Breakfast Date

Saturday, November 15th

"Ugh," I groggily groaned as I tried to get up without falling off of my bed. Last night I stayed up playing games with my online friends again, friends that I have not met face to face. Until three in the morning. Some would say staying up like that would fuck up my sleep schedule. Sure, they may be right, but it's the weekend, so who cares?

I grabbed my phone that was on my bedside table. "What time is it?" I moaned as I pressed the button on the side of my phone, feeling the bright screen burn my retinas like a laser. 10:38 AM. Saturday.

Below the time was a message from Yuri. Sent three minutes ago.

"Hello Sawyer," the text read in perfect punctuation (as always with Yuri), "This is Yuri. Are you free at the moment?"

"I'm free right now," I texted back, "But you don't have to be so formal with your messages, you know?"

"Oh, sorry," Yuri replied, "I guess I'm not so used to texting. I don't have many friends to text in the first place."

Right, I thought, I probably should've been a little more considerate of Yuri. I almost forgot she doesn't have many friends outside of the club.

"It's not a big deal," I said, "Anyways, what do you need?"

Yuri didn't respond for a number of seconds. Of course, I understand that some people's texting game isn't strong. Hell, sometimes I would let a message go unread until the next day. Then again, I'm not used to texting too much to begin with myself. At least, before I joined the foreign exchange program.

But of course, Yuri did respond in a timely manner. "Well, Natsuki is at my apartment right now," she said, "She wanted to hang out with me, but I have some matters to attend to. And she refuses to go back home. Monika is working and Sayori is out of town."

What, she wants me to babysit Natsuki?

Ah, what the hell, it's not like I have anything to do today.

"Sure, I'll head down there," I texted before getting out of bed, quickly throwing some clothes on. A pair of ripped jeans, a simple t-shirt, and the old army jacket that I wore. I would've worn my hoodie, but I didn't have it on hand at the moment.

And that reminds me, I should go get my jacket back from Monika. I keep forgetting to get it back from her since that night when we went to the baseball game. And I assure you, it wasn't a date. It was just friends hanging out.

Together. Alone. And I walked her home and gave her my hoodie when she got cold.

…

I still refuse to call it a date.

Putting my sneakers on, I ran out of the door, making my way to the subway station down the street. I glanced at Sayori's house, which was empty at the moment. Her and her parents were out of town, visiting family, so I am pretty much free all weekend.

I shivered slightly. The unrelenting November chill was still blowing past my ears. I still am not used to the cold that comes here in Japan. Weirdly enough, I guess I'll never be the type to go up north for vacation. But still, I was able to keep warm by walking briskly, my legs burning when I got to the station.

Knowing where I had to go, I waited for the train to arrive. I stood by the platform away from the yellow line on the ground. Like a flash, the train arrived quickly. Five minutes ahead of schedule apparently. Some of the passengers had embarked the train and I hopped on after them.

"You really do know how to make a girl wait, you know?" said Natsuki, who was waiting outside of Yuri's apartment complex when I got there. She wore a white skirt, black leggings, and a pink hoodie, one that complimented her dyed pink hair. Seriously, what's with girls dyeing their hair some unnatural color here in Japan?

"Hey, don't get mad at me," I said, "I just got out of the house. What's your excuse for bothering everyone today?"

"Oh, shut it!" cried Natsuki, "You're just being a crybaby."

I opened my mouth to say something. Already, I could feel my ears fill with blood as Natsuki was already getting on my nerves. But I kept my thoughts to myself. It was the weekend and I was just ready to hit the hay the moment I got home.

Natsuki has been this pissy towards me ever since I walked her home. I mean, more pissy than usual. I dunno, it just looked like she didn't want to see my face ever since that day. It's like she just wanted to keep some sort of distance. Weirdly enough, I figured it would be high time to get to talk to her about that today. But not right now. It seems like Natsuki has high blood pressure. I guess I'd have to alleviate some of her stress.

"Whatever," I shook my head. And then I smirked. "So. What do you wanna do today?"

"Well, I don't have anything planned," said Natsuki, "You wanna get something to eat? I didn't have breakfast today, so let's go into the city for some food."

A little later

"You're kidding me, right?" I asked myself as I walked into the American-style diner with Natsuki, the weekend sunlight brightening up the place, with the only thing brighter was the eyes of the waitress standing in front of me wearing a black and dark blue uniform.

"Pleasure seeing you here, Sawyer!" said Monika as she smiled, "Please, come on in!"

She looked to my right to see Natsuki standing next to me. "Are you two on a date or something?"

"M-Monika!" stammered Natsuki, all flustered as she ranted like an anime tsundere, "D-don't say that out loud! What if someone heard?"

"Oh relax," chided Monika with almost a motherly chuckle as she grabbed two menus from the bin next to the stand that she stood behind, "It's not like they'd pay any heed. Besides, you're the only two here."

"Yeah, but what are you doing here?" I asked, eyeing the green-eyed beauty standing in front of me.

"Me?" Monika said with a sigh, "I work here."

Work? I thought to myself, Why are you working? I thought your parents have money.

I pointed at Monika in disbelief, wondering as to why she was working here. Because I don't understand why she was here in the first place. "Aren't you rich?" I asked. But now that I think of it, that was probably a very shallow question to ask. But hey, I'm stupid, alright?

"Well yeah," said Monika, "But might as well work hard as well, right? It's not about the money, it's about the satisfaction in knowing you were productive."

I nodded as she led the way. "And this is why you are way out of my league," I said silently to myself as I followed her to the booth that we were going to be seated at.

Monika handed us the menus, which were just laminated paper inside of a black faux leather binder. With a smile, she took out a notepad from her apron that hung around her waist like a belt. "Can I start you guys off with something to drink?" she asked as she clicked a pen that appeared in her hands.

"I'll have a coffee," I said, "Might as well get something to wake myself up."

"Alrighty," said Monika as she wrote down my order in her notepad before turning to Natsuki. "And for you, Natsuki?" she asked.

"Well I wanted a milkshake," said Natsuki with a sigh, "But I don't have much money. I'll just go for a glass of water."

"It's fine," I said, patting my back pocket that had my wallet, "I'll pay for you. It's no biggie."

"Oh, no, no, no," said Monika, shaking her head. "You don't have to. Drinks are on the house. My boss isn't too much of a stickler so I can squeeze a free coffee and milkshake in for you guys."

"Y-you sure?" asked Natsuki, "I don't want you getting in trouble at your job or anything."

"No please!" Monika exclaimed with a grin, "It gets boring here if I don't see a friendly face or two. Don't worry!"

"Well," I said slyly, "If I'm gonna get free stuff here, I might as well keep coming back."

"Don't push your luck," said Monika with a smug chuckle. "I'll be back in five to get your orders, alright?"

I opened the binder and looked at the items. It was still around eleven in the morning so they were still serving anything.

Really, I was in the mood for anything, so I decided to just pick a number from one to ten and that would pick one of the ten items that were available. Picking the number four, I looked on the menu to see where I had landed: Omlete with french toast and a salad.

I'll take it.

"Do you know what you want?" I asked as I placed down the menu looking up at the girl in front of me who searched the entire menu with darting eyes. She looked like she was really hungry and was evaluating every single option as if her life depended on it.

"Pancakes or waffles?" she asked in return, not looking up from the menu.

"Uh, why ask me?" I said, confused. "You do know it's your food, right?"

"I know, but every time I ask Sayori what you two have for breakfast," she explained, still without taking her eyes off of the menu, "More often than not she says that you make her pancakes for breakfast. So I took you for a pancake kind of guy."

"Really?" I asked with a chuckle, "Well that's where you're wrong. I prefer waffles. I actually hate pancakes. It's hard for me to be able to make them fluffy. Plus I like the crunchy texture of a toasted waffle."

"Seriously?" Natsuki asked, taking her eyes off of the menu to meet my gaze, "Well then why make pancakes if you hate them?"

"Because Sayori loves 'em," I said, "So I just make the pancakes and eat them. As long as she likes the ones I make, I'll be happy."

"Why go through all that trouble though?" she questioned, unable to understand why I would rather swallow my pride and my pancakes instead of getting what I want.

"Well, she… I dunno," I said, scratching the back of my head in a bashful manner, "She kind of reminds me of my sister back home in Hawaii. She's always dependent on me, so I always try to make her feel as content as possible. Sayori just gives me a sense of home. You know, I take care of her like I take care of my sister."

Natsuki nodded with a smirk before returning to the menu in her hands. "Well, in that case," she said, shrugging, "I'm also a waffle girl, so don't worry. I'll just get a couple of waffles with strawberries."

"Whatever makes you happy," I sighed.

"And an extra plate with bacon and sausages," she added. "Three hundred yen extra."

I looked back at the girl with questioning eyes. I looked through the menu which was already expensive enough. And my cheapass does not want to pay any more than I have to.

"How much is your meal already?" I asked.

Natsuki looked up, rolling her eyes into the back of her head as she tried to make some quick mental math. "Um," said Natsuki, "Around 2,500 yen."

I took a deep breath as I looked at my wallet. Yeah, I had enough money to pay the bill, but seriously? That much money? How hungry are you?

"Why all the meat?" I asked, my eyes narrowing as I looked skeptically at Natsuki. "It sounds like a lot of extras."

"Ah, w-well," she said, "I just wanna grow a little taller and a little stronger, you know?"

My lips tightened as I shook my head. Natsuki could tell I wasn't buying it. After all, what kind of person would eat all of that food? Everytime I see Natsuki during lunch, she doesn't eat much. In fact, sometimes she doesn't even bring food and just asks me for some. I wonder why.

"And I didn't have dinner last night," she said, "So I'm really hungry right now."

I could question it some more since it sounded like a familiar situation. But I decided not to press on. I woke up and I wasn't feeling myself at all today, so I decided to drop the topic.

But what if she is going through something? I asked myself as I looked around the empty restaurant. It's oddly empty for a weekend. Then again, a lot of people tend to work even on a Saturday like this.

Monika came back with our drinks and took our orders. I gave her what I wanted and she nodded, writing it down in her notepad before turning to Natsuki.

"Alright, now what's for you, Natsuki?" she asked.

"Let me get an order of strawberry waffles," said Natsuki, "And an extra plate of bacon and sausages."

Monika paused, the smile on her face dwindling for a second before it reappeared on her face. It was as if she had realized something. It wouldn't seem like no one would notice, but I did. I don't know why, but I didn't act on that.

"And would you like chocolate chips with that?" asked Monika.

"Would that cost extra?" Natsuki asked the waitress.

"No, I can get it for you for free," Monika explained, to which Natsuki grinned a little as she nodded. Monika chuckled and wrote the rest of her message in her notepad before leaving us alone once more.

"Are you sure you're not a kid?" I jokingly asked Natsuki, who turned red as soon as she looked at me as if she realized that she just ordered something childish.

"H-hey!" she exclaimed, "She offered it and I just took it, okay?"

"Hah!" I laughed, "Relax, I'm just messing with you. Jeez, you get so worked up sometimes."

"Hmph!" huffed Natsuki as she crossed her arms, "If you don't mess with me, maybe I wouldn't get so frustrated!"

"Why do you think I'm messing with you?" I asked, clearly asking for a fight because I am just a dumbass.

"You're insufferable, you know that?" the girl growled. Really, it just made it all the funnier. Sure, she's not my type, but she's nice when she gets angry. Like a little angry puppy that you can't get upset at even if it's barking and scratching your leg. "And why do you want me to get mad at you?"

"Well," I said in the most teasing way possible, "I think you're cute when you get mad."

"I'm not cute!" exclaimed Natsuki, to which I conceded. Might as well give up while I'm ahead.

Our food came shortly after. Natsuki's meal was rather big, taking up almost half of the table we sat at. A huge waffle that was the size of the plate with a strawberry in the middle drizzled with some pinkish maple syrup and chocolate chips, with a small plate to the side with a few strips of bacon and slices of sausages. And Monika brought mine, setting it in front of me.

It was just an omelet, plain and simple, with a side of salad and a couple of sticks of french toast. I wasn't really hungry, but only thing that really caught my eye was what was drawn on the omelet in red ketchup.

"Monika," I asked as I looked up at the girl's emerald green eyes, "Did you do this?"

A heart with a Kanji letter in the middle was written in ketchup. I couldn't really make out the word, nor did I remember what most of the Kanji system meant, but it was something significant.

Monika giggled. Somehow in a way that can make any man's heart flutter like a butterfly in the wind. My eyes widened a little as she winked. "Maybe I did," she said with a chuckle, "Maybe I didn't."

She walked away without hearing my reply, probably because I was still speechless. I looked to Natsuki and she looked like she was on the verge of laughing. "You truly are an idiot, Senpai," said Natsuki as she dug into her waffles. I took a deep breath before I even touched my food.

After eating, we left the restaurant. I tipped Monika five bucks in JPY before leaving with Natsuki with me. I had something to do later today with the rest of the exchange students, so I had to bring Natsuki home. Good thing the train station is by her house.

We got to Yuri's apartment at the same time Yuri was getting home. She had a stack of books in her arms and she seemed as lively as ever. Even an introvert could look alive.

And then she saw us as we passed her apartment complex and her smile grew a little brighter.

"Natsuki!" she called out, her voice as soft as usual, "Sawyer! What a coincidence!"

"Hey, Yuri!" called out Natsuki, "I thought you had something to attend to?"

"O-oh," said Yuri as she approached us, "I miscalculated the time. It ended earlier than I thought it would have. So I went home and bought a few books from the bookstore on my way."

Yuri smiled as if she was happy to be home earlier. After all, nothing feels better than getting home in a warm bed. Even better when you have a book to read. I never had the luxury of that, but it does sound nice. And I know that Yuri's the type of person who cherishes those moments.

"I take it you guys had your fun?" she asked.

"Heh, yeah," I said with a chuckle, "Apparently Monika works at a diner in the city. Found that out the hard way."

"Oh really?" asked Yuri, "That sounds like a splendid place to get food then. It is nice to see a friendly face every now and then. Maybe I shall go there myself."

"If you go, take me with you, alright?" asked Natsuki, "She gives out free food and nothing's better than free food."

I looked at Natsuki with narrowed eyes. Honestly, I would've done the same, but at least I'm not the one who says it out loud. Sure I'm a cheapass, but I wouldn't be the one who exclaims about their discounts.

Then again, this is Natsuki we're talking about. In a way, she and Sayori are very much alike. They both act irrationally and they both act childish, though Sayori's more like a golden retriever puppy in terms of how they handle everything and Natsuki's more like a shivering chihuahua.

Yuri chuckled. She knew how Natsuki acted bold and brash. After all, Natsuki doesn't seem to be the type of person to think about what they say. Having no filter much like Sayori, though she has different stuff going through her mind.

"I am assuming that you are not craving anything, but would you two like to come into my apartment for a cup of tea?" asked Yuri. "S-Sawyer, I-I want to repay you for hanging out with Natsuki."

"Why does it feel like you two are taking care of me like a child?" asked Natsuki.

"Because you act like one," I jabbed, to which the shorter girl didn't like it.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, but Yuri and I ignored her.

"And it's fine, you don't have to," I said to Yuri, "It's no chore. And besides, I'm busy later today, so I gotta get home if that's fine with the two of you."

"W-well, I shouldn't delay you any further then," said Yuri with a kind smile, "I hope you have a good day, Sawyer."

Later

I ended up leaving after that. I went back home and plopped in my bed, still wearing all of my clothes that I'm too lazy to change out of. Besides, I was about to leave the house in an hour anyway.

I layed in bed for a bit, staring up into the ceiling, just thinking about Natsuki. The way she looks, the way she talks, the way she acts. It's… special?

No, I'm not thinking of her like that. She's not my type. By a long shot. She reminds me so much of my sister that it just feels weird liking her like that.

It's just that today felt… odd? Like why was she begging Yuri and I to stay with her? Was she trying to stay out of the house? I wouldn't know why, but she was just acting weird. She wouldn't do this.

Is something going on at home? Did she get in trouble? Is she trying to stay away from something? Why come to us?

Does this have to do with that person I saw last time I was with Natsuki?

Grabbing my phone, I opened my text messages. No one else really texted me other than Yuri and my sister, the latter sending me what happened at home. Dad got kicked out of the house again by Mom. My sister's just getting by in school. Both of them are missing me. Just your standard stuff going on while I'm here in Japan, living my best life.

You know, that reminds me. I don't have Natsuki's number. I know that she has a phone, though it's like she doesn't want my number. Weird.

I took a deep breath as I figured that I shouldn't think about it too much. There's no point in stressing out about it. It was her problem, not mine.

Or so I thought. Famous last words.

Honorifics: (Underlined honorifics are the ones used in current chapter)

-san: Most common, it is an all-purpose suffix that can be used in any situation where politeness is expected. Basically the titles Mr. Ms. etc.

-sama: This suffix is one level higher than "-san" and is used to confer great respect.

-kun: This suffix is commonly used at the end of boys' names to express endearment.

-chan: Feminine version of -kun.

Senpai: Superior/Upperclassmen.

Sensei: Master.

A/N: Well... Shit. When I said expect delays, I guess this was one. By the way, I'm not dead, just dead inside. School started up and I pretty much put this project aside. And I'm sorry.

I was also pretty much out of creative juice for a bit. I guess it happens, but I really felt like crap these past couple of months. But I'm back, I'm not dead.

I also started on another story, though I will not post it just yet. I figured if I couldn't write this story, I should work on something else instead of being bogged down by one story. Updates for this story will indeed be slower, but I'm not done yet. I'm determined to write this. I'm sorry, it's been two months since I last posted, but I will make sure it doesn't happen again.

See you guys next chapter. Peace.