The cellphone starts ringing and vibrating over the wooden night stand, letting the girl sleeping in the light green colored bed know that is time to wake up for a new day of school. The girl has to gather all her will power to get up and turn off the repetitive 8-bit tune of the alarm. She definitely isn't a morning person.
The girl in question being Rin Kurusu, the 16 years old daughter of Akira and Makoto Kurusu.
Setting foot over the carpet besides her bed (which is shaped like the head of a caricatured panda), she walks to the opposite extreme of the front wall where her bed is positioned on the right corner, and opens the curtains of her balcony.
The sunlight enters the room, illuminating every corner and object, from the night stand and the closet besides it in the right wall, the tea table in the center of the room and the two cushions that accompany it, to the desk in the left wall and the TV that is over a wardrobe in the back wall. All while filling the place with that slight warmth so characteristic of the spring season. Warmth that the teenager is happy to welcome, even if she prefers winter.
While leaving the room and making her way towards the bathroom she stumbles upon her mother who waked up half an hour before her and was just getting out of her bedroom dressed in her police uniform.
"Good morning, dear" greets the uniformed woman.
"Morning, mom"
Rin wants to ask Makoto if her dad is in the kitchen or is still sleeping, but the aroma that reach her nose from the first floor give her the answer.
"Dad is downstairs making coffee, right?
"Yes"
"This early?"
It was indeed weird to Rin. Normally, Akira would wake up at the same time that Makoto does, take a shower right after her and then start making breakfast in the second floor kitchen. Though it wasn't an everyday thing, there IS certain occasions where Akira would wake up earlier to prepare everything downstairs. Rin was sure that this was one of those occasions, which was filling her with dread.
"He must be inspired, so he wanted to start the day early" thought loudly Makoto.
"Please tell me he isn't doing evil curry today" said Rin with a groan.
"I'm afraid he is, Rin"
"I feel sorry for today's clients"
"Me too, dear, me too"
Mother and daughter share a look of defeat.
Once every few months Akira likes to try new recipes that he comes up with, using the clients that enter the shop that day as test subjects, though he like to call them 'impromptu food critics'. Usually, these recipes end up being failures, with just a couple of them finding a place in the café's menu every year. This was one of the main characteristics that differentiate Akira and his mentor from back in Tokyo, while Sojiro preferred to stick with existent recipes trying to better them to the point of perfection Akira likes to experiment by taking existent recipes and give them a twist or make new ones from the ground.
'Evil curry' is the term that Rin uses to describe these experiments.
"Well, in to the shower I go, are you leaving now?" asks the girl.
"Yes, I'm going to drink a cup of coffee with your dad and then leave"
"Oh ok, bye mom"
"Good bye Rin, have a nice day at school"
A quick kiss in the cheek of her mom and Rin enters the bathroom, closing the door.
Looking at the mirror she's welcomed by her own reflection. Brown hair slightly passing her shoulders and dark gray eyes. Sometimes she wonders how would she look if she had her dad's messy hair, thought that makes her chuckle every time, after all, she already has the gray eyes, so adding the hair would make her look like a female version of her dad, so she is grateful that genetics blessed her with her mom's hair. Although she wouldn't have minded Akira's height because to Rin 1.60m isn't enough.
Rin spends the rest of her time in the shower thinking about different combinations of physical traits from both of her parents, almost as if she was a literal amalgamation of the couple, only being interrupted by the sound of Makoto's motorcycle out of the house.
The curly hair with red eyes sounded good, but she had to admit that she finds her dad's eyes to be cooler. But then she thought about her aunt Sae's white hair and asked herself why didn't she got those genes.
Once inside her room she dries her sadly-not-white hair, then changes into her Yasogami uniform. Even though it was already spring, they were still using the winter uniform until next week.
Already dressed and with her bag over her shoulder Rin go downstairs, opening a side door to enter the front part of the café (the rear part is the storage room) where Akira is waiting for her behind the counter while drinking a fresh cup of black coffee.
"Morning, dad"
Akira puts down his cup and greets his daughter.
"Morning, Rin, did you slept well?"
Rin walks over the bar and takes seat in one of the barstools, in front of where her dad is standing. She then inclines her body forward, putting the right arm over the counter and resting the left arm on her hips, giving a knowing smirk to the man at the other side of the bar.
"Yeah, in fact, I slept so well that I'm going to need one of your Dream Burners just to not feel tempted to go back to my bed"
"Hahaha! Good try, Rin, but no".
After being laughed at by her dad, Rin slumps her upper body over the counter, spreading her arms, letting her forehead being in contact with the wood.
"Aw c'mon, why not?" says the girl with a sad tone.
"You know perfectly well why, or did you forget what happened the last time you had a Dream Burner?"
While mentioning this, Akira starts to move towards the kitchen besides the bar where he began to fry something that he had prepared before Rin came down.
"That was, like, two years ago!, get over it old man!"
Rin knows that her dad hates to be called old, but he shot her down again, so she feels that it's fair to call him that, at least in this situation.
"That's still a no. Besides, even if I was willing to serve you one of those, it would take me another 40 minutes to prepare it"
The teenager responds with her face still down.
"Ugh, okay then, what's the strongest drink you can serve me right now?"
Akira makes noises to make it look like he is actually thinking about an answer.
"Well, I was thinking about a cup of black Cuban…"
He then continues his sentence, but with a more playful tone this time.
"But since you called me 'old man', it's going to be mocaccino for you today, young lady"
Rin finally looks up from the wood, her eyes shining and her mouth smiling.
"Heh, I love chocolate and you know it, dad"
With the help of a spatula he pass something from the pan to a plate and then moves back to where his daughter is seated and rests the plate in front of her.
Rin looks at him with a raised eyebrow.
"First a mocca and now a mediterranean omelet?"
"What, you think that I'm not spoiling you enough?"
"I think that me being aware of your spoiling it's enough to prove that you are spoiling me to much, dad" says Rin after a light chuckle.
"I'm glad you like it, now finish that before it gets to late, I bet that Hana is already waiting for you outside her house"
"Yeah, you're right"
After that exchange with her dad, Rin becomes focused in eating her breakfast. She doesn't wants to make her friend wait for her for to long.
When the omelet is finished, Rin gets up from the seat at the counter and grabs her bag, looking at Akira with a satisfied smile.
"Thanks for the food, dad, and the mocca was delicious to, now I'm heading out"
Akira crosses his arms.
"Of course it was delicious, I was the one who made it. Now go, see you after school"
Rin hugs her dad from over the counter and heads to the exit of the café.
"That's right, you're the best. See ya!"
Now that she finds herself at the end of the main street in the shopping district it is time to reunite with Hana, so she starts to walk down the street, passing along the different establishments that compose this part of the town until reaching the specific shop that she was heading to.
It is a small shop, with both the aspect of the building and the products sold inside screaming "family business". The sign placed over the sliding door reading 'Tatsumi textiles'. what's curious about the sign, is that is written in a very sharp and bold way, with each character being black in color with yellow lightings inside of them, this makes Rin think about how if someone who doesn't know Japanese were to see that sign, they would probably think that this is a shop that sells merchandise of heavy metal bands or something like that.
Once in front of the door she knocks a couple of times before speaking.
"Hello? Mr. Tatsumi? Ms. Shirogane? It's me, Rin Kurusu."
A couple of seconds pass in absolute silence before she hears footsteps reaching the entrance, but not any footsteps, Rin recognize those heavy and a little clumsy steps, and after that, the door is opened, letting her come face to face with the owner of those loud footsteps.
Kanji Tatsumi is a tall man, with an height of 1,85 m he towers over most folks in town. His face, black short hair, muscular frame and even his clothing style (in this case he is wearing a gray t-shirt with the drawing of a white tiger's face in the center, blue jeans and leather boots), might give the image of a member of a biker gang to most people, but Rin knows that, in reality, Kanji is a kind and sweet person, someone that her friend describes as "The fluffiest thug ever".
"Yo, Rin!. How's it going?"
"Hello, , I'm good. Is Hana ready to go?"
"Yeah, she almost overslept but I think is ready now, wait a sec, I'll let her know you are here. Come in if you want"
"Thanks, but I'll wait here, don't worry"
"Ya sure?"
"Yes"
"Ok, just a moment then, I'll be right back with her"
The tall men then directs himself to the second floor of the building that is where Hana's room is located.
After a minute Kanji descends accompanied by someone walking behind him. This person being Hana Tatsumi, Rin's best friend. A girl a couple of centimeters smaller than Rin, with long black hair that reaches all the way down to her waist, brown eyes and freckles adorning her face, her frame and posture giving the impression of fragility. She truly is the image of a delicate flower
"Yo, Rin!"
The girl jumps from behind Kanji in a failed attempt to surprise her friend.
"Hey Hana, ready to go?"
"Yeah"
Hana then hugs her father tightly, burying her face on his chest and starts speaking, though her words sound more like a distant mumbling against Kanji's gray shirt.
"I'm goimf ouh, luf yuh, fhafh!"
Kanji then returns his daughter's hug with one on his own.
"Ok. But if you don't let me go now you're going to be late"
Hana reluctantly breaks the hug and exits the shop.
Rin rises her hand slightly to say farewell to her friend's father.
"Good bye "
"Bye, Rin"
But before the two girls could go on their way, Rin decides to turn back and speak to Kanji.
"Before I forget, Mr. Tatsumi, today dad is making evil curry, so if you want to visit the café, stay away from anything that comes out of the kitchen, is for your own good"
"Demn, it has being a while since the last time, and here I was wanting to buy some muffins, thanks for the warning though!" says Kanji, with the last sentence being proceeded by a loud sigh.
"Always a pleasure to save innocent lives. And don't worry, coffee and sweets are ok, just avoid everything else"
After giving that piece of advise to the older man, the two girls began to walk away.
On their way to school Rin decides to ask her partner about something.
"So, Hana, what happened? Normally you don't have problems to wake up"
"Oh, it was nothing, yesterday mom came home late and I wanted to wait for her with dinner, so me and dad stayed knotting various things in the living while watching tv until she arrived"
Hana mentions this with a smile on her face, remembering how fun it was to spend time with her dad making gloves and scarfs while trying to guess the answers to the questions in a quiz show.
"Hmm, and how late was that?" asks Rin.
"Around midnight or something like it"
"Well, that doesn't sounds to bad"
"That's why I said that it was nothing. Yes, I'm used to go to bed before eleven so I'm a little sleepy, but it wasn't like the Dream burner catastrophe all over again"
Rin then throws her arms up while looking at the slightly cloudy sky in exasperation.
"Oh c'mon, first dad and now you? When are you people going to move on from that, it was literally YEARS ago!"
Hana gives a little giggle before answering.
"At this point is not like we're still mad or worried about it, is more like, it's funny as hell to mention it around you"
"Good thing to know that at least one of us finds it amusing" was Rin's response, still flustered by the memory of that day
It takes them a couple of minutes more, in which Hana continues to tease her friend, to finally arrive at Yasogami high school.
While entering the building Rin grabs her cellphone to look at the hour.
"Ho! Look at that, five minutes early, now that's efficiency" she says with great pride.
Hana rolls her eyes while grabbing her shoes from the locker.
"It's just five minutes, don't let it get up to your head"
"Hey, 'five minutes earlier is better than five minutes late', right?" quotes Rin.
"That phrase sounds better when miss Dojima is the one saying it though"
Hana was clearly entertained by Rin's imitation of their teacher.
"Almost anything sounds better when Ms. Dojima says it" admit the brunette.
"Speaking of which, today we have homeroom in the last period, right?"
"Yes, now the first period i-"
Rin's train of thought stops abruptly as she frowns with the realization of who's the teacher responsible for the classes in the first part of the day. Hana notices this and immediately understands the meaning behind that comically horrified face.
"Is Yamamoto isn't it?" questions Hana, grasping to the vague hope that her guess is wrong.
"Yup, is Horny McHormone's class all right" confirms the other teenager with an extremely pained expression.
Kouta Yamamoto is the 27 years old literature teacher of Yasogami high school. As a teacher is pretty competent, and physically speaking he can be considered attractive, with stylish light brown hair, average height, thin complexion, and always wearing tuxedos during school days, he falls in the category of "pretty boy" with ease. However, he has the tendency to derail his classes with monologues about his romantic life, tendency that, in combination with his appearance and him constantly hitting on every adult female that is single, has provoked that people outside of school think he is a host, and it has also earned him the surname of "Horny McHormones" from his students and some of the teachers. Surname that he is completely ignorant about.
Hana puts a hand over her friend's shoulder and gives her a sympathetic look.
"I know that this is, like, the worst possible way to start the day, but we have to assist, and there is only two minutes left, so let's just go"
With a heavy sigh Rin starts to walk towards the stairs, staring sadly at the floor.
"Ok. The earlier this happens the earlier it ends"
Hana follows her, trying her hardest to not laugh while looking at Rin, who is marching in the same way that a defeated soldier would do it.
"T-that's the spirit…I guess?".
As expected, Yamamoto enters the classroom in time. But what neither Rin, Hana, and honestly anyone else could have expected, is for Yamamoto to walk in with a black aye.
Everyone was ready for the teacher to stop at any moment and start to narrate an obviously exaggerated version of what happened to his aye, but to the shock of the whole group of students, Yamamoto made a normal class for the first time in months. No story, no sideway about how he scored a date with some "city gal" as he likes to call women from outside of Inaba, nothing, just a normal class being made by a normal teacher.
In the moment that the bell rings signifying the end of the first period, Yamamoto close the book that he was holding on his hands and stops the lecture.
"Well, that's all for today, make sure to read from chapter four to six for next class. Now, before I go, anyone have a question about today's lesson?"
Now this is officially making everyone worry, not only did he acted like a serious teacher imparting a serious class, but now he was asking if anyone had doubts instead of storming out to try and get the new English teacher's number or something like that.
Less than three seconds later a hand is raised.
"Yes, Tatsumi?"
Rin looks at her friend in shock, alongside her other classmates.
To someone that isn't part of class 2-A this would look completely normal, a docile and shy young lady, letting her teacher know about her doubts concerning the material viewed in class.
"H-hey, Hana, why don't we g-"
Rin tries to interrupt her friend, but it's to late.
" , the hell happened to you? Your aye looks like you were punched and you're face makes you look like you survived a near death experience. Did you were assaulted in your way from home or something? It's unsettling. To be honest, you behaving like a descent teacher gives us the creeps even worse than your normal wannabe Casanova self"
Hana is someone that, despite her meek appearance, have the fame of being someone brutally honest, ruthless, with no fear of calling someone out when she feels is correct, and even pretty badmouthed when the situation allows it. This is Hana, a girl that verbally (and one time physically) fights people when she is "done with their bullshit", a girl that once screamed loudly "See ya in hell, Bitch!" In the middle of the cafeteria while smashing a spider with a book after the arachnid landed in the table where a couple of girls, Rin and herself where seated.
In this moment Rin could only thing about one thing, and that's that she is sure Kouta would make her friend accompany him to the principal's office and she would be expelled from school for being disrespectful towards a teacher.
Yamamoto just looks at Hana without saying a word. The tension palpable. That is until the teacher opens his mouth and words starts to come out.
"I don't want to talk about it. All I'm going to say though- and this is a crucial life advice to all of you so pay attention- is this: Never, and I mean NEVER, accept an invitation to dinner from someone who's Tinder profile has the phrase " single, no fake" written on it, because that person is full of lies, and probably dating someone with a good jab"
And with that, he steps out of the classroom. No one says a word or moves a muscle until the teacher's footsteps couldn't be heard anymore. Confusion and disbelief invading all the students present in that moment. But one thing is for sure, and that is, that any trace of worry about Yamamoto's condition banished the moment he pronounced the word "Tinder". "Serves him right" being the phrase that fills the mind of everyone in class 2-A.
The next couple of periods happened without problems, with math being a hell for Hana as always and Rin almost falling asleep during modern Japanese. Now it was time for lunch, and both girls went to their usual spot in the yard close to the football field, seated under a big cherry tree. This year's winter was full of rains, this forced them to eat in the cafeteria. It is nice to be back in that spot, with no people around.
"So, what's on today's menu?"
Rin asks her friend, who is seated at her left side.
"Rice with pork meat! And you?"
"Well, dad made to much yesterday so is spaghetti with bologna sauce again. It's pretty demn good so I'm not complaining"
Once the two friends start eating their respective lunches Rin speak again.
"Hey Hana, what do you say about going to watch the new the Featherman movie this weekend?"
"Yeah, sure. I read online that is pretty good"
"Cool!"
The girls continued to eat and chat about basically anything that came to their minds.
Now that lunch was over, it is time for homeroom.
Nanako Dojima is Yasogami's history teacher and also class 2-A's homeroom teacher. She is known for her kind and motherly nature towards her students, she also maintains a cordial relationship with her coworkers. When it comes to teach there is no room for doubt about her ability as a professional. All of this makes her the most respected and loved docent in school, with some of her students even referring to her as "big sis Nanako", title that she takes with a smile on her face.
When Nanako enters the room everyone takes their sit.
"Hello class! How has being your day?"
One of the student that is seated in the front answers with theatrical gestures.
"Good, now that you bless us with your presence I can say that this day is marvelous, big sis, you look radiant today"
She just gives a small laugh, not understanding why her outfit is being complemented, she is wearing a simple pink sweater over a white turtleneck shirt and blue jeans. After all, she prefers to use very simple and comfortable clothes while doing her job. Fashion could wait for her day off.
"Well thank you, Taro. Now, I'll love to spend the rest of the day chatting with everyone, but we have a class to do"
After the class ends everyone starts to leave the classroom, including Rin and Hana, the two of them walking past Nanako, who is having a conversation with Taro.
"I hope your project is going ok"
The teenager blushes a little, but still gives an answer.
"Mmm, y-yes, is ok, I finished five pages last weekend"
The woman gives him a beaming smile.
"Five pages in two days? Wow, that's impressive, Taro. I can't wait to read it once is ready"
The blush in the student's face deepens.
"S-sure. Thanks, big sis"
The boy gives a small reverence to the teacher in front of him and take his leave.
Nanako notices that Rin and Hana are standing outside the classroom, then raise her voice to get the girls attention.
"Excuse me, Rin, could I speak with you for a second?"
The brunette turns around a little surprised.
"Huh? What is it, Ms. Dojima?"
"If Rin is in trouble then I'll take my leave and wait for her at the school entrance" said Hana with a nervous expression.
"Oh no, that's not it, Rin isn't in any kind of trouble. I just need to tell her something quick, so there's no need for you to go, Hana"
For some reason Rin sigh with relief because neither of them are going to be scolded, even if she knows that they haven't done anything bad, though what happened with Yamamoto was a pretty close call.
"Yeah, sure, what is it?"
"It's simple. I need you to tell your father that Yu is coming to visit next week, and he's going to stop by the café because he needs to speak about something with him. He didn't told me what specifically, but it sounded important."
Rin just nods after hearing this request.
Even though she doesn't know Yu very well, she knows that he is like a brother to Nanako, and also that he is the first friend that her dad made after they arrived to Inaba before she was born. But she has to admit that this person deciding to deliver a message like that instead of using email or any other form of long distance communication is rather odd.
"Of course, I'll make sure to give him the message"
"Thanks, I appreciate it"
And with that, the two girls said goodbye and part their way back home.
When Rin walks trough the door of the café she is received by the very peculiar scene of Akira watching with anticipation at the lady who owns the local inn, who is seated in the counter wearing a light pink kimono, eating a plate of what looks like pilaf rice with green apples and a purple substance resembling gelatin that she suspects is one of her father's weird experiments.
"Oh no, I'm to late, another civilian has fallen victim" laments the girl.
Akira notice his daughter and then walks to the other side of the counter, giving her a hug when he is close enough.
"Welcome back, love. How was your day?"
"It was ok, and you?"
Akira shrugs slightly.
"Same. Though it has being hard to convince people to taste the new recipes that I'm trying to refine"
Rin gives him a deadpan look and says in a monotone voice.
"Geez, I wonder why?. It's almost as if people like their food to be edible"
The man then breaks the hug, going back to the spot where he was originally.
"Ok, I'll admit that not ALL of my experimental recipes have worked, but that was unnece-"
He then shifts his attention to the woman that is in counter, totally in silence, looking absentmindedly at the plate.
"Umm. Y-Yukiko? Everything ok?, how's the curry? I-is any good?...no?"
Suddenly, she snaps out of her trance.
"Wha-Oh! Akira, yes, the curry. It's ok, the bittersweet flavor goes well with the rice, tough the texture and color needs a little work, I'll still wiling to eat it again sometime"
Akira's worried expression relaxes a bit after hearing Yukiko's opinion about the food.
"T-that's good to hear, but, I have to ask, why did you stayed so still and quiet?"
Yukiko tries her best to find the right words, but it is obvious that she is having trouble with that.
"I'm…I'm not totally sure. It felt like my mind was separated from my body for a moment, but I can't remember well."
After hearing that Rin looks at her dad in horror.
"Dad, you know I love you, but I need you to be honest with me…did you put drugs in that thing?"
The man being accused of food doping responds dumbfounded.
"What?! No! Of course not! All I used to do that were veggies, chicken and a mix of common spices, nothing illegal"
Before the panic and confusion of the two members of the Kurusu family can get out of hand, Yukiko interrupts them.
"Excuse me, I have to go now, but don't worry, I'm ok, and I can't wait to taste this food again, it was truly an interesting experience. Bye!."
"Yes, of course. Please come again"
After the woman exits the building the two people that where left inside remain looking at the door. Then Rin breaks the silence.
"So, are you going to include that one to the menu?"
After a couple of seconds Akira answers.
"Hell yeah I am. Now all what I need to do is to find a way to make the color more intense, it also needs is a name"
The two of them spend a moment reflecting. Once again, Rin is the first to speak.
"What about 'Astral curry'"
Her dad snaps his fingers, pointing at his daughter.
"Loving it. Thanks sweetie"
"You're welcome"
Akira proceeds to walk towards the kitchen's sink, where he begins to wash the small pile of dishes that had being accumulated during the day. Normally he would wash then before they piled up, but he has being using most of his free time focusing on his culinary experiments.
This is the moment when Rin remembers the message from Nanako.
"Hey dad, Ms. Dojima asked me to tell you that Mr. Narukami is going to be in town starting next week, and that he is going to visit the café to discuss something important with you"
The young girl could swear that her dad tensed for a second, but dismiss the thought when he turns back to face her and smiled.
"Got it, thanks for the delivery, little pigeon"
This amuse her, answering with the best imitation of a bird that she could do.
"Now if you need me, I'm going to be in my room, that homework isn't going to make itself.
The rest of the day fly. Rin finished her homework in less than two hours and watched a couple of episodes of that old medieval fantasy show that a classmate recommended to her weeks ago. Her mom was home just in time for dinner, and after cooking tomorrow's lunch with her father's help, Rin was on her bed, chatting with Hana trough her cellphone.
Rin: In the end, the cosmic curry made it in to the menu.
Hana: I'll make sure to tell dad not to order that, first thing in the morning.
Rin: pls do
Hana: rkfj
Rin: you ok there?
Hana: my phone slipped and hit my face.
Rin: I know that feel sis
Hana: me going to dream now
Hana: see ya
Rin: OKS
Rin lefts her phone over the night stand and rolls over her bed, before falling asleep.
This is it.
This is a day in the life of Rin Kurusu.