Disclaimer: Do not and never will own Gakuen Alice
Chapter 7 - NRFC
"Mikan Sakura."
"Go away, you jerk!" And then my eyes flew open.
Oh God. I just fell asleep in class. And to top that off, I called my teacher a jerk.
Stupid Natsume. Why the hell did he have to star in my dreams and bug me to no end?
His eyebrows raised.
"I'm sorry... It's not.. It's just- I had a bad dream," I finally finished off.
"Class, what do you think of this? Apparently, the new student thinks her three-star room is not comfortable enough."
Our history teacher. I knew he hated me already from the very first day.
There was a sea of murmurs and whispering. It was disconcerting.
"That's not true!" I retorted. There was nothing wrong with my room. In fact, it was truly beyond my greatest dreams that I could actually get to stay in a room as perfect as I had. I always knew I didn't deserve the room. It just hurt more to have it almost pointed out to everybody.
"You have not had proper sleep?" he asked.
"Well..."
Come to think of it, Natsume was the reason why I didn't get any proper sleep last night, not that I was going to say that out loud. That would only be an invitation for a fight for the all-too-eager fan girls of his.
"Being a three-star, you have are privileged enough to stay in comfortable rooms, only second to that of the special star's. Lack of sleep will not be an excuse to doze in and out of this class. You may leave the room."
"But-"
"Now," he said, narrowing his eyes.
"Teachers are cruel," I said, miffed. It was true enough for me.
"That's OK, you've only been sent out once," Koko said, trying to cheer me up.
"It's not fair. He can sleep and do whatever he wants."
There was no need to tell who 'he' was. There was only one 'he' who can get to sleep and receive special treatment in class. It was funny because all Natsume did was doze off in classes and the teachers never said a thing. Me on the other hand? A 'You may leave the room'.
Koko shrugged.
"Well, we can't all be special stars."
"Natsume? Natsume Hyuuga? Special star?" I asked in shock.
Of course. I should have known. What else could he be but a special star?
"Yeah, didn't you know?" Koko asked in mild surprise.
"Special star? His new nickname should be Mr. God-almighty," I huffed.
Koko just looked amused.
"What's that? Is that... Is that an Alice stone?" Koko abruptly asked.
Oh. I almost forgot I was wearing it. Ever since Natsume left, he left a note plus a weird stone- the stone I now wore in my neck. I only turned it into a necklace yesterday because that's when I found a string fitting for a necklace. Considering our situation right now, it wasn't wise to wear it, but it looked really pretty.
"Uh... Yeah. A... A gift, actually," I said with a smile. A good bye gift, I thought, trying to hold back the tears I was sure were about to roll down.
When classes ended, I remembered I had to go to detention because of yesterday's incident. I realized I was going to have one boring detention- I didn't know anyone in detention today.
Detention was pretty dull. Today, I was with a couple of students who I normally see get it trouble. Nothing interesting, just plain paper work. I just doodled over the back page once I finished what the teacher wanted us to write. My mind wandered around the thoughts that have been bugging me all night.
OK, so Natsume might not hate me... But that did not change the fact that he still left. He didn't explain, he didn't apologize. He left me hanging.
On the other hand, he didn't care anymore. I didn't even know what to call him. A friend? An acquaintance? An ex-friend? An enemy? Funny how enemy and friend grouped themselves together. I never usually put opposites together. With Natsume, however, they just somehow fit. I didn't hate him, but icy-glares and brief conversations aren't exactly definitions for 'friend'.
By the time detention ended, I felt gloomy. The weather seemed perfect, so I went outside for a walk to have a breath of fresh air, something I did much more lately...
It was silent in the bushes, when I heard a low murmur. Each step I made, I heard the murmur grow louder. It was now talking. I saw people, each busy with some sort of preparation.
"What- what is this?" I asked in confusion.
"Mikan? What are you doing here?" said a familiar voice.
Sumire!
"Huh? I'm just going for a walk. Why?"
"Wrong place and wrong time," Sumire said, shaking her head. It only took me about 5 seconds to understand what she meant.
I peeked behind the bushes again, only to be surprised by an amazingly huge banner saying:
"ELECTION FOR OFFICIAL NRFC PRESIDENT".
NRFC?
There were about 50 people, who were fussing over arranging the chairs,(how they should be in line) balloons, (which I thought was pointless to have) and so much more. There was a mini table in the very end next to a huge tree that had a couple of sweet snacks arranged neatly and decorated in unnecessarily fancy pink wrapping and ribbons. There was also a huge box in a long table at the very centre of the venue. My hunch was that there was a big raffle going on or something. The person who won got the whole table with snacks. It was the most plausible idea I could come up with, at least. The food looked more like a prize rather than something to eat.
"This… Who's the organizer?" I asked. I didn't need to wait for an explanation.
A girl around the same year as me appeared, who not only had extremely stylish and fashionable clothes, but wore pink from head to toe. She looked attractive and well-dressed, that I imagined her to sound pleasant and friendly, but the thought flew out the window the moment she spoke. She had a presence that felt like she owned the whole place. She tossed her hair to her side, and ordered a girl to 'keep moving' in a bossy manner. From seeing her just from the view of the bushes, I absorbed the details as much as possible: Her clothing was vibrant and distinguished, as well as carried authoritative attitude. She was the organizer, that was much for sure.
"That's Luna Koizumi, this event's organizer, amazingly suck-up, and the number 1 drama queen. I'm competing with her for the 'president' position for the Natsume and Ruka fan club," Sumire pointed out.
"That guy has his own fan club?! And Ruka-pyon… Wow. I guess they're pretty popular."
And then it all clicked. NRFC stood for Natsume and Ruka Fan Club. This wasn't a raffle either. This was an election for the club President. That explained the whole preparation for this mysterious event, then. The posters too, the ones that Sumire ripped were obviously the ones Luna used. Not to mention, the silly rhyming line...
"Oh, they are. The fan club's reached over 500 now," Sumire said, interrupting my train of thought.
"Seriously?! That's a… ridiculous amount of fans…"
"Never mind how much fans they have. Their election starts today," Sumire stated rather nervously.
"This election thing is freaking me out, though. It feels like a cult or something."
"Trust me. You're not the only one," spoke a familiar voice.
"… That voice…"
"Up here," the voice called out.
I looked up and found Natsume sitting in the highest tree branch on the tree just next to me.
"Na-Natsume-kun! What are you d-doing here?" stuttered Sumire. Her face turned red in an instant.
"It's obvious, isn't it? He's watching over his precious fan club," I teased.
Natsume frowned.
"Don't say that, it's irritating," he replied sullenly.
Well someone was in a bad mood.
"Hey look, I think it's starting. Permy, don't you need to-"
"I don't need to vote, so I'm not coming. It's such a big hassle," Sumire said.
"How's the view over there?" I called out to Natsume.
"Perfect."
"OK, let me come there then."
Natsume didn't say anything, as he continued to watch the other side.
I started climbing the tree. How does Natsume manage to climb trees this high?
The tree was awfully difficult to climb, but somehow, I managed to make it halfway. I was new with all this climbing stuff, so that was definitely an achievement.
"Whoa," I said as the branch where my left foot was snapped, but Natsume caught me and supported me so I could finally sit on the top branch.
"Thank you," I said icily, as I turned to watch Luna and all the other club members find a seat.
"Everyone, welcome to the Election for NRFC president. I regret to say that my competition, Sumire Shouda is not here to witness this great event. It doesn't matter anyway, because she's not needed. For sure, I will win," Luna announced, smiling sweetly.
There were murmurs and whispering, but no one spoke when Luna cleared her throat.
"How can she say that?" I burst out angrily.
I was shocked to see Sumire suddenly by my right side, that I almost fell off the tree. Luckily, I found my balance.
"Eh?!! You were down there!" I pointed out. Permy, how did you get here so fast? Like a cat..."
"Sshhh," hushed Sumire, listening intently for Luna's next words.
"Everybody, let's start. I'm giving everyone sheets out. Write the name the person you're voting for. I'm just gonna randomly call out anyone to tell their reasons afterwards. The results will be shown next week. I look forward to be leading you all," she concluded, giving a bow that only belonged to royalty.
"That's… overly confident of her," Natsume said, lightening up the mood.
"It's called an overload of self-pride and importance. It's horrible," I said.
"And don't forget what I said last week, every person who votes for me automatically adds to my invitation list for my coming birthday," Luna said pleasantly.
Everyone folded their sheets after writing and handed it to a girl, which I assumed to be one of the club members who was acquainted with Luna.
Sumire looked at Luna with disgust. "She's bribing them."
"Sumire, it's alri-"
"No it's not alright! I knew it. She'd be doing something like that. She just can't play fair. She wants to be on top of everyone. And all others? They're too scared to oppose, what with her soul-sucking alice and everything. She's the worst."
"So... why won't you get down there and be the first to do that?" I said.
"To do what?"
"It's obvious, isn't it? To go against her," I stated plainly.
"Go against… her?"
Within a flash, Sumire got down the tree as if the task were extremely simple. If it was me, going down would take minutes. "I'm surrounded by tree-climbing pros," I thought, looking at both Natsume and Sumire.
"You think you could get their votes when you let them go in your invitation list?"
"It's called being wise. One thing you're not. That's why you can't lead a club, Shouda-san. You started the challenge. What I only did was accept. You claimed to be the president, I opposed. Now, I held a proper election. That's all."
"This is a proper election?" Sumire spat.
"Of course it is," she replied, taking a sip at a tea cup. Luna tilted her head upwards by a little when she had spitted her drink and almost choked. I didn't notice what was going on until her eyes widened the instant our eyes met.
Yup. Definitely sure now. She spotted us.
"Nat… Natsume-kun!!!!!" she squealed in excitement, ignoring me and the fact that I was with him, altogether. Unwillingly, we got down from the tree.
"It's- this is such a… A coincidence. It must have been fate, you know, that drove us here together," Luna said in a sweetness that was a little too sweet and overdone, that the sound hurt my ears.
"But it's not only you. Everyone else is here too," I pointed out.
"Who are you?" she snapped.
"My name's Mikan Sakura. Pleased to meet-"
Luna gave a low gasp.
"My alice is… What did you do? You… What are you?"
"I'm Mikan Sakura and I have the Nullification alice," I uttered, offended that she asked what I was.
"Get away from me."
"But I didn't do any-"
Luna's mouth twisted in distaste. Luna was about to grab my arm, but before she even got closer, a hand grabbed her instead.
His words were short, but it was enough to silence the whole place.
"Don't touch her."
OK, finished ^^ It took me quite a long time to get it done, but here it is. ~