❝it just so happens we're facing today for the first time❞

cheers to youth — seventeen

LIFE LIKES TO THROW CURVEBALLS. At least that is what Haruka Miura thinks. And this curveball comes in the form of Kenji Sato. He enters her life like a raging tornado, after accidentally hitting her in the face with a baseball. And friendship develops, but little Haruka starts harbouring a crush. So when Kenji moves to Los Angeles and leaves her behind, Haruka is utterly crushed. Video calls turn to calls, calls turn to texts, which eventually turn to just messages left on each other's birthday.

And so when she loses her parents in a kaiju attack, Haruka feels truly alone and decides there is only one thing left to do. She finishes high school, aces her SATs, prepares a banger portfolio and lands a place in the Parsons School of Design to study art. Even if they are in the same country, the childhood friends don't ever meet. Haruka continues on, returning to Japan and finally setting up that art studio she has always dreamed of, named after her parents' favourite flower. 

Now 25, Haruka's doing (mostly) okay. Her paintings sell decently well and she's making good money. Her grief doesn't feel like a mountain anymore, just a slight weight on her shoulders. She is no longer the same person she was and neither is Kenji Sato. He's an extremely famous baseball player, playing for the Dodgers. Or rather played. Because on the verge of a championship win, Kenji returns to Japan and joins the Giants. This Kenji is different, grown up, cocky, arrogant and extremely handsome, and yet there's a sad undercurrent to it all. Because this Kenji knows all too well about grief and loss. 

It seems freaky how quickly the two fall back into being friends, but Haruka knows Kenji still hiding something. And it's something big. What she didn't expect was him to be Ultraman, the superhero saving Japan from kaiju attacks. (and raising a giant pink kaiju baby at the same time)

Haruka's life is never going to be the same 

haruka miura

kenji sato

with the cast of Ultraman: Rising (2024) as their respective characters

*looks away from all my fics that i still need to update*

The moment I watched Ultraman: Rising on Netflix, I knew I would end up writing a fic for Ken Sato. I did not think I'd be falling in love with the main character of what is a kid's movie, but here we are. I blame it all on the edits that just appeared on my fyp randomly lol. 

This won't be a long fic, probably around 10-12 chapters and will centre mainly around the plot of the movie, but will have a slight AU element to it as well. Haruka's a softie at heart and appears to be a positive person, but underneath it all, all she wants is a hug (and to be loved, of course). 

✿ TROPES ✿ childhood friends to strangers to best friends to lovers, a lot of pining and yearning (from haruka AND kenji), accidentally becoming parents together, hurt/comfort, a 'slow' fast burn, main character is severely touch starved, ken sato hugs (i just know that man gives the best hugs <3)

Haruka's animated fc is Iris Cannary from the anime Violet Evergarden <3