Disclaimer: I SAID NO. U KNOW. Hah. It rhymes :3 Gakuen Alice is such a wonderful masterpiece. All hail Tachibana Higuchi!

Chapter 6: Saturdate

From my room, I could hear the television's noise. I grunted.

It's way too earlyyyyy. I thought as I stretched.

It was finally Saturday. After my last week's futile effort to befriend my seatmate, I couldn't help but be glad for this temporary break.

I slowly stood up and made my way to the door when I heard Sumire chirped.

"Good morning, Mikan-chan! Breakfast's ready!" She sang happily as she prepared my plate at the dining area. I looked at the living room, only to be nodded at by Hotaru.

"Good morning, Hotaru, Sumire-chan." I said sleepily. After all, I just woke up, right?

I ate my breakfast and then watched the television with my roommates.

Such a boring day.

Fortunately, there was no given homeworks for the weekend. Teachers told us that we should have a break since finals will be around the corner before we knew it and that there will be a special event that would be annouced next week so the teachers, themselves, were sort of busy. And well, to be honest, they also gave our class a, let's say, special treatment since there I was – a new kid. I snorted at that thought. Even though I was a new kid, I was pretty sure I could easily adapt to this environment.

.

"Hotaru, will I be fine?" I was worried. Worried that I couldn't be able to catch up with everything since this is a new environment for me. Worried that he wouldn't even bother to befriend this 'new student'. Worried that I couldn't fit in.

.

I shrugged my thought off, believing I just said that because I didn't know who my classmates would be... and roommates in that manner.

.

"Guysssss!" Sumire finally broke the silence between the three of us.

"Yeah?" Hotaru raised her eyebrow.

"I just got a text from Natsume. Will have a lunch together with his friends Koko and Ruka. Isn't that exciting?" She beamed at us like she just won the lottery.

Hotaru and I exchanged glances. We both knew this might not be as nice as Sumire thought it would be.

.

It was quarter past eleven when we arrived at the restaurant. It was a fancy one and let us not forget to mention that this was a Chinese one. I could not help but feel excited – those baby dumplings were surely waiting for me!

"Mikan, you're drooling." Hotaru commented.

"I—I'm not!" I quickly denied.

"Where's Natsume and the others?" Hotaru looked at Sumire who was texting insanely fast.

"Uhm, are you okay?" I asked, quite concerned by how my roommate looks. She looked like... furious and all.

"NO! He said they'll be arriving 30 minutes late!" She shrieked.

"Seriously, it's just 30 minutes." I shrugged it off as I made my way in the restaurant. "We can order while waiting for them." I suggested.

"Mikan, 30 minutes is important." Hotaru explained as-a-matter-of-fact way. "You could do a lot of things like clean up your bed, study-"

"EXERCISE!" Sumire interrupted as she placed her phone back to her Gucci purse.

I wasn't able to mention it but Sumire was all dressed up. From her hair that was curled to her not-so-light-nor-heavy make-up to her floral dress that showed off her perfect figure to her sandals that allowed her cute toes to be seen. Hotaru, I must say, was sort of dressed up, too. I knew her since we were kids and I knew that she would just usually get whatever and wear it but now, she was wearing a red collared shirt paired with a black skirt and a cute black dollshoes. I couldn't help but feel insecure because of what I was wearing – a white tee and shorts.

.

After around 30 minutes, finally, the guys had arrived.

"Ayo!" Koko greeted us with a big, boyish grin.

"Ayo Koko!" I replied immediately, leveling with his hyperness.

Ruka sat beside Hotaru as they talked silently.

"Hi Ruka-pyon!" I sat on the other side of Hotaru and at the same time, Hotaru glared at me.

"Ruka-p-p-pyon?" Ruka scratched his head while giving my a shy smile.

"Natsume-kuuun~" I heard Sumire's voice. I stiffened as I heard his name.

"Hi Mikan." Natsume curtly nodded at me.

"Eh? H-Hi!" I nodded in return.

"Natsume-kun, what do you want?" Sumire asked with this sweet, cute, sluty voice. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

Koko, who was sitting beside me, laughed silently and I gave him a death glare. He moved closer to me and whispered, "Baby, Sumire's my childhood friend. I don't like you judging her because of how she acts when Natsume's around, okay?" He smiled at me and at that point, I made a conclusion. Koko has always been interested with Sumire. But well, it was just an assumption. After all, I just met them few days ago.

"I suppose you would want some dumplings, Mikan?" Natsume looked at me, waiting for me to answer.

"Uhm. No. I—I hate dumplings." Natsume's eyebrows raised the moment I finished this statement, so as Hotaru's.

My dumpliiinnngssss. I cried mentally.

"So what are you having?" He looked at me as if he knew I was mentally tormenting myself and he was surely enjoying this.

"Noodles." Hotaru suggested.

My second favorite. But dumpliiiinnnngsssssss.

I nodded in agreement. "Noodles."

"Well then, we'll be having 6 noodles and 5 orders of dumplings." Natsume said to the waiter.

Wait. WHAT?! 5 orders of dumplings? WHY?

I mentally cursed over and over.

"So, Mikan, tell us more about yourself." Natsume lazily and evilly grinned at me.

"Why won't you-" Hotaru was about to say something bad so I interrupted her.

"I'm Mikan Sakura. I lived in Sapporo. Hmm, Hotaru's my childhood best friend", I curtly nodded at her, "I came here in Tokyo because..." I bit my lower lip.

Because I was after someone who is very important to me. Yet he doesn't recognize my presence. Well, at least not in the way I wished.

"Because I want to be with Hotaru!" I concluded and beamed at them.

Natsume snickered.

"Is it really just because of Hotaru?" Ruka asked but then she received an elbow blow from Hotaru.

"Uhm, I'm just curious but... Hotaru, you never mentioned Ruka-pyon before, right? Is he like your close friend here?" I innocently asked.

Ruka looked at Hotaru with hurt present in his eyes.

"He's-" Hotaru silently said but Sumire laughed loudly and finished Hotaru's sentence.

"HE'S HER BOYFRIEND!"

Silence.

"Aren't you prou—" Ruka was about to Hotaru but she interrupted him.

"It's not that. It's because..."

Then it all sank in.

"YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND AND YOU DIND'T TELL ME. FOR HOW LONG HOTARU. WHY. HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!" I couldn't help but screm at my best friend.

"...her." Hotaru finished her sentence. Because of this, Ruka promised never to question an Imai's decision ever again.

.

"We're sorry again for the... uhm, slight ruckus." Koko grinned at the chef.

"Nah. No problem. 'So long as you will always come back, arright?" Chef pat Koko's back then we bid goodbye.

"Mikan, you're such a pain." Koko teasingly said.

"I'm not a pain, you know. Hotaru is! Keeping secrets and all. Hmpf!" I pouted which caused Hotaru to just sigh on how immature I was. So what?! Hmpf.

"Well, I guess we'll just drop you off to your dorm then leave." Natsume suddenly said.

"But don't you want to spend more time with me?" Sumire asked with this puppy eyes and all.

Gross.

Koko must had seen my reaction because he chuckled. I mouthed him 'What?' but he just shrugged.

.

Finally, we had arrived in our dormitory then we bid goodbye's to each other. Though Sumire made some last efforts to Natsume about them dating alone, her efforts were useless though. Natsume didn't agree. And with that we went up to our room and had the longest afternoon nap. Well, at least for me.