Chapter Text
"After a long day of work or school, isn't it nice to stop thinking about all that tough, hard stuff about life?"
A shrill voice came out of the small television speakers, prompting the two boys who where arguing over who got the last Fanta to stop their childishness, and to look over at the screen.
"Isn't it just lovely to gather your friends and head out and do some shopping?"
The advert kept playing, their bickering ending quickly.
"Well, if you agree with me, Mr. Monokuma, then you should definitely come on down to Kibou Zetsubo Shopping Mall, the new hangout spot right in the heart of Tokyo!"
As the advert for the newly built Shopping Mall came to an end, two friends on their last few Yen notes were in awe. A new Mall, meaning new job opportunities. Meaning more money. The two friends-for-life shared an excited grin whilst looking at each other, the TV turning off shortly after the advert had ended, since they couldn't pay for TV anymore.
"Hiro, man... Get your CV. We're getting ourselves out of this mess." The redhead said to his pal, before downing the Fanta can.
It had been four long, hard, boring days that had gone by since the opening of Kibou Zetsubo Shopping Mall, and already, one Leon Kuwata was sat at the main counter of Sports Indirect, his head in his arms, complaining to his roommate of his long work hours.
"Seriously, man, this shit sucks!" He spoke through his arms, taking a moment to look up at his friend, Yasuhiro. "My hours are waaay too long, my boss is so hard on me... and I don't even get a discount!"
A mere chuckle was the only response Leon got, as he gave Hiro a frown. "Don't worry, man, first jobs always go like this."
Leon shot Hiro a dirty glare, a glare that he knew all to well. In short, Leon knew Hiro was bullshitting about knowing how having a first job is, and how to handle it, considering he has never had a real job, as Leon put it. Even with the glare, Hiro shrugged him off.
"Well, I'm done for the day, Sketch closed early today. But, hey, now we both actually have jobs, why don't I go treat you to a good ol' Hopebucks coffee, my treat."
Leon looked at the clock on a wall to his left. 4:58pm. He gave Hiro's proposition a quick thought, before smiling back to his friend, bags under his sleep deprived eyes. With a quick nod, Leon stood up and left with Hiro to go get a coffee. Leon currently had the usual Sports Indirect uniform, a deep blue t-shirt with a darker blue pants. He wasn't impressed by how he looked, but it was just a work uniform, right? Who really would judge him on that.
Hiro, being a waiter at a café, was still wearing his uniform, consisting of khaki shorts that lay just atop his knees, a forest green button up shirt with the top two buttons undone, covered over by a dark brown apron. His apron had the words Café Sketch embraided into it in a nice deep blue colour, his name tag just underneath it. Hiro kept his usual sandals on his feet, and wore his hair tied up. He would call himself handsome, Leon however, called him a dumbass.
After the pair had left the store that Leon works in, they hobbled through crowds of people, hoping to get down just the one set of escalators so they could take in their newly found caffeine addiction. Sooner than expected, though, they had pushed through the general public, and rode slowly to the ground floor. Leon took note in spotting a musical instrument shop not too far from Sports Indirect, though he had never noticed it before, he made sure to remember to go check it out.
Upon reaching their destination, and waiting a good few minutes in the queue, Hiro and Leon gave their orders to a white haired boy, who also seemed new to his job. Leon looked a little annoyed at his clumsiness, whilst Hiro started a small conversation with him. Uninterested, Leon reminded the boy that he ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte, and if he got it wrong, he would have Hell to pay... to which Hiro laughed, gave his own order of a Chai Tea Latte, and shooed Leon off to grab them both a seat in the surrounding food court area.
"So..." Hiro started, speaking with a rather simple, yet obviously tired tone. "You seem about the same age as my pal over there, the redhead. This your first job?"
The boy was taking his time making the Chai Tea Latte, but made sure to reply to his customer. "Yes, I have been living off some lottery money, but soon it shall run out. I thought a job would help me with easing my stress, but it seems to have stressed me out a little more. My name is Komaeda, by the way." The boy spoke softly, and said his name with a smile, prompting Hiro to do the same.
"Yasuhiro Hagakure, but please, call me Hiro." was the reply Komaeda got back, as well, accompanied with a friendly smile. "I work down in Café Sketch, so we'll both soon be pretty tired of that strong coffee smell!" Hiro attempted to humour Komaeda, which got a small laugh from the Hopebucks employee.
Komaeda had finished Hiro's Chai Tea Latte, and before he could start on Leon's, he got told to take someone elses drink to their table. He apologised quickly, giving him a thank you for talking with him, before someone else came to make Leon's drink. Shortly, the drinks were made, Hiro picked them up, and looked around to see if he could spot his redhaired pal.
Lucky for him, Leon picked a great spot that was near some plants, which made Hiro all the more happier. Once he sat down by Leon, he gave him his Pumpkin Spice Latte, to which Leon exploded with joy, and told Hiro that it smelt as good as ever.
"Remember, on me. Plus, that guy who served us, Komaeda something... he seemed rather nice, too. I think I'm finally settling down in this mall, man. And I got you by my side to get through it all!" Hiro said with a huge grin, as he pulled Leon into a bro hug.
"Hey, stop with that soppy shit, man! I was eyeing up a girl just now, I think she's into me." the ex baseball player said firmly, tilting his head subtly toward to direction of the girl he was looking at just earlier.
Hiro discreetly looked over that direction, and scoffed as he looked back at Leon. "Out. Of. Your. League, baseball star." He said in a joking manner, which garnered an annoyed face from Leon.
"Sure, sure... Y'know what, I'm gonna ask her out!"
"Go ahead, I'll be right here. Watching."
"Actually, on second thought, I think I'll ask her later, once I think up a good line..."
With that, Hiro just laughed at Leon, as he was frantically thinking up pickup lines to say to her. Each one more painfully cringe than the last.
"One Espresso, ma'am."
A voice spoke, the person whom ordered the drink jumping in her seat suddenly, and apologised to the waiter.
"Sorry I jumped, I didn't see you there, Mr... Komaeda?" she read his name tag quickly.
"Nagito Komaeda, yes ma'am. I hope you enjoy your drink." Nagito said with a smile, before leaving the girl alone, back to her laptop.
Picking up her drink, the redhead girl blew on the top of it, trying to cool it down. "Smells amazing... I really needed this, you deserve this, Mahiru!" she told herself, trying to keep her voice down in hopes to not look insane. Mahiru, who had ordered an Espresso moments before Leon and Hiro, was currently sat in the food court, with her digital camera and her trusted laptop, all hooked up ready to develop her photographs.
Mahiru sifted through some of her photos, before focusing on one in particular. It was a photograph taken in front of the new Mall, with, from what she assumed, was the new employees walking in. Maybe there were customers too, she did not know, nor wanted to know... well, except for one person.
Her eyes focused on the few pixels that his face was seen in, his goofy smile made her heart melt... but who was he? For the past four days, she has been looking all over the mall to see if he works anywhere here, but alas, she hadn't found any sign of him. Maybe it was just a fluke, maybe he was just a one time customer, or maybe he wasn't worth finding after all. As her eyes stared at the screen, a familiar voice spoke up to her.
"Are you still ogling your photos? You know they're, like, the best ever, riiight? You are the best photographer ever, Mahiru!"
Quickly closing off her pictures, Mahiru looked to her right, and saw her friend, Hiyoko Saionji, dressed in her Premark uniform, the standard blue shirt with black short sleeves, with simple black pants.
"Hiyoko! What have I said about sneaking up on me like that! And, for your information, no, I was just figuring out a way to develop them onto here... or something. It's a little confusing."
Mahiru's blonde friend took a seat next to her, and put her head on the table. "If you don't get it, just go ask someone in some nerdy tech shop, there's tonnes of them around here!"
Surprisingly enough, Hiyoko was right. There was a Curry's PC Earth not too far from their current seating area, which, if she remembers correctly, her old school friend works in there now, at least, that's what she heard when she applied to work there. The manager apologised to Mahiru, but told her that they had just hired someone the day before, who's name was apparently C. Fujisaki. Maybe it would be a nice way to rekindle an old flame. Mahiru smiled slightly at the thought of seeing him again, since she still thinks he is one of the only nice boys she knew.
Lost in thought, Mahiru sipped her Espresso, whilst nodding along at what ever new, dumb drama that Hiyoko was murmuring on about. All she could think about was the mystery man she took a photo of, and if he dyes his hair regularly.