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The first thing Honami noticed when she woke up was the bright fluorescent lights on the ceiling. The brunette grumbled, squeezing her eyes back shut. Too bright, way too bright..
Where was she, even..? She knew the lights in her room weren’t nearly this bright.
Honami put her hand over her eyes, slowly getting to her feet and looking around. It was so quiet in here. So quiet that you could hear the soft buzzing of the lights above her.
The drummer pursed her lips. She didn’t recognize where she was. It was completely empty- both the walls and floors were soft cushions. She couldn’t see any windows or doors, either. Was she trapped?
How.. how would she even get trapped..?! She couldn’t recall a single thing that could give her an idea of how she got here..
“Hello..?” Honami called out, unsettled by the way her voice didn’t even echo in here.
The drummer was met with silence. There was no reply.
Honami pursed her lips. What was she supposed to do? Did she have her phone on her?
She patted herself down. No, there was no phone. In fact, she didn’t recall putting on these clothes. What was she wearing?
It was just.. a white t-shirt and shorts. She.. she certainly wasn’t wearing this earlier, she knew that.
Was Honami kidnapped? She couldn’t even remember how she got here. She was sure that she went to sleep in her bedroom at night, at her usual time. And suddenly, she woke up and now she was somewhere here.
She didn’t usually have large lapses in memory, either, so.. she wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
… Was she kidnapped..?!
Honami gasped, an expression of fear quickly spreading onto her face. Oh god, she had gotten kidnapped! What was going to happen to her now..?!
And then—
“Mochizuki Honami.”
Honami screamed as she heard her name be called out from.. somewhere. She didn’t actually see any speakers in the room, but it was too grainy sounding to not be over one.
“Who-who are you..?!” Honami cried out, whipping her head around. “Where am I..?!”
She didn’t get a reply. Just a soft, gentle hissing noise that began to fill the room. The speaker crackled again.
“Test one.”
Honami flinched at the hissing noise. A strange fog began to fill the room, and the brunette coughed, covering her nose and mouth with her hands.
Was- was that a gas? Was Honami being gassed right now?! Oh, goodness, what was going to happen to her? Was she going to fall asleep, was she going to die?! Would this kill her?!
She moved her shirt over her face to try and hopefully get more protection from the gas, but she didn’t know how much it would help.
What was this going to do to her? Melt her lungs? Burn her eyes?!
Oh god, she didn’t want to die! There was so much Honami still wanted to do- go pro with her friends, make new songs, graduate high school..! Would she even live through this?!
Honami squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her shirt against her face. Still, she had no idea if it would work or not. What if she ended up inhaling the gas anyway..?
What if she’d already inhaled too much? What if the results were inevitable? Would she die no matter what she did, how long would it take?
No, no, she couldn’t think like that..!
The voice- it said something like.. test one.
One. The first. If it was the first, would it be the last? If it wasn’t then how many more tests would there be?
Would Honami even survive until the end..?
She pursed her lips, shaking her head. No, she had to survive. For her friends, her family, her future, she couldn’t die now..!
She had to stay strong. If there were multiple tests, surely they didn’t plan on killing her, right? That meant she had a chance to get out!
Honami’s eyes darted around, trying to find any clues or any possible escape routes. Even if there weren’t any visible doors, if Honami was in here, that had to mean there was a way out. If there were hidden speakers, hidden.. wherever the gas was coming from- there had to be a hidden door somewhere as well.
She had to escape. She had to, for everyone, and for herself!
She started walking around the small room, running her hands all along the padded walls to try and feel for any inconsistencies.
She wondered why they were padded. Usually they only did that if you were at risk of hurting yourself, and Honami didn’t want to hurt herself!
They were soft though, so it was.. comfortable, at least. But still, Honami didn’t understand.
She decided to walk around the room.
She couldn’t really tell if there was anything different about the walls just by looking at them. They all seemed the same. They didn’t feel off, either..
Still, Honami was determined. She was sure there was something here, right?
She swore she had stepped on each singular pad on the floor, touched each pad on the wall that she was able to touch with one hand still clamped over her nose and mouth- but nothing happened, it all seemed.. normal. As normal as a room like this could seem, anyway.
But she knew that there had to be something here. It wouldn’t make sense if there wasn’t! So she went over the pads again, pressing on them slightly this time.
Shift
Honami blinked, raising her eyebrows. Did.. was this one loose?
The drummer paused for a moment before slipping her fingers into the cracks between the pads, trying to see if she could pull it off. It took a bit of effort, sure, but she did manage to pry it off eventually!!
It was a window.
Honami gasped, ripping off the rest of the padding. It was a window, she did it, she found something!
She pressed her face against the glass, looking around. She didn’t see anyone else. Or.. a handle. The door did not have a handle.
Honami frowned. There wasn’t anything of importance out the window anyway- it was just a wall.
Still, she continued to look around the room on the other side of the window.
There were more doors. She could see three, but she didn’t know how many were on the same wall as she was. Those doors all seemed to have handles.
Hers.. didn’t. Honami wondered why.
..Wait a moment.
If there were other doors here, did that mean there were other people as well? Was Honami not alone, did anyone else come with her? Was anyone else kidnapped too, and put into this.. Strange place?
Honami looked up, squinting her eyes. She couldn’t tell if the gas was doing anything to her yet or not.
She felt like it should’ve done something by now. At the very least, had her cough and wheeze uncontrollably as it turned her lungs into soup. But she felt.. the same. She felt fine.
For a moment, Honami considered lowering her hand, before deciding against it and shaking her head. She had to play it safe, just in case.
She pressed herself against the window once more, looking around.
She didn’t see anyone else..
Maybe they didn’t discover the windows in their rooms yet. Or perhaps they didn’t have any windows? For now, Honami was just assuming that their rooms looked the same. She may be wrong, though..
After a while, Honami found herself with nothing else to do. It had been a few minutes since the gas began to spill into the room, yet still, nothing was happening.
She was certain she would’ve died by now. Or passed out, at least. But she felt normal. Entirely and perfectly normal.
..For some reason, that was even scarier. She didn’t feel anything wrong, but she felt like she should. So what was the gas doing to her if it wasn’t something she could feel physically?
Was it something in her mind that was changing? Her way of thinking, or..?
A few seconds after pondering the thought, Honami shuddered, grimacing. She didn’t like that, not at all. Maybe it wasn’t something she wanted to assume, or even take into account.
She stood there for a while longer after that, waiting. Watching out the window for a sign of.. anyone.
It was boring here.
Honami had paced around the room a few more times, double checking all the padding she could reach just to make sure.
Her arm was beginning to grow tired.. Maybe she should put it down, just so it can rest. Just for a few minutes, that would be fine, right? If the gas wasn’t doing anything to her..
She hummed, hesitating for another moment before letting her arm down and sitting in the corner of the room.
Just for a little while.. she was sure it wouldn’t have any crazy consequences.
Honami inhaled shakily, darting her eyes around in paranoia. If anything happened to her…
…
…
…
But nothing did.
Honami was still completely fine. She was safe. Nothing was happening to her, she didn’t feel anything happening to her. Even after a few minutes- she didn’t know how many, but it had been a few, probably- she didn’t feel any effects. No.. drowsiness, weird thoughts, or the like.
She felt normal. Honami felt fine.
She was okay, she was.. Safe.
…Weird. She didn’t feel like she should be safe. It didn’t so much to stifle the paranoia.
She waited longer, but still, she felt fine. Energised, even.
The brunette decided to walk a few more laps around the room. There wasn’t much else to do, but Honami didn’t feel like staying still at the moment.
Occasionally, she would glance at the window and see if anything had happened or changed. Nothing did.
Next thing she knew, Honami had lost track of time. There wasn’t any way to tell how long it had been, anyway.
In fact- how long had it even been? Of course, there was no clock- but with no current way to tell the time, Honami couldn’t help but wonder.
She wondered how long she’d end up staying here for, too. How would she get out? Would she get out? There was no handle on the door, did she even have a way to escape?
She didn’t have anyone to talk to, either, so there wasn’t much to do for entertainment..
Well, she could probably handle this, right? If there was a goal these kidnappers had.. Honami couldn’t just let them have their way! In the meantime, she had to find a way to escape.
Find a way out, yeah. Maybe see if she could talk to the person on the speakers, or wait until something happened in the window.
But until then.. Honami would have to wait.
———
She didn’t know how much time had passed, a couple hours at least, but she did eventually hear movement outside of the window.
Honami scrambled to her feet, running over and pressing her hands against the glass.
“Ichika..!”
Honami banged on the window, desperate to catch her friend’s attention. “Ichika, over here..!”
The raven-haired girl in question jolted in surprise at the muffled banging, whipping her head around. “Huh-? Is that..?”
She walked towards the window, her eyes widening in surprise. “H-Honami…?!”
Honami nodded, sighing in relief. “Oh, I’m so glad someone else is here..”
She paused.
Wait, no she wasn’t. Because then Ichika might have something happen to her, too..!
“Are you alright..?!”
Ichika’s eyebrows raised at the sudden question. “Am- am I alright..?” She repeated, surprised. “Well, uh-”
This time, Ichika paused. She bit her lip.
Honami furrowed her brow, worried. “Ichika? Are you alright, did something happen?”
“Um-”
Ichika shook her head, looking downwards. “It’s- it’s nothing, Honami.”
Almost immediately after, Ichika looked back upwards at Honami, concern etched on her face. “Wh-what about you? Are you alright?”
Honami nodded gingerly. She didn’t want Ichika to worry about her all too much- should she tell her about the gas..?
Probably not.. it wasn’t doing anything, so-!
..She just didn’t see the point in having Ichika worry over nothing..
“I’m.. fine,” Honami decided to tell her friend. “There’s no door I can actually leave through, though.. So I suppose I’m stuck in here for now.”
Ichika hummed, furrowing her brows. “That’s a shame.. I would have liked to hug you, haha.. It’s- it’s nice to see a familiar face, you know?”
Honami tilted her head to the side. “Actually,” She piped up, “Do you know if anybody else is here either than us?”
Ichika shook her head. “No, sorry.. I haven’t seen anyone else yet, just you. But there are more doors, so there have to be others.”
“..What do you think we’re here for?” Honami asked, wringing her hands together.
Ichika shrugged. “Beats me.. they’re not telling us anything. Do you.. have any ideas..?”
“No,” Honami shook her head. “I just.. hope we’ll be safe. We can’t stay here.”
Ichika nodded in agreement. “You’re right. There’s gotta be a way out. I can look around and report back to you, if you’d like..?”
“Ah..” Honami nodded. “Sure. That.. I think that would be good. Thank you.”
“No problem..”
Ichika smiled and waved at Honami once more before disappearing from the limited view the drummer had.
Honami sighed, leaning against the padded wall and sitting down. At least Ichika was here.. But it was a bad thing just as much as it was good. She hoped Ichika didn’t get hurt.
She hoped none of them would have to get hurt.
———
Later, Ichika knocked on the window. Honami wasn’t sure how much time had passed. But through the muffled glass, she informed her that it wasn’t just them here.
Surprisingly, they both knew everyone as well. There was Shinonome- Ena’s brother- and Shiraishi, who was a good friend of Shiho’s. And there was also Tsukasa, Saki’s brother, and Kamishiro as well…
Something told her that everyone who was here wasn’t just a coincidence. Not only did they all know each other, but they were both essentially.. Pairs, in a way. Ichika and Honami were a part of Leo/Need, Shiraishi and Shinonome were both members of their own street group, and Tsukasa and Kamishiro belonged to their theatre troupe, Wonderlands x Showtime.
That was.. strange. She wondered why that was. Was there some sort of important reason for it? Or.. was it just more convenient that way?
She didn’t know.
But there was also a plate in Ichika’s hand. A single blueberry muffin.
Honami realized that she hadn’t eaten since she woke up. How long ago had that been..?
Ichika glanced down at the muffin.
“Sorry,” She had told her. “I wish I could share, but..”
Honami shook her head, telling Ichika it was okay.
Though.. She was hungry.
She hoped that there was some way of getting food in here. She didn’t.. want to die. That would not be pleasant. Dying of starvation hurt.
The thought of dying sent shivers down her spine.
Later, Ichika had to leave again. She felt extremely bad for having to leave Honami alone again, but the brunette shook her head, telling the guitarist that she would be fine.
…
But Honami wasn’t sure if she would be fine.
She wasn’t sure of anything, really. Wasn’t sure of the gas, wasn’t sure of how to get out, wasn’t sure of why she was here..
And- admittedly- it scared her. It terrified her. Honami hated that she didn’t know what would happen, how long she would be here, what the gas did, anything.
She hated that she wasn’t sure. But there was nothing else that she could do.
Honami wondered why she couldn’t go out like everyone else. Why she couldn’t get the food. Only more thoughts that she didn’t know the answers to.
She shouldn’t be thinking like this, should she? Was it good to be thinking like this? Surely, it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. Honami shouldn’t be thinking like this.
It would just stress her out, she knew that, she knew she shouldn’t do down a spiral of things that she couldn’t control.
Honami sighed, sitting down on the soft floor.
Wasn’t much to do.. maybe she could just try to get some rest.
———
She couldn’t sleep.
She didn’t know how long she’d just been sitting there, her eyes would not close.
The lights had dimmed recently. And the muffled, barely audible chatter from earlier had also died down.
Needless to say, it was silent. And Honami didn’t like the silence.
She couldn’t sleep, she couldn’t even close her eyes for longer than a minute. Why couldn’t she fall asleep?
Maybe it was the nerves. Perhaps Honami should calm down, take a few deep breaths—
But she had tried that already. A few times, in fact. And nothing was happening.
Time didn’t feel right. She didn’t know how long she’d been laying here for, she couldn’t tell how long it had been since she woke up, since she last talked to Ichika…
She didn’t know why she wasn’t tired yet. She should be, she should be tired, so why wasn’t she? Why did she feel like she had energy, so much pent up energy that she didn’t know what to do with it? She was just sitting here with no way of getting it out, she hated it.
She has to fall asleep eventually, right? Right?!
Honami sat up, bouncing her leg.
Eventually, she would. Surely. She had to! She couldn’t just.. Pull an all nighter, that would be absurd! Honami hadn’t even eaten anything, either. Maybe she would fall asleep and when she woke up, there would be a plate of food on the ground.. Perhaps a warm, freshly baked apple pie from the store. Perhaps she would fall asleep and when she woke up, she would be back in her bedroom, and realize that all of this was just a silly little dream.
Oh, how she hoped it was a dream. Maybe it was, this was all so unbelievable! Gas, padded walls, no doors? It was crazy talk! She would certainly think it was a dream if someone told this story to her.
This was all just a dream. It had to be.
Honami repeated the thought over and over again in her head, her leg still bouncing up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down.
Just a dream.
Just a dream.
Just a dream.
Just a dream.
Just a dream.
Just a dream.
It was just a dream. And like every other dream, she’d wake up eventually. It wasn’t forever, it would be forever.
She’d wake up soon. She’d wake up from this.. Nightmare.
…
…
…
———
…
…
…
But time had passed.
And Honami never fell asleep.
The entire time, she was awake. Zoning out. Thinking about things.
And the next thing she knew… the lights had come back on.
She heard shuffling fill the halls again, voices. Clicking of light switches, opening of doors. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so aware of the noises around her.
Did Honami.. Did she stay awake the entire night..?
No, no. That couldn’t… that couldn’t be right! Why would she..? How could that have happened?
All of a sudden, the unknown speaker in the room crackled, and a voice spoke up once more.
“Test one successful,” it had said, just as monotone as the first time. “Begin test two.”
Honamis face fell. Test.. two? Test one successful, what was test one?! What even happened..?!
Before she could gather the rest of her thoughts, the drummer heard the familiar noise of gas filling the room. She gasped–
But she didn’t move to cover her face this time.
If the gas didn’t do anything to her yesterday, she didn’t think it would do anything today.
..At least she hoped not. Assuming it was the same gas, she would.. probably be fine. Maybe.
Honami gulped. Her stomach rumbled, and she frowned.
Would she get any food here..? She had to, right? She wouldn’t just starve here. They wouldn’t do that to her.
…Hopefully. If they wanted to test on her, they sort of had to feed her. That was just logical, right?
But.. when would that happen?
The brunette stood up, deciding to walk a few more laps around the room. Strangely, despite all the hours without sleep, she was still feeling energized. Perfectly fine, even. Just hungry, but that had nothing to do with her somehow unintentionally pulling an all-nighter.
And time passed all the same. Ichika came and went. Shinonome also came to say hi… with a camera.
Honami blinked. “What’s that for?”
Shinonome shrugged. “They just gave it to me. I don’t know what for, we’ve just been recording videos on it.”
“Oh.”
Honami paused, a bit confused. But she decided not to question it. “Should I.. say something?”
Shinonome shook his head. “Nah, you’re good. I guess I just wanna get everyone’s faces on here. When we escape, this fucker’ll be good for evidence.”
“I see…” Honami hummed. “That’s a good idea, Shinonome.”
“Ah.. thanks.”
They stayed silent for a moment before Honami spoke up again. “Sorry.. do either of you know how to get food?”
“Food?” Ichika repeated, tilting her head to the side. “No.. but maybe we can try asking that security guard?”
“There’s a security guard?” Honami asked, her eyes widening in surprise.
“Yeah, I forgot to mention that, sorry.” Ichika laughed awkwardly. “His name is… Chad, I think. But I can ask him for you, Honami.”
Honami nodded, “That’d be great, Ichika. Thank you..”
Then the two left, leaving Honami alone.
She put a hand to her chest. She felt strange.
She wasn’t sure why, or what the reason was. Perhaps it was just from her lack of sleep.
Perhaps it was because she was alone again, with no one to talk to in her boring, padded white room.
She wished she could decorate it a bit. There was nothing there- not even a bed! She had to sleep on the floor…!
But at least the floor was… comfortable enough.
It was padded. So it had that going for it, she supposed. But still, she would have preferred an actual bed. Or furniture of any kind, really.
It was quite boring here, frankly. Here’s to hoping that Honami wouldn’t drive herself insane from all the boring nothingness, haha..!
When Ichika came back, she told her that Chad, unfortunately, couldn’t provide her with food. He couldn’t get in her room- all that he was.. Was just a simple security guard. Nothing more.
She had to leave quickly after. Something about someone calling for her. Honami might have zoned out after that.
She was too hungry to focus properly. Would they end up giving her something to eat? Or would they just let her sit here and die of starvation?
What would she do if they didn’t end up feeding her?
Honami shuddered. She had to get food. She had to…
..
Time seemed to pass again. Honami wasn’t paying attention anymore.
She felt weird. Maybe it was the effects of staying up all night. But there was no… exhaustion, no tiredness, no sluggishness, along with the weird feelings in her chest and her mind.
It didn’t feel normal. She didn’t feel normal. Was this really what pulling an all-nighter did to you? That couldn’t be right, Ms. Yoisaki would do it, she never gave any indication of feeling.. like this. Honami didn’t know how to describe this feeling.
It was… it was weird. Strange. That was all Honami could say about it. Just that it was strange. She didn’t know what else to say.
How many times had she walked around her room? How many times has she tapped on each square pad, pretending they were drums and she was humming a tune?
She didn’t know. She didn’t know, know, know.
She felt like she was losing it… she really needed sleep.
If this was what one night of losing sleep did to her, what would two nights do? How far would this go, how long would it be until she could sleep again, how long until she could eat?
Honami shuddered. As much as she didn’t want to think about it, it was all that was on her mind.
How long? How much longer?
She was getting hungry. She didn’t know what to do. She hadn’t eaten, hadn’t slept, for an entire day. In fact, had it even been a day? God, how long has it been? What if it was multiple? What if it hadn’t even been an hour?
What if, what if, what if?
She didn’t know what time it was, she didn’t know how to focus, she couldn’t focus. White, white everywhere, there was nothing to give her any indication of where she was or what she was doing here or how to GET OUT-
Her stomach hurt, it begged for food, and she couldn’t give it any. She couldn’t give her body rest, she couldn’t give it energy, why did she feel so energized if she had no nutrients in her body?
Honami clutched her stomach.
God, oh god, oh goodness, what was she doing, why was this happening to her?! She didn’t like this, she didn’t like any of this, she wanted it to stop, she wanted to go home, she wanted to eat, she wanted-!!
And time continued to pass.
The lights shut off again. She hadn’t paid attention to how much time had passed. They seemed to turn on just as quickly. She knew that couldn’t be right.
The speaker continued to turn on, a monotone voice filling the room just for a moment.
“Test two successful. Test three.”
“Test three successful. Test four.”
“Test four successful. Test five.”
“Test twenty seven successful. Test twenty eight.”
…Twenty eight?
Had it been that long? Had so much time passed already? Aha.. ha, she barely even registered it. Just like she didn’t register the scratches she’d driven into her skin. Just like she didn’t register the clumps and tangles in her hair. Just like she didn’t register the pain in her stomach. Just like she didn’t register her laughs.
Laughs.
Her laughs? Was she laughing, was that her voice?
Why was.. why was she laughing? This- this shouldn’t be funny, should it?
But- but it was ! For some twisted, sick reason, Honami just couldn’t stop laughing.
She couldn’t stop giggling to herself, she couldn’t stop scratching her arms, she couldn’t stop biting down on her fingers, desperate to rip off a chunk and swallow it down her throat. She couldn’t stop pulling at her hair, darting her eyes around.
That same raven-haired girl visited her everyday.
Oh, but she had forgotten her name by now. Was she supposed to be important? Everything felt so fuzzy, so disorienting, so sickeningly hilarious .
She didn’t like the look of the white walls. Too boring, too plain.
She painted them red. What a pretty colour it was, sitting on the floor and smearing her hands against the padding. Making shapes and designs, how lovely it was.
Sometimes her throat got sore from laughing, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t! She couldn’t stop, no matter how very very hard she tried..! She simply had too much energy, she needed something to do with it all. And there was only so much wall she could reach.
She wanted to show everyone out there her creations, too. She wanted to paint the walls out there red, too, with her pretty red paint.
Why were they looking at her like that? Did they not think it was pretty, too?
She wanted to have those designs and little swirlies and hearts and stars on her skin. She wanted to carve marks into her flesh, she wanted to bite down and rip it apart. She wanted to see herself bleed and dance around, laughing happily as she continued to spread her joyful creations to the world.
Goodness, what even was sleep anymore? What did it mean to be asleep, how long, how long had it been since she last closed her eyes and rested?
Oh, but why did it care anymore, either? Why should it matter? This was so much more fun… !
She wanted to find more fun things. She wanted to test her limits, she wanted to see how far she could go, how much she could do with all the energy and time she had!!
She liked the gas. She liked it a lot, she liked the sounds it made, she liked the way it made her feel. They stopped turning the gas off after a while, it was constant, oh how she craved it. She needed it.
But she was bored.
She was bored, she’d painted the walls. She’d painted her clothes, her skin, her hair. She’d carved designs into whatever she could, she was bored. She needed something to do, some bigger, something better.
She reached towards her eye.
…
…
..
.
..
.
…
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
Haha, hahahaa…
Ahahahahahahaha…!!!!
What was that noise?! Why were they banging, why were they scared?
Was this not beautiful, was it not pretty? Did she need to do more? Did they not like it...?!
She could do it more. She could do it to the other eye, she could do it to anything!
She pressed a bloody hand to the window, grinning madly as she held her eye up to the people watching outside.
Wasn’t it pretty? Gray and covered in blood, oh, it was wonderful..! They liked it, surely, didn’t they? She liked it. She liked it so much. She’d forgotten her eye colour, now she could look at it again.
It looked good. It looked like a gummy, like you could eat it, could you eat it? She was hungry. At least she thought that she was, she knew she had been at one point, was she still hungry?
So, so hungry.
Honami stared down at the eye in her hands, squishing it lightly in her grip. Her fingers were covered in blood, stained a beautiful, crimson red.
She could…
She could… try… wouldn’t it taste good?
She had always wondered what she would taste like, after all. Perhaps she could finally try.
Honami’s grin grew even wider; as if it already wasn’t from ear to ear.
She could hear the screams from outside her window getting louder as she brought the eye to her lips, putting it between her teeth.
She bit down.
It was… meaty.
Like pork.
Oh, she hadn’t felt this in a long time…! How long had it been since she ate something, since she swallowed something?!
It was… wonderful .
It was a wonderful feeling. Honami found herself laughing even more.
The screams in the background, the muffled vomiting and the panic outside the window, it all fell deaf to her ears.
It didn’t matter. She was in her own little paradise.
How free she was, to be able to do whatever she wanted with herself, her own body..!
She hummed and laughed, spinning around the room and chewing, painting pretty designs on the walls. Blood ran down her face, but she didn’t mind it.
It was beautiful.
If only they would understand.
But if they didn't.. then that didn’t matter, either.
Honami was happy. Happier than ever. She was completely fine, completely content with this!
And then—
She heard the door click open.