A/N: This is by far the longest chapter I've ever written -_- Oh god… and it's about Kana, too! xD Haha, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Me no own Nurarihyon No Mago.

Summer has arrived once again. The bright rays of sunlight were blinding a certain girl's eyes. She was shielding her eyes with her hands, and was also muttering a string of curses.

"Why did I even agree to this…?" She asked herself. Her mind suddenly wandered to a flashback.

Kiyotsugu was at it again. Being noisy and all, disturbing the peace of the classroom. Although the others weren't that bothered, but to Mikan, it was very loud that she thought her eardrums could burst anytime soon. Sighing, the exasperated girl directed her gaze to the babbling boy. She set her chins on her palms. Kiyotsugu was of course, telling his group about a discovery of some youkai at some mountain in Kyoto.

Apparently, Kiyotsugu saw Mikan looking at him 'expectantly', and thought that she wanted to join in the conversation.

"Kuroyuri-kun! Are you interested in what I'm telling them right now?" The onyx-haired boy yelled at her. Mikan widened her eyes in surprise and quickly shook her head.

But it seemed like to Kiyotsugu, her gesture was actually an enthusiastic nodding.

The boy then pulled Mikan to his group, introducing her as the new member of Kiyojyuji Paranormal Squad Patrol.

"Kuroyuri-kun, I've always seen how you stare at me every time we have a meeting, and now I know you've always wanted to join my squad!" He said proudly.

'I was actually annoyed at your noisiness, dumbass!' Mikan thought angrily. She pulled back her arm which was still in Kiyotsugu's grasp.

"Really, Mikan-chan?" Yura asked, nearing her friend. Mikan boldly told her that she stared at Kiyotsugu because she was annoyed.

"Still, don't you wanna join us?" Yura questioned her. Mikan thought for a moment, tilting her head. Since Yura was also in that group, why not?

Plus, Tsurara was in too.

Mikan sighed. "Alright, I'll join. But only for Yura-chan and Tsurara-chan's sake." She deadpanned.

Rikuo stared at his friend for a while. She had never been interested in joining any clubs, until now.

'Wow, Keikain-san and Tsurara changed her…' He thought happily. Their eyes met suddenly, and Mikan held her gaze.

She looked like she was actually glaring at him. Rikuo had a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. He laughed nervously and looked at Yura, who was staring intently at Mikan instead.

"Anyway, this weekend, we'll be going to Yamaguchi beach! A youkai was sighted there!" Kiyotsugu announced suddenly.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh?!" Everyone exclaimed, but Mikan just stared at Kiyotsugu with her mouth agape.

"B-But this weekend's the first day of the summer holidays!" Torii told Kiyotsugu.

"I know, isn't it great? We'll be spending the first days of summer hunting youkai!" Kiyotsugu replied enthusiastically.

Mikan could only stare blankly at the ceiling in sadness.

'But I wanna bake some cakes…'

~yatta!~

Mikan sighed. She didn't know that the group had left her while she was having a flashback. She looked in front of her to see Yura and the others already setting up the umbrellas and mats.

'We're gonna have a picnic?' She thought.

"Hey, Ienaga-san, we're having a picnic?"

Kana, who was gazing at Rikuo, snapped out of her trance and turned around to face Mikan.

"Yeah, Kiyotsugu-kun suddenly decided to rest… I wonder what happened to him." She said, looking at Kiyotsugu worriedly.

"Eeeeeh…"

"Mikan-chan! Let's go play in the water!" Yura said to her, eyes shining with excitement. The grey-eyed girl stared at the sea before shrugging.

"Why not?" She said, heading to the shore. Yura followed her happily, while Tsurara gazed longingly at the two of them. Rikuo noticed this and asked Tsurara if she wanted to go play with the water. Although Tsurara refused at first, saying that as a yuki-onna, she hates the heat, but she finally gave in when Rikuo insisted.

Kiyotsugu had dragged Shima to a cliff; to search for some youkai (even though he said he wanted to rest), while Torii and Maki were sunbathing.

The only person who was left was Kana, and she was very sad at the fact. Gathering some courage, she marched to where Rikuo was.

"Rikuo-kun!" Kana called out with a smile.

Rikuo smiled brightly at his beloved childhood friend. "Hey, Kana-chan."

Mikan and Yura were stalking a crab, discussing about how delicious it would be if fried.

"W-Wanna go collect some shells?" Kana asked nervously. Before Rikuo could even reply, Tsurara called out to him.

"Wakaaaaaa! Look at this seaweed! It's so cute~!" A seaweed was in her grasp. Rikuo laughed and while apologizing to Kana, he headed to Tsurara to look at the cute seaweed.

Kana was once again left alone. With tears threatening to fall, she decided to go to a cliff.

Mikan and Yura saw her heading to the cliff, but they weren't bothered over that fact at the moment.

The brown-haired girl set her gaze on the vast sea. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest. She didn't care if her skirt was going to get dirty; she just wanted to calm down.

Listening to the waves hitting the base of the cliff, she thought about how happy everyone was.

'Rikuo-kun… he doesn't like me? Am I such a bother to him?' She thought sadly.

Sighing, she stood up and walked forward to the edge of the cliff. No, she wasn't going to kill herself. That's just crazy.

But, to Mikan and Yura, she seemed like she was going to kill herself. This was why they were currently running to the cliff where Kana was.

Kana was staring at the water beneath her. The cliff wasn't very high, that's why she wasn't scared. Still, it would be frightening if she fell. Just as she was about to take a step backwards, someone shouted her name.

"Ienaga-san!"

The person startled her, and caused her to fall backwards.

Off the cliff.

She screamed her lungs out, grabbing attention of her friends. Rikuo widened his eyes in horror, while Tsurara covered her mouth which was agape.

"KANA-CHAN!" Rikuo screamed, dashing towards the cliff.

Kana had to admit, she was happy when she heard Rikuo's voice, but she was too scared to think about anything else. She thought she was going to die. That is, until she heard another voice screaming her name.

"IENAGA-SAN!"

It was Mikan, and she was diving off the cliff.

She was actually trying to save Kana.

Her arms were outstretched, trying to grab Kana's. Kana didn't hesitate, she stretched her arms too, and Mikan was able to grab Kana's sweating hands. Mikan pulled Kana over into a hug.

"You idiot," Mikan muttered before the two of them plunged into the sea.

Then only did Kana realize she didn't know how to swim.

Even underwater, Mikan was still glaring at Kana. But putting that aside, she wrapped an arm around Kana's waist, and started to swim upwards. Kana wrapped both of her arms tightly around Mikan's torso.

When the two emerged from the water, they both gasped hungrily for air. Kana had a coughing fit later.

Rikuo and the others were waving at them from the shore.

"Ienaga-san, can you swim?" Mikan asked her, annoyed. Kana shook her head, face red as tomato. Her saviour sighed.

"Idiot," she muttered under her breath. Kana's blush deepened even more.

As they neared the sandy shore, Yura and Rikuo walked into the water to help them.

"Kana-chan!"

"Mikan-chan!"

They both dragged their wet friends and helped them steady themselves. Kana was still in shock, so she fell to her knees as soon as her feet touched the sand. Mikan, though, steadied herself quickly and rose to her feet. She then turned around to intensify her glare on Kana.

"Ienaga-san, what the heck were you thinking?! Jumping off a cliff like that, do you think it's fun?! You didn't know how worried I was, you idi-"

Mikan was silenced when Torii and Maki put their hands over her mouth.

Even so, she kept struggling and glared at Kana.

Meanwhile, the caramel-eyed girl was staring at Mikan in horror, tears welling up in her eyes.

After successfully escaping from the two girls, Mikan huffed and went over to where Kana was still sitting. Rikuo tried to stop her, but Mikan slapped his hand away.

She crouched down to Kana's level. She examined Kana's tear-stained face, and sighed. She then patted Kana's head.

"Are you okay?" She asked gently. Kana widened her eyes at Mikan's gentle tone. Then, she started to cry again, but this time, she hugged Mikan tightly, saying 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Mikan just stared at the sea in front of her blankly.

~walao~

The gang stayed the night over at Kiyotsugu's villa. They were having dinner.

"Kiyotsugu-kun, did you know that Kana fell over a cliff today?" Maki asked Kiyotsugu, while scanning the table for more dumplings.

Kiyotsugu and Shima choked on their food. "WHAT?!" They both exclaimed.

So after that, Torii and Maki told the two boys about the Kana-falling-off-a-cliff incident.

Tsurara looked at Mikan who was in front of her. The girl was eating quietly, exchanging some words with Yura once in a while.

She decided to talk to her. "Kuroyuri-san, are you alright?"

Mikan looked up to see Tsurara staring intently at her. "Yeah."

Tsurara nodded happily while eating a cup of shaved ice. Mikan then turned her gaze to Yura, who was eyeing a piece of crab leg.

They then had a conversation about how crabs should be fried rather than boiled.

Throughout dinner, two people stayed quiet. Rikuo and Kana.

Rikuo stayed quiet because he felt hurt when Mikan slapped his hand away.

Kana, on the other hand, was actually happy because she realized that someone actually cared about her. It's not that she felt like nobody cares about her, but it's just that she didn't know that someone would actually be willing to jump off a cliff just to save her.

And that person wasn't even Rikuo.

She peeked at the black-haired girl who was talking to Yura as if she was giving a speech. About crabs.

~weeeee~

The next morning, everyone had arrived home safely. Kana didn't dare to tell her mother about the cliff incident. She smiled brightly and just headed to her room. She still couldn't forget about Mikan as she lay on her bed.

~doodoo~

"I'm home…" Mikan muttered as her father opened the door.

"So, how was the trip?" Her father asked, plopping on the red sofa in front of the television. He lazily pressed random buttons on the remote.

"Hmm," Mikan hummed, "eventful."

Her father could only shrug.

~neenoo~

Mikan's phone buzzed.

'Eh, who's calling me?!' She thought excitedly as she closed her bedroom door. She grabbed her phone carefully, and for a second she thought it was Yura. But when she looked at the ID, it was an unknown number.

She flipped her phone open anyway.

"Hello…?" Mikan answered cautiously.

"Um… hello? Mikan-chan?"

Mikan knew that voice. It was Kana, no doubt. Mikan was quite shocked, and even more shocked that Kana was calling her 'Mikan-chan'.

"Yes, are you Ienaga-san?"

"Y-Yes… um… how are you?" Kana was very nervous. She was scared Mikan would start yelling at her again.

"…I'm fine?" Mikan answered incredulously.

'Argh, why did I ask that?!' Kana thought, slapping her forehead in exasperation.

"So Ienaga-san, how'd you get my number?"

"Eh? Uh… I took it from Yura-chan."

"Oh, that explains it."

"…"

"So is there anything wrong?" Mikan was starting to get annoyed.

"Uh, oh! Um… I thought… uh… d-do you wanna hang out together tomorrow? I-I found a café which sells delicious banana and chocolate crepe there…" Kana knew that crepe was Mikan's favourite dessert. Yura told her that.

"…What?"

"U-Uh, I mean, I really wanna go there… but since my parents are always busy and all… and um… well, I thought I'd ask you… and well, you did save me that day…" Kana was sweating in nervousness.

"Who's paying?"

That question caught her off guard. "Eh?"

"Who's paying?"

"W-Well, me… I guess?"

"Alright then~ what time? Oh, and where?" Kana could tell that Mikan was happy. She too, became happy and smiled warmly at her phone.

"10 a.m., in front of Hyuuga-san's bookstore."

"Okay then, bye!" Mikan was about to hang up when Kana's 'wait!' sounded quite loudly through the speaker.

"Yeah?"

"Mikan-chan… please call me Kana from now on, bye!"

The brown-haired girl hung up after that. She stared at her phone before plopping onto her bed.

"I… I did it!" She said triumphantly.

~aigo…~

Mikan waited in front of the bookstore. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt. She had trouble picking her outfit at first, and so she asked her younger sister for some advice.

In the end, she just settled with a navy blue shirt and a knee-length faded blue jeans. And her favourite grey sneakers, of course. Her raven hair was tied into its usual ponytail style.

Sometime after that, Kana appeared with her cute pink dress and black leggings.

'So… Kana-ish,' Mikan thought.

Kana smiled brightly at her before taking Mikan's hand in hers. "Let's go, Mikan-chan!" She said enthusiastically.

It was at that moment did Mikan realize she had made another friend.

"Okay, Kana-chan."