It was a beautiful Sunday outside. Birds sang, flowers bloomed, and Hiro had just left his room for the first time in the whole night after a long, long marathon of playing videogames. It wasn't the first he had, and it wouldn't be the last ond for sure. He was hungry, his thumbs hurt a bit too much, and the fatigue had started to kick in a couple of hours ago, as it usually happened to him, or as it would happen to anyone if the only thing they had done during a whole night was exhausting their eyes and hands in front of a flashy computer screen. It was 8am already, and he wasn't really keen on having to make anything for breakfast. He grunted and mumbled something and decided the best option to survive this morning was to take a shower and go get something to eat from the convenience store that was the closest to him. It wasn't a frequent occurrence for him to sleep more than five or six hours a night, but recently his sleep schedule was getting less and less attention, even less than the almost null attention he used to pay to it. He only truly respected his mandatory sleeping hours when his bimestral exams were close enough, but now that mid-March was getting nearer and nearer, he was enjoying his remaining twenty days of vacations in the most mundane way he could before he would have to return to high school in April. As Hiro wearily opened the door to his room, a dazzling beam of light impacted his drained eyes right where it hurt the most. He struggled to partially closed the blinds so that the light wouldn't bother him that much and succesfully grabbed a pair of jeans, a loose pink t-shirt and some underwear. He didn't really care about the color choices, he was too tired to think about anything that wasn't ending his body's yearning for more nutrients.
After a couple of yawns and stretches, Hiro eventually arrived to the bathroom, closed the door and stepped in the shower. When he opened the water, his pale skin and greasy hair were happily met with a burst of cold water that he wasnt as happy about. He loudly yelled "FUCK!" and stepped out of the range of the stinging stream as quickly as he could. It was clearly not the best way to awake him, but it clearly worked for the most part. "Shit… Why do I keep forgetting it takes a time for the heater to work?", he asked himself, the anger getting progressively more noticeable with each word in his mind. Thirty seconds later, with cold water still running, a sudden knock-knock on the door startled him a little bit.
- "Is everything alright in there, Hiro?" is what a soft and warm feminine voice asked.
- "Yeah, I'm okay. Just forgot the same stupid shit you remind me everyday" was the exhausted and dry response said voice got.
That feminine voice, who proceeded to laugh afterwards, belonged to Hiro's roommate, Ichigo. She had been his childhood friend since they were five, and nothing had really changed with the years. The two had been together through most of their childhood and adolescence, until eventually they ended up living together and attending the same high school. It wasn't a coincidence, though, as Ichigo had been accumulating some, at first, strange feelings for him throughout the time she spent with him. He had undeniably changed over time, but she kept having those tingly emotions rise to her whenever she thought about him. "Silly boy", she muttered while calmly strolling back to the living room. She had been up since 7am, watching TV. Her daily duty consisted on waiting for Hiro to finish things so she could do her own or doing everything before Hiro woke up. She was the one who usually cleaned and cooked, although Hiro did most of the housework when she fell asleep during her daily afternoon nap.
After a minute and a half of waiting for the piece of old metal that had the audacity to be called heater by their landlord to start working, he finally stepped in without having to worry about the cold burning his pale skin again. The water flowed through his thin, disregarded frame, highlighting his bones, which looked like they were struggling to exit his body. After stretching his back, he first massaged his hair with some shampoo he and Ichigo had found with a huge discount some weeks ago. It was a nice buy. Three for the price of two and it smelled like cinnamon? Best deal ever. He could feel his hair getting back on its usual place, as soft and thin as his black hair mat always had been. He loved the sensation of combing it with his hands when it was clean. Without removing the shampoo, he next lathered his figure in some off-brand gel he had bought a couple of days ago. It was cheap and didn't smell bad, so he figured he'd take it. Hiro's thought process wasn't too complex when deciding what he'd buy. If it was clothes, it had to fit him. If it was food, he had to like it. If it was anything else, it had to be cheap. His hands washed every part of his body and slowly dragged the uncleanliness out of him, the tiredness and dirtiness of the night before descending through the shower's drain. Lastly, he then proceeded to remove all the gel and shampoo from his body thoroughly, as the ending task to be completed before getting out of that watery and transparent cell. He looked at the blurry reflection in the glass around and in front of him and frowned a bit. He didn't like what he was becoming, but he didn't seem to want to stop it anyway. His appeareance was one of the many things he didn't like about himself, and unfortunately it was the one thing everyone could deduce at first sight. He was incredibly thin, almost skeletal, and he severely lacked muscular mass. To add up, he didn't eat much, and when he did it was junk food with no particular schedule. It wasn't really a matter of not liking his body because it didn't fit his standards, it was more oriented towards not fulfilling a health quota that he wanted to reach. After mentally self-loathing for a minute or two, he snapped out of his thoughts and turned the water off.
The moment the heater stopped making its particular loud and raucous noise, which meant Hiro ended his daily cleansing, Ichigo knew she was given the green light to cook her breakfast. She didn't really like variety and she had stuck with having miso soup and rice in the mornings ever since Hiro and her started living together. It was a cheap and tasty option to which she often resorted. First she'd make the rice. It was the simplest part of it all, and could be left on the background while preparing the main dish. All she had to do was get a saucepan, fill it up with hot water and leave it boiling on the stove for a minute or two. Then, in those sixty spare seconds, she just needed to move the ingredients for the miso soup such as some tofu, wakame kelps and half an onion to the countertop where she would get them ready. As thoughtful as Ichigo was, she already had left the dashi done the night before, while Hiro was immerse in his video-game world. It was the hardest part of the night, getting back to cooking right after having eaten dinner, but she was used to it. Her thin fingers reached for the rice on the only tall shelf in the kitchen, and then she poured out the remainings of the pack in the saucepan, which was approximately a ration and a fifth. She was used to a number of different things since she grew up. As independent as she was now, a couple of years before she struggled with the most basic things. While the rice was being cooked, she grabbed a small but sharp knife and started cutting the tofu as small as she could. She wasn't too precise with the knife when she first started living by herself, but with time and practice she mastered the art of not cutting herself too often. It was her determination to be better for others, mostly for Hiro and not as much as for herself, that led her to her desire to be as skillful as possible in different areas. She liked to be relied on, and Hiro didn't do that as much as she would want him to.
While Ichigo was stirring the rice so that it wouldn't stay stuck on the bottom of the saucepan, Hiro entered the kitchen silently.
- "Need help there?", he asked as he yawned.
At first, Ichigo didn't respond. She was busy filling a pot with more water to boil where she would empty part of the dashi and the kelps later.
- "Don't worry, Hiro. I've got this covered!", she answered in a happier than usual tone.
It seemed a bit too happy for Hiro, who was immediately thrown off.
- "How come you're awake at this hour? You can be many things, but an early bird is not one of them".
As much as Hiro could like pointless conversations, his brain could only think about how he would erradicate his munchies with a couple of pizza portions. He grabbed the keys to the house and put them in his pocket.
- "No idea, really. I felt like I needed to look like an efficient human being for once".
She looked at him, smiled and nodded.
- "Yeah, yeah. It's not like you've been playing all night again, right?", she sarcasticly asked.
Hiro tried to laugh it off as he yawned again.
- "Yeah, I guess you could call it that...".
As Ichigo dropped the remaining ingredients to the pot, she turned around and sternly walked towards him.
- "You know you should be sleeping then, right?"
Hiro never really liked when Ichigo was so motherly to him. He was old enough, he could make his own life choices! He wasn't a child anymore, he was going to start the second year of high school in a mere three weeks! Who did she believe he was? However, he never talked back to her in cases like this. Although, to be fair, he never talked back. He knew she was totally right in this particular case. It wasn't exactly fear or disgust, but something about Ichigo just suddenly walking to his face raised his defenses. He backed up a bit.
- "Yeah, I-I know. Don't worry, it's not like I can do a lot more at night."
Ichigo just looked at him in the eyes for what appeared to be the longest five seconds Hiro had ever experienced, until she sighed and returned to the countertop, defeated, turned the stove off, then proceeded to serve some of her morning elixir in a bowl and later drained the rice so that it wouldn't be too watery.
- "Whatever... Keep pretending those enormous eye bags of yours don't exist. By the way, what are you grabbing the keys for?", she said as he cut some onion slices for her soup.
- "I'm just gonna grab something from the convenience store to fill my belly up".
Just after he finished saying that, his stomach growled loudly.
- "See? I need it.".
Both laughed at the unexpectedly well-timed noise.
- "You don't have to spend a penny on junk food. I can cook for you, you know that?", Ichigo inquired.
- "Yeah, I also know that, it's just that you just finished preparing yours and all that. I don't want to come off as rude or useless", Hiro replied. "Might as well grab a couple pizza portions and come back here instead of spoiling your breakfast.", he jokingly retorted.
Ichigo lightly smiled and looked down. She blushed lightly, but he didn't seem to acknowledge it.
- "I guess you got me on that one… Still, you got to sleep tonight. More than four hours. I'm grabbing your PC and putting it in my room if you don't take me seriously."
Hiro looked at her and grinned tenderly, right before opening the door.
- "Yeah… I know".
It was a beautiful Sunday outside. Birds sang, flowers bloomed, and the loud and irritating sound of a distorted Linkin Park song from the 2000s started ringing from the speakers of a mobile phone sitting in a small and wooden bedside table. Covered by the sound of a powerful voice, electric guitars and drums being slammed, a slight grunt could be heard, as if trying to complain but not wanting it enough to actually do it. A menacing hand slowly rised from the depths of the quilt that covered them and, after a couple of seconds of trying to position itself, it let all of its dead weight fall directly to the phone's screen. However, in a sad twist of events, the hand lightly hit the air and fell into nothing, while the song kept its task of shattering their timpani. One of them slowly rose out of bed, placidly stretched her arms and walked to the other side of the bed to turn the shrill noise off.
- "Uuuugh… Why is there an alarm on a Sunday…", he grumbled. "Never mind… I probably am just bad with phones. Thanks for that, hun…", a sleepy voice growled from under the covers. "Why do we have to wake up so early again?"
The dainty and naked figure that had caused the song to fade into nothing a couple of seconds ago opened the sheets of the bed to reveal him still sleepy in a fetal position. He turned and stayed on his back, looking at the ceiling.
- "Zorome, you lazy moron. You told me you wanted to go for a morning walk", she heatedly replied. "You really think I'd torture myself voluntarily like this?".
- "The fu… Miku, I never mentioned going for a morning walk. What are you talking about?", he replied, with visible confusion. "Wait, that's not even my phone… The hell?"
The girl poked him in his chest twice.
"You said it yesterday, you said that you wanted to go for a morning walk, you bonehead! I put my phone in your side so you could hear the alarm better and turn it off yourself!".
Finally, in the midst of the situation, Zorome realized.
- "Miku, I said I'd appreciate a morning wank, not walk! Wank! As in relieving a morning wood, not a morning stroll! Why in the world would I want to get up early to walk on a Sunday!?" he angrily asked her. "Also what is that song I just woke up to!? And why is YOUR phone on MY night stand!?".
She crossed her arms and took a deep breath.
- "First off, don't disrespect my favourite band like that! Their songs are way better than that Nickelback shit you listen to! And second, it's not my fault that you can't pronounce properly, you dumbass! Now get up, I'm not letting you sleep again!", she topped off furiously as she angrily left to the kitchen downstairs.
Zorome mumbled an unintelligible string of swear words while he got out of, without a shadow of doubt, the most comfortable place of the flat both Miku and him lived in. They had started casually dating a couple of years ago, and as much as he loved her with all his heart, she was a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes. He didn't complain, though, as he knew he was also a pain in the ass to her most of the time. Sometimes, when he actually thought about it with his remaining working neurons, he was very amazed she hadn't left him. Zorome opened his wardrobe and picked some boxers and a pair casual jogging pants. After putting it all on, he looked on the mirror. He was getting a bit fatter than what he'd want, but that could be fixed with a couple of wild nights here and there. He smirked and tried to flex, resulting in him letting a laugh out when looking at the ridiculous pose he had just done. He loved to laugh about stupid things like that, especially when no one was looking. It was an unorthodox way to cheer himself up, but it had worked marvelously.
After getting his daily dose of memeing himself in front of the mirror, he picked up the same Gridman tee he'd used the day before. It didn't smell, so he figured he could wear it again. The boxers were a bit tight, but they were clean, and that's all he needed. Turns out one of the many benefits of showering before sleeping, besides already arriving relaxed (or exhausted, depending on the day) to bed, was arriving clean. Zorome went downstairs from their room, tripping twice in the process, to find Miku opening the fridge.
"Uh… Zorome, we have no milk" were the first words he heard when entering the kitchen.
Extremely tempted to pull his pants down just as a a joke factor as he had done multiple times before, he decided to be serious for a minute.
- "Say no more", he responded, immediately heading back to their room. And tripping again in the process.
Miku looked at him go. She looked weirded out.
- "I was totally expecting you to pull your pants down, to be honest", she said, lightly surprised. He answered from their room, yelling.
- "I WAS ABOUT TO, BUT IT JUST GETS OLD WITH TIME, YOU KNOW?", was his response.
She laughed softly and smiled while she took out some cereals and cookies. It was strange for him not to behave like an idiot, but she didn't seen to complain about the change of pace. To her, Zorome was like a cream cake with an ugly topping. Even if the cake didn't seem too tasty, it was far beyond delicious.
A couple of minutes later, she heard his boyfriend scream from upstairs again.
- "BY THE WAY, I'M BRINGING YOU A T-SHIRT TOO, YOU'RE GONNA CATCH A COLD", he said as he went down.
She looked at her nude body and shrugged. She was naked only when he was around, so it wasn't such a big deal. She could grab one of his tees when he wasn't around, something that he loved to do, and often did. To date, Zorome had "lost" seven t-shirts and didn't know what he did with them. He threw her t-shirt on her head and laughed as it dangled on her face.
- "It would be bad if I had an arrow in my pants pointing me where to go", he humorously explained.
- "I wouldn't catch a cold if you heated me up properly instead of just giving me a t-shirt...", she calmly stated. After putting the shirt on, Miku looked at him and smiled seductively. Zorome perfectly understood that look, it wasn't the first time he had seen it and it wouldn't be the last. But he was tired and hungry. "At least let me refill some energy, hun. Can't you wait ten minutes?", he responded. She laughed. "Aw, poor me. I was expecting my breakfast to come early", retorted as she winked. They both knew there was some sort of tension in the air until she started to crack up and both of them weren't able to hold it and ended exploding in laughter.
It was one of those one-of-a-kind wholesome moments you'd expect from a couple like them, who had such a level of chemistry, but that soft side of their relationship didn't come out as often as they would want, and Zorome knew that. He used to blame himself for it, since he was always making bad puns and he didn't seem to acknowledge that his partner got tired of it in no time. While laughing, Miku discovered she had a hole in her t-shirt. It wasn't the first time she had found a hole in any piece of clothing ever, but it was the first time than more than three fingers could slide in without a single problem. She dared to utter the words "Oh, my, this one is big..." before realizing it was too late to go back. She looked at him, now with the full knowledge that he had chosen the worst moment to get punned. She was ready for the horrible line that she knew she was going to have to stand and saw the biggest smirk on his face.
- "Nah, no jokes for now", he said, before leaning in for a kiss. Miku, really surprised again, happily complied and their lips and tongues fused in a clearly affectionate smooch.
- "Man, you're more serious and playful than usual today", she inquired. "Is something the matter?".
And something was the matter, but he just replied with a warm "Nah, I'm as good as always". He had been trying to avoid being such an ass to her. He knew what she didn't like and was trying to correct it. He had his doubts about it, because he didn't know at what point of change he would stop feeling like himself, but that's something he kept to himself and didn't tell anyone. He disliked feeling like he couldn't solve his own problems, but his pride was too big to admit it. In his mind, his only goal was to have more moments like the one they just had, but he knew that such a thing wouldn't be possible in his actual state of mind.
- "Anyway, gonna go to the 24h store now, how many cartons do we need?", Zorome asked while tying his shoes. Still surprised, Miku quickly thought about it.
- "L-Like five or six, as always".
She reached for her keys and put them in Zorome's back pocket. Zorome chuckled.
- "That is probably the best excuse you could find to fondle my butt, isn't it?", to which she happily replied.
- "You do it all the time and I don't complain, baby". He chuckled.
- "Yeah, I guess that's true.".
He picked up a grey jock-ish jacket and he put it on. It was his favourite jacket, he had had it for a couple of years now. It had his name on the back with Japanese letters in red.
- "It's not my fault that your whole body is so cute, though", he replied as he stole a second kiss from her.
She deeply blushed and started stuttering, just before Zorome left the house with the words "Be back soon, love you". Less than a minute passed, and he came back.
- "Hey, I'm back. Forgot my wal…"
His sentence was interrupted by her, passionately stealing the kiss back from him. Her hands caressing his cheeks, almost trying to pull him back in.
- "Y-y… You idiot!", she blurted, before giving him his wallet, which he had left in the kitchen the day before, and slamming the door shut.
Zorome smiled caringly and repeated the words that he always said when he left, although this time, they sounded silkier than usual:
- "Be back soon, love you".
Hiro walked slowly, humming a soothing tune to the rhythm of the music he was listening to. He had gotten a grip of lo-fi hip hop not a long time ago, when he first heard it coming from Ichigo's room. He remembered that day as if it were yesterday. He fell in love with the genre at first glance, when Ichigo offered one of her CDs and he heard Akorochan for the first time through them. The soft and mellow chords, mixed with hip hop beats and other real instruments captivated him the moment he closed his eyes and listened deeply. Since then, it had become the genre that he most listened to, whether it was just casually going from one place to another or enduring long grinding sessions in his favourite videogames. She said that kind of music helped her relax when studying, and it had a similar effect on him when playing.
In the middle of his stroll, he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him. "Hey, fucker!", the voice shouted at him. Hiro turned around to see Zorome running to him. Both were definitely surprised to see each other so soon in the day. "Hey fucker to you too, I guess", Hiro replied. He wasn't too enthusiastic of seeing Zorome. He was too energetic for him, although his average low levels of energy weren't really high to begin with.
- "You going somewhere?", Hiro asked.
- "Yeah. We ran outta milk, so I'm doing the dirty work", Zorome retorted cheerfully. "You gon' grab something to eat as usual?"
- "What else would I be doing at this time of the day?"
- "True, I forgot you were becoming an incel. Thanks for reminding me."
- "Oh, fuck you Zory. Just because you get laid doesn't mean I must care about it."
Zorome giggled. He knew those kind of things didn't bother Hiro in the slightest, but trying to bother Hiro with them bothered Hiro for other reasons. As long as he lightly bothered him, he was happy.
- "I bet 500 yen you pulled your pants down when you knew there was no milk.", Hiro stated.
Zorome had been waiting for something like that to come out of Hiro's mouth. Hiro was predictable, but so was he. He hadn't told anybody about his changes in behavior, so it was normal that Hiro would fail that. However, given how he started taking those changes seriously that same morning, he wouldn't have failed if he had said it the day before.
- "You payin' for my milk then?", Zorome asked.
- "Yeah, sure." Hiro countered sarcasticly. "Might as well ask Miku for some free samples, eh?"
The banter, the laughter and the back-and-forth jokes continued and seemed like they wouldn't stop. Hiro liked that kind of conversations, and knew he wouldn't get any of them like the ones he had with Zorome. They had a special connection since they were young. Growing up together, they never separated from each other. They were like a two-in-one pack. The years passed, and the pack hadn't been divided. Zorome kept being the sort of irresponsible and messy child that he was back when they met, although he had matured way more than the people Hiro knew. He just… Didn't show it that often. Hiro theorized that he left that facade of his for a couple of people to see. On the other side of the spectrum, Zorome knew that, despite his ups and downs, Hiro was one of the only people that he could get serious with without looking like someone in his family had died. Moreover, it could be said that, in some sense, Hiro needed him. He had been the one who had supported him the most during Hiro's worst episodes of a depression he still suffered today. They both understood each other in a way they couldn't ever understand themselves.
When they arrived to the convenience store, they were greeted by a familiar face. Goro, another one of Hiro's friends, was standing behind the counter, scanning what appeared to be a delivery note for his boss to receive from him later. To his left, there were three or four cardboard boxes full of goods to either be placed on the aisle shelves and fridges or to be moved to the storage room.
- "Oi, mate!" Zorome brightly spoke. "Got some milk somewhere?"
Goro, as usual, just shaked his head trying to contain his laughter.
- "I swear to God, there's cameras in here. Don't do the thing I know you have in mind right now."
Hiro laughed at the situation.
- "Don't pay attention to that fool, Goro.", he said. "Have you got any pizza portions left?"
- "Hey, I'm not a fool. I just have a much wider and superior sense of humor than all of you.", Zorome stated while faking being angry. "Now for real, Gobro. we ran outta milk, you got any?"
- "Yes and yes." Goro pointed. "I have to admit that I like the nickname. The milk is in the refrigerator over there, on the third aisle. I'll give you a couple portions now, Hiro.".
As he put the pizza portions in the microwave and Zorome went into the aisle where the milk was, Goro leaned closer to Hiro.
- "Dude, are you alright? You look… Dead. Like… More than usual."
- "I'm as dead as ever, dude. What would you expect? This is what not taking care of yourself does to you, I guess."
- "Have you been getting enough sleep? Eating well? I know I insist a lot lately, but..."
- "Don't worry, Goro. I'm fine. I had a bad night today, that's all. Just give me the pizza portions."
Goro silently stared at him and conceded. Both knew Hiro wasn't fine, but he didn't want to push him too much.
- "Okay… Makes sense. I bet you already have Ichigo to nag you about this kind of shit. I'm not gonna make you hear the same stuff twice. Just so you know, we're here for you."
Even though he never really said it out loud, Hiro thanked every effort of taking care of him of the few friends he had. Every time someone asked about his health, his state of mind, or just how his day was, he felt a bit better than. His thoughts marked it as sort of a paradox: he wanted his friends to pay attention to him, but at the same time he didn't want to waste his friends' attention. The inner machinations of Hiro's mind were an enigma. Those machinations were swiftly interrupted by Zorome, who had just found the milk he needed. He placed a 1000-yen bill on the counter and asked for a plastic bag.
- "Goddammit, my arm's gonna huuuuuurt", he complained.
- "Not my responsibility", Goro retorted while taking the pizza portions out of the microwave. "They're not exactly fresh, I did them yesterday night, but they're edible. 200 yens for you and 650 yens for Zorome".
Hiro took out two one 100-yen coin and two 50-yen ones and left them in the counter for Goro to grab. He hugged the portions and bit one of them. As always, it tasted like heaven and cheese.
- "Hugging hinally, I wah ho hunghy", Hiro said with his mouth stuffed with pizza.
Goro and Zorome laughed hysterically because of Hiro's voice.
- "Anyways, when are you getting outta here? I thought about organizing something for the five of us.", Zorome asked.
Goro looked at the clock. It was 8:20am. He still had to wait a long nine hours before he could abandon his workplace.
- "I don't think it's a good idea. You know Ichigo doesn't particularly like me anymore", Goro argued.
- "As if we cared", Hiro swiftly intervened.
- "Yeah," Zorome continued, "it's not like everyone secretly hates you like we did with Futoshi. Miku also hates Ichigo but she agreed to come if we ended up meeting."
- "I'll see what I can do. I don't guarantee a thing, though. If anything happen's I'll call you or something", Goro declared. "But now, I gotta keep working."
Hiro and Zorome left the convenience store and headed back to their respective homes. The banter and the laughs were a bit less prominent this time, as what Hiro had in mind were Goro's words. "You know Ichigo doesn't particularly like me". He felt guilty. The drama started because Goro had a massive argument with Ichigo about his mental health. Goro believed that Hiro needed to man up a tad and face his problems more independently, while Ichigo considered that Hiro needed help in every single step of his way to be able to improve. Zorome had always told him that he shouldn't blame himself, that the argument happened because Ichigo and Goro wanted it to happen, that it wasn't his fault. But deep down, he still thought he was the one who broke the group of friends he had. He knew he was the one to blame. If it weren't for his stupid illness, everybody would be happier and wouldn't have to worry about him…
After Zorome arriving to the house where he resided, Hiro was bid goodbye. Zorome would go back home, where Miku was waiting for him, ready to eat breakfast and watch TV with his beloved boyfriend for the rest of the morning. Hiro saw him enter the house with a loud "WE CAN FINALLY EAT, BABY" and smiled. He would like to have someone like that. He had always wanted to have someone like that, but he knew he was too weak to be like Zorome. He had convinced himself that his aspirations of being able to take care of someone else had to wait before he could take care of himself first. And, as he already knew, if he kept pulling the brakes he wouldn't be able to advance towards his goals.
The thought about actually having to walk home slightly irritated Hiro. Now that he was outside, why would he want to go back home? It's not like it was raining or anything. It was spring, for gosh's sake! But he knew he had to go back, he had to at least clean up a bit. He didn't want to be a burden to Ichigo, who had offered to do so much of the housework. He decided to pick his headphones and blast some of that lo-fi he so much enjoyed. Ichigo was right, listening to that kind of music improved his mood greatly.
While walking, he decided to check if he had any messages on his phone. Unfortunately, he collided with another person in the process. The guy, who Hiro thought was 19 or 20, just politely said "Watch out" before walking off to wherever he headed. The tone in which he said those words creeped Hiro out. It was warm and civil, but it sounded cold and unnatural. Hiro dazed out for a second looking at what appeared to be a black, quartz-like necklace that the guy was wearing before getting back on his tracks and continuing his way home. He didn't know who he was, but he was definitely someone who he thought he could fall in love with at first sight. "Weird", he muttered.
A couple of songs later, he finally arrived home. "I'm back!", he shouted from the entrance. Hiro took out his shoes and left them in a corner near the door, and entered the house. "Ichigo? ", he called, but nobody answered. He decided to go to the kitchen, where he found a note:
"I've gone out for the morning, I had some errands to run. Clean the bathroom, I already did the rest (including your room)."
Hiro smiled. For someone who he thought was so caring and protective of him, he didn't have the heart to tell her that most of what she did was in vain.
"You also have a plate of teriyaki salmon in the fridge. I know you like it a lot, so I made it. Eat it, please. Don't throw it in the trash. Love, Ichigo".
A tear slowly fell on the note. Then, another one. Then, another one.
"Yeah, I know".