I Like You, Natsume-oniisan
Chapter 11: Punishment
It was another noisy day in Class 1F, especially when it was a free period. The class chairperson had difficultly controlling the class; he had been trying his best to lower down the class's volume but it was to no avail as the class remained as chaotic as ever. Sometimes, it would be hard to believe that these students were the cream of the top throughout the nation. It was just unbelievable.
"I beg you! Please be quiet or else, Natsume-sensei will scold all of us! He is currently teaching next door," the class chairperson pleaded with the class.
Upon hearing that, all the girls looked at one another and started squealing loudly. They were so loud that Mikan had to cover her ears in irritation.
"What wrongs with them?" Mikan groaned.
Hotaru whispered back to her, "They obviously want to see his sexy face."
"What?"
Suddenly, a loud voice was heard, "Everyone, shut the hell up!"
Then, it was followed by a loud bang. The noise level dropped tremendously and only the swirling of the ceiling fan could be heard. Everyone's attention was at the front and they had finally quietened down. Standing at the front of the classroom was a very furious teacher with his palm on the blackboard with his crimson eyes glaring at the pupils intently.
"Class 1F, all of you will have detention and you will have to clean up the school's garden. This is a price for disrupting my lesson with the other class and for ignoring your class chairperson," Natsume bellowed and hit the blackboard again, making everyone flinched. "Do you understand what I have just said?"
"Y... Yes."
"Good, and be quiet now," he said and left the classroom.
Ruka tapped on Mikan's shoulder and asked softly, "Wow! Who is that fierce and vulgar teacher?"
Mikan turned around and answered, "He is our Mathematics teacher, Natsume-sensei."
"And her idiotic brother," Hotaru added with a smile while pointing at Mikan.
Ruka gasped, just like what Nonoko and Anna did when they had heard about that, and exclaimed, "Y... Your brother? Both of you don't look alike at all!"
"Exactly. Mikan is far more prudent than him," Hotaru said proudly. "By the way, they are not related by blood."
"Wow! Cool!"
"It's not that cool," Mikan laughed. "You get amused easily, Ruka-pyon."
"Says the one who also get all excited and amused so easily," Hotaru said.
"No, I'm not!"
Hours later, it was finally after school and everyone in Class 1F stayed back to serve their detention. They changed into their outdoor attire and reported to Natsume under the garden's huge pavilion. Natsume gave out instructions to the pupils and called them to split into groups of five. The garden was big and the area was approximately twenty-five thousand acres around the school, hence getting lost in it was a very common scenario. And in order to get to another side of the garden, people would ride on little trams at the sides of the garden where there were rails constructed for this purpose.
Mikan was grouped together with Hotaru, Anna, Nonoko and Ruka. Ruka wanted to join the boys' group but for some unknown reasons, he was kindly rejected by them. However, Mikan, Nonoko and Anna had gladly accepted him to be part of their group, except for Hotaru who kept teasing him that he must be an old pimp in disguise so that he could make his harem of girls. No one understood what she was trying to pull but it was funny. Well, except for Ruka; he totally did not enjoy it at all.
Mikan's group was assigned to clean up the garden near the mini-casino. It was a bad choice for them to be assigned there as there were two crazy fans of gambling in that team but it seemed that Natsume did not know that his sister was gambling frequently. However, to these two girls, they felt lucky and ecstatic to be assigned to clean up the garden outside the casino. For once, Hotaru felt like saying 'Oh my god! I like you, Natsume-sensei!' as she had always detested him because his looks which had never appealed to her in any ways. About Hotaru, she was more of a stereotypical type of person who usually based on how good you looked, how well you treated her, how well you presented yourself in front of her, how high your intelligence quotient was and lastly, how rich you were.
Now, you must be thinking how Mikan managed to be her friend. In fact, Mikan did not pass some of the given requirements above but let us just say that Mikan was an exception. As for Nonoko and Anna, Hotaru knew that they were obviously the daughters of rich businessmen just by judging the way they dressed and their family names. Because of that and since Mikan liked them, she dismissed the other four requirements.
"The casino seems to have lots of players today," Ruka suddenly mentioned and the four girls peeked inside the casino by the side window. "Seeing this makes me feel so regretful for playing the slot machine last week. I lost nearly half of my points within ten minutes. And from then on, I've promised myself that I'll never enter into this filthy place ever again."
Anna looked at him and asked in surprise, "Nogi-kun, do you not want to earn them back? It is a waste for you, you know."
Ruka snorted, "You know what? The more I play, the more I lose. I don't see what is so fun about gambling!"
Hotaru bit the bush loudly with a long stick and smirked at him.
"Idiot, do you know that gambling is a heaven for people with brains, unlike you?" she laughed evilly and pointed her stick at him. "Now, let us take a rest in the casino. We have already been clearing this area for an hour."
With a twinkle in her eye, Mikan immediately cheered loudly, "I'm tired of cleaning so let's go in!"
As Mikan was about to step into the casino, she was held back by a pair of arms around hers. Mikan toppled over and her back landed on Ruka's chest.
"Hey, Ruka-pyon! Why did you stop me?" Mikan cried and rubbed her back.
"It's not a good time to play now. You all know that if we were to be caught by Natsume-sensei, we will receive a heavier punishment," Ruka said with his hands still holding onto Mikan.
"Ruka-pyon, how about we do this way?" Mikan spoke in a rather soft voice with a small smile. "I will help you to gain back all the points that you have lost since I was the one who kept calling you to play in the casino last week. How's that?"
Ruka thought for a moment. That offer sounded convincing, but what would happened to them if they were caught red-handed for having fun? He looked at Mikan again and shrugged. When he did that, Mikan's excitement immediately diminished and pouted. And when she pouted, Ruka felt really bad. Maybe her pout made her look adorable.
"F... Fine," Ruka sighed in defeat as his face began to heat up for some unknown reason. "Go... Go ahead."
Mikan's cheerful face returned as soon as he had said that and quickly ran into the casino with Hotaru. Anna and Nonoko were a little nervous about the idea of slacking off but in the end, they entered as well for their first time. Ruka just followed them behind.
"Let's try Poker," Hotaru suggested to Mikan as she pointed at a table filled with Year Three students. "I'm sure that they have a lot of points for us to gain."
Mikan dragged Ruka towards the table and instructed him to key in his name and password in an electronic devise which stored all the students' examination marks. After keying them, he was logged in and was allowed to make his bet in the game of Poker. But for this time, instead of Ruka playing it, Mikan sat down in place of him and keyed in her bet.
"Oh no! It's the 'Score Gluttons'! Why are they here again?" one of the players groaned to show his displeasure.
Hotaru patted Mikan's head and spat at the person, "Of course, we are here to win and save Ruka Nogi's ass."
Ruka felt like giving Hotaru a punch on her big-mouth but he tried to maintain his cool in front of everyone else. Apart from that, he knew that Mikan was a good player in Poker but he was not sure to trust her at all. What if she got all the bad luck and his scores dropped to zero? He would probably choose to commit suicide afterwards.
"Trust Mikan," Hotaru whispered to Ruka. "She may be stupid but she knows when to 'fold' and 'raise'."
Intrigued, Ruka raised his eyebrows and asked, "Fold and raise? What's that?"
"Just watch and you will know, idiot."
His eyes glued intently on the large table as the tip dealer gave out cards to the players. Mikan looked at her two cards and bit her lips.
"Check," Mikan said and everyone immediately held their breaths.
"Fold," one person said.
The first player was out of this round.
"Fold," another person shouted.
Then, the second player was out too.
A senior smirked and said, "Check."
"Check," the last person sang happily.
The dealer put the top card aside and revealed the second card in the middle of the table. Mikan was really thinking hard and finally put down her cards.
"Fold," she sighed and the other two players snickered.
Ruka gaped. The points which she had bet had just been wasted! He was panicking and clutched on Hotaru's blouse while shaking his head in the hope to stop Mikan.
"Geez! Just wait and see," Hotaru hissed and brushed his hands away.
"Round two!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Check!"
"Fold!"
Mikan looked at her cards and flashed a smile, "Check."
The first card was opened and the remaining four players 'check'ed. The second card was shown next and Mikan suddenly called for a raise in her bet. Ruka was practically screaming at her back not to be so rash but Hotaru shut him up by shoving a hot bun into his mouth. Because Mikan raised her bet, two more players chose to be out of the game.
The third card was revealed and Mikan raised her bet. Upon seeing her doing that, the other player did the same too. This procedure was repeated for the forth card. They both kept raising their points until Mikan bet all of Ruka's points, much to everyone's surprise.
"Coolbreeze! What the hell are you doing? How dare you use all of my points for betting!"
"Shut up!" Hotaru yelled and covered his mouth. "Trust her, idiot. And stop calling her that name. It is giving me goosebumps!"
"Fold."
Ruka and Hotaru gasped. The other player gave up and Mikan was the only one left in the game. The final card flashed and Mikan cheered in happiness.
The dealer announced, "Ruka Nogi, you have earned..."
"See? Mikan has earned back all your points in one go. Of course, your points are now more than your original," Hotaru explained.
Mikan left the table and ran towards Hotaru and gave her a high-five.
"What are your cards?" Hotaru asked Mikan.
"Two small numbers but both were in different houses," Mikan replied with a cunning grin. "I could have lost if those players didn't fold. I bet the guy who folded last had a chance to win but too bad, he lost his chance to me."
Hotaru looked around the casino and asked, "Where are the two noisy girls? I thought they were with us a minute ago."
"You mean Anna-chan and Nonoko-chan?"
"Now you mention it. Where are they?" Ruka scratched his head quizzically.
"Maybe they have gone back outside to continue with their cleaning ups," Hotaru replied and walked towards the entrance.
Ruka and Mikan followed her behind.
"Thank you, Coolbreeze," Ruka mumbled softly.
Mikan looked at him and giggled, "Haha! You don't have to be so formal. You know, if you need help in gaining more points after your exams, you can always approach me and I will help..."
Suddenly, Mikan's face smashed onto Hotaru's head hard. She stumbled backwards and covered her nose in pain. Looking at Hotaru, she saw her face was draining in colour. Ruka's face was the same too. Both of them were staring ahead of them with mouths and eyes wide opened. Mikan shifted her gaze towards the front and flinched.
Standing right in front of them were three people- him and two girls sobbing behind his fuming back.
Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 11.
*For excellent Poker players, I would like to apologise for my lack of knowledge in Poker. I have done my best to ask for advices from some Poker players in order to write this chapter and some of the future chapters. The game of Poker in this chapter has been read and edited by them as well for a more realistic game background. Since this is a 'Shoujo' story, I feel that there is no need to emphasize on the game itself too much.
Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 10. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D
Here are the reviewers:
- scarlet ammo 19
- TsuragaKyoko
- aurora0914
- sakura-san29
- jennifer8-Mikan Hyuuga
- omg girl
- Vehemens Ford
- Vegie - 1526
- Smile Up Sunny - S.B.F
- Depressed Writer
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)