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Vrrrr. Vrrrr.
The vibration of her phone alarm reaches Sayaka's ears, and it takes everything in her not to turn it off and go back to sleep. She has a busy day ahead of her, after all. No concert, but she has a rehearsal, a handshake event, another handshake event at another location, and interviews galore. She's not sure how she became such a light sleeper in the first place, but as she looks at the time she knows it's for a good reason.
4:12am.
Sayaka Maizono's morning routine could begin at last.
It doesn't take Sayaka long to push herself off of her bed, gently dismissing her alarm and getting herself ready. It doesn't take long to get dressed, either, and once she's out she's quite thankful that the kitchen has a mirror in it; she can hear her father getting ready in the bathroom, and while she'll have time to fix herself in a bit, she can get started on something to eat for breakfast.
Cooking isn't a talent that came easily to Sayaka, but it's something that she learned out of necessity. Well...no, that's not quite right. Necessity in the sense that Sayaka wanted to establish her independence, something the children still clinging to their (warm, loving) parents couldn't boast about no matter how much they liked to talk about how cool their parents were. She had her independence, and she was even able to make a nice, quick breakfast with ease now! She didn't need a recipe book to follow to the letter, she could do it all herself. It's sadly not a marketable trait for her group, but hey, maybe she'll make her future husband happy one of these days.
(Sayaka ignores the taste of bile in the back of her throat. No dating, no boyfriends, no boy friends. If you're seen with a man, it could be taken the wrong way and you'll end up letting everyone down. We wouldn't want that, would we? She hears it in her manager's polite yet steely tone, but she hears her own thoughts repeat that last portion of it back in her voice. Right, right. What a flight of fancy. She can't even tell if she's genuinely disgusted by the idea of getting married or if it's just because her managers told her to anymore.)
Keep calm. Smile. Be polite.
Sayaka comes back to her thoughts and chances a look at the clock. 4:16am. Without even thinking, she finds herself turning on the stove and getting a pan ready while she reheats some of the rice she made a few days ago. Leftovers were essential for maintaining a good budget in the house; Sayaka was always good at finding deals when buying in bulk, and keeping the essentials made in the house was a good way to ensure that she and her father's morning went off without a hitch. The rice sizzles as Sayaka tosses it within the pan, and she quietly goes to start one of the other burners while grabbing a few eggs. It doesn't take long to assemble Omurice, and two servings are more than easy for Sayaka to manage once everything cooks to perfection. It looks perfect, there's enough of a filling portion to get the day started, and there's plenty of time to sit down and eat together like a family for once, just once--
Sayaka looks over to the clock again before her thoughts spiral, and she lets out a small breath. 4:27am. She doesn't hear the shower's water running anymore, so her father must still be getting prepared. What would a good daughter do in this situation? Well, most good daughters aren't awake at four in the morning, and most dads aren't awake by then either. Sayaka feels one of her hands go up, fidgeting and fiddling with her hair, before she closes her eyes briefly.
Keep calm. Smile. Be polite.
Oh, how silly of her! It's 4:29am now, and Sayaka hasn't even gotten their lunches prepared yet. It doesn't take long to prepare a bento from the fridge, and Sayaka laments that she couldn't make something fresh this time. She could have been up earlier, she knows she could have. But at the very least the vegetables are still fresh, the rice is pillowy and lovely, and the leftover curry will make for a nice and filling lunch for her Father at work.
By the time she gets another look at the clock, Sayaka hears the bathroom door open, and she startles. 4:35am. The train station is just a few streets down, right? That's plenty of time for her Father to be able to walk, and he could leave a whole half hour late and still be on time. Sayaka smiles to herself, something warm and almost genuine. The stars rarely aligned for she and her father to be able to share a breakfast, and maybe this could be one of those rare occasions. Maybe, just maybe, they could pretend to be a family.
Given how Sayaka's Father rushes out of the bathroom, though...something in Sayaka's chest sinks despite the smile she keeps plastered on her face. Her father still has a comb in his hair, his eyes have bags underneath their bags, and he's almost gone out the door already, how--
"Father, wait!"
If she were any other person, this would probably sound like the impassioned plea that it is. Sayaka, however, has good control over what she wants to convey; a sense of urgency, yes, but no heartbreak. Nothing as silly as that. Sayaka watches her Father suddenly start, and look back to her, with the polite urgency of 'make it quick'. Sayaka moves without thinking, bringing her father his lunchbox without a single hint that anything is wrong. Her father was simply so forgetful, after all! It was up to Sayaka, like a good daughter, to pick up where he left off.
"You almost forgot this! I also made breakfast if you want--"
Sayaka's father takes the lunchbox quickly, sparing her a noncommittal hair ruffle and a sigh. "Put my portion in the fridge. I have to go." Sayaka doesn't try to reach for her father, or do anything that might convince him to stay a little bit longer. Her father spares her a small, seconds long glance that makes her worry that her disappointment is clear on her face, but he's out of the house before she can try to correct it back to what's acceptable. No doubt her father will say something when he gets home tonight.
...If he doesn't fall asleep, first. Or get asked to pull an all-nighter by his boss. She'll be asleep by then, to try and catch him, to try and get him to stay with her just a bit. He might simply forget, but she'd give anything to have him stay once more. Just once more. Sure she'll have to listen to her Father mix up the name of her songs with another group's, and sure he might make some sort of comment that he doesn't understand why she likes doing this, that her managers are practically her new fathers now anyway. On the good days, he'd wince and apologize for saying such a thing--which she'd respond like a perfect daughter and tell him it's fine. On the bad days, it was a struggle to try and drop that line of conversation entirely.
But she'd take the good and bad days over the emptiness that these mornings bring.
...
...
...
Keep calm. Smile. Be polite.
It was fine. All of it was fine! Nobody was going to care about this, and it was going to be fine. Sayaka needed to focus on what the day ahead was going to bring, especially given that it was going to be so jam packed. Sayaka chances a look at the clock, oh, 4:40am! She has plenty of time to consult her day planner and do some more of her homework that she couldn't get to. She still has plenty of time to herself, perhaps more importantly (before her time gets monopolized by her managers yet again), as she grabs her portion of breakfast and brings it into the living room, she grabs the remote and turns on the TV.
Flicking through the channels is something of an old pastime for Sayaka. Back when she was young, she liked to watch whatever they put on at this time. Some of it was a little niche, the kind of stuff she heard boys talking about--real anime, the good stuff. Sayaka couldn't see the appeal.
But she flicks to an old rerun of a legendary idol's performance, and Sayaka places the remote down and settles in to watch.
It's just another morning for Sayaka Maizono; meticulous and down to the minute. But a morning routine can say a lot about a person, at the end of it all.