Hourglass [Quintessential Quintuplets]

To You, My Everyday Life Passing By (II)

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"𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗼, 𝗜'𝗺 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻. 𝗜 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗼. 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗜'𝗱 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂... 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁."

— 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐤𝐚 ''𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐞'' 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐤𝐢. ( XX/XX/20XX )

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— | 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨, 𝐀𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢 | — | 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟏 | — | 𝟐𝟔𝟗 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐟𝐭 | —

—| 𝟏𝟏:𝟎𝟎 𝐏.𝐌, 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 | —

The Holiest of Nights had arrived and it brought a tremor of excitement across the entire country. From their seats on the rushing train, she saw the endless lights slip by like dotted trails. Even the night line they had boarded was running special extra services for this one midnight alone.

Though the carriage was empty but for the two of them, the city's pulse beat through the windows. Beside her, her dearest friend had already surrendered to sleep—head warm against her shoulder, breath slow and even. Such a shame, she thought, for one to miss a view like this.

''...Pick up your broken pride, step off stage and say goodbye.''

| 𝗞𝘂𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗮𝘄𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝗮 |

. . .

It was New Year's Eve in Tokyo, and the streets were alive in a way that defied the winter darkness. At this hour of the night, streets that should have been covered in black were instead filled with rainbow lights and crowds of people all across the country. From Hokkaido to Kyushu, they had gathered here—or in cities of their own—to share the same anticipation: 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗶𝗱𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁.