Hunger

Chapter 16

3 A.M. was an entirely alien world for Naota. Those who knew him well enough knew that he was a young man who treasured his sleep. So needless to say being awake during the wee hours of the morning held no appeal for him. Unless he was having fun with friends of course. Yet here he was, standing on the front steps of his house with the world asleep around him.

This early Friday morning was deathly silent. A sparse snowfall fell from the dark clouds that masked the inky sky. Everywhere he looked the landscape seemed to be painted in the same wintery monochrome and in the darkness the bare trees looked like dark, crooked hands escaping from the ground.

That wasn't bad! He'd have to remember that line for the next time he wrote a poem.

The entire reason Naota was out at this grisly hour was because it was the first day of his new job!

Well, sorta job.

It seemed like no one wanted to hire a teenager like him unless it was a directly after school position. Naota wasn't willing to give up the Literature club and disappoint the girls like that. Luckily for him there was another option. It turns out his cousin Rei had been working at a grocery store not too far from here unloading trucks. Rei was taking some extra college courses this semester and wanted to spend less time at the store. This is where Naota's golden opportunity came in.

Naota was going to spend a few days a week waking up early and going with Rei to work to help unload trucks. Naota technically wouldn't be part of the company staff but this arrangement sill had a few benefits. For one he only had to work for about three hours, which gave him plenty of time to go home, shower and prepare some breakfast. Or go back to sleep on the weekends. Second, Rei was going to pay him right away fro any day he worked. No waiting around for pay day or for checks to clear. Finally, just because this wasn't an official job didn't mean he couldn't make a good impression on the other staff and maybe have an opportunity to work there in the future if he wanted.

The more he thought about it the more he felt like this was a chance handed to him from the heavens above! It wasn't a lot of money but he would be able to get Natsuki some good, nutritious food. If he worked hard enough he might have a little money left over as well. He could get his parents gifts for their birthdays maybe! The other girls too!

As he day dreamed the more pumped the young man became to start this new chapter in his life. He was going to give it his all and not let this chance pass him by. No matter what. Even if it meant sitting on this lonely street waiting for a ride every morning.

Eventually Naota spotted a lone pair of headlights coming his direction. It had been the only car on the road for the last fifteen minutes so it had to be Rei. As the modest, used car slowed to a stop in front of his house. Taking a brief look inside to make sure that this ride was his, Naota stepped out of the cold world and into the warm car.

Behind the wheel sat a man who you could easily tell was a family member of Naota's. He sat a little taller than his younger cousin, with a thin and slightly athletic build. He shared the same shade of brown hair, although his was shorter and swept back. He sported a small, scraggly beard of a college man.

"Hey cousin!" Rei greeted warmly as Naota sat down and buckled his seat belt.

"Hey Rei! Thanks for picking me up and everything." Naota smiled back.

"Not a problem. I should be thanking you really. I bit off a little more then I could chew this semester and the few hours you're saving me is gonna help a ton."

As soon as Naota was safe in his seat the two were off into the night towards their destination.

"So what made you want to earn some cash all of a sudden?" Rei asked after a few quiet moments of listening to the radio.

Once again Naota was in a situation where he couldn't really tell the truth, the whole truth anyway. But Rei was a pretty cool family member, one he could trust with a secret or two. "Well there's this girl..." Naota trailed off with a timid blush.

Rei's mouth curled into a knowing grin. "A girl huh? Gonna lavish this girl with a bunch of gifts and dates are ya?" The older man teased.

"Kind of. I think her family's having a bit of a hard time currently. I just want to make sure she's eating and stuff."

"Ah, well one of the jobs of a boyfriend is to help and provide when needed." Rei advised.

"What? Who said she was my girlfriend?" Naota asked defensively.

"Your face dude. You're as red as a tomato right now." Rei laughed out loud.

"Well my parents don't know about us yet, so don't say anything to them." Naota requested.

"I won't. Your secret is safe with me." Rei reassured. "So tell me about her. What kind of person is she?"

A thousand thoughts popped into Naota's mind as he ruminated over that question. Calming himself down he decided to just start with the basics. "Well she's tough and strong willed, doesn't let anyone walk all over her. She likes anime and manga. We're reading a few series together right now. She can bake and she's REALLY good at it."

"She seems like a cool gal. Anyways, this job should be pretty easy for you. A lot of the other guys are cool and just want to get their work done. Although there is a grump here and there."

Naota only nodded in response as he put his Natsuki thoughts on hold and focused on the task at hand. The two drove the rest of the way in mostly silence, only sharing comments here and there about the current song that was playing or when they passed an interesting house or landmark. Naota hated to admit it but he grew more nervous as they got closer to the store.

They arrived at the store and Rei led Naota to the back rooms. Introductions with the rest of the crew was quick, no one was all that interested in talking with the new guy and most of them just offered quick 'hello's or said nothing at all. The job seemed simple enough, he would be using a pallet jack to pull pallets of product off of the trucks. Then he would take that pallet to the appropriate section of the store for the early morning crew to stock. After that it was back to the trucks to do it again until the trucks were empty.

Pulling the pallets could be a little difficult. Naota was new to using a pallet jack of course. The pallets could also be a pretty heavy and Naota wasn't much for muscles. The first couple weren't a problem and although Naota was moving slower than Rei and the others he safely got the product to their correct section of the store.

Naota was pulling out his fifth pallet when something went wrong. Due to a combination of his inexperience and the pallet being pressed right up to the side of the trailer the pallet scratched the trailer wall with a echoing screech when he tried to pull it.

Almost immediately after the incident Naota heard the sound of heavy footsteps echoing behind him. Turning around he was met by the truck's owner slowly approaching him.

The truck's owner and driver was somewhat of a stocky man. He was only as tall as Naota himself with thick arms and legs. He had very short black hair, an unshaven face and the bulbous, red nose of an alcoholic. Anger smoldered from his tired gaze and smoke flowed lazily from a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

Naota suddenly felt like a lone adventurer in a cave staring down a dragon.

Without a word the stocky man walked up to Naota. With one quick swing of his arm he grabbed Naota's right forearm and forcibly ripped his grip from the handle of the pallet jack. Naota winced in pain as the older man held his arm in the air like an iron vice.

Blowing a puff of smoke in Naota's face the man finally spoke. "You damaging my truck punk?"

Naota, in pain and bewildered by the whole situation could only mutter a pathetic. "What?"

"Are you deaf and dumb or something? I swear you kids are worthless. I said; Are you damaging my truck?"

"I-I didn't mean to..." Naota managed to answer. "Please let me go, you're really hurting me..."

Naota's pleads seemed to further anger the stocky man. He grit his teeth and applied more pressure on the teenager's arm. "Listen here. You're not an employee here. That means if you wanna stay around you're gonna listen to me with respect. And you're gonna respect my truck. We clear?"

"Yeah, whatever you want!" Naota nearly cried, he was sure his arm was turning blue by now.

"Good." The driver roughly wrenched his arm back to a normal position. "Now get back to work, I wanna go home."

Shaking, Naota just stood there and tried to process everything that just happened. He was use to a altercation with a bully at school every now and again but he was totally lost on what to do when an adult assaults you. He briefly wondered if he should go get Rei and tell him what happened. The rest of his brain quickly vetoed the idea. This was his golden chance remember? He couldn't screw it up already.

It was manly to just bear the storm right? That's what he had to do.

After calming down and he was no longer shaking Naota spent the rest of the work day doing whatever he could to get the truck empty as quickly and safely as possible. He did his best to ignore the brutish truck driver and the burning throbbing in his forearm. It seemed to work as just a few hours later he and Rei were back in the car and on the way home.

"So what did you think for your first day?" Rei asked excitedly.

Naota subconsciously rubbed his damaged forearm. "It was alright I guess. I had a bad run in with one of the driver's though."

"Yeah, I think I know which one you're talking about. He's a real hard ass on us younger guys for some reason. It best just to get his truck emptied and get him out of the way." Rei advised.

Naota nodded in agreement and silently wondered if the whole crew was treated the way he was tonight. His worries dissipated when the pair pulled up to his house and Rei handed his money for the night. With a brief goodbye Naota rushed to his room to rest for a few moments before hopping in the shower. Laying on his bed he took a moment to admire his hard earned money.

If he just kept his head low he could surely survive working three or four days a week. And with this money he could help Natsuki.

He would make that sacrifice to no longer be the lazy boy he once was.

The school day was a grueling one. Sayori picked up on his lack of energy right away to which Naota simply explained that he's been awake since 3 A.M. When Sayori asked why he just smiled and promised to fill her in after school. Keeping focused in class proved to be especially difficult. His fatigue, excitement to put his plan for Natsuki into motion and the fact it was Friday was a horrible trifecta to test his attention span with. By lunch time, which was now officially manga time with Natsuki, he was the one who could barely keep his head up.

The final bell rung and he finally caught his second wind. He rushed to the club room to see if he could get a chance to talk to Sayori before Natsuki arrived. As luck would have it everyone aside from Natsuki was there already, softly chatting at their pushed together desks.

"Hey everybody." Naota greeted as he took a seat next to Sayori.

"Hey sleepy!" Sayori greeted back, causing the other two girls to look to her in intrigue. "Naota's been up since three and hasn't told me why yet."

As the girls looked to Naota for an explanation he retrieved his wallet and he earnings from this morning. He laid the money on the table before declaring "I got an early morning job!"

"Oh! So you're gonna buy Natsuki lunches from now on?" Sayori guessed.

Naota shook his head. "No, I think I can do better."

All eyes were on Naota, waiting for an explanation.

"I want to make her lunches." He declared.

"That's admirable but are you sure you'll have the energy to do all that?" Monika asked concearned.

"I'll be up early anyways and I can probably make something better than what they serve here. Once I learn how to cook that is." Naota said, his pride deflating a bit.

"Yeah!" Sayori agreed in excitement. "We can figure out this cooking thing together!"

Naota's face visibly paled at this suggestion. He remembered the last time he and Sayori tried to cook together. His mother was so angry when she had to throw away that poor, decimated pan. "I think you might do better as a taste tester Sayori..."

Sayori pouted. "You'll never let me live down those eggs will you?"

"If you need to learn how to cook I may be able to provide some guidance." Yuri quietly offered.

"You can cook Yuri?" Monika asked.

"A-a bit. You see my parents are very busy people. So my little sister and I have to fend for ourselves every so often."

"Will Naota have to start bringing you lunches too?" Sayori teased.

"No,no. My sister and I are fine. There's very little for us to want." Yuri said as she blushed.

"That's awesome Yuri! I don't suppose you'd have time to help me on Saturday would you?" Naota asked.

"I suppose I can pencil you in as they say." Yuri said with a light giggle.

"Alright! I can't thank you enough Yuri!" Naota grinned widely at the taller girl.

"O-oh it's quite alright. I just wanted to help out my friends is all..." Yuri said while trying to shrink away from the attention.

"One last thing everyone? Don't mention this to Natsuki. I want this all to be a surprise for her on Monday." Naota requested, earning nods from his fellow club mates.

Naota put his money away and eventually Eventually Natsuki came waltzing in, greeted everyone and took her seat at the table.

"Thank god it's Friday." Natsuki complained as she settled in. "Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?"

Naota snuck a glance at Yuri as they answered with a chorus of "No"s. Sayori and Monika didn't offer much aside from homework and relaxing.

"All I know is Naota and Yuri will be plenty busy this weekend." Sayori announced absentmindedly.

"Sayori!" Yuri immediately chided.

"Oops! Forget I said that." Sayori apologized.

Natsuki only looked at Naota in confusion only for him to nervously smile and shrug in return.

With no new business to discuss the group decided to use the day to work on their assigned reading. After entering all of Yuri's suggestions and some other classics into a online randomizer The Great Gatsby was chosen for their first book. Yuri was initially disappointed but Monika thought a smaller book was a great choice for their first title. As the group took out their books and prepared for some silent reading Naota felt a tug at his sleeve.

"Naota could you help me with something in the closet for a moment." Natsuki asked as calm as could be.

Naota nodded and followed the girl into the closet. When both were in Natsuki closed the door behind her.

"So, You're doing something with Yuri this weekend I'm not supposed to know about..." Natsuki stated, clearly unamused.

"Uh... yeah..." Naota replied nervously.

"And why can't I know about it." Natsuki asked.

"Because it involves a surprise. For you." Naota still spoke slowly, carefully choosing his word for the fuming girl in front of him.

"And how do I know you're not lying? How do I know that you're not going over to her house for some private titty time or something." Natsuki folded her arms over her own chest.

"Because I'm not attracted to Yuri's chest. Like at all." Naota stated plainly.

"Yeah?" Natsuki asked but didn't seemed all that convinced.

Natsuki could be a stubborn soul but Naota was quickly learning the weakness in her armor. And as if on cue his brain came up with a wonderful, cheesy line.

"I prefer your chest..." Naota started with a smug grin.

Natsuki blushed hard and began to stammer. "Wh- what!?"

"Because your chest allows me to be closer to your heart." Even the boy's wanna be suave smile was oozing cheese at this point.

After the words fully sunk in the embarrassed Natsuki quickly punched him in the shoulder. It hurt but Naota couldn't help but to giggle at his girlfriend's reaction.

"God, you're a weirdo." Natsuki huffed and crossed her arms again. "You better not be cheating on me Naota, or your life is going to be a living hell."

"If I cheated on you after finally getting you to trust me I'd deserve hell." Naota agreed.

"Well you better be on your best behavior this weekend. And I guess I'll be looking forward to this surprise..." Natsuki huffed before leaving the closet and rejoining the other girls.

The winter sun set some time ago and Naota's bed had never looked better to him as it did right now. After a filling dinner and homework he was quick to strip off his shirt and got into a pair of pajama pants. While walking to the light switch he caught his reflection in his closet mirror. His forearm was bruised an almost a perfect ring where he was grabbed this morning. And even where Natsuki hit him had a ugly, little bruise forming. This new situation he was in was certainly going to test his mettle. With a sigh of resignation Naota turned off the lights and hopped into bed, he had work again in a few hours after all.

But seeing Natsuki's face when he served her lunch on Monday was going to be worth it!

A/N: Once again, thanks to each and everyone of you who comes back to read.