ꜱᴛᴀʀ-ᴄʀᴏꜱꜱᴇᴅ - toji f.

ᴠ - ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇɪɢʜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴩᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴ

-星が交差した-

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ | ᴄᴜʀꜱɪɴɢ, ꜱᴍᴏᴋɪɴɢ.

☾ • • • 𖤓

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ᴩᴏᴠ

Aoki had always been her father’s pride and joy.

From the moment she could walk, Masako Daichi had plans for her—grand, carefully curated plans to shape her into the perfect daughter.

The daughter who could stand alongside him, dignified, polished, and flawlessly poised in the world of high society.

He ensured that she mastered multiple languages by the age of eight, fencing by the time she was ten, and that she attended only the most exclusive schools and events.

Aoki’s life was a constant cycle of high expectations, structured schedules, and elite company.

She was always the best-dressed, the most eloquent, and the most disciplined child at any event, living up to the Masako name that her father worked so hard to maintain.

"Perfection is not a goal, Aoki," her father often told her. "It is a standard, and you will live by it."

He loved her deeply.

In his own way, every move he made was to protect her from the world he knew—one that was full of unpredictability, pain, and imperfection.

He believed that by shaping her into the perfect image of a high-society daughter, she would be safe from all the darkness that lurked beyond their well-manicured life.

Her days were a whirl of fencing lessons, piano recitals, language tutors, and carefully curated social gatherings.

Everywhere Aoki went, she was under the watchful eye of her father or one of the bodyguards he assigned to her.

But despite the luxury and protection that surrounded her, Aoki sometimes felt a suffocating pressure, a desire for something more than just polished surfaces and pre-determined paths.

Despite his strictness, Aoki knew her father loved her deeply.

But his love came in the form of rigid discipline, ensuring she never strayed from the life he had painstakingly crafted for her.

He knew that in their world, any sign of weakness could be exploited, any misstep could ruin everything.

Daichi, a powerful political figure with connections spanning the country, had seen too much of the world's underbelly to risk his only daughter being exposed to it.

His belief was simple: to protect Aoki from the corruption and chaos that festered outside their gilded life, he had to make her life perfect.

Every weekend, Daichi took Aoki to elegant restaurants, where they dined with diplomats and business elites, or to exclusive charity events, where Aoki was expected to mingle with Tokyo’s elite.

It was a life of luxury, but also one of relentless expectations.

She never had the opportunity to see or experience anything beyond this controlled environment.

Her life was a bubble—shiny and flawless, but undeniably restrictive.

But Aoki was curious.

She had always wondered what lay beyond the gates of her carefully constructed world.

What was life like outside the exclusive neighborhoods, beyond the manicured lawns and perfectly maintained streets?

One afternoon, when Aoki was thirteen, her curiosity got the better of her. After attending another long and formal business luncheon with her father, she excused herself, saying she needed some air.