Haida walked into work like a zombie that morning, his eyes and his mind miles away.
When he took a seat in his office chair, both Retsuko and Fenneko noticed there was something different about the usual talkative hyena.
"Haida, everything alright?" Retsuko asked, concern in her voice. Haida shook himself like he was shaking himself out of a dream, and his eyes refocused on Retsuko. He chuckled and looked a little guilty.
"Sorry, Retsuko. Had a hard day's night."
"Did Ton keep you for overtime?" Retsuko asked. "He's been pulling that more and more since the quarter is almost over."

"Oh, nothing like that," Haida smiled, and Fenneko gave him a look.
Beneath his desk, almost unnoticing, Haida's fingers played an invisible bass, going over the arrangement he'd been practicing last night.

He'd started it right after work, hurried home because it was the moments of inspiration that you needed to get things down- and lasted long into the night, humming over notes and lyrics. He'd been tired, but when you had your muse, you didn't stop- and Haida had kept himself up with cans of iced coffee he'd bought the other day. He'd been wanting to try it since he'd seen that guy Resasuke with it all the time, and he'd quickly become a fan.

Not that he wanted anything to do with that guy.

That further fueled Haida's ambition, and it wasn't until long past midnight that the hyena fell asleep across the couch, papers and bass scattered across the floor.

"It was just…a personal project," Haida finished, with a chuckle.
"Oh," Retsuko nodded and smiled. "Good luck with that."
Fenneko smiled, not saying a word.

Haida grinned. He knew he might never get the opportunity to share his project with her, but seeing her happy face was more than enough to make up for that.
Besides, he still had work to do. He had to make the song just right. After all, the song was for Retsuko.