Day 102

Daydreams

Day 102

Sakura frowned as she looked at the text message again. It was unlike Hitomi to cancel their run in the morning. She wondered if it had anything to do with the track meet yesterday. Worried, she had decided to wake up early anyway.

She didn’t know what made her to walk towards the school track so early in the morning, but her gut instinct told her that would be where she would find the earnest girl. And sure enough, as she rounded the corner of the school and the track came into view, she could see a familiar looking ponytail bobbing in the wind.

Silently, Sakura watched Hitomi run with all of her strength as if she only knew one gear. She was amazed at how long the girl could maintain such intensity. As she marveled at the girl’s seemingly unlimited stamina, Hitomi’s legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground. Sakura dropped her pack and immediately ran towards the fallen girl.

When she arrived, Hitomi had managed to sit up and had her head between her arms and knees, cuddled up into a small ball. It made her look even tinier than usual and Sakura was afraid that even the slightest touch would cause the girl to shatter. Hesitantly, she tapped Hitomi on the shoulder. “Hey, you.”

Hitomi looked up, eyes red. “Senpai. How did you know I’d be here?”

“I recall a highly competitive girl in middle school who would be back on the track training twice as hard after she failed to come close to her personal best times in trials.”

“Are you talking about yourself?” Hitomi asked with a slight smile. “Like senpai, like kohai, I guess.”

“I don’t think I was that competitive,” Sakura replied, relieved to see Hitomi’s smile, even as sad as it looked.

“Maybe not competitive, but you definitely hated to lose to yourself,” Hitomi said and cocked her head as if remembering some event. “I remember how us juniors looked up to you. You didn’t win any of the internal trails we held, but I remember watching how excited you were when you beat your personal best times and how depressed you were when you couldn’t beat them.”

“Yesterday didn’t go so well I take it?” Sakura asked.

Hitomi looked at Sakura without saying anything. She seemed to be at odds with herself over whether to tell Sakura the results or not. Sakura simply waited while giving the girl an encouraging smile.

“I came in second. I couldn’t beat my personal best times,” Hitomi said with a sigh as she finally broke her silence.

“Wait. You came in second? You medaled? That’s great news!” Sakura said as she wrapped her arms around Hitomi in a big hug. She had been so worried that Hitomi had somehow managed to completely mess up her debut on the track and would quit running altogether.

“But I didn’t beat my personal best time,” Hitomi said with a muffled voice from underneath Sakura’s hug.

“Isn’t placing even better than beating your personal best time?” Sakura asked, confused as she let go of Hitomi.

“We said we’d only celebrate if I made a new record for myself,” Hitomi replied stubbornly.

Sakura looked at Hitomi incredulously. The girl could be such a stubborn girl about things sometimes. “Placing second is definitely a bigger achievement and more worthy of a celebration. Let’s plan something this summer. I owe you a meal and don’t you dare think I’m doing this out of pity. You deserve a party for this.”

Hitomi stared at Sakura for a moment before she slowly nodded her head in agreement.

Gym used to be Sakura’s least favorite class. She hadn’t really gotten any better at sports this year even though she started exercising even more on her own. There was a gap between her physical abilities and applying them in a coordinated fashion that sport required. One thing that was different however was that she was now on friendly terms with four of the girls in the class and that meant she didn’t usually have to go without a partner.

Sakura tried to look at her opponent without breaking into a goofy smile and almost succeeded. Hyewon, however, stared impassively back at Sakura. Or at least that was what might have appeared to the untrained eye. Sakura had begun to see subtle hints of emotion within the other girl as they became closer and closer friends. And right now, Sakura could feel restrained excitement from the girl.

If Hyewon sat in Sakura’s line of vision or if Chaewon wasn’t in the class, she felt that the seemingly stoic girl would have been the girl she crushed on. She was quite different from Minju and Chaewon personality wise. In beauty, Hyewon didn’t lose to either girl. Sakura kicked herself mentally for thinking that way. She was starting to wonder if she was becoming a shallow girl who was only interested in appearances.

In personality, Hyewon was a strange one compared to the other two. While quiet most days, she could be heard laughing whenever anyone made an inappropriate joke. The girl seemed not to pay attention to anyone or anything but was actually quite observant. Whenever Sakura dropped something from her desk, more often than not, it was Hyewon who pointed it out.

Even now, although the girl gave off the impression of a human sloth most days, she was quite spry on her feet as she circled around Sakura. One would never have guessed that Hyewon was actually adept at wrestling or any sport for that matter. One moment Sakura was trying to figure out how to attack the other girl and the next she found herself flat on her back.

Dazed, Sakura looked up to see a warm smile on Hyewon’s face as she offered a hand to Sakura. “Thanks. You’re really fast.”

“I’m okay,” Hyewon said dismissively as she pulled Sakura back up to her feet.

“If you’re just okay, that must mean I’m really bad,” Sakura said wryly.

“No, you’re actually pretty fit and quick yourself. I just got lucky,” Hyewon insisted.

Despite Sakura telling Hyewon that she wanted to get to know the real her, she rarely saw the boisterous, arcade-loving, cussing girl at school. As much as Sakura wanted to be friends with the girl she met at the arcade, she couldn’t help but feel warm when Hyewon was being this soft for her. “I know you’re just being nice, but still, that’s really sweet of you.”

“Uh, um, yeah,” Hyewon said, suddenly acting shy.

Sakura blinked in surprised before she realized that she was still gripping on to the other girl’s hand even after she stood back up. “Oh, uh, sorry.”

“Oh, that’s alright,” Hyewon said. Sakura could have sworn that the girl’s voice sounded disappointed.

“I’m not sure about that. I’ll have to ask Senpai about it,” Sakura said with a frown as she reached into her bag for her bento.

“Oh, come on, let’s do it. It’ll be fun. I know a lot of the third-years really miss Eunbi-senpai and would like to do something together during the summer.” Chaeyeon rarely pleaded Sakura for anything and she seemed desperate as she begged again.

“I actually think she misses the cheer dance club too, but I think she already had some plans in mind for us. I want to spend time with you too over the summer. I’m sure we can work something out,” Sakura said with a hopeful voice.

“Okay,” Chaeyeon said, finally smiling again. “I really do want us all to do something together. I know everyone’s been trying their best this year and I want the seniors all to have the best summer this year before they graduate from the club.”

“I feel the same way about Senpai’s… last year,” Sakura said, pausing at the last two words. It was still hard for her to talk about Eunbi leaving. For more times than she could count, she again felt herself and Chaeyeon being on the same wave length as they share their wishes for their senpais.

“You know I feel like we think about the same things a lot of times,”’ Chaeyeon said after a moment.

Sakura was in the middle of taking a drink out of her tea and she nearly spit it out as Chaeyeon eerily voiced out her thoughts. “W-what do you mean?” she asked as she gulped down her drink.

“Look,” Chaeyeon said as she brought out her own bento. She opened it to show the same French toast that Sakura had made.

“Great minds think a like, I guess. But I think we’re not completely on the same page,” Sakura said as she used her chopsticks to grab a piece of Chaeyeon’s French toast. “Yours is not sweet enough.”

Chaeyeon reached and grabbed one of Sakura’s. “Yeah, you know me pretty well.” She made a face as she bit into the eggy bread showing displeasure at the overly sugary piece she got.

“Do you think we’ll still be friends after high school?” Sakura asked aloud as she snagged a wiener in the shape of an octopus from Chaeyeon’s bento much to the other girl’s dismay.

Chaeyeon retaliated by snagging one of Sakura’s beloved umeboshi. “Oh, I think so. Why do you ask?”

“You mentioned how your senpais will be graduating and how they want to spend time with Eunbi-senpai just like before. In a year, we’ll be just like them. We might not be in the same class next year or we might both be busy with preparing for the university entrance exams. Our opportunities to see each other will get smaller and smaller until we both graduate.”

“Then I’ll just go to the same university you’re going to,” Chaeyeon said in such an off-handed way that Sakura did a double take.

“Are you serious?” Sakura asked in small voice. Chaeyeon loved joking and normally Sakura could tell when the girl was joking no matter how deadpan her voice was. But this matter was too important for Sakura to even hazard a guess.

Chaeyeon looked at Sakura with a smile before nodding shyly. “I didn’t really have a preference for which university I wanted to go to until now. My grades are pretty good. Not as amazing as yours are, but I think I should be able to catch up and go to wherever you’re deciding to go to.”

Sakura suddenly felt so full that she didn’t even blink when Chaeyeon went an stole another one of her umeboshi.

Sakura’s mood dropped drastically as she entered the washroom to wash her hands. Standing in front of one of the mirrors looking completely dejected was Minju. The girl was gripping the sink as if it was what was holding her up.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sakura asked as she immediately went up to the girl and put her hand on the small of her back. She used her other hand gently pry one of Minju’s hands from the sink.

“I don’t know. I just feel so awful. One minute I was in the club room and the next minute I’m here,” Minju blurted out.

Sakura nodded encouragingly even though the girl wasn’t making much sense. She understood how jumbled one’s thoughts could get when one was upset. “What happened in the club room?”

“I was just picking up one of my notebooks and saw one of the juniors there. She’s really sweet and talented, but she was suffering from writer’s block. She asked me for advice and I kind of just froze. I said a bunch of things I’m not sure I understood myself and then came here.”

“You don’t remember what you said?” Sakura asked, feeling Minju’s body become less tense the more she explained herself.

“Nobody in the club has ever asked me for guidance before. I’m usually the one that’s getting help from our members. I didn’t really know what to say and everything I said sounded so fake. I felt like I was a fraud.”

“Well, you’re not a fraud. You’re a genius,” Sakura said emphatically. She had no doubts in her mind about Minju’s abilities. The other girl, however, seemed to always be filled with them. “I think everyone feels the same way that you do. I feel like that way all the time.”

“You do?” Minju asked as she turned to Sakura and looked at her with disbelief. “You’re always giving me advice and help.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t doubt myself or the advice I give. Whenever my kouhai asks me about something I’m not sure about, I always panic a little. As dumb as it sounds, I feel like she might call me out for not knowing anything just like her.”

“How do you deal with it?” Minju asked.

“Even now, I panicked a little when you just asked me that,” Sakura said wryly. “I think it helps when I know the person asking me doesn’t really care if I’m the real deal or not. If they think enough of me to ask me, then the least I could do is to give them my honest opinion.”

“I messed up, didn’t I? I should go and find that her and answer her again. I think I could have done better there,” Minju sighed. However, she didn’t make any effort to move from her spot. After a moment, she looked at Sakura and her cheeks seemed to be rosier than usual. She cleared .

It was only then that Sakura noticed how abnormally close the two of them were. Their bodies were nearly overlapping with how she had her arms wrapped around the other girl’s body. What was with her today and holding on to people for far longer than was socially acceptable? “Ah, sorry,” Sakura said and stepped back from Minju.

Minju shook her head quickly without saying a word and left the washroom hurriedly. She turned back around once and mouthed the words ‘thank you’ before leaving.

Sakura looked at her watch and saw that she still had a few minutes before lunch was over. Speaking with Minju had reminded her of Wonyoung. She had half expected to see the other girl quietly sitting in one of the stalls. Fortunately, it seemed that only Sakura and Minju were in the washroom at that time. With Wonyoung on her mind, she made her way to the student council office.

Sakura looked at the door which suddenly seemed imposing to her. She had never envisioned herself standing before it. The student council were a group of people that she thought she would never associate with in the three years that she would attend this school. But here she was, friends with the president of all people.

She knocked on the door hesitantly. It was the first time she came to the student council room and she was oddly nervous. There wasn’t an answer to her knock, so she wondered if she had come at a bad time. Maybe everyone had already gone back to class. Undeterred, she opened the door.

“Excuse me,” Sakura said as she entered the room. At the front of the room, she could see Wonyoung slumped over the desk. Quietly, walking over, she could see the girl seemed have fallen asleep in exhaustion.

With Sakura standing up looking down at the sleeping girl, she felt like the unnie Wonyoung always called her. Normally, the girl was simply too tall and mature making it difficult for Sakura to feel like the older girl sometimes. She cooed to herself as she watched her adorable dongsaeng sleep like a baby. She would have loved to let the girl sleep until the bell, but the girl would end up being late for class.

“Wonyoung-chan,” Sakura said gently, lowering her head to whisper softly in the other girl’s ear.

“Unnie?” Wonyoung asked with a slurred voice as she opened her eyes. She smiled lazily and reached up to put her long arms around Sakura and pulled her down.

“Wonyoung!” Sakura squealed as the younger girl buried her head in a tight embrace.

“Unnie?” Wonyoung said again as she let go. “Oh, sorry, I thought I was dreaming.”

“Well are you awake now?” Sakura asked, slightly flustered. She tugged at her uniform wondering if it got rumpled. Anything to take her mind off what the girl could have been dreaming about.

“Yep, wide awake!” Wonyoung said energetically. So energetically in fact, it made Sakura wonder if the girl really had been half asleep.

“Well you only have a few minutes before class starts. You should get ready.”

“Is that the only reason you came to visit me?” Wonyoung asked with a yawn.

“I was just wondering how you were doing. I thought of you just now and was curious.” Sakura didn’t want to say that Minju’s doubts made her worry about whether Wonyoung was suffering from the same situation as a president who was also a first-year.

“Were you worried about me, Unnie?” Wonyoung asked cutely, but then became slightly more serious. “It’s been tough, but the other student council members have been great. I think I only got voted in because people were looking for some new fresh ideas. One of our promises was that we would get and listen to student feedback. We’ve been going through a lot of the suggestions about what we could do and we’re organizing the things we think we can get done this year.”

Sakura nodded as she listened to the younger girl. More than once, she had been impressed by the girl’s physical attributes, but now, she was finding herself impressed by Wonyoung’s other qualities. The girl’s love for the school and her fellow classmates seemed to have no bounds.

“Guess who?” Yuri asked with a fake voice that was deeper than normal as she covered Sakura’s eyes.

“Yena?” Sakura asked, playing along.

“Guess again,” Yuri asked with an obviously fake falsetto.

“Nako?” Sakura guessed wrongly on purpose again.

“It’s me,” Yuri said with a giggle as she uncovered Sakura’s eyes and turned Sakura’s head to look at her.

Seeing Yuri’s cute smile, made playing along worthwhile. “So, what brings you here today? I thought you guys didn’t have club today.”

“I thought I might hang out with you before Yujin gets here and before my cram school starts. Is that okay?” Yuri asked with a coy voice.

“Of course, that’s okay. Did you want to draw or paint something?” Sakura asked as she got up to look for some materials for Yuri to use.

“Actually, I was hoping you might want to sing with me. I know I shouldn’t bother you when you have art club today, but I really missed singing with you.” Yuri looked down as if she knew she was making an unreasonable request.

“You want to sing with me? But you already have so many new members you can sing with now. And all of them are better singers than I am,” Sakura said, confused at the younger girl’s wish.

“It’s not the same. I don’t know how to explain it. I thought I would be happy when we made the light music club official, which I am. But recently, I’ve been feeling that something’s missing.”

“And you think you’ll find if it you sing with me?” Sakura asked, piecing together what Yuri was saying. She’d never been told that about her singing before and it was strangely scary.

Yuri seemed to sense Sakura’s hesitation and doubled down on her sad pout. Even her eyes appeared to be watering. “Please, Senpai?”

“Okay, I got it. Let’s go,” Sakura said, finally agreeing to make the other girl happy. As soon as she agreed, she could see Yuri’s face light up immediately. It seemed all of her juniors were amazing actresses.

“I think you’ll like this song,” Yuri said as she walked with Sakura to the other room. She got out her keys and opened the door.

It had been about a month since Sakura had last stepped into the room. She’d watched all the hopeful girls sing at the tryout and had been delighted to see Nako and Yuri’s happy faces. However, it had been an experience that was also slightly painful. There were moments when she watched the girls sing that she felt a pang in her heart. It had reminded her of when she was a little girl trying out for a stage production.

“Is something the matter, Senpai?” Yuri asked as she found Sakura frozen at the entry way.

“Ah, nothing, really,” Sakura said but didn’t try and step in from the doorway.

“Senpai, I know why you sometimes look sad when I ask you to sing. I asked Nako about it,” Yuri said as she looked at Sakura. “I wanted to apologize to you. I never meant to make you feel sad or uncomfortable. If you don’t want to sing with me, I understand. I just wanted you to feel the same happiness I feel when I sing with you.”

“Yuri, you’ve never hurt me. This hang up I have with singing can only be blamed on me. Look, I should go.” Sakura was about to turn back around when Yuri stepped up to her and held her wrist to prevent her from leaving.

“Senpai, I want to sing with you. Nobody makes me feel as alive as you do when I see and hear you singing with me. If you got turned down before than I can only say those people were blind and deaf.”

“Yuri,” Sakura started to say but the girl that was looking at Sakura was nothing like the shy girl she met at the start of the year or the bubbly girl she got to know. This girl was steely eyed and determined to have her say.

“If someone could tell you some words back then that made you want to quit acting and singing, then why can’t I say a few words now that’ll make you want to do it again? All I’m saying is that I can feel that you still love singing, maybe as much as me and Nako and it would be a shame if you continue to avoid it.” Yuri let go of Sakura’s wrist while eyeing her as if she might run away.

“I did let someone do that to me, huh?” Sakura said ruefully. She looked into the room and took a deep breath before taking a step forward. “Okay, let’s sing this song of yours.”

“Okay,” Yuri beamed at Sakura as she ran to get the sheet music.

“Kkura?” Eunbi called as she stepped into the art room.

“Oh, Senpai,” Sakura greeted back as she got up from the chair.

“You look like you were just staring off into space. Something on your mind? And where’s Yujin? She’s usually here by now.”

“Ah, she called to say she’s running a bit late. As for me, I was just thinking. Yuri came by and I was just thinking about our conversation. Anyway, did you get my message?”

Eunbi nodded. She motioned for Sakura to sit back down and sat down next to her. “I’m not sure I want to do a joint activity with the cheer dance club this summer. I was hoping it would be more of an intimate affair with just our club.”

“Senpai, you’ve told me that you missed the cheer dance club. I thought this might be a nice way for you and their senpais to make some great memories.” Sakura couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice. “What’s the real reason you don’t want to do this.”

Eunbi looked at Sakura for a moment before looking away. “I was worried about watching them do some of our old routines. Or that they might want to play dance games. We used to do random dance covers. I can’t dance as well as I used to since the injury.”

“I thought you said that you still dance for fun.” Sakura could see how uncomfortable Eunbi was with the topic. The same was true for her earlier when she talked with Yuri about singing.

“I do. By myself, at home,” Eunbi said, still avoiding eye contact with Sakura.

The image of a lonely Eunbi dancing by herself at home struck Sakura hard. She suddenly felt the same steely resolve that she saw in Yuri. Just like the other girl, she reached out and grabbed Eunbi by the wrist until the older girl looked back at her. “Senpai, you just have to answer one question from me.”

“Don’t ask it, please,” Eunbi pleaded in a small voice as if already knowing what Sakura was going to ask.

The image of the pitiable Eunbi alone in her room was stronger than the cowering sight of her right now. “Senpai, do you still love dancing?”

After a long pause with two of them staring at each other, Eunbi finally relented and croaked out a single word. “Yes.”

“I told you about how my dreams were once dashed when I was younger. I told you the most regretful thing that I did was to give up on that dream. Well, the second most regretful thing I did was to also give up on things that made me want to be an actor or an idol. I loved singing back then and somewhere deep inside me, I still do. I want to move forward, and I think you do too.”

“Sakura, you’re strong…” Eunbi started to say.

“Senpai, you’re stronger. You’re the strongest person I know,” Sakura cut the older girl off. “Let’s do this summer thing.”

“Okay,” Eunbi relented. She softly took hold of Sakura’s hand that had been gripping her other wrist and interlocked their fingers. “We’ll do this together. Let’s invite the light music club too.”

“Is Yena-senpai busy again today?” Yujin asked as she burst into the room and looked around.

“Yeah, she said she won’t be able to come to the club today,” Sakura answered as she set her things down so that she could help Yujin prepare her materials. “Eunbi-senpai was here, but she left just a moment ago. You’re so late today.”

“Sorry, I got ran into some of the girls in my class, so I had to make a detour,” Yujin explained. She moved to where Sakura stood and deftly sorted out the brushes and paints. It was hard to believe that the girl didn’t know anything about painting until just a few months ago.

“Ah, Yujin, I have something to tell you,” Sakura said as she helped the girl bring the supplies to her easel.

“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that,” Yujin said as she immediately picked up on the seriousness of Sakura’s tone.

“This year we’re thinking of doing a joint summer activity with the cheer dance club and the light music club. More and more people will find out about you being here.”

“Have you been worried about that?” Yujin asked with a smile. “It was a matter of time. The light music club is right next door and I’m sure they’ve seen me come in here. I think Yuri probably asked them to keep it a secret and that’s why it hasn’t spread to everyone yet.”

“Are you upset about it?” Sakura asked, knowing how Yujin didn’t like the attention that she sometimes got from some of her zealous classmates.

“Not really. The class was going to find out anyway. I mean we have a cultural festival and other activities where they’re sure to see me here. I’m kind of relieved. I didn’t really like lying and I’m proud that I’m an art club member.”

“I’ll make sure that anyone who wants to join the art club is joining only because they want to do art,” Sakura promised.

“Thanks, Senpai. I know you’ll do your best to protect me, but I think it’ll be fine. I’ve actually started hinting that I’m interested in someone. I think that’s going to give me some breathing room. If they know I’m already in love with someone else, they’ll lose interest in me.”

Sakura felt what she thought were maternal instincts cause her voice to turn into a growl. “Oh? Who is this person that you’re in love with?”

“Yeah, I’m going to tell them the person I’m interested in is a handsome person who’s older than me and has been taking care of me almost every day after school. They’re funny and protective of me.”

Sakura blinked. While the word handsome was not a word she would use to describe herself, she could tell by Yujin’s giggling who she was referring to. “Me?”

Yujin laughed. “Yeah. You’re the perfect cover. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Don’t worry, I’ll tell them it’s a one-sided crush and that I don’t want you to know. That way nobody bothers you and you don’t have to be worried about being shackled to me.”

“I’m not sure this’ll work. It should at least be believable.” Nobody would believe a frumpy girl like her could attract one of the idols of the school.

“All good lies have some truth to them,” Yujin said with a shrug.

Sakura gaped at the girl and wondered to herself which parts were true.

Sakura wiped the water from her eyes as she made it to the bus shelter just before it really started pouring. It was just her luck to forget her umbrella on today of all days. She looked out of the shelter and hoped it was just a flash shower since the forecast only showed a low chance of rain this morning.

“Miyawaki.”

Spooked at the sudden sound of her name, she turned around to see an equally wet Chaewon looking at her. “Ah, Kim.”

“Were you hanging out near here? You couldn’t be just leaving school now, right?” Chaewon asked conversationally as she flung her wet hair out of the way so that she could dab herself with her handkerchief.

Sakura shook her head as the thought of wanting to be that handkerchief crossed her mind incessantly. “Uh, no. I mean, yeah, I just left the school. I needed to make sure our inventory was in good shape before summer starts.”

“Oh, are you planning on hosting art club activities over the summer?” Chaewon flung her hair back over so that she could dab at her neck on the other side.

Her every action was all so interesting to Sakura. So much so that she was having difficulty maintaining the conversation. “Y-yes. We’re going to open the club up on some days.”

“It must be nice to be able to spend time with your friends like that,” Chaewon said.

“Why didn’t you join any clubs? Your grades are pretty good?” Sakura asked. She kicked herself as Chaewon raised an eyebrow at her questions.

They had become close enough to chit chat with each other in the class that sometimes Sakura didn’t know if some of the things she knew about Chaewon came from the girl herself or from her ‘creeping.’ She of course knew that Chaewon left school directly everyday and which days she had cram school. It wasn’t like Sakura had been stalking. Just sometimes when the girl talked with others, she paid attention. She also knew that the girl had great grades since her eyes tended to gravitate towards the girl’s name whenever the ranking results were posted.

“Good grades aren’t enough for me. I need scholarships so that I don’t burden my parents too much,” Chaewon explained. Sakura had learned from the girl that she had her own place that her parents were helping her rent so that she could go to school here.

“Yeah, I can understand that. I want to try and get into a public university too for that reason,” Sakura said while nodding at Chaewon’s statement.

“I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble. You’re always near the top of the class,” Chaewon said casually.

Does she pay attention to my name too? Sakura wondered. She was getting ahead of herself. Everyone paid attention to the top few students in the results. It wasn’t any surprise to anyone that Sakura was up there.

“I really shouldn’t be discussing scholarships with you too much though. I think we’re going to be competing for the same limited spots and scholarships.” Chaewon looked at Sakura with a that infuriatingly cute smirk she always seemed to have on her face. “Anyway, looks like it’s clearing up. I should get going.”

“See you.” Sakura moved aside so that Chaewon could walk past her and out of the bus shelter. Did they ever talk about which universities they were both aiming for? The question didn’t linger on her mind for much time however as Chaewon’s lithe body passed in front of her. She could see how the beautiful girl’s summer uniform clung to her skin and all of her thought processes shut down as she stupidly waved goodbye to the girl.

“Hey, sorry, I’m late. I had to run under a shelter while it was pouring out there.”

“It’s no biggie,” Yena said as she handed Sakura a cheese dog.

“Ooh, it’s the good kind,” Sakura squealed as she took a big bite into it. These snacks just before dinner were doing their best to undo all of her running in the mornings.

“Hey, leave some for me,” Yena shrieked as she tried to grab the hotdog back, but Sakura managed to hold her off.

“Wait a second… ah, ah, ah-choo,” Sakura sneezed. She expected to Yena to scream at her for nearly getting germs all over the hotdog and was about to profusely apologize. However, no shouting happened. She looked at the girl and saw only panic and concern as the girl hurriedly took off her employee vest.

“What are you doing? Did you get caught in the rain? Geez, here put this on,” Yena fussed as she covered Sakura’s shoulders with the vest.

“Hey, I’m okay. What’s up with you? You’re being creepy,” Sakura said as she shrugged the girl’s hands off her shoulders.

“Well, excuse me for caring,” Yena said, sounding miffed. “Look, having missed a lot of school due to sickness, I can tell you that it a lot.”

“Sorry,” Sakura said as she looked at the sullen girl. “I didn’t mean that.”

“No, you’re right. I’m just a little touchy when someone I car…  I know gets sick.”

“You want to talk about it? I guess you know that your parents showed me some of your pictures when you were little.” Sakura had deliberately played dumb when she had first seen the pictures, but she could guess the significance of them. Some of the pictures were of Yena in the hospital.

“Nothing to talk about really. I was sick and now I’m not. You really don’t appreciate how good it is to be healthy and to be physically able to do all the things you want to do until you can’t.”

“Is that why you joined all those clubs?” Sakura asked.

“I guess so. I wanted to do and try everything at least once. But, recently, I think I’ve come to appreciate slowing down a little and giving something more of my time and effort.”

Sakura blushed even though Yena didn’t exactly say she was the cause for the girl’s change of priorities. “You know, I don’t think I ever said it to you directly. I might have even made it sound like a meager thanks when you first said you wanted to join the art club. But I know Yujin, Eunbi-senpai, and I are all happy that you’re a part of our club.”

“Well, that beanpole of a junior is pretty cute. And Eunbi’s a cool senpai. I’m happy that I’m getting to know them better.” Yena said, deliberately leaving Sakura out of the compliment train.

Sakura answered by keeping the cheese dog and eating another bite.

“What’s this one like? Can I listen to it?” Sakura asked, but pressed to play button anyway. She was on the tenth song on Nako’s play list and couldn’t seem to get enough.

“I don’t remember seeing you this excited about music in a long time,” Nako said as she watched Sakura read the lyrics as the song played.

“I guess you could say my interest has been piqued again,” Sakura said with a smile. Her smile dropped as she saw Nako’s face seemed to crumble with her answer. “What’s wrong, Nako?”

“I don’t want to say it,” Nako whined while sniffing. Some people cried ugly, but Nako did everything cutely. Even crying.

“Come on, don’t be like that. What’s up?” Sakura asked in a cajoling way.

“I wanted to be the one that helped you get back into music,” Nako finally admitted. “I’ve been your friend for so long, but I couldn’t help you with this one thing. Yuri’s only known you for a few months and she’s gotten you singing again.”

“You’re so silly,” Sakura said and went over to wrap the diminutive girl in a big hug. “Who do you think has been keeping me interested and up to date on music all these years?”

“But you never sing with me,” Nako accused.

“Well, that was a hurdle I had trouble overcoming. But without you here, I don’t think she would have been able to help me. Even after I gave up on singing and acting, my love of music didn’t really go away. You were always there filling my life with music. If I didn’t sing much when you were around, it was only because I thought my singing would pollute your beautiful sound. But because of you, I often found myself humming or singing when I think nobody’s around to hear me.”

“Really?” Nako asked timidly.

“Really. Even when I was listening to Yuri sing current pop songs, I recognized a lot of them because they were the same songs that you would play all the time. Whether I wanted it to or not, the music you play has had a deep impact on me. So, really, you’re the one that’s helped me get to this point.”

“Sheesh, I don’t know why I got so upset suddenly. I guess I thought that I meant little to you and anyone else could have taken my place as your friend,” Nako said, sounding mollified by Sakura’s praise.

“Well, you are little, but you definitely mean a lot to me,” Sakura said and regretted it as Nako punched her in the arm.

“So, do you want to sing something together now?” Nako asked enthusiastically as she grabbed her phone and started scrolling through her play list.

“Yeah, actually. There’s this one kpop group that you sometimes play. I really like them…”

“Tsk,” Nako clicked her tongue. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed you ogling the girl on the album cover when I wasn’t looking. No, we’re going to sing my favorite group first.”

“Nako,” Sakura whined as her long-time friend ignored her request.

Chaeyeon: What is the summer activity?

Sakura: All anime, manga, and games have a beach episode.

Chaeyeon: Sakura…

Sakura: Okay, okay. It’ll probably be a barbeque or something.

Chaeyeon: If there had been a beach episode, what would I have worn?

Sakura: A leopard print bikini of course.

Chaeyeon: …

Author’s Note

After 39 days of drought, a Sakura sighting. Somehow fitting. Just that little tidbit of news was able to make me feel hopeful that I’ll see them soon.

Let me know your thoughts!

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
kristineannmon #1
Waaaah! I love this
Saada_uchiha
#2
Chapter 2: Light music club? Is this a K-on reference authornim :0
island_sam #3
Chapter 20: ssamkkura is forever. i love them! thank you for writing,these stories made me happy.
tuanteddy
#4
Chapter 27: awwww it's really ended why this chapter is so sad... but the conversation with eunbi and wonyoung is really the saddest for me, also yujin conversation...thank you so much for writing this! see u on your next works!
cosmosis #5
Chapter 27: I really enjoyed reading this whole series! It felt really novel and fresh- I especially liked Wonyoung and Chaeyeon’s line, and then the Nako-Yujin frenemy thing that was going on haha. Thank you for writing!
violentsushi #6
Chapter 27: i definitely did not expect that, i seriously thought this was the angst ending before we skipped to the future. but can you imagine it though, a game that somewhat reward you by choosing the worst options at every decision point. i don't play enough vn to come across that, but i imagine it to be a very unique and interesting game. but it was really depressing reading the first half, i was like stop it sakura, why are you doing this. there was even choices where it ask for confirmation if they were sure, and it really hurt.

i'm predominately a sakura ship reader, but i really like the way you write. so if you decide to write for another ship, i would read it. thank you very much for this story, i love absolutely everything about it. looking forward to next time.
dh_pram
#7
Chapter 27: Nice and fun story
I thought there will be harem ending lol
Rine_21 #8
Thank you for writing these stories! I enjoyed reading them. I like how the last story feels like everything repeated and we're back to square one, as it still takes place in the same setting, but they're not students anymore. I also like that it was a harem ending just like what Hyewon and Chaeyeon say at the end, which made me think of Hitomi's line in SSS, "There's no sad ending here".
tuanteddy
#9
Chapter 26: ahhhhh wonkkura this duo is so cute, wonyoung that always look up to her unnie and sakura who always proud of her baby
chocoffee7 #10
Chapter 26: uuuwuu i always soft when it comes to 3910