characters are probably ooc and just fyi, i didn't finish the series because it got so dull so if something sounds wrong cuz it didn't happen, oh well

disclaimer: don't own Hanasaku Iroha or characters

/

Ohana sighed as she glared at the screen of her laptop, willing herself to come up with something to start on this dissertation. She narrowed her eyes, staring at the brightly lit screen and trying to ignore the background noise pervading the small café. She vaguely noticed a waitress rush by with a pitcher of iced tea to refill a glass, but she paid the teen girl no mind, trying only to figure out her topic for the business proposal project she had due in less than two weeks. She'd been trying to get the motivation to start it forever, she was tired and fed up, and she was starting to get a headache.

"Mou…" she grumbled, sinking back into the cushions of her booth and closing her eyes. "Maybe I should just call it quits for the day…"

She glanced forlornly at the clock of her phone as she idly twirled her straw in her coke/iced tea drink. It was only fifteen after twelve. She'd been there since her break for lunch at eleven and hadn't managed to put a dent in her assignment at all. At this rate, she was going to be finished with it past the deadline, and that wouldn't do. But even with the deadline for the proposal looming ever closer, she still couldn't find the motivation to get cracking on the assignment.

Ohana was fast on her way to ending up working in some office building as a white collar worker and it bothered her. She didn't know why. This was the path she'd chosen to lead, and by all means, she should have been more excited about the prospects, but she couldn't muster up any enthusiasm. It'd been year after year after year of the same studies for business, but even so, she still wasn't even sure she wanted to go into business. She was graduating from Tokyo U in a few months, but her life felt mundane, no ambition, no end goal in sight. She'd been wandering aimlessly through life recently, and the fact that she felt as if she hadn't really done anything with her life didn't help.

Her phone blipped with a text from Kouichi, and she sighed as she opened it, already knowing what it was about to say.

Ohana… we really need to talk. Please call me back.

She closed out of the screen with another sigh, shaking her head to herself and mentally apologising to her boyfriend. He'd called three times in the past hour—and that wasn't even counting the last few weeks—and she'd ignored them all. She'd meant it when she said she wanted a break from their relationship.

Ohana knew she had been distant for a while and it was unfair to him, but she couldn't help it. She felt lost, stuck in a rut, like her purpose wasn't clear anymore and she had no idea what to do to fix it. She needed a bit of space from him for the time being while she tried to figure herself out. She loved Kou—there was reason she'd been able to stay with him for almost six years—but sometimes, she felt like he was smothering her. Him and the city. She really did need a break from how dull her life had become.

"Maybe I should call Baa-chan…" she mused, idly twirling the chibi hamburger keychain on her phone.

Back when she'd been younger, the Kissuisou inn had guided her back on her proper path. And hell, it'd been a pretty long time since she'd talked to the prickly old woman. Almost five years. Life had gotten in the way as well as cram school and plans for her future and before she knew it, a lot of time had truly passed.

Maybe she would plan a vacation to Yunosagi during the winter break… She owed it to herself, plus it could be nice to catch up with her grandmother. She hadn't realised how much she missed her. The more she thought about going on a long visit there, the more she liked it.

Before she could even open her phone though, it started buzzing wildly again from an incoming phone call from her mother. She rolled her eyes in frustration, wondering if everybody was planning to keep bugging her in the next couple of hours. Why did no one ever text or call when she was free, but start wanting to converse when she was busy.

"What now…" Ohana muttered under her breath, pursing her lips as she stared down at her phone.

Her mother had a tendency to call her for the dumbest things, like a young college guy hitting on her or even a two for one sale on shoes. She was glad she and her mother had gotten better at communicating through the years, but Satsuki was still kind of flaky sometimes, and she kept ignoring the fact that Ohana was busy trying to build a career for herself. Her mother wanted her attention, but it was kind of too little, too late, and now that Ohana was an adult, she didn't really have time to indulge in Satsuki's screwball tendencies.

She pushed the red ignore button with more force than was necessary, seriously debating if it would just be smarter to turn off her phone. She slapped her cheeks twice to get back in the zone and leaned over her computer again in hopes of gaining a strike of inspiration. She lifted up her phone to cut the power when it suddenly started violently vibrating again.

Ohana cried out in surprise, momentarily fumbling with the phone and nearly dropping it. The people in her area all turned to her in confusion and concern, and she chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head and turning away with red cheeks.

With a frown, she picked up the call, crouching over so as not to disturb the other patrons. Her mother never called her twice in a row unless it was an emergency.

"This had better be important, Mom. I'm in the middle of an important project for school and can't have my concentration broken."

A lie, considering her concentration had been shot for a while now, but she still felt the need to exercise that point to her mother. Maybe if she said it enough and made herself seem like she was being productive, she could actually become productive.

Her mother's silence on the other line made her brows furrow. She could hear her mother's choppy breathing through the phone. Why wasn't she saying anything? Ohana swore, if her mother was just calling to bug her about something that was stupid, she would be pretty pissed.

"Hello?" She huffed impatiently. "Mom, are you—"

"She's gone, Ohana… Your grandmother's gone."