“Hirai Momo is what?” Mina squints at Jihyo, who stands at the door of the student council room, sipping a can of lemon tea.
“You heard exactly what I said.”
Mina squints harder, “where is she?”
“Canteen.”
“Someone really needs to keep her in check,” Mina grumbles.
“Well you know that’s not true, you just want excuses to see her,” Jihyo grins.
“I—shut up!” snaps Mina as she storms off to the canteen with Jihyo trailing behind.

At first it’s hard to spot Momo, because there’s a giant swarm of people crowded around, looking at something. And then Mina realises that that something is Momo and she most definitely is doing something stupid. She exhales in irritation, then pushes through the crowd. Jihyo goes around the crowd. Even though she’s stupid student council president, sometimes Mina isn’t the most rational decision maker.
“Hey Momo,” Jihyo nods.
“Oh hi Jihyo!” Momo smiles, “Do you wanna buy some jokbal—wait no, it’s free, because we’re friends! Anyway, do you want some jokbal?”
“Nah,” Jihyo raises her lemon tea, “I’m good.”
Momo nods in understanding, “lemon tea is a hard master.”
Jihyo isn’t sure what that’s supposed to mean, but it’s probably because Momo still hasn’t fully grasped Korean yet, “you know it.” She decides not to say anything about it.

A few minutes and some boxes of jokbal later, Mina emerges from the crowd, sweaty, hair mussed and clothes dishevelled, panting slightly and looking even more irritated than ever.
“HIRAI MOMO!!!”
“Ah! Mina-chan!”
Mina fumes, “don’t you “Ah! Mina-chan!” me, you..you—what are you—are you selling jokbal? Why are you selling jokbal??”
“Ah yes! Jokbal! Do you want some? I saved a box for you, because you always seem really interested in what I’m doing!” Momo presents her with a box slightly larger than the ones she’s been selling, carefully wrapped in greaseproof paper, the words “for Mina-chan” scrawled on top. Mina blushes.
“I—t-thanks?” Mina stutters.
“It’s okay! I’ll bring you some tomorrow!” Momo smiles, “You guys should go now, lunch is nearly over and I need to pack up soon.”
“I—uh—okay bye…Hirai Momo..” Mina stutters as Jihyo ushers her away, clutching the box of jokbal in her hands tightly.

It’s not until they reach their next class that Mina realises she never accomplished her original goal.
“Jihyo, how dare you stop me from stopping Hirai Momo from selling jokbal.”
Jihyo feigns ignorance, “I did nothing of the sort.”
Mina squints, “you—nevermind. I’ll just have to catch her tomorrow.”
There’s a glint in Mina’s eyes that Jihyo catches, and she shakes her head fondly.

When Mina gets home, the first thing she does is to spend quite a while sitting at the dining table, staring at the box of jokbal. Should she eat it? Or should she save it for later? She’ll save it for later. Satisfied with her decision, she places the box carefully in the fridge and runs to her room, burying her face in her pillow. She then falls asleep while staring at her ceiling, thinking about how she’s going to deal with Momo tomorrow.

It’s 7:00 pm when she wakes, meaning dinner. And today dinner is jokbal. She skips to the kitchen, smiling widely when she thinks about her precious jokbal (she doesn’t even really like jokbal, but this jokbal is from Hirai Momo). The cold air from the refrigerator hits her face and she closes her eyes and sighs contentedly when she thinks about how Momo called her Mina-chan.
She opens her eyes.
The box is gone.
The fridge is full of vegetables, fruits, ketchup, some eggs, assorted sauce bottles—you get the picture—but no jokbal.
Her mother walks into the kitchen, “oh, Mina! Are you looking for your jokbal?”
Mina turns to her with a straight face and nods.
“Well while you were asleep your friend Jihyo came over and I gave her some, and then Jungyeon also came over, and Sana came home and the three of them ate it all! Ah, you teenagers have such big appetites!” Mina’s mother chuckles.
Mina can hear the air around her shatter like glass. She feels her soul leave her in small wisps, and then suddenly all at once. Completely drained, she crumples to the floor, hair falling over her face like a dark red curtain. It’s getting harder to breathe.
“Mina? Are you okay?”
“……Mother….my….jok…bal……”
“Oh honey I’ll buy you some more tomorrow, okay?”
“No….that was…it’s okay mum….” Mina sniffs, shakily getting up.
“Are you sure? Because I could just—”
“I’m fine.”
“…Okay,” Mina’s mother isn’t fully convinced, but Mina’s old enough to get over jokbal. She thinks.
Mina sniffs again. She walks over to the bin. The empty box is in there. It’s been crushed to fit in, and now, instead of “for Mina-chan”, it says “forchan”.
Forchan…fourchan………4chan…………I hate 4chan…
“Mina, are you sure you’re okay, why do you keep muttering “for chan” under your breath? Who’s Chan?”
Mina snaps out of her daze.
“…”
“…”
“I won’t be eating dinner tonight. I’m tired. Goodnight.”
As Mina leaves, her mother shakes her head and sighs, “I’ll never understand.”

Sleep doesn’t come easy. It’s especially hard because she’s thinking about all the ways she can destroy Jihyo tomorrow. Millions of ideas run through her head, but she can’t remember any of them. She settles on just winging it.
“PARK JIHYO!!” She screams. Well at least she tries to scream. It comes out as a shaky half-shout, more force than volume, and Jihyo spins around.
“Oh hey Mina,” she waves.
Mina picks up her pace, speed walking like a soccer mum to a Target sale. Upon catching up to Jihyo, she stops her and jabs an accusing finger into her chest. At least, that’s where she was aiming for. She misses and ends up jabbing Jihyo in the throat, and she doubles over in pain, clutching her neck and coughing,
“Oh no!! Jihyo! Are you okay?? I’m so sorry I was aiming for your chest but it’s hard to keep track of what you’re aiming at when you’re not looking at it you know? I’m so sorry! Oh my god.”
Jihyo recovers from sputtering and straightens herself, “I’m okay, I’m good. Just—just don’t do that again. What did you want anyway?”
“Oh yes!” Mina remembers. She remembers too much. The unpleasant feelings return and she starts to feel weak again.
She swallows the lump in , “y-you..my—you…I…Momo….the jokbal….ALL GONE.”
Mina bursts into tears. Jihyo doesn’t know what to do.
“Mina?? Why are you crying?? Are you okay??”
Mina keeps crying for a while, until her sobs fade away like a deflating balloon.

“Oopsies,” Jihyo grins sheepishly.
Mina squints, “‘Oopsies’? Is that really all you can say, the three of you ate all of the jokbal Momo gave me! It was very important to—very important evidence of..of…illegal vending! Contraband!!”
Jihyo scoffs, “alright let’s just say that for now.”
“Wh—what’s that supposed to mean??”
Jihyo ignores her, “my sources have told me that Momo sells jokbal in the canteen before school starts.”
“What?! That is…against school policy!!”
“Are you going to “stop” her?”
“I heard those inverted commas, Park Jihyo. As the student council president it is imperative that I keep the student body in check.”
“You’re not doing a very good job.”
“Shut up. I hate you.”

At lunch there is a huge crowd of people again, and Mina once again tries to push through the crowd. Jihyo rolls her eyes and pulls her out, dragging her to go around the crowd.
“HIRAI MOMO!!!” Mina yells.
“Mina-chan!! You’re back!” Momo smiles.
Mina falters, “I—um—ahem—you should not…should be so happy to..to…see me, you…uh..you um……..”
The look of confusion on Momo’s face makes Mina want to scream.
WHY? WHY DO YOU LOOK SO SMALL?? Stop it Mina she is breaking 86 of the school rules. She is a delinquent! Delinquents are not cute!
It’s hard for Mina to agree with herself, because Momo looks so cute and she is holding out another box of jokbal, prepared especially for Mina.
“Anyway, here! I saved you some jokbal again!” Momo grins.
Mina is unable to even say ‘thank you’ properly. She has melted. She might as well be a puddle on the floor. That Jihyo is going to splash in. Mina, get off the floor.
“Sorry guys! That was the last box!” Momo calls out to the crowd, that lets out disappointed noises. Some people glare at Mina.
“Mina-chan! I have to pack up now, and lunch is nearly over, so you’d better get to class. The president shouldn’t be late, should she?” Momo chuckles.
“Yeah, student council president, let’s go,” JIhyo shoves her. Mina allows herself to be pushed away.

On the way home, Mina decides that it’s safer to keep her jokbal in her room. She also realises that it’s been two days and she still has yet to stop Momo’s illegal activities. She doesn’t bother returning the greeting her mother gives her when she enters the house, and heads straight up to her room.
How am I ever going to stop Hirai Momo? Every time she gives me jokbal and that stupid, amazing smile of hers my brain short circuits. Not—not because I like her or anything, of course not!! It’s because I am a-appalled by her delinquency! Yes. That’s good. Nice save, Mina.
Mina thinks harder. Since she can never say anything to Momo in person, so she’ll just…ah! Write a letter! Mina nods to herself. What a good idea. She allows herself a celebratory jokbal.
You go Mina

The next morning, she finds Momo by her locker. Gripping the letter in her hand tightly, she puts on her I-am-the-student-council-president-please-respect-me face and walks over.
“H-Hirai Momo!”
Momo spins around, “ah! Good morning Mina-chan! How are you?”
“I uh..good morni—no! I do not have time for these formalities! There is something I need to give you!” she can do this, Hirai Momo has nothing on her.
“Give..me?” Momo doesn’t move for a bit, she looks deep in thought, “ah yes! There is something I need to give you!”
“I—what? No! I had something to give you first! Hey, what are you—stop rummaging through your bag! I am the student coun—”
“Tada!!” Momo holds out two rectangular pieces of paper.
“What?”
“Let’s go watch a movie!”
Mina freezes, “a movie? You want to watch a movie? With—with me?”
“Yeah!”
A-are you sure? A movie? With me? Are you sure you want to go with m-me?”
“Yup!”
“Just the t-two of us?”
“Yup!
Mina blushes, “l-like a…date?”
Momo tilts her head and thinks for a second, “yeah! That sounds nice! A date!” she grins.
“That sounds..nice…I guess,” Mina quickly snatches a ticket from Momo’s hand, “I’m only saying yes because..because it’s not like I have a choice!”
Momo smiles, “okay, cool! I’ll come over at six tomorrow then?”
“W-wait, six in the morning, or six in the evening?”
“I don’t know, I haven't decided yet!” Momo is still smiling.
Mina gapes, “…I—what am I going to do with you, Hirai Momo?” she shakes her head and laughs, just a little (not because Momo is cute or anything).
“You’re going to go on a date with me!”
Mina blushes, “yeah well, it’s—it's not like I have a choice or a-anything!”
“Anyway, what were you going to give me?”
Mina’s eyes widen. The letter! She can’t just tell Momo she’s a delinquent right after she agreed to go watch a movie with her!
“I—the—I was going to give you—um—this! A handshake! Yes! That’s what I was going to give you!” Mina grabs Momo’s hand and shakes it briskly.

“A handshake. Wow. Good job Mina,” Jihyo scoffs.
“Hey! At least she isn’t selling anymore jokbal!” Mina huffs.
Jihyo rolls her eyes, “yes, but it’s not like you had anything to do with that. In fact, you might be the reason she started selling jokbal in the first place.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jihyo looks around furtively, leans in and whispers, “rumour has it that Momo started selling jokbal so she could take you on a date,” she grins.
“D-don’t be ridiculous, with all the jokbal she sold, she could have bought like, 20 tickets.”
“Well, she could have, but this is Momo we’re talking about, Momo, who almost traded her sister for a jelly cup. I don’t think she understands how to price things very well.”
“…you’re right. How do you know anyway?”
“How do I—Mina, we were both there when Jungyeon offered Momo that jelly cup, don't you remember? Y’know, Jungyeon offered Momo the jelly cup in exchange for her sister…you vehemently protested because “human rights blah blah blah”…Jungyeon sl—”
Mina cuts her off, “no, I meant, “How do you know that Hirai Momo started selling jokbal so she could buy these tickets?”
“First of all, Momo didn’t sell jokbal just so she could buy movie tickets, she did it so she could take you on a date, which is definitely more expensive than just going to watch one movie, and second of all, maybe Momo told me, maybe she didn’t. And lastly, I would tell you everything, but I don’t kiss and tell,” Jihyo winks.
Mina gasps, “Jihyo! Did you kiss her?? WHY?? AND WHY WOULD YOU TELL ME?! OH MY GOD YOU—OH MY GOD.”
Jihyo cowers under Mina’s slaps, “ow ow ow ow okay I didn’t kiss her I DIDN’T KISS HER! I WAS JOKING!”
“Don’t do that to me!”
“Why, were you jealous?” Jihyo smirks, “don’t worry, I know how much you like her, what with your giant crush on her, I wouldn’t kiss Hirai Momo even if I needed to do so to live.”
“That’s a bit..drastic…and hey! I don’t have a crush on…Hirai Momo…” Mina looks at the ticket in her hand and smiles.
“Do you even know how stupid you look right now? Smiling a dumb ticket…” Jihyo shakes her head, “you really need to start being more honest with yourself.”
“You’re just jealous that Momo asked me out while Tzuyu still doesn't know you exist.”
Jihyo is appalled, “I am not jealous. And for your information, Tzuyu picked up my pen during Maths yesterday! And then proceeded to throw it away because it was almost empty and she didn’t know it was mine BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT.”
Mina smiles after looking at the ticket again, noticing a small “for Mina-chan ♡” in the corner, “okay, Jihyo, whatever helps you sleep at night.”
Jihyo retorts, but Mina doesn’t care, she’s got a date with Hirai Momo. 


________________
________________

momo's face is literally :D all the time
when she's not dazed and confused that is
god i love twice so much
especially myoui mina
my small tiny penguin
too perfect, too pure for this world
also v shippable
u go myoui mina