A/N: hihi welcome to chapter two! i'll be updating this pretty frequently. but, i just wanna warn you that there's some graphic descriptions of violence and blood. but, i promise i'll make up for it with hotcoolz development soon ehehe anyways, enjoy. also pls note there's a reason kazuha acts so ditzy in this but keep reading to find out why lol

-

 

Disguising herself from head to toe in oversized attire, a hood draped over her head and sunglasses and a mask covering her features even though she doesn’t need it in this weather, (She’s burning up from the sun beating down on her clothed skin, and she’s sure her sweat-covered hair will show for it when she removes her jacket.) Sakura had been silent the entire ride with Chaewon and Kazuha, refusing to speak even when Chaewon apologizes. She starts to resemble a dressed-up corpse sitting in the passenger’s seat, and honestly, she wishes that were the case. She knows her phone has been vibrating occasionally in her pocket since she had turned it back on, but each time she checks it, it’s all the same inquiry about some fight club, or that she’s a hero, and a bunch of other things she swears she didn’t do.

 

At first, Sakura had wondered if she had out after throwing the first tomato and done much more than she had thought she did. But, to no one’s surprise, Chaewon and Kazuha were the basis of the odd rumor, and Sakura happened to get the short end of the stick by being the protagonist in their fabricated lie. Not like she could really blame herself, as she was the one who started all of this with the guy in the first place, all because she couldn’t hold back her anger for five minutes.

 

Chaewon parks in a different spot than usual, in the back of the parking lot where no one could look for them. She purses her lips, looking over at her best friend with a look that resembles a puppy that had done something wrong. “Kkura, we’re here,” she says gently. “Come on, I know you’re mad, but you can at least make it to class, right? Can’t forget about your perfect attendance.” 

 

Sakura grunts incoherently, much like a child throwing a tantrum. “Not like it’ll matter when I’m going to prison for starting a non-prison prison gang.”

 

“Kkura, that doesn’t even make any sense.” 

 

“You know, you can explain how all this happened now.” Sakura lifts her sunglasses and removes her mask, brows furrowed at her friend. “A fight club? Someone said I twisted his head so it went 360 around his neck? Can you explain that?”

 

Chaewon sighs, then looks over to the backseat. “Kazuha, you wanna explain yourself?”

 

“Huh?” Kazuha blinks, looking confused. “Why me?”

 

“You’re the one who’s been telling people Sakura came to the musical to fist-fight people.”

 

The ballerina blinks again, looking even more confused. “But you’re the one who told me that. I just relayed the news to Giselle, ‘cause she asked.”

 

“Giselle?!” Sakura exclaims. “Uchinaga Giselle?! Uchinaga Giselle who doesn’t ever keep shut and twists stories all the damn time Giselle? Kazuha, why would you do that?”

 

“Well, she asked me,”  Kazuha defends herself, sinking into her seat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was a secret.”

 

“Kazuha, I was being sarc… You know what, nevermind. It’s fine,” Chaewon dismisses with a roll of her eyes. It seems explaining things to Kazuha wouldn’t lead to anything, plus it would take an unnecessary amount of time and she can see Sakura losing patience by the second. “I don’t see why you shouldn’t roll with it. People think you’re a hero, Kkura.”

 

“Girls think I’m a hero, the guys are probably already digging a hole for my body as we speak,” Sakura grunts. 

 

“Don’t act like that’s not what you want.” Chaewon scoffs. “Okay, but you’re kind of a girl-heartthrob right now. Like that girl you always like from the Mean Girls musical. Rachel Rat, or something.”

 

“Isn’t it Rebecca Rant?” Kazuha asks.

 

“…Renee Rapp,” Sakura corrects. “And I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have to pelt guys with tomatoes to get the attention of the female population.”

 

“No, but,” Chaewon wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at Sakura, before tilting her head to gesture towards the outside of the car. “I know someone who did that, and got someone’s attention.”

 

Sakura’s eyes subconsciously follow Chaewon’s direction, and the last person she wants to see as she’s dressed like a human trash bag is approaching the trio’s car with their best friend, Hanni Pham, a tiny music student who has been close friends with Yunjin since they were children, although still a stranger to Sakura. 

 

Wow, Yunjin looks as beautiful as always. Her hair is done up in a ponytail and she’s cute even when she’s wearing baggy clothes and her glasses. She’s even smiling so brightly as she approaches Sakura’s side of the car. — Wait, huh? She’s… smiling? Isn’t she supposed to be mad at her? Sakura did assault her boyfriend right before they were about to perform. Why is she smiling, let alone approaching her after what had happened a few days prior?

 

“What the hell is she—Chaewon, drive away,” Sakura smacks Chaewon on the arm. 

 

“What? No, I thought you wanted—“ The driver smacks the other right back. 

 

“Not after everything that’s—God, Chaewon, this is a death wish—“ another smack, and they’re going back and forth in a childish smack-off. But before she knows it, Kazuha has leaned forward closer to Chaewon and pressed the button to lower Sakura’s window, giving Yunjin access to them without giving the eldest any choice.

 

“Hey, guys,” Yunjin greets, bending down slightly to properly see the trio face to face. Sakura had crossed her arms, clearing to appear all calm and collected, which Chaewon seemed to find amusing. Especially because she turns bright red every time she speaks with Yunjin, and attempts to hide her shyness with some cool-girl attitude that never really looks as good as she thinks it does. 

 

“H-Hi, Yunjin,” Sakura greets back with a head nod. “What’s up?”

 

“Um, well, I kind of heard you… beat up my boyfriend and bent his knees the other way?” Her tone isn’t hostile or accusatory in the slightest, and the softness in her voice confused Sakura even more. 

 

Sakura blinks. 

 

“Well, what did you think about that? Pretty cool, right?” Chaewon interrupts, and Sakura smacks her again on the arm. 

 

“Um, weren’t you… there? Like, literally right in front of him—”

 

“I heard you spent high school sophomore year’s summer in a prison in the mountains of Hokkaido, and you like, killed a girl,” Hanni chimes in. She knew nothing of how Hanni was, having never spoken to her in her life, other than she’s just another name on the list of people Chaewon thought was annoying and, frankly, she could see why. 

 

She blinks yet again. “Um? I was visiting my grandma in Kagoshima—“

 

“So, how’d you do it? I heard, well I saw on television, that you could make a prison shank from stuff you get in prison. Did you do that?”

 

“What? No, no prison shanks—“

 

“Oh my god,” Hanni gasps, pressing a hand against Yunjin’s shoulder. “So you killed her with the power of your fists alone?”

 

Sakura throws her hands up in frustration, and Chaewon is quite clearly holding back laughter beside her, so much so that she’s starting to sweat. “Look, I think this is a big misunderstanding. I was just—“

 

“Miyawaki Sakura, Kim Chaewon and Nakamura Kazuha!” An incredibly loud, deep male voice roars through what seems to be a megaphone right in their ears from behind the car, loud enough that one could lose their hearing entirely. Only one person could possibly be the culprit, and the color drains from Sakura’s face as he practically shoves the two girls aside to talk to the ones inside the car. 

 

The man leaning against the car window is the coach of the university’s football team, Mr. Park. Loud, abrasive, standing at an incredible 195cm with muscles that are sure to crush anyone and anything to bits if he truly wanted to, many students feared his mere presence. The girls before him were not exempt from this, and Sakura’s about ten seconds away from pissing herself just from the look of pure animosity that he gives her. 

 

“You three. Out of the car. In my office. Now.” He demands, before looking at Yunjin and Hanni. “You two princesses get out of my sight.”

 

“U-um, sir,” Kazuha shyly calls out, Sakura forcing a smile as Yunjin gives her an apologetic grin before leaving with her friend.  “We, um, we have class, too.”

 

“Yeah, S-Sakura has a perfect attendance record and she can’t possibly break that—“

 

“Does it look like I care?” He growls. “I said out.”

 

-

 

When Sakura stands in the office beside the football field silently beside Kazuha and Chaewon, she wonders if this is what prison must actually feel like. Mr. Park hadn’t said a word for the past five minutes, only looking up at them occasionally as he wrote in a notebook in front of him. She can’t decipher what he’s writing down, but she’s almost positive that he was doodling pictures that had nothing to do with them. (Was that supposed to be a drawing of a dog or Homer Simpson?) But as they exchange awkward glances, Sakura starts to count the milliseconds that go by until something happens. Anything, perhaps a meteor crashing into the building and killing them all. That would be a better outcome than whatever Mr. Park must have in store for them.

 

“Um,” Chaewon squeaks. “Can we, uh, get a note to our professors–”

 

“You,” Mr. Park points at Sakura with his pen. “I heard you beat up the captain of the soccer team. Brutally.”

 

Sakura shifts awkwardly, bracing herself for the punishment that was about to come. Goodbye graduation, goodbye future, goodbye Yunjin. “Um, well–”

 

“And you’re starting a girls self-defense club? I hear they’re even calling it a fight club?” 

 

The way he speaks is heading towards the direction Sakura had feared. She wants to blame Chaewon, blame Kazuha, hell even blame Yunjin, but truly, she was the one to face the consequences for her own actions. She bites down on her lower lip and doesn’t notice Chaewon looking at her with a great look of pity. That sad, puppy dog look that’s somewhat different than the one she gives her when she wants something. While they look quite similar, this one is much more genuine than what Sakura is used to.

 

“Mr. Park,” Chaewon raises her hand. “I just–This is a huge misunderstanding.”

 

“How so?” He raises a brow. “Because I think it’s a great idea.”

 

“Wait, what?” The three say in unison. 

 

“Yeah,” he slams his notebook closed and stands up. “Haven’t you heard of all the cases of ual harassment on campus? We’ve been getting reports like crazy. It’s about time we had something like this to really bring all the women together.”

 

Sakura blinks, unable to stop herself from letting out a small chuckle. “I never took you to be such a feminist, sir.”

 

“Of course I am, my favorite movie is Kill Bill.” he says rather seriously. “I’d like to offer to be your advisor. You can use the auditorium for your meetings.”

 

Chaewon and Kazuha exchange rather excited, hopeful glances while Sakura feels that she’s about to collapse at any second. She wasn’t sure what she had done in her life to deserve such a whirlwind of events to fall in her hands all at once over the past few days. This had to be some sort of punishment, with some sort of demon dangling interactions with Yunjin in her face as a way to entice her even further down this path. If she had a time machine, she would use it to prevent herself from ever even thinking about growing tomatoes outside her yard. 

 

Chaewon clears , her smile fading and shaking her head in what seemed to be a change of heart. For Sakura’s sake. “Mr. Park, I–”

 

“Thank you so much for that, Mr. Park,” Sakura interrupts, lightly tapping Chaewon on the hand to let her know she’s taking over the conversation, and if Chaewon tries to stop her, it’ll only get worse. Her tone is condescending as she attempts to sound sincere and sweet, but it’s enough to fool the man before them. “We’re really grateful for this. It’s only our mission to protect the women of our school and make this a better place for everyone. Right, Kazuha?”

 

Kazuha looks at Chaewon for approval, who only looks even more confused. Eventually, she hesitantly nods. “Yup, we’re the… feminist defenders.”

 

“No, we’re not calling each other that.”

“The Winx Club.”

 

“No.”

 

“Girls Generation.”

 

“...No.”

 

“LE SSERAFIM? It’s like a telegram of the words, I’m fearless.”

 

Chaewon clears again. “I think you mean anagram.”

 

“Anagram is a cool name too!”

 

“No, no. We’re… Whatever. Name in progress.” Sakura sighs, then straightens her posture with a forced smile. “We’re ready. Right, Chaewon?”

 

“Yup!” Chaewon’s oddly excited in comparison to the pure regret she seemed to express just seconds ago, throwing her arm around Sakura’s shoulders. “And Sakura is our president. We won’t let you down.”

 

“Wait, president? I–”

 

“Great,” Mr. Park grins. “Now you three get the hell out of my office, and I’ll see you at three tomorrow.”

 

-

 

If Sakura’s honest, the rest of the day went by how anyone would expect the aftermath of such events to go. Everything that she wished wouldn’t happen came forth in the span of the five hours after their initial formation with Mr. Park. She was pelted by endless questions about her “time in prison” by different girls whom she’d never even spoken to before in her life, some of these girls being middle-aged staff who were probably breaking some sort of law by invading her privacy. But, the worst part wasn’t that, or the fact that she was hurled a few homophobic slurs by the members of the soccer team. It’s the fact that after one of her classes, as she walked down the hallway, she spotted Yunjin quite happily face with what Sakura thought should be her ex-boyfriend. 

 

She has to wonder what it was about such a walking red flag that draws girls like Chaewon and Yunjin into him. If he had some sort of hypnosis spell that he’d been using on girls to get them to stay despite his terrible personality. Maybe it’s the fact that she wasn’t attracted to men in the slightest, but there had to be something about him other than the fact that his face and body weren’t terrible to look at that made him so enticing. 

 

She needed a break from it all, just for the night. But, Chaewon and Kazuha seemed to ignore that desire of hers as they raided her room, battling each other out in an old installment of Tekken as Sakura lay on her bed. At least they were so indulged in the game that she was able to drown out their banter and mindlessly doom scroll. In a way, it was like having some time to herself. But, there was someone she missed, someone she may or may not have abandoned for a few days whom she feels pretty bad for. 

 

reneesgf: hi

 

The response is much quicker than she thought it would be. 

 

tummyhurts: wtf

 

Well, that’s not what she expected.

 

reneesgf: ?

 

tummyhurts: tf u mean ? u haven’t been online in days

 

reneesgf: sorry… i had some going on n its been stressign me out

 

tummyhurts: i was really worried about u :( i missed u

 

reneesgf: im sorry :( im here now though, what did i miss?

 

tummyhurts: tbh not much, ive been pretty stressed out too tbh i feel like theres a lot of drama going on irl omg… i need to rewatch renee making out w women to make myself feel better

 

reneesgf: ur so valid tbh… tell me about it if u want? But also i bet i can make u feel even better than that

 

tummyhurts: ofc u …how so

 

reneesgf: lmao well… i feel bad that i just kind of left u hanging like that so… anything u want hehe

 

tummyhurts: well i really missed u a lot maki :( i even made kimchi ramyeon bc it reminded me of u

 

reneesgf: my god ur so cute, i missed u so much too. I was listening to the hamilton soundtrack over the weekend bc it reminded me of /you/

 

tummyhurts: yeah? Well… maybe u should show me how much u missed me. Or like… tell me how u would make it up to me

 

“Kkura.”

 

She barely registers the voice calling out to her while she continues to type rapidly.

 

“Kkura!”

 

reneesgf: well first i would sit you down and i would sit on your lap and

 

“Miyawaki Sakura!” 

 

A stuffed Pochita smacks her right in the head, so violently that it throws her right off the bed with her head smacking against the cold floor rather painfully. She groans in pain, rubbing the spot on the back of her head that hit the surface before slowly getting up from the ground and looking up at the culprit, none other than Kim Chaewon.

 

“The was that for?” Sakura asks, throwing the stuffed plush right back at the other, who skillfully dodges it. 

 

“We’re bored. We wanna play another game.” Chaewon says when the older stands to her feet.

 

“Wanna play Overcooked with us?” Kazuha asks, as innocent as ever.

 

“Or are you too busy e–ing some rando online?” Chaewon teases and Sakura rolls her eyes.

 

“Shut up, I wasn’t doing that,” Sakura mumbles, going back to her spot on the bed. “I’m good, you two play whatever you want. I’m… doing homework.”

 

Sakura’s sure that Chaewon knows she’s lying through her teeth, especially by the way she sees her roll her eyes before she goes back to her phone, doing exactly what Chaewon had accused her of doing. But, before she can go back to it, a hand grips her phone from above and tosses it to the other end of the bed.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Dude, I can tell when you’re having some weird internet session with Janet or whatever her name is. You look so creepy.” Chaewon comments.

 

“What? No, I don’t.” 

 

“I mean, you were kinda, like… your lips. Kinda weird.” Kazuha replies.

 

Sakura groans, turning around to go back to ignoring the duo before her. “Whatever, just go back to playing whatever game you want.”

 

“No, no, no.” Chaewon scoots closer to Sakura, placing her hand on her arm. “I think we need to talk about tomorrow.”

 

Sakura rolls her eyes. “What about tomorrow?”

 

“You’re telling me you got other fight clubs you’re running?”

 

Sakura pauses to look at Chaewon, raising a brow as if she had said something ridiculous. “You didn’t actually think I was serious, did you?”

 

“Well, honestly, knowing you, I’m not surprised you’re not serious, but I still think we should do it.” Chaewon replies. “I mean, come on. Look at what’s happened so far. I haven’t seen so many girls look at you in my life. And one of them was Huh Yunjin? Not only that, she’s been practically undressing you with her eyes since that day. I think it’s a win-win.”

 

Sakura scoffs in disbelief. “You’re just saying that. She’s still with that dude.”

 

“Not for long, though.” Chaewon shakes her arm back and forth. “Once you show her you can literally bend his knees the other way.”

 

“That’s the thing!” Sakura sits up. “I can’t do that! I can barely lift 40 pounds, it took me an hour to run a mile in high school, and I can’t even do a full push-up. I am the last person qualified for the job, Chaewon.”

 

“But,” Kazuha interjects. “Didn’t you fight girls in prison?”

 

“…I didn’t go to prison, Zuha.”

 

“What?” The ballerina looks at the older girl with disappointment. “I thought that’s what you and Hanni were talking about earlier.”

 

“No, she’s the one who assumed that. I just didn’t get the chance to correct her.” Sakura sighs. “You’re the one who kind of put me in this mess, anyway. Both of you.”

 

“Look, Kkura, it doesn’t have to be as hard as you think it is. It doesn’t even have to be a legit self-defense club.” Chaewon reassures. “All we do is just… let our powerful, womanly instincts kick in and show off some moves you learned from Tekken. That’s perfect, actually! Just pretend you’re Jin Kazama!”

 

“I’m more of a Nina girl, personally.”

 

“Okay, then pretend you’re Nina,” Chaewon claps her hands together. “A badass assassin that’s gonna lead a fight club. Come on, Kkura. It’ll be so worth it. Please?”

 

“There is a huge lack of female solidarity these days,” Kazuha mentions. “I mean, you heard about everything that’s been going on, even Mr. Park said so. I think we should do it. I think… it’s something the girls at school need.”

 

“See?” Chaewon says. “Even Kazuha thinks so.”

 

“Okay, well…” Sakura shrugs. “Who would even come?”

 

“Uh, the millions of girls that have been blowing up your phone inquiring? Yunjin?” 

 

“I don’t even know who texted me. Need I remind you I only have, like, ten contacts in my phone and I’m creeped the out that many people have my number. Could have been spam for all I know.”

 

“I know a lot of girls on the dance team were interested,” Kazuha starts to count the names on her fingers. “Ningning, Ryujin, Gaeul, Yena, Yuri… wait.” She tilts her head in thought before starting again. “Ningning, Gaeul, Ryujin… No, no.” And again. “Ryujin, Yena, Ningning, Gaeul—“

 

“Okay, I get it. Don’t hurt yourself.” Sakura gently lowers the other’s hand. “No offense, but I don’t know who any of those people are.”

 

“Well, guess we’ll have to find out.” Chaewon gets up from her spot beside Sakura and walks over to her desk. “Let’s get to work on making flyers. Then, I’ll make the official Instagram.”

 

“Can I make the flyers?” Kazuha asks, joining the other. 

 

“I don’t know, are you going to draw cartoon ducks everywhere?” Chaewon looks at her with an accusatory look. “Like you did with our history project?”

 

“…Well, now I won’t.” Kazuha mumbles. “Can I make the Instagram?”

 

“Are you going to post pictures of ducks everywhere?”

 

Kazuha shifts awkwardly before pouting. “…No.”

 

Sakura groans again, plopping a pillow on top of her face. 

 

This was really happening, wasn’t it?

 

She hears her phone buzz beside her, and she’s suddenly pulled back into the hypnosis Janice always gives her. Well, it certainly would be rude to leave her hanging after all that. She takes her phone back, cheeks immediately reddening at the message she received in the time Chaewon and Kazuha took from her. 

 

Sakura hops off the bed and heads for the door. 

 

“Where are you going?” Chaewon asks. 

 

“Toilet,” Sakura mutters before quickly leaving to take care of… business. 

 

-

 

The next day, she’s pretty thankful for the fact that she only had one class in the morning to attend. The downside (aside from the fact that she’s still being treated like an alien from Mars by her peers.) was that she had to face the dreaded fight club in the afternoon. She could have avoided it by feigning illness or simply running away, but she knows her best friend well enough that she wouldn’t let it happen. She’s practically known every step she took since they became friends. 

 

At the very least, the lack of promotion of said fight club might be an advantage to Sakura. Sure, she’d seen her two friends diligently working on flyers and an Instagram the previous day for a couple of hours. But, she’s sure nothing came to fruition. Although her class was pretty far from the center of campus, she took the lack of texts on her phone as a sign that there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Who would possibly come to a club initiated by someone no one even cared about? 

 

Well, it turns out, a lot of people.

 

Sakura’s jaw and her bag hit the floor as soon as she enters the auditorium packed with different female students, some of which have approached Sakura in the past few days, some who she had never even seen before, and some she even has to wonder if they’re even students at the school. 

 

Chaewon and Kazuha stand at the front of the crowd, her best friend carrying a mop and seemingly arguing with Kazuha. (What a surprise.) The gamer approaches the duo hesitantly, grabbing Chaewon’s arm to get her attention. “Dude, what the hell?” Sakura whispers. “Where did all these people come from?”

 

“You didn’t see the flyers and the Instagram? We were literally in front of you working on them,” Kazuha answers. “We’re already at over 200 followers and it’s only been up since this morning.”

 

“Jesus,” Sakura runs a hand through her hair, tense by the amount of people in front of her. Though they were mostly conversing among themselves quietly, to say the thought that Sakura had to play “follow the leader” with violence in front of such an enormous crowd was overwhelming was an understatement. 

 

“Relax, I’ll handle the talking first. You just sit there and look pretty until I call you,” Chaewon says with a playful grin. 

 

“Is… Yunjin here?” She asks quietly, searching the crowd and failing to spot the woman who served as her main motivation for all of this. “She’s not here, isn’t she?”

 

“Like I said, relax. She’s probably running late.”

 

Kazuha innocently remarks. “Yeah, she’s probably being lovey dovey with her boyfriend—“

 

“Kazuha,” Chaewon hisses. “Not cool.”

 

The ballerina shrugs. “Sorry.”

 

Chaewon clears , adjusting her posture like she always does before she’s about to use her authoritative voice that’s admittedly scarier to Sakura than Mr. Park’s. The shorter girl repeatedly slams the end of the mop against the ground, the sound echoing through the large auditorium. 

 

“Silence!” she roars, and the crowd awkwardly stares at the trio. 

 

“Alright, now we know why we’re all here.” Chaewon starts, pacing back and forth around the duo standing beside her. “There’s a huge lack of female solidarity at this school. And considering the rise of ual harassment cases, we have to stick together. How do we do that, you ask?”

 

Chaewon looks over at Sakura, extending the mop towards her to speak into as if it were a microphone. But, her friend simply awkwardly stands, shaking her head at the other. Chaewon clears and returns to her speech. 

 

“Sorry, she’s a little nervous. But!” Another slap of the mop against the ground. “We’re here. To . . Up.”

 

Chaewon looks at the crowd with an expectant, open-mouthed grin, clearly waiting for a roar of applause that never comes. 

 

“Um,” a girl on the dance team that Sakura may or may not have recognized from Kazuha as Gaeul raises her hand. “How are we supposed to do that, exactly?”

 

Chaewon lets out a loud laugh. “Great question, Jiwon—“

 

“It’s Gaeul.” Kazuha whispers. 

 

“Great question, Gaeul!” Chaewon answers. “We’re going to teach you how to properly defend yourself. How to punch, and kick, and slap, and pinch, and really—drop kick someone till they hit the ground, and stomp on their ribs until they’re nothing but a pile of blood and—yeah. Crazy .”

 

Another girl, Sakura thinks her name might be Yeji, raises her hand in fear. “Did you do that to someone in prison?”

 

“Uh,” Chaewon and Sakura exchange glances, unsure of what to say next. She didn’t exactly think this far ahead, and Sakura hates being put on the spot. Having to lie about something so stupid made it much worse. “Uh, no. It was… much worse. T-tell ‘em, Sakura.”

 

Sakura gives her a scolding glance as now she has to come up with something even more ridiculous. She sighs, looking from side to side before answering. She had nothing left to lose at this point. She could probably recite the entire plot of Fight Club and they’d believe her. 

 

“Yeah, in prison, we uh… had this one girl come for me with peanut oil. Thought I had a peanut allergy or something. She was wrong, it’s shellfish. But, anyways… I, uh, took her outside and punched the out of her.”

 

“She died.” Chaewon awkwardly shouts and the crowd gasps.

 

“What? No, no. No.” Sakura panics. “No one died. It was only for, like, a few minutes. She, uh… came back to life. Eventually. She’s fine. Like totally fine. She, like, lives in Daegu or something. We’re Discord buddies.”

 

“I thought this was in Japan,” Kazuha looks at Sakura. 

 

A pause. “Did I say Daegu? I meant to say Osaka.”

 

“But that doesn’t even remotely sound alike.”

 

“You know what? How about we start with a demonstration?” Chaewon interrupts, clapping her hands together and pulling Kazuha to face her. “Kazuha, you’re up first. Hit me.”

 

“What?” Kazuha makes a face, shoulders tensing at the sudden demand. “I don’t know if I should.”

 

“Just do it, Kazuha,” Sakura calls out, slightly smirking from amusement. “It’s fine. Show her what you got.”

 

“Yeah, I can take a punch,” Chaewon replies, a blissfully ignorant smile on her face. “It’s for the sake of feminism.” Sakura can tell that because of Kazuha’s gentle, sweet airheaded nature Chaewon doesn’t expect the hit to be painful at all. It's plain on her face, and it’s probably the most amusing thing she’s seen in a while. 

 

“I don’t think this is what feminism is about—“

 

“Yes, it is—“

 

“Shouldn’t we start with, like, some stretches or an icebreaker? We can play two truths and a lie—“

 

“God dammit, Kazuha! Just do something!”

 

“Fine!”

 

The ballerina’s leg swiftly spins around before landing a harsh kick against Chaewon’s face, a loud crack sound barely audible from the collision and the short-haired girl falls to the floor. Sakura swears she looks just like a video game character with such a perfect form and perfect hit. 

 

Welp, Sakura totally saw that coming. A few girls from the shocked crowd stand from their seats to aid Chaewon, who’s wiping the crimson liquid smeared all over her face from her nose. 

 

“Kazuha, what the ?” she gasps as she’s assisted to her feet. “Where did you even learn to do that?”

 

“I used to take karate lessons,” Kazuha replies softly. “I… thought you knew that.”

 

“Um, no?” Chaewon takes a tissue offered to her and places it on her nose. 

 

“, Chaewon, even I knew that.” Sakura snorts. 

 

Chaewon opens to speak, but as soon as her lips part, the sound of the double doors across the room open, and a figure attempts to quietly make her way inside. However, her attempt to garner no attention doesn’t work when all eyes fall on her as she gasps up at the trio in the front of the room. And Sakura wishes that this particular person had come at least a few minutes earlier. Or even better, not at all.

 

Yunjin. 

 

“Woah,” Yunjin can’t help but comment before sitting close to the front. “Clearly I missed something big.”

 

“No, no. You’re just in time,” Chaewon calls out to her. “Sakura was about to give us her demonstration on her prison version of self-defense.”

 

“Wait, what?” Sakura hisses. 

 

“Kazuha, I think your form is a little off. You should try it again with Sakura.”

 

Sakura forces a laugh. “That’s very funny, Chaewon. You sure you don’t wanna take it twice? What happened to you can take a punch?”

 

“Oh, but you’re the one with experience, my dear friend,” Chaewon smiles, tilting her head. “Come on, show ‘em what prison girls got.” Kazuha looks back and forth between the two, and damn does Sakura wish she had some common sense this time around because when she sees Kazuha shrug as if doing it once gave her a rite of passage, approaching her, she raises her hands in defense and starts to back away.

 

“Kazuha, Kazuha, hold on—“

 

The ballerina elegantly kicks in the same fashion she did earlier, except this time, Sakura surprisingly opens her shut eyes to see she had dodged the kick by grabbing onto Kazuha’s foot. 

 

Unfortunately for her, that was quite painful in itself. “Ah! God dammit, !” Sakura hisses as she releases her hold on the other’s, but as she’s distracted trying to soothe the pain on the palm of her hand, Kazuha takes the opportunity to hit the older girl with an uppercut to the face, causing the girl to fall backward. 

 

Sakura faces the same fate as Chaewon when blood starts to seep out of her nose, and she can barely see out of her left eye. She doesn’t notice (mostly because, well, she can barely see from her swollen eye.) but Yunjin scrambles to get up to assist the injured gamer. 

 

“Hey, I got you. Hold on.” 

 

The voice is familiar, but not in how one would expect. Her eyes open and what she sees is not Yunjin, but a familiar face that’s… somehow a million times hotter than the last time she'd seen it?

 

“Chaeyeon?” Sakura grunts as she allows her to help her up. “Lee… Chaeyeon? What are you doing here?”

 

“Yeah, it’s me. Long time no see, Sakura,” she says with a smile. "I've been taking online classes this semester, but I figured I should check this out."

 

Lee Chaeyeon, otherwise known as the only other sapphic woman in town. Sakura had known of her for a while. It was hard not to when she had spent most of her high school years being stared at by her, and haunted by apparent rumors that she has a collection of her hair in her locker. Not to mention, Sakura admittedly found her (for lack of better words) unhinged way of personal expression to be incredibly unattractive. She was quite annoyed at the fact that she had gotten into the same university, but she hadn’t seen her for over a year at this point. 

 

Not like she cared. 

 

Though, she’d never tell anyone that. Especially because why the did the weird emo girl with hygiene problems suddenly look like she stepped right out of a magazine and smelled like a field of flowers?

 

Chaeyeon looks over at the bloody individuals before sighing, looking over at the other girls attempting to help. “Uh, I think we should have a first-aid kit ready for this club.”

 

“Right, right... So, I take it same time next week?” Another expectant, open-mouthed smile graces Chaewon's features as she raises her hand, expecting a series of hi-fives, only to be awkwardly stared at. "Okay! Good work, guys!"

 

Kazuha looks over to the crowd and sees a rather strange expression on Yunjin’s features. One that’s staring straight at Sakura with worry and disappointment. As if she wanted to help, as if she wanted to be there for her, as if she missed some sort of chance.

 

Kazuha hums to herself. 

 

“Well,” she says quietly.

 

“This is gonna be an interesting club.”