Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice.

I know I have other unfinished stories that haven't been updated or readers are probably wondering where they're heading, but I wanted to write this one first.

As always, unedited and just a bit silly.

It had been four years; four long years that felt like only four months at the same time.

Even though she could only see by the dim streetlights and even though she was more than just a little jet-legged, Mikan Yukihira recognized the familiar roads, the turns her father took, the elementary school, the candy store run by the free-spirited Noda, the cherry blossom trees in the park; it was the way back home.

Her mother had fallen asleep hours ago, her father lightly humming along with the barely audible radio, tuned to a station she hadn't listened to in years! She would have to relearn everything! Did Noda still sell the beloved howalon? Was Jinno the Frog still a teacher? Was Natsume still around? Was Central Town still up and running?

The curiosity fueled Mikan, pumping her veins with more and more excitement as her father finally took the last turn onto their old, familiar street. Softly squealing with anticipation, her eyes scoured the landscape, noting that old Serina's house was now painted an electric green, the Hijiris (if they still lived there) had built a nice fence around their yard, there were more trees planted, the pavement had more cracks in it, and on and on.

It was different, but as Mr. Yukihira pulled into the driveway of her childhood home, Mikan knew it would always be the same to her. Barely waiting for her father to turn off the ignition, she shoved her way out of the car, landing on sleepy legs.

She smiled and stretched her limbs, letting out a satisfied groan as she felt a welcome pull in her muscles. A warm breeze tickled her skin where her sweater lifted up.

A groggy Mrs. Yukihira opened her passenger door, hair a little mussed and her eyes sleepy. Nonetheless, she flashed the trademark family smile at her one and only daughter.

"Good to be home?"

Mikan nodded enthusiastically, turning to face the house she left four years ago, the house where she spent the first ten years of her life.

It was exactly the same! Thank goodness the people who lived after (before?) them took good care of it.

"Hey, daughter. We still have to move in," her father reminded jokingly as he opened the trunk and started unloading their suitcases.

Mikan absentmindedly said, "Okay," but still continued to examine the yard and the street and eventually her eyes drifted to the house next door. Her pulse spiked as a thought came to her.

"Mom!" she chirped loudly. "Do the Hyuugas still live next door?"

Yuka Yukihira shrugged as best she could, considering she was holding a heavy suitcase in each hand and had a bag slung over her shoulder. "It's late, Mikan. They're probably asleep by now," she said tiredly as she moved toward the front door.

"Okay, but does that mean they do still live next door?" pressed Mikan as she finally decided to contribute and pick up her luggage.

"Yes, they do," continued her father as he dumped his second set of bags in the front foyer. "But they're sleeping, Mikan, and you have school in the morning. We're a day later than we thought we would be."

"Do I have to go to school?" she complained as she examined her old house. It was so… bare. They already had their furniture sent ahead of them, but it was like seeing the bare bones of the house; there was no flesh, there was no life.

But that was okay! They'd have it fully decorated in no time! They weren't the "do-it-now-and-do-it-big" cheery Yukihiras for nothing.

Izumi Yukihira sighed before turning to his daughter with a sympathetic frown. "Yes, sweetie. Yes, you do. Your Uncle Kazumi is already very agitated that you missed one day of school. He's been checking in nonstop since we passed by the city."

Mikan groaned before dragging her luggage up the stairs, having for one second the petty thought of banging her suitcases before remembering how completely exhausted her father must be after the long drive and how conked out her mother had been during the entire time.

Her parents had their arms wrapped around each other as they stood in the recently renovated kitchen, their silhouettes illuminated by the homely yellow overhead lights. They needed to unwind.

Mikan needed to unwind. She managed to unpack some of her clothes (notably her school uniform) and put her little trinkets and photos on her desk before she decided to explore some more of the house, take a nice long shower (the last owners had a different showerhead installed and had chosen the cutest shower curtains!), and promptly pass out on her old new (new old?) bed.

It was a little after 1 AM when Tsubasa dropped him off, not even really that late. Sure, classes started at eight in the morning, but homeroom was a waste of time and did Natsume Hyuuga the genius really need to sit through another calculus lecture?

As he walked up to his house, a glint of moonlight reflected off a car parked next door and caught his eye.

He stopped and so nearly did his heart before it decided to beat double-time. Was she back?

His eyes naturally wandered up to the farthest left window, her room. At least it was her room. Did she get to pick a new room? But most importantly, was she back? All the lights were off in the house, but there was no doubt that the Yukihira car sat in the driveway of the house next door once more.

He resisted the urge to go pounding on their front door or scale the side of the house and knock on her window. Would she wake up if he tossed something at her window? (But was that still her window?) His soccer ball lay temptingly close by the front door.

Oh, God, but was she back? He couldn't remember what his mom had told him; were they coming this week or next week? Had she come back? He could feel a blush spread across his body as he nervously brushed his messy hair away from his face. He couldn't wake her up now; would she be excited to see him? Was she still the same?

He most definitely was not the ten year-old boy Mikan Yukihira had last seen four years ago. He also (he admitted) had been a shit friend when she had been away: not writing back to her letters that eventually stopped coming, not posting much on the few social media platforms he had, barely responding to the video calls between her family and his. He wanted it to be a surprise, he wanted her to be completely stunned by the change; he wanted her to be impressed.

Maybe he did have a reason to go to homeroom in the morning.

Mikan Yukihira was not known to be a punctual person, but when the high school principal was her uncle, she had no choice but to wake up hella early and go to school, arriving at least half an hour before the first bell.

At first she had been grouchy and grumbly about being woken up so early, but as Uncle Kazumi took her on a tour of her new school (the high school she had rarely been in before!), she started to perk up.

She had her own locker, and the gym was so big, and there was a neatly kept track and field out behind the school, and there was even a swimming pool, and on and on!

It was so much bigger than the elementary school!

"I think you'll do very well here," Uncle Kazumi said formally as he showed her the cafeteria. "Our district has had some staff readjustments so I believe you will recognize some familiar faces as your teachers. Narumi Anjou, for instance?"

Mikan's eyes sparkled. "I love Narumi! He's such a wonderful teacher!"

The principal nodded and had a small smile. His brother and his niece's passion and enthusiasm for life had always been a little overwhelming, but it pleased him a lot to see that his niece was already doing so well on her first day back.

"Good. He's your homeroom teacher," Kazumi said as he led her back to the front office. "I have a couple of staff meetings today, but I like to walk around the school and talk to the students so if you are ever feeling overwhelmed or need to take a break, you can find me here in my office or around."

"Oh, thanks Uncle! I think I'll be fine, though." She flashed him the trademark family bright smile before looking around. Students began to trickle in, and she wondered if she could spot any friendly faces so far. Natsume's face and Hotaru's face and Ruka's face meandered through her mind.

In a rare display of affection, her uncle gave her a short hug before wishing her a good day and letting her go.

The first thing she did was text Hotaru that she was finally available to see her!

And as the efficient and responsible friend she was, Hotaru immediately replied, and within five minutes, she was joyously reunited with her friends, the Three Geeky Sisters: Hotaru Imai, Anna Umenomiya, and Nonoko Ogasawara.

They hugged and hugged and laughed and squealed. Or at least Anna, Nonoko, and Mikan did. Hotaru gave her a pat on the head and a somewhat sincere-sounding, "Welcome back."

Luckily for Mikan, they all had the same homeroom, and they spent the last few minutes walking to their classroom and hurriedly catching Mikan up on all she had missed out on.

Sumire Shouda had gained immense popularity and sometimes ran with a different crowd these days, but she could still be counted on for a cathartic shopping trip or a bitch session. Yuu Tobita was the student body president for their class. Yura Otonashi had gotten a little weirder and dabbled in some spooky mystic shit. Misaki Harada was still their lovely senpai who gave them "womanly advice." Koko Yome was still the class clown ("But absolutely disgusting and vulgar for a teenage boy," Hotaru critiqued snobbishly.).

Along the way, a few others recognized Mikan and welcomed her back. In their homeroom, Narumi hadn't arrived yet, but Mikan was having a good time becoming reacquainted with her classmates.

But she had to ask the real question: "What about Natsume? What has he been up to?" She looked around the circle, but nobody answered right away.

Anna and Nonoko exchanged knowing, mischievous glances with each other. Hotaru smirked haughtily, and a couple of other girls giggled to one another.

"He's still around, isn't he?" asked a confused Mikan. What were her friends not telling her? But before she could get a clear response from anyone, another excited face appeared.

"Mikan-chan, is that you?" exclaimed a familiar happy voice. She turned and instantly broke into a wide grin. "Narumi!"

She ran toward him and gave him a huge bear hug, which he returned tightly. He looked as young as he did when he was her kindergarten and fourth grade teacher! His blonde hair was still long, and he wore the same colorful outfits Mikan remembered.

At that point, the bell rang, but none of the students really wanted to go to their seats.

"Class," announced Narumi with his arm around Mikan still, "as you might know, we have an old friend returning to us today! I present to you," he took a dramatic breath, "Miss Mikan Yukihira!"

Her friends started to clap, and soon the class broke into a respectful if not happy applause.

"Thank you, Narumi," she beamed at him before turning to smile at the entire class, "I'm so happy to be back! I can't wait to restart my friendships with all of you!" She scanned the sea of faces, a few she didn't recognize. "If you do not know me yet, please do not hesitate to talk to me. I would love to be your friend!" She directed her smile at those few unfamiliar faces and was happy to see a smile in return. Her group of friends were chattering among themselves, and a couple more classmates came up to reintroduce themselves.

Then the door opened, and everyone became quiet. Before turning toward the door, Mikan happened to look up at Hotaru, who merely wore a smirk on her face and had her eyebrows raised. Anna waggled hers suggestively as she gestured toward the classroom entrance.

For a few moments, Mikan couldn't recognize who it was, and for some reason, she could tell her classmates were all watching her reaction carefully.

He was tall and lean, a soccer ball tucked under his left arm. He wasn't wearing the uniform properly: no blazer and a loose tie. His face was sharp and angular, but his hair was a mess with a severe case of bedhead with hair that fell over his re -

"Oh my God, Natsume, is that you?" It was him! But he looked so different! Even more different than the few pictures she had seen of him over the years!

Mikan walked toward him with a wide grin and open arms. For some reason, he didn't smile back at her like the Natsume she knew four years ago would. Instead, his lips lifted a little in a weak imitation of a smile, but it was smug and arrogant. It told her he was very pleased, but it also told her he had an attitude. It was more a smirk than a smile.

Walking up to him, she didn't realize quite how tall he had grown, but still she wrapped her arms around him (he was so tall! And so different!) as best she could. She was thankful and just a bit relieved, that despite his changed appearance, he wrapped his arms around her and returned her hug, his soccer ball forgotten and dropped to the ground.

She pulled away so she could examine his face more thoroughly. She was so happy to see him! He had changed so much, but there was still a quality of Natsume about him, and they were still embracing, but now his hands were holding her face, and his eyes were still that bright color, and now his eyes were closing and his face was getting closer and Mikan didn't know, but -

He kissed her right in front of their entire class without saying one word of welcome.

He was Natsume, and he was her good friend, but he hadn't talked to her at all and she could hear her classmates jeering in the background, and she could feel her face becoming more flushed as Natsume kept his lips against hers.

Before she could react, he pulled away slightly, and she could quite literally feel his body relax and he released a small sigh that ghosted over her wet lips before he tried to go for another kiss.

She pulled away, swerving her head to the side. His eyes opened, and they looked at each other, really looked at each other for the first time in four years.

He hadn't written back in the last two years. He barely said more than a "hello" when their moms video-called each other, always trying to hide and escape from the camera. His little sister, Aoi, had said more to her in the last year than he had in the last four. His online accounts didn't tell her much about what he was doing. She knew he had joined the soccer team because he was tagged in the roster by someone else. The only time she had really taken a good look at his face was when the Hyuugas sent the Yukihiras their Christmas card. She knew he had grown up and looked different, but she didn't realize just how different he was.

When they were young, they were nearly inseparable, and they had developed their own way of communicating through body language and facial expressions.

As teenagers, Natsume and Mikan stood together once more, still holding on to one another, but Mikan looked at Natsume, and Natsume looked back at her.

She knitted her brows and raised her chin to the side.

He had on his wide, innocent eyes and cocked his head to the opposite side.

She frowned. He took a deep breath through his nose. She darted her eyes to the side before returning back to his eyes and she jutted out her bottom lip.

He rolled his eyes before extracting his arms from hers, then he put his hands on her shoulders and said, in a voice she hadn't heard in four years, "Don't worry about it." Lowering his head a little bit more, he gave her a true smile, a genuine Natsume smile, before turning her around and facing the class with her pulled tightly to his side.

Who was this new Natsume?