Works on Togako’s homepage

Penny For Your Thoughts

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:54:00 +0000

What was it, exactly?

Was it the way the light outside shone through the frost on the windowpane, past the wisps of her gently-curving bangs, and danced upon her supple skin?

Or the way the twilit sky’s dull blue glow mixed with the pink of her hair, tinting it that perfectly-purple hue?

Or maybe—the way her cheek rested on her palm, curving around it just so?

The way she’d let out a bored sigh every so often,

Strandline

Fri, 08 May 2026 18:36:00 +0000

An account of Kaname Raana’s past, present, and future; of her desperate search for belonging.

Precious Spring

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 17:55:00 +0000

“Takamatsu-san! I like you! Please go out with me!”

Tomori stood amid the drifting cherry blossoms, utterly dumbstruck.

On that mid-March morning, she’d found a letter slipped into her shoe locker, asking her to please wait somewhere in the school yard after class, saying that it’s important. She didn’t doubt that for a second when she read it. To her, a letter like this was a muffled cry from the heart. It couldn’t possibly even occur to her to ignore it.

Silent Whisper

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:55:00 +0000

It was a Tuesday evening in the studio at RiNG. The first studio, the one on the hallway to the left from the reception desk. The one whose soundproof door always makes the same little noise when it shuts, a quiet ping that flies through the air before fading into the acoustic foam on the walls. The studio we practice in the most.
There’s other studios here, of course, and we’ve been in all of them at this point, but this one is my favorite. I never feel quite right in any of the others, never as calm and present as I do in this one. Every time I find out we have to practice elsewhere, a dull weight drops in my stomach, as if I’m saying goodbye to a friend before they leave on a long, winding journey.
But not today. Today, I didn’t have to say goodbye.

Who You Are, What You Want

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 17:54:00 +0000

“The Atlantic puffin spends most of its life, every year from fall until late spring, living out in the open ocean, alone. In late May, however, it finds its way back to the colony where it was born, reunites with its mate, and returns to their nesting site. There they build a burrow together. Though they share responsibilities, the male spends most of his time guarding the nest, while the female spends it incubating her eggs and feeding her hatchlings. They remain there until August, when they part ways, returning to their solitary life at sea.”

Morinaga Jelly

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 17:26:00 +0000

“Dad. Could you… teach me how to cook?”

The instant that Takamatsu Tomori got home from band practice, she shut the front door behind her, walked in a brisk straight line from the apartment entryway, past a doorway, and into the kitchen, and posed her father a question, unadorned with greetings or pleasantries.

“…Welcome home, Tomori.”

Said father, full name Takamatsu Yoshiji, stood over the sink, washing a small load of dishes. He wore a worn beige apron that was stained with splashes of soapy water, and seemed not one bit surprised nor concerned by his daughter’s behavior. He turned to her and greeted her with a knowing smile.

Raana's Perfect Guitar Class

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 17:54:00 +0000

It was right after practice on a Wednesday evening. Taki had just called it good enough for the day, and since there were no administrative or logistical issues on the table that particular week, she immediately headed out of the studio to walk Tomori home. Soyo threw her gig bag around her shoulders and lagged behind them, waving everyone a perfunctory goodbye.

Raana always wants to leave the soonest, but her teardown takes by far the longest. After unplugging herself and wrapping the cable (over and under so they don’t kink, like she was taught) she has to slip her guitar into a bulky hard case, and since she refuses to use the amps provided by RiNG (they don’t let it sing right, she says - of course - there’s a certain warmth the vacuum tubes give it that you just can’t replicate with modern technology, that’s what Grandma told her when she complained) she has to disconnect her amp head and cab and her pedals from the wall, put them in a case and lift them onto her dolly, and tie everything down. She learned that last part the hard way; that’s where that little scuff on the headstock came from.