Rose

"Mina how do I look today?" Nayeon pathed her way to me before class had begun, flashing her proportions. She was wearing a white floral skirt and had her hair tied up in a ponytail. Her bangs aside, she had the 'girl-next-door' sort of feel going on with her outfit, and her bright and fresh smile solidified that title of hers.

"You look sweet, and beautiful." I admitted, before adding a little bit of punch into my words, "Compared to all the other times I have seen you, you look the best today," I wasn't fawning Nayeon in any way, she really looked beautiful today, and she knows I mean my words.

Nayeon's face lit up and her face revealed a dumb yet adorable smile. She hopped back to her seat gleefully as her ponytail dances throughout the way back.

After Nayeon's abrupt intermission, I brought my face down  and carried on reading the book that was in my hands. I was early for class. (as usual)

Chapter 16 - Tengo had finished rewriting Fuka-Eri's novella, 'Air Chrysalis',  with much greater passion than he had put in all of his other works. He too, is perplexed by why that is so. When he had finished rewriting the novella, it was published under Fuka-Eri's name, and not surprisingly, it wins a prize and a press conference was to be held. Tengo takes on the role of Fuka-Eri's manager and prepares her for the press conference. The beauty of this story is greater emphasised through the in-depth analysis of each characters and also the mysteriousness that eludes from each character. Fuka-Eri was completely uninterested in her novella winning at all.

There was still five minutes left till the start of class. 

Preoccupied with reading, I hadn't noticed whoever has entered the class since. I scanned around the classroom and surprisingly, more than half the class were present. Mr Yung, our cheeky Taxation teacher was present as well. Mr Yung's classes were fun and interactive. His classes were entertaining to the extent that even Momo skimps on naps during his class. 

"What are you reading there?" Mr Yung, who noticed my gaze befall on him inquired.

I folded the corner of the current page and closed the book. "Just a dystopian novel, it's titled 1Q84. Ever heard of it?" I challenged Mr Yung with a smirk. Mr Yung was a knowledgeable and wise teacher. He was a reader as well, a slight observation of mine. During lunch breaks, he would be off in a corner of the canteen, hung up by a book, isolated from the rowdy and hungry students.

"1Q84 hmmm..." He thought for a second, "Is that by a Japanese author? Mura something Hami? Murakami!" He snapped his fingers as he correctly answered the name of the author. He then continued, "I haven't read any books by Murakami yet but I'm planning to after I'm done with John Green's series."

"Not bad," I smiled, impressed with Mr Yung's extensive knowledge. I folded the top corner of the page and closed the book. 

Shortly after, the door creaked open and the remaining students of Class '05 could be seen.

"Holy we're all early for once!" Jeongyeon shouted boisterously as she shut the door behind her. The digital clock on the top of the class read '8:59 A.M.'.

My eyes locked with that of Sana's. Her glistening eyes that seemed to convey a little 'Hey', met with my eyes of admiration and fondness. Her lips lifted upwards, and all sort of darkness in the room was eliminated. I smiled back at Sana. I'm really in love with her am I not?

Tracing her movements towards my direction, I snapped out of whatever universe I was stuck in and stuttered, "H-Hey!" My awkward right hand was up in the air, supposedly a wave, but it didn't look like one.

Sana waved back enthusiastically, and started rapping(?) as she settled down onto a sit infront of me., "Yo Yo what's sup my Myoui? You look fine today so let me hit you up with a dime!" Why do I like her again? I questioned myself as I responded with a crooked smile.

The shorter brunette standing behind Sana, whom I only noticed was standing there moments later, threw me an impish lenny face smile. She had a finger up, gesturing a 'one' sign, as she settled down beside Sana. Needless to say, I understood what that gesture had meant. Momo has been counting the number of times I've been staring at Sana daily ever since.

Damn you Momo. I muttered to myself as the brunette turned to face the front as Mr Yung had begun his lesson.

"Okay today's lesson is going to be more on the tough and dry side, so I want you all to be extremely attentive," Mr Yung started off, earning nods from the class. I could faintly hear Jeongyeon whispering 'That's what she said' in front of me.

"Dang he wasn't kidding when he said the lesson's going to dry," Chaeyoung complaint as we walked out of class. 

"I guess you could say this taxation lesson was ... TAXING!!" Jeongyeon erupted into a volcano of laughters, complemented by Chaeyoung's endless streams of giggles. It was yet another typical sight of Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung laughing their assess off to jokes that aren't even that funny. 

"Arrrgghhhh I really hate lessons where it's all hard theory!" Nayeon growled, bringing all our attention away from the No-Jam duo's lame joke.

"Well at least we had Mr Yung teaching it instead of boring Mr Paul," Tzuyu pointed out the lesson's one saving grace. The rest of us couldn't agree more.

We had a 3 hour break ahead of us before our next class and like all our other lunch breaks, we concurred on having lunch at the East Block rooftop. I honestly doubt we'll ever have lunch at any other locations in our school life here.

Bringing the container up to , Momo gulped away, filling her stomach up with soybean stew. "That was really delicious," Momo held up a thumbs up as she burped, grossing the rest of us out with the exception of Jeongyeon, who was provoked into burping herself.

We still had 2 hours before our next class, and we were bored stiff.

"Y'all wanna play a game?" Chaeyoung cheekily suggested, gathering our attention. Seeing that she has all of our eyes on her, the dwarf continued. 

"The title of this game is Burning Bridges," she paused, before carrying on, "And like what it's name suggests, it is a game which aims to burns bridges, bridges that bond two people together, bridges known as friendship." A faint 'eh?' could be heard from a wild confused Japanese by the side. The rest of us didn't seem to quite get what Chaeyoung was saying either.

"It's kinda like Truth or Dare, but a little bit more complicated," Dahyun added onto Chaeyoung's unfinished description of the game. "Basically, each one of us will ask an undisclosed question to the person sitting beside us, and then the person being asked the question will have to choose her answer from the other seven of us."

Dahyun lapsed her explanation to give us a bit of thinking space, before further puzzling us, "When the person has chosed her answer, she would have to play 'rock-paper-scissors' with her answer, which is to say, one of the remaining players. If she loses, she would have to disclose the question that was posed to her."

"And what happens when she wins?" Jeongyeon, who seemed to have caught on quick interrupted Dahyun's explanation. 

"If she wins, the game carries to the next person, and the previous question will forever be unknown." Chaeyoung retorted.

"So where's the part where bridges are burned?" Nayeon asked inquisitively, her question cooking up more confusion in Momo's already perplexed mind.

Chaeyoung thought for a bit, before coming up with an easily understandable example. Pointing her fingers, she explained, "Let's say, Dahyun asks Tzuyu this question, 'Who do you think is the ugliest amongst the nine of us?', and she had chosen Mina" Her fingers now pointing at me. "If Tzuyu loses the 'rock-paper-scissors', she would then have to disclose the question and Mina would consequently know that Tzuyu thinks she's the ugliest amongst the nine of us." 

Nayeon nodding her head throughout Chaeyoung's entire explanation, mouthed an 'oohh' at the end of it. The corner of her lips folded into a smug smile as she brought up a 'v' sign to gesture a thinking pose.

A few minuscule questions formed in my head regarding the game rules, but after Chaeyoung's quick example, I think I've got the gist of it. Momo still looking confused, turned her head to Sana, her equally confused Japanese buddy, only to get more confused themselves. 

"Mina do you understand the game?" Sana extended her head out, her puppy eyes glistening brighter than usual. The mere sound of her honeyed voice sent pleasurable shivers through me. Hoping my cheeks would stop burning, I stuttered, "U-uh.. More or less."

"Earlier you said we could only choose between the other seven players, I'm assuming you're saying we can't pick the person who asked us the question as our answer?" Jihyo queried, snapping me back into reality.

"That's right. You are not allowed to pick the person who asks you the question as your answer." Chaeyoung clarified.

Potential questions that could be asked later in the game started forming in our heads as Chaeyoung continued to explain the rules of the game. After everyone had understood how to play the game, Chaeyoung and Dahyun spent another additional five minutes to explain to Momo how to play the game, in simpler terms. Momo still looked stumped after their explanation.

And so it began, the 'harmless' game that would ever so slightly change our school life.

DISCLAIMER: There are further and clearer explanation on how Burning Bridges work in the Foreword.

Chaeyoung --> Dahyun

Chaeyoung leaned in towards Dahyun and whispered something unperceivable into her ears. After that, Dahyun thought for a second there before extending her hand out, pointing towards Sana's direction.

"Sana, I choose you!" Dahyun said with a smile, as she readied her hands for a rock-paper-scissors game.

"Me?" Sana hovers her hand around her chest in question until Dahyun nodded in response. 

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!" 

Sana won. 

Dahyun looking a little bitter that she had lost the game, started to talk, "The question Chaeyoung asked me was, 'Who do you think is the cutest here?'"

Loud cheerings and roarings could be heard from Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon. Sana blushed. It was one of the very few times I have seen Sana turning red or getting embarrassed, apart from that one time she accidentally screamed in Japanese during Law class when Jeongyeon threw a fake cockroach onto her table.

In a rush to change the topic, Dahyun screamed, "Okay NEXT"

Dahyun --> Tzuyu

Instead of moving closer towards Tzuyu, Dahyun took out her phone and started typing away. Moments later, she brought her phone towards Tzuyu and made the Chinese girl read whatever was on her phone. "You don't have to whisper the question to the other person, I have a natural loud voice so I'm writing my question down on Notepad instead" Dahyun explained her actions with a smile.

Tzuyu, with a baffled expression, leaned in towards Dahyun with Dahyun's phone in her hand and asked faintly, "what does this word mean?"

Shortly after Dahyun's quick vocabulary lesson, Tzuyu threw out her finger towards my direction.

"Mina, please" Tzuyu said calmly and confidently.

My eyes widened and my intense desire to find out Dahyun's question multiplied. I readied my hands out for the hand game.

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!"

The taller individual amongst us two won. Dang

"Sadly enough, we all won't be able to hear my question," Dahyun announced. A huge part of me had wanted to find out whatever Dahyun's question was and also why Tzuyu chose me as her answer. 

Tzuyu --> Nayeon

Tzuyu was the third person to ask her question. Nayeon was sitting on her right. The taller brunette bent down towards Nayeon's bunny ears and whispered her question a little too loudly.

"Tzuyu that's such a lame question!" Dahyun, who overheard the question smacked Tzuyu's shoulder and told her to change her question.

Tzuyu then asked Nayeon another question, this time over her phone instead of whispering it to Nayeon. Staring at Tzuyu's phone, Nayeon spent the longest time amongst the other two people who had been questioned earlier, before finally pointing at Jeongyeon.

"Yah you better choose paper! I'm choosing Scissors." Nayeon declared, hustling a "You can't do that!" the two of the youngest, Tzuyu and Chaeyoung. Nayeon stuck her tongue out, flaunting her rebellious act.

"For reals though, Jeongyeon, you have to let me win this. Pick paper." Nayeon pleaded Jeongyeon again. Jeongyeon had a huge question mark drawn on her forehead, but she seemed to have understood where Nayeon was coming from, and had more or less guessed Tzuyu's questioned.

Nayeon's act of mutiny caught my attention. What could possibly be so embarassing a question that she's asking for Jeongyeon to lose to her on purpose.

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!"

As agreed, Jeongyeon flashed out a paper, and Nayeon, a scissors. Nayeon heaved a sigh of relief as she prepares her question.

As Nayeon was passing her question over to Jeongyeon, I was pre-occupied with crafting questions of my own. To my right, was model student Park Jihyo. What do I want to know from Jihyo? I slowly drifted into a land of deep thinking, and the other member's voices got softer and softer, till the point were I couldn't hear them anymore.

Sana --> Momo

"EARTH TO MINA! EARTH TO MINA!" Momo shook me violently. 

"Oh, is it my turn to ask questions yet?" I replied, oblivious.

"No you dumbie, were you not paying attention at all? It's Sana's turn to ask her question and Momo chose you as her answer." Nayeon spelled out, picking her fingers. 

As much as I could remember, Jeongyeon chose Chaeyoung as her answer and she won. Then, Tzuyu was Sana's answer to Jeongyeon's question and too, Sana won. Therefore, none of the questions asked were disclosed. It was Sana's turn to ask questions now and Momo has chosen me for her answer.

"Oh uh... So er..." I shakily brought up my hand, ready for a rock-paper-scissors game with Momo.

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!"

In front of me was a clenched fist, and also a 'paper'. The latter belonged to Momo. 

"Don't worry the question wasn't anything bad," Sana reassured me as she smiled from ear to ear.

"Tsk, nobody has won for the past few rounds it's so boring to watch from the sides," Nayeon whined. 

Momo --> Mina

Approaching me with a smug smile, Momo told me to turn my head to face the front. The brunette situated a tad bit over my ear. I could feel her warm breath around my ear. Her warm breath carried a sort of sensual and affectionate feeling, at least until the smell of jokbal followed shortly after.

Momo whispered softly,

"Who would you want to date the most here?"

She pulled her face back shortly after and spectacled her smug smile again, only this time round, I had a better understanding on why she's pulling that expression.

Wow.. I mouthed out silently. I knew exactly what she was driving at. Damn you Herai Momo! I cussed in my head. 

Who would you want to date the most here?

The answer was pretty obvious, to me and Momo at least. But a simple question like this started to stir up tornadoes inside my mind. I couldn't possibly choose Sana as my answer could I? Should I just fake my answer as Jihyo? The rest would certainly buy it. I contemplated falsifying my answer just so that if I had lost, it wouldn't be as embarrassing. But... Is that what I really want? Seconds felt like years, my mind was thrown into turmoil, frozen, and blank altogether. Damn you Momo... I muttered once again as I forced my eyes shut and let my body take over.

Before I had noticed it, my hand was already up there, extended. It was pointing towards Minatozaki Sana. The girl I had wanted to date the most here was Minatozaki Sana. 

It's not over yet, I just have to win this. If I win this, I wouldn't have to disclose the question, and Sana wouldn't know that she's the one I wanted to date the most here. 

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!" 

I lost, again. 

Sana stared at me with eyes of anticipation, leaning slightly forward. 

Okay Mina, just play it cool, disclose the question casually and move on, it'll all be fine. I convinced myself. My eyes strayed away from Sana as I articulated Momo's question to the best of my abilities without stuttering, "T-the question was, 'who would you want to date the most here'."

"OOOOOHHHHHHH" Chaeyoung clapped away gleefully. 

Sana, whom now had a bewildered expression, slowly withdrew back into her original sitting position.

I looked beside me and I was greeted with the exact same smug smile that had caused all of this. Damn you Herai Momo

Mina --> Jihyo

Moving on, it was my turn to ask Jihyo a question. Holding the softness and quietness of my voice in high regard, I whispered my question to Jihyo instead of typing it out somewhere.

"Who here would you want as your sister the most?" I said softly.

Jihyo was the only child in her family (Yes, I know Jihyo has 2 younger sisters IRL). Besides, Jihyo seemed like a pretty good older sister. If anything, I had wanted Jihyo to be my older sister. Jihyo was caring and warmhearted. There had never been an instance where Jihyo had forsaken any of us for her self-indulgence. Jihyo was someone, who placed her friends over herself. She cares more about us than her own actual self.

"Hmm..." Jihyo thought for a bit, "Honestly speaking, I would pick you as my answer," she said while her eyes were on me.

"Me?" I directed my thumb towards my chest as my eyes widened. I felt honored, to have someone like Jihyo tell me that she would want me as her sister the most.

"Yeah you," Jihyo reassured me. "But because the rules state that I can't pick the person who asked me the question as my answer, my answer's going to be Tzuyu." She announced confidently, with a smile. 

The wine-haired girl readied her hands for a Rock-Paper-Scissors game with Tzuyu.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

Jihyo won, generating a cute puppy pout from Tzuyu.

Jihyo --> Chaeyoung

Jihyo whispered something into Chaeyoung's ears.

"WOW this is a really tough question," the smallest girl in the circle screamed. "I DON'T KNOW WHO TO CHOOSE ARGADGASDKGA I HATE YOU JIHYO WHY WOULD YOU ASK THIS!?"

Jihyo could only reply with a smirk, which of course, garnered alot of our attention. "Hoho it looks like a bridge is about to be burned!" Dahyun exclaimed, blind to what's about to happen.

After what seemed like 2 years of Chaeyoung strategizing and weighing the consequences of her decisions in her head, she finally made her choice.

"Sorry Dahyun!" Chaeyoung said quickly as her tiny hand rose up in the direction of Tzuyu. 

"Why're you apologizing to me? You're pointing at Tzuyu!" Dahyun chuckled, as she watched Chaeyoung and Tzuyu both raise up their hands for the game.

"Rock, Papers, Scissors!"

"NOOOOOOOO!!" Chaeyoung screamed in agony. She lost to Tzuyu.

"The question was... " Chaeyoung muttered softly, "Who's a better friend? Dahyun or Tzuyu"

Chaeyoung's disclosing of the question amassed a diversity of response. 

"Ouch," Nayeon babbled.

Dahyun, who was sitting right beside her forced out the fakest of laughters. We've all seen Dahyun smiling and laughing despite her not being truly happy, but her yucking away this time was painful to watch, or so I thought.

"I'm okay." Dahyun began after all our eyes were on her. "I'm fine with it really, all that means is that Chaeyoung will get one less meatball from my lunchbox starting tomorrow," she continued jokingly, striking a "NOO ANYTHING BUT THE MEATBALLS!" from Chaeyoung.

"Can I get Chaeyoung's extra meatball then?" Momo requested amidst the mess that was going on, causing Sana and Jeongyeon to laugh their asses off.

Jihyo, the perpetrator behind Chaeyoung's current grimace, was smirking throughout.

And Tzuyu, well, Chou Tzuyu grinned throughout the entire session.

It didn't take long for Dahyun to forget about whatever had just happened. Dahyun was forgiving, selfless and understanding, something I wasn't. In matters of minutes, Dahyun had already forgave Chaeyoung for choosing Tzuyu over Dahyun as her closer friend. In fact, maybe Chaeyoung had chose Tzuyu, knowing that Dahyun would be much more forgiving and understanding.

We continued playing Burning Bridges for a few more rounds, shuffling seats, going in opposite directions. The questions that were asked weren't as interesting as the questions asked during the first round of Burning Bridges, but instead, the questions were much safer and milder. Questions that didn't hurt anyones feelings were asked.

I whipped out my phone and checked the time, "1:47 P.M."

"It's about time for class," I pointed out.

The others, each checking their phones, nodded in response and we started to pack up and got ready to leave.

"Noooo the next class is law again! I really really really dislike law classes!" Sana whined out adorably. Amongst words you can string and combine together, the words Sana and Law are akin to oil and water. They don't mix well with one another.

For the first few weeks of school, Sana and Jeongyeon hadn't been paying attention to Mr Paul at all, they were always playing games at the back of the classroom. Needless to say, Mr Paul eventually found out about their misbehavior in class but funny enough, only Sana was caught and the shorter-haired girl got away freely. Sana wasn't punished or anything for that, but what she had received from Mr Paul was something much worse, some would even call it a curse. Mr Paul has been making Sana the 'queen' of law class, always picking her out to answer questions, bringing up her name whenever unnecessary.

"Isn't that right Minatozaki-chan?" an iconic one-liner that he would often blurt out after his sentences with his disgusting aegyo voice, making Sana shy her face away, and also making the entire class laugh their asses off.

The brunette whom I was oblivious to standing beside Sana, gestured a 'one' followed by a 'two' with her fingers behind Sana's back. A sly smile followed right after. 

That day, we left the rooftop thinking. Boundaries that aren't suppose to be crossed, bridges that were bound to be burned, questions that needed answers. We may have just started playing the devil's game.

"There are four ways agencies can be created, either by actual authority, ostensible authority, ratification, or agency of necessity," he read with a stale voice.

"This lesson is sooo boring," Momo yawned as she chucked a chip into . Snacks were allowed in class, as long as we didn't make a mess and cleaned up after ourselves.

"First off, the agency by actual authority, it can be expressed or implied on what an agent may or may not do.... Isn't that right Minatozaki-chan?" He sneered. Nobody laughed , not even Chaeyoung.

To be honest, whatever Mr Paul was doing was starting to get old. It wasn't even funny anymore. It started off as a joke (probably), but it has been almost a month now and he's still bent on ticking Sana off. What the heck is his problem? Sana hasn't been playing games in law class and had been attentive in class ever since, but that didn't seem to appease that jerk.

*slides*

A post-it note slid across the table, right under my arm and stopped right infront of me. It read, 'You hate him too right? Are you just going to let him bully Sana like this?'

I looked over to the direction in which the post-it note was passed from and I was greeted with a face of conviction. Momo was serious.

I flipped over the post-it note and began penning away. 'What do you suggest we do then? He's a teacher, and he isn't really punishing Sana, we can't report this at all.'

I slid the note back, and shortly after, another pink post-it arrived.

'We'll give him 'good' our own ways. I've already told Jeongyeon and she's agreed to it.'

'This doesn't sound good at all, what's the plan?'

'... I don't know yet, but we've Jeongyeon, surely she has a plan or two'

'Questionable, but i'm in.' I slid the third post-it note back, this time my eyes meeting with Momo's. We exchanged light smiles to acknowledge our little alliance.

An air-conditioned enclosed building in the campus. Surrounded by shelves, layered full of correlated books, spines facing outwards. Resting my head on top of the mahagony table, I groaned. In this muted space, I felt comfortable and at ease in my bomber jacket. 

"7:43 A.M."

I slapped my phone on the table and groaned again, this time much louder. I stared at the sign which read 'Please Keep Quiet' and I snickered. It didn't matter how loud I screamed in the library, at least not at this ominous timing, because, who the heck comes to the school library this early in the morning?

8AM classes were cancelled but I had only received the memo for it this morning while I was already on the bus (aka too late). My school mail bugged out and the e-mail, which I was supposed to receive last Friday, only came in this morning. I picked up my phone.

You: (7:46): I'm in the school library, just thought I would let you guys know. 

You: (7:46): A right turn after walking out of Level 3.

The others probably haven't even woke up yet, but I figured I might as well tell them where I was so I wouldn't have to do so later. 

*buzz*

Jihyo: (7:49): You're in school already? Classes don't start until 10 today, Mina.

Mina: (7:49): Yeah, I only just found out this morning :( 

Jihyo: (7:50): I'm coming to school at 9, but I have to meet up with my mom to help her with some stuff.

"aarrgGHGHaaaAAAAAAAA" I put aside my phone and groaned out again, unaware of the lengthy spectacled library assistant that was packing books at the corner of the room. She stared at me like I was some sort of exotic creature. I dug my heads into my arms as quickly as possible as I cursed softly. What the Myoui Mina.

"8:23 A.M."

A little later now, there were people other than me and the library assistants in the library. The library still looked pretty lonely, but at least it wasn't devoid of homo sapiens. I scanned my vicinity to check for familiar faces, but there were none. Everyone either had their faces ed onto the tables, or had their faces glued onto computer screens. I was the only 'odd' one out, reading an actual physical book in the library. The irony

Chapter 19 -  Aomame noticed that there were two moons in the sky, instead of one. She remembers clearly that in her world, there had only been a single moon. The other moon in the sky, wasn't the moon she had grown up with. It was a smaller, greenish moon that was hung up on the sky, serving it's purpose as an indicator, an indicator to Aomame that she wasn't in her original world. Everyone else in the world that Aomame was currently in didn't think or feel anything was strange regarding the two moons, they had lived with two moons their entire life. Aomame takes on her next job, one in which concerned a-

"uuRGGHHHH" A familiar grumble could be heard walking venturing towards my direction and *thud*, a body collapsed onto me.

"What the-? " My mouth busted open and the same library assistant eagled me out again from the corner of the library. I distinguished that voice almost instantaneously. As her chest avalanched on my back, her tingling hands sliding in from both sides of my body simultaneously, meeting each other and overlapped, culminating into a back hug. I blushed.

Her hug loosened, and the face of the culprit behind what had just happened pomped out from the sidelines. It was Momo.

"Why're you here in school so early?" I questioned, repositioning myself from the uncomfortable sitting position that I had been put into.

"I kinda sorta didn't see the email..."  She settled down onto the seat opposite of me. She then teased, "Why're you here in school this early then, Princess-chan?" 

I cramped my face upon hearing that nickname. 'Princess-chan', a nickname that Jeongyeon had given me when she had found out that I have never tried street food even once in my entire life. I didn't particularly dislike the notion behind that nickname but it just comes off as haughty and snobbish to others.

"I didn't receive the email from school," I asserted, bringing my head back down to the table as I attempted to continue reading.

"How long have you even been reading that book? You've had that book since the first day we've met you." Momo judged, as she tried to read the epilogue of 1Q84. 

I rolled my eyes at her comment and kept my head down still, tracing the sentences to return to where I had left off.

"How are you and Sana?" The brunette inquisited, bringing my reading to a halt. She had definitely caught my attention with this one. If there was one thing that I had learnt in high school, it was that it is physically impossible, I repeat, physically impossible to read a book without getting distracted or thrown off by someone as boisterous as Momo.

"W-what do you mean... We're g-good friends.." I stuttered, cracking my fingers. Momo, who obviously caught my shaky voice and how on edge I was, smirked and before she could continue to tease me, I cut her off.

"S-so how's the plan going?" I regained tenacity in my voice. She had a question mark on her face, forcing me to clarify myself, "You know, the one about getting revenge on Mr Paul."

"Oh, that one!" gaped open as she pulled out a bag of chips from her bag. Does she always bring snacks to school. "Don't worry, Jeongyeon has that figured out. She's going to give Mr Paul ."

"Literally?" I questioned just in case. Knowing Jeongyeon, she might very well be capable of giving Mr Paul literally.

This one time Jeongyeon gathered the rest of us to pull a prank on Chaeyoung, we pretended Chaeyoung was invisible for the entire day, until she eventually cried. It was funny initially, seeing Chaeyoung go around screaming in our faces. The poor baby actually believed she was invisible and was excited about her 'new-found superpowers'. That thrill didn't last long however, because she had nobody to talk to and she started to cry, knowing that her 'superpowers' may have possibly just costed her friends. Jihyo felt sorry and was the first to pull out of the prank. Chaeyoung ignored Dahyun and Tzuyu for the rest of the day and made Jihyo her best friend instead for that day. It was comical.

"Figuratively." She replied with a chip in , as I heaved a sigh of relief.

I folded the top corner of the page I was reading and shut the book. There was no way I would have been able to fully enjoy reading. Glancing around the library, I spotted a relevant sign whom which I brought Momo's attention to. The sign read 'No food or drinks allowed'.

Popping another chip into , she on her fingers. "It's fine, rules are made to be broken. Besides, I know a few of the library assistants here so I doubt I'll get into trouble," she remarked as she waved towards the library assistant who was present during my groanings earlier. The library assistant waved back at Momo and shot me a little smile.

"Her name's Minkyung. She's a year older than us. You know her?" Momo, who noticed her little gesture, turned her head.

"It's... complicated." I brushed off her question as I further inspected Minkyung. I hadn't been able to get a good look at her yet because on both occasions of me meeting her eyes, things were happening. Minkyung was a tall and slender lady, she had a sophisticated face and looked really mature for her age. Her eyes were beautiful, and alluring, eyes that one would fall for almost instantly. Her long red hair looked gorgeous, and she eluded a sort of mysterious aura around her. I smiled shyly back at her.

"She's really beautiful isn't she?" Momo commented, tossing another chip into , extending the bag of chips right in front of me.

"Mhm," I nodded lightly in response as I shook my hands agilely, turning down her offer. I wasn't particularly hungry, and more importantly, I didn't want to break the rules.

"I've always wondered why we talk in Korean instead of Japanese whenever we're alone together," Momo pointed out, cooking up questions in my head.

"Thats.... a good question, especially since it's coming from you," I taunted the other Japanese sitting across, earning a 'wow, that was uncalled for' reaction. However, I didn't actually know the answers to her questions. She's right. Why do we talk in Korean instead of Japanese? I spent the next few seconds to contemplate the given question, but was unable to arrive at a conclusion.

Giving up, I inquisited, "So? What are you planning to do here for the next hour?"

"I don't know, I'll probably just sleep here till class is about to start. Wake me up when you're about to leave," the brunette crumped up her bag of chips and stuffed it inside her bag, before lying her face flat on the table.

Within matters of seconds, it became impossible to get a response from the Japanese girl.

"... You're asleep already?" I was astonished. She fell asleep in an instant. "Aight I'm going to draw on your face right now," I attempted to lure the brunette whom I thought was bluffing awake. 

"..." There was no response.

She's really sleeping LOL why that was quick

Impressed by how fast Momo could fall asleep, I spent the next few minutes looking at Momo, something I've never done before because of how often my attention gets poached away by the third Japanese in our clique.

With her head tucked into her arms, her hair messily fanned out all over her arm and her back, she looked anything but ugly. In fact, Momo looked like a piece of art, one in which, was visually pleasing and aesthetic. Momo's beauty was undervalued by many other, perhaps because she was so disarmingly unaware of her own prettiness. Her facial combination of shapes and colors were simple, yet angelic. Deep in her sleep, Momo revealed a warm smile, one in which made those around her relax and smile as well. Before I knew it, I found myself leaning forward, admiring her bloom from a closer point.

She looks surprisingly... beautiful.

From the corners of my eyes, I caught Minkyung stealing a glance, and I took that as a sign that I had been staring far too long at Momo, and also a cue for me to stop. 

Before my eyes had left Momo's body, I noticed that the petite figure infront of me was shivering a little. It's probably too cold, a cold that was unbearable even for someone as warm-hearted as Momo. She had on a pink sleeveless crop top, her arms exposed to the chilly air-conditioned building. 

I removed my khaki jacket and laid it on top of Momo, ensuring that it covers most of her body. I was physically cold as well, but Momo seemed like she needed it more. Taking another peek at the brunette in front of me, I leaked a warm smile before I took out 1Q84 and carried on from where I had left off.

[ Author's Note ]

This was the first chapter with Burning Bridges introduced into the fic, how is it for y'all? Do you all understand the game? Is it confusing or rather, do you guys think it's exciting? Leave some suggestions on questions that can be asked in BB. I am planning on writing from Sana and Jeongyeon's POV as well but that'll have to wait till later in the fic, where it's more necessary. I'll try my hardest to be consistent in maintaining the character's personality and preferences.

Note:I'm much better at writing from Mina's POV than from Momo's POV so Mina's chapters are going to be alot more bearable and pleasant looking than Momo's chapters.

Sorry for not having updated in time last week, I was kinda sorta busy with school work (not really), the following updates will probably not be according to schedule as well since school work is piling up. 

Last but not least, thank you for making it this far into the fic, sorry for boring y'all with long and nosy chapters. I truly had fun writing this fic and I'll work even harder for the chapters to come. Once I'm done with the entire story, I'll go back to Chapter 1 and will edit the entire fic from scratch to make things more fluent and consistent. Thank you all :)