SIXTY-THREE. GF-FORHIRE
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we all encounter people at some point in our lives who catch our attention for a fleeting moment. and then afterwards, the sole memory of their face and behavior fades in the wind, without knowing that one day.. the strings of our fates would soon intertwine.
-
"iwaaa~" a tall middle school second year brunette whined inside the café. "how am i supposed to grow any taller if you keep smacking my head like that?"
the other second year who was also waiting for his order scoffed. "quit your whining, shittykawa. we're in a public establishment at eight thirty in the evening and you've been babbling about your hair since we got off the bus."
the brunette boy only huffed. "whatever.."
the bell of the café dinged, signalling the arrival of a customer. the two looked at the direction of the door. it was uncommon for someone to come by the cafe this late in the evening, as right now, just the two of them were here.
a girl with wavy midnight black hair that just ended a bit over her shoulders entered the café.
the first thing they noticed about her was that she had different colored eyes— something that wasn't very common.
she was wearing a white blouse tucked underneath a white pleated skirt, a gray tie, and a white blazer over that. she had white stockings reaching mid-thigh and black school shoes.
she silently walked over to the counter, her footsteps resounded against the tiled floors of the café.
"she's cute." the boy with fluffy brown hair quipped.
the other one's eyes remained on the girl.
"large vanilla iced coffee please." the girl muttered to the barista. "two blueberry cheesecakes and a medium strawberry shortcake."
the barista nodded as he wrote down the order and gave her the change as she paid.
the girl went over to a vacant table and leaned against her palm as she waited.
seinaru let herself get immersed in the events earlier today.
her day went by like usual after that ball game before classes. she didn't hear anyone whispering about the game at all. it seemed as if utsui and kenji had done damage control to keep other people from discussing it.
she sighed. she hadn't expected to get tricked a second time by utsui— who hadn't talked to her at all the entire day, thinking that she was pissed. and she was, partially, because her coffee had been abducted and was used as blackmail in the first place. however, she couldn't deny that during the game, she felt something awaken in her.
maybe it was just her imagination, but—
"futakuchi." she blinked, hearing the barista call her false name.
she never put her first or last name on coffee orders— it helps to not put her real name at all. you'll never know if any creeps are listening in for your name to stalk you while you're unaware. so instead of using her name, she puts her friends' surnames. it was a crappy thing to do as a friend, but the twins were fine with it.
she stood up and took her order, giving the barista a polite nod and walking out of the café to begin her trek home.
-
"futakuchi.." the boy with fluffy brown hair hummed. "that's her surname, huh?"
the other boy, who keenly observed the girl earlier thought over it. "i've heard the surname before."
"yup, same here. i just can't remember where i heard it." the former agreed. "her uniform though, looks kinda familiar."
"i saw the crest. she's from hakuou." the other boy informed him. "we play against them next week."
"oh, right!" the boy with fluffy brown hair agreed, snapping his fingers. "i wonder if she'll be there."
" 'course she will, dumbass. hakuou always compels all its students to attend games. it's mandatory." the other boy said. "besides, with the population of that school, i doubt we'll even see her in the crowd."
"right.." the former, tooru oikawa, pouted as they picked up their orders from the counter and walked out the café.
"the next time i see her i'll make sure to introduce myself."
hajime iwaizumi let out a small grunt of agreement, "sure."
-
"i'm sorry for what i did last week." utsui bowed as soon as the front door of the seinaru residence opened.
sana seinaru blinked down at the girl, "utsui?"
the brunette looked up from the floor, "sana-obaasan."
the lady was in her pajamas as she'd just woken up. it was well past four in the morning, but she decided she'd sleep in until five o'clock on a monday, until she heard the doorbell ring.
the twins had a key to the gate, so it was no doubt she went in through the front gate.
"is ymari awake?" she asked.
sana blinked, wiping the sleep out of her eyes. "i'm not sure. you can go up to her room."
utsui nodded, "alright, thanks so much. and er.. sorry for waking you up."
"it's fine." sana waved it off as she let the girl inside the house.
as utsui started making her way upstairs with her school bag and a takeout from the coffee shop around the corner that was miraculously open at four am, sana called out to her quietly.
"you kids make up, 'kay?"
the girl nodded with a small smile on her face. "yes ma'am."
-
"what's this?" ymari looked quizzically at the two white and silver pom-poms that utsui had just shoved into her hands.
the girl blinked at her friend who dragged her all the way to sendai city gymnasium for the inter-middle school tournament qualifiers as soon as they made up earlier today— they always make up easily when there's coffee involved. they didn't have classes the entire day— the school required them to watch the game and cheer hakuou on.
the bleachers of hakuou were filled to the brim, with the motto, "ever-victorious". 百戦百勝 (hyakusenhyakushō) was printed in silver ink on the white banner.
"let's show some school spirit!" utsui cheered, raising her pom-poms in the air as she jumped up and down in excitement.
seinaru sighed, putting the pom-poms aside and leaning back against the bleachers. "i only became friends with you because i thought you weren't lame, but you're just as terrible as everyone else."
"hah?!" utsui flushed red, halting her jumps.
"what's lame about cheering for your brother and at the same time the school?" she defended.
seinaru clicked her tongue. "you see, that's just it."
she rose an amused brow at utsui, "you're not doing it for kenji, nor are you doing it for the school."
she glanced at the pretty girl manager of kitagawa first on the court who was probably in her third year and was fixing the water bottles for their players.
"you're trynna get that pretty girl's attention, right?"
utsui turned an even darker shade of red. ymari knows her better than anyone else— not even her own twin could decipher when she was trying to get a pretty girl's attention.
imayoshi, who was sat beside ymari, to the right, chuckled at the girl's reaction. "she got you there."
sakurai raised his hand, "it was kinda obvious, utsui-san."
wakamatsu stifled in his laughter, "you've been shouting kenji's name but all you've been starkng at is that girl."
utsui felt cornered and borderline embarrassed.
then, ymari put the finishing line in. "boo you horse."
'it's supposed to be another word..' the three male basketball players sweatdropped.
"alright fine, i have a thing for older women, 'kay?" utsui started whining.
her four friends blinked at her blankly, "we know."
ymari shrugged, "just take a seat, you're making yourself look like a fool by jumping up and down like it's new year's eve when the game hasn't even started yet."
"that's the longest sentence i've ever heard her say.." sakurai muttered to himself.
wakamatsu nodded, "utsui really does bring out her talkative side, i thought it was just a hoax."
"you keep bullying me." utsui pouted at ymari, sitting down begrudgingly, her pom-poms on her lap.
ymari sighed at her pouting friend. "will food make it better?"
the brunette visibly brightened up, "yes ma'am!"
ymari looked at imayoshi, then at sakurai, and wakamatsu who were all seated on her right hand side.
"do you guys want anything?" she asked.
the three froze up simultaneously. they had talked to her before, but it was indirect though. her asking them a question got them a bit taken aback.
imayoshi was the first one to regain his composure. he cleared his throat. "a bottle of water would be nice."
ymari blinked at him, "food?"
"uh.." he was put on the spot. suddenly, he didn't know what food he eats. curses.
"water for me too, please." sakurai raised his hand.
"no food?" ymari asked.
the boy tensed, "um.."
"i'll have a bottle of water too." wakamatsu said.
ymari looked at the third male, "no food?"
the third male immediately zipped his lips.
it seems as if the three had suddenly forgotten the food that they typically eat. it's absurd, but it really happens when you're put on the spot.
ymari sighed, tucking her hands in her pockets. "fine then, three bottles of water."
she turned away, but the boys were fumbling with their pockets.
"seinaru-san here—"
"don't worry about it." she waved them off, walking down the bleachers and into the hallways of the huge gymnasium.
the boys looked at each other and utsui just shrugged when they turned to her for an explanation.
-
seinaru dropped one coin after the other as she bought the drinks. she got three bottles of water, one bottle of lemon juice, and two cans of iced coffee which was not cold at all.
she frowned as she felt the can up, it was barely even above room temperature. she sighed shoving it in the plastic bag she got from the side of the vending machine.
she then moved over to the next vending machine. she put a yen note after another in the slot and picked out snacks for her and the rest of the people back there.
however, she must have miscalculated the amount of food she just bought because as soon as she stuffed them inside the plastic bag, the plastic itself burst open, all the contents falling onto the floor.
ymari blinked in shock at what just happened.
"oh no.."
she went over to get three plastic bags from the previous vending machines. there weren't many people around, so she wasn't disturbed by any stares as she picked up the contents she had spilled on the floor. luckily, none of the bottles broke. everything was intact.
"is this yours?" an unfamiliar voice spoke.
she looked up from the snack bar she was picking up and saw a boy with olive green eyes and equally colored hair wearing an unfamiliar jersey uniform with his hand stretched out to her.
she looked at what he was holding. it was utsui's lemon juice.
she nodded gratefully and took it, putting it in her plastic bag. "domo."
"i'll help you out." the boy didn't leave much room for argument as he helped the girl, giving her the food after picking them up.
they both finished picking up everything and she stood up, dusting herself off. she turned to the boy who helped her out.
"would you like anything in return?" she asked.
the boy, simple as her shook his head. "not particularly, no."
seinaru hummed, "well.."
she took one can of iced coffee from her plastic bag and gave it to him. their hands briefly brushed against each other when she left the can between his hands.
"please take it. thank you." she bowed lightly.
she didn't wait for the boy's response as she turned away, returning to her schoolmates who were at the bleachers.
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