Game Changer | Petalz 🌸🍃

Chapter IV

"At training today, why did you try to do the same trick as me?"

"Ah, that..." Kazuha props her hands behind her on the kitchen counter as she leans against it, her eyes leaving Sakura to stare somewhere ahead. "I don't know. I guess I wanted to try it because it looked cool."

"Because it looked cool," Sakura says flatly.

It's as much an anticlimactic revelation as it's questionable.

Kazuha tilts her head to look at her, lips pursed as she nods. "Mhm."

Sakura keeps her blank stare on her.

There's no way she's telling the truth, right?

Or maybe Sakura just desperately needs it to be a lie so that she won't feel so stupid, because she was literally losing sleep over this, and here, the girl was telling her she did it because she thought it looked cool, and the worst part was that she sounded convincing.

Maybe Sakura has given her too much credit. The girl is young, after all. Trying new things and parroting others does sound like something an impressionable 19-year-old player would do.

She sighs. "You shouldn't waste your time on skills that don't play into your strengths. Next time go for a nudge to the side and surprise Yunjin with a shot from a distance. You have strong legs. Make use of them. Not every striker needs to be a great dribbler."

Though it would certainly help you if you were...

She keeps that last thought to herself. She figures that if Kazuha takes her advice, she'll be one hundred percent sure all that scheming she accused the girl of was only a product of her apparent paranoia.

"O-okay," Kazuha stammers, a hint of blush on her cheeks.

Sakura arches an eyebrow. She didn't say all that to embarrass the girl but seems like she inadvertently did just that.

"It's better for the team if we have unique playstyles. It allows for a more diverse gameplay," she adds to which Kazuha just nods, still avoiding her gaze. "Okay, I'm going back to sleep. Try drinking warm milk, maybe. I heard it helps with falling asleep, though it never works for me."

"I will." Kazuha looks up at her, corners of her lips lifted in a small smile, and Sakura realizes she preferred when the girl wasn't looking at her, because she starts to find her silly, smiling moomin face endearing, for a lack of a better word.

Looking away, she mutters, "Good night."

As she walks back to her room, she hears a soft 'good night' coming from behind her and, against her better judgment, smiles to herself.

🌸🍃

"So, how's living with your new roomie?" Yunjin asks while doing her crunches with Sakura holding her ankles.

They are at a gym today for their strength workout, and Yunjin insisted on Sakura helping her which was already suspicious as normally she would ask Chaewon to do that for her.

"It's fine," Sakura replies, squinting at the goalkeeper since now she knows her true intentions.

"That's it?" Yunjin sounds disappointed.

"Yeah. What did you expect me to say?"

Yunjin lifts herself to a full sitting position, coming face to face with Sakura. "No funny slash awkward stories like 'oh no! I walked on her while she was changing', or 'I had to pass her a towel when she was under the shower', or 'she forgot we were living together and walked out of her room naked'?"

Sakura recoils with a scowl. "What? No!" But then after a moment of contemplation, she leans back in, eyebrows narrowed in suspicion. "Wait, has any of that happened to you and Chaewon?"

Yunjin flinches. "Of course not..." She lowers herself back down, and Sakura barely catches the whispered 'all of that'. "Well, there was this one time when I—"

Sakura puts up her hand, cutting her off. "You know what? Forget I asked."

She realizes she actually has zero interest in knowing which of the aforementioned scenarios really took place and which didn't, or what other embarrassing roommate stories Yunjin wants to share. And she also doesn't understand why the goalkeeper never asked what kind of roommate Nagisa was but now suddenly wanted to know how it was living with Kazuha. Not to mention that they've been roommates for barely three days.

Surprisingly, after that exchange, Yunjin doesn't come back to the topic and continues doing her crunches.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura catches Kazuha helping Chaewon with reaching a bar on one of the machines, and the scene takes her back to today's early morning...

Before leaving for the training today, Sakura wanted to eat some muesli. But when she opened the kitchen cupboard to grab a bowl, she found all of them not on the lower shelf, where she had always stored them, but on the top one, which she couldn't reach. And there could be only one person behind that misplacement — someone who had just moved in with her and boasted a height of 5'7".

She glared at the bowls as if they personally offended her. But since she would rather eat her damn cleats than go ask Kazuha for help, she decided to hop onto the countertop and then tried to reach for the bowl. And she almost had it when suddenly, she heard a voice behind her.

"Oh, sorry. Let me get it for you." Kazuha's hand reached from behind her and grabbed the bowl for her.

In that brief second when it happened, her body grazed against Sakura's back, and Sakura went completely still, as if she had turned into a stone. The only indication that she was in fact still alive was the blood that rushed to her cheeks.

"Here you are." Kazuha handed her the bowl then went straight for the fridge to grab a Greek yogurt and passed it to her as well.

"Thanks," Sakura mumbled as she unfroze and took the yogurt.

Kazuha smiled at her from above her mug with coffee, leaning against the counter next to her.

Despite them having to leave in 15 minutes, if they didn't want to be late for their training, Kazuha was still in her sleeping attire (Sakura refused to call shorts and cropped t-shirt pajamas), and her hair was a little tousled from the sleep.

"I'll try to remember not to place them there next time."

Sakura acknowledged her words with a hum as she munched on her muesli, still sitting on the countertop.

In the end, they weren't late for the training, because Kazuha was able to get ready in five minutes...

Okay, so maybe Sakura does have a few embarrassing roommate stories, though, thankfully, not as extreme as Yunjin's examples. Still, there's no way in hell she's sharing them with the blonde.

But she didn't lie when she told her that living with Kazuha was fine. It's just that it was different.

Sakura should have foreseen it, because Kazuha is nothing like Nagisa was. She isn't a tiny university student who hates soccer and whose life couldn't be more different from Sakura's. No. Kazuha is her teammate. And that significant detail introduced a slew of changes into Sakura's life...

Sakura was no longer leaving for the training alone. She now left with Kazuha, and they also came back together. Most of their commuting time they spent in silence which wasn't exactly awkward but not exactly comfortable either.

Actually, the first time they commuted together, Kazuha dozed off. Sakura didn't notice until she felt a weight on her shoulder, and the faint scent of spring flowers, of which she became acutely aware the moment Kazuha had taken a seat next to her, wasn't so faint anymore.

At first, she considered moving her shoulder to stir the girl awake, but when she saw her peacefully sleeping face, she couldn't bring herself to do it. And so she sat still the entire train ride, staring through the window while trying to stop herself from blushing. Her cheeks and ears pulsating with heat told her she failed miserably at that.

When they reached their station, Sakura lightly tapped Kazuha on the arm, and the moment her head was off Sakura's shoulder, Sakura shot up from her seat as if it burned her.

She avoided Kazuha's gaze the whole day, and on their way back home, she chose to stand on the train, despite her exhaustion. That proved to be an even worse idea, because the moment the train came to a halt she lost her balance, almost falling onto Kazuha who sat in front of her. The girl managed to catch her by grabbing her waist, and after stuttered apologies from both parties, Sakura decided that in the end, it was better to sit down...

And now she rolls her eyes, watching as one of their midfielders, a tiny girl with short hair named Yumi, trips on thin air just as she passes by Kazuha and conveniently ends up in her arms; a scene taken directly out of some cheesy yuri manga.

Kazuha checks on the girl, which turns Yumi into a flustered, blushing mess, and then she somehow catches Sakura's gaze.

Sakura looks away so quickly she gets a whiplash.

"You okay?" Yunjin asks when Sakura lets go of her ankles to rub the back of her stiff neck.

"Yeah," she mumbles, the left side of her jaw feeling a little numb.

Being done with the crunches, Sakura follows Yunjin to the treadmills for some cardio training. After a while of running, Kazuha joins her on the treadmill next to her which wouldn't be anything particularly worth noting if not for the fact that the girl has recently become also her jogging partner. All because of Sakura's innate competitiveness...

The thing was that Sakura prided herself on her discipline. That's why even though she hated getting up early in the morning, she woke up every day at 5:30 am to go for a jog before leaving for practice. She had been doing that without fail for the last eight years already.

And the first day with Kauzha as her new roommate was no different. Despite not catching much sleep, she woke up to the sound of her alarm clock and clambered off the bed. She checked the weather, and it looked like it would be another sunny day. After changing into her jogging clothes, leggings and sleeveless t-shirt, she went to the kitchen to grab a granola bar and refill her water bottle.

As she was about to leave the kitchen, Kazuha stepped out of her room, yawning and stretching. Her drowsy eyes ran up and down Sakura's frame.

"You're going for a jog?" the girl asked, eyes now slightly wider and more alert. "Can I join?"

Sakura was taken aback by the suggestion. She had been always running alone, and to be honest, she would prefer to keep it that way.

But before she could say anything, Kazuha must have already read the reluctance on her face as she mumbled, "Right, you probably have different pace than me."

Sakura narrowed her eyes.

Is she suggesting that I'm slower than her?

Now that was just a ridiculous idea. Sure, maybe Kazuha was faster than her on the field, but surely, Sakura would be able to keep up with her on a morning jog.

"You can join if you want," she blurted out, ignoring how Kazuha's face lit up with a smile. "But no talking."

The girl nodded eagerly. "Sure. Let me just get changed." And she disappeared into her room.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Sakura's shoulders slumped, and she facepalmed. Again it felt like she got outplayed in the easiest way possible. It was becoming embarrassing, really.

Kazuha reemerged just minutes later from her room, wearing a similar outfit to Sakura's. The only difference being that her t-shirt was shorter in length than Sakura's, which at this point was expected.

They left the apartment and started jogging towards the nearby park. And Sakura had no idea what Kazuha meant earlier by different pace, because they literally ran arm in arm the entire run. Not a single word passed between them, as both of them had their headphones on. But Sakura couldn't help to notice how happy the girl seemed to be, grinning from ear to ear. A stark contrast to the mostly jaded faces of the people they passed by...

Now, when Sakura glances at Kazuha increasing the speed on the treadmill, she realizes the girl must have been holding herself back during their jogging sessions. Sakura ramps up the tempo to match that of Kazuha's, but after keeping up with her for almost ten minutes, she starts to feel the burn in her legs and lungs and has to tap out. She presses the red button, waiting until the treadmill slows to a complete stop and jumps off of it.

Was this the different pace Kazuha had mentioned?

"What's up with this look on your face? Are you planning to murder your new roommate?" Chaewon's amused voice reaches her as the girl comes up to stand beside her.

Not yet, Sakura almost answers but stops herself, seeing how Kazuha has left the treadmill and is now approaching them. The girl wipes her forehead with her towel then throws it behind her neck, holding the ends of it.

"Are you going to do the weight training maybe? I could use a spotter," she says.

"I can spot you!" A chorus of voices replies as all of their teammates stop their workouts and stare at Kazuha with eager eyes.

But the girl ignores them almost as if she hasn't heard them at all when she asks, "Miyawaki-san?"

She showed off her speed and stamina, and now she wants to flaunt how strong she is? No thanks, I'll pass.

"I actually planned to work on my core muscles, but I'm sure Chaewon will help you." Ignoring Chaewon's shocked expression, Sakura leaves the two and goes to the opposite end of the gym.

Kazuha has introduced enough changes into her life already. And sure, maybe for some Sakura was herself to blame, but at least, she would like to keep her goddamn workout routine intact.