Who Are You?

CHAPTER 4

It's 10:00 pm, the start of the curfew. Sana is already lying in her bed and ready to sleep but her mind is too preoccupied. "Tomorrow is the Lightning Ceremony, all of the students will be there, but most importantly the Superintendent." It will be the first time for her to see the Superintendent in person. She has only seen her in the school's fliers and website. "I wonder if she is as frightening up close as they say." She gives up on the attempt to sleep peacefully so she gets out of bed and took out a locked wooden box from her closet. She lets out a deep sigh as she opens it. 'Minatozaki Sana' she whispers, a name she borrows from the real daughter of Mr. Minatozaki, the old man who took her in back in Japan. The real "Minatozaki Sana' loves getting her hair dyed in orange, mimicking her favorite anime characters, and now, she's doing  everything to mimick her and live as her. She held on to an old photo of her and Mr. Minatozaki when he was still alive. She was saved by him from an abusive household she used to serve, leaving her with a half-burnt face. But now, the girl beside Mr. Minatozaki is unrecognizable by anyone. Who would have thought that her life will be completely changed. A new face, a new name, a new identity. The old lonely man was left with no family and decided to let her live as his deceased daughter, who died with his wife due to an accident. At the moment, she is more than grateful for him to let her start a new life.

Sana puts down the old photo then fishes for a pamphlet inside the box. The pamphlet features the 10th Asian Young Artist Piano Competition that was set to happen in Osaka, Japan, one year ago. This is the event where she was about to meet Kim Dahyun, her biological younger sister, for the first time in years of separation. However, Dahyun did not make it to the event, nor Sonam High's representative and the Superintendent herself. And after days of anticipation, she learned that Dahyun has committed suicide. Sana's hand is shaking just by looking at the pamphlet and tears are threatening to fall down her cheeks. "I don't believe it. I refuse to believe it! Why would she commit suicide days before we were set to meet?" Sana holds on to her belief. She opens the pamphlet and traces her fingers to the names of the participants. "Kim Taehyung - Sonam High, South Korea" she reads slowly. In their conversation, Sana remembers that Dahyun's trip to Japan will be sponsored as she will be chaperoning her cousin. As she stares at his name, the earlier narration from Nayeon also rings in her head... "Elite No. 3 is Kim Taehyung...He is the Master of the Music and Arts Club" Sana closes the pamphlet and put it back in the box. "I need him." she utters.

Weekend came fast and the Lightning Ceremony has been much-awaited. Everyone is excited as this will be the first time of the year that all students from various fields may meet and the few chances to see the mysterious Superintendent up close at her opening speech.

Jin came to fetch Sana but before they leave, she looks up the house and see the illuminated light from Jihyo's room "I told you she's not coming. She's a rare bird." Jin said. "Will the ceremony be at the soccer field?" Sana asks as she rides on his scooter. "No, it'll be at the open-theatre!" with Jin's answer, Sana was surprise for a moment remembering the note she found at Dahyun's locker "Meet me at the open-theatre. 9pm.", it rings in her head. "You need to have a tour of this place!" Jin said to her.

It was a short drive but Sana did not expect an open-theatre at the side of the lake in the middle of the woods, decorated with the same marble and Greek pillars as the library. "This is beautiful." Sana said as she towers over the theatre just as the sun sets. "The Superintendent likes to be dramatic." Jin snickers. The hill is starting to get noisy and packed with all the exhilarated student. Sana looks around and notices a large emblem at the front of the stage, covered with a black cloth. "What's that?" she asks. "That's part of the drama later. Let's go, follow me." Jin leads their way into the back of the theatre where there are more people, running around their errands. "Jin-ssi!" someone shouted. Jin looks at the direction and the tall familiar blonde guy approaches us. "You need to be supervising the control panel now!" he commanded. "Yeah no worries I got it. By the way this is Sana, she's new." he said, gesturing over her. "Oh hi! I'm Kim Nam Joon!" he said offering his hand for a handshake. Sana demurely takes his hand as she thought "He looks so bona fide in his blazer, he looks so different from when he was on the soccer field in jerseys the other day but he is just as commanding."