𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔⭑.ᐟ 𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐎𝐔 (✔)

prologue

THIS FF IS SET IN BONTEN TIMELINE.

shibuya, japan.

CURRENTLY... escaping.

The first thing I remember is running. Not thinking, not stopping—just running.

My lungs burned with every breath, sharp and uneven, like the air itself was cutting through me. My legs ached, threatening to give out beneath me, but I forced them forward anyway. I didn't have a choice.

Stopping meant getting caught. And getting caught meant going back. Back to North Korea. Fucking hell, I do not wanna go back to that shitty ass place. Even thinking the name made my chest tighten. It felt dangerous, like the word alone could drag me back across the border I had risked everything to cross.

I ran faster, until my legs were worn out. And hours earlier, I had believed I was safe.

I could still remember collapsing into the narrow economy airplane seat, my hands gripping the armrest so tightly they hurt, turning my knuckles into pale white. My whole body had been shaking, not from cold, but from relief. Pure, overwhelming relief. 

I made it.

The thought repeated over and over in my head as the plane doors closed and the engine roared to life. When the aircraft finally lifted into the sky, I let myself breathe for the first time in what felt like forever.

I thought it was over. I thought I had escaped. I was wrong.

Tokyo was nothing like I remembered. Or maybe... I just didn't remember it at all.

Shibuya was loud, bright, alive in a way that felt almost unreal. Giant screens flashed above me, colours shifting endlessly, while people moved in every direction, brushing past each other like it was nothing. Laughter, music, footsteps, it all blended into one overwhelming wave of sound.

Freedom. Fuck yeah. That's what it was supposed to feel like.

So why did it feel so unfamiliar?

I stood there for a moment too long, frozen in the middle of it all, trying to ground myself. No one was watching me. No one cared. I wasn't being monitored, followed, or controlled. I should have felt relieved. Yet, it made me uneasy.

A strand of my long pink hair fell into my face, and I pushed it back absentmindedly. The colour was bold and unnatural, mainly because of my genetics. Back there, something like this wouldn't have been allowed. Here, it barely earned a second glance. Almost.

A few people stared, probably because of the piercings on my ears too. I didn't look like I belonged anywhere, not here, not there. Maybe that was the point.

A new place. A new life. At least, that's what I told myself.

Japan, my birthplace.

The place I was taken from.

Somewhere in this city... my siblings were here. Two older brothers and a older sister. Akashi... something. The name felt incomplete, like a memory just out of reach.

They were definitely my first resort. currently, I have no connections or what so ever with anyone in this busy land. Would they even recognise me?

No.

I didn't even recognise myself anymore.

Still... family was family. That kind of bond didn't just disappear, right? I wanted to believe that.