youthful dreams of healing wounds

sunsets

Also the chapters in this fic r kinda gonna be of longish length so uh sorry😁

Once she catches her breath, Yoimiya rises from her position, a bright beaming smile on her face as soon as her eyes land on Ayaka. As if this isn't the type of place people go to when they wish they were dead.

At first, Ayaka doesn't know whether she wants to cry because she's just after regaining the spark that once lit up her life so brightly. Or yell at her for ending up in a place like this, to begin with.

Naganohara Yoimiya, the girl who never went anywhere without a handful of candy. Who never skipped a chance to go and have fun, to explore, to be happy. Was now going to be sitting with her in this run-down clinic for group therapy.

Just what exactly had happened to her in those four years she had been gone?

For now, Ayaka chooses to act on neither of those thoughts and instead just grips onto the fabric of her clothes that little bit tighter.

Haru, who's a little stunned by the whole situation, asks the both of them if everything's alright.

Ayaka simply gives her a silent nod.

Yoimiya, on the other hand, excuses her lateness by explaining how she ran into traffic, even though she was on a bike, got distracted by sightseeing and also added in the fact that she lost her left sock in the morning as if that had any relevance to the question at hand.

This was definitely her Yoimiya.

Ayaka's used to her behaviour so she doesn't even bat an eye at her absurdly long and non-linear story but it appears the others in the room aren't, the other four all exchanging confused glances with each other.

Sara in particular seems to be the most sceptical of a literal walking firework bursting into their group therapy. She flips over her watch to check the time, waiting for a couple of seconds until it lands on the exact digit.

"It's eight minutes past five."

Yoimiya lets out a childish groan, obviously aware of that information. "I know that! But if something goes wrong in my morning, then it continues into my lunch, afternoon and probably evening too!'

Sara's about to say something back, and from how Ayaka knows her it'd probably be along the lines of how she should make more of an effort to be punctual and not to blame it on her sock going missing.

Thankfully, Haru steps in one once again to alleviate any tension rising in the room. "Don't worry, you haven't missed anything and I appreciate you explaining yourself. Please do try not to be late next time though."

She then holds up her lanyard between her index and her thumb, which holds her name on it.
"I've already introduced myself to the other girls but I'm Haru. I'll be you guys' therapist for the next few weeks."

Yoimiya waves at her. "Nice to meet you!"

Ah, so she was already making friends with the therapist too.

"It's nice to meet you too. How about taking a seat so you can introduce yourself? Your name, a fact about yourself and what you'd like to improve on during this program."

Nodding, Yoimiya makes her happily sit between Yae and Kokomi, and for a second or two Ayaka's mad at herself for not choosing to sit somewhere else.

She shuffles in her chair a little to get comfortable, and the legs of the plastic chair squeak a little when she does so.
Then she starts. "Let's see…My name's Yoimiya and I'm sixteen years old. I like fireworks and by like I mean love. They're like the best thing ever!" She makes little explosion actions with her hands while talking, social things like this had always sort of been Yoimiya's thing.