Estella yawned as she stood at the register, the bright lights around the small convenience store hurting her eyes a bit. She just finished ringing up the students that usually come after their late classes ending at 10pm, she always thought that was straight up torture. " hey kid, you can take your lunch" Mr. Ayaka said. She looked at Mr. Ayaka, she bowed her head " thank you." Sitting at their small tables outside she enjoyed the night view of the city, she loved watching the city lights glittering in their glamour. Taking a deep breath she relaxed into the chair, eating her meal which consisted of her favorite noodles, some chicken wings and kiwi flavored water. " Estella?" A voice questioned. Looking up as she slurped the noodles, there was Yuki, her closest friend, Estella stood up and they hugged. "Estella why haven't you been answering my texts lately, i feel soo lonely" she complained. Estella laughed. " I texted you this morning." She said. Yuki crossed her arms " well you know i need constant attention." She said crossing her arms. Estella rolled her eyes at how exaggerated Yuki was. "Mei and Hana, how are you doing?" Estella asked and hugged them, she looked around and didn't see Ayano, which was weird since Hana was her best friend, she shrugged it off, she was happy to see them as well. They talked for a few minutes, Mei and Hana mentioned how they were all headed to a mixer and they wanted Estella to come with them, " sorry girls i have to work" she said. They frowned " aaaawww, you need to hang out with us too, lets make plans soon! Send me your days off so we can go to the beach or something!" Mei said. They said their goodbyes and told Yuki they'll wait at the bus stop for her. " so are you doing anything after your shift?" Yuki asked as she held onto Estellas sleeve. " No im just going home, and classes are in the afternoon tomorrow so I might just read a book. " Estella said smiling at her softly. Yuki smiled "can i sleepover?" She asked. " you always sleep over Yuki, you literally use the code to my apartment almost daily. But yeah, you can sleep over. " Estella said. Yuki left and Estella sat down to finish her food she only had 3 minutes left so she ate as fast as she could not caring how many people looked at her weird. Some actually got curious and entered the store to buy what she was eating since she made it look like it was the best meal she ever ate. She rushed in and saw Mr. Ayaka all fired up making wings and boiling water for noodles. She chuckled as she began ringing everybody up. The new guy Kaede looked a little nervous as he rung up people on the register next to hers. Because of the little rush she ended up staying 30 minutes more to help clean up, when kaede had come for his shift he started helping right away but they needed the extra hands so she stayed a little while longer. Finally at her door she put in her password and opened the door, Yuki already was sitting on the couch with a take out bag of fried chicken on the table. Estella smiled as she took off her jacket. "Honey im hoommee" she said in a teasing way. Yuki burst out laughing from the unexpected greeting. Estella chuckled as she put her bag down. Yuki grabbed a pillow and put it under her shirt " oh honeeyyy the baby missed you." She said, rubbing the bump as if she were pregnant. Causing them to laugh even more. Estella sat down as she laughed, and Yuki smiled as she put the throw pillow back in its place, leaning onto Estellas shoulder as they got comfortable. Yuki looked up at Estella, noticing that her eye bags had gotten darker, and she looked emotionally and physically tired. She felt concern, but she didn't want to push her into talking about it, she knew Estella had a hard time sleeping because of the ptsd from her army days. Instead she opened the bag on the coffee table that contained fried chicken, setting up the paper plates and sauces. " how was work?" Yuki asked as they ate the fried chicken they ordered. Noticing how mentally tired Estella was, she hoped to ease her for at least a little while. " It was okay, we got a little busy right before I left though" Estella said. " yeah, the mixer was pretty fun I really wish you could have been there everybody would have loved you, they decided to go bar hopping but I told them I had plans to sleepover at my friends house. " Yuki said as she took a big bite out of the chicken. " yeah i'll go as soon as I get at least the night off, by the way do you have any book recommendations? I can't find one i want to read" Estella asked. Yuki pulled out her phone, " actually I read this book a few weeks back that I liked a lot, im going to send you the link so you can read it. " When Estellas phone rang she instantly opened the site, " okay i got it, it's a fantasy/romance?" Estella wasn't really a fan of romance, but the reviews on it were pretty good. Yuki chewed fast and swallowed her food so she could explain it to Estella. " yeah its the story of a young girl that's really nice to everyone, she was saved when she was kid by a duke and his two sons fall in love with her, when the younger son is arranged to marry the daughter of the evil count Grimrose, when they marry Lilith falls in love with him at first sight but he wants to marry the female lead, Thalia is her name, and so Lilith feels left out and jealous, she was snarky and evil since her dad and brothers always neglected her and treated her like crap so she gets desperate for love and attention, Lilith wants the son of the duke to love her she does things to Thalia and in the end tries to murder her and her husband kills her by slicing her head off with a sword and then-" Estella put her hand on Yukis mouth. " why should i read it you already spoiled it" Estella asked, raising an eyebrow. Yuki crossed her arms " I didn't spoil all of it, its a really good story you have to read it. " "Okay, okay, but…the villain of this story…it's just sad… all she wanted was love right? And to get killed so coldly by the man she loved over some other girl…" she said sadly. " well, I mean she brought it upon herself, why be so evil, if she had been kind to Thalia maybe at some point the male lead might have fallen for her." Yuki said. " yeah…anyway im going to start reading you can sleep" Estella said, getting up to get ready for bed. Yuki jumped into the bed and got comfortable. " okay good night" Yuki said as she put on her sleep mask. After she finished putting on her pajamas she laid next to Yuki, who was now breathing softly. She sighed and pulled out her phone, opening the link to the book again. " once upon a time, there was a young girl, as pretty as a peony.. known for her beauty and kindness…" Estella read quietly, finally feeling able to relax. An alarm sounded and Estellas eyes blew open, Yukis foot was on her face and she pushed it off, " its 8am… i didn't set the alarm, maybe Yuki did.. Hey wake up!" She said as she slapped Yukis bottom as hard as she could and she woke up from her deep slumber. " OOWWW!" " did you set the alarm??" Estella asked. "No. Why did you hit me so hard!? You hulk of a woman." Yuki sniffled still wearing the sleep mask and rubbing her bottom. " oh, sorry, well im awake now so im gonna make breakfast." Estella said. " I want pancakes!" They sat at the window bar the in kitchen since there was no space for a table in Estellas apartment. Yuki prepared coffee and set up plates and utensils. They had blueberry pancakes, porridge and sweet tamagoyaki. " you've always been so talented when it comes to baking and cooking" yuki stuffed her mouth with pancake. Estella set down the hot kettle for tea. " this is a simple breakfast…but it's thanks the recipe books my dad made, I have all his copies, I try to make the best of every minute of my day." She said. Yuki frowned " come on, you really have a good hand for cooking, i wish my memory was as good as yours, you always remember everything after hearing it or doing it once it's so not fair!" Yuki complained half heartedly. " really? I just study a lot and hone my skills every second i have free, i love staying busy" she said. Yuki smiled, she knew the real reason she stayed so busy was so wouldn't have time to think sbout her trauma. " though sometimes i wish i could just relax…sit on a balcony and watch the sunset and a beautiful scenery" she said in a dreamy tone. " gotta save up money then" yuki said teasingly. Estella scoffed, " yeah, hopefully by next year i'll have enough money to go on a 3 day road trip somewhere foresty or something" she said exaggerating a little. Yuki perked up " oh yeah sounds fun i'll save up too and maybe Hana, Ayano, and mei can come with us!" She said. Estella raised her eyebrows " you would come with me?" She asked, remembering how terrified Yuki was of bugs. Yuki smacked her " of course, you're my best friend, and also it would be sooo fun!" Yuki smiled devilishly " maybe we should invite Mr. Ayaka~" " Yuki he's my boss, that would be so weird" Estella said as she laughed it off. Almost all her friends had a little crush on her boss. " Oh yeah! Diane how was the book?" Yuki asked. " So far like it, but I still feel bad for Lilith, I know she messed up a lot and stuff but she seems like she just wants to be loved, if I was her I would beat the shit out of her brother though, he's such a jerk." Estella said. Yuki smiled "you always see the good in everyone first, but i mean poisoning someone and planning their death isn't a light crime" Yuki said. " yeah, I know, I saw there was a side story of Lilith's childhood and backstory but looks like not a lot of people read it since they like Thalia so much." Estella said. Yuki took out her phone " Really? i've never seen it, oh yeah looks like a lot people really don't like her, anyway i have to go i promised my mom i would take her to the mall, bye girl" Yuki said, rushing out. Estella smiled, her apartment now eerily quiet, she looked around suddenly feeling lonely and sighed. "Gotta get to work." She thought. " would you like anything else?" Estella asked the customer. "no thank you" the woman said. "Alright have a great night" Mr. Ayaka passed by carrying some boxes. " i'm going to restock a bit" he said. " okay" Estella replied as she cut open the small box of receipt paper. They worked quietly for a bit and Mr. Ayaka broke the silence. " I haven't seen your friend Yuki in a while, is she busy at school?" he said. " Yeah we have a lot of assignments and projects, she might come in more often this week since our professor got sick and theres a substitute and they mostly just let us study." Estella said. "Oh I see, you must be happy to have a little bit of a break, your eye bags had me worried" he said. She gasped" Mr.Ayaka! How dare you!" She exclaimed as she laughed. " i'm sorry but you looked like a walking zombie" he said. " oh come on cut me some slack you have no idea how bad our professor tortures us!" She complained. " oh yeah, must be very difficult." He said sarcastically. She saw this as an opportunity to see if he was single, since all her girl friends kept asking. " you have absolutely no tact, your wife must be so stressed out." She said. " i don't have a wife, im a single man." He said proudly. " yeah no surprise there" she said mockingly. He looked flabbergasted, " hey! Im single by choice" he said. They continued bickering until a customer walked in and they had to get back to work. Estella was back at home finishing the book, Lilith had just been found guilty to the attempted murder of Thalia and Lilith's husband sliced her head off with a sword as she pleaded and begged that all she wanted was his love and attention. Estella frowned," she must have been so lonely.." she thought. The classroom was silent except for the noise of pencils scratching paper and pages being flipped. Everyone in class looked half asleep and some looked messy and looked like they haven't slept in days. Estella was one of them. She was focused so hard on her studies, she knew when the professor came back the first thing he would do is a quiz to see if they didn't slack off. An bell rang and they rose like zombies out of a graveyard, the moaning and groaning and slowly moving. The group of students went to the cafeteria, most of them getting the strongest coffee they could and others getting snacks and energy shots. Yuki appeared behind Estella, " hey…" she mumbled, her usually well done hair was in a very messy bun and she was wearing no make up. Estella smirked and covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a laugh. Yuki scoffed " hey you're not looking too hot yourself O'uni" Estella gasped " what!?" She couldn't believe Yuki referenced her to a mountain hag. Though it made sense considering how Estella towered over many of the students since she was tall. They laughed it off and sat down to eat, " im so scared now that the professor came back" Estella said as she took a bite of her sandwich. " Yeah, though to be honest..we're actually learning a lot, i don't think i have ever studied so hard before, and the information is really good too, easy to understand and in full detail, this substitute really helped us out with those study guides.." Yuki said. " yeah, i feel like at this point our class will be at the top, well…except for those idiots … I heard they've gone bar hopping almost 4 times just this week, they don't seem to be too worried about any surprise quizzes or exams." Estella said eyeing the three young men at the vending machine looking fresh as daisies compared to the rest of the class that looked about ready to be cremated. Yuki laughed, " those three will bring our class to shame, oh! By the way, I also heard Miyano has been crushing on you, looks like your beauty shines through your disguise O'uni-san" yuki giggled. " Oh god, for a guy that handsome it truly is a shame, he might fail this class if he's worried about dating." Estella said, but she knew Miyano always studied when he had time. He didn't even hang out with that group of guys a lot anyways. "Yeah, i wonder if they don't study at all or if they study at home?" Yuki questioned. Estella shrugged and they threw away their trash, the bell rang to get back to class and everyone stood up and started their path back to class, now looking a little bit more alive. After a few days of the professor being back he looked as stern as ever, making everyone wonder if he had gotten sick at all. " Okay kids, since I was gone I hope you studied as much as you could out of your medical books, these past few days I decided to go easy on you all since I was gone for a little while, and to see if you guys slacked off.. we will be doing a very important exam today, this exam will be 50% of your final grade." He said. Everyone's eyes popped out of their face, gasps of horror and people turning pale. " I hope you all studied well, Asaki please hand these out." He handed the stack of tests in Asakis hands, and Asaki almost let a tear slip out of his eye. As he handed them out everyone was dead silent, " we're lucky Estella told us to study like hell in case this happened…." Daiki said. Everyone grumbled a bit in relief and gratitude. After a few of the most dreadful hours of their life they turned in their tests. "The results will be delivered via email, i wish you all the best." The professor said seriously as he organized them in his suitcase. Estella was sitting at her computer waiting for the results, its was already 11pm and she hadn't received anything. It finally beeped and she stared at the link. With her heart beating loudly and hard against her chest she opened and when she saw the results she froze. She quickly pulled her phone and texted yuki " i got 150/150!!!" She texted. "OMG! I got a 146/150! We passed!!! I texted the girls lets celebrate!! Meet us at the karaoke bar!" Yuki replied. Estella quickly put on light make up and got dressed up. As she ran out of the apartments she got a notification, not noticing the truck coming in her direction. " They have happy hour for wings and drinks hurry!" She read in the message. The lights suddenly blinded her and she finally looked up. Her eyes widened and her blood ran cold. Someone grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the way. The truck honked as it was 3 seconds away from killing her. " Are you crazy! You need to be aware of your surroundings! You could have died!!" A mans voice scolded. She looked at her saviors face, it was Miyano, she let out a shaky breath. " T-thank you…." She said. He put his hand on his face as he grumbled under his breath. " where are you going?" He asked. " im going to meet my friends at the karaoke bar…" she said, light blush covering her cheeks as she was released from his arms. "Okay, i'll walk you there." He said, not trusting her to go on her own. As they walked she calmed down, she hadn't even noticed she was holding onto the sleeve of his sweatshirt like a child. She let go and cleared her throat. She noticed his ears were really red. She knew him since they were in kindergarten and have hung out together with a group of friends but they had never hung out alone or interacted outside of the friend group. She had considered him a close friend, but this was the first time in many years she has been alone with him. They finally got to the bar and she was surprisingly sad to have their walk together get cut short. " well…here we are… see you tomorrow" he said, turning to leave. She grabbed his sleeve." Wait ..do you want to join us?" He blushed and she let go of his shirt. " are you sure?" He asked. " yeah come on, its on me since you saved my life" she said as she pulled him in. Yuki was in the middle of her song and as soon as Estella walked in with Miyano all the girls stared and yuki stopped singing. The silence was loud and Estella cleared her throat " so…we ran into each other and i invited him" she said. The girls went back to picking songs and making him sit in the middle. Yuki kept her eyes on Estella, something was off and she couldn't put her finger on it. They had the time of their life and Miyano even sang for them a couple times and they loved the show. When it was finally time to go home Miyano made sure to get the girls all home safely and the going home himself. Estella fell into bed with a heavy body, she had been drunk and tripped over herself a few times, she recalled the truck and she got goosebumps all over. This was the first time in a year she had a close call with death after her time in the military, and it made her have flashbacks a couple times throughout the night. Spending time with Miyano was the best thing to happen to her recently and she finally felt her entire body relax as she basically melted into her lavender sheets. The next morning, she awoke to the faint smell of roses, surprisingly without a hang over. She got up from bed and felt like her bed was taller, and her feet didn't feel the carpet from her apartment, she looked down and saw oak floors, and white manicured feet. "Am I hallucinating?" She thought, she looked around and she felt her heart drop, this was nos definitely not her apartment. She caught sight of a mirror and ran over, eyes wide as she looked at her appearance in horror. Staring at a face she didn't recognize. "Who the hell is this? Where are my pretty hazel eyes!? My beautiful black hair! My pretty olive skin tone!" She thought as she touched her face and hair in a panic. She jumped back in bed hoping to wake up and be Estella, however, a maid walked in and woke her to her new reality.