Birthday Boy - Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-San
"COCK-A-DOODLE DOO!"
Nishikata awakes, his eyes with eyebags under them, mostly because he stayed up watching pre-recorded 100% Requited Love episodes for about two hours last night. The small chicken alarm continues barking out an annoying order to get out of bed, but eventually, Nishikata slaps it on the head to stop the noise. He groans, steps out of bed, and walks to his wardrobe. He grabs out his normal school uniform, a sort of business shirt, and some jeans. He lays them on his bed, and scavenges the clean wardrobe for his leather belt. Finally, he feels something on the ground, a rough material that would only refer to one thing. He grabs his belt firmly and chucks it onto his bed. He slides the wardrobe door close and, before you know it, he's outside his bedroom with his clothes on. He scurries downstairs, resting his body on the handrail that's beside the set of stairs, and trudges over to the kitchen counter. He opens up multiple cabinets, in subsequent order, and doesn't find anything until tugging on the last one to the right. He then grabs a small cardboard box with an anime design printed on, then shakes it, to reveal there is a flood of flaky pieces inside. He holds onto the box of cereal and shakes it. He sighs, dreadfully, and throws it onto the wooden table near him, and then looks for a bowl. He discovers one that's on a hook and hurries over with it to the bench and places it there. Nishikata holds up the cereal, to find a message on a white note stuck to the box. He opens his eyes fully, for the time being, and his eyes follow the words that are written on there.
'Hey, honey! I'm out at the moment, at the mall, so I hope you can look after yourself! You've done this many times, so you know the routine! You'll be gone, anyways, before I get home. So, I'll see you after school, okay? XOX, Mum.'
Nishikata sheds a small tear at the 'XOX' part and stuffs the note in is pocket. He then glimpses out of the window above the sink. His eyes adjust, and without his terrible attitude, he smiles. Until he notices the clock on the wall saying 7:58. He shoves all the cornflakes out of the box into his dish, and to his realization, he figures out what is required.
Spoon.
He hurries to the cabinets once more and grabs a metal spoon, his feet pounce of the ground to form a sprint and runs over to the table. He gulps the patch of corn flakes down his throat, without milk.
AGHH! My mouth... is hurts so much! I need milk- wait, no! Who cares! I've gotta hurry!
He keeps chugging it down and somehow finishes the worst breakfast of his life, then paces up the staircase towards his room and steals his black suitcase from the floor, and he guides himself back down again to the living room and slides to his collection of shoes. He doesn't take time to decide which pair to take, and he grasps a random pair of black shoes and slits them on his feet. He clasps onto the front doors' handle and turns it clockwise. He tugs on it and jogs outside, and shuts the door, locking it. He runs down the road, taking the various directions he usually takes to get to the school. He glances at his arm to find no watch what-so-ever.
CRAP! My watch!
He immediately stops and grips his handbag's handle very hard, almost forgetting it was a school morning. He breathes heavily, feeling overwhelmed by the schedule of everything in the morning. He finds his composure and ends up opening his bag and identifies his phone in the midst of stationary buried in the interior. He snatches the mobile phone and turns it on the second he feels it in his cold hands.
Oh, thank god!
The time displayed only said 8:08, which relieved Nishikata. Briefly. He let his whole body just fall a part for a minute before his eyes close and his mouth breathes out slowly. As he is about to resume his walk to school, Takagi walks around the corner, being behind Nishikata. Seeing Nishikata like this gave her the perfect opportunity. She stumbles forward, her stance getting steady. She hops up, like a bunny, and shouts;
"BOO!", Takagi yells, breaking Nishikata out of the calm phase he was in.
"WAH!" Nishikata screams horrifically. It doesn't take a minute for Nishikata to register what had just occured.
"AH! Takagi-san! What... why?! I was having a perfect little rest that was well earned!" Nishikata starts to mutter, but then sighs again.
"I didn't know!" She starts to giggle uncontrollably. Nishikata blushes for half a second before talking in a high pitched tone about how annoying and 'bad' that was for him. "I mean, why?!" he starts repeating, but then Takagi stops laughing and answers,
"Because your reactions are the BEST! They're so funny, and you're open to anything.".
Nishikata scowls. Everyday, actually everyday, he's had to punish himself for the teasing he has to put up with against Takagi. Nishikata gives some feeble attempts every now and then to get payback on her, but they never work and usually backfire, physically or mentally. While Takagi keeps on the subject about how vulnerable Nishikata is to the teasing, he thinks about a plan to embarrass Takagi.
Man, what do I do? Ah, I know, maybe I should try to embarrass her... but how?!
Takagi boasts even more about the acts of teasing, with Nishikata not even listening to half of it, but one sentence distracts Nishikata and sets back his steps for his plan.
"Anyone who has you to tease is lucky, for not only teasing, but something else!" Takagi says, obviously trying to give another hint of love to Nishikata. Although he's pretty oblivious most of the time, he knew deep in his heart what that comment meant. But didn't quite understand the context behind it. His cheeks change to a shade of red. "Ah, you're blushing." Takagi replies, waiting for a annoyed rebuttal.
"What? Oh, it's not what you think..." Nishikata mumbles.
"So what is it, then?" Takagi asks, in a pleasant tone but with a sneaky face. Her eyes narrow. Nishikata blushes even more.
"It... it's just HOT!" he claims, then picks up his bag again. "How hot?" she says.
"VERY HOT! How about we just walk to school?!" he asks frantically. "Sure." Takagi acknowledges.
Together, they march to their middle school, with Nishikata acting strangely quiet for the rest of the journey.