Day 1

“Saku-chan!” Nako shouted again.

“I heard you the first time,” Sakura said as she exited her home. “You’re so noisy in the morning.”

“If I’m not loud, you’ll just fall asleep again,” Nako said, not incorrectly.

“Yeah, yeah. Well, let’s go.” Sakura yawned as she headed towards the school. She stopped when she saw Nako standing still and looking up at her expectantly. “What is it?”

“Well?” Nako asked and twirled around for emphasis.

“Ah, you look cute in your new uniform,” Sakura said, finally getting the hint.

“Thanks,” Nako beamed up at her neighbor and childhood friend. “You would have seen it yesterday if you went to the opening ceremony.”

“I’m sorry for catching a cold,” Sakura said sarcastically, but in reality, she was glad that she did. She had gone to the ceremony last year and it was a total bore.

Nako always seemed to have the ability to read Sakura’s mind. She rolled her eyes and then smiled mischievously. “I think your eyes would have been glued to the stage. There was this first-year student that gave a speech for the opening ceremony.”

“A first-year did that? Usually, a third-year from the school council the year before will do that I think,” Sakura said, yawning. So, there was a first-year that did that. Big deal.

“And she was super cute,” Nako continued smiling slyly.

Sakura perked up at Nako’s mentioning of cute. “Why would I care if she’s super cute or not?”

“Oh, please. Like I haven’t seen you play hundreds of dating sims just because you thought the characters looked cute. She’s like an anime character. Even though we’re all wearing the same uniform, she makes it look like high fashion. She give’s off a mysterious princess vibe. People were all talking about her after the ceremony. I think I heard that she might be in my class.”

The girl would have to be exceptional to draw attention away from Nako, Sakura thought. Even though the two of them have been together ever since the younger girl was born, she often found herself catching her breath at Nako’s cuteness. Even a childhood friendship did not make her immune to Nako’s charms.

“So, do you think you’ll make any friends this year?” Nako asked, changing the topic. Her look suggested that she already knew the answer and was also going to be skeptical of it.

“Of course. And, hey I made a friend last year,” Sakura answered defensively. She didn’t feel the need to mention that the friend she made was her club president who was in a different year.

“Well, good luck,” Nako said. She then turned and smiled at Sakura, showing her explosive dimples. “You can always come find me and we can have lunch together if it doesn’t pan out again this year.”

Sakura waved goodbye to Nako as their paths diverged on the school grounds. She had been impressed when she saw a bunch of juniors wave at Nako. Her friend did not have the same issues that Sakura had with making friends. As the group of them turned away, Sakura thought she saw one of the girls seem to stare intensively at her before turning her head.

Sakura stared at the retreating backs of the group before turning away puzzled. Perhaps, she just imagined it. There weren’t any first-years aside from Nako that she would know much about.

As she thought about it, she made her way to her assigned homeroom. She decided to take the scenic route, which also happened to be the more private route away from all the main walkways. She wasn’t ready to bump into people that she might have met last year. It was difficult for her to know if she should say hello or not as she hadn’t really been close to any of them. The easiest thing to do was to just avoid people altogether.

She was caught up in these thoughts as she turned around a corner and found herself bumping into someone coming the other way. “Oof!”

“Ah, sorry, are you hurt?”

Sakura found herself looking up from the ground, way up, to see the very tall girl looking down at her. “No, I’m fine… Senpai?” Sakura said, unsure if she had every met the girl before. In fact, she found that she could barely even make the girl out as her glasses had been knocked off.

The tall girl laughed. “I’m a junior that’s just starting here. I’m Ahn Yujin. Here, let me help you up.”

“Thanks,” Sakura said as Yujin grabbed a hold of her hand. As she got up, she was able to make out more of the taller girl’s features. Sakura stared at the girl’s mature looking face. She didn’t have the baby face looks that Nako did and her bearing and figure made her look much older than a first-year student typically looked like.

The girl ducked and brought Sakura’s glasses up from the ground and handed them to her. “Wow, these are thick and old fashioned. You look so much better without them.”

Sakura shyly and quickly put her glasses back on her face. Only Nako and her family had ever really seen her without them on. Upon putting them on and looking at the girl, Sakura was stunned again for a moment, as she was caught off guard by how much better the girl looked when she was able to see her even more clearly. Somehow, she managed to find her pride as the upperclassman and squeak out words again. “Ahn-san, you should watch how you talk here. I’m Miyawaki Sakura. I’m a second-year here.”

“Oh, my bad, Sakura-san,” Yujin smiled, easily moving on to Sakura’s given name without much thought. “I’ll be more careful in the future. Thanks for the tip.”

“So, AHN-san,” Sakura tried again, putting emphasis on the girl’s last name. “Are you lost? What are you doing here? The first-year’s building is over there.”

“Ah, I was kind of hiding and waiting for class to start. The girls here are so clingy and were following me everywhere,” Yujin said sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head in an embarrassed manner.

“I see. Well, I guess I’ll just let you be then.” Sakura didn’t see actually. The girl was so popular that she had to hide. That could never happen to Sakura in a million years.

“Wait, Sakura-san,” Yujin reached out and grabbed Sakura’s arm before she could leave. “You’re not going to tell anyone that I’m here, right?”

Sakura sighed as she opened her bento box. She was once again eating by herself. This was not at all how she imagined high school life to be like. Glancing up from her bento, she could see many of the girls in their own cliques chatting away. Many of them seemed to have met each other the first year and were happily getting reacquainted with each other.

“Wasn’t the teacher speaking too quickly?”

Sakura blinked as she looked at the girl sitting in front of her. Large eyes stared back at her. The girl was pouting in an exaggerated manner with her lips protruding outwards. “Huh?”

“The teacher. He was going so fast. Man, I couldn’t keep up at all. Did you manage to get all the notes down? You want to lend them to me?” The girl asked, speaking even more quickly than the aforementioned teacher.

Sakura had to rack her brain to try and remember the girl’s name. She had been so nervous during their self introductions that she hadn’t really paid attention to anyone else. The girl was speaking with such familiarity that it was making Sakura even more nervous and embarrassed that she couldn’t remember the girl’s name for the life of her. “Jo-san?”

The girl made a face. “Choi Yena. We were in the same class last year.”

“Oh, right. Choi-san. I remember now.” Sakura’s eyesight had gotten really bad last year but she hadn’t changed her prescription until this year. She couldn’t really make out the people that sat on the other side of the room, which Yena, was one of. All she remembered was the girl’s loud husky voice and that the girl was popular among all the students.

“Looks like they really shuffled us around this year. We’re the only two girls from 1B,” Yena said, as she looked around the class.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Sakura said, though she had been secretly happy, as it meant she had a better chance to make friends this year.

“At least we got each other, I guess. Anyway, so can I get those notes off you?” Yena asked again with the same tone as if they had known each other all their lives.

“Uh, sure, here,” Sakura said as she passed her notebook to the girl.

“Oh, you play this game too?” Yena asked, pointing at the picture of a girl on the back of Sakura’s phone.

Sakura blushed as she grabbed her phone and was about to make her usual excuse that her brother must have stuck it on her phone, when she noticed that Yena was not looking at her with disgust. “Yeah, I guess I play Produce 48 sometimes. I got this photo card from some random gatcha machine and I just kind of stuck it on my phone.” After throwing five thousand yen at the machine.

Yena nodded enthusiastically as she held up her phone. There was also a picture of a girl on the back of her phone. “Yeah, I play it sometimes too. This is my waifu! Isn’t she the cutest?”

“Juri is cute I guess, but Sae is obviously the cutest,” Sakura answered automatically, offended by the girl’s question.

“You couldn’t be more wrong. Juri is just out of this world. I mean look at her. This is where I’ve got her wearing the limited baseball outfit. Have you ever seen anyone where a uniform as well as she does?” Yena flipped through her phone’s saved images and shoved it into Sakura’s face.

“Sae has the most outfits in the game. You can dress her up so many different ways. Look how cute she looks in all of these outfits?” Sakura also brought up her phone as she thumbed through all of her screenshots.

“Quality over quantity,” Yena said, waving off Sakura’s reasons.

“We’re just going to have to agree to disagree then,” Sakura said, miffed.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Yena said, turning back around in a huff.

Sakura instantly found herself regretting her words as she watched the girl turn her back on her. Ah, what are you doing, Sakura? That was your chance to make a friend. She’s into the same game as you and seems to be a nice girl even if she was completely wrong about who’s the cutest.

“I’ll give you back your notes by the end of the lunch hour. Um, thanks again,” Yena said, turning back around to look at Sakura and then away again.

If there was one thing that Sakura was unhappy about when it came to her new homeroom, it was that she was no longer in the same class room as the girl she had been crushing on for an entire year, Kim Minju. The only place that Sakura now had a chance to sneak looks at her was from the library which was where she headed. Sure enough, there she was, brightening up the room with her mere presence alone.

Sakura could only gape as the girl had become even more beautiful after the break. It made it all the much more difficult for Sakura to gather her courage to go up to the desk and talk with the girl. Fortunately, it did not look like she had to start the conversation as Minju glanced up at her and gave her a friendly beckoning wave.

“Hi, Miyawaki-san. Already at the library on your first day back?” Minju asked with a smile.

“Ah, I finished my lunch early and decided to just spend it here. Are you already volunteering on the first day of school?” Sakura asked. She was so happy that they were close enough to exchange such pleasantries.

“Yeah. The librarian was really busy and the other committee members from last year were busy too, so I said I’d help out. It’s too bad that we’re in different classes this year,” Minju said, pursing her lips slightly.

Even if it was just common courtesy to say such things, Sakura’s heart beat faster all the same. “Yeah, our class seems to be made up of many people from other classes.”

“Mine too. Many of us from 1B gathered at the entrance ceremony yesterday and exchanged numbers. But I didn’t see you there yesterday,” Minju said with a hint of sadness or at least that was what Sakura was hoping for.

“I was pretty sick so I stayed home. My mom went and got me all the info I would need for today,” Sakura answered, flustered by the kindness of Minju’s words. She was as beautiful inside as out.

“Oh, no, I hope you’re feeling better.” Minju got up as if wanting to go and check on Sakura, before realizing there was a large desk in between them. “You still look a little feverish.”

Sakura felt heat rise to her cheeks as prolonged exposure to Minju was known to do to her. She tugged at the collar of her uniform, hoping to get some more air to cool herself off. “Ah, I’m much better thank you. I just need to sit down and rest for a bit.”

“Oh, there were some new books that came in during the break. I think you’d love them. Once we’ve got them entered in the system, I’ll reserve some of them for you,” Minju smiled to the detriment of Sakura’s already fraying sanity. The girl could make anyone go crazy with that killer smile.

“Senpai. Are you okay?”

Sakura didn’t realize that she had been out loud. She raised her head and found an amazingly tall girl, even taller than Yujin, staring down at her. “What? I mean, I am okay. I was just, uh, mumbling to myself. I do that sometimes, ah heh heh.”

“Oh, it’s good to hear that nothing’s wrong,” the girl giggled.

“Yes, that’s right. Oh, where are my manners. I’m Miyawaki Sakura. Um, and you are?”

The girl looked at Sakura with a puzzled look before smiling cutely. “Oh, I’m Jang Wonyoung. I’m a first-year here.”

“I was shocked when you called me senpai. I mean you’re so tall. You might be the tallest girl in our whole school and yet you’re only in your first year,” Sakura said, babbling nervously as she continued to surreptitiously look the girl up and down. How can they be so long?

The girl was polite enough to ignore Sakura’s blatant ogling of her legs. “I’m surprised to find someone already at the library.”

“Oh, I like to read,” Sakura said, telling half of the reason. The other half being that she wanted to escape from the classroom and hopefully see Minju. “How about you? Why are you here?”

“I’d like to say that I like to read too, but I’m hiding. I didn’t feel like answering more questions,” the girl giggled.

What is it with beautiful first-years and hiding. “Ah, I can understand them though. I have like a million myself,” Sakura said, still staring, awestruck more and more as time went on.

“Hmm, like? I’m okay if Senpai is the one asking,” the girl said, arching an eyebrow to show her curiosity at what Sakura’s questions could be.

“Exactly how long are your legs? What do you eat to grow them so long? What do you eat to have such smooth skin? Are you even human?” It was as if a dam broke within her as Sakura launched the barrage of questions that she had been holding back.

“I’ve given up measuring my legs and I think I’m still growing. I don’t know if there’s anything I eat specifically. I drink a lot of milk I guess. Yes, I’m human,” Wonyoung laughed as she answered the questions as rapidly as Sakura asked them. “Not one question about how rich I am or about my family?”

“Uh, you’re rich? And are the Jang’s famous?” Sakura asked, blinking.

“Never mind,” the girl’s said, her smile growing even wider. “Unnie, you know, I think you can still ask her for her number. She looks like she’d give it to you.”

Sakura’s face turned pale. “You heard me?”

“You were ‘stupid, stupid, why didn’t I ask for her number, why, why’ over and over and not exactly quietly,” Wonyoung said, mimicking Sakura’s voice perfectly.

Sakura put both hands on her head as if wanting to tear her hair out. “Kill me now.”

“Relax, I don’t think she heard you from way over here. Just me,” Wonyoung winked. “Anyway, I should get going back to class before lunch is over. It was nice meeting you, Unnie. I hope to see you again.”

Sakura watched sadly as a bunch of the girls in class ran up to Yena at the bell and dragged the girl off with them. Some people just had the knack of making friends. Sakura considered herself a smart girl, but she was somehow never able to master that art. Glumly, she packed her bags so that she could get to the art club.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going, Miyawaki-san?”

Sakura looked up and found one of the more outspoken girls in the class, Lee Chaeyeon, looking at her expectantly. “Hmm? What do you mean?”

“I guess you were asleep at the desk, but you got picked to be in the first rotation for cleaning duty,” Chaeyeon said matter-of-factly.

“I did? Oh, I guess I was nodding off.” Sakura had laid her head in her arms most of the class, pretending to be asleep, but it looked like that she actually did fall asleep at some point.

“Well, I’m on the first shift with you. I’m Lee Chaeyeon if you didn’t catch my name during the introductions.”

“Ah, I’m Miyawaki Saku… ah, I guess you already knew that.” Sakura found herself once again at a loss as to what to say next, so just stood there looking at Chaeyeon nervously. Argh! I’m the master of the awkward silence.

Fortunately, Chaeyeon was not. “Yep, but I honestly I had to look at the roll sheet since you were so quiet I could barely hear you,” Chaeyeon laughed in a friendly manner.

“Ah, sorry,” Sakura immediately apologized.

“Don’t be sorry. You weren’t the only one for sure. Anyway, why don’t we get started. Are you already in a club?” Chaeyeon asked, again, with an easy-going, friendly tone.

“Ah, yeah. I was in the art club last year. I was going to swing by and see if I could help with recruitment,” Sakura answered more smoothly. She found herself relaxed despite talking to someone that was her age and that she barely knew. For her, this was unheard of.

“Oh, nice. Your club president is Kwon Eunbi-san, right? She used to be in the Cheer Dance club, which I’m in. You’re so lucky! I admire her a lot,” Chaeyeon continued talking, making no move to get started on the cleaning, which Sakura found herself okay with.

“Oh, you’re the kohai that she talks a lot about. She said you were really talented,” Sakura said, remembering her long conversations with Eunbi-senpai.

“I’m so happy to hear that. Do you mind if I tag along with you when we get done here?” Chaeyeon asked excitedly.

“Sure, Lee-san,” Sakura, again, found herself surprised at how easy it was to talk to the other girl.

“Hey, call me Chaeyeon. I can call you Sakura, right,” Chaeyeon said in a tone that suggested that she wasn’t really asking.

“What’s the matter, Senpai?” Sakura asked as she looked at Eunbi who was looking at door where Chaeyeon had just left.

“Nothing. I just remembered a lot of things when I saw her,” Eunbi said wistfully.

“Should I not have invited her?” Sakura had thought that her senpai would have been happy to meet an old friend, but she looked anything but.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Don’t worry about it,” Eunbi brushed aside Sakura’s question. “Now, why don’t you tell me about your day?”

“Ah, it was okay, I guess,” Sakura said meekly at the sudden attention on her.

“Well? Did you make any friends yet? Maybe our club will be more than just two people this year?” Eunbi asked in a teasing voice. “You know you’re going to be club president next year, right?”

Sakura nodded shyly. Their club was barely afloat. Some of Eunbi’s friends were ghost members in the club, bringing their total to five, the minimum needed for a club. When she graduated, Sakura would be the only one left. “I know, I know. I’ll have you know I talked to two people in my class today. And I also talked with a couple of first-years.”

“Wow,” Eunbi said in an impressed voice. “Four whole people? Maybe the club will be saved after all.”

Sakura looked at Eunbi suspiciously, suspecting that the older girl was mocking her, but her senpai did actually look genuinely shaken. “I promised that the club won’t die by my hands, remember? I’ll do my best this year.”

Sakura smiled as she looked at the half-finished poster. It was super cute and was bound to draw attention. She carefully rolled it up so that she could put it away. As she started to put the art supplies away as well, she noticed how quiet the club room was when it was just her.

Sakura sighed and wondered how she was going to get more people to join the club. She didn’t want to make Eunbi worry so she made a lot of big promises that she wasn’t sure that she would be able to keep. Her senpai would be devastated if their club had to disband next year despite saying that she only cared if Sakura was happy. Sakura sighed again as she remembered getting the keys to the club from Eunbi earlier and how heavy they felt in her hands.

It was as Sakura was contemplating the impossible task before her, when she heard a soft melody begin to play. The former light music club room was beside their club room, but there hadn’t been anyone in the room since the year before, as there weren’t enough members for the light music club to continue. She had learned how to play the piano when she was younger, so she could easily tell how talented the person playing the piano in the other room was.

Sakura found all of her worries and thoughts drift away from her mind as she stopped everything that she was doing to listen as a beautiful voice accompanied the piano’s music. Time seemed to stand still for Sakura. She felt if she moved, the magic of the moment might end. Eventually, however, it did end, and its abrupt ending made her feel a sense of profound loss. It was that feeling that made her suddenly rush out of the room and barge into the other room.

“Oh!” the girl at the piano said as she looked up at the sudden intrusion.

“Um, hi,” Sakura could only say as her bravado could only take her so far.

“Sorry, was I disturbing you? I was just coming here to see if the light music club was still around. When I was in middle school, I head some of their members play and I really liked it.” The girl was looked flustered as she rapidly explained herself.

“Oh, no, you’re weren’t. I really, really enjoyed your singing. I thought it was so amazing,” Sakura blurted out also speaking rapidly.

“Ah,” the girl blushed hard as the two of them fell into silence.

“Uh, I hate to tell you this, but the light music club was dissolved last year due to a lack of members.” Sakura felt as crushed as the girl looked when she delivered the news to the girl.

“Oh, no, it can’t be. I was so looking forward to joining the club. What should I do?” the girl asked. She literally had tears in her eyes as she looked at Sakura pleadingly.

“You could try and join the school orchestra if you want to play music,” Sakura suggested, feeling sorry for the girl.

“I did that before. I was looking to do pop or other kinds of music. I love singing and you don’t really get to do that in the orchestra.” The girl’s eyes lit up at the mentioning of singing.

“You could try re-establishing the light music club again. You’ll need to recruit four other people and find a teacher who’ll be in charge of it.” Sakura wished that she had half the passion the girl displayed.

The girl’s eyes went dead at the suggestion. dropped, aghast, as if the very thought of Sakura’s idea was unbelievable to her. “Me? I couldn’t do that. I’m way too shy to ask people to join or even talk a teacher into supporting it.”

Sakura nodded, understanding the girl completely. She doubted that she could have tried to find a teacher to support the art club if there weren’t already one. “If I weren’t already in a club and also looking for members for my club, I’d help you by at least being a ghost member or something.”

“Thanks, anyway,” the girl said sadly.

It was then that Sakura came up with an idea that could help the both of them. She rushed up to the girl with an excited look as she grabbed the girl’s hands. “Hey, why don’t you join the art club? You can just come here and sing whenever you want. Nobody will have to know. You might even want to join us in some activities sometimes.”

The girl’s face was one of shock for a moment before turning into one of happiness. “Really? I can do that.”

“Yeah, nobody uses this room after school. So, I don’t see any problem with you using it. If you’re part of our club, nobody will really ask too many questions if you’re in the room beside this one,” Sakura said quickly, liking the sound of her plan more and more as she said it out loud.

The girl seemed to mull it over it for a long time while Sakura looked at her expectantly. She seemed to realize that her hands were still clutched by Sakura when she shyly pulled her hands away. “Uh, you know what? Why not? It’s not like I want to join any other club other than the ‘go home’ club anyway.”

“Yay!” Sakura was ecstatic and almost reached for the girl’s hands again before realizing that she barely even knew the girl; including knowing what her name was. “Ah, I’m so dumb! We did this in the wrong order. My name is Miyawaki Sakura. I’m a second-year here. Welcome to the club!”

The way home from school was fraught with danger. Danger to her weekly allowance to be specific. Sakura tried to ignore the sounds of the net cafe as she walked past it. But her fate was really sealed the moment she decided to walk down this path.

Sakura’s body turned and entered the PC Bang almost by reflex. She was greeted with flashing lights and loud techno music as soon as she stepped in. Home. Her real home.

It didn’t take much for her to justify to herself that she could and should spend some of her allowance. She had accomplished a lot today after all. She managed to recruit one new member and possibly made a friend or two in class. If that doesn’t require celebrating, what does?

After she went and signed in, she went over to the comfy booth to get settled in. The set-up here was much better than the one she had at home. If she had more money or if her parents would allow it, she would get herself a really nice gaming rig. But for now, she had to make do with a used laptop at home and occasionally spending some quality time at the cafe. With that final thought in mind, she sat down and proceeded to log into her favorite game, Fort Legends.

[Kwangbae: Finally, you log in!] Sakura was immediately greeted by her online friend as soon as she signed in.

[39Kura: Sorry, but I’ve been sick the last week. I even missed the opening ceremony yesterday and today I was busy with after school stuff.]

[Kwangbae: Oh, really? Honey, you need to take better care of yourself.]

Sakura was grinning widely at her friend’s remark. Kwangbae was normally a pretty rude person. Whenever they teamed up, the other girl would tear into their teammates if they didn’t play up to her satisfaction. However, with Sakura, she was always sweet and considerate. [39Kura: How about you? Didn’t you have school today?]

[Kwangbae: Yeah, it was okay. Math was fun. Everything else was boring.]

Sakura had chatted with Kwangbae enough over the past few months that she had been able to glean a few things about her friend; She was a girl, an honor student, incredibly rich, the same grade as her, and as much an otaku for games, anime, and manga as Sakura.

[Kwangbae: You know. I really missed you this last week.] Kwangbae messaged a few minutes after Sakura didn’t respond to the last message.

Sakura felt a tug at her heart at Kwangbae’s simple message. [39Kura: I missed you too.]

[Kwangbae: I couldn’t wait to get out of school and go home to see if you were online. I didn’t know how else to check how you were doing.]

Sakura could tell how worried her friend had been by the passive aggressive message. She’d told the girl early on in their friendship how much of a shy person she was and how anxious she felt at meeting people in real life. Kwangbae had gotten the hint and never really tried to push for them to meet offline. Passively asking for some other form of contact as she did right now was the most she had ever tried.

Sakura breathed deeply and pulled out her phone. She stared at it for a moment before putting it back down. She thought back to her eventful day and how she had managed to meet so many new people. In part, she knew she could attribute her gaining confidence to Kwangbae and their interactions together. [39Kura: I’m sorry for worrying you. Do you want to exchange numbers so we can keep in touch outside of the game?]

[Kwangbae: Really? Yeah, I’d love that a lot.]

Sakura was smiling ear to ear as she skipped down the road to her home. She found herself becoming one of those people who always held their phones out with their heads down. She giggled as Kwangbae sent her another text. The girl loved her memes.

With her head down, Sakura almost missed seeing a girl crouched low on the path. However, the girl’s girlish shriek caused her to stop and stare. There on the road was Sakura’s latest crush, Chaewon. Sakura’s immediate instinct was to hide, which she did by sliding to the side behind a light pole.

Sakura was disgusted with herself for hiding after all the supposed growth she had done today in terms of no longer being a coward. But, in the face of her newest crush and all the socializing she had done today, she felt she no longer had any bravery left to lean upon. Instead, she peaked around the pole to watch the object of her affection trying to get the attention of a cat.

“Come here, little kitty, come here,” Chaewon cooed. She gave a large sigh as the cat just stared at her. When she tried to pet the cat, the cat would immediately swipe at her hand with sharp claws.

“Not you too?” Chaewon asked the cat. “Am I so unapproachable? First the girls in my class and now you.”

Sakura had noticed that the girls that had surrounded Chaewon and Hyewon at the beginning of lunch hour had started to dwindle. For Hyewon, it simply looked like the girl was listless and unresponsive to the girls, so they had simply lost interest in trying to get the beauty’s attention. For Chaewon, the girls had seemed intimidated by her glaring.

“Sakura-senpai.”

Sakura cocked her head to the side as she looked at the girl leaving Nako’s house. It was the same girl that had been staring at her intensely in the morning. Do I know her?

“You don’t remember me?” The girl asked, pouting, causing her very cute full cheeks to puff out.

Cute fluffy cheeks. Oh! “Hii-chan? Oh, long time no see,” Sakura said, wondering, how she could have even forgotten the cute girl for a second, but she did. The girl’s slender athletic looking build was very different than short, slightly chubby girl that Sakura remembered. “It’s been over a year, right?”

“Yeah, it has. Did you join the track team in high school?” Hitomi asked. The girl was always to the point when she wanted to know things.

“I was just a backup in junior high and I wasn’t very good when I did run.” Sakura had always been on the bench. Their middle school was not known for their athletics.

“I was hoping to be in the same club as Senpai again,” Hitomi said with a sad tone.

In the year that Sakura had not seen Hitomi, the girl had grown up quite a lot. She was extremely slender now with only her cheeks still displaying some of her baby fat. It looked like she put in a lot of work the last year. “You’re still doing track? That’s amazing.”

“It was Senpai that made me fall in love with it. The sight of Sakura-senpai running with all her might is still burned in my memory,” Hitomi said while looking down with a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

Sakura blushed, not expecting the compliment and for track of all things. The sight of her running had scared their coach. Inspiring is not a word that Sakura would have described her running. “What are you doing coming out of Nako’s house? Do you know her? She went to a different middle school than us.”

“We met at the entrance ceremony and we hit it off since we like some of the same things. It turns out that we like we like a lot of the same things,” Hitomi explained. “She invited me over to hang out.”

“It’s nice that you made friends with her. I was a little worried since her middle school was part of an escalator school so that meant she would have to make all new friends when she made it into our school. I was surprised when she said she wanted to try and make it, since our school’s entrance exam is so hard.”

“When there’s something you want, you try hard for it. You taught me that and I think Nako got that from you as well,” Hitomi said, looking at Sakura directly this time.

Nako did say that she liked their school’s cute uniform over her other school’s uniform. It was strange to Sakura that Nako would try so hard for such a superficial thing though. “Good job getting in. I guess that means I’ll be able to see you around more often since I live next to Nako and we now go to the same school again.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Hitomi said, smiling and tilting her head in thanks. “Well, I’ll be seeing you.”

Sakura: I guess it sounds a little… gross?

Chaeyeon: …

Sakura: Uh, can you say something?

Chaeyeon: This Sakura is a little too dense, isn’t she?

Sakura: A dense protagonist is one of the cornerstones of a harem game.

Chaeyeon: …

Author’s note:

I’ve been wanting to do Sakura’s AU idea for awhile. I apologize if you’ve read something similar, but I hope you still enjoy my take on it. I plan to write a few more ‘days’ in the life of this Sakura, so if you enjoyed it, stay tuned.

Let me know what you thought!