Chapter 4

A Chapter by Japanese Cherry

Book Chapter

Friday has finally come and Saku and her friends are discussing weekend plans. Saku is packing up her things as they talk. She suddenly takes out a change of clothes, “Kay guys, I’m gonna change into my tennis clothes and head out!”

Before she can leave, Irei stops her, “Wait! Are you busy this weekend? I was hoping you can accompany Goshippu and me to the local hangout…”

At the mention of Baddobōizu, Saku sighs and gives her excuse, “I have a tennis tournament to go to on Sunday and I’m spending today and Saturday with Tsuyoi Senpai for training… If I get off practice early then I can probably hang out for a little bit… That sounds good to you?”

Goshippu chuckles, “Well, whatever… you have to try to come to the local hangout to see Baddobōizu perform… and help me find some dirt on some people!” she is excited since the local hangout is the best place to get good information, A.K.A. gossip.

“Go there to see that jerk and his gang? Are you kidding me? Did you already forget that I declared war on Kim Ji-Hoon?! And gossip is your job, not mine… I have to go!” Saku says shaking her head. And with that, Saku races off to the bathroom to change and leaves to go practice for the tournament.

Tsuyoi was a great help with practice. He is always hard working and Saku relied on his strength. After practice, the two sat on the ground exchanging a few words here and there… but both were exhausted, so they mostly stayed quiet in order to catch their breath. After a while, Tsuyoi stood and helped up Saku as well, “Now that was some great playing, girl! Keep it up and you’ll win for sure!”

“Ha, I still need to work a little bit, so, I’ll come here tomorrow too, okay?”

But Tsuyoi shakes his head, “Crazy… Alright, you train, but, I have to work… ”

Saku understood completely, “Right… you got a new job… Well, that’s okay… I can practice by myself… Go ahead home; it’s already 4:45…”

“I get off at 8… want to hang out tomorrow after I’m done? I’ll buy you a drink!”

“Tsuyoi Senpai! Stop flirting with me!”

Tsuyoi smiles and takes off, waving at her as he walked out of view. Saku decides to sit down again for another breather. A few minutes after she sits down, a dog comes up to her. Saku is surprised by its appearance, “Oh, where did you come from?” Saku plays with the dog for a while. Suddenly, the dog points in a direction. Saku curiously looks, “What is it?”

A little way away from the tennis court, where Saku was, there was a man with his back to her. He was trying to comfort a crying young boy… while a little girl is clinging to his leg, crying as well. He seemed to be having a lot of trouble.

“Oh dear… Maybe… should I help him out?” Saku pondered.

She began to search the park in order to find something that might help. When she sees a man selling ice-cream, she quickly gets up, gathers her things, and heads towards him with the dog following close behind. She pulls out her wallet and says to the man, “Two vanilla ice-creams please!”

The man gives a cheerful smile as he prepares the ice-cream, “Is it for you and your boyfriend?”

“Eh… Oh no, no no,” Saku answers hurriedly, “Do you see that man with the two crying children? It’s for them” She indicates the man with the man with the crying children.

The man nods, “Oh, I see… hm, well, aren’t you just a sweetheart! Just because you’re so beautiful and thoughtful, I’ll give you those two cones for free.”

Saku bows with a smile for his kindness and sets off in a jog to the man and children. The dog gets there before she does. Finally reaching them, Saku gently moves the man aside and kneels in front of the boy, “Hey there, what’s the matter?”

The boy’s crying begins to ease until all he does is sniffle… he remains silent though.

Saku smiles, “Aw, come now, it couldn’t be so bad…” Saku hands him the ice-cream cone, “That ice-cream can’t help!”

The boy smiles and takes the ice cream gratefully.

Saku moves to the man’s leg where the girl still clung on tightly, “Hey sweetie…” Saku holds the ice-cream cone out to her, “I bought one for you too!”

The girl let’s go of the man’s leg and takes the ice-cream as well. The two are quite happy. Saku smiles and tousles both kids’ hair. She speaks to the man without looking at him, “I’m sorry for intruding sir, but it seemed like you were having a lot of trouble… I think that is your dog too?”

Saku stands and faces the man. She jumps back in surprise when she recognizes who it is, “NYA!!!”

Kim Ji-Hoon is standing before her with an irritated expression across his face, “Do you always come up to strangers willingly like this? You really are an idiot…”

“Are- are- are these your-” Saku starts of stuttering.

Ji-Hoon immediately snaps at the suggestion, “Hey pee-brain, I’m not married! They are relatives! Damn fool!”

Saku crosses her arms and scoffs at the way he reacted. She is careful to choose appropriate language in front of the children, “Well unkind man (really wants to say Jackass), is that any way to speak to someone who has helped you? And these two are young! Watch what you say in front of them! Don’t you know the first thing you aren’t supposed to do in front of kids is use foul language or insults?”

“Is that why you’re like this? And why are you dressed like that? You trying to pick some pervert up or something?”

Saku suddenly becomes conscious of the tennis outfit she is wearing… noticing that the skirt might be shorter than it should be… she quickly defends herself, “I have shorts on!! What kind of girl do you think I am?!” then she pauses and thinks of what she just asked, “On second thought… don’t answer that… Uhg, forget it…”

“Forget what?” Ji-Hoon asks.

Saku waves a hand at Ji-Hoon and ignores him, kneeling in front of the children, “The important this is that you two are happy!” when the two smile at her, she smiles back, “I don’t need his appreciation! So long as you two are okay, then everything is fine with me!” with that said, Saku grabs her things and sets off towards the restaurant where she was asked to work for an hour or two, “Take care of them Ji-Hoon! I don’t like to see children upset… You make them cry, and you’ll definitely pay!” She calls to Kim Ji-Hoon over her shoulder.

Keeping to his word, Saku’s boss let her off duty after an hour passed. Saku walks out of the restaurant and picks up her phone when it suddenly rings.

“Hello?”

“Saku Hana? Is that you?” It is her manager from the art store…

“Speaking Manager… Do I need to come in for work?” Saku is worried by the sound of her manager’s voice. He sounds panicked.

“Saku, please hurry…”

“Calm down… I’ll be right there!”

Hanging up the phone, Saku gathers up her dress that she had to put on for the restaurant entertainment, and runs off in the direction of the art store. Her instruments giving her major problems along the way.

Finally at the store, Saku slumps in, bowing to her pacing manager. She can barely breathe and hopes that he will not have too badly of news to share.

Of course, she was dead wrong… as her life always likes her to be.

Saku’s manager decided to greet her, not with a respectful nod or wave or bow, but with the horrible news, “Saku, you’re going to lose your job!”

At first, Saku couldn’t understand what he said, but when it all began to sink in, she was speechless.

Her manager continued to make it worse by explaining, “Saku we lost all of our rich clients! No one is buying our art anymore!!”

Panic rose into Saku’s throat. She couldn’t lose her second job, even if it was just call in work… She needed the pay… With her second job, she was just below barely making it in life… when she could finally speak, she meant to stay cool… but instead, “I can’t lose this job! I can’t… I have… I need… no, no, no, no… it can’t happen… what will I do? The restaurant doesn’t pay well…” the stress began to envelope her and she began to break down, “NO!!! I can’t! The restaurant can’t hold me off! I can’t lose this!! I need the money!!” Saku begins to shake and falls to the ground as she begins to lose it, “I can’t lose this! How can this happen now?! Why am I losing so much now?!”

Her manager comes over and tries to soothe and comfort her, “We’ll find a way to save ourselves… please calm down…”

Unfortunately, Saku doesn’t pay attention to a word he says, “I’m losing everything!! Why is life punishing me?! I’m going to die like this!!” She rolls onto her side and hugs herself. The shaking continues and she grows into a cold sweat.

Saku’s manager panics even more, “Saku, get a hold of yourself!!”

Saku is now crying nonstop as she begins to mumble to herself, “I’ll mine as well die… mine as well die… just die and end it all… just-” then she falls into unconsciousness, just like that… as she lies there, her manager runs outside and looks for help… foolishly forgetting about the phone that is right on his desk out of panic…

Saku is strapped down to a hospital bed. While unconscious, she is still thrashing around violently, as if having a nightmare. She can’t seem to calm down. Her manager is speaking to the doctors… but two people are standing by the door. It is none other than Kim Ji-Hoon… and next to him his very close friend Amai…

The moment Saku’s manager had called for help… the two were just walking not too far from his location… they came to the rescue and now they wait and watch as Saku continues her restless torture.

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