Barefaced

It's been a long day for you. Your feet aches and your eyes feel heavy. You quickly head to your bedroom to lay down. You think it might be a good idea to at least make yourself dinner but you're too tired to do so. You don't even bother to turn on the light. You throw your phone on to your bed and you take your shoes off. Then you flop down on the bed, and you nuzzle your face into the pillow. You slowly start to drift into sleep when all of a sudden, your phone starts ringing. You lift your face from the pillow, grabbing your phone from beside you. You slowly accept the phone call not paying attention to who's calling you. 

"Hello?" you quietly say. There's a muffled noise from the other end of the phone. You raise your eyebrows, and you try slowly lift your phone up to look at it. The screen is so bright it's almost blinding. 

"HELLO!" the voice says from the other end. Your eyes finally adjust to the light on your phone. The person on the other end is your friend. You sigh and you place your phone down. 

"Hey... what's up?" You mumble loud enough for them to hear you. 

"Are you home?" They ask.

"Yeah... I got home 10 minutes ago." You answer. 

"Did you read the new chapter of Tokyo Revengers?" They ask. You groan, slowly lifting yourself up. You rub your eyes, grabbing your phone and looking up Tokyo Revengers manga through a website. 

"What happened in the last chapter?" You ask. Your friend giggles and makes a loud shrieking noise. 

"GIRL! THE LAST CHAPTER WAS INSANEEEE!!!" Your friend continues to giggle. You don't know exactly what she's so excited about since the last chapters were kind of gruesome. 

"Ugh... my head hurts..." you groan, rubbing your head in pain.

"Girl... are you okay?" Your friend asks. 

"I'm just really tired." You replied quietly.

"You should sleep, y/n." Your friend says in a concerning voice. 

"Yeah... I should sleep." You reply.

"Okay then... I will talk to you later... When you read the chapter let me know so we can talk about it." Your friend bubbled. In your mind you can see your friend kicking their feet and giggling. 

"Okay... goodnight" The phone call ends, and you lay back down, nuzzling your face into your pillow. You click on the newest chapter. You slowly read the chapter, eyes glistening and excitement in your chest. But that doesn't last long. 

"WHAT! THATS HOW IT ENDS? THATS IT?" You shout. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" 

You quickly go to twitter to see what people are saying. A lot of people are talking badly about the manga and others are talking about how they are so sad on how it ended. Then you come across a random tweet of fan art including Tokyo Revengers characters and their OC, saying goodbye to Tokyo Revengers. People are commenting under it saying that the art looks very cool... But it wasn't loading for you. 

You decide to click the photo to make it larger but when you do, your phone shocks you, making you flinch and throw it across the room. You sigh looking at your phone that's on the ground and rubbing your hand that got shocked. You debate on whether you should pick up the phone or not. 

You decide to leave it on the floor. You lay back down and slowly close your eyes. 

As you drift into sleep, you start to feel lighter, as if you're floating. You feel so cozy and warm. Still thinking about the last chapter of Tokyo Revengers. 

You finally fall asleep.

Something feels off. It feels like your body is floating on water, but the feeling feels so relaxing. You hear muffled voices in the distance... but your body won't move. 

"YUKI!"

Yuki? 

"WAKE UP YUKI!" 

Through your eyelids, light is shining through. You groan covering yourself with a blanket trying to block out the sun and the noise.

"YUKI! YUKI!!!" You slowly open your eyes to the yelling getting louder.

"YUKI!" There's banging outside your bedroom... As you look around you notice something off... Your room... It looks different. 

"YUKIIIIIII! COME ON! COME ON! YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE US LATE!" 

Are they talking to me? You ask yourself. 

You slowly get off the bed and then you slide open the bedroom door. You look around the room outside the bedroom. It's small. There's a kitchen to the right and a couch and TV in front of you. You move towards the door on the left. As you approach the door you hear whispering and giggling. You open the door.

A couple of girls wearing school uniforms are standing outside the room. 

"What happened?" you ask. 

"What do you mean what happened?" The girl on the left chuckles. She has short brown hair and soft brown eyes. She's wearing pink hair clips and cutesy makeup. The one on the right is a little taller than you. She has long blond hair and black eyes.

I assume she dyed her hair. You think to yourself. 

"What are we about to be late for?" You ask. 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" The girl on the left intoned. 

"We are going to be late to school." The girl on the right implies. You slowly nod in confusion.

"Yuki... How are you the top student in the school but are always running late... how does that even work?" Puzzled the girl on the left slowly walks in. The girl walks into the kitchen and opens the fridge. You stare at her as she goes through your condiments. 

"Hana... what are you doing?" The girl with the blond hair asks.

"Looking to see if Yuki-chan had any snacks... but her fridge looks depressing." Hana groans, slowly closing the fridge. 

"No wonder why you stay so skinny Yuki... you don't even have food in your fridge." Hana implies. The girl with the blond hair taps your shoulder. You turn to look at her. She sighs and then smiles. 

"Yuki... if you don't get dressed, we are going to be late." You slowly nod and walk into the bedroom, sliding the door closed.

You start to breathe heavy and start to scatter through the dresser in the room. What's happening? Where am I? You think to yourself. 

You walk towards the closet in the room, and you open it. There's a couple of boxes and a uniform hanging up. You examine the outside of the boxes. One of the boxes says Property of Hanami Sato. 

Who is that? You ask yourself. 

You open the box and start going through the things inside the box. One of the things you find is a notebook. You hold the notebook, and a picture falls out of it. You pick up the picture. It's a woman in a hospital bed and a small girl leaning against her smiling. The woman in the picture looks sick but still looks happy.

You open the notebook to place the picture back in. Flipping to the back of the notebook, you see writing. It wasn't written in English but in Japanese. Surprisingly you understand what it says....

"Live a long and happy life Yuki... I will always be here with you." You read to yourself. "Love... Mom." So, this is Yuki's mother. I'm guessing she passed away. You open the notebook again, pulling the picture back out. 

"Yuki...?" Aimi whispers loud from the other side of the door.

You look up towards the closed door and quickly close the box. 

"She's getting dressed Aimi..." Hana muffles. 

"What are you eating Hana?" Aimi quietly questions.

"A nice... cold and yummy taiyaki..." Hana answers.

"Where did you get that from?" Aimi asks. 

"From the back of Yuki's fridge." Hana responds. 

"Ugh... Hana... couldn't you have waited until we went downstairs. We both know Mrs. Sato would have given us a pastry." Aimi states. 

You sigh and put on your school uniform.

After getting dressed, you walk out the room. Aimi and Hana stare at you as you walk out.

"You have a lot of hair..." Hana chuckles. You reach to touch your hair and you sigh, walking towards the bathroom that's on the right side of the living room by the kitchen. 

You walk into the bathroom, and you stare at yourself in the mirror. You're a cute young-looking girl. You have dark grey eyes and very long and thick black hair. Your hair looks extremely coarse but if it were to be combed out it would... possibly look straight... maybe.

Aimi and Hana walk into the bathroom. Hana touches your hair, lifting it up and smiling at you through the mirror. 

"Your hair is so thick... and so pretty..." Aimi pats your head and then grabs the brush on the counter. "Let me do your hair Yuki..." Aimi leans in closer towards your face, making a pouty lip look towards you. 

You nod and she smiles joyfully. 

She takes the brush and starts to brush your hair. After she brushes your hair, she pulls it up into a ponytail. 

"OH DANG... WE HAVE 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE FIRST BELL!" Hana shouts, shoving the rest of the taiyaki in her mouth. Hana grabs your hand and pulls you out the bathroom. 

You put your shoes on and grab your backpack. The three of you walk down the stairs and into the back of a bakery where an old lady is prepping some baked goods. 

"Yuki- Do you feel better?" The woman asks you. You slowly nod. She smiles. "You look just like your mother." She says rubbing your head. 

"Mrs. Sato... is that dorayaki..." Hana sooths. 

"Didn't you just eat?" Aimi implies, furrowing her eyebrows at Hana. 

"Shhhhh..." Hana shushes Aimi and smiles at Mrs. Sato. Mrs. Sato smiles back and hands Hana a dorayaki. 

"I saved these for the three of you... I know how much you like these, Hana." Hana smiles and takes a bite of the dorayaki. You smile as Mrs. Sato hands you one. 

"Thank you." You speak. 

The three of you leave the bakery. 

"Your grandma makes the best sweets... you're so lucky Yuki... I wish I had a grandma who would make me baked goods every morning" Hana soothes, slowly chowing down on the dorayaki. 

"I'm surprised you aren't fat, Hana." Hana squints at Aimi's statement. 

"I don't eat that much..." She pouts, taking tiny nibbles of the dorayaki.

Not long later you approach the school. You walk in and head towards your homeroom class. You have the same class as Aimi. 

Hana is a year older, so her class is a floor up. Which is surprising since she acts younger than she is. 

"See you two at lunch." She says waving at you and Aimi as she walks down the hall. 

You and Aimi walk into the classroom and you both sit at your desks, that are right next to each other. A boy sits in front of Aimi. He's wearing a hoodie over his uniform and seems very wary.

"What happened to you, Eli?" Aimi asks staring at the back of the boy's head. The boy turns around to look at Aimi who's staring at him.

"Nothing that you can solve." He replies. His left eye looks swollen and bruised. He also has a tissue in his nose. 

"Are those guys bothering you again?" She asks. 

"What guys?" You question. Both Aimi and Eli look at you. 

"Eli keeps getting in trouble with that stupid gang..." Aimi replies. 

"Hey... don't say that so loud..." Eli whispers. 

"Why?" Aimi asks. Eli sighs and turns back around. "I told you to visit Yuki's grandfather... he can teach you how to defend yourself... He IS a master at martial arts... Right Yuki?"

You hesitate to look at Aimi who's staring at you. "What gang are you both speaking about?" 

Eli turns to look at you. "Toman..." 

Toman? 

"Toman?" puzzled, you tilt your head wanting to know more. 

"Toman... you don't know who they are?" Aimi asks. You hesitate to shake your head. "Eli has been getting himself into a lot of problems with them..." Aimi says, crossing her arms. 

"What did you do Eli?" you ask. 

"What makes you think I'm the one causing the problems?" You shrug to his question. The teacher walks into the classroom and everyone goes quiet.

You zone out, thinking about the name Toman. Where exactly are you?... Who exactly, are you?

Who is Yuki and why are YOU Yuki? These questions keep bubbling in your mind. 

Is this a dream?

You look at Eli who has his head down. I'm going to ask him more questions after class. You think to yourself. 

After the first half of class, it's now lunch. Aimi positions her desk to face yours. Hana skips into the classroom, grabbing a chair and facing it towards you and Aimi.

"What happened to him?" Hana asks, pointing at Eli. Eli looks up and furrows his eyebrows.

"Why is it when you all see me covered in bruises you all want to act all dramatic as if you don't already know." Eli inquired.

"Why do you keep getting yourself beat up..." Hana mutters.

"Because they are bigger and stronger than me..." Eli hissed.

"They are bigger and stronger than Yuki... but she can still beat them up." Hana states. Eli squints his eyes and flair his nose. 

"That's because she was taught martial arts... as you can see... I have not been taught." Eli states.

"Then ask Yuki grandfather to teach you." Hana insists smiling at you. You look at her in shock and then back at the food you pulled out to eat. 

"Too expensive..." He replies.

"Yuki's grandfather said he's willing to teach us for free since we have been friends with Yuki since we were younger." Aimi says.

"Fine then, have Yuki fight them for you." Hana implies, swinging her fist in a playful way.

"NO! I'm not going to have a girl fight for me." He whines. 

"You sound like you just want to be beaten up." Aimi implies. 

"THATS NOT IT EITHER! DAMN... I'm going to eat lunch with Ren..." Eli states as he gets up and walks out the room. Hana sighs and takes a bite of her food. 

"What a crybaby." She muffles as she shovels food into her mouth. You look towards the door Eli left out of. You furrow your eyebrows and look down still puzzled to what's going on. You get up and walk towards the hallway.

"Yuki... where are you going?" Aimi asks. Hana looks at you with her cheeks all puffy and full of food. 

"I- uh... I'm going to grab a drink really quick." You say walking out the room. You see Eli slowly walking down the hallway in the distance.

I need to ask Eli something. You think to yourself as you walk towards Eli.