SAKURA

*August 12*
Sunday

Tweets

-Anna-niku you’re a dead meat

Where
Mendell Hall

Pascal City

 

****

Sakura’s eyes got murder written on them. And she’s definitely murdering her keyboard with the way she keeps pushing the keys.

"Hyemi go to your left, I'll take the right" she demands on the microphone connected to the headphone on her neck.

“Kura hurry” the other end said.

She's completely preoccupied on the game that when you look at her room you wouldn’t be shock to find a snake under all the clatter.

 

All of her things are scattered everywhere; towels on the floor and her luggage thrown haphazardly on her bed with clothes burying it.

 

That’s surprising considering she just arrived yesterday.

 

In her defense she’s the one who usually cleans their house in Fukuoka,Japan.

Her parents are always busy and she’s an only child so that chore falls down ro her automatically.

But if you spent your arrival crying instead of organizing stuff then you'll end up having to fear for your life because a snake definitely crawled under those clothes.

She rarely cries.

It just suddenly hit her that japan is a mile away and she’s in a different country.

Even though she speaks the language its still alarming to know your nearest relative is a 4 hour drive to the south of the country.

 

"Hyemi!" Sakura shouted on the microphone.

 

"Kura where the hell are you? I'm going down the dungeon"

 

"I'm at the docks, get as many treasures as you can. I'll hold the others"

 

In another thought, maybe it's better that she’s far away from Japan as possible, because her Mom is definitely going to kill her.

It was 9 in the morning when her phone rang waking her up, her only friend in the Philippines calling for back-up because she’s stuck in Level 40 of Waging Dragons.

Not the best way to wake her up but Hyemi is been that way since she met her online through a video game called War of Pirates 6 years ago.

 

"," murmured Sakura.

Her screen went black. Apparently, she forgot to charge it when the warning showed up 30 minutes ago.

She removes her headphone and lean on her chair.

It hasn’t been a minute when her screen out when her phone rings, she answers it right away knowing its Hyemi calling without looking at the screen.

"My Laptop died and I'm pretty sure my charger is under all my stuff" Sakura stood from where she’s sitting.

"It's okay Unnie, my Mom is asking me to help at the cafe, did you change your shipping address for the WOP II?"

"I did it yesterday”

She’s looking at the clutter in her room, mentally beating herself for lazing around when she got stuff to do.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sigh.

"I have to go, I still need to clean this room." She said on the other end.

She can still hear Hyemi’s keyboard firing away which means she still playing. She’s not going to help out at their café, that’s for sure.

She suddenly remembers her Mom’s request for a video call. She’s going to drag her to Japan if she sees the mess Sakura did.

 

They’re already doubting her decision to come here, they’ll going to have solid proof if they found out she spent her arrival crying herself to sleep.

 

"K" Hyemi hangs up.

 

This kid

She looks at the clock on the wall, her eyes widening when she saw that its already 6pm.

 

Did I just play for 9 hours?

 

Her stomach grumbles at the thought.

She hadn't really eaten any normal food since she got here.

 

She got a stash of Protein Bars her mother forced her to have, but that doesn't really count as real food in her Dad's eyes.

She feels guilty remembering what her Father told her at the airport.

"You'll eat well there okay? I heard they got their own kitchen and a Cafeteria. Eat rice Sa-chan"

 

Sorry Papa, Sa-chan doesn't know where the Cafeteria is.

 

She's supposed to have her tour right as she arrives but her SH got an important thing to do and was absent yesterday.

 

It’s the Student Helper’s job to help the International Students be comfortable as possible in their Dormitory and Campus.

Showing them the Cafeteria would be one of them.

 

Sakura can talk and ask people about it but she didn't get the chance to socialize when she had a breakdown and then there's her gaming marathon with Hyemi.

 

Should I go out?

She’s still looking at the mess thinking if she cleans up first before going down the lobby for a bread or the other way around.

A knock from the door took her attention away from the clatter.

 

Not my door, right?

 

She moves closer and look at the peephole.

 

There’s a boy on the other side.

Did I do something?

She opens it revealing a smiling boy wearing a Smurf hat.

 

"Ichikawa Sakura?" the boy asked.

 

"Er, yes?"

His smile widens.

 

He's tall, lean and for some reason, he reminded Sakura of young Leonardo Di Caprio.

 

The only thing odd is the beanie he’s wearing.

 

His brown hair carefully placed underneath the hat and for some reason, it totally went well with his looks.

 

He’s also wearing a blue jacket and white pants.

 

Smurf

 

The guy smiles then he suddenly laughed.

 

Eh! Did I say that out loud?

 

 

"Can't a guy where what he wants?" the guy is smiling, clearly joking.

 

"I'm Vernon, Johan Vernon. I'm the one who lives 3 doors down here" He pointed at his room then held it for a shake.

 

Sakura took it.

 

"Mingyu asked if you want to come downstairs for a chat, and meet the neighbors? Well, 2 of your only freshman neighbors. The others are performing a disappearing act"

 

Sakura is processing what he said, looking at him oddly as if he spoke something she couldn’t understand.

 

"Uhm who's Mingyu?" she asked him.

 

"Oh, you haven't met him yet? He's our SH. SH of this floor"

 

So, he's the missing SH then. Wait, what was his question again?

 

"So are you coming? Downstairs? To eat"

 

" I'll be down in a minute, I'll just fix things here"

 

"Okay see you then"

 

Sakura closed the door and look back at her room. She still needs to clean her mess. Staring at it won’t help.

Her stomach grumbled again.

She sighed.

I guess it’s time to socialize. He mentioned food, right?

 

******

 

In the end Sakura went downstairs. She just took the black sweater that’s on top of her clothes pile and rode the elevator down to the lobby where the Kitchen and lodge are.

 

"Looky Looky, Miss Room 206" a girl called as soon as she got out of the elevator.

 

She looked around.

 

Said girl is waving at her. They’re sitting on the long table near the kitchen.

The lobby is a combination of practicality and expensive class.

The 3 tables near the Kitchen, are all wooden and long with 10 seats each side. The Lodge is full of sofas and sitting area as well as a study area near the window. Then there’s the chandelier and gold and white marble flooring that pops out the color of the plants and some colorful paintings.

Vernon, the guy who went to her room is with her and a boy she didn’t know sit beside her.

 

Sakura wondered if that’s Mingyu.

 

"You’re not supposed to scare the new kid " Vernon said while Sakura shuffled her way to them.

“We’re also new here” the girl countered elbowing Vernon.

The girl has whitish hair with purple ends and she's really pretty and white?

 

Like the old tales, Sakura used to read when she's young, about a girl who has skin as white as snow.

 

"So, the mystery girl arrived" the guy beside the girl said.

 

Vernon pointed at the girl " This is Dami Kim, the odd-looking dude beside her is Azel Lee"

 

"Hello" Sakura greeted.

Azel Lee is not an odd-looking dude, he's another good-looking person and apparently not Mingyu.

 

Are all students in this school good looking?

 

"Sakura Ichikawa"

 

"What program are you in?" Sakura looked at Azel who asked the question.

 

She's fiddling the loose thread on her sweater.

It’s one of her habits when she’s nervous.

 

It ticks her off that she’s like this now when way back when she's young she could easily converse with a person.

 

She's even part of a theater club back in middle school, where the heck her confidence all go?

 

"Chemistry" she answered. The 3 of them looked at her oddly like she said something bad.

 

What's wrong with Chemistry?

 

"You're not from PASCAL?" Vernon asked.

 

Sakura nodded.

She’s one of the late enrollees in PAU and all the dormitories are already full. That’s why she’s put in Mendell hall which is one of the dormitories of PASCAL.

 

"You're the same as me then" Vernon said to her.

 

"Eh really?"

 

He nodded

 

"I'm majoring in Sound Engineering but I'm placed in Mendell Hall"

 

He took off his beanie, Sakura noticed how his brown hair sticks in every direction.

 

"Late Enrollee?" she asked.

 

"Nah, I asked them to place me here. You're a late enrollee?"

 

"Yeah, the university already ended the application coming from Japan but my Mom-" Sakura stopped "I send a letter asking for them to consider me and they did, they also let me minor in Modern Language in PASCAL"

 

Sakura's body tensed. She didn’t mean to mention the thing with her Mom, the last thing she needs is a rumor roaming around that she got in because of her parents.

 

Even though its partially true. Sakura’s grades are outstanding and the letter is just an assurance for her to get in.

 

Keep telling yourself that

 

"Oh, wait Hyung’s majoring in Modern Language to right?" Vernon asked Azel.

 

"Yeah" Azel answered.

 

"Wait you're from Japan?" Dami piped in. Sakura nodded.

 

Vernon laughed, Dami glared at him.

 

Sakura find the two of them cute.

 

"Her name’s Ichikawa Sakura " Vernon pointed out.

 

Sakura looked at Dami but she’s not even glancing at him.

 

"Where in Japan?" she asked.

 

"Fukuoka, my parents and I live there but our home is in Kagoshima with my Grandma"

 

"Oh, my Mom and I used to live in Kanazawa back then. I didn't get to learn the language but it's really great there"

 

Gah, I miss home.

 

She doesn't allow herself to think about it because she’s definitely gonna cry if she did.

 

"How did you find out about this place?” she asked them.

 

"We live in a compound in Korea where Filipino lives. Dami's Mother is half-Filipino while My mine is pure. Vernon's parents gradually visit the Philippines when he's young so we know pretty much about this school" Azel explained.

 

Sakura felt jealous at the 3 of them. If only she could take Anna with her then things wouldn't be lonely.

 

She should have brought Maru, she wouldn't be lonely if he brought him.

 

Sadly, pets aren't allowed in the dorm.

 

Sakura sighed and plastered a smile.

 

"Why did you pick PAU? I thought Japan has one of the best Medicine schools?" Dami asked.

 

Sakura took a breath. She rehearsed these lines carefully since getting here, it now felt normal coming out of her lips.

 

"I'm actually planning to be part of Doctors without borders someday. That's why I'm trying to immerse myself in a new culture also PASCAL is one of the best language school in Asia so I thought why not?"

 

They all nodded and Sakura visibly sighed. That's half of the truth but they wouldn't exactly believe the whole truth if she said them.

 

"It's only a plan though, how about you what are you taking?"

 

"Film Studies" she said happily.

 

She's so cheerful

 

"You plan to be a director?"

 

Vernon snorted "She just really loves cameras" Dami struck him on his back.

 

"That's the plan, but I really don't know yet"

 

Her attention switched when Vernon's phone vibrated on the table. Vernon got up and answered it.

 

"I'll be back"

 

She looked at Azel.

 

"Marine Science" he answered before she could ask him "It's actually my 2nd year here. Dami and Vernon came a year later"

 

"PAU student?"

 

"Yah, I live at the Facundo Hall"

 

Sakura was about to ask again when a bowl of soup is placed in front of them. Sakura looked at the boy delivering them and she's actually taken aback on how tall and handsome he is.

 

It's official this school is full of ikemen

 

"So you're Ichikawa Sakura?" the boy asked. Sakura nodded and he smiled widely at her.

 

She tried not to stare too much because her Mother said that staring’s rude. Not that she can't help but stare; the guy is gorgeous.

"Oppa why didn’t you tell me she’s beautiful?" Sakura looked her eyes widening. Dami smiled at her.

“It’s true you know” Mingyu voiced out placing the food on the table
“Wait! Don’t tell me you’re one of those who thought lowly about themselves"

Sakura was taken aback.

“Hyung, you’re scaring her” Azel warned.

Mingyu smiled at her and held out his hand.

 

"Park Mingyu"

 

Sakura shook it bowing a little.

 

So this is Mingyu.

 

Their heads turned when they saw Vernon coming back.

 

He's smiling like an idiot and Sakura wondered what’s up.

 

"Hyung you know a student name Chaeri?" he asked. Mingyu shook his head distributing the plates.

 

"Who’s she?" Dami asked but Vernon already sat down next to Sakura.

 

"Nothing" he answered handing the spoon and for to Sakura.

 

"Let's eat" Mingyu said sitting down next to Azel.

 

Sakura caught Vernon's smile before he reached out for the rice.

 

****

 

"Thank you for the meal"

 

It's Sakura's first meal since arriving at the University.

 

Not a bad one either, he's a great cook.

 

Mingyu stood up to clean and  Sakura volunteered to help. She’s used to helping out when she’s at her grandmas' but Mingyu shook his head.

 

"PASCAL's orientation is tomorrow, don't want the two of you to be late" He looked at Sakura then at Dami.

 

"It starts at 8:30 in the morning" he smiled at them then his eyes lingered at Sakura.

 

"Nice to meet you Kura"

 

"There he goes again" Dami mumbled as Mingyu disappear in the kitchen. She looked at Sakura with a serious face "Don't fall for him Kura-chan he's a terrible flirt, he's stepping on a trail of broken hearts"

 

Sakura’s eyes widened.

 

"Eh? what makes you think I'll fall for him?"

 

"'Cause that's inevitable, if Azel's not here I'll definitely fall for him" Sakura looked at Azel and he seemed to not mind what Dami said.

 

Are they dating?

 

"He’s not a player” he looked at Dami "He's actually loyal to one of your Senior."

"Hyung," Vernon interrupted and pointed to his watch "It's 11"

"I'll leave now. Bye Sakura, nice to meet you"

 

Sakura nodded at him. "Nice to meet you too"

 

"I’ll come with you," Dami waved at Kura linking her arm to Azel. 

"See you tomorrow Kura-chan"

"See yah"

When they're quite far away she stood up.

She still got tons of stuff to do, might as well start now.

"Aren't you going upstairs?" she asked Vernon but he’s staring at Dami and Azel that’s standing on the other side of the glass door.

 

"Vernon?" 

 

He finally noticed her and smiled  "I'll wait for Dami. Good night, Kura "

 

"Night" she walked away remembering what Dami said.

 

Mingyu might not be the only one leaving a trail of broken heart.

 

******

 

 

 

 

 

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