I Love You: Chapter 3

#07: Gakuen Alice (Natsume & Mikan)
...xXx...

"Mikan-chan, you must be tired. Please rest now," Anna suggested with a smile.
Before Mikan could tell her that she was fine, she was dragged to her bedroom.

The rest of the group stayed silent.

Natsume broke the silence. "So?"

It was Hotaru who replied, "Mikan, Koko and I came from the same village."

Natsume sighed. "I do not need your childhood—"

"Don't interrupt!" Hotaru spoke sternly.

Natsume glared at her, and the rest of the group sweat dropped as the glaring contest began. Fortunately, the contest was stopped by Ruka, who tapped Natsume's shoulders and threw him a "please-just-listen-to-her" look complete with his pleading eyes.

"Tch," Natsume spat, annoyed.

Hotaru smirked and began the tale, "The Sakura family was the head of our village. Don't think of this as a legend, but it's true that in our village or other villages nearby, white witches and black witches lived among us. Our village was the most peaceful among other villages until this black witch came upon us. She cursed our peaceful land by sending many catastrophes to our village, but of course, she failed. It was because of this five-years-old girl named Mikan Sakura, who protected the village at that time."

Hotaru paused. Her face might have been emotionless, but her eyes showed her pure sadness and anger at the same time. She was sad because her bright childhood friend lost her voice by protecting them and mad because she couldn't do anything to prevent her loss.

Everyone inside the room stayed silent.

After a while, Hotaru continued, "When the black witch found out about Mikan, she decided to curse her instead of our village. At first, we didn't know what curse she had placed upon her until the night of full moon. Mikan lost her voice the next morning. When the next day came, we try to find the black witch. But unfortunately, we found nothing but her corpse after a few days of searching. She was killed by the other black witches. Our last resort was to look for a white witch."

After fifteen minutes of silence, Natsume snapped, "Will you continue the story or not?"

Hotaru smiled evilly. "Eager, aren't you?"

Natsume glared at her. "Don't start it if you don't want to finish it."

Hotaru's smile faded. "The white witch couldn't help us. She only said that the one who could help her would be someone who could communicate with her inner heart. And from what I've seen, you can hear her inner heart. Am I right, Katou-san?"

"How?" Natsume mumbled.

"That was our problem here. The white witch could only tell us that much because she also didn't know how the curse could be lifted," Koko replied sadly. Another problem was you, Natsume-kun.

After a long silence, Hotaru started again, "Don't you think you need to tell us something important about yourself, Katou-san?"

The emphasis made Ruka tense. He didn't tell Natsume that the group, save for Mikan, already knew his real identity. The group knew it from Hotaru because she was known as the queen of information who had the eye that couldn't be deceived by anyone.

Everyone stared at Natsume.

Natsume glanced at Ruka accusingly.

"I swear; I didn't say anything," Ruka said quickly, raised his hands in defeat. He gulped nervously. Even though Natsume was his best friend and childhood friend, he would not dare to anger him.

"Hn," Natsume grunted and looked at the group. "Since when?"

"Since this morning… It was because of him," Hotaru replied while pointing her finger at Ruka.

Ruka blushed, and Natsume raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Proudly, Hotaru stated, "Ruka Nogi. Nogi is one of the royal families in Japan. Other students were too stupid to notice the connection between his name and the royal family. Since he knows you, that means you and he had some kind of relation. Distance relative maybe, but considering your name, I didn't think so."

Natsume smirked. "Indeed, you are smart enough to notice it."

Hotaru glared at him. "Are you insulting me?"

"Do I look like I'm insulting you?"

The aura in the room was filled with suffocating anxiety.

Sumire quickly placed her hands on Hotaru's shoulders, and magically, Hotaru calmed down.

"Don't flatter yourself too much," Hotaru said with a soft sigh.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

Hotaru grinned. "I will have the honor complimenting you, Prince Natsume."

"I may be a prince of this country, but I'm attending this school as a normal student."

"Oh, so you really want to stay in the role of Natsume Katou instead of Natsume Hyuuga, huh?"

"Mind your own business, Imai."

Then, a loud crash echoed through the room.

Startled by the sound, everyone darted their eyes to the source.

Mikan was trembling while stuttering, 'W-what did you say just now?'

Anna and Nonoko looked at the rest of the group apologetically.

Yuu spoke for the first time, "Mikan-chan, we really didn't mean to hide this from you…"

"Just like what you've heard. I'm Nastume Hyuuga, the prince of this country," Natsume said calmly while looking into Mikan's eyes.

Tears started forming in her eyes. 'No… It's not you… It's not you that I'm looking for…'

Hotaru started, "Mikan, please calm down. You—"

'It's not you that I've been waiting for…' Mikan cut her off before vanishing from their sights.

Everyone sighed in defeat, and Hotaru muttered, "Stupid."

Natsume was confused. Why did she say that I'm not the one she's looking for now? What's wrong with being a prince?

Prev Chapter 1—The Mute Girl Chapter 2—The Black Witch Chapter 3—The Prince of Japan Chapter 4—The Special Condition Chapter 5—The Decision Chapter 6—The Unexpected News Chapter 7—The Forbidden Family Chapter 8—The Ancient Memory Chapter 9—The Other One Chapter 10—The Price Chapter 11—The First Pact Chapter 12—The Pain Chapter 13—The Endless Love Next