Chapter Text
“Mizi? What are you doing here?”
“AGH!”
A shriek erupts, and other students stare for a moment. Mizi scrambles to put her hands over her mouth in shame. Despite being a second year, she was snooping around suspiciously on the third year classroom level, up to no good. At least, that’s what Ivan certainly thought.
“I’m looking for someone.” she whispered to him, wearing a smile and a faint pink colour on her cheeks. Very suspicious. Before he could even ask, Mizi started explaining everything to him, including unnecessary details, mindless tangents, and random outbursts.
The gist of it: One month ago, Mizi stayed back for girl’s basketball club activities like she usually does on Fridays. When she was cleaning up and putting equipment away, she took a detour alone and passed by the eerie music room for the first time. She heard a beautiful melody from the room and decided to peek in, to make sure it wasn’t a ghost. Fortunately, it wasn’t a ghost, but ‘a pretty 3rd year, with a gorgeous voice!’. Ivan summarises the story in his head.
“Since then, I’ve been listening to her singing every week.” Mizi spins around in a circle, hearts basically forming in her eyes, “I’ve decided that I must be her friend!”
Ivan laughs, amused. He thinks back to when Mizi befriended him with a similar enthusiasm in middle school. Always ending up in the same class, even in high school, they grew close, and Ivan considered her one of his best friends. Mizi did too.
“What are you doing here, Ivan?” she finally asked her classmate back.
“I’m giving my friend a gift. Want to follow?”
“Sure, I can’t seem to find her anyway,” she sulks. Ivan pats her on the back encouragingly.
While they walk to a classroom, Mizi describes the girl she saw in the music room. Ivan hums, thinking to himself that the description seems familiar, but there’s no way. They turn into a classroom, bustling with seniors settling in before class starts. Ivan spots his friend and calls out.
“Hey Sua. I got a drink for you as thanks for your Maths notes yesterday.”
The girl he addresses has short, black hair, held with a white hairband and in a small ponytail. She wears her uniform neatly like Ivan, and unlike Mizi, who has the top of her collar unbuttoned, and bow loosened. Ivan’s friend, Sua, looks up from her desk to them, and Mizi sees her face.
“Oh. Thanks.” Her voice is gentle.
“Yeah. By the way, this is the friend that I mention sometimes. Say hi.” Ivan gestures for her to speak, and turns to look at Mizi— who is nowhere to be found. Ivan clears his throat, then excuses himself.
Walking out the classroom, he spots Mizi plastered against the wall in the hallway, with a seemingly terrified look on her face. She sees him approaching, and starts to squeal.
“That’s her! That’s her! That’s the music room girl!” Her hands go up to fan her reddening face, as she continues to gasp, “She’s too beautiful up close! I’m freaking out, Ivan! You know her?! You have to introduce us!”
Her friend lets out an exasperated sigh. “I was going to! You ran!” He grabbed Mizi’s wrist and led her to Sua’s classroom for a second attempt. It was only a matter of time before the bell rang for class.
As they approached closer and closer to Sua, Mizi started to resist more and more. The 3rd year looked up at them again. Confusion creeping onto her fair face.
“I just… Ugh- Wanted to introduce-” Ivan struggled to get the words out as he fought against Mizi’s shocking strength, planting herself to the ground. After a few moments, the man finally won, grabbing her by the shoulders and dragging her in front of him. Initially, Ivan expected Mizi to be nothing short of enthusiastic to meet a new friend, but this horrible awkwardness was uncharacteristic. She struggled to meet Sua’s eyes.
“Hi! I am… Mizi! A second year!” she choked out, twirling her pigtails, fixing her glasses, doing everything except looking Sua in the eye. Until she heard a small laugh.
“Hello, Mizi. I’m Sua.” she finally met her eyes, and they were a beautiful lilac. Her subtle smile made Mizi’s heart skip beats in between the racing.
The bell rang.
“We have to go. Bye, Sua.” Ivan turned around to exit, and turned around again to grab the unmoving Mizi’s wrist once again to drag her to class. Sua waved both of them goodbye.
The older girl watched them exit, then settled her gaze back onto her desk. A small smile still settled on her face. ‘So that’s her. Cute.’ she thought.
As class started, Sua thought back to the Fridays in the past two years when she walked from her classroom to the music room to practise her piano and singing, passing by the sports auditorium. Despite having little interest in sports, she’d cast a few glances at the basketball team practising, and noticed one girl in particular who stood out.
She was always smiling, even on overcast days when nobody else was, she was always trying to make her teammates laugh. When nobody else was in the auditorium, that girl would be there alone, working hard to improve. It was just a little bit of inspiration that Sua looked forward to seeing every week. The girl had such distinct pink hair that Sua immediately recognised it when Ivan brought his friend to her classroom.
“Mizi…” she mumbled. It would be nice to get to know her more.