I Like You, Natsume-oniisan

Chapter 31: Talk

"I will definitely accept her because I love her. You can be disgusted with me but I want to touch her... Touch her more... I want her to say my name... call me by my name. Are you disgusted now? I bet you do. But that's me. I'm not as good and perfect as you think I am. I am like no other men on Earth. When I am with her, I will go crazy. Do you want to know why? That's because I have hormones too. And thanks to her, that somehow proves that I'm still alive as a human. Geez... I really love her. I really do..."

"Onii-san, why are you here?" Mikan asked.

"Let's go home now," Natsume bellowed and reached out for Mikan.

Mikan pulled herself back and frowned at him.

"Why are you here? And how do you know I'm here?"

"Because your homeroom teacher said so," he answered impatiently. "Now, let's go back home."

"Geez... I barely spent half an hour with Ruka-pyon." Mikan sighed and picked up her bag. "Furthermore, what is wrong with you? Don't you have work to do?"

"It's dangerous for a girl to be in a boy's home without any adults around for supervision."

"But Ruka-pyon is not like that! Right, Ruka-pyon?" Mikan retorted.

Ruka did not reply and bit his lips tightly.

Natsume grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the apartment.

"Hey!" she shouted and tried to pull her hand out from his.

Natsume growled, "Stop it. Because of you, your homeroom teacher has received a terrible scolding from other staffs for letting a girl to visit a boy. It's common sense that it's dangerous."

"More like because of Yuka-sensei, I received a lecture from you."

"Hmm?"

"N... Nothing," Mikan answered softly and looked at Ruka. "I'm sorry that I've to go now. Take care and goodbye!"

"B... Bye," Ruka spoke and waved to her, feeling a little lost on what was happening.

Then, Mikan was dragged away by Natsume. After getting into the car, Natsume started the engine and drove off.

"Seriously, you don't have to be so uptight about that. Ruka-pyon is a good person," Mikan started grumbling like an old woman who had not been given any food for a day.

"Still, he's a boy," Natsume pointed out. "Mum did teach you that before, right?"

"Yeah, but he's a friend! Friends don't harm each other!"

"You may not know."

"They don't."

"Don't you dare talk back."

Mikan narrowed her eyes at him and scoffed. What was with his attitude again? Acting high and mighty, behaving like a jerk, overprotective brother...

Overprotective?

"You nearly scared me when I heard from Yuka-sensei that you went to Nogi-san's house," his voice softened.

"S... Sorry," Mikan muttered. "But it was Yuka-sensei who told me to pass some worksheets to him. It's entirely not my fault."

"I know, but you could have just left after passing him the worksheets."

Mikan rolled her eyes and looked away with her cheeks puffed up. Maybe he was just too paranoid and overprotective. Hotaru might be right when she said that he had sister complex. The journey was quiet until they reached home safe and sound.

As usual, they sat down together to have dinner with Misaki and Tsubasa. There was nothing special during the day so they had some minor chats among one another.

"Natsume, I need to talk to you after dinner," Misaki suddenly said and Natsume nodded hesitantly. "In your room."

Mikan stared at them curiously for a while and then ignored them. Misaki looked a little serious and it seemed that the talk was going to be an important one. Mikan shrugged and finished her meal fast. She was going to use her computer again. Who cares about homework?

"Mikan, how's your studies going?" Tsubasa asked as he noticed that Mikan was running towards her room excitedly.

Mikan stopped and laughed, "F... Fine."

"I got a call from the school that your marks are suspiciously high," Tsubasa stated with a smile. "Would you mind explaining that to me?"

"I... I don't understand what you're talking about," Mikan gulped and looked anxiously at Natsume who was behaving strangely.

"Natsume told me that you have been going to the mini-casino in the school itself," Tsubasa continued with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

Mikan's eyes widened and glared at Natsume. She wanted to shout at him for saying necessary things to Tsubasa. Too bad, he had just done it.

"It's true... bu... but I did it because I want to huge numbers in my record!"

"Mikan..."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry for keeping this from you because I know you would oppose gambling but I am doing this for my record's sake."

"Mikan..."

"I know you are disappointed with me now but I can assure you that I will stop gambling. I'll remove my status as whatever 'Twin Masters of Gambling' or 'Score Gluttons'. I will work hard and study hard using my own effort. Is that alright, Dad?"

"No."

Mikan gulped again. She was so sure that she would kick Natsume for being a big mouth. He was just jealous...

Yeah, he was just jealous that she could gamble like a professional while he was a noob at it.

Tsubasa patted her head adoringly and said with a toothy grin, "I'm so proud of you, Mikan! I didn't know you could gamble without losing much marks. I know! Next time, I will take you to my high school class's gathering and you can play poker with my buddies. You must help Daddy to win. Get it, my dear Mikan?"

"Yeah, yeah. Your daddy sucks at Poker. He lost to them many times and since you can play Poker, we will show off your skills to them!" Misaki grinned from ear to ear.

Natsume and Mikan stared at their parents speechlessly. Honestly, whose parents would encourage their child to gamble? Even a gambler would tell his or her child not to gamble, although their words contradicts their actions most of the time.

"I... I will help Dad but I can't guarantee that I will win against them," Mikan replied.

Tsubasa chuckled, "It's alright. After playing with my buddies, I will urge you to stop gambling. Promise me that you will stop, okay?"

"Sure..."

"Thanks, Mikan. Now you can go back to your room and study," Misaki said with a smile.

Mikan nodded guility. She was not going to study. She was planning to use computer and surf the internet. She guessed she had to obey Misaki before she also found out that she was actually slacking most of the time on the internet chatting with online friends.

She opened her schoolbag and threw her exercise books on the table. There was not much homework given and she would usually rushed through them the next morning before lesson time. It was a routine to her and it seemed like nobody realised it, except for Hotaru.

While she was doing her homework, she heard Misaki's voice loud and clear, as if she was lecturing Natsume.

"Natsume, tell me the truth! What is going on here?"

Mikan walked towards her door and pressed her ear against it. She tried to hear what Misaki and Natsume were talking since Misaki sounded very agitated by it. However, after Misaki had shouted, their voices turned into murmurs and mutters. They were so soft that she could barely hear them behind the closed door.

"Mum!" Natsume's voice suddenly raised and was dragged.

Misaki's voice was finally heard again, "Look here, I approve of it. I don't care what or how others view it but I will support you, Natsume. Tsubasa and I love you and we want you to be happy. About her, it is up to you whether or not to win her heart after your return. Well, I wish you all the best, son."

Mikan's eyes widened. Did Misaki just tell Natsume to win a girl's heart? Did he actually like a girl?

"Mum, I like her."

"I know, Natsume."

"I love her."

"I know everything, Dear."

"But I have destroyed everything."

"Then, you have to compensate the damage done using your own strength and tell her that you like her when you return. For now, it's still early for her to accept it."

Their voices seemed to get louder and louder. Curious, Mikan opened the door slightly and peeked outside. She saw Natsume and Misaki was walking out of Natsume's bedroom. No wonder their voices were getting closer and louder.

Just then, she lost her balance and fell forward in front of Misaki. Misaki let out a frightful gasp while Natsume stared suspiciously at Mikan. Mikan quickly stood up and brushed her shorts and laughed sheepishly.

"Sorry, my bad. I tripped," Mikan apologised and slowly walked back into the room.

After closing the door shut, Mikan felt like strangling herself for telling an obvious lie. It was so obvious that she was eavesdropping but at least, she overheard a little bit of their talk.

For this moment, she was interested who that girl was. She hoped that girl whom Natsume liked was not like Nobara and she would treat him good and make him happy.

"Mum, I seriously love her..."

End of Part 4

"Ibaragi-san, if you tell me the secret, I will do anything for you!"

"Your life might change after hearing it, Andou-san. So, do you still want to know?"

"For heaven's sake, we have been living together for at least twelve years so I can tell whether you are acting strange or not."

"Just wait and see, Sensei. As you wished, I'm going to reunite them as soon as possible... if only the result shows it.
It has been sixteen years, Sensei. It has been sixteen years..."

"Izumi-sensei, that night... it was great. Thank you for making me feel so special."

"Natsume, you should have just say it. Tell her the truth because she might leave us sooner or later."

The secrets will be revealed in the next part of this story and they are slowly beginning to change everyone's lives.

"That boy is a bad influence to you so you should leave him..."

"He has his reasons! Don't bad-mouthed him when you don't even know who he is!"

"Then, who is he?"

"He's a good and responsible person so he sure has his own reasons."

"Oh? You like Nogi, don't you?"

-Oniisan... he... he's just jealous of a high school boy...-