Chapter Text
“Yabai! I’m so late!” The harried girl hopped to the door as she pulled on her leggings, tripping twice in the process due to her short legs. “Ittekimasu!”
“Aren’t you going to have breakfast?” Kojima Haruna poked her head out of the kitchen, a frying pan in hand.
Takamina surveyed the ominous dark smoke wafting from the unidentified fried object and supressed a grimace. “It’s okay. I’ll eat at the cafeteria. I’m late for class.” She waved goodbye to her roommate and was out the door in a flash.
It was just past daybreak, but the apartment was so far away from their university that you’d need to budget at least two hours to get there in good time. Haruna sighed and made a mental note to visit the realtor’s office again today to find someplace nearer school.
“More breakfast for us then.” Haruna shrugged and dished out the food. “Mii~! Wake up!”
A disheveled Minegishi lumbered into the kitchen like a zombie and sat herself at the dining table as Haruna placed the meal in front of her. Miichan grunted her thanks for the food and began shovelling in her breakfast.
Sipping on her coffee, Haruna graced her other roommate with a satisfied smile. She knew she was no great cook, but Miichan always ate it with relish anyway. “What’s your plan for today?” she asked.
“Marghf mm dem mmrk,” Miichan mumbled.
“What time does your shift end?”
“Shrvfn.”
Haruna pushed Takamina’s share of the omelette into the other girl’s bowl, which was promptly inhaled. “Come back for dinner. I’m making nabe.”
“Mmm.”
They sat in companionable silence, the only sounds were of Miichan wolfing down breakfast.
————-
In contrast with the peaceful tableau at the trio’s house, breakfast was a raucous affair in another small household, somewhere in the respectable suburbs of Tokyo.
“I’m not hungry!”
“Sakuragi, you come and sit your butt down afore I glue it down.”
“I’d shimmy outta my pants then.”
“Then I’mma glue your nekkid smartass onto the chair.”
The little girl stuck her tongue out and made a face. “Child abuse.”
Yuko grinned and grabbed her daughter in a wrestling hold, lifting her over her shoulder. Sakuragi squealed with laughter, squirming in the iron grip her mother had on her.
“Shh! You’ll wake your father,” Yuko shushed the girl as she put her down in front of her half-eaten breakfast.
“C’n we go to the playground later?”
She ran fingers through the child’s long fine hair and gently smoothened out the messy kinks. “Only if you finish breakfast in a single sitting.”
“Yaay!”
“Oh for crying out loud, Yuko. I just got back from an all-nighter. You could at least let me sleep in,” her husband complained in a hoarse voice, peering out of the bedroom door into the dining area. He had come home at four a.m. reeking of stale beer and cheap perfume.
“You need to get up for work anyway,” Yuko informed him matter-of-factly, placing his breakfast at the table.
“Otou-san, ohayo gozaimasu,” Sakuragi mumbled, suddenly subdued with the appearance of her father.
“I’m supposed to have a breakfast meeting. I’ll just go since I’m up already anyway,” he grumbled, going into the bathroom to wash up.
“More breakfast for us then,” chirped Sakuragi with a bright voice, trying to cheer the downcast atmosphere. She pulled the plate meant for her father towards her and started eating from both plates, earning a hair ruffling from Yuko.
“Remember, everything in one sitting,” her mother reminded her, with a wry grin.
“Just watch me.” Sakuragi narrowed her eyes at the formidable quantity of food and began to demolish her breakfast methodically.
————-
The train ride was hellish, as always. The only bright spot was that the girl she was squashed up against had a cute outfit and smelled really nice.
It wasn’t as though she subscribed to the practice nor did she endorse it, but not for the first time, she pondered over the psychology of the common train molestor and came to understand the meaning of ‘cheap thrills’ in a deeper way.
I am so gay it’s not even funny, she facepalmed mentally.
The train doors opened and a sea of office-attire clad drones were belched out onto the platform. She adjusted her suit as she shuffled out- indistinguisable from the swarm around her.
It was still early and her office was just four blocks away from the station, so she made a brief detour to the convenience shop to pick up her second breakfast.
Tapping on the security access with her passcard, she was startled when a beefy hand reached out from behind, over her shoulder to push the door open.
“Maeda-kun. Ohayou.”
“Ohayo gozaimasu,” Atsuko greeted her supervisor with a bow, moving to her cubicle quickly, pretending she didn’t notice the lecherous old man staring at her ass appreciatively.
Pulling her mobile out, she quickly typed out a message and tossed her phone aside. Booting up her computer, she got an early start on her emails while munching on her store-bought onigiri.
Glancing at the clock, she sighed as she counted the hours until lunch.
Same mundane shit, different mundane day.
—————
Itano Tomomi was currently face down on the couch, snoring loudly.
Working two jobs was hell, but the tips she got bartending at her night job was worth it. She would come home with the first train, and collapse onto the nearest flat surface. Most times it would be the couch, but there were times she’d just end up on the floor by the door, shoes still on her feet.
Her phone buzzed, startling her into an upright position as she felt around for it on the couch, both eyes still closed.
Squinting at the screen with one eye, she snorted as she read the contents of the mail:-
From: Acchan
Sub: Good morning
You looked so sexy on the couch, lying in a pool of your drool this morning I was loathe to wake you. Eat your breakfast and then go to bed. I’ll wake you in time for work later.
PS- if you stain the couch again, I will end you.
Tomochin snapped her mobile phone close and yawned widely, picking up the ‘breakfast’ Acchan left her on the coffee table. She unwrapped the mini muffin and crammed into her mouth, washing it down with a few chugs of milk. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she shuffled into her room for a few more hours of sleep.