A short girl with short light brown hair walked up to an equally short girl that was maybe an inch or two taller. The shorter girl grinned and presented flowers to the slightly taller girl.

“This is for you, Yuu-chan~” The shorter girl said happily.

The slightly taller girl frowned as she looked distastefully at the flowers that the shorter girl was holding in front of her. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t like yo-”

The shorter still kept the grin on her face as she interrupted. “I know you don’t like me, but I still want to give you flowers.” Even though she was rejected again, she still replied with a happy smile.

“Takamina…” Yuko said irritation all over her voice. She gave a big sigh. “I don’t even like flowers.”

This time Takamina frowned for a second, “But yesterday when I was trying to give you chocolates, you said you liked flowers…”

 Yuko’s eyes looked up as if thinking back to yesterday. “I..did, and I guess I do, but not from you.” Yuko not wanting to be meaner that she already was started to walk away.

Takamina hesitantly threw away the flowers with a small pout. “Wait…” She called out as she lightly grabbed her shirt, not wanting to touch Yuko in case she gets mad.

But the taller girl got mad anyway, Yuko glared at the hand that was grabbing her shirt. “You need to stop doing that.”

Takamina always grabs onto her shirts when she’s trying to stop the taller girl, and she doesn’t grab on to the point that Yuko’s shirts stretch, but to Yuko it was just getting really annoying how the smaller girl would grab on to her shirt. Yuko doesn’t know why she hates it, but she gets this feeling in her gut that really irritates her.

Takamina, although scolded, sheepishly smiles and lets Yuko’s shirt go. “Sorry, I was just wondering if you were doing anything after your classes today…” She asked with a blush on her cheeks.

Instead of thinking Takamina was cute, Yuko was just irritated with the girl. The shorter girl always tried to ask her out, it was getting really tiring. “Yes, I have work afterwards.”

“O-Oh…Alright.” Takamina said with a tone of disappointment, which the taller girl purposely ignored.

“Anything else?” Yuko asked.

The shorter girl shook her head. “N-No…Have fun in class.” Takamina said with a wide smile and a wave as she turned around and walked to her own class.

“She is so annoying.” Yuko said with a frown. “My day just got ruined.”

Inside a classroom:

“Takamina~ I don’t understand why you won’t just go out with me~?” A girl with long black hair whined to the short girl.

“Acchan, I told you that I already like someone else.” Takamina said nicely, not wanting to hurt her feelings, if they were real that is.

“I liked you even before she came along…Plus she doesn’t even give you the time of day.” Atsuko said with a pout and crossed her arms.

“It’s because you’re my best friend, you know that.” Takamina replied while patting the taller girl’s head, even if she was shorter. “And maybe she doesn’t notice me because I’m not good enough for her...” She said as she looked down, with a sad smile.

“You’re good enough for me~” Atsuko hugged the smaller girl, which made the smaller girl giggle.

“Thank you.” Takamina smiled and shook her head at the taller girl’s antics. Atsuko always asks Takamina to go on a date with her, but it always feels like Atsuko is joking. Takamina is never sure if Atsuko really likes her, or is just joking around.

Atsuko on the other hand is actually serious. The first time she asked Takamina out, she was just joking. But as Atsuko realized that she actually did like Takamina, she kept persisting that they go out. She’s been serious since the second time she asked, she just doesn’t want to pressure Takamina, so she usually eases up on the seriousness. She’s known the smaller girl since elementary school, and was attached to her ever since then. She really doesn’t like Yuko, even though she likes Takamina, she still wants the shorter girl to be happy, and she doesn’t see that with Yuko. But Takamina keeps persisting to pursue the girl, so Atsuko lets it go for now, she knows that if Yuko does anything out of line, that’s when Atsuko steps up.

The taller girl sighed and moved behind the shorter girl, turning the side hug into a back hug. She rested her head onto Takamina’s shoulder. “So what are you planning to do after your classes?”

“Mhmmm…I’m just going to tell the café manager that I can work today.” The shorter said shrugging her shoulders, making Atsuko’s head move up also.

Atsuko let go of Takamina and went to her desk. “Why do you even work at that café? You obviously don’t need to.” She whined, she hated that café. The drinks and food were good there, but the people could be so mean and cranky. Also, she didn’t understand Takamina’s desire to work at all. Takamina’s family was wealthier than Atsuko’s family.

Takamina just shook her head at Atsuko. “I’ve already told you why. I know I’ll probably take over my family’s company, because I’m their only child. But I want to be able to know the employees’ point of view, so I know how to treat them when I become their boss.”

Atsuko rolled her eyes. “You’ll be too kind, and then your employees will take advantage of you.”

Takamina rolled her eyes as well. “No…I will be nice, fair, but also strict.”

“Well, I still think that all this working is useless. I don-” Atsuko was interrupted by the loud greeting of the professor.

“Good Morning, Class!” The professor grinned as she walked behind her desk.

“We’ll talk after class.” Takamina said giggling softly at the pouting Atsuko.    

Yuko’s POV:

Getting out of my last class, I sat on a bench fixing my stuff into my backpack. It was so that tomorrow, I could get stuff out neatly and not have to struggle with the mess in my backpack.

As I took the time to clean out my backpack, I noticed a familiar small figure that walked out one of the buildings.

I squinted my eyes and noticed that it was the little rich girl that keeps bothering me. I wasn’t going to duck or do anything, because I would probably look ridiculous and it would probably attract more attention. I just calmly put my stuff up, and hoped she didn’t walk my way.

She was about to turn to my direction, but luckily a girl that seemed to be taller than both of us ran up to her and tackled her with a hug.

Even from far away, I could hear the taller girl’s voice. It was Maeda Atsuko, Takamina introduced her as her best friend since childhood. I had bumped into both of them while I was on my way to work one day and Takamina tried asking me out again, just to be rejected again, and then Maeda whined about Takamina not introducing her. Maeda seemed to know who I was, and I got a vibe from her that said, I hate you.

I don’t like her either, and I think it’s because she doesn’t like me. When people don’t like me, I just automatically don’t like them in response. When people like me, I automatically like them too. The only exception is Takamina, I don’t know why, but she gives me these uncomfortable feelings. For example, whenever she’s near I just want to push her as far away as possible.

Anyway Maeda clung onto Takamina’s arm and they walked away from my direction. I let out a sigh of relief. I threw all my thrash to a nearby trash can, grabbed my backpack, and started to go my way to my job.

Arriving at my job:

I work part-time at a classic Japanese restaurant. It’s really fancy, so usually only wealthy people come, resulting in really good pay for us employees.

As I clocked in, there was a tall girl with light brown hair that approached me.

She smiled and held out her hand. “Hey, you must be Oshima Yuko-san, right?”

I smiled back and shook her hand. “Yeah but just Yuko is fine, and you are?”

“I’m the new employee that was hired yesterday.” She said tying her apron on her waist.

“Ah~…Kojima Haruna-san?” I asked a bit unsure.

She softly giggled and nodded. “That is correct, and just Haruna is fine.”

She seems to like me, I like her already. I smiled, “Alright, so I have to train you, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She said playfully with a mini salute.

“The first things that a trainee does is clean tables, so I want you to clean about ten tables and then I’ll let you shadow me when I have to take an order…Sound good?” I explained.

“I have to clean tables?” She asked with a small frown.

I laughed a bit. “Yeah, you entered as a waitress not a cleaner, but everyone has to do it on their first day. You’re actually lucky that you have me as your trainer. When I was a trainee, the one that trained made me clean all the tables on my first day here. So I think, 10 tables won’t be that bad.” I responded as a lightly patted her shoulder.

She smiled, “I guess so. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, now get to cleaning.” I said pointing to a vacant table that was dirty.

“Alright.” She said with a small nod and headed to the messy table.

I observed her for a bit to make sure she was doing it right, and when she was decided to get on with my job as a server. 

I went to my first table and smiled at the customers. “Hi. Welcome to Otomaki’s Heaven. My name is Oshima Yuko, I’ll be serving you tonight. Can I interest you in some appetizers?” The menus were already on the table so I didn’t have to hand it out.

They smiled back and started to order.

Later in the night:

“Thank you! Come again.” I waved with a smile as my customers left seeming satisfied with their dinner.

I went back to the back and decided to check up on Haruna. When I found her she was washing some of the dishes that she had put away from one of her messy tables that she cleaned.

I laughed, which caused her to look at me.

“What?” She asked with a small pout.

I shook

my head and pointed to the dishes she was washing. “That’s not your job.” I pointed to the sitting guy in the corner, who was currently sleeping.

I shook my head and headed towards the unconscious guy. I kicked his chair which made him sit up and cautiously, and seemingly panic look back and forth with his eyes wide open. “Kendo! Why are you letting the new girl do your job?” I asked sternly.

He was older than me, but I was told that I was in charge if the manager wasn’t here. Kendo always tries to take advantage of the situation if possible, which annoys the crap out of me. 

He scratched his neck, “She said she could do it.” He said sheepishly.

I raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t mean she should, next time I’ll write you up for sleeping on the job.”

“Yeah, yeah…I got it…no more being lazy.” He mumbled a bit more before taking the sponge from Haruna and finishing what she started.

“Haruna-chan, next time don’t do anything that our manager or I tell you to do. Ok?” I told her nicely.

She nodded while she dried her hands. “Sorry.”

“Not your fault. So how many tables have you cleaned?” I asked checking up on her progress.

“I’ve cleaned about twenty now…” She said with a small frown.

“Really? Sorry, I guess I should have checked earlier. Anyways, come with me to my next table and you can see how I take orders, does that sound good?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yeah, that seems better than cleaning.”

I scoffed. “It should be.”

Suddenly the bell of the door rang, signaling that new customers had come in.

“Let’s go.” I said leading her to my new table.

I turned to her. “The first thing you do is greet them with a smile and a friendly hello. Then introduce yourself.”

I turned to the table and smiled. “Hi. Welcome to Otomaki’s Heaven. My name is Oshima Yu-”

“Yuu-chan?” I heard her voice and realized she was sitting in the seat in front of me. The reason I didn’t recognize her was because her back was to me when I walked up to the table. She had only turned around now.

“Nami-chan, do you know the young lady?” A lady that looked like an older version of her asked as she looked back and forth between me and Takamina.

I looked down at Takamina, and I could see that she was slightly blushing. “Y-Yeah mom, she goes to the same university that I go to.” The short girl in front of me answered.

“Oh that’s nice.” Takamina’s mom responded. “Are you two friends?”

She seemed to be asking me since she was looking at me, but I wasn’t sure how to answer her question.

“W-We a-…” I tried to answer.

“W-We aren’t friends…We just see each other at school.” Takamina interrupted as she smiled at me and back at her mom. I raised an eyebrow at this, usually she introduces me differently…maybe it’s because it’s her parents this time. She had this nervous-looking smile on her face, like she was hiding something.

“Yeah…” I looked the other person at the table and it was a kind looking man, but he was slightly shaking his head at what Takamina said. I have absolutely no idea what is happening right now.

“Um…” A voice spoke up next to me. That’s when I remembered Haruna was shadowing me.

“Oh, right! This young lady next to me is Haruna-chan. She’s new so she will be shadowing me and serving you also…Is that alright?” I asked putting a hand on Haruna’s shoulder while looking at my customers’ faces to make sure they were okay with the idea.

“That’s fine.” The older version of Takamina said as she smiled politely.

They nodded and smiled. Takamina didn’t look so nervous anymore, in fact, she had a small smile that she seemed to be directing at Haruna, who seemed to be genuinely smiling back at her.

“Yeah, that’s no problem at all.” Takamina said with her small smile.

“That’s very kind of you.” Haruna replied back not taking her eyes off the small girl at the table.

Haruna is acting weird…Is there something on Takamina’s face? I looked at the small girl’s face to find her staring at Haruna also. I raised an eyebrow at the two girls’ abnormal behavior.

“Alright…So what drinks can I start out for you?” I said breaking their mini-staring contest.

“Oh…Uh, yeah…” Takamina said glancing at me then back at Haruna. “Um…I’ll just have coke.”

“Are you sure about that sweetie? You’ve been drinking that a lot lately, and it could be really unhealthy” Her mom said with a scolding look. “And you’ve become a bit chub-” I could tell she was going to insult Takamina’s weight. But Takamina looks so small (Not that I’m not, she’s just smaller.), it would be concerning if she got skinnier.

Takamina’s father put a hand on her mom’s arm, stopping her from saying anything else. “Honey, I think Nami-chan is fine. She’s been on a hectic diet for a while, and she’s also been dancing with Acchan recently. She needs a break.” Her father looked at Takamina and smiled gently at her. Takamina smiled back and I can see that she was quietly telling him she was okay.

That’s new…Takamina danced? Was she any good?

Takamina looked back to me with a smile. “I’ll have the coke.” She turned to Haruna and gently smiled at her.

“O…kay.” I said writing coke on my small notepad. I looked back up, looking at her parents and not at Takamina.

“I’ll have water.” Her mom answered with a smile.

“I’ll have sweet tea.” Her father added after kindly waiting for me to finish writing.

“Take your time looking over the menu, and we’ll be back with your drinks.” I said with a smile.

“Thank you.” Takamina smiled at me while giving a slight nod, then turning to Haruna with a different smile, yet still gentle.

“You’re very welcome.” I said as I smiled back. I looked at Haruna and weirdly she seemed to be blushing. “Welcome.” She said shyly.

After we the kitchen door closed, Haruna sharply turned to me. “You know her?”

I was a bit taken back by Haruna’s sudden question. “Yea…like she said we just go to the same university. I talk to her sometimes.” I answered, not wanting to fully explain Takamina’s role in my life. 

“oh ok…” She said as she turned to the drink station, to get what the Takahashi family wants. She seemed liked she wanted to say more, but she stopped herself. I didn’t push it, because I wasn’t really interested in anything that involved Takamina. I just rolled my eyes and went to get a tray for the drinks.

“Come on, hurry up and let’s take this to them.” I gave the tray to her.

“Alright…” She said still sounding like she wants to say more. “Does she ha-”

“Let’s go, Haruna.” I interrupted her before she could ask anything related to Takamina.

I opened the door for Haruna, and let her go first.

“Is she si-” Haruna started.

“Haruna, go.”

Haruna pouted and obeyed. “Fine.”

Takamina’s POV:

While Yuko and Haruna went to go get our drinks, dad turned to me and smiled.

“Speaking of your dancing with Acchan, how’s that going?” He asked with a wide smile.

I grinned. “It’s going great dad! Acchan and I are planning to join a competition next week.”

“I’m happy for you Nami-chan, but I hope this is all just a hobby for you.” My mom spoke up.

I pursed my lips, and nodded. “Of course mom, I’ll still have our company as my top priority after college.” I ended with a small smile.

“That’s wonderful to hear dear.” She said sounding relieved as she looked over the menu.

I nodded in agreement as I looked down at the menu in front of me. “Yeah…”

I could feel eyes on me, I looked up and noticed my dad looking worriedly at me. I just shook my head as if to say I didn’t want to argue with mom anymore.

My mom stood up and pointed at a dish on the menu. “Order this for me, I’m going to head to the ladies room for a moment.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re gonna follow your mom’s wishes, even if it’s not what you want to do in the future.” My dad spoke up as he put down his menu.

“Dad…I’m never going to hear the end of it, if I tell mom that I want to sing and dance as my career.” I said sullenly.

“That shouldn’t matter. Sweetie, you’re amazing! You shouldn’t be stuck behind a desk all day.” He said not wanting to drop the subject.

“You do that. Plus, that’s not the only thing you do.” I said trying to defend my decision.

“Honey…That’s because it was my dream to own a big company and sit behind a desk all day…but I know that’s not yours.” My dad amazingly trying defend my dream.

I smiled. “I’ll think more on it, dad. I still have three years to go in college.”

Dad finally smiled. “That’s better…Also, when am I going to be meeting a special lady? I hope very soon.” Dad teasingly grinned as he nudged me.

I could feel my cheeks heating up as I remembered Yuko. “The girl that I like doesn’t like me back, dad.”

Yuko’s POV:

As I headed to their table, I overheard what Takamina said. “The girl that I like doesn’t like me back, dad.”

At that moment, I actually felt guilty for turning her down.

“That’s ridiculous, Nami! Look how adorable and gorgeous you are, who would reject you.” Her dad said sounding a bit mad.

“She doesn’t seem interested at all. And she told me again today, that she doesn’t li-” She stopped talking as she saw me coming.

She immediately blushed as she saw me. “Thank you.” She told Haruna and gave her a smile as the tall girl smiled warmly at Takamina, seemingly making the short girl blush a bit more.

“Yuko-san, and Haruna-san?” Her dad turned his attention on us.

Haruna and I looked at each other, then turned to Mr. Takahashi. “Yes, sir?” We asked at the same time.

“Isn’t my daughter very pretty?” He asked gesturing to Takamina, looking at me first.

I nodded and showed a small smile. “Yes sir.” I glanced at Takamina and saw her blushing while looking down.

To be honest, Takamina is pretty. I can’t deny that.

Mr. Takahashi turned his attention on Haruna, who was staring intently at Takamina. “Haruna-san?”

“Not pretty…” Haruna said, which confused me so much because of the attention she has been giving Takamina, who by the way had a small pout on her lips after what Haruna said.

“What?!?” Her dad exclaimed.

Haruna looked at her dad for a second then looked at Takamina. “Beautiful, sir.” Takamina looked up and blushed a deep shade of red.

“Wow…Well said, Haruna-san. I was about to leave right now.” Mr. Takahashi gave a hearty laugh.

“What were you talking about while I was in the ladies’ room?” Her mom asked as she sat down.

“We were talking about how beautiful our only child was.” Mr. Takahashi said winking at Takamina.

“Yes ma’am.” Haruna said as she finished handing their drinks.

“Of course she is. One of the many things I can proudly say about my daughter is she’s beautiful and on top of that she’s smart.” Mrs. Takahashi reached for Takamina’s hand smiling very mother-like.

“Alright, so have you decided what you want to eat tonight?” I asked trying to change the conversation.  

“Yes, dear. I have actually picked out my dish. Can I have this?” Mrs. Takahashi said pointing at a dish on the menu.

Closing time:

I was wiping a table when I felt a presence behind me. I know none of the others would shadow me like this, so I knew it was Haruna.

“Yes, Haruna-chan?” I stopped wiping the table and turned to find a hesitating tall girl fidgeting with a rag in her hands.

“Well, now that we’re closed…I was just wondering…” She started as she sat down at a near table.

“What?” I asked while trying to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

“Does Takamina have a boyfriend?” She blushed as she talked about my short admirer.

I felt awkward talking about her, since Takamina likes me. “No. She’s single.”

“Really?” Haruna looked at me and her eyes seemed to have brightened a bit at the information.

“Yeah…but she seems to have a handful of admirers though.” I said, and it seemed to have made Haruna a bit sad.

I don’t usually care what Takamina does with her life, but when I do notice her she always seems to have someone confessing to her. Takamina seems to have attracted a lot of boys… and girls, except me.

“Don’t worry, she turns a lot of them down.” I assured her. “Plus, the way she was looking at you when she was here, you’re ahead of all her other suitors.”

“Really?!? You think so?” She asked, and her smile was full of hope.

I nodded, then shook my head, slightly chuckling at her. I’ve never seen anyone up close fangirl over Takamina. It was a bit weird, but I guess I’m more used to hating her than complimenting her.

“Alright…enough of that. Get back to work.” I turned back to wiping tables, and once Haruna left. There was that uncomfortable feeling I get when I talk about Takamina, but this time there was a new feeling that came with it.

UGH…

I hate these unknown feelings I keep getting when talking about Takamina.