The harsh Sunday morning sun shone into Kaji's small apartment. Though he'd woken up a few minutes earlier, Kaji held his eyes shut and tried to go back to sleep. He knew Misato was still somewhere in his apartment, and after the fight they'd had, he didn't want to see her and risk bringing it up again.

With tightly-coiled carpet pressing into his face, Kaji laid still on his living room floor for what seemed like hours, praying for Misato to wake up and leave. It was half an hour after he woke up that he heard her shift a few metres away from him, and he waited patiently until she walked out the door.

After waiting for a few more minutes to make sure she wasn't coming back, Kaji sat up and crossed his legs. Holding his face in his hands, he realized that the carpet had left an indentation on the entire right side of his face.

Eventually, he stood up. His legs shook as the world swayed around him, but he managed to power through the dizziness to get to the bathroom. Grabbing a glass he kept on the sink, he filled it with water and gargled to get the taste of stale alcohol out of his mouth. After a few gargles and swishes, he spit the water out and took a seat on his toilet.

Rubbing his numb face, one thought floated through Kaji's mind.

…Jesus, I've had some hangovers, but this one takes the cake.

Taking some time to get used to his surroundings, Kaji soon stood up again and went back over to the sink. Leaning forward over the basin, he looked up at the mirror and gave himself a quick once-over.

His nose was encrusted with blood, as was the stubble around his mouth.

Man, if I look this bad, I'm not looking forward to seeing the floor.

Running some cold water, he wet a face-cloth and began wiping the dried blood off his face. After making sure he looked presentable, he made his way to the kitchen. Grabbing a clean glass, he poured some water from the tap and gulped it down.

It was after he put the cup down that he saw Misato's note. He didn't remember her stopping on her way out, but looking at the sheet of paper, he couldn't draw any other connection. Pausing for a moment to steady himself, Kaji picked up the letter and began reading it.

Kaji

We said a lot of things last night, and I don't think we can blame all of them on the alcohol.

We need to talk. If not tonight, then some time tomorrow – without the kids knowing.

Misato

…Crap.

Pouring another glass of water, Kaji drank it as quickly as the first one. Putting the cup down, he went back to the lounge room and surveyed the damage.

His cheap coffee table was on the other side of the room, with one leg bent diagonally. The floor had a trail of vomit splashed across it, leading to a grotty bucket which was full of the stuff, as well as a large patch of dried blood in the spot where he'd been sleeping. His couch was shifted slightly, and a small end-table had been up-ended away from the couch.

Kaji panicked as soon as he saw the end-table. Rushing over to it, he saw that one of the legs had come off completely and another had splintered about halfway down. The table had been holding a calendar and a picture of himself and Misato, which were now lying on the floor.

The end-table had been the one decent piece of furniture in his apartment, being a hand-me-down from his parents, and seeing it broken make Kaji furious. With an angry yell, he kicked the side of his couch – putting a hole in the cheap faux-leather.

The outburst threw Kaji off-balance, and he fell backwards onto the floor. Covering his eyes from the sun, he let out a low sigh.

"…Shouldn't have even bothered with her in the first place."

The residual alcohol in his system, as well as the warmness of the sun and his lack of sleep, soon led Kaji into a small nap.

He slept for about an hour, only waking up when the morning sun moved off of him. After waking up shivering, Kaji sluggishly crawled over to his couch where the sun had moved to.

The hole in the side tore itself wider the moment that Kaji sat down.

Cursing at himself, Kaji got up and went for a shower instead.

After towelling off and finding himself a clean set of clothes, Kaji stepped outside. His eyes stung as the sun shone off the pavement, and his head ached at the sudden abundance of light. Squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them slowly, Kaji began walking.

He hadn't really thought of anywhere to go when he'd left, so Kaji wandered around for a while. He stopped at a small café which had recently opened near his apartment - the place was tropical-themed and mostly had sweet food and drinks, but they made a pretty decent black coffee. After getting his order, he resumed walking.

Kaji soon found himself on an unfamiliar street. The coffee in his hand barely affected the fuzzy feeling in Kaji's head, and the longer Kaji walked, the more irritable he got.

He knew that he wasn't making sense, but Kaji walked on in an effort to lose his bad mood. But it seemed like the further he walked, the worse he'd get – when he stopped to throw away his coffee cup, he'd crumpled the thick cardboard into a tightly packed ball.

With his mood failing to improve, Kaji opened his phone and started to dial Misato's number. As the phone rang, Kaji kept walking - until he felt himself make a familiar turn. His long, angry strides began to shorten as he approached a destination he recognized.

He was outside a familiar convenience store located a few minutes away from his apartment. The place wasn't big, with barely any walking space between the front of the counter and the shelves of purchasable junk, but they were open 24 hours, served hot food and had staff who Kaji knew well.

Kaji had stopped visiting the place when he'd started dating Misato. There had been times when he spent more time at the store than with Misato, and eventually she issued an ultimatum – the store or her. Without so much as a goodbye, Kaji hadn't been back since then. But with their relationship in shambles, he saw the store with a welcome sense of nostalgia.

"…Kaji?"

Snapping back to reality, Kaji realized that Misato had picked up and was calling his name.

"…Sorry, wrong number."

"Wai—"

Gritting his teeth slightly, Kaji hung up. Putting his phone away, he reached for the door handle.

"Well, hello there."

The man Kaji found inside was someone he recognized. About a decade younger than himself, the man had a deep tan and a sharp look in his eye. His jet-black hair was fairly short, and spiked up at the front. He fiddled with a strange toy in his hands, something bright and tacky like a cheap keychain.

Kaji nodded at him as he walked in.

"How've you been, Toji?"

"Me? I've been fine, like always." Toji smirked. "I've been working here, like always. Haven't had time for anything else to change."

"Fair enough, work's been eating me alive too." Making himself comfortable, Kaji lent against the counter.

Seeming to relax a bit, Toji squeezed the toy in his hands, letting out a sound like bubble wrap being popped.

"Heh, yeah. I guess it doesn't matter what you do – work just ends up eating your spare time."

"You're not wrong, kid." Kaji smiled. "And it just gets worse the older you get."

"I assumed as much, old man. It looks like you haven't slept for weeks."

Kaji looked away as Toji snickered, looking for a mirrored surface to check himself in. He found one near a small rack of sunglasses.

…I really do look like shit.

Going back to the counter, Kaji turned around and pulled an iced coffee out of a small drink fridge.

"Long night?" Toji asked as he scanned it through.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Work had me up all night."

Though they hadn't spoken for a while, Toji seemed to pick up on Kaji's lie pretty fast. He moved the toy in his hands, and looked up at Kaji with a hint of smugness in his grin.

"You must have been swamped, yesterday was Sunday. You never used to be too busy on Sunday."

Kaji opened his coffee and stared back at Toji.

"Yeah, I've been falling behind. What of it?"

"Hey, whatever. Just made a stupid assumption."

With a strange tension in the air, the two men stood in silence for a few moments.

As Kaji got halfway through his coffee, he noticed Toji playing with the toy. It was a bright, tacky green color, and had three buttons which Toji would press. With each press, the gadget would make different noises, like animal sounds and different sound effects.

"Hey kid, what's that toy you're messing with?"

"Ahh, this piece of junk?" Toji looked up with an uncomfortable grimace. "It's this bubble wrap thing, like a little fake sheet of it. I got it to take my mind off smoking."

Kaji raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you finally gave up. Now I've seen everything."

"Look who's talking, Mr Stops-Smoking-To-Please-A-Dame."

Kaji laughed. With the tension lessened, the two men were soon speaking like old friends – discussing things that had happened after Kaji stopped visiting, and Kaji talking about the fight with Misato.

"Well, look at that," Toji smirked. "It wasn't work that was eating you alive – it was that dame."

"Yeah, shut up," Kaji grinned as he went to push Toji. The sluggish haze that felt trapped in Kaji's head was beginning to thin out, and his talk with Toji was making him feel better.

He took another swig of his iced coffee, and looked around at the merchandise behind the counter. His eyes soon met the locked cigarette case.

Though he hadn't smoked for a few months, the urge came back to Kaji in waves.

Y'know what? Misato's not around, and we're probably gonna be history anyway.

He reached for his wallet, but caught himself. A pang of guilt ate at him as he stared at the locked case.

…Then again, I like having more cash to spend. And I just got the taste out of my mouth a few weeks ago.

Toji must have noticed him hesitating, because Kaji was soon shaken out of his thought cycle with a question.

"Hey, are you alright there?"

"Huh?" Kaji looked over.

"Are you alright standing there, looking at my merchandise like it killed your family?" Toji stared at him with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Yeah, sorry," Kaji mumbled as he grabbed his coffee. "Just felt like a smoke for a second there."

Toji's eyebrows raised a bit.

"You seriously thinkin' about smoking again?"

Kaji glanced over at Toji's face. He was surprisingly hard to read.

…Y'know what? If he's ashamed of me for this, then screw him. I lived this long without coming back, and I can do it again.

"Yeah, I am." Kaji got out his wallet.

Toji straightened out his back. Standing up from his hunched over position, he clutched the little toy he had…

And he threw it over his shoulder.

"Mind if I bum one?"

"Y'know, I seriously thought you were gonna deck me or something for a second."

Kaji laughed to himself through a cloud of cigarette smoke. He and Toji were standing in the side alley next to the store, near the service door which Toji kept open with a brick. Toji was leafing through a newspaper he'd snagged on his way out.

"What, you think I liked playing with that little piece of crap?" Toji grumbled as he flicked through a cluster of articles. "Giving up's one of the worst things I ever did."

Kaji took his smoke and ashed it, holding it down near his side for a second.

"I thought you might have cared about your health or something."

"Pfft!" Toji inhaled sharply, and began coughing up plumes of smoke in between moments of laughter. Once he began breathing normally, he replied.

"What gave you that idea?"

Kaji thought about it. Toji had always seemed a bit rash – doing what he liked instead of what would have been best. Seeing Kaji thinking about it, Toji continued.

"Yeah, not exactly my style, is it? Nah, I stopped because it was getting in the way of work."

Kaji looked up at him in surprise.

"What, you started smoking in the store?"

"No, not exactly," Toji replied sheepishly. "I kept taking breaks, and eventually people started noticing… and started stealing stuff while I wasn't there."

Kaji shook his head. "Jeez."

"Yeah, don't start lecturin' me," Toji mumbled irritably.

As Kaji took another inhale of his cigarette, Toji looked up at him.

"So why'd you stop coming here, anyway? I knew you were giving up smoking because of that girlfriend of yours, but you just stopped coming here. What gives?"

Kaji stretched.

"Well, that's a Misato thing too. She thought I couldn't give up because I was always around you, and you guys gave her the creeps."

"Yeah, like her high-and-mighty ass knows what's good for everyone," Toji spat. Kaji smirked as something came back to him.

"Oh yeah, didn't she tell you to quit all the time? I bet she'd love to see you playing with that thing today."

"Shut up, old man!"

Kaji laughed heavily as Toji huffed. Looking down, he saw that his smoke had run out.

"Well, I think it's time for me to go, kid."

"Huh, you're done?" Toji glanced up from his paper.

"Yeah, I'm good. I have stuff to do today anyway, so I should be off."

Toji grunted as he looked back down at his paper.

"Well, don't be a stranger, alright? I wanna see you again soon, not in a couple of months."

Kaji patted him on the shoulder as he walked past.

"Yeah, sure thing."

He was halfway down the alley when Toji called out to him.

"Hey, I got one more question."

Kaji turned around and lent on the store's wall. Taking that as confirmation, Toji spoke.

"Why'd you do everything that woman wanted, like leaving your friends and giving up smoking? You knew she was a headcase, and she treated you like a dog – why'd you stay with her for so long?

Kaji thought about it for a minute. Misato's occasional behaviour was irritating, but he knew why he put up with it. Regardless, Toji's words made sense – it felt like he really had been mistreated a lot during their relationship.

Turning around and flicking his cigarette butt behind him, Kaji called back:

"Because she's special to me. We're both a bit nuts, but it's worth it because I love her."

Leaving Toji in a miserable mood, Kaji walked out of the alley and turned towards home.

AN: I feel like I've been writing Misato a bit belligerently. It's slightly intentional, because Kaji is that goose of a person and she's fairly goal-oriented when she's not being a goose herself, and they do clash due to that – but it's a bit too much sometimes. Nonetheless, it helped a bit when it came to writing the second half of this chapter. Happy accident?

I'd like to mention that I do not support smoking. I myself don't smoke, I don't mind other people smoking personally but I don't support/suggest taking it up. It's expensive, and tobacco tastes awful. Kaji is a smoker though, and I thought having that part of his character come back would be cool.

Next chapter will be more Misato-focused. It won't be any more cheery, unless I think of something funny to put in, but it will shed some light on Misato and Kaji's relationship. Keep an eye out for it.