Bzzzt, Bzzzt, Bzzzt…
Kazuto awoke to a small buzz on his left side. He looked to his right, where a window was, and saw a little bit of light was shining through the blinders. He slowly rose into a sitting position and took a hold of his phone. Turning it on, he saw that he received a text from Shino.
Kazuto opened the text message.
"Hey Kazuto! I was wondering if you would like to come over to the Dicey Café in a bit. The others will be coming over, but not until much later today," The text message read.
Kazuto shrugged to himself and started typing on his phone.
"Sure, I'd be glad to. I'll be there in a bit."
And…send, he told himself as he hit the send button simultaneously. Looking around, He remembered he did not have a single box of furniture of possessions with him yet. Facepalming himself for the fact he did not bring any luggage of clothes, another thought reached his mind.
Where'd I get the futon?!
Sighing to himself, he looked around the apartment. The apartment was 3 roomed with a loft that was meant to be for the futon/bed, but he was too tired to roll out the futon up there and settled for the living room instead. The living room was a pretty decent size, where he could fit a TV and some other things in. It also had a balcony, where he could probably dry out his clothes. The other two rooms were meant to be the kitchen and the bathroom. He walked towards the area where he found the futon (which was a coat closet near the door) and found a note. The note basically was from the land lord who said that all new residents are welcomed with a futon.
Not taking the time to thank the land lord in his mind, Kazuto walked to the bathroom and splashed his face with water from the sink, only to also remember he had no towels…
~Meanwhile~
Shino gazed at her phone that showed Kazuto's latest text message, which stated that he agreed to coming. Stupid, Stupid! Shino thought to herself with a faint blush on her cheeks. She was in her apartment, getting ready to leave. She had actually moved to a bigger apartment a few years after Kazuto had left. When Kazuto had left, it unknowingly, to everyone including herself, affected her the most. She wouldn't admit it, but she missed Kazuto more than she had let out. Of course she really didn't have anyone to talk about it, Klein and Agil being, well, Klein and Agil, Asuna having just broken up with Kazuto –which she had found out a few days after Kazuto left, Keiko being too young (Even now she was still like a cute little cinnamon roll), Suguha being his sister cousin that happened to like him before, and Rika the most likely to say, "Welcome to the Kazuto harem, why'd it take you so long?!"…
Shino had to think to herself and remember why this was her selection of close friends.
~LE TIME SKIPZ~
Shortly after, true to his word, Kazuto had come inside the café in short time between the mini text conversation and now. His eyes were met with eyes almost as dark as his, and equally entrancing, but instead of getting sucked in to their wonder, he greeted their owner with a "Good morning, Shino," as he took a seat next to her on the bar. Shino smiled and replied with a quiet nod, taking a sip of her coffee. Kazuto called for the only other person who could be here, aka Andrew, and ordered himself a coffee. As he got the affirmative on his order, he turned his head slightly to the girl beside him while leaning on the bar. "So, any particular reason as to why you have called me over, Ms. Hecate?" He asked with a small grin.
From the looks of it, Shino hadn't been expecting any references to the past, as she nearly spat out another sip of the bitter coffee, but she held her ground. "Oh? A girl can't ask a guy to come over to ask how they've been after 8 years of no communication? Is that it?" She said with mock hurt as she put down her coffee with a small smile. "I was just asking," Kazuto said with a pout. They both looked at each other and laughed.
"So, Shino, what have you been doing for the past 8 years or so?" Kazuto asked as he took a sip of his recently ordered drink. "Ah, well…" Shino said, swirling the small remains of her coffee, "I recently got a job in the police department,"
It was Kazuto's turn to nearly spit his coffee, "B-b-b-b-but don't the police work with…"
"Guns? Yes, they do. But, I actually got a job in intelligence, mind you, and they found a way to hire me," Shino said with pride as she downed the last bit of coffee, and stood up. "Well, I have work to do, so you can leave or something, I guess, and visit Suguha's new dojo," and with that she left.
This time, Kazuto actually spat his coffee. "SHE HAS HER OWN DOJO?!"
Kazuto marched out, muttering things like 'she could at least tell me that' and other things along the line, while Andrew angrily cleaned up the spat coffee off the bar, muttering things along the lines of "They always forget about me…"
Kazuto walked around the streets quite indigently when he realized,
"Maybe I should have asked for the address…"
He knew it was too late, and he failed to ask the whereabouts of Shino's workplace, so the best he could do was go back home and try to research it. Deciding to take upon this course of action, Kazuto turned himself around and set course for his apartment.
It wasn't too far, the apartment, as he had only walked a little ways past the café, so in about 15 minutes or so, he made his way back, where he came across a moving truck in front of the apartment building. What a coincidence, I need to thank the writerGod for this plot convenience coincidental event, Kazuto thought as he walked forward to thank and meet the people who brought his furniture over.
~~~~~~TIME SKKIIIIP~~~~~~
With the last of the boxes moved into the apartment, Kazuto once again thanked the movers and let them leave with a small tip. He looked around at the slightly less empty apartment and started organizing his thoughts.I guess I'll start with all the kitchen stuff, he decided as he took the box labelled 'MUGS' in sharpie to the kitchen room.
There were counters lined all through the wall of the room, with gaps left for appliances like the stove and fridge. Above the countertops were cupboards lined the same way as the countertops, leaving one gap just above the gap meant for the stove, most likely for the microwave, Kazuto had deducted. Both the cupboards and counters were of white wood, except the different doors and drawers, which were left a plain light brown.
Kazuto opened the first cupboard he saw and proceeded to put all his mugs and other cups in the box into the cupboard, trying to leave as much space as possible for whatever else he would decide to put in the cupboard.
~TIME SKIP (do you really want to read about some guy putting stuff into cupboards?)~
By the time Kazuto had finished putting everything where he wished for it to be, it was already near sundown. He skipped lunch to fit in an extra hour of sorting and moving out furniture, as he was told to meet up at Agil's bar. He sweatdropped as he realized that was the only place he has been to so far, but he accepted their request all the same. Looking around one more time at his living room, Kazuto sighed in slight content. There was already a nip in the air, so he took out the kotatsu and had it out on the center of the room, where a TV was laid out in the corner of the wall along with a retro video game console. On the loft, there was now a futon ready to be rolled out and a nightstand, along with a small wardrobe with clothes he could now wear.
It's about time I have a change of clothes…, Kazuto thought to himself as he pulled out a few and quickly changed into them. Checking in a mirror near the ladder to the loft, he nodded to himself in approval. Kazuto dressed in a black hoodie with a dark grey shirt. He had on black jeans and was about to wear black sneakers. I guess I still have a habit of dressing in black, Kazuto mused as he put on his shoes and checked for his phone and keys before leaving the apartment.
The sun was starting to dip into the horizon as Kazuto quickly reached his destination, where he was met with everyone except two other certain people. "Ah, you made it!" Rika greeted him with a grin. "Yeah, but I had to sort out all my stuff in the apartment," replied Kazuto.
"So, what are we doing?" Kazuto asked.
"Oh, we planned on walking around and having dinner," replied Keiko, "But we are just waiting for-"
"Sorry I took so long!" A female voice interrupted as a door right nearby opened.
Kazuto turned his head to see a female with long black hair, her bangs kept to the side by white clips, one with a green flower. She wore a white top and skirt along with a blue jacket. Her hair reached her back.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Suguha!" Rika said, putting her arm around her shoulder in a friendly manner.
"No, really, I'm sorry for…" At that moment, the girl saw Kazuto staring at her with a warm smile, and she suddenly stopped talking.
"Hey, Sugu…" Kazuto said, still smiling, "You seemed to have changed quite a bit,"
All Suguha could say was, "Onii-chan…" Before running in for a hug.
