Yuri's Days
DaydreamsYuri’s Days
Day 1
Yuri waved goodbye happily to her newly made friend. The last few minutes had been a roller coaster of emotion for her. First, she found out the light music club had been dissolved. Her heart dropped at the thought of a music-less high school life. Then, Sakura, her savior, had told her that she could use the music room to sing whenever she wanted to. While it wasn’t an ideal situation, it did alleviate some of her fears of what her first year of high school would be like.
Miyawaki Sakura. The girl was just like Yuri. Shy and clumsy in their first meeting with each other. It was strangely coincidental that she was able to meet the exact person that would be able to help solve her problem. It was like something out of a movie. Was she her fated person? Oh my god! Stop it! Yuri hated to admit it, but she was the kind of person that believed in that kind of cheesy romantic scenario. While the girl was nice enough, she didn’t exactly make Yuri’s heart flutter. It was still a nice thought though.
Day 22
Yuri beamed from ear to ear as she watched Sakura sing beside her. Today was easily one of the happiest days that she could remember in a long time. “You’re doing so well, Senpai.”
“Ugh, I’m not,” Sakura denied strongly as her shoulders sagged with fatigue as if she had just run a marathon. “That was so hard!”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have made you practice that verse over and over again.” Yuri looked at the time on her phone and gasped. They had been going at it for almost half an hour.
“No, keep coaching the way you’re coaching. I have a long ways to go before I can even match you a little,” Sakura said, looking exhausted, but still trying to smile for Yuri’s benefit.
Sakura amazed Yuri. She was surprised that the girl never once failed to obey any of Yuri’s suggestions about repeating a verse here or there. She was also better than Yuri expected which let her to believe that Sakura had had some training in the past. She didn’t believe the girl was a complete novice when it came to singing. “I guess you should be getting back. Yujin will be showing up any time now for club activities.”
“Me? You’re coming with me after what you put me through,” Sakura said almost menacingly.
“Yes, of course,” Yuri laughed. She had only joined the art club in name, but it had completely changed her world. She had made friends with Yujin, a fellow first-year, Eunbi-senpai, the president of the club, and of course Sakura, her savior. Without Sakura allowing her the use of the music room and singing with her whenever she wanted, she wouldn’t know what to do with her time.
Day 39
Yuri should be happy. She wasn’t. She wanted to like art as much as Sakura and Yujin seemed to, but her heart just wasn’t in it. “You really like art, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I love it. I really like how it allows me to express myself,” Sakura said happily as she busied about the art room.
“I think I’m all thumbs. I look at this and I don’t think it’s saying what my heart wants at all,” Yuri said sadly as she looked at her mess of a painting.
“Hmm,” Sakura murmured as she looked at Yuri’s piece. “I think it’s saying that you’d like to take a break and sing something.”
“What?” Yuri blinked as she looked again at the blob in front of her. “You can see all that?”
Sakura rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. But I can see you fidgeting. Look like we might have a few minutes before Yujin gets here. Do you want to go and play something on the piano?”
“Sure. Do you want to join me for a quick song?” Yuri asked as she took off her apron quickly. When she saw Sakura hesitate, she opened her eyes wide and put on the biggest frown she could muster. She was learning that this senpai of hers could never say no when she pouted like this.
“Yeah, I guess,” Sakura said while sighing.
Yuri jumped up and planted a peck on the girl’s cheek in happiness. Sakura immediately rubbed it off her cheek while giving her a scolding look. Yuri ignored it and just dragged her reluctant senpai to the other room. “Do you want to try singing another Little Glee Monster song?”
“Whatever’s fine,” Sakura said as she moved stand beside the piano.
Something about Sakura’s choice of words irked Yuri somewhat. She should be glad that Sakura was willing to do this with her. That’s just it. She’s willing to do it. She’s not WANTING to do it. Yuri shook her head clear of the negative thoughts that were hiding just underneath the surface of her other thoughts.
She wished she had what Sakura, Eunbi, and Yujin had with each other. If only the light music club magically appeared again.
Day 70
Yuri couldn’t sleep. Her brain was going a mile a minute as she went over all of the day’s events. Their first audition for the newly formed light music club was a resounding success. She was glad that Nako and Sakura convinced her to join the light music club without worrying about whether they would succeed in making it into an official club or not.
Sakura really was her savior. Once again, Yuri found herself indebted to the older girl. When and how would she ever be able to repay the girl?
Lately, all she ever thought about, besides music, was Sakura. Their relationship seemed so one-sided to Yuri. Sakura was always looking out for her while she was oblivious to anything that Sakura might be going through. In fact, she was feeling especially ungrateful for all the things that her senpai had done for her. She was finding herself jealous of the new recruits because Sakura had seemed particularly interested in them instead of her during the audition. Stop it! She was just… ogling them. Ugh!
Yuri wished she could fall asleep.
Day 92
“You should come into the room and listen tomorrow. We’re practicing a lot of Japanese songs that you sang with me from before,” Yuri said offhandedly as she sat in the art room watching Sakura carefully. As soon as she said it, she saw Sakura almost imperceptibly stiffen. There was definitely something wrong.
“Ah, I can listen from here. I need to prepare some stuff for Yujin tomorrow,” Sakura said without turning around to look at Yuri.
Initially, Yuri had been upset because she thought she had caught Sakura ogling all their new cute club members ever since their first audition. But as the weeks went by, she began to notice Sakura showing up at the door listening in to their club’s music less and less. Once, she caught the girl at the doorway and again she’d been staring at the new recruits. However, this time, Yuri thought she saw wetness in the girl’s eyes.
When Yuri asked Nako about it, the other girl had heaved a deep sigh and let her in on Sakura’s past trauma with singing. She hadn’t known! Yuri had hit herself on the head multiple times, wondering how dense she had been. When Sakura offered to sing with Yuri, there had always been a reluctance about it. She had attributed it to the fact that the girl was not confident in her voice.
Yuri now knew that it probably hurt Sakura to relive her past failed musical audition and subsequent abandoning of her childhood dream. To Yuri, it would be unheard of to live without music. It was her life. The idea that it could hurt anyone that she cared about was appalling to her.
Wordlessly she got up and hugged Sakura from the back.
“Ah, Yuri,” Sakura gasped with surprise. However, like usual, she didn’t push Yuri away. Senpai was always putting up with her and what she wanted. It was time for her to do something for her senpai.
Day 110
“Thank you,” Sakura said after they finished yet another song.
“Just don’t tell Nako,” Yuri said with a wink. Knowing her club president, the girl would be quite upset with her. She would make it up to the other girl later, but she really just wanted to repay Sakura with a karaoke session with just the two of them.
“I won’t. I had forgotten how much fun karaoke is,” Sakura said as she flipped through the song selection in the electronic pad.
Just hearing those words filled Yuri with joy. She couldn’t remember any of their previous singing sessions where Sakura looked genuinely happy. “You really want to try this one?” Yuri asked when she saw a Korean song flash in the selection list.
“Yeah, I really like it actually. I heard you sing this in the classroom one time, and it shook me so much. Well, if I have to be honest. Whenever you sing, it shakes me to my core,” Sakura said sheepishly.
Yuri was glad that it was dark in the karaoke room. It hid her blush well. “This one is by one of my favorite singers. It really is a healing song. I think it’s perfect for you to learn and try it.”
“I’ll be in your care, Sensei,” Sakura said formally with a near ninety-degree bow.
Yuri shook her head and marveled at Sakura’s humbleness. “You always do whatever I tell you to, don’t you? I am younger than you, you know?”
“Age doesn’t matter in things like this,” Sakura answered philosophically. “You and Nako are the best singers I know. But your voice and tone are closer to what I would like to sound like, so of course I’m going to follow whatever you say.”
Yuri blushed even harder.
Day 147
What was that? What was that? Yuri’s thoughts screamed at her as she rolled around in her bed. Her heart fluttered.
It fluttered.
If fluttered when she looked at Sakura without those stupid glasses.
It went ba-dump, ba-dump.
Yuri brought her pillow to and screamed into it. She tried to picture the scene again. Sakura had just taken her glasses off at Yuri’s insistent and then blackness. She’d literally blanked out. Did glasses really make that much of a difference?
Apparently, they did as Yuri had been floored. The girl needed to be registered as a lethal weapon. It seemed that tonight she would just have to give up on sleep as her brain refused to let the whole scenario go.
Day 162
Yuri considered herself to be an affectionate person with her close friends and family. Some people might even consider her to be a little too affectionate. Clingy in fact might be a more accurate term.
Ever since she asked Sakura to take off her glasses and she stared into the other girl’s beautiful eyes, she found herself having trouble acting normally around Sakura. What was once easy, a hug here, a peck there, became difficult. Whenever she tried to even think of hugging the girl or giving the girl a kiss, her mind went blank and she would stop in mid-hug or mid-kiss.
Mid-hug was the state she found herself in as she went up to Sakura and then just stopped, letting her arms hang loosely at her sides. “Uh, that was great.”
“Really? That didn’t sound weird?” Sakura asked, unconvinced.
Nothing Yuri ever said would dispel the notion that Sakura was not a great singer in her own head. The older girl had an extreme lack of confidence in her voice and its capabilities. “I like your deep voice. I think it matches mine really well.”
“Please don’t compare us. Your voice sounds like angels singing,” Sakura said with a panicked voice. “While mine…”
Yuri blushed. She should be used to Sakura’s endless praise of her voice by now, but she wasn’t. “…while yours sounds nice too,” Yuri finished for Sakura.
Your voice sounds like an angel to my ears too. She desperately wanted to saw those words, but they just hung in . She wasn’t stupid. She knew why she was having trouble hugging, kissing, or saying anything sweet back to the girl. Although the experience of being in love was new and strange, she wasn’t scared of it or anything. It was more that she wasn’t really sure how to proceed afterwards. If she did tell Sakura that she had feelings for her, what then?
“Okay,” Sakura said.
Yuri sighed, knowing Sakura only agreed to stop the conversation. Still, she was happy for even little victories. She knew that over time, she would be able to convince the girl to be more confident with her voice with small victories like this.
“Are you okay?” Sakura asked.
Yuri looked at Sakura, not really surprised anymore that the girl could read her so well. One more reason that she liked the girl so much. “Just a little unsure about some things.”
“Oh. Anything I can help you with?”
While Sakura never pushed too hard, Yuri knew the girl wouldn’t rest until she did find something she could help with. “Just feeling a little unsure of myself. Things are changing so fast. I don’t really know what’ll happen from one moment to the next. It’s like everything is new to me all of a sudden.” Yuri kept her words deliberately vague. She looked at Sakura’s gentle kind face as the older girl seemed to consider Yuri’s words carefully.
“Yuri should just do what Yuri does,” Sakura said finally.
Yuri blinked at the overly simple advice, speechless.
Sakura laughed. “There’s no use worrying about how things will turn out. The Yuri I know, who has grown so much this year, can and will handle whatever life throws at her. Whatever happens, happens.”
This time Yuri didn’t hesitate in jumping and wrapping her arms around the other girl. She smiled when Sakura ineffectually tried to pull away from the inevitable kiss she knew she was going to get. There really was no use in worrying about what would happen.
Day 358
“Don’t be like that Senpai,” Yuri said as she looked at Sakura who sat across from her. She had initially been nervous about inviting Sakura out on a coffee date just before school started up again for what would have been her second year. But when she saw Sakura come into the café, all that anxiety disappeared. She knew that no matter how their conversation went, Yuri would not allow the two of them to grow apart.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sakura sniffled, her eyes blotchy and red.
“I’m going to hug and kiss all your tears again if you keep going on,” Yuri threatened.
“It’s not really a threat when you’re going to do it anyway,” Sakura said, smiling a little.
Yuri smiled cheekily. “You smiled! It’s not like I’m quitting school for good.”
Sakura rolled her eyes. “You’re only going to school in name only. You’re going to be so busy as a trainee and you don’t really care about going to university after.”
“You know me so well, Senpai,” Yuri gushed. “I really don’t want to quit school though. I’ve met so many people this year and made so many unforgettable memories. Even if it’s in name only, I want to continue being a student of this school.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you auditioned and got accepted as a trainee?” Sakura asked sulkily.
“I remember the look on your face when you came and watched the light music club’s auditions. I also remember the look I sometimes saw on your face when you sang with me. All this year, you put up with my requests to sing with me even though it made you sad. I didn’t want to do that to you again.”
Sakura shook her head. “I’ve told you before that it wasn’t your problem but mine. If anything, your love for music and singing helped heal me.”
“It makes me happy to hear you say that. I guess, the other reason was that I wasn’t sure that I would make it. And if I didn’t make it, you’d be disappointed. I didn’t want that.”
Sakura looked at Yuri with a frown. “I could never be disappointed in you.”
“My heart knows that. But tell my brain that. Your opinion means a lot to me,” Yuri said while she looked shyly at Sakura. “Speaking of your opinion. Listen, Senpai. There’s something I want to ask you. You don’t have to give me any answer or anything. I’m not really sure what my question really means, but I was hoping we could figure it out together.”
Sakura nodded slowly while Yuri held her gaze.
Day 2274
Yuri stared at the camera as the song ended. She wanted to breathe hard after exerting herself for the entire song, but she knew she wouldn’t look pretty for the ending fairy shot if she did. She tried to keep a calm and cool look, but in the corner of her eye, she could see an embarrassingly and garishly dressed fangirl decked out with multiple banners featuring Yuri’s face draped all over her body. She came, she thought happily, and her cool look was ruined as she grinned goofily.
Hitomi: She couldn’t do it after all.
Minju: She’s too shy around Kkura-unnie.
Nako: Let her be. She’s fine that way.
Yena: You had to talk big, didn’t you?
Hyewon: That was cute.
Yuri: She was staring right at me when I was talking!
Sakura: Sorry.
Author’s note:
Sakuyul :P
The rarest Sakura ship of them all. You might see them interact once in a blue moon, but when they do, it’s always the softest. Who can forget Yuri’s famous line when she first saw Sakura in PD48? Sakura’s praise of Yuri and pride in her being IZ*ONE’s main vocalist fills me with uwus.
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