Even though there were hundreds of groups of children leaving, one group clearly stood out, especially the girl at its center, who seemed completely accustomed to receiving that kind of attention.
It wasn't surprising. For children just entering puberty who liked to think they were more mature than they actually were, someone who was genuinely mature, combined with a personality that was kind to everyone and pleasant to look at, was basically the very definition of popularity.
Mikan simply looked at the people staring at her, some with admiration, others with jealousy, and merely sighed. At some point she had gotten used to her strange school life.
Curiously, that made the relatively ordinary moments of her life the ones when she went home and basically acted like Rito's mother.
Or at least, that was how it had been until Lala arrived and turned what had once been an annoying school life into basically a peaceful paradise compared to the chaos her ordinary life had become.
So, after Lala left, everything should have gone back to normal, right?
Mikan recalled her life lately, Run visiting them almost every day, Haruna dropping by every now and then, and above all Rito, who, while trying to change, only made every situation even more chaotic.
Mikan had once thought the number of alien problems Lala brought with her came from her status as the princess of the galaxy, but apparently simply not being from Earth was already troublesome enough. Recently, Run had tried to become a galactic idol and had brought along her own set of problems.
'As if' she thought ironically as she remembered her earlier belief that everything would return to normal once Lala was gone.
"Mikaaan!" As she walked, the brown haired girl heard a voice calling her, an energetic voice she used to hear every single day without exception, enough to recognize it instantly.
"Lala?" she managed to ask in confusion as she looked up, only to find the pink haired alien already grabbing her hand and pulling her away.
"Mikan?"
"Who is she?"
"Ah, she's a relative, don't worry. I have to go, so see you tomorrow" Mikan managed to briefly explain and say goodbye to her friends to reassure them before disappearing with Lala at an almost supernatural speed.
"I guess she'll be fine?" one of her friends murmured with an ironic smile.
"Yeah, it's Mikan after all" another immediately agreed. Up until now, they had never encountered a situation where Mikan hadn't already had everything under control before it even happened.
Meanwhile, after being dragged at full speed for over a hundred meters, out of the school grounds and across the street, Mikan was now breathing heavily as she recovered.
When she looked up, she found a trio she knew quite well, Yami, Lala, and Yuuji.
In fact, Mikan had originally met those three separately, and at the time she never would have imagined their current relationship.
Lala, the alien girl who had suddenly appeared at her house one day claiming to be her brother's fiancée and immediately started living there, had separated from her brother and now lived with their neighbor.
Yuuji, the kind neighbor and Lala's friend whom she had met before, whose eyes always seemed to reflect the boredom of someone who had already experienced everything, was now dating Lala.
Lastly, Yami, the alien girl she had met by accident one day, the one whose life experience somehow seemed both far too much and far too little at the same time, and who had quickly become her best friend, was now Yuuji's sister and lived together with him and Lala.
Yet somehow, this group seemed... right. Mikan found it difficult to put into words.
But besides that trio, there was one more person, green eyes, golden hair with a shade far too distinctive not to notice the resemblance to Yami's, an overly voluptuous body, and a somewhat airheaded expression.
Mikan knew that description well, because as Yami's best friend, of course she knew her origin story.
She immediately became wary and frowned as she looked at the woman, moving closer to Yami in the process.
"E-eh? Yami? Why is this girl looking at me like she wants to kill me?" Tearju asked nervously.
"This is Mikan. She's my first and best friend" Yami introduced her before explaining, "She's a good person and cares about me, so it's not strange that she hates you."
"Y-Yami?" Mikan exclaimed, slightly embarrassed, before sighing. "It still catches me off guard how direct you are."
"Isn't that true?" Yami asked with a frown, wondering if she had gotten something wrong.
"No." Mikan shook her head before once again placing herself between Yami and Tearju and glaring at the scientist. "Even though I don't know why you're together now, and I understand there must be a story behind it, that doesn't change the fact that you abandoned Yami once already. I don't trust you, and I won't give you the chance to hurt her again."
"Eh?" Tearju reacted in surprise before finally understanding the situation. Once she did, she immediately knew what to do.
"I'm very sorry."
"...You're sorry?"
"I... I know I can't recover the time I lost with my daughter, and although I want to be part of her life now, I understand she already has her own life and I can't simply ignore that.
You're an important part of my daughter's life now, and you care about her, so I also want you to give me a chance to make up for my mistakes."
"..."
After several seconds of awkward silence in response to Tearju's overwhelming sincerity, Mikan finally couldn't endure her gaze anymore, so she walked over to Yami and whispered into her ear.
"...Yami, are you sure she abandoned you?"
"Why?" Yami asked.
"It's just... That sincere look, that emotional exaggeration that makes it seem like she's about to cry, that slightly airheaded feeling, she reminds me a lot of... someone I know. I really don't think she's the kind of person who would abandon her daughter" Mikan explained without specifying who Tearju reminded her of, even though it was obvious.
"She didn't really abandon me. The other scientists forced her out of the project against her will."
"What? Why didn't you tell me that sooner? I just said something really embarrassing."
"I didn't know before."
"T-then should I apologize?" Mikan wondered.
"Um... I don't think you need to apologize. Everything you said was true" Tearju interrupted. With her alien senses, even a whisper was no different from speaking out loud.
"!!!" Mikan's eyes widened in surprise before she quickly regained her composure. "Fine. I'll give you a chance. But just so you know, if you ever hurt my friend again, I'll... I don't know, do something."
"...Pfft."
"W-what?"
"It's nothing. It's just... you really do care about my daughter, don't you?" Tearju said with a smile.
"She's my best friend" Yami nodded with a hint of pride.
"Cough... cough..." Mikan coughed awkwardly, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible. The mother-daughter sincerity was affecting her quite a bit. "So then, Miss..."
"You can call me Tearju."
"Tearju, how often are you planning to visit Yami?"
"Eh? Actually, I didn't know what Yami wanted from me, so I hadn't thought about it" Tearju murmured before a sudden idea came to mind. "But since Ryoko works on Earth, why don't I work here too? Being a teacher sounds fun, and I can stay close to Yami."
"And if Yami doesn't accept you?"
"Then I have even more reason to stay. Now that I know where she lives, I won't give up. I'll keep trying until she accepts me" Tearju declared as she clenched her fists with determination.
"I see. And how are you going to handle your relationship with Yuuji's parents?"
"Ah! I met them earlier, and they seem kind, so maybe we can..."
During the entire walk from the school to the house, Mikan kept asking questions while Tearju did her best to answer them.
Anyone seeing the situation would think Mikan was the mother who was reluctant to let her daughter go.
With the two of them distracted by their question and answer session, and Yami paying more attention to them than she would ever admit later, Yuuji and Lala simply chatted with each other until they finally reached their destination.
But when it was time to say goodbye, Mikan bowed repeatedly in an exaggerated apology.
"Yuuji, I'm really sorry for ignoring you the whole way. I didn't even greet you properly."
"It's fine. You don't need to worry about that" Yuuji dismissed it naturally, but Mikan didn't seem convinced.
"No, I have to make it up to you. Why don't you come over for dinner one of these days with Lala and Yami?"
"You don't need to go through all that trouble just because you didn't greet me, you know."
"Actually... there's something else I wanted to talk to you about, and I thought dinner would be a good opportunity," Mikan said hesitantly.
"Something you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Yes. It's about what you told me last time. Does that offer still stand?"
"Offer?" Yuuji murmured as he thought for a moment before remembering. "You mean the job offer? Of course. Although I honestly didn't expect you to accept."
"Well... lately Rito has been a little different."
Yuuji raised an eyebrow at that. "Different in a good way or a bad way?"
"It's... hard to say. Rito is trying to improve, things like becoming more independent and doing his own chores, even helping around the house. It's obvious he's doing it for Haruna, and I think Run too, I'm honestly not sure what their relationship is" Mikan explained.
"Oh? So now you're feeling left out?" Yuuji joked.
But Mikan simply rolled her eyes.
"Yuuji, do you seriously think I'm some rebellious tsundere teenager who doesn't know how to express her feelings? That even though I complain about Rito doing nothing, I actually enjoy being needed? I got over that immature phase a long time ago.
No, that's not it. Honestly, Rito is... a disaster. He's never cooked in his life, and suddenly he expects to make five star meals. He doesn't know how to use a vacuum cleaner and expects to clean the house by hand. He creates more messes than he fixes.
Just watching him makes me want to do everything myself just to avoid the frustration of seeing his attempts.
But at the end of the day, you learn by failing, right? If he doesn't fail, he'll never learn, and as his sister, I'd rather see him mature than keep depending on me.
So with all this new free time, if I get a job, not only will I earn money, but I'll also avoid watching Rito's disasters. Killing two birds with one stone."
Yuuji looked at the girl standing before him, smiling proudly at her own idea, and sighed.
"You're still a child. You shouldn't even have reached a rebellious teenager phase yet, you know?
Alright. But about the job, you really don't need to organize a dinner just to discuss it. Just go to Chaos Studios and they'll let you in, whether it's one of my clones or Ruri, they all know who you are. It's best if you talk to Ruri personally."
"Clones?" Mikan tilted her head in confusion but quickly let it go. She had seen stranger things. "Alright then. Thank you very much.
See you."
"Bye." Yuuji raised a hand and said goodbye as well.
"Yuuji, you got out of that troublesome invitation masterfully. Congratulations," Yami said behind him once Mikan had entered her house.
"Yami, what are you talking about? Isn't it obvious that it's better for her to talk with Ruri?"
"Of course, big brother. You're absolutely right" Yami nodded.
"So now you're even sarcastic?" Yuuji sighed helplessly, thinking Yami was picking up bad habits from Earth.
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+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)