Control (Aphorism Fanfic) COMPLETED

Epilogue

She was dreaming again, dreaming of abstract, soft light colours.

"Wake up, Mi-chan."

She opened her eyes wearily. "... too early..."

She heard soft laughter, and when she fully opened her eyes she saw him sitting at the edge of the bed – Hinata Sanjuurou, her high school classmate, her colleague, and also her boyfriend.

He leaned over, kissing her cheek. "I'll go finish up breakfast, come join me when you're ready."

After she got ready and went down to the kitchen, where the smell of pancakes greeted her.

She sat down and started on her breakfast, looking at Sanjuurou sitting across her and couldn't quite believe her luck.

After a few months of them becoming a couple, leaving aside all the unhappiness and uncertainty of before, Misaki moved in with him. It happened when she was walking home, and had an assaulter come up to her.

With her limited training from her days in Naraka and sometimes during work when she had to go for field missions, she was able to handle the assaulter before Sanjuurou appeared timely.

"This can't go on," he sighed at that point in time. "Immediate threats to our division and you are eliminated after sending that German tycoon and Haku behind bars, but truth is, you're always going to be a target because of your status and because you're in this line of work."

"Oh," she said in a small voice, fearful that he was going to suggest for her to change jobs or move back to her family's compound where security is heavy.

Instead he said, "You should move in with me."

And so, she did. Initially, she was fearful it was going to be awkward, but she was pleasantly pleased at how natural it felt – having breakfast together, leaving for work, knocking off and having dinner together whenever possible... They had already long gotten used to spending a lot of time together from all the way back when they were in high school, so they felt at ease with each other.

Even at work, they were comfortable with each other, bantering, doing their respective work and helping each other when necessary. Because of the intimate size of their division and due to their colleagues knowing that they long knew each other, nobody did not raise an eyebrow at their relationship. (Uruma only commented for them to remain professional, and that was that).

So they carried on their lives together as normal, during and after work, and Misaki couldn't still quite believe how happy she was.

* * *

It was an ordinary day at work, but Misaki couldn't concentrate. She spoke lesser than usual during lunch, and when she did not even take the time to retort to stupid remarks made by Sanjuurou and Uruma, Uruma also commented on how different she was.

The reason for that was simple – after years of not keeping contact with them, after months of reuniting with Sanjuurou (and Uruma), she was finally going to meet her old friends from Naraka again.

After work, which passed by all too quickly, she left with Sanjuurou, ready to go for their dinner appointment. She did not say a single word, crossing her arms across her chest tightly.

"Don't be so nervous," he teased her as he drove them towards their destination. "They're still the same bunch we went to school with. After all these years they're still very noisy."

"I never said I was nervous," she snapped, twisting her head away from him and hiding her red face.

All too familiar with her antics, he only laughed, turning his attention back to driving.