bubblegum princess

chapter twenty four

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the beginning:
SOMEBODY THAT
I USED TO KNOW
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COLD. She never felt so cold. Sumire never felt so much energy in her body drained almost immediately.  One glance of seiren's emerald eyes made her legs wobble in anticipation, her adrenaline pumps and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. "S-Seiren..." she whispered as she reached out to her.

Yet she never expected what happened next.

Seiren brushes her off and walks passed her. Sumire's eyes widened as her arm faltered in the air, and her breath hitched, felt her heart break into a thousand pieces. Her lips quivered before turning her heel, quickly grabbing Seiren's wrist before she could even work further away from her reach.

"S-Sei-chan..." she calls her out, tugging her wrist softly "I-I.." Seiren eyes saddened, reaching her hand on her wrist and gently removing her hold "I-I'm sorry, Sumire but... I can't face you right now. I'm sorry." with one last look, she walked away. Sumire's tears started to slip and her lips released a sob she couldn't bear to hide.

Keishi looked at Seiren as she stepped out of the hospital door, she seemed to be dejected and had a heavy heart. The happy look he had quickly diminished as he ran toward her side, hugging her shoulder "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Take me home, will you niisan?" Keishi looked crestfallen from the teary eyes of Seiren as he obliged her request and they both disappeared from the glimpse of the place.

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Seiren walked to the silent path of the academy walls, no schoolmates nor classmates of hers were present on the Saturday morning, only to see her seniors passing by. They waved as they saw her, happily patting her head as they cheered to see her alright.

"Ah, Sei-chan! Ready to have the special exams?" Iruka smiled as he approached her after seeing her bidding her seniors farewell. The pink-haired girl lowers her head in greeting "Ohayo, Iruka-sensei."

Patiently, he sets a couple of papers down on seiren's desk in an empty classroom. Quickly but surely, she examined the letters and numbers before scribbling the answers she thought fitted, encircling the letters, aligning sentences, measuring and calculating the numbers, and setting the formula, she didn't notice Iruka looking at her with familiarity.

"You look like your father." she paused from writing and looked at him with surprise "Eh?"

Iruka grinned and sat down across from her "Sasuke exceeds well in academics, especially in ninjutsu and taijutsu. Written exams work well with Sakura." his gaze softens "You are their daughter."

She said nothing but continued to answer her work and finished it all before the bell rang.

Kaizen massaged his neck as he strolled downtown, his piercing red eyes narrowed in every stall and restaurant around him but nothing seemed to pique his interest to eat any of it. His stomach was growling, yes, but his mind seemed to refuse to eat anything displayed around him.

"This is such a tiresome day." He complained before pausing on his steps when he met Seiren halfway, looking a bit surprised to see her all glum and quiet. "Seiren?" his eyes squinted, trying to make sure that he was indeed talking to Seiren. The girl squeaked, looking surprised to see him "H-Hai?"