A/N: Written for Yuki Yuna is a Bingo (Flash), #036 - Itsuki

a fleeting dream deals a softer blow

She finally found a dream, and it hurts to lose it but maybe it hurts less than it should.

Maybe she just doesn't know how much it should hurt. She doesn't feel the same desperation that tears at her sister, that tears at Todou-san. Or maybe it's because her dream is so new, she's not ready to throw her entire heart into it. But that's a lie as well. She's taken the plunge – a hasty plunge perhaps, but a plunge nonetheless.

Her teacher had recommended the place and she'd sent her CD for the audition. It was just one audition. She couldn't honestly say that was all it took to commit oneself – but it was a commitment, and a big one. She would cry if she failed, she knew she would, and that meant it mattered more than just putting her name in the class lottery and hoping she wouldn't be one of the twenty students who wound up with just a pen. This was more important, but was that just because she didn't want to lose at something so big, even though she knew how slim the odds were, or because this was that dream she really wanted to put her heart and soul toward?

Either way, it didn't matter right that moment since she couldn't sing without her voice anyway.

Or maybe it's because of the Hero Club. Because, thanks to them, she found this dream. Because, thanks to them, she found courage and the strength to fight for her friends and the world, and be a real hero. Because, thanks to them, she was alive now and though without her voice, she had found a dream and she can find other dreams as well with them by her side. And that possibility, and the Hero Club, helped soften that blow.

So maybe it's just her family and friends that made it all hurt less than it should.

But why didn't it work like that for her Nee-san then? And Todou-san?

Maybe it's because she still had some growing up to do before she got to them. Or maybe she's just naïve in thinking her voice will come back, or she'll find another dream to put her heart and soul toward.