I read one of your reviews about Luna being Natsume's first girlfriend, and true, it's sad. But note that he's around 17-18 here, and when he and Luna were together, he was only 11 years old at the time and they broke up when he turned thirteen. You'll find out more when I post up later chapters.
"Mikan Sakura will be joining our class from today onwards...I hope you will be nice to her--AHHHH!!", the substitute teacher was introducing Mikan, when one of the students hurled a snow ball at him.
"Sensei!", Mikan cried out, worried for the teacher, while wondering how on earth a snow ball could be produced when it wasn't even snowing outside.
It then occurred to her that she was now studying in a school filled with gifted people who could do almost anything.
"Mikan, you can sit in the empty seat at the back...This will be another free period for today!", the teacher sobbed, before running out of the room.
The classroom erupted in cheers, while Mikan was too busy finding her seat, as well as trying not to get too much attention since that usually makes her feel uneasy.
She was stopped by Hotaru though, as her best friend waved her over. Mikan took it as a sign that she wanted to sit with her.
But that wasn't the case, as what she said was completely unexpected.
"I don't know what kind of alice you have that allows you to be here, but I have something to tell you...When we're in the classroom, everything between us will be considered as though we were complete strangers, okay? I'm aiming for the Honor Student Award this year, and I don't really want to butt into any trouble when I'm here, so...do you understand me?", she said, in that same toneless voice of hers.
"What? H-Hotaru??", Mikan said uncertainly, confused at her best friend's behavior.
"I know there's a lot going on right now, but do your best with your own strengths..", she said, then turned back to the book she was reading.
'W-What the heck was that??', Mikan wondered in shock, but thought better than to ask more about it. She had enough baka hits for one day.
When she got to the seat she was assigned to, she instantly recognized the raven-haired guy before her, leaning back against the chair with a book covering his face.
"Not you again!", she sighed, with a look of digust on her face. She sure didn't want to sit next to the guy who was currently entitled to having insulted her the most in one day. Besides Hotaru, of course.
The guy turned to face her, causing the book to fall off, and smirked at the sight of Mikan.
'Perfect', he thought, 'That teacher definitely does what he's bribed to do..'.
"W-What are you smirking at?", Mikan asked, trying her best to stop herself from blushing.
"Why, if it isn't the lovely Miss Polka Dots..", he said in a sarcastic tone, though inside he was really thinking of how cute Mikan looked when she blushed, even more so when she tried not to.
If this was a phase, it was definitely different from the one he had with Luna. For one thing, the only thing that attracted him to Luna in the first place was her tendency to giggle...which reminded him a lot of his sister. Only now he realized, her giggling was nothing like the sweet-sounding innocent laughter her little sister has.
Luna's was more of the typical vain kind of giggling that most girls have when they're flirting too hard.
Mikan's chuckles, on the other hand, was a different story. Hers didn't resemble Aoi's way of giggling, nor did it remind him of other girls. There was something more to it.
Something he wanted to be a part of.
"Miss Polka Dots?! Why you--you--ummm...", Mikan tried to think of something mean to say to him, but was at a loss for words.
"What? Come on, little girl, hit me with your best shot!", Natsume teased, giving her a daring smile.
Mikan gave him a mean look, but didn't say anything.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?", Natsume asked, wondering what made her suddenly go silent.
Instead of answering him back, she sat down in her seat and ignored him.
Natsume may not know it, but Mikan had more important things to worry about...for example, a certain test she needed to pass in order to become an official student at Alice Academy. If she can easily make enemies on her first day of school, then there's probably no doubt she'll have to bid her beloved Hotaru goodbye.
Even Pierre, Nigel, and Gary seemed to fit in quite well, since their good looks and charms seemed to attract a whole bunch of girls when they got to their class... at least, according to Hotaru's new walkie-crawlie bug invention.
Perhaps the day would be better if Narumi had assigned them to the same class instead of putting the boys in class A, while she was put in class B.
Mikan looked in the direction where Hotaru sat, and thought, 'At least I'm in the same class as Hotaru..'.
She smiled at the thought, not knowing that Natsume had been staring at her the whole time.
Before Mikan knew it, her hair was on fire.
Only one person could be behind it.
"Natsume you scumbag!!", Mikan cried out in frustration as she tried to put out the flames.
"That's more like it..", Natsume muttered, but Mikan was too busy tending to her hair to hear what he just said.
When she finally managed to put out the fire, she turned to face Natsume to find him smirking, and completely lost it.
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you, you pyromaniac?!", Mikan yelled at him, loud enough to catch everyone's attention.
Most particularly, a certain girl with dark green hair.
Natsume simply grunted in response.
Mikan cried out in exasperation, and said, "You think you're so great, acting all high and mighty...but you are so NOT--", but was quickly interrupted.
And it wasn't Natsume.
"Actually, you little skank, he IS. If only you looked at him closer, you'd find he's absolutely flawless in every aspect!", the green-haired girl said, gazing at Natsume in awe.
"Who asked for your opinion, Seaweed-head?", Mikan replied bluntly.
"What?!", the girl cried out, infuriated.
"And besides,", Mikan continued, "If I got any closer, I'd most probably get engulfed by the flames of his--oh, I don't know..Integrity?? Oops, I meant STUPIDITY!!".
Natsume was a little taken aback, but was certainly entertained by her sarcasm. As far as he knew, only Imai-san and him ever used it in class.
But 'Seaweed-head' apparently didn't feel the same way, since as quick as lightning, she slapped Mikan across the face, shocking everyone.
Natsume stood up to protest, but his action was misinterpreted by the girl since she took it as a sign to say, "How dare you insult Natsume-kun in front of me, Sumire Shouda, the president of the Natsume Hyuuga & Ruka Nogi Fan Club?!".
Other members of the said club stood up to gang up against her. Then they all started revealing their alices one by one as a threat of using them on her.
"Besides, whatever alice you got that helped you get into this academy probably isn't that good anyway.", Sumire went on, her claws growing out of her finger tips menacingly.
What she said suddenly reminded Natsume of the time when he had Mikan pinned to the sofa. He could've sworn he used his alice then and there. That is, before she revealed her astounding personality. So instead of telling Sumire to back off first, he asked the brunette the question everyone else was wondering. "What is your alice anyway?", he asked, coolly.
Mikan had a blank expression on her face as she pondered carefully what her alice was. 'Come to think of it, Narumi-sensei never told me what my alice was...He just said that I was gifted too...but I don't feel any different..It doesn't feel like I even have an alice...Was Narumi-sensei mistaken??', she thought, but unbeknownst to her, there was a mind-reader in the group listening to everything she was thinking about...and saying it aloud.
"Come to think of it, Narumi-sensei never told me what my alice was...He just said that I was gifted too...but I don't feel any different..It doesn't feel like I even have an alice...Was Narumi-sensei mistaken??", he said nonchalantly, shocking everyone.
"I can't believe it!", Sumire said, "They let you in when they don't even know what your alice is??".
Everyone else started muttering about it as well.
Mikan didn't know what to say, so she looked at Hotaru for support, but she didn't appear to be listening.
Sumire looked at Natsume for any reaction, but he didn't seem too surprised. In fact, he seemed more amused.
It only angered her more.
"You probably don't even have an alice, you low-life!", she spat.
Luckily for Mikan, she can still manage to get fired up. With or without Natsume's help.
"Low-life? Just because you have alices doesn't mean you're all that great!!", she said back.
"Actually, we ARE. In case you didn't know, we students with alices are the special elites that are under the care and protection of the government itself!", Sumire replied.
"Since you seem to know nothing at all, I'll explain it to you. People with alices have made quite a few achievements in many fields, including politics, the arts and the academics. We're the main reason why society is made as it is today. People with no alices such as yourself are only raised to be superior human cogwheels for us to use. Our existence is way more important than those of ordinary people. In other words, we are the chosen humans.", she continued.
"W-What the heck are you talking about? You've got to be kidding me!!", Mikan said, although was actually somewhat convinced.
"The one who's kidding around here is you!", Sumire retorted. Then turning to look in the direction of Hotaru, she said out loudly, "Imai-san must have experienced quite a bit of hardhips herself huh? Being forced to mingle with average humans at her previous school...".
That certainly stopped Mikan in her tracks.
'Hotaru...you wouldn't think like that...you wouldn't think of the people in our town and me like that...right?', Mikan tried to convince herself, but as Hotaru didn't turn back to face her, she became doubtful.
"If you can't even show us any proof..", Sumire apparently wasn't finished, "it's only natural to accept that you don't have an alice. You obviously don't belong here, so you might well leave...freak.".
Mikan didn't listen to a word she said, as she was too busy staring at Hotaru, only hoping that she'd say something to contradict what Shouda-san was saying.
But she didn't.
Even if Mikan didn't hear what Sumire exactly said just seconds ago, she did what she was told.
She ran.
"Mikan!", Iinchou called after her, but she didn't turn back.
"Finally!", Sumire said, proud of herself. "Don't you feel just happy to see her gone, Natsume--??", she turned to the spot where Natsume was, but has found that he too was gone.
'Baka Mikan.', Hotaru thought, worried deep down inside.
Pierre was finding it unbearable staying in the classroom as all the girls seemed to jump all over him when he first entered. So he decided to break out of the classroom by using his alice : Teleportation.
Once he zapped out of the classroom, he instantly bumbed into his best friend.
Mikan.
"Whoa, how'd you get out of class?", Pierre asked her curiously.
"Huh?..Uhh..I guess I was kicked out..hehe..", Mikan tried to joke around, but the look in her eyes made Pierre know that Mikan isn't acting like her usual self.
"Did something happen?", Pierre asked, concerned.
Mikan didn't say anything.
"Mikan? Are you ok?", Pierre went on.
Finally, Mikan replied, "I want to go home now.".
"You know, we can't just leave...", Pierre tried to reason with her.
They were lying on the rooftop of the school building, staring at the sky, as they continued their conversation.
"You don't have to leave if you don't want to. But I do. I don't deserve to stay in this academy.", Mikan tried to explain.
Pierre looked at the clouds and thoughtfully, and said, "Then I guess you'd better go.".
His unusual response shocked Mikan that she sat up straight, and said, "What?".
"Well, what you've been saying doesn't sound like the real you, so I reckon, you'd probably leave the school in your current state. Only the real Mikan would stay where she is, and work things out instead of running away.", he said effortlessly.
"But..it's not that easy...I mean, what am I supposed to do?", Mikan asked.
Pierre sat up straight, and said, smiling, "Just be yourself.".
Mikan was walking back to her classroom alone, as Pierre went back to his own classroom.
"Just be yourself."
Pierre certainly had a way with words, Mikan thought, happy that she had him as a friend.
"Where have you been, idiot?", a familiar voice spooked her from behind.
"Natsume?! What are you doing here?", Mikan asked, irritated by his presence.
Natsume didn't answer her, and just walked silently at her side.
When they finally reached the classroom, he muttered just loud enough for her to hear, "Don't underestimate your trust in others.", before walking into the classroom and finding his seat.
'Natsume?', Mikan pondered at his sudden peculiar behavior.
"What are you doing back here??", Sumire was first to announce her arrival, but Mikan ignored her.
"Mikan! I'm so glad you didn't really leave!", Iinchou said, running to her side. "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay.", Mikan said, cheerfully.
"Hey! Are you listening to me? You should leave this school!", Sumire said, annoyed that she was being ignored. "You don't have an alice. You're just bothering us all!".
"Never.", Mikan retorted. "Just because you say I don't have an alice doesn't mean I don't have one. Besides, it's what Narumi-sensei said. I'd choose his word over yours any day, idiot!".
Sumire was taken aback, but Mikan wasn't finished, "But even so, I don't believe that people with alices are on a higher level than others...though I don't really see how people like YOU could possibly be higher than anyone else...
...with that rotten nature of yours, dumbass!!"
"Just because you can use some great alice doesn't mean you can't work your hardest and give everything you've got towards living! Go get that stupid brain of yours replaced!!Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!", Mikan scolded her, pointing her index finger at the dumbstruck girl to emphasize the word 'Stupid'.
Natsume smirked from afar. "She's back.".
"Y-You...You just don't know when to stop, do you?!", Sumire said, angry to the point that she decided to attack her.
She leapt into the air, and was about to land a big scratch on her with her sharp claws, when out of nowhere, she was hit to the side of the classroom with the help of a horse's hoof...?
"Don't go meddling in other people's business, Shouda-san, because the only person who can make this dummy cry is me.", Hotaru said, wearing a sort of gauntlet that's designed to look like a horse's leg.
"H-Hotaru..", Mikan looked at her best friend.
"So much for the Honor Student Award...it's all your fault.", Hotaru said, without turning to face her. "Even after I endured so much when I really didn't want to.."
With that said, Hotaru walked out of the classroom.
"Hotaru! Where are you going?", Mikan attempted to follow her, but was stopped when Hotaru announced to the whole class that she was going to the library, saying, "Before she starts bawling, I'm going to go do some self-studying...It's too noisy in here...".
'Hotaru..She really does still care for me!", Mikan thought gleefully.
References to Paramore in the whole story so far.
1. The Story title "Pressured" - The song "Pressure", from their album "All We Know Is Falling"
2. Chapter 3 title "Let the flames begin" - The song "Let the flames begin", from their album "Riot!"
3. Chapter 5 title "Explain to me this conspiracy" - Lyrics from the song "Conspiracy", from their album "All We Know Is Falling"
4. Chapter 6 title "Something to sing about" - Lyrics from the song "Crushcrushcrush", from their album "Riot!"
Maybe I should make more indirect references...hmmm...
Don't forget to RxR! :D