11 years previous; Kamen Rider Blade; AU
Tachibana walked into the one-bedroom apartment he shared with Hajime and Kenzaki and took the rolled up newspaper and thwacked Hajime in the head with it, "Oi, get up!"
Hajime unrolled himself and stuck his tongue out, "No."
"Hajime, you are going to be late for work! Again!" Tachibana yelled.
Hajime scrambled to his feet and nearly feel back down to the tatami mats before getting up again, "Why didn't you say anything?" he yelled as he ran to the bathroom, stripping himself of his clothing and tossing it out the door to take a quick shower, not seeing the smirk on Tachibana's face as he made a complete fool on himself, "Because it's Saturday and it's fun watching you act like a complete and total idiot."
Standing in the middle of the open bathroom, washing his hair and brushing his teeth, Hajime stopped in mid scrub and mumbled around the toothbrush, "Saturday?!" he walked out, naked, and glared at Tachibana, "YOU IDIOT!"
Tachibana hid his face behind the pillow, "Dude, I don't want to see your wang."
"I don't care! You know how I hate rushing though things!" Hajime yelled again.
Tachibana laughed, "Finish your shower and then we will head to the Laundromat. Kenzaki's already out getting the shopping done and paying rent."
Hajime sighed and went back in and finished up, taking his time this time, "You two really suck."
Tachibana shrugged his shoulders and started to gather up their dirty clothes and mats, "Have to have some sort of fun since we are retired from the Rider game and you aren't Undead anymore."
Hajime scoffed, "Don't remind me," he finished up his shower, tossed out his towel to Tachibana and started to get dressed. He then stepped out and sat at his desk chair and started to put his socks on, still sighing, "Do you miss it?"
Tachibana was working on his own socks and shoes when he just shrugged his shoulders, "Sometimes, especially when you see the news and hear about the Makamou and Oni, but what can we do? The drivers are broken and you're alive."
Hajime nodded, "Yeah, guess you're right," he then stood up and pulled his hair up and looked at Tachibana, "Did you get everything gathered up?"
Tachibana nodded and stood up, "We should clean the floor before we put the mats back down tonight."
Hajime nodded as he was looking in his wallet, "Want to get a bite to eat? I have 2,500¥ sitting in here doing nothing."
"Sure. What do you feel like?" Tachibana tossed him his coat then put his own on, "Still pretty cool out there," he grabbed their bags of laundry and made Hajime carry the soap.
First they stopped at the Laundromat nearby, started the wash up and had their mats dry cleaned before walking to an udon stand and ordered some fresh cooked udon noodles and a shot of saki and two beers.
They were halfway through when Kenzaki was finally able to join them. He sat down pretty hard as he was given his own bowl of udon, cold of course, and well as a shot of saki and a can of beer, "Manager-san said if we are late on the rent again, we are going to get kicked out."
Tachibana sighed, "If it isn't one thing, it's another. BOARD doesn't pay us enough to make rent all at once."
"You add rent, internet, cable, our cell phones, electric, and still the payments from your hospital stay, food, laundry and whatever else we end up paying, she should be lucky we can pay for anything!" Hajime yelled.
"That's what I said, but she didn't want to hear you. She said since we are adults, we are responsible for our actions and who the hell knows what else she said, I stopped listening," Kenzaki replied as he drowned his shot and started to eat.
Tachibana smiled a little, "You never listen."
"I do, too, when it counts," he stuck his tongue out.
Hajime looked at the other two after looking at his phone for the last several moments, "Have you seen this?" he then showed them the mobile site he was looking at, "A new company has sprung up over the last few years. Looks like people are lining up to work there. The boss is so generous and they claim they are making 10% more than they did at other companies and the work hours and conditions are better and the company helps the poor out a lot."
Kenzaki and Tachibana read the site and then looked at each other, "We could apply there. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Boss-san could find out and fire us?" Kenzaki pointed out.
"We are in trouble most of the time as it is. We could get fired at any time," Tachibana added.
Kenzaki sighed, "You're right. Do we have ink in the printer?"
Hajime nodded, "We should have enough to print our resumes out."
"Then let's do it," Kenzaki announced.
They all got up and went back to their place and got their resumes printed out and sent them out in the mail before going and checking on their laundry.
A week later, all three of them received letters from Ito Technologies welcoming them to the company and gave them 2 months advance pay with a move-in bonus to the new apartment complex owned by the company. It included free internet, cable and a washer/dryer combo in each apartment, which they gladly took.
Once they arrived at their new apartment, they where all shocked by the size of the place, which included 3 bedrooms and western style, queen size beds.
Tachibana dropped the bag he was holding and looked on in shock and aw, "What the fuck? We have got to be at the wrong place!"
The others just nodded in agreement, but then there was a knock on the door which woke them up from their shock. Tachibana went to the door and saw a young girl in a university uniform. She stood about 153cm (about 5'3"), long black hair that was pleaded down her back, stopping at her hips, brown, very slanted eyes and rosy cheeks, "Welcome to Ito Technologies, Blade, Garren and Chalice. I'm Ito Haru, your boss," she said with a sweet smile.
TBC…