Cherry Blossoms ✔️

Thirty Five

Cherry | 35 | Blossoms

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"That's what happened," Y/N sighed as she sipped on her hot chocolate. She'd finished telling Rei the whole story of how she'd gotten the bruises. She told her most of the truth, leaving out names. She hadn't mentioned to her how she'd come upon Magne, she'd simply listed him as a past acquaintance that wanted to kill her.

Rei had simply shaken her head, not even shocked. Y/N wondered what she had gone through to not be remotely horrified or surprised.

"You made it out alive," Rei pointed out, a cup of hot chocolate clasped in between her hands too. "That's what's important."

They been sitting by the foldable table in Rei's room eating dinner that Y/N had made and brought to the hospital for them. Recently, Rei had been a bit more open with her, and Y/N had even been able to express herself to her, telling her stories of her day, of course leaving out names or anything too big in Y/N's life that no one knew. She'd even shared with Rei some of her problems. Y/N wasn't sure if she was allowed to, but to hell with it.

"How do you get rid of a crush?" Y/N had prompted at her.

Rei seemed caught off guard by her question. "Are you enamored by someone?"

Y/N blushed and looked away. "More like I'm suffering of a one sided love."

"Love?" Rei had smiled softly at her. "Aren't you too young to be talking about love yet?"

Y/N sighed, gripping her cup. "I can't find anything else that explains my feelings."

Rei sipped her hot beverage. "Has this person showed you that he might be interested?"

Y/N hesitated as she remembered the many encounters she'd had with Shouto. "Yes, but he always says he can't."

"He can't or he won't?" Rei brought her cup back down. "Who confessed first?"

"Me."

"Wasn't it frightening to do so?"

Y/N thought about her question. She'd been terrified of Shouto to know her real feelings towards him. She nodded. "Yes."

Rei smiled. "Have you ever thought that maybe he's feeling the same way as you did back then? Just because you told him your feelings doesn't mean he shouldn't do the same with his. Give him some time. Maybe he'll surprise you."

Y/N had left the hospital with Rei's advice still roaming in her head. Shouto had left the day before after she'd packed some soup for him to take home. He seemed like he wanted to say something to her, but Y/N hadn't let him. She felt ashamed and embarrassed that she'd let herself melt right into his arms with no self respect.

She cursed herself under her breath for being so stupid as she walked down the sidewalk, hands in her pockets, and cheeks deep into her blue scarf. She'd spent the rest of her weekend rolling around in her own misery. She'd even called into work, telling them that she wouldn't be able to go in until Thursday.

At first, Emi had been very upset about her calling days off out nowhere, but after Y/N explained what she'd been through and even sent her a few pictures, Emi calmed down enough to agree to Y/N's request.

Y/N decided to walk half way home, she needed the exercise to get rid of the soreness in her body. She'd left her phone at home, so she wasn't worried that Shouto would go ballistic for not answering it or shutting it off. That and she didn't think Magne would be showing his face around any time soon. Still, she did restock on pepper spray. She knew his buddy Mustard was probably still out there looking for her.

In the midst of her thoughts, Y/N caught a glance of a poster nailed to a light pole that made her stop in her tracks. It said:

Need somewhere cheap to live, but don't have all the money upfront? No worries! We have the solution for you!

Y/N ripped the poster off the pole and scanned through it, her hands clutching the edges. It talked about an apartment complex about four hours away from the main city, where people didn't have to give all the money right up front, but where they could give half of it in, and the other half whenever they moved in. Looking at the pictures, it didn't look too bad.

Y/N pulled out her spare phone and checked the time. It was 4:04 P.M. She'd come to visit Rei earlier than before since she'd skipped class that morning. If she caught the bus, she could still make it before they closed. She wanted to take a look at the place.

...

Y/N had fallen in love the moment she walked into the apartment. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't small either where she wouldn't have enough space. It was comfy. There was a small kitchen, a living room, a spot for a washer and dryer and her bathroom was connected to her room. The building looked like it'd been there for a few years, but the apartments showed they'd been taken good care of. The best of all, it was furnished.

She hadn't hesitated in signing the contract or leaving the deposit, promising she would pay the rest before moving in.

Y/N had smiled as she had made her way towards the parking lot, headed to the bus stop in order to make her way back home.

There had been a spring her steps and a wide smile on her lips. She couldn't believe what she'd done. Sure, it's been spontaneous, and a little reckless, but now she had her own apartment under her own name, and as long as she paid it off before the three months were over, she could be free of Chisaki's clutches. She wanted to scream in pure happiness, but she settled with twirling around like a madman instead. There were people already asleep, even if it only was 8:30 P.M. so she couldn't wake them up.

A thought brought her excitement to a pause. She'd found a nice apartment away from Chisaki, but also away from UA and her friends. If she really wanted to remain in hiding, she couldn't tell her friends where she was going to move. She couldn't even tell them she was going to disappear from their lives. Was she really capable of giving everything up?

I can't turn back now, Y/N thought with gritted teeth as she made it to the bus stop. I'm almost free. I can think about what to tell them later.

She tried to clear her head by reading the list for the bus times, only to realize she'd made a mistake. In Musutafu, buses stopped running around one A.M. and that's why she'd decided to go all the way out to Layland so late in the day. Y/N hadn't thought about the timings being different for them. The busses stopped running after eight. She checked her phone—it was 8:36 P.M. She'd missed the last bus.

With the small cash she'd had left over, she'd only be able to afford a taxi two hours towards the city. After that, she was screwed. She didn't have enough money for a motel, and she doubted she could ask Midnight if she could stay in the apartment for the night.

Y/N cursed herself for being over spontaneous and stupid. Another problem she was facing was that she didn't have her phone, and she couldn't use her spare one to call any of her friends. Glancing around, she noticed a phone booth a few feet down the road. She felt her pockets for loose change.

Y/N needed to call the one person she knew would pick her up without asking too many questions. They texted Y/N everyday without a fault, so she'd memorized their phone number.

Y/N made it to the booth and prayed that they weren't asleep yet.

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