title: liar liar
summary: freshman pre-med student haruno sakura finds her life turned upside down when her new neighbors turn out to be a world-famous boy band. [multisaku, modern au]
pairing: multisaku ; sasusaku, narusaku, shisaku, itasaku, tobisaku (obisaku?), deisaku, saisaku, shikasaku, you get the idea lol
genre: romance/humor
disclaimer: naruto doesn't belong to me.
jeon's notes: i have no apology for writing this tbh and I blame kpop (and exo next door) for getting me to write a boyband au fic.. it's indulgent trash and shameless writing exercise ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
some of the ages will be tweaked bc boyband members are freaking young honestly some of them are even younger than me and I am a fetus
for reference, the band members aren't the only one going to be paired up with sakura (because this is multisaku for a reason and honestly there needs to be more reverse harem fics hehehe) BUT the main focus of the story will be on them. updates will be sporadic.
profanity warning because i cuss sometimes when i write :3c
liar liar
by jeon snow
so1eo1: pilot
If it wasn't for the fact she'd been apartment hunting for the past six hours with hopeless results (also, the awful weather because the sun was way too hot), Sakura was sure she would've been on her best behavior. Maybe.
But it was what it was, and now she was waiting for the landlord with sweat glistened on her forehead and her loose tank top clinging to her skin because the goddamned room didn't even have an air conditioner and she was probably going to die out of heat any second now, and her landlord still hadn't entered the room – she'd been waiting for an hour.
No professionalism, that's what this is, she thought with a scowl, wondering how she'd stooped so low. Honestly, Haruno Sakura was extraordinary, and she herself thought so too – it wasn't everyday someone could graduate with near perfect grades and a scholarship to one of the best universities in the world, accepted to its most difficult program. Apparently, it was also highly possible for said extraordinary student to put off dorm hunting to the last minute, and after fruitless searches in the first twelve apartments, she was stooped to hoping the thirteenth time was the charm.
(Thirteenth time, the charm? Che.)
"Hello!" A cheery voice rang from the door, nearly startling the life out of her as she whirled from her seat, squinting at the sight of a man with gravity defying silver hair, half of his face covered with a mask. If it was supposed to be a fashion statement, she was Not Impressed. "How can I help you?"
Stiffly, Sakura smiled. It wasn't genuine in the slightest, but she was taught to be polite by her mother – she would be the better person, damn it. "I'm here to inquire about the available space?" She asked hopefully, because this was the last apartment on the list and she really, really didn't want to be homeless.
"Aa," the landlord hummed, smiling genially. (Okay, she couldn't exactly tell whether she was smiling or not, but she liked to think he was. His eye was crinkling, so if he wasn't smiling with his lips, he was at least eye smiling.) "There is, actually. It's a one-bedroom apartment, but your next-door neighbor's apartment is… crowded." There was something suspicious about the way the man said crowded, but this building was the nicest one out of the others she'd visited – despite the landlord's air conditioner being turned off – and Sakura wasn't going to push her luck.
"That'll be fine!" Sakura said, barely stopping herself from collapsing on the floor out of relieved exhaustion. "I'll take it. The price is the same as what it says online, right?" While it was the most expensive apartment out of all the one-bedroom ones she'd attempted to take, it was still within her budget, and beggars really couldn't be choosers. In her case, it was this apartment or living in dumpsters – the choice was obvious.
The landlord nodded, before going over to his desk to pull out some papers. "I'll just need you to fill these and we're all set." Sakura took the pen from him and she started reading the document, inwardly frowning at how thick it was, but read it with clinical necessity, scanning over it and storing down all the important parts. Years and years of reading had gotten her used to big blocks of text, but it didn't mean she liked it.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally signed her name (only after a dozen times), and handed it back to the landlord with a genuine smile. "Thank you, er…?"
"Hatake. Hatake Kakashi."
"Thank you, Hatake-san." Gratefully, she bowed her head and Kakashi chuckled, his eyes still crinkling cheerfully.
"You can move in starting from now until the beginning of the school year. Here's your key and the spare, your apartment number is 6-B. Come on, I'll show you to your apartment."
Much to her pleasure, the Leaf Apartments was one of the nicer apartment buildings in the town – and for a reasonable price too, considering it consisted of three towers, all of them air conditioned and reasonably luxurious, as far as college budgets go. Her apartment in particular was located on the first floor of the second building, and in her corridor there were only two rooms – her and her neighbors.
"7-B is big," Kakashi explained, gesturing at the door to the apartment next to hers. "It's the biggest apartment the building has, actually."
"Aa," Sakura murmured, idly wondering who the heck lived in a big, near penthouse sized apartment. Honestly, she was pretty sure her room would end up looking like a broom closet compared to theirs – but again, she wasn't going to spend her college years just partying the night away, because she was on a scholarship and she had too many things to accomplish. She could live in a broom closet for all she cared, as long as there was a place for her to sleep and study. (And a place to put a coffee maker, because there was no way she was going to survive college without her precious coffeemaker. Seriously, that thing was her prized possession – she owed most of her high school grades to it.)
Kakashi stepped aside to let her unlock the door to her room, and her eyes widened when she saw the interior. "Oh, wow. This room is nice," Sakura breathed, looking at her apartment gleefully. It was nowhere as big as next-door, that much she was sure of, but her own apartment was probably nice compared to her friends'. The walls were beige and the floor a dark shade of wood, but the living room area was spacy, and there was room for a kitchen and a guest bathroom as well. There was one door she could only thought to belong to her bedroom, and all in all, it was a good spend of her money.
"I'll leave you to get settled then!" With a cheery wave, Kakashi was gone in an instant, leaving her alone inside her new apartment.
Considering how things were going so well for now (even if it was a slightly rocky start at the beginning), Sakura was absolutely positive first year of college was going to be great.
This was a disaster.
Approximately five minutes after she finished putting up the last poster on the living room wall – a life-sized picture of Tsunade Senju wearing a lab coat, her role model and the best doctor in the universe – she was finally learning something about her neighbor living in the oversized apartment right next to hers; they were awfully loud.
Oh, no, it didn't start off with a bang. As a matter of fact, it started pretty tame, with only the distinct sound of music going off in the next room – and Sakura was fine with that, because she herself was guilty of turning on her music too loud when she listened to her indie music when she was settling in – but as time went by, the music was eventually drowned by laughter (it started as regular laughter that was tolerable only to end up being horribly obnoxious), to chatter, and lastly – shouts of outrage and terror.
"Okay, who tried to cook this time?"
"WHO TURNED MY BOXERS PINK."
"Tobi, I swear if you don't stop touching my stuff I'm taking away your candy–"
"Stop shitposting on the twitter, dobe."
"You're not my mom," (here, she could practically feel the indignant huff and upturned nose), "Teme!"
The shouts varied in volume, but there was one thing they held in common:
It was all fucking annoying, and they were lucky she'd learnt anger management exercises because she was only one step away from breaking down their door and throwing heavy furniture at them just to make them shut up.
"Is this why the landlord sold this apartment for such a cheap price?" Sakura hissed, the anger rolling off her in waves. She was seething, and damn it, she knew something was up when she saw the price! While her apartment was not a condominium or even a two-bedroom flat, it was undoubtedly nicer than what the price said – if only she knew how irritating her neighbors would be, then maybe she'd be living on the streets.
Her fists clenched and she painstakingly tried her best to keep her temper in check – take a deep breath, these dumbasses are not worth the hospital bills – but when she heard the loud, girlish scream? Well, there was a reason why her high school friends used to call her the Shehulk.
She stepped closer to the walls, and made sure to shout with her loudest voice – which was very loud, considering she used to be a banshee when she was twelve. "IF YOU IDIOTS DON'T SHUT UP, I WILL COME OVER AND KNOCK DOWN YOUR DOOR – I WON'T PAY FOR THE DAMAGES." Then, with a much calmer voice, she continued. "You do not want to know what happens next."
Of course, someone had to ask.
"What happens next, un?"
Sakura smiled sweetly, despite knowing they had no idea what she looked like, much less how her smile that only promised pain would compliment her much too delicate features. (Honestly, she would be the first to admit her face was too pretty for her personality. She looked like she was your classic manic pixie dream girl, but in reality Haruno Sakura was a scary bitch with a lousy temper.)
"I will rip out all your throats with my bare hands and make sure none of you will be able to have children," Sakura threatened, barely stopping herself from raising her fist in a classic threatening gesture.
Haruno Sakura was not always violent, but when she was, she never held back. Let it be known that Sakura never does anything without her full efforts, and if she had to get her dainty hands a little dirty to make sure some loudmouths would be quiet – she would. The last time someone didn't take her warnings seriously (it was one of her famous incidents in high school involving a few lousy seniors and one thoroughly pissed off, harassed Sakura), she nearly got expelled for violence and the actual people who started it all were in the hospital for a month.
They never really walked the same afterwards.
Thankfully, as loud as her next-door neighbors were, they knew when to take a hint. After her less than friendly warnings, they continued to talk on a more acceptable volume – she'd have to go see Kakashi sometime to ask about how thin exactly were these walls – and she was able to go back to her decorating and fluffing her pillows in peace.
So, her neighbors were loud and she didn't have a job (yet), and this was a disastrous first day living alone. She would not be deterred, because she didn't back down for challenges (something she unfortunately learned from the years she'd spent hanging around big-headed boys who thought she was to be protected when she could very well take care of herself, thank you very much.) As long as she could minimize her interactions with her neighbors, get a steady source of income and make some friends to make sure her college experience wouldn't be so lonely, things were going to look up, whether fate liked it or not.
… Maybe as soon as she figured out how to work her new washing machine.
Her first night living alone and generally feeling like the Responsible Adult™ she now was – which really just consisted of watching some classy old movie while drinking red wine in her most comfortable nightwear – was ruined when someone knocked loudly on her door, disrupting her rapt attention from the steamy scene going on in the movie.
"Open up, un!"
Ugh. Brash and no respect, she was charmed.
Disdainful feelings aside, however, Sakura still chose to stand up and, while sipping from her glass of wine, peeked through the peephole to see who it was. A frown marred her features when she saw it was someone unfamiliar, but considering the knocking was growing more and more irritated by the second, she hoped for the best (meaning she was really just hoping the man wasn't a serial killer here to cut her with a chainsaw) and opened up.
"What?" She snapped, green eyes glinting with barely concealed annoyance.
The man that stood just outside her doorway was undoubtedly attractive, and if she hadn't experienced first hand his lack of manners, Sakura was sure she would've been a blushing mess by now. (Side-eye all you want, but honestly, eye candy was something any girl could appreciate. Sakura herself was appreciative of both male and female eye candies, because honestly, why not.) With sun-kissed skin, clear blue eyes and long blonde hair that was worn in a style much too similar with her best friend's (aside from the bangs), he was one of the most attractive people she'd ever seen. If only he was more of a gentleman, she would swoon.
"There's a rat in my apartment, un."
"… So?"
"So," the man repeated sarcastically, and she held back the urge to knee him where the sun doesn't shine. "My friends and I wanted to ask for help to take care of it, un."
Sakura squinted at him for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not he was lying and the likehood of her being kidnapped and never to be seen or heard of again. As if sensing her scrutiny, the man started on a rant. "Listen, we wouldn't even ask if it wasn't a last resort but the rat is huge, un! Like this size, look – " At this, he started to outline the size of the rat with his hands, and her eyes widened at how big it was, " – and none of us can risk it, un." He then nodded, as if satisfied with his own explanation while Sakura felt her eye twitch.
"Are you saying you and your friends want me to risk rabies because the rest of you are too scared to do it yourself?" Sakura seethed, glaring at him with shining viridian eyes.
"We're not scared, un!" He huffed indignantly, sticking his nose in the air in a show of irritation at his 'manly pride' (she thought of this with a sardonic laugh) being questioned. Ugh, testosterones. "I said that we can't, not that we're too pussy to do it, un."
"Yeah well, this pussy is the one going to help with your troubles," she said dryly, ignoring the flush of his cheeks at the statement. "Couldn't you set up a mousetrap or something?"
At this, he flushed even more, his cheeks starting to look like it was dark red instead of the tanned skin she'd secretly admired. "We don't know how to do it."
She couldn't help it – she giggled and grinned, much to his confusion, before walking right back inside her apartment but keeping the door open. "I'll get the things. Just wait there."
Sakura returned a few moments later, carrying all the items necessary to create a mousetrap. Her neighbor was still there, although his blush was gone and he looked considerably less flustered than he was before. "Come on, the pest control's ready." She held up all the necessary items and he smirked as he led them towards his apartment and – why was she not surprised it was 7-B. (She knew it was probably the only option but still, damn it, she was hoping she wouldn't have to interact with her neighbors so soon, if ever.)
The door was unlocked and when it swung open, she could immediately feel the eyes burning onto her skin, making her feel as if she was being judged under immense scrutiny. Remembering all her lessons with Ino, she straightened her back and put on her bravado, holding up the mouse traps with a smirk.
"I'm just here to help with the rats," she explained bluntly, and easily put on an expressionless mask. It was easier to deal with being judged when she made sure there was absolutely no trace of any intimidation on her face – a handy tip she'd earned from a few upperclassmen she was close with during her time in high school.
"Right. Just don't rip off our throats with your bare hands and make sure we won't be able to have children," someone said, and against her will, Sakura's cheeks tinged pink.
"Don't try me, I'm the one dealing with the rodent infestation here," she snapped back after a moment thinking of a suitable comeback, and snickered quietly when she saw the look of surprise on the previously smirking redhead. Then, she wrinkled her nose because if rats could invade this apartment, what was to say they couldn't move next door? "Have any of you called Kakashi or something to ask about the rodent infestation?"
Blank looks and silence met her words, and Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. "… I'm guessing none of you have ever had to deal with this alone, huh. Well, for the next time this happens and I'm not here, just call the landlord and ask him to send someone to deal with it."
"Nobody's forcing you to be here."
"Well I'm already here!"
Sakura let out her anger as she worked on the traps, doing the steps with more force than necessary and letting a scowl mar her features as she worked, pointedly ignoring the inquisitive looks from the people around her. Once she'd finished, she took a look at the person closest to her – yet another blonde with blue eyes, although he was wearing a horrendous orange jumpsuit and his hair was wild and short, much unlike the first blonde – and handed over the mousetrap.
"Here you go. Be careful with it, you know how to set it up, right?"
More blank looks met her statement, and she nearly stomped her feet in frustration. "Holy shit, are you guys kidding me? Have none of you ever worked a day in your lives?"
At this, their expressions darkened, and Sakura gulped – feeling as if she just said something inherently stupid and ignorant. But then again, she knew absolutely nothing about these males other than the fact they were loud, and had no idea how to set up mousetraps. "Oh god, that was mean… well, shit," she ended up mumbling, still scowling as she finally finished setting up the mousetrap. "Anyway, that's done. Don't bother me again unless someone died, got it?" A pause. "Wait, no. Don't bother me if someone died because I don't know any of you and I don't care. Don't bother me unless there's an emergency, there."
Someone stopped her when she made her way to the door, and she frowned at the longhaired boy with the pale lavender eyes. If she didn't know any better, she'd have thought he was blind, but one of her friends had eyes similar to his own and she actually had perfect eyesight – so. "You don't know us?" He asked, his expression quizzical as he scrutinized her face.
"Am I supposed to?" She retorted in response, feeling something crawl up her spine when their staring intensified. "…Uh, guys?" Sakura sweatdropped comically, watching as their faces varied from wariness, to disbelief, to confusion, and lastly, to surprise.
Were these guys famous or something? (She wouldn't put it pass them because holy shit, they were hot. Too bad it didn't seem like any of them had much of a personality.)
"No way!" Somebody exclaimed, and suddenly, she was standing in front of the second blonde she'd seen. Instead of the blank look on his face, there was a sunny grin, and she felt her lips tug into a small smile because of how infectious his happiness was. "I can't believe there's somebody who doesn't know who we are, and she's cute too! Name's Uzumaki Naruto, 'ttebayo!"
Wary and unsure on how she should react to the sudden warmth (honestly, they were as cool as icicles at first – and she made them a freaking mousetrap), Sakura laughed awkwardly, not really knowing whether or not she should tell them her name.
"What's your name?" Naruto leaned closer to her face, and Sakura pushed him away when he got too close.
"Personal space," she hastily chided, mulling over the dilemma of her name before deciding eh, fuck it because it'd be rude if she didn't give her name once he asked. "Haruno Sakura, it's nice to meet you, Uzumaki-san…?" Unfortunately, it ended out more as a question than a statement – though Sakura blamed it on how the boy seemed to have absolutely no sense of personal space, continuing to lean towards her in a distance that bypassed what was socially acceptable even after she'd pushed him away.
"Whoaa, your hair," Naruto breathed, gaping in awe. Sakura's face fell flat at the statement, all too used at the remarks concerning it. "Is it natural? It looks natural. I wish my hair was as soft as yours, Sakura-chan!" The last part was said as he twirled a stray strand of her cotton candy pink hair with his nimble fingers, and Sakura flushed, trying to get his grip from her hair to no avail.
"U-Uh, Uzumaki-san –"
"Call me Naruto, 'ttebayo!" The blue-eyed blonde insisted, grinning at her from ear to ear. Sakura, slightly dazed, simply nodded as she inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when he finally released his grip on her silky locks. "You really don't know us, Sakura-chan?" He squinted at her, his mouth twisted in a way that would look suspicious on anyone else but only served to make Naruto look like a puppy.
Suppressing the urge to giggle at how adorable her neighbor was – even if he was annoyingly loud and had no value of personal space whatsoever – Sakura nodded, starting to consider her theory on how they were all criminally attractive outlaws. (It was entirely possible, because the villains were always the hot ones.)
"I don't keep up with the news," Sakura apologized, although it wasn't all that true – the only news she kept up with were the news in the medical community, but anything else she'd rather let Ino talk her ear off about. "Who are you guys, anyway?"
It seemed like her words struck an automatic response, because in five seconds, all her neighbors were gathered in front of her in a straight, horizontal line. Her eye twitched at the militaristic nature of it all, and not for the first time, she wondered if they were a bunch of military men who broke all the rules for the haircuts – honestly that hair was in a ponytail and it looked softer than hers was that even allowed – and all the other kinds of regulations because they thought they were just that badass. (Admittedly, Naruto didn't seem like the type, though.)
"The will of fire shines brightly in us, we are Shinobi!" They shouted in unison, finishing off their sentence by striking a comical pose that was probably meant to be swoon worthy had she been taking it all more seriously – eyes dramatically looking at the distance, jawline looking so sharp they could cut her if she touched it and everything – but she wasn't taking all of this very seriously, so instead, she giggled.
She giggled, because obviously she had a death wish.
"That wasn't meant to be funny," someone said flatly, and her giggling halted to a stop when she saw the bemused look on the previously stoic raven-haired male's face, and she was about to apologize before she noticed the shape of his hair and she collapsed in a fit of giggles once again, because honestly, who wanted their hair to be shaped like a duck's butt?
"How do you always end up making friends with the weirdos?" A dude with a puppy on his head sneered at Naruto, and Sakura focused on how cool his face tattoos were because face tattoos. "She's a hot weirdo, though." This was accompanied by a suggestive leer at her followed by a lascivious wink, and Sakura squeaked, taking a few steps back in warning.
"I am not above using violence as an answer," Sakura warned, raising a fist in warning. Obviously, this was not taken seriously as the newly dubbed dog boy (he was a hot, face tattoo-ed dog boy but still, dog boy) merely chuckled, sending her a taunting smirk.
"What's so funny about my face," the stoic one from before said tonelessly, but Sakura was starting to get the memo this was just his usual voice. Some people just had the emotional capacity of her rock – or they were just emotionally unaware, kind of like her friend slash occasional enemy Sai (that pasty pale white-skinned boy had no right to call her a hag) – and she believed he was just one of those kind.
"It's not your face," she reassured him, waving a hand to dismiss his worry. "It's your hair. Looks like the duck of a butt."
"HA! I told you I wasn't the only one who thought that, teme!"
"Shut up, un," the other blonde reprimanded the soon-to-be bickering duo before setting his sights on the utterly confused pink-haired female who looked like there was nothing she wanted more than to hightail it out of there and lock herself in the room for the next six years. "I'm a little offended after all our hard work, a pretty girl still doesn't know our group, un!" He pouted at her and Sakura raised a pink brow.
"Group?" Were they supposed to be some sort of cult, because she didn't fancy the idea of being kidnapped by a group of radicals.
"We're a boyband," the impassive redhead remarked, gazing at her through his half-lidded eyes. He's cute, but he also looks like he's stoned, Sakura thought, taking in the sight of the eyecandy like a moth to flame.
"You know, 'My Heart Isn't a Target Practice'? Or, or 'Jutsu'?" Naruto inquired, bouncing on his feet.
Sakura shook her head slowly. "I've never heard of those songs." (Conveniently, she didn't mention she was horribly outdated when it was about news of the music world and the only music she listened to were the underground scene, indie and R&B instead of pop or rock.)
"Tobi thinks you should listen to our songs!" Someone with a lollipop mask suddenly exclaimed, glomping her arm without the intent to let go because she was five seconds away from decking him. Sakura didn't have a problem with the guy personally – because he didn't seem bad – but he was touchy, and she had an issue when people were too touchy after literally 0.01 seconds of meeting.
"I'll search it up –" Never, probably, "– sometimes! Could you let go of me now, please?" Her tone was saccharine but her eyes promised pain, so Tobi immediately let go of her arm after a last hug. Sakura nursed the muscles in her arm gently, because who'd have thought his grip would be so tight?
(No one, that's who – men in lollipop masks usually don't even have a fraction of her strength.)
"Why do you live here anyway, un?" The blonde with the Ino hair asked, glancing at her with curious eyes. His speech problem was similar to Naruto, and that was one more thing she chalked up to them both having in common – if it wasn't for the different facial aspects, she'd have thought they were siblings.
"It's the only cheap apartment available considering my budget," she answered immediately, mentally frowning at the amount of money it took from her savings just for her to get a place to live and her textbooks. Textbooks were outrageously expensive, and honestly, her scholarship wouldn't even matter if she had no textbooks and an apartment – the scholarship promoted itself as being 'all expenses paid', but all expenses her ass.
"You're a college student?" The redhead inquired, and she nodded. "Aa. What are you studying?"
"Pre-med!" Sakura beamed, feeling proud for her chosen field of study. "I'm hoping to get the internship program with Dr. Tsunade too!" The thought of working with her role model made her squeal with delight and she grinned, oblivious to the amused looks from the males around her at the sight of the pink-haired girl smiling at thin air.
"Oh, hey! You know Tsunade baa-chan?" Naruto asked, rubbing his nose with his fingers. Sakura stared at him for a moment, slightly disgusted, before shaking it off and nodding.
"I don't know her personally, but she's my role model," Sakura gushed, jumping at the chance to talk about Tsunade. Then, she realized what Naruto called her role model and – "wait, baa-chan?"
Naruto nodded enthusiastically (though it seemed like he never did anything without his signature cheer.) "Tsunade baa-chan's family!" Naruto explained, unawares of Sakura's surprise. "I never knew she was such a big deal, 'ttebayo."
Well, SHE IS, is what Sakura wanted to say, but she kept her mouth shut, just for a moment. An accidental glance at the clock made her heart rate spike in panic, and her eyes widened. "Crap. I'm late for job hunting," she panicked, breezing past the boys by easily pushing them aside and rushing to the front door. "Good luck with the rat!"
With that, she was gone.
Much to her fortune, Leaf Apartments was located near many business venues, and finding a job was an easy enough task. It did help that most of the businesses didn't seem too formal with their job interviews, and in the end it was the matter of working a schedule and seeing the wages for each job – she decided on getting a job at a bookshop slash café, where the owner took one look at her and after seeing her enthusiasm for books, immediately set out to hire her.
Despite the rocky beginning including lousy neighbors that didn't know how to set up mousetraps, things were going fine.
"You've got to come over here sometimes," Sakura was saying to her best friend through a video messaging system, grinning ear to ear as she did. "The place is really nice, considering its price. Why didn't you apply for Konoha University with me?"
"I told you, forehead." Ino rolled her eyes, explaining for what felt like the millionth time. (In actuality, it was only the twentieth.) "Kiri's psychology program is the best in the country, and you know my dad isn't going to let me live alone until I'm married." The blonde snorted, and Sakura smiled.
"You know he just wants what's best for you," Sakura said softly, recognizing the mock annoyance on Ino's face. "Have I told you about my neighbors, though?"
At this, Ino immediately went into what Sakura liked to call 'Gossip Mode', leaning forward with her hands intertwined under her chin, teal eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Ooh, spill. Are they hot?"
"They're definitely attractive," Sakura said, snorting in a manner that was unladlylike afterwards. "Not sure about their personalities. One of them was really nice, though! Didn't really appreciate personal space, but he was cute. I think they're in some kind of cult, though."
"Cult?" Ino wrinkled her nose, lips twitching downwards in a frown. "That's creepy."
"I know, right?" Sakura agreed easily, taking another bite from her strawberry ice cream. "They said they were Shinobi or something, I don't know. Is that some kind of religious cult, or something?"
Instead of the agreement the pre-med student was expecting, her best friend froze for a solid five seconds before erupting into a girlish shriek, accompanied by multiple squeals. "OH MY GOD, SHUT UP. Shinobi? Are you serious? Forehead, oh my god!"
"…What."
Ino immediately whipped her phone out from the pocket of her red shorts, and after a few moments of scrolling – Sakura idly noticed Ino's body was still shaking with silent screams – immediately positioned the screen of her phone in front of her webcam, and Sakura squinted until it was clear it was a picture of her roommates – in a photoshoot.
"Oh. They're models?"
"No! Do you live under a rock?"
"In case you forgot, I was too busy maintaining my grades and trying to get a scholarship to give a shit about pop culture," she snapped, desperately wanting to feel annoyed instead of the curiosity eating up her feelings. "Who are they?"
Ino immediately went into her lecture mode. "Only the hottest boyband of our time! Damn, Forehead, how do you even get into these situations? I swear you always meet the hottest guys without even trying. Were they nice? Ooh, are they as cute in real life as they are in pictures because they're really cute in pictures –"
"Ino, chill."
"– How's their apartment? Does it smell like musk and other manly things? Actually wait, how did you guys even meet? Sakura, no offense because I love you and all but you don't have the guts to walk up to a neighbor and knock on the door."
Sakura sweatdropped. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pig."
Ino rolled her eyes in disbelief at her best friend's antics. "You know it's true. Don't you remember first year of high school?"
"Yeah." Sakura winced at the memory, and cringed. "Don't even mention that again – but actually, one of them approached me because they had a rodent infestation and they didn't know how to deal with it…"
"A rodent infestation?" Ino's expression morphed into one of disgust. Sakura understood why. "Ew. Why are they even living there, though? No offense, Forehead, but they have nine members and your apartment's only big enough for one person, right?"
"Yeah, about that. There's actually only two apartments in my hallway because of how big their apartment is compared to mine. Damn rich people." Sakura's nose wrinkled. "They're really loud too. I had to threaten them just to shut them up earlier."
At this, her best friend laughed, clutching her sides. "No way! My best friend threatened a boyband. I knew I taught you well. Next time I go to your apartment though, you have to introduce me to them – like, this is an opportunity millions of fangirls would love to have. And you, not even a fan, getting it on a silver platter! You better get laid by one of them, Forehead, or I'm breaking our friendship."
"Yeah – wait what, Ino!"