The next morning, when Sakura returns from her morning jog, she opens the door to the apartment and finds almost the entire corridor blocked by cardboard boxes of varying sizes.

Nagisa is moving out already?

Careful not to topple over the boxes, Sakura makes her way through the corridor and to the kitchen, where she stumbles upon Daisuke as he carries another box, his lanky frame sagging under its weight.

“Oh, hello Sakura,” the man greets her, tilting his head to the side so that he can see. 

The thin glasses on his nose slipped to the very tip of it, and he keeps his head up so that they won’t completely fall off.

“Hi…” Sakura observes him with a pained expression as he waddles ahead. Poor guy has absolutely zero strength. She guesses that’s a trade off for wanting to become a neurosurgeon. “Do you need help?”

“No, no, I’m fine,” he tries to sound cheerful, but it just comes out strained. Heaving a sigh, he stacks the box on another one that’s lying in the corridor then pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Sorry for the mess, but we’re waiting for the moving company to help us carry these boxes downstairs.” 

“I thought Nagisa was moving out next week.” Sakura pours a glass of water and hands it to him as he joins her in the kitchen.

“Thanks.” He gulps the water down and returns the glass. “That was the plan, but Nagisa told me you’ve already found a roommate, so she thought we could do it today. Especially since I have a day off.”

“Oh, I see.” Sakura leans back against the kitchen counter, arms crossed at her chest as she digests what Daisuke has just said.

This means she can ask Kazuha to move in sooner, or just spend that one week alone. But she can think about this later.

“By the way, how’s your new teammate?” Daisuke’s eyes lit up with interest. When it comes to soccer, he is a total opposite of Nagisa; he absolutely loves it and is a big fan of F.C. Tokyo. “Is she as good as everyone is saying?”

“Well, she’s quite good, but I guess we have to wait for the season to begin to truly find out,” Sakura gives what she believes is an honest, unbiased answer.

She only had one practice with Kazuha, and she doesn’t want to oversell her. 

“Good point.” Daisuke nods wisely. “But gosh, I hope you’ll kick Frontale’s this season and win the title.” He clenches his fist, a fiery look behind his glasses.

Sakura smiles. “I hope so too.”

Although getting on the national team is her number one priority, taking the title from Kawasaki and bringing it to Tokyo is almost equally as important. Last time, she wasn’t able to fight for it till the end due to her injury, so this season she wants to make up for that. Fans are counting on them, especially since the last time their team won a title was ten years ago.

Another achievement added to Nakamura’s golden CV

She cringes at the bitter thought that wriggles its way into her head. She knows she shouldn’t be thinking like that, but sometimes, certain emotions can be harder to control than others. Yet, as she imagines Kaname’s face twisted in frustration at the sight of them winning, the envy dissipates in an instant being replaced by a wicked satisfaction. 

And even if the victory were to be achieved thanks to Kazuha, Sakura would still gladly take it. She could even write on that CV herself — successfully wiped Kenjou Kaname’s smirk off her stupid face, because that’s a noteworthy achievement in itself.

“Soo…” Daisuke clears his throat, catching Sakura’s attention. A bashful look on his pale face as he casts his eyes down. “Would you be able to get me her autograph?” 

Sakura snorts a chuckle. “Sure.”

She has already gotten him autographs of the whole team, including their management’s, and she’s certain Kazuha won’t mind it. But she doesn’t mention that it’s Kazuha who is her new roommate. She supposes she shouldn’t be giving out the girl’s new address to strangers, even if Daisuke is harmless. 

“Sweet.” The man beams at her. “Okay, I’ll get back to packing then. Nagisa should be back from the grocery store anytime now.” 

Sakura hums and glances at her smartwatch which to her horror displays 7:30 already. 

“Shoot. I’ll be late for practice.” 

She grabs a protein bar from a cupboard and dashes to her room to get changed.

🌸🍃

When Sakura enters the locker room, the whole team is already there, changing. She marches towards her locker, aware of her teammates’ curious stares that follow her which doesn’t really surprise her, considering she’s almost never late. But at least, it looks like Kazuha has also just recently arrived, since she’s still in her casual clothes as she puts her duffel bag into the locker.

Their eyes connect for a moment, and they exchange a silent Hi with mirroring lopsided smiles.

“Hey Kkura, what’s up? Everything okay?” Yunjin asks, already dressed in her yellow jersey.

“Yeah,” Sakura replies, punching in the code to her locker. “I was talking to Daisuke, and I lost track of time.”

“Daisuke? Nagisa’s boyfriend?” Chaewon looks up at her from her spot on the bench as she puts on her cleats. “Where did you meet him?”

“At home, he’s helping Nagisa with moving out.”

“I thought she was leaving next week,” Yunjin muses, playing with the cap of her water bottle.

“I talked to her yesterday, and I mentioned that I’ve found a roommate already,” Sakura explains hastily while taking off her clothes. “And since Daisuke has a day off today, they figured they could make use of it and move out earlier.”

“Cool, so Zuha can move in earlier too.”

“Ah--” Before Sakura can stop her, Yunjin already beckons at the girl.

“Hey, Zuha!”

So much for that alone week…  

She should have kept Daisuke’s visit to herself.

Kazuha is in the middle of changing into her jersey, but when she hears Yunjin calling for her, she pauses and approaches them, wearing just her sports bra and her jeans -- low-waisted and ed. And Sakura doesn’t get why she couldn’t just finish changing first. Putting on the jersey would take her a literal second, and it’s not like Yunjin would leave during that brief moment. 

Is she showing off or something?

Sakura frowns, because really, Kazuha isn’t the only one with abs; they’re all athletes, after all. Granted hers may be a little bit more defined-- Well okay! You could probably grate goddamn cheese on them, but is that really a reason to flaunt them all the time?!

Though judging by the kind of looks the girl receives from some of their teammates, Sakura seems to be the only one frustrated with her state of undress rather than appreciative of it. She even catches Mei ogling her. Mei! Who is their team’s captain and is 30! With a husband and a child!

She almost wants to throw her own jersey at Kazuha and tell her to put it on.  

“What’s up?” the girl asks, oblivious to all the shameless staring that follows her.

What the hell is going on here? Is their whole team suddenly gay for her? 

“Kkura just told me Nagisa was moving out today. So maybe we could help you move your stuff after the practice. What do you say?”

Sakura doesn’t understand why it’s Yunjin who suddenly decides who and when moves in with her, but decides she might as well just get it over with.

“Ah, it’s okay. I have just two suitcases. I can take a taxi.”

“But Chaewon has a car,” Yunjin points out. The midfielder’s gaze snaps to her in surprise over being mentioned all of a sudden. “We can drive you to the hotel and drop you off at Sakura’s place. You won’t have to pay for the taxi, right Pupu?”

Chaewon doesn’t seem to be too thrilled at the idea but musters a smile and a nod. And Sakura finds solace in the fact that at least she seems to be immune to Kazuha’s charms. 

Something she isn’t sure she can say about Yunjin. With how overly friendly the goalkeeper acts towards the girl, Sakura begins to suspect that maybe she has some kind of ulterior motive to her actions.

On the other hand, one can argue that’s just how Yunjin is, always friendly and ready to help, and Sakura is  simply reading too much into it. Besides, why should she even care? The blonde’s intentions towards Kazuha are none of her business.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to bother you,” Kazuha says, rubbing the back of her neck and causing her bicep to flex.

Oh give me a break…

Sakura is pretty sure she heard someone gasp just now. She rolls her eyes and puts on her jersey.

“Of course! And Sakura, you can come with us,” Yunjin tells her.

She shrugs, giving a noncommittal hum. It’s not like she has anything better to do.

With that Kazuha leaves to (finally!) finish changing.

“Sakura,” Yunjin’s conspiratorial whisper catches Sakura’s attention. 

The goalkeeper leans against her locker with arms crossed at her chest and a devious smirk on her lips that cannot foreshadow anything good.

“What? Why are you looking at me like this?”

“You were stealing secret glances at her the whole time she stood here.”

“What? I was not,” Sakura whisper-shouts, mortified by her friend’s assumption. 

Even if she did, it was for an entirely different reason than Yunjin’s smirk seemed to imply.

“Sure.” Yunjin’s voice drips with sarcasm. “By the way, you put on your jersey backwards.”

“Huh?” Sakura looks down and sure enough she sees the number nine and her last name. Feeling her cheeks flush, she glances sideways at Yunjin and lifts her index finger in a threatening manner. “Don’t say a word,” she mutters.

Yunjin raises her hands in surrender, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I’m not saying anything.”

After Sakura fixes her jersey, she shuts her locker and storms out of the room.

Outside, it’s another sunny day with gentle breeze and almost cloudless sky. Sakura notices there’s a bit more supporters on the stands than usual and wonders whether that’s because of Kazuha, who is currently stretching on the sideline. She wouldn’t be surprised if the girl already had fan clubs following her, despite not having played yet a single match in the J-league.

Among the fans, Sakura spots the familiar hunched figure of her dad. She wondered whether he would show up today as well. She suspects that he’ll now become a regular spectator of their training sessions. But she tries not to think too much of it and focuses on the training.

After a run and some warm-up drills, Coach Takahashi calls for one versus ones to goal. Something that Sakura has been waiting for. Coach sets up cones in a square and lines up the balls. Yunjin is already in the net when he calls Mei to start on the defense. 

Chaewon is the first one to go against their captain. She easily dribbles past Mei, but her shot is saved by Yunjin. She sticks her tongue out in a response to the goalkeeper’s teasing grin and goes back at the end of the line.

Next is Sakura, and she takes this opportunity to finally show off a bit. She starts with a few fast step overs then passes dumbfounded Mei with a perfectly executed roulette spin, feigns a shot to the right, and once Yunjin reacts, shoots to the left and into the net. A faint clapping sound can be heard from the stands, along with some whistles. 

And she cannot stop herself from glancing at Kazuha to see her reaction. 

The girl is staring at her wide-eyed in what Sakura can only describe as childlike wonder. It’s as if she has seen someone execute that trick for the first time in her life, which leads Sakura to believe that she either hasn’t seen her matches or has only seen a few of them. If she had analyzed her games the way Sakura did hers, she would have seen it already, meaning she most likely hadn’t done that.

After a few other teammates, it’s time for Kazuha’s turn. And Sakura is left speechless when she sees her… try the exact same move Sakura just did. She trips up on the roulette spin though, and Mei manages to whisk away the ball from her. 

“Aaah,” Kazuha lets out a groan of defeat, but there’s still a smile on her face.

Sakura cannot wrap her head around what has just happened. But since the training continues, she cannot ponder too much about it and moves on to the next exercise. 

It’s only after the training, when she finishes changing and sits on the bench in the locker room, waiting for Chaewon and Yunjin to stop bickering and finally start getting ready to leave (the two haven’t even gone to take a shower yet), that she starts thinking again.

Why would Kazuha try and do the same attacking move? Especially knowing that dribbling wasn’t her forte. Why wasn’t she playing to her strengths but tried to imitate Sakura instead? She should have just gone for a simple nudge to the side, barrel her way through and maybe even go for a shot from a distance, utilizing her strength and physique. 

She’ll take your spot on the team.

Sakura didn’t want to believe her father’s words, but after what she has witnessed today, uncertainty starts to invade her mind again. If Kazuha learns Sakura’s moves, the door to the national team will become wide open to her. Sakura won’t have any advantage over her. She’ll be lucky if she gets onto the second squad. 

A chill runs down her spine as realization dawns on her. 

Her dad was right. And here she naively thought the girl was acting nice and friendly because that was just who she was. This can be far from the truth, though. Kazuha probably tries to get closer to her so that she can figure out how to get into her head and send her to the bench.  

“Hey, Sakura, you okay?” Chaewon’s voice brings her back from her thoughts. The midfielder shakes her by the arms as she takes a seat next to her, worry flashing in her eyes.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Sakura reassures with a smile.  

“You had that look on your face just now.” Chaewon lets go of her arms, but the concern is still evident on her face.

“What look?” Sakura genuinely has no idea what her friend is talking about.

“The one you often had when we visited you at the rehabilitation center,” the midfielder says, and the sadness in her voice causes Sakura’s smile to falter. “Is everything okay with your leg?”

Sakura shakes her head. “I just spaced out for a moment. Don’t worry, my leg is fine. I promise.” She pats her thigh to make her words sound even more convincing.

“Good, cause you scared me for a moment there, you know? I hated that look. It was like you were in some faraway, dark place, and we couldn’t reach you.”

“Aah, you’re being dramatic like Yunjin.” Sakura nudges her on the arm lightly to try and downplay the situation.

But Chaewon’s solemn expression doesn’t change in the slightest. “I’m serious. Don’t go back to that place, like ever.”

Her friend’s words take Sakura by surprise. She has known Chaewon for quite some time now, having first met her at a summer soccer camp in high school. Chaewon was an exchange student. And since they both weren’t the most sociable types, they often ended up spending time together in the cabin and slowly grew closer. They kept in contact after that camp and then met again two years later in Tokyo. That being said, it’s the first time Sakura sees her acting so sad and serious. 

She knows she wasn’t in her best mood after the injury, but she didn’t realize just how badly that looked from the outsider’s perspective.

“I won’t,” Sakura says, reaching to give Chaewon’s palm a light squeeze, and it finally causes the smile to return to her face.

“Am I interrupting something?” Yunjin looks down at them after she comes back from the showers, her eyebrow rising at the sight of their linked palms.

Sakura’s first instinct is to retreat her hand, but Chaewon surprises her again when she doesn’t let her do that and instead tightens her grip.

“Maybe,” Chaewon quips with a mocking smile.

Yunjin gives her a weird look. “Okay, whatever,” she mutters and starts changing her clothes.

Chaewon doesn’t stop glaring at the blonde, but at least, she lets go of Sakura’s hand and returns to changing as well.

Sakura looks between the two of them and cannot be less thrilled at the prospect of spending the next half an hour or so in the car with them. She sighs under her breath, threading fingers through her hair when she sees Kazuha approach them. 

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. 

Unfortunately, that works both ways, and now Sakura feels like she got herself played by allowing Kazuha to live with her. But it’s not like she can back out from that now. It would be too suspicious and just plainly rude. She has to keep up her pretenses the same way Kazuha apparently does.

“Okay, ready? Then let’s go,” Chaewon announces unceremoniously and not waiting for anyone’s confirmation, heads for the door.

🌸🍃

The half an hour drive stretches into a forty-five minute one due to the traffic. Sakura sits in the backseat, eyes glued to the car’s window. Next to her is Kazuha. Though ‘next to’ in this context is a bit of an overstatement, as they both are sitting at the very edges of the backseat, maintaining as much physical distance from each other as Chaewon’s Honda Civic allows them for.

Not a word passes between anyone. Prior to being stuck in the traffic jam, the silence was occasionally interrupted by the navigation, coming from Chaewon’s phone, but now, there’s just the sound of the radio’s chatter that does little to alleviate the awkward atmosphere. At one point, Yunjin struck up a conversation with Kazuha about Tokyo, but it sort of fizzled out the moment Chaewon turned up the radio’s volume. 

It’s an one-eighty shift from yesterday's mood at the pub, but Sakura doesn’t feel like amending the situation and distracts herself with her phone. Nagisa sends her a message saying she invites her to her new apartment and apologizes that she didn’t get to properly say goodbye. Sakura of course agrees to visit her, but they don’t really make any specific plans.

Then her dad texts her - Save your tricks for the actual matches. Staring blankly at the message, she wonders what her dad would think about Kazuha becoming her roommate. He’d definitely find the idea foolish. But it’s not like he ever asks about her private life. And he never visits her either. So unless Sakura tells him, he won’t know. And she doesn’t think he needs to know.

After another ten minutes, they finally reach their destination, and Yunjin asks if Kazuha needs help with her luggage, but the younger girl politely declines, so the three of them wait for her in front of the hotel in Chaewon’s car while she goes to retrieve her stuff.

After a while, Yunjin finally breaks the heavy silence, “You okay?”

“What? Me?” Chaewon asks, feigning surprise. 

“Yeah, you act all grumpy today.”

“I’m fine. Just tired.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uhm.” Chaewon nods.

“Is it something I’ve said?” Yunjin tries again, and Chaewon lets out an exasperated sigh.

Just then, Sakura notices in the rearview mirror Kazuha leaving the hotel lobby, visibly struggling with her two suitcases and a bag. She uses this as an excuse to get away from her friends who are in a serious need of couples’ therapy (or friends’ therapy in their case?) and goes to help the girl.

“Let me take this for you.” Sakura picks up the bag that slid off Kazuha’s shoulder when the girl was dragging the suitcases.

“Thanks.” Kazuha gives her a grateful smile, and together they get back to the car.

“Aish Zuha, told you I could help you,” Yunjin scolds playfully, turning to look at them when they enter the car.

“It’s okay. Miyawaki-san helped me,” Kazuha says cheerfully, glancing at Sakura.

Sakura smiles back, although it’s rather faint, before she returns to staring through the window.

On their way to Sakura’s apartment, Yunjin asks Kazuha whether her parents will send the rest of her stuff from Osaka and when the girl confirms they will do so soon, the goalkeeper is quick to offer their help, meaning hers and Chaewon, with carrying the boxes and stuff. It’s at this exact moment that Chaewon hits the breaks, and they all jolt forward. 

“What the hell?!” Yunjin yells, glowering at the driver as she rubs her neck.

“Sorry, the light changed.” Chaewon offers an apologetic smile that doesn’t look one bit honest.

Sakura wishes Yunjin would finally get a damn clue and stop acting so friendly towards Kazuha, or else Chaewon will drive them all off a cliff. 

Thankfully, nothing like that happens, and they safely arrive at Sakura’s, and now also Kazuha’s, place.

“I’ll help you.” Yunjin is ready to leave the car when Sakura stops her.

“No, it’s fine. We’ve got this. You two go home. You’re both tired and hungry, I bet,” Sakura states in a tone that doesn’t leave much room for arguments and to her relief, Yunjin complies. 

After they take out the suitcases from the trunk, Kazuha thanks Chaewon and Yunjin, and they say their goodbyes. 

“Follow me,” Sakura says, taking the bag from Kazuha and leads her to the building. 

They take the elevator to the eleventh floor, standing on the opposite corners of it like literal strangers while avoiding each other’s eyes. 

“Eleventh floor…” Kazuha mutters out of nowhere.

“Is this a problem?” Sakura glances sideways at her.

The girl shakes her head. “No.”

Was that her attempt at a small talk? Sakura wonders, but then a familiar ding resounds and the door opens.

Once they finally enter the apartment, Sakura leads Kazuha to her new room where they leave her luggage. The girl looks around to take in the new surroundings. Now that Nagisa has moved out, the room looks awfully sterile with empty white walls, bed and a closet.  

“How do you like it?” Sakura isn’t stupid enough to think the girl will say she hates it, announcing her immediate return to the hotel, but on the off chance she did, Sakura wouldn’t stop her and even would pay for her taxi.

Sadly, Kazuha’s smile leaves no hope for that. “It’s nice. Much better than the hotel room.”

“Great, then let me show you the rest.”

Sakura gives her a brief guide of the apartment, shows her where everything is and how everything works. Kazuha listens intently, nodding along, not asking any questions. And Sakura isn’t sure whether it’s because everything is clear to her, or maybe she has noticed the shift in Sakura’s attitude from friendly to less friendly and is now too intimidated to ask. 

But since she doesn’t want the girl to break anything nor hurt herself, she decides to forget for a moment about what happened during the training and puts on her best approachable expression. 

“And that’s it.” Sakura turns to Kazuha with a smile, once they are in the kitchen, and she’s done explaining how to use the coffee maker. “There are your keys”. She points to the keys that lay on the kitchen island. “Text me your email and I’ll send you the lease. The landlord lives abroad so we mainly communicate through emails or text messages.”

“Thank you, Miyawaki-san,” Kazuha says, sounding awfully formal all of a sudden and takes the keys.

“Soo…” Having enough of awkward tension for one day, Sakura points to the door that’s next to the corridor and backs away to leave. “I’ll be in my room if you need anything.”

🌸🍃

The clock on the nightstand displays 2:00 am already, but try as she might, Sakura just can’t fall asleep. She’s lying in her bed, staring at the dark ceiling above her as today's events keep playing out in her head on a loop. Kazuha doing her stepovers, which weren’t as fast as Sakura’s but still fast enough, and then her failed spin. 

And that’s what Sakura latches onto, because in the end, Kazuha failed to successfully copy her. In fact, it seemed like it was the first time she tried that trick, so either she has never practiced it before, or she really just couldn’t do it. Whatever the case, Sakura needed to make sure it would stay that way. As to how she would achieve that, well, she wasn’t sure about that yet.

But that’s not the only thing that keeps her up, because she starts having all kinds of doubts about the girl.

So Kazuha doesn’t collect exotic animals nor sleepwalks, but what if she has other bizarre habits? What if she is really messy and leaves toothpaste smudges on the bathroom sink? Or like has a different side to her when she only appears to be so calm and quiet but is actually loud and noisy and listens to heavy metal late into the night not on the headphones? She didn’t do either of those things today, but maybe she wants to leave a good first impression and only starts showing her true colors two weeks into living together.

The what if scenarios keep piling up in Sakura’s head, becoming more and more outrageous (there’s no way she’s a cult member, right? But an ex-cult member…?), until she sits up in her bed with a frustrated huff and turns on her night lamp. She should have never agreed to this. Nakamura Kazuha becoming her roommate? After not even a day of knowing each other? Whose ridiculous idea even was that? 

Yunjin’s? She remembers. Why would she ever agree to the blonde’s suggestion was beyond her.

With another frustrated huff, she leaves to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Leaning against the kitchen sink, she sips on her water while staring at the closed door of Kazuha’s room.

“…why did you decide to transfer to our team?”

“I guess I just missed Japan, you know.”

Did you? Did you really, Kazuha? Wouldn’t you be better off in some other team? A more successful one for that matter? Or why not choose your hometown team, if you miss your home so much, hm?

Tokyo wasn’t Sakura’s hometown either, but she had her reasons for playing here, whereas in Kazuha’s case, the choice seemed random. Despite being based in the capital city, their team wasn’t the most successful or popular one out there. So it felt almost as if Kazuha threw darts at a J1 League’s table, and the team she happened to hit was F.C. Tokyo.

“What’s your deal Kazuha, hm?” Sakura says under her breath, when all of a sudden, the door to Kazuha’s room opens, and she jumps startled, spilling water on her pajama shirt.  

“,” she mutters, grabbing the soaked material so that it doesn’t cling to her chest.

It’s a thin, white shirt so if she lets go of it, the result will be quite disastrous, and needless to say, she’ll have to avoid her new roommate for the rest of her life. Her heart is hammering in her chest, and she comes up with yet another theory – what if the girl wants to give her a heart attack and get rid of her that way?

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Kazuha gives her an apologetic look as she shuffles to the kitchen. 

She’s wearing shorts and a cropped t-shirt, and Sakura starts to doubt the girl possesses shirts of regular length. 

“I thought you were sleeping already.” She grabs a kitchen towel and hands it to Sakura.

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t sleep.” Sakura looks at the towel not sure how it is supposed to help, but she takes it anyway and starts dabbing at her t-shirt. As expected, it does nothing to absorb the water but at least, by using it, she can cover herself.

“Yeah, me too,” Kazuha mumbles, her eyes stuck on the greyish tiles beneath their feet. 

She doesn’t elaborate further, and they lapse into awkward silence.

Briefly, Sakura wonders why Kazuha couldn’t sleep. Was she also thinking about her failed roulette spin? Or is it because she’s sleeping at a new place? And she knows it’s unreasonable to be frustrated with the girl. She’s just standing here, doing absolutely nothing, lost in thoughts herself. But if Sakura doesn’t get any answers today, she sure as hell won’t catch any sleep tonight, or tomorrow, or maybe even this week. And since she cannot afford that,she decides to clarify at least one thing that keeps bothering her.

“Kazuha.”

The girl lifts her curious gaze to meet Sakura’s eyes. “Hm?”

“At training today, why did you try to do the same trick as me?”