Author Note: I reworked this concept so many times to try and get it in character. I hope I succeeded.
Lisa deposited her bass in its case, taking a seat next to it to catch her breath. Band practice hadn't been any longer than usual, but she felt oddly tired. Today's rehearsal was certainly not her strongest showing, but Lisa planned to practice at home that evening to make up for it. The music had been hard to read today, quarter notes dancing with the rests in a mesmerizing way. Lisa still had other things to do after rehearsal, but she needed a short rest before continuing.
That morning, Lisa went in early to school to help set up for dance practice. One of the students who usually did it was out of town and asked Lisa to help while she was gone, which she was happy to do. It required her to be out of the house by 6:30, which meant she needed to wake by 5:30 at the latest. Lisa had been aiding in this task for the last week now, but it really wasn't a big deal. She was able to complete it and only had to stop and yawn a couple times.
Her school day had been normal, for the most part. Yukina needed help with English, so Lisa spent time during lunch tutoring her. Her vocabulary was slightly improved, but Lisa knew that it would still take some more effort before Yukina could do it properly.
After school Roselia had band practice. Yukina and Lisa walked there together, and though they walked a little slower than usual they still arrived with plenty of time to spare.
Practice had been, well, rough. It was hard to focus on reading the music and playing at the same time. She'd been slipping lately, not just today. For the last week or so maybe things had been rough.
After rehearsal she needed to buy some food, since in about an hour Lisa needed to be at the convenience store where she worked. Extra shifts, on top of her normal ones, would help her make a few extra dollars. Her bass strings were starting to get worn out and replacing them with a good set would be expensive. She'd been working almost every other evening for the last few weeks. The shift was from 8:00-12:00, so she'd be done at midnight. Moca was schedule to work that evening too, so at least the shift would be interesting.
After work, the last task for the day would be walking home and putting in that extra practice time. There was one part in R she wanted to target, since she just couldn't get it right during rehearsal. Maybe slowing it down and playing with a metronome would help.
"Lisa." Yukina's voice called out, drawing Lisa from her musing. She brought her eyes up, wondering when Yukina got so close. The other teen's lips were quirked down, one hand lifted slightly towards Lisa. "Are you okay?"
Ah, Yukina must've been disappointed with her performance during practice. "I'm fine!" It almost hurt for Lisa to paste on her usual smile. "I'll perform better tomorrow for sure!"
"That's not what I mean." Yukina shook her head once, eyebrows furrowing slightly. "You've been sitting there for ten minutes." She said, but that couldn't be right Lisa had just sat down a moment ago.
"Oh." Was what came out of her mouth. "I'd better get going then, can't be late for work!" Lisa stood, and the world wobbled. She inhaled sharply, but seeing Yukina's eyebrows shoot up she forced herself to exhale slowly. One more breath and everything was fine. "See you later Yukina!" She scooped up her bass and school bag, heading towards the door.
"Okay." Yukina said slowly and quietly, almost too soft for Lisa to hear even if her ears had been in tip top condition that day. She didn't have time to turn back and ask what was wrong though; she still needed to eat before work after all.
Some food would also help fight off the heaviness in her eyes and weight in her feet.
The counter was a good height for leaning, Lisa decided. She could lean against it a little when there wasn't a customer, which provided a small amount of respite. Most of the time there were customers though, so it wasn't as useful as it seemed.
"Lisa-san, Lisa-saaaan." Moca drawled from Lisa's left. "Earth to Lisa-saaaaaan." They both wore their usual work aprons.
Lisa turned her head, unable to read the expression on Moca's face. "Yes Moca?" She fought back a yawn.
"Did you hear what I just said?" Moca was committed to the full lean, one elbow firmly on the counter.
No, Lisa hadn't realized that Moca was talking to her before. "Sorry!" She apologized. "I'm a bit tired today."
"Hmmmm." Moca tilted her head, eyes narrowing. "The genius Moca-chan graces you with her stories, and this is how you repay her?" It sounded like a joke, which with Moca it usually was, but it was hard for Lisa to tell at that moment.
"I'm listening now, if you'd like to tell it again." Lisa didn't have the spare energy to joke around with Moca today.
A grin crept onto Moca's face. "Nah." She said in a lilting tone. "But if you restock the napkins, that would be a huuuuge step towards making up for it." Lisa looked over to check if the napkins actually needed filling and, oh yeah, they were out. When had that happened? She couldn't remember if there were even any there when the shift started.
"Okay." Lisa conceded, leaving the comfort of counter leaning to look for more napkins. They kept additional paper goods in the closet near the bathroom, so that was the best place to check. It was locked so that customers couldn't open it, which meant that Lisa needed the key. All of the building keys were kept together in the cash drawer, so the first step to replacing napkins was to find the right key.
The keys were labeled, so it shouldn't have been that difficult. Why then, Lisa wondered, was she having so much trouble finding the one that said 'supply closet'. She turned over all the keys multiple times, looking for the right one. Right when Lisa was about to give up and go look for it elsewhere, a hand popped into her field of vision.
"This one." Moca's voice was way too close considering she'd been leaning on the counter when Lisa turned away from her. "Here you go~." The key felt heavy as Moca dropped it in Lisa's palm, retreating back to her station once the deed was done.
Lisa turned it over in her hand, blinking at the words 'supply closet' clearly written on one end. It had been right there, but her eyes kept skipping over it. She had just, missed it, somehow.
Whatever, Moca had found it so it was fine. She was fine.
Step two was finding the napkins in the closet. Lisa was able to approach and open the door without incident. She looked inside and, where in here did they keep the napkins again? She combed the shelves one by one, making sure to stop on each item and not repeat the incident with the key.
It took a few minutes, but Lisa did spot the napkins. She grabbed one package of them, which would be plenty to fill the container.
Once she reached the container, all she had to do was open the back, remove the weighted part that held the napkins in place, and load the new napkins in.
Putting the napkins in straight was proving difficult though. Her hand eye coordination was usually pretty good, considering that she danced and played the bass guitar. For some reason these napkins just wouldn't go in, perhaps the shaking of her hands… oh.
Lisa took half a step back, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment. She was fine, she could make it through this shift. She opened her eyes, hands steadied, and resumed the task. When she finished piling the napkins in it wasn't perfect, but it was done. She just had to put the lid… back on… uh oh the lid was gone.
She looked around frantically, eyes landing on her coworker Moca. The younger teen stood behind the counter, spinning the napkin container lid on one finger with one eyebrow raised. How did she get that, Lisa wondered.
"Moca?" Lisa tried to keep her tone light as she approached. "Can I have that back please?" She forced a smile onto her face.
"No." Moca stopped spinning the lid. "In fact, as your supervisor, Moca-chan is sending you home." She said bluntly, far more firmly than she usually spoke.
"Excuse me?" Lisa stopped in front of the counter, extremely confused by the other girls' statements. "You can't send me home."
"Moca-chan can, you know why?" Moca's eyebrows furrowed. "You just spent thirty minutes filling the napkins."
Thirty minutes? It couldn't have been more than ten. "No way." It was not possible for it to take that long.
Moca held up her phone. "I timed it." Indeed, the timer on Moca's phone read 32:07. "Go home and get some sleep, Moca-chan can take care of things here." Moca stuck her phone back in her pocket as she spoke, freezing after she finished the motion. "Actually, if you walk home alone like this you might die." She held out one hand. "Gimme your phone."
Still too stunned by how slow her own actions were, Lisa acquiesced the device. Moca unlocked it, which was odd since she shouldn't know Lisa's password, and started fiddling with it before putting it up to her ear.
After a thirty second pause, she spoke into the phone. "Minato-san." Oh, she must've called Yukina. Lisa thought maybe she should try to stop whatever was happening right now, but it was already too late.
"I didn't steal it~." Moca said in a teasing tone. She listened for a moment. "You noticed too then? Good, come pick her up." With those words, Moca hung up the phone and placed it on the counter.
"You didn't." Lisa said, picking up her phone and stowing it away.
"I did. Minato-san will be here soon." Moca was frowning. "Go clock out, Moca-chan can handle the rest." She flashed an okay sign with one hand.
"I…" Lisa opened her mouth to apologize, but stopped midway through. "Thanks."
Moca actually smiled at that, reaching her eyes instead of stopping like the smirk. "What are friends for?" She leaned back down on the counter with the other elbow this time, resting her face against one palm as if to hide it.
Lisa went to clock out, taking extra care to punch in the right row. She left the store via the back entrance, taking a seat on a bench behind the building. The bench was installed so the employees could have smoke breaks, but they were mostly minors so it ended up as more of a hangout before work kind of place. A lamp post lit the area around it, staving off the dark of early evening. Lisa leaned forward, head in her hands and eyes shut. Just for a moment.
"Lisa." It felt like only a minute had passed, but if Lisa had learned anything that day it was that she couldn't trust her own perception of time passing. Yukina's voice, usually so composed, sounded rough as if she was breathing heavily. Lisa opened her eyes and looked up. Yukina still wore her school uniform from earlier, the frown was even more pronounced, and her cheeks were flushed as if she had… run there…
"Hey Yukina." Lisa moved as if to stand, but Yukina stopped her with an open palm, taking the open spot to her right, the outside of their skirts barely an inch from touching. "Sorry about all of this."
Yukina's gold eyes glinted in the dim light, the color slowly fading from her cheeks. "It's ok." She said much more calmly than before. "How are you feeling?"
Lisa raised her arms up in a feigned stretch. "I'm fine, Moca's just overreacting." She resisted the urge to rub her eyes. "Ready to get going?"
"Not yet." Yukina was breathing evenly now, completely recovered. Her eyes were locked onto Lisa's. "Tell me the truth."
The truth? What was the truth? That Lisa had been running herself ragged from dawn until dusk for the last two weeks? That she hadn't slept more than 4 hours a night in the same amount of time? That it took her thirty whole minutes to restock one set of napkins? That she really wanted to play well and help people out but it apparently was slowing her perception of time to an incomprehensible level?
"You know." Yukina's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, her eyes still intense. "I rely on you, a lot of people do." Her expression softened. "You can rely on me too."
Lisa's heart pounded in her chest and she had to resist the tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She hadn't thought about it that way. "I'm really tired, Yukina." A single tear escaped, and Lisa quickly rubbed it away. "I still need to practice the bass tonight, and I didn't even finish my shift. Moca is in there now all alone because I couldn't do it." Lisa sniffled, faced with too many tears to just wipe them.
"She can handle it." Yukina scooted a little closer, but still not close enough to touch. "She seems competent enough, most of the time."
Lisa chuckled at that. "I suppose you're right." She managed to smile through the tears.
"What else is bothering you?" Yukina asked, finally pressing her leg up against Lisa's.
A sigh escaped from Lisa's lips. "Without the money from this shift I'll be short for the bass strings." She would need to pick up another shift to make up for only working part of this one.
"Your sound has been suffering from the string quality." Yukina mused, one hand on her chin. "I don't have any equipment costs, so I can help cover the new strings." She nodded firmly, causing a fresh set of tears to well up in Lisa's eyes.
"Really?" She wrapped her arms around Yukina's shoulders, pulling her into a sideways hug. "Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome, it's in the bands best interest." Yukina pat her on the back lightly before Lisa released her.
Ah yes, it was for the band. "They will definitely improve my sound!"
"And." Yukina shifted oddly, bringing her hands together. "You'll have more time to rest too without the extra shifts."
"It'll be good for getting more practice in." Lisa mused out loud, wondering which shifts she could drop now for practice time.
"That's not what I mean." Yukina paused, face scrunching up in thought. "I was worried today. About your health, not your playing."
Oh. "Yukina…" Lisa was at a loss for words.
"The band is important but." The flush that was long gone from Yukina's face crept back onto it. "Not at the expense of your health. You should rest." Yukina cleared her throat and popped out of her seat at what seemed to be a godly speed, though that could've been the sleep deprivation talking. "Come on, let's get you home."
She reached out with one hand and Lisa took it, rising to her feet.
She didn't let go of that hand as they walked into the night under the pale light of streetlamps.
Even though Lisa was still exhausted, even as time warped around her, the feeling of Yukina's fingers intertwined in her own grounded her. She didn't want to miss a single moment as Yukina guided her home.