Disclaimer: I don't own Alice Gakuen in any way or form.
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Betting on a Sandwich
Little Miss Giggle
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Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.
—The Color of Money
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Part II
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Fridays to Natsume were really a pointless day. After all, the timetable for 2B consisted of Narumi first thing in the morning, followed by an hour and a half physical education and private studies for the rest of the day. It was a given that Narumi's lessons were pointless, after all, the only thing they really seemed to do were to write love letters to Narumi. And P.E. (physical education)—God, what a laugh it was for Natsume, who had gone through extensive physical training with Persona in the past. Honestly, the only up side of P.E. was seeing Mikan in her little shorts trying yet failing to do anything at all.
And let's not kid ourselves now; 'private studies' is really a synonym for 'nap time'.
Friday was, thus to conclude, useless as a school day for Natsume Hyuuga. And Mikan Sakura, his girlfriend, knew to what extent he believed in this, as there had not been one Friday since the beginning of the year that went by without him commenting about its redundancy with a look of annoyance.
It happened every Friday at breakfast, at around eight thirty in the dining hall.
Ergo, you can imagine Mikan's surprise when her boyfriend greeted her on the 1st of April with a smile on his face in the dining hall at eight thirty. That's right, a smile, not a smirk but a smile.
"Good morning," he swooped down to sit next to her (she faithfully saved him a spot to her left—Hotaru was always on her right) before he intimately took one of her jam pasty from her plate for himself. Mikan looked at him, slightly suspicious yet her happiness to see him in a good mood outweighed the prior emotion exceedingly so.
"Good morning, Natsume." She smiled. "It's such a pretty day, isn't it?"
Indeed the bees were buzzing; the sky was blue; the sun was out to play—alas, it was a beautiful spring's day!
Still swallowing the jam pasty, he turned to give her a sweet (strawberry jammy) kiss on the cheek in response to her happy statement. Surprised by his really jammy action, Mikan was too flustered (public display of affection wasn't really Natsume after all) to notice Natsume's very subtle glance in the direction of the boys (Ruka, Koko, Kitsune-me, Mochu and Yuu) on the other side of the table; a smug glance, it could have been seen as. However this little glance did not go unnoticed by of course the boys (who before Natsume's appearance were all smiley and chirpy) as Hotaru Imai's quick eyes also picked up this haughty smirk.
The others however (thus to say Anna, Nonoko and Permy) reacted by dreamily sighing at Natsume's little affectionate jammy kiss.
"You definitely woke up on the right side of your bed, Natsume." Permy commented, with a suggestive smile on her face.
He confirmed how true Permy's statement was by winking back at her, before he turned his attention back on Mikan.
"You do know it's Friday today, right?" Mikan double-checked, as despite her initial fluffy-Howalon-happiness, she was starting to realise how strange Natsume was acting after his wink.
Wink?
Natsume?
Natsume winking?
"Yeah," Natsume pushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear affectionately, "one day closer to the weekend where I can spend all my time with you." was his optimistic answer, which was received differently by the boys, girls, Mikan and Hotaru—shocked 'oh-no-he-didn't' faces; squealing and flaffing about their arms like birds; jaw drop and narrowing eyes all respectively. "Which reminds me," Natsume continued, ignoring all the different reactions—just Mikan's, which he responded by putting his finger on her chin in order to close her gaping mouth himself—"your friend from the S.A. class, who has the Alice to forecast the weather accurately told me the weather's going to be nice on Sunday so do you want to go have a picnic with me then?"
There was a bit of an eruption from the other side of the table (in more detail: wails of horror, gasps, and a cry of, "We're doomed!) immediately after Natsume's preposition to his girlfriend who now just seemed delighted. "A picnic!" she clapped her hands excitedly, obviously approving his of his unexpected suggestion. "I haven't had one in ages! That's a brilliant idea and so sweet of you to even suggest such a thing."
Natsume couldn't help goofily grin like a love-struck idiot for a good three seconds (immensely pleased that he could induce such emotions in Mikan so simply!) before he reminded himself of the Bet.
Bet 126 to be precise. A bet he knew he'd win easily.
"Cool," Natsume breezily replied, helping himself to another jam pasty on Mikan's plate, "and I was wondering," he took a bite of Mikan's pasty, "if maybe you could make me a sandwich for the picnic?"
"Holy fuc—"
"Koko!" Permy angrily snapped, shooting a glare at her boyfriend across from her seat. "Can you stop acting jealous of Natsume and maybe instead learn a few tips from him?!"
Natsume so very nearly laughed as he saw that all the girls (except for his girlfriend and Hotaru Imai) were glaring at their boyfriends (except for Mochu, who considered himself lucky that his girlfriend was not there to reprimand his outburts and interruptive inputs of swear words), and tutting them for their out-of-the-ordinarily rude behaviour, which consisted of spluttering, choking, gasping and wailing whenever Natsume opened his mouth or smiled in Mikan's direction.
"B-B-But—" Koko stuttered, who was interrupted with another cross comment from Permy: "Just finish your breakfast."
Mikan looked albeit it a bit confused, her gaze fixed upon the defeated-looking boys but Natsume brought the attention back to himself by probing Mikan's small hands. She turned her brown eyes at him; "So, will you?" Natsume asked. "Will you make me a sandwich?"
Mikan smiled. "Of course I will!"
Natsume gloriously slapped both his hands on the table immediately after her response (seemingly acting to Hotaru that Natsume had just got exactly what he wanted), and impudently smirked in the direction of the other boys, with the air of victory lingering around him. The others on the other hand (especially Koko) looked as if they wanted to object, but felt they couldn't in front of the presence of their girlfriends, in addition to the fact that Bet 126 was agreed to be a secret amongst them.
"Oooh, Mikan," Anna squealed, "I know some really good recipes for sandwiches!"
"Really?" Mikan's eyes sparkled. "What kind—"
"Mikan," called Hotaru, not caring if she was interrupting a conversation, "what are we learning about in history?"
Had Natsume not been so warped up in his own victory (thus arrogance), he might have caught upon at that moment what Hotaru was getting at, insinuating, but alas, he was too busy thinking how silly his friends were to even think they could win a bet against him, let alone actually make one with him.
"Huh?" Mikan furrowed her eyebrows, before clarity came before her. "Oh! We're learning about the suffragettes who were . . . um . . . oh yes! The suffragettes who were an early type of feminism which campaigned for the vote in England in the early twentieth century."
Hotaru nodded. "Who was Emily Davison?"
Mikan paused. She had to think about this one. "Hmm . . . was she the suffragette who threw herself in front of the King's Horse in . . . I think, 1913?"
Hotaru confirmed that her answer was correct. "Why did she do that?"
At this point, Natsume clocked on to what Hotaru Imai was trying to do. His eyes widened—that wench!
"In order to publicise and address the problem of women not having the vote in England!" Mikan keenly replied. "She was apparently trying to show the King that the suffragettes were getting closer to the royal family by doing so!"
"Exactly." Hotaru established. "Mikan, listen to me." Mikan leaned in closer, her eyes wide, to her best friend, her back now faced to her boyfriend. "Women such as Emily Davison have died in the name of feminism, in order to gain equality with men. You understand that?" Mikan nodded ardently. "Mikan, they died for us—"
At this point, Natsume quickly interrupted: "Imai, you know perfectly well that Emily Davison's death was most likely an accident caused by her recklessness—"
He was ignored as Hotaru continued in a voice, a notch louder than Natsume's, "—and how are you repaying these women such as Emily Davison? By making your boyfriend a sandwich. Mikan, do you even know what implications there are for making a boy a sandwich? It means you are his bitch," Mikan gasped, aghast, "because you're doing something he's perfectly capable to do—"
"Imai!"
The colours in the boys' cheeks seem to be coming back to life as they now all realised that Hotaru Imai was saving them. They all looked at each other, with promising smiles on their faces. Natsume on the other hand . . . not so victorious anymore, eh?
"You think Hyuuga can't make a sandwich? Does he not have two hands? Of course he can make a sandwich, but no, instead he's making you, the female do it because it's seen as a stereotypical female thing to do: be in the kitchen—that's sexism, right there!"
"Imai, I'm not kidding, shut up—"
"Shhh!" Mikan shushed her boyfriend, absent-mindedly flapping her hand behind to lightly smack him on his thigh, her back still turned on him.
Natsume openly gaped at her dismissive actions.
It was the boys' turn to taste the sweet taste of victory now. Koko even fist pumped. Kitsune-me declared his newfound admiration for Hotaru Imai quietly to Mochu and even apologised to Ruka for all the things he had ever said about Hotaru.
"You making a sandwich for him is another way of saying to those who have died for us, 'Sorry, your death was for nothing', you understand?" Mikan passionately nodded, her head dipping low and thrusting up high. "So Mikan, are you going to subjugated by the opposite sex by making your boyfriend a sandwich and as a result be his bitch or are you going to be alongside those who died for us, the females?"
By this point, everybody in the dining room was looking at Hotaru Imai's grand, awe-inspiring speech to Mikan Sakura about feminism and well, not being your boyfriend's bitch, thus when Mikan dramatically stood up from her seat and loudly proclaimed (answering Hotaru's question), "I stand by for those who bravely died for us girls!" Every girl (all except for Hotaru who just smugly stayed rooted to her chair) in the hall gave her a standing ovation. Even Koko, Kitsune-me, Mochu, Yuu and Ruka stood up to join the happy, happy result of Hotaru Imai's pep talk with Mikan. In fact, they seemed to be cheering more than everybody else and to their girlfriends' surprise they even started to chant, "We Are The Champions."
Of course, Hotaru just smiled at Ruka, knowingly whilst his blue eyes twinkled at her in a thankful manner.
The clapping continued, and Mikan now started to curtsey cutely at all the positive reaction she was receiving for not bowing down to the confinements of patriarchy.
Hotaru smiled again before she languidly looked to her side, only to catch Natsume's murderous glare that was directed right at her. Her smug looked intensified almost like a chemical reaction—quickly and obviously.
"I really hate you, Imai." Natsume bluntly said, loud enough for her to hear over the cheers but quiet enough so she could only hear.
Hotaru wickedly smiled, "It's not my fault your girlfriend is so influenced by me."
"Yeah, that's why I hate you. She's mine. Hands off."
He didn't even dare look in the direction of his friends, as he could already feel their absolute self-satisfied victorious gazes and hear their crappy rendition of Queen—Natsume dared not to give them the satisfaction by looking at their faces.
"Well, arrogance only got you so far today, Hyuuga." Hotaru stood up from her chair, after having decided that the dining room was far too loud for her liking at this point. "Hope you have a good day."
Natsume snorted.
Good day, his arse. After all, as of today, by the edict of Bet 126, he was on the pathway to be his girlfriend's bitch officially.
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Official Document
Written by Yuu Tobita
Dictated by Ruka Nogi
Concerning: Mikan Sakura and Natsume Hyuuga.
Outcomes concerning Bet No. 126: Mikan Sakura did not make her boyfriend, Natsume Hyuuga, a sandwich by the deadline (8th April)
Those who thus won the bet: Ruka Nogi, Kokoro Yomi, Kitsume-me NoSurname, Mochiage NoSurname, and Yuu Tobita.
He who thus lost the bet: Natsume Hyuuga.
Subject Mikan Sakura did not wish to make Natsume Hyuuga a sandwich after the Hotaru Imai's speech on Emily Davison and Women's Rights on the first day of April, despite Natsume Hyuuga's attempts to convince her otherwise the following week.
Result of Bet No. 126: Natsume Hyuuga is to pay the winners 1,000 Rabbits each, and now has the official title of being Mikan Sakura's bitch. Furthermore, Mikan Sakura has now founded the Young Woman's Feminist Group at the Alice Academy. Lastly, Natsume Hyuuga has declared that he will never again eat a sandwich due to its connotations with defeat.
Signed,
Yuu Tobita
Ruka Nogi
KOkOrO yOmI ;)
Kitsune-me =D
Mochu
Natsume Hyuuga
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Fin
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A/N: Et, voila!
For those who are clueless about the suffragettes, well, I could type you a lovely A-Level standard essay about who they were, what they campaigned for (simple, equality and the vote) and whether if they were the reason why women really got the (partial) vote or not in 1918 (in England) but I'm just going to leave it up to you to google.
I will say however that the story of Emily Davison is true (throwing herself in front of the King's horse at Ascot) however there is much speculation whether her death was for women's right; just suicide or even just a mistake (as she did have a return ticket home present in her pocket—so historians argue, 'why would she have even bought a return ticket if she was just going to die?'). Google to your heart's content!