A/N: Just realized Tobito was actually Tobita. Oh god LOL.
AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS, GUYS! CHERISH YOURSELF AND ALL THOSE BEAUTIFUL, SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE AROUND YOU!
Chapter 11
He stared absentmindedly out the window, watching the clouds hover by the airplane's wings. The sun shone so brilliantly over the blanket of clouds that he finally closed his compartment window. He picked at his food. There was not an ounce of hunger in him.
"Mommy, look!"
He lowered his cap instinctively.
"Stop it. That's rude."
"But he has - "
More hushes. Then silence. From his peripheral vision, he could see some people eyeing him with whatever emotion. Pity. Disgust. Horror. Hotaru had made him sit in the window seat, but her small frame could not block anything. When the flight attendant came by, he didn't say a word nor raise his head.
"There are games on here. Want to verse me?" Hotaru asked.
He pulled the stick controller from the side and shrugged as she turned on their screens. He watched the figures on the screen bounce as he nonchalantly whisked his fingers over the controls. Up. Down. Left. Down. Jump. Left. Up. It was repetitive. He could feel Hotaru eyeing him as he won nearly every round without a care. The last round, he ran into walls and failed to correctly enter the portal. Hotaru unsurprisingly won. The score balanced between them, for the last round was worth the most points.
"You went easy on me," she said.
"I messed up."
A pause. "Of course."
As usual, silence followed whenever Hotaru said something abrupt. He sulked in his chair, twiddling the phone over and over in the pocket of his jacket. It was warm since he had held it for so long. Without realizing it, he let out a small grunt and bonked his temple after remembering what he said to Mikan.
Hotaru looked over.
"Just thinking to myself," he quickly said.
She waved her hand in dismissal. "Not worried about that. Your phone is going to overheat in there."
"It's not on."
"It will if you keep holding it like that."
"You're overreacting. It obviously won't."
As expected, she sighed. "Do what you want. At least you're not complaining now," she grunted and snapped on some headphones. Letting out another sigh, she sank into her chair and tilted her head the other way. Her breath eventually evened.
Natsume, on the other hand, opened the compartment window and crossed his arms, bored. The clouds were still beautiful in the high noon sunlight, drifting by without a care in the world. Each cloud passing by meant him getting closer to Mikan. He would be able to see her. But...she would be able to see him.
The grip on his phone tightened.
Mikan barely dodged a monster as she quickly whipped out two binds, slashed upwards, and restored part of her health. Her heart was pattering a mile per second.
"Why is this so hard?" she whined and sunk into her seat. She groaned when she viewed the map, seeing how ten more red dots - indicative of monster presence - popped in. To her horror, there were no safe zones. Her mana bar was nearly depleted. She had already used half of her potions, which were extremely expensive.
A large zombie dragged its way over. As soon as Mikan was about to throw a bind, it hunched over and zipped in front of her screen. Mikan let out a small scream as she spammed more binds and fire spells.
"Tobita would've told me about the dungeon and monster information," she sulked when she watched it slowly perish into dark mist. The game didn't feel fun anymore since none of the guild members were on.
She saw that they had made extreme progress during her hiatus. Everyone on average leveled eight times. The guild level was now ten. Natsume was still number one. However, xKirito, supposedly his nemesis, was not far behind. There was only a five million EXP gap between them.
The guild setting was also changed to the most private one. More requests to join the guild had piled up so much that the notification on the guild wall was set to 999+. She shivered and clicked out of guild, only to see a giant dragonoid in front. Without hesitation, she tossed one bind and flared up her elemental skills.
After ten minutes of running in circles and hacking off each body part, she passed through the dungeon, letting out a relieved sigh and a satisfied smile.
-HazelOrbz is now Level 48-
Her smile faltered.
No congratulations followed in the dead guild. It was as though she expected three or four purple messages to pop up as her fingers were ready to type a 'thank you'. She slapped her cheeks and pinched her nose before running to the next dungeon.
However, inches before the portal, she opened her phone.
No new messages.
Mikan inadvertently frowned in dismay and clicked off her phone screen. She cupped her face as she tossed it onto her bed.
With a small sigh, she clicked "W" to enter the portal and readied herself for combat.
*click*
Natsume jumped a little as his eyes flared. He whipped his head around, only to see a small child, who curiously looked back, clicking away on a toy. He exhaled in relief and faced forward, ignoring the wandering stares. His ears grew accustomed to the new sound, so he slouched back onto the chair.
Destination: 15:29 minutes
His eyes waivered across the small screen. He then smothered his hands on his face. Every cell of his fingers traced the bumps, cracks, and gaps that were telling him to not forget. And he never did. Everyday was a reminder. What a sorry person he was, he thought.
The male looked over to Hotaru, who was still passed out, her breathing even. It never really hit him how tired she must've been after booking tickets and planning out everything. He sighed, now bothered that he never explicitly said one thank-you.
"Th..." he started. And stopped when she slowly turned toward him.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked.
"No," he replied, a bit too quickly.
She gazed at him suspiciously before turning to the small screen. "Thirteen minutes until we arrive. Are you nervous?" she read and added the end part with a small smirk. Before he even responded, however, she closed her eyes and said, "You should first see Mikan before any of us. We'll go in separate cars. I'll be visiting the others at the hotel."
"The others?" he questioned before realizing it. He blinked. "They're already here?"
Hotaru sighed into her hand. "You took way too long to decide. Of course they're already there."
"Shouldn't we all go together?" Natsume asked restlessly.
A brief smile flitted across her face. "Aren't you the main culprit here, Mr. Hyuuga? Shouldn't you be the first to confront her?"
"Yes, but-" he began.
"It was a majority vote anyways...for you to see Mikan first. Anyways, I -" She cleared her throat. "we'll see you later then," she waved and disappeared behind a far corner. He could only stand there listlessly in shock with sudden urge to fly back home.
One man in a black suit, however, flashed besides Natsume before he could do so. He bowed deeply. "I was requested to escort you by Miss Imai's orders. Shall we head for your destination?"
He took a deep breath in. And exhaled.
"We should get going then..."
Before he entered the car, however, he let out a small smile toward the corner Hotaru disappeared at. "Thank you," he said.
-HazelOrbz is now Level 50-
"Yush!" she cheered and celebrated with a drink of water. She leaned back and stretched like a cat before letting out a long sigh. She rolled over to her bed and flicked open her phone.
There were still no new messages.
"Be that way," she muttered and tsked. Something inside of her felt a little funny, seeing that Natsume had texted her some sort of confession. She felt a bit happy that he trusted her with such personal information. However, the lack of response afterwards led on a tsunami of guilt within her stomach. Sure, she may have done nothing wrong. But the silence gnawed at her consciousness. Did she say something wrong beforehand?
"Aghhh, I don't know anymore!" she whined and buried her face into the pillow. She then flipped over, her heart pounding rapidly against her chest and her cheeks rosy red. Mikan blinked at the ceiling above her. "It's not as though they're kidnappers...right?" she asked herself out loud.
*Bloop bloop*
"Natsume!" she yelled and dove towards her phone. She clicked open the screen.
Hotaru: Are you awake?
She nearly crashed into the floor, embarrassed of her sudden shout. Completely flushed, she flicked across the message and typed in her password, opening Skype and rereading the text again before responding.
Mikan: Hey, Hotaru.
Mikan: What's going -
The brunette gulped before deleting her previous text message. She left it at her greeting text, nervously fiddling her fingers and awaiting Hotaru's reply. A minute passed before the bottom of the screen changed to Hotaru is typing...
Hotaru: We're going to play together in an hour.
Hotaru: That's plenty of time, right?
Mikan: An hour?
Mikan: What do you mean 'plenty of time'?
Hotaru: Oh
Hotaru: Guess that hasn't happened yet.
Mikan: What?
Hotaru: Nvm that.
Hotaru: Let's play in two hours.
Hotaru: I'm sure that's plenty of time.
Hotaru: So I better see the two of you on.
Mikan: What?
Mikan: Two?
Mikan: I'm already on tho!
Hotaru never responded after that.
"What is going on?!" Mikan groaned and slapped her face, trying to dismiss any wandering thoughts. She pressed the phone against her face. "What are you talking about, you ice queen?!" she yelled indignantly.
*bloop bloop bloop*
Mikan nearly jumped a mile away from her phone but steadied herself as she read.
Hotaru: If you're shouting at your phone right now and calling me an ice queen
Hotaru: I suggest you stop.
Hotaru: Now.
A shiver ran down her spine. She looked around, blinking cluelessly. Was Hotaru recording her at this moment? Or perhaps... Mikan snapped to her senses and muffled her phone with pillows. "How...what the hell is she?" Mikan muttered. "Like hell you're going to listen to all the stuff I'm doing!"
*bloop bloop*
Hotaru: I don't have access to your speakers.
Hotaru: So don't worry.
Mikan threw her phone across the room. "Telling me not to worry and accurately answering all my questions makes me worry more!" she shouted. She palmed her face and let out a tired sigh as she tied her hair into a ponytail. As she tied up her hair, however, her mind delved into the conversations and picked up little hints scattered. Giving more time. Two. Together. Her mind rewired to conversations before.
Visiting.
Her mouth dropped on the floor.
"W-WAIT, ISN'T THIS TOO EARLY?!" Mikan shrieked as she recalled the visit. "THEY'RE ALREADY ON THEIR WAY?"
Then she thought some more.
Two.
Natsume's sudden texts.
"Oh," she said to herself and finally deduced, "Then that probably...means... Natsume's coming. Maybe that's what she meant by the two of us." She looked at the lack of notifications on Natsume's side. "Maybe he was on the plane and texted me before boarding it. Ah...I see I see," she finished calmly.
*bloop*
The sad phone notification echoed as she weakly wobbled over.
Hotaru: Natsume's going to visit you really soon.
"I. Know," the brunette gritted her teeth. "You could at least tell me before I realize it myself." She made a face at her phone. But she cupped her face, trying to calm her rapid pulse that was slowly accelerating.
Natsume was coming.
He was coming.
Her heart pounded. They were finally going to meet. Not like video-chatti-
Her heart sank at the thought.
She stared at the phone screen.
Mikan: Hey
Mikan: Will it
Mikan: Actually be Natsume?
As she finished her last text, the doorbell rang.
"OH. EM. GEEEEEEEEE. ARE YOU RUKA?!" A loud girlish scream erupted as passerbys in the hotel lobby watched a green-haired girl fling herself onto a surprised blond boy. "I'M SO GLAD TO FINALLY SEE YOU GUYS!" she gushed loudly. Her head snapped to the left as her curls whipped the blond in the face. "OH! AND IS THAT TOBITA! WOW, YOU LOOK...GOOOD!" she finished lamely.
"Well, I know for sure you're Sumire," Tobita chuckled lightly, though he was a bit bothered by her last statement. He pushed up his glasses and ran a hand through his short
"Good to see you, Sumire and Tobita," Ruka responded. His bright blue eyes twinkled in laughter, but he looked around, appearing to search for someone. "Where's Koko? I thought he would be with you, Sumire."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that doofus. He's busy playing a card game with some random strangers. I still don't get that kid."
"Card game?" Tobita echoed.
"Yep!" Sumire winked at Tobita, who blushed instinctively. "He's been good at reading movements. Maybe he should just become a detective when he grows up. I dunno~ But never mind Koko! Where's Hotaru? I need a girl friend with me! I heard there are really good nail salons around here. I have a chip from bashing my keyboard too much. See?" She displayed her long fingers that had baroque-style nails: vine-patterned nails contrasted against a bright red background with dashes of different glitters.
"Uhm." Ruka and Tobita looked at each other cluelessly before Ruka continued, "They're very pretty, Sumire."
"Right?!" she gushed.
Then a snap. Sumire stopped to glare at Ruka.
A complete one-eighty. "D-...do you need anything?" Ruka stammered under the pressuring gaze.
"Your face is exactly the same as the person Mikan video-chatted!" she accused. "Were you the one who tricked her?"
Ruka's eyes started to water as he looked down at the floor in guilt.
"Wait, d-don't cry!" Sumire tried to snap, though she ended up comforting Ruka in the end. "Geez, calm down. I'm not going to kill you like Hotaru..." She stopped when Ruka's eyes watered even more. "Oh dangnabbit!" she groaned and gave into the puppy eyes. "Just say sorry to Mikan, and you're fine..."
"Hold up." They both looked at Tobita, who tilted his head in confusion. "What's going on?" he asked.
Sumire nearly tripped. "What do you mean 'What's going on?'? Everything was hell for the past couple of weeks!" Sumire yelled. "We kept dying in those hell-level dungeons because Mr. BigShot - ahem, Natsume - was writhing in guilt! And no one could focus. Geez, if he didn't do all that crap, our guild would've been level 13 by now!"
"Yeah, I've noticed. But what exactly did he do to Mikan? You only told me that he lied to her."
"Ohhh, right," Sumire chuckled guiltily, remembering how she only ranted vague things to Tobita. "You weren't there too. Well, long story short, Mikan and Natsume were going to video-chat, but Natsume decided to sub in Ruka instead without telling Mikan. And all hell broke loose-"
"You idiots are causing a scene in the lobby. Could you at least go to your rooms first before unleashing your chaos?" A cold voice deadpanned from behind. They turned around to a girl with a boyish-cut raven hair with flaming violet eyes. She narrowed them dangerously.
"Oh, it's the beautiful Hotaru!" Sumire piped up as the two boys shivered in the back. "How ya doing, girl?!"
"Stupendous, in fact," Hotaru replied dryly. "Now please go up to your rooms to talk before I allow the hotel management to kick you guys out."
"Wait!" Ruka held onto Hotaru's shoulder, though he quickly let go after seeing her stare. "I...uhm...Is Natsume here?"
"He's heading over to Mikan," Hotaru said nonchalantly.
Sumire nearly fell over. "WHAT?!" she screamed girlishly and smashed her hands onto Hotaru's shoulders. "W-wa-waitNatsumeiswithMikanrightnow?!" she blubbered incoherently. "Didtheyeventalktoeachotherbeforecomingohmigosh?!"
"Please remove your hands."
The green-haired female ignored her and waved her hands frantically. "What if Mikan's still mad at him? What if it's all awkward there?!"
Hotaru flicked Sumire on the forehead with a clean snap.
"Ow!" she cried.
The dark-haired beauty sighed into her hand. "If you forgot, the whole point of this trip was to reestablish their relationship. None of us could take Natsume's clumsiness anymore. And it was awkward whenever Mikan came into the subject. Weren't you the first to agree to this trip anyways?"
"I forgot," Sumire wailed. "I just got too excited about seeing everyone~"
"I could tell," Hotaru said coldly.
"My oh my. Is that the infamous ice queen I spy?! The one who loves crabs so much that she's willing to sacrifice anything for it?!" A boyish voice called over. The four of them turned to a smiling boy with spiky dirty blond hair. "Yo," he said.
"Koko, is that you?" Tobita gasped and returned a high five. "It's good to finally see you!"
"Ey, Tobita! The almighty Gakuen Alice walkthrough guide!" He bowed and looked over to the blond. "I'm guessing you're Ruka then?"
Ruka playfully punched Koko on the arm. "I'd ditch you if you didn't recognize me after all those hours of video-chats."
Koko laughed and clapped him on the back. "Is everyone here then?" he asked and looked around. "There's only five of us. Who's missing?"
"Mikan and Natsume," Hotaru answered.
Koko covered his mouth in pretend shock. "A-...are they...somewheremakingout?! Didtheyuseprotectionlik-?!"
"KOKO!" Sumire slapped Koko on the shoulder. "BAD!"
"Stop abusing me!" he complained.
"You know, I would suspect that more on you two," Ruka remarked as he eyed the two suddenly-flustered teens. "You two are very close. Suspiciously close..." Tobita and Hotaru in the back nodded in agreement.
"Wait! B-but," Koko stammered as he desperately tried to think of something. "We're not - OH!" he shouted and pointed at Ruka triumphantly with a smirk. "You wouldn't want me to tell everyone about your crush, right~?"
Ruka looked at him in horror. "You wouldn't."
"Take that back then," Koko challenged.
Ruka grumbled a small, "Fine."
"Ruka has a crush?" Sumire asked, squealing.
"Please forget it," Ruka cut in.
"This is good for blackmailing," Hotaru said with a glint in her eyes.
"I knew it," the poor blond groaned and went to Tobita, who opened his arms for a sympathetic hug. "You're a traitor," he accused as he turned back to face Koko.
"That's what you get," Koko harrumphed but he waved his hands to change the subject. "Seriously though, where are Mikan and Natsume?"
"Natsume probably..." Hotaru flicked up her wrist and checked her watch. "...just got to Mikan's house by now."
Both Koko and Sumire dropped their jaws in shock. "HE'S GOING TO MIKAN'S HOUSE?!" they both shouted.
"Why not?" Hotaru looked at them coolly. "You two go over to each other's houses everyday. But it's platonic, if I'm correct."
"W-well I m-m-mean it's because w-we're childhood friends!" Sumire sputtered as Koko coughed, appearing to have choked on something. "A-anyways, how did you convince Natsume to go? A-and how did you get Mikan to agree?" she asked, trying to recover. "We all know that Natsume's kind of stubborn. And Mikan's pretty stubborn as well."
Hotaru leaned onto a counter and tilted her head. "I lied to Natsume that all of us wanted him to go. I also contacted his father since he works for my uncle. As for Mikan, I don't think she officially agreed to us coming here. I simply stalked her for her address and phone number, though that required some blackmailing."
One of the hotel receptionists nearby paled as he heard Hotaru and tried to back away quietly.
The others gaped at Hotaru in silence as she coolly took her luggage, entered an elevator, and flicked her hand to wave goodbye as the elevator doors closed.
"Pizza delivery for Mikan? A cheese-filled crust with pepperoni and...pineapples," the delivery man said as he read the paper and smiled at the brunette.
She blew out a huge sigh of relief and fanned herself. "Right, pizza," she said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a rumpled ten dollar bill. "Sorry," she apologized.
"It's fine. Thank you! Have a nice day."
"You too," she replied and shut the door. The brunette deeply inhaled in the luscious smell. Her mouth watered as she quickly walked over to the table and opened the pizza box. She nearly picked up one slice before a Skype call rang from her laptop. "Curses," she muttered. "just when I was about to eat my pizza too..."
She opened her water bottle, took a sip, and nearly spat it out when she saw Natsume is calling...
"OH SH-! Uhm...a-AHEM. AHEM!" she cleared her throat and smacked her chest. After a full minute of clearing her throat, she stopped to stare at the screen blankly. Then she quickly pressed a green button and yelled, "HOLD UP! I NEED TO FIRST GET A SLICE!" Mikan sprinted across the living room, yanked a tissue, grabbed a slice, and ran back over to the laptop. She tried to calm her puttering heart. "Okay sorry about that..."
A snort was heard from the laptop. Then chuckles.
She blinked. "What's so funny?"
Then the brunette dropped her pizza in shock. She had pressed the video chat button instead of the call button.
Mikan stared at the green light flashing from her webcam in horror. She watched her reflection stare back in the Skype window. Grey pajamas. Uncombed, frizzy hair with her bangs tied up. Oily hands. Tomato-stained lips.
"NO!" she shrieked and covered the webcam with whatever she could find. Paper. Tissue. Anything. Dear lord. Then she stupidly yelled, "DID YOU SEE?!"
"What am I supposed to say?" a silky voice answered.
"NO!"
"Then...yes."
"UGH!" she groaned and dropped her head. Then she glared at Natsume's icon next to her covered webcam screen. "You know, I look a lot better when I'm not pigging out."
"Oh, really?" he answered sarcastically.
"Yes really!" she whined and, with one hand, changed it from video-chat to a regular call. She released her hands from the webcam and started picking up the pizza bits. "You're such a butthead!" she grumbled.
"You look fine."
She stopped whatever she was doing. Then she pinched her cheeks from smiling. "That...was random. I thought you'd say something like...'Wow, you look like a noob. Just as I expected.'"
"I was considering that." A little pause ensued before Natsume continued, "So...I saw your third request."
"Oh," she said, her cheeks tinting red.
"I'm. Uhm..." he began.
She waited for him to continue.
"First. Uhm," he broke off again.
She sat in silence, still waiting with a small feeling of dread.
"I'm...sorry about before. Really," he said with a large sigh. "And about...what I said before. You can forget it. I'm not sure what overcame me."
"No."
"Yeah, uh- wait what?" he sputtered and coughed.
The brunette folded her arms. "Like hell I'm going to forget about it. That was serious, and...even though we joke around a lot...I don't want to take that lightly. I'm...actually really...glad you told me. And...stuff...so...yeah." She awkwardly paused and blushed. To herself, she was glad that she decided to turn off video chat.
"Oh...alright."
"So anyways, my third request," she coughed.
"Right. So. Uhm - " He was cut off by a little honk.
Mikan nearly dropped her laptop off the table.
She had heard the same honk echo outside.
"N-Natsume..." she chuckled lightly as she picked herself back up. "A-are you...by any chance....outside my house?"
A bit of miscellaneous sound echoed in the back. Moving. Footsteps. "Uhm, maybe," he finally answered. "Did you hear the honk?"
"Yes."
"Oh."
"So..." Mikan tried to calm the panicky feeling building in her chest. Her voice trembled. "...I'm guessing the third request about video-chatting is kind of obsolete..."
"Yep...Unless you tell me to go away. Then maybe not." He also sounded a bit shaken. The usual silky voice now wavered in the air. "I'm...giving you a choice..."
Her face exploded into a red shade. "O-of course I'm not going to send you away! I wanted to video-chat you...b-but...AH JEEZ. HOLD ON FOR LIKE...FIVE MINUTES, ALRIGHT?!"
"So...you want to see me?" he asked incredulously.
Mikan ran out of patience. "OF COURSE I DO! THAT'S WHY I WANTED TO VIDEO CHAT YOU! BUT SINCE HOTARU PUT THE TWO OF US IN THIS POSITION, I MIGHT AS WELL SKIP THAT AND SEE YOU FACE-TO-FACE BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE YOU! YOU'RE A SPECIAL PERSON TO ME!" she shouted and panted.
Silence.
Mikan, after a few moments of resuscitating herself, nearly fainted and slapped her mouth.
"I-"
"SHUT UP AND GIVE ME FIVE MINUTES, OKAY!?" she shrieked into the laptop. "DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE OR TRY TO LEAVE SOME IMPOSTER OF YOURSELF LIKE YOU DID LAST TIME! YOU'RE THE REAL NATSUME, RIGHT?!"
"Y-yeah-"
"OKAY. I SWEAR YOU BETTER BE."
For some reason, she could sense him rolling his eyes. "You noob. I swear-"
"THEN FIVE MINUTES!" Mikan interrupted. "STARTING. NOW!"
She clicked the red hang-up button and snatched up the pizza, tossing the contaminated parts. Trash. Worn clothes. Laundry. Ramen cups. Water bottles. She ran around the house several times, cleaning spots she would've never touched. She slipped on a large sweater and changed into jeans. Then she tossed the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, combed through her frizzy hair, and stepped by the door, trying to catch her breath.
"You're going to be fine. You're going to be fine," she chanted. "You're fine. You're fine. Absolutely fine. JUST. DO IT! HE'S NATSUME. YOU KNOW HE IS THIS TIME." She breathed slowly. It was true though. The moment she heard his voice in the call, she knew it was him. The usual sarcastic voice. The playful yet serious personality with a tint of awkwardness. It was nothing similar to Ruka's.
She smiled to herself.
Then she frowned. "Wait, what if he's a smooth-talking kidnapper?" she asked herself out loud. She peeked through the peep hole. And almost banged her head against the door from the terrifying sight.
A dark-clothed figure. Ripped jeans. Large band shirt. Droopy black jacket. A lean figure...almost half a head taller than herself. His face was fully cloaked by a black face mask. A white baseball cap shadowed the remaining parts of the face. He was standing in front of her house, checking his phone.
She ran back to the laptop, clicked on Natsume, and called him. After hearing the pickup sound, she shrieked, "YOU LOOK FREAKING SUSPICIOUS. ARE YOU A KIDNAPPER?!"
"Hey- WAIT WHAT. NO I'M NOT."
"THAT FACE MASK AND THE BASEBALL CAP MAKES IT HORRIFYING."
She heard a stumble. As if the phone was dropped. Then he yelled, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU ABOUT MY FACE SCARS!"
"THAT'S TEN MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN THAT WEIRD GETUP!" she shouted back, panting. "TAKE THAT OFF, AND I'LL COME OUT!"
"WHAT. ARE YOU SERIO-?"
"YES, I'M SERIOUS. I'VE NEVER SEEN YOU EVER BEFORE, AND YOU MANAGED TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF MY MESSY SELF!"
"THAT WAS YOUR MISTAKE.
She threw up her hands. "WHATEVER. I'M NOT COMING OUT WITH YOUR FACE CLOAKED LIKE A DEATH EATER."
"OKAY. YOU KNOW WHAT, LET'S JUST DO THE VIDEO-CHAT INSTEAD."
"NO. I WANT TO MEET YOU FACE-TO-FACE!"
He groaned, exasperated. "THEN COME OUT."
"HOW ABOUT NO? YOU LOOK SUPER SUSPICIOUS."
"Oh my g - okay. Okay. Fine." He sighed with another groan. "I'm taking the mask and cap off for a minute."
"Really?" She brightened, silently cheering that she managed to change his mind.
"Starting now," Natsume interrupted. "...Sixty...fifty-nine..."
"WHAT. HEY-"
He ignored her. "FIFTY-EIGHT! Fifty-seven. Fifty-six. Fifty-five. Fifty..."
"YOU POOPHEAD!" She ran across the room. Up the stairs. Shoved on socks. Then down the stairs. She stumbled out toward the door and flung it open without a care. Her eyes squinted from the bright summer sun as small dark spots covered her field of vision. However, she could make out the startled person. "POOPHEAD!" she yelled again and rammed her head into him. He grunted in pain as they both fell over on the untrimmed lawn.
"Fuck." She heard him as she slowly got up, rubbing her head. "That hurt."
"Poophead," she muttered.
A grunt. "Noob."
Her heart burst in relief. It was the same voice. Silky. Deep. Rich. The brunette cleared her head from the pain and opened her eyes. Her breath, however, hitched in her throat.
He was in front of her.
Natsume was in front of her.
Without the face mask and the cap, she could see him clearly. It wasn't anything like Ruka's baby-face appearance. Natsume had jet-black hair. Spiked at the ends. Parted bangs to mainly one side. Slightly tanned skin. His eyes were a gorgeous burst of ruby red. Narrow. Almost brimming with a sharp sense of intellect.
However, it was also like he said. Scars. Matting the handsome face. A long jagged scar ran from one eye to his ear. Burned skin covered his right cheek. She calmly stared, observing and drinking every detail. It appeared as if he was doing the same to her. Observing in silence.
Natsume finally spoke. "One minute's up." He broke off the stare and reached for his mask and cap.
She smacked his hand.
Wincing, he whipped around to stare at her in confusion.
"Idiot! What's the use of them if I already know what you look like?" she retorted. "You look fine to me. If you're not a kidnapper, then that's good enough!"
Natsume rolled his eyes but chuckled, a small smirk etching across. "I told you already I'm not a kidnapper."
"You better not." Her voice trembled. Her vision started to blur. Hiccups.
He stopped. And he looked at her. Was he hurt? "Is my face making you scared? You can...tell me," he murmured.
She shook her head.
"Why are you crying then?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Mikan suddenly snapped, startling him, and rubbed her eyes angrily. "You're stupid! Stupid! Do you know that?!"
He looked at her blankly. "What?"
"Stop assuming I'm scared of you or something stupid! I'm just sad! You're arrogant. You always tease me. Yet you always help me when I need it, so I treasure you a lot as a special friend! Of course I'd be sad after seeing those scars! Your parents were stupid! Whoever caused those burns was also stupid!" Mikan blubbered and punched him hard on the shoulder.
He kept staring at her blankly.
"Stupid! You stupid person! You could've just video-chatted me! Why did you do all that with Ruka?! Sure I would've been curious about the scars, but I wouldn't be scared! Do you think I would've left the guild or something? How immature do you think I am?!"
"Well, for one-" he began.
"Shut up! Instead, you tried to make Ruka pose as you. That was stupid because it was suspiciously obvious that it wasn't you, and I felt super shitty afterwards! Now, we finally get to see each other face-to-face after weeks of not talking to each other! I tear up after seeing your scars and remembering your past, but the first thing you ask is if I'm scared of your damn face! I'm just sad, okay!?"
"Okay. Calm-"
"NO! You should calm down! Why can't you realize that I JUST WANT TO HUG AND COMFORT YOU INSTEAD?!" she shouted.
Then she instantly snapped her mouth shut.
Oh shit, her inner self spoke. You just got yourself in some shit.
She covered her mouth. Shock. Horror. Embarrassment. Frustration. All of it boiled into a nauseating mixture in her stomach. Her cheeks were warming at an exponential rate.
Natsume opened his mouth, appearing to speak. But he closed it after some thought. He also didn't know what to say.
She felt tears dripping down her hands. Tears of embarrassment. "LOOK AT WHAT YOU MADE ME SAY!" she angrily snapped into the silence.
Then he laughed. His mouth fully open with pearly whites showing. He slapped a hand over his eyes and continued to laugh as she stared at him, confused, while rubbing away her wet eyes and dripping nose. She pulled away her hands and realized that - besides floods of tears - there was also pizza sauce smeared all over her face.
Fuck.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" she shrieked and desperately wiped her face. To her horror, there was more than expected. Her nose. Cheeks. Mouth. All covered in that damn pizza sauce.
"You scrub," he chuckled and pulled out a napkin as he roughly wiped her messy face. Though he was trying to contain it, he was still shaking with laughter. "You changed from your pajamas, but you didn't even check your face, you slob."
"You were counting down," she grumbled.
Natsume smirked. He tossed the tissue package to her. "Blow your nose."
The five of them - Ruka, Tobita, Koko, Hotaru, and Sumire - watched from bushes far away. Spying on their two guildmates, sitting on the grass. One laughing. The other embarrassed.
"I feel like we shouldn't enter on this scene," Tobita remarked.
"Ditto," Koko and Ruka chimed.
"They're sooooo cute~" Sumire cooed, her eyes sparkling in happiness.
Hotaru silently snapped photos, though a mysterious smile crept on her lips.