A/N: hi! long time no see.

i was in serbia for a couple weeks and then i got sick for a week or so when i came back and that slowed me down which is part of the reason i'm updating a bit later than i'd intended for myself. oh well.

this chapter is longer than most of the others, but still a far cry shorter than chapter three, which was and remains to be my longest chapter in anything i've ever written. a little treat. i didn't think it would be so long, but there was a lot i had to fit in here (the entire competition weekend), so it is what it is.

i don't know how i feel about this chapter. i've been working on it for a long time so i'm eager to just get it out there (like i am every time i finish writing anything). i hope y'all like it though


Academic Decathlon Subject IX: Language & Literature. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, in Addition to Selected Poetry and Short Stories Pertaining to World War I and Its Aftermath.

Hyuuga Natsume Decathlon Subject XI: I Hate Him. Because He Is the Worst; Always Have and Certainly Always Will.

Academic Decathlon Prefecture Competition in Kyoto, Part 2.


"She left me the way people leave a hotel room. A hotel room is a place to be when you are doing something else. Of itself it is of no consequence to one's major scheme. A hotel room is convenient. But its convenience is limited to the time you need it while you are in that particular town on that particular business; you hope it is comfortable, but prefer, rather, that it be anonymous. It is not, after all, where you live." ― Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye.


Stupid!

Moron!

Idiot!

What on earth had gotten into her?

One moment, she was pushing him in the pool and relishing the sight of him sputtering and coughing, looking like a fool, and in the next she was watching water drip from his eyelashes, his red eyes particularly striking in the backdrop of the blue pool, and then she was kneeling down to kiss him.

And that had not been her intention at all!

He did not deserve to be kissed or to be hugged or to be daydreamed about…

And yet, Mikan did just that all the way up the elevator, all the way down the long hallway to the room she shared with Hotaru and Permy and all the way through her nightly routine, which she imitated like a girl wound up and set down. She moved through the hotel room in the dark, in the heaviest of dazes, feeling like the air was warmer and softer than it was.

It was more than he deserved, but for some reason giving him more than he deserved was like treating herself too. She wanted to mind, but she didn't.

She went to sleep beside Permy (Hotaru made it clear already that she refused to sleep next to anybody on account of being unable to stomach sleep-talk or nocturnal cuddling), and gave herself momentary permission to be a normal teenage girl with a crush.

But she did not squeal.

Permy did.

The team had just enjoyed a nice breakfast at a little cafe across the street from the hotel before the exams formally started. Narumi led them back to the hotel with a broad grin, counting off all the things they should keep in mind before the tests. As they walked, Mikan hung back to whisper the latest development in the never-ending Natsume saga.

And Permy was much more the giddy lovesick girl than Mikan let herself be, her face turning bright pink, her mouth releasing soft little giggles, and her hands clapping together in excitement. It was almost as if Permy was the one going around tossing boys into pools before kissing and leaving them, but Mikan wasn't about to take any second-hand glee from her.

"Tell me everything," she said adamantly, her fingers winding together in a pleading gesture.

Mikan kept her chin down, casting a suspicious glance at her teammates just in case anybody was listening in. "I just did. It's not that big of a deal."

"Are you together yet?"

"Of course not! Hotaru's rule is still-"

"I already told you to forget the stupid rule. It's not important. The only thing that's important is more of this kissing business."

Mikan made a mental note to set Permy and Koko up together after the competition, so she could get her own fix of romance without having to rely so much on Mikan.

After getting one too many suspicious glances from Hotaru, Mikan shut the conversation down and rejoined the rest of the group, just in time to reenter the hotel.

The lobby alone was bustling with kids their ages and their coaches. Who belonged to what team was instantly recognizable by their matching shirts and sweaters. Kissing and crushes left Mikan's mind immediately, replaced by a gross sinking feeling in her gut.

The competition was back on, and real, and it was scary.

The team found a cozy place to sit, by a floor-to-ceiling window and only a few feet down the hall from where the tests would be taking place.

Iinchou led the team through recalibrating their calculators for the Math test, and Mikan pretended not to notice the slight nervous tremor in her fingers as she went through the formulas. Narumi left to mingle with the other coaches before the tests, leaving snacks in his wake as he was prone to doing.

Mikan was in the middle of her fourth baggie of trail mix, picking through the nuts to find the chocolate chips, when the Nishi team approached them.

The girls-with one glaring exception-were eager to swing by, rushing over to give out hugs and excited praise. Koko had an emotional reunion with Kitsuneme, and Misaki sat down beside Tsubasa, instantly berating him for the beanie on his head.

Though Permy, Anna, Nonoko, Wakako, and Nobara instantly started chatting about everything that had happened since they'd last met, Mikan was incapable of joining in, suddenly too nervous to do anything but stare hard at the Music curriculum.

She shoved some more chocolate chips in her mouth, only to find that some nuts had managed to get in there too, just as Luna Koizumi finally arrived.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," she greeted haughtily, causing Mikan to choke on the trail mix. Luna giggled at her suffering. "You really should learn to close your mouth when you chew."

"You should really learn to close your mouth point blank," Permy snarked back.

"What's with the attitude?" Luna asked, cocking her head to the side in faux innocence. She sat down beside Mikan, crossing her legs elegantly as she did so, the pure white of her Nishi sweater nearly blinding under the fluorescent lighting in the hall. Luna always managed to look like a Disney princess despite her evil stepmother personality. "I thought our two teams were getting along swimmingly just now."

"Before you showed up," Koko muttered under his breath, but his attention was quickly stolen by his friend. In fact, almost everyone's attention was quickly seized by socializing, except for MIkan, who for once in her life, was too busy panicking to care about anything but the curriculum.

Not that Luna cared much.

"Music, huh?" she said, flipping through the pages of Mikan's curriculum without a care in the world. "Don't you just love this year's selections? My favorite is the Debussy, but there is something really raw about the Rite of Spring selections, don't you think?"

Mikan kinda wanted to throw up.

"Anyway, I'm so glad, Sakura-san, that you didn't let the fact that you were selected out of pity stop you from putting your all into the competition. I saw your scores from Regionals, and I thought it was really cool of you to keep trying despite your shortcomings."

Natsume had done a good job distracting her, but the feelings from the Banquet came rushing back with a vengeance, her stomach roiling with sudden shame. She had some nerve thinking she deserved to be on this team. She should have turned in her original personal statement, and instead she'd let Natsume get in her head and then she must have somehow gotten into Narumi's head with her promises of doing her best. It should have been Kaoru here, not her.

"You must be really nervous, huh?" Luna asked, her face contorted into a show of concern. Why did she do that? Why did she have to be so mean in her own special way that almost made her look nice? Why did she have to cover up all her insults with sweet smiles and that saccharine quality in her voice? Why couldn't she ever just be horrible all the way? Mikan didn't know how to fight with someone pretending they liked her.

Natsume had never been like that. She was never afraid to talk back to him or kick him in the shin, because he was never afraid of insulting her to her face without any pretense. If he was gonna fight with her, then they were going to fight on equal ground. But maybe it wasn't equal, because Natsume was much smarter than she was and he always won. He always got the last word and the last laugh, always turned her words against her to make her look stupid, and kept getting better scores in all the tests. She liked him so much, but she also couldn't help but hate him for being so perfect all the time.

He and Luna really would've made the perfect couple-two people who could make her feel like a nobody without even trying. They'd be indestructible together.

The doors opened.

Luna shut Mikan's curriculum for her and gave her a pitying smile. "I don't think that's going to help you anymore." Then she rose up and followed the stream of eager decathletes as they entered the hotel ballroom made up to be the venue for intense testing for the next day.

Iinchou gave another speech, much like he did last time. Mikan nodded along, but she wasn't listening, too swept up in Luna's disruptive existence to focus. Scoring well seemed like a pipe dream. The speech ended and the team started getting up and following their captain into battle, where the Nishi team had been abandoned by theirs.

"Come on, Mikan," Tsubasa called as he got up and Mikan gripped her calculator tight as she followed suit.

Narumi came back just in time to promise to watch over their belongings, sitting down suspiciously close to the snacks he had brought. The decathletes weren't allowed to bring anything into the testing room beside a pencil and a calculator. Even hoodies were against the rules, so Mikan shivered in her team t-shirt as she walked between rows of chairs and tables, looking for the chair with the same number that she had on her name tag.

This time, she wasn't seated beside a Nishi team member, but Luna was far too close, sitting just a few seats away. Panic was settling in, so Mikan did the only thing she could to calm down-she started scanning the tables, trying to see where her friends were seated. Iinchou was a couple rows behind her, which was unfortunate because he tended to be the most comforting. Permy was in the very first row, so she was nothing more than a head of permed hair, and Hotaru was in the same row as Mikan but at the very end, so she was hard to see, though Hotaru wasn't a very reassuring sight these days. And where on earth was Natsume-

"Polka Dots," Natsume said, sinking to his knees and resting his chin on her table.

Mikan felt her heart leap in her chest and she had to gasp to keep it in place. When she peered down at him, she spotted the firm line of his mouth. He had never been a smiley person, but the lack of amusement in his face made her even more nervous. She had been, after all, avoiding him since last night. At breakfast, she made sure to sit beside Iinchou and Hotaru and kept the whole team between them when they'd sat outside the testing room for last-minute studying.

He was wearing the same t-shirt as the rest of the team, boasting his affiliation with Alice High School, on top of his dark jeans, but somehow he managed to look cooler than anybody else with it on.

"What do you want?" Mikan asked, pretending like her face wasn't heating up.

He stared at her for a moment, hardly even blinking. She expected him to humiliate her, to point out her behavior from last night and make a face of disgust. Instead, he just stared. When he finally did speak, he must have decided the staring had been humiliating enough, because he didn't mention last night. "Just remember one thing, and I'll be happy."

Mikan let herself smile. "I don't stand a chance. I know I'm not gonna score well."

Natsume's stupidly short eyebrows furrowed. "I did not join this class and get this far just for you to give up at the end. If you don't try, I won't try."

This was stupid. He had to see that they weren't on the same level, right? That he was as smart as Iinchou and Hotaru, as Luna, and that assigning Mikan as his rival was selling himself short? That he would probably be collecting multiple medals by the end of the weekend while Mikan's score wouldn't even count?

"You need to stop letting that stupid idiot from the Nishi team get to you," he said, almost angrily. "She doesn't even know you and you just let her tell you who you are. You studied hard to get here, and you're the only reason I'm here to begin with."

"I'm not giving up, Natsume," Mikan said, getting frustrated by his attitude. "I'm gonna score really high, but it won't have anything to do with you. You might be obsessed with me, but I barely even think of you."

"You're really gonna talk to your muse like that?"

Mikan smiled for real.

"Perfect," Natsume said as he started to get up. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't throw this game over a girl who wishes she was you. Anyway, good luck." So quickly she was sure she'd imagined it, he kissed her on the cheek and took off.

She froze in her seat, blushing intensely. She could tell the kid beside her was uncomfortable at having to witness all that, but her priority was first calming herself down. Her heart didn't settle, but her breathing did, just as the room was brought to quiet and the lead proctor introduced the tests.

"We will begin with Mathematics," the proctor said, and Mikan readied her pencil.

All thoughts of Luna and failure were gone. She just thought of the warmth on her cheek, and the rest was easy.

The first time Mikan had ever seen Hyuuga Natsume was the first day of kindergarten.

She hadn't seen him in preschool, and looking back, it was probably because he lived a little further away. Still, they went to the same kindergarten, and Mikan had made the decision before heading to school that day that she would make friends with all of her classmates.

She'd known Hotaru already, which gave her an advantage. One down, sixteen to go.

Before class had even started, she'd chatted up all her tablemates, learned their names, and won them over with her sweet smile and devastating charm. Her dad liked to call her a social butterfly, which she liked because she liked butterflies. Just like a butterfly, she would go from table to table-flower to flower-to get to know everyone in class and befriend them.

Class started and they were supposed to introduce themselves as well as one fact that made them unique.

"Unique is a great word," Serina-sensei had said. "All of us are unique. 'Unique' means that we're special in some way, that we're one of a kind. So I want you to share what makes you one of a kind."

That was the first hint Mikan got that school might be more difficult than she had thought it would be.

At first, she'd planned on saying that she was unique because she was good at sports, but the kid Mochu said it first, so she had to find something else to say.

One by one, each idea she'd come up with was said by someone else.

By the time it was finally her turn to introduce herself, she had realized sadly that she wasn't one of a kind at all. There was nothing special or particular about her. She wasn't very pretty, or smart at all, and being sporty wasn't interesting. She was only good at one thing that nobody else had said, so she stood up and decided to share that. "Hi, everyone! I'm Sakura Mikan, and I'm unique because I talk a lot and more than anybody else!"

Though most of the class hadn't really been paying attention, there was a scattering of vague applause, mostly because everyone had gotten some.

One person didn't clap.

A little boy on the other side of the room, with dark hair and red eyes, had decided she didn't deserve applause. Instead, he'd snorted out a mean little laugh, which shouldn't have been possible because he wasn't even smiling.

Mikan tried to ignore that and sat down anyway, trying to feel victorious that she had, after all, found something that made her unique.

When playtime came around, she decided to be a butterfly and fly around to different flowers. There were plenty of fun kids to talk to, and for the most part, everyone seemed to think she was fun and nice, because she was.

Once again, the mean boy decided to be an exception.

(Natsume, apparently, and his introduction had gone a little like this: "I'm Natsume. I don't care about being unique." After that, he sat down and refused to say any more on the matter.)

"What are you doing?" she asked, bending over to where he'd been sitting on the floor, playing with dominos. "Can I play with you? Maybe we can be friends?"

He groaned and dropped his dominos. "I don't like talking so I don't think we can be friends. I don't make friends with annoying people."

"Like I even wanted to be your friend!" she screeched.

"You just said you wanted to be my friend."

"Just because I felt sorry for you!" Then she pushed past him to find someone else more willing to talk to her.

After that day, Mikan tried to avoid her classmate, deciding that he didn't count as someone worth befriending. They didn't talk much and never played together, until one day Serina-sensei decided to sit Natsume at her table because sometimes, when we get upset, it's nice to have someone nearby who can calm us down, right? So all because Natsume was a problem child, Mikan got stuck taking care of him, which was super unfair.

Especially because he only got worse with time, never softening, never proving himself to be somebody worth talking to, let alone befriending.

More than once a day, little Mikan found herself wondering how on earth anybody could like that horrible little boy, who was unique only in the sense that he was meaner than anyone else

One of a kind, indeed.

Each Academic Decathlon subject was dictated by rules, she decided. Hotaru might claim logic on all of them, but Mikan disagreed. After all, logic to Mikan would be never having to do a Math problem again in her life, and that wouldn't help her at all. No, the key to success in these tests wasn't necessarily logic, it was thinking dearly of the teammate who knew the most in the subject.

She took her Math test in a Natsume headspace, someone so confident in Calculus he didn't even need to study it anymore. It made her feel in control and she finished the test early. She knew she would never get a great score in Math, but just the shift in perspective alone had given her a boost.

After that, she took her Econ test as money-hungry, capitalist Hotaru, and then her Science test as Iinchou. By the time her first break came, she felt like she maybe stood a chance.

In the interest of maintaining her pride, Mikan spent her lunch break sitting next to Tsubasa and Misaki, not Natsume, mainly because she didn't want him to see how embarrassed she was about something as tiny as a kiss on the cheek after she'd gone out of her way to kiss him on the mouth in a pool.

This seating arrangement turned out to be a mistake, because Tsubasa and Misaki only made it five minutes before they were play-wrestling each other, Tsubasa's beanie falling to the floor in all the chaos. She let herself inch closer to the next nearest conversation, where Anna and Nonoko were talking to Wakako and Permy about their crush on their bio teacher. At every swoon and sigh from the two girls, Permy would make meaningful eye contact with Mikan and then raise her eyebrows salaciously. Though Mikan was fine ignoring her, Wakako apparently wasn't.

"Why do you keep looking at her like that?" Wakako asked. "What's with all the weird looks? If there's gossip, then spill."

Permy did not spill, but she did smirk at Mikan. "If you want to tell them, you can."

But that was pretty much the same thing as spilling anyway, because now the girls all knew there was something to be spilled, and in a second, four pairs of eyes were intently on her.

"I might… like a boy," Mikan decided to admit, giving away just the bare minimum and hoping that would appease them.

No. To her chagrin, that sentence was less like feeding a goldfish and more like sprinkling blood near a shark. Or four sharks. "OOOOOOOH," they all said in unison and Mikan knew she had maid a terrible mistake.

The loudness of their group started drawing in more attention, and when Natsume's eyes landed on her, even from a distance, she knew she wouldn't be saying any more. "But that's not a big deal so how about we keep talking about the bio teacher! Tell us more about his eyes-please, I wanna hear about his eyes!" She rested her chin in her hands and smiled, desperate to seem interested in the lovey-dovey talk if only to get the rest of them off her tail.

"We can talk about Sakura later," Permy declared, and Mikan thought it was pretty bold of her to claim something like that when she really didn't want to be the subject of discussion ever.

At least the conversation moved on.

When lunchtime ended mostly safely, despite the brief drama, Mikan went out of her way to avoid running into Luna again on her way back to her seat in the testing room. Natsume had gotten her all pumped again, and she didn't want to risk Luna ruining a good thing.

As decathletes settled into their seats around her, Mikan scanned the room again, having never discovered where Natsume sat because he'd frozen her still before she could follow him. After a lot of turning her head and squinting her eyes, she turned all the way around just to find him sitting just two rows behind her. When he caught her looking, he raised a nonchalant eyebrow.

"Hey, Polka Dots."

Her cheek started to warm, but she ignored it. "Hello, Natsume. I did really well on the Math test." Before he could reply, she spoke again. "Okay, maybe that's too strong. I did okay on the Math test. But I thought you should know I did think of you a little during the test. Not a lot-and not in that way! But I thought of you because you helped me with Math before, so I thought about some of the things you taught me, that's all."

"I'm happy, then," he said when he finally had the chance to reply. "I hope you'll be proud of me too after the Art test. I'm holding onto my lucky charm, so maybe I won't fail."

Mikan remembered yesterday, giving him the picture of a pig she'd drawn the night before and seeing him smile at the sight of it, despite how hideous it was. He told her he'd hold onto it as a good luck token, and apparently he really had.

She smiled, but had nothing intelligent to say, so she turned back to the front before she could embarrass herself blubbering like a baby.

"What, that's it?" Natsume asked, somehow offended. "What about my kiss?"

Mikan whipped back around, eyes wide in shock and horror. "What are you talking about?!"

Wordlessly, Natsume pointed to his cheek.

"Absolutely not! The test's about to begin-"

"I don't know how I'll get motivated to do well," Natsume said with a sad sigh. "If only there was some reminder that someone has faith in me… then maybe I could actually try."

"You have your good luck pig!" Mikan hissed.

"I think I deserve a good luck kiss, too."

For a moment, Mikan considered actually doing it-actually kissing Natsume on the cheek in front of everybody.

"Please, everyone, take your seats!" the proctor called from the front of the room.

Everyone was settling in. If Mikan did anything now, it would be on full display, and likely wouldn't be lost in the crowd like Natsume's kiss had been. She turned to face the front, ignoring Natsume's sigh as she did so.

The next test was Music, and in the desperate effort not to think of Luna's taunts from a few hours ago, Mikan thought of Permy, who seemed to know everything about music theory, the selections, and Mikan's very own love life. She tried not to think about that last part, but it was a bit tricky when she still felt like Natsume was expecting a stupid kiss.

Somehow, kissing had become part of their game, and he'd been brave enough to one-up her when he'd pecked her before. Now, he'd taken all the power out of her own kisses by requesting one. If she gave in, he'd be the one winning, not her.

She told herself that the game was the only reason why this kissing nonsense had started. One-upping each other was second nature at this point, and it made sense that their kicks and shoves would eventually turn into this. It was an easier explanation to come to than lingering on the question of whether or not Natsume liked her back, mainly because she still wasn't entirely happy about liking him in the first place.

But none of that had anything to do with Music, so she had to keep reminding herself to think in terms of octaves and melodies, not in terms of kisses.

After Music was Lang Lit, and Mikan had recently finished The Sun Also Rises, which was the easiest part of the whole test. Questions about Jake and Brett and their depressed friends on their travels to Spain were a breeze. The other stuff was a bit more complicated, but made easier by her thinking of Ruka-pyon and his helpful powerpoints on the short stories and poems.

Ezra Pound was a Nazi, she kept thinking when his name popped up, but, just like Natsume had said at Scrimmage, that information wasn't relevant to the questions.

After that was Social Science, and who better to emulate than Tsubasa, who knew all about the tanks and battles and dates?

The last test was Art, and Mikan went through her friends in an effort to find someone to emulate. When she kept coming up blank, a familiar voice crept into her mind to say, "You're good at Art, right?"

She decided, just for the last test, that she would try to emulate herself, since maybe that was the person best suited for the job.

As soon as the tests were completed and collected, Natsume was there, just like he'd been before the Math test. He was doing a good job pretending to be upset, but Mikan didn't want to reward his behavior, so she decided to ignore him. She stood up like he wasn't there and started walking. It was the only way she could think of to get one over on him since he'd audaciously requested a kiss.

Just like she'd wanted, he rushed to follow after her, but he didn't say anything, trailing behind her with an impatient huff.

Super Quiz was the next item on the agenda. It wasn't as simple as getting it over with, either, since they had to wait in a long line, with their teams in alphabetical order, for a long time before they were let into the large room.

So to kill the time, the Alice Acadec Team played card games. There were no real stakes or losses, just bragging rights. Hotaru turned out to be something of a sore loser, especially when she'd been so close to winning, while Iinchou was perhaps too generous in letting others win. Ruka-pyon was surprisingly cut-throat as he played and Mikan sometimes worked with Tsubasa, the only other person as bad at cards as her, even though it was against the rules.

They laughed or yelled and mainly just killed time, but Mikan had the feeling that this moment was one of those moments that she would never be able to forget. That was okay. These friends of hers would probably last a lifetime. She couldn't imagine wanting to forget, but it was nice to know the memory would live forever.

When the doors finally opened, they had to end their game in the middle, which annoyed Hotaru because she was sure she would have finally beat Ruka this time. Mikan had to snap back to reality and to the incoming test-her last chance to prove herself with the Objective subjects.

Iinchou carried the sign with their school name on it as they walked through the doors. He led the way and they followed. When their school was announced by the man with the microphone, Mikan chanced a wave to the crowds on the bleachers. This was being filmed too, just like last time, but she doubted anyone was watching.

The frustrating thing about Super Quiz at the Prefecture competition was its grandeur. Because of the sheer vastness of the room and the immense number of teams marching through the doors to take their places, the Alice team ended up spending a very long time just waiting for all their competitors to come in. They were sitting according to their categories, which meant Mikan was between Natsume and Koko.

Natsume was surprisingly well-behaved, just a warm arm to press her own against as the teams went further along the alphabet and Super Quiz drew nearer.

Even when everyone was seated, they then had to listen through a dull introductory speech by the main speaker, and Mikan didn't pay attention to a single word of it.

So she wasn't paying attention when the Varsities were called down for the first round of Super Quiz. Natsume had to smack at her arm to get her attention and when she turned to him with anger all he did was point toward the ground.

The three of them went down to where all the chairs were set up, finding the three labeled "Alice" and took their seats, Natsume in the middle because he wanted to make himself the sub-leader of their little group. Mikan didn't really mind, but she did pretend to complain just for show. They had their own personal proctor, a woman who only smiled tersely when they greeted her and handed them each a clicker with no instruction. This was all normal, and no cause for concern, but Mikan could feel her heart rate spiking under the pressure.

She didn't know which of her teammates to emulate for this, since each of the subjects with the exception of Math would be featured in the Quiz. As a result, she was stuck being herself.

"I wonder what we're gonna eat for dinner today," Koko mused, his voice light and carefree, as though this was vacation and not the middle of a competition.

"I kinda wanna eat a burger," Natsume replied, and Mikan just stared at them, wondering if the pressure she felt was tripled because it had skipped over her teammates. "But I wouldn't mind spaghetti."

"Iinchou will tell us we need to try the local cuisine, though."

"I guess we should," he said, but he didn't sound thrilled about that. "But then I'm definitely going to eat a burger when I get back home."

"Can I come with?" Koko asked excitedly. "I wanna eat fries!"

"I don't know. Do you wanna pay?"

"Not particularly, but I guess I can. I know you're broke. Maybe we can hang out at my place after?"

"That sounds cool. Didn't you have that new-"

"What are you guys talking about?" Mikan blurted out when the pressure had finally gotten the better of her. "We're about to do Super Quiz! Why are you talking about food?"

"It's the most important meal of the day," Koko said.

"Polka Dots, what is the point of getting all worked up and stressed about a test that will be over in ten minutes? We studied and there's no curriculum here for us to get a last minute cram in, so we're talking about what we're gonna do after. It's the only thing that we can talk about."

That made sense, but Mikan didn't want to admit it.

"So what do you wanna do after the tests?" Natsume asked.

Mikan bit her lip and tried to think of something that wasn't the terrible performance she was projecting in her head. "Ice cream. I wanna eat ice cream."

"That's doable."

"I want ice cream too!" Koko said with delight. "I wanna eat lemon gelato."

"I'd rather eat chocolate," Natsume retorted.

"Cookies and cream," Mikan chimed in, getting excited about the premise of a sweet treat after all this.

They talked about ice cream flavors for five minutes as the other Varsities got settled in, and Mikan forgot all about her stress by the time the speaker announced the beginning of the first round.

The questions came and went, and the three of them settled into a perfect system of discussion and answering. By the end of the round, Mikan was proud of herself for how often she'd waved her little checkered flag.

"See?" Natsume said when they were heading back up the bleachers to switch out with the Scholastics. "There's no point getting stressed about something so short-lived, is there?"

They did indeed eat some local specialties at a restaurant a few blocks away from the hotel after the tests were all finished. Natsume stopped complaining as soon as the tonkotsu ramen came out. The burgers and fries could wait.

At Natsume's suggestion, the team went for ice cream after dinner, and Mikan fought back the thoughts that maybe he'd been right when he said he deserved a kiss. She refused to give in so easily.

Everyone on the team had done their best, with each Honors decathlete getting every question right during the last round, so Narumi decided to treat them for the ice cream, though he did order himself a cone too.

They were in the middle of their treat when the Nishi team came upon them, and suddenly the group nearly doubled in size. Their coach, scary Persona, gave in to Narumi's pressure and eventually bought his students ice cream too. He didn't seem happy about it, but he was assuaged a bit as he licked at his own ice cream.

It was hard not to notice that Luna was not with them. Mikan was attuned to her least favorite person's presence because she was so used to avoiding her at these kinds of events that it had become almost instinct, but nobody else seemed to pick up on the Nishi captain's absence.

The evening was fun, as a result, with nobody souring the mood. The ice cream parlor was rowdy with teenagers, and that attracted even more youths to the place, making it livelier and livelier as the night went on.

The Nishi and Alice teams combined for an intense game of Uno. At some point Hotaru beat Ruka, after losing to him all day, and her heavy sigh of relief wasn't missed by anyone. He beat her the next round for good measure, though.

Natsume, who sat beside Mikan like he had a grudge, kept hitting her with "skip" and "reverse" cards, which made it impossible to win a single round. She had more cards in her hand than anyone else in the game, with maybe Hayate from the Nishi team as an exception.

The sky turned dark and the ice cream was all eaten up, and the two teams decided to walk back to the hotel together.

"We can talk about it now," Permy announced to Anna and Nonoko sharply when they made it to the lobby, and that was Mikan's only warning before she went on to say, "Let's stay up and chat a bit more in our room, just us ladies."

Koko, prone to revenge, stood up straight. "Fine! Two can play at that game! We'll have a boys' night out! I saw an arcade a bit away and we'll have way more fun than you guys!"

"You keep roping us into things," Ruka said softly. "It's getting kinda late."

"Remember that the Nishi curfew is at eleven," Persona said tersely as he and Narumi got in the elevator. "I don't want to hear that any of you have left the hotel."

"That goes for the Alice kids, too!" Narumi chipped it, though his warning sounded much less like a threat than Persona's did.

The girls didn't mind staying in the hotel for the rest of the night, but the boys visibly deflated at their plans to one-up the girls crumbling.

"That's okay," Mikan overheard Kitsuneme telling Koko as the girls jammed themselves in the next elevator. "I have Connect 4 in my backpack. We can play the night away." The doors closed just as Mochu and Tsubasa groaned.

"I have nail polish!" Wakako exclaimed. "We can do manicures, to match our shirts for Speech and Interview tomorrow!"

"That's so cute!" Permy said, gripping Wakako's wrist. "We can do that while we chat!"

The elevator doors dinged open and Mikan's stomach sunk. She had the sneaking suspicion she and a certain boy would be the topic of at least some conversation. She hoped Permy would know better than to bring that up with Hotaru joining them, but she also wasn't holding her breath.

Apparently, Permy didn't need to bring anything up, though. The girls had just barely settled into the Alice girls' room, picking out colors for tomorrow and applying the first coats of intensely smelling polish, when Wakako asked, "So who's the boy you have a crush on, Mikan? Do I know him?"

In a split second, Hotaru's fierce gaze was on Mikan, and her stomach was churning with guilt for not doing a better job of covering up her tracks. "I'm not breaking any rules!" She set her light pink polish down so as to not make a mess. "I'm not dating anybody, I swear!'

Hotaru just blinked.

"It just happened really fast and before I knew it, I was… I don't know… starting to like him and I wish it hadn't happened, but I can't help that it did and-"

"Natsume-kun?" Hotaru guessed, her voice cold and detached.

The room was silent and everyone had frozen still, eyes tentatively moving from Hotaru to Mikan. Wakako had the sense to keep her chin down guiltily, face red from having inadvertently started a conflict.

"Yes…" Mikan mumbled, trying to be as quiet as possible. Despite her efforts, everyone heard her, and the way the other girls' eyes widened and their lips bit down to keep smiles from spreading filled her with extra shame. "But I promise I'm not dating him and I won't, especially because he doesn't like me back that way so…"

"Oh, I knew it," Misaki muttered under her breath.

"Excuse me," Hotaru said, standing up, leaving her purple nail polish untouched. "I don't feel like doing a girls' night. I'm going to go practice my speech." She deftly maneuvered the room, stepping over the other girls and their coats until she was out of the room.

Mikan was so embarrassed tears were starting to well. She'd disappointed her best friend, who-for all of her insults and cruel barbs-did mean well and believed in her. They'd gotten this far because Hotaru was their co-captain, because as fun as Acadec could be, someone always had to step up to be the serious one, to get everyone to buckle down and actually work. She seemed strict, but it came from a good place, and Mikan felt like she'd just spit on all of Hotaru's hard work.

"I'm so so sorry!" Wakako burst out as soon as the door closed again. "That was so out of line and I really regret it! I shouldn't have said anything! I didn't know it was a secret, but I should have considered that-"

"It's okay," Mikan said, wiping her eyes and ignoring how hot her face was. "It probably would've come up some other way.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Nonoko asked, putting her arm around Mikan. "We may be competitors, but we're also friends. We're here for you."

"Can we actually talk about something else?"

A moment of silence passed, where all the girls looked at each other for some new topic, the past moment weighing heavily over the next. Then, Anna, with all the enthusiasm they'd had in the elevator, pointed to Misaki and shouted, "Misaki's totally into Tsubasa! She never shuts up about him!"

"I am not, and I don't want to talk about him!"

"Maybe we can talk about something that's not boy related?" Nonoko suggested.

"Well, that's disappointing," Permy said, leaning back against the bed. "But maybe we can talk about speeches? Maybe we can practice. It's not like we can sabotage each other this close to the end."

They ended up going with that, reciting speeches as they applied nail polish. The mood did lighten somewhat, but Mikan kept glancing toward the door, hoping Hotaru would come back. Two hours passed, the polish dried, the speeches tired them out, and eleven o'clock was on the horizon.

The Nishi girls left after they all wished each other the best of luck, and then Mikan was alone in the room with Permy, who immediately got down to tidying up.

"I don't think Imai will appreciate coming back to a messy room, so…"

Mikan agreed and silently joined in. When the floor was immaculate (or as clean as a hotel room occupied by three girls for a weekend could be), Permy got up to freshen up before bed.

"Do you think she's mad at me?" Mikan asked.

Permy paused. "Maybe. You know her better than I do. She did seem upset, but it'll probably be fine once you talk." She gave a feeble smile and then went into the bathroom.

Mikan got antsy. She knew Permy was just trying to be nice, but there was no way of knowing specifically what Hotaru was feeling or what was going through her head. It was late, anyway, and Hotaru still hadn't come back, so Mikan decided to go out and look for her through the halls of the hotel. She stepped out and shut the door gently behind her, but when she turned around, she saw Natsume sitting outside his room, yawning.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked.

"Playing hide and seek," he answered. When Mikan just cocked her head to the side, he elaborated. "I'm seeking. I'm supposed to count to a hundred and then go back inside and find the rest of them. It's a tiny room so it hasn't been a very challenging game so far."

"I'm seeking too, in a way," she said, moving closer to stand over him. "Hotaru left in the middle of our girls' night and she hasn't come back. I think she's mad at me."

"What did you do?"

Mikan blushed. She couldn't actually answer that question, so she shook her head. "Nothing that bad! She's just sensitive!"

"Sensitive?" He clearly didn't buy it.

"...Anyway, do you have any tips for seeking?"

"Be thorough."

"Yeah."

"Check all the corners and under the bed. The bathtub is a hot commodity, too."

"Well, seeing as you're seeking right now, you're obviously not very good at the game."

"It's my third time," he hissed. "It's impossible to hide in there." He sighed but got up. "I think it's been more than enough time. I'll go find Mochu behind the curtains for the ninth time tonight." He paused. "And good luck finding our co-captain. I don't think we can win anything without her."

He moved to turn around, but Mikan caught him by the wrist. "Thank you," she whispered, embarrassed to be so vulnerable. "You're being very sweet."

Natsume stared at his wrist for a moment, before his gaze moved up and settled on her mouth. It felt pointed and meaningful and she couldn't help but blush, even more embarrassed.

But he didn't kiss her. He squeezed her nose instead. "No, I'm not." He opened the door and then called out, "Ready or not, here I come."

The door closed again and Mikan smiled, letting herself be giddy for exactly thirty seconds before she remembered that it was that giddiness and Natsume that had put her in this situation to begin with. She shook off the feeling and then made her way for the elevators. She merely turned the corner before she was stopped short. She hadn't had to look very far at all, because Hotaru was standing in front of the elevators and the ice machine.

"Hotaru-"

"You don't have to say anything." Hotaru looked her straight in the eyes but didn't move, and Mikan felt even guiltier. There was no way she hadn't overheard the conversation Mikan just had with Natsume, where she'd accused her own best friend of being too sensitive.

"I'm sorry-"

"What for?" Hotaru asked.

Mikan stilled. Was this a trick question? Was she supposed to answer in a specific way? "For… uh… all that stuff back there, with boys and… you know."

"Why would you apologize to me?"

Another minute of silence. Mikan didn't know what to say, but she was working her brain overtime trying to figure it out.

The quiet was marred by the Hayate kid's loud whine as he went out into the hall, crying, "You guys are so unfair! You found us at the same time!"

"You lost at rock-paper-scissors-bomb, so you have to be It!" Koko's voice argued.

"I didn't know we were playing with bombs!" Hayate shot back, but it was too late. The door slam echoed down the hall.

Mikan and Hotaru were out of view, but their conversation was on pause as Hayate painstakingly counted all the way to one hundred. As soon as he went back into the room to seek, Hotaru started speaking.

"They've been playing this game for an hour already."

"I don't think you're sensitive!" Mikan sobbed, tears finally done welling. They were now streaming down her cheeks, her face entirely wet in a matter of seconds. "I think you're stoic and cold and unfeeling!"

"Thank you," Hotaru said, voice still calm despite the drama. "But I'm not hurt because of that." She took a breath before elaborating. "You ignored the team rules and caught feelings for that lazy scoundrel. I mean, I put those rules in place because of you and Natsume-kun, and it didn't make a difference."

"I know and I'm sorry-"

"I'm not done," Hotaru interrupted. "All this stuff was happening with you, and you didn't feel safe to tell me. I made myself your enemy, when I'm supposed to be your best friend. This past year, you've been going crazy over that stupid boy, and I've been shutting you down. Yes, you have been supremely annoying about him, and no sane person wants to hear you talk about him for an hour, let alone every day, but it's my job as your best friend to be the receptacle for all your stupid whining. I'm sorry."

Mikan's jaw fell open. She'd been friends with Hotaru since before kindergarten, and in all that time, Hotaru had never apologized to her before. She didn't think Hotaru was capable of wrong-doing, let alone of dropping to the level of saying sorry for it. And yet.

"You were scared to tell me because of the rule, right? I suspected something was going on, and I wondered why you wouldn't tell me, but when you brought up the rule tonight, I realized it was my own fault you didn't confide in me, and I'm sorry."

"Hotaruuu…" Mikan let out a whine about as pathetic as Hayate's had been and then catapulted herself into her best friend's arms. "You're forgiven! I love you so much!"

"Come on," Hotaru said gently, prying Mikan off her. "Let's go back to the room and you can have fifteen minutes only to tell me all about what's been going on before we go to sleep. We still have a competition after all."

Mikan nodded excitedly. "Yes, co-captain!"

They started heading down the hall, just as Ruka was being kicked out of the boys' room. He stumbled into the hall, the door closed, and he sighed. "We've been playing for an hour and Koko is the only one who hasn't been It. I think the game is rigged." When he got a better look at Mikan, his eyes widened. "Are you okay? What happened? Are you crying?"

"I'm great! Fantastic!" Mikan squeezed Ruka's cheek as they passed him. "You guys should go to bed soon! We have Subjectives tomorrow!"

She practically skipped the rest of the way to their room.

Essay was unceremoniously wrapped up a week prior to the rest of the competition, done under heavy scrutiny in the Alice High School computer lab. Mikan hardly remembered it happening at all and definitely didn't remember what prompt she had written for anymore. That left only two Subjectives left, and only two subjects left in the competition at all: Speech and Interview.

Mikan and her roommates miserably crawled out of bed at six in the morning to get made up and dressed for the final lap in the competition. Mikan didn't even do it on purpose anymore; her speech reverberated around her head all hours of the day at this point. It would take extreme stage fright to shock a single word out of her brain… Not that that was impossible.

Breakfast consisted of whatever refrigerated leftovers they'd accumulated over the past two nights of eating out, which was sufficient for Mikan. She actually got even more food when Permy surrendered her own leftovers, complaining that the anxiety of the day killed her appetite.

Personally, Mikan thought food was a great way of staving off anxiety, but she wasn't about to argue with Permy when it meant she got an extra to-go box of food.

Following that, the team met up in the lobby, and the boys' game from the previous night latched onto the new setting with a vengeance. It was silly to see them running around the lobby in their fancy suits, trying to hide behind armchairs and potted plants, though that was cut short by the arrival of the Nishi team and the Kita High School team that had finished fifth at Regionals. They would all be bussing together to the locale where they'd be giving their speeches and interviews.

Unfortunately, unlike last night, Luna was very much present this morning.

Mikan was lucky enough to sit next to Ruka when it looked like Luna was itching to torture her all the way to the secondary location, but she was unlucky enough that Luna decided to settle for second best by sitting behind them.

"Sakura-san," Luna purred. "I think it's such a shame I never got to hear your speech."

"It is a shame," Ruka said. "Sakura's speech is very good."

Mikan didn't think so. She was one of the only members of the team who didn't get a medal for her speech at Regionals, and Luna had to know that.

"Is that so?" Luna said anyway. "You have to perform it for me sometime. I'm dying to hear it."

"It would be easier if you would just die," Permy hissed as she passed their seats.

The ride was peaceful all things considered, but Mikan was hyper-aware of the fact that Luna was behind her, so her conversation with Ruka ended up being tense and stiff. She practically ran off the bus as soon as they were stopped at the local high school where the subjective competition was being held.

This arrangement complicated things: the temporary coach alliance between Kita, Alice, and Nishi meant that they were traveling together, but also that their tables were next to each other, so Mikan wouldn't be free of Luna's taunts until they were back at the hotel, but even then they'd have that dance at the hotel.

Mikan slumped into her seat at the table Alice claimed, close to the wall of the high school's large gymnasium. Though she liked most of the Nishi kids, she chose to sit as far away from the Nishi table as possible, just to avoid Luna. However, though this position put distance between her and Luna, it also made it so just looking up meant making eye contact with her.

Oh well.

With only two tests left, Mikan was torn between wanting to just get this whole competition over with and wanting to hold off any more contests until she felt she was worthy, which she clearly wasn't.

Narumi came around with their respective nametags on lanyards. Under Mikan's own name was the name of her school, the word "Varsity" as well as the times and room numbers of her speech and interview. Speech was first, which was good since it required her to have all the words perfectly memorized. For Interview, she could be her usual charming self and ad lib it all, something she proved to be pretty good at since she was able to handle Natsume's practice questions about her identifying as "part swine" or whatever. If she could manage him, then there was nothing the judges could hit her with that would throw her off.

Ten minutes before her speech was scheduled, she got up to find the room, ignoring Luna's intense gaze on her as she left the gym. She was just about to turn into the hall when she felt a presence beside her. She flinched at the feel of a hand on her arm only to turn and see Natsume there. She swatted his fingers off her blazer.

"Why are you following me?"

He snorted. "Following you? I'm seeing you off. You were really going to your speech by yourself? Don't you need someone to wish you luck?"

Mikan's cheeks lit on furious fire. "No!" she snapped, knowing exactly what he meant by "wishing her luck".

"You don't want luck? Would you tell Ruka you didn't want him wishing you luck? What about Asshat? Koko?"

"I don't need luck for Speech," Mikan said, trying to sound confident. "I have it memorized."

"Your love letter to me," he boasted.

"My speech about enemies."

"Which was inspired by me."

"Which isn't a good thing!"

"I'm just happy to be on your mind."

She shoved him for that, but she let him accompany her to the second floor of the building, where they quickly found the classroom she'd be giving her speech in.

"I wonder what your speech will be next year," Natsume mused. "It'll obviously be about me, but…"

"I don't know," Mikan said. Part of her thought maybe this could be her last year of this class. As much fun as she had and as accomplished as she'd felt these past few days, she also felt tragically unworthy of her place on the team, and she wasn't really all that fond of the prospect of dealing with Luna for yet another year. "I guess we'll see." A moment passed before realization struck her. "Wait, are you taking this again next year?"

Natsume shrugged. "Are you?"

"Are you planning on taking it again?"

"Only if you are."

Well, that was sweet. She couldn't help but smile at him, but… "Natsume, you're good at pretty much everything so I'm sure you could take any class you'd like, but you're really good at Aca Dec. You're a good leader when you wanna be, and you're good at explaining complicated math things to idiots like me, and you've scored so well. You should keep going, even if I don't."

He made a face. He clearly wasn't as touched by her words and she had been by his. "You said yourself I'm good at everything," he argued. "Electives are just classes you take to pass the time." That was only true for him. "If you end up taking Ceramics next year, that's what I'll take. If you're in Home Ec, you'll see me there too. If you keep going with Aca Dec, then I'll keep going too. I only joined this class to mess with you. I can do that in any class."

"Don't you like Aca Dec?"

"Yeah. I really like it. It's the best elective I've taken so far. That's why I'll be so angry if you quit, especially because I'll know it's just because of that wacko from the other team."

The classroom door opened and a kid walked out, breathing in and out evenly. As he passed Mikan, he gave her a thumbs up. She was up next.

That was for the best, because giving a speech was much preferable to replying to Natsume's accusation. She busied herself by smoothing down her skirt and making sure her nails were unchipped.

"Polka Dots."

"You should really be more careful when you talk to girls, you know," Mikan snapped impatiently. "I know you're just messing with me, but a girl stupider than me might think you like her or something." She regretted saying it instantly, her mouth shutting as soon as the last word was out. She pretended to be distracted by the collar of her yellow blouse, fixing it up so it was straight.

"Good luck," he said softly, ignoring everything she had just said. Then, just like he had yesterday, he moved in close and kissed her on the cheek. Unlike yesterday, however, this was no rushed peck, so casual Mikan had to run through her memories to check that they hadn't always been so cavalier kissing each other. No, this time he was slow and purposeful, but he also didn't linger. Just as the door to the classroom opened, he separated.

"Sakura Mikan?" the judge at the door asked.

Mikan tore her eyes off of Natsume, who had the audacity to meet her gaze head on. "Yes, that's me."

"Please come in."

She did as they said and entered, but she knew her face was bright pink. She tried to put on a Mochu mask, the coolest and most stoic person she knew, but it was no use. All she could think about was Natsume's stupid brazenness.

She went through the routine she knew: giving a firm but unobtrusive handshake to each judge, as well as a unique greeting. Then she stepped back to the "X" outlined in masking tape in the middle of the floor. The judge who let her in read aloud the instructions, but Mikan zoned out instantly. She knew what she was supposed to do for the speech already. What she didn't know was what to do about Natsume.

He'd pretty much admitted to liking her without using words, right? Or was she reading too much into it? Was she just imagining it because she wanted him to like her?

Did she want him to like her?

"Begin when you're ready," the judge concluded, folding his hands on the desk in front of him.

She took a deep breath.

Of course he'd try to sabotage her speech performance. He was, after all, her worst enemy. She let the indignation of his sheer audacity fill her, because her speech was especially about how there were certain people in the world who could make you angrier than anything, but that that same anger could motivate you to be the very best version of yourself.

She had to admit, though she'd never say it to Natsume, he really was her muse.

Mikan left the classroom with a grin on her face. Not only did she nail her speech, not missing a single word and making perfect time, but her impromptu was thoughtful and captivating and she'd done a miraculous job of keeping her "um"s and "uh"s to a minimum. The judges weren't supposed to show much emotion, but she'd gotten a giggle out of the middle one, and that had to be good.

She closed the door behind her, spotting two people out in the hall with her. One was undoubtedly the next speech-giver, but the other was Natsume.

He'd waited for her.

Overcome with pride and happiness and even affection for him, she skipped over to him and-ignoring every single thing she knew about typical enemy interactions, which was a lot because she'd had this particular enemy for her whole life and had even written a speech about her expertise-jumped into his arms.

"I did really well!" she exclaimed.

He returned the hug immediately, only barely stumbling from her weight. "Yeah?"

"I made them laugh! I mean, just a bit, but still! It was my best take, honestly!"

"Your speech is good…"

The hug went on too long, but she didn't want to leave it. Now that she was hugging him for real, she had to ask herself if all the kicks and smacks were supposed to make up for a lack of this. It was wonderful to be so close to him. The urge came to nuzzle her face into his neck, but that was too scary, so she chose that moment to pull away.

He let her.

"When's your interview?" he asked.

"In an hour. What about you?"

"I'd just finished my interview when I saw you going to your speech. My speech is in about an hour too."

"Okay…" Mikan summoned her courage. She knew she could never be as bold as Natsume, but maybe she could aim for a fraction of that. "Maybe we can go together?"

"Yeah." He'd started answering before she'd even finished her question.

"Okay."

They killed time by walking up and down the halls of the foreign school, playing "I Spy" and "Would You Rather" intermittently, only to interrupt the games with surprise interview questions and impromptu speech topics.

As they goofed around, Mikan had the idle thought that she really loved how smart Natsume was, and how cool he sounded whenever he answered any question, even the stupid ones Mikan was coming up with in the attempt to make him laugh. He stayed calm always and stuck with the stupid. Mikan's side hurt from how much he cracked her up.

A little voice was screaming in her head, telling her this was all wrong, that she'd hated him for years for a reason, that he'd been horrible and mean and rude on purpose and had found pleasure in tormenting her and that even joining this class had been, on his part, motivated by malice towards her.

But that little voice was getting more and more drowned out by a much louder voice, who had nothing intelligent to say and would instead make a big fuss of shrieking whenever Natsume did anything and occasionally sigh blissfully.

She felt like she was at an all-time record of stupidity, but lacked the motivation to fight it.

That's why she did what she did.

Natsume's speech was first, before her interview. They waited by the door together and when his time had finally come, she decided to take on the role of the audacious one.

She was just aiming to kiss him on the cheek, like he'd done, but he'd jerked his head around in surprise at her sudden grabbing, and then her lips were on his. She pulled apart quickly. "Good luck," she said, willing to come off as though that had been on purpose.

Natsume's wide eyes only blinked once before he muttered out, "You're evil."

Then the door opened and his judge called out his name.

Mikan ran away to give her interview after that, happy for the excuse to escape.

Interview went smoothly too. The judges were mainly reading the suggested questions from their packet, uninterested in any real conversation, which was much easier to deal with than Natsume's incessant pestering. All that silly practice had actually helped, who'd have guessed?

Mikan sat beside Iinchou on the bus ride back to the hotel, successfully avoiding proximity with Luna this time. She was in a good mood and wasn't about to get close enough to the one person adept at destroying good moods.

They had their last dinner out at a barbecue place, all dressed in their suits and speech attire. Koko made the foolish decision to dare Hotaru into an eating contest, and though he did seem to have the upper hand at first (since he was revoltingly shoveling meat down his throat and making a mess of himself while Hotaru was her usual, dainty self), she won by a mile.

Following that, they returned to the hotel so they could all get ready for the dance, in the same ballroom they'd taken their tests in.

Mikan decided to claim the bathroom last, partly out of kindness but mostly out of embarrassment. She slid her dress out of her bag and when Hotaru was finally out of the bathroom, she rushed in past her and shut the door. She didn't want to attract any attention, but it was hard not to when it came to this dress.

She came out, changed and made up, only for Permy to clap her hands. "Didn't we tell you that color looks great on you?"

Instantly ashamed, even though her friends now knew her horrible secret, she attempted to downplay it. "It's just a dress."

They took the elevator downstairs together.

The dance was one of the few official Aca Dec events that wasn't chaperoned by every single coach in the program. Though there were a couple supervising adults lurking in the corners, this was supposed to be a fun thing for the decathletes. They'd done a great job transforming the test-taking arena into a dancefloor, the fluorescent lights replaced with shifting colors, the tables and chairs replaced with a clear floor and a DJ at the far wall.

"Last year, I left early," Hotaru said. "I had a headache."

"Of course you did," Permy scoffed. "You've been all work and no play for months, so of course the first taste of fun hurt you. I will not let you leave early this time."

Mikan ran her eyes excitedly over the crowd. The kids who had, just a day ago, been studying rigorously for an extra-curricular program were now transformed into partying teenagers, all done up and laughing.

"You guys ditched us!" Koko's voice boomed from the entrance to the room. He ran over to the girls. "We waited, like, five minutes, only to find out you'd already gone down."

Mikan's excitement shifted suddenly and horrifically to dread. She wished she could change out of this dress and into something more presentable, something he wouldn't take personally.

But there was no time for that. Natsume and the other boys joined them, most of them still donning their suits from earlier with the exception of Koko who had changed entirely into a polo and shorts. The rest of them had, at most, discarded their sports coats.

Mikan pretended not to notice and not to care, but she could feel someone's eyes on her.

"Did anyone want to dance?" Mochu asked.

The music playing wasn't anything unlike the playlist they'd arranged for their bus trips, except maybe more streamlined and dancey.

"No…" said Ruka.

"Maybe later, you know, if someone wants to," said Tsubasa.

"Not by myself," said Permy.

"I do!" said Koko, immediately staying true to his word by shimmying by himself.

The group gradually thinned out. Koko dragged Mochu and Permy to the dance floor, though they both seemed embarrassed to be seen with him. Tsubasa got coaxed away by Misaki. Hotaru and Ruka tucked themselves away, standing together at the wall and munching on Hotaru's snacks. Iinchou was chatting with a group of other team captains.

Mikan was left with Natsume near the entrance. A very strong part of her wanted to run away and dance with Koko, even if it would be embarrassing. It couldn't be more awkward than this, after all. But the rest of her was just excited to stand next to him, even if they weren't talking or moving in the slightest.

She considered asking him if he wanted to dance, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words, remembering the last time they were in this situation. She'd hoped he would have said something about her dress, but he didn't. She couldn't really blame him.

So neither of them spoke. They stood like guards on duty, not looking at each other or conversing, just staring at the crowd of kids in front of them and waiting for the other one to make the first move.

"Sakura-san! Good evening!"

With a heavy heart, Mikan turned to face Luna, whose dress was glittering under the colorful lights. She looked perfect and pristine as usual. "Hello, Luna," she said, mood dropping by the second.

"Hello, Natsume-kun."

Natsume didn't reply, only eyeing her with an unmoving expression.

"You shouldn't be wallflowers at a party like this! Prefecture only comes once a year for most of us, and for the rest this could be our only chance to be here." She maintained meaningful eye contact with Mikan as she said that. "I mean there's no guarantee you'll get here next year, is there?"

"But for you there is?" Mikan shot back, her throat dry.

"Did I say that?" she asked in so particular a way that Mikan would've felt stupid no matter how she replied.

Luna was good at that, at rendering Mikan speechless.

"I still am so amazed by you, Sakura-san. You're proof of the indelible spirit of humankind, and the relentless pursuit of success in the face of impossibility."

Mikan knew that was an insult, even if she didn't fully understand what she'd said. Again, she had no way to respond.

"Shut up," Natsume said.

Both Luna and Mikan turned their attention to him. "Excuse me?"

"You just pick on Mikan because you're jealous of her."

Luna smiled. "Jealous? I don't think so."

"Everyone likes her and nobody likes you. Your own team would rather hang out with her than spend a single second in your company. That's why you're always bullying her. You're pathetic."

Luna's smile withered away, replaced by a furious sneer. "That's a rude thing to say to somebody at a party, Natsume-kun."

Natsume didn't say anything back.

"I was just giving some advice and paying Sakura-san a compliment, but I see I'm overstaying my welcome over here. See you later."

Luna walked away in a huff, made small for the first time. Mikan looked up at Natsume, just to see that he'd gone back to watching the crowd with a grumpy frown on his face.

He'd called her by her name again. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest, touched by the use of her name, by him standing up for her, by Luna being put down.

The DJ switched things up and started to play music selections from their curriculum. Though most of the kids faltered, unsure how to dance to "I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier," Koko never stopped his dancing for a moment. Mikan felt like her head and heart were about to explode from how much was going on.

"Do you want to-" they both said at the same time.

"What were you going to say?" Natsume asked.

"Um… I don't…" She hesitated, but chose courage. "It's kinda hot in here. I can't hear anything-Do you wanna step out with me?"

He nodded, and together they stepped into the hall. The hall was well-lit and, though the music from the dance was still audible through the shut doors, it was easier to be heard.

"Did you have something to say?" Natsume asked, leaning against the wall.

"Not really." That was a lie. She had a lot of things she wanted to say, many questions to ask, feelings she could confess. She just didn't want to.

"We'll stand in silence, then?"

"Don't you have something to say to me?"

"No."

Mikan gave up, leaning against the opposite wall from him. Fine. They didn't have to talk.

But she was confused and overwhelmed and two of her friends knowing the truth now didn't help as much as she wanted it to. Hotaru's wise wisdom was still to wait until after the competition was over, since she was convinced the crush was born out of nothing more than proximity. ("He will cease to be attractive to you the second the competition ends.") Mikan didn't think that was true, but she didn't argue either, because it was easier to agree than to explain that this feeling was haunting her all the time.

Every moment she was in Natsume's presence, she was full of bizarre urges, to hold his hand or hug him or blurt out that he looked nice or similar nonsense. Even now, in this lonely hallway, with the muffled sound of "Dippermouth Blues" coming through the doors, she wanted to be closer, to talk.

But his eyes were on the floor.

Not on her, not on the red dress she'd bought just for him (as embarrassing as that was to admit to herself), not even in her direction.

He seemed unhappy.

"Are you… mad at me for some reason?"

He finally looked up. "Not really."

"Everyone knows 'not really' means 'yes,' so just tell me what I did."

"I'm not mad at you," he said. "I'm just confused."

"About what?"

"About why you don't stand up for yourself with her."

It was Mikan's turn to avert her gaze. She'd been expecting the conversation to turn slightly toward their relationship. This was less pleasant.

"It's one person, who nobody on this planet likes, picking on you all the time. And you just stand there and take it. I don't get it. You're not like that with anybody else."

"She… I don't know, she makes me feel bad."

"I made you feel bad," Natsume pointed out. "I tease you all the time. But nothing ever stops you from yelling and screaming and pushing me into pools." Mikan blushed at the memory of the last time she'd pushed him into the pool. Luckily for her, he didn't linger on that. Unluckily for her, he continued berating her. "I know she's mean, but you've never been such a pushover before."

"You don't get it," Mikan said softly.

"What don't I get?"

"You trick me into saying stupid things. You poke me all the time until I get annoyed. You prank me. But… most of the time, you're just playing. It doesn't feel as serious."

He snorted. "You're joking, right? You hated me. It was that serious."

"We were kids! I never felt like you were… right about me."

"What?"

"Luna's words hurt more because she's right. I am stupid and I don't deserve to be on the team and my scores are bad and-"

"She is not right about you," he interrupted, angry. "There's not a single person on the team who tries harder than you. You're the reason I care at all about this class. You deserve to be on the team more than anyone else and-"

Mikan moved away from the wall and wrapped her arms around Natsume, her face squashing into his neck. Only when she knew he couldn't see did she release a little sob.

I like you. I like you. I like you. Say it. Say it. Say it!

"Are you okay?" he asked, voice much softer, hugging her back.

"No," she said into his neck.

"Do you wanna go upstairs? Just until you feel better?"

"Yes."

He held her hand the whole way up. Though it didn't clear any of her confusion up, she didn't want him to let go. Clarification could come at some other time.

They chose Mikan's room, since it was neater than his (Ruka was neat and tidy, but Mochu and Natsume weren't, so the room was a mess, though, apparently, not nearly as messy as Koko's). Only when they were seated on one of the beds did he let go.

"Do you wanna be alone?" he asked.

"No!"

"Okay."

"I'm sorry," she said, slumping backward onto the mattress. "I'm ruining your night."

"My night's not ruined. I didn't wanna be at that dumb party anyway. I'm not really a big dancer."

Mikan stared hard at him, but he wasn't looking at her. He was avoiding looking at her a lot tonight, and Mikan got the feeling that he was uncomfortable around her. She could understand that. The last time they'd spoken, one on one, she'd kissed him on the mouth on accident and then escaped without consequence.

When he brought up dancing, she couldn't help but think of the dance in middle school, when he'd sworn she'd be the worst dance partner.

Then again, he'd also said she looked horrible in his favorite color, only to correct himself years later that he'd thought she looked pretty.

She'd be lying if she said she hadn't worn red tonight in the hopes he might say it again.

"You don't like dancing?"

"It's embarrassing."

"I like dancing."

"Why didn't you dance, then?"

Because you didn't ask me. "I don't know."

"You can dance now if you want."

But she did not want. She didn't want to get up and dance to silence in front of him. Though it would be embarrassing if he watched her the whole time, it would be even worse if he kept his eyes on the floor the way he had all night long.

"Who wants to dance on their own? In front of someone else?"

"I don't know. You, I guess."

"I don't."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you. Don't dance then."

"Why don't you want to dance with me?" she blurted out impatiently.

He turned to glare at her. "Why would I dance with you? You don't wanna dance with me."

She sat up again. "Yes, I do!"

"No, you don't."

She stood up and then held her hand out. Her heart was beating fast from how frustrated she was getting. "Yes, I do."

They scowled at each other for a long moment before Natsume finally took her hand. "Fine," he said, sounding just as irritated as she was.

His hands went to her waist, hers around his neck, and then they started swaying despite the fact that neither of them had put music on. This was made all the more awkward by how annoyed they were with each other.

"Why are you mad?" Mikan asked.

"Why are you mad?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because I was looking forward to this dance. I thought maybe we could make up for… for last time. That we could dance."

"We are dancing, though."

"But you didn't want to."

"No."

"Why not?"

He took his time before answering. "Because you made it clear last time that was the last thing you wanted to do."

"So did you!"

"I'm just not interested in embarrassing myself again."

"Are you serious?" She pulled away just enough to look at him. "I'm the one who's always getting embarrassed around you! I always feel so dumb after being with you."

"No, I embarrassed myself that night."

"No, you embarrassed me."

"No, I embarrassed myself." His tone made it clear he wasn't interested in arguing about that point. When he spoke again, however, his voice was softer. "I psyched myself up for a week before the dance. I was gonna ask you. When I finally got up to do it, you made it pretty clear you'd hate it, so-"

Mikan pushed him away. He collapsed against the mattress.

"You jerk!"

He picked himself up, furious. "What the hell? You can't keep shoving me whenever I say something you don't like! What did I do wrong?!"

She didn't have any response to that. If she looked back on that night, she could see why he might've been hurt. If he had asked her to dance, she couldn't imagine a preteen Mikan accepting his offer. They'd always been on such bad terms, after all. That's why she was annoyed. Because he had been her least favorite person in middle school, and he'd apparently wanted to ask her to dance.

She was a jerk too.

"I wore this so you'd think I was pretty," she said with a sniffle. "And I want to dance with you now, even if I didn't before."

"You are pretty." He stood up again. "We can dance if you want. You're the only person I'd want to dance with anyway."

They went back to holding each other, only this time the anger had melted away. She didn't think either of them had been truly angry to begin with. This dance brought back bad memories for both of them, and they'd projected that hurt from that night to this one.

They didn't talk anymore about back then, or about anything going on between them now. They just swayed back and forth in silence for a long time in Mikan's hotel room, not saying a single word.

"As adorable as you two are, you have to get up!"

Mikan squinted at the harsh light above as she painstakingly opened her eyes to Permy's harsh voice. "Huh?"

"Get up! We don't have a lot of time to get breakfast before the Awards Ceremony!"

Mikan lifted up her head to take in the situation, only to find that her head was tucked by Natsume's shoulder. They must have fallen asleep at some point after dancing, only to wind up more or less cuddling each other through the night. She rose in a rush. Natsume followed, but in a much more dignified way.

"My mom would kill me if she knew I'd slept with a boy in my hotel room," Permy mused as she moved about the room, packing her bag back up.

Mikan got hit in the head by a toiletries bag. "Ow!"

Hotaru, the culprit, moved closer, just to pick up the bag and go back to packing it. "Because of you, I had to spend my last night in this hotel sharing a bed."

"Sorry?"

"You should be."

"See ya," Natsume said, before presumably going to his own room to get ready for their last day of competition.

With him gone, Mikan finally got up too, making her way to her bag and pulling out the clothes she would wear for the ceremony.

"You two were just so cute last night. I couldn't bear to wake you up, even though Imai really wanted to. I convinced her to leave you alone, though, so-"

"So you two both owe me," Hotaru said bitterly.

Both of the girls were already dressed and freshened up, so Mikan felt extra pressured to get her morning routine done with as quickly as possible. She was pretty good at rushing through getting ready, though, so in a matter of mere minutes, she was out of the room.

"Okay, okay!" Narumi called in the lobby. "Listen up! Our fearless team leader will guide us through today's agenda so pay attention!"

With everyone's eyes on him, Iinchou cleared his throat and then began. "It'll be pretty simple. We'll get a quick breakfast at that cafe across the street. Then we'll go to the forum for the Awards Ceremony. After that, we come back here, get our bags, check out, and then take the bus back home. We will stop for food once on the trip. There's no time for anyone to get separated today so we're doing everything as a group. That's all."

Oh, right. Mikan had gotten all caught up in the drama with Natsume and completely forgotten what this weekend was all about. Today was the day she'd find out her scores, and see if she was truly worthy of being chosen to be on the team.

She felt sick all of a sudden.

Thus she ate a light breakfast (only two sausage and egg sandwiches and a brown sugar latte, which was small compared to how much her best friend chowed down) and attempted to drown out her anxieties by being as loud as possible. She wedged herself into each and every conversation, intent on talking so loudly she couldn't hear the viciousness of her own thoughts.

This worked up until she and her team were finally seated in the forum, looking down from their seats at the stage, and conversation started to die down to make room for anticipation and excitement. All of her efforts to start up games or talk more were met with half-heartedness until she had no choice but to give up and sit with her fear.

She was almost grateful for Luna's appearance.

Luna must have felt more comfortable about approaching since Natsume was eight seats away from Mikan, who was sitting by Iinchou.

"Good morning, Sakura-san," Luna chirped. "You look so pretty. That dress is so much better on you than the one you wore yesterday."

Today, Mikan was wearing a casual yellow dress. Yesterday, she'd worn a more elaborate looking red one. Normally, she'd feel self-conscious about that comment, but Natsume told her she looked pretty, so she chose to believe him.

"Thank you," she said to Luna.

Luna's smile faltered. She'd been expecting passivity or sadness, not this.

"We'll see how the medals are factored this year. Hopefully the averages are pretty low so that you could qualify for at least one. Then again, if you didn't get any medals at Regionals, the chances are pretty much at zero you'll get one at Prefecture."

"Koizumi-san," Iinchou said defensively.

Mikan held her hand up. "It's okay. Let Luna say what she wants. I want to hear it."

"I don't have much else to say. Just that I feel sorry for you."

"Are you sure?" Mikan asked. "It's okay to rub it in. I did score pretty badly at Regionals."

Luna giggled condescendingly. "Um, okay? Well, I tend to score better than most people. This knowledge just comes easy to me. I guess that's why I feel so sorry for you. I know, due to your challenges, that you're not gonna do so well, and that's embarrassing for you. I'm not rubbing anything in. I'm just trying to make conversation. I'm just trying to be nice."

Luna turned to leave, but Mikan grabbed her arm before she could, keeping her in place. "That's all true, Luna. You're probably going to score a lot higher than me this time too. That's great. You should be proud of yourself for every medal you get today. But I'm the one who feels sorry for you. Because nobody on your team will cheer for you when your name gets called. And your coach won't take a single picture of you. When you graduate high school and nobody cares about Academic Decathlon anymore, every person you talked down to at these competitions will forget who you are. But because I pity you, I'll clap for each medal you win today. That way you know one person actually cared about what you did in this competition while you were too busy being mean to people to make a single friend."

Then she let go.

Luna's arm recoiled instantly, her face pink. "Screw you." She left, then.

Iinchou clapped his hands together. "That was incredible, Mikan-chan! You stood up for yourself!"

Mikan smiled as her teammates congratulated her. Her stomach felt a little less spinny, her head less cluttered. That dread she always felt whenever Luna came around vanished. Luna was just a mean girl. Natsume was right when he said Luna was lonely. There was no reason to let her win every time.

Shortly after that, the ceremony began. Unlike the Regionals Awards Banquet, there was no food served at the Prefecture ceremony. Every team sat overlooking a stage, where one of the lead directors of the program was giving a speech welcoming everyone. Iinchou held Mikan's hand when the first category was announced.

"Mathematics."

A series of names were listed on the screen and many decathletes stood up to fetch their medals. This process was much longer than it had been at Regionals. There were more schools competing this time, and thus more kids qualifying for medals, which meant that Mikan got bored pretty quickly.

When they announced silver medals for Math, she clapped for Iinchou and Hotaru, and even harder when Natsume won a gold. He had to pass her to get in the aisle. Though he didn't look at her, he did pat her on the head.

Narumi was beyond excited to take pictures of his winning decathletes, so he stood at the steps, figuring it'd be easier than standing up over and over again. After Natsume had his photo taken, he moved back past MIkan and muttered just loud enough for her to hear, "You clapped."

"You deserved it this time."

The ceremony was long and tiresome. Whenever her teammates or the kids from Nishi won something, she clapped, and even kept her petty promise to Luna.

Tsubasa won a bronze in Social Science, Ruka won a Silver in Language and Literature, Permy won a Silver in Music, and even Koko won a gold in Speech. As the categories moved along, Hotaru and Iinchou-the rockstars of the team-accrued an impressive number of necklaces to hang around their necks. Mikan clapped supportively, but the sickness was starting to come back, the same flavor as how she'd felt at Regionals.

She wasn't going to win anything.

"Art!"

Her stomach sunk even lower, and then so did she, slumping in her seat and staring glumly at the names on the screen being called up to collect their medals.

Then her eyes widened.

Sakura Mikan-Alice High School.

She won a medal.

Iinchou squeezed her hand. "Mikan-chan! Get up there!"

She blinked over at him, only to see her whole team grinning and encouraging her.

"Get your ass up there!" Tsubasa said, pointing to the stage.

"Come on, Mikan-chan," Narumi said from the stairs.

She got up, stumbling only a little. Before she could make it too far, she turned. "Clap for me," she said to Natsume, her voice shaking with embarrassment and disbelief. She had to say it loud, for her voice to travel over eight seats, and her teammates looked confused about the outburst.

He just smiled.

The screen did not specify which medal she was being called for. She and the other winners were gathered at the base of the stage, waiting for their names to be called.

Mikan waited anxiously, gripping the skirt of her dress and glancing frequently at the screen just in case some hideous error had been made. Eventually, all the bronze-medal winners had been called, and they started calling the silver winners, with Mikan still waiting at the base.

She came up with a few ways they could have accidentally placed her on the winners' list. Maybe there was a typo, or they meant to call one of her teammates. Maybe one of the organizers saw how poorly she did overall, so they decided to give her a medal out of pity.

But the more she considered those explanations, the more unlikely they all seemed. This was no typo, no act of mercy.

She won a medal.

They wrapped up the silver winners and started to announce the gold.

Mikan's eyes widened in shock. The group she'd been standing with had thinned out considerably, and she was one of the only ones left.

No way.

She would have to hear it to believe it.

Then she heard it.

"Sakura Mikan, from Alice High School!" the director called.

Mikan bit back the urge to cry and sniffle. She was a grown up! She could handle this! She walked onto the stage, focusing on each step so she didn't trip and make a fool of herself. She shook the director's hand and then moved further down the line, where one of the organizers was holding a heavy amount of glistening gold medals.

One was placed around her neck gingerly and the woman muttered, "Congratulations," the way she probably did for every other kid who'd been on the stage. That didn't make Mikan feel any less special, though.

"Thank you so much," she said, eyes welling with tears. "I'm really grateful!"

The woman nodded supportively, but she gestured for her to move on so the next student could collect their medal.

Mikan made the rounds and started heading up the steps to her seat. She didn't need to smile for the picture Narumi took of her because her insane grin hadn't faltered for even a second since her name had been called. She sat down to cheers and congratulations from her teammates-from her friends.

Natsume clapped too.

Maybe because she deserved it.

Alice High School won tenth place in the Kyoto Prefecture Division II competition. Though they didn't qualify for Nationals, none of them cared. They'd worked hard and studied their asses off and ranking so well among the Division II schools was enough to make them all proud of themselves.

Nishi didn't make the cut to Nationals either, sadly. Only the top two schools from Division I went on, since their team members' names had been called the most often.

Mikan couldn't stop gripping her pretty gold medal. She was already thinking of where to place it amongst her sports trophies and awards, and how proud she was to have a real academic prize sit amongst them.

Who's an idiot now? she wanted to say, but there wasn't anybody to say it to. Even Natsume had believed in her, and Luna was long gone.

The team was waiting for the bus to come pick them up, gathered in front of their hotel with their bags and medals, chatting about their scores and their placement with excitement and pride.

Iinchou had won top-scorer on the team and had the most medals (five) and also won a bronze medal for scoring across the board. If the ranking was based off one student per team, perhaps they would have ranked higher.

Mikan's score counted for the Varsity category. Natsume scored higher than her, sure, but she wasn't the worst scorer. In fact, she was pretty close in score to Permy and Mochu, and Koko wasn't all that far behind.

They did well. Really well.

While they were waiting, Coach Narumi walked up to Mikan, since he'd been making the rounds around the team members to congratulate them for doing so well.

"Mikan-chan," he said gently, smiling warmly. "I'm so proud of you. Are you proud of what you did?"

Mikan nodded, her grin still stuck on her face since getting the gold medal.

"It's amazing. A gold medal's not an easy thing to get. I knew I was right to pick you for the team."

Mikan hesitated for just a moment. This-her placement on the team-had seemed unsteady from the beginning. She only now felt like the choice might be justified. "Um, Coach, why did you pick me for the team?"

"Choosing the teams isn't easy. Every year I get a crop of talented, smart, hard-working kids and have to pick nine of them to represent the school. Each time, I try and pick the kids who will score the best, who will give the best speeches, who will be the best leaders. Maybe, based on just your scores at the start, you might not have seemed like an obvious pick. But your speech was so good, and your personal statement blew me away. I knew you were gonna work hard, and that's more important than doing perfectly at the start. I loved your passion." He chuckled. "And Natsume's personal statement didn't hurt either."

Mikan's smile disappeared. She'd just started to feel all floaty inside, but now she was just confused. "His what?"

"His personal statement! It was all about you!"

"What do you mean?"

"It wasn't long, maybe a bit threatening. He made it clear that he didn't want to be on any team you weren't on-"

Mikan wanted to throw up. "What? He said that?"

Narumi seemed to realize that his words were no longer pleasant. "Yes. I thought you must have written them together."

"No, definitely not."

"I shouldn't have… shared that…" His face turned sympathetic. "It's not a bad thing, Mikan-chan. I mean, look at how well you did!"

She looked away, and Narumi got the hint.

"It's okay. You can relax now that the competition is over." Then he moved on to the next teammate, his pep slightly withered.

When the bus finally came around and they were allowed to board, Mikan made sure to sit by Hotaru at the window seat. She didn't want to sing and chat this time. She just wanted to think, because this news was heavy and overwhelming, and looking at Natsume, even by accident, was enough to hit her with a wave of nausea.

She was only on the team in the first place because of Natsume.

Maybe he'd been messing with her. Maybe he hadn't.

That didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was that Mikan did not get in on her own merit. Natsume was a high-scorer, a great leader for the Varsities, with a killer speech. He refused to be on any team that wasn't hers. She wanted to be flattered, but she couldn't bring herself to be.

"Let's head home, everyone!" Narumi called to the bus as the driver peeled out of the driveway. "As soon as we get home, we'll have to brag to everyone about how well you all did!"

The rest of the team cheered, but Mikan bit her lip to keep herself from crying.

It wasn't a bad thing, right? That's what Narumi had said. She'd still scored pretty well.

But that didn't change the facts of why she'd been in this position to begin with. Her scores had been lackluster. Luna had been right all along. There had to be some insidious reason why Mikan had been picked for the team. Though Luna had suggested that maybe Mikan had played dirty for her placement, that accusation hadn't been far from the truth.

"We both know you didn't earn your place on the team through scores. Your classmate Nendo Kaoru got way better scores than you at Scrimmage and he didn't make it. Just feels off, right? I'm not accusing you of anything, of course, but I'm sure it led to some talk, you getting a spot on the team that some people might feel like you don't deserve."

She hadn't deserved it. She hadn't gotten it on merit at all.

Narumi had only put her on the team to keep Natsume.


"I have not broken your heart-you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine." - Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights.