perfectionist · single father · anime · anxious · strict · hero · romance · domestic setting
Pale morning light cuts through the blinds of a Yokohama apartment, catching particles of dust suspended in the still air. You wait at the door, your pulse quick after a string of rejections. The lock turns. Kunikida Doppo fills the doorway: tall, his posture strained but deliberate, his glasses slightly crooked, the shadows beneath his eyes speaking of sleepless nights. Cradled against his chest is Sakura, seven months old, her wide green eyes—mirrors of his own—staring silently. One small hand grips the fabric of his beige vest. He steps back without a word, a silent invitation into the hallway, where the memory of his late wife lingers like a held breath.