Chapter Text
Some days came easy; clear skies with a gentle breeze. The phone would buzz on its place on her bedside table and she'd slowly open her eyes to the sunrise slipping in through the gaps between the blinds. Mafuyu had already been lying awake, eyes shut, for five minutes as she waited for the alarm to go off and signal the proper start of her day. If it were someone else, she might have even felt a bit of pride that she lingered only for a moment on the empty space besides her on the bed, holding down the fort as Shizuku was off on tour.
With a splash of water across her face, the last dregs of sleepiness clinging to her would melt away, circling the drain with the rest of the water running from the faucet. She stared into the mirror, the faintest bags under her eyes as the remains of the water slid and dripped down her chin. Drawing in a breath, she began to prepare for the day. A voice softly echoed in her ear as she slowly went through her morning routine. The ghost of a hand settled against her waist as she imagined the other hand reaching over her shoulder to grab the facial cleaner sitting on her partner's side of the shelf.
Her phone buzzed as she brushed her teeth, a「Good morning…」text where Mafuyu could almost hear her partner's sleepiness, followed by a sticker of a cute bunny still bundled into bed. Her lips twitched. Mizuki was definitely a bad influence teaching Shizuku how to use stickers. The nurse fired off a terse「Morning.」with one hand as she continued to diligently brush away.
Her routine seemed to fly by after that, gently buoyed by that sleepy text. The briefest moment to steal for themselves amidst their tangled schedules. Changing into her day clothes, she takes one last look around the apartment before grabbing the bag she had prepared and set aside by the door the night before.
Mafuyu pulled her bag open, double checking that she hadn't forgotten anything. Satisfied, she slid it shut once more, taking a deep breath as she slung it over her shoulders, nestling it against her back. It pressed against her with a familiar scratchy feel from the thin padding. Pulling a pair of well worn sneakers on, she turned to face the quiet apartment, a murmured and habitual "I'll be back" falling from her lips. No voice answered her back as she closed the door behind her, the soft click of the latch and the automatic engagement of the lock the only sounds accompanying her in the quiet of the morning.
It isn't long before she finds herself leaning on the hard plastic divider of the train car. Even in the burgeoning hours of the Tokyo morning, the train is already getting crowded. Her gaze idly wandered across the crowd. The tired men and women in suits with eyes closed as they tried to get in a few more minutes of inner peace through the rumble of the train wheels and the staccato of the train announcements. The familiar jingle of her station jerked her out of her own reverie, as she joined the trickle of people pressing their way through the doors to get to work. Just another day.
"I'll be heading out first then." She called out to the rest of the haggard looking nurses finalizing their own paperwork to hand off to the next shift. A chorus of "Thank you for the hard work." sounded off as the door to the nurses' station squeaked shut. Sneakers clicked against the clean tiled material that made up the hospital floor as Mafuyu made her way to the changing room to change out of her scrubs.
It had been a long-day, onboarding two fresh faced and eager new prospective nurses ready to start their residency. The hospital refused to ease them in though, with all hands on deck to help with overflow from a nearby hospital. The two had handled the trial by fire as best they could, both looking gaunt by the tail end of the shift as they realized what they had signed up for. Mafuyu allowed herself the smallest of smiles as she remembered her own residency, head curled into Shizuku's lap as the days and nights wore on and blurred together, exhaustion and doubt at her path clinging to her like cobwebs.
A warm spring breeze greeted Mafuyu as she stepped out of the air conditioned hospital, the blast of warm air buffeting her as the tendrils of air conditioning wrapped and billowed against her back. The city flashed before unfocused eyes as the train pulled her home. The breath tumbled out of her in a mumbled "I'm back" as she crossed the threshold. The air was still, as bereft of any sound or motion as it had since she left in the morning. With a flick of a switch, soft warm lights illuminated the hallway. She thinks of the shower that will wash away the days tribulations, hoping it washes away the chill that still lingered around her ankles.