weekday mornings are often, if not always, dreadful.

kazuha thinks whoever came up with the superb idea of having to commit five days of physical and mental labour (a.k.a work and/or school) instead of two days should respectfully be thrown into a UFC ring with a heavy-build opponent who is an anti-weekday advocate. however beautifully the birds would sing in the morning, stirring her awake when dawn breaks, kazuha will never like mornings.

the only good thing that comes out of it though, is that the day would greet her with one of the prettiest sight she would never get tired of seeing. and it's really her sole motivation to wake up early with a smile on her face.

"morning!" kazuha chirps as she stood by her bicycle near a small playground (one of the many recreational facilities within the residence), grinning uncontrollably when she sees sakura exiting the glass doors of her apartment lobby.

she chuckles when the older girl covers up a yawn, sakura wasn't much of a morning owl either.

today, sakura's hair is up in a high bun. her jet-black wispy bangs framed her porcelain face perfectly, cute dumbo ears lined with a couple of bold piercings to add a little contrast to her fresh look, sticking true to her title of the cool beauty. sakura had the kind of charm that could easily enthral anyone who set their gazes on her, and kazuha isn't spared of this either, always on the frontline when it came to appreciating sakura's sharp, spellbinding beauty.

she wears her hair up most of the time that every student would know who you were talking about instantly if you said something amongst the lines of 'high ponytail and pink hair tie'.

"good morning, zuha." sakura greets her with a lovely smile, one that kazuha has engraved in the back of her mind like a core memory she never wants to forget.

like a well-oiled machine, she takes sakura's bag off her petite shoulders and places it in the front basket of her bike. despite sakura's complaint, she has always insisted on either carrying the cherry blossom's bag or placing it in the basket whenever she has her bike with her. although sakura found her chivalrous act charming, she doesn't want to seem spoiled. so sometimes, she would tighten her hold on her bag and glare at kazuha until she gave up.

they start making their way out of the residence after a bubbly greeting, kazuha walking alongside her bicycle with sakura on her right.

whenever they were able to commute to school or home together, they prefered to just walk, deliberately prolonging their travel time just to be able to spend more time with each other, to revel in the comfort that the other's presence would bring. it had become an unspoken routine between them, and they wouldn't change it for anything else.

"a sandwich?"

kazuha raises her brows, watching as sakura unwraps a half-sandwich. the bread is perfectly toasted to a golden brown hue — thick and full of fillings — sakura giggles when kazuha's jaw practically hangs agape, holds out the chunky sandwich for her surprised girlfriend.

"my mom insists, so you better eat it." sakura says in a playful stern voice, there's a little smirk on her lips.

kazuha grins widely, wanting to take the sandwich but then quickly realises that her hands were occupied with pushing her bicycle. she looked unsure for a bit, not entirely certain how she was going to eat her sandwich while pushing her bike without dropping either of those by accident.

as quick-witted as always, sakura catches on her dilemma,"oh, let me just-"

and holds the sandwich by kazuha's lips, startling the taller girl. kazuha's eyes dart between the sandwich and the cherry blossom, suddenly blushing at the sweet gesture. sakura's little smile encourages her to take a bite, with kazuha being shy yet eager upon the offer.

it's a clumsy sight, because when she takes a bite, a couple of minced egg pieces rained on the ground, evoking yelps from the both of them.

they stop in their tracks to stare at the pavement, then their eyes looked up into each other's at the same time, before they break into a chorused laughter.

"good?" sakura asks when kazuha leans in to take another bite, bigger this time that sakura had to use her other hand to cup her girlfriend's chin in case all the fillings slipped out.

(gosh, she has to remind her mom to tone it down on the fillings next time for sure.)

kazuha pulls away and nods with full cheeks, resembling a hamster, eyes turning into crescents. she gets to see her girlfriend first thing in the morning, gets fed a scrumptious breakfast by her too and now they're walking to school together, how does it get better than this?

"you're cute," sakura suddenly says and it brings colour to her cheeks seeing those big brown eyes soften just for her, one side of her lips curling up in a fond smile.

"and a little clumsy." it doesn't stop there apparently, because then sakura reaches out to wipe something off the corner of and kazuha just watched with wide eyes and a red face as sakura the mayonnaise off her thumb.

god, if you're somewhere out there, please let sakura turn me into a miyawaki in the future.

"...have you eaten breakfast?" kazuha questions, a little too sudden, attempting to distract herself from her flustered state which sakura had unknowingly put her in.

she fixes her gaze forward, because staring at sakura another second longer would undoubtedly turn her as red as a ripe tomato.

oblivious to kazuha's internal battle, sakura lets out a cheerful hum as she peels more of the wrapper to reveal the bottom half of the sandwich.

"i did, my mom would go bonkers if i didn't. my brother stole half of my sandwich though, he's lucky he's cute, that little gremlin."

sakura scrunches her nose, gushing upon her little brother's cuteness despite his tiny yet super fast hands that had snatched half her breakfast. kazuha laughs airily at this, always all ears when it came to sakura's anecdotes about the little miyawaki, she found their sibling dynamic adorable. and she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little envious of what the two had, especially since she's an only child.

kazuha glances at what's left of the sandwich, and when sakura holds it towards her again, she pushes it away gently this time. instead, she redirects it to sakura's mouth, the sandwich grazing her lower lip leaving a few crumbs.

sakura looks up at her, perplexed.

"then have some." kazuha urges her, lips pursing when sakura kept drawing back.

"ah no, it's fine. i'm pretty full and it's... yours..." sakura's words drifted, initially adamant on not wanting any until kazuha pulls off that pleading puppy look that she feels her heartstrings being tugged.

it felt as if she would be hanged for execution if she dares to decline kazuha's request. so sakura sighs and relents in defeat.

"oh you- okay, i'll take one bite."

like magic, her words immediately drew a smile on kazuha's face. to be granted such an endearing reaction makes her relieved that she yielded, and so she takes a bite out of the sandwich, keeping her eyes on the taller girl whose smile she swore stretched even more when she pulls away with her right cheek full.

"good?" kazuha snickers, mirroring the way she had said it earlier and sakura could only smile fondly at her teasing.

"sooo good 'cause we're sharing." sakura replies merrily, her words holding only the truth because she swears to the heavens above that her sandwich didn't taste this delicious when she ate one earlier.

her jolly response produced an ecstatic grin from her girlfriend, so much so that it was like looking at a happy samoyed.

"here's the last bite." sakura removes the wrapper and takes out the bite-sized sandwich, mumbling a quick thanks when kazuha instinctively took the wrapper from her hands and threw it in a nearby bin.

"thank you!"

"ow-"

somehow, kazuha's canines accidentally chomped on sakura's finger just as she fed her the final piece. a string of apologies escaped her lips, muffled by the food in that it sounded gibberish. sakura instantly broke into laughter, with kazuha joining her moments later.

it's a struggle trying not to accidentally spit out your food and laugh to your heart's content at the same time (trust that kazuha knows this well). but it couldn't be helped that there simply was never a dull day when they were together.

*
 

"ooh yeah, to me baby..."

"yunjin, for the love of god, not in front of eunchae."

chaewon's face screws up in a grimace, watching a bizarre scene unfolding in front of her very (unfortunate) eyes. yunjin's ogling her own burger in her hands, obnoxiously smacking her lips as she mumbles sweet nothings to the juicy burger before taking a huge bite out of it, in delight as she chewed slowly.

eunchae is laughing by kazuha's side, she has the tendency to lean towards the person next to her whenever her laughing button is pushed. kazuha snorts a chuckle, knowing yunjin loses her mind a little when she's extremely hungry, the most questionable side of her starts to show itself and it earns varied reactions from the clique.

there's a reason she's the jester in the group after all.

"aaand i just got here," sakura approaches their table with a judgmental look on her face as she stares at yunjin, who was still busy devouring her food with a heavenly look on her face.

having to squeeze through the influx of students when she entered the restaurant, it's relieving to see familiar faces already occupying one table for all five of them. kazuha and eunchae are seated on two chairs on the outside while yunjin and chaewon are seated on the long bench, with sakura eventually slotting herself beside the short haired brunette who smiles in acknowledgment upon her arrival.

she meets kazuha's eyes fleetingly, and in a moment so short, she feels another type of happiness bubbling within her chest when she notices that kazuha is already looking. a sweet smile graced her lips, corners of seemingly stretching to her ears the more sakura looks at her. they exchange a silent greeting with their eyes, soft smiles directed at the other and for a moment, they had the rest of the world tuned out.

it's a convenience to the students and a nightmare to the teachers (especially home economics teachers) knowing that a fast food chain is located near the school, that it might as well be their second canteen with how often students travel here to grab a quick bite after school hours. despite the countless advice from teachers telling their students to avoid this junk food joint, no one actually really heeds them. (some teachers are guilty too!)

(basically, healthier food choices in their cafeteria are more or less useless.)

"what held you?" chaewon asks, eyes locked onto the tray of fries they were sharing as kazuha pushed it towards sakura, who gladly took one in .

"the student council, unsurprisingly." sakura flatly says, a fry in the corner of as she chews languidly.

"they're still trying to recruit you?" kazuha questions in disbelief, eyebrows furrowed at the mention of the student council.

within themselves, the student council was infamous for being borderline desperate and obssessed — due to their miserable streak of wanting (begging at this point) sakura to sign up as a member.

sakura was the quintessential model student in their eyes (and everyone else's). she was beauty and brains all in that 5'3" body, so having a near perfect candidate like sakura in the student council would prove to be effective in attracting potential recruits and pique more interest from students. they even had the audacity to offer her a position as the president if she accepted, considering the next election was coming up.

alas, the student council wasn't the only one that wanted her. every season, various club representatives would try their luck with sakura, only to be turned down in return.

so they quickly became the reason sakura refused to join clubs, the idea of being a mere incentive to engage students was exasperating. besides, she would much rather spend her time reviewing assignments after school hours, not having any extracurricular activities to worry about.

"are we sure they're part of the student council and not some kinda undercover cult members?" chaewon cringes, making a noise of discontent.

kazuha chuckles at chaewon's statement, it sure felt that way.

in the corner of her eyes, eunchae's stealthy attempt to steal the other half of her burger gets interrupted as she lightly slaps the hand away. unlike sakura, she was much more immune to the younger's pouts and pleas, not wanting to yield to her otherworldly adorableness — sakura's words.

especially not when that was her burger and eunchae had finished hers not too long ago. kazuha had divided her upsized burger into halves (they're surprisingly neat considering she cut them with a fork), with the intention of saving one side for sakura while waiting for her to arrive.

"and what are you doing here?" sakura looks pointedly at eunchae, allows her to take a bite out of her burger — which kazuha wasn't really pleased about.

eunchae's part of the student council, one of the more sane members fortunately, and they weren't supposed to leave early because they had an event planning today which confused the older girl.

"oh i quit, i'm joining the dance team."

all eyes were on eunchae, who instantly stops munching at the sudden attention.

", maybe i should too." chaewon murmurs, yunjin snaps her head towards her so quick and shoots her a look of disbelief.

"noooo! the volleyball team would collapse without their precious little libero!" the tallest whines, dropping her weight onto chaewon who's eyes twitched when yunjin emphasised 'little'.

"oh yeah kkura, not to be that person but why don't you try for our team manager's position next season?" chaewon's face lights up as she asks the girl beside her, lips pulled up in a grin as she's shoving away the spiker sagging on her shoulder.

kazuha instantly shifted her eyes to her girlfriend, knows not to expect anything with how studious sakura was yet anticipated her reply. if she does become their team's manager, they would have so much more time together that they would be joined at the hip no doubt. her heart flutters at this, knowing her performance and motivation would increase tenfold if sakura joined their team.

"thanks but no thanks, i got cram school." sakura gives her a sheepish smile, quick to decline.

chaewon shrugs indifferently, and goes back to sipping her drink. kazuha holds back a laugh, it was a good try at least.

"yeesh... you're always studying, loosen up a little!" yunjin tells her, playfully shoving sakura on the shoulder.

"i do! i make time to hang out with you guys!"

"you mean kazuha unnie." eunchae narrows her eyes, the second year student making a dubious face while chewing slowly that sakura couldn't help but internally gush at the way her cheeks moved cutely.

"hey, even i've had to pull her nose out of her books sometimes." kazuha admittedly says, earning an eye roll from her girlfriend. the group breaks into a chorus of laughter, finds joy in teasing the oldest among them.

something light lands on one of her foot, kazuha curiously peeks under the table and sees sakura's shoe atop hers. when she looks back up, the cherry blossom is busy talking with the rest of the group. she glances at kazuha briefly, a corner of her lips curling up in a sly smile.

kazuha nods mindlessly at something eunchae said, propping an elbow on the table and tries to casually hide her smile behind her palm. she acts like she's listening, but it's hard to contain a smile while her girlfriend is occasionally pushing her foot against hers deliberately, their ankles grazing and it's enough to send jolts surging throughout her body.

"ah! that was for kkura!" kazuha complains when eunchae suddenly swooped in and stole a whole nugget out of her hand which was meant for sakura.

"kkura unnie doesn't mind! plus, you're always giving your share to her." eunchae chirps, speech muffled with the nugget between her teeth.

with a light blush coating her cheeks (because she couldn't refute eunchae's statement!), kazuha sighs, lips pursing when sakura merely laughs at her blatant disappointment.

they get the occasional teasing from the three, it's fun to tease the two knowing they were the kind of couple who were much more lowkey, that it's endearing to witness how shy they get from a little teasing.

they don't go around flaunting their relationship, or obnoxiously make out against the lockers with disregard for other's eyes, or constantly have the need to put their arms around each other as if the world would burn if they didn't.

as a matter of fact, it's almost rare to see them being so clingy that no one would've thought they were dating if they didn't mention it.

there was this one time though where chaewon saw them exchanging a quick kiss at the school's bike racks. at that time, she was chasing after kazuha, who had apparently left her homework under her desk in a social sciences class the two shared, and eventually (without meaning to) interrupted a sweet moment between the two.

she was pretty sure she was the only one, ever, to witness sakura and kazuha kissing so sweetly (still is, surprisingly). chaewon's heart had melted at the sight, internally a big advocate of their relationship so pure and soft.

yunjin would have probably cried dramatically and eunchae would have snapped pictures shamelessly (chaewon bragged about this to them the next day and there was a big uproar).

"fine but the rest are hers!"

"yeah yeah, and no dating under the table!" eunchae sticks a tongue out at them, laughing victoriously when her words caused sakura and kazuha to blush in their seats.

their table was probably the most boisterous among others, but when the food is good and the company is better, nothing else really mattered.