have Hotaru and Yoichi in my life.
"... that you will protect me."
I bit my lips and looked away. There! I had said it. I couldn't believe such simple words pouring out from my mouth really made me into some bashful person. I was usually a straightforward person; anything that came into my mind would be coming out of my mouth before I even knew it and most of the time, I didn't feel shy or embarrassed about my blurts. But this time, I had no idea why I was feeling a little self-conscious.
I touched my forehead. Strange... I was fine. So, what was the reason?
"Ah, Yoichi. Your face is red. Do you need me to fan your face?" Hotaru spoke in a teasing voice.
Yoichi, who was looking down on the ground as he walked, cleared his throat and quickened his pace. I furrowed my eyebrows and stared at his back. Did I seriously offend him with my laughter?
"Yoichi-kun..."
"Mikan, don't worry. He's just embarrassed," Hotaru interrupted me again with a teasing smirk.
I blinked anxiously. "Huh? Why?"
"That's because..." She continued to stare at the back of Yoichi and then turned to look at me. "Well, you wouldn't understand."
My eyebrows arched. What would I not understand? He was unhappy because I had offended him, wasn't he?
We hadn't spoke much on our way to school but Hotaru seemed to irritate Yoichi more than ever with her teases while he would brushed her words aside and continued walking ahead. As soon as we passed by the school gates, something weird happened. Maybe it was just me. I was puzzled as to why the students were looking at our way while murmuring among themselves. It seemed as though the three of us had grown a pair of horns on our heads.
"It's Mikan Yukihira-san!"
"Oh my gosh. Seriously? I can't believe she is like this!"
"Stay away from her!"
Ah... I see. The students were gossiping about me. I thought that admirer of Hotaru had already done something about the Ruka-and-I photo issue. Or was it just my presence had offended them as well? I cupped my cheeks nervously. Did I look funny? Was my panda eyes really that obvious? Oh, the horror!
"Mikan Yukihira-san," a person with an annoyingly familiar voice called out to me from behind.
I gulped. It had to be Luna Koizumi and her gang. I turned around and a fake grin appeared on my face as a greeting. Yes, as a greeting. Even though I disliked those girls, I still had my basic courtesy to greet them at the start of the day.
"Good morning," Sumire greeted me with a grin and proceeded to walk towards me.
She stood next to me and rested her arm on my shoulder, which caused me to freeze at her sudden closeness.
Probably sensing that I was not going to verbally greet back, Sumire tugged me closer to her and she prompted me with another weird question, "How's your weekend?"
Okay, it was not weird technically but if this question came out of her mouth, it was far from weird. Frankly, I thought I had accidentally entered into an alternate universe where Sumire would actually greet me and asked me how I had spent my weekend. I prayed that I was still dreaming or this was just a follow-up to the strange dream I had earlier.
Stiffly turning to Hotaru, I pointed at my cheek and spoke in a shaky voice that showed a hint of disbelief, "Hotaru, slap me."
Hotaru arched an eyebrow, looking demused for some reason. Perhaps she found this situation weird too. She strode towards me and raised her hand. Just when she was about to swing her hand across my face, another person's hand gripped tightly onto hers and stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Mikan Yukihira-san. You must be traumatised," said Luna, who was actually the person who had stopped Hotaru from slapping me, in her sickly sweet high-pitched voice.
I snorted. Yes, I was deeply traumatised by our first duel. She didn't have to say it anyway.
Luna tucked her side fringe behind her ear and continued speaking with her nose pointing in the air, "I didn't know that you're actually not interested in Natsume-sama and Ruka-sama. Because you joined the Taekwondo Club, I thought you were just some pesky fangirl of the school princes."
I felt the urge to roll my eyes when she said that. As if she wasn't a fangirl herself! And since when did I join that club because of them?
Alright, I would admit that my initial reason for joining that club was because of Ruka. But I swore that I wasn't interested in him. Honest!
Wait... maybe I was. Only a little bit, smaller than the size of a cherry. I would prove it by betting my heart on it!
"Mi... Mikan will never like them!" Yoichi rebutted in my place, looking very crossed, and he tried to pry Sumire's arm off my shoulder. "So, stop bothering her already!"
"I must be dreaming," Hotaru blurted aloud and her hand which was supposed to slap me slapped her own cheek instead. "Ouch!"
She cringed slightly and gently rubbed to sooth her cheek. Everyone stared at Hotaru for a moment. Well, it wasn't everyday one could see the witty and cunning blackmailer doubting herself whether she was awake or not. I was supposed to be the one though. Maybe I was indeed the one dreaming after all. I could see a questioning look appear on Luna's face but when she turned to look at me again, a kind smile flashed across her pretty face.
Okay, this was definitely a dream.
"It's not a dream, Mikan. It is not," I heard Hotaru's voice sounded so serious and surprisingly, a little shaky as I had never expected this to be coming from her. "Who would have thought that Koizumi-senpai can actually apologise?"
Luna shot Hotaru a glare while the two quiet girls behind Luna all along stepped forward to defend their leader.
Anna pointed accusingly at Hotaru and warned angrily, "Stop insulting, Luna-sama!"
"Or else I will cut you," Nonoko threatened with a grim look.
"Chill," I interrupted the two girls before they could continue to lash out on my friend. "Can someone... wake me up or something? Or did I just enter a portal to another dimension?"
"Here!" Sumire gently pinched my cheek and without warning, she pinched my poor flesh harder and twisted it, causing me to yelp in pain. "Are you still dreaming? I guess you're still in the same dimension as yesterday, last week, last month and the time when Luna-sama won against you."
I pulled my face away from her pincer-grip and groaned. So, I wasn't dreaming at all and I needed to why these girls were being so creepily nice that I received goosebumps all over my body. Again, it wasn't everyday I could see those fangirls smiling at my way.
"Well, of course, Mikan Yukihira-san will never like Natsume-sama and Ruka-sama," Luna said and chuckled softly at her own words. "I should have known this fact earlier."
Sumire pressed her finger on my cheek which she had just pinched and snickered. "Our deepest apologies for the misunderstanding, kouhai!"
"You should have told us earlier, Yukihira-san," Anna muttered softly and her lips curled upwards, smiling shyly at me.
Wow... Anna could look really cute when she smiled like that.
"Yeah, Luna-sama won't care if you're interested to join the Taekwondo Club again," Nonoko spoke with a straight face but there was something on different about her facial expression which didn't go unnoticed by me- a weak smile which appeared on her face and disappeared immediately within a blink of an eye, and also a light pink tinted blush on her cheeks.
I inwardly smirked. Who knew that this grime girl who always threatened people or just me with a pair of scissors could have expressions other than a darkened murderous look which seemed pretty psychotic to me. Sorry and no offence, Nonoko!
Sumire's voice sliced through my thoughts, "After all..."
"You're..." Anna interrupted her with another word but paused and looked at Nonoko expectantly.
Nonoko tilted her head and thought for a while before mumbling something out, "Homo..."
"Sexual." Luna zipped open her bag and took out a newspaper which I recognised as our campus newspaper monthly issue. "Yes, homosexual."
I nearly wanted to choke on my saliva. Wasn't homosexual related to the topic of gay and lesbian? Oh, wait. They were the same thing. What the hell was going on?!
She handed me the crumpled folded campus newspaper and gave me a nod, signalling me to take a look what was on it. Feeling curious and wary about my impending discovery, my eyes refused to leave Luna's ones which were filled with so much amusement that my gut was already screaming danger while my hands slowly unfolded the newspaper and allowed the cover page to face me. For some reason unknown to me, the murmurs of the surrounding students started to get louder as if the cover page had some sort of scandalous picture printed on it.
Scandalous picture...
My eyes widened but I immediately replaced my shock with a deep frown as I continued to stare at Luna suspiciously, inwardly hoping that it was not that photo of Ruka and me. Maybe it was... or maybe it wasn't. Argh! Why was my gut telling me that the thing which I was going to see would be worse than that photo?!
I gripped the newspaper harder and held my breath in order to brace myself for the news. My hardened gaze slowly left Luna and landed on Hotaru and Yoichi. They were staring anxiously at me, seeming extremely eager to know what the fuss was about. I nodded to them in determination.
It was now or never.
I shifted my gaze from my friends to the front page of the newspaper and I could feel my heart stopped beating momentarily.
I swore that this was my worst nightmare in my entire life.
The only thing that came into my mind was to give a certain admirer of my best friend the best taste of my powerful punch.
I was a flat-chested boxer, wasn't I?
I had punched the oh-so-godly Natsume Hyuuga in the face before, hadn't I?
"Biggest Scoop of the Week... As straight as it sounds, Mikan Yukihira isn't that straight after all," Hotaru read out the headlines softly to herself as she managed to catch a glimpse of the front page. "The proof is in the pudding...no, photo."
Yoichi pointed at the enlarged photo underneath the headlines and muttered in disbelief, "What the..."
"That idiotic senpai! Is this what he uploaded during the weekend?" Hotaru bellowed and snatched the newspaper from my trembling hands. "Mikan, don't worry. I shall deal with him right away."
As I saw her throw the newspaper on the ground and step on it like some obscene trash, I found myself adopting Nonoko's grim look and clenching my fists tightly.
"Saying that I'm not straight is fine," I growled and narrowed my eyes at an unsuspecting person who had just walked out of the school building with two textbooks in his arm. "But..."
The person stopped right in his tracks and turned to look at my direction. I could see blood draining off his face and his jaw dropping upon noticing my intense glare.
"... involving Hotaru in my scandal isn't, Hayate Matsudaira-senpai."
Hi, everyone! Thanks for reading up to Chapter 23. Though I am updating this story at a slow pace (sorry about that!), I am glad that I have many reviews within a span of a month. All of them were so encouraging! Thanks for the reviews and the feedbacks about this story! :D
I can't believe that this story still has a long way to go. Initially, I planned to finish this fanfic by the 30th chapter but as I was writing out my draft on the 27th chapter, I realised that this story is nowhere getting near the end. This story was supposed to be a humorous 'no-head-no-tail' thirty-chaptered story but it seemed like the word 'drama' is beginning to take its place here. Oh well... only a small bit of it, I promise.
Special thanks to the reviewers:
- StarElsie
- Guest
- AnimeMango
- MitsukaiYuki
- love crimson red ray88
- MaFerSk
- sweet little
- YoshidaHaru
- Haruhi-chan131
- pretty-awesome-girl11d7
- Anonymous
- Guest
- xetherall22
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)
Brief preview of the next chapter:
24th Fight: Mikan versus Hayate
Narumi cupped his cheeks and cooed, "Aww... that's a nice quote at the end. Are you the one who thought of that?"
Hayate replied, "Of course. My Hotaru-chan is in there so obviously, I had to come out with something sweet and... you know, the feels."
Yeah, right. The feels...
The unspeakable feels for my sexuality crisis that was being questioned!
I inched closer to the computer screen and read the captions out loud, "Best friends, the best few people in your life, will stay with you forever and ever. Nothing, not even romantic love, can beat true friendships. One cannot comprehend how deep her love for her bestie is unless you have dived into the ocean in her heart. Hashtag, bestieforlife,ilovehotaru, hotaruisthebest, savingmikanyukihara, doubleheartsforbesties, hotaruchanchanchan... What the hell?"
"Ignore the hashtags, will you? Just focus on my quotes." Hayate tilted his face up high and smugged at his own creation which I found impressive.
Really impressive...
Really sensational..
... till the point at which the false news about me being 'not straight' went viral.
Please don't forget to review this chapter and tell me how it is! Thanks! :D
