“OSAKAAAAAAAAAA!!!! OGENKI DESU KAAAAA?!!!” Jeongyeon bellowed in Japanese with all her might, thus receiving a blow to the head by Jihyo.

“You’re so loud! People are staring,” the leader scolded.

“WATASHI WA GENKI DESU!!!!” Sana yelled at the top of lungs. The rest of the friends started yelling as well to the vast scenery in front of them as they took a stand on top of the Umeda Sky Building. Only until the guard in charge of overseeing the place lectured them did they stop.

After Jihyo’s constant pleading to the guard, the man eventually let them stay. “Are you guys going to make me lose my mind this whole trip? We almost got kicked out.”

“You have to let loose. You’re tensed.” Jeongyeon started massaging her shoulders.

“It’s your fault,” Jihyo playfully smacked her hand away. “I’m on vacation but I feel like I’m babysitting.”

“Sana-unnie,” Chaeyoung leaned over the railing as she looked down into the city. “Can you see your house from here?”

“No, it’s too far.” Sana went over and looked at her home-city in its glorious beauty. It hadn’t been long since she left, but she sure missed the place. She missed the long walks she took at the park near her house, the smell of the rain as she took a shade beside the river, the smell of her mother’s cooking during the days she felt lonely. Sana was happy to be back home, however the anxiousness of being back to the place where she experienced so much grief would not go away.

In the middle of her thoughts, Dahyun grabbed Sana to pose for a picture. Chaeyoung snapped a shot of the couple with her disposable camera. “Ooo, you guys look good,” the little cub smiled. She moved to one side to take a picture with a different angle and the couple took a different pose. “Okay, now take a picture of us.” Chaeyoung wrapped her arm around Mina’s.

“One more, one more,” Dahyun said and posed her signature swag pose, with two fingers pointed to her temple.

Chaeyoung took a quick shot, then handed the camera to Dahyun.

“Wait, wait, one more.”

The younger one took a shot of another one of Dahyun’s signature swag poses. “Okay, here.”

“Wait, how about this pose-”

The little cub groaned. “You’re going to finish all my film! Let Sana-unnie take a picture of you with your phone or something.”

Dubu rolled her eyes, grabbed the camera, and took a shot. “There.”

“Ah, Unnie! We weren’t ready!” Chaeyoung whined.

“Candid, candid. It’s the best kind.”

“One more! Give us a warning before you take the picture.”

“Fine, fine.” Dahyun peeked through the camera lense as Mina and Chaeyoung got ready for the picture. “One, two, three.” Dahyun pressed the button, however the shutter didn’t go off. The older one inspected the camera. “Ah, it’s out of film...”

“No way!” Chaeyoung ran over and grabbed the device. She pressed the shutter multiple times to ensure that it really was ineffective. The little cub pouted, “You finished all my film with your weird swag poses! You owe me one.”

“Why? You’re the one who only bought one camera. You can use your phone.”

Chaeyoung pouted and looked at her with pleading eyes, in which her unnie couldn’t resist. “I get it, I get it. I’ll buy you whatever you want.”

The younger one pumped her fist to the air. “Guys, let’s go to the convenience store! Dahyun-unnie’s going to treat us.”

The rest of the group cheered in excitement as they made their way down the Sky Building. “Yah. Chaeyoung-ah, do you think I’m rich? Do you really expect me to pay for you all?” Dahyun complained the whole way.

Instead of riding in the van Mrs. Myoui prepared for them, the nine friends wanted to ride the subway system to get a full experience of their trip. Sana led the way around the city as she knew it best, stopping at various stores that she used to go to as a highschool student and at neighborhood arcade centers she frequented. They stopped at a photo booth and the nine of them tried to squeeze inside.

“Jihyo, get your s off of me,” Nayeon managed to say as she remained squeezed between the leader and Jeongyeon.

“Get yourself off of them, you ert,” Jihyo said.

Jeongyeon pulled Nayeon onto her lap, hugging her from the back as they prepared for the picture.

Nayeon smiled, “Are you jealous?”

“Why would I be jealous?” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes.

“You’re so cute.”

“It’s counting down, get ready!”

Three, two, one. “Cheese kimbap!” the nine of them yelled in unison as the shutter went off. The photo came out and as they took a look at it, they laughed at their own silliness.

“You can only see my forehead,” Momo whined. “Let’s take another one.”

“Our faces won’t fit in one picture,” Chaeyoung said. “You guys go to the other booth. Mina and I want to take pictures.”

“Let me join,” Momo enthusiastically made her way back into the booth when Chaeyoung pushed her out.

“Alone, Unnie.” Chaeyoung gestured for her friends to enjoy the arcade while the couple took their own pictures. Jihyo eventually dragged them away from the two and played at the arcade’s games.

Sana and Dahyun took a shot at the crane games lined up near the entrance. The younger one took great concentration as she moved the crane about and making sure it was in the right position to grab a hamster stuffed animal. Dahyun groaned as she failed three times to capture the toy.

The older one giggled and offered to try it. In one try, Sana was able to win the prize.

“Wow, you’re good. My girlfriend is so cool!” Dahyun wrapped her arms around her neck and planted multiple kisses all over her face. They held each other’s hand as they continued to walk outside to try the gacha games lined up outside. As Dahyun was turning the knob for a gacha capsule, three girls approached them.

“It is you! Sana-chan.”

The Japanese turned around and her eyes went wide to see the girl who practically made her last year of high school a nightmare. Sana was speechless.

The girl inspected her up down and her gaze landed on Sana and Dahyun’s intertwined hands. She snickered, “You haven’t changed at all. Still the same ol’ Sana-chan.”

Sana quickly pulled her hand away from Dahyun’s grasp, causing confusion on the younger one. The woman was speaking in Japanese, therefore Dahyun couldn’t get a grasp on what they were saying. What she understood was that they seemed to know each other and that whoever this woman was made Sana stiff in fear.

One of the other girls, whom Sana didn’t recognize, asked in a low voice on who she was.

“Sana and I go way back,” the woman said. “We went to the same junior high and high school together. She was quite popular back then. Everyone knew her.”

Just then, the rest of the friends went out of the arcade and stopped in front of them.

“Why don’t you tell them the old high school days?” the woman continued. She took a step forward towards Sana who was looking down at the ground to avoid eye contact. “Are you being shy? That’s right, you’ve always been the quiet type. But I see that you’ve grown more bold considering you can display your shamelessness in public now. You see, Sana-chan made a move on her dear friend in high school. Her dear female friend. She was so disgusted that her bestfriend had such indecent thoughts about her.” The woman chuckled.

“So… she’s into girls?” one of the girls said and looked at Sana with disgust.

Momo took a step between them, pushing the woman away from Sana. “Hey! I don’t know who you are but if you’re just here to make fun of people, you better leave before I punch you in the face.”

“Who do you think-” the woman started but stopped when the rest of the friends stood next to Momo with piercing eyes and balled-up fists. The girls clearly didn’t want to get their hands dirty and didn’t want to bother so they took a step back. But before the woman left with her friends, she turned to Sana once more. “Disgusting lesbian,” she muttered and left.

“What was that?!” Mina stomped forward, causing the three to quickly scatter away.

As soon as they left, Sana released a breath that she felt she’d been holding the whole time. Her heart kept beating with great intensity and her pulse quickened so much she felt dizzy.

“What was their problem? Were they someone you know?” Nayeon asked but Sana remained quiet.

“Momo-yah, what were they saying?” Jeongyeon asked.

Momo turned to look at Sana, as if afraid to reveal the topic of their discussion. “They were making fun of her uality...” Momo said, careful not to say anything that could possibly make Sana uncomfortable.

Nayeon clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Do shallow people like that still exist in this day and age? Unbelievable. You would think they would mind their own business instead of picking fights if they were so against it. I would’ve smacked them right then and there if I was aware of w