Like other girls
Sakura is not like other girls, but Karin is, AU University.
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She sees this guy at the gym.
It takes one glance at him from where she is running on the treadmill to wonder if he is an Uchiha, or Uzumaki. They just stand out wherever they are.
He is taller than Sasuke, and bulkier than Naruto. He has the dark and handsome look like the former but also the friendly aura of the later. She can´t help the thought coming to her:
It´s perfect balance.
Is this that makes her pause and ungracefully trip over herself mi-run. There are two guys next to her that instantly stop running and ask her if she is okay.
"Don't take it too hard, beautiful" One of them says.
There is this awkward look between the strangers, as if they are having a men-conversation with their eyes and she is not supposed to know what it is about. She knows this look because she has some experience with it.
She knows she tripped because is the first time she compares a man to her boys, and he comes out on top.
Most of her life was spend comparing other men to her best friends and accepting that she would never meet anyone as perfect as them. She loves them with all her heart. She loves how Naruto inspires her to dream big and take the world, and how Sasuke is there pushing her to make sure she makes it.
She loves them both.
And she is kind of sure they love her back.
But there are more and more moments when she is between them and the look they share is the same the two strangers next to her did just a moment ago,
– it´s a conversation she is not allowed inside.
Lately she questions herself if she really belongs. The strong bonds between Naruto and Sasuke are pure brotherhood and she, more often than not, feel like a third wheel in this friendship, like she is just the female side character that got stuck on their story line.
When they were younger, she didn't mind- or didn't realize, that she was always chasing them.
Being left out when they are juggling around different sports, just watching their games from the benches. Inviting herself to Sasuke´s place to find out Naruto was already there and vice-versa.
It was so common she just told herself it was okay.
Now it is harder to accept, they spend less time together, and the little time they are together feels like not being there at all. There are talks she understand not one word, something like how Kiba (Who´s Kiba?) drank too much last party (Which party?) at Suigetsu´s place (Who are these people?) and she hates them for it.
But they are still close, right? They chose to study in the same university because of each other, she was involved in that talk, wasn't she?
But as she sprints faster and faster in her treadmill, an angry look on her face, she realizes that maybe she was just fooling herself, and the beautiful three-man cell she constructed in her head, was actually just for two.
The proof of that was her running by herself in this strange gym, tripping like an idiot.
The university gym was closed for two months already and working out was one of the last few regular activities they still did together. When the gym first closed for renovations, she just struggled it off and used the extra time to focus on her studies. On the two months mark she started to go crazy without exercise and called Naruto.
She talked about two gyms close to the university dorms that sounded nice. "Maybe we can get a membership and go there until the one on campus reopens" She said.
To her surprise, Naruto told her FIT-leaf was great and that Sasuke and he like it a lot. They got a membership as soon as the gym in campus stopped working.
And it was the last straw for her.
She turned the speed on her treadmill up and ran as fast as she could.
Of course, she knows it is childish to get angry over the lack of an invitation to join them at the stupid gym. They don´t own her anything. She knows that she can just sign up at the same gym or invite herself to their stupid parties, but she wants the invitation.
She hasn't spoken to any of them in the last week, after she hanged up on Naruto and stopped taking his calls. She crossed FIT-leaf from her pro and cons list immediately after hanging up and signed up at Kohona sports studio on the same day.
The place was nice, big and very clean. The equipment was probably too modern for Naruto to get used to it, and the place was too full of people for Sasuke to stand it. They probably went for the other one because it was a smaller family owned gym, which does sound better than a big faceless company and fingerprints scanner on the gym´s entry.
But it was all a statement for her.
From now on, I will stop following their shadows.
She pressed the stop button on the treadmill and used her towel to wipe her sweat while the full run slowly diminished to a halt. The guys next to her were long gone, probably put off by her angry aura and the buckets of sweat coming out of her, ugly dark marks under her arms and all.
This is so hard. I feel so lonely.
She turns the treadmill back on and runs for another hour after that.
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People at university don´t really like her, she knows.
Scratch that, the girls at university don´t really like her. When she enters the women´s bathroom the ones inside stop talking, and when there are group assignments only Kabuto, the weird one, invites her, the women look the other way.
Sakura thinks it is normal. In high school, she only had guy friends, Ino was the only girl talking to her, but it was like a wall was ever present between them. That wall became a barricade once Ino developed feelings for Sasuke.
She never felt guilty about girls hating her because of her best friends. Sasuke and Naruto always praise her for not being like other girls and she believes that´s one of the reasons they like her so much. They only care about superficial things, they said, you´re special, different, they said. The girls are just jealous, she repeated to herself.
Now, ignoring her friends (her only friends, she realizes) for a week and a half now, the loneliness gets to her.
Karin, at the other side of the auditorium where they are soon to have a lecture, shares notes with some girl behind her.
Even a person as insufferable as Karin has girlfriends, she muses.
Karin is loud and brash, and her nails are always long and polished, the clothes always too sexy, and her red hair is always so well-maintained Sakura knows she must dye it every two weeks or so. She is the typical girl making duckfaces at her smartphone and Sakura cringes. How can she make girlfriends when all the girls around her are so boring?
None of these girls will come over to her dorm to play Playstation games with her, and none would sweat at the gym without makeup or chug a beer instead of a vodka cocktail.
"D-do you want to go shopping tomorrow?" Sakura hears the girl says to Karin.
She huffs and looks back at her notes on her Ipad. She has better company with Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood waiting for her back at her dorm, than a boring afternoon with stupid girls wearing short skirts and heels at a stupid shopping mall.
She is not jealous.
She wouldn't even fit in that scenario, with ripped jeans, Pokémon t-shit and worn out sneakers.
When Shizune-sensei enters and the lecture starts, Sakura buries herself on her notes and doesn´t lift her head until it is all over.
To her dismay, when she does lift her head, she sees Naruto standing outside the door, violently waving at her with a smile brighter than the sun.
"Oh my, isn´t that guy hot" She hears a whisper behind her, she pretends not to hear, just as she pretends not to see Naruto.
Ignore him.
"Forget it Kin, he´s one of that girl´s boyfriends"
Ignore them.
"One of? How many does she have?"
"Shhh… I tell you later."
Fuck.
Her face burning with anger, she stands up, turns around and look at the girls behind her directly in the eyes.
She is tired of this shit. Tired of these rumors going on for ages now, ever since fucking high school.
She gets all the bad talk and gossip and it is all because of them. And it´s not even worth it, she gets isolated and forever single and the boys get all the action anyway, she´s seen the hidden hickeys on their necks after parties she is not invited too.
But if she talks to a man, it´s all whispers, men-eater, whore, bitch, two boyfriends and still cheating. When they go around rendevouz there is absolute no collateral damage.
It took Naruto a week and a half to come to her after her sudden avoidance, Sasuke, she can only imagine him coming after at least two months, he didn´t text her once during her whole "ignoring them phase".
"I´m not his girlfriend!" She says, or tries to, it sounds too much like a scream and the auditorium turns to watch her, a weird silence filling the room. It´s too late to back down now. "I´m not Sasuke´s girlfriend either! I have zero interest on them romantically!" she takes a breath, her back is facing the door since she turned to speak with these girls, so she can´t even imagine the face Naruto is making, a lot of students are looking at her now, and a sudden burst of courage burns in her chest. She needs to make a point.
She ignores the surprised looks, pretends she didn´t just make a scene, shoves her Ipad in her lime green backpack and storms out of the room. She doesn´t give Naruto a second look, she doesn´t even look at him on the first place when shoving her way outside.
Outside the building, adrenaline still wildly running though her body, she feels a hand on her elbow.
"Sakura-chan, what was that about? Is everything okay?" Naruto asks, his eyes are the same shade as the sky and she hates how his tanned fingers look so healthy in comparison to her skin of her elbow.
"Forget about it." She shoves her elbow out of his reach, turns around, and stomps her feet forcefully at her dorm´s direction.
"Is this about the gym? C´mon, I´ll get you a subscription if it´s that important to you, Sakura-chan." Naruto presses on, quickening his pace behind her.
She is about to say yes, it is, why can´t you guys include me sometimes? Why is she the one texting and running after them? Why is she not invited to go to the gym, the party, to play football, to play games, to lunch? She is the one calling them for this and that, they come, yes (a week and a half later), but why does it feels like she is reaching and reaching and they are just settling?
His phone makes a terrible cringe frog sound and he whisper a "Just a sec" before picking up, still walking behind her.
"Yo, Suigetsu bastard" Who is Suigetsu, again? "Yeah, we come by… We bring some beer? Eight o clock? Ok, bye."
She turns around, his phone is back in his pocket, big cerulean eyes looking at her and suddenly her hands are enclosed in his.
"I just..." She begins, she knows, in her heart, that the best thing right now would be honest, tell him why she is so hurt, so she tries the best she can. "I´m sad because we always worked out together, and then neither of you thought about inviting me when you got a new gym."
His eyes soften a little bit, and she melts in return, Naruto is cute, and he is sweet and warm and he embraces her in a hug in less than a second.
"I´m sorry Sakura-chan, of course I want you at the gym with us, everything is so much more fun when you´re around." He says and she feels him kissing the top of her head. "I´ll get you a subscription, okay?"
She nods, feeling moisture accumulating on the corners of her eyes already.
It´s so unfair, that she loves and cares for them so much and feels close and distant at the same time. She remembers feeling the same, when she confessed to Sasuke on a summer night before he went to study abroad during high school, and then felt the same later, when she fell for Naruto two years later and confessed on a cold winter day.
They both refused her. But they were both nice about it, they value their friendship, they love her, like a sister, they are best friends and they hope she is okay with it.
And she is okay with it, for years now, they study on the same university and in her mind, they were best friends ever.
He walks her to her dorm and kisses her forehead before leaving.
The soft smile on her face dies the moment he disappears on a light jog in the campus exit direction, he´s probably going shopping for some ramen is her first thought, but the call he took minutes ago comes back like a slap in the face.
He didn´t invite her.
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When Sasuke finally text her a couple of hours later, she knows the boys are together and Naruto is filling him in. He tells her he made arrangements at the gym and she should go take a picture for the registry.
She glances at the text message, and then at the time on the top right corner of her smartphone, it´s Friday and seven in the evening, are they getting ready for that party with the Suigetsu guy? Is there any hope for her? Can she maybe… come with them?
Are you going out? She types, but them freezes before sending when the Sasuke is typing appears under his name on the screen. She waits and bites her lips.
Don´t stay up too late watching anime. I see you tomorrow.
She throws the phone at her bed and her eyes are glossy for the second time this day.
She hates them so much. She hates herself even more for having no one else besides them.
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Karin doesn't hate Sakura Haruno.
In more ways than she wishes to, she thinks the girl is kind of cool.
She wonders how it is possible for someone to have such a special colored hair, a strawberry blond which shines pastel pink in the sun and deep magenta under artificial light. She was absolutely livid with anger when she first entered university and no one cared about her natural blood red hair color anymore. During high school, she got so many compliments and now, it is just red -not that unusual if you compare it to fucking pink-.
Not only that, but the girl was top of the class, any class, and she has the kind of body that could wear a cleavage during the day without looking slutty.
She also got the attention of any men in the room.
It was who is that girl, what is her name, is she single all the time.
By the first months of university, Karin already faded on the background and the girl was the talk in the campus. Guys found her cute and she had not only the maniac pixie girl going on for her, but also the nerds licking the floor after her the moment she came out of her dorm wearing a Witcher t-shirt.
It didn´t take too long for Karin to be grateful she was not Sakura Haruno though. There was way too much talk about her on this part of KU where the wannabe doctors and nurses study, but on the other size of campus, where the business and politics buildings are, there were just as much talk about this two extremely hot best friends. Sasuke and Naruto were swarmed with people, with women and men drooling at them all the time.
The problem was they were both obviously in love with her classmate, in a weird three-way relationship of the sorts. Ino, that shared Biology with her, rolled her eyes one day during a gossip session and bitterly said it was "Typical Sakura".
When one of the girls asked about it, the Yamanaka explained they went to the same high school, and she was always like this, hoarding the boys and wrapping them on her pinky finger, never choosing one or the other, so she settled for both.
Everything changed shortly after, the rumors spread, and Sakura became the man eater with two boyfriends, which also happened to be the hottest ones in campus.
Karin is not stupid, like most people, she sees the kisses on the forehead Naruto gives the girl, and she sees how Sasuke can´t take his eyes of her when they´re together.
But she also sees that Sakura is not head over heels for the boys. Karin hates herself for noticing, because she has a crush on Sasuke too, but Sakura is just lonely, and the two boys are her only friends.
She cringes, the assholes probably don´t even think about her as a friend, but as a romantic interest in between their super tight man friendship.
Karin doesn't believe Sakura knows holding hands and kissing foreheads is not typical guy friendship behavior, because from what Ino said, she´s been in the closed Sasuke/Naruto bubble since elementary school.
She doesn't hate the girl, but she does think she is infuriating. Sakura just makes things harder for herself. Is not the girl´s fault she got isolated from others and got a bad reputation, but it is her fault things got so bad. Sakura ignores the other women in class and looks at them from head to toe like she is judging them, she never makes a move to start friendships and just wait for people to come to her, and then acts surprised no one does (insert surprised Pikachu face here).
On top of it all, she allows the rumors to grow when she doesn't deny it, face buried in books, isolating herself even further.
She also pities the girl a little bit. The rumors are not denied by the boys either. Which makes it worse.
Not only is Sakura known as a loner judgmental whore, but also as someone constantly being cheated on.
She rolls her eyes and chugs down her beer can until there is nothing inside and throws it into the night. From Suigetsu´s balcony, where she drinks and ignores the people around her smoking, she can see Naruto chatting up a girl near the beer pong table, and Sasuke playing cards by the coffee table, a strange woman way too close for comfort pressed on his side. If someone dares to asks about Sakura, they say the same thing every party, studying at her dorm.
She has let her own crush on Sasuke get to her for far too long. When people ignored the pink haired girl, she went along with it because of her feelings for the Uchiha.
"I´m not his girlfriend! I´m not Sasuke´s girlfriend either! I have zero interest on them romantically!"
She physically winces remembering Sakura outburst in class today. When she was gone, people started talking about how Sakura is so full of herself, an attention seeker, but Karin is too smart for her own good. Sakura was tired, depressed, defeated when she spoke up.
Most of all, Karin respects her now for finally standing up for herself.
She knows how it feels to be that girl, the one with only guys friends. She looks around for Juugo and Suigetsu. She knows how when you have the guy´s attention you feel special, different, better than other girls. Differently from Sakura friends though, Juugo and Suigetsu don't ruin her life by pretending to be her cheating boyfriends and letting her rot alone in her dorm.
On the corner of her eyes, she sees Naruto pressing a kiss to the girl´s neck while teaching her how to play beer pong, and then, sees the one with Sasuke press her heeled foot to his leg, he doesn´t move away.
Her mind made, she waves to Suigetsu on the way out while grabbing her purse, Karin rolls her eyes for the tenth time this day. Why, oh why, does she feel like she needs to do something about this?
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It´s ten in the night when someone knocks on her door. Sakura is wrapped on her covers and having a date with Ed and Al Elric.
Her heart warms up at the possibility of one of her boys realizing they are stupid and picking her up to that damn party, so she jumps to her feet without pausing the episode playing on her laptop and runs for the door.
To say she is surprised Karin stands in front of her, high black heels, short black dress to match and cat eyeliner is an understatement.
Karin gives her a look from her messy pink hair to her R2D2 pajamas and presses her manicured nails to the bridge of her nose.
"Look, I know we never talked before, but we share some lectures, I also want to be a doctor, a dermatologist, actually, I like taking care of my skin, and I think it´s a cool high profit relative low stress profession" Karins rambles, looking anywhere but at Sakura´s face. Sakura has no roommate, she is one of the lucky ones with a single room, Karin wonders how alone this girl really is. "Well, fuck. The thing is, there is this party at my friend´s apartment, do you want to come with me?"
There is a pause between the girls, and Sakura scrunchies her eyebrows together, confused. Is Karin, the Karin, the most well-kept make-up prospective doctor in her class asking her out?
"Oh, Karin, I know who you are." She begins, trying hard to choose her words to try and refuse the girl kindly, but it really is hard when she looks like shit and Karin looks like she came out of a runway. "I´m sorry, but I don´t think I´m into girls… I could give it a try, I guess, but maybe with a cup of tea at the cafeteria?"
Jesus Christ, Karin hits herself in the forehead. This girl is out of this world.
"I´m not asking you out, stupid woman!" She bites out loudly, blood rushing to her face in either anger or embarrassment. "I´m doing something nice for once and trying to befriend you so you don´t spend a fucking friday night watching FMA!" She now screams, pointing at Sakura´s laptop forgotten on top of the bed. "God, I fucking hope you´re watching Brotherhood, if you´re watching that one with the bullshit ending I swear I will walk out of here and tell everyone you´re a lesbian now."
Sakura blinks once, then twice, big eyes looking up to the woman in heels in front of her. She can´t control herself and smiles. "Of course, it is the brotherhood one, it´s the version faithful to the manga. You like anime too?"
Karin feels her energy leave her body.
"Sakura, I swear, let me in, let´s choose some clothes, and go out. You have three seconds or I´ll pretend this never happened." She says, and she doesn't need to say it twice, Sakura´s door is suddenly open wide and she is pushed inside and made to sit on the bed, right next to the Elric brothers.
"So…" Sakura says while opening her closet and shyly looking back to the red head. "What do people wear at parties?"
Karin slaps her own forehead, again.
She regrets this already.
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It´s late when they get back to Suigetsu´s apartment. In the end, Sakura didn´t have any high heels, and when Karin made her wear hers, she walked a bit wobbly. Karin made a strategic decision and changed her own shoes for flats and put Sakura in one of her trusted sneakers. The outfit was not as sexy as the one Karin was wearing, tight short black dress, but it was the cute kind of sexy, a borrowed cropped shirt from Karin and ripped jeans. Sakura was definitely uncomfortable showing her navel, but after Karin complimented her, she felt confidence sweeping over her entire body.
If a girl like Karin, who definitely knows more than she ever will about superficial things like make up and clothes thinks she looks good, that must be at least a bit correct, right?
To be honest, Sakura couldn't even believe herself this moment, just earlier, she thought of the red-haired girl as insufferable, as vain. Now, there are so many warm feelings exploding inside her as she remembers how fun it was to play dress up with her, all the while talking about anime.
Yes, the Karin was a fucking weeb. Life is amazing.
She hid a smile under a cough when Karin looped their arms together while pushing through the crowd in her friend´s living room, and she shallows a happy blush when Karin pushed her into the kitchen and threw a can of beer at her, ungraciously opening hers with her thick gel nails and lifting in her direction.
"To friendship, I guess." Says Karin.
Sakura is smiling so hard her face hurts.
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Karin never fails at surprising him, thinks Suigetsu.
They are friends for a long time, maybe even best friends if you ignore the cursing and screaming on their part and add Juugo peaceful energy in between.
He is no stranger to who is the girl with pink hair Karin drags into his party. He knows the stories and he is kind of friends with both Naruto and Sasuke, he just never cared enough to ask about it. It´s the first time he sees the girl too, he totally understands the hype around her all wrapped up in a short shirt and tiny waist, but he recognizes the top she´s using and knows it looks better on Karin.
For the first hour, Karin is smart and keeps the girl in the kitchen, drinking by themselves and talking about Shizune-san lecture. He knows she is doing this to get the girl to loosen herself a bit with some beers before Karin introduces her to the party. When he hears the laughing get a bit louder than normal and their movements a bit more relaxed, he decides to join them.
"Sup, Fire?" He says while destroying Karin´s hair with a harsh ruffle, she punches his arm, ow, and he asks himself why he still teases her. "Gonna introduce me to your friend?"
"Oh, yeah, Sakura, this is Suigetsu, my asshole friend, he is the one hosting the party." She says while fixing up her hair on the microwave glassy reflection.
He offers his hand, because he knows this girl is know for being a bit of a stuck up. She looks at his hand a bit confused, but shakes it anyway, he sees Karin rolling her eyes from the appliance reflection.
"You´re Suigetsu? That must mean Sasuke and Naruto are also here?" She catches herself speaking before she can control herself. Some part of her hoped Karin was bringing her to the same party, but if it actually is true, what should she do?
"Totally! Come, I´ll show you girls where they are." Suigetsu says and makes sure to give each of them a new beer before leading them to the balcony, the girls talk behind him about fucking alchemy, he just ignores it as crazy talk, typical Karin.
From the glass door to the balcony he sees both Sasuke and Naruto with their arms around two random girls. He hesitantly looks back to the ones chatting behind him and catches Karin´s fiery eye for a split second.
That damn woman, she knows exactly what she is doing.
Some people around them look up from their conversations, and he can´t blame them, this is the biggest gossip anyone on campus could hope for, not only it´s about a weird famous polyamorous trio, but the girl is catching them cheating in a few seconds.
He chugs the beer in his hand in one go, he knows the two guys will kill him later for this, but really, Sakura is a really pretty girl, prettier than any of those random ones they hook up now and then, if they are getting caught, it is because they´re doing something wrong in the first place.
When he opens the sliding door he feels like a Mexican telenovela is about to unfold. Sasuke and Naruto act appropriately, instantly letting go of the girls like they are burnt, eyes wide like plates and mouths agape, he sees their eyes go down to Sakura´s exposed navel.
Suigetsu patiently waits for hell to break loose.
But it never comes. Sakura, cheeks flushed from the alcohol and big smile ever in place, perks up when she sees the boys and kisses them on the cheeks.
"Hey! Sa-sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" Naruto is the first to speak.
"Karin invited me, I´m having a lot of fun!" She tells him, obviously tipsy.
Sasuke´s avoids the girl he was hugging before when she inches a bit closer again with a shrug.
"What the fuck are you wearing?" He says. Immediately, he starts unzipping the light jacket he has on and pushes it to Sakura. "Put this on."
Long red nails push his jacket back.
"What, are you her boyfriend, or something?"
Sasuke glares at Karin, but she doesn't back out, and Suigetsu finally gets what´s going on. The rumor is nothing but a rumor, and there is a whole party watching when Karin forces Sasuke into a corner to say it out loud.
"…No." He finally tells her, and Suigetsu sees the face the Uchiha is making he swears, if Karin was a man, Sasuke´s fist would be on her face by now.
"It is a bit… short, right, Sakura-chan?" Says Naruto, sweat accumulating on his forehead with the attention they have right now.
"Are you?" Karin challenges him too. "Are you her boyfriend then?"
Naruto straighten his spine like a scared cat and looks away.
"…No."
The pink haired girl looks confused with the exchange. She pouts in Karin´s direction.
"Karin, you already know we are just friends." Karin smiles at her new friend, a sly one.
"Yeah, but I guess it´s a common mistake." She winks at Sakura. "Wanna go dance?"
Sakura nods, and they leave for the living room, the boys abandoned in his balcony.
"Okay…" Suigetsu is the first one to speak, looking at the shocked audience around them, and then at the two flabbergasted men in front of him. "You both are fucking idiots."
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Later, when Karin and she are both red faced drunk and the party died down, they laugh their way back to their dorms and talk about stupid things, she mentally makes a note when Karin tells her which mascara and eyeliner she uses, and Karin finds a pen in her purse and writes down on her arm the name of an easy computer game Sakura recommended. When they separate at the stairs, Karin pokes her forehead.
"Coffee tomorrow before class?"
Sakura smiles.
"Yeah, thanks for today."
Karin merely waves if off and makes her way to her own room. Sakura is left standing alone, smiling like an idiot. She knows exactly what Karin did for her today, how she singlehandedly eliminated all the rumors about her in one night.
Karin, the vain girl she though nothing but bad things the same day, is actually out of this world cool.
Sakura makes her way to her room, and thinks about Karin rude way of speaking, her fondness for good anime and how she went straight for the beer at the party. Karin is confident, beautiful, interesting, intelligent, fierce, empowering.
Sakura lays in bed minutes later, still wearing her new friend cropped top, maybe not all the girls are the same. Maybe all girls are unique on their own way. Maybe it is not that bad to be like other girls.
Maybe, Sakura smiles, maybe other girls are awesome.
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End.
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Author note: This started as a Shisaku story, I have no idea how this happened. Had a lot of fun writing tho.