Four of the members of Afterschool Tea-Time stood over the fifth, who had just recently stopped responding to external stimuli. Afternoon sunlight filled Yui's bedroom from the side window. They had some American reggae music playing on the stereo, and Mugi was giggling uncontrollably.
"Nice, Azusa! This is some good shit right here. I like that you're finally just, getting loose, you know, not worrying about shit." Azusa just laid there on the floor, eyes closed, without reply.
"R-r-r-ritsu...she's not m-moving..." Mio said, playing with her hands nervously. She rubbed her knees together as she remembered those videos from health class, with the kids doing drugs and then getting brain cancer and dying immediately after, or something like that.
"Mio, why do you always have to be so weird all the time? Azusa's fine, she's just super chill."
"B-but Ri-"
"Dude. She's not gonna fucking die. Look at Mugi, she does this shit all the time!"
Mugi stopped laughing for a second to respond. "I... Yeah! Fuck...uh...Don Quixote? heehehehehee!"
"See? Nothing to worry about"
"O-okay...Yeah you're right...I-I should just stop talking s-shouldn't I..."
At this point, Yui had also begun to suspect Azusa wasn't taking these drugs too well. She knew that Azusa didn't really hang out with them much - she was always just kinda doing her homework by herself - and Yui kind of felt for her, so she thought she should say something. "You gave her too much, Ritsu. But you gotta draw a penis on her face!"
"She's fine! She's just closing her eyes to visualize the music. Right, Azusa? I mean, Yui's gonna draw a dick on your face but you're cool with that right?"
Azusa's head slumped down slightly.
"Y-you know... I know you said she's fine R-Ritsu... and I know I'm a dumb b-b-bitch like you always say, but..."
"Yes, all those things are true."
"Y-yeah...but... I really think she's-"
Ritsu put her hand up. "Wait... let me look at her for a second." She began to look closer, examining Azusa's eyelid. She prodded around Azusa's body with a focused expression, checking parts of the body that seemed like they were important. She also noticed there was some blood coming out of Azusa's eye socket. Eventually, with the medical expertise she had acquired from years of heavy drug use, Ritsu was able to come to a sound conclusion about what was going on. "Hey, I think something is wrong with Azusa. She's probably unconscious."
"W-well I just wanted to say..."
"Not now, Mio. We need to get her to a hospital or something."
"Right, cool, except my mom is downstairs in the kitchen," explained Yui, "so how are we gonna get her through the door? I mean, we'll get in trouble if my mom sees us dragging Azusa around and stuff."
"Don't worry, I have a plan."
Mugi's giggle broke into a hysterical laughter.
Yui's mother, a kind, dutiful woman, stood over the steaming pot, scooping off the outer layers of fat from the soup. She worked hard raising Yui and Ui, and she would always continue to do so, but right now her head was filled with worry about their future. Her husband had come home late last night very angry and slightly drunk, which indicated to her that something was wrong with his work. Would they be all right? Will they lose their house? These things were completely out of her control, since she was now a mere housewife, but she could not help worrying. As these dark thoughts raced around in her mind, Yui and her friends descended from above.
At least those children were enjoying themselves. They walked through the room without a care in the world; Mugi was smiling and laughing, while the other three strode with their arms over eachother's shoulders like a broadway chorus. Seeing Azusa, with her eyes closed to take in the wonderful moment and her head moving around so freely, made her happy to know that at least those lives were, in this moment, happy, and all that hard work raising her kids might really be worth it.
"Hi, kids! Dinner's almost ready. Would you like to stay over? I know Azusa especially likes this tomato soup."
Azusa looked towards the kitchen to reply. She was still shoulder-to-shoulder with Ritsu and Yui, looking like she was having a really good time. She didn't even open her eyes when she replied; that's how carefree she was at that moment. "I'd love to, but we're going over to the ho...uh...hot new theater downtown."
"Oh, I see! How exciting! Ah, Ritsu, I m sorry, did you want to say something? I noticed that your mouth was moving at the same time as Azusa was speaking."
"Oh, hehe, uh, no, I was just talking to myself."
"Ah, alright then. Well have a nice time!"
"Thank you Mrs. Hirasawa! See you later!"
And with that, the girls exited the house together, arm in arm, with ecstatic smiles on their faces, laughing all the way. Yui's mother really wished they could stay, since they made the house so much more fun. Her children were what brought joy into her life.