Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice or any of its characters. All credits go to the creator, Tachibana Higuchi.
Monday, October 15
It was 9:30 AM, and Mikan was running around frantically, trying to find her way to class B. "So many buildings… and no directions" she murmured, "If only Hotaru was here to guide me"
30 minutes ago.
Mikan kept on rolling from side to side, and started to feel restless from the lack of sleep. Not to mention, there was an endless ringing going on in the background. She moved her arm around aimlessly on her table, looking for the source of the endless ringing. Not bothering to open her eyes, her arm knocked various things off the table. She opened her eyes in frustration to turn the ringing off, not bothering to check the time. She was going to go back to sleep, but a certain blue post-it caught her eye:
Don't you dare go back to sleep. If you're reading this without me in the room, then I already left without you. There's an important meeting for the technological department today, and I can't afford to be late. On the other hand, it seems that you're already late. Go get ready and I'll see you later, maybe.
-Hotaru
Mikan's eyes widened in fear. She glanced at the clock again. It was already 8:59. And if she recalled correctly, school starts in one minute. "Oh crap" she muttered, already pulling the bed sheets off of her.
Mikan was running down several hallways when she ran into one that looked like the hallway she saw on the first day upon her arrival. She bolted down the hallway and stumbled in front of class B. She left her hand hovering over the door handle, and paused momentarily to catch her breath. When she opened the door, she was greeted by her classmates' stares and the eerie silence that came after it.
"It was nice of you to finally join us, Ms. Sakura." the teacher said, dryly.
"I am very sorry for my tardiness, it will not be happening again." Mikan said earnestly.
"Very well. My name is Jinno-sensei, and I do not tolerate students that are tardy, or those that are disruptive." He said tersely. "Do you understand?"
Mikan nodded, "I understand."
"Well, I guess we have to figure out your seating arrangements now" he mused, looking around the classroom for an empty seat.
Mikan looked around the classroom, hoping to find a familiar face. As she looked fleetingly around the room, she saw Ruka, who gave her a warm smile. And there was Hotaru, who was sitting beside Ruka, who just gave her a blank stare. People started whispering amongst each other, while looking right at Mikan.
"You can have a seat by the window." said Jinno.
Mikan nodded and started walking towards the empty window seat. She noticed there was a person sleeping in a very laidback position, with a manga plastered on his face; but didn't make any comment on it. She just sat down when she was startled by Jinno's booming voice.
"Hyuuga! Wake up, and get that comic off your face"
Hyuuga? She thought. Natsume Hyuuga? At that moment, the person slowly removed the book off his face, and opened his eyes. Mikan felt herself staring at dark, crimson orbs.
"If you dare to fall asleep in my class again, Hyuuga, I will seek some action that will seem fitting for you" Jinno threatened.
"So sorry, Jinno-sensei" Natsume said plainly, not sounding sorry at all.
A flash of annoyance crossed over Jinno's face, but it seemed as if he dealt with this every day.
"As I was saying before our interruption" several snickers were being heard around the room, "we're going to begin the day by learning about the concepts of the Pythagorean triangle…"
At that, Mikan knew it was going to be a long day.
As the day went on, Mikan felt herself become more wary of her surroundings. It's been a while since she was in an actual school with actual buildings, schedules, classmates, and strict teachers. And what made it worse, was that she didn't have that many classes with Hotaru, but rather, with Natsume.
It was the class before lunch, and she was in English. In all the classes she had with Natsume, she was always placed beside him. She wondered why the seat beside was the only seat available. She was in the process of taking notes regarding American literature, when someone leaned towards her.
"So, how's your first day?" Natsume asked, nudging her arm.
"Could've been better" Mikan replied, without taking her eyes off her paper.
"You seem to be absorbed in your studies" he noted. "Actually, you seem totally different in school. You don't seem to be that much of an idiot"
Mikan then glanced up from her paper to look at Natsume, "Studies are always important. It's one of the things I don't slack off on" With an afterthought, "it's not like father would let me slack off either" she murmured quietly.
"What'd you say? I couldn't hear you"
"Nothing" she said nonchalantly.
The bell rang, signaling the beginning of the lunch. Mikan gathered her things, while Natsume watched her with a curious expression. When she got up to leave, Natsume did too. She walked out of the classroom and turned into the left hallway.
"Where are you going" Natsume called out
She turned around, "It's lunch time. I'm going to the lunch room. Duh"
Natsume's lips gradually turned into a smirk. "That's strange, because I didn't know the lunch room was that way. In fact, I never even knew we had a lunch room"
Mikan stared at him with disbelief. "No lunchroom…? Does that mean no lunch?" her stomach grumbled in protest.
She felt her shoulder being tapped behind her. "Mikan? Is that you?"
Mikan turned around and came face to face to Nonoko. "Hey Nonoko" she said warmly with a smile. Her stomach grumbled again. "Nonoko" she said with increasing panic, "we don't get lunch here?"
Nonoko looked at her strangely. "We get lunch off-campus. Our lunch time is for an hour"
Mikan spun around to face Natsume. She pointed at him before saying, "You lied!"
"I never lied" Natsume said, walking towards her, "You just didn't let me finish explaining."
Mikan's stomach growled again for the 3rd time. "C'mon Mikan, let's go get lunch" Nonoko said while laughing, "The others are already getting their lunch, but we can meet up with them later." After an afterthought, "Did Hotaru tell you that we came by your dorm yesterday? But you were out. Hotaru wouldn't say where you were though. But it's kind of weird, because I swear, I saw a girl that looked and sounded like you on someone's shoulder. Someone that looked like Natsume"
Mikan opened her mouth to say something, but then she started to be pulled away by Natsume.
"What are you doing?" Mikan demanded. No reply from Natsume. "I swear to god, Natsume, if you ignore all of my questions…"
Nonoko looked at this one-sided banter with a puzzled expression. "See you later, Nonoko" Natsume said, towing Mikan behind him.
Mikan was able to finally push Natsume away when they were outside. "What is your problem? You can't just drag me away like that!" she said with annoyance.
"Are you aware that your family is hosting an event?" Natsume asked suddenly.
Mikan was taken aback with his question; she expected some type of clever remark, but not this.
She arched a brow in confusion, "Not that I know of…" she said slowly, "But then again, I'll probably be informed of this in a few days. How do you know that my family is hosting an event?" she asked suspiciously.
"I received an invitation."
"I see."
"Don't go to that event."
"Excuse me?" she said incredulously. "You can't tell me what to do."
Natsume's eyes harden at her statement. "Yes, I can."
"Oh really?" she challenged, "And why is that?"
"Because I bought you food yesterday."
There was an awkward silence between them for a while.
"You didn't have to buy me food yesterday, if you didn't take me out. In fact, none of yesterday would have happened if you didn't take me out" she raised her arm in front of him, "We wouldn't have been handcuffed, and have this ridiculous cuff on us today. Spending yesterday with you was such a waste of time." She seethed.
Natsume flinched a little, on hearing her say those words with such vehemence.
"What is it with you today? It's like you're a completely different person" Natsume angrily asked.
"Well I'm sorry that I woke up late on the wrong side of the bed, because I couldn't go to sleep until 2 AM due to a certain arrogant person that decided to drag me into his problems" she enunciated clearly.
"Well, since you won't listen to me, there's nothing left for me to say" Natsume said in a clipped tone, before walking away.
Mikan walked away in the opposite direction, fuming. "How dare he try to tell me what to do when he barely knows me" she thought. "Trying to tell me what to do, dragging me into his problems". She felt that she was no longer hungry anymore and started to walk towards her next class, until someone stood in her way.
"Mikan Sakura?" said the person.
"Yes?"
"There is a message for you in the office. Follow me."
Seeing that there was no other choice than to follow the person, she walked behind the person. When they arrived at the office, a fancy envelope with her name printed on it in fancy calligraphy, was given to her.
She thanked the lady who handed the envelope to her and presumed on walking towards to her class. When she was near her class, she found a bench to sit on and got the letter out. There was something heavy in the letter, but when she opened the letter, several papers that fell out. She frowned, hating to see the elegant papers become dirtied. The first thing she picked up was a note from her mother:
Dear Mikan,
Enclosed in this letter is your invitation to the event your father and I are hosting. You probably won't need the invitation, but just to be safe. The other papers should have more details about this event. Please be prompt, and in your best attire. We will be announcing some important information that night, and it is crucial that you are there. Unfortunately, there won't be anyone picking you up, since they are all busy that day prior to the event. So I left you a key for a car that Hiriko should be coming to your school with, in a few days. See you soon.
"So this was what Natsume was talking about" she thought to herself.
The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and the empty hallways suddenly became flooded by a sea of students. She made her way into the classroom, to find that Hotaru was in the class with her.
"Hotaru!" she squealed, "I didn't see you all day."
"Which was a blessing for me" she replied.
Mikan decided to brush this comment off, "Look what I got" she said, showing Hotaru the letter.
Hotaru scanned the contents, "I got this yesterday" she said finally.
"It seems like everyone's getting invited" I mused.
"Well, it's probably to establish familiarity amongst each other or something" Hotaru said.
"Bonjour, my beautiful students! And welcome to my class. A class filled with intense learning of the beautiful French language~" said Narumi, with flourish.
"Oh dear god" Hotaru mumbled.
"Oh dear god, indeed" Mikan agreed.
After 50 minutes of pain…
The last bell rung, beckoning the end of the last class.
"When is the event going to happen?" Mikan asked, while walking out with Hotaru.
"Three weeks from today"
"Why are the invitations being sent out early?" Mikan asked curiously.
"I don't know" Hotaru answered truthfully, "Maybe it's so that people can't come up with lame excuses the day before, saying that they didn't know about it"
Mikan kept on looking at Hotaru while walking that she didn't notice the person in front of her.
"OOMPH" she said, before falling to the floor.
"Watch where you're going, you just dirtied my jacket" said the person, with an icy glare.
Mikan got herself off from the floor, and stood proudly in front of the person. "You need to learn your manners. Didn't your parents teach you any manners?" Mikan asked hostilely, "You remind me so much of an arrogant person."
The person eyed Mikan with maliciousness. "You have no right to mention about manners. Maybe it's you that need to learn manners, considering it was you that bumped into me, without even apologizing. And, you boldly presumed I was an arrogant person. But wait, there's more: you even dared to bring up my late parents." the person said with vehemence.
Mikan eyes became as big as saucers when the person finished speaking. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean -" she started to say.
"Apologizing now would be futile. Just get out of my way."
Mikan was dumbfounded, "just how many people were at this school that had ill-manners", she thought, as his shoulder bumped into hers when he walked by.
"That was Youichi" Ruka said, walking up to her, "Sorry to say Mikan, but you struck a nerve with him today. Today was his parents' death anniversary" he said sheepishly.
"He resembles Hyuuga, doesn't he?" Hotaru questioned. I stared at her.
"When Hyuuga's not spending time with Ruka or anyone else, he's with Youichi. They were childhood friends. So it makes sense that he would pick up on Natsume's actions and traits. I would say they have a", Hotaru pondered for her next word, "they have a brotherly bond" she finally said.
"Brotherly bond?"
"That's right" Ruka piped, "Youichi's parents and Natsume's mother died on the same day four years ago."
Mikan gasped, "That's terrible… how did they die?"
Ruka and Hotaru shared a look. "We don't know." They said slowly.
"Oh" Mikan said, not noticing the fleeting look between Ruka and Hotaru.
Meanwhile...
Youichi found Natsume at an old landscape with a beautiful sakura tree in it.
"Hey Natsume" Youichi greeted.
Natsume nodded back.
"Can't believe it's been four years, huh?" Natsume said wistfully.
"Actually, I can", Youichi said with defiance, "If that girl didn't exist then none of this would've happened."
Natsume heaved a heavy sigh, "It's not her fault, we went over this, Youichi."
"You're only defending her because you think you love her."
"Youichi…" Natsume warned, "Not today."
"Dammit Natsume, what is so special about that girl? I saw her today, and she had the audacity to bring up my parents. On today, out of all days!" He said ruthlessly.
"You know that she doesn't remember" Natsume warily said.
"I'll make her remember" Youichi declared, his eyes flashing with anger.
"What the fuck is your problem today?" Natsume snarled, "Don't act like a spoiled brat. You weren't the only that suffered a loss on this day."
Youichi flinched at his harsh tone, as he let their shared past catch up to them.
He ran his hand through his eye as he closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Natsume. I just… I don't know why that girl is so important to you, that you would forgive her so easily."
"There's nothing to forgive, because she did nothing wrong." Natsume said indifferently.
Youichi sighed heavily. "Whatever" he muttered.
Natsume walked back to his dorm room when he stopped abruptly. From afar he saw Mikan sitting in front of his room, with her head in between her legs.
"What are you doing here?" he said when he was in front of his door.
Mikan raised her head. "Waiting for you."
His brow raised in curiosity, "Why?"
"To apologize for my bluntness this morning." Mikan said quietly, "I don't know what made me so irritated, but I would like to take back my words. I didn't mean it."
Natsume stared at her. "Okay."
Mikan had a puzzled expression on her face, "Does that mean you forgive me?"
"Hn" Natsume grunted, walking past her into his room.
Mikan stood up, about to follow him into his room. But the door was slammed shut right in front of her face.
Back in the city...
"Arrange a car for me tonight."
"As you wish, Mr. Hyuuga. If you don't mind me asking, where are you going?"
"I'm planning to pay Mikan Sakura a visit tonight." he said pleasantly.
"I see. Please excuse me while I go prepare a car for you now." Sebastian said before bowing respectfully.
Reviews&Constructive criticism are highly appreciated!
A/N: I'm trying to switch my ways of writing. Rather than only writing in the point of a view of a character, I think I'll start writing in 3rd person omniscient. But I'll switch it from time to time. I hope it won't seem too confusing, I'll do my best to make everything easy to comprehend.