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Click. Click. Click. Saaya's fingers ran through motions she'd practiced countless times, turning and turning and turning the sides of the puzzle cube to solve it, all the while staring out onto L'Avenir's athletic fields. She didn't even need to look at the cube to know she'd solved it...she'd done it enough times by now that she just knew when she was done. Setting the cube aside, Saaya returned to her lunch. For days now, the same question had been chewing on her heart like a demon bent on stealing her soul.
Who is Saaya Yakushiji?
That question had come up in a pre-audition screening interview...and she had no answer. She'd simply remained quiet for a few moments and excused herself. Rarely did Saaya feel anything like anger or hate, but this time she felt it very strongly...and for no one but herself. Sure, she'd faced the question about her uncertain future many, many times...but never something like that.
"Who is Saaya Yakushiji...?" Saaya cast her eyes down at her half-eaten lunch. "Who am I...?"
And then...it happened.
Saaya heard her long before Saaya saw her, but there was no mistaking those stumbling clodhopper footsteps racing up the stairwell, no mistaking that exaggerated heavy breathing that echoed up through the open door, no mistaking those bright magenta eyes that fixed on Saaya's once she burst through the door, even as she was doubled over trying to catch her breath.
Hana was here. The Hana that always worked hard to make sure everyone was happy, the Hana that would move mountains to cheer up a friend in need, the Hana that routinely put her own body at risk for others to freely pursue their dreams. The Hana that Saaya...
"Saaya-chan!" There was an urgency in Hana's voice, one that immediately put Saaya on edge. "Saaya-chan...what's...wrong?"
That caught Saaya a bit off guard. "Eh?"
Hana straightened herself up and wiped the sweat off her brow, fixing her tie and squaring up her shoulders. Hana seemed...different. More mature, more determined. There was no trace of her usual playfulness...for once, Hana was completely serious. She walked over to Saaya and sat next to her on the bench, keeping her back straight. "...Homare told me you've been spacing out a lot recently, and Ruru said the same sort of thing but wrapped up in a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that I couldn't really get. Anyway, you only space out when you're thinking too much about something! So..." Hana's face softened, her brows furrowing upward in concern. "...Talk to me. I'm not as smart as you, and I'm not as good at helping people...but if you need a cheerleader, there's no one better than me!" With that, the big, goofy grin typical of Hana came back and her posture relaxed. "Hehe, how was that? I looked really cool for a moment, didn't I?"
Saaya blinked slowly in surprise, but after the initial shock faded her face melted into a warm smile. "...Yes, Hana. You really did."
"Eh?" That took Hana by surprise and caused her to blush quite significantly. She was so used to being the butt monkey that she expected Saaya to yank the rug out from under her like always...that's how things always went. "O-Oh, ahaha, thank you..." She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart. "Y-You surprised me, I di--"
"I really admire you, Hana. You're always running around helping anyone you can, doing anything necessary...I've seen you move mountains just to cheer someone on. That kind of dedication I wish I could have in my life."
Hana's face only grew redder as Saaya spoke. "S-Saaya-chan, it's okay, y-you don't have to flatter me so much..."
"This isn't flattery, Hana. These are my true feelings. I really, really do admire you. I admire that even faced with an uncertain future, you know who you a--"
Static.
Saaya abruptly fell silent mid-sentence, her smile breaking as her face fell. She cast her eyes down at her lunch, fixating on that pickled plum she'd pushed off to the side for dessert. "...You know who you are."
Hana blinked, the blush slowly leaving her face as she scooted a bit closer to Saaya. "What do you mean? What's up, Saaya-chan?"
Saaya poked the pickled plum with her chopsticks, rolling it around slowly over the uneven bed of rice. "...That interview I went to the other day..."
"O-Oh no! Did you bomb it...?"
"...In a manner of speaking. I walked out."
"Walked out...? How come?"
Saaya lifted her eyes again to look back at the athletic fields. "...They asked me a question I couldn't answer. 'Who is Saaya Yakushiji?"" Saaya set her lunch and chopsticks down, then folded her hands in her lap. "...Who am I, Hana? What identity do I have beyond 'Saaya Yakushiji, Reira Yakushiji's daughter'?" Saaya sighed. "...You know who you are, Hana...I admire that. Homare, Emiru, Ruru...you all know who you are. You all have your own identities. My only identity is as my mother's shadow."
Understandably, Hana was absolutely clueless on how to respond. "...W-Well...if you feel like that...how would you change it? You have to work to change how people see you, and that includes yourself...that's why I cut my bangs after I moved. It's like that one song by...that one guy, the guy with the sparkly glove who did all that moonwalking! Uh, how'd it go...'If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change!'"
Saaya turned to Hana, a bit surprised. "You like English music, Hana?"
"Ehehe...English is a fun language! I've been teaching myself on and off for a few years now."
"That's surprising...I didn't take you as the type for extracurricular studying."
"Eh? Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, put bluntly...you don't exactly come off as academically inclined, particularly concerning your test scores."
"Mechokku--!" Hana comedically fell off the bench and onto the ground. "It snuck up on me today..." A thought came to Hana as she laid on the ground, one which brought a grin to her face. "Hey...there's a lesson to be learned here!"
"A lesson?"
Hana propped herself up on her elbows and grinned that big, goofy grin that made Saaya's heart skip a beat. "There's always something new to learn about everyone! Look at Homare. Would you know she sleeps with a bunny stuffie every night? Look at Emiru, would you know that she's super into kaiju movies? And Ruru, would you know she's an android? It's the same for yourself. If you wanna learn about yourself, you need to explore and learn everything you can!"
Saaya thought for a moment, her smile and the light in her eyes finally returning. "You're right! People are like puzzles, made up of lots of little pieces that all make up one great person~ Thank you, Hana~ ...But..." Saaya tilted her head, still smiling a little. "...What does that have to do with your point from earlier?"
"Mechokku--!" Hana comedically fell again. "Ahaha...w-well...you have to make the choice to change, right? If you wanna learn about yourself, you gotta work for it! So you gotta choose to make that change and start working to learn about yourself...!" Aw, man, she's totally gonna see through that...what a half-baked excuse...
Saaya went quiet briefly...and then started laughing. What started as a small giggle bubbled up into a full laugh laced with mirth and amusement. "Ah...Hana, you're ridiculous...but you try so hard, and I love that. It's admirable."
Once again, Hana felt her face get hot and her heart start hammering against her ribs like a deranged xylophone player. "S-Saaya..."
"Thank you. You've honestly helped me a lot. Do you need help getting up?"
"Ah, you're welcome...a-and yeah, that'd be great!" However, something went a bit awry. As Saaya clasped Hana's offered hand and stood up to help her, Hana accidentally tried to pull herself up before Saaya was ready, resulting in Saaya falling down on top of Hana in a rather...suggestive position. Hana threw a hand up to try and break Saaya's fall, but all was forgotten when Saaya's lips touched hers.
Hana's eyes shot wide and her face lit up like a traffic light, her whole body becoming stiff as a board. I'm kissing Saaya-chan. That sentence repeated itself in her head a million times a second as her heart rate spiked tremendously. I'm kissing Saaya-chan. I'm kissing a girl. I'm kissing a girl and I...don't hate it... A storm of emotions whirled in Hana's head and heart. Something deep inside of her clicked open, like a locked treasure chest in a video game. But what was inside she couldn't tell...
After what felt like years but couldn't have been more than a few seconds, Saaya pulled back from the kiss, her face as red and vacantly shocked as Hana's no doubt looked. "...Erm...Hana..."
Hana's voice took a few seconds to return. "...Y-Yes, Saaya...?"
"Your hand is...um..."
Hana's eyes trailed down to where her hand had come to rest...and her blood froze like ice in her veins before flash-boiling and turning to steam. Her hand was very solidly planted on Saaya's left breast, and it was quite a handful, too. Before she could open her mouth to sputter out an apology or her trademark catchphrase, the steam in her veins turned to ice yet again as he heard the door to the roof creaking open again. Mortified, Hana's head stiffly swiveled towards the source of the noise...
And there was Homare, standing there with a look of surprise that morphed into a smug smirk. "Am I interrupting something~?"
Hana's mortified scream could be heard for miles around.
END