Our Last Moments

3. I should hate you, right? (Imaizumi Yui POV)

Autumn. Friday.
AM1:46 at local time.

It was a cold night. Imaizumi Yui's apartment was dark, except her room which was illuminated by her phone's screen. One particular chat group was buzzing since half an hour ago, but that was only until Nagahama Neru wrote a message. Imaizumi's eyes were glued to it, trying to comprehend what she just read. 

"We lost her," Neru wrote.

Followed by silence. No one dared to reply. 

Neru wrote again, "1:27. That's the official time." 

Imaizumi instantly just felt like crawling under her blanket and hide. Maybe sleep. And woke up the next morning realizing that this was only a nightmare. But no, this wasn't a nightmare.

~~~

"Momma, I failed again.." Imaizumi cried into the phone.

"They didn't pick you?"

She nodded, unable to speak. Today wasn't her day. All those sleepless nights she spent in front of the mirror, all those training, were all for nothing. She was hoping to take the center position for the 5th time now since she joined, but yet again, she failed.

Imaizumi's mom who could hear her daugther's sob, asked "Let me guess, Hirate-chan again?"

"Un."

There was a long silence. Her mother knew how much Imaizumi wanted this, and how disappointed she must felt right then. It was hard to find the right word to say.

"So what are you gonna do, Yui? You're not gonna give up, right?" Her mom kindly asked.

"Of course not, Momma!! I'm gonna do my best, so I can make you happy, and quickly recover!"

On her hospital bed, Imaizumi's mom who had been fighting cancer for two years now, could only smile. Imaizumi must thought her mother would be disappointed, but the truth is, she was just.. sad. She wanted her daughter to do what she loved most, not because of her, but for her child's own future and happiness. Of course, the 20 year old girl couldn't help it. Since two years ago, she knew she only got a little time left with her mother, so she promised that she would make her mother proud and happy, no matter what.

After they ended the phone call, Imaizumi wanted to contact somebody else, her best friend in the academy, Kobayashi Yui, who she called Yuipon since they had the same name. Yuipon understood her best; why Imaizumi was so ambitious, why she took the academy so seriously, and why she wanted to beat Hirate so bad.

She wrote on her LINE app, "Let's go to karaoke!"

Then she realized, she sent it to a wrong chat room... the academy members group chat room.

Shit. She swore. The people that she didn't want to talk the most are the rest of academy members, since they were so happy celebrating Hirate before.

1.. 3.. 10.. members were starting to read her karaoke invitation chat. 

15.. 16.. but no one replied, even Yuipon.

Ping!

A notification rang, a private chat arrived. 

"Please count me in! I want to hear Zuumin's voice!" the chat said. 

It was from none other than Hirate Yurina. Imaizumi sighed and rolled her eyes. Out of 20 girls, why did it have to be Hirate? Now she was wondering how to reply to this message.