A/N: hello everyone! i wasn't gonna post so quickly but this fic has been the only thing on my mind for weeks. i wrote most of it at work on a yellow legal pad, the margins of which are filled with edits and notes. this is my hsau, more specifically an academic decathlon au! you see, i've spent a lot of my fic career reading sports aus, with characters playing baseball or soccer, or running, or something. i enjoy these, but i don't know anything about sports, so all of the references go over my head. i wanted to write a competition based au, too, but i only one point of reference to go off of, and that's academic decathlon.
what is academic decathlon? it's a studying competition! i'm a nerd, so that's what i did in high school. there's ten subjects (seven objectives and three subjectives) and the A-Team, aka competition team, competes in a series of tests in a scrimmage, regional, state, and national level, trying to score as high as possible. it is really hard and really dorky and really fun. i miss it.
anyway, aca dec is an american thing (though i think china also started participating pretty recently) so i've americanized this story a bit. forgive me. this school year in this story will stretch from late august to early june, like in the US, with a summer vacation. it's just easier for me to set up a cohesive timeline this way. the study theme is world war one, because that's the first theme i had, and one i remember relatively well. i justified this to myself by assuring myself japan participated in world war i but i wouldve chosen it either way, honestly.
i think i explain a lot of the way the class/competition works in the fic, but if there's any confusions or questions, lemme know and i'll do my best to clarify in another a/n or in the fic itself!
this is nothing like my previous fic, all things rancid and delicate, so if you were looking for further dark themes, this fic won't do much for you.
i hope you all enjoy and thanks for reading!
Academic Decathlon Subject I: Economics. Supply, Demand, and Scarcity
Hyuuga Natsume Decathlon Curriculum Subject I: Meanness. Ability to Piss Me Off Like It's Not Even Hard.
Summer Study Sessions.
"Everyone behaves badly, given the chance." -Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises.
"I don't know-it just feels weird to come into school during summer vacation," Mikan said. "That's all."
Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Don't be a slacker, Mikan. The sooner we pursue rigorous studying, the better our chances of beating Nishi High School at Regionals."
Rigorous studying. She sure knew how to sell it, huh? For the twentieth time in more than a year, Mikan wondered how her friend had managed to recruit her for this class. Right now, she couldn't remember.
"But it's summer." Summer. Time for relaxation and pools and cute dresses and having fun with friends and definitely not studying.
She considered herself a pretty normal person. Definitely not a nerd like most of her friends. She liked having fun and being outside and eating dessert. There was a short list of things she couldn't stand, but along with horror movies and the color red, studying was definitely on there somewhere.
"Listen, Mikan," Hotaru said, her voice getting testy. "You can either go and study with us and get on A Team, or you can go home, not study, and land on B Team again like you did last year. Nobody's making you do anything. Quit whining."
Mikan grumbled some extra complaints under her breath, but those were valid points. She suddenly remembered the allure from last May, when Hotaru had casually mentioned A Team's tendency to travel and have fun and even miss school if they managed to get top scores at Regionals. If Mikan could just get on the competing team this time…
She sighed in defeat and followed Hotaru down the quiet hall, noting how the Academic Decathlon kids were probably the only ones in school at the end of June, only a couple of weeks after school had let out. They entered the classroom and joined the apparent nerds who were giving up a free summer afternoon to study for a test they wouldn't actually take until November.
Iinchou waved over at them from where he was seated at the front. A few of the desks were pulled away from their usual rows to make a sort of circle, ideal for group study and collaboration. Hotaru sat beside him and Mikan on the other side of her.
"Mikan's an idiot and didn't bring a binder for the curriculum," Hotaru informed Iinchou, her tone laced with judgment.
"Mikan-chan…"
"I forgot we were starting today," Mikan defended. "I didn't know we'd start so early."
"You can use mine-" Iinchou started to offer, lifting up an empty three-inch binder.
Hotaru slapped his hands away so the binder slammed back onto his desk. "Don't coddle her, Iinchou," she warned. "She needs to learn this lesson on her own and be responsible next time."
Mikan pouted but didn't argue. Last year, kind Narumi-sensei-or Coach Narumi during Aca Dec hours-had given her a binder. He said he always kept a spare for such occasions. This year would likely be no exception.
She remembered a little better now why she'd joined last year, looking around the familiar classroom. She couldn't think of any other electives back then and so many of her friends had been in Aca Dec (Mikan would have to ask herself why she hung out with so many nerds). Additionally, she wanted to share at least one class with Hotaru, who was in all advanced classes and had left Mikan in the dust. She'd started studying in September, when she got the curriculum, but hadn't taken it too seriously because she couldn't imagine anyone else would and-voila!-she got one of the lowest scores in the class and landed on B-Team, which only competed in the supporting-team Regional competition, which meant the scores didn't count for much. Very unimpressive indeed. So Mikan had sworn to Hotaru that she'd make it on A-Team this year. She just hadn't expected the summer studying at all.
Maybe she should've taken Ceramics instead. That was probably way easier than this.
A few other kids were in the classroom, she noticed. These were the serious contenders, probably, the ones willing to lose vacation time to read inside under fluorescent lights. The rest of the classmates who would join in September would be at a serious disadvantage by the time they finally cracked open their curricula. Most of the people in the room had been on A-Team last year, but there were a couple of people who Mikan couldn't really recognize. Then there were the familiar faces: Sumire-that nerd-Tsubasa (her dearest senpai, whose friendship predated this class), Mochu, Koko (that was a surprise), Ruka-pyon, and-
No.
A chill ran down Mikan's spine. She whipped around to Hotaru with a hiss, "What is Natsume doing here?"
Hotaru shrugged. "How should I know? In case you didn't notice, we came in at the same time, Mikan."
"He's joining this year," Iinchou chirped helpfully. "Apparently Ruka-kun was able to recruit him. Though, I think Sumire is also trying to claim credit."
"No!" Mikan groaned, sinking into her seat.
"What's the big deal?" Hotaru asked, obviously bored.
She should know better than anyone! "The big deal is that he and I are sworn enemies!"
Hotaru just scoffed inelegantly. "Because he messed with your toys in kindergarten? You're still on that? You can't be serious."
"I am serious!" Mikan risked a glance in the villain's direction, but he was still immersed in his conversation with Ruka-pyon.
Ruka-pyon. Traitor. To think, they'd gotten along so famously last year, before he had to go and recruit her nemesis.
"And he didn't just mess with my toys," Mikan reminded. "He pulled my hair, tripped me, and when I fell over, everyone could see my panties! And then there was the time I accidentally peed myself and he told on me!"
Iinchou covered his mouth but Hotaru didn't hide her amused smirk. "Yes," she conceded. "In kindergarten. When was the last time you actually talked to him?"
Mikan didn't know how to answer that. They didn't really talk that much. He would just look over at her and she would send her deadliest glare and he'd look unperturbed and walk away and that mere handful of seconds would ruin her whole day. On the occasions that they did exchange words, it always ended with Mikan getting so riled up, she could kill him.
"Wait," Iinchou interrupted. "You peed yourself?"
"In kindergarten!"
"Yes, exactly," Hotaru piped in. "In kindergarten. That was more than ten years ago, Mikan. You haven't talked to him in ages. He's honestly probably forgotten all about you. Who cares if he's in the same class? Besides, knowing Natsume-kun, he'll probably wind up on B-Team, if she stays in the class at all."
That was all stupid and wrong. She'd been friends with Hotaru for ten years, and they hadn't forgotten about each other at all, so why would an enemy be any different? "But he's in the study sessions now," Mikan whined, chancing one more look at him. He glanced over at her, so she quickly turned away again. "People don't stop being evil. They stay evil forever. And Natsume is evil."
Hotaru never got the chance to reply because Narumi-sensei-Coach Narumi-was dramatically entering the room, clad in a lavender letterman jacket with his surname printed on the back, with a huge stack of paper in his arms. "Happy June, decathletes!" he exclaimed with a grin. "Guess who has our new curriculum?" He hugged the stack close to his chest. "Just think: in a few months, you smarties will have memorized all of this!"
Mikan looked over at Natsume, hoping to see dread or regret cross his features. Instead, he looked apathetic. Maybe annoyed. Whatever! Mikan could work with "annoyed."
"As you all know," Narumi continued. "Our theme this year is World War One. Very fitting, because-as our veteran decathletes can attest-Academic Decathlon is a war itself."
"Is it?" Natsume snarked, sardonic.
"Yes," was the response from all sides, even from Ruka.
"Okay."
Quit, quit, quit, Mikan begged inwardly.
If only he would. If only he'd throw up his hands and say something Natsume-ish, like "This is too much work," or "This is stupid," and just leave the room, to leave the rest of them to their fun study time. With him here, the whole year would stink.
"It is a war indeed, Natsume-kun," Narumi said solemnly. "A series of cut-throat battles for the coveted title of winner. It's not something we take lightly. It takes a great deal of fighting spirit."
Quit, quit, quit, quit-
Natsume just shrugged.
"Not A-Team material," Mikan whispered to Hotaru.
"Pfft. Neither are you."
She glared at her cruel best friend, but Narumi was moving across the room, sweeping elegantly to the front and then gesturing to the many neat, tall piles of paper on the floor by the whiteboard. "Art, Econ, Lang Lit, Math, Music, Science, and Social Science. Ladies and gentlemen, please collect your objectives curriculum!"
They were quiet kids. For the most part. Not too rowdy. There were no messes, no papers flying or chaos in collecting. Just a neat, hushed, orderly line. Mikan made sure she was last so she could ask Narumi for a binder to use. That way, she wouldn't hold up the line and waste everyone else's time-
"I don't have a binder," she heard Natsume say from a couple spots ahead of her in line.
Narumi gasped. "Of course not! Let me get you one! I always have a spare!"
"Ah, wait!" Mikan called across the room. "Narumi-sensei-er, Coach Narumi-I need one too!"
Narumi turned to her and frowned. "Ah, Mikan-chan. I'm sorry. I only have one spare. I'm giving it to Natsume-kun because he's new and didn't know. This is your second year. You should have been prepared. Keep that in mind for the future."
Mikan's stomach fell past the floor as Narumi placed a beautiful, sleek, black, three inch thick binder in Natsume's unworthy hands.
"But… what am I supposed to do then?"
"Get a binder on your way home, dear," Narumi suggested. "But, here, let me find you something for the meantime-"
Natsume moved back to his desk, his curriculum neatly packed away in a binder that should have been Mikan's.
What did Mikan get to keep her materials together? A flimsy rubber band that could barely contain all the papers it held.
"Feel free to peruse these more thoroughly when you get home," Narumi said to the class as Mikan sadly dropped into her seat again. "But I wanted to save a bit of the drab stuff for a little later. For now, we'll get to know each other better. Judging by the initiative and drive of everyone in this room coming in during summer vacation, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that many of the people around you might just be your future teammates."
Mikan didn't try to be subtle this time. She met Natsume's gaze and glowered. Quit, quit, quit-
He didn't even blink, just narrowed his own eyes at her.
"So let's consider this teammate study. Let's all introduce ourselves. I'll go first. I'm Narumi. I'm a leo. I have blood type O and I've been drinking lots of Le Croix lately. I'm the Alice High School Academic Decathlon coach. This isn't really a class per se, since all the initiative comes from within and has nothing to do with getting a grade here. So I'm a coach, not a teacher. And while you're in this classroom, you're decathletes, not students. This is all about competition! Anyway, I've been the Aca Dec coach for five years now and I'd like to think I played a role in keeping us Division 1 all that time." He blew the kids a kiss and then struck a pose before moving his attention to Iinchou. "Let's have our last year's Team Captain take it away!"
Iinchou stood to his feet dutifully. "Hello, everyone. I'm Tobita Yuu. I was captain of A-Team last year-"
"And our very first sophomore captain in Alice Aca Dec history!" Narumi boasted on his behalf.
"Oh… hehe… Yes…" Iinchou blushed but continued, his head ducking down slightly. "My best subjects are Math and Science. I always struggle a bit with subjectives so I look forward to practicing a lot with everyone. If I'm lucky enough to be captain again this year, I hope I can help guide us to victory."
There was a light smattering of applause around the circle of desks when he finished. Face flushed, he took a seat again.
"Our co-captain," Narumi prompted, gesturing to Hotaru.
She stood, hands at her sides, professional. "I'm Imai Hotaru. This is my third year. I don't have any bad subjects, but my best are Science and Econ." Of course, Econ. Hotaru had helped many teammates with Econ concepts last year. She'd explained her proficiency by saying, "It's common sense," but Mikan suspected it was because of her greedy love of money, especially because Econ didn't really make all that much sense to her.
Hotaru would probably be chosen as co-captain again this year, Mikan mused as her best friend sat back down beside her. Her disciplinarian, no-nonsense attitude helped last year's A-Team crush the regional competition. When she and Iinchou worked together, the team was unstoppable.
"Mikan-chan?" Narumi said, snapping Mikan out of her thoughts. Hotaru elbowed her sharply in the ribs.
She stumbled as she got to her feet in a rush. "Hello, everyone!" she greeted cheerfully. "I'm Sakura Mikan-" She met Natsume's gaze, right across the circle from her, and faltered, her eyes narrowing just as his did. "Sakura Mikan," she bit out at him. "And I'm gonna be on A-Team this year."
She let herself fall back into her seat and heard Narumi and Iinchou's hesitant applause, but she didn't tear her eyes away from Natsume. "I like the ambition, Mikan-chan," Narumi praised. "Work hard, okay?"
A couple more people introduced themselves.
Koko had stood but refused to say anything and only grinned, probably just to mess with Narumi, before sitting after a moment of stubborn silence.
Tsubasa had shared his favorite subjects of speech and social science and jokingly pleaded with Iinchou to help him with math.
A new kid, Hoshino, introduced himself and voiced gratitude at being able to work with all of them in the future.
Mochu introduced himself with his usual bored tone, but he didn't go into any details before sitting again.
Ruka-pyon politely introduced himself and announced that he'd already read this year's novel, so he could help everybody out with analyzing themes.
Then it was finally Natsume's turn.
He sighed before standing up and Mikan bitterly noted that he probably wouldn't be much good in Speech or Interview with that attitude. "I'm Natsume. I'm new."
Quit, quit, quit.
His eyes met Mikan's and she fought hard against the impulse to stick her tongue out at him.
"I think I'll stick around."
Never had five words annoyed her so much. She inhaled shakily, fuming. That had been aimed at her, no doubt about it. He was gonna make this whole year personal, wasn't he?
Narumi clapped eagerly. "How wonderful! I'm so happy we made such a good impression on you already!"
The introductions wrapped up and Mikan ran a list of alternative electives through her head. Theater? No, she didn't know many people there. Ceramics? No, too hard. Maybe band? She could learn an instrument! After all, she'd played the recorder before. Did their school have a home ec class? She loved to cook, so maybe-
"Teamwork is really important in Aca Dec," Narumi was saying after the introductions were over. "You will ultimately be tested alone, but the months leading up to that require cooperation and compassion. You'll be helping each other, teaching each other, training each other. You might even end up sharing a hotel room at the Prefecture competition! Maybe, with enough hard work and camaraderie, we can even make it to Nationals!"
Mikan wanted to go to competitions with Hotaru and Iinchou. She wanted to be proud of herself. She wanted to get on A-Team. Last year had been fun, even on B-Team, when she'd been teammates with Tsubasa. But A-Team was the team that mattered, that had a subjective competition, that could qualify for Prefecture or National competitions, that spent late nights at school together. Mikan wanted to be a part of that too.
Why should she be the one to quit? Natsume should quit, the stupid jerk! She wouldn't let him intimidate her like that! She would end up on A-Team, for sure, and she'd do everything in her power to make sure he didn't.
The first group study session focused on social science, much to Tsubasa's enthusiasm, a way to ease them all into the meat of the material without getting overwhelmed by math equations or econ concepts. They'd each read a paragraph or two before moving on to the next person in the circle.
It was going great until Mikan tripped up and read a word wrong. Although most of the class giggled a little at her expense, including Hotaru, Natsume's mean little snort stood out the most. Sadly, he never tripped up so she couldn't return the favor, but their eyes kept meeting after that, gazes hot with hatred. When the group was finally dismissed for the day, Mikan left Hotaru's side to confront him head-on. He didn't scare her. They weren't five years old anymore. This wasn't the middle school spring formal! She could crush him this time.
"You'll get the hang of things eventually," Ruka-pyon was telling him. "It honestly gets really fun. I'm so glad you joined."
"Hn," Natsume replied, which tracked for a jerk like him.
"Hey," Mikan snapped, instantly getting both boys to turn to her.
"Hello, Sakura," Ruka greeted politely. She was angry at him, though. He must not have been as kind as she thought if he'd recruited the Devil to this class.
"Hey, Polka-Dots," the Devil said, face blank.
Mikan felt her face grow hot. "Don't call me that!"
"Did you want something?"
"Uh… I think my mom's calling me," Ruka said nervously, backing away and pulling his silent, clearly-not-vibrating phone out of his pocket.
Ruka-pyon the traitor.
"Why are you here?" Mikan demanded, crossing her arms and letting Natsume bask in all her negative attention.
"Ruka asked me to join," he explained. "More like 'begged,' really-"
"You should quit," she bit out.
"Excuse me?"
"You should quit," she repeated darkly. "You are mean and rude and you wouldn't work well on a team. You'd be terrible at subjectives because you clearly aren't a public speaker and you're too lazy to put in any real effort in objectives, so you're not going to do well in that either. If you stay, you'll just embarrass yourself. Why don't you join Ceramics instead?"
Natsume's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Is that so?" he asked, his voice low. "From my perspective, you've already proven yourself incompetent when it comes to this competition. You didn't make A-Team. You're an idiot, so it's no surprise you bombed the-what did you call them?-objectives? You may have a loud mouth, but that clearly doesn't translate into eloquence when it comes to giving a speech. That's why you're here. You're desperate to seem better than you are."
"How dare you?!" Mikan could feel her head get heavy as blood rushed to her cheeks and her vision got hot with rageful tears-the reaction that always came about when Natsume talked to her.
"I think I'll stay," he said again. "It'll be amusing watching you fail. In fact, maybe I'll get on A-Team, just to rub it in your face."
"You can't-"
"No," he corrected. "You can't." With that, he turned around and Mikan watched his back as he left the room to join Ruka outside.
Mikan blinked away tears of anger as Hotaru and Iinchou approached her. "I hate him," she muttered bitterly. "I'm gonna crush him."
"That'll be the day," Hotaru said dismissively, but Mikan wasn't listening. She was too busy thinking about his stupid, smug, retreating figure. The rubber band holding together her curriculum snapped, like it was only mirroring what it saw from her, and hundreds of pages of World War One era information fluttered across the room. "I'm not helping you pick this up."
"Scarcity refers to the limited nature of any given product," Hotaru droned on at the front, scribbling on the whiteboard. "The degree of scarcity usually correlates with an increase in price, which is another way supply and demand relate-"
Mikan was only half-paying attention to Hotaru's Econ lesson. Maybe less than that, even. She realized too late that she'd highlighted the current page nonsensically and that her notes in the margins were unrelated to scarcity or markets and were in fact just death threats against the boy seated across the circle from her, who still controlled her attention, like always.
She had purchased a pretty new binder to replace the rubber band as soon as she could. It was nice too, with a cute floral pattern adorning it. But she still felt her blood boil whenever she laid eyes on Natsume's binder, which should have been hers.
"There's some goods-inelastic goods-which will maintain the same demand regardless of supply or price. Things like medicine or gasoline-"
Natsume was pointedly not looking at her. She knew it was on purpose, just to tick her off. She tried avoiding his gaze too, but she kept catching herself glancing over to see him idly highlighting or watching Hotaru add a detail to her graph. He never looked back at her.
"-Anyway, I made a Kahoot for us to play, so we can see if we've managed to get a handle on introductory Econ concepts. Feel free to use your notes."
Mikan froze, looking down at her most recent note.
I hate your stupid face.
That certainly wouldn't help her with an Econ quiz. Everyone pulled out their phones to put in the code and start playing. Mikan hesitated but filled in her name and waited for the game to start.
ernest hemingway, scarcity queen, shadow, mochu-sama, black cat, yuu, don'tlook me, clementine!, deez nutz, hoshino :-).
At least Hotaru wasn't playing, so there shouldn't be a runaway score. It was the first Kahoot of the Aca Dec season. They'd probably all do pretty rough-
Mikan gaped at the final scores.
#1. black cat.
A runaway score.
#10. clementine!
She'd gotten tenth and there'd only been ten people playing.
Narumi clapped from the back of the room. "Congratulations, black cat! Reveal yourself to us so you can get the credit you deserve."
Mikan exhaled thickly through her nose as Natsume raised his hand, so nonchalant, like it didn't even matter.
"Wow! Seems like somebody's been studying already!"
It was only then that Natsume's eyes moved to meet hers. The other kids clapped for him, but Mikan kept still, horrified as the corner of his lip twitched upward.
When the group was dismissed again until next week, Natsume and Ruka didn't linger.
"How disappointing," Hotaru complained as she packed away her materials into her backpack, having finished her Econ tutorial.
"I know," Mikan griped. "How did he manage to get such a high score? He must have cheated somehow. We just need to find out how he's been doing it-"
"Not him, Mikan," Hotaru snapped, shutting her binder closed. "You. You spent my whole lesson glaring at Natsume-kun and you got the worst score in the group on the Kahoot. Are you even trying?"
"Hotaru-"
"He's just a person you used to hate who used to hate you, and now you can't get over it, even years later. He got a good score because he was paying attention, Mikan. Try it sometime."
Mikan ended up walking home by herself, clutching her big floral binder to her chest, not even minding the weight of it. She blinked absentmindedly as she remembered all her bitter run-ins with Hyuuga Natsume since meeting him in kindergarten, all starting with the time he'd knocked over her dominos. She'd given him a piece of her mind then, only for him to kick them again, just for good measure. The hatred between them had only grown after that. He pulled her hair, she kicked him in the shin. She called him a weirdo and he told on her for peeing herself on the reading mat. She hogged all the crayons during arts and crafts and he tripped her, causing her to expose herself and then only ever calling her Polka Dots after, constantly reminding her of the most humiliating day of her life.
No, she just couldn't forgive him. He was intolerable and terrible and everything he ever did was done with malice.
Natsume flicking her forehead, pulling that stupid moan trick on her, the intensity of his glares, that time he'd gotten the whole class to laugh at her, when he made her hate the color red forever.
But Hotaru was right. If she wanted to get on A-Team, she'd need to focus, like he obviously already had. She wasn't about to let him win.
The summer study groups were once a week on Wednesdays, giving the kids a chance to get into the swing of studying while maintaining some summer fun. Every morning, Mikan studied her curriculum. Some of it (most of it) vacated her head right after reading, but she was starting to get a real handle on the Art curriculum. She knew what a bas relief was now, a question she knew she got wrong on the Regionals Art test last year. She decided Art would be her subject this year. She'd own it, and leave stupid black cat Natsume in the dust.
By the next session, she'd gotten a lot more studying under her belt. She was ready to pay attention. Natsume didn't matter. She wouldn't let him distract her.
But today, Iinchou had volunteered to tutor them in Math, and she let herself sink into her seat as he described differentials. Last year, Tsubasa had told her it was okay to pick one subject to bomb, a subject you know you'll never be good at no matter how hard you study. Mikan decided, as Iinchou carefully wrote out a formula on the board, that math would be hers. She input the formulas into her calculator like everyone else, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference. She was never going to get a good math score.
She was immediately proven right, when Iinchou passed out a sheet with practice Calc questions and she got all of them wrong, even with the plugged-in formulas.
Hotaru did the best, of course. Ruka-pyon didn't do terribly, either, but Mikan was mainly disturbed by Natsume's high score, so apparently effortless. She'd really tried to pay attention this time too! And had only looked at him a couple of times all day!
Narumi dismissed them but Tsubasa jumped to his feet before anyone could leave. "Hold up, you guys!" he announced. "I'm having a birthday party this Saturday at my place, so you should all come! It'll be nice to build some camaraderie, and some Nishi kids will be there too, so you can scope out the competition. There will be barbecue and music and games and a pool, so please come!"
Mikan's heart swirled with excitement. A party! A pool party! With all her Aca Dec friends! And the Nishi kids were pretty great too, mostly. She remembered last year at Scrimmage and Regionals, when she'd hit it off with a couple of the girls on the opposing team: Anna, Nonoko, and Nobara. They'd been so cute and friendly and a lot of fun to talk to.
Mikan's smile faded when she glanced at Natsume again. If he was there, it wouldn't be fun, she decided. So much for a nice party.
The classroom was buzzing with excitement over Tsubasa's news. A fun way to spend the weekend.
"I will be there, Tsubasa," she declared, speaking loudly, so maybe Natsume would overhear and decide not to go.
"Awesome," Tsubasa replied with a grin. "The more the merrier." He looked over her shoulder at the rest of the class. "For the newbies too! Hoshino, feel free to come by. And Natsume, I'll definitely need you there so you have to come!"
Mikan tensed.
"I… I'll see," Hoshino stammered.
"Whatever," was Natsume's answer.
"It's not 'whatever,'" Mikan grit out passive aggressively, her eyes stuck on Tsubasa and her smile as wide as she could force it. "A birthday is a really big deal."
"That's true," she heard Natsume say from behind her. "You're right. Hey, Asshat, I'll be at your party for sure. Wouldn't miss it."
Tsubasa laughed awkwardly. "Um… Thanks? Why have you been calling me Asshat, though-"
"'Cause you hat looks like an ass-"
Mikan whipped around to finally glare in Natsume's direction. "This is for Tsubasa-senpai's friends and you obviously aren't a friend so why don't you stay at home and cry yourself to sleep because of how lonely you are like you usually do?"
"What are you talking about?" Natsume asked quietly, visibly unbothered, just as Tsubasa asked, "What's going on?" Natsume cocked his head to the side. "Asshat is my friend."
"Hey," Tsubasa complained. "I'm really not into the 'Asshat' schtick."
"Really?! Because the last time I checked, he was actually my friend."
"See you at the party, Polka Dots." He turned around and left the classroom after that, Ruka tagging along after him.
"Yo, Mikan, what the heck was all that?" Tsubasa asked.
"I'm doing you a favor," Mikan told him, picking up her curriculum off her desk as she stood. "You don't want him at your party, trust me."
"No," Tsubasa argued. "You don't want him at my party. And whatever you were trying for clearly didn't work because now he's definitely coming."
"He's a jerk, senpai!"
"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Nobody's arguing that. But he's here. His scores are already pretty good so he'll probably end up on the A-Team-don't look at me like that; you know I'm right. He's probably gonna be our teammate, Mikan. You should be focused on beating Nishi. They're our enemy. Not him."
"I'd rather be friends with Koizumi Luna than him," Mikan said stubbornly. Luna was on the Nishi team, notorious for her killer subjectives scores. She'd apparently gotten a perfect Interview last year, scoring her a gold medal at the Prefecture competition. She also had a terrible personality, as Mikan had witnessed first hand the two times they'd met, at Scrimmage and Regionals. Mikan did not want to be friends with her. She was still better than Natsume, though. Everyone on earth was.
"Nobody said anything about being friends, Mikan," Tsubasa said. "Just be civil. Otherwise, you're just bringing the whole vibe down. Like you did just now." He pointed behind them to the rest of the class and Mikan saw her fellow decathletes eyeing her awkwardly, all that excited buzz about the party gone.
"I'm sorry."
He smiled. "I get it. Just be your cheerful self at my party, okay? Don't let him get to you." He tousled her hair a little and then took his binder under his arm and left.
"Do you think that party invitation extended to myself as well?" Narumi asked. "Probably not, huh?"
Mikan studied even harder after hearing Natsume would be at the party. For some reason, she was nervous Aca Dec might come up in conversation and she wanted to be prepared. In her fantasy version of the party, she said a lot of smart stuff and everyone was impressed. Ruka might turn to Natsume and say, "She's way better than you," and Natsume would glower and maybe cry a little…
She left the harder subjects for now, focusing on Art and even testing out Section 1 of the Science curriculum. She wanted Natsume to know that she wasn't as much of a moron as he always assumed, and was instead a serious contender for the team.
She refrained from lugging her binder to the party. That would be too much. Besides, it was a pool party and she didn't want to risk getting her curriculum wet. What a waste of paper that would be, printing another copy.
She wore a bathing suit under her t-shirt and shorts and headed to Tsubasa's after applying a generous amount of sunscreen. She had a present for the birthday boy in hand-a couple of hand-knitted beanies she'd been working on for two weeks. She stood on the sidewalk outside his gate, waiting for Hotaru and Iinchou. She sent an idle text to Hotaru , telling her she was waiting, and when she looked up, she saw four fellow Alice decathletes approaching, one of whom she never liked to see.
Mochu, Permy, Ruka-Pyon, and Natsume.
"Hi, Sakura," Ruka-pyon said amiably, dressed in khaki shorts and a pastel, short-sleeved button-up.
"Hello everyone!" she returned. Her smile withered when she caught his eye. "Natsume."
"Polka Dots." He was dressed in dark jeans and a T-shirt with swear words printed across the chest. Not pool-appropriate at all.
"Why are you just standing there?" Permy asked. She looked fashionable as always, her bikini straps showing beneath her floral tank top. "Were you waiting for Natsume or something?"
"No! I'm waiting for Hotaru," Mikan explained. "And Iinchou."
"Iinchou, poor guy," Mochu said. "Always in the friend zone."
"Shut up, Mochu," Mikan growled. Iinchou used to have a crush on her back in third grade. It had accidentally passed his lips during a playground game and he'd been the target of severe ridicule for a long time afterwards. It had mostly calmed down, but every once in a while, like now, it would get used as a jab. Iinchou only saw her as a friend now, and they were really good friends at that, but he'd get self-conscious about the jokes, even now. So Mikan didn't really tolerate them. "That's not funny."
"It's a little funny," Mochu defended, but he wasn't smiling so his argument wasn't very strong. She usually liked him just fine, but he could be so stubborn, especially around Natsume, who he was constantly trying to impress-God knows why. Mikan didn't understand how anyone could think of him so incessantly.
"That was years ago!" she snapped. "Get over it!"
"Could say the same to you," Natsume muttered under his breath.
Be civil, Mikan, she was telling herself, repeating Tsubasa's words to herself. He's just a nobody. Don't ruin the party for yourself.
But it was too hard to just let go.
"Excuse me?! I think there's a pretty big difference between an innocent school crush and all the stuff you did to me!"
"Is there?" Ruka wondered, just for Mochu to snort and Natsume to elbow him in the ribs.
"Fine, well, if you're just gonna wait out here, I'll go in by myself," Sumire huffed, pushing past the group and walking right up to the front door.
"Wait for me!" Ruka exclaimed, running after her.
"Sorry for Iinchou, I guess," Mochu said quietly before he, too, followed them into the house.
Natsume just stared at her, looking pretty bored. But nobody was forcing him to stick around.
"You can go too," she said impatiently. "I doubt you wanna wait up for Hotaru or Iinchou with me."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll see you inside." He moved past her and she was shocked by the frankly offensive scent of Axe deodorant emanating from his person. She was only shaken by her reverie by Hotaru and Iinchou's arrival. Finally.
Hotaru was dragging a huge inflatable floatie in the shape of a goose, since she didn't like swimming. Her face fell when she saw Mikan. "Oh, great."
"What's wrong, Mikan-chan?" Iinchou asked, concerned.
"Natsume's here," she whined.
"Yes, but we all knew that was coming, right?" Hotaru said with a roll of her eyes, mirroring Natsume's exasperation from just a minute ago. "It's no secret after that humiliating fight you two had at the study meet."
"Humiliating?"
"Yes, humiliating, as in I'm humiliated to be associated with you."
"Don't mind him, Mikan-chan," Iinchou encouraged. "My mom always says not to take bullies seriously. They're going through something and it has nothing to do with you at all."
"Yes, maybe that was the case in kindergarten," Hotaru said, voice cold. "But it's all on Mikan now. Has he really done anything offensive to you since the start of these study sessions? Be honest."
"Yes!" Mikan spat. "He keeps calling me 'Polka Dots', which means he hasn't really changed at all!" With that, she entered the house too, no longer interested in waiting for her friends to catch up.
She was newly reinvigorated with her hatred as she exited into the Andou backyard, glaring at all the teens there until her gaze focused on Natsume, who was glued to Ruka's side like always, the two of them drinking lemonade in little plastic cups. She harrumphed and turned to find the birthday boy, who was only a few paces away from them on the deck. He was standing close to a table towering with unopened gifts, chatting with Harada Misaki from the Nishi team.
Last year, he and Mikan had been on B-Team together. He'd been team captain and taken Mikan under his wing. She remembered when they'd all met the Nishi team, Alice High's fierce rivals as far as Aca Dec was concerned, at Scrimmage. While Mikan had immediately gotten to talking to Anna and Nonoko, who were both on Nishi's A-Team, and were actually here at the party too, donning cute bikinis as they splashed in the pool, Tsubasa had hit it off with Misaki. They'd apparently been good friends ever since and Mikan suspected Misaki might have played a bit of a role in Tsubasa's sudden decision to try for A-Team this year, especially since last year he'd thought it was too much work.
Tsubasa looked up at her and held up a finger to Misaki, who only smiled, even as he took a few steps away. "Hey, Mikan! Glad you could make it!" He was wearing a red polo and Mikan would have preferred if he'd worn maybe any other color in the world.
Mikan grinned back at him and handed him her gift. She smiled smugly over his shoulder at Natsume, even though he wasn't looking, as Tsubasa opened the present. He started to gush about the beanies and her smile became more arrogant. See? she wanted to telepathically communicate to her arch-nemesis. My friend. Not yours.
"I've gotten so many truly excellent gifts today," Tsubasa said loudly, including all the people around in the conversation. "Ruka got me Ray Bans, Natsume got me a limited-edition vinyl, and Misaki said she'd give me her present later-" His voice lowered here, "-though I'm kinda nervous about what that means-"
"Natsume?!" Mikan cut in, horrified.
"Yes," Natsume said, suddenly joining them.
"Go away. I was not talking to you."
"You literally shouted for me."
"I shouted about you. In disgust. There's a difference."
"The vinyl is awesome. Thanks so much, Natsume." Tsubasa smacked his upper back appreciatively and Natsume's eyes darkened.
"Uh huh." Natsume exhaled steadily. "You haven't even listened to it yet…" He looked back at Mikan. "Oh, well, if you weren't calling out to me desperately, I guess I'll go see what there is to eat. Nice talking to you, as always, Polka Dots."
She watched him walk away before spinning around to Tsubasa, still smiling. "Tsubasa-senpai, what the heck? I thought we agreed on him!"
"Agreed about what?"
"That he's a jerk!"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"So why is he giving you 'excellent' gifts?"
"I've known Natsume for a really long time, Mikan. Even longer than I've known you. Forever, honestly. Our sisters are even in the same drama club at the middle school. He's a family friend."
"So why does he insult you all the time if you're such great friends?"
"Well, 'asshat' is new, and not exactly my favorite of his terms of endearment. But he always calls his friends names. They're like a sign of affection. It really doesn't bother me anymore. It's honestly worse if he doesn't like you at all. Then he just calls you 'you', and he can get really serious and, to be honest, I prefer the nicknames. 'Asshat' stings though. Kinda miss 'Baldy.'"
Mikan stared at him in shock. He had never mentioned any of this to her. And they'd been friends for years, since eighth grade when her class took a trip to the high school and everyone was paired up with an upperclassman to guide them around what high school life was like. Ever since, he'd been a friend. But now, he was randomly Natsume's friend, and he even seemed to like him better, even though Natsume was awful.
"Well, I'm sorry for mistakenly believing I actually had a single friend in this class!" she whined, turning away from him and searching the backyard for a friendly face.
"Aw, Mikan, come on-" But Mikan ignored him.
"Iinchou is the only one I can trust!" she cried, rushing over to her bespectacled friend. What was so great about Natsume that attracted everyone to him? He wasn't even that great! No, he wasn't even a little great! He was mean and unpleasant and rude.
Sure, he was handsome at first glance and a little smart, but he smelled weird and dressed like a moron (who wears jeans to a pool party?) and was the single meanest creep at school. The cons far outweighed the pros.
"Iinchou," she whined, clinging to his arm where he was standing by Hotaru at the edge of the pool. Hotaru was applying double layers of sunscreen since she was so fair and tended to burn in the sun. "You're my only friend," Mikan hissed into Iinchou's ear.
"I heard that," Hotaru retorted.
"Mikan-chan, that's not true," Iinchou said. "Everyone here is your friend."
"Not Natsume," Mikan argued, holding his arm tighter. "Or the Natsume sympathizers. And there's more of them than I realized. Iinchou, you really are my only friend."
"Oh, I've had enough of this," Hotaru snapped, shutting the cap on her sunscreen and standing up tall. "Natsume-kun, get over here!" she called over the length of Tsubasa's family's crystal blue outdoor pool, to where Natsume was talking to Mochu.
"Hotaru! What on earth are you doing?!" Mikan panicked as she watched Natsume reluctantly walk over to them.
"Ending this," was the curt answer.
"What," he said when he'd joined them.
"Apologize," Hotaru commanded.
"What?"
"Apologize to Mikan for whatever stupid things you did to her in kindergarten. All the terrorizing and eye contact or whatever-Just do it so she can move on with her life and leave the rest of us alone."
Mikan colored at her boldness but Natsume just furrowed his stupidly short eyebrows.
"Terrorizing? What did I do?"
"You want a list?" Mikan spat.
"No," Hotaru held up a hand and shot Mikan a glare. "No lists. No arguments. Just apologize."
"Hell no. She terrorized me too. She's never stopped. Where's my apology?"
Mikan's jaw dropped indignantly. "But you're the one who-"
"Be that as it may," Hotaru conceded. "She's impossible to deal with like this. I'm counting on you to be just a crumb more mature than her and leave this nonsense in the past. So please, for my sake, and everyone else's. Even your own. Please, just apologize."
"I'll apologize if she does," Natsume bartered.
"Oh, Jesus Christ," Hotaru muttered. "You're just as bad as her, after all. C'mon, Iinchou. We're above this." She grabbed loyal Iinchou by the wrist and together they entered the pool, Hotaru immediately crawling onto her goose inflatable. Iinchou sent Mikan a sad, pitiful look, but started to swim anyway.
Leaving Mikan with Natsume. Again.
"Well?" he said after a moment of them staring at each other.
"Well what?"
"Are you gonna apologize?"
"Me?! For what?!"
"You've insulted me, physically assaulted me on several occasions, and now you're creating a hostile environment where I don't feel supported or safe. That's not even to mention the threats on my person from you… I might just have to tell Naru about this-" The sarcasm in his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
"Yeah, go ahead and tell on me! That's what you do best!"
"It's not my fault you didn't know how to use the bathroom. By the way, have you learned since then?"
"Yes! I have! Obviously! And it really wasn't your business back then, y'know-"
"I was sitting right next to you. It was my business. I was in immediate danger."
"You have no idea how embarrassing that was!"
"More embarrassing than not knowing how to go to the bathroom by yourself at age five?"
"Yes, but not quite as embarrassing as your sexual harassment-"
"Oh, please. I tripped you. It's not on me that your skirt flew up."
"Then who is it on?"
"The wind."
"We were inside!"
"You still assaulted me. Let's not gloss over that."
"What, when I kicked your shin? Deserved!"
"That's not all you've kicked."
"Deserved! All of it! You deserved it!"
"I'm not hearing an apology."
"That's because I'm not sorry!"
"Then neither am I."
"You are insufferable!"
"HEY!" Tsubasa shouted from beside them. Mikan jumped. She hadn't even noticed when he'd sidled up to them, but here he was, placing a hand each on their shoulders. "Sorry to yell, but don't you think you're both taking this too far? C'mon. This is supposed to be a party."
Mikan finally looked away from Natsume's burning red eyes to Tsubasa, and then to the rest of the party, only to see everyone had their attention on them. Somehow, she hadn't even noticed when the music stopped.
"We get it, okay?" Tsubasa said. "You hate each other. You won't apologize. But can you agree on a truce? Just… avoid each other, okay? Can you do that?"
Mikan and Natsume turned to look at each other again. He quirked one of his ridiculously short eyebrows and she sighed. "Fine. I agree to a ceasefire."
"Likewise," he agreed stiffly.
The whole party seemed to sigh in relief.
"Thank God!" Permy exclaimed. Someone cheered. Hotaru started clapping.
"Oh, whatever!" Mikan snapped, stomping away from Natsume, living up to her end of the truce. She didn't mind avoiding him. She couldn't stand him, after all, and every single part of him bugged her: his ridiculous red eyes (such a horrible color), his weird earrings (one of them was red and looked awful), his stupid short eyebrows, his effortlessly silky soft hair and long eyelashes that he didn't deserve, his grating voice, his terrible taste in deodorant, and every single word that had ever come out of his mouth or that ever would-it all bugged her. Being told to stay away was a god-send. She didn't need to be told twice! She didn't want to be around him in the first place!
So they maintained their distance after that.
She did her best to ignore him and he acted like she didn't exist. Once the barbecue started and Tsubasa took over the grilling as a way to be a good host, Mikan didn't even look at Natsume (that much) because her attention had turned towards the food. She swam a little, too, for about an hour and forgave Hotaru, who shouldn't have meddled but still had her heart in the right place. For a while she forgot about Natsume, surrounded by some Nishi competitors and her close friends, laughing and happy in a way she never was around him.
After swimming, Mikan got out of the pool and wandered around, wrapped in a towel, until she spotted two young girls inside the house through the window, both with dark hair, eating food as they laughed on the couch. She hadn't seen either of them outside, so she was taken aback by the sight of them. "They didn't want to play in the pool?" she wondered aloud.
"Hikari and Aoi? No way. They're menaces. They have to be kept away from the pool, for everyone's safety." Mikan looked up to see Tsubasa grinning at her before taking another bite of grilled meat. Mikan glanced over at the grill where she could see his father had taken over grilling duties to let his kid have some free time. "Inviting Aoi is the only way to keep Hikari away from all this. I can't have her embarrassing me in front of Misaki again."
"Is Aoi her friend?"
"Yeah," he said, nodding. "She's Natsume's sister."
Mikan gawked at the girls through the window. That cute, cheerful-looking girl? Unlike the girl beside her, she had her hair cropped short at her chin, and despite the basic features she might have in common with Natsume, she didn't resemble him at all. "They don't look alike at all!"
"What, the red eyes weren't a tip-off?"
"They look completely different! She's smiling!" Natsume never smiled. Sometimes he smirked, at her expense, but he never smiled. He never looked happy because monsters couldn't feel joy.
"Yeah, she's… uh… energetic. But they do actually have a lot in common."
"Like what?"
Tsubasa shrugged. "They're both reliable when it counts."
Mikan rolled her eyes. Further Natsume propaganda. She wasn't in the mood for any more of that. "Alright, senpai. Suit yourself."
She moved away from the window, even though she very much still wanted to meet Aoi and Hikari, and placed her towel on one of the pool chairs. She put her shorts back on and looked around the backyard for something fun to do to get her mind off of Natsume and how so many people fell under his evil spell. The Nishi girls (Anna and Nonoko, since Nobara couldn't make it) were still in the pool, Koko who was chasing Kitsu, also from the Nishi team, and there was Misaki, who was making her way towards Tsubasa, probably to give him that mystery gift she'd promised. Luckily Luna hadn't been invited. The last thing this party needed were two evil villains ruining everything. Hotaru was still floating on her inflatable, Iinchou was reading at the edge of the pool, and Ruka was eating.
The sight of a perfectly grilled mushroom excited Mikan, who had eaten a little bit ago but was suddenly hungry all over again. She walked over to the table where the barbecued goodies were laid out. Since dinner had been announced a while ago, most people had already eaten their fill, so there wasn't a line at the table.
Mikan nearly teared up at the sight of it all, at the scrumptious meats and tasty vegetables waiting to be devoured. Food, food, food.
She piled her plate high with all kinds of meats and vegetables, delighting at the smell, her mouth watering. She moved along the table, taking her time. All that was left was the delicious grilled chicken, but when she moved to grab the tongs, she realized they were already in someone else's hand, plucking up the last piece of chicken and dropping it onto a plate that was definitely not hers. A plate that already had chicken on it. A plate that belonged to the villainous Hyuuga Natsume.
A spurt of rage shot through her.
"Natsume," she began slowly, remembering their ceasefire. She could be quiet and civil about this. "Mind letting me have that one piece of chicken?"
He hummed, staring down at his plate. "I don't know… I mean, you were hogging every other station at the table, so I just took the one thing available. And now you want that too, to take it right off my plate. It just doesn't seem fair to me."
"But you already have chicken!"
"It's the principle of the thing."
"The other stations are free now, though! Take whatever you like."
Natsume clicked his tongue. "Looks like Koko is helping himself to the pork and the mushrooms," he reported sadly. Mikan turned around a bit to see Koko pouring the last of the pork onto his plate, just as Natsume said. "Seems like this chicken is all I have."
"But that's the last piece!"
"Maybe Ruka has some chicken he can share."
"Don't involve me in this," Ruka warned, standing off to the side while he poked at his grilled vegetables.
"Ruka-pyon is a vegetarian! He doesn't have any chicken! You do!"
"But chicken is all I have. I don't even have any vegetables. If I don't eat this, I might starve." He stuck a piece of chicken into his mouth.
Ceasefire, Mikan, she reminded herself. This is supposed to be a fun party. "Sharing is caring, Natsume."
"You didn't share or care when you were hogging all the other stations," Natsume pointed out. "Kind of a hypocrite aren't you?" Another bite of chicken.
"Fine, I'll trade you some of my vegetables for the chicken. That's reasonable, right?"
"I'm allergic to vegetables," Natsume said, shaking his head. "Plus, they've been on your plate. That's not hygienic. I don't think you even really want this chicken." One more bite. Leaving that one, final piece of chicken, sitting like a golden nugget on Natsume's plate. Mikan's chicken.
"You are not allergic to vegetables. And it is hygienic! I haven't even touched my food yet!"
"But I did."
"I don't care. Here, take some of my pork, then."
"I'm allergic to pork."
"No, you're not!"
"Mmhmm."
"Please, Natsume. I'm trying to be reasonable-"
And in one second, he had brought the last of the chicken into his mouth. She blinked in horror, looking at his empty plate, then to his chewing… Through a full mouth, he snarked, "Oops."
She could hear Koko giggling beside them at the table, could feel Ruka's gaze on them.
Ceasefire, ceasefire, ceasefire. You agreed to a ceasefire, Mikan. But so did he, and if he hadn't just violated his side of that agreement, then…
He hadn't been expecting it. She was sure of that. One moment, he was chewing pointedly at her, the next she was shoving him with all her might, and because he was taken off-guard, he didn't have the chance to steady himself. Thus, he fell backward, his eyes widening with shock, crashing into the pool with no elegance or grace at all, a blur of black clothes and black hair.
The whole party went silent. Again. The music kept going though, as Mikan sat in a few seconds of terrifying quiet, all eyes on her, simultaneously ashamed and satisfied.
"Mikan, the truce," she heard Tsubasa say across the backyard.
Natsume resurfaced, his hair soaking wet and plastered to his face, his vulgar t-shirt clinging to his arms and chest. He floated there, catching Mikan's gaze. Then, with careful calculation, he gulped. The corner of his mouth moved just a little bit up and-
"YOU MONSTER!" she screamed, jumping into the pool after him, forgetting that she was wearing shorts. She grabbed him by the water-logged collar.
"You guys!" Tsubasa scolded from where he was standing beside Misaki, a half-opened little box in his hands.
"POOL FIGHT!" Kitsu cheered, cannonballing into the pool. Koko followed suit and then so did many others, squealing and shouting and splashing. Mikan wanted to protest that this was personal, actually, between her and Natsume and that final piece of chicken, but then Ruka-pyon splashed pool water into her face and she sputtered, giggling, releasing Natsume's collar.
Hours later, when she'd filled up on meat, vegetables, and cake, had gone home and showered and changed, when she was tucked into bed, ready to sleep, she smiled as she thought back on a fun day spent with friends.
Except for Natsume, she decided. He wasn't a friend, so she couldn't have fun with him. He ate her chicken, after all. On purpose. To bother her. She focused on how rageful she'd felt at that moment. She could barely remember the feeling anymore, washed away by the pool water and the chlorine, but Mikan kept what was left in her chest.
She hated him. Always.
It didn't matter that she'd had fun in that pool and hadn't even minded when he splashed her too.
The next study session didn't really go how she'd expected. She expected tension and awkwardness on account of her violating her truce with Natsume, maybe some glares of disapproval, but her fellow decathletes didn't seem to care. Not even Hotaru seemed bothered. She'd additionally expected Tsubasa to have a change in relationship status, but apparently all he got from Misaki was a dog tag necklace, not a kiss or confession.
She'd also, for some reason, expected Natsume to still be wet, still wearing those jeans and that "FUCK YOU SHITHEAD" t-shirt he'd been wearing at the party. Instead, he was completely dry from head to toe, hair as effortlessly silky as ever, donning a more school-appropriate shirt. He entered the room after her this time, making intentional eye contact as he sank into his usual seat across the circle from her. He stuck his tongue out in her direction.
Vile.
She whipped her head around to Hotaru, who was flipping through Section 4 of the Social Science curriculum. "What did he do this time, Mikan?" she asked, emotionless, before Mikan could say anything.
"He…" She suddenly realized she had no idea what she was going to complain about. "Can you believe what he's wearing?"
Hotaru exhaled carefully. "I don't care. Nobody does."
"It's just… not A-Team material. And his behavior at the pool party-"
"You mean your behavior," Hotaru corrected. "It's been a while since you've thrown such a noisy tantrum. What was it over again? He'd killed your mother? It must have been something really evil."
"... He ate my chicken."
"Oh, that's right. I knew it was something truly egregious like that."
"Well, when you put it that way…"
"Self-awareness, Mikan. Look inward."
Mikan pouted but decided to keep her hatred of Natsume's every breath to herself. She didn't whisper to Hotaru about it, not even when he yawned, or when his eyelashes fluttered as he opened his copy of The Sun Also Rises to read along with the class, or when he stretched backwards in his chair, or when he read his designated paragraph with just enough enthusiasm to avoid sounding like a robot. She kept it all to herself.
After they were dismissed and Narumi complained a little that it wasn't fair that coaches didn't get invited to decathlete parties, Mikan packed up her stuff, keeping quiet about Natsume.
When she glanced up, he'd already left the room with Ruka. But Mochu and Permy were still there, chatting over their desks about the novel. She really wanted to talk about him.
"Hey, guys," she said with a wave. "Sorry if I made things a little weird at the party. Well, I think we all agree it was more Natsume's fault, but I'm sorry for my role in it."
"It's no big deal," Mochu said. "The pool fight was fun."
Sumire shrugged. "At least it wasn't a boring party. And I got to see Natsume-kun soaking wet, so I'm not complaining. I've been thinking about it nonstop, ever since it happened."
"Ew. Gross." Mikan shook her head, her stomach twisting, trying to get that image out of her brain, which had also been haunting her since she'd pushed him in. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you guys if you had any idea why Natsume joined Aca Dec?"
"Easy A," Mochu replied.
"Sure, that would make sense. But why now? In the third year? Ruka definitely would've tried recruiting him before-"
"I also tried," Sumire pointed out, zipping up her bag. "He really didn't want to. He knew Ruka-kun would want him on A-Team and-me too, obviously, y'know-but well… It was too much work, I guess."
"But he was bragging to me about getting on A-Team without even trying."
"Well, he definitely could," Permy swooned. "He's definitely smart enough. And did you hear his voice reading Hemingway? Ugh, so romantic!"
"There's nothing romantic about this book, Permy," Mochu argued. "Guy lost his dick."
"Don't call me Permy, Buzzcut."
"So why did he join this year?" Mikan asked again.
Mochu avoided her gaze, lifting his eyebrow, exhaling awkwardly.
"You know!" she hissed triumphantly, pointing an accusatory finger at him. He wasn't even pretending to be subtle, especially when he laughed at her pointing at him.
"No, no, not really," he countered, his chuckles subsiding. "It's funny, okay? Honestly, I think he just gave in. Ruka had asked him enough times already. It's just… I also remember that the last time Ruka was trying to convince him, you know, your name might have come up."
"Come up? Come up how?"
"Come up as in, Ruka mentioned you were in the class with him, and then maybe it was a little less difficult to convince him, that's all. I don't know."
"So… that means," Mikan spoke softly, her cheeks burning, a sudden realization dawning on her. "He joined because of me? Just to mess with me? Just to sabotage me? He really hasn't changed at all. That is so evil-"
"Wow, he wasn't kidding when he said you were stupid," Mochu replied with awe. "I'm out of here. Come on, Permy. I'll walk you to the station."
Permy lingered behind for a moment. "I know you thought about him in the pool too, Sakura. Don't be a prude." Then she followed after Mochu.
Mikan felt the indignation at the accusation hit her far too late, when they'd both already gone. What, she was a stupid pervert now? No, that would be Natsume. She hadn't thought about him in the pool at all! Or not that much, really. Why would she?!
When school started up again, he wouldn't know what hit him. She wasn't about to let him take Aca Dec away from her. She'd definitely beat him, for sure.
Before these study sessions began, Mikan hadn't actually spoken to Natsume very often. They hadn't shared any classes since middle school.
Though most of their truly heinous interactions took place in kindergarten, when they were both far too young to be reasonable and had been partners for the whole year, their relationship never warmed up. Occasionally, they'd be in the same class, or be seatmates, but once middle school came around, things changed. Though they'd been in the same class at the beginning of sixth grade, Natsume eventually got transferred out, for some reason. After that, she would see him from time to time, maybe at a school festival or on a road trip or passing in the hall.
And then there was the Spring Formal dance at the end of eighth grade, when Mikan had gone with Iinchou and Hotaru, only for Hotaru, who despised dancing, to glue herself to the buffet table, and for Iinchou, pushover of the century and then-student council president, to get lassoed into acting as a glorified chaperone to make sure everything went smoothly.
So Mikan danced with some other friends, namely Yura and Koko, sometimes as a group or one-on-one, but it sucked that her best friends weren't there. Hours passed until a song ended and Mikan found herself on her own in the middle of the dancefloor, her friends running off to get punch.
She caught her breath only to realize she was a foot away from Natsume, her life-long enemy, who wasn't wearing a tie with his suit. At least his shirt was tucked in.
"Uhh…" he said at the same time as she said, "Ugh!" and then he narrowed his eyes. Their interactions always went like that, with his eyes narrowing like a fox's, always unpleasant, always killing nice moods with his presence. "You know, Polka Dots, you're probably the worst dancer here."
"How would you know? I'm surprised anyone here wants to dance with you!"
"I'm impressed you have any takers, either, since you clearly suck at dancing."
"Well, I'd rather dance terribly alone than dance to your impossible standards with you for even a second! I'm just shocked there's girls out there who feel differently."
He shut his mouth then and Mikan grinned, smug that she'd rendered him speechless for once.
"Your dress," he started after a moment as the song changed to something upbeat and cheerful. A perfect song to dance with but the only familiar face around was stupid Natsume's and she sure as heck wasn't about to dance with him. Besides, he was ramping up to say something and Mikan readied herself for the upcoming insult, soaking in his outfit for something to criticize for when it was her turn. His voice was hard and strained when he finished his thought. "That's my favorite color."
Mikan tensed and stared into Natsume's face, always the immoveable neutrality settled in his red red red red red eyes. She finally tore her eyes away from his to glance down at her red dress adorned with a bit of frill and lace, with little bows in her pigtails to match. Of all the nasty things to say, that was the worst. "I didn't wear it please you, you self-centered pig!" She felt her eyes burn with tears.
"Why are you crying?" He sounded genuinely curious and that made it worse.
Mikan angrily wiped at her face. "I hate you," she mumbled. "I can't ever wear this dress again now."
"Why not?"
Because now I'll just think of you whenever I wear it. But she couldn't say that. That's exactly what he wanted, to get to her, to ruin everything in her life until he'd destroyed her entirely. Why else would he have said that? "I'll never…" she tried, only to falter. "I hate the color red."
"You're the one wearing it," he pointed out smartly, and Mikan hated that he was right, that his shirt was white and his sports coat was gray and his shoes were black and Mikan was the one between them adorned in the same shade as his awful, cruel, fox-like eyes. "That's just because… Because my mom made me wear it. I hate red. I'll never wear red again."
He exhaled sharply through his nose. "You look ugly tonight," he said slowly. "Your pigtails are ridiculous and I'm glad you'll never wear red again because it looks terrible on you. You're not good enough for my favorite color. And that dress sucks. No matter how much you dance tonight, or ever, and no matter how many people you dance with, you'll never be good at it." He gave her one more cold look before he turned on his heel and headed straight through the crowd to Sumire, who eagerly took his hand to dance.
Mikan wiped the vestiges of hot tears away from her face, angry that they existed in the first place. She'd never been more mad or hurt in her life. Nothing from kindergarten compared, even though nobody had been paying any attention to them this time. No spotlight, no tattling, no tripping or kicking or sudden gusts of wind. Just words, just cruel looks. Who does he think he is? she thought bitterly. Some kind of fashion expert? Or a dance expert? Gimme a break!
After that, Mikan never had a class with him again, until now. They rarely exchanged words. If they saw each other, they'd just glare, and even if the eye contact lasted minutes at a time, looking away first was tantamount to losing a battle.
And true to her word, Mikan never wore red again, because that stupid, terrible color just reminded her of him.
"Your defect is a propensity to hate everybody."
"And yours," he replied with a smile. "is willfully to misunderstand them."
-Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.