When you get home from school what do you usually do, do you kick up your feet on your recline sofa, go to some club you really enjoy, or do you perhaps just relax like you usually do?
You probably wouldn't expect to be following your friend to her place of work, because she wanted to talk to you before her shift, for whatever reason.
"What did you need to talk to me about, Pizza girl?"
We were standing outside her place of work. She had about 30 minutes until her shift at the pizza shop started, she was in her work uniform, though today it had a barely noticeable splash of soy sauce on the left sleeve of her shirt, though the black color was her saving grace luckily enough.
Hana crossed her arms, she looked a little upset, and I had no idea why.
"You promised we would play together on the weekend, and that was a week ago and we didn't do it yet."
"Oh…"
I had completely forgotten about the fact that she had given me her gamertag for zeam, the piece of paper was probably stuffed away in one of my drawers and hadn't seen sunlight in quite some time.
I paused, forming my words methodically and carefully before responding.
"I can play with you after work, if you want?"
Hana still looked upset despite the fact that I told her I would play with her.
"Atleast apologize…"
"Look, I'm sorry I broke my promise to you, I'll make sure to compensate you for it."
"You promise?"
"Yes, Hana."
Her displeased demeanor quickly disappeared, and what returned was her usual energetic and eccentric personality.
"Good, also you better be sure to play with me tonight hotshot."
"I just promised I would, didn't I?"
*****
I was sitting in my room on the raggedy chair I always sat on to play on my computer, the leather on the armrests were peeling to the point where soon i would be resting my arms on pure foam, my chair had seen better days but it wasn't uncomfortable, this time felt more different than before, for once I felt a sense of nervousness, I wonder what Yammy would think if I was playing with a different friend, would he be jealous or would he be ok with it?
Anyways, I took the note with Yamada's username out of my pocket and opened the folds with haste, but also with careful precision as to not rip it, she would get back from work soon.
Just as I was about to open the final fold, Yammy had just gotten online and decided to message me out of nowhere.
Yammy09 : {Hey gracious, wanna play the same thing we played last week? I'm thinking of bringing someone else into the fold to play with us. Are you alright with that?}
Gracious_13 : {Nah i cant play with you, im going to play with someone right now, that I met in school.}
Yammy09 : {haha, kinda inconvenient that we are both actually moving up in life isn't it?}
Gracious_13 : {well, you win some and you lose some, that's par for the course.}
Yammy09 : {Its been a long 2 years since we have been playing with eachother, Im sad we cant play as often as we used to}
Gracious_13 : {Me too, it sucks.}
I tapped my fingers on my arm rest, with nothing else to say other than that, I felt a sort of sadness and longing for my long time online friend, things were probably not going to go back to how they used to be, us just hanging out without a care in the world, it all looked so so far away now, it was no longer possible.
Yammy09 : {I met this guy, he's amazing.}
Hm, so this was the friend he was talking about that one time?
Gracious_13 : {What's his name?}
Silence from Yammy, were they uncomfortable with sharing that information?
Yammy09 : {Id rather not give his name out online for everyone to see, I don't think he would like that, it doesn't mean I don't trust you though.}
Gracious_13 : {Fair enough, haha.}
Gracious_13 : {Anyways im going to play with my friend now, ill see you again sometime soon?}
Yammy09 : {Most likely yeah, bye bye hotshot.}
I looked down at the piece of paper that was nearly unfolded, it was weathered from being unopened for so long, I prayed to god that the writing wasn't smudged or so horribly scuffed off that it wasn't readable.
I opened the last fold and paused at the words writing on it, my eyes widened in shock, and as I did my heart dropped and so did the note onto the floor to my dismay, I pushed my chair away from me with such a force that it hit my bedroom wall with a deep and loud thud, I didn't read it right, there was no way it was…
I got on my knees and picked up the note face down, the writing was on the other side, I cupped the note into both my hands, my eyes had to be deceiving me, this couldn't be, there was no way I was that oblivious to it.
And yet, it was her hand writing, and the note read…
'Yammy09'
I had read it right, Yammy was Hana, and I had been too stupid to notice it until now.
"Holy shit."
I had known this girl for YEARS beforehand, and I didn't recognize her despite how much she acted exactly like Yammy, if stupidity could shine I would be the whole sun.
I looked back at my computer, the chat with Yammy or now as I know her, Hana was still open, I had no idea how to move forward from this position, If I also revealed to her who I was I'm not sure how she would react, I know she wouldn't flat out abandon me because that isn't the type of person she is, but I was still worried regardless.
I took out my phone, I had to tell her It was me, her friend she had known since forever ago, things didn't have to change quite yet and I was happy about that, but I was also hella nervous.
Sato Masaichi : [Hey, Hana?]
I waited 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds, there was no reply and the wait was killing me, I didn't want to keep this to myself any longer, she needed to know right now.
Yamada Hana : [What?]
She finally replied, thank god.
Sato Masaichi : [Promise not to freak out?]
Yamada Hana : [Why would I freak out, did something bad happen?]
Sato Masaichi : [No, just please promise me to not freak out.]
Yamada Hana : [God, fine I wont "freak out", what's going on?]
Sato Masaichi : [I think we met a long time ago, way before the start of school.]
Yamada Hana : [How so, like did you see me at a coffee shop or something?]
Sato Masaichi : [I already have you added, on zeam.]
Yamada Hana : [Wait what? since when?]
Sato Masaichi : [Years ago.]
Yamada Hana : [But that makes no sense what do you mean.]
Hana stopped typing on her for a second, did she realise what I was trying to convey to her?
Yamada Hana : [Wait a minute, what the fuck?]
I heard a ping from my computer, and a notification on my chat with Yammy, I opened it up and was met with a message from hana.
Yammy09 : {Masaichi, is that you?}
I put my phone on my desk and quickly turned my hands onto my keyboard and began typing.
Gracious_13 : {Yes, it's me.}
Suddenly my phone buzzed almost immediately after I sent the message back. I quickly with both my hands and lifted the screen up close to my face.
Yamada Hana : [I'm sorry, I need to process this, please leave me be.]
What was this girl thinking, was she angry or upset in any way?
Sato Masaichi : [Are you ok?]
Yamada Hana : [Yes, just leave me alone.]
And so I did, for the rest of that afternoon, I brushed my teeth and went to bed, and as I laid down in my bed I couldn't sleep, she wasn't angry at me but I couldn't tell what she was thinking, but honestly I would probably would of reacted how she did, and yet for some reason I was worried.