Author's Note: The thing about updating fics as a holiday present is I live in one of the most western time zones so by the time I was just starting to edit, Christmas was almost over in Asia so sorry to all my readers across the world.

A bit short, but Merry Christmas!


NARA PREFECTURE, EARLY MARCH 2008

"I'm moving to Tokyo."

The spring breeze blew between the two best friends, who stood at odds with each other in the lane of their small village.

Mikan Yukihara, age ten, nearly cried but held it together in front of her emotionless best friend, Hotaru Imai. "Tokyo? The city? Why?"

"I'm switching schools and attending Alice Academy," stated Hotaru, ignoring the warning signs of an impending emotional breakdown.

"What can Alice Academy give you that our little school can't?" Mikan couldn't let Hotaru go! Not without a fight!

Ever since Hotaru approached her when they were seven to enter the village singing competition, the cute girls had stuck together through thick and thin. How could Hotaru just leave?

But Hotaru's logic was clear to her, if not to Mikan. "It's a prestigious school. I have to start thinking about being competitive for university applications if I want to be successful."

"University?" Mikan hadn't even thought about high school, much less that far in life.

Hotaru was deadpan. "How else will I learn how to make millions from my inventions?"

Mikan's lower lip trembled. "But Tokyo, that's so far away! When will you visit?"

"I'll visit during the summer vacation. It's not like you won't ever see me again." Hotaru offered no other reassurance, no pat on the arm, no hug; nothing for her supposed best friend of three years.

But Mikan needed no other reassurance; her love for Hotaru would sustain her. "I promise I'll make the most of our time together. When do you leave?"

The wind stopped blowing.

"Today."


LATE MARCH 2008

His daughter had been moping for a couple of weeks now. Even when she usually would be bursting with enthusiasm for the school year to start, she sat glumly at the dining table, mixing her rice with her meat over and over again, lost deep in thought and in her feels.

The fight had gone out of her. The days that followed Hotaru's departure were filled with Mikan's incessant pleas to her father to follow her best friend to Tokyo and attend junior high in the city, any school, just to be close.

Mikan was just like her mother in many aspects: her bubbly personality, her sunny smile, her brown hair and eyes, but most of all, her love for the countryside and disdain for the city.

Izumi would hate to see her unhappy in Tokyo, but he supposed she was unhappy already. He couldn't bear it any longer.

"Maybe you go to Alice Academy," he said softly, and he watched Mikan's eyes light up and her posture straighten at her father's suggestion. "You could attend for junior high or we could test the waters and have you go just this year."

"You'd let me?" she asked incredulously.

"If you feel you can do it, I'll let you go."

Mikan was about to cheer, leap out of her chair, and do a hundred cartwheels before she remembered, "How will I get in? Hotaru said it's a prestigious school for geniuses and rich kids."

"Well, I'm sure we can ask your Uncle Kazumi. He's the principal."

"The principal?" Mikan did not recall this fact about him, though she hadn't seen him in a couple of years.

"Yes, he and I both wrote a letter of recommendation for Hotaru to go, which is mainly how she got accepted. I'm sure we can do that again."

Mikan's jaw dropped. "You're telling me…. You were the reason Hotaru left?!"


TOKYO, APRIL 2008

"I can't believe you followed me all the way to Tokyo," drawled Hotaru on the first day of school, her best friend oohing and ahhing at every little aspect of the humongous sprawling campus. Mikan had done the same upon her arrival in the city, but seeing the ivy-covered brick buildings and the countless cobblestoned paths leading to tennis courts and swimming pools and even a miniature shopping market shocked her once more, especially compared to her old school in the village.

Not to mention the thick black blazer and the blue plaid uniforms. Somehow, every single student managed to look elegant, even though they were so young.

"I can't wait to see you every day!" she squealed, linking arms and smiling widely.

True to his promise, Mikan's father wrote to her uncle, and she was given permission to attend and to live with him. Uncle Kazumi wanted her to stay for all of junior high, saying it was the best for her future, but…

Mikan thumbed the ring on her left hand, a simple silver band her mother had left for her since she was a baby. It was her good luck charm, a piece of her mom guiding her wherever Mikan went. She would miss home.

"This is my classroom," said Hotaru, stopping in front of a door on the first level of the middle school division. Passing them by, a sandy-haired chased a girl with dark permed hair through the door, her shouting for him to stay away.

"No, it isn't." Mikan checked her sheet again. "It says I'm in Class 1B."

"And I'm in Class 1A."

"Ho - Hotaru," Mikan stuttered, already feeling the cold dread seep in.

"Goodbye, Mikan. I'll see you at lunch."


APRIL 2008

Mikan Yukihara might be a small country girl in a big city, but there was no challenge she couldn't tackle. Even without her best friend in her class, she held her own and flourished. Hotaru introduced her to a few of her friends: Anna and Nonoko, a pair of twins interested in baking and science; Yuu, the student council representative for their grade; Sumire, a curly-haired loudmouth who was obsessed with boys. The rest, Mikan made in her class, and she soon gained a reputation as a cheerful, bubbly girl perfect for school spirit activities.

Her teachers were nice to her, though she suspected that might have been the influence of her uncle. Uncle Kazumi was a little less strict than her father and allowed her to go out into the city often. She wrote weekly letters back home, and her father and grandfather responded just as frequently.

The only thing left to do was join a club.

Sumire waved a flyer in front of their faces and shoved it to them. " Hotaru, Mikan! Join the Nat -"

"It'll rot your brain," said her best friend, directing Mikan to the more educational clubs. The club fair buzzed with excited students, most of whom knew that the club they joined would make or break their popularity status for the rest of their school years.

"What was that?" Mikan looked back, seeing a lot of girls crowded around Sumire. She looked at the flyer in her hands, featuring several pictures of a black-haired boy with a stern expression and a blond-haired boy holding a rabbit.

Hotaru snorted her derision. "A fanclub."

"For what? A band? Oooh, is there an Amanatsu fanclub?" Mikan folded up the flyer and shoved it in her pocket to be forgotten forever as she searched for a board advertising Amanatsu, her favorite band.

"No," said Hotaru, barely giving the clubs a passing glance, "and you shouldn't join a fanclub. Do something more useful with your time like Homework Club or Cheer Squad. You'd be good at it."

"What club are you joining, Hotaru?"

"None of them. They don't interest me."

"Eh?" Immediately, Mikan's forehead creased with worry. She had seen how unsocial Hotaru had been at lunch, and how even though they both were new to the city, Mikan got invited out a lot more often by their classmates than her best friend.

"I don't like any of the clubs here," she said decisively. "We're only looking for a club for you."

"Then we'll start one! We'll do something you like, like…." Mikan thought about all the time Hotaru invested in tinkering with her inventions. "Robotics!"

Hotaru gave her the side eye, already wary of Mikan's newfound enthusiasm. "Starting a club isn't that easy."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it!"


JULY 2008

Another successful robotics club meeting!

Starting a club had been easy for Mikan, who powered through the school bureaucracy with the help of her uncle and her sheer, unwavering determination. Their advisor, Noda the physics professor, was soft-spoken but a helpful guide. There were only six students in the club, but that was enough as they prepared to enter the upcoming district championship. Realistically, they knew they wouldn't place high, but they always hoped.

Holding hands with her best friend, Mikan blabbered about how Noda had gotten them new kits and they could make it if everyone practiced their coding during the weekend. Hotaru silently absorbed all the information, just as thrilled to be participating as Mikan, but hiding it much better.

"Mikan, Hotaru, come over here!" called Sumire from a line of students by the cherry blossom trees. "We're taking a picture."

Mikan noticed several unfamiliar faces. "Is this a class photo? I don't want to intrude."

"It was supposed to be a class photo for 1A, but I guess we're just doing one big grade photo."

"How could I take a picture without my buddy?" cried Koko from 1A, slinging an arm around his best friend, Kitsu from 1C. The two looked and acted almost identically, but they weren't twins.

"Oh, well, is everyone here?" Mikan hated the thought of someone being left out. She and Hotaru took their place next to Anna and Nonoko.

"Everyone from 1A is accounted for," said Yuu, taking count one more time.

"Mizuki, Hana, hurry!"

"Okay, that's 1B!"

A few boys rushed over as well, and Yuu shouted, "1C is here!"

"Yep, all here," said Narumi, the homeroom teacher for 1A. He held up a digital camera. "Now everyone smile and say, 'I love Narumi!'"

Although it was an unofficial photo, Uncle Kazumi the principal paid for it to be developed, and a copy was given to each student in the first year of junior high.

On one end of the photo stood a smiling Mikan Yukihara, surrounded by her friends.

At the other end, blank-faced and arm around his best friend, stood Natsume Hyuuga.