Hiraya Manawari

1

Sayuri

"Bayad po." I handed him the payment for my print outs, I checked it first before leaving the printing shop. It was lunchtime but I'm not that hungry yet to eat a proper meal, so I just headed to Starbucks to order an iced americano and some snacks instead.

When I got there, I made my way to the counter to say my order. I ordered an iced americano and a glazed donut. I was slightly surprised when I felt my phone vibrating from my bag so I checked to see if there were any important messages. I rolled my eyes and put my phone back inside.

It was just a text from my father and notifications from social media apps that I rarely open. I didn't bother checking my father's message, he's just probably reminding me to eat my lunch or if I'm doing well at my new school. It's not that I hate it here, the ambiance is really comfortable since we have a mall-like building inside our campus and the main building looks peaceful to look at.

"One tall iced americano and glazed donut for Sayuri." The barista called, I went to get my purchase and thanked him. He smiled at me, "Have a nice day ma'am Sayuri." I smiled back and thanked him. Hopefully it'll be a nice day.

I placed my drink first at a vacant table nearby and tried to get my printouts on my left hand then grabbing my takeouts with the right. I finally left Starbucks and carefully made my way through the sea of students. Suddenly my phone rang making me anxious because it might be my father calling, he really wanted to make sure that I'm eating lunch. I place the papers in between my right arm and chest while I get my phone with my left hand.

Unfortunately, I felt someone bumped into me. We didn't fall on the ground thank God, but my papers, my coffee and my donut did. It created a mess and also stained my white uniform.

"S-Sorry!" The guy apologized. I glared at him and saw that we have the same color of uniform, I also saw his lanyard. Biology. We're in the same program. What a great day today huh? Note the sarcasm.

I didn't reply, I just started to clean out the mess. Students nearby were looking at us, as if we created a crime scene. The guy in front of me kept on apologizing and offering me help with my papers and coffee. I tried my best to ignore him and he somehow stopped talking when he picked up a piece of coffee stained paper.

"Shit." He muttered a curse, "Ngayon yung deadline nito kay Dra. Cortez." I raised a brow and released a sigh. So he knows? I've never seen him in class before, maybe I wasn't in the same class as him. Thank God that I'm not. I stood up and he did also, he was taller than me so I had to tilt my head to look at his face directly.

"Excuse me, I have to go." I said and threw the trash away at the nearest trash bin and rushed back to the printing shop. I think I still have time to print all of those, I just hope they didn't erase the file yet.

I was panting when I got back to the printing shop, some students were looking at me, especially at my stained blouse. I wiped off the sweat from my forehead and went to the small counter.

"Kuya, print po." I said. I'm actually not comfortable at speaking Tagalog, though I'm half Filipino and half Japanese. I'm more used to speaking in English since I grew up and studied in America before moving to Japan. I also speak Japanese since I spent my senior high school years and first year of college at a university there.