Meanwhile Mikan was busy pestering Hotaru to track down Natsume but Hotaru wouldn't budge. "I'm not wasting valuable resources just to track him down inside the academy." "But Hotaru, pleeeeaasssee! You know he is injured and I'm really worried!" Mikan's eyes were beginning to tear up and even Hotaru wasn't completely immune. Hotaru sighed, " You idiot, he should be back here within 30 minutes anyway to keep up with the terms of his punishment. And he's not likely to do anything that would put you in a difficult spot. So there's no need for you to panic." Mikan blinked as she processed what she heard. "Oh that's right!! He can only take a break for 30 minutes! I totally forgot!" Hotaru shook her head, exasperated by Mikan and her antics and glanced at Ruka. Ruka was smiling slightly, glad to see Mikan being Mikan. Hotaru immediately took a picture that wiped the smile off his face. "Hotaru! Hand over that picture right now!" He demanded. Hotaru smirked devilishly as she opened her motor cycle and sped off before Ruka had a chance to try and take the picture. "Damn it, Hotaru! Get back here!" He yelled from his doorway, even knowing she wasn't going to listen. He slammed the door in frustration and turned back to see Mikan concerned. With a little effort he schooled his face back into his normal expression and smiled, "Don't worry, Mikan, Natsume will be back soon. We can all have dinner together. I'll just go place the order. Is there anything in particular that you want to eat?" Mikan's eyes lit up at the mention of free food, "Oh I've really been wanting to eat strawberries!! And I've been craving some cheese too! So I'll have some mac and cheese and strawberry shortcake for dessert!" Ruka chuckled as he went to call the kitchen. "What are you ordering for Natsume? Choose something healthy as a side. Some kind of salad maybe..." Mikan called after him. "Sure. I'll order up some cheese ravioli and some fruit/veg salad for the two of us." Ruka replied. Being a 3 star made life very comfortable and Mikan had only managed to level upto 2 stars for whom the menu was always fixed. If they wanted something different, they would have to buy or make it themselves. So she always made the most of it whenever she hung out with Ruka or Hotaru. Sometimes when she was extremely lucky, even Natsume would let her use his food privileges. Thinking of Natsume made her wonder where he was again, so she shook her head, pasted on a smile and tried to cheer up Ruka who had finished placing their food request. "Are you upset about Hotaru spying on you? You know she would never do anything that would be dangerous to you, right? I mean she wouldn't take it farther than just selling your pictures. And you looked really cute just then. So you don't have to be embarrassed at all!" Ruka chuckled, "Don't worry, Mikan. I'm not upset with her. And I'm not worried about what she would do with the information or the pictures. It's just become a routine now.. I mean I do have an image to maintain after all.." He winked at her as he said that and Mikan felt relieved that he wasn't really upset by Hotaru's antics. Ruka settled back into his chair as he asked, "Okay why don't we play something on the PS to pass the time till the food gets here?" Mikan's face brightened at the thought of videogames. "Ofcourse! Let's play some LF2!" The two of them were so engrossed in the game that they didn't even notice Natsume enter the room. Both of them jumped and dropped their controllers when he spoke suddenly from behind Mikan, "Here I thought you would be sick with worry, but it turns out I didn't have to be so quick at all." Mikan, who was still clutching her heart from the shock, let out her breath as she tried to calm down. Ruka let out a half strangled laugh as he gathered up his controller and paused the game before turning back to Natsume to ask, "Was that really necessary?" Natsume smirked, "No but it was fun though." Mikan, who'd found her voice again, shrieked, "Fun?! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Natsume shrugged, "It's not my fault you were inattentive." "Inattent- why you" Mikan's fingers curled into a fist as she got up to face Natsume. Ruka hastily stood between them facing Mikan. "Now now... You know how he is.. he was just playing with us. Please remember that he is injured and calm down, Mikan." Mikan glared at Ruka as he blocked her from Natsume, "Where were you when he jumped out the window from the second floor?" Ruka blinked, side tracked, "Umm I'm sorry, that question just came out of the blue.." Natsume interjected, "He let me do that because he knew I could take care of myself." Mikan's glare darkened as her angry eyes moved to meet Natsume's smirking ones when suddenly, Natsume sucked in a breath. Ruka had stepped on his right foot, quite heavily. "What the hell, Ruka?" He demanded, sitting on the bed and rubbing his foot tenderly. Mikan beamed at Ruka, ecstatic that he was siding with her for once! "Good job, Ruka! You shouldn't let him get away with being reckless all the time!" Ruka smiled at Mikan, relieved that she had forgotten her earlier anger when there was a quiet knock on the door. "That must be dinner. Let me just get that." Ruka went to answer the door as Mikan followed saying, "I'll help you with that too!" The both of them returned with their arms full of dinner as they carefully placed it on the dining table. "I'd have been able to help you with that if the use of my right leg hadn't been temporarily disabled by your little stunt." Natsume pointed out, glaring at Ruka. Mikan rolled her eyes as she said, "I'd take the trade any day!" Ruka sighed, "Will you guys stop behaving like kids so we can finally start having our dinner?" "Fine!" Both of them replied in perfect harmony. All of them looked at each other for a few seconds before Mikan and Ruka started laughing and Natsume smiled. A minute later, after all of them had calmed down, they settled down for dinner.