I Like You, Natsume-oniisan
Chapter 7: Bargain
"What are you doing here?"
Mikan looked up and grinned.
"I'm waiting for a friend."
His eyes narrowed at her and asked again, "Which friend?"
"He's someone I met online," Mikan answered. "He studies in this school too and we agreed to meet each other today."
"Go home."
"What?"
"I said, go home."
Mikan's eyes widened as she stared hard at Natsume and fumed. The day before he was acting indifferent towards her and even pretended not to know her at all and right here, he appeared out of nowhere outside of the casino and told her to go home. She wanted to ask him why he was behaving all weirdly the night before but he came back late because he had a date with his girlfriend.
She retorted angrily, "Why should I go home?"
"I am not letting you meet a stranger," he replied calmly.
Mikan frowned and said, "He is not a stranger at all. We have been chatting online for at least two years so we are like friends."
"Go home or else, I tell your father," Natsume bellowed impatiently. "Anyway, Nobara is coming to our house tonight and she wants to meet everyone."
Mikan felt a pang of sadness in her chest. She had met his girlfriend, Nobara Ibaragi, before and she had to admit that Nobara was very pretty. No wonder Natsume chose her as his girlfriend. However, she had promised her online friend to meet up with him so she wanted to use this as an excuse to avoid Nobara. Not that Mikan disliked her; it was just that she would feel awkward to see someone whom she liked a lot with someone else.
"No thanks. I am coming home late so I don't think I can see Ibaragi-san later," she said.
Natsume raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why are you coming home late? You've a boyfriend, right? If you have, I want you to dump him right now."
"As if I have!" Mikan shouted and quickly covered her mouth before she continued in a softer voice. "By the way, you have no rights to order me to go back home and dump whatever boyfriend I have."
"I have," he interjected. "I am just merely following your father's pleas. He's worried that if you have..."
"Whatever! Hotaru and I are going shopping later so please help me to tell Dad and Mum that I will have my dinner outside," Mikan interrupted him which made him glare at her. "Sorry that I can't see your girlfriend but I have made a promise with Hotaru first. The four of you can enjoy without me."
Mikan turned around and stomped into the mini-casino without looking back at Natsume. She went to the counter to sign in and started her game in Blackjack. She used her middle school final graduation examinations results and played many rounds while peering outside continuously to see if her online friend had arrived and if Natsume had left her alone.
Luckily, Natsume left the casino after fifteen minutes had passed but her online friend did not come even after an hour had passed. She had played at least twenty rounds of Blackjack, ten rounds of Poker and eleven rounds of the simplest game- the slot machine.
She felt so cheated and all thanks to Natsume and that online friend, she began screwing up other students' successes. Yes, not hers. She used her knowledge of probability and some luck to play those games and very soon, she was the one happily gaining more points. It was her first time playing in a casino, though it was a mini version one of a weird kind.
"Mikan, I didn't know you know how to gamble," a voice disrupted Mikan's train of thoughts.
Mikan looked up and saw Hotaru staring suspiciously at her.
"Hi Hotaru! I am just passing time here," Mikan greeted and looked back at her new results.
"So how is your date with that online guy?"
Upon hearing that, Mikan sighed deeply and started ranting, "He did not come. He lied to me. Why is the whole world so against me? What have I done wrong? Hotaru, even Natsume-oniisan decides to be so indifferent to me and Ibaragi-san also wants to see me. Doesn't she even know that I will feel really bad when I see them together?"
Hotaru said, "I don't think anyone knows about this. Of course, except for me. Now, I think you should cool your head down a little. Do you want to go shopping with me?"
"Sure!"
"Okay. But first, you must promise me that you must not talk and think about your brother and his girlfriend. Second, you can forget about that online guy. Lastly, let's talk about Runo from now on," Hotaru instructed.
Mikan nodded obediently and signed out from the casino before walking out of it with Hotaru. They shopped around the town area and bought some stationeries, magazines which were filled with pictures of Runo and they ate in a ramen shop for dinner. By the time they finished shopping, it was already past eight at night. It was dark and not many people were shopping during this hour. Still, Mikan did not want to go home, for fear that she might bump onto Nobara and Natsume on the way back home.
When Hotaru left for home, Mikan was all alone in the town area. She entered into a cafe and ordered a drink. Her purpose for entering into the cafe was not to drink, but to use the internet. Using her handphone to log into the social website, she noticed that her online friend was actually online. How angry could she get upon seeing this?
Suddenly, a message from him popped out.
Ruka N. says:
Hi Coolbreeze, I'm very sorry for not coming to school today. I fell sick this morning and I cannot reach you either! Have you been waiting for me all these while?
Coolbreeze says:
Not really. I spent two hours of my time waiting for you but since you did not turn up, I went out with my friend.
Ruka N. says:
I'm so sorry! I will meet up with you when I get better.
Coolbreeze says:
It's alright. I understand you. It can't be helped, right? Get well soon, Ruka-pyon!
Ruka N. says:
Thank you! You're the best.
Mikan blushed and quickly took a sip of her cold drink. Somehow, chatting with this online person made her happy again and forgot all the things she was stressing about earlier.
Coolbreeze says:
That is so flattering. Haha! Today, while waiting for you, I tried to play in the mini-casino. It was so fun. You should try it out.
Ruka N. says:
Nah... I don't gamble.
Coolbreeze says:
I'm serious. Fortunately, we don't have to gamble with our money. We use our exams marks to do the betting. Isn't that so cool?
Ruka N. says:
I don't think so. What if you fail and lose? All your hard work in your studies will go down to the drain.
Coolbreeze says:
Hmm... You're right.
Ruka N. says:
It's logic.
Mikan giggled and looked at her watch. It was going to be nine o'clock soon and most likely, Nobara might have left her house. Maybe she should go home too.
Coolbreeze says:
Ruka-pyon, I will chat with you tomorrow. See you!
Then, she immediately logged off and gulped down the remaining drink. After that, she left the shop and walked back home.
While walking home, she hummed one of Runo's songs. Just then, she heard a familiar woman's voice coming from the left route which led to a row of houses. Mikan stopped and hid behind a tree. She stole a glance towards the direction of the voice and gasped.
What she had seen had nearly made her heart stop. She felt so regret for being a busybody. Clutching onto her schoolbag and magazines tightly to her chest, her tears rolled down her cheeks and her knees grew weak and shaky. She had promised herself not to cry anymore ever since the rejection and tried to pretend nothing had happened at all. But she had broken her own promise.
Mikan could not take it any further. The scene of Natsume and Nobara kissing outside the Ibaragi's residence made her heart ache even more and she quickly ran away while wiping her tears with her blouse.
As she ran, she did not manage to see a small flight of stairs in the unlit area. Within a blink of an eye, she found herself tumbling over and hit her left shoulder hard. She groaned in pain as she cupped her shoulders and squirmed on the cold and hard concrete ground.
Maybe this time she should just spoil herself and just cry as much and loud as she could. Her physical pain was never compared to her heartache which she had bore a long ago.
She wished she was a selfish person.
She wished she was the type of person who would get jealous easily.
She wished she was not gullible to fall for same person over and over again.
She wished she was a brave person who could outwardly shower her love easily.
She could only wished but in fact, she was only a person who tried to avoid the reality, stood at the corner to watch others' happiness while was grieving all by herself, refused to give up useless hopes and dreams, was selfless and was a two-faced child who always smiles but deep inside her, it was a total opposite from what it was reflected on the outer look.
Just like Hotaru had always said, she should learn how to forgo all her feelings for him and maybe there might be someone who would open his arms for her. All she had to do was to open her eyes, instead of enclosing herself with thoughts of him. However, there was another problem.
Could she really do that on her own?
Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 7. For those who are celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you a Happy Lunar New Year (祝你们新年快乐！恭喜发财！万事如意！岁岁平安 ！年年有馀！身体健康！学业进步！)! I know it is already the third day of the Lunar New Year though. :)
I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 6. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- Scarlet Ammo 19
- nix
- Random Fan
- Anna The Weird
- Vehemens Ford
- aurora0914
- The Mad Writing Center
- jennifer8-Mikan Hyuuga
- sakuraXnatsume
- KLP-Chan
- Smile Up Sunny - S.B.F
- sakura-san29
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)