another day to daydream

》(a3!) hanami shirakawa

All there is the sound of breathing and someone lightly typing on her laptop with the moonlight shining down through the window. Hanami was typing out the last of her notes on a document as her lover, Azuma slept beside her.

Feeling satisfied with her work, she checked the time and it was 12:50 am. Hanami let out a sigh that she held in before looking down at her sleeping beauty. She can't help but softly caress his hair and look into the moonlight.

Hanami can't help but reminisce how these past three, almost four years as passed since she joined the MANKAI Company and how much they changed her and help her grow.

When was the last time she felt this fulfilled? She can barely remember. All she can remember was how it all went downhill when she joined the GOD Troupe with a simple but ideal goal of being a musical actor.

Most of those days felt like a blur, to the point it felt numb. Until that girl came in with the same goal as her. Now that she thinks about it, she and that child had a lot in common. How did she not notice it before? Bitterly, Hanami remembers the smile on the girl's face as she took her own life away. She was only 17. Hanami remembered bursting into the office and arguing. She can't remember much of it. Not that she wanted to. It wasn't until she has a fainted memory that she came home late, with dull eyes.

Without thinking, Hanami grabbed the nearest scissors and snips the bits of her hair. It wasn't until the moonlight shined in her direction that she saw her hair on the ground and her shaking hands. Pausing for a good minute before the realization slaps her in the face. It wasn't the fact that she cut her hair or the fact that a child had taken her own life away in front of her eyes, or how she snapped at the director. It was the realization of how her ideal self almost destroyed her, almost broke her in pieces. Falling onto her knees as her vision blurred, Hanami can't help but choked a sob before wailing about what was left of her. Not caring if her siblings will wake up from the sound, all Hanami wants to do is cry.

Hanami snaps back to reality when she felt a shift on her right side, only to see her snow white nuzzling closer while wrapping his arms around her waist.

Ah, how much his man helped her through those dark times.

It was a few months after she left the GOD Troupe and it was already autumn. Her old high school was having a reunion in a bar that recently opened and Hanami only joined along because she thought maybe seeing her old high school companions might cheer her up.

She certainly did not expected to be approached by this beautiful person who definitely was not part of this high school reunion.

"Feeling a little lonely?" "I guess... I've been going through some stuff from the past few months... I thought coming here might cheer me up but..." Hanami doesn't know how to open up to this being. How could she? She doesn't remember the last time she felt vulnerable about her feelings.

"If you want, you can come over to my place. I'm a professional cuddler." "Pardon?" The man just smiled, a smile that Hanami can't help but find genuine. She just met this person. Hanami thought for a bit. "I'll take it into consideration." "Great, oh! How rude of me. I'm Azuma Yukishiro." He introduced himself as he held his phone out.

Azuma Yukishiro... That name fits him perfectly. Hanami can't help but blush before saying, "Hanami... Hanami Shirakawa." She takes out her phone as the two exchange contacts.

It was around New Year's when Hanami slowly reveals her past with Azuma when he suggested being a teacher. Hanami considered it before deciding to open up a business where she can privately coach kids in singing and piano. It was because of that decision, is when she met the three girls who she never thought she would see as family.

And it was because of those three girls that she discovered the MANKAI Company and decided to try again. And she is so glad she did.

Play after play. Musical after musical. Hanami felt...content. It was the closest thing she can think of on describing this swirling feeling in her chest.

Feeling a drip on her hand, Hanami comes back to reality to realize that she started to tear up again. Despite her efforts of sniffling as quietly as she can, the sleeping beauty awakens to see her crying in front of her now black screen.

"Hanami...?" Hearing her name, she quickly turns with red eyes to see the sleepy but worried eyes of her lover. She softly smiles and kisses in between his brows as she smooths out his hair. "I'm alright... these are just happy tears..."

"About...?" Hanami's eyes soften as she closes her laptop and puts it aside to lie with her lover. Softly putting him under her chin, she just sighs in contentment and relief.

"The life I had before joining the MANKAI Company... before meeting the girls...before we met in the bar..." She trails off.

Hanami finally realizes. All those times, before now. Before joining the MANKAI Company, Hanami had always felt discontent with herself and the life she had. But now, Hanami has finally reached a point in her life where she feels nothing but satisfaction.

Arms around her waist squeezed tighter. "Are you finished with the novel?"

Hanami just nodded, "Yeah. Just need to peer edit it." The was a slight pause. "But even after publishing it, it's only the beginning..." Azuma just nodded before slipping back to dreamland.

Hanami closes her eyes, as she joins him. Content.