Work Text:
It starts as a hobby.
As almost all of her friends, she has grown used to singing. During the shower, using the bottle of shampoo as if it were a microphone and wildly sliding and spinning on place, she’s ashamed to admit that this has made her slip and fall on her rear more than once. She’s lucky it’s only her rear and she has yet to suffer an even worse injury, but she just can’t help it at times. Asuna feels so free while singing compared to when she is working.
It’s not like she is unhappy working as a nurse, of course not, she loves helping people. Especially kids, she seems to be specialized in calming down children, she’s proud of this and seeing them leaving the clinic with a bright smile and feeling way better always makes her heart flutter. It never fails to make her smile.
Singing in the shower morphs to hitting her local karaoke.
Her co-workers dragging her go out after work; she hesitates at first, besides she doesn’t know them all that well. But after some nagging and after encouragement of one of the interns with a smile so kind and soft it instinctively makes her want to smile back at him… She finally agrees.
After a couple of drinks no one can believe the stern Asuna has an impressing voice.
As expected, she’s reluctant at first, straight up ashamed, but after being showered with compliments after her first song… She decides to go with the flow.
She finds herself visiting the establishment more often, be it alone or with her co-workers. Even the doctor she usually helps comments on her change of behavior once. He’s a tall man, handsome, but very stern and reserved. He always calls her by her full name.
“You seem to be in a better mood lately, Asuna Karino.” He says, out of nowhere. Small talk isn’t something that happens every day with him. She simply nods. “That’s good, your performance is improving as well, keep up the good work.”
“Yes, Hiiro-san, thank you very much.”
Later on, the same day, she encounters the kind intern during her break, this is the only time they can see each other during work, she’s not sure when they started this “friendship”, if she could call it that, they sit on the same table and eat in silence, sometimes they speak about their lives.
His name is Hojo Emu, he’s so soft-spoken and it’s so soothing to speak with him.
“Asuna-san, you should write your own songs,” He comments out of nowhere, before taking a bite of his sandwich, awaiting an answer, when it doesn’t come, he swallows quickly, almost choking with it. He’s always so clumsy, she finds it endearing. “I-I mean, only if you want to! Your voice is very beautiful, you’ve got talent… You shouldn’t waste it. You could start small, do some covers and upload them to internet. Maybe you’ll like it, you could even hide your face and use an artistic name.”He speaks hurriedly, Asuna feels like smiling again.
“I don’t know, Emu. I don’t really have imagination for that stuff. What kind of name could I use…?”
“What about Poppy Pipopapo?” He mutters, and she’s surprised he has come up with a name so easily.“Ah. It kind of sounds like a video game character, doesn’t it?” He laughs softly, she nods, but doesn’t really reply. They eat the rest of their food in a comfortable silence until their break is over, they bid farewell to the other and leave.
By the end of the month, she no longer sings in the shower.
Her savings spent on a brand new microphone, good quality, very expensive. But she had never been the kind to mindlessly spend on stuff for herself, outside of singing Asuna didn’t have any other hobbies. Money isn’t an issue, either, her job pays well.
She finds herself practicing more often; paying for courses is out of hand at the moment. Her schedule is tight lately, she improves quickly, surprisingly. She has always been a quick learner.
She finally managed to figure out how to mix melodies, and when her first cover is ready, she’s hesitant once again. Singing in front of her colleagues is something completely different than singing in front of millions of strangers, she’s very afraid.
Then, she remembers Emu’s words.
Mistakes made by Asuna Karino cannot be erased from her life, but mistakes made from Poppy Pipopapo cannot be pinned on Asuna. She goes out and buys a pink wig, along with a facemask to cover her mouth and nose. She takes a picture of herself and hides as many features of her face that can give away who she is before editing it slightly and making a channel.
She uploads the song.
It’s a hit.
It takes some work, but she manages to write her own song some time after, and with connections she also manages to put up an original tune. Soon, Poppy—not Asuna, releases her first original song.
Heartbeat Crisis is the beginning of Poppy’s career.
Everybody is in love with the pink-haired beauty that is so cheerful and happy-go-lucky you can’t help but feel drawn to her instinctively. She’s nothing alike compared to the well-spoken and polite Asuna, and she’s glad of that, that’s exactly the last thing she wants.
When Emu surprises her with a custom-made outfit, Asuna is… Well, surprised.
“You designed this?” She asked, completely astonished, Emu quietly shakes his head.
“No, well, yeah… A friend helped me. She’s very good at this stuff, I just helped with some details and stuff, I should introduce you two! She’s brash and loud, but a good person… Do you like it?”
“I love it.” She replies, holding the outfit close to her, when she tries it on, it fits perfectly. She doesn’t ask how he got her measures right, she just thinks he’s very observant. “Thank you, Emu.”
She never thought bright colors fit her, aside from white. That’s why she had never bothered on trying them on; it’s just until now that she realizes how wrong she had been.
She’s got to thank Emu, for some reason she believes she could never bring herself to hate anything given to her by him.