[Hanako] An Interlude

An Interlude


The train car rattles along the track, the humidity in the cabin just barely tolerable. It's definitely a hot day outside, the short summer break from school finally coming to a close.

A smile spans across my lips, my face feeling quite hot. I don't know if it's from the lowering sun or a blush, but it doesn't matter anymore.

After months of painful loneliness, I can finally be happy again. The days were rough on a consistent basis, even though we were and still will be at the same university. We lived on opposite ends of the town, and with his job and studies...

Well, he really didn't have time for me.

He apologized almost every time he talked to me. He wanted to spend time with me, and his face always looked as if something had been taken away from him. When we would have a chance to be together, we would generally do nothing; ending up just laying around one of our apartments, holding each other - the little things that go a long way.

I spent most of my summer vacation away with two of my friends that I managed to make that shared my major. We spent the past two weeks up at Hokkaido in a beach house, and it was a pretty good time.

But, something was missing.

I spent two nights practically cradling myself and rocking myself to sleep. I hadn't talked to him on either of those days, and it was starting to send me into a big time panic attack. After the trip, we decided that I could move into his apartment and live together - something I had sort of been pushing on him for a while.

It was dreadful. I sent text after text, call after call, and yet he wouldn't answer anything. I spent the last night crying myself to sleep, luckily not waking up the other two girls. I was getting paranoid, checking my phone literally almost every thirty seconds to see if he had called me or something.

A yawn escapes from my chest, my head resting against my hand.

This is what I get for staying up until four in the morning. He finally managed to wake me up after I had passed out for a good hour around two with a phone call - though I had apparently missed his first seven calls. I honestly can't even remember if I cried or not, but I can tell you that I felt like a thousand tons of stress and pain were lifted from my shoulders.

He told me he had lost his phone and couldn't find it before he went to work, accompanied later by a picture of his bedroom in an absolutely mass of chaos. Shirts, sheets, books, boxes - everything you could imagine tossed all over the room, and he told me that's what happened while he was looking for the phone.

Hisao reminded me that he was panicking just as much as I was and that it was perfectly okay to feel nervous, before finally realizing the hour of the morning and letting me get some rest.

That being said, I really didn't get any rest. My body has been running on adrenaline for hours now, and it's only another minute or so until we're supposed to arrive at the station. He said he'd pick me up and take me out to dinner, which I normally wouldn't decline.

But I think he'll understand if I tell him I want to sleep.

I wonder if he'd be okay with laying down with me?

I sigh, dreamily thinking of how our first night together will go. I shouldn't really be so excited about it, because after all, this certainly is not the first time we've spent the night together or anything like that. With that being said, it's just something...

I don't know, different?

It's a fresh start, a big change in my life. Living with my someone that I care deeply about for the first time since way back when seems foreign to me.

The idea alone makes me smile, though.

I think I'm ready.

I'm ready to take that next big step in life, even if it means I'll have to adjust a little bit. I want to be with him for the rest of my life at this point, and hopefully nothing will ever happen to change my mind about that.

I yawn once again.

It's like I'm in a dreamy state right now. The sun is all but set in the distance, and the scattered lights fighting off the shadows begin to lull me to sleep. Thankfully, the train begins to slow its pace, finally coming to a complete stop after a short moment.

I grab my bags from beside me, which is only my backpack, a small case with what I could afford of clothes on my own and some other minor things. It's honestly not much at all, and a feel bad knowing that he's probably going to pay for some of my things for a while as I try to establish a part time job or paid internship, but I made sure that I gave him a fair warning about that.

Dragging my bag of clothes behind me on wheels and my other two bags over my shoulder, I step off the train and onto the platform. I look around me for a moment, my smile fading as I can't find any hint of Hisao in the area, causing me the panic a bit.

I walk at a frantic pace, desperately looking for him, before finally and thankfully, I am embraced from behind.

I drop what I have and turn around the face him, his goofy smile immediately cheering my up from my moment I was having.

I grip him tightly, not willing to let go.

His warmth feels as if it's feeding me a bit of strength, though my mind is still heading towards a point where it wants to shut down from exhaustion. My head rests against his chest, my eyes closed as his uneven heart beats send shivers down my spine.

"You shouldn't have started walking so fast, you know. I was just popping out of the restroom when you got in. Not to mention, you got in a couple of minutes earlier than I was expecting."

I move my finger to his lips, silencing him. I love his voice, but right now, it feels like silence is what will keep me from thinking of this moment as a dream.

I remove my head from his chest as he raises his eyebrow at me, my eyes looking down as my cheeks begin to heat up.

"I've m-missed you so much..." I try to form words, but the task goes about unsuccessfully. He brushes the usual strands of hair away from covering half of my face, a habit I've always done for hiding my scars a bit.

I nearly gasp at the boldness of his move; this certainly isn't something he normally does in public, simply because he knows how I feel about my-

"Even more beautiful than the last time I saw you."

Why must you make me feel so good about myself?

I'm not a sight for sore eyes or even close to an attractive girl, but yet he always makes me feel like I'm a princess.

"Oh, s-shut up!" I give him a light punch on the arm to which he feigns massive injury, drawing the attention of some passing people on the platform. I nearly squeal as I brush my hair back over my face, leaving him frowning.

"You know I'm not going to kiss you until you brush your hair out of your face, right?"

I push out my lower lip, giving him a little pout. Not having the energy to start a little argument with him, I brush my hair back behind my ear, my arms and hands practically shaking as my nerves begin to kick it up a notch.

"Much better."

He finally leans down and places a long, loving kiss on my lips. We stay connected for a few moments, the air around my swirling as my head. I let out a small sigh of disappointment after he pulls back, releasing me from his embrace and picking up my bags that are scattered on the platform ground.

He smiles at me, offering his hand.

"Hey now, just think: you get to see me every day now. Don't get upset with me just because I'm saving some energy for later."

I frown at him.

"I'm really tired, Hisao. C-Can we save that kind of stuff for another time?' He seems to step back and ponder my words for a moment, obviously in a joking mood.

It's unfortunate that my lack of sleep is really keeping me so uptight and nervous, otherwise I'd be at least slightly okay with what he said. But right now, in public that's just... embarrassing, to say the least.

"Fine. You can sleep and I'll get your stuff all settled in." I shake my head from side to side, leaving him with his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"No. Y-You're going to leave my bags on the floor and lay down with me. You k-know how much I've missed being able to do something small like that..." I trall off and he begins to lead me down the platform towards the parking lot, smiling all the way.

"I think I can handle that."



'An Interlude' is a song produced by Module Module.