I Like You, Natsume-oniisan
'I want to change and learn how to hate, when to love, who to cry for... but why... why can't I change?
What exactly have you done to me to make me fall in love with you?'
Chapter 5: First Day of High School
Twelve years later...
"Yikes! I'm late!" the brunette shrieked at her watch and zoomed past the kitchen in a hurry. "Mum, I'm skipping breakfast today!"
Misaki stepped out of the kitchen and chided, "Mikan, it's your first day of school today and you dared to stay up late last night! And your bread is already on the table."
"Geez! I am chatting with my friend online," Mikan laughed sheepishly and grabbed two slices of bread which were on the plate. "Thanks, Mum. I'm off!"
She put on her shoes and ran out of the door.
Then, she immediately turned around and asked Misaki, "By the way, where is Natsume-oniisan? I am thinking to take a ride with him."
"He has left without you, sleepyhead. You can ask your father to give you a ride," Misaki replied and turned to Tsubasa who was wearing his tie for work. "Tsubasa, please take Mikan to school before she is really late for school. I can go to work myself."
Mikan became teary as she apologised with a small thankful smile and said, "Sorry, Mum! Sorry, Dad! I promise not to chat until so late at night."
After wearing his shoes, Tsubasa kissed Misaki goodbye and walked out of the house with Mikan. They got into the car and drove off. In the car, Mikan combed her messy hair which she had not done so that morning while chewing on the two whole slices of bread which were stuffed into her mouth. Yes, she had the ability to do that and that amazed almost everyone during her middle school days, but she was not a glutton at all.
"So Mikan, do you have any high school resolutions?" Tsubasa asked out of nowhere.
Mikan swallowed partial of the bolus and replied in a dreamy style, "I want to get good grades, make new friends, get to know Hotaru better and get a boyfriend."
Upon hearing the last part of her resolution, Tsubasa flinched and cried, "No! No! No! You can't get a boyfriend yet! Cancel that part one out! It hurts my ears! I can't let my precious Mikan be taken away from me! I better tell Natsume to help me to keep a lookout for you."
"As if Natsume-oniisan would do it," Mikan mumbled softly and rolled her eyes.
When they had arrived at the school gate, Mikan got out of the car and waved Tsubasa goodbye before he drove away. She was extremely excited as she had read in shoujo mangas that most girls find their romances in high school and she had never experienced the feeling of being in a relationship. Based on the flowery or fluffy backgrounds in the stories and the happy endings, she hoped that she would be able to experience all of these and get over with her first lost love.
What a typical high school girl...
Yes, she had liked someone else before but that person had rejected her in a very straightforward manner two years ago. So, in fact, she had been trying to get over with him but had failed countless of times. Her heart was still beating for him and worst of all, he had a girlfriend of his own!
"Mikan!" a girl with black hair called out and walked towards Mikan. "How are you?"
"Hi Hotaru!" Mikan greeted back and hugged the girl. "I'm fine. What about you?"
"Doubly fine. Guess what I bring today?"
"What?"
"Ta-da! A magazine!" Hotaru said and took out a teenage magazine with a huge picture of a brunette with beautiful cerulean eyes. "I know you are a crazy fan of him, Mikan. So, I helped you to keep this magazine during the holidays before my brother threw it away."
"Oh my god! It's Runo!" Mikan exclaimed and snatched the magazine away from Hotaru to take a closer look at his face on the cover page.
"Yup! You can cut out the cover page and use it as a poster," Hotaru suggested. "Maybe this will help you to get over with your lost love just by seeing the picture of Runo hanging on your wall everyday."
Mikan was touched and sniffed, "Thanks, Hotaru. You're so kind."
"Yeah, I know I am super kind but I don't do it for free. That magazine costs seven dollars and fifty cents," Hotaru smirked with a twinkle in her eyes and stuck out her hand right in front of Mikan.
Mikan's gleeful smile vanished as she playfully slapped Hotaru's palm and snorted, "I thought you are helping me for free."
"Just kidding," Hotaru chuckled and withdrew her hand back to her side. "Let's go and attend the opening ceremony now."
Mikan smiled and both of them headed to the hall for the opening ceremony. After the very long speech given by the Principal, the President of the Student Council Community and the top freshman scorer of the school, the Year Ones were sent to their respective homerooms to have their orientation activities conducted. As for Mikan, she felt lucky that she was in the same class as Hotaru as she was the only person she knew since elementary school. She recognised some familiar faces that she knew from middle school but never had the chance to talk to them. Maybe she did, but they were not as close as she and Hotaru were.
Gakuen Alice was not a normal high school at all. This school only accepted students with good grades and they had to be in the top one percent of the whole country. Although Mikan was accepted, she had actually barely made it to be part of that percentage. Again, she felt lucky to be in the top one percent and at the same time, she could see that person who was her lost love more in this school. She did not care about getting over with him for this time being as she promised herself as long as she could see him everyday, she would be as happy as a lark. Who cared whether he had a girlfriend or not? Just seeing him doing fine would not disrupt his relationship with his girlfriend at all, right?
Mikan was not the type who loved to ruin relationships but instead, she would support them although that person was whom she really liked. Hotaru felt that Mikan was too generous and needed to learn to give up in certain things in life before she hurt herself deeply. That was why after the rejection, Hotaru introduced Mikan the famous model and singer, Runo. Much to her relief, Runo's songs had captivated Mikan and became a fan of him but somehow, it had failed to take her mind away from that person. She guessed it was the strong power of a one-sided love.
Just then, a teacher with hazel brown hair just like Mikan's walked into the classroom and announced, "Good morning, Class 1F. I will be your homeroom teacher from now on and please call me Yuka-sensei. I will be teaching you Health Sciences, Physical Education and Biology. You can call me the 'all-in-one' teacher because I can teach every subject. Sadly, the school only allows me to teach three subjects this year. Hmph! I don't understand why teaching three subjects is the maximum!"
Mikan rested her head on the table, ignoring the teacher's boasts and rants. Somehow, that teacher looked a bit like her, especially her face and the colour of her hair and eyes. The only difference was that Mikan's hair was long and slightly wavy while that teacher had short and straight hair. She felt as if that teacher was her long lost twin. However, it was impossible to be in that case because that teacher was older than her by sixteen years.
"Wow, Mikan. Yuka-sensei looks like your long lost twin!" Hotaru mused softly with a soft laughter. "Maybe she might be your older sister by any chance."
Even Hotaru had realised the awkwardness of them being looked alike and said that. Mikan shrugged and shivered at the thought of Yuka being her older sister. If her mother abandoned her but kept Yuka by her side, she would rather her mother abort her than abandon her in an orphanage. It was too unfair and heartless. However, come to think of it, if she was not abandoned, she would not meet Misaki, Tsubasa and Natsume. Mikan cupped her hands together and thanked her real mother, whom she had no idea who she was, for abandoning her silently. Maybe her real parents were just like Natsume's parents; they might have gone to a better place and rested in peace.
"Now let's greet one another and I hope that we can get along throughout the year," Yuka finished off her long speech and exchanged greetings with the class. "Alright, I have prepared a game for you guys. It is called 'Truth or Dare'! I'm sure all of you have played this game before, so no explanation needed. I think this game can loose the tension among yourselves and break the ice. Hahahahaha!"
What a long laughter she had there...
Yuka spun an empty bottle and it pointed towards a random girl.
"Oh! It's Nonoko Ogawasara-san. Truth or dare?" Yuka queried.
Nonoko scratched her head and answered, "Truth."
Yuka asked again, "So, do you have an idol? If yes, who is that person?"
"Yes, I like Runo. He's freaking hot," Nonoko squealed and after that, many girls squealed together with her.
Mikan wanted to squeal too but she just remained calmed and pretended to be unaffected.
"Mikan, you are going to be great friends with those squealing ardent fans of Runo," Hotaru whispered with another smirk while nudging Mikan's arm playfully.
Mikan sighed, "Yeah, right."
Just then, the bottle was spun again and pointed at Mikan.
Nonoko asked, "Truth or dare?"
"Dare," Mikan challenged and everyone gasped in surprise.
"You are Mikan Andou-san, right?" Yuka asked while checking the name list.
"Yes, I am."
"You're brave. And I have just realised that you look like my long lost twin..."
"Oh yeah! Sensei and Andou-san really look alike! Are you two sisters?" Nonoko chattered excitedly.
"There's no way that we are related," Yuka laughed. "I was just joking. By the way, I'm the only child."
Mikan laughed sheepishly and looked at Nonoko who was trying to think what kind of dare she should give her.
"Andou-san, I want you to read out this BL manga page to the whole class," Nonoko said while pointing at a page of a manga.
"BL? What's that?" Mikan asked Hotaru.
Hotaru snickered, "BL means boys' love or yaoi. Good luck!"
Mikan took the book and immediately blushed. How could she read this type of thing? It felt so awkward and sick.
"Ak-kun... I... I... I lo... love you so... so much!" Mikan stuttered with her mind going haywire. "Ah... Takashi-chan, I... I didn't know you've this type of feelings for me. To tell you the truth, I also lo... lo..."
Mikan paused and closed the book in embarrassment.
"I'm done!" Mikan said.
"Where's the last part?" some girls yelled.
"That will be the next page!" Mikan replied with a flustered face. "What a twisted love story! My mind is polluted... The shoujo romances that I have been reading are all lies..."
Hotaru smacked Mikan's head and growled impatiently, "What are you mumbling about? Please let the game continue."
"S... Sorry!" Mikan cried and hid her face behind Hotaru's back.
And the game continued.
'Because of you, I can't fall in love with someone else. I can only watch your back and cheer for the both of you.
How wrong was I to confess to you and support your pathetic love life for two years if I knew that you are going to treat me like some rebellious trash in the future.
I want to give up on you... right now.'
Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 5. The first two chapters of the second part of this story may seem like filler chapters as I will introduce some new characters and new settings. You will notice some character changes in Mikan and Natsume. From Chapter 7 onwards, the real drama begins.
Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 4. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- Razux
- lisaOpine
- curo neko
- sakura-san29
- Coco Pierce
- jennifer8-Mikan Hyuuga
- Vehemens Ford
- Anna The Weird
- Meimi
- Mistly
- De Entertainer
- Rio Gordon
- Smile Up Sunny - S. B. F
- crimson hazel hearts
- Bubble
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)
Here are the common questions which are being asked by most of you or you might be currently thinking right now:
1) Who are Mikan's true parents?
The answer will be revealed much later... in Chapter 33/ the fifth part of this story.
(Friend/ editor: Your readers are probably wondering 'just how long will I be able to get to read this chapter?' and 'what the...? Three more parts to go?' now. These were my honest feelings when I first read this story last year. So, tell them the truth.
Me: I can't... Everyone hates spoilers, I think.)
I'm so sorry, guys! Please be patient with this story.
2) Are there anymore time skips?
Nope. Even if there are, it will be either 'a few days later' or 'a few weeks later'. In addition, (I don't know if this is a good or bad news) there will be some flashbacks to aid your understanding in some characters' pasts!
Please feel free to ask me any questions. I will try to answer them as far as possible.
And don't forget to leave a review! Thanks! :)