Hey! Little bit of a foreword before continuing! Sorry it took me forever to get back to this, had a bad bout of procrastination and when I did have drive to write, life decided to screw with me. Anyways, thats not awfully important. I hope you all enjoy! - H.G.

Chapter 3: Down Time

"Careful now, son! Those boxes are fragile!"

I shuffled along the floor carefully as I nodded in acknowledgement of Aikawa-san's warning. The boxes I'm carrying are the latest arrivals of inventory for the store; boxes which are incredibly heavy.

"Aikawa-san, w-where are these boxes from?" I sputtered, as Aikawa-san came to assist me in moving them.

"The northern tip and southern tip of Honshu," as he spoke, I felt a great deal of relief as the old shop owner carefully lifted the other box. "These boxes aren't that heavy, ya sure you ain't just gettin' meeker?"

"That stings…" I thought to myself as I readjusted my grip.

Aikawa-san cackled. "Nah, I'm just kidding with ya! I was surprised to see you lifting 'em both off the ground."

Aikawa-san has been my employer for the last three years. My job consists of mostly odd jobs around the back end of his store. A flexible but sporadic schedule, since the old man only buys merchandise sparsely.

Finally, after lugging the two boxes to the back room, we set them down in the center of the storage room. "Good work! Now, time to go find my pry bar."

The old man disappeared behind the curtain to the front of the store. Meanwhile, I began to study the shipping labels on the boxes. As the man had said, the boxes were from Yamaguchi and Aomori. Neither box had any indicator for what was inside it.

Of course, that was how every box was delivered here. The old man knew the origin of each crate, whereas the contents were always a mystery. It was as if the man was running his own personal Don Quijote but at a fraction of the scale.

Aikawa-san soon returned with his weathered, red pry bar. "These crates took a bit longer to get here, hope there's something good in them!"

"Here's hoping it isn't as bad as live crab," I said haphazardly.

Aikawa-san grumbled. "That's the last time I'll ever order from Sapporo."

"What about Hakodate?"

"And have a crate full of live squid instead? No thanks! Already got in enough trouble with the neighboring shops for my little crab fiasco."

I let out a sharp exhale in amusement as I imagined a storage tank full of live squid out front. The old man lifted his pry bar and jammed one end into the top of the box from Yamaguchi. He tossed the wooden lid to the side which made a loud, clattering sound.

"Ah," Aikawa began, seemingly taken aback by the items inside. "It's canned coffee."

I looked down into the crate and, sure enough, it was full of small cans of coffee. I grabbed one to inspect it, the glossy labeling read 'Key Coffee.'

"Alright, last crate!" Aikawa moved to the crate from Aomori. He rammed the pry bar into the lid and popped it off. However, Aikawa stared at what was inside for a long moment.

"Aikawa-san?" I asked, eager to see the item he had received.

He grabbed the item, and with a brief struggle, lifted it from the crate.

It was…a statue?

"What is that, Aikawa-san?"

Aikawa remained quiet for several seconds, before having another release of energy. "It's a piece of history, boy! This is a genuine dogū statue!"

While this wasn't as bizarre as crabs or inksticks, it still stood out for its own reasons. "So, what are we going to do with this thing?"

"Well, we can't have it for sale, because it'll raise more questions than I'd like to answer," Aikawa said, gently placing the statue back in the crate. "I'll just hold onto it for now."

I stood up from the floor, patting my pant legs. "Would you be alright with me leaving for the day?"

"Ah yeah, that's fine. I don't have much else for you to do today."

"I see, then I'll be heading out now," I began. "Did you need me to come in tomorrow?"

"No, I won't make you come in on a Sunday," Aikawa smiled warmly. "You're young, you oughta enjoy your free time!"

I nodded, and turned to leave the back room to the small locker room positioned behind a desk with a cash register. The only possessions I had in there were my school clothes packed into an old duffel bag, an umbrella and my school bag. I quickly grabbed them and proceeded out the front door, unfurling my umbrella underneath the awning of the small shop.

"Stay dry out there!" I heard Aikawa call out from behind me, just before the door closed. Despite his eccentric disposition, Aikawa-san was what I'd call my 'strange grandpa.' Not in a negative way, mind you; it's mostly because I already have a grandfather and I use it to differentiate between them. Aikawa-san's shop has become something of an outlet for my spare time, which might be weird to say as a student, but I find having too much free time to stress me out.

I exhaled, looking slightly upward at the street lights above me. The pale yellow hue was illuminating the falling rain, making for an idyllic walk home. If I could finish the rest of my homework tonight, I'd be able to enjoy my Sunday without stress. Or maybe I should push it to tomorrow night and just enjoy my weekend?

The distant rumble of thunder pulls me away from my trance, which puts my attention at a building in front of me. It appeared to be some sort of shop, with a large, illuminated sign above the entrance which read, "Furukawa Bakery."

"I suppose I could come back in the morning," I said to myself as I turned right and continued walking. I found myself taking in the atmosphere around me, having been alone with my thoughts. The cool evening chill, the soft pattering sound of rain hitting my umbrella.

And then it dawned on me: this weather was particularly awful for a house cat.

"I hope that cat isn't outside, the little guy'd probably be chilled to the bone," my thoughts drifted to the mental image of the small, tabby cat shivering, its coat shiny and slick from the rainfall. "Oh who am I kidding. Misae-san would never let that cat out in this weather."

More distant rumbling kept me on my toes, as if confirming my thought. In a matter of minutes I was in front of the dorms and walking up to the front door. As soon as I was beneath the protective awning of the doorway, I turned and furled my umbrella. After shaking off some of the excess rainwater, I opened the front door, where I was greeted by Misae Sagara, the dorm mother.

"Ah, Sasaki," she began, her voice sounding fatigued. "Good evening."

I moved to the umbrella rack and placed it in an open slot. "Good evening, Sagara-san. It was then that I noticed a large gash in the wall behind Misae.

She sighed, resting her chin on her broom. "Why do they always do this?"

"What happened?" I asked, slipping my shoes off and putting them in my locker.

Misae's face morphed into one of disappointment. "Well, a good portion of the dorm decided to play kabaddi while I was preparing dinner for tonight. Of course, pretty soon after I finish cooking, I hear a loud noise from the front hall near the landing. I turn the corner to find a giant gash in the wall and not a single rugby player in sight."

"How did you find out they were playing kabaddi?"

"One kid ratted the others out," she proudly stated. "He was one of the few rugby players who didn't partake, but he heard the others talking about it."

"I suppose that mystery is solved," I said with relief. "What's gonna happen with the wall?"

"Faculty's gonna come by with a repairman either tomorrow or Monday, but it'll probably be a minor fix," Misae explained, before her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. "Gah, they should know better than to play kabaddi indoors! They're acting like grade schoolers."

To most, this would seem like a dorm lady's worst nightmare. But to Sagara-san, who has handled the dorm since as long as I've been here, she's pretty well acquainted with the usual happenings of the boy's dormitory. That doesn't stop her from being upset when they manage to get on her nerves of course.

Misae let out another tired exhale. "I'm pretty sure Sunohara is still in his room. If you're on your way there, mind telling him that dinner will be a bit cold?"

"Can do!" I answered while nodding. With that, I left Misae to her own devices. As I made my way off of the landing and onto the main corridor, I noticed Misae's cat standing by her leg. The orange tabby has been here I imagine as long as Misae has been here, but the cat doesn't really have a name. The only 'name' that he was given by Misae was Nanashi, but most still call him cat.

I continued down the corridor until I reached Youhei's dorm room. I rattled at the door with a soft motion. A few seconds later, Youhei's voice rang out.

"It wasn't me, Misae-san!" his voice, while muffled, was definitely laced heavily with terror.

"Youhei, it's me," I began, shaking my head, "can I come in?"

"Izu? Yeah, that's fine," he responded. I then opened his door and proceeded into his room. "Why do you even knock before coming in?"

"Would you rather I enter without warning while you were changing" I replied, stepping over a few magazines which were sprawled over the floor.

"Ah.. that's a good point," Youhei said with a noticeably warbly voice. "But seriously, every time you knock, I have a heart attack thinking Misae-san needs to chew me out!"

"Not my fault you have a guilty conscience," I said, sighing as I took a seat across from him. "Have you been here all day?"

Youhei flipped a page in his magazine before looking up. "Well yeah. It's a half day, so there wasn't really any reason to come into class."

I procured a pencil, textbook and notebook from my bag. Even while I was unwinding from the day, I still found a way to do something relating to school. "How many absences are you up to anyways? It won't be just the teacher that'll chew you out for it soon enough."

Youhei gave a cocky smirk. "And what is the class rep gonna do-"

His face deadpanned mid sentence, and I noticed a sweat drop fall down the side of his face. "What's that look for?"

"Nothing!"

"You were gonna say something rude about Ryou, weren't you?"

"Not at all! You got it all wrong!"

I shrugged before returning to my notebook, scribbling answers down for homework problems while glancing intermittently to the window. "I feel bad for her."

"Huh? Why's that?" Youhei asked.

I flipped to another page in my textbook. "She has to deal with the sole delinquents in this school as class rep, and she only ended up there because of a lottery."

"You're making it out like I'm nothing but trouble for her!" Youhei exclaimed.

"Well, that's because you have been trouble for her," I explained, scribbling another answer down. "Don't blame me if Kyou sticks her nose in this later on."

Youhei looked up with a frown, and I knew better than anyone that he was about to whine. "Izu! We've known eachother since junior high!"

"Kyou doesn't need me to find out about this, you know."

"Yeah, but you're better at talking with her! Convince her not to murder me!"

"That might be a fate worse than death, Youhei."

Youhei slammed his head dramatically onto the kotatsu in response. After scratching some more answers onto my paper, I inevitably gave up with homework. I'd have plenty of time to do it tomorrow.

"By the way, Youhei," I began, reclining as much as I could. "Where's Okazaki?"

"He left a while ago," Youhei answered while maintaining his gaze on his magazine. "Didn't say why, just asked to borrow my umbrella and never came back afterwards."

I cocked an eyebrow upwards. "Strange, normally he's always with you."

"Yeah, it is strange," Youhei rubbed the bottom of his chin in thought. "What do you think he was doing?"

I began to ponder as well. Okazaki was a strange guy, sure, but it's especially weird to suddenly ditch your best friend out of the blue. "Did he seem distracted or something?"

"He was looking outside a lot," Youhei recalled, "maybe he had made plans or something?"

"It's strange that he wouldn't say anything though-"

"He tends to keep to himself a lot of the time. He doesn't really talk about himself to others or hang out with other people."

That made me think even harder. "Perhaps, he was spending some time yesterday with a girl-"

"The Drama Club girl?" Youhei interjected while closing his magazine. His focus was entirely on the conversation now.

"Maybe? I didn't know who she was," I began. "Did she have auburn hair and a prominent cowlick near the top of her head?"

Youhei nodded, before a smile crept across his face. "I can see why Okazaki is helping her out, then."

"What's that mischievous look for?" I asked, tilting my head to the left slightly.

"My logic is at work, that's all."

"Since when did you have logical thoughts?"

"That was uncalled for, first of all!" Youhei shouted. "I'm talking about something going on between her and Okazaki!

"Something? Care to elaborate?"

"Well, a little bit of this," he paused for a moment, "and a little bit of that. Y'know what I mean?"

"He really is that perverted, huh," I thought to myself.

"Why're you looking at me like that?"

"You already know why, Youhentai," I deadpanned.

I looked in awe as Youhei flipped backwards and landed on his back with a loud thud. A couple of his shelves rattled from the impact. "Don't call me that!"

"Well what am I supposed to call you?"

"Does my name not work well enough?!"

THUMP!

"Keep it down, jackass!"

"EEK!" Youhei leapt from his side of the table, landing behind me.

"Why're you hiding behind me?!"

"Because, I am shokku!"

"Shokku?"

"It's English, Izu!"

"I can see why you're failing that class."

Youhei gasped, but he let that be the end of the strange conversation. With a sigh he returned to his seat, the silence occasionally being interrupted by the soft sound of raindrops peppering the window. This was a standard night for us, though usually Okazaki was here as well. We'd talk about anything, to be honest, be it whatever magazine one of us was reading, Youhei concocting foolish plans or Okazaki and Youhei being goofballs to each other. Admittedly I wouldn't stay for the entire get-together, as they tended to continue until the early morning, a time I usually woke up at.

Looking back over at Youhei, he was not reading his magazine anymore. Instead, his head was perched upon his hand as he looked to the window. Even though half of his face was obscured by his head, I could make out a seemingly melancholic expression, although to the unobservant eye it would have looked as if it was his resting face.

He sighed, before looking back at me. His eyes widened for a second as he realized I had been staring at him. "What's up, Izu?"

"Is something bothering you, Youhei?" I asked sheepishly. I wasn't one to pry into people's lives, but I made the presumption that it would be best to at least get some grasp of what Youhei was thinking about.

"I think so?" he began, stroking his chin with the hand he was perched on earlier. "I don't know what I'm feeling right now. All I know is that it's bothering me."

"Well, I gathered that much from your body language. Did something happen?"

Youhei thought for a moment in silence, reclining in his seat before he continued. "I feel like I know, but I also don't. It feels like a nagging sensation, something I'd been neglecting coming back to bite me in the ass."

"Well, you have a giant mountain of dirty clothes, it might have something to do with-"

"No, it's not that, Izu," Sunohara interrupted. "Maybe it's boredom."

"Boredom?"

"Yeah," Youhei layed down on his back, reaching a hand into the air towards his ceiling. "For guys like us, we're more susceptible to boredom than most."

"I suppose, but it isn't some unshakeable mindset. I mean, think of the stuff you do to dispel that boredom. Admittedly it's pretty silly stuff but it's something to do. Even if it's at the expense of others."

Youhei sighed heavily. "Maybe that's what I'm becoming bored with."

After his comment, the conversation would die down briefly, with an empty silence settling in between the two of us. Hearing that from Youhei was a bombshell of a statement. It would make sense for someone to get tired of pulling pranks and coming to class after noon on most days. Yet, hearing it from Youhei was probably the most abnormal thing he could say.

Youhei was the one to break the silence. "When this year ends, I'll have to join the workforce, find an apartment, y'know, make something of myself. I'm living through the most carefree point of my life, and I'm stumped on this weird, nagging feeling like I'm missing something."

"Well, if you're this hung up over it, it must be pretty important," I commented, now pondering on what it was that was bothering Youhei.

Of course, it wasn't long until he blurted out an answer. "That's it! I still haven't had a girlfriend!"

His sudden response earned a sharp exhale from my nose. "A girlfriend, Youhei? Bahaha!"

"What're you laughing for?!" And just like that, Youhei's mannerisms had returned. "Should I remind you that you are in the same boat as me?!"

Another loud bang from the wall behind him made Youhei leap from his seat and cower behind me. "Again, why me?!"

"Force of habit!"

The rest of the evening was rather lackluster. After our little heart-to-heart- if you could even call it that, Youhei turned in for the night. Now it was Sunday, the rain from last night had mostly dried up by now. The faint scent of petrichor permeating the air was the only other reminder of yesterday's weather.

I woke up at 9AM, and after spending an hour finishing the last few problems on my homework, I set off to find something to eat. I was willing to bet the bakery I saw on my way home yesterday was open by now, and after retracing my steps from my walk home last night, I found myself not far from the entrance.

The door to the bakery appeared open, and as I approached to enter, I could hear the unmistakable clacking sound of getas, as well as a woman's voice. "My bread is destined to be leftovers~?!"

Without any other warning, I found myself leaping backwards in an effort to avoid being tackled by the woman exiting the store. "'Ta heck?!"

Almost immediately after, another person exited the store, seemingly chasing after her. His mouth was stuffed with bread, which made it hard to understand him, but it sounded like he was calling out to the woman.

"What the heck was that all about?" I said, clearing my throat as I observed the two strangers running down the road.

"Um, is something wrong?" I looked over my shoulder to see another stranger. This time, a young woman with short, chestnut hair and brown eyes.

"Does that happen a lot?" I asked, pointing towards the direction that the two ran off in.

"Ah, yes, I believe that's a rather common occurrence," the woman said. "However, that means the bakery is likely not being tended right now."

It was at that moment that I heard more footsteps, this time to my side. Turning to face the sound, I was met with the sight of Okazaki, wearing a hoodie and a pair of jeans. "Oh, Okazaki. Good morning."

Okazaki gave a wave before addressing the woman. "If you're looking for the owners, they just ran out. Might be a second until they come back."

"I see, well, I'll probably swing back around later today," the woman said in a defeated tone.

It was then that Okazaki held a bag out to her. "You can have these pastries if you'd like them."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's no big deal, since I got them for free anyways," Okazaki simply replied, motioning the bag of pastries closer to the woman.

The woman gracefully grabbed the plastic bag, a smile creeping onto her face. "Thank you very much. Say hello to Sanae-san and her husband for me." And with that, the woman walked down the street, continuing on her way to wherever it was she was traveling to.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Sasaki," Okazaki said, now addressing my presence. "Headed to work?"

"Not today, no."

"Didn't you work last Sunday?"

"My job doesn't have a set schedule for me per se," I explained, yawning before continuing. "Where were you yesterday?"

"I was at Sunohara's, but I had to leave early. Something came up."

I thought for a moment about asking what it was that came up, but thought better of it. I didn't want to pry into Okazaki's life too much, and so I nodded in silent agreement. "I wish those two didn't run off. I was kinda banking on getting breakfast from here."

"I'd consider it a blessing, to be completely honest," Okazaki warned, as he started walking away from the door. "Although, as long as you don't grab any unique looking bread, you should be fine."

"What do you mean?" I asked, quickly accompanying him. "Is something wrong with the bread?"

"Some things are best left unknown."

And with that ominous statement, the conversation concluded. Me and Okazaki walked a short distance from the bakery before another person ran towards us.

"Hey, you two!" The person in question was a man in bifocals. Slightly wider around his midsection and early signs of a receding hairline. "Come with me!"

"What? Why‐ Hey!" Okazaki could hardly make much of a fuss before being corralled away by the stranger. Being that I was accompanying Okazaki, I decided to follow along with the pair.

From what I've come to know about this town, there's never a morning without a catch somewhere.