Hallo~ Second chapter here, guys. Hope it'll be better than the first chap (for one, it sure is a heck longer).

"Look Natsume, if you wouldn't take her, we'd have no choice but to set you up with Rui instead."

"Make me."

—

Less than two weeks to Doomsday, Gakuen Higuchi for Girls: Tachibana Building, fourth floor hallway

It took countless cups of Vendo coffee, over 80 applicants, five afternoons, which totalled 15 hours of gruelling auditions, nine Advils, and one lazy argument over the phone for Ruka and Koko to make their decision for who could be the prom date for Natsume.

They didn't have a relatively tough time deciding (though the actual process of selection was in itself the biggest migraine of the century), really. The only problem was that, as they skimmed through those who auditioned for the part, they realized that none of them were really right for their friend in terms of cleverness and such, so to speak, considering that the sensible ones skipped out on this one (thinking about it however, it came to light in Ruka's mind that perhaps he would've found it shallow and conceited as well for somebody to hold an audition to be their prom date). But they had to take what they got, what with their time running fast and a maternal terror on their hands that was going to get vicious at the slightest chance that they failed.

Natsume already knew about this though, thanks to a none too-quiet Mochu and his incognito skills of an international spy. Apparently, he followed them around one day under the suspicion that they were up to something (which they really were), since they were missing practice and even "stealing his chauffer" on occasions when they would get picked up and brought to his house instead of him. Then when he found out, he was, in all surprising aspects, unexpectedly calm once he had a read of the list of finalists up for the spot.

"Seems easy enough," Koko had heard him mutter to himself that time. Most of the final candidates then mysteriously disappeared and/or came up or got inflicted with something that made them all have to bail on the whole thing after that.

Undoubtedly, Natsume was clever—maybe too clever. Now Ruka only prayed that on the actual night, Natsume won't actually scare away his date by being "excessively" smart.

"Ok, so here's the final list of" —Koko coughed— "girls who are up for the spot." He handed the paper to Ruka, who, upon reading, looked very, very astonished.

"You crossed out Umenomiya?" Ruka cried. "I liked her the best!"

Koko raised his hands to calm Ruka down. "Hey, hey. I liked her too ok? But then awhile ago she phoned in telling me she caught the chicken pox from her little cousin so..."

Ruka facepalmed himself. "So why'd you bring me here then?"

"Her," Koko said, pointing to a name that read Sumire Shouda on the list. "Though of the evident fangirl breed, she's seems pretty ok when put in a dress and asked to be civil."

Ruka begged to differ, but Koko was right. This girl was their only hope.

As if on cue, a dark green-haired girl exited the school ballet studio which was merely two doors away from Ruka and Koko's seat beside the stairs. "That's her!"

Ruka stood up and called out, "Excuse me, Shouda-san!"

Sumire Shouda spun around at the sound of her name.

Ruka gave her a little smile and said, "Well, this is Kokoro Yome and I'm Ruka Nogi. We're friends of Natsume Hyuuga and were the ones who held auditions—"

He was cut off by a loud, high-pitched scream coming from Sumire herself. Then she charged into them, hysteric. Koko sidestepped to avoid her crashing into him, which resulted in her crashing down the stairs.

THUG-A-THUG-A-THUG-A-THUD!

"Oh my God."

Ruka and Koko raced down the steps and stared down at the crumpled heap that was Sumire Shouda at the bottom of it.

"I didn't know she...was supposed to hug...us," Koko all but whispered.

"Koko, I—you...call...no one. Except for an ambulance and maybe...my cousin Yura."

"Y-you mean the hot one? ...I— Oh hey, Pocky."

. . .

Frankly, Ruka imagined that at the 65% chance or so of them failing, they'd be at McDonald's eating burgers and slurping milkshakes.

And his guess was proven correct. Now they really were at McDonald's eating burgers and slurping milkshakes.

"So here's what we're going to do," Koko started. "First thing tomorrow, you and I are gonna catch a bus to the farthest prefecture and—"

"No, Koko, just stop it," Ruka grumbled, closing his eyes as he rested his head on his hand. "This is a lost case, ok, and...we need to face it like men."

"But what about your hot cousin—I mean, Yura?"

"I forgot she had a boyfriend already, sorry," Ruka amended. He took another bite from his Bacon Lettuce Burger which didn't actually have bacon in it.

"Well we can't just give up like this, man! Our lives are at stake here!"

"Look, I'm not saying we simply gave up on this ok? It's just that we weren't left with any more options, that's all," Ruka said resolutely, his expression defeated.

Koko stuffed a handful of fries into his mouth. "Vaf's grake ven." Then he washed it all down with a swig of root beer. "Be roundhouse-kicked to the moon. Must be really nice."

"You're overreacting."

"Am I?"

At random, Koko's phone buzzed in his pocket. Raising an eyebrow, he took it out. "It's a text—from Rui."

"What's it say?" Ruka asked.

"'Heard about Sumire Shouda's flight downstairs, if you know what I mean. But anywho, I'll be getting my pink cashmere tux out for Saturday. See you boys soon! Too-lo, I am sososososo excited~! Xxxoox, Rui'"

The color drained from Ruka's face, matching Koko's already pale one. "…Well that didn't sound the least bit pleasant."

Ruka stared down at his fries, feeling his hunger subside just as his hope already had. It wasn't the fact that they were at the receiving end of Kaoru's disappointed wrath that made him lose it though, strangely enough. It was the fact that as a friend, he had failed Natsume, whether the latter would have preferred it or not. When he thought he would've already found love for him…

'Well, if I were you I wouldn't really bother / For there are brighter sides to life and I should know because I've seen them…'

Just as he was about to sink, a familiar melody softly pricked at his ears. Looking up, he saw a brunette girl about their age dancing in swift, jumpy moves to the music playing on her iPod pass by, clearing the table right next to theirs.

Abruptly, Ruka stood up from his seat. He shrugged at Koko's sudden questioning look because to be honest, he really didn't know.

It may have been because she was dancing to The Smiths. Or maybe even for no reason at all. Just 'cause.

"Hey, hi."

The girl, upon seeing him, stopped mid-spin and pulled off her earphones. "Sorry sir, did you need anything?"

Ruka laughed and shook his hands out in front of him needlessly. "Nothing, nothing. You moved pretty savvy there— I mean you know, that was some nice mopwork and..." Ruka trailed off awkwardly then coughed. "But, um, that was The Smiths right?"

"The Smiths?" The girl looked momentarily confused. "…Oh, yeah! It was The Smiths, yeah!" She cracked a cheerful smile.

"You like them?"

"I love them."

Ruka couldn't help but smile back. It was like somehow finding the missing piece to all this. "You wait here."

He darted back to their table where Koko was still looking at him with the same bemusedly incredulous expression on his face.

"Koko, tell Rui we'd have to get back to him," Ruka addressed this. The look on Koko's face remained intact.

The girl was busy piling up used cups on the table she was clearing when Ruka returned to her. "Hey, you're back," she noted.

"Yeah, I am," he panted.

Two seconds later into putting away the cups, when Ruka peeked at her nametag and began, "Hey, Mikan?"

Mikan looked up at him kindly. "Yes, stranger?"

"Would you be my best friend's prom date?"

—

Less than two weeks to Doomsday, Hyuuga Household: Kitchen

The indigo-light orange flames engulfed Ruka's sight at the split second they blazed up at the wok Kaoru was cooking on. Usually the cooking in the family was left to their dad (not a chef since they all trusted and preferred nobody else's cooking), but on occasions like this on the weekend when either Natsume or Aoi had friends over and she was feeling up to it, Kaoru would kick it in the kitchen where she could experiment with various food items and recipes and wield knives and pulverize stuff legally.

Admittedly though, the more or less eccentric courses she came up with were pretty good since easily, it was where she could be at her most "expressive".

That Saturday night was just like any other weekend night they got invited over—except this time, while Natsume was safely occupied away at the den, Koko and Ruka were downstairs with his mom, discussing business.

But as they did, a question couldn't help but make it to Ruka's foremost thoughts right from the back of his mind and it just simply bugged him to no end. And so when Koko got up for a while to go check on the game Natsume was watching for them, he took the opportunity to come out with the question he was most probably too shy to ask around somebody—and anybody—else.

"So I was thinking that maybe green would be nice for a redhead, blue for someone dark-haired then crimson for someone brunette! Some other colors can work too, except maybe for orange or" —Kaoru shuddered— "yellow. Anything but yellow. I find it a horribly unflattering color for most people, really. But anyway, what do you think, hun?"

Ruka took a deep breath. "Kaoru-nee, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure, pet, what is it?"

It took him a lot of effort to say that one word but he managed. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Not to offend you in any way, 'nee-san, but why?" Ruka asked again. "Why are we doing this? What is it all for?"

Kaoru gave him a measured look as if she thought he'd never ask. After a bated moment, she sighed in an almost unguarded way and said, finally and matter-of-factly, "Just 'cause."

Ruka was puzzled. "Just 'cause?"

"Have I ever told you boys about the time I met Natsume and Aoi's father during our prom?" Kaoru began, in an offhanded manner, conversationally. Closing her eyes as if to reminisce, she went on, saying, "I still remember everything about that very day with perfect clarity, you know? The bad punch that tasted like old gym socks, the too-bright lights, Cindy Lauper singing through the sound system, my shiny green taffeta dress—everything. But what I remember most especially was how he, the star football player and one of the school's most popular boys, noticed me, the too-smart nobody who had zero friends and was the school loser."

Kaoru paused to cast a glance over at Ruka as if to make sure he was listening. And he was as he nodded for her to go on.

So she did. "It was one of the best nights of my life. People were so surprised and confused as to why he picked me, out of all people, to dance with him." Kaoru then smiled a fond smile as leaned onto the counter and picked her glass of wine resting on it. "But he said it was because I was the prettiest girl in the room which made me feel, for the first time in my life, that I really was beautiful."

She took a sip of her wine before continuing. "We danced the entire night away, we did. He didn't let me go—neither did I want him to—even as the other girls asked him to dance with them and even when everyone had left and the music had already ended. Because hey, our dance didn't stop then and there, as cheesy as that may sound." She snorted but then afterwards chuckled lightly along with Ruka at her own joke.

"Each time, I met new people and discovered new things. Inch by inch, I made it out of my shell and actually saw the world with open eyes. At every song, I was brought more and more to life.

And it wasn't because he was famous that I gained more friends and was given a shot at everything. Rather, it was because he brought me to life and since I was alive, people finally felt me."

Kaoru took a blissful breath and drank from her glass in an indulgent way Ruka had never seen her be like before. Aside from the really surprising person laidback, National Geographic-watching and Sanuk-wearing Mr. Hyuuga actually was when he was younger, more than that was the fact that Kaoru, his best friend's more-than-tough mother, chose to open up to him at her most vulnerable—just to make him learn something, now that he thought about it.

"Natsume's my son and I love him very much," Kaoru said. She had this sad look on her crimson eyes. "Now the problem here is that every time I look at him, I see too much of my old self in him and it scares me. It just really does, Ruka." She shook her head. "And I don't want that for him."

"So...what kind of girl would you like for him then?" Ruka implored. He had to admit that Kaoru's standards intrigued him, and so this made him curious more than anything.

The wine glass in Kaoru's hand was already drained by the time she gave Ruka an answer. "Well... it wouldn't be too bad if, for my son, I fancied..." She held out her hand and started counting traits with her fingers.

"Someone who's as adorable and happy as Aoi and someone who has my spunk, spontaneity and over-all awesomeness." She grinned. "And of course, someone as lifechanging as my husband," she finished sincerely.

"That's—"

"Oh, and hopefully someone as smart or if better, smarter than Natsume, yes," Kaoru added quickly as an afterthought.

"Can I ask you another question then, Kaoru-nee?"

"Sure. Fire away," she said, waving her hand at him as she poured herself another glass of wine. Then, she tipped the rest of the bottle's contents into the pan, sending another plume of orange flames shooting up from it.

"When did you actually know you love, loved him?" Ruka asked her though it was a bit too probing for him to ask so. He really didn't expect any answer to that question but unexpectedly, Kaoru replied back rather fast.

"Since I don't have a definite answer to give, I guess it's safe to say the feeling just grew on me." She shrugged. "Like I just knew that I loved him? Then again, maybe it doesn't matter when you fall in love with someone. Perhaps the only thing that matters is that you did."

Ruka felt the words get caught in his throat, making him unable to speak or say anything remotely sensible after what Kaoru just told him. But Kaoru just stood there smiling at him in between sips of wine, as if she understood what he was going through now.

The words had barely formed themselves on his lips when Kaoru spoke again. "Now, Ruka dear."

"Yes, Kaoru-nee?"

"I need to ask of you just this one important thing that you'd essentially have to do for my son."

"W-what is it, onee-san?"

"Promise me this: Don't try to find good love for Natsume. Let good love find him," Kaoru said simply. "Just 'cause."

And that was exactly what Ruka had to do. "I'll do that, Kaoru-nee," he said surely, his voice containing not the slightest bit of self-doubt and worry anywhere. "I promise."

"RUKA! IT'S THE FINAL QUARTER AND WE'RE DOWN TO THE LAST FEW MINUTES SO YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTT UP HERE OR ELSE."

"Well that would be Koko," Ruka said, walking over to the kitchen entryway. "I'm glad I was able to talk to you about this, Kaoru-nee."

"Oh! Before you go, pet..." Kaoru held out the wooden spoon she was using to stir around her "Special Stir Fry Surprise" to Ruka. "Have a taste."

Cautiously, Ruka bent over and took a nip. It tasted like a mix of tuna, capers, asparagus, cinnamon and a whole lot of other stuff. It was delicious.

He let the flavors sit around his mouth for a bit. "Paprika?"

"With just a splash of vanilla!" Kaoru said proudly. "You like it?"

"I do, Kaoru-nee. Very much."

"That's lovely, sweet. And...one more thing?"

Ruka turned to face her one last time just as he reached the door. "Yes, 'nee-san?"

"I hope she would have your heart, Ruka. I really do."

"You do realize you just nearly ran me over with your car, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Maybe if you actually looked where you were pedalling, you'd save other people the trouble by not running into their cars."

"You... you ARROGANT, JERKY— ...ASSBUTT!"

—

One day to Doomsday, Hyuuga Household: Aoi's bedroom

All the polished marble and rich oil paintings were a far cry from the creaky floor boards and tatami mats that made up Mikan's world.

I mean sure, she thought to herself as she crossed the main receiving room of the house and looked around and took in all the expensive furniture and white flower arrangements in crystal vases, the Gakuen might be all fancy-schmancy too but it's supposed to be a school for the spoilt and rich brats of this generation, damnit!

And anyway, how could they even convince her of the fact that people actually lived here? The thing had to be the size of a flipping museum, if you asked her.

"Look, Mikan, it's not all that big, ok?" Ruka, the boy who had talked to her first and discovered her while she was working at McDonalds and self-proclaimed so-so The Smiths fan, said to her reassuringly. "Who knows? Maybe you'd get used to it if—" He seemed to have stopped himself. Mikan wondered why.

"Well, ok..." she muttered. "But maybe it's just 'cause you guys live in museums like this too that you're just so used to all this already."

Ruka seemed flustered. "What? No..."

"Sure, Ruka," Koko, the other boy who was also there at McDonald's eating a Double Cheeseburger when Ruka introduced Mikan to him, said sardonically with a roll of his eyes. "Lie to her about not living in some villa that doesn't look like some Japanese landmark not printed on a postcard—that'll impress her."

"Oh, don't mind him," Ruka told Mikan warily. "Sometimes five-star condo living in a six-floor penthouse suite can do things to a person."

"It is true..." Koko grinned, then glanced over at her. "But hey, what's your house like?"

"I—"

"We're here," Ruka announced just as they reached a set of wide oak double-doors. He turned to Mikan and Koko. "I'm just gonna go get something from inside—will you be alright waiting here outside with Koko, Sakura-san?"

"Oh hey now," Koko interceded. "We should at least show her around around, Ruka. ...You know. "

"Yeah, ok," Ruka agreed, a bit distraught. Facing Mikan, he said, "Come, Sakura-san. This" —and he opened the doors— "is The Study."

As expected of every corner of this house Mikan has been to so far, it was unlike anything she's ever seen. Old-fashioned antique wares and furnishings scattered the cavernous room whose walls and floors were of a polished dark wood that made her reminiscent of their porch bench in their old home and perhaps their old home itself, as well. A big, dead fireplace sprawled with ornate carvings sat at one side of the room. For a reason that might have been her own, she wondered if this family sat around it together in the colder seasons—she knew hers would have.

Then she breathed in.

Books. Most probably hundreds and hundreds of them wrapping the walls in the tallest shelves. The scent and feel and heart of it all just filled her senses as she respired and took everything in.

She knew she was smiling, but she couldn't care less.

"Mikan?" Ruka's voice brought Mikan out of her reverie. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, sorry..." Mikan apologized. Now she started to feel embarrassed. "I was just..." Mikan exhaled, looking around the place one more time.

"Well...I think it's nice. I like it," she admitted.

"...Alright then," Koko responded. Of course he was weirded out by her just now.

At that thought, Mikan averted her eyes until they trained on a certain desk at the northern part of the room.

"Hey guys... Just wondering—who sits over there?" She pointed to the large table. "Their father?"

Ruka and Koko looked at each other, then at her, then back at each other again. And then, they burst out laughing.

"Ahh, you're funny," Koko gasped in between guffaws, wiping a tear forming at the corner of his eye. He turned to Ruka, who was also laughing in a way Mikan wouldn't have expected him to earlier. "I like her!"

Well, ok.

. . .

To be honest, Mikan didn't really know what she was doing here. Nor did she even have any idea why she said yes in the first place. All she knew was that after being found at her workplace by a boy who liked The Smiths fairly enough, she was asked to be the prom date of some complete stranger not any further than five minutes after meeting said boy.

And for some reason, she said yes. For some flipping reason, she said yes.

Then again, maybe it all just was a part of her bucket list—given if she won't survive yet another year being the "poor scholar girl" in the prissiest, most stuck-up school for girls that ever dare exist. Yes, being some complete stranger's prom date was definitely bucket list-material. To add to that, she had always believed it was part of the journey towards one's self-actualization that you perform random acts of kindness for the people you come across to everyday, including ones who happen to discover you dancing along to 80's music in fast food joints.

Yes, she assured herself, that is enough reason to go through with this—and not just because the boy who asked you was cute and had the bluest eyes and...

"Crap," Mikan uttered out loud.

Koko looked up at her from his notes. "Sorry?"

Nothing, just getting a little crush on my supposed prom date's best friend. "Nothing, just getting a little dizzy from all this." Mikan tried at giggling like the girls at her school when they wanted to be all cute and stuff.

Koko all but raised an eyebrow.

Good thing Mikan didn't opt for the hair twirling bit.

She knew they were saved from the immediate awkward when a girl who looked about a year or two younger than her pranced into the room, a rack of clothes tailing her. Upon seeing Mikan, her eyes widened, her mouth forming a perfect little o on her perfect little face.

"Oh my God."

Was she really that unattractive?

In less than a heartbeat, the girl was instantly by her side on her seat on the futon couch. Her face was a mere few inches away from Mikan's.

She kept her shockingly red, doe-like eyes on her. "Ruka-nii, is this really her?"

"Yes...it's her, Aoi."

A foreign sort of expression passed through Aoi's face.

"She's..." she began quietly.

Mikan anticipated for the worst.

"Adorable!" Squeal.

Pretty weird getting called that by a girl who was more of the bishoujo type than you could ever have been.

"Isn't she?" Koko said, grinning. "And she's pretty funny too."

"What? No—"

"Where'd you find her?"

"Working at McDonald's."

"Koko!"

"What? Ruka, I was just being honest."

"Really?" Aoi blinked, cocking her head to the side. "If you study at our school, why would you have to work at a place like that?"

Koko choked on his tea. Ruka wiped at the tea splatters on his face, wide-eyed.

"Sorry, did we just hear correctly?"

Mikan bit her lip, looking up and anywhere just to avoid the three pairs of eyes all on her. "Well...yeah."

"All along you were from the Gakuen and you didn't even tell us?" said Koko incredulously.

"You never brought it up anyway," she countered quickly. "So I never told you guys."

"And you didn't even see the flyers we posted all over the whole damn school?" Koko cried. "That figures!" He threw up his hands.

"He does have a point, you know," Ruka said to her pointedly, a sorry smile on his face.

Defensiveness and shame formed a lump at Mikan's throat. She felt herself flush. "I— I saw those ok. I just never would've thought that...it'd be you guys."

"So what, now you think we're bigheaded douchebags, don't you?"

Mikan remembered she and her friend, Nobara, having a laugh at the "bigheaded douchebags" behind that whole prom-audition-for-loveless-idiots thing.

"Yup, she thinks we're douche bags!" Koko declared out loud. Apparently, he didn't need to hear the answer that was already written all over Mikan's face.

Self-consciously, Mikan put a hand to her forehead.

"Told you," she heard Ruka mutter to Aoi who giggled—not ridiculously, unlike her—in turn.

"I know," she said plainly, smiling sort of mischievously.

This time it was Ruka who sputtered on his drink. "Sorry what?"

"I know," she repeated, throwing her head back as she laughed again. "It was all part of the plan."

Koko gaped at her, bewildered. "Plan?"

"Yeah!" she chimed. "You know it's always the big-headed douchebag and the master action of douchebaggery proportions that bring out the sensible ones, onii-chans." she explained. Then she gave Mikan's hand a squeeze. "Standard chick flick or shoujo manga material."

"Sorry what?" Ruka can all but ask again.

"Nothing less from a mother and daughter who have a penchant devotion for these sorts of stuff." She winked at them. "Sometimes it's almost a guide to life."

The two boys looked more puzzled than ever. Mikan had to admit that she, too, was quite bemused. Her head spun erratically even—if that was possible— to be exact.

Maybe it wasn't too late to make a break for it...

"Mikan-nee, you haven't touched your tea yet," Aoi noted out of random.

Mikan considered sedatives or maybe even the home-made love potion. "Well, I am kinda full and..."

She trailed off when she noticed Aoi's lip quavering. "Ok, ok!" She panicked. "Mikan-nee will drink it, just for you!"

Aoi's expression was that of delight. For all Mikan knew, she probably liked manipulating people with her cuteness. "Yayy! I made the batch myself, you know."

"Yayy..." Mikan said weakly, lifting the cup to her lips. The tea was tepid, but she was most likely used to it because of her lack of patience and proper home insulation. Nonetheless, it was delicious.

Again, she sniffed it for any suspicious additives.

"Now let's all just relax here, ok?" Aoi said. She looked at all of them, smiling with an air of utmost confidence—as if she was in-command. "Just take some time to set some things straights."

Which in fact she was.

"Mikan-nee's still going to be Natsume-nii's prom date and everything will be spectacular," she dictated excitedly, then added, "—and non-coercive."

Her smile grew wider. "And then from there on, they'll fall hopelessly in l—"

"Okay, Aoi, let's not get ahead of ourselves now!" Ruka cut her off all gently of a sudden, standing abruptly. "Now let's have Mikan try on these dresses!"

"Woah, enthusiastic Ruka is enthusiastic," Koko said. He then glanced over at Mikan, his face suddenly coy. "Now where would you change?"

Mikan felt this urge to shudder and at the same time chuck the nearest bean bag at the sandy-haired boy. The former she did, the latter she wished she could've. So instead, she rushed over to the rack behind them and started leafing through the plastic-covered dresses right away.

The sooner, the better, anyway.

"Found anything you like, Mikan-nee?" Aoi asked her.

It was then that it caught her eye—like a splash of soft light amidst a haze of too-bright colors. The dress was of lush chiffon and as Mikan stepped closer to touch it, the sheer fabric glided over her hands like smooth liquid. It had silver braided cords for straps and a belt and as lined with trimming of the same color. It flowed from the chest part to the floor, easy, and looked like something a Greek goddess might wear—a bit girly for her taste, she knew.

She loved it.

"This...this yellow one's ok. I mean, I lo— like it. Yeah." Boy, was it hard to keep your composure before the most beautiful article of clothing you've ever laid your eyes (and hands!) on.

Ruka, however, didn't seem too happy. He even looked slightly uneasy, at that. "Yellow, really? I—"

"Oh come on, man," Koko scoffed, "I mean even I have to admit that it's a pretty flattering color on her."

Mikan blushed. This was, after all, a boy actually complimenting her. Or maybe her dress. But whatever. This was a boy.

Ruka was slightly pink too when she turned to him. "Sure. I guess she looks...nice."

"Nice" was a dead word but still, this was another boy.

"I think it would be lovely on her and her lovely in it," Aoi stated. "Don't you think?"

"Agreed."

Now why can't they be her prom dates? For one, they already thought of her as pleasant enough.

—

Doomsday, Alice Boys' High School: Gymnasium

It was hard to believe all those three weeks Koko and Ruka worked so hard for all just amounted to a lantern and streamer-decked gym, last-minute uncomfortable designer tuxedoes (courtesy of Koko's mom) and awkward encounters with squealish girls who already had dates. But then Ruka remembered.

He remembered her. And when he watched her get out of the car with her hand in Koko's, he knew. Those three weeks of endless lists and deliberations and cups of coffee were all for Natsume and her. It all seemed so worth it really, now that he thought about it.

And she shined because she was simply like the sun.

Funnily enough, a smallsmall part of him wished he was in Koko's place at that moment. Maybe even Natsume's. Anyway, he shook the feeling off and pushed it to the back of his heart instead, perhaps for mere safe keeping.

"Well we're looking quite fetching tonight, aren't we?" Koko greeted him. "I think the classic black jacket-white shirt ensemble is nice but the gold tie just really does bring out your eyes. What do you think, Mikan?"

The addressed lifted her head and smiled a smile that just made all the feelings well out of Ruka's chest twice as fast as he had put them away.

"I think he looks rather...handsome," she said softly but with the sincerest look and slightest hint of a blush on her face.

I think you're beautiful, too.

Because with the soft, flowing not-too-bright-but-just-right yellow dress and all the silver on her feet, wrists and hair that basically brought out the most glowing radiance of her ivory skin and brightest sparkle in her warm chocolate brown eyes, she just really was.

Surely enough, if this were any other girl in the same yellow dress Kaoru-nii would have screamed and grounded Aoi for placing something in that color on the clothes rack—but she didn't.

Instead, she said, "I think you're exquisite, my girl." And Ruka knew why.

"You too," was, however, all that he could manage. And it was most probably taken by Mikan and Koko as a compound compliment for the both of them. Ruka felt like kicking himself. It also took him a while to realize that he, too, was all pink in the face until Koko was kind enough to tell him loud enough for everyone around to hear.

"Yeah, uhm, so anyway Natsume's already waiting inside," Ruka said as soon as all the embarrassment was over. "Let's go."

And if it weren't for the dim lights and his nerves numbing in anxiety, he could have sworn he felt Mikan's hand on his at the slightest moment as well.

. . .

There was no denying that Mikan's nerves have been going haywire ever since she hopped on her bike earlier that afternoon as she set off to Koko's house to get ready. There was no denying that when she entered said gigantic condo unit, her feet became like lead and her breathing faster. There was no denying that as soon as the dress fabric touched her skin as she slipped it on, her insides churned and churned in much anguish. And there was certainly no denying that the moment when she stepped out the car in front of the boys' school, her heart hammered so wildly in her chest that she thought it might just suddenly stop in exhaustion at any moment.

She herself might've stopped in exhaustion, because even though she hasn't as much as lifted a finger while they were preparing with Aoi and Koko waiting on her, there were her trippy and uncooperative emotions to blame for that.

First and foremost, she knew a number of her schoolmates were going to be there—was she going to look like an imbecile for being a complete stranger's prom date? Desperate? Was there even any guarantee that her prom date was going to like her?

"Don't worry about my brother, Mikan-nee. He may be a bit...difficult, sometimes, but he's a nice guy. I'm sure he'll like you, whether he would have that happen or not," Aoi had told her just before she left Koko's. Then she held her hands. "You've got it."

Mikan was perplexed. "I've got what?"

Aoi reached up to pat her cheek in a way a little sister might have patted her big sister's. "It—what it takes for him to like you, whether he would have that happen or not." Her smile grew.

Too bad Mikan didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her she doubted it.

Then there was her not being sure if she was supposed to, just by a tad, tad wee bit, fall for her date's best friend. I mean come on, she only knew the guy for what—three days? Love didn't come easy, but it was most probably the handsome tux and kind smile and cornflower blue eyes which greeted her that evening that made the infatuation creep up on her like the blush she knew was on her cheeks.

It was definitely, definitely not good and she knew it.

By the time she somehow got over the tangle of feelings and thoughts that was her mind and spoke again, they were already inside the prom-ed out gym, weaving their way through the expensive dress and suit-ed crowd. Some people she recognized from her school stared at her like they'd just seen a ghost—even people she didn't know—but it was most probably because of the fact that she was currently being escorted by the two most attractive boys in the room.

"So, uhm, is he here already?" Mikan swallowed. "Waiting?"

"He...he is," Ruka said.

They kept walking until eventually, the crowd thinned and they reached the back of the room where a tall figure with tousled dark hair stood, his back to them.

. . .

They didn't really drag Natsume down there against his own will, contrary to what his mother believed. Actually, it was his fault that his mom thought so, but he intentionally let it pass when she called him an idiot over the phone for accusing them of abduction because she went to law school and knew that it wasn't counted when one had parental consent.

"And as far as I'm concerned, I am your parent," she sneered at him via video call.

That almost got him, but he let that one slip too anyway.

The truth was, his sister and best friend didn't really goad him into seeing a movie and taking a shower. They didn't empty his closet of any clothes except for a tux nor leave him with no choice but to wear that one suit. Most importantly, they didn't knock him out, bag him, shove him into a limo and whisk him away here, the epitome of Doomsday on tangible earth.

Because to be honest, he wasn't that stupid.

It was ironically amusing how he told them how he knew what they knew, though.

Thanks to Mochu who never really learned how to shut his mouth, he found out soon enough about this whole "gig" his friends were planning for him. This made them ascend into a whole new level of idiocy, which astonished him, even on Koko's behalf.

What really went down was, first, an all-too theatrical attempt first from Aoi, then a milder, less subtler one from Ruka to go see some new sequel of something he didn't seem remotely interested in to begin with. Then just like that, being the "painfully blunt" person he was, as his Ruka would've put, he dropped it right away, saying he'll go if they really wanted him to because he had his principles and there was nothing good on TV that night.

So here he was in a penguin suit two hours later, standing in a place he couldn't have wanted any less to be at, just because he didn't like the idea of the only people who were sane enough in his life dying at his own mother's hands.

No, he didn't.

But as soon as he turned, he seemed to suddenly want otherwise.

The first and last time he saw those brown eyes set into that small, pinched face was when they were angrily glowering up at him from under the nose of his car just after she zipped to from the opposite direction, causing her to crash into him as he hit the brakes.

"You!"

Ruka looked really astounded. "Wait...you know each other?"

"How could I not know him?" The girl pointed indignantly at Natsume. "He ran me over with his stupid car!"

"Hey yeah, she called me an assbutt," he said.

"Assbutt," Koko sniggered to himself quietly. Natsume shot him a look.

"What—How—When?"

"Friday. Right after I left their house," she muttered grumpily, regarding the ceiling instead of him. But that explained pretty well why the incident took place two blocks away from his place.

"That's nice," he drawled.

"Natsume," Ruka said gently, "this is Mikan."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Natsume said, smirking easily, "—in that dress, she looks citrus-y enough already."

Koko gave him a sheepish look. "Gee Natsu, you don't have to be such an assbutt about it."

"Shut it."

"Yes, sir."

"Wow, you're cocky," Mikan remarked loudly, earning them numerous glances from the people beside us.

Ruka cleared his throat. "So...since we're all well-acquainted with each other now, we'll leave you two alone here already, ok?"

"Bye!"

They were gone before Natsume could even deliver them a 'Don't you dare' glare.

"Great," Mikan huffed, her arms still crossed. "Now I'm stuck here with some turn-of-the-century jerkwad for three hours—"

"And you wish you would've knew who I was then, huh?" Natsume said blatantly. "So you could've changed your mind about all this and saved yourself the trouble."

"Maybe, maybe not."

"That's funny."

She seemed to hesitate at that and peaked apprehensively up at him. But then she furrowed her brows and continued, "And this stupid yellow dress that's supposed to not make me look like a fruit and... I don't even know anymore."

Was it me or was this girl just plain mouthy?

"Figures," Natsume scoffed. "You must've been one of those girls on Ruka and Koko's 'back-up list'." He gave her a once-over, but save for the apparent snark, she didn't seem that rabid compared to the usual desperado, however.

"No, sorry," she apologized derisively. "Don't flatter yourself by thinking that every girl out there has a massive crush on you."

"Hn."

She made an annoyed sound at the back of her throat. "Unlike your 'undying fangirls' I didn't do the whole sign-up process the painful way, ok? Rather, it came to me in a blonde-boy-approaching-you-at-McDonald's-while-you're-working-asking-about-your-music-preference-then-BAM!-big-question manner that didn't take any more than three minutes of my time, thanks."

"McDonald's, huh?" It was hard to feign interest when you were actually curious all of a sudden. "Sounds...unusual."

"Besides, the only reason I said yes was because I really am a nice person" —Natsume raised an eyebrow at that— "and Ruka...well he's—"

Mikan paused at that, looking suddenly aware of herself.

Natsume's brow rose even higher. "You don't like my best friend...do you?"

She turned beet red at the question. "What? ...No."

"Of course you don't."

"I...I still think you're an assbutt!"

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence immediately after that. The song passed, and as majority of them retreated for punch towards the buffet tables where they stood, eventually the two were forced to drift towards the center of the room.

Another song began.

At that, Mikan's face lit up and she turned to him. "Man, I love this song!"

It was The Smiths.

Already, the crowd around them was exchanging groans at the lack of modernity in song choice. Natsume felt irritated at their lack of proper judgment and decent taste in music.

But Mikan, on the other hand, was already swaying about in some sort of 60's dance move kind of way. "'A punctured bicycle, on a hillside desolate /Will nature make a man of me yet?'"

"You like The Smiths?" Natsume found himself asking her.

She smiled. "I love them," she exclaimed.

Immediately he knew Ruka may have been behind this. He loved them too. "They're ok."

"Sing with me then!" she urged. "Here it comes!"

He wasn't really sure what made him do it.

"'I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a thing to wear'," he mumbled out lowly, "'The man said, it's gruesome that someone so handsome should care'."

Mikan laughed, an almost melodic sound like chimes blowing in the wind or water rippling over stones. "Not too shabby—you still owe me that smashed bike deflector, though!"

With that, she grinned even wider and took Natsume's hand, spinning herself around.

And what the hell, she didn't seem too shabby herself either.

RING! RING!

"Hey...yeah? And...ok...oh God, sorry about that...yeah, again...no, it's ok... No prob...I'll go get you, so just stay where you are, ok? ...The chandelier with all the opal, yes...ok."

"Who was that?"

"Ah...Mikan got lost on her way to the bathroom again."

"Figures."

~ FIN ~

Ok I'm done with that. Yeah.

Man, do I feel much less unproductive for finishing that (even though it was the only fic I published and probably will be publishing this summer - or rather, the remainder of it /sigh) Heads up for more pop culture references though, so yayy! (the The Smiths one was the biggest and most important of the them all actually /lol redundant)

Also, a happy happy birthday to my other little sis, Irreplaceable Joy

Review?