Koi's Attempts at FFXIV Write 2023

Hanako held her breath as she shut the door quietly behind her. Her heart beat loudly in her ears, echoing throughout her chest. Hanako's hands lay behind her back, chaotically intertwined with each other. Her eyes lay firmly fixed upon the ground, tracing the endless patterns woven into the old rolanberry-coloured rug. Silence hang in the air for a beat too long. It only exacerbated the palpable anxiety that filled the room. Hanako had tried her best to stay out of trouble, she always did. She wasn't the easiest with rules though. Between forgetting and misunderstanding the complex webs of cultural rules that knit Kugane society to her mind wandering when being lectured to about important cultural history; Hanako was considered a failure from most of her tutors. She felt like the deck was stacked against her. As if cosmically she had been doomed to fail. Hanako knew what was coming, the yelling, the beating, the reprimands and the further restriction of her already dwindling freedom. She had already braced herself for it, already curled up into a ball inside her own head. That was until movement was heard behind the door and just when Hanako felt like her soul was ready to shatter into a million pieces, a voice sliced through her overthinking.

"Sorry I'm late! I was only just informed of what happened and I had to run from work."

Hanako's eyes widened, but she didn't dare lift her head. It didn't occur to her that she wasn't facing this alone. Usually the administrators would schedule these meetings within work hours, or would fail to tell guardians so that she would have to face it alone. Her brother's voice was the most comforting thing to happen at that moment. She knew that both her brothers were smart, and having either of them arrive was an ace up her sleeve. They understood her plight, and what it meant. They were always on her side. She knew things would be in her favor here. Perhaps this time, maybe she would be let off the hook.