Blue Butterfly | Amajiki Tamaki

| 10 |

3rd POV

When Tamaki jolted awake in the somber morning, dawn had yet to peak and the sky was forever shaded in an eternal hue of black with twinkling stars brimming here and there.

He was stirred from a sleepy daze, rubbing his eyes as he fumbled around for his smartphone before exiting the room.

Ambling outside in the overgrown garden with the fresh, dampened air wafting to his nostrils, Tamaki sat cross-legged on the floorboards, throwing a hand through his dark locks as he stifled a yawn. He had woken up earlier than usual, he noticed, glancing at the time on his smartphone prior to slipping it back into his pocket. The environment was washed in sweet serene; so silent and calm that even he could be able to hear a pin drop. Hushed mornings like that were kind of his favourite; and flickering his gaze up above, he mentally counted the stars, his orbs adjusting to the dim lighting.

It wasn't like he didn't sleep well: in fact, he did. He was comfortably snuggled in the futon Aunt Hana had prepared, a decent slumber awaiting him. What roused him from his sleep—that, he didn't know. Perhaps he wasn't used to the place yet, but he knew that there was no definite chance of ever returning to the place to accustom.

A tiny grin contorted on his lips, recalling the text message [Name] had sent him last night. It made him all fuzzy when he read letter by letter, forcing himself to reply without exploding in a fitful, steamy blush.

The brisk air was cold on his skin, a content mew escaping his lips as he sealed his eyes shut. The calmness seeped into his body, refreshing his mind and soul as he drew long breaths, the cold air hitting his lungs. He cracked his eyes open, only to find a hand waving in front of his visage. Startled, he frantically stumbled backwards, his shoulders instantly tensing.

"[S]-[Surname]-san! D-Don't scare me like that..." he drawled, [Name] retracting her hand towards her side.

"It's so early, what are you doing up at this hour?"

"I-I just woke up all of a sudden," Tamaki answered, fidgeting with his fingers. "What about you?"

"Same here," [Name] replied, plopping her rear onto the floorboards right next to the dark haired teen. "Actually, it was a call from Nejire. She sure didn't like me ignoring her." She chuckled, her voice a little raspy as it resounded throughout the garden. "She shouldn't even be awake right now."

"Hadou-san can be pretty surprising," he mumbled.

"You should have heard the long lecture she gave me. And she started complaining that I brought you instead of her here."

Tamaki sweat-dropped, "S-She's not going to hate me or anything r-right...?"

"Of course not, I won't let her do anything to you, Amajiki-san." Blowing a stray strand from her face, [Name] fixated on the sparkling stars above. "I don't mind waking up though. Aren't they pretty?"

For a fleeting moment, Tamaki held his gaze on her before averting it to the stretching sky, "Yeah..." 

"To think that I'd come back to this place," [Name] articulated. "If I had to miss one thing about this place then it's the silence. It's mainly noise back at Musutafu."

"Well, it's a city after all. I miss Mirio though... but I doubt he misses me."

"What are you talking about? You two are best friends right? There's no way that he won't," she retorted with a snort, jabbing the dark haired teen's side with a finger. He squirmed in response, barely suppressing a gaggle before fending her hand away in defence.

"M-Mirio's too bright to want a shadow like me..."

"Why do you keep saying stuff like that?"

"Because it's true!"