I Like You, Natsume-oniisan
Chapter 38: This Saturday
Mikan told her answer to Misaki and Tsubasa after she got home. Of course, their reactions were not positive at all but they chose to keep quiet about it until the next day after their dinner.
"Can you postpone it to next week? This Friday... don't you think it's quite fast? We can spent more time during the weekends and... and..." Misaki paused and rubbed her forehead sadly.
Tsubasa began, "Mikan, we respect your decision but what Misaki had said was right. Leaving us this Friday is like... you know, time will fly and before we know it, it's over. Can you shift it to next Monday instead? I promise I'll take you out to have our very last family bonding and I will make sure that it'll be an unforgettable one. Trust me, Mikan."
"Mum... Dad..."
Misaki placed her hands together and begged, "Please, Mikan. I can't lose you this early yet. This coming Saturday, Natsume... he... he has to..."
Suddenly, there was a loud cough coming from Natsume's room. Everyone turned to look at Natsume who was crossing his arms at the doorway.
"This Saturday, what do he have to do?" Mikan questioned Misaki who froze on her couch like a statue.
"Nothing," Natsume answered before Misaki had the chance to open her mouth.
Mikan frowned at the three of them. Something was getting really fishy since the week before and she knew they were hiding things from her, judging by the way they had spoken earlier.
"Is there something I need to know?" Mikan demanded and stared expectantly at Natsume who appeared to find the upper portion of wall more interesting than her question.
"What happen to Natsume this Saturday?" Mikan asked again, but in a less demanding way.
"Like I said, it's nothing," Natsume said in a low voice and walked back into his room, followed by a loud slam of his door.
Mikan turned to look at Misaki and Tsubasa who also found the floor very interesting and queried, "What is going on here? Why is no one answering me?"
"Mikan," Tsubasa spoke in a sombre tone. "You... You can leave on Friday if you insist. Nothing is going on here, like Natsume had just said. Forget what we have said earlier and sleep in early for tonight. Yeah, goodnight."
Tsubasa held Misaki's hand as both of them walked back into their room and shut the door. Mikan closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Again, she felt left out, just like Nobara's incident.
The following two days which was Thursday, Yuka, Mikan and Hotaru went for lunch together. Upon Yuka's treat, the two girls got what they liked to eat; Hotaru got to eat her favourite fried oysters while Mikan got to eat her favourite creamy shrimp salad. Yuka did this because she wanted to know more about Mikan and her best friend, Hotaru. During the meal, they chatted about many random things like which guy in the school was good-looking, which teacher in the school was the worst of all, what their favourite pastimes and so on.
"Do you know that I'll be teaching four subject from now on? How boring," Yuka winced. "I used to think that teaching many subjects at the same time was so much better and fun. But come to think of it, I prefer to sit down and drink coffee."
"Four subjects? I thought you're teaching three subjects," Hotaru questioned.
"Yeah, I'll be teaching you guys Mathematics from next week onwards."
The two girls stared at each other and then back to Yuka.
"Mikan, your mother sure knows how to joke like you," Hotaru whispered softly, but loud enough for Yuka to hear.
"I'm not joking," Yuka grunted while furrowing her eyebrows. "Mikan, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right?"
Mikan gave her a puzzled look.
"Seriously, didn't Natsume-sensei tell you a thing about the school's project?" Yuka asked and started waving her fork in the air. "Aren't you two living together?"
"Yeah, but he didn't tell me a thing about it. By the way, what kind of school project is that?"
"Our founders of Gakuen Alice is setting up another branch in one of the rural areas of Cambodia to provide education to those poor villagers. It's a huge project and they need a few teachers from the main branch which is this school to be transferred there for five years to provide a foundation of that school," Yuka explained.
"That's cool," Hotaru muttered.
"It's not cool at all." Yuka sulked. "I might die there even before five years have yet to gone by because I'll miss everyone and the food here. I pity those teachers but to think of it positively, it's like doing a service to mankind."
"So, when does this project start?" Hotaru asked.
"Hmm... If I'm not wrong, it's next week but those teachers have to depart by this Saturday noon at Tokyo Airport."
The word 'Saturday' triggered Mikan like a bullet. That word seemed to appear a lot out of everyone's mouth lately, especially people like the Andous who refused to tell her a thing about what was going on on Saturday.
Mikan finally spoke up anxiously, "Who... Who are those teachers?"
Yuka raised her eyebrows and laughed. "Are you sure that you don't know a thing about it? I mean, Natsume-sensei would have told you since he is one of those teachers..."
"What?"
"He is one of those teachers who have to be transferred to the other branch in Cambodia," Yuka repeated loudly for her dear daughter to hear. "Honestly, he should at least say a word about it. You're part of the Andou family and yet he didn't say anything to you guys. He's too reserve, don't you think so?"
Mikan shook her head and said, "I... I think he did tell this to Mum and Dad, but they... they kept it away from me. It had to be like this. They're all acting weird two days ago and Mum suddenly said that Natsume-oniisan is going to do something this Saturday. And when I asked them about it, they refused to tell me."
"What is so secretive about it?" Yuka wondered loudly to herself. "By the way, just to let you know first, their plane will be departing at twelve-fifteen in the afternoon this Saturday. I won't be there to see those teachers off because I've a meeting with the higher-ups. Will you be going there to see Natsume-sensei off, Mikan?"
"I don't think so," Mikan bellowed and crossed her arms. "He refused to tell me a thing, then I will refuse to see him off. As simple as that."
"Petty girl." Hotaru shook her head in disbelief.
"But you won't be seeing him for five years," Yuka argued. "He's like a brother to you, you know. At least, you should give him some support. I bet he must be feeling angry or upset that he's chosen for this project. In fact, none of the teachers was willing to volunteer to do this project so that was why Gakuen Alice had to select some teachers to do this tiring work... by force."
"Even so, he should at least tell me. If he treats me like his sister, he should at least say a word about his departure. But why?" Mikan's voice quivered. "Why didn't Mum and Dad tell me too? It's always like this. I usually won't know a thing until the very last minute. It's so unfair."
Mikan started her rantings and it went on and on, mostly about why Natsume didn't want to tell her about the project and his departure.
If only she understood him...
Mikan opened the front door of the house and carefully placed her shoes aside. Misaki and Tsubasa were not home yet as they had a party going on in their office and might be back past twelve at night while Natsume would be slightly late due to a cluster meeting in school.
It was her last night in this house and, of course, she had already packed all her things into a huge luggage. Though she and the Andous were supposed spent the last few days together as a family, they did not do anything in the end. All of them felt awkward talking to one another and they even minded their own businesses for the first time.
Mikan sat down on her soft bed and began fiddling with the miniature tanks which Natsume had given her twelve years ago. Thinking about those good and fun times in the past, a smile was evident on her bubbly face. She was planning to give those tanks back to him soon when he returned home from his cluster meeting. She did not need them anymore because she had become braver than before.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps entering into the house. She craned her neck to see who it was. Just as what she had expected, she saw Natsume walking into the kitchen and drank a cup of plain water.
Just when he was about to enter into his room, Mikan called out, "Natsume-oniisan."
Natsume turned around and nodded to her before entering into his room and pushed his door to shut it. However, Mikan did not want their conversation to end like that so she pushed that door the opposite direction.
As soon as she stepped into his room, she grabbed onto Natsume's sleeve and said in a harsh tone, "We need to talk."
Another long snippet... I'm really sorry! Putting this aside, I hope you will like this snippet. :)
Snippet #2
"Negative effects of social networking," Mikan mumbled and keyed in the said words into the search engine.
After getting the information she wanted from various websites, she wrote her essay which was to be handed in the following day of school.
"Mikan, Natsume has returned home! Time for supper!" Mikan heard Misaki yelling from the living room but Mikan happened to see something interesting which had caught her eye.
"Hold on! I'm still working on my essay!" she lied and pressed on the link without thinking twice.
The link led her to a social website which prompted her to make an account in order to access the various chatrooms available at that moment. Since it was her first time in a social website, there was no harm creating an account, she wondered to herself. So, she created an account excitedly with the thought of meeting new people and at the same time…
… getting rid of Natsume's rejection which had been haunting her mind since the week before.
If only she had not confessed to him the week before, he would not treat her so coldly.
Biting her lips in anger, she clicked onto a random chatroom and started her conversation by greeting whoever in there.
Coolbreeze says:
Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm new here so treat me well!
MeatballsLover says:
Hello Coolbreeze! Welcome to the chatroom!
Ruka N. says:
Hi Coolbreeze!
WakakoMelon says:
Yo, Coolbreeze! Let's be friends!
Mikan's anger immediately subsided. Those people were good people, weren't they? Mikan mentally squealed. Her fingers began typing the next message and pressed enter. Within a split second, her online friends replied and so, their conversation continued on and on until Mikan heard a knock on her door.
"Mum asks whether you're done with your work," Natsume said dully and turned the door knob. "I'm coming in…"
"Wait!" Mikan shouted and put her computer on stand-by mode. "Don't just come in like that!"
She flung open the door and saw Natsume already walking away in a nonchalant way. Oh, she got it. As if he would be bothered about what she was doing…
After having her supper, she returned to her room and started using her computer again. Unfortunately, her friends had left the chatroom while she was away. Signing sadly, she left the chatroom too and tried to find another chatroom. Suddenly, a pop-up message appeared out of nowhere stating, 'Ruka N. wants to be your friend. Add him/her: Yes? No?'.
"Hey! It's that person whom I chatted with earlier! Great!" Mikan mused and clicked the 'Yes' icon.
Almost immediately, another pop-up message appeared stating, 'Ruka N. invites you to Chatroom 467. Accept: Yes? No?'.
She clicked on the 'Yes' icon again and was directed to a new chatroom with only that person and her alone.
Ruka N. says:
Hi! Are you that newcomer?
Coolbreeze says:
Yup! Oh, thanks for adding me as your friend!
Ruka N. says:
Haha! No problem! You should try to find and add new friends here. Do you know how to do it? First, click on the blue button at the top right hand corner of the page and search for your friends. Then, click on the green circular button next to their names to add them. Another way is you can go the person's profile and add him by clicking on the green button next to his name. That's all. It's simple!
Coolbreeze says:
Wow! Thanks!
Ruka N. says:
It's okay, Coolbreeze!
You know, the three of us were desperately trying to connect with you just now but you didn't respond. Was there something wrong?
Coolbreeze says:
Err… not really. My older brother wanted to come into my room to check on my work and I went for supper… Hahaha… so I was disconnected for awhile. Sorry for not telling you guys!
Ruka N. says:
I see… You've a brother? That's cool! I want to have a brother too!
Coolbreeze says:
Yeah. You think so?
Ruka N. says:
Yup. I'm the only child so I think it's nice to have a sibling.
Mikan smiled weakly. It was nice to have Natsume around her everyday but it would never be the same again after that confession. She wished that the two of them were not even siblings in the first place so that he could accept her and love her…
What was she thinking? He did not even say anything about loving her. Why was she expecting so much from Natsume? He did not even care about how she felt anymore ever since he had graduated from university. She could feel it…
They were drifting further apart.
Ruka N. says:
Hmm… hello?
Mikan jumped at the sudden beep sound from the speaker and stared at the message.
Coolbreeze says:
Oops… I'm sorry. I was thinking about something.
Ruka N. says:
Oh? Homework?
Coolbreeze says:
Ehh… Nope… It's some kind of love issue… yeah. Haha.
Ruka N. says:
…
Coolbreeze says:
What? Girls do have this kind of issues once in awhile!
Ruka N. says:
What could I say? I wasn't surprised.
Coolbreeze says:
Hmm? Are you a girl?
It took at least a minute before that person replied.
Ruka N. says:
Sorry to tell you, Coolbreeze, that… no, I'm not a girl.
Mikan blushed. So, the person whom she had been talking to was a boy. His name sounded like a girl's name, no offence intended! She giggled.
Ruka N. says:
For some reason, I can see you laughing without having to see you doing so.
Coolbreeze says:
I'm not laughing.
Ruka N. says:
I can see you… Haha! Just kidding! By the way, cheer up! Don't let the love issue get to you. If there's anything I could help you with, just tell me and I'll help you!
Coolbreeze says:
Eh? It's okay!
Ruka N. says:
Friends should lend a listening ear to their friends who are troubled.
Mikan blushed again. Though they only chatted for an hour, he had already considered her as his friend. Of course, she was happy. Who knew that joining the social website could distract her from the problems she was facing? Moreover, she even made a new friend whom she could randomly chat with online!
Coolbreeze says:
Thank you, Ruka-pyon!
Ruka N. says:
Ruka-pyon…?
For some reason, she felt that this new friend could understand her more than others…
Special thanks to the reviewers of Chapter 37:
- XxChopSueyxX
- vampgurlkisses
- creastirion45
- mooshy3712
- Manga Ren
- aurora0914
- Rina-Chan
- seraphim. 159
- Scarlet Ammo 19
- Rumi dark star
- heart12
- Gruesome Deaths
- lisaopine
- HQ-pyon
- Guest
- me enamore de ti
- ineedbloodnow
Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story. :)
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