Bad Days

Day 1

“Do you mind if I tag along with you when we get done here?” Chaeyeon asked excitedly.

Sakura paused before answering as she looked at the excited girl.

1. Senpai would love to see an old friend. “Sure, Lee-san.”
2. She should make sure that it’s okay with Eunbi first. “Maybe next time? We have some boring club stuff to talk about.”

Sakura found herself swaying as music emanated from the music room. The girl’s voice was incredibly powerful and moving. When the song ended, she turned to look at the door wondering what she should do.

1. She should rush into the room and see who was singing.
2. It’s crazy to just go and confront someone she didn’t even know.

[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.]

1. She should share her personal phone number with Kwangbae.
2. She should just apologize and promise to send an in-game message next time.

[39Kura: I’m sorry. I’ll be sure to send you a message next time.]

[Kwangbae: No worries. Just glad that you’re better.]

Day 4

Sakura hesitated as she and Chaewon got to the gym. Whoever entered the gym last would definitely have to be paired up with the teacher.

1. She should go in first. Pairing up with a student is better than with the teacher.
2. She should go in second. Pairing up with the teacher is better than with some random.

Sakura looked at Yujin doubtfully.

1. The younger girl has good taste if she likes her drawings. She should let Yujin join the club.
2. She wasn’t fooled. The girl was just going to use the club to skip.

“I’m not sure the club is for you.”

Yujin’s smile froze on her face for a moment, but she recovered smoothly. “Ah, that’s too bad. I guess I’ll look somewhere else. I just thought it might have been fun.”

1. “Wait, I didn’t mean that. The club would love to have you.”
2. Don’t be fooled. Stick to your guns!

Day 11

“We could come early like today when we both have some free time and I could give you some pointers.”

Sakura gulped at she looked at Minju’s expectant eyes.

1. She’d die if she looked at Minju up close so often. She should make up a polite excuse.
2. She’d die if she looked at Minju up close so often. She should decline adamantly.

“No, it really isn’t for me, sorry,” Sakura said bowing her head deeply.

“Oh, I see,” Minju said, clearly saddened by Sakura’s answer.

Sakura could hear whispers all around her. Chaewon’s name was on nearly everyone’s lips after she came into the classroom with a bandaged hand. She knew it wasn’t from a gang fight and was probably the work of her cat, Maru.

1. She should ignore her fear of rejection and talk to Chaewon. It would show the class that she’s really not that scary to talk to.
2. She should not interfere. Chaewon already confronted her once when she caught her staring.

Day 12

Sakura felt a sudden wave of agitation wash over her as she walked past the convenience store. She peaked inside and could see Yena working at the cashier.

1. She was worried about the girl and should really check up on her.
2. She was not worried about the girl and could care less if Yena was caught or not.

Sakura harrumphed after taking one last look at Yena and stalked past the convenience store.

Day 43

Sakura looked at Nako who was fretting over not knowing what to do for a club. She knew what it was that Nako was really interested in. But it was a hard choice trying to start up a club from scratch. She knew that from experience trying to get more members for the art club. And the light music club had already disbanded once before.

1. She should relate her own experiences and get Nako to see what it was that she truly wanted to do.
2. She should suggest that Nako join the established school band. At least she’ll be around music.

“It might not be all bad to join the school band even if you don’t get to sing. At the very least you’ll be around music.”

Nako looked at Sakura with wry smile. “You gave up music.”

“That’s why I know that it’s better to at least have it in your life than not at all,” Sakura answered truthfully.

Day 53

Sakura watched as Hitomi wrung her hands with worry. She could tell that that the girl was seriously contemplating about leaving the track club over the fact that she and the other first years might not be able to compete over their seniors.

1. She should remind Hitomi to think about why she joined the club.
2. She should remind Hitomi that she’s not usually the type to make waves.

“The Hitomi I remember from middle school was always trying to keep the peace in the club. Sometimes to her detriment.”

“I was silly that way,” Hitomi said with a sigh.

Day 72

“Unnie, are you mad at me?”

Sakura felt her heart break at the question.

1. She should wait patiently and let the girl explain herself.
2. She was angry and upset for being kept in the dark. She must have looked so foolish being worried that the heir to the school as being bullied.

“I wouldn’t dare be angry, Jang-san,” Sakura said with bitterness.

“I see,” Wonyoung said, flinching at Sakura’s words. “I deserved that. I’m sorry.”

Sakura’s heart lurched as Wonyoung turned around and left the room.

1. She should stop the girl.
2. She should let her go.

Sakura felt her vision blur as she let the girl go.

Day 208

Sakura looked around the bonfire. Almost the entire school was here enjoying it. However, there was one person that was noticeably absent. Eunbi-senpai.

The year before, she hadn’t been here with the other students as well. Sakura had been with her in their club room admiring the bonfire from afar. It was also there that she’d made a promise to keep the club from disbanding. A promise that she probably couldn’t keep.

1. She should go to the club room and spend Eunbi’s last cultural festival with her.
2. She should go home since she was too ashamed to see Senpai for breaking her promise.

Day 265

It was now or never. Sakura looked at Kwangbae’s message She could still cancel tomorrow’s meeting.

1. No, she should go ahead with her meeting with Kwangbae.
2. Yes, it’s way too risky to meet someone online. She could be a ‘he.’

[39Kura: Hey, I’m sorry. Something’s come up. I can’t meet tomorrow.]

Sometime later…

Day 2912

“Well, here’s the principal’s office,” Nako said as she and Sakura stopped in front of the door to the office. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay going in by yourself?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for taking me here,” Sakura said to her long-time friend.

“Be careful in there. She’s pretty intimidating,” Nako said, reluctant to leave Sakura alone.

Sakura couldn’t help but feel proud of Nako as she looked at the woman. “You look so professional in that pantsuit. Do all the teachers dress so nicely?”

Nako made a face as she looked down at herself. “If I don’t wear this, I get mistaken as a student here.”

Even wearing that getup, Nako looked more like a middle schooler than a teacher. Sakura wisely kept shut on that matter, however. “I’m surprised you decided to become a music teacher here at our old school. I didn’t think you liked this school all that much even though you tried so hard to come here when we were younger.”

Nako gave Sakura a wry smile as she looked around herself at the school. “I guess you could say that I have some regrets about how I lived my life here. I was too much of a coward about certain things. There were some things I think I should have done or should have said. I felt coming here and teaching music was my way of righting some wrongs.”

Sakura felt a lump in as Nako voiced the very reason Sakura had also applied to work at the school. Though they were childhood friends, this had been one topic neither of them talked much about with each other. “Walk home together later?”

Sakura steeled herself as she tried to meet the principal’s gaze without flinching. It was next to impossible and she found herself looking down. “Jang-san, may I sit down?”

You used to call me something different. “Of course,” Wonyoung said with a business-like voice.

Sakura almost shuddered at the coldness of the other woman’s voice. It was without any of the warmth that Sakura remembered. “Thank you for hiring me. I’ll do my best.”

“Miyawaki-san, I wouldn’t expect anything less out of any of my teachers. Now, if you look at the clipboard in front of you, we can go over some of our expectations and your duties here.” Wonyoung had mentally prepared herself for this moment since she knew that Sakura would be working for her. She managed to maintain her professional image as waited for the other woman to follow along her briefing.

Sakura gulped and nodded meekly as she picked up the clipboard. She flipped through the pages as Wonyoung spoke at length about the class she’d be the homeroom of, the math classes that she would be teaching, and the schools’ regulations. She found that she could barely pay much attention to any of it. All she could think of was that fateful scene on the rooftop all those years ago. Wonyoung never tried to find her and talk with her again the rest of that year or Sakura’s final year.

“I’m sorry that I’m boring you, Miyawaki-san,” Wonyoung said with a sarcastic tone. The fear and shock in Sakura’s eyes managed to sting Wonyoung’s heart even though she thought that she’d long lost any sensitivity to such things.

“Sorry, I assure you that I was listening,” Sakura said with a red face after having been caught looking like her mind was wandering.

Wonyoung put her clipboard down and looked at Sakura squarely. “I think we should be clear about our roles seeing as how we’ve known each other in the past. I am the principal of this school. You are a new teacher here. I expect you to act accordingly with me and the students here.”

Sakura flinched as the other woman’s comment hit her where it hurt. She bit her lip to keep herself from saying something that she might regret. Would things have been different if she knew who Wonyoung was from the start? “Of course, Jang-san. If that will be all, I’ll excuse myself.”

Sakura peaked in the teacher’s room and found it bustling with people even though the school year hadn’t officially started yet. Bustling with the exception of one lone figure that was slumped over her desk which happened to be right next to Sakura’s. “Um, hi, excuse me. I didn’t see you when I came in. It looks like I’m your seatmate.” The woman with a familiar set of protruding lips looked up at Sakura.

“Ah, sorry, just catching up on some sleep,” Yena said as she wiped drool from . She looked up at the other woman and saw hesitation in her face. For some reason, she really wanted to punch it. “Hi there, Newbie.”

Sakura looked at the extended hand that was just used to wipe off the woman’s mouth. She ignored it and instead looked at the woman. She was definitely Choi Yena. Her seatmate for a whole year in their second year of high school. “Um, Choi-san? I’m Miyawaki Sakura.”

Yena yanked back her hand as if it were snake bitten. “Miyawaki? Ah, you look a little different.”

Sakura hadn’t really worn makeup throughout high school, so it was kind of understandable that Yena didn’t recognize her. But they did sit right by each other for an entire year. “You’re a teacher here?’

Yena instantly remembered why she got a bad feeling when she looked at Sakura. That same irritating voice that haunted her in high school was unmistakeable. “What do you mean by that? Of course, I’m a teacher here if I’m sitting next to you.”

Sakura wanted to smack herself. It took her only one second to immediately be on bad terms with Yena again. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just surprised to see someone who I went to school with teaching here as well.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right. I guess for your it might seem like a pretty big coincidence,” Yena agreed grudgingly. She knew she was just being sensitive to Sakura’s words. For some reason, everything the other woman said just rubbed her the wrong way just like when they were younger. “You’d be surprised at how many former students work here. I think the principal really likes to hire people that know this school. Well, I’ve been here a couple of years, so I’m your senior here. If you need help with anything just let me know.”

Sakura winced as she smiled at the woman and nodded her head in thanks. “Thanks, Senpai.”

“Oh, excuse me,” Sakura said as she opened the supplies room and found a woman standing inside.

“Hmm? Sakura? It is you,” Hyewon looked up from the photocopier and saw the very same woman that she’d had a huge crush on in high school.

“Hyewon-san?” Sakura said as soon as the woman looked at her. There were very few women in this world as beautiful as the woman standing before her. She looked almost exactly like she did as a student and would probably look exactly the same for the next decade. She was one of the few people Sakura had been on friendly terms with. However, after the second year they were in different classes and hadn’t really talked to each other since.

“Did you become a teacher? I thought you were in medical school,” Hyewon said, feeling her face turn flush at the sight of the woman. She’d tried to get close to Sakura in the second year, but the woman never seemed to take a hint. Just seeing Sakura brought back waves of memories of her missed opportunities.

“My heart wasn’t really in it and I ended up switching to math and education.” Sakura remembered feeling lost and directionless at that time. She had regretted not giving her dreams serious consideration. Everything she did in high school has been half-hearted. It had been then that she decided that she wanted to help others that might be like her.

Hyewon nodded. “I understand the feeling. I was like that too. I was a math major, but I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do after I got my degree. A really good friend helped me figure out what I wanted to do and I ended up becoming a teacher.”

“I wish I figured it out earlier,” Sakura said, knowing that she was starting her career path a little later than others.

“What’s important is that you know now,” Hyewon said firmly.

“Thanks,” Sakura said, glad to have met a familiar face who she could be on semi-good terms with unlike her situation with Yena. She looked around the supply room and found a neat stack of paper. “Oh, this was what I was looking for. It was nice talking to you, Hyewon-san. Please treat me well this year.”

“I was nice talking to you as well,” Hyewon said. She watched with a giddy heart as Sakura turned and left the room. She had always meant to confess to the woman back in their school days. She had wanted to do it after she met up with her online friend, 39Kura. But when that meeting never materialized, she had become depressed and never did confess.

Sakura went back to her desk and found Yena had left. In place of her, she was stunned to find her other seatmate snoring softly. The beautiful woman’s sleeping face was gorgeous. It’d been several years, but Sakura would have sworn that it was as if time had skipped by Chaewon.

She tried to be quiet when she got to her desk and pulled her chair out, but the legs made a large screech as they scraped along the floor. “Ah, sorry,” Sakura said immediately when a drowsy Chaewon woke up with a yawn.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t be sleeping anyway. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do today,” Chaewon said. She blinked as she looked Sakura over. “Do I know you?”

“Um, yeah, I’m Miyawaki Sakura. We were classmates in high school. The second year,” Sakura explained shyly. How can I still be shy after all these years? I’m a grown woman!

“Right, Miyawaki-san,” Chaewon said as she looked at Sakura. Wasn’t she the girl that was always staring at me?

“I’ll be starting as a math teacher this year. Please take care of me,” Sakura said with a slight bow.

“I started a couple of years ago as a biology teacher. If there’s anything you need, you can ask me or Yena-san,” Chaewon said pointing to the other seat beside Sakura. “She was in our class too that year.”

“Yeah, I saw her earlier,” Sakura said, glad that there was some topic that she could talk about as her mind was now a complete blank as she stared at her former crush.

“It’s funny how we are all here. Did you know Hyewon-san and Chaeyeon-san are here as well? Hyewon-san’s a math teacher too and Chaeyeon-san’s a guidance councillor.”

“Um, are you all close with each other?” Sakura asked timidly. She heard the other woman use honorifics for all of them.

Chaewon winced at Sakura’s question. The truth was that they weren’t all that friendly with each other. High school had been a weird time for all of them. It had been a very awkward time for Chaewon at least. “We work pretty closely with each other,” she answered as diplomatically as she could.

Sakura could immediately see why there might have been some distance between Chaewon and the others. Her face still made every expression that was on her mind. Sakura could tell right now that Chaewon was thinking some really unpleasant thoughts by the scowl on the woman’s face. “I see. Um, there was one thing that I wanted to say. When you moved away after high school, Maru-chan was really sad.” She was rewarded by Chaewon making the cutest pout ever.

“Aww, I was sad too. The one thing I liked about renting a place near the school was that I could visit Maru-chan sometimes. Maybe I can visit again sometime later.” Shoot! Did I just invite myself to hang out with her? Someone I haven’t met in years and may have had a grudge or something against me?

“Thank you for showing me around, Yujin-san. Even though I came here for school, a lot of things have changed and moved around,” Sakura said as she followed after the younger woman. Although the woman was younger, she’d already been a teacher for a year and was also Sakura’s senior.

“I had nothing better to do,” Yujin said as she walked beside Sakura. Is this woman serious? She doesn’t remember me?

“You went to school here too, Yujin-san? Is that why you decided to teach here?” Sakura asked. She was only slightly comfortable using the younger woman’s first name due to the fact that she was the older one. She surreptitiously looked at the woman who walked beside her. The woman was tall. Even though she wore little to no makeup and wore a tracksuit, Sakura thought Yujin was absolutely stunning.

“I guess,” Yujin answered. The reality of it was that she hadn’t really thought about what she wanted to do and had literally rolled a pencil with her career choices wrapped around the pencil. Nothing really interested her, so she had shrugged and went with it.

After a full year of teaching, she had actually been ready to quit. She was reminded why she didn’t really like high school all that much. The high school girls all went gaga over her just like when she was a student. She liked being the popular teacher, but it was again not the type of popularity she wanted. Even a complete image change with her appearance just made her even more popular with the girls.

She looked at Sakura and could tell that the woman was sneaking peeks at her. The woman had a puzzled look on her face. Yujin couldn’t really blame Sakura for again not remembering her. All in all, they’d really just met three times. Once in junior high and twice in high school. Just like then, she was quite different than she was now.

“Ah, Yujin-san, did you try and join the art club in your first year?” Sakura asked timidly as Yujin’s face from her memories surfaced. The woman was even taller than she was back then. But the dimples. They were just as cute then.

“Hmm, did I? I might have. I did try out many clubs,” Yujin said, lying easily.

“Um, did you end up finding something you liked? I hate to say this, but I was really ashamed of turning you down for the club back then,” Sakura blurted out. She had thought of that girl every time she looked at the empty art room. Later in life, she kept thinking about what she would say and how she would apologize, never thinking that she would actually get the opportunity.

“Really? I guess your club did get disbanded the next year because of a lack of members,” Yujin said icily. She was shocked at the coldness of her own voice. She rarely exhibited much emotion these days as she lived life almost apathetically.

“It would have been disbanded even if I got you to join. But I was worried that I might have turned you away and that you never did find something fun to do. Did you? Find something fun to do that is?” Sakura asked, feeling her shame come back to her.

Yujin stopped and looked at Sakura who stopped as well. The woman’s eyes were sincere and directly looking at her. Yujin was again shocked to find emotion welling within her as the two of them locked eyes. There was anger and bitterness for sure. However, there was also relief and hope. “Not really,” she said finally after wrestling with herself about how she should answer.

Sakura’s heart sunk at Yujin’s confession. Her worst fears had come true. I have to fix it. I have to make it up to her. “I can’t turn back time and let you join the club, but I really want to make it up to you somehow. Maybe we can start by being friends?”

“Okay,” Yujin automatically answered, again to her own surprise. She was stunned when Sakura immediately flashed her a wide smile b with happiness at Yujin’s simple and short answer.

“Yujin-s… I mean, Yujin, I’ll be in your care this year,” Sakura said bowing to the woman and was happy to see Yujin respond in kind.

Sakura opened the door to Chaeyeon’s room and wondered if she was in the right room. Yujin had directed her here so it must be the right room. Many pictures of smiling students lined up all of the walls. It looked very different than their plain and boring teacher’s room. “Hello, Chaeyeon-san, nice to meet you again,” Sakura said as she entered the room. Chaeyeon had always been easy for her to talk to. She wished they had had more chances to become close in high school, but it wasn’t meant to be with the other girl’s class representative duties and role in the cheer dancing club.

“Sakura! Nice to see you again. I heard that you were hired. How are you doing?” Chaeyeon said warmly as she got up to shake Sakura’s hands with both of hers.

Just like when they were younger, the woman easily spoke to Sakura as if they were friends their entire lives. “I’m a little nervous but excited to start working as a teacher. I came by to say hello since we’ll be working closely with each other.”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it. You know I was just thinking how funny things work out. I was so busy as a student that I didn’t really get a chance to really get to know my classmates and now I’m working with a lot of them.” Chaeyeon had a lot of regrets taking on so many responsibilities in high school. One those regrets was looking right at her. They got on well at school and talked with each other a few times, but never for any length of time.

“I couldn’t even imagine how busy you were. The cheer dancing club was especially busy since you girls won all those events.” They’d fallen short of winning the big prize, Sakura remembered. She’d always thought that they would have won if Chaeyeon was the center that year. The woman’s dancing was just mesmerizing.

“Yeah, our team was amazing. Can I tell you something? I kind of wish I had tried out for center that year. Not that I think we would have done better of course. I just think it would have been great if I applied myself better. But I was juggling many things and didn’t end up doing it. It’s probably one of the reasons I became a guidance councillor. I wish someone had talked to me back then.”

“Kim-san?” Sakura asked when she entered the library. Although the woman was wearing the kind of ugly glasses that Sakura used to wear and quite old-fashioned clothing, she was still undeniably beautiful.

“Miyawaki-san? It is you,” Minju said excitedly as she rushed around the desk to greet her former classmate. The years had been very kind to Sakura. She’d grown out of her gawky teenage look and blossomed a very fine woman.

“Are you a teacher here as well?” Sakura asked as the two of them stood awkwardly face to face with each other. Minju was quite the close talker.

“No, I’m a librarian. Kind of cliché I know. The library committee member becoming a librarian,” Minju said with a smile.

“No, I don’t think so. I always assumed you’d become a writer or a poet or a lyricist. A librarian or a book store owner also fits my image of you,” Sakura said rapidly, finding it hard to control her excitement and breathing next to this heavenly angel.

“I don’t think I was ever that good a writer,” Minju said, blushing. She’d entertained the idea many times before, but never had to confidence to go through with it.

“Do you still write? You were always writing during your shift at the library,” Sakura said before realizing how stalkerish that sounded.

“I just jot some things down sometimes.” Minju wouldn’t call that she did, true writing. She just liked to get her thoughts down on paper. “How about you Miyawaki-san? You were quite a creative person. Your writing was good and the things you did in the art club were amazing.”

It was Sakura’s turn to blush as the spotlight her. “As you might know, the art club disbanded in my third year. I was just like you. I could only jot or doodle some stuff when I had free time.”

“Oh really? I wouldn’t mind taking a look when you have the time,” Minju said automatically without thinking. It was then that she remembered the last time she tried to initiate something so many years ago and how she was shot down.

“Sure, that sound’s great,” Sakura immediately replied also without thinking. Another one of her high school regrets had been turning down Minju’s offer to help her with her makeup. She’d already subconsciously decided to accept anything the woman said if she offered something to her. “But only if you share what you jot down with me as well.”

Sakura walked beside the track as she tried to gather up her courage. She still had one more person to visit and it would take all of her strength to survive it. The track still brought peace to her in her moments of crisis. She looked and saw a familiar pony-tailed figure running around the track. Watching the cute figure run around the track was incredibly therapeutic to her.

“Senpai?” Hitomi said as she rounded the corner and saw her former track club teammate. “I’d heard from Nako that you were starting here.”

“Hi, Hii-chan. Yeah, I just started. I had some time before my next appointment and thought I’d check up on you. And you can stop calling me senpai. You’re my senpai now since I’m just starting this year.”

Hitomi shook her head. “You’ll always be my senpai.”

Sakura smiled. “I guess that’s fine. I don’t mind having a cute kohai like you around.”

Don’t you dare! Hitomi screamed at herself internally. It was useless. Just these little words from Sakura undid all of the thoughts of giving up on her first love.

“I heard you became a PE teacher. How do you like it?” Sakura asked conversationally as she moved to stand beside the other woman.

“It’s fine,” Hitomi answered matter-of-factly. Everything had gone according to her plans. She finished her second and third years as a track club member, eventually becoming a starter. She studied kinesiology in university and applied back here as a teacher. However, she didn’t say any of that to Sakura. It felt too humdrum. “What about you, Senpai? I’d heard you were studying medicine. Why did you decide to become a teacher?”

“I wish my path had been as straight as yours. Somewhere along the way I found my passion for medicine had dwindled. I switched to a math degree and completed my teacher’s certification after I thought about where my heart was.”

Sakura walked up the stairs on her way to the art room. She looked at the time and saw that she was still early. Should I wait inside? Should I walk around some more?

As she deliberated, she could hear an amazing voice coming from the room beside the art club. It was the music room if she recalled correctly. It was familiar. She remembered a similar incident happening in the second year of high school. She’s foolishly thought it was a robber or someone equally bad news. This time however, she knew better and immediately made her way into the classroom.

“Oh, hello, I thought I was alone,” Yuri said as she noticed someone enter the room. She usually only tried to sing when she was sure nobody would be around.

“I’m sorry for intruding. I was just in the area and I heard your beautiful voice. I just had to come in and check it out. Sorry, where are my manners. I’m Miyawaki Sakura. I’m starting here this year as a math teacher.”

“I’m Jo Yuri. I’m a music teacher here,” Yuri said as they bowed mutually at each other.

“Are they teaching singing here at the school now? We used to only have a band class.”

“No, you’re right. We still only teach band here. I was just signing to pass the time. I hope I didn’t bother you.”

Sakura was shocked at the casualness the woman displayed towards her own singing ability. It had been an ability she longed for as a child. Even now, she was envious of people like the woman before her. “I’m sorry, but that was no bother at all. You were incredible. It’s really too bad that you don’t teach it. I literally thought angels were signing and that I’d died.”

Yuri felt herself becoming flustered by the second as the woman poured on the praises. “Miyawaki-san, I’m really just okay. Professional musicians are much better, believe me.”

Sakura raised an eyebrow as she looked at the other woman skeptically, wondering if the woman was pulling her leg. Yuri must know what an amazing talent she had. It was crazy for Sakura to believe that the woman was going through life thinking she was just an average singer. “Well, then maybe I don’t really have any taste. But I really liked hearing it. If you don’t mind, the next time you want to do it, I wouldn’t mind listening in again.”

“You’re here,” Eunbi said solemnly as she looked at her former kohai.

“I’m here,” Sakura agreed. Despite having such a close senior junior relationship during their art club days, they had become estranged in recent years.

“Why did you pick this school out of all the schools?’ Eunbi asked, straight to the point. Her own face as stoic as she watched the other woman fidget and fret over her question.

“Do you want me to lie? Of course, part of the reason is because you were here,” Sakura admitted, knowing where her senpai’s questioning was going to lead to.

“Why does that matter?” Eunbi asked, dreading the answer.

“I’ve always felt bad about disappointing you. I couldn’t even face you after cultural festival. When I heard that you had become a teacher here, I was shocked. I always thought that we close enough that I wouldn’t have had to find out from someone else what was happening in your life.”

“So, you dropped medical school to become a teacher here?” Eunbi asked incredulously.

“No… I was going to drop medical school anyway. Becoming a teacher and coming here were my own wishes. You being here just cemented my decisions,” Sakura’s face became red as she admitted the things that she’d kept to herself.

“Oh, Kkura,” Eunbi finally said, unable to keep a hold on her emotions any longer. “I’m not upset with you and I’m not angry with you. I’m angry at myself.”

Sakura looked at Eunbi and was surprised as the other woman grabbed her by her hands and pulled her into a hug. “But I disappointed you,” she said with her head on Eunbi’s shoulder.

“No, you didn’t. I could never be disappointed in you. I didn’t care that the club got disbanded after I left. I was pretty sure that was going to happen even before you joined. I’m disappointed in myself. I set you up for an impossible task because I thought it might help you when I graduated.”

Sakura blinked as she heard Eunbi’s admission. “But you kept talking about how nice it would be if the club had more people.”

“You were all I ever cared about, Kkura. I didn’t care if we got a single new member. All I wanted was for you to be happy even after I was gone. When you didn’t join me in the art room during the school festival, I knew I had messed up. Rather than help you after I was gone, I had ruined your third year by making you feel guilty about disappointing me. I made you feel inadequate.” Eunbi wasn’t exactly sobbing, but the sadness that she had felt over her actions came pouring forth out of her.

“I… I’m sorry,” Sakura said, feeling her own tears. “I should have reached out sooner. I was just so ashamed.”

“I was ashamed too for making you feel that way. Will you forgive me?” Eunbi asked in a quiet voice.

“There’s nothing to forgive,” Sakura said, shaking her head. Feeling strength and energy come back to her as her senpai embraced her. She felt her voice grow strong as they held each other. “We wasted too much time.”

Yena: Is that ending even possible? WIZ*ONEs wouldn’t make choices that make us sad.

Sakura: Of course they would, if it means they get a different set of pictures.

Eunbi: Even if the pictures are of us being sad?

Sakura: Nako, what would you give to get a picture of Eunbi-unnie pouting? Or one where she’s wearing a teacher’s outfit?

Nako: *Looks through her purse* Um, all of it?

Minju: Not all WIZ*ONEs are like Nako, Unnie.

Sakura: Chaewon? What would you give if were Minju crying or cosplaying as a librarian?

Chaewon: It would be my last wish to see that! I would die with no regrets.

Yuri: WIZ*ONE’s would die happy if they could see that from Hyewon-unnie.

Wonyoung: Yeah, I think they’d try and get pictures of us as ‘adults.’

Yujin: That ending actually doesn’t feel all that bad. I mean we’re still together.

Hyewon: And isn’t it really a harem ending?

Chaeyeon: That’s true. Saku-chan gets to spend her days with all of us, not like the other endings.

Hitomi: Senpai, that’s too much.

Author’s Note:

This was the last of the stories I wanted to tell. I’m completely surprised by how much I wrote because of Sakura’s AU harem idea. I honestly thought it would just be a couple of chapters. Will I ever write more in this AU? For now, let’s say I’m happy with where things are. As for what’s next? There’s Sakura’s Harry Potter AU idea that I always wanted to do. I’ve also thought about a lot of the pairings that I’ve been interested in. Some of them don’t even have Sakura in them!

Whatever comes next, I’d like to thank all my readers for your comments and encouragements, without which I wouldn’t have come this far. Thanks!