Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.
Hi everyone! I'm glad you guys like the prologue, and I feel like you're expecting so much from me that it made me a bit nervous / so here's now another chapter. It's still a long way before Natsume can meet Mikan so please support him HAHAHAHA!
Special credits to Anilissa, who actually made me more confident in my decision to make a sequel! Thanks so much~! :)
Odysseus (/oʊˈdɪsiəs, oʊˈdɪsjuːs/; Greek: Ὀδυσσεύς [odysˈsews]), also known by the Latin name Ulysses (US /juːˈlɪsiːz/, UK /ˈjuːlɪsiːz/; Latin: Ulyssēs, Ulixēs), was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. He is most famous for the ten eventful years he took to return home after the decade-long Trojan War.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Hotaru was chatting with her friends—Nonoko, Anna, and Sumire—when she heard her phone ring. Her boyfriend's name was shown on the blinking screen. She picked it up.
"Hi, Ruka."
"Hotaru?" Ruka sounded a bit panicky, but Hotaru didn't catch it, because her surroundings were too loud. "Can you hear me?"
"Speak louder!" Hotaru shouted over the crowd. "It's fucking loud here."
"Are you at the usual bar?!" Ruka shouted back.
"Yeah! I told you—"
"Great! Bye!"
Ruka hung up on her. She stared at her phone, confused.
"What happened?" Nonoko, who was sitting next to her, asked. "It was Ruka, right?"
"Yeah. I don't know. He just asked if I'm at the usual bar, then he hung up. Strange." Hotaru shrugged and put her phone away. "Never mind that."
"Okay then, now is the time for the special gift!" Nonoko clasped her hand together. "Hotaru, bring it out!"
"Special gift?" Sumire, the birthday girl, raised an eyebrow expectantly.
Hotaru took out her laptop.
"It's not the laptop, by the way," Anna nudged Sumire.
"I'm not that dumb, of course I know that," Sumire snorted.
"Wait for a moment," Hotaru said as she played with her laptop. "In the meantime, you guys can order more drinks. I'm thirsty here."
"Koko!" Sumire called out. "More drinks here!"
Koko came over and poured them more drinks. "Sumire, don't get drunk again. You're… wild when you're drunk."
Anna and Nonoko giggled when Sumire blushed madly. "K—Koko! Shut up!"
Koko laughed it off. "Just kidding. Drink as much as you want, it's your birthday anyway." He leaned over and whispered to Sumire. "And be prepared for your gift later, sweetie."
Sumire blushed again. "GO AWAY!" She shouted as she pushed her boyfriend away. Again, Koko just laughed it off.
"Guys, it's connected," Hotaru called out.
Nonoko and Anna turned eagerly to the laptop. Sumire, still puzzled, followed suit… to find Mikan waving at her from the laptop screen.
"Happy birthday, Permy!" She waved her hand excitedly.
"MIKAN!" Sumire shouted in happiness. At first she was really disappointed that one of her best friends left in the morning of her birthday, but now, looking at her again, the only thing she felt was that she missed her so much. She didn't even mind Mikan calling her Permy.
"Hi, Mikan! How's Russia?"
"Kind of cold, or maybe it's just because my friends are not here," she pouted. "I missed you guys so much already."
"Is that your new apartment?"
Mikan glanced at the surroundings. "Yep! I'm living together with someone. She's a foreigner too, but she's been staying here for almost two years now. So she could help me. She's nice and friendly, I'm sure you guys would love to befriend her." Mikan smiled. "So, Permy, I hope you like your gift! And happy birthday! Sorry I can't be physically there, but hey, don't forget that Skype exists." She laughed.
"Yeah, thanks for your gift. I'm wearing it now," Sumire lifted her hand, showing a sparkling bracelet encircling her wrist. The jade color matched her hair perfectly. "I love it. Thanks, Mikan."
"You're most welcome!" Mikan smiled brightly. But her smile slowly saddened. "I really miss you guys a lot, goddammit."
"Hey, hey, why are you sad? This isn't like you," Sumire said.
"Yeah, Mikan, we know you can do it. Fighting!" Anna added.
"We still can text each other all the time," Nonoko chimed in.
Mikan glanced at each and every one of them. All of them were looking at her with warm eyes.
"Moreover," Mikan heard a cool voice—Hotaru? "we're still friends, stupid. We'll always be here for you." Mikan glanced to the side and found Hotaru actually smiling at her.
"What the fuck! Hotaru, you just smiled."
"Did not." Hotaru plastered her default face.
"Do it again! I wanna take picture."
"Hell fucking no."
Laughter echoed, and Mikan suddenly felt that her new room had warmed.
"Oh. I gotta go now to buy some stuff. It's still like, 4.30 in the afternoon here, y'know. I'm 7 hours earlier than you guys." Mikan rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I'll drop a text when I'm free. Say hello to everyone for me," Mikan added. "Bye!"
"Bye, Mikan!"
With that, Mikan hung up. Hotaru closed the laptop, and they all continued talking about how they missed Mikan.
At that time, Hotaru's phone rang again. It was Ruka. Again. Hotaru picked it up.
"What?" She said, slightly irritated.
"Where are you sitting?"
Hotaru frowned. "Near the bar, but—"
Ruka hung up on her. Again.
"I swear I'm gonna fucking kill him later," Hotaru hissed as she put her phone down.
"Kill who?"
Hotaru didn't even bother to roll her eyes. "Of course, him—"
"Hotaru?"
Hotaru turned to find Ruka behind her, slightly sweating. "Ruka? What the fuck are you doing—"
"Hotaru Imai?" The guy next to Ruka cut her off. Hotaru turned to him in irritation. "What?"
The guy straightened himself. A sweat was rolling down his forehead. "My name is Natsume Hyuuga," he said, "and I would like to ask a few things regarding Mikan Sakura."
"Natsume Hyuuga?" Hotaru eyed him suspiciously. "Oh, so it's you." Hotaru leaned back on her seat, turning completely ignorant. "I've been expecting you, Odysseus."
Natsume frowned. "Odysseus?"
So yeah, that's it for this chapter! I'm trying so hard to link this whole story to Odysseus' journey, so if you want a bit of heads-up of what's going to happen, you can see how Odysseus' journey went! (Not exactly a pleasant journey, I'm afraid.)
Anyway, thanks for reading! Reviews are welcomed :)
~sassgoddess
