When I Met You(Gakuen Alice fanfic)

Chapter 13: Couple problems

"Na... stu... me."

"Mm..."

"Natsume!" I jerked up and blinked repeatedly. Where was I again? "You should go home already. There's no need for you to be here. The nurses said they'll be releasing me tomorrow anyways..."

Oh yeah, the hospital. She's finally gained the color of her original tone and her eyes are as sparkly as usual. But her smile...

"I  don't have anything better to do..." I lied as I leaned against my arm and swiftly wiped the drool off the ends of my lips. 

"Natsume... I'm alright, trust me-"

"What happened... back then? When you were singing..." I swallowed hard, stood up and looked her in the eye, "Why did you do it?" I asked instead.

"Do you remember when I told you that I wanted to be a singer?" I nod as I remember that day in which she was asking me many questions about myself. I also remember thinking that she was growing suspicious. Hahaha... I can't believe I couldn't notice something was wrong... "It's always been my dream and I love to sing, but..." Her face paled.

"But... what?" I asked her. Let's see if she'll tell me the truth.

"I have a disease involving my vocal cords... I get worse very time I sing." She looked down at her hands, "I cough out blood every now and then and my Grandpa had me hospitilized when I wasn't doing so well at school. That's why I'm at the hospital all the time. It's also getting harder to move around, so I needed someone to help me. That's why you're here, Natsume." Her hands shook as she straightened the sheets below her.

How could I have not noticed any of what she'd been going through? All those smiles... and cheerfulness. There's no way that there could be anyone that happy in the world. Then again, Aoi was like that before...

"Why do you do it?" I asked.

"Do what? Sing?"

"No... why do you smile if you know you're going to die?" I finally confessed. I wanted to know why she smiled if she had no reason to.

"How do you know-"

"Just answer the question, dang it!" She flinched and shook her head.

"Hyuuga. Leave her alone." I whipped my head back and instantly spotted a pair of amethyst eyes. Imai... "I came to check how you were doing. How are you, Mikan?"

"I-I'm fine, and you are...?"

"Hotaru Imai. Hotaru is fine." She extended her hand and Mikan hesitated to shake it.

"Nice to meet you... erm... Hotaru."

"Hn..."

"Imai... I thought you had a meeting?" I mumbled angrily.

"I did, but I canceled. I needed to meet this Baka girl." Mikan glared at her but Hotaru shrugged it off, "As you can see... I'm not very sociable. But I came here anyways because he asked me too." She pointed at me and I blushed at her comment, with a scowl of course.

"What? Natsume you-"

"Hmph!" I interrupted her, "Are you making fun of me? What the heck do you know anyway!?" I yelled at Imai.

"I'm not. I'm just restating what you told me. That's all." She smirked. I crossed my arms.

"You two... used to date, right?" said Mikan, "How-?"

"It was back in Junior High. We were fools. That's all." I mumbled.

"Is it maybe... because you're both alike?"