Chapter Text
The first Monday after a long break was louder than the rest of the year. Hallways would be filled with gossip about haircuts (like acorns bowlcut) ,that would disappear soon enough when the headmaster caught on, professors everyone swore had gotten stricter over the holiday, and the tiny dramas that felt as if they were life or death situations when trapped inside the same plain building a semester at a time. Mizi drifted through it all with her usual smile everyone always expected, waving at people whose names she barely even remembered.
She finally saw her little friend group across from her, Ivan was leaning against the wall with one earbud hanging out, Hyuna was theatrically complaining about the canteen's "crime against food" and by the time Mizi reached them, their laughter felt as natural as breathing. They were, whether Mizi liked the label or not (pssst its not btw), "the group people watched".
She never understood why people admired their small group so much. They were just... themselves.
Then Ivan mentioned that he and Till had decided everyone should start eating together at lunch times, since Luka was already dating Hyuna anyways.
"Might as well merge the chaos!" he'd joked.
Mizi laughed along, wondering what Till's quieter friends were actually like. She'd known Till for as long as she has known Ivan, but for his friends... she only knew their names- Luka, and a girl named Sua who she'd never seen nor heard of, and who almost never spoke unless someone spoke to her first.
Lunch was quite underwhelming.
Till greeted everyone with a grin that somehow made the awkwardness bearable, Luka offered a polite nod from behind his book, not exactly caring at all- Mizi wasn't sure she'd be fond of him in all honesty. Then there was Sua. She looked up only briefly from where she'd been quietly stirring the ice into her coffee. The school uniform hid almost everything about her: the plain navy blazer and neatly tied red ribbon made her blend into the sea of identical students. But her face was different- she had soft, purple eyes that lingered for exactly half a second before dropping back to the table, dark hair with a hint of teal tucked carefully behind one ear and they rest held back with a delicate, laced headband, and she was the kind of quiet that didn't seem uncomfortable. Cute, Mizi thought before she could stop herself. Really pretty. The realization of her thoughts shocked her enough that she immediately buried it under another thought- uhm well, objectively pretty. I mean, everyone could recognize someone attractive... that didn't have to mean anything, right? Yeah, right.
After she managed to quiet down the thoughts she was trying so hard to ignore, she smiled across the table towards her. Sua gave the smallest, hesitant smile in return before looking away straight after once again, and the conversation moved on as if nothing at all had happened.
By the end of lunch, Mizi had managed to learn exactly three things about Sua. First, she liked cats ALOT, enough to quietly correct Till when he mixed up the names of two breeds, her voice was so soft Mizi almost missed it, but she was glad she didn't.
Second, she had an unexpectedly dry sense of humor that surfaced only after Luka, who Mizi had learned shared the same humor but not in the adorable way that sua did, muttered something sarcastic, earning the faintest curve of her lips.
Third, every time someone at a nearby table got too loud, her shoulders would tense intentionally, like a cat toward an unfamiliar noise. Mizi caught herself watching her more than she should. There was something about the way Sua acted- carefully, gently, as if she was always actively trying not to inconvenience anyone- that tugged at her in a way she couldn't explain. It wasn't pity. It wasn't curiosity either. It was... something else, she didn't want to know what.
She threw the thought aside as Hyuna began telling one of her disastrous attempts to bake cookies, and everyone dissolved into laughter. Even Sua let out a quiet laugh, short enough that Mizi almost wondered if she'd imagined it.
As everyone packed up to go to their afternoon classes, the newly formed group split into smaller conversations. Hyuna looped an arm around Luka's as they argued over whose music taste was better (Luka listenes to straight up classical music and thinks it's great, his favorite artist is fr Tchaikovsky, he is NOT winning ts), Ivan stole Till's headphones just to make him chase after him through the hallways. Therefore Mizi found herself walking a few steps behind with Sua. Silence settled between them—not uncomfortable, just unfamiliar. Mizi searched for something clever to say, but every idea sounded wrong the moment it reached her tongue.
Before she could settle on asking about classes, a pair of students barged past, one of them bumping Sua's shoulder harder than necessary, obviously intentional.
"Watch it, fucking freak." the boy spat out without looking back.
Sua didn't react beyond quietly adjusting the strap of her bag, as though it happened often enough to no longer deserve a response. Mizi frowned, instinctively glancing after the students, memorizing their faces, wanting to confront them but deciding to stay with Sua instead.
She looked back at the short, dark haired girl, who simply offered a small, practiced smile that somehow looked more like an apology than reassurance. Something about that expression stayed with Mizi for the rest of the day.
The moment the final bell rang, the day dissolved into familiar routines. Hyuna had dragged Luka toward the nearby town with promises of trying a new bubble tea place, Ivan had "kidnapped" Till with a dramatic declaration that
"boyfriends are legally obligated to walk home together!"
Mizi found herself walking home alone for once. She didn't mind it, it was peaceful without a crowd of irritating students around her, attempting to gossip about the quieter kids with her when she really wasn't interested. The late afternoon air was warm enough to loosen the stiffness that always settled in her shoulders after class,yet had a breeze that cooled her down, slowly blowing her hair backwards, and the quiet gave her room to think.
Somehow, despite spending nearly seven hours surrounded by other people, her mind kept circling back to one person.
Sua.
It was a pretty name. It fit her in the best way- soft without asking for any attention. Mizi frowned at herself. Why was she thinking like that? She barely knew the girl. They'd exchanged, what, one smile and hardly even half of a conversation? She shook her head with an embarrassed laugh.
"You're being weird, Mizi." ,she mumbled to herself.
Besides, she'd probably just noticed Sua more due to her being new to the group.
Yeah.
That had to be it.
Her ringtone started to go off halfway home. It was the group chat Ivan had insisted on making the night before, already buried beneath random memes from both Ivan and Hyuna's relentless teasing. One message caught Mizi's eye.
Till_TheEnd: btw if anyone likes cats, come visit the café where Sua works. employee discount if you bully her into giving you one
Almost immediately after Mizi finished reading, another message appeared.
MyG0d_MyUniv3rse: Till.
Till_TheEnd: what? it's free advertising
MyG0d_MyUniv3rse: I don't decide the discounts. Too much paperwork.
Bl4ck_s0rr0ww: She also won't let you feed the cats whipped cream. Learned that the hard way. Sua I'll tell on you if you dont let meeeeee !!! 🥺
MyG0d_MyUniv3rse: Mum and dad would agree with me. Who would actually want to feed a cat whipped cream...?
Bl4ck_s0rr0ww: awwwhhh i wanna thooo 🥺
Till_TheEnd: IVAN ISTG STOP WITH THAT FUCKASS EMOJI OR WE'RE BREAKING UP.
Bl4ck_s0rr0ww: but i like it 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
Till_TheEnd: IVAN.
Mizi smiled before she realized she was smiling. Without really thinking, she tapped on the café's name where Till had mentioned it earlier: "The Clematis",she memorized the address without even meaning too. Well she'd been meaning to visit a cat café eventually anyway, it wasn't because Sua worked there. That would be ridiculous. She just liked cats... and if she happened to run into the quiet girl or see her cute smile... well that would simply be a coincidence.
Even as the excuse formed in her head, it felt suspiciously flimsy, she honestly didn't believe it herself.