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HANA

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It’s finally game day, and Hana was excited and hopeful.

Yuri was unable to fetch her earlier, since all players need to drop by the school first for their final meeting with their coach before going to the rival school. So Hana and her friends agreed that they will all just go together. While Yuri promised that she will find Hana once they arrive at the school.

They were already seated, when she saw Yuri and her team enter the court.

She realized just how popular Yuri and her friends are when the gym suddenly erupted with fan girl’s screams. A lot of them also screamed their favorite player’s name, and a huge percentage of them were calling on Yuri’s name.

Sports games are a quintessential experience of school life, especially for the first games and the championships. Everyone comes together to root for their school. The food, the smiles and the cheers are in abundance as everyone— both players and schoolmates—has their eye on the prize: winning.

Of course, basketball games are no exception, especially when you have Yuri and her friends on your team. The cheers were so loud and everyone was giving their all to hype up the crowd as soon as they saw the players get inside the court.

Yuri is that girl who plays all sorts of sports. After all, the Kim family has a dedicated property that has all of the needed facilities for just about any game. That alone would be enough for Yuri to be famous, not to mention that she’s rich beyond measure and she looks so good. At this point, it wouldn’t come as a shock if someone says that they have a crush on Yuri.

All of her friends have the same qualities mentioned above too, it’s just that Yuri was the most confident of them, making her the most popular of them all among boys and girls.

Come to think of it, this is really how it was even when they were younger. Hana couldn’t help but remember. But this is the first time that she experienced it after they are officially ‘friends’.

She pushed the thought aside and as soon as she saw Yuri going towards her, she immediately stood up and ran to meet her halfway, not minding the people around.

“Yuri!” She shouted while she was running.

“Careful! You might tr—”

Yuri didn’t even finish her sentence because her clumsiness kicked in and she almost tripped, if only Yuri was not fast enough to catch her.

“I told you not to run. What if you get hurt?” Yuri was frowning, but for some reason, Hana was giggling as she saw Yuri’s face up close. She was really concerned and Hana was glad to confirm that.

“Look, your shirt is all ruined.” Yuri mentioned, and since it was pointed out, Hana finally felt the cold liquid on her chest. “Are you okay? Why are you not saying anything?” Yuri worriedly asked as she took the spilled drink from her hand. She was wearing a jacket and a shirt but all of it was soaked.

Yuri looked around and saw one of the maintenance guys and asked for help to clean the mess that Hana made. When she looked back at Hana, she tapped her shoulders.

“Are you okay?” Yuri tried asking again.

“I’m fine.” Hana said, pouting. “What am I going to do? I don’t have an extra shirt.”

“Come with me.” Yuri told her as she pulled her towards the exit.

“Bro! Where are you going? We need to warm up!” Charlee called but Yuri just continued walking.

She also felt a lot of people looking at her, and it felt a lot quieter. She’s sure that if she looks at the bleachers, a lot of them were directly looking at her.

Great! She just attracted all of their attention, and she made a mess of herself.

But she decided to think about that later.

When they finally arrived at the restroom, Yuri opened her bag and gave her a white shirt and her jersey jacket. There’s no one around because it was a dedicated restroom for players, and since all of Yuri’s teammates are at the gym, they are the only ones there.

“The shirt will do.” Hana said as she took the shirt from Yuri’s hands, before opening a cubicle.

“It’s cold, and you don’t want to just be in a shirt out there.” Yuri insisted and stretched her hand so that Hana could take it.

Yuri looked serious so she just accepted both clothes and changed as fast as she could, since she’s concerned that Yuri would have less time to warm up because of her.

As soon as she finished, she immediately opened the cubicle door. She was welcomed by Yuri’s warm smile. “It looks good on you.” Yuri said as she took her clothes. She also noticed how she folded her clothes neatly before putting it back inside her bag.

“I’m sorry.” Hana looked down. “I’m always causing trouble.”

“It’s not a big deal baby. Are you really not hurt anywhere? Just please take care of yourself, okay?” Yuri said, smiling gently while walking up to her and tucking her hair behind her ears. “Do you need more time? I’ll be waiting outside.”

“No. Let’s go.” Hana said, holding Yuri’s hand, a gesture that they are both so used to doing right now, as they walked out of the rest room.

Once they got back inside the gym, she noticed how the whole room was more packed now with people, and she looked at Yuri who looked relaxed at the moment. She must be really confident.

While she’s a nervous mess because of all the murmurs as soon as they entered the gym hand in hand.

“Are you not feeling any nervousness at all?” Hana asked curiously.

“Not really. Because I have a plan.” Yuri replied.

“What plan?”

“Win.”

Hana rolled her eyes at that. It is not a secret that Yuri exudes so much confidence and even the way she said the word is full of conviction. “Yeah, whatever.”

“I get nervous, of course. It’s just that there’s nothing else to do but to win this game. We don’t want to start off with a disadvantage.” Yuri replied, full of determination. “And focusing on my nerves would not help the team and our school. So as much as possible, I just focus on my goal, which is winning.”

Hana admired Yuri more for that.

When they arrived at Hana’s seat, her friends greeted Yuri and she greeted them back while gently helping her to her seat. The crowd was once again a little quieter as soon as they saw Yuri at the bleachers.

“You and your clumsy ! You almost hurt yourself!” Jia can’t help but scold her too, but Hana just stuck her tongue out.

While Nia asked, “What’s that? Why are you wearing Yuri’s jacket now?”

“Why? Ask Jae if you want the varsity jacket too.” Hana replied, teasing her friend.

“Yah! I am this close to thinking that it was not an accident.” Nia fired back.

“Of course not—” Hana was about to protest when Yuri interrupted.

“I gotta go, baby” Yuri said as soon as she made sure that Hana was comfortable and safe. “I’ll be back before the start of the game.”

She patted the top of Hana’s head and started to walk backwards while waving at her.

A couple of girls at their back was screaming because of Yuri’s waves and Nia shouted at them. “Why are you screaming? The wave is not for you!”

Give it to Nia to be involved in petty fights. Hana just tapped her friend’s legs, gesturing for her to stop fighting other girls.

“Goodluck!” Hana shouted to Yuri’s retreating figure.

That’s the time that she became fully aware of her surroundings and how the people around were whispering at each other and asking who she was. She was glad that she opted to do what her mom has done before, just being a lowkey Minatozaki-Kim.

As soon as she looked away, she noticed June standing next to Seul, holding her hand because Mona and her friends pointed it out.

“Must be nice to have someone supporting you like that.” Mona commented when she saw that Hana was looking at the couple. “Honestly, they look cute together. And June can definitely stop Seul’s ridiculousness with just one look. It was so funny how she’s really afraid of June.”

And Hana couldn’t help but remember some of their encounters with June and Seul.

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A knock could be heard and they were all surprised to see Yuri, Seul and Luna were standing outside the music room when they opened the door. All of them are still in their jersey uniforms, looking all ragged and cool but out of breath.

Some of the club members already bid their goodbyes and only her along with Ruby Jane and June were the only ones left.

Yuri walked in and stood beside Hana and started helping her with arranging her things. Although this is not the first time that Yuri walked her from one class to another, she was sure that she has a schedule right now, so she’s surprised to see her here.

“Seul, what are you doing here? Don’t you have practice?” June asked, surprise evident in her face as she saw her girlfriend waiting for her.

“Baby, we only have a few minutes of break, and I ran here because I wanted to walk you to your next class.” Seul smiled and took June’s things too and helped her. “I’m not sure what the other two were doing here though.”

Yuri ignored the indirect message to her, and continued gathering Hana’s things.

“Yuri-ah! Are you here to fetch me?” Ruby Jane sweetly asked, and was about to approach Yuri when she pushed Luna towards the girl.

“I’m not interested in fetching you, but Luna does.” Yuri said nonchalantly.

Luna’s cheeks were flushed red, as soon as Ruby Jane hooked her hand on Luna’s arm. “Really?”

And poor Luna could only nod.

It took them only a few minutes to gather their things before Seul said, “Bro, see you later!” She even used her hand which is holding June’s to wave at them.

Hana giggled at the sight, because it looked like Seul really didn't want to let June’s hand go even if her other hand was holding a lot of things.

Luna and Ruby Jane finished next. Her teammate mouthed a quick thank you to Yuri.

Ruby Jane gave a flying kiss to Yuri before hooking her hand on Luna’s arms, and they looked just like Seul and June just a while ago. The only difference is of course, their hand holding. But Luna was also carrying all of Ruby Jane’s things.

She always wondered why partners wanted to carry all of their partners' things, and she guesses that it’s just something that couples do, or something that an interested person would do to another, just like Luna does for Ruby Jane.

But when she turned around, she couldn’t help but realize that Yuri was not different.

In front of her, Yuri used her neck, her shoulder and her arm to hang Hana’s things.

Her shoulder bag is on her shoulder, while her other bag was safely placed in front of her chest, which was dangling from her neck. Her left hand and arm were occupied with Hana’s books too.

“Is this everything? Or are we missing anything?” Yuri asked before holding out her hand for Hana to reach.

Hana did her final checks because responding, “I think that’s everything.”

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