Chapter Text
If you had to describe who Toyama Kasumi is, then all of her friend’s answers would be somewhere between 'a cheerful and sociable person' and 'a person who love cleanliness too much.'
On one hand, that's a good thing. However, on the other hand, it can be frustrating for the person itselves.
Which was exactly how she was feeling right now.
Kasumi returned to her apartment room feeling tired. At the college where she was studying, there were many things that irritated her. Like her friends not disposing their trash in the right place, which made her spend almost 2 hours just separating the trash into the right places.
Oh, and to put it lightly, what annoyed her even more were the janitors there who didn't do their job properly at all. There was one time when she arrived earlier than her scheduled lecture, she found a speck of dust on her desk. Fortunately, she had prepared various cleaning tools in her bag. It took longer to clean her desk (and the whole class), but she was satisfied with her work.
But, all of that had already passed, she just wanted to immediately throw her body into her lovely bed and then fall asleep.
However, before she could fall asleep peacefully, an unpleasant odor entered her nasal cavity. Suddenly she closed her nose and then with a feeling of annoyance and fatigue that was already on the edge, she immediately looked for the source of the bad smell that successfully disrupted her rest time.
It turned out that the source came from her neighbor. To be honest, she had never even greeted her neighbor. Let alone saying hello, she didn't even know if anyone was still living there. Could it be that the room next to hers was a dumping ground for corpses and she only found out about it now? She even thought about moving out to find a new room, but decided against it because it was the cheapest and closest to her campus.
Finally, after thinking for a long time, she finally got up the courage to knock on the door, hoping that someone would be kind enough to open it. Luckily, not long after, the door opened and revealed a woman who looked to be around the same age as her. Her face looked rumpled, her eyes looked sleep-deprived, and her hair was very messy. Seeing her appearance like that made Kasumi think that the one in front of her was a ghost who inhabited this place.
That thought was broken when she heard the melodious voice of the woman in front of her. "Umm, is there anything I can help you with?"
Without answering her question, she immediately barged into her room and started cleaning her room. And sure enough, her room was filthy and dirtier than Kasumi could have imagined. Ramen cups scattered everywhere, dirty clothes that looked like they hadn't been washed in a week.
Not hearing the woman who had been calling her, she quickly returned to her room and picked up all her cleaning tools.
"Hey, what do you want to do?"
"What am I doing? Cleaning your room, of course," Kasumi said without stopping her busy hands.
"Whether my room is dirty or not is none of your business."
That one sentence made Kasumi pause, she looked at the other person intensely and then said, "Oh yeah? Even when the smell of your room almost killed me?"
Feeling intimidated by the stares she was recieving, the woman was not to be outdone. "You can just leave then, right?"
Not wanting to continue with the woman, Kasumi finally got up from her spot, then pushed the woman out of her own room. "If you can only talk so much without any desire to help me, you can just get out of here," she said and closed the door.
And the woman remained silent.
After cleaning up her clothes, bed, and throwing away all the ramen cups, she proceeded to clean up her desk. As her careful and meticulous hands moved here and there cleaning every part of her desk, something caught her attention. On the wall opposite her was a drawing that looked like it was made long time ago. In that drawing, two girls are seen sitting next to each other under a sea of stars.
Strangely, she felt familiar with the drawing.
Not wanting to be distracted, she pushed the thought aside and continued her work.
Once she was satisfied with her work, she came out with a refreshing face.
"Its finally finished, please come in."
The woman was so impressed with her work, so she packed up her things and headed back to her apartment.
"Hey, wait,"
She turned around to see the woman frantically chasing her. "What's wrong?"
"My name is Hikawa Sayo. May I know your name?"
"Toyama Kasumi, nice to meet you Hikawa-san."
"Just call me Sayo, Toyama-san,"
"Then, you can also call me Kasumi, Sayo-san."
"Alright, Kasumi-san,"
"Then, I'll go first, Sayo-san, have a good night," she said with a smile plastered on her face, leaving Sayo who seemed to be thinking about something.