Yuri slouched down into the farthest back seat of the bus, thankful that she was the only one on the vehicle. She covered her face with her hands, crying softly enough that the driver wouldn't hear, letting everything out.
It was only the second day of her winter break, and she already regretted everything she did...
She groaned to herself, leaning more down onto her seat after replaying the scene with her sister in her head. She couldn't believe she said all that at the heat of the moment, and she felt an immense amount of guilt after seeing Chaewon's pain-stricken face after she yelled at her.
All Chaewon did was try to help and protect her, and what did she do? Yell at her, cut her off, not address her as her 'unnie', run away.
"You idiot..."
Yuri mumbled under her breath, wiping away her tears with her hoodie sleeve as she pushed herself back up to sit straight.
Yuri took out her phone, plugging in her earbuds as she began to play her songs. She leaned against the bus window, aimlessly watching as her surroundings changed around her...
....
...
...
"Yuri, second year."
The tall security guard raised his eyebrow at the small hamster, "why are you here?"
"I came back. I changed my mind on staying with my family during break."
The man stared at her in silence, which made Yuri speak again.
"Can I not change my mind? I just want to stay in my dorm room for the break."
He sighed, gesturing for the other guard to open the gate, "you can go in. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are the same times as usual."
Yuri muttered a thank you under her breath, quickly passing the guards into the school grounds. Even if she didn't do anything but enter into the large main room, she felt comfortable already, taking a few moments to take deep breaths before beginning to walk down the '100' dorm rooms hall.
It was eerily quiet since there were no students or teachers out and about, but the girl curiously stopped when she heard music inside one of the dorm rooms before hers.
Room 104...
'Isn't this Yena and Chaewon-unnie's room?'
Yuri knocked on the oak door, waiting a few moments to realize that no one could hear due to the loud music. She knocked a little harder, and the music abruptly stopped.
...
"Sorry sir or ma'am, is my music that lo- Yuri?"
"Yena-unnie?"
The two girls stared in surprise at each other, the duck quickly sensing that something happened as she saw Yuri's messy emotions.
"Oh uh- hey Yuri-yah, fancy seeing you back so soon?"
Yuri looked away, and the girl's sadness grew, "I thought it'd be better if I just stayed at school... Chaewon-unnie's still with our parents though."
Yena gave her a smile, waving the girl inside, "you can come in if you'd like."
Yuri returned the expression, "thanks Yena-unnie. What are you doing here though?"
"Ah well, I don't want to go home. My parents are always busy and well, I just don't feel like seeing them."
"Oh I see... Sorry I brought it up."
Yena wrapped her arm around the shorter girl's shoulders, "nah it's fine, don't worry about it."
From her closeness, she could see that Yuri's been crying hard.
She softly smiled, "want to tell me what happened? If you're okay with telling me."
She sat the girl down on her bed, leaving her duffel bag near the door as the hamster sighed, "unnie... There's a reason why I don't want to talk about, let alone use, my ability."
Yena silently nodded, giving Yuri her full attention.
"When I was in my first year... Last year, during choir I accidentally broke the windows of our classroom because I sang too high..."
Yuri twiddled her fingers, staring down at the carpet as she muttered softly, "that's when I found out I was different from the others."
She looked away, "for the whole school year after that, almost everyone made fun of me. Shrieker, Window-Breaker, Ear-Piercer, mutant."
Yuri scoffed, "honestly, what kind of stupid names are those."
Even with the girl's sudden strong but annoyed tone, Yena saw through her facade, seeing that every name she spoke made her break a little bit more. So she gently rested her hand on Yuri's back, rubbing it in slow circles.
"Chaewon-unnie even lost a lot of her friends because of me, because she chose to stay by me when everyone else left..."
Yuri covered her face with her hands, sighing exhaustedly, "I felt like I was drowning... And my parents didn't really do anything except find ENOZI for the both of us."
She weakly chuckled, "you can say I don't have the best relationship with my parents either..."
"..."
"But I was so happy when I came here and met all of you guys. For the first time since that happened, I felt so loved, so... wanted..."
Seeing that Yuri grew quiet, Yena scooted closer and wrapped her arm around her shoulders again, squeezing her tightly.
Yuri looked up from her hands as Yena smiled at her, "welcome home, Yuri-yah."
The hamster grinned, filling the duck with newfound joy and a hint of love as she hugged the older girl.
"Thank you Yena-unnie... Sorry I just dropped this all on you."
Yena chuckled, hugging Yuri back as she rubbed her brown hair, "of course... And it's fine, I'll always be there for you, okay?"
Yuri bobbed her head up and down as they pulled away, which Yena thought was adorable, heart-fluttering, even.
"But you should text your sister, she's probably wondering if you got here safely."
Yuri nodded, fishing out her phone from one of her pockets, "yeah... I need to apologize to her too."
Yena tilted her head and the younger girl awkwardly chuckled, "I might have... yelled at her before I left..."
Yena smiled, nodding in understanding, "do what you have to do."
The hamster was startled from how quickly her sister answered, considering that usually, it'd take a minimum of five minutes for Chaewon to answer her.
Yuri put her phone away, "done."
"Chaewon's fine?"
The younger girl nodded, "yup, she's fine."
Yena tapped her chin, "none of our other friends stayed... Well, except for Kkura-unnie. Do you want to just stay here until Minju and Chaewon come back?"
"Is that okay with you?"
Yenna nodded with a smile, "of course, I wouldn't want you to be lonely."
Yuri giggled, "and you don't want to be lonely too?"
"Okay- to be honest- I did go over to Kkura-unnie's room yesterday because I was so bored by myself. So yes, I don't want to be lonely either. But it's a win-win either way is it not?"
Yuri laughed, making the duck's heart flutter from the beautiful sound, "yeah it is... Is Kkura-unnie doing okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine."
The hamster snuggled herself onto Yena, "thank you again for being so nice to me."
The older girl smiled, rubbing Yuri's head, "of course, anything for you."
"Huh?"
"Anything for you and our uh- other friends."
Yena smiled, hoping her embarrassment didn't show on her face as Yuri stared at her cluelessly.
"O~kay?"
"Want to watch a movie?"
Yena quickly changed the subject, mentally hitting herself for being so stupid with her words.
"What movie?"
Yena brought her computer over, the two girls leaning against the wall on Yena's bed as she scrolled through a website.
"It's about these twelve girls who have superpowers, kinda like us! And they like- save the world while they're in school."
Yuri chuckled, "that sounds exactly like us... Except for the 'saving the world' part."
Yena shrugged, "you never know, we might be superheros."
Yuri scoffed, playfully pushing Yena's shoulder, "yeah right. Us? Superheros? Pshh."
Yena rolled her eyes, both of the girls giggling as they cuddled closer together, sharing the blanket between them as they began the movie.
The two hearts beat as one, their time together increasing an already blooming feeling between the two...