Chapter 4

 “Kkura Unnie!” Yena whined in the most annoying way she could, but Sakura remained focussed on her chess match with Hyewon.

“Shh,” Minju whispered. Her brow furrowed as she tried to keep up with the speed game that the two older girls were playing. She’d never thought of games like these as fun before but after getting taught by Hyewon and Yena, she was finding herself getting as addicted as they were.

Yena ignored the beginner player and whined again. “It’s our day off. Let’s do something.”

“We are doing something,” Sakura said patiently as she deftly moved her piece forward to press her attack against Hyewon’s defense.

“Why don’t you go find Yuri and do something with her?” Minju suggested.

Yena rolled her eyes. Getting Yuri to do something other than sleep on her day off was even harder than getting Sakura to leave the house. “Let’s go out. I heard there’s a festival in town. We can visit the different stalls and watch the street artists.”

“Meh,” Hyewon said, making a face at the same time as Sakura. None of those things sounded interesting.

“And there’ll be food vendors from all over country. We can try all kinds of new food,” Yena said, switching tactics, trying to get Hyewon on her side first. “There might even be foreign food like from Japan.”

“Sakura, let’s go,” Hyewon said, putting down her piece immediately. She went around the table to where Sakura sat and hugged the girl from the back. “I want to eat something different.”

Whenever Hyewon wanted anything, she would get very clingy and usually Sakura didn’t have the heart to deny the younger girl anything. However, this time she remained steadfast in her decision to stay home. “You guys can go. I’ll just take a nap after you guys leave.”

“If we go to the city, we can go to ‘there.’ There’ll be a lot of people and maybe new games.” Hyewon knew what would motivate Sakura the most.

“No, absolutely not.” Yena knew what would motivate Sakura as well, but she didn’t want to play that card since Minju was with them. While Yena was hardly the most responsible girl among the older students, that didn’t mean she felt zero responsibility. “Our Minju is too young. That place is way too seedy for her.”

Sakura had also dropped her chess pieces at the mentioning of her favorite place. “We can just ditch her and go there ourselves.”

“Unnie!” Minju was shocked at suddenly being excluded and by Sakura of all people. Sakura always included her in everything they did. “What place are you guys talking about?”

“They’re talking about the gambling den,” Yena explained. “We can’t get her to lie for us.”

“But it’s against the rules for us to go to those places,” Minju said innocently while her eyes widened.

Sakura felt a pang in her heart at seeing Minju’s naivety and cuteness. It was weird, but she felt the urge to introduce Minju to the seedier side of the world suddenly outweigh the urge to protect the girl’s innocence. “If nobody says anything, no one will know that we broke the rules. If we go dressed up as boys no one will know it’s us. Please, Yena?”

“Please, Yena?” Hyewon and Minju followed Sakura’s lead and posed with their hands clasped together as if making a wish.

“Let’s just leave her,” Yujin said impatiently.

“I can’t do that. She’ll end up just sleeping the whole day away.” Normally Wonyoung would’ve liked to have spent some alone time with Yujin, but lately, she found herself feeling really shy when it was just the two of them.

Yujin rolled her eyes as she watched her younger friend try again to cajole Yuri into leaving the house. She was feeling a little annoyed since she thought she could spend some time with just herself and Wonyoung. It used to be just the two of them and she missed that.

“Come on Yuri. You’ll like it. We can do all sorts of stuff there,” Wonyoung said, trying hard not to sound desperate.

“Like what,” Yuri asked, crossing her arms, while pouting cutely.

“You like music, right? There’ll be the best musicians from all around there.” Wonyoung hadn’t been Yuri’s roommate for months for nothing.

“The best musicians don’t play to the crowd. They play for the rich at the brothels.” Yuri said the last word in barely a whisper, blushing hard.

“Then that’s where we’ll go.” Wonyoung had already prepared for Yuri’s answer and held up a bag with men’s clothes.

“You sneaky little… Let’s do it!” Yuri exclaimed mischievously now that her interest was piqued.

“We’re going where? And there’s no way that Yuri will be able to pull off being a man. She looks like a child.” Yujin was skeptical of the plan as she looked at the technically more mature girl.

“Child? You seem to forget I’m your elder, Yujin!” Yuri stood on her tiptoes as she glared into Yujin’s unconvinced face.

“If you have money, nobody will really care if we’re old enough to be there or not.” Wonyoung held up another bag which was full of money.

“I guess so. We can go as brothers and she can pretend to be our youngest brother. That might work.” Yujin grabbed the bag of clothes and started rummaging through it.

Yuri made a face at the thought of needing to use polite speech with Yujin. “Or, I can be the young master and you two can be my bodyguards.”

“Anyway, now that we’ve decided what we’re doing and where we’re going, I need you two to get out of this room, so I can change.” Wonyoung proceeded to push her roommate and best friend out of the room.

Yujin frowned as she stared at the shut door. “What’s with her.”

“Wait, why are we dressing up to go grocery shopping again?” Chaeyeon asked as Eunbi helped her put on her nicest dress.

“Because you’re starting to look like a mom. All you wear are those frumpy clothes around house,” Eunbi explained while tying the belt at Chaeyeon’s waist. She stepped back and admired her work.

“Looking good, Chaeyeon,” Chaewon whistled from the sidelines, giving the older girl a thumbs up.

“But aren’t we a bit too dressed up for the market?” Chaeyeon asked as she looked down at her dress. It was brightly covered and very pretty.

“Well, I was thinking we could stop at the festival first and maybe do some dancing.” Eunbi said, winking.

“What about cooking for the girls tonight?” Chaeyeon tried to protest half-heartedly. Her eyes shone at the mention of dancing.

“Do you see any of them around? It’s our day off from training. I bet they’ve all gone to the festival already.” Chaewon said looking around the room in an exaggerated manner. She was a little disappointed to see Hitomi was also not in the dorm. It was her own fault for training on her own the last little while and it wouldn’t be fair to expect Hitomi to be ready and waiting to go out with her whenever Chaewon wanted.

A night with no kids? Chaeyeon blinked a few times as the foreign thought invaded her mind. She’d been taking care of her fellow students at her dorm for so many months that she couldn’t even remember what her life was before. That means I can spend time with Sakura!?

“Nobody’s here at the school. It’s just us three,” Eunbi said gently, knowing who both Chaeyeon and Chaewon was thinking of.

“Oh. I guess I didn’t see them leave,” Chaeyeon said, trying not to sound hurt. Whatever happened to twelve as one?

“You know, since it’s just us Unnies, we don’t have to hang out in the family-friendly parts of town.” Eunbi said slyly.

“Unnie!” Chaewon shrieked. She fanned her face with her hand feeling it suddenly become warm.

“Let’s do it,” Chaeyeon grinned widely as she got into the spirit of things. “Who care’s about groceries if no one’s here. Let’s just go the festival.”

“Mmm,” Nako moaned cutely as she ate of more the sweet rice cakes that she and Hitomi bought.

“These are so good. They remind me so much of home,” Hitomi said enthusiastically as they walked to the next stall.

Nako smiled as she listened to Hitomi talk of home and not sound sad about it. In the beginning the girl was easily the most depressed about the fall of their group and had seemed to close herself off because of it. The other thing that made her smile was not hearing ‘Nako-san’ after every single sentence.

“What’s so funny? Do I have food on my face?” Hitomi scrunched her face as she got out a handkerchief.

“No, your face is cute like always,” Nako assured her dormmate. “I’m smiling because I’m feeling happy. I feel so much more relaxed here. There was a lot of pressure as a ranking Forty-Eight Schools student.”

“I can’t really relate with you or Sakura-sen… I mean Saku-chan. I came from a smaller branch and we rarely got a chance to compete in the higher brackets of the main tournaments.” Hitomi mentally kicked herself at her slipup. It made Sakura sad when she heard any formal honorific, but it was difficult to break some habits.

Nako gave Hitomi a pat on her cheek as a gesture of encouragement. “The Forty-Eight Schools were not always fair. Even though they say hard work is rewarded, the teachers definitely played favorites.”

Hitomi didn’t like it when Nako used that self-deprecating tone of voice. “Nako, even though I didn’t get to participate in the finals, I did watch them. You deserved your spot as one of the best among all the schools. And even after you lost all your qi arts you still managed to rank higher than me in the exams.”

“Thank you for saying that, but that still doesn’t change the fact that I did get preferential treatment. Coming here helped me find some of the confidence I lost back then. I think Senpai feels the same as me.”

It also made Hitomi happy that she and Nako were able to talk casually. “She lost confidence? Her? She ranked in the tournament when your branch was even smaller than mine. Most of us looked up to her because of how she climbed up the rankings when she was basically a nobody.”

“At the start, I think she was happy because she could see the results of her hard work. But in the last few years, I could see she was starting to become frustrated with herself. She was always worried about how her overall skills as a martial artist did not seem to be improving as quickly as they did when she was younger, but somehow her ranking kept going up. I think she wondered if it was due to the Forty-Eight Schools system or if it was her own ability. While I know she’s not happy with what happened to our schools, I think she was happy to come here and validate herself as a martial artist once again.”

Hitomi noticed that talking about their old school was starting to hurt both her and Nako less and less. She also found that they were both able to look upon the experience with the Forty-Eight Schools with more objectivity than before. “Do you think she would have left the school even if we weren’t attacked?”

“Yeah. Knowing her, I think she would have done something to change how things were going. How about you? Were you happy there?” Nako had hesitated to ask Hitomi about it before, but she felt that they had gotten close enough for her to be able to ask it.

“Last year was the first time I ever ranked in the main tournament, even if it was low, after many years of trying, so I thought I was finally getting somewhere. Our branch was a close-knit group like I’m sure yours was, so of course I miss them. But I guess the playing field did not seem fair and coming to this school, I felt gave me the chance to compete on even ground as everyone else.”

“I feel I was close with everyone at my branch. But with Sakura, I think she saw herself as everyone’s role model, so she worked hard to live up to all of our expectations of her, which made her feel a little distant. While I think she still feels she’s a role model now, she also feels like all of us are equal and can maybe depend on me a little more than before.” The last sentence she said with a smile.

“I’m happy for you,” Hitomi said while giving Nako’s hand a squeeze.

“I’m happy for you too. You get a chance to be with your favorite senpai,” Nako said teasingly.

“I’m not sure she’s noticed me,” Hitomi said quietly, blushing a bit. Both her and Sakura were shy people and it was difficult to talk about anything other than about practice.

“She’s noticed you. Trust me,” Nako said knowingly. “Anyway, where do you want to go next?”

“That was so good!” Yuri exclaimed as she, Wonyoung, and Yujin left the brothel.

“She sang so beautifully,” Wonyoung agreed.

“That was so embarrassing,” Yujin said, wiping her face, as it was covered with rouge. She’d been popular with the ladies as all they saw was tall handsome dashing young man and not some fifteen-year-old girl.

“If you and Yuri didn’t suddenly join in the singing they probably would have left you alone,” Wonyoung muttered jealously as she recalled the scene of every woman swooning over Yuri and Yujin’s beautiful voices joining in the chorus.

“Hey, look it’s Eunbi Unnie, Chaeyeon Unnie, and Chaewon Unnie,” Yuri said, pointing to the group of pretty girls watching some dancers.

“Unnie!” Wonyoung exclaimed while running towards them.

“That was so fun!” Yena exclaimed much like Yuri as she and her group exited gambling den.

“Unnie, I lost all of my allowance,” Minju cried as she clutched Sakura’s arm.

“That’s okay. I can give you some of my winnings,” Sakura said consoling the girl.

“Looks, it’s Eunbi Unnie, Chaeyeon, and Chaewon.” Yena pointed at the group of girls in front of them.

“Who’s that guy grabbing Eunbi Unnie?” Hyewon asked she saw three guys converge on their school mates. One of the guys definitely had a lecherous look about him as his entire face was covered in rouge.

“What?” Sakura’s eyes went wide at the scene before her. It took her a second for the shock to subside before she sprang into action.

Chaewon found it hard to fight in the dress that she was wearing as she tried to get into a battle stance. One moment they were enjoying the dance performance and the next moment, a group of guys were assaulting them. Then a second group of guys ran in to apparently defend their honor. She was about to try and join in the battle even with her limited mobility when Hitomi suddenly appeared before her. “Hii-chan!?”

Hitomi’s normally smiling cute face was now an angry cute face as she jumped into the fray between the two guys fighting in front of her Chaewon Unnie. Both were at fault, as far as she was concerned, for putting Chaewon in danger by fighting so near by. As she faced off against the two rowdy boys, she was shocked to discover that their moves were exactly the same as the ones taught at their school.

Yena blinked as Hitomi appeared out of nowhere to attack her and the guy she was fighting. “Are you blind? I’m helping. Attack them!”

“You attacked us for no reason.” Yuri shouted back after hesitating at the sound of the man’s husky voice.

Nako had also jumped in front of Chaeyeon and Eunbi as she looked at the other two pairs of fighters battling dangerously close to the two older girls. “Are you two okay?” She asked before slipping into a three-way fight with one of the pairs.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Chaeyeon felt that she was more than okay as she watched the three groups fight over her. She’d never been fought over before. She actually wanted to join in on the fun and started to reach down and rip off the bottom of her dress, so she could move more easily. With her legs free, she jumped into the battle with the other pair.

Eunbi caught the sight of bare legs flashing before her eyes as Chaeyeon also started to fight. Before she could say something to the girl, however, one of the guys that was fighting was knocked into her. The two of them fell to the ground tangled up in her bulky dress.

“Oof,” Sakura moaned as missed a block and felt herself flung through the air. She felt herself hit something soft and oddly familiar. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into Eunbi’s eyes. The woman was underneath her as the two of them were caught in an awkward embrace.

Eunbi felt a sense of familiarity as she stared at the strong handsome face before her. The guy’s eyes were wide eyed in panic similar to another person she knew. It was then she noticed the man’s hat had fallen off, revealing beautiful shoulder length hair.  “Sakura!”

“Wait, why do I have to kneel?” Chaeyeon asked as she looked around her at the other kneeling group members. Eunbi stared hard at Chaeyeon before looking down at the girl’s bare legs. Chaeyeon had the modesty to put her hands over thighs and lowered her eyes meekly.

“How were we supposed to know that we were in the red-light district?” Hitomi grumbled quietly to Nako.

“Yeah. If anything we should be rewarded,” Nako whispered back, her knees aching from all the kneeling.

“Kkura Unnie. I told you we shouldn’t have gone,” Yena whispered.

“You didn’t seem to mind when you were winning all that money,” Sakura shot back.

“Yujin, you look so much like a real guy,” Minju whispered admiringly.

“You don’t look so bad as a guy either,” Yujin said with a wink.

“Yuri, you look cute as a guy too,” Wonyoung chipped in.

“How can you two be flirting right now?” Yuri asked, her knees hurting as well.

“I’m hungry,” Hyewon complained loudly.

Chaewon could see the vein in Eunbi’s temple throbbing as if it were about to burst. The ten girls had been punished by the school for exhibiting inappropriate behavior, but it did not seem like any of them were learning their lesson. She walked over to where to girls knelt and followed suit, to which all the kneeling girls started protesting. “The twelve of us are supposed to be one. I can’t watch you guys get punished while nothing happens to me.”

Eunbi felt herself calm down at the sound of Chaewon’s words and at the sight of her junior’s actions. Wordlessly, she followed the Chaewon’s example.

Author’s note:

Sad that the secret friend’s season is over. It had given me a lot of inspiration. Now the long wait for the next season of Iz*One Chu.

Let me know what you thought!