A/n: Already posted this in fanfiction.net. Check it out here.
Ruka sighed. Tomorrow. He was definitely going to do it tomorrow. There would never be other opportunities like this one. Well, there would be, but it would be three hundred, sixty-five and one-fourth days away. And he
just couldn’t wait that long.
He even researched on Saint Valentine, out of desperation.
Apparently, according to Wikipedia, there
weren’t many reliable facts about him
and there were a lot of people who had the same name as his.
‘You’re so pathetic,
Ruka,’ he told himself.
He didn’t even know how
to confess. He had never done it before. Sure, he had some minor crushes before
toward people who didn’t have Alices, but he never really got the guts to
confess to them.
Questions crowded his already bustling head. Should he just
come out from nowhere, pouring out all of his
overflowing feelings to her? Or
should he give her a rose, then tell
her? Or maybe he should do it the other
way around?
“Honestly,” Ruka thought to himself, out loud, “Why is it so
hard to confess?”
“Well, that depends on the kind of person you are, the kind
of attitude the girl possesses, and your history
together.”
Ruka turned around to see the owner of the voice. He found
himself face-to-face to Hotaru Imai, the well-
known, cold-hearted blackmailer.
She had always found joy in selling Ruka’s embarrassing pictures. But
what is
she doing, giving him advice about confessing at eleven o’clock in the evening?
Perhaps she had some ingenious plan involving Ruka getting
rejected and her getting rich.
“You can’t—calculate
love, Imai,” Ruka suddenly burst out. “A-Anyway, what are you doing here?”
He turned around again, not wanting to see her emotionless
face when he was planning his awesome plot of
confessing to the beautiful and
charismatic Mikan Sakura. Her stoic expression would just clear him of all his
great ideas.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Was her plain, completely blunt answer.
“Anyway, tomorrow you are going to confess to
my friend, Mikan Sakura, and you
have no experience in the subject of confession whatsoever.”
‘Am I really that easy
to read?’ Ruka thought to himself. ‘Or
is she just very good at reading other
people’s minds, even when they’re trying
so hard to hide them?’
“Uh, yeah.”
Hotaru pulled out a pile of paper, neatly stapled, from her
bag, which Ruka just noticed right now, and
handed it to him. Instead of taking
the paper, he instead stared questioningly at the small bag Hotaru was
carrying
and doubted that those papers could fit in there without getting crumpled.
Hotaru, seeing Ruka’s obvious curiosity pinpointing to the
bag, said. “It’s one of my inventions. No more
questions. Back to the point,
these papers contain information about your object of affection and would
greatly increase your advantage over…competition.”
He took the pile just as Hotaru started talking again.
“Mikan likes chocolates—without nuts—puppies,
Howalon, shiny objects—just make
sure that they’re not sharp, because she’s such a ditz—and things that
glow in
the dark. Plus, you have to be careful in describing her physical
characteristics. She gets really
conscious easily.”
Ruka scanned the sheets of paper and found out that it was,
actually, a real list of what Mikan
likes and not
a fake list so that he could make a fool of himself in front of
her. He found a lot of obvious habits, likes, and
dislikes, but he did discover some weird routines that
were unusual for Mikan. Unusual, but important.
And if not for this pile of papers, he would never find out
about them.
“Why?” He couldn’t
stop himself from asking.
Hotaru, for the first time in a long time, looked at him
directly. He suddenly felt very small, like Hotaru was
some amazing,
intelligent, exotic creature and he was a small ant.
Then, before he knew it, she was gone, leaving a
flabbergasted Ruka, holding in his hand all that he needed
to win Mikan
Sakura’s heart.
-
Ruka held his breath and started to walk, a box of
chocolates in his hands. He was determined to at least
get Mikan to smile at him. He remembered the time when she
first introduced herself to the class. She was
smiling so much that Ruka was
sure Natsume loathed her already. He reminisced about his Snow White play
and
how he almost got to kiss her. Or, rather, how she almost got to kiss him
and how Natsume threw an
apple at them, ruining their precious moment. *
Ruka took another step, and finally lifted his head from its
position facing the floor to his target.
His eyes widened when he saw his best friend, Natsume
Hyuuga, already with her and actually succeeding in
making her laugh. He suddenly felt angry and betrayed.
‘Natsume knew I love her! How could he?’ Ruka asked
himself, suddenly finding himself in the men’s
room. He looked at his
reflection and the reality of the situation dawned at him. ‘Of course. Of course
Mikan would choose Natsume over me. He’s an
amazing Alice user and can control himself properly.
Of course. Compared to
him, I’m just… a side kick.’
Natsume had always been the better one. He was the one who went on missions to save
the ones he loved,
he was the one who tried to push people away in fear of
dragging him into the darkness that has engulfed
him and, apparently, he was
always the one who got the girl.
Ruka sighed. Now
what would he do with the box of chocolates he had? He couldn’t possible eat it
all by
himself. And besides, that would look desperate.
But then again, he is
desperate.
-
“This is good chocolate,” Hotaru Imai commented, popping
another one in her mouth.
Ruka groaned, frustrated at this person’s lack of emotion. “Imai, you’re supposed to be helping me!”
Hotaru ate another piece of chocolate, then said, “So let me
get this straight. When you, Ruka Nogi—
Bunny-boy, obvious coward—“
Ruka groaned again, louder this time.
Hotaru continued, emotion never flickering in her eyes.
“—finally gets the guts to confess to the bubbly and
clumsy ditz Mikan Sakura,
the great, ever-popular Natsume Hyuuga beats him to it. This could be an
interesting story.”
Ruka frowned. “Imai. Are you going to help me or not?
Because if you aren’t, you can leave now.”
Hotaru rolled her eyes. “And leave these delicious
chocolates rotting in your animal refuge you call a room? I
don’t think so.”
“If it’s the chocolates you want—“
But Hotaru wasn’t listening to him anymore. She was deep in thought.
“What you need,” she said, eating another piece of chocolate
once again. “Is a gimmick.”
Ruka was extremely flabbergasted by this. “A gimmick?”
“Yes, a gimmick,”
Hotaru mocked, imitating his voice. “You know, the thing famous people do when
they’re desperate, like singing on a unicycle or dancing with a monkey.”
Ruka’s jaw almost dropped out. “You’re going to make me
dance with a monkey?”
“No, stupid.” Hotaru said, scanning the empty box for any
signs of a secret compartment in which some
more chocolates could be wedged in.
Finding none, she threw the box on the floor. “But something like
that.”
-
“I feel stupid.” Ruka said, frowning.
He was wearing a pink fluffy, bunny suit. It was so
unrealistic that it looked more like an oversized pink
teddy bear than an Oryctolagus Cuniculus. **
He didn’t know how this
was supposed to help him get Mikan. She would probably just laugh at him. Oh,
and he was supposed to sing her a song too.
Hotaru smirked. “You look
and are stupid, Nogi, so there isn’t
anything new, is there?”
If she wasn’t helping him get the woman of his dreams, Ruka
swears he would have growled at her right
now.
Then he saw her. She was laughing, just like the time he
last saw her, but now, she wasn’t with Natsume
anymore. She was with Tsubasa.
Ruka didn’t have a problem with Tsubasa before. He was like
a big brother to Mikan and he never really
bothered Ruka before, sometimes even
supporting him.
But now, seeing her laugh with him, Ruka felt anger.
“Ouch.” Hotaru muttered beside him, no emotion in her face.
But Ruka paid no attention to her. He was so mad at Tsubasa
that he had no time to banter with Hotaru
Imai.
Once he gets his hands on that Shadow Manipulator, he’s
going to—going to…
Then it dawned on him that he couldn’t really do anything. It’s
not like she was his to begin with. He had no
right to be jealous. He had no
right to beat the older dude into pulp, even if that would feel so good to do
right now. He was just a
friend, nothing more.
Ruka closed his eyes and sat down, hating himself, for he
can’t do anything. He felt someone sit beside him.
“Are you giving up, Nogi?” Hotaru taunted him. “Are you
going to let your inner coward out again?”
Ruka became angrier, but being angry didn’t solve his
problem. He didn’t understand the meaning of this
weird pep talk.
“There’s nothing I can do,” He whispered.
He heard a sigh beside him.
“So? You know, I’ve learned something, staying in this
Academy for four years. We’re Alices. We don’t
have space and time for giving
up. When you trip, stand up, proud that you did.”
Ruka didn’t move for a moment. He pondered on what the Ice
Queen was saying. Was this real? Was the
Ice Queen really giving advice? Again?
He heard another sigh then footsteps, slowly fading into the
distance. He lifted his head up and watched her
back as she walked away from
him, her face hidden from his view.
-
“Ruka?”
Ruka smiled weakly. It had been a long time since he’d
talked to his best friend. “Hi, Natsume. Look, uh, I
need to talk to you. Are
you busy?”
“No,” Natsume replied, and walked inside and left the door
open. He sat down on his bed and waited for
Ruka to talk.
Ruka walked through the doorway and sighed. “Natsume, is
there—is there something between you and
Mikan?”
“Ruka, we’ve talked about this,” Natsume said.
They had agreed that both of them would not fight for Mikan
anymore. But they both knew that this deal
wouldn’t hold up for long.
“I-I know, I know. It’s just—I don’t think we can keep this
up. We can’t just…you know…”
Natsume looked at him. “So you want to be rivals again?”
“I guess,” Ruka replied, looking at the floor.
“Alright.” Natsume said, standing. “Just remember, I won’t
hold back this time.”
Ruka smiled. “I won’t, either.”
-
“Imai, I know you’re in there.” Ruka said, knocking once
again at her door.
He wondered what she was doing inside. She wasn’t possibly
making another invention, since he could hear
no noise inside. Perhaps she was
asleep?
His question was answered when the door opened slightly,
only enough to reveal Hotaru’s face.
“What do you want?” She said, obviously annoyed.
‘Where did the girl
who gave me a pep talk earlier go?’
“Are you mad?” I asked her.
She glared at him. “Nogi, if you don’t get to the point
right now—”
“I’m going to tell her. Right now,” Ruka said as confident
as he could.
Hotaru was quiet.
Then she spoke up, “And if she rejects you?”
Ruka was expecting this. He had thought about it so much
that he was surprised that she hadn’t asked him
more questions.
“I-I’ll accept it. It’s no use trying to change her view of
me, anyway. If she won’t like me the way I am right
now, then I’m fine with
that.” Ruka breathed in. “I would be more ashamed if I acted like a different
person.”
“And you’re telling me this—why?”
Ruka smiled. He knew he had to thank her. She was the one
who had shaken him up and try harder after all.
He understood that even though
she doesn’t show it, she really does care.
“Because I would like to thank you.” Ruka answered. “I’m
very grateful for the things you told me earlier.
How do you understand these
kinds of things so well, anyway?”
Hotaru looked at him.
For a second, he thought she was going to reveal to him some
dark secret of her past, or an earth-shattering
proclamation. For a moment, he
felt like she was just going to start pouring out all her feelings about
anything
and everything.
“That’s none of your business.”
But then again, she was Hotaru Imai after all.
-
“Mikan!” Ruka called out to her, nothing in hand. He had
decided he would do this simply and properly. He
would be himself. Simple, unsophisticated,
gimmick-less Ruka. Besides, he would never
dance with a
monkey.
“Oh, Ruka-pyon! Hello,” Mikan greeted, smiling at him.
“Mikan, I need to tell you something,” Ruka said, seriously.
He looked into her brown eyes to let her know that he was
extremely serious. She looked back with the
same intensity.
Mikan nodded. “Okay. What is it?”
Ruka breathed in.
He was going to do this.
No Natsume to stop him this time.
No Tsubasa to aggravate him today.
No Imai to insult and scoff at him now.
“Ruka-pyon?”
‘No Imai…?’
Ruka then remembered everything. From her many pile of
papers containing Mikan’s information to her
taunting pep talk. From her “This is good chocolate,” to her “You look and are stupid, Nogi, so there
isn’t anything new, is there?”
“Hello? Rukaaa-pyoooon…”
Ruka suddenly snapped up and found himself inches from
Mikan’s face.
‘Wait.’
He was supposed to blush at times like this. His mind was
supposed to go haywire and his thoughts were to
bounce all over his brain. His
hormones were to go crazy and he was to say something extremely stupid.
But he felt nothing.
“Mikan…” Ruka said.
“What happened? You looked weird a few seconds ago,” Mikan
said pulling back and pouting, completely
losing her seriousness.
“Nothing,” Ruka said, more to himself than to Mikan. “It was
nothing.”
But he knew that there was something.
-
A grunt. A shuffling of feet. A few steps.
“It’s me.”
“Nogi, how many times do you have to knock on my door in a
day for you to be satisfied?”
Ruka paid no heed to her question. “Please open the door.”
She didn’t make another sound after that and opened the door
slightly, only enough for him to see her tired
eyes. She glared at him at
first, but then, as if remembering that he had confessed, relaxed and appeared
to
be trying to search his face of any signs of melancholy.
She found none.
She opened the door a little bit more and narrowed her eyes
at him. “She didn’t reject you.”
He stopped himself from grinning. ‘She’s jumping into conclusions again.’
“No. She didn’t.”
“So, I guess you’re a couple now.” She concluded, as
emotionless as ever. “Just don’t break her heart or
I’d have to shoot you with
my new and improved BAKA Cannon, which becomes more powerful the more
fear you
show. Do you still have the information I gave you?”
Ruka decided to play along. For the moment, anyway.
He replied, “No. I lost it.”
She sighed, as if knowing this was going to happen. “I guess
I’ll have to print you another one, then, so as
not to have any problems.”
“That won’t be necessary,” He told her.
He was enjoying this. Perhaps Hotaru Imai had not calculated for this to happen. If he was
right and she
didn’t expect Mikan to accept his feelings, why did she encourage
him? Was that pep talk just an ingenious
plan to make him more depressed when
he got rejected?
Maybe he’d have more time for questions tomorrow, but now,
he has to do something first.
“And why is that?” Hotaru questioned, searching his sapphire
eyes for an answer. “Don’t tell me you
memorized all those.”
She seemed to think for a moment before continuing, “But
then again, you are desperate.”
“Thanks.” He said, rolling his eyes. “But that’s not the
reason.”
She seemed to contemplate on this for a moment, trying to search
her mind for some other solution to this
complicated multi-step equation.
She appeared to have found none, since she narrowed her eyes
at him once again, her amethyst orbs
contrasting against the brown, wooden door
of her room and her hair swaying slightly to the cool breeze of
mid-afternoon.
She started talking once more, “If this is a trick, Nogi I
swear—“
She couldn’t continue her sentence, though, to her obvious dismay,
as his lips pressed on hers. It was not
rough, and was almost gentle. And it
was extremely short.
“And, uh,” Ruka mumbled, and it would have been inaudible to
her if her senses have not been heightened
by the kiss. “Th—That’s the reason…”
She looked at him and he felt small once again, as he did
when she first helped him. Perhaps he should name
that kind of look, since it
seems like he would be seeing that more often now. ‘The scary look’ is too simple
and ‘The look that makes you feel like an ant while she is a mysterious exotic
hybrid’ is too long.
She muttered, “Do you feel stupid right now?”
His eyes met hers and he was stuck. He knew he wouldn’t be
able to avert his eyes for a while. Her eyes
looked so tantalizingly beautiful
that he wanted to kiss her again. Despite his desire to press his lips to her
soft ones, he knew she wouldn’t allow him and he respected that.
"Uh, a little bit," Ruka replied, only realizing
what he had done and the consequences that would befall him
later.
He then saw her lips curve up into an amused smile. Never in
his life would he have thought that he would
make Hotaru Imai smile. But then
again, he never thought he would kiss her too, so for a day like this,
Hotaru
smiling looked quite mundane.
He had kissed Hotaru Imai and she did not have him
assassinated. Life is good.
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