Choices

That was the last time she would see him in years.

It wasn't as if Yuzu didn't come back to Japan, it was just that Sakura was the one who left and never came back.

Truth be told, convincing her parents to let her stay at an abroad school wasn't easy but she couldn't stay in Sendai.

The Japanese city reminded her of him and her lack of other friends made school way too painful for her to be able to focus on her grades and academic success.

They reluctantly ended up agreeing and Sakura found herself in a big adventure, just like the one the keeper of her heart was undergoing.

Her English was thankfully better than his, making the move to London far easier than his move to Canada.

As soon as Sakura arrived in the English country, everything seemed foreign and weird. The culture, the food, the people... everything was completely different than what she was used to.

She found that her housemates, who were also foreign students, turned out to be her biggest blessing, helping her get used to the different circumstances.

Just like her, Marzia, a Spanish girl, and Chloé, who was French, came to England with the hopes of improving their chances to become successful.

They all had their reasons to be there, but Sakura was never honest as to what her true reason was, not even when she started considering the two girls as best friends. Maybe it was best to leave it all in the past.

Even after getting settled in the new city and country, inside her top drawer was her most prized possession. She had gotten a box to keep it safe and only opened it when she was feeling a bit down or overwhelmed.

Seeing Yuzuru's medal seemed to just improve her days in a blink. It reminded her of him, yes, in ways that were more painful than they should be, but at the same time, it also reminded her of how strong he always was and it inspired her to be like that too.

She still watched his every skate, even when it was at silly hours. If there was a broadcast, she would watch it and usually end up crying.

It was just her silly little routine.

The school was good, the international program had a lot of foreign students who also didn't know anyone else. Unlike in Sendai, she found friends easily and even if Sakura wasn't usually very keen on going out, she would do that for the sake of fun after being dragged by her housemates.

And it was exactly by doing this and focusing on her success at school that the next two years passed. Way too quickly when she actually noticed how fast it had gone by.

Sakura finished at the top of her class, with grades that could make any nerd envy her. Good grades just came naturally to her, almost inevitable.

It was to no one's surprise that the Japanese girl chose to stay in England for her university studies. Sure enough, it helped that her two friends applied to nearby universities, making them all stay together for the next years.

Her choice of a degree was a big surprise to her parents. Sakura had always been a top student and could choose almost anything she wanted so it was surprising when she decided to go with Business Administration.

Out of all of the scientific fields that she was so good at, nothing seemed to call her like Business did. Sakura liked to have the power in her hands and had always enjoyed seeing how the biggest companies in the world developed and grew.

Sakura managed to get selected for an MBA at the London Business School. This was one of the most competitive programs in the world for her selected field but she did not doubt that she had the skills to be able to succeed.

It was hard and in the beginning, just like most things, adaptation took some effort.

Being a college student was far different than anything in her education so far. Even for a Japanese person who was raised under a very strict school program, adjusting to the new amount of materials and assignments took some time.

But Sakura didn't mind.

In fact, the girl was more than happy that she was able to go through this initial struggle since it meant that she was fighting to be the best.

It was also clear that she wasn't the only one going through a hard time. Her friends were as busy as she was, constantly surrounded by books and if that wasn't enough indication, they almost suddenly stopped going out, especially on exam weeks.

University was no joke, indeed.

For all of those saying those would be the best years of her life, she just wanted to shove all the work in the face and tell them how wrong they were.

And while it may seem like she had everything figured out, the deep thoughts of what if always lingered there.

What if she had chosen Canada instead? What if she could be by his side right now?