Chapter Text
The school bell rang two hours ago, and the seniors of the school were already dismissed an hour ago. Only a few lights were on the hallways and it was nothing but dark empty except for Sara, rushing to get her books in her locker.
Sara was dashing towards her locker, ignoring the darkness and the rain. She removed her backpack and scrambled among her belongings to find her phone at 1%. “Where the fuck is it?” She mumbled to herself. She crouched down to remove her backpack, only to feel her phone in her pocket shortly after.
After turning on her phone’s light and going through her locker to get her books, she sped through the darkness in the hallways. She couldn’t see where she was going, nor did she have any intention to go somewhere until she saw the lights near the canteen. A dinner with Yae and Ei wouldn't be so bad, so Sara looked around to find some sort of light and ran towards it.
She reached the end of the building and the water rippled amongst her footsteps and dragging feet. Her books were clutched close to her heart, so she stopped by a bench and rapidly unzipped her bag in the hopes of not letting any water seep through. She reached the main entrance and saw a white haired student with blue streaks clean her mess.
“My apologies,” the student seems to be using tissue to clean the mess on the floor, “won’t happen again I promise.” or at least that's what Sara saw while reading her lips.
Sara let out a tired sigh and walked towards the back entrance of the canteen. The ground was decorated with Dendrobium and pink sakura, and the pavements to the back door barely had bricks. She stood at the doorstep and paused to check if she got the right books. Math, biology, history. All books are in hand for the week’s lecture. Sara closed her backpack and thought to herself, maybe if she would study harder her family would be more gentle towards her wellbeing.
While continuing her agenda, she walked towards the door and looked forward. She leaned slightly to the left to fix her backpack once more, but she saw a figure by the tiny blue tree near the canteen. Sara felt a rush of adrenaline when she saw a sudden figure. Sara took note of how her legs were crossed along with the pink gradients along her hair. Perhaps she was a teacher. It didn’t bother her too much.
“I’m sorry.” She did a tiny bow to show some respect just in case she was a teacher. Sara continued her walk but was stopped when the mysterious girl let something out of her lips.
“Excuse me, but do you have spare time?”
Sara turned around hastily and met her blueish eyes. “I’m waiting.” Sara murmured amidst the rain. The girl stood up and went closer to Sara. “Please don’t tell anyone I, uh, you know, hang around here?” said whoever she was. She switched her focus on the ground.
Sara stared at her and looked at the purple oversized sweater’s sleeves across her wrists. They stood still as light rain and a cold wind brushed off their shoulders. Sara tried to take note of what was happening. The distance between them, the sound of the busy crowd behind the doors of the canteen. Everything moved a lot more slowly as compared to when she was running aimlessly.
“It would really mean a lot to me.” her hands extended to ask for a handshake and Sara obliged after taking note.
Before heading off, Sara thought of asking who she was, but she knew that she shouldn’t. “May I know who you are?” what the actual fuck Sara how did you say that.
“Kokomi,” she nodded for confirmation.
Sara tried to compose herself while distributing the weight on her shoulder. “Sara.”
For once something felt indifferent to her. It wasn’t procrastination nor family matters. Kokomi, she’ll try to remember how those words danced gracefully when she heard it.
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“So that’s how you fucked up the exam.” Yae said with much amusement. She tried to suppress a grin, but she couldn't help but chuckle a tiny bit.
Ei hid her head on Yae’s chest out of embarrassment. It was an understatement for Yae to describe Ei as flustered when she could feel how warm Ei was. Everything else felt like it didn’t matter to them.
Yae stretched her hand and began to gently comb Ei’s long hair. “And you call me a fox when you act like this. Maybe you’re my kitten counterpart.” It was loud enough for both of them to hear.
Sara looked out of the window and tried to remember the specifics of her sweater. Her sweater was harmonious with the color of her eyes and hair. A pretty girl. She gazed at the Dendrobium covered path once again.
Ei pushed the table away as if she was engaged in war. “Yae give me back my Dango Milk!”
Sara knew the different shades of violet and pink, but it felt like Kokomi was someone no one else has seen before. “Sara you might be overthinking." Maybe it was the blur from the rain droplets, but it wasn't. Tonight she met someone with pinkish hair by the door, sitting with both her legs crossed.
“Sara, what are you looking at?” Yae was still hiding the Dango Milk away from Ei, but the slightly red look on Sara made her giggle. “You don’t have to be shy, it’s not like I didn’t see you shaking your hands with Kokomi.”
Ei found intimidation fun and necessary at the moment. She sat down properly and let a deep voice manifest in her “Hand holding is very lewd, Sara.” She stifled a tiny laugh. “You know the consequences.” Her eyes watched Sara fidget in her seat out of pure shock.
Sara was caught red handed “I hate that you’re right.” Sara really meant it. “So what if I thought she was-she was, to say at” She paused.
Kokomi was there across the room ordering Bird Stew. Their eyes met for a moment, but it felt like the world already did a whole rotation. Kokomi's eyes smiled until she snapped back to the reality that she was talking to the person behind the counter.
"Congrats Ei, our Sara fell in love." Yae wore a satisfying smirk. She raised the hand holding the Dango Milk. “No Ei, I’m still not giving you the Dango Milk.” Yae was still persistent about this.
“Can you give me that please.” Sara said firmly, to which Yae obliged.
She had a firm grasp on the Dango Milk, and she consumed it with one go, similar to how a drunk person would drink their 8th glass of wine. It made her feel grounded for a short while. Time felt normal again after she placed down the now empty carton of milk.
Ei looked empty, betrayal flowed amongst her. She blankly stared at Sara, “Don’t expect me to forget this.” Her chair moved forward to align it properly to the table, and she made sure to make direct eye contact whenever it felt like it was necessary to her.
That moment she had a different problem. “I’m sorry, I’ll get you another one tomorrow.” she muttered, in the hopes of not staining her reputation and friendship. Reputation always seemed too important to her. She knew it shouldn’t be an issue, but ignoring this makes her worry more. Her attention moved to stop another spiral.
“If you want, I can give you my milk.” Yae broke the awkward tension between them, not that it was awkward for her to begin with. She picked up her chopsticks and grabbed a piece of sakura tempura on the table. Sara and Ei did the same, and the rest of the dinner went smoothly.
For Ei and Yae at least.
Sara couldn’t keep still on her seat. One second she was eating, another moment she looked out at the windows again to see how the sakura fell. One by one, the pink flowers fell like it ran out of energy. She blushed at how pretty the colors were, and she now decided on engaging conversation and facing Yae and Ei. She closed her eyes and looked at them, only to notice Kokomi in the background drinking her water.
She couldn’t keep track how many times she had to remind herself that she was eating dinner with Ei and Miko, but she also took note of a different aspect every time she glanced at Kokomi’s table. A book about Teyvat’s wars, the shine of her phone. Sara tried to get another piece of tempura on the table. She couldn’t grasp anything so she ended up eyeing the plate, only to find out that there were only crumbs left.
Ei sighed, “Kujou Sara”. Sara looked at the table and then looked within Ei’s eyes. “If you want to tell me anything, please let me know.” Her words came out slower, and every syllable resonated with Sara.
They returned their plates and zipped their bags to return to their rooms. Sara stood up and was ready to go, but Yae patted her back and said, “Tell me anything, I understand, but please don’t take Ei’s Dango Milk next time.” Sara tilted her head and nodded in anticipation.
The walk wasn’t that long, but her mind kept drifting. Sara stopped to stare at her reflection in one of the puddles and wondered how to confront what she thought and felt around an hour ago. To run away or fabricate another alter ego to be liked. Sara clutched her backpack and counted from 1 to 5, she continued to walk.
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Sara entered her room. From the neatly organized desk to the pictures attached, she turned on the lights and observed movement. She reassured herself that not noticing how the light spread across the room meant that time didn’t stop yet, so she got her history book and notebook to begin studying. Her eyes were stuck on the notebook and her hand surveyed across the study table to find where the highlighters were.
She removed the cap and began dotting her notes, only to see a pink-orange highlighter color her notes. “Why am I making a huge deal of this?” She contemplated throwing the highlighter across the table to search for a different one, but she tried confronting herself instead. “Did I take too long to shake her hand”, no Sara you didn’t see light bounce. Conversations ran back and forth.
She didn’t know where to place the blame, nor did she want to admit her fleeting thought process. Sara argued with herself and resulted in looking at the pink sakura again. Reasoning after reasoning, she thought she’d walk towards the backdoor at the canteen again. It wasn’t being petty, maybe someone had to clean a different mess again. She thought at how pretty Kokomi looked again, and for some reason, her workloads were less heavy and she was able to study that night with a hint of confusion.