BESITOS
hi tomi

tomi
hello mister semi

BESITOS
what's your plan for today?

BESITOS
it's saturday where you live too... right?

tomi
yes semi i also happen to live in japan

BESITOS
great to know because sometimes
i feel like you live in europe and
just speak japanese lmao

tomi
maybe i'll actually move there one day

BESITOS
do you not want to stay in japan?

tomi
i actually just wanna get
out of this house lmao

BESITOS
oh

BESITOS
you can do that once you're 18 !!

BESITOS
if you aren't currently over 18 ofc

tomi
i find it cute how you try to get information
out of me by these questions lmao
message deleted

tomi
i just turned 17

BESITOS
that's cool i'm 17 too !!

tomi
but even if i was 18 i couldn't move out

BESITOS
why?

tomi
i have to take care of my siblings

tomi
i can't just leave them

BESITOS
tomi i don't want to sound rude but

BESITOS
you aren't their parent

BESITOS
how many siblings do you have again? and how old are they?

tomi
wait let me explain and go by order

tomi
1. oldest: akio (18)
2. me: tomi (16)
3 & 4 twins: akari and kaiyah (9)
5. youngest: hyounosuke (6)

tomi
damn i really just gave my family's
information to a stranger huh

tomi
that's probably the stupidest
decision i've ever made😭

BESITOS
i appreciate being the cause <3

BESITOS
joking but

BESITOS
if you don't mind me asking,
aren't your parents able to take
care of your siblings?

tomi
my father is most of the
time not even home lmao
message deleted

tomi
my parents work a lot and don't have a
lot of time so i just once picked up the
habit of taking care of them

tomi
and now i just do it instinctively i guess

tomi
bUt back to your question !! i'm
actually going to have a me day today😌

tomi
akio came back from his vacation and
i threatened him to do all the work today

tomi
so today is all about moi😝

BESITOS
i'm so happy about that tomi

BESITOS
really

Satomi's eyes widened slightly, staring down at her phone while blinking.

She was starting to malfunction.

As she saw the message, something in her stomach turned. It felt different, almost peculiar.

BESITOS
hello?

BESITOS
you there?

tomi
yeah sorry i was absent for a sec

tomi
aka my soul left my body because holy fUCK
message deleted

BESITOS
well, what is this tomi-only-day
going to consist of?☺️

tomi
i'm so glad you asked !!

tomi
i made a list c:

tomi
1. buy snacks for the ride

tomi
2. explore new music till i arrive

tomi
3. buy breakfast at a nice place
(i already know which restaurant
and it's so pretty omg)

tomi
4. museum !!!! i legit saved
so much money for this day

tomi
5. shop some makeup and clothes

tomi
6. just explore the city in general

tomi
7. and i also am going to look for
some music stores bc i heard that
there are some really nice
ones and bc they're just really
comforting to be at in general

tomi
i dont think i'll get to stay till past 7 bc
the train ride takes around 4 hours

BESITOS
your plan is so sweet

BESITOS
i really like it

BESITOS
i'n also going to go out today

BESITOS
school's been draining me and
i took an allowance from my school
to go out to different places today too

tomi
why did you have to ask for permission?

BESITOS
i go to an academy

tomi
omg with dorms and all ??

BESITOS
yes with dorms and all lmao

tomi
thAT'S SO COOL

tomi
i've always wondered how it is in academies

tomi
rumors says that one of those
prestigious school even has horses

tomi
fUCKING HORSES

BESITOS
ahaha so who's gonna tell her😬
message deleted

BESITOS
omg that's CRAZY😱

tomi
IKR😭

BESITOS
don't you have to get ready tho?
it's 8 in the morning

BESITOS
when will you take your train?

BESITOS
did you pack everything important?

BESITOS
take pain killers with you if you get a
sudden headache or something and
bring another phone too in case yours dies

tomi
you're so sweet and endearing
message deleted

BESITOS
don't forget to bring enough money with you
and please also take care of your belongings

BESITOS
and if someone tries to hit on you please
scream as loud as you can (i know u can
yell quite well girl we've seen it)

tomi
ahaha so who's gonna tell him i can fight😬
message deleted

BESITOS
wait no i take it back you probably
can beat someone up easily

tomi
hOLD UP WHO TOLD HIM NOW
message deleted

tomi
don't worry about me semi semi :p

tomi
i've always taken care of myself
this isn't really different tbh

tomi
i've also been to the city many times

tomi
i've literally lived or been at
every place in japan at least once

BESITOS
wait really how?

tomi
we've always moved around a lot

tomi
i've probably been your
neighbor for some time too lmao

BESITOS
damn that's crazy

BESITOS
do you think you'll move away from
the city you live in right now too?

tomi
yes probably

tomi
i don't want to
message deleted

tomi
it's only a matter of time anyway

BESITOS
and what about your friends?

tomi
i'll have to leave them
behind once it happens

BESITOS
:/

BESITOS
tomi you

tomi
i'll have to go now

tomi
talk to you later :)

After Satomi put her shoes and jacket on, she re-checks her bag in case she has forgotten anything.

Because of the way Semi's words kept on ringing in her head, she had also decided to carry some medicine and another phone along, too.

Satomi opens the door to leave, but a tug on her jacket holds her on.

With a frown on her face, she looks down, just to be met with a carton of sweets and candy. Her eyes widen.

"This is for you, Sato!" Akari exclaims, peeking through from the huge box that all three of them hold up with all their little strength.

Satomi is speechless, really.

Hyousuke steps forward—due to the fact that he was not even visible because of the way the box completely blocked his small form—and beams a wide smile up at his sister.

He points at all of the different pieces of candy and begins explaining thoroughly, "We couldn't decide if you'd prefer the Pocky sticks in double-berry flavor or tasty-charred-milk, so we just put both of them in! When you're sad, you always eat two packs of Panda-Gummies, so we bought you six of them! You really like sour candy, and so we put the green apple flavor of the Sour-Paper-Candy inside instead of the cola one! And—"

His cheerful elaboration continues, but Satomi is so caught off-guard and overwhelmed that she cannot continue listening. She's only staring at them, mouth gaping open.

Her vision begins to blurry with tears.

"Please take care of yourself, Sato!" Akari begins hugging her legs, a soft smile on her face. "Have as much fun as you can!"

Kaiyah's lips are caught in a pout. She's been the one holding the box up, and she lowers it to show her saddened face. "I already miss you, Sato..."

"Hey, stop!" Akari barks, shoving her twin sister. "Be happy for Sato! Stop being a crybaby! She always has to take her own time of the day for us, so let her go outside for once!"

"I didn't even mean it like that!" Kaiyah is offended to say the least. "You always try to badmouth me!"

Their petty bickering continues. Hyousuke blinks with widened eyes as he watches his older sisters fight, backing away from them.

What pulls Satomi out of her own dimension is the moment she blinks. Then, she blinks for an umpteenth time; scoping her surroundings.

"We—We hope you like it, Sato." Meanwhile the twins are still fighting, Hyousuke's quiet but affectionate voice catches her attention.

As Satomi squats down, the girls get quieter as well.

A tender smile is on Satomi's lips, gazing in between every single one of them. There are still some tears in the corners of her eyes, but she ignores them.

She softly pats their heads and strokes their hair. "Thank you." Her smile enlarges. "Seriously."

"Anything for you, Sato!" Kaiyah beams, engulfing her in a wide and loving hug.

The others soon join. Satomi's warm arms wrap around each of them with ease.

Her hug is stronger than anything they have ever felt before; as if holding them isn't quite enough.

It seems to them that Satomi has genuine appreciation toward their thoughtful present and hug, for she savors every ounce of the moment and doesn't want it to end.

Tokyo is a vast, intricate labyrinth of noisy streets and alleys. The incessant honking of the vehicles are no problem for Satomi, though, for she has music playing through her earphones.

Strolling down the street, her nose sniffs the mixture of sweet, sour, and spicy aroma. All of her senses are activated, and she adores every single second of it.

This is a moment that reminds her that she in, in fact, alive.

Though there isn't much time left until she has to take the train back home, she had determined beforehand to spend the last hours at a specific store.

Once Satomi turns many corners, she has finally arrived at her favorite destination.

Her excited eyes scan the exterior of the place. The store is wedged between two taller buildings. It looks squeezed, as if the neighbours are closing in. It has a rather antique look to it.

Without wasting another thought, she opens the wide door, which causes the bells to instinctively chime in a melodic manner.

A customer greets her warmly. Satomi instantly returns it with a tender smile. She takes further steps inside and examines the colorful guitars, her fingers brushing against the strings softly. Generally, there is no theme to them or color coordination, and everything is crammed together rather than artistically arranged.

No one else seems to be in the store at the moment. There are many more, bigger music stores that offer a greater variety of instruments, but something in the back of Satomi's mind had told her to visit this specific one. She can't pinpoint as to why.

The store is architecturally open and has no other closer-off rooms, yet it consists of many narrow corners where one can be without being disrupted by others.

One of those corners have many bookshelves. It catches Satomi's attention, and so she walks there. Picking up an older biography, she starts flipping the pages and looking through it.

The bell chimes again.

Engrossed in the antique and utterly interesting books, Satomi puts the biography back in and picks a few other ones.

I think I'll buy this one... she thinks to herself. Maybe I could also buy a music book for starters, since Akari wanted to begin playing the piano... Oh, Hyousuke would like this one! It this has pictures of his favorite—

What cuts her thoughts off is a sudden melody.

Satomi stops in her tracks, listening to the soft tunes that are coming from an acoustic guitar.

The sweet refrain of the guitar speaks a musical language to her soul. The strumming sound has a hypnotic, soothing quality that she has craved. To lose herself to the melody of the guitar is her idea of a heavenly day.

She frantically glances around the area from her spot; desperate of finding the root of the hypnotizing sounds.

Taking cautious steps forward, Satomi continues listening to the sweet sound while searching for it. Thank you for blessing me with this, God. I owe you one, for real.

Finally, she has found it.

Although the person that's so heavenly playing the guitar cannot see Satomi, due to the simple fact that his back is turned against her, she still shrieks away and hides behind a book shelf that is right next to him.

He hasn't caught onto her, and so continues on letting his fingers strum against the strings of the black guitar smoothly.

Somehow, her heart is thumping inside of her chest rapidly. And she doesn't even know why.

Probably because of the way I'm stalking on a goddamn stranger and am afraid of getting caught, she mutters inside of her head.

Just a peak...

Satomi peeks from the end of the book shelf, blinking innocently. The way his slender fingers glide over the guitar in such a smooth manner makes her swoon. And the tune he's able to create must be from the Gods themselves, she adds.

She notes that the stranger's hair is colored in an ash blond; the tips of his thick and messy locks a dark shade. Her mouth parts ajar.

The more she observes him, the more her senses activate. While her ears are occupied with the sound he's creating and her eyes are watching him play, her nostrils are soon filled with a rich scent.

His natural odor fills in the space of the corner. It is so peculiar and releases an utterly foreign feeling within her, but his fragrance slows her heartbeat into the kind of rhythm she usually reserves for the sweetest of dreams.

That aroma is as comforting as the blackest of warm summer nights; those times when someone feels as if they're in a warm and solace-related cocoon—awaiting for their time to finally let go and fly.

"Wow..." Satomi blurts out quietly, softly. Her face is flushed, unbeknownst to herself.

His fingers come to a halt.

Her eyes widen. Stupid, stupid, stupid... she repeats countless of times while hastily spinning around.

Unfortunately, as soon as she turns around to rush away, her body collides with a wooden chair. Hard.

She curses under breath, clutching her abdomen in pain. "Fucking hell..."

"Are you okay?"

Now's the time where her eyes rip out of their sockets, really. The exact moment the enchanting guitarist begins his sentence is when her stomach turns.

It is that weird stomach-knot again. She frowns.

Satomi senses him approaching her, but she's swift to run away—not even looking back at him.

Perplexed, he stands there. His mouth parts ajar, yet no word is able to be released due to his immense perplexity, his hand still in the air since he wanted to assist her.

All he catches sight of is her long, dark hair that sways in the dimmed light as she rushes away from him.

And also the silver strands that strike out once light hits the right spots.

FUN-FACT: Satomi eats anything extra salty, sweet, sour, or spicy. It has to be more than average (Osamu always complains and judges her about it, but she ignores it).