Something There - Akaza x Reader

By Ceramic Teapots

The Mugen Train Station was crowded this evening.

The warm, golden glow of the station lights above were as they had been last: guiding and disorienting all at the same time. Busy people leading busy lives kept walking, coming and going, tickets in hand. Groups and couples walked leisurely along the platform towards their destinations while enjoying the quaint sights around them, as did many singles. Although, interwoven amongst the calm individuals, there certainly were some patrons hastily beelining through the crowds towards wherever their busy lives were taking them.

_______ could hear the chattering of the people, discussing things she couldn't quite make out. Some seemed content, others happier, others more serious, but they were all in their own bubbles leading lives she'd never get to know about.

Looking down, she noted she was seated on the same metal bench she had been on the last time she was here. She could tell, because it was three seats down from the end of the station platform. She placed a hand on the empty seat beside her, thoughtfully rubbing her thumb against its metal surface. It felt cold to the touch, denying her the warmth she had hoped to find in the familiar spot and replacing it with something she was scared of becoming accustomed to.

Her eyes closed, wanting to block out the sight of the empty seat at her side. In its place, she listened to the crowds instead. Their chatter was so distinct to her, but at the same time, muffled. No matter how clearly she felt she could hear the people around her, she couldn't make a single word out of whatever it was they were talking about; not about destinations nor loved ones waiting for them nor exciting adventures they were looking forward to. It almost felt like she was eavesdropping on the world from underwater, the voices of life above the surface muffled by crashing, deafening waves.

She didn't know how she was meant to fight against the waves. It felt like there was an enormous glass pane on the surface of the water which blocked her path, keeping her trapped beneath the surf. No matter what she did to beat the glass pane, no matter how much she tried to scream beyond it, the whitecaps continued to pull her under and beckon her into silence.

At some point, she stopped trying to fight against it all. She didn't care about the waves nor the surf nor the whitecaps. It all simply was, and she simply had to live with it.

The sound of the wind, however, never swept her by without gathering her attention.

It toyed with her hair, ruffling and braiding it playfully within its wispy fingers while it cooed for her companionship. It was hard to deny its call, so she caved in and chose to follow. Opening her eyes, she turned her head the direction in which the wind guided her. At first glance, the sight was the same as last time. Beyond the vacant tracks of the Mugen Train Station, the forest which outlined the progressive city stared back at her. She almost closed her eyes to it, almost rejected its very existence as muffled and gray as the people walking on the platform around her, but before her lashes fluttered, a familiar detail caught her eye.

Curiously, she leaned forward in her seat, her elbows resting on her knees for leverage. The wind picked up once more with her movements, and the wispy being began to dance and play with the leaves of the trees, their giggles carried out in the atmospheric night to greet her with longing.

The trees with which the wind danced were not the tall cypresses she knew of bordering the train station.

No, instead, the wind had embraced itself hand-in-hand with mighty cedars.

Cedars of the cedar woods she was well-acquainted with.

She drew in a slow, deep breath as she stared towards the dark, familiar forest and released it through her slightly parted lips. The way the tall cedars waved at her with their friendly yet mischievous branches called for her, wishing to have her join them and the wind in a cordial dance of reunion, but she didn't move herself from her seat. Rather, she simply continued to watch, her eyes scanning the individual tree trunks lining the outskirts of the newly bordering forest.