Chapter Text
You feel like eating toriten for dinner tonight.
The thought comes as you absentmindedly stare at the bright monitor screen. A livestream of your favorite V-tuber, a cute succubus girl with ridiculously big boogs, is on. She's playing the latest gacha game sensation and having a pretty awful time with her pulls as the chat keeps egging her into spending more and more money. Or something like that.
Truth to be told, you haven't been really paying attention for a while. For the past few hours your mind has instead been occupied scrolling through strings of code for a website. A gossip website, to be precise. This is one of your many, many 'jobs'- coding shitty websites for companies. It's nothing really fancy: you simply scour a forum for jobs and take the ones that interest you the most. Most of them are small indie firms, so even though the pay isn't exactly good, at least it lets you pretend for a moment that you're a contributing member of society and not a pathetic, dime-a-dozen shut-in.
High school was supposed to be the springtime of your youth. The kind of chapter in life that one can't help but look back at with nostalgia once you step foot into the adult world. And the worst part is that you had absolutely no one to blame but yourself for the way things turned out. But, just as your mom used to say, warm hands caressing your cheek and wiping away your tears with a smile on her face, there's no use crying over spilled milk. You made your choice and were going to stick with it.
Even if everyone in the entire neighbourhood looked down on you.
Even if your father sighed in frustration every day.
Even if you couldn't find the courage to face her anymore.
Your noose catches whiff of a salty smell. On the corner of your keyboard a cup of seafood noodles lies half-eaten, a swarm of flies already feasting on the contents. Damnit. Little wonder you were hungry. You were so engrossed you forgot to finish your lunch. Usually, your dad would gently remind you to finish your meals. But he's not here- he won't return until another two weeks. You did a good job caring for yourself in the meantime, but stuff like this still happened occassionally. That's probably why your dad asked the family next door to look after you whenever he's gone, a task they accepted graciously.
'It's no problem', says Ms. Kashiki, lightly patting Dad on the shoulder. He looks sheepish, almost apologetic. You look at the scene through your bedroom window. She's there, too, but she doesn't see you. Doesn't acknowledge your presence. She's scrolling through her phone. The distance is a bit high, but you can barely make out what she's looking at. A LINE chat. Probably talking to her newer, cooler friends. Ms. Kashiki's voice booms out again, a hearty laugh escaping her throat. 'That's what neighbours are for'. She turns her face to her daughter. '(Name)-chan is practically family to us! Isn't that right, Yu-'
The sound of the doorbell ringing jolts you in your seat. One, two, three successive rings follow. You get up from your chair- bringing the spoiled noodle cup with you and chucking it in the room's trashcan. It must be Ms. Kashiki. You don't have it in your heart to keep her waiting, not when she's done so much for your family, so you practically skip down the stairs until you reach the front door, going down the genkan. You rasp out a loud "Coming!" as you quickly open the door.
'Geez, (Name)-chan. It's bad manners to keep someone waiting that long, y'know?'.
A sweet, droopy voice calls you. That's not Ms. Kashiki. It's her daughter, Yuno. Your childhood friend. And the person you least want to see right now.
You stay frozen for a moment. She looks the same as ever. She's dressed up a bit more than usual, her long purple hair tied up in a ponytail- is she going out somewhere? At this hour? of course she would. Unlike you, she's friendly and kind and sociable, everyone likes her. The stereotypical 'good girl' honor student. That's exactly why you hate her. Yes, that's right. You hate her. You hate Yuno Kashiki more than anything in this world.
'Umm, earth to (Name)-chan? Is there something in my face?" Yuno's innocent words bring you back to reality, as does her right hand waving in front of your face. You feel your face heat up a little. Pull yourself together, (Name)!
'I...I was expecting your mother.' You manage to stammer. Your heart is pounding. All of this is really throwing you out of balance.
'I know. But she's at the supermarket right now, so she told me to check on you instead. Ah!, she also wanted me to give you this~'
She hands you over a bento box. So that was what she was carrying in her hands.
'I see...'
An uncomfortable silence falls between the two of you. Yuno is the first to break the ice.
'Disappointed?' She says. Though she's smiling sweetly, her eyes are looking right through you. You feel a chill run down your spine. You barely manage to stammer a response.
'W-what are you talking about...'
'Dunno~'
Yuno leans back a little, her arms resting behind her back nonchalantly. Though she makes a show of looking into the distance, you can tell she's actually watching you very closely, gauging your reactions. That's something you've always disliked about her. Even though she's capable of reading you like an open book, you cannot say you're able to do the same for her. That fact irritates you to your very core.
'...It's getting late'. You say as you sheepishly put a hand in the back of your neck. You need this interaction to be over now, for both of your sakes.
'It's barely past 7.'
'I mean, aren't you going somewhere?'
'What do you mean?'
'Your clothes.'
'Ah, this? I already went, actually. Karaoke night with the theater club. It was fun'
'I see...'
Sensing there is no more to say, Yuno turns her back to you.
'Well, goodnight, (Name)-chan'. She smiles gently at you
'Goodnight.'
You watch as Yuno retreats inside her house. Once you see step in, you quickly bolt inside and shut the door behind you, sliding down your back until you're sitting in the floor. You put your hands in your face and let out a frustrated groan. Ugh. You want the earth to swallow you whole. Those were the most uncomfortable 15 minutes of your life.
Your mind goes back to Yuno. In fact, it always did. Because no matter how hard you tried to deny it, no matter how hard you tried to pretend otherwise, it was incredibly obvious. You did not hate Yuno Kashiki. Quite the opposite, actually. You loved her more than anyone else in this world, and had probably done so since the first time you met her 10 years ago.
You look at the bento box. It's made of a simple metallic material with a cute mascot design. You open the lid. You laugh bitterly.
Arranged alongside the tamagoyaki, the octopus sausages and the broccoli, it's a hearty portion of toriten.