Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Honami can’t remember the last time she played the drums.

These days, it’s all about her degree, and her part-time job at the boba shop across campus, and her other part-time job caring for Ms. Yoisaki.

Granted, it had been a long while since she’s seen Ms. Yoisaki, after she had moved in with her music group members and Honami left for university. And she had just finished the first year of her social work degree.

There was not much left, to be honest. Every now and then, she allowed her mind to wander back to the past.

All of which were distant names, nearly crossing the threshold for ‘stranger’.

Honami snapped back into reality, the one where she didn’t live in Tokyo with her friends, and lived life with the expectation that they’d always be there right beside her. She lived on the other side of the world, in the foreign place of Australia.

‘It would be nice for a change,’ she mouthed, reminiscing, ‘There are things here you don’t see back in Tokyo.’

Even then, they would have no reason to follow her.

Honami unlocked her phone to the photo of Shibao on the home screen wallpaper. Five unread messages from her family, consisting of ‘Look who misses you!’ and ‘Good luck this semester!’.

‘...let you know when I get there.’

The door’s chirpy bell rings. Honami switches her phone off.

Less thinking, more working.

She looks up, smiling in the way she was instructed. ‘Welcome to AppleTea, how may I help you?’

The stranger does not smile back, and Honami drops her own. She recognises those rose pink eyes, and the (now cut short) yellow locks.

‘...Honami?’

‘Saki?’

‘Hona-chan!’

Honami almost loses her composure. Just almost. She smiles again, rebuilding the customer-service facade. ‘What drink would you like today?’

‘I’ll have the summer tropical special. In a large.’ She turns away as she places the order.

Honami turns to make the drink. She ignores the words swirling in her mind, ignoring every part of her that wants to reconnect with Saki.

Her drink comes out with no issues. Honami hands the cup to Saki, who smiles back and bids farewell, like any other customer.

‘Thank you.. Hona.’

The rest of her shift is a blur.

Chapter Text

Honami’s walk back to her accommodation after her shift is slow, much slower compared to a normal day.

Saki. Saki, Saki, Saki.

Saki.

Honami unlocks the door to her one-bed accommodation. Dropping her bag, which lands with a heavy thump on the floor, she falls into her neatly-made bed, disrupting the flatness of the covers.

Saki was here. Saki remembered her. Saki spoke words to her.

And Honami, like the coward she always seemed to be, ignored the nudging feeling. Saki probably said things out of habit, not because she wanted to reconnect. It had happened once before, and it took everyone to convince Honami they wanted her back.

‘We’ll always be here, right beside you.’ They had said. ‘No matter what.’

It was nice when it lasted. She doubted it would happen again.

Honami opens her laptop, still lying down on the bed. The background she’d set all the way back in her first year high school was still there, a photo of all of them watching the meteor shower on the jungle gym. The last time that they all got together for anything.

She stares at it, thinking.

Should I reach out?

The screen turns black, leaving her with a reflection.

Should I try re-forming our friend group? Reconnect?

Honami lightly presses on the touchpad to wake her laptop, staring at the background again.

Nothing happened back then. We all just fell apart.

I wanted to pursue university. Shiho is a pro-bassist in a label band now. Saki.. saki is here.

Honami thinks for a moment. The words are disjointed in her mind.

And Ichika.

I can’t remember where Ichika is.

The stars outside continue to twinkle. Honami falls asleep dreaming of a world where they were still together.

She doesn’t hear from Saki for another week. Granted, Honami didn’t know whether to even expect Saki to come back, not after her extremely welcoming reaction.

Saki, however, does come back. Exactly a week to their last abrupt meeting.

‘Hona?’

Honami blinks twice. ‘Saki.. you’re back.’

‘Of course.’ She smiles. ‘Why wouldn’t I be?’

After Honami’s shift, they find a park bench. Nothing spectacular for a first-meet after a year, just a mundane place to talk.

‘I didn’t know you worked here, last week.’ Saki sits across from her, leaning in. ‘Or else I would have come and visited much sooner.’

It catches Honami by surprise. ‘Sooner?’

‘We moved abroad over six months ago. I thought you’d still be back at home’

So Saki has been here this entire time, she thinks. Why didn’t I know that?

‘Oh.. I did the same.’ Honami looks off into the distance. ‘Right after I got my acceptance email.’

Saki avoids her gaze. Neither of them continue the conversation.

Now it’s uncomfortable, knowing that we’ve been near enough for so long, but not close enough to tell eachother.

‘I’ve continued talking with Shiho even after I moved,’ Saki starts, ‘She’s here for a concert. Soon, I think.’

Honami is taken back again. It’s like I’ve been out of touch for longer than it has been.

It’s almost been a year. ‘I didn’t know that.’

Saki smiles at her. ‘That’s okay.’

Honami doesn’t know what to make of it.

‘I haven’t talked to Ichi properly in a while, but I think she’s also around here doing her odd performances.’

There was no way that two of her friends also moved abroad after graduation last year.

‘Ichika…?’

We.

‘Yeah, me and Ichi had a place together for a while.’ Saki starts. ‘She sometimes plays at the cafe I manage, if she isn’t working on music.’

It’s like they’ve lived a whole life without me. Where do I fit in this puzzle now?

I want to see everyone again.

But do they want to see me? After cutting them off so abruptly?

‘Well, that’s the end of my break.’ Saki stands, grasping Honami’s hand with her own. ‘I’ll see you around some time then?’

Honami hesitates. There were two options; continue running away, or towards them. One would allow her to continue her life as it always has been, the other would undoubtedly turn her life around.

‘Yeah. Thank you for talking today, Saki.’ She places her free hand on Saki’s grasp. ‘I’ll see you around, then.’

Honami decides she is still a coward.