Yena’s Days

Day -324

“Sorry,” Yena said as she bumped past a classmate in her rush to get to her desk before the bell rang.

“It’s okay,” came a tiny whisper as the girl she bumped gave a slight bow before walking over to the other side of the room.

Miyawaki Sakura. One of the few girls in the class that Yena hadn’t yet gotten acquainted with yet. Yena glanced over to where Sakura sat. The girl was like the other girls who kept to themselves; they always seemed to have their heads down and be completely absorbed in their phones.

There were actually a number of girls who were quiet and kept to themselves for the most part. Which wasn’t all the surprising since many of the girls that came to this school were the academic type. Yena had worried that she might have had trouble making friends, but fortunately, it didn’t turn out that way at all. She didn’t have trouble saying ‘hello’ to anyone and chatted everyone up. It looked like most people were like her and did want to make friends.

Day 1

What is with that girl? Yena thought as she watched Sakura scurry out of the classroom after their little ‘debate.’ They were having a perfectly nice conversation about games and then the girl flipped on her when Yena mentioned how she preferred her favorite girl character over Sakura’s favorite.

She sighed. She’d been hoping that she would be able to sit next to a friend this year. However, every one of her classmates aside from Sakura was new to her. Just thinking of that girl set her blood boiling again. How could that girl not remember her? They were in a class together for an entire year.

Yena drank some cola to wash the bad taste that was forming in . She’d just have to make new friends in the class this year. If worse came to worse, she could always find out which classrooms her former classmates ended up in and visit them.

Sighing again, she opened up the notebook that Sakura had agreed to lend her so that she could copy down the notes. She whistled as she looked at the number of detailed notes the girl had taken in the space of one morning. While she was upset about their earlier conversation, Yena found herself becoming grudgingly thankful towards the girl.

Yena turned the pages of the notebook over and then noticed a doodle in the corner. She turned back to the previous page and noticed a similar doodle. She laughed inwardly as she discovered many such doodles on previous pages. It was a wonder that the girl had time to do all of these and take notes at the same time.

Day 10

Sakura was easily the most infuriating person that Yena had ever met. Not a day went by since school started that they didn’t get into some sort of tiff. She could feel her irritation grow as she looked at the girl who sat behind her. “I’ll get to it,” she whispered, trying to be mindful of the other students during their self-study period.

“Hmm,” Sakura made a small noise as she looked back down at her own work.

Just the way the girl made that sound was enough to drive Yena mad. “You don’t believe me?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Sakura said defensively.

“Right,” Yena said as she turned back around. She would get to studying. She’d just been closing her eyes for a small moment before she felt Sakura tap her on the shoulder. The part-time job that she’d just started was really doing a number on her.

Squeezing her face between her two hands, Yena tried to force herself awake. It helped a little as she opened her eyes and went back to copying the other girl’s meticulous notes. Yena would ask someone else, but she doubted that anyone’s notes would be as comprehensive as Sakura’s. As much as she didn’t want to rely on her annoying neighbor, her need to do well at school trumped all of that. The better her grades, the more she learned, the better the university she would get into.

As always, when she opened Sakura’s notebook, she found herself in awe at the amount of drawings the girl managed to do. A part of her felt bad when she saw the pictures. Sakura had invited her to visit the art club, which she was a part of, and Yena had agreed offhandedly. She never did end up going to the club due to other commitments with other clubs that she’d agreed to visit.

Yena hadn’t thought much of it, and after a couple of days of reminding her, Sakura had stopped bringing it up. She had thought that might have been the end of the girl lending her notes, but that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, after every class, Sakura would place the notes on the window sill between them unasked. A part of her thought that the girl took delight in guilt tripping her.

Stop that, Yena berated herself for even thinking that. “Thanks,” she whispered, and she heard a grunt of acknowledgement from behind her in reply.

Day 12

“What are you doing here?” Yena asked when she saw a familiar figure enter the convenience store.

“I’m just getting some snacks,” Sakura said, shrugging as she walked around the store as if that really were really why she was there. But Yena could see the other girl look suspiciously over at the counter more than once.

When Sakura had discovered her secret part-time job the night before, Yena had thought she was done for even though the girl had said she wouldn’t tell anyone. However, when she came in to work today, her boss didn’t say anything. Relieved that she still had a job, she began to wonder about what kind of person Sakura was.

As she looked across the store at the girl, who was trying to be sneaky, she was starting to understand more and more what kind of girl she had gotten herself involved with. A busybody. A caring busybody, but a busybody nonetheless.

“Yena, I see that your friend is here again. Feel free to take your fifteen right now if you want. Don’t worry. I know how boring it is here sometimes,” Her boss said with a wink.

“Thanks, we’ll be quick,” Yena said, not bothering to correct him on their friendship status or lack thereof. She moved around Sakura’s line of sight towards the magazines and comics.

“Where did she go?” Sakura muttered as she looked up from her comic to the cashier.

“Hey, this isn’t a library,” Yena said suddenly and was rewarded with Sakura nearly jumping out her skin in fright.

“Geez, you almost gave me a heart attack,” Sakura said with an angry whisper.

“You don’t have to whisper. My boss is nice. Let’s go around the back where we can talk,” Yena said, pointing to the exit sign.

“Yena, wait up,” Sakura said as she followed after Yena hurriedly.

Day 15

You don’t have to keep checking up on me. I’m fine. Those words were always on the tip of Yena’s tongue, but she could never actually utter them. She looked at Sakura as the girl gorged on the half-priced oden. “Kkura, did you take the mystery pouch? I wanted that.”

“Sorry,” Sakura said without an ounce of sorry-ness in her voice.

“Well, then you’re probably too full for this,” Yena said as she brought out two cups of pudding.

“Why ask when you already know the answer,” Sakura said as she went up to Yena eagerly with her hands held open.

Yena felt her heart flipflop as Sakura beamed a smile at her as she handed over one of the cups. Must be heartburn.

“You didn’t do anything to it, did you?” Sakura asked when she looked at Yena’s face.

Yena rolled her eyes and opened her cup first. She made a show of taking a big spoonful. “I can have yours too if you don’t want it.”

Sakura looked at her cup and sighed. She moved to stand beside Yena who was leaning against the store. “So, are you getting used to the job?”

“Yeah. There was a lot to learn at first and it was hard juggling this job and schoolwork. But I’m getting used to it now.” A large part of the reason why it was easier to juggle both was because of the girl standing beside her. But Yena would never admit it to Sakura.

“You should consider cutting back on some of the clubs you’re signed up in,” Sakura said. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the girl nearly brought up the topic every time they chatted.

“Yeah, I know,” Yena said. She knew Sakura was right, but it had been a dream of hers to be a part of as many clubs as possible when she was a kid. It was hard letting go of that dream. “Speaking of clubs. You guys doing okay?”

“Yeah, it would be nice if we had more members, but I’m really happy with what we have right now. Most days are quiet, but sometimes, we have all of us there. Let me tell you, my senpai and my two kouhais are not the quietest bunch. I can’t imagine how noisy the club could get if we had more participating.”

Yena loved these moments that occurred in between their sniping at each other. While she had many friends, she didn’t have many that she could confide in. In Sakura, she found a person who was just as eager to share her burdens.

Day 43

“…then we had self study period. Kim-san came over and studied with me…”

Yena stared at Sakura as the girl narrated everything that happened at school. Her heart had been gripped in an unknown fear when the girl had gotten up as if to leave. It was only after Sakura sat back down that Yena felt herself calm down.

All day, she’d been screaming with futility inside of her head. She hated being sick. Absolutely hated it. It always brought back bad memories of when she was sick as a child and of how hard it was for her family at that time.

Seeing Sakura enter her room and visit her had nearly brought her to tears. It was strange that this girl was able to dispel the bad memories which haunted her since childhood. She’d joined many clubs and participated in many school activities as if to make up for lost time, but there had always been a lingering memory of when she couldn’t do those things.

With Sakura, she had gained someone that made her feel safe and protected even when the bad memories surfaced. She had gained a confidant. Someone that she had never had before in her life. Her secret part-time job had become more than just a way for her to earn money. It had also become the glue that held the two of them together. It was one of the reasons that she didn’t want to quit.

Yena watched as Sakura’s eyes lit up as she got around to talking about her art club activities after school. She finally closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift to sleep. Her last thoughts were of how happy the girl looked.

Day 57

“Like this?” Yena asked as she pushed the needed into the leather.

“The spacing is still a bit wide,” Sakura said as she went over to watch Yena’s handiwork.

Yena sighed and pulled the needle back so that she could move it closer to the previous hole. “This is hard. Maybe I should draw stuff instead, like you do.”

“Drawing’s hard too,” Sakura said. “It’s probably even harder for you since you’re pretty wishy washy about when you will actually come to club. It’s much easier to pick up a craft like this again.”

Yena rolled her eyes at Sakura. They still took shots at each other with almost every sentence, but neither took any offense anymore. It was just the way the two of them communicated. In some ways, it made Yena happy that she was probably the only person that Sakura talked this way to.

Yena looked around the room. She could see many drawings whose funny style matched those of the ones she often saw in the notebooks that Sakura lent her. Surrounded by all these weird and unique drawings made her feel a strange contentment.

“Are you having fun?” Sakura asked after a while. Yena could see that the girl tried to sound nonchalant about it, but it was obvious that the girl cared about her answer very much.

“Yeah, I am,” Yena admitted honestly.

“That’s great,” Sakura said with a smile. “I was a little worried that you wouldn’t enjoy yourself.”

There is was. The same smile she had seen when she was sick and delirious. Until she saw it again just now, she hadn’t really been sure why she canceled some of her other clubs and made such an effort to join the art club. Even more than she wanted to fulfil her childhood wish of trying as many things as she humanly could, she wanted to see her friends happy.

Day 312

“It that you had to work tonight,” Sakura said as she and Yena shared some pork buns.

“Someone had to. All of the other employees are adults, so it made sense that they might want Valentine’s Day off,” Yena said. Although, their conversation was normal, she could feel her heart racing for some stupid reason. She put her hands into her vest pocket and could feel the small piece of wrapped chocolate.

“So, I saw how much chocolate was in your shoe locker. You are definitely more of an oppa then me,” Sakura said, gloating.

“Don’t act like you didn’t get any,” Yena said.

“Those were all friendship chocolates,” Sakura said.

The girl somehow remained dense when it came to how popular she was getting. At times like these though, it worked towards Yena’s advantage. Wait. Why do I care if I have an advantage or not?

Yena felt the piece of chocolate hidden away in her pocket. She had come up with the perfect prank to pull on her friend but was having a lot of difficulty executing it. She looked at the clock on her phone and noticed that her fifteen minute break was almost up.

“Well, here’s some chocolate,” Yena said suddenly as she took the piece of chocolate and lobbed it towards Sakura.

“What?” Sakura asked, confused as she awkwardly caught it.

“And it’s not friendship chocolate, by the way,” Yena said quickly. Psych! At least that was what she was going to say, instead a lump formed in . Her eyes opened wide as she stared at Sakura who looked at Yena with open.

Yena her heel and walked back to the store stiffly, leaving a still flabbergasted Sakura in her wake.

Day 341

Yena tapped the counter beside the cashier and sighed deeply. It had been a month since she had given Sakura the chocolate. But nothing had really changed. It was as if the both of them pretended that Yena hadn’t done it.

She can’t be that dense, right? Yena asked herself. No, she can definitely be that dense. If I said it wasn’t friendship chocolate, what other kind of chocolate could there be on Valentine’s Day? Stupid Sakura!

Truth be told, Yena herself, had been quite dumb as well. It took her actually handing the chocolate over to Sakura before she was able to understand that her own feelings went beyond friendship.

Afterwards, she thought about their friendship over and over again, wondering when things had changed. It was hard to pinpoint it exactly. Of all her friendships, hers with Sakura had always been the most different. At times antagonistic, at others supportive. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.

The door chime rang, breaking Yena out of her reverie. Lo and behold, it was the insensitive queen herself. Yena was about to sound off on the girl for making her wait so long, before she caught herself staring at a barely concealed bag that Sakura held with one hand behind her back. It looked like Sakura was ready to give an answer.

Day 2320

Sakura: The ending is supposed to be romantic.

Yena: Shut up. That was romantic.

Author’s Note:

Tom & Jerry. :P

So many good moments. They tease each other most times but can be such softies at other times.