1.

When Sakura first joined HKT48, a newly formed sister group of AKB48, she was on her way to become a doctor. Her parents were of professional status, clearly, they wanted that for their daughter as well - but Sakura, Sakura was curious; was passionate and was driven with everything.

Sakura wanted to be a doctor, because she likes helping people, but most importantly, she wanted to be an actress. She already had small projects before, a little bit of stages here, a little bit of appearances there, she's already a child actress but she wants to be an actress. And to be an actress, you have to get your name out there. So she watches Maeda Atsuko and the other AKB48 members perform Heavy Rotation on one of the rare moments she has a break from studying. She hears the chants of their names from the crowd, feels the passion and energy they give the girls, and she sees how these idols (a word still unfamiliar to her) make people happy so easily. Now, Sakura isn't usually attracted to those fancy dresses and flashing lights of the stage - she's been there when she was casted in musicals as a kid, but she wants to fulfill her dreams of acting in big shot movies and dramas, immersing herself to the character she is playing, and living another life temporarily.

If Maeda Atsuko started as an idol first, then damn well Sakura will too.

Being an idol means helping people be happy, and making them happy means you get popularity, love, and attention.

Sakura likes helping

needs attention for her dreams

It wasn't until she was humming the chorus of heavy rotation for the third time that she pursed her lips, called her grandmother about her plans, and decided that she was going to audition tomorrow despite her parents' disapproval of the entertainment industry; it's hard, it's dangerous, it's suffocating. Still, Sakura will work hard either ways - if she passes the audition then she's going to work hard as an idol, but if she doesn't, she's going to work hard as a doctor.

As long as she has her grandmother's support, she can do this

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As fate's way of playing with her parents, she gets accepted in HKT48 with 20 other girls as the first generation. Obviously, since HKT48 has only started, all they're doing are just covering songs of AKB48 and SKE48, and having appearances on stages. Nothing big, nothing small - everything is what she expected of an entertainment industry. But Sakura is a girl from Kagoshima, and HKT is in Fukuoka, so when her family moves closer to her work, she vows to work harder because her family is now involved in her dream.

However, nothing really changed much after that. the routine of their group is still to practice and cover older songs of their sister groups and yet, every hour seems to be longer than the previous, and every day that passes, Sakura gets impatient. The AKS management is slowly losing interest in them and the girls are lost. Sakura's starting to think her parents are right.

It wasn't until the fourth general election that Sakura reconsiders her dream because she places 47th and is the only HKT48 member to have a rank. And it was truly unexpected because everyone has no expectations, with how their group is doing one is bound not to hope, and Sakura should really be happy because that moment right there is the start of her way to becoming an actress but Sakura feels the responsibility as the only member to have rank and she changes her dream right there and then.

She wants to help HKT48

It was a hard dream because not even Sakura knows how she ranked in, but she's starting to see them as her family so she wants to help the Hakata members be known and wants more of them to rank, and she knows it’s silly to do this by herself but when Sakura has a dream, she does everything to achieve it. And as fate would allow it, Sashihara Rino joins them, and 34 more girls were added to the group.

Everything's happening so fast suddenly

HKT48 blooms and people are starting to talk about them. They appear on shows, on stages, and finally, they get out of the slump that is holding them back. Sakura, who's starting to act as a senpai to the new members of HKT48, is consulted by Sasshi about their theater activities, and really, a 19-year old asking advices from a 14-year old is a sight to behold but Sakura thinks this may be a step closer to her dream.

From a mere HKT48 member wishing for the success of her group to being upon the center position with Kodama Haruka, Sakura thinks she's going to get a whiplash. Don't get her wrong, she's pleasantly surprised with the turn of events but she doesn't really care much about the center and the responsibility it holds. Heck, she even wanted to be the captain at first but alas, she's still young for that.

And after that, she noticed how everything changed. She’s suddenly a kennin member of AKB48 and sings alongside the more popular (and definitely senpai) members of the group. Her schedules are growing, her handshakes are selling, and people are talking about her. She, who only dreamed about helping her group. She, who’s now centering alongside Watanabe Mayu. And she, who’s rank continue to rise.

Sakura’s momentarily overwhelmed with everything – the stress, the pressure, the responsibility. So she cries quietly when she thinks no one can hear her. Stares off into nothing when they have a break from practicing, and slowly, she came to depend on her HKT48 members because they were the reason she’s doing all these – to protect and help Hakata. And finally, Sakura affirms them as her second family.   

But families are not supposed to leave each other, right? However, in Sakura's own little twisted mind, with how steady her popularity is rising, she expects people to leave her, for HKT48 members to stop reaching for her because she's just so damn high and Sakura still loves her members, still considers them family, but she anticipates the incoming loneliness (abandonment) in the future because Kojima Haruna once said to her, “You don’t need to make friends while working,” because after all, this is just business, and without knowing, she unconsciously distances herself and maybe, maybe it'll finally lead to the outcome she expects.

Everyone will leave

(she doesn't see how Murashige Anna is always there waiting for her, how her same generation friends are always cheering her on and supporting her, and how the newer generations came to respect and admire her)

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All right! First chapter done! I wanted to write about Sakura's character and thoughts because she really intrigues me so much lol. I love people who are hard to read. I searched about her history in 48g so I did my best to be as realistic as possible >,< 

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