I just love reading your reviews. They make me so happy :) sorry it took a little while. Writer's block -.- anyway, here it is! Enjoy!

The following day, I arrived at the shop at exactly nine a.m. Tony, the owner of the place was the only person there, and when I went in, he greeted me with a huge grin.

"Good morning," he said. He was accounting the books. "Thought I'd stop by for this. You're quite early."

"Well, you told me to open up."

"That's right," he said, distractedly. "Anyway, I appreciate it." He fixed his things and out them inside his bag. "I'll be on my way now, Mikan. Good luck on your first day."

I smiled in reply, and with that, he left. Five minutes later, after I put on the uniform (a light pink polo shirt with the logo on it, brown jeans, and a cap with the logo as well), I heard someone come in. The store wasn't officially opened yet, since it opened at ten, so I figured it was another employee. When I saw who it was, I was beyond surprised.

"Hotaru?" I said. "Um, hi. You work here?"

She didn't seem bothered seeing me. She had that stoic look on her face again. "Obviously. Do you not see the uniform?"

"Oh. Right."

The silence that followed was so loud, that it made want to break something. "Um, so I got hired yesterday," I said. "I didn't know you worked here."

"Does it matter?"

This was obviously not a rhetorical question. "I guess not," I answered.

"Good. Now, I won't get in your way if you don't get in mine."

"Got it."

It was obvious that she still hated me, despite what Ruka said. I could feel it. It was like she was disgusted by my presence. Hotaru made her way to the back of the counter, where the ice cream flavors were placed. She put on an apron and hairnet. It was pretty obvious that a conversation with me was the last thing she wanted. But still, I tried.

"So, are you going tomorrow?" I asked. "It's um, my brother's..."

"I know. Tsubasa was my friend too."

"Oh okay. Then I guess I'll see you, then."

She arched an eyebrow at me. "Just so we're clear, I'm not going for you. I'm going for Tsubasa."

Okay, I had to admit, that one stung a little. "Yeah. I know."

For the rest of the day, Hotaru completely ignored me unless it was work related. I couldn't help but notice that when she was attending a customer, she had on that warm smile of hers. That was the Hotaru that I knew so well. It was sad. Not being friends anymore.

"Don't forget to close up," she reminded me. And with that, she left without saying another word.

"Yeah, sure," I muttered.

On my way back home, I passed the beach, and of course Natsume was there. I tried hard not to notice that he was shirtless again and that his bare tan skin was gleaming in the sunlight. And that his hair was all wet. Jesus, Mikan.

He eventually saw me though, because he gave me a huge wave that made other people look. Mostly the teenage girls who were drooling at him. Ah, the heartthrob. I didn't know why I did it, but I waved back and said, "Hey, Natsume!" Which earned me a bunch of glares from said teenage girls. I wanted to smile smugly at them.

Whoa, what was wrong with me? Almost a week in this place and the sun was already getting into my brain. Not good.

"Hey!" Natsume was running up behind me. I stopped walking.

"Hey there," I said.

"So, how was the first day of work?"

"Uh, it was okay, I guess."

He waited.

I sighed. "Hotaru works there too."

His eyes widened. "She does? But I know she works at..."

"Works where?"

He shook his head and smiled. "Nah, never mind. Listen, I have to tell you something."

There he was again. With the seriousness. "What is it?"

"But you have to promise not to get mad at me."

I snorted. "That is so seventh grade, Natsume. And who's the older one here? Anyway, I can't promise that."

He sighed. "Of course not. Do you remember yesterday when-"

"Mikan!"

That was my mother's voice. I turned around and saw her waving at me all the way from my house. "Can you come here for a sec? We need your help setting up for tomorrow!"

"I'll be right there!" I shouted back. "Look, whatever it is, you can tell me tomorrow. You'll be there right? At the steak out? It's for Tsubasa's anniversary and personally I have no idea why a steak out at a beach would commemorate him, because what, are we celebrating that he died? God, this is what happens when I let my parents plan by themselves. They're not-"

"Mikan," he interrupted.

I hadn't realized that I was babbling. And that I said all those things. To him. "Oh sorry. I do that sometimes. Talk uncontrollably like a freak."

He smiled. "Good to know some things don't change. And yes I know about the steak out. Of course I'll be there."

Oh yeah. When we were kids I would talk nonstop until he talked back. He still remembered that? I just nodded at him and said I'd see him tomorrow.

This was so not my day.

And I have three main reasons to prove that.

Number one reason: When I woke up this morning, I was trembling and crying at the same time. I dreamt of what happened during that day for the first time in two years. That day, which was exactly three years ago, today. This was a lot to take in. Because today, I lost one of the most important people in my life. Today I lost my brother. And we were going to remember it by having a steak out at the beach.

I got up, took a shower, and wore the yellow sundress my mom made me wear. It was her dress, and she gave it to me last night saying that it looked good on me. Honestly, I had no idea why I had to dress up for this. And why were we throwing a party anyway? God.

"Mikan! Are you awake? Come down here already. We need help setting up the tables."

I groaned. I did not want a day "celebrating" my brother's death by having guests over and eating grilled meat. But then again, it wasn't like I had a choice. This was my family. Yeah, deal with it, Mikan.

"And, there." My mom put on the table cloth on the last table. "Perfect."

"Mom, what exactly is the point in all this?" I asked.

She turned to me, eyes huge. "It's Tsubasa's anniversary today, Mikan. Don't you know that?"

"Of course I do, Mom. But I don't understand. We never celebrated his anniversary when we were in Tokyo. It was just like any other day. But why now?"

She fell silent for a moment. "Well, because we're back home, honey."

"Are we?"

Before my mom could answer-if she even had one-my dad arrived with our old grill. We've had it since I was ten, and God only knows if that thing still works.

"Hey there," he said, putting it down. "We all set?"

"Dad," I said. "Does that grill even work?"

"Of course it does! It worked fine the last time we used it."

"That was three years ago."

He waved a hand, dismissing this. "Pfft. It'll work. Trust me."

I looked over my mom, who was now staring at the ocean. For a moment, I wanted to just hug her and tell her it was okay to be sad. But that urge disappeared when she turned to me with a fake smile.

"Right. Let's get ready. The guests are coming soon."

Which brings us to reason number two as to why this day sucked for me.

Hotaru came, of course. But she only talked to my parents and didn't once glance at me. She was with Ruka, and it was obvious that they were a couple. Mostly because they were always together. Ruka's arm around her shoulder or waist or Hotaru holding on to his arm. They smiled at each other all the time and would sometimes kiss. Hotaru looked happy, Ruka looked happy. They were the perfect couple.

Some of Tsubasa's old friends came too. Some of the faces I recognized. Kokoro Yome and Kitsuneme were there too. But Tobita wasn't. I felt some sort of relief. I was not ready to see him after that night.

But that's not one of the reasons why this day sucked. It sucked because as I observed the people around me, they were all enjoying themselves. They were laughing and dancing. I had this urge to shout at them, "People! My brother died to today! Right there in the ocean. And we're celebrating?" What irked me the most were my parents. I at least expected them to give some speech about Tsubasa or something, but when I asked my mom about it, she completely avoided the question and asked me to refill the punch bowl (surprisingly, our grill was working fine).

I just didn't get it. Was this how people celebrated death anniversaries? This was the first time I've lost someone close to me besides my hamster, but isn't there supposed to be at least a service or something?

"Something bothering you?"

I jumped at the sound of Ruka's voice, who was behind me while I was refilling the punch bowl. "Oh hey."

"I can see you from afar, kiddo. You look like you're seeing your ex here with another girl." He laughed, and I just scowled at him.

He cleared his throat. "Sorry. What's up with you?"

"Why aren't you with your girlfriend?" I didn't mean to sound bitchy, but I was pissed.

"Because she's eating," he said, oblivious to my tone. "And I believed I asked you first."

"Sorry. You two look good together by the way. I'm happy for you."

"Thanks. And you're still not answering me."

I sighed. "Fine. It's just. Everyone's so happy and in a celebratory mood that it seems like they forgot why they were here in the first place. It's Tsubasa's death anniversary. Why aren't people giving speeches or talking about what a great person my brother was? I mean, that's what you're supposed to do, right?"

"Listen. People have their own way of grieving. Like your parents for example." He pointed to my mom, who was cheerfully talking to Hotaru's mom. "It's obvious that it's crushing her from the inside. Only, she doesn't want to show it because if she shows weakness, the people who are relying on her might not be able to bear it. Like you. While you don't deny that you're sad about losing Tsubasa, you still want to be strong for her, right? And it's not like we don't miss Tsubasa just because we're happy. I miss him everyday. I just know that he wants us to be happy. For him. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I do." I never thought of it that way. I knew my mom was hiding away from the pain, but I always thought she was doing that so she couldn't feel pain. Then I suddenly remembered what Natsume told me that night I got drunk. That there was no new Mikan. It was just me. Hiding too.

Speaking of which, I glanced around around me. "Hey, where's Natsume?" I asked.

Ruka scanned for him in the crowd too. "Huh. Oh yeah. I haven't seen him too. I don't know where he is."

I looked over to his house, and the lights were turned off. Then, I saw Aoi in the crowd, who waved at me. I waved back. Where was her brother?

Just as that thought came, I finally spotted him, coming from inside his house. Only, he wasn't alone.

Which is the third reason why this day was not my day:

He was with Misaki. At first I didn't think anything of it, because they probably ran into each other, no big deal. But then, coming out from his darkened house together? And holding hands? Something was up. I looked at Ruka, who was now drinking punch from a plastic cup. "Wait," I said. "Am I missing something here?"

"What?"

"Natsume and Misaki. Are they... dating?"

He followed my gaze to the both of them, who were talking to my mom. For once, Ruka was speechless.

I gasped. "They are? And you knew?" Of course he knew, he was Natsume's best friend.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Natsume told me he was going to tell you. I just- wait here." He put his drink down, and went over to Natsume.

I couldn't believe it. Misaki was Tsubasa's girlfriend. I know my brother was gone, but how could she be over it so fast? And why his best friend? And more importantly, why his best friend's girlfriend? It was like my brother never even existed. How could they do this to him? Suddenly, I was enraged. If I was pissed a while ago, now I was angry. I have had it. I was so over with this place. I didn't want to be here on Tsubasa's anniversary. I wanted to be somewhere near him. Where I could feel him. This place, on the beach, wasn't it.

I spotted our family truck by the corner of our house, and ran for it. I heard my mom calling me, my dad, Ruka. I didn't care. I was almost at the driver's door, when I felt someone grab my arm. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.

"Let go of me, Natsume," I said, my voice low.

"Mikan, listen to me."

"No! I'm sick of this place. Not just the beach, but everything here."

"Is this about Misaki?"

I didn't answer. Instead, I snatched my arm away from him, opened the door, and climbed inside.

"You can't just leave!"

I turned on the ignition. "Watch me."

He grabbed hold of my arms again. Damn this truck for not having windows. "Where are you going? I'll come with you."

"You are the last person I want to be with right now. So go away."

He eventually did and I drove off, hearing his voice shouting my name.

Don't worry, Mikan's not going to skip town or anything. Whoops, did I spoil it for you? Sorry :) but yeah. And geez, was I really that obvious that Misaki was Natsume's gf? God, this means I'm not meant for writing mysteries. Lol. Next chapter will be a blast from the past :) Ciao!~ x