I can't think of a title yet, sobs. I'm so sorry. OTL
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Chapter 1
Bullies.
She bit her lower lip as she limply stood back on her feet, dragging them towards her scarf to pick it up and clean off the sprinkles of snow that had attached onto it.
…Bullies. How she hated them. Somehow she was always their first victim. It could be because she would never fight back and just settle with glaring at them, or maybe it’s because she was one of the smartest in class. Either way, she never did make an attempt of paying back. She doesn’t even tell the teachers about it. Doing so would only waste her time, she figured. And it might also make her miss a class, as it could end up with her being dragged to the Principal’s office in the middle of a school day just to discuss about it. In the end, no matter how much she loathed them, all she could do was watch and let them hurt her.
She hated it, but she had to remain calm.
Or rather, she preferred to.
“Sayaka! You’re home late again! And – is that a cut on your nose?! What happened?!”
Her mother’s sharp voice instantly filled Sayaka’s ears the moment she opened the door to her house open, making her cringe both in surprise and pain. Giving her mother a silly, reserved smile, she slightly bowed her head down before heading up to her room. She never liked telling her mother about the bullying that’s been happening to her. It was her own problem, she would think, and it’s for her alone to deal with.
“H-Hey!” Her mother called up as she made her way up the stairs. “Yui came earlier! She asked me to tell you to call her once you get home! Make sure to do it alright? And fix your cut!”
“Yes Mom.” Sighing out lazily, she finally walked inside her room which was only a few steps away from the stairs, shutting the door close carefully to the point that it barely made a sound before finally dropping her back down on the bed.
Holding up her red scarf, she sighed again.
“And to think that it was a gift from Yui…”
She frowned and reached out to her skirt’s pocket in search for her phone, fishing it out the moment her hand had wrapped itself around the small device and flipping it open. With her back still attached on her soft and comfortable bed (which was the complete opposite of the ice cold snow she was shoved onto earlier.), she scanned through her contacts list and pressed the call button as soon as it highlighted Yokoyama Yui’s name, pressing it against her ear soon after.
Only two successful beeps rang out before the next one got cut off in the middle, making it an obvious sign that the other line had finally answered.
“Hello? Sayaka?”
A small smile rose on Sayaka’s features as she listened to Yui’s voice. As usual, it sounded calm. Too calm, in fact, that it was almost hard to read whether she was happy that she called or not.
“You asked for me to call?”
“Yeah, I – your voice sounds muffled, is something the matter?”
Her smile immediately dropped.
“I uh… bumped my nose on a lamppost earlier…?”
“You’re awful at lying,” an immediate response.
“I know,” smiling pitifully at her self, Sayaka sighed out loudly and finally sat up, letting her free hand run through her short dark locks. I’ll need to take a bath later, she thought to herself as she felt a few wet spots at the back of her head – probably from when she had met the snow when she fell earlier.
Silence engulfed the on-phone conversation for a few seconds.
“So?”
Once again, she sighed. But this time it was out of defeat.
“The usual.”
“Bullies?” Yui immediately cut in, as if in a hurry.
“Pretty much.”
“Who were they this time?”
Sayaka took another few seconds to answer, letting her eyes lock themselves against the plain white wall in front of her as she listened to the silence from the other side of the phone, knowing that Yui was patiently waiting for her answer. It was quiet on Yui’s line. She’s probably in her room, Sayaka half-heartedly concluded just from that. Otherwise, she doesn’t know where the mysterious girl could be. Despite being close friends, Yui never does reveal much about herself, after all.
Although, some things were just a tad bit too obvious to Sayaka. No matter how much the other female tries to hide it. And one of those obvious “things” seemed like it involves dangerous activities, something she’d rather not ask about.
Closing her eyes, Sayaka tried to remember the faces of the three girls from earlier, finally naming them one by one as their faces flashed in her mind.
“…So they haven’t learned their lessons yet,” Yui’s voice sounded as if she was disappointed, followed by a sigh.
“Let them be, they’re just kids who have too much free time.”
“Right.”
“So, what did you want again?”
“Oh, right, can you bring your English book tomorrow? Our classes are on different days, right? I kind of lost mine so if it’s not much of a trouble, I was going to ask if I could borrow it.”
Smiling once again, Sayaka nodded her head despite knowing that Yui couldn’t see it at all, following it with a quick “Sure”.
“Thank you. I’ll be hanging up now.”
As usual, without even waiting for a response, Yui had already put the call down, leaving Sayaka to listen to her phone’s beeping with her mouth hanged half-way open. Heaving out a sigh for the nth time of the day, Sayaka finally pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at it for a moment, and with her lips pursed into a thin line, she finally shut her phone close and laid down on her back, rolling a bit in search for a comfortable position, and without even changing out of her uniform, she slowly closed her eyes.
“I’ll sleep for a bit before dinner…” She mumbled.
–
“Hey there, loser”
Sayaka involuntarily let out a groan as a sharp pain crept up on her back. Sharply turning her head behind to see who it was that had probably given her now aching back a slap. She narrowed her eyes at the perpetrator. It was one of the three bullies from last night. The one that had handed the leader scissors for her to use in cutting the poor, defenseless scarf Sayaka owned.
“Aww, still mad from last night? You sure know how to hold a grudge,” laughing out loudly, the girl walked away, swinging her briefcase on her shoulder as she passed through the other students in front of her, bumping those who were on her way.
“Hey there, loser.”
Removing her eyes from the said girl’s back, Sayaka turned behind her again, clearly getting annoyed from being called a loser first thing in the morning. The sharp glare she had on, however, slowly disappeared as she looked at the stranger standing only a few steps from her, the said stranger’s hands both on her back, probably clasped together as she smiled innocently at Sayaka.
Despite being clad on a thick, heavy, green and worn out jacket, the said stranger still had a rather innocent-like smile on, as if saying that it wasn’t her who had called her loser just now. She slightly tilted her head to the side, with her raven locks following her head’s motion in a matter of seconds.
A hobo?
“And you are?”
“The meanie earlier gave your back a present,” she answered – although it wasn’t the answer Sayaka had hoped for.
“Huh?”
“Your back. It says 'Please call me loser.'”
Finally catching on with what the girl meant, Sayaka took a glance on her back, letting her right hand reach out to it with difficulty and slightly turning around in circles as she tried to capture the fluttering paper cheaply attached on her back. Feeling its rough texture on her hand, she then pulled it off, turning it around as she gave her present a quick read.
"Please call me loser," it said. Just like what the stranger had told her.
Those darn bullies.
“Thank yo—” Sayaka turned her head up, only to see that the girl had gotten much closer to her than earlier. To the point that she was close to invading her personal space already. In fact, she might have already had Sayaka not taken a step back out of instinct.
“Can I borrow a thousand yen from you?”
“What?” Sayaka asked out exasperatedly. Sure, the girl had saved her from embarrassment but a thousand yen?
“Oh come on, you attend this school, that must mean you’re rich, yes? And I said borrow, I’ll pay you back in time, promise!” She clasped her hands together.
“But I don’t even know you—HEY”
“You talk too much,” the girl nonchalantly pointed out as she easily pulled Sayaka’s wallet out from her back, as if she was used in doing such a thing. A huge smile etched on her face soon after as she fished out a thousand bill from it. “See? You have a lot of thousand bills here, and I’m being a good citizen by only taking one as promised!” Handing the wallet back to Sayaka, she widened her smile even more. “I’ll meet you here again to pay you back, okay? Thank you for letting me borrow your money, Sayaka!” Taking a step away from her, the girl waved the bill up in the air before hurriedly taking her leave.
Sayaka could only stare in awe as the girl’s figure slowly disappeared from her sight, her hand unconsciously tightening its hold from her wallet. “It’s not borrowing if you take it without my consent, though…” She muttered to herself and frowned. “Moreover, how did she even know my na—oh…” Looking down at her wallet, Sayaka pulled out her school I.D. From it. “So that’s how.”
Wait, did that girl just mug her? Was she just robbed? Yeah. She’d been robbed.
Sayaka’s mouth only hung open from the late realization, her eyes shifting from the direction the girl had walked off to down towards the wallet in her hand, wondering, just wondering if she should finally start being a bit more assertive towards the abuses she’d been receiving.
She didn’t see the hobo again even after a few days, the feeling of relief coming up to her each time she walks near the school gate after classes only to find no one there. Not so secretly, though, a part of her was hoping she’d meet her again. Just so she could ask if she can finally have her money back. It may be true that her wallet has a few more thousand bills inside it, but they’re all trophies from her hard work. A trophy which she’s so careful to spend away and yet there goes one of them, stolen by a darn stranger in a worn out jacket.
And then, five days later, the stranger was there again. Her eyes squinted at the sight of the girl. Whether the gods were meaning to mock her by this fateful meeting or not, Sayaka wished the girl wouldn’t do so much as shouting her name out loud, in front of her school, with one hand waving in the air as though they’d been familiar with each other for a long time. Yeah, well, five days is a long time but it’s not like she was anything near acquainted to her. She doesn’t even know the girl’s name yet there she is, screaming hers!
“Keep it down! You’re attracting other people!” Sayaka hissed once she was near the girl, glancing behind her only to see many of her schoolmates already whispering at each other while staring at them. Great, more bullying material for the bullies. She was sure she’d be laughed at later for having a hobo for a friend. Why did this stranger have to appear in the same pair of clothes, anyway?
“Sorry, sorry. I got excited spotting you after three hours of standing here doing nothing. I should have asked when your classes would end beforehand.”
She groaned. “So what do you want this time? Plan to snatch my wallet again?”
“How mean,” the girl pouted. Rather cutely in fact, though it was hard for Sayaka to admit so. Especially after seeing how she has a dirt on her cheek. She’ll have to find a way to tell her about it without embarrassing her late on. “I came to finally pay you back!”
Okay. Although she was hoping of finally regaining her money, this was the last thing she ever thought of hearing from the stranger.
“Wait, what?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten already? If so then darn, I should have just ditched you and ran away without ever planning on returning your money. Then again, that would ruin me inside with guilt. Aren’t you lucky I’m kind?” There’s that innocent-like smile on her again again, and Sayaka could only feel her blood growing hot from it. Perhaps she was blushing? Entranced by the girl’s wonderful smile despite her awful attire? She had always been a sucker for great smiles, after all.
“Kind. Right. When you just left with my money without properly asking me about it.”
The girl clad in green jacket huffed and pulled out a piece of candy from one of its pockets, carefully unwrapping the sweet ball out from its package and popping it in her mouth, showing the wrapper back inside her pocket, staring at Sayaka and then, slightly turning to her side as though she was protecting something, she hissed a playful “I still have one more here but I’m not giving you any!” to which Sayaka simply replied with a frown. The short-haired was never that fond of sweets anyway.
“Are you implying that I’m a thief?”
“In a way, yes,” she answered, rather bluntly.
“Come on, Miss Yamamoto Sayaka, I’ll make it up to you!”
'Come on?' Sayaka’s eyebrows rose quizzically. “What do you mean “Come on”? I don’t even know you.”
“Oh dear, are all rich people this uptight?” she sighed as if she’d finally grown tired of acting all kind, a frown now etched over the smile she’s been wearing as she dropped her head down. Sayaka narrowed her eyes at her again, wondering what the girl’s true motive really was. Maybe secretly, behind that innocent smile of hers, she’s actually planning on dragging her into an isolated alley where a bunch of bulky guys would jump at her and take away all of her precious belongings.
Sayaka instinctively hugged her bag closer to her. “I am not rich.”
“With over ten thousand yen in your wallet on a possibly daily basis? Sure you’re not,” she mused, her eyes locking towards the bag Sayaka was hugging, although to be more accurate, her wrist, quietly reaching out for it. Sayaka hurriedly stepped back, pushing her hand away with her elbow.
“Don’t.”
“What, afraid my ‘poor’ might get on it?”
“If that’s all, I’m leaving,” she drops her arms back down, one hand holding her bag tightly as she turned to the other side of the gate. “Please don’t follow me.”
“Oh? Is this your own way of saying you don’t need your money anymore?”
Sayaka immediately halted from her tracks, her eyebrows knitting to the middle as she gave it some thought, sighed and, ignoring the white puff her breath had made, finally turned around to meet the girl again, clearly not amused at the situation she’d been put in. Call her a cheapskate or even stingy but when it comes to her money, she would do any means necessary to gain it back.
And to have it used against her instead, well, that sure makes her feel a lot like an idiot.
“Fine. This better be fast.”
“Great!” The girl clasped her hands once she and smiled widely, turning to the other side of the street. “Over here. Please follow me.”
She led Sayaka doiwn the street, pulling her last piece of candy out (if she was telling the truth about having one last piece left, that is) in the middle of their venture towards god knows where and happily slipped it inside her mouth. Sayaka silently observed her as they walked, trying to figure her out. The stranger’s hair was toned black and styled into a bob – or at least Sayaka believes it was meant to be cut as one, noticing a few locks being an inch or two longer than the other side as though she had cut it herself. The girl’s sneakers were completely worn out and long past their glory days, but the girl seems to walk in it with pride.
Honestly, Saykaa has never met anyone like her before.
“Are we there yet?”
“Almost there, just a little bit more, please.”
They already passed a small flower shop, a few boutiques, several bodegas and even food stands that sold yakitori for a mere twenty yen. A bit too cheap for Sayaka to trust, really, but its smoke hitting her nose had her stomach close to rumbling, opting her to open her mouth to ask if they were there yet, only to notice that the girl had already stopped walking.
“Here we are!”
She turned curiously to the establishment the girl was gesturing her two hands to, the sign above it reading “Namba Diner” in yellow, blocked neon.
“It’s a… Diner.”
“Oh wow! Never would have figured it out, you’re smart!” She smiled again, pushing its two doors open and motioning Sayaka inside. Sayaka groaned and rolled her eyes, only walking in after her. At least she was sure she’d be safe from any more mugging in a diner.
The man behind the counter welcomed them as they walked inside while motioning for them to sit wherever they pleased, and before she knew it she was pulled into a booth with fainted red seats.
Lacing her fingers together, the stranger placed her elbow on the table top and rested her chin on her hands after sitting down across Sayaka.
“So, anything you want to get?”
She was still a bit puzzled as to why they were there, glancing down at the laminated menu and scanning on it quickly.
“The uh, one thousand yen sounds good.”
“Food, stupid.” She deadpanned, frowning.
“Look, I don’t have the appetite to eat. I only followed you thinking I’d get my money back, so what’s the point in all of this? You’re just wasting my time.”
The girl didn’t respond, looking up at the waitress that had approached them instead. The woman looked tired and stressed-out, but nonetheless kind, her smile looking more genuine than one of those business smiles Sayaka used to wear when she worked in a fast-food restaurant before. Oh those torturous memories.
“Miyuki, dear, who’s your friend?”
“Hi Mom, she’s uh… Uh…”
“Sayaka.” She decided to jump in, thinking that the girl who had just called her by her full name had already forgotten it. “Yamamoto Sayaka” She added after a quick cough to clear her throat, hoping she sounded a bit more polite than earlier. It suddenly made sense. The stranger didn’t mean to pay her back with money, or perhaps she didn’t have enough to pay her back with a full bill so instead, she was going to pay her back with food. Food was free for them there as her mother worked in the establishment. Sayaka wasn’t anything close to hungry just yet, or at least she believes so, but she had to give the girl credit for even trying.
“Is what I was about to say, and she’s going to have some soda—”
“Coffee,” she corrected, earning a brief glare from the girl sitting across her.
“And a… Spaghetti—”
“Just a ham sandwich will do,” she corrected again, and this time, she earned a kick on the leg under the table, making her slightly lean forward and groan inwardly in pain.
“Fine, I’ll have spaghetti then,” with a short pause, the girl added in, “and a milkshake.”
“Milk.”
“…shake.”
Her mother smiled as she wrote their orders down onto her notepad, scribbling “milk” instead and turning to go prepare them.
The girl picked up a toothpick and toyed with it idly as she finally broke the short silence between them.
“So… Your name really is Sayaka.”
"You saw my I.D.”
“Yes, but I only managed to read the kanji. Never did get the chance to steal a glance at the hiragana so I wasn’t sure. You know how iffy kanji can be.”
“I see. And I guess your name is Miyuki, yes?”
“Oh dear, you’ve figured that out already? You sure are getting smarter and smarter, Sayaka!”
Groaning once more, Sayaka pinched the bridge of her nose and gave it a quick massage, pushing herself up from her seat and grabbing her bag which she must have thrown beside her amidst being dragged in their current table. “Look. I change my mind, you can keep the money. I should be at home right now, studying.”
The girl’s expression immediately changed the moment she saw her stand up, her hand quickly reaching out to her uniform’s sleeve.
“W-Wait! Please?”
Sayaka sighed quietly, closing her eyes for a moment as she pursed her lips into a thin line, turning back to the girl tiredly, sitting back down on her seat in defeat.
“So…” She paused, wondering what she should do now that silence had begun on engulfing them once more. “Which school do you go to?”
Miyuki stopped poking the poor innocent toothpick she’d been playing with ever since Sayaka sat down again, looking rather surprised by the question as she froze for a few more seconds. Glancing to the left, she mumbled her answer.
“NMB, Osaka. Just your ordinary public school.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that.” There was still no eye contact between them, with Sayaka looking down at her hands under the table. “Uh…”
Oh great. Here comes that awkward atmosphere she’d always come to hate. Sayaka was never good at talking with others, which was the main reason why she’s often bullied by other students. Appearance-wise, she looks more assertive, but in all truth she was a total no-good with conversations. Even at times where she would hang out with Yui, her long friend introduced to her by her father as their parents both knew each other, it was Yui who would do the talking.
The kitchen door opened only to shut close not a second later, the sound of sizzling and cooking from inside distracting her.
She found herself growing more and more curious about Miyuki. It wasn’t out of fondness of sorts, but she was just curious. Miyuki… Miyuki was different. Or at least she’s far more different than the rich wannabes in Sayaka’s school.
“Thanks. For coming back, I mean,” she finally managed to say.
Miyuki finally turned her head up to make eye contact, looking speechless as her mouth was left open for a moment with no words spilling out from it. Quite briefly her eyes softened and Sayaka swore she saw it glisten. Did she just look like she was about to cry?
“You’re… You’re welcome.”
The afternoon was spent much better from that point on. Finally the two of them were able to pull out topics to talk about more, especially after their foods were served. The food wasn’t at all bad, and neither was their conversation. Miyuki, although she may not look big on educations, politics or at the very least, arts, she was bright. And even though she was full of so many witty remarks earlier, Miyuki was actually very modest. Sayaka felt self-conscious, wondering if she sounded a bit too nerdy from all the topics she’d picked but Miyuki would always be able to pick up what she’s trying to point out, no matter how much Sayaka stutters. And it was an odd feeling. Because normally Sayaka wouldn’t stutter, despite being awful at talking, and normally she wouldn’t what anyone thought of her.
They’d been talking for hours already, but Sayaka still found that she barely knew anything about Miyuki. Much to her dismay, her mother had interrupted their conversation as she came up to take away their plates.
“Miyuki, you should go home before it gets dark.”
“Alright, Mom.”
It was only then that it finally hit her. Sayaka was actually getting a free meal from a mother who was supporting her family on tips. And although her meal was meant to be free for her money Miyuki had ‘borrowed’, she still felt guilty.
“Um.. That was 450 yen, right?”
“Oh, no, no. Don’t worry about it! It’s on me.” The woman smiled ever so sincerely. Sayaka meekly nodded her head and turned away, somehow embarrassed. When she left, Miyuki leaned forward with a scowl on her face, hissing on her angrily.
“What are you trying to pay for? Do you feel sorry for me or something?”
“No, not at all! It’s just that—” she tried to lie, but her word bank had failed her.
“Which part of I’m paying you back do you not get? I don’t want to owe you even more money, Sayaka.”
“But I—”
“Please put your wallet away.” Despite the polite words she’s been using, the way Miyuki had folded her arms and leaned back on her seat was more than enough of a hint for Sayaka to understand that she wasn’t amused of her earlier attempt.
Sighing, she finally complied with Miyuki’s orders and slid it back into her bag, feeling uncomfortable again. Miyuki got up from her seat and straightened her jacket, giving her back a quick pat before looking out the window. It was staring to get dark and she made a face expressing uneasiness at this pickle.
Sayaka got up as well and grabbed her bag with her, fixing her skirt as she stood up and finally noticing she seemed troubled. Turning her head to the window, she presses her lips together briefly.
“Milky,” she started, still feeling a bit awkward with calling her by the nickname introduced to her in the middle of their conversation. Miyuki said she preferred to be called that rather than her first name, and refused to reveal her last until Sayaka would agree to call her that. In exchange, Miyuki promised to brush aside any formalities and call her by her first name, too, having no nickname to give her just yet.
Or well, there’s Sayanee, the nickname Yui gave her but that was too embarrassing. And she doesn’t even know if she’s older than Miyuki enough to be called Sayanee.
“Hm?”
“Do you want me to take you home?”
Miyuki knits her brows at her, looking confused as she tilted her head to the side, studying her for a moment.
“You… You’d really do that? To a stranger?”
Was it that big of a deal? It seems so.
“Yes. Of course. You’re an acquaintance at the very least, Milky, not a stranger.”
She bit her lower lip, fighting with her pride as she turned her head down, letting her fringe cover half of her eyes as she gave the offer a quick thought. Slowly nodding her head, she gave in gratefully.
“Thank you.”
They left the diner at dusk and immediately, Sayaka wondered if her parents would be worried. It was normal for Sayaka to come home late, yes, especially when she was still working part-time but even then she would send her mother small messages telling her when she’d go home, or let them know ahead of time. She’ll just have to run home afterwards, then, hoping that Miyuki doesn’t live at the other side of the town. Or worst, at a completely different one.
The walk took longer than she hoped, and Miyuki’s neighborhood, if not completely then was almost completely different. All of the buildings there were clustered and stained, their paints already fading and the stairs down from the fire exits beside them were already too rusty for Sayaka to believe that it would be able to withstand a human’s average weight once stepped on. Litters were carelessly left in the middle of the street and… It was just different. Very different.
“Is uh.. Your dad home?” Sayaka asked, hoping to start a conversation.
'He left earlier. It's just us and Mom now.”
“Oh… us?”
“I have a younger sister! Or at least she’s almost like one. You could almost say my mother and I had adopted her.” A smile rose on Miyuki’s face, almost warming Sayaka up amidst the cold evening. “Her name is Rina. Kondo Rina. I saw her outside the diner a few years ago. It was also winter then and she seemed lost, so I insisted for mom to take her in until we found her real parents. We never did. So we just took her in. She was sick until recently and that um…” She turned her head down, her pace slowing. “…Money I took from you was for her medicine. I-I don’t always do that, I promise! I just… Didn’t want to see her with a fever anymore. I was desperate then, you could say.”
“Oh…”
Come on, Sayaka, can’t you fish out a better response than a mere ‘Oh’? She huffed through her nose, the urge to pound her head repeatedly in hopes of getting out something to say, coming to her. Anything but those two-lettered word would do.
“So, your mother pays for everything, then?”
“Yeah. She has two jobs. She doesn’t like the idea of having me work part-time to help.”
In a way, Miyuki’s amazing for being able to talk about this so casually. But Sayaka couldn’t relate to it at all. She’d been born as an only child, and her parents both loved her. Whose father has a wonderful high paying career and whose mother is a very enthusiastic housewife who spends the day away learning new pastries for her to bake. She’d never met anyway so different from her life until now. And although she knew that pity was the last thing Miyuki would want from her, she still couldn’t help but feel so. She just wanted to help her somehow. Even though just earlier today she wanted to rid her from her life immediately and possibly, permanently and even though Miyuki had mugged her a few days before, she wasn’t completely a bad person. She paid her back. Kind of. It’s the effort that counts! And if she was telling the truth then she took her money out of good purpose.
“My dad… He comes home every now and then but when he does he’d be drunk and always wants something.”
“Oh. I see. I’m sorry.”
It seems Miyuki finally caught her uneasiness, giving Sayaka a sarcastic smile.
“Sayaka? You look a little pale. Maybe I should be the one taking you home after all.”
“It’s just cold,” she muttered, turning her head away as she stuffed her hands in her pockets as if proving her point.
“Suuure.I’m sorry for suddenly blurting out many unnecessary facts earlier when you’d only asked if my father’s home.” Miyuki’s smile lessened into an apologetic one. “Well anyway, this is it.”
Sayaka looked over at the building beside them. It was made of gray brick with cement over it, though a huge crack had given the bricks away with just a mere glance. Just like the rest it had rusty fire escapes and its already dull beige pain was already peeling off.
Oh, dear god. Is this your own way of testing how much one could hold their pity in?
“Miyu…” She huffed. “Milky.”
“Yep?”
Sayaka pulled out two thousand from her pocket, taking Miyuki by her hand and pushing it into her palm.
“Sayaka, how many times do I have to tell you? I don’t need your charity—”
“Look. Miyuki, I—take it. Really. If you don’t want it then you can give it to your mom. Just… Just take it.” She closed Miyuki’s fingers around it, keeping her grip around her hand firm in case she pulls away. Unconsciously licking her lower lip, she glances down at her own hand, struggling with her thoughts.
“Sayaka…”
“Please. Take it.”
Miyuki kept quiet, looking angry but at the same time, humbled. Her eyes cast further down to her shoes, gathering her thoughts together.
“Okay,” her voice was quiet.
“Okay. Good.” Sayaka smiled in relief and finally let go of her hand. The money was just a a small extra her mother had given her, anyway, in hopes that it would get her any fatter. It would be more appreciated in Miyuki’s possession and Sayaka was sure that her thoughts would bug her to no ends knowing she can at least do this much and yet not help her. Straightening herself up, she took a step back to leave.
“Good night, then.”
“Hey, wait,” Miyuki hesitated quickly.
“Hm?”
Miyuki lessened the distance between them with a step forward, her hand holding onto Sayaka’s arm as she leaned in, kissing her cheek. It was brief and she quickly turned away to go into the apartment building right after.
“Thank you. Really.”
Sayaka stared at the wooden door shut behind Miyuki, awestruck. No one other than her parents had ever kissed her on the cheek. And it was the last thing Sayaka expected to receive. Ah… Somehow her face feels a little hot, and she was sure it wasn’t because winter is nearing, but from the prickling feeling Miyuki had left in Sayaka’s tummy and the anxious pounding of her heart. When she finally started walking home after standing still for who knows how long, she was far too fevered to even care if she was going to be mugged by a random hobo.
Thankfully she wasn’t.
Topic: Untitled (SayaMilky) Chapter 5 (Read 9563 times)