Next Monday, After School, Seoul Girl High (SGH)

AUTHOR POV

When school ends, it doesn’t mean the school become empty right away. There are still plenty of student who stay to either attend their club activity, having an extra study time or other things. although there are also plenty of students who went straight away outta the school soon after the bell rang.

But that’s not the case for Momo. Since she’s part of the school ice hockey team, every Monday and Wednesday she has a training session. So right now, instead of going home, she’s staying in school wearing her navy track suit and ready to start the training routine together with her fellow teammates.

Since they don’t have any tournament nearby, the coach wanted to upgrade their endurance so for today they’ll start their practice with jogging around the school, continue with skating drill inside, and went back outside to jog again. All the member were stunned when their coach announced that. well.. it’s quite understandable actually.. Seoul Girl High isn’t a small school. it has a quite huge area so to jog the whole area twice… definitely would drain them.

But nonetheless, the coaching team ain’t accepting any complain and shooed the whole squad to start the practice.

On the first round, Momo could jog at ease. She finished first and without wasting that much sweats. But things got harder once they entered the hall and begun their skating drill. It was so high pace and only had short time of break. Yes momo is a practice junkie.. she loves when practice went hard and always wanted to do more. but this time, that side of her brought merit for herself.

The practice were hard and it made momo excited. But instead of trying to control and preserved her stamina, she carelessly kept rising her speed and tried to be the fastest. Well her adrenaline was pumped and again she was really really excited.

So that’s the reason why right now, during the last round of jogging around the school, Momo is waaay behind her teammates. She was too exhausted and couldn’t keep up with the others’ pace.

“Come on momo! you are in last position.” That’s sana, the unlucky manager who’s appointed to follow the squad

No.. she wasn’t running along with the team. Instead, she’s riding one of the other manager’s bike and try to catch up with everyone. As the manager, coach told her to keep an eye on them.. just to make sure everyone is save and everyone doing what they’re supposed to do. Meanwhile the coaching team and the other managers will wait for the girls on the hall

“hh..hh.. sana.. let me.. ride.. bike..” momo begged in between her short breathing. It’s obvious that she already exhausted.

“nope. you have to try to push your limit momo. I know you can.”

And due to exhaustion, momo finally stopped. Of course Sana followed her by hit the brake on the bike.

“No.. this is.. my limit… can’t go on...” said momo

“nope you can do better than that!” With hands on her hips and heavy breathe, momo gave sana a strong no by shaking her head fast.

 “Come on.. you are our team’s ace! Of course you can! You were in the first position on the first round.”

“I got… too excited with the skating drill.”

“Well that’s your fault. Coach clearly told you to control your stamina more.” said sana

Momo ignored Sana’s comment because she herself acknowledge her own mistake and she somehow felt dumb for doing that.. but she is too exhausted and the coach said that if anyone really felt that they couldn’t finish the drill, they could ask for Sana’s help.. only, if they were really really exhausted. Since it’s seems like Sana ain’t allowing momo that easily,  and because Momo already too exhausted, she decided to use her aegyo card.

“Sattaang.... Let momorin ri—“

“Oh my! Look how far the rest of the girls! I need to look out for them too..” Sana cut Momo’s attempted to plead after she realized that the other girls were already waaay up ahead. And also she sensed that momo trying to use her aegyo on her.. so she need to get away fast from there.

“Bye then~ I’ll see you in the ice hall~” Sana then paddled her bike and left momo alone there

“W-wait!”

Sana stopped not far from her previous position.. not because of Momo who told her to do so, but because she wanted to remind mommo about the rule of today’s practice.

“Don’t forget that the last one who reached finish line will clean all the equipment later~ Good luck Momorin!”

“Yaa!”

Seeing Sana went further and further, Momo let out a frustrated huff.. annoyed that her attempt was unsuccessful. But, since she didn’t want to get that punishment, she then tried to push her limit by continuing her jogs.

><

Momo fasten her pace, tried to reach her teammates and eventually, she could see them. She could also heard a faint voice of Sana who tried to cheer on the girls.

‘Hey ho! Hey ho! Let’s go!’, ‘you! can! Do! it! let’s! go!’ , or something..

But the consequences of trying too hard to catch up, had ruined momo’s pace and in the end drown her stamina more. so before she could even reached her fellow teammates, she stopped and sat down on the ground.. Panted hard. couldn’t even continue her jog.

Sana and the others were far ahead and she’s all alone in the backside of the school—behind the library to be specific, and all momo could do was sit there, took a breather and just hope her fatigue could run down quick so she could catch up with the others.

Just then,

“Reached your limit, Momo-ssi?”

Suddenly someone talked to Momo from her left side, which is the library. But since Momo was too exhausted, her head still spun and her sight is quite blurry, it’s a little bit hard for her to see the owner of that voice. But once she rubbed her eyes, and squinted them a bit, she finally could see the owner of the voice.

A long black hair girl, sitting on the table in front of the library window and she is staring at momo with a smile. at that moment, Momo’s unstable heartbeat went frantic.

“Mi..Mina-ssi?!” The said girl smile wider and gave momo a wave

“Wha..why are you.. ?” Momo still troubled controlling her breath and somehow that’s made mina held her laugh

“Breath.. momo-ssi.. you need to breath.” Then Mina took something out from her bag. A nearly full bottle of pocari and said, “I don’t have water but.. here some pocari if you want.”

And well. Since momo was so exhausted, she shamelessly stormed towards Mina’s window pane and grabbed the bottle. She drank it right away and soon after the liquid ran through , she felt alive again.

“Oh god.. that’s taste like heaven..” said momo right after she chugged quite a lot

“You can drink it all if you want.”

“Really? You… don’t mind?”

“I wouldn’t have offered it to you if I do.”

 it’s not as sarcastic as it seems. Mina said it with her soft voice and warm smile that of course will never sound like a sarcasm or anything bad.. if its other people.. Momo probably would rolled her eyes towards them.

“Thank you, Mina-ssi..” said Momo

“You are welcome.” Said mina.

In the end, Momo chugged it all and now is free from thirst. She felt refreshed again.. all thanks to Mina’s pocari

“Did something tough happened inside the hall? You were faster on the first round..” asked Mina out of the sudden

“How do you— were you already here since the school ends?”

“Yes. I saw you and the whole ice hockey team passed by. I had a short greetings with Sana too.”

“I.. didn’t see you at all..”

“You were too focused earlier so that’s probably why you didn’t notice me.” Momo nod at it.

A paused happened after that. but since momo hasn’t answered mina’s question, Mina tilted her head and asked, “So? something happened?”

“Oh right. I uh.. it’s dumb actually.. I got too excited during the skating and dribbling drill inside the hall.. so yea I stupidly drained all my stamina there.”

“It’s not stupid at all.. You are an ice hockey player right? you’d fell the happiest on ice instead on running on the ground. ”

“t-true..” said momo as she rubbed her right arm, don’t know why she suddenly feel shy.. maybe because of Mina’s understanding.. or mina’s smile.. or maybe she just exhausted.

“A-anyway..” Momo tried to change the mood—her mood, by asking mina her reason to be here.

“what are you doing here?”

“Me? i—“ but momo realized that her question sounded like Mina wasn’t supposed to be there and revise it in panic.

“Wait! I don’t mean that you’re not allowed to be here.. you can. Of course you can.. well it’s library everyone could use it, right? yes.. it school facilities after all and you don’t need anyone permission to be here.. but I mean—“

“Momo-ssi..” and that soft voice made Momo paused. Momo then looked towards Mina who gave her a short smile and yea.. it made her realized that she’s rambling, like always.

“I’m.. rambling.. sorry..”

Mina smiled, “it’s okay..”  then she added, “Well basically I’m here just to waste some time so I could go home late..”

“Is it about your agreement with your mom?”

“Yes. I go here quite often during the day when there’s no figure skating club schedule so later my mother would think that I’d probably was just came back from hanging out with my friends or something..”

“Couldn’t you just tell her that there’s no club?”

“I did that. But she told me that instead of going straight home, I could’ve went to play or study together with my peers and such..”

“Your mother is quite… unique too.” and both let out a soft chuckled upon it

After that, silence coping them. Both gave each other a smile and happened to have a very short moment of eye staring. Yes they were just looking at each other for a short moment, none say anything.. just looking at each other.

But Momo the one who broke the ice, as she remembered that she is currently in the middle of practice and it’ll be a big trouble if she went back late.

“Well.. I uh. I need to go back. I’d probably in the last position now and will got the punishment from my coach later.. but still.. I need to go back.”

“Oh my.. you should go then! I’m sorry for holding you here..”

“No no.. no need to apologize.. you saved me with this.” said momo as she showed the empty pocari. “thank you..” And again.. they stayed silence and just look at each other’s eyes..

Honestly, Momo wanted to stay longer there.. Don’t know why but since that Saturday, Momo’s brain filled with Mina and all momo want to do is just spend time with her. although she is a mess whenever she started conversation with her.. but.. mina always seems.. calm. And maybe that’s a rare traits she not often find on people around her.. so yea.. maybe that’s why Momo wanted to stay there longer..

But she is still in the middle of her practice and punishment from the coach awaits her. so with heavy heart, she had to bid goodbye.

“W-well.. I.. should go....”

Mina nod at it and then gave momo encouragement, “Fighting!”

Heat suddenly rose up on momo’s face as she saw the smiley mina with her fist hung mid-air—trying to cheer her. So momo hid it by gave Mina a bow and started to leave. But right after three step away from Mina’s window, Momo turned around and went back to Mina

“Mina-ssi..” Momo gulped down to calm herself and after that she said, “W-wanna go home together?”

Momo could see there’s a slightly shocked expression on Mina’s face and that of course made momo panic.

“B-but if you need to go home earlier I don’t mind.. It just.. you know since we’re neighbors I just thought that maybe we can go home together.. or something..”

“Some..thing?”

“No! no! Ignore that part.. just. Let’s go home together..”

Momo was soo nervous. She didn’t know why suddenly she had this idea.. but she is surely know that the feeling of wanting to get to know mina and spend more time with her were the reason that influenced her to do this.

And then.. her nervousness was paid by Mina’s bright answer.

“Okay.. let’s go home together.” Said mina with a smile

“Great! splendid! I’ll… come here again as fast as I can right after the practice finished.”

“oh you don’t have to, Momo-ssi.. We can just meet in the front gate. It’s quite far from the hall to here.”

“But I don’t mi—“ with just a small smile and a tilted head, Momo changed her answer right away.

“I-I mean.. sure.. yes. cool! I’ll meet you on the front gate.” And mina satisfied with that answer.

“So uh.. see you later.. ? Mina-ssi?”

“see you later, momo-ssi.”

And after they exchanged small bow, Momo flee back towards the ice hall with her lung felt much more refresh.

She is so cute.

><

Later after that

Mina was standing all alone on the front gate, waiting for Momo. Its already 6 pm now and few others student who has club activity passed by her with their friends. there’s at least one or two person that mina knew and they exchanged short greetings. Mina also saw few girls that probably Momo’s teammates—since most of them had the same duffle bag that momo brought last Saturday.. But momo still nowhere to be seen.

Mina guessed that Momo probably ended up in the last place during the jogging exercise and she had to go through the punishment from her coach. That’s probably the reason why Momo still not around even though most of her teammates already went home. Well.. Momo was so way behind her teammates earlier and she looked so exhausted.. its kinda impossible for her to catch up..

Until suddenly,

“Mina-ssi!!!”

The sudden yell made Mina looked towards the voice and there she could see a girl running towards her from a far. Well.. she is the girl that Mina’s been waiting for—Momo.

But Mina couldn’t contain her laugh when she saw how Momo was running towards her. She was struggled with her duffle bag that kept slipping away from her shoulder, even once it fell down and she needs to stop and grab it.. although, she struggled with it again. also, in the middle of that struggle, she still could manage to give mina a big wave..

No it wasn’t a mockery laugh.. Mina just found her.. cute.. that’s all.

“You don’t need to run!” said mina, as loud as she can

Momo stopped a bit, like she was thinking about something. but then instead of stop running, she speed up her run. With that, Mina was convinced that Momo couldn’t hear her.

Once Momo arrived, she was panting hard, bend down a bit and supported herself with arms holding both her knees. But she still wanted to talk despite all the exhaustion.

“Hi… Mina-ssi.. I.. huh.. sorry.. I.. huh..”

“Breathe.. Momo-ssi.. breathe first.” Said mina after momo’s failed attempt to speak soon as she arrived.

Momo took Mina’s advice and straighten up her body. After that she did the breathe circulation thing that her coach taught her and tried to normalize her breathing.

“I told you not to run.” Said Mina, with a smile of course.

“ah.. that’s what you were saying..” said momo and she added, “I couldn’t hear it clearly.. your voice was tiny..”

“I.. yelled as hard as I could though..”

Mina looked disappointed when she said that.. her voice gradually got lower through the end and she pouted. It’s true, Mina’s voice is that small and momo couldn’t really hear anything earlier. but seeing mina got so down like that.. Somehow Momo dislike it and tried to make her not think like that.

“W-well! I-it must be the wind! It blew quite hard right? yeah there’s nothing wrong with your voice.. ” said Momo

“The.. wind?” Momo knows what she said wasn’t make any sense.. but she just nod hard..

“A-anyway.. we should get going.. or else Sana will see us and.. she probably will tease us.”

“Okay.. let’s go.”

So the two of them started walk away from the school gate towards the bus stop. but after just a few step away from the school gate.. an embarrassing thing happened for Momo..

*gurgle grugle~*

That loud noise made both of them stopped.. Momo froze with her face getting redder and mina was looking at her while trying to hold her laugh.

“Are you.. hungry, Momo-ssi?” Mina really tried her best to hide her laugh when she asked that.. yes.. that noise came from Momo’s stomach

“N-no.. I’m fine…” yet momo still tried to hide it

“We can stop at nearby convenient store or any kind of restaurant if you want..”

“I.. I don’t want you to be late at home..”

“Well, the later I arrived at home, the happier my mom will be..”

“Okay then… I know a good restaurant nearby.”

“Then let’s go feed your hungry stomach” Mina let out a short laugh, while momo hung her head low.. Embarrassed upon the tease.

>><<

The Next Day, after school

Today, there’s no ice hockey practice but momo couldn’t go home right away.. all because of sana asked momo to give her the free lunch that she supposedly got last Saturday. At first momo didn’t want to go, saying that the deal was terminated because Sana bailed on her. But Sana’s whine is stronger than Momo’s will.. so in the end, she agreed to buy any meal Sana wants.

But the annoying part is..

Sana forgot that she had to attend a meeting with the student council sport department, talking about the sport clubs’ schedule and necessity or whatsoever.. Momo didn’t want to dwell to much about what the topic was.. yet again.. Sana’s whine is stronger than Momo’s so in the end.. Momo waited for her best friend to finish the meeting.

Only few minutes passed by, yet momo already felt bored to death. Scrolling through her phone just made her eyes tired. She didn’t have any more snack left on her desk nor in her bag..

Then suddenly momo remembered that today.. Mina has club activity. At first she didn’t want to go there.. imagine if she got caught by either Sana or even Mina herself.. it’ll definitely hard for her to come out with an excuse..

But the memory of Mina skating around so beautifully on that Saturday… Made Momo packed her things and went to the ice hall. Don’t really care whether she’d get caught or not..

.

.

Same like what happened on last Saturday.. once Momo entered the ice hall, it filled with music and scratching sounds. But this time, there was a loud voice that yelling few instruction like ‘maintain your balance’ or ‘chin up!’ and such. That voice is definitely belong to their coach.

Slowly, momo walked towards the main section… stealthily walked beside the wall, trying not to get caught by anyone. Once she arrived near the staircase towards bleachers, she quickly went up and sat on the vacant seat.

As soon as she found her seat, she immediately focused her sight on the rink and searched for the only familiar face she knew there.. which is mina. But it’s quite hard.. not just because the amount of people who were gliding on the ice, but also the distance.. she sat quite high and quite far from the rink and it’s a little bit hard to see the rink clearly. Well.. if she went closer, the bigger chance mina would saw her.. so yea.. maybe she had to deal with it eventually she would see her or something..

Untill…

“Okay. warm up finish. Let’s check on the rookies.. Myoui, you go first.”

Thanks to that, momo finally could find Mina. After the coach said that, everyone started to dash out from the rink and only one person stayed—which is mina. since momo couldn’t clearly see Mina, she slowly went down two level beneath her to look closer at the rink. It’s still a bit far.. but at least she knew it’s mina.

After the rink was empty, Mina started to move around the rink. The move sequence were different with what momo saw last Saturday. In momo’s eyes, it looks like mina just randomly skate around the rink.. while actually, she was doing some basic drill.

“speed it up.” Mina begun to fasten her speed after her coach said that.

Mina just glide around the rink.. but somehow it’s mesmerizing. The same feeling momo felt last Saturday.. came back again. Mina looked soo fluid, so gentle, and so light doing all those moves. Those smooth moves somehow looked so satisfying, added by the sound of gentle scratch from her skate blades.. Momo couldn’t do anything except focusing her sight on her.

“Surprise me myoui.”

Mina didn’t immediately do what her coach told her to do. she skate lightly around the rink, like she was thinking about what move she should show. Until suddenly she changed her skating direction from forward skating, to backwards. She skated in quite high speed and once she reached the middle of the rink, she did a big jump and spun 2 times in mid-air.  But she didn’t end there. after that she took a quick step then spun like twister with one of her leg lifted near her head.

Momo was sooo shocked with that. never ever in her life she did that nor even think she would do something like that.. and yes.. momo wasn’t the only one who was surprised with that.. mina’s teammates and her coach were also surprised.

“Okay, wrapped it up myoui.” after that, Mina made a pose to end her session.

Momo who was in awed upon that performance, couldn’t help but clap her hands right after mina gave the ending pose. Unfortunately.. She was the only one who clapped and it was loud enough for everyone to hear it. All eyes drifted to her, looking at her with either confused or surprised.. and that made momo immediately stopped her clap and tried to hid her head low.

But thank god those eyes only looked towards her for few seconds since the coach called another skater. Well.. momo totally regret doing that.. now everyone know her presence and of course.. Mina knew too.

“Momo-ssi?” Momo lifted her head and yes.. Mina the one who called her.. from the lowest section.

Momo who felt so ashamed for being caught, could only gave an awkward smile and a meek wave. After mina replied the wave, she took of her skating shoes and then walked up towards Momo’s seat. The closer she got, the clearer momo could see.. and she looks… pretty. the beige slimfit long t-shirt, the black tight long pants, and the ponytail.. it was just a simple look.. but don’t know why it gave such jumps to momo’s heart. maybe she still felt embarrassed for being caught and ended up drawing people attention in such an awkward situation.. yeah.. she chose to believe that lame excuse.

“Hi.” said Mina as she arrived in front of Momo

“h-hi..”

“Rare to see you here.”

“well.. I uh..  I was about to hang out with sana. but she needs to attend some meeting so I have to wait for her.. got bored and decided to come here..”

“aah.. I see..” said mina. then she asked again, “mind if I join you here?”

“but.. you’re still in practice..”

“my practice is finished.”

“Eh??”

That confusion plus shocked, drew a smile on mina’s face and mina took it as a sign for her to sit and explain things to momo. So she sat on the vacant chair on Momo’s right side and then she started to talk

“The rookies, including me, only got chance to get the guidance from the coach if they were being called. After that, the ‘pros’ which are students that more experienced and about to participate in some competition, will got more intensive practice. Coaches will assess their routine thoroughly, not just testing our basic drill and impromptu moves like what I did earlier. and since the pros are quite many.. they end up using the whole practice time.”

“So… basically the coach will assess your performance or routine or whatever it was called.. if you are about to participate in competition?”

“Mhm. Like the pros are main team.. and rookies are the reserve.”

“And.. those pros are using the entire time of club schedule?”

“yes.. there are few people and each people will got advices approximately 10 minutes each..”

“wait.. didn’t you said there are an upcoming team selection?” mina gave momo a nod

“Then… how could you train for that if you didn’t get the chance to use the rink or even being guided by the coach?”

“Usually I continued my practice once everyone left and this is also the reason why I practiced on Saturday.”

“Well thats.. kinda.. unfair?”

“True.. but well.. couldn’t do much except play along with it. fight with my own strength.”

After that.. they didn’t really talk again. just sat side by side.. eyes looked on the rink.

><

It seems like mina didn’t really has that much of friend here since no one really talked to her and mina didn’t even leave momo’s side since the moment she came.

Few people already went in the rink, and when the so-called-pros went in, mina began showering momo with soo many figure skating knowledge. She mentioned every trick names, gave trivias, and even told momo her insight if one of the skater made a mistake. Momo didn’t understand a thing.. but she just nod along.. trying to digest those info..

Besides.. mina looks kinda cute when she was so hyped explaining things..

Skater after skater had passed and momo already watched plenty of those pros performance.. but no matter how much mina got amazed by some of the skater, Momo wasn’t really that entertained.

“You are way better than them.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Your performance… its better than them..”

“You are just being nice aren’t you? that’s no way I’m be—“

“I’m serious.” Said momo and yes.. that caught mina off guard. “I still remember your performance on last Saturday.. and nothing could beat it.. I mean.. their performance kinda lack of.. mm.. maybe aura? Or stage presence? Emotion? Magic? I don’t know.. it just these performances aren’t as impactful as yours.” Added momo.

“t-thank you..” mina said that in a tiny voice and she also stuttered. “You are the first one who tell me that.”

Momo stole a glance towards mina and there she saw the girl blushing.. feeling shy upon the compliment. Yes.. of course that made momo shy too. don’t know why

“J-just show them what you can on the audition.”

“yes.. I will do that..”

Just then, the sound of Momo’s phone rang and startled the both of them. the silence that caused by shyness between them was the reason why a sudden noise could startled them. Momo then clumsily rummaged her bag to search for her phone and once she got it, she quickly answered it.

Turns out, it was sana who just informed her that she already finished the meeting. Sana asked about momo’s where-about. But instead of saying she’s in ice hall, momo told sana to meet her at the front gate. Of course to avoid being teased by her.

After the phone ended, momo then bid goodbye to mina.

“Eum.. I had to go.. Sana already done with her meeting.”

“aah.. okay” said mina. “thank you for coming here. although you just want to kill some times.”

“W-well.. t-thank you for not sacking me out of here..” both let out a short laugh after momo said that.

Then momo stood up and gave short bow to mina, which the latter automatically replied. But after few step away, momo turned around to ask something to mina

“So.. eum… you’re going to have extra practice after this?” Mina nod at it

“aah.. I see.. then good luck with the practice.”

“thank you..” after that, momo bowed again and this time.. she really left.. left with heads filled with worries.

>><<

It was around 7pm that time. Mina was just walked from the bus stop near her apartment complex, completely exhausted.

After her ‘official’ club schedule finished, she had a short talk with her coach. Her coach told mina her feedback about mina’s skating form and such.. It wasn’t really a long talk or anything special.. her coach usually did that to other skater. But this was meaningful for mina since that was actually the very first time they had a talk together and the fact that her coach finally noticed her, made mina more determined.

So because of that, Mina tried to fix things that her coach told her. All rookies that usually took extra practice with mina decided to skip for today so Mina could use the entire rink for herself.

She fixed her form, her steps, her pose, everything that her coach told her and did it all over again. after that she practice her performance for the audition again and again..

Due to her determination, she ended up practicing too hard so yeah.. it drained her stamina and all her body felt sore. Especially her legs and her back. yes.. she regret it a bit. Just a little bit.

Finally she reached her apartment complex’s gate and she really hope she could just flew and landed on her room without even have to ride elevator..

But.. suddenly, mina stopped.. surprised by what she saw right in front of her.

A black haired girl with a pair of bright red tracksuit, sat on the bench by herself.. her hands on her pockets as she slightly swung her body to the front, and back—an attempt to beat the cold.

“Momo..ssi?” the girl startled when mina called her and yes. she is indeed momo.. the hirai momo

“Oh! hi!” Momo who got surprised, quickly stood up and waved to Mina “uh.. good night? I-I mean.. good to see you..” like usual.. the girl would always greeted her awkwardly and like usual too, mina just let it slide.

“What are you doing here? isn’t it a bit cold?”

“cold? Hahha.. not really. it’s not cold at all.”

Mina knew she lied… the tint red mark on her nose explained everything. Besides… Momo wasn’t really the best liar and Mina could see that although they only interact like few times.. she just completely like an open book.. too easy to be read.. and mina found it interesting.

“H-how was the practice?”

“Hmm.. just like usual.. but my coach just gave me some feedback for the first time so I got a little bit too excited after that.

“oh.. that’s great then..”

“How was the hang out with sana?”

“Well.. like usual. Nothing special. She just ordered a really expensive dessert and I’m broke.”

They both laughed after Momo said that.. But it slowly dimmed down and changed into awkward silence.. Mina couldn’t just leave since momo seems like wanted to say something to her. but she herself didn’t have courage to ask her that.

“M-mina..ssi..” momo paused a bit and then said. “Since my club didn’t have any upcoming competition, our practice endedn quicker than usual. So.. you know.. if you want.. you can use it for extra practice.”

“Eh? w-why.. suddenly you offered me this?”

“Well.. uh.. just… you seems didn’t have that much time to practice despite the audition already near.. so I just wanna help?”

It would be a lie if Mina’s heart didn’t just skip a few beat after momo told her that.. but although it touched her, Mina still feel concern about few things..

“T-thank you.. but.. could I really use it?” asked mina

“Of course.. no one really do extra practice.. Usually it just me. so it always empty and you can use it if you want.”

“Oh.. if it’s mean you lost your extra practice, then.. I have to refuse you offer.”

“why? no no! don’t worry.. like I said, there’s no competition ahead so I don’t really need that much extra practice. Besides, you need it more than I do..”

“You…sure about that?” momo gave a frim nod at mina’s question.

“Won’t your coaches or teammates scold you?”

“No they won’t.. b-but I don’t push you to do it.. I mean you’ll get exhausted too if you practice too much.. so if you want, you can tell me and freely use the ice rink right after my club finish our schedule.”

Mina thought about it for a moment. No, its not that she didn’t like the offer.. she actually felt so thankful with what momo offered her.. But she need to make sure that she won’t bothered nor momo or the ice hockey member. Mina wanted to think about it more thoroughly, until she saw how momo shivered and her nose got redder than earlier..

“mm.. Momo-ssi..”

“N-ne?”

“Were you been waiting for me?”

“W-who?? Me? uh.. well.. I just.. well it just… uh.. I just back from running errands that my mom told me to.. and then u came.. yeah.. that..”

“I.. don’t see any plastic?”

Momo got stiffen when mina said that.. yes. she got caught. The truth is, Momo been waiting for Mina for few minutes. It was really a gambling for momo. she didn’t know whether Mina already finished her practice or not.. so she’s been waiting there alone for like… 30 minutes or even more? that’s why she got a runny nose..

“How long you’ve been waiting for me here?”

“N-not.. really that long.”

“I’m really thankful for your offer.. but you could text me instead waiting for me like this. or.. you already deleted my number?”

“Of course not! I thought you already changed your number... I think the last time we text were before 1 year final term..”

“Right.. for the final group assignment.. we usually just text each other about that kind of stuff..” Momo nod at it.

“So uh.. mina-sii.. do you wanna do it?”

“Hmm.. can I think about it first? I’m really grateful with your offer but I need to consider my health and also my studies.”

“Ah.. o-okay.. I understand.. you can think about it as long as you want. It just.. I know how good you are and it just kinda ashamed that you were labeled as rookie and didn’t get that much chance. So yea.. maybe an extra practice is what you needed..”

“Thank you.. really.”  

“Oh! you must be exhausted from your practice.. uh you can continue to your home.. I’m sorry for holding you here.”

“I’m the one who should apologize. Sorry for making you wait long in this cold night.”

“Nah.. I’m goo—Acho!”

“Oh my.. you should hurry go back home, momo-ssi.. otherwise you’ll get cold”

Momo wanted to see mina go home first.. but due to her sudden sneeze that made her embarrassed, she decided to be the one who left first.

“Uh.. okay.. I’m going back first then.”

“Okay.. see you tomorrow, momo-ssi.”

“See tomor—acho!”

“Oh dear…”

“I’m okay! really.. no need to worry.. bye!” and there momo goes.. she ran back towards her apartment tower with her jacket sleeve covering her nose.

“Hahha.. cute.”

><

When momo arrived in her house, she quickly went to her room and buried herself there.

“Can! You! stop! embarrassing! Your! Self! Aaargh!!”  said momo while she hit her face with pillow in every space of her word.

“Greeted her awkwardly, got caught waiting for her, sneezed in front of her… god..i’m such an embarrassment..”

But in the middle of Momo punishing herself for acting weird, her phone beeped. She pulled her face up from her pillow and looked at her phone.. And after seeing the message, the used to be embarrassed momo turn bright and her smile was open so wide.

Yes.. it’s a text from mina..

New Message from Myoui Mina:

Hello, Momo-ssi. Is it okay if I start the practice tomorrow?

Momo got so excited after reading that message and immediately replied her message.

Message to Myoui Mina:

Of course you can!

And after momo sent it, she got the reply immediately too.

Message from Myoui Mina:

Great! thank you Momo-ssi. See you tomorrow ^^

Seeing the smiley emoticon that mina sent her made momo smiled too. a tingling and giddy feelings suddenly filled her stomach.. don’t know why and she didn’t really want to dwell on it too much. All what matters, is Momo could spend more time with mina and the most important thing is.. She could see her skate again.

Author Notes:

Hi hi hi~ I’m back lol

There are so many ongoing story on my pocket so I kinda forgot about this one.. hehe sorry~
Hope you guys like it and if you don’t mind, please left some of your thoughts on the comment bar
Stay healthy everyone!!!





Kamsahamnida