Chapter Text
Mikoto Kayano wakes up before his alarm even goes off-–before the sun even rises. He has work today. He brushes his dark brown hair with blonde tips with one hand while brushing his teeth with the other. After doing that, he covers his slowly growing eyebags that lay under his grey eyes with makeup. He’s been sleeping less lately–-but that’s okay! He’s a responsible adult, after all. Work’s more important, he doesn’t need to sleep so much. He throws on his blue button up shirt and jeans before looking in the mirror to make sure he looks presentable. He gives himself a small thumbs up and a smile. Mikoto grabs his lunch after seeing a messily written note about it on his front door reminding him about it before putting on his shoes then walks out the door.
He gets onto his bicycle and pedals to work with his short hair waving in the breeze. The beautiful scenery catches his attention, but he doesn’t have time to stop to take pictures–he has to get to work! He gets to his job at an art supply store an hour early. He walks up to the store doors only for them to not open.
“Ah, I got here too early again…”
Mikoto waits for his co-worker to show up to unlock the door. He thanks them joyfully and strikes up a small conversation with them as they walk inside and head towards their lockers. He waves bye to them as they head to where they’re supposed to go. Mikoto begins stocking shelves, putting everything neatly into place. He grabs a new box and continues this cycle over and over again until his break for the day. He sits down and opens his lunch box. It isn’t anything special, he isn’t too good at cooking but it’s better than not eating at all. If he doesn’t eat then he won’t have the energy to work. Once his break is done he works until his shift is done. As he’s getting ready to clock out, his boss asks him if he can stay after the store closes to help with additional things and he agrees readily. By the time he finishes the extra work it’s 11:00 pm, he grabs his bike and tiredly cycles home. After taking his shoes off he trips and faceplants onto the hardwood floor–making a small noise in shock.
“Oi! You okay!?”
“Ow…” Mikoto rubs his face. “Yeah, I’m fine…”
What?
“Haha, why did I answer my own question like that? It was like I was talking to someone else, that was weird. I’m probably just tired. I need to sleep…I have work tomorrow too.”
Mikoto starts getting ready for bed, he takes a shower and puts on clothes for bed before brushing his teeth. After making sure he’s not forgetting anything, he shuts off the lights. With everything done for the night, Mikoto gets under his blanket and falls asleep. Five hours later Mikoto gets up once again to go to work.
While stocking shelves, a customer walks up to him.
“Excuse me. Why don’t you have this paint in stock?” The customer shows Mikoto a picture of the paint she wants.
“Oh! We don’t have it in stock yet but-”
“Well you should have it in stock. Isn’t it your job to do these things?”
Mikoto nervously puts the items he’s holding on the shelf, catching one of them before it can land on the ground.
The customer huffs. “You must be new here or something. Weren’t you trained properly? Someone else really should be doing this for you.”
“Ah, I’ve been working here for a while, actually.” Mikoto responds in the friendliest voice possible, hoping this calms her down. It doesn’t.
“I’m surprised you even managed to keep your job, you should’ve been fired by now. Is there someone else I can speak to? Someone that actually knows what they’re doing.”
Mikoto lingers on those words the customer said.
“Should have been fired.”
But he works so hard. He never gets enough sleep. He deals with horrible customers. He’s always-
“Hey! Are you even listening to me!? Pay attention.”
“Huh? I’m sorry!”
“You better be, this is extremely unprofessional.”
“I’ll go see if we have that paint somewhere in storage.”
“You should’ve just done that in the first place.”
Mikoto speed walks to the back but doesn’t see any sign of the paint. That means he has to go back out there and leave where it’s safe. He has to talk to that customer again. He’s gonna get yelled at again. He doesn’t want that.
Mikoto notices that he’s now in front of his locker.
When did he walk over here?
He looks into it to check his phone and see what time it is.
His shift is over already?
He really doesn’t remember much of it. Maybe he was just so focused on work that he wasn’t paying attention, that does happen during his shifts sometimes. He grabs his things, clocks out, then goes back to his apartment once again. He texts Mappi and Fuuta about their plans for the next day.
-
Mikoto
Hey, tomorrow’s gonna be so much fun, right? - 4:13pm
Mappi
Mikoto!! Tomorrow will be lovely <3 - 4:20pm
Mappi
Mahiru’s excited to sing with you! - 4:21pm
Mikoto
Oh! Then after that we can go to the bar my coworker told me about! They said it’s really good! - 4:21pm
Mappi
I haven’t been to a bar yet, but it must be good if you want to go! - 4:22pm
Mikoto hasn’t heard a response from Fuuta yet, he’s probably playing games or sleeping.
Mikoto
Fuuta, are you still asleep? It isn’t good to sleep so much, you know? - 5:00pm
Fuuta
I was playing a game and you fucking distracted me - 5:00pm
Fuuta
I lost my perfect combo - 5:00pm
Fuuta
But yeah tomorrow will be fun - 5:01pm
-
Mikoto smiles at his phone as puts his phone down to cook dinner. He checks to see what food he has, he doesn’t have much, so he doesn’t have many options. He settles for making a sandwich with eggs in it. The bread is slightly stale and the eggs were overcooked, but it doesn’t taste too bad. After drinking his favorite energy drink, Mikoto looks through the pictures on his camera. He hasn’t taken any in a while, he really should take more sometime. He continues flipping through the pictures until one catches his eye–it’s a picture of a half moon on a slightly cloudy night. He worked hard to get the picture to look this nice. It required him to lay on the ground and he had to get the angle just right so it took him a few dozen tries until he was satisfied with the picture.
Time passes by quickly as Mikoto looks at more pictures until he starts getting ready to sleep. Looking forward to the next day, he puts clothes out to the side–-one of his tarot card shirts and dark blue jeans. He falls asleep almost instantly as his head hits his pillow.
Mikoto’s awoken by the sound of his alarm the next morning. He shuts it off and springs out of bed to get ready–-even though he doesn’t see them until later tonight. Then Mikoto thinks of an idea: he could take pictures before he meets up with Mappi and Fuuta! He grabs his camera and rushes out the door, almost tripping down the stairs as he goes down them. He gets so engrossed with taking pictures that he doesn’t realize how late it’s getting, he’ll be late if he doesn’t leave now.
He gets to the karaoke place with barely any time to spare, his friends are already there. He can easily recognize Fuuta’s bright red red hair and black hoodie, his green eyes staring at his phone-–probably social media again. He looks at Mappi’s pretty yellow long floral dress that matches her flower earrings, her dirty blonde hair is up in a small ponytail and her light brown eyes light up as she notices Mikoto. She runs up to him and hugs him tightly.
“It’s so nice to see you, Mikoto! Are you doing alright? Mahiru knows how hard working you are.”
Fuuta looks up from his phone. “You usually get here first. What, did you get lost or something? You really can’t do things on your own.”
For just a few seconds–that last comment made Mikoto feel terrible for some reason. “I didn’t get lost, I was taking pictures! It was really nice out earlier and I must have lost track of time haha.” Mikoto rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.
“C’mon let’s go in since you’re here now.”
They all walk in and pay at the front desk before going into their room to sing karaoke. They take turns singing different songs, Mikoto sings whatever songs are more popular as Fuuta sings rock songs and Mahiru sings songs about love. They cheer each other on as they sing, they continue singing for two hours while smiling and laughing happily. Mikoto and Fuuta tease each other a few times until Mahiru has to stop them. Mikoto wishes this moment could last forever. All of this is so much fun. But before he knows it, it’s time to leave. He gets up to grab his things as he follows his friends out of the room.
The night breeze blows in their faces as they walk side by side. Mikoto joins in on the conversation and they continue chatting about whatever else they can think of until they get to the bar. They sit at the bar together and order drinks when the bartender asks them what they want. Fuuta only drinks a little before he’s already asleep, his head on the bar as Mahiru and Mikoto drink a few more. Well…Mikoto drinks more than just a few. Mikoto can feel the room spinning as he finishes another drink. He looks at Mahiru to see that she looks completely fine, except for her face barely being red.
“Mikoto, do you need to rest?”
“Huh? No…I’m alriiight…just thedrink I drank a few…drinks.” Mikoto drunkenly rambles as everything looks out of focus. “Haha…Mappiii~ I’ve had sooo much fun today! We should-should do thissagain, riiight…?” He hugs Mahiru with a giant smile.
Mahiru giggles and pulls him away. “You should put your head down for a while. Mahiru will keep an eye on you and Fuuta.”
Mikoto reaches out for Mahiru again. “Awww but we should taalk moree…”
Mahiru gently rests Mikoto on the bar as he lays there smiling and laughing until he drifts off into sleep.
Mikoto is awoken by Fuuta shaking him a little too hard. “Ah! W-what happeneed?” Mikoto asks groggily while still drunk.
“You fell asleep. You were asleep for fucking forever. I was gonna leave you there if you didn’t get up.”
“Aww that’s meeaan, Fuutaaa! You…shouldn’t do stuff like thaat…” Mikoto pokes Fuuta’s cheek while smiling.
He pushes his hand away. “Ugh, you’re even more annoying when you’re drunk. C’mon, let’s go.” He lifts Mikoto up with Mahiru assisting him as they walk out of the bar.
Once the fresh air hits Mikoto’s face, it wakes him up more. “Thanks…but I’m okaay I can-I can walk…” Mikoto dizzily walks back and forth as Mahiru and Fuuta stay on the sides of him to keep him from falling. They finally arrive at Mikoto’s apartment without too much trouble.
“Mikoto, can you get your key for us?”
“Mmm.” Mikoto nods then fumbles with his key, struggling to get his door unlocked.
Fuuta snatches it from Mikoto’s hand. “I got it.” He unlocks the door with ease and walks Mikoto inside with Mahiru. “We should stay the night. Mikoto can’t take care of himself like this.”
“It really wouldn’t be good if Mikoto got hurt and no one was around.” Mahiru responds in agreement.
They lay Mikoto on his bed and put his blanket over him. He grabs the top of the blanket and turns onto his side, facing the wall. He falls asleep quickly and sleeps soundly. Mikoto wakes up the next morning and gets out of bed. Holding his head in pain probably from drinking too much, he feels slightly sick too.
“Ah! Mikoto, you should sit down so you don’t get sick or hurt!”
Mikoto winces in pain as he sits down on the couch–his ears are ringing. Mahiru brings Mikoto a glass of water, painkillers, and some bread.
“We’ll stay with you until you feel better.” Mahiru sits next to Mikoto.
“Thank you Mappi.” Mikoto responds before taking a bite of his bread.
“Anything you wanna talk about?”
“Hmm…” Mikoto holds his chin in thought. “Oh! My job’s been good! I don’t really remember what happened during my last shift though…but it’s probably nothing, right?”
Mahiru and Fuuta look at each other before looking back at Mikoto. Mikoto could tell he said something wrong. He immediately regrets bringing it up.
“Mikoto…” Mahiru says in a concerned voice.
“You’ve gotta talk to someone about that. This keeps happening.”
“My memory isn’t that bad~” Mikoto replies in a joyful tone.
“What about that thing that happened on the train?”
“What happened on the train?”
“There was just this person being shitty and you got angry. Thought you were gonna kill the guy.” Fuuta pauses for a moment. “It was fucking weird seeing you get so mad then act like it never happened.”
Mikoto tilts his head in confusion. “I wouldn't get angry though? Isn’t that kind of disgraceful?”
“Mikoto, we care about you. Will you be okay with talking to someone?”
“I mean, who would I talk to?”
“A doctor.” “A therapist.” Fuuta and Mahiru answer at the same time.
“Hah!? How would a therapist help?”
“It could have something to do with how you feel.”
“He should see a doctor. That shit won’t help.”
“What if you do rock paper scissors to decide?” Mikoto pitches in as an attempt to stop a fight from happening.
Fuuta sighs as he turns towards Mahiru to get ready to play rock paper scissors. Mahiru wins.
“I’ll set up an appointment with a therapist then…” Mikoto reluctantly states.
“Don’t be scared, we can go with you.”
“No, no it’s alright! I can go on my own, really!” Mikoto waves his hands in front of him.
“Well, you can talk to us whenever.”
“Alright.”
After Mahiru and Fuuta leave, Mikoto sets up an appointment with a therapist, the appointment is next Friday. Mikoto distracts himself with his job, working day and night until the night before his appointment. He lays in bed for a while–staring at the ceiling. Why does he need to go to therapy? He’s always been like this, isn’t that normal? Before he can think about it anymore, he falls asleep.