When Sawako woke up the next day, she did not find Shota beside her. She found this strange, as he was usually quite keen to sleep in, but she thought little of it. She threw the blankets off herself, sending them flying to the ground.

I guess he must have stepped outside. She thought to herself as she stretched both of her arms behind her back.

She looked out the window to the street below. From her sixth floor apartment, she could see the street below quite well. Living in Sapporo's northernmost area, her neighborhood was relatively quiet and peaceful. It was not at all like Sapporo's city center, which was much livelier. While the hustle and bustle of Sapporo's busiest districts did excite her on some days, she very much enjoyed her quieter corner of the city.

She spent some time admiring her neighborhood from above. She watched people go to and fro, moving slowly lazily about their business. There weren't very many of them. It didn't seem like a lot of people were out that day. Every once in a while a car would go by, but there were even less of those. The cold temperatures of that lazy Sunday morning kept the people of Sapporo indoors, it seemed.

Sawako would spend many of her free mornings in the same way. She would watch the people from her bedroom window, wondering what they were doing with their lives. She wondered where they were going, where they worked, what their aspirations were in life. She could not help but look at the tiny people making their way past her apartment building and wonder what their lives were like. She was fascinated by people in that way.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a light knock at the door. She had almost forgotten that Shota had stayed the night.

"Come in."

The door opened. Shota appeared with two cups of coffee.

So that was where he had been.

"I made this for you," he said, extending one of the cups towards her, "I know you can't function without your coffee."

Sawako extended her arms, cupping both hands around the mug as she graciously accepted the coffee.

"Thank you," she said, bringing the mug to her lips, "You make the best coffee."

Shota looked to the side and scratched at the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"It's not like I do anything special when I make it."

"Well, it's still the best."

She took a few sips, feeling a rush of satisfaction as her body took in the caffeine.

"You know you don't have to knock," she said, looking at him sideways, "We're well beyond that by now."

"Well, you were looking out the window so pensively that I didn't just want to barge in. It would have been rude."

Sawako smiled silently and reached out her hand, indicating that she wanted him to come closer. Shota happily obliged. He slid in next to her, grasping her outstretched hand as he did. The two began to sip their coffee in a comfortable silence. Sawako gazed out the window again as she held his hand tightly.

"So, what's up today?" Shota asked.

Sawako turned her head from the window and took another sip.

"I don't know," she said when she had finished drinking, "I didn't really have anything planned."

A silence descended on them again. They continued to sip their coffee.

"I should probably go back to my place at some point today," Shota said, "Ryu and Chizuru should be getting back and I shouldn't leave him alone."

"Does Ryu get lonely?" Sawako joked.

Shota snickered.

"If he does, he doesn't show it. But you know, he's my friend so if he's home I probably should be too."

Sawako was not offended by this. Shota and Ryu had always had a very close relationship, so it was okay with her if he wanted to be home when Ryu was. And if she were being honest, as much as she cared for Shota and as much as she wanted him around, she really did enjoy the peace and quiet.

That didn't mean she wouldn't tease him for it though.

"You must love Ryu more than me."

Realizing he was being teased, Shota responded in kind.

"That may be true, but I'm not the only one. You love Maru-chan more than you do me."

"I'd say that's accurate."

"Maybe we should break up and get with the people we really care about. I'll get with Ryu and you can get with Maru-chan."

"Yeah, maybe."

After a moment of silence, the two broke out in laughter. After being together for so long, sarcastic bouts between them were common.

"No. You can't get with Ryu," Sawako said, "I won't let you."

"How are you gonna stop-"

But Sawako didn't let him finish. She had swooped in and stopped his words with a kiss before he could say any more.

They stood like that for a moment, eyes closed and senses stimulated. Shota was the first to pull away.

"I guess you've convinced me," he said.

"Now then. As we have studied before, Freud's idea of the Id consists of our most basic, primal drives. Bodily needs, sexual and aggressive impulses, the fight or flight response. You all know the drill. It's responsible for the animalistic side of us. The Id seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize suffering. It is a chaotic, disorganized mess of primal instincts. Using Freud's idea of the Id, we can postulate that the subject seen in figure 9 is acting primarily through the Id, whether he realizes it or…"

Sawako's professor dragged on and on. While she found the material interesting, the two hour lecture was starting to sap her energy. That, and she wasn't the biggest fan of Freudian psychology, and much preferred other psychologists to Freud's strange world of Oedipus complexes and psychosexual stages. She felt that his fixation on the sexual aspect of human psychology was crude and really not necessary. Still, she could recognize the important contributions to psychology that he had made.

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, saving her from her boredom.

She pulled it out discreetly and checked the message. This was something she would have never done in high school, but since she entered university she didn't really mind checking her phone in class as much.

The message was from Shota.

How are your classes going? I just wanted to let you know that I had a lot of fun this weekend. I'm done with class now so I'm heading to work. Hope your day goes smoothly!

Shota had made a habit of sending her texts throughout the day. The both of them were so busy that they barely had time to talk to each other during the week. A text message here and there throughout the day helped the both of them get through their days away from each other.

Sawako decided to respond later and put her phone away. She didn't want to disrespect her professor by spending too much time on her phone.

The class continued to drag. This was the kind of professor that wasted no time. He never let the class go even a minute early, he made use of every second available. While Sawako admired his dedication to teaching, a teacher who never once let his students go even a little bit early could get somewhat tiring.

Finally, the class ended. At exactly 3 o'clock, not a second too early or too late, the professor let them go. Sawako began packing up her things.

Once she had packed up her bag, she began awkwardly making her way towards the door, weaving her way through the other students who had decided to stay a while to chat. Despite her healthy group of friends, Sawako was still not much of a talker when it came to strangers. That much hadn't really changed since high school. So, she was often among the first to leave class while the other students fraternized.

"Kuronuma-San."

She stopped with her hand on the doorknob at the sound of the deep, aspirated voice of her elderly professor.

"Y-Yes, Nobusawa-Sensei?"

She took her hand off the doorknob and made her way meekly towards her professor. She was not quite sure what he could possibly want with her, as the two of them had barely spoken.

"I never received your essay last week. It was supposed to be due at midnight on the day of the last class meeting. Were you planning on turning it in?"

Sawako thought for a moment. She couldn't remember any essay being due. She thought for a moment until it suddenly came back to her, and a flash of panic shot through her body. The essay was worth a decent percentage of her grade, and with her busy schedule she had completely forgotten about it.

She unconsciously gave a series of quick, shallow bows as she began to explain herself.

"I'm so sorry Sensei! I completely forgot about it. I must have gone to work that day and completely forgotten to turn it in. We were so busy that day. Lots of customers. It won't happen again, I promise you!"

Nobusawa-Sensei chuckled a little and put his hand up, signaling her to stop her explaining.

"It's quite alright, Kuronuma-San," he said, "I understand that life can get very busy and unpredictable. I just thought I would remind you so that it actually gets turned in. Do you think you can email it to me by tonight?"

"Yes! Yes! Thank you Sensei, It's almost done, so I can do that."

Sawako was relieved. She was usually such a good student, and forgetting to turn in an assignment was unlike her. Her increasingly busy schedule must have been taking its toll. Nobusawa-Sensei's kindness and understanding were hard to come by at her relatively prestigious university, and she couldn't be more grateful.

"Great. Just get it to me soon and we'll be fine, I won't dock you points," said Nobusawa-Sensei, "You're such a good student, and I can't in good conscience penalize you for a simple lapse in memory."

"Thank you, Sensei," Sawako said, bowing deeper this time, "I will go finish it now."

She started to make her way to the door before being stopped by Nobusawa-Sensei again.

"Kuronuma."

She stopped and turned to look at him again.

"Learn to take a break every once in a while," he said, "You university students have very busy lives, I know, but it pains me to see all of you destroying yourselves in the process. Please, just learn to breathe from time to time."

Sawako was taken aback. She had never thought of Nobusawa-Sensei as such a kind man. To her, he was just the old guy who taught one of her psychology courses, not a source of kindness and empathy.

"Thank you, Nobusawa-Sensei. I will."

She left the room as she processed Nobusawa-Sensei's words.

As she walked to the station, Sawako continued to process what Nobusawa-Sensei had said. Did she look so exhausted that Nobusawa-Sensei felt he had to offer advice? Or was it simply because she had forgotten to turn in an assignment, something she normally didn't do?

No matter what had made Nobusawa-Sensei feel like he had to say something, his words made Sawako think. She was juggling a full school schedule and a part time job. In addition, she had friends and a boyfriend who she wanted to spend her time with. And on top of that, she had to get her large amounts of homework done on a daily basis. To put things simply, she was stretched thin.

She wondered if every university student went through this struggle. She wondered if they all were so busy that they felt like they had no time to breathe, or was it just her and the fact that she had chosen such a particularly busy schedule?

Her mind then wandered to her friends. Shota never seemed quite as busy as she was. He was definitely busy, but he always seemed to have a little more free time available than she did. But maybe that was just because he was a much less diligent student than she.

Chizuru was less busy. Chizuru did attend Sawako's university, but didn't take as many credits as Sawako did. She seemed to like taking things slowly. Sawako remembered that she had once said that she didn't like the stress of taking so many classes at the same time, and would rather "go with the flow" than be stressed out about school all the time.

Ayane didn't go to Sawako's university. She worked as a hairdresser in Sapporo's city center. She did attend a local community college, but Sawako suspected that she liked her job as a hairdresser much more. Ayane had said once that she went to the community college "just in case" she ever wanted to get some kind of fancy degree.

And Ryu… What did he do? Sawako wasn't exactly sure what Ryu's schedule was like. He definitely went to school, but he never really talked about his experience at school much.

Sawako mused to herself that everyone's university experience was much different, and how it went depended much on the person. Hers was just one of the busier university schedules out of a myriad of possible schedules she might have.

Before she knew it, she had reached the station. Now she had to wait for the train to show up so it could take her a few stations south to where she worked. She sat in the closest bench and sighed, her breath condensing as she did. What Nobusawa-Sensei said to her had had quite an effect. As she sat in the bench, she realized that she was tired. Very, very tired. The weeks and weeks of the same busy schedule had taken their toll, and thanks to what Nobusawa-Sensei had told her, she was only starting to notice it now. In her head, she counted down the months to graduation, which was a bit more than a year off. Maybe, just maybe once she was done, she could take a break. Maybe she would wait on getting a full time job for a while. Maybe she could travel, maybe she could spend time with her parents, or maybe she could just have some time to relax at home.

As she fantasized about this, she knew that the harsh reality was that she would probably have to get a full time job as soon as possible. She didn't have enough money on hand to simply stop working. The thought brought her down a little. No matter what she did, the cycle of busyness would continue.

Just then, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

She realized that she had forgotten to respond to Shota. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. The message was from him.

Hey. Are you alright? I haven't heard from you. I'm at work now. It's boring. Hope your day is still going well!

Sawako gave a melancholy smile to the screen. She felt guilty that she had taken so long to respond to Shota. She knew that he understood her busy schedule and didn't particularly mind if she took some time to respond, but she could tell that he was a bit worried. In a city as large as Sapporo, you never knew what might happen, so Shota worried for her a lot. She didn't want to make him worry. She wrote up a response.

Hi. Sorry, something a professor said to me got my mind wandering, and I forgot about your text. I'm waiting for the train now. I'll be at work in about thirty minutes.

She hit send and waited a while. She continued her hobby of watching and wondering about people until her phone vibrated again.

What did your professor say? Do I have to beat someone up? ( ಠ ಠ )

Sawako stifled a laugh. He was joking, of course, but his dedication to her made her feel much better.

No, that's okay. He didn't say anything mean. Just something that got me thinking. I'll talk to you about it later in person.

She heard the roar of electric motors and the ringing of the train's whistle. She quickly typed out another message.

The train is here. I have to go. I know you're busy, but can you stay with me tonight? I actually really want to talk to you in person about what that professor said. Something about it is really bothering me. Talk to you later!

The roar of the train's electric motors softened as it came to a stop. The familiar voice of the robotic woman came over the loudspeakers.

"This is the Nanboku Line to Makomanai Station. All passengers to Makomanai Station, please board the train."

Sawako slipped through the doors to the train car just as they began to close. The trains had so many stops to make that they never stayed at a given station for long. You had to be really quick getting on and off.

Just as she found a seat, her phone buzzed again. She pulled it out to check it.

Of course I can stay with you tonight. I'll come to your apartment after work. See you then!

She slipped the phone back into her pocket. She was so grateful that Shota would take the time to see her just because she was feeling a bit down.

She looked out the window and watched the concrete walls fly by. Throughout the entire ride, she could help but smile.