"Why did Minatozaki Sana have to be so fast? Why did she have to be so popular? Tzuyu asked herself these two questions everyday during the first week of school. The two had been thrown into the same class, and Tzuyu was given a chance to study her "competition" before the real event.

JYP All-Girls School was huge, and so were the classrooms inside. The student body was surprisingly large, so the classrooms had to accommodate that. The Taiwanese's assigned seat was near the window, far away from Sana, who was right in front of the classroom door. Perfect for discreetly spying on the target. On Monday, the class was told to introduce themselves to each other.

"I'm Minatozaki Sana," she said while introducing herself, "and I'm actually Japanese. I transferred to a middle school in Korea two years ago! So, sorry if my Korean is a little weird." Tzuyu scanned the room for reactions. Everyone seemed to be enticed by the fact that she was a foreigner. Tzuyu rolled her eyes. Nobody made a big deal over the fact she was Taiwanese, so why was this any different?

It took a while to get to Tzuyu, not because of the amount of students, but some dragged out their introductions. Finally, Ms. Song called out, "Chou Tzuyu?"

Tzuyu stood up slowly, the whole class's eyes on her. She was used to being the center of attention from track. She put on a smile and began introducing herself.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Chou Tzuyu." she began. Unsure of what to say, she decided to mention track. "I'm a track star, and I came in second in middle school division nationals. Actually..."

Time to declare war.

"Sana came in first." Tzuyu looked over at the blonde, who now had a surprised expression. The class looked over at Sana and began clapping, which made the girl smile.

"Thanks, Tzuyu, but I wouldn't have won if you didn't sprain your ankle." Sana responded. "I look forward to being on the track team with you this year! It's basically guaranteed victory!"

"Yeah," Tzuyu replied, wondering if Sana understood the reason she did that. "Well, that's about it for me. Please treat me kindly this year," she sat down. Tzuyu only half-listened to the final introductions, instead looking over at the target. She was whispering to the girl behind her, both giggling. She wondered if Sana was talking about her.

When she recalled the events later to Mina on a park bench, she received a groan in response. "Are you kidding me? Declaring war in front of the entire class?" The brunette shook her head. "Tzuyu, I think you constantly forget that there's no need to declare war in the first place. Technically, you're already better than Sana. She only won because of your ankle, remember? You guys are on the same team this year, for crying out loud."

"And you are forgetting Sana has been training since then. Didn't I tell you she set the new record for the 100m dash?"

"Did you?"

"So, you weren't listening to me. I see."

"Half-listening. It's just that, when all you do is complain about Sana all day, it's easy to get bored."

Tzuyu felt slightly offended. "Really? It's like you don't even care, Mina!"

Mina shrugged. "I don't, honestly. I think it's about time you get over it." she stood up from the wooden bench. "Try to be friends with her, okay? This rivalry is stupid and utterly useless. Sana probably doesn't even see you like you see her."

"That's what she wants me to think!" Tzuyu's eyes widened as if she just made an amazing discovery. "She's luring me into a trap, Mina! I'm not gonna fall for it."

"When did my best friend become so delusional?" she rolled her eyes. "Listen, I gotta go. The city bus is coming in about thirty minutes. Is your mom coming to pick you up?"

"Yeah," Tzuyu lied. "I'll wait here for her. See you, Mina."

Mina didn't reply, only waved as she walked away. Tzuyu waved until she was out of sight. She knew her mother wasn't coming to pick her up, but she didn't want Mina to worry. Tzuyu's relationship with her mother had been rocky for a while, to the point where her mother acts like she doesn't exist at times. After her father passed, her mother picked fights with her all day. It was her way of coping, Tzuyu guessed, but she couldn't deal with it. The littlest things seemed to tick her off these days. She hasn't told Mina yet, and she wasn't sure why. Maybe she didn't want to ruin Mina's image of her mother.

Tzuyu was a bit far from home compared to Mina. It would take her about thirty minutes to get home by car, but since she had to take a train then walk the rest of the way, it took at least an hour and thirty minutes. She walked the short way to the subway, and sat down. The train wouldn't come until 40 minutes from now. She sighed and pulled out her cellphone, reading webcomics to pass the time.

"Tzuyu? Is that you?"

20 minutes into waiting, Tzuyu heard a voice saying her name. She looked to the right and was greeted by the sight of Sana, who had just sat down next to her. "Uh...hey." 

"Hey," Sana greeted back. "You take this train too?"

Tzuyu almost instinctively replied with an, "Obviously." Instead she just smiled lightly and said, "Yeah, I do." Tzuyu had never seen Sana here before. Then again, Tzuyu usually came earlier. Maybe Sana lived close to her. "My mom is too busy to pick me up now," she lied. Her mother was sitting happily at home, she just didn't give two craps how Tzuyu got home or if she even came home at all.

"Really?" Sana asked, and Tzuyu nodded in response. "My parents are always working. The rent on our apartment went up again, so they have to work even harder than usual. It's really annoying..."

"I see," Tzuyu said, unsure of how to respond to that. "Looks like we're in similar situations."

"Yeah." Sana smiled.

There was a moment of silence. The two stared into each other's eyes, Sana still smiling and Tzuyu's expression still. It wasn't until the loud speaker announced a train was coming that she snapped out of her mini-trance. She realized she was staring at Sana, and just how awkward that silence felt.

What the hell was that? Was she really mesmerized by Sana for a few moments? Not knowing what to say, she turned to the large clock sitting on the wall. Only about fifteen more minutes until the train came. The two sat in silence for the remainder of the time. Tzuyu guessed that Sana probably felt it was awkward too.

For the rest of the week, Tzuyu added another question to the list:

Why did Minatozaki Sana have to be so beautiful?

author's note

i feel like this chapter might be a bit too short but i got the point across at least. unfortunately, no track shenanigans this week. hopefully we can get to track tryouts in the next chapter.