Once in a Blue Moon

Chapter 8:

The day finally ended, with Mikan thoroughly exhausted physically and mentally. She had just been questioned for a thousand times over and over again on what happened in the kitchen and in the office. Her co-workers had practically wanted to kill her when she said that THE NATSUME HYUUGA was nothing but an arrogant jerk.

Of course, when she started to vacate her locker, her co-workers stopped bullying her and started to get the idea that she was serious about leaving her work here. And everyone tried to stop her both physically and mentally. Either strangling her or stealing her bag. Even making her deaf with all the shouts and all the reasons why she must not leave.

The moment she mentioned Hotaru's name, everyone stopped as they all know that what Hotaru orders, is what Hotaru gets.

And this, Mikan all told to Hotaru as she drove her home making Hotaru annoyed with her expressive gestures and exaggerated way of talking.

Hotaru stopped the car suddenly, making Mikan fall forward and nearly hit the dashboard but was thankfully wearing the seat belt. Mikan gave a sigh of relief before turning to her best friend and glaring, "Hotaru! What did you do that for?!"

"Mikan."

"What?"

"Get out of the car."

"Eh?"

"Now."

"But-but Hotaru, I didn't really mean it!"

"I want you out of this car within three seconds."

"You can't be that mean! Don't leave me out of nowhere!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, wait- where are we?"

"We are going to eat."

With that said, Hotaru left the car herself and left Mikan staring after her. Due to her constant ramblings, Mikan did not know that Hotaru had stopped near a restaurant named Food for the Gods.

That would explain it. Hotaru loved this restaurant as much as her own, maybe more because of the quality of the crabs they serve here. Hotaru's normal number of plates consumed when eating crabs was five, but here she reaches up to ten and sometimes even twenty.

Mikan groaned and followed Hotaru inside the restaurant, where Hotaru was waiting for her by the doors. As they walked inside, Mikan was totally oblivious of the stares they received as they were led to their table by a cute waitress.

Hotaru, of course, was not as oblivious and glanced at Mikan at the corner of her eye. Mikan had changed out of her work clothes and into her street clothes which consists of an overly large sweatshirt covering her arms and neck and jeans.

On any other girl, it would look completely stupid, as if the girl was trying to be a nerd as much as possible. But on Mikan, it looks like a new fashion trend.

Even with her hair tied up in pigtails and her body hidden from lustful eyes, Mikan still catches the attention of many people, including the Natsume Hyuuga.

When they were finally sitting down and were served immediately, Hotaru started finishing off the crabs one by one. Mikan didn't order anything, saying that she was too full to eat. And as Hotaru ate, Mikan could only look at her in exasperation.

When they finally left the restaurant, it was already quite dark. Mikan cried out in frustration and pushed Hotaru to hurry up and get going already. As they finally started to drive back home, with Mikan still scolding Hotaru for taking a sudden stop just to eat crabs, Hotaru looked at her with her emotionless eyes and looked at her neck.

"Where did you get that bruise, Mikan?"

Mikan grabbed her sweatshirt close, realizing that it had slipped when she was desperately trying to stop Hotaru from coming back to the restaurant for more.

Unlike what others think, Mikan wasn't wearing that style of dressing to make a fashion trend or even just because she felt like it. She needed these clothes to hide her secret, the one that only Hotaru knows.

As she averted her eyes from Hotaru's searching eyes, she looked out of the window to try to compose herself. But what she saw made her lose her composure more.

"It's him." , she whisphered.

Hotaru heard her, and looked out of the window herself. As she looked at the sight before her, she showed no sign of changing her expression at all. But Mikan knew her long enough to detect the tightening of her jaw and the flash of anger in her violet eyes.

"Well what do you know? It's the devil himself." Hotaru said nonchalantly.

And Mikan only smiled at Hotaru's usual greeting to the man in front of them, waiting in front of the shabby place Mikan calls home.

When Hotaru stopped the car, Mikan immediately jumped out, not even doing her usual routine of crying her eyes out at Hotaru to stay a bit longer.

"Father."