Coffee + Milk
Because some people need a glass of warm milk to fall asleep. And others require a cup of coffee for a morning kick start. But certain people just need a friend for some peace.
~Dhatura~
Ikusaba Mukuro was having trouble sleeping.
For hours she had lied on her bed, restlessly shifting from one position to another, in hopes of falling asleep. All to no avail, I'm afraid. No matter how comfortable she may have felt above her soft dorm bed, her brain just wasn't budging. It was still her first few nights in Hope's Peak Academy's Dormitory after all, so she inferred that her brain was having difficulty in coping.
Growing up in an environment where an enemy soldier could attack at any minute meant developing a sense of caution. And there was no better time to strike down a target than at night. Assailants camouflaged in the darkness, lurking in the shadows, with their weapons in hand. Naturally, Ikusaba often spent nights on guard, so as to protect both herself and her comrades.
And it would seem that all her night shifts in the mercenary group Fenrir had royally fucked up her hypothalamus.
This wasn't much of a problem in Fenrir where she could occasionally take night shifts and rest in the mornings. But here in Hope's Peak Academy, she had to spend the day learning in classes and thus had to ensure that she had as much rest as possible. If not, it might result to her dozing off in class and her grades dropping. Furthermore, she might even be expelled from the school and separated from her beloved little sister once more.
She simply couldn't have that.
But luckily for her, it was only a matter of time before she learned to adapt. As a soldier, she had to learn how to rapidly adapt to a variety of harsh environments. If she could survive in the dense jungles of the tropics, surely she could make it through alive in high school, right?
But as the time honored saying goes: easier said than done.
High school was a stark contrast to the battle fields that she had been accustomed to. In Fenrir, she lived with cold-hearted, rough mercenaries who all shared the same duties like herself. But her classmates and schoolmates were a colorful batch of bright young talents. Their views of the world were all much too different from hers. She who had first hand experienced the adrenalin-stimulating terror of war. Thus on her first day of high school, she was instantly ostracized as the 'different girl'. She didn't make any friends and everyone feared her. She failed to make any allies.
But at least she was reunited with her darling little sister.
Ah, yes, Enoshima Junko was the epitome of the popular high school girl archetype. With her super model beauty and bubbly façade, making friends and ruling the school was a ball in the park. They had different last names, but were true to blood sisters, twins even. However, they were much too different.
In the inside, Junko was a bit odd, some might even say borderline insane. But Ikusaba knew her sister better than that. They shared the same childhood, the same blood, the same DNA and the same past. She was the only one who could truly understand her and her abnormal obsession with despair.
Right?
That's why despite all of the insults her sister flung at her, she believed that she deserved them and that her sister only said them because she loved her. Junko was the perfect little sister. And she was just the wretched disappointment of an older sister.
Ikusaba's thoughts had wandered off in a random direction for far too long. She checked the time on the clock attached to the wall and it read 2:38 AM. Had she really spent so much time pointlessly pondering on her current circumstances?
Faced with the ticking evidence on the wall, the Super High School Level Soldier concluded that she had wasted several hours of highly valued sleep and would pay the price in the morning.
Getting up, the soldier quickly pulled out an alarm clock from her cabinets and settled it on her bedside table. She set the alarm to go off at 7:30 AM and situated it at the edge, mere inches from where her ears would lie later.
Ikusaba Mukuro could only hope that she would wake up to the sound of the ringing alarm. Her body was always quick to react with an average of a tenth of a second in reaction speed. But due to her sleep deprivation, things were becoming unpredictable.
Judging by the growing weariness in her eyes, she hypothesized that she would be falling asleep soon. It was natural since the girl tended to collapse into slumber around 3:30 AM. And it was nearing around that time very soon.
To seal the deal, Ikusaba supposed that a glass of warm milk would do her good.
The girl promptly got up from her bed, put on her slippers and walked out of the room. She was heading for the dorm kitchen. And as it was the middle of the night, only the sound of her footsteps could be heard in the halls. Everyone else would most likely asleep by now.
Lucky bastards.
In no time flat, Ikusaba arrived at her desired destination. The door was unlocked and unmonitored. The room was desolate. As a regular student of the Main division of the school, she was entitled to free living expenses. So she might as well cash in her benefits.
The girl wordlessly opened the fridge and took out a carton of milk. She heated it up in a kettle using the stoves. The Super High School Level Soldier had survived in the wilderness by heating up rations. So, this level of cookery was mere child's play.
After a couple of minutes of patient waiting, she poured the drink into a glass and let it settle for a while. She did have to make sure to do so with the utmost focus. It would be a disaster if she were to break something in lieu of her somnolence.
Ikusaba then drank the glass of warm milk slowly. If she weren't careful, she could scald her tongue. It wouldn't be the worst of tragedies, but would still be a terrible bother, impairing gustative sensations for a week.
A moment of silence passed, and the soldier relished in the calming fragrance of warm milk.
That's when Ikusaba heard the sound of footsteps nearing the kitchen door. It was very late into the night. So what was someone else doing up in this hour? Perhaps it was just another student in search of a sleep-inducing beverage such as herself.
Regardless, the former mercenary couldn't take the chance. She crouched down to the edge of the kitchen island, but not before taking a couple of knives off the wall. She then readied herself both physically and mentally. The soldier pictured every possible eventuality and prepped herself to execute her plan of attack. Her drowsiness immediately dissipated in exchange for the surge of adrenalin.
She set the glass of milk down on the clean tiled-floor a safe distance from her. It would be a real shame, to let her hard work go to waste.
CREAK!
The sound of the door opening filled the room, and Ikusaba went into action. With a quick, decisive throw, she firmly planted a small knife onto the surface of the door, inches from her target's face. That was the warning shot. Another knife was ready in her hand, but she returned to the back of the island, not even giving her prey a chance to get a glimpse of her.
But once the knife made impact with the door, a familiar voice of distress resounded in her ears. It was feminine and high-pitched, but belonged to a male classmate of hers.
Poking her head above the island, she carefully looked at the familiar boy. He looked distraught. His signature ahoge was twitching straight upwards. But he seemed harmless enough.
"Ah, Naegi-san. Apologies, I mistook you for an assailant." Ikusaba formally apologized with her regular monotone voice.
The Super High School Level Good Luck on the other hand had much emotion in his words. "I-ikusaba-san! Thank goodness it's just you! I thought I was in some serious trouble just back there."
She arched a brow. "Are you insinuating that I am not dangerous, Naegi-san?"
"Ah, oh no, of course not! I'm sure you can be very dangerous Ikusaba-san!" Naegi frantically clarified raising his hands slightly. "It's just that uh… you seem trustworthy enough."
It was slight, but Ikusaba Mukuro's eyes certainly widened at her classmate's words.
Trustworthy? Now, that was a word that wasn't used very often to describe the Super High School Level Soldier. Most people she met tended to use words such as violent, hazardous or a killing machine.
"I see…" the girl was left wordless for a bit, trying to process what she had just heard. "Out of curiosity, what are you doing here at this hour, Naegi-san?"
That seemed to bring the boy back to his senses, as he walked to the table and took out a jar of brown powder.
"I had some trouble sleeping so I thought I'd have nice cup of coffee to help me in the morning." Naegi explained, smiling genuinely at the female soldier.
"Coffee for sleeping troubles?" Ikusaba asked, bewildered by the boy's methods. "But wouldn't the caffeine just keep you awake even more, Naegi-san? Wouldn't it be more effective to have some warm milk instead?" She took her glass from the floor and showed it to him. "I too had trouble sleeping and thus, prepared a glass of milk."
Naegi nodded thoughtfully. "True. Warm milk helps people fall asleep. But you've got that wrong. Coffee doesn't one hundred percent keep a person awake. So I can still sleep after a drink of coffee." He started scooping out some coffee powder into a glass. "And since it's so late already, we might have difficulty waking up early later in the morning. Plus, we would move sloppily and take forever to get ready. But if you drink coffee before sleeping, then you would wake up alert and ready in the morning."
The boy began to heat up some water just like the girl had done moments ago.
"I see. So, you are saying it would be more beneficial for us to drink coffee before bed. That way we can prepare for class faster in the morning?" Ikusuba repeated the boy's words in the form of a question.
Naegi nodded. He didn't know it, but his kind smile tugged a couple of Ikusaba's heart strings.
"And this is supported by scientific literature?"
"Hmm... I guess. I read it on a photo I saw on Mixi, and it seemed pretty legit."
Seeds of doubt were sown inside the soldier's mind. "Is that wise? Trusting a photo on a social networking site so blindly?"
"Maybe not. But I've tried it myself several times. And I can say for certain, that it worked. Sometimes, you just need a little hope."
Ikusaba drank a few sips of her milk. "Hope…? I suppose that is reassuring. But why would you need to try this method so many times?"
Her looks were still the same, bereft of any emotions. But for some reason, Naegi felt that she was whole-heartedly interested in his late night activities.
"To be honest," Naegi started off nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I'm still pretty shocked by all of the turn of events, me winning a lottery redrawing by pure dumb luck and then being shipped off to the best school in Japan. And my classmates are all so unique. It's a really big cultural shock for me, so I've been having trouble sleeping at night."
A brief silence passed. "I can empathize with you."
And she really could. As a soldier, she was really out of her element here at Hope's Peak Aacademy. Naegi must have had it just as rough. He was just an ordinary guy up to a couple of weeks ago before the lottery. But after a stroke of luck, he wounded up in a prestigious school with talented individuals everywhere. The fate of a Super High School Level Good Luck was definitely hard.
No words were exchanged for a while. The two were classmates, but they weren't exactly friends. Neither of the two knew what to say to the other. Ikusaba focused on her milk, while Naegu attended to the kettle, heating up his water.
"Ikusaba-san?"
The soldier looked Naegi in the eye, and saw his obvious nervousness. "Yes?"
"I know we just met recently. But I don't know many people in our class, so could I possibly… ask for you to be… my friend?"
What?
Friend, huh? A true soldier valued the bond of allies. Without a comrade, soldiers could easily be picked off one at a time. Divide and conquer, as the age long saying goes.
In Fenrir, Ikusaba had worked alongside her comrades in blood and sweat. But at Hope's Peak Academy, the only comrade she had established was Junko, and that was only because she was her sister.
She supposed another ally would do her a lot of good.
"I would like that very much, Naegi-kun." Ikusaba's lips lightly lifted upwards. It was almost a smile.
Naegi sighed in relief. "Glad to hear that. So, Ikusaba-san, now that we're friends shall I prepare you a cup of warm coffee?"
Normally, Ikusaba Mukuro would politely decline and exercise her independence. But she felt like honoring Naegi's offer. So, she consented.
"Then I'll fix you up some milk, Naegi-kun."
"Ah, thank you, Ikusaba-san." The boy's cheek lightly colored pink.
They both prepared a drink and gave it to the other. The two of them smiling, they toasted to their friendship with their warm glasses. They drank together. A brief period of silence shortly followed but was quickly countered by Naegi's attempts at conversation. They talked about the differences of Hope's Peak Academy and their previous lives, which of their classmates stood out and several other mundane topics. Ikusaba wasn't as talkative as most other girls around her age, but she did her best to contribute in their verbal exchange. That fact alone should be enough to demonstrate their friendship.
And by the time their glasses were emptied and their talk loomed to a closing, the clock struck past 3:00 AM. And before Ikusaba could return to her room, she abruptly collapsed. Luckily, Naegi was able to catch her. Unsure of what to do, he carried the shockingly light girl bridal style, his cheeks furiously blooming.
Naegi was just about to take the somnolent girl to her room, when the soporific drink known as warm milk kicked in. He too drifted into the garden of Hypnos.
Both of them fell to the cold tiled-floor, Naegi's back resting on the island's wall while Ikusaba lay comfortably on his shoulder. The entirety of her body was more or less on top of Naegi's. The two new friends peacefully dozed off into their dreams, as they slept together for better or worse. Both of their lips still stained with traces of milk and coffee.
In the morning, a certain Super High School Level Model who uncharacteristically woke up early found an interesting surprise in the kitchen. And after hearing the sound of a camera snapping several times, both students woke up alert and alive.
Naegi swiftly fled for the exit without a second guess, ignoring the shrill laughter behind him and leaving Ikusaba to deal with her mischievous younger sister.