The sun was low in the sky by the time Mina got to her dorm. One thing that she would never get used to in Korea was just how early the sun could set in the colder months, but she was reassured by the thought that soon spring would be in full swing and the days would lengthen considerably. She’d welcome the warmth as well, despite warmth always bringing heightened hormones amongst the alpha caste.

Thoroughly exhausted from the last hour of meetings with the entire school’s council representatives, and ravenously hungry from her missed lunch, Mina inelegantly shoveled down the last of her New Year’s tteokguk. Typically for dinner, she ordered food in, rather than spend the time required to cook - that luxury was saved for the weekends. The foreign student meal stipend that came with their tuition and dorm costs really wasn’t enough for much healthy food regardless, not that Mina personally ran into that problem.

Now for the first time, the time crunch became an issue for the girl. Student council duties meant Mina had to be up an hour earlier, and get home an hour later than others in her class, on top of needing time to pack lunches for herself. That was ignoring homework, studying, after-hours practice, and whatever fragments of a social life she had. Suddenly Mina had a newfound respect for all of those times Sana came out with her to dinner, knowing that the older omega not only had the same schedule and circumstances but also was less privileged in terms of family wealth. Mina reminded herself to buy Sana’s meal next time she brought her out to avoid the discomfort of eating alone.

Thinking of Sana also brought to mind that Mina owed her lunch, as well. With that appreciation of her friend at the forefront of Mina’s thoughts, she set about cooking, determined to show her gratitude through sheer service. And then, tomorrow, she’d ask how on earth Sana had managed to do this all that time.

The next day dawned a degree too bright and early for Mina’s liking, yet her groggy steps were lifted considerably at the sight of Sana with an extra cup of coffee at the Academy’s gates. The pair beamed widely, each recognizing with delight at the other’s extra offering. Mina delicately stacked the two prepared dosirak on top of each other, taking the presented caffeine eagerly. Sana, in turn, took the extra lunchbox, giggling delightfully.

“I didn’t think you would actually do it, I was prepared to run to the cafeteria to buy my lunch and everything.” The older girl peeked inside, a look of delight spreading across her face. “Ah, kimbap. You’re too good to me, Mitang. Marry me?”

“You wish,” Mina scoffed, blushing slightly. “You wouldn’t shut up about it to Momo yesterday, so it was an obvious choice. Take this as a very platonic declaration of my gratitude. For yesterday, and in general.”

Mina turned elegantly, striding off to the front doors, eager to drop off their lunches and books before returning to the gate where they would greet students and inspect their IDs and uniforms. Sana followed, hopping close behind Mina’s heels. “Oh, what did I do to win your admiration?”

“Just.., I don’t know how you do all of this every day and still manage to be such a peppy and attentive friend.” The younger girl glanced at Sana, shaking her head in mild disbelief. “I barely did anything outside of regular school duties and still was exhausted most of the time.”

“Wanna know my secret, then?” Sana’s grin was too infectious for Mina to deny, nodding her acquiescence. “Four shots of espresso. Twice a day.”

Mina’s shocked and perturbed expression only served to entertain her companion. “Your heart will give out!”

“Ah, but it will only give out of love for you.” Sana swayed dramatically as she made the cheesy declaration. The younger omega was far from entertained.

“Yeah, you and Momo definitely aren’t allowed to hang out anymore.”

The pair met up with Jihyo soon afterward, taking their formal positions to the right of the Academy gates, alongside the Senior class council. They greeted each other politely, Jihyo chatting amicably with their treasurer, Kim Jisoo, while Mina found herself being congratulated for her nomination to the position by the vice president, Kang Seulgi. Before long, they returned to stoic silence as the first of the class students started to arrive.

Though the Academy small enough, the initial trickle of students turned into a larger, intimidating wave as most of the students arrived in the area by train. Under normal circumstances, Mina could recognize her classmates instantly, but she found herself overwhelmed as the Juniors poured into line. She remembered Sejeong first, her uniform impeccably clean and to school standard, then Sorn, whose makeup was the barest bit too apparent, but not significant enough to warrant more than a light warning, and then from there, things became a blur of regulations. Despite all the rules they had to adhere to, there were very rarely any cases that required more than reminders or gentle chiding. That day was no different.

Then the crowd began to thin into a sparse trickle of latecomers. Soon the courtyard was empty, save the members of the student councils still waiting on students - which was evidently only the Junior Council, and the Senior council who were responsible for the Freshmen as well. After an additional five minutes, the remaining Freshmen turned up, receiving warnings for tardiness. Still, Sana, Jihyo, and Mina waited.

Mina tried to think hard about who she hadn’t seen in the rush of students, and was about to ask who they were waiting for when her answer arrived in the form of a moderately disheveled Hirai Momo. Against regulation, Mina stepped out of line.

“Momo! What on earth -”

“My -” Momo bent over, hands on her knees, “- toaster -” she wheezed a breath in, “- caught -” Mina stopped in front of Momo, “- fire!” The new student finished, coughing loudly.

To say Mina was astonished was putting it lightly. She was shocked silent, prompting Sana to instead speak up. “What?”

“HOW?” Mina finally exclaimed.

“That’s no excuse for tardiness.” Jihyo declared, trying her best not to smile.

“I... - It’s a long story.” Momo offered, still visibly panting. “I’m sorry.”

“Unfortunately I have to be strict here. Detention after school today.” Jihyo shook her head regretfully. “I have to get to class and notify Hani and Gangsa Miyoung. Sana, you take the detention report to the office. Mina…” Jihyo stared pointedly at Momo’s sweat and ash-covered face, and her messy uniform. “Try your best to fix that… catastrophe, please. I’ll buy you half an hour.”

On closer inspection, it proved a fruitless effort to try to ‘fix’ Momo’s uniform at all. According to the older girl, running the rice cooker, toaster, and a hair dryer all at once had caused a brief electrical surge that had ignited the cooking bread, and then tripped off all of the electricity in her room altogether. In her rush to put out the burning food without following her initial instinct to, quote, “toss the whole damn thing in with the dishes”, and potentially kill herself in the process, Momo instead opted to pull out the very ruined toast with her bare hands, burning her fingertips in the process and briefly setting fire to her tie - which she did dump into the sink.

The result was a soggy and burnt tie, a shirt covered with soot and wrinkled oddly, and a girl who hadn’t the time or power to finish doing her hair. Mina was remarkably nonplussed by the story, though with their short time frame to fix Momo up, she was left a little lost. The tie had to be trashed, clearly, but the shirt couldn’t stay how it was, and Mina’s spare turned out to be a fair bit too small for Momo to appropriately button.

So Mina resolved to help Momo clean her face up and make her hair passable first, hoping