"I can't wait to show you this tomorrow!"
—~—
Third Person POV
Ring ring!
Ring ring!
Ring—!
"What?" (Y/n) groggily snapped at the other person on the other end of the call, her eyes weren't even open and her face still laid on the table.
"Well damn, good morning to you too," the voice of none other than, Haitani Rindo, spoke and she groaned in response, "Woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something?"
"Haven't made it to bed," she murmured and wanted to get back to sleep faster.
"Don't tell me you slept on your desk again," he sighed, "Alright, hunchback, are you coming to school or not? If you aren't, I'm gonna head back to the apartment."
The (e/c)-eyed girl blinked her eyes open, "What?"
"I take it that you overslept," he said but she could hear the victorious, jeering smirk coming from him, "Good thing I called you, huh? You have thirty minutes before the bell rings."
"Thirty..." she trailed off with widened eyes. Abruptly, she jumped out of her seat and looked over her alarm clock, "Thirty minutes?!"
"I'll leave you to it," she heard him stifle a chuckle, "See you soon, (y/n)."
A 'click' of the phone prompted the (h/c)-nette to scurry around her room in a poor attempt of fixing herself together. She hurriedly threw on her blazer and skirt as her tie hung loosely around her shoulders, and she sprinted to the bathroom. At some point, her shin made contact with the doorframe and it took a couple minutes out of her time hopping around and yelping in pain.
Thirty minutes. It took ten minutes to get to the station, ten minutes for the train ride there, and another five minutes to walk to her school. That only left five minutes worth of spare time! And she was already wasting time trying to put herself together. She couldn't afford to be late and be caught by the disciplinary council. Running laps, detention, anything will set her back from using the sewing machines, so she needs to hurry before it was too late.
Her morning routine was cut down by half and she dashed into her room to grab her bag. As she exited her bedroom, her hand slapped the doorway and pulled her back in realization.
'My sketchbook!' She thought and shifted her eyes to her desk where she left it last. Upon not finding it, she knitted her brows in confusion, 'I must've put it in my bag before I fell asleep.'
That was the only possible conclusion. She so clearly remembered drawing last night and left it on the table. It wouldn't go past her that while she was sleep deprived and half awake, she somehow managed to put it away. It couldn't have grown legs and walked out of her room, after all.
"I'm gonna head out now!" The (h/c)-haired teen exclaimed as she dashed to the front door. Her parents looked up at the commotion, only to see a whirl of (h/l) (h/c) hair dart pass them.
"What about breakfast?" Her mother asked.
"Can't! I'm late!" The eldest daughter of the (l/n) family shouted before slamming the door shut behind her.
Meanwhile, the youngest daughter woke up in a daze until she remembered about her surprise gift. A smile broke out on Maya's face that she quickly scrambled to her feet to show her sister. As promised, she didn't touch the drawings since she knew how important they were to her, so she opted to draw a portrait of them on the back of the cover. She was quite proud of it, if she does say so herself.
"Nee-san!" Maya announced and ran out of her room with sketchbook in hand. Slowing down to a halt at the sight of only two people at the dining table, she turned to her parents in puzzlement, "Where's (y/n)-nee?"
"She went to school already," her father replied, "Why?"
"I want to show her something..." she poutingly mumbled and casted her gaze to the floor in disappointment.
"You can show her when she gets back," her mother suggested. Maya looked up in a hopeful manner before becoming dejected once more. That wasn't what she wanted, "Come eat before you get late to school too. What am I supposed to do with two daughters who keep going back to sleep after I wake them up, hm?"
At that, the little girl comedically winced at the comment before sheepishly making her way to the bathroom to prepare for the day.
|—~•~—|
"Oh, there she is," Rindo smirked at the (h/c)-nette barreling though the class's sliding door, not minding the startled stares sent her way, "With... five minutes to spare! Good job, (y/n)."
"Shut..." the poor girl trudged to her seat and desperately panted for air. She managed to save some time by full-on sprinting, but she didn't even try this hard for P.E. so her athleticism was atrocious, "... up."
"A 'thank you' would've been appreciated for calling you awake, but that works too," the blonde boy said as she rested her forehead on her desk and heaved in oxygen. He returned to his conversation with Taichi about some video game that was about to release whilst comfortingly patting his girlfriend's back.
"Oh right, (y/n)-san," the raven-haired teen spoke up and said female peered up at him, "Do you want to revise before class starts?"
"That would be great," she smiled gratefully and went to reach for her bag.
Shrugging off the fact her backpack was open, (y/n) went to grab her school notebook but quickly noticed something was off. Scanning through her folders, pencil cases, and the like, the tired girl immediately snatched her bag closer and ran her hand through.
'No, this has to be a mistake,' she thought and frantically pulled out random material onto her desk. The two males next to her just eyed her warily at her actions, 'It has to be here, right?! Otherwise...'
She stopped to think about it for a second. Her bag was open which was odd, did it fall out? It must've fell without her noticing while she rushed over... the only problem was where. It could be out in the streets, in the train cart— it might've fell through the train tracks as she entered the station!
"My sketchbook..." she whispered and blankly stared at her bag whilst the two boys shifted their attention to her, "It's gone."
What felt like a step forward resulted in two steps back.
What they expected was panic— an outburst of some sort. But, no. All sound seemed to stop except for one. A pulse rang in her ears signaling to her that she was alive then suddenly, all sound stopped. Her heart stopped beating.
'Ah... this is no longer fun,' a fleeting thought passed by her mind. A bitter smile painted her lips and she sort of... gave up right then and there.
After (y/n) accepted the fact her sketchbook was most likely gone for good— which she took it much better than they thought— she became eerily quiet. No other words, no unnecessary movement, nothing. She simply took her school notebook and proceeded to start from scratch for the third time, seemingly without complaint.
Meanwhile, Rindo froze in his seat for a few seconds in shock. He had to forcibly cough to pull himself back to the matter at hand and fake his annoying persona, as that was the only thing that seemed to work in distracting her. Thus, he took her notebook away from her reach whilst the (e/c)-eyed girl didn't even so flinch.
"(Y/n), you should eat."
"Mm, not hungry."
"Take a nap."
"I overslept, I rested enough," (y/n) shrugged. The fight in her eyes was slowly disappearing and he could see it, "Although, can I have my notebook back? I want to review the lectures I missed with Taichi."
"Uh... sure..." the blonde teen trailed off and hesitantly handed the item back to her.
Rindo and Taichi stared in horror. The younger Haitani, on the other hand, was now at a lost on what to do. He was so hopeful yesterday that he made progress bringing (y/n) back to reality, but now it seems that it's irreversible. The damage was already done. She lost it. Whatever was left of her sanity: gone.
Taichi tried to assure her that it wasn't any trouble and he could tutor her during lunch so she could start drawing again for the fashion show, but she didn't take it. Something along the lines of 'Eh, it's whatever,' was all she said and that caught the attention of a certain Haitani. Nothing more could've been said as the bell rang and (y/n) had her full focus on the class rather than her boyfriend, who was staring at her in worry.
'Shit,' Rindo thought and reluctantly took the seat next to her, 'What the fuck should I do?! What can I do? I don't think she'll even listen to me anymore.'
So many thoughts ran through his mind as he watched the lackluster girl copy down notes without paying him any mind. Should he console her? Should he buy her more food to eat and force her to sleep again? Should he search for her sketchbook??
That's what concerned him the most. He obviously didn't want her to ruin her health over her passion, but it pained him to see her actually concede defeat— to surrender the one thing she loved the most. As much as it destroyed her, it also brought the most genuine smile to her face and he didn't want to think about not seeing it again.
"I can't let you end your dream here," Rindo faintly mumbled, stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her classmates and teacher learned to ignore him for their own good, so they didn't bother to look at the back row of the class, "Taichi, look after her for me. I'll be right back."
With a chaste peck on the top of her head, Rindo ruffled her (h/l) (h/c) locks and walked out of the room with a vast amount of determination in his stride. The people in the room barely acknowledged his actions whilst Taichi cautiously glanced to the (y/h) girl behind him.
'Will she be okay...?' He frowned at the thought but continued to pay attention to the lecture in front of him.
|—~•~—|
The rest of the school day felt drawled out, like she was listening to the 'tic' of a clock count her time away. All she did that day was write down notes during class, drew an outfit or two during lunch, and went back to writing more notes afterwards. She was merely existing.
Currently, it was after school and (y/n) spent her club hours sketching new designs for the fashion contest. She vaguely remembered some of her work, so she went ahead and started on those first. The others were a blur as those were made on caffeine, adrenaline, and lack of sleep. She didn't even like coffee, but that was the only thing keeping her awake the past few days.
(E/c) eyes gazed lifelessly at the paper where her pencil was aimlessly writing on. The sight of an overflowing trashcan filled with all her previous attempts was seen to her right, and a half-eaten ham sandwich accompanied with a cup of espresso to her left.
'No... that isn't right...' (y/n) emptily thought, sighed and reached for her eraser, 'Eh—?'
Her vision began to blur and she panicked for a short while. Was life taking away her eyesight because she's been staring at a piece of paper for so long?! Stupid— she knows— but it wasn't too far of a conclusion when her mental health was, quite literally, eating away at her. However, she quickly noticed the drawings she worked so hard on slowly developed tear stains, ruining all her hard work.
The (h/c)-nette released a shaky breath before reaching for another piece of paper from her notebook. Instead of the usual slow scribbling she'd done in the past few hours, the pressure on her pencil intensified and she frantically scrawled out ambiguous lines and shapes.
"They were right..." she mumbled as rapid, hot tears fell onto the newly acquired paper.
"I wasn't good enough."
"I'm not trying hard enough."
"Hard work won't get me anywhere."
"I can't beat someone talented."
"Maybe I should just give up—" (Y/n) spoke with such a seriously defeated tone until she felt a grip on her wrist, forcing her hand away from the mess of a paper. Her (e/c) eyes widened but she didn't bother to look at who it was.
"Enough," the voice of her boyfriend sounded loudly in the empty room that contrasted to (y/n)'s quiet sobs. He's using the same tone that he always uses during a serious conversation, she noticed, "You can stop now, (y/n)."
The (h/c)-haired girl gently pried her hand back and grabbed another piece of paper. Without uttering a single word, she went back to what she was originally doing but in a more dejected, sluggish manner.
"(Y/n), stop."
"No, no, I can't!" She exclaimed rather hysterically and her hand instinctively tried to create more comprehensible drawings on paper instead of scribbles, "I can't, I can't. I— I have to keep on trying! Otherwise... Otherwise...
I'll be nothing, Rindo."
With that small, broken whisper, the blonde male pulled her head onto his chest and rested his hand there. She stayed motionless as if she was a corpse, and the bright, determined (e/c) eyes that Rindo knew was dull and lifeless.
"I got you, (y/n)," he murmured, closed his eyes, and placed a lingering kiss on the top of her head, "Close your eyes for me and rest."
And he just stayed there— both of them unmoving and no further words were said. It's not like Rindo didn't know what to say, rather, he knew (y/n) didn't want to hear consolation because everything would sound like pity to her and she appreciated that.
So instead, she listened to his heartbeat. It was slow and rhythmical and lulled her to rest like a lullaby. She didn't know if it was the lack of sleep or the stress or both, but she found comfort in her boyfriend's arms and gladly accepted the warmth emitting off of him and fell right to sleep. Her body officially shut down instead of the on-and-off naps it allowed her to take.
"You're too hard on yourself," Rindo finally spoke once he heard soft snores coming from the girl in his arms. He absentmindedly ran his hand through her (h/l) (h/c) hair and played with a couple of strands when he reached the end, "What am I going to do with you, (y/n)?"
He frowned. Rindo spent most of his day searching for the damn thing in hopes that it can cheer her up. Checking the path she would usually take to school, the train route to her house, he even asked the employees about five to ten times if they had seen it. But there was nothing.
He also thought that (y/n) must've lost it in her apartment so he went over there to ask her parents. Her mother was the only one present, but she confirmed with her husband over the phone that they haven't seen it. She allowed him to go into her room, if he'd like, and he rejected the offer. He didn't want to invade his girlfriend's privacy and would rather search for it with her there.
So instead, he did the only thing he could do and just be there for her. Carefully, he replaced the coffee she had on her station with a strawberry drink, and placed the things he bought for her on the table. A couple of throw blankets, an MP3 player, a pair of earphones, and some snacks should do as he expected to stay in that club room for the next couple of hours. If she's going to be sad, they're going to be sad together.
"It's not fair that we laugh together and you cry alone, (y/n)."
—~—
Author's note: 💔💔💔
The Oikawa kinnie in me is breaking 🥲 This would rip my heart out if it happened to me. I don't want to imagine losing something I'm passionate about.
Anyways, take care and see you in the next chapter :)