Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

APRIL 1998

Aki crushed his finished cigarette under his shoe, breathing out.

“ … toothpaste, tooth brush for Power… actually make it three toothbrushes for her… coffee, more toast, milk… more cigarettes…” he repeated in his head, rehearsing his weekly checklist of essentials. Ever since the twins came into his care his weekly errand runs have grown exponentially, and so has the toll on his paycheck. Today, instead of stopping by the grocers on his walk home from work, he decided to run into the nearest Family Mart convenience store from his apartment. He found out, after shopping there instead for the past month or so, that the prices for his basic necessities were slightly cheaper. Caring for two growing teens was no easy feat.

The bright, blue-tinted fluorescent lights of the convenience store wash out its surroundings; A bright, blue aquarium in the midst of a sea of office buildings and high rise apartments, like beacon in the dark night, blinding Aki as he stepped towards the automatic doors. He was greeted by the tinkling chime of the store’s alarm. As he grabbed the nearest plastic shopping basket, a young woman restocking a nearby product display greeted him.

“Irrashaimase!”, the pig-tailed girl chimed. Aki nodded politely at her before continuing with his mission.

Toothpaste. Check.

Toothbrushes. Check.

Shit, he almost forgot about Meowy’s cat food. Check.

Coffee, toast, pre-made bentos for lunch. Check, check, and check.

Now came the milk. For some unexplainable reason, Power and Denji went through cartons of milk like nothing. The minute he brought it home, it seemed like they inhaled every last drop, and within a matter of seconds, the once fresh carton was now sucked dry. They were on their fourth carton this week. And he had made sure to buy the extra large family size jug last time. And if they didn’t get their milk he was sure they would riot, and that was the last thing he wanted.

But he didn’t feel like coming back again tomorrow.

So, Aki decided to save time and trips to the store and dumped five gallons of milk into the shopping basket, his arm straining from the weight. Well, hopefully this would last them a week, at least. They were growing kids after all, or whatever.

Milk. Check.

And with the last of his list complete, Aki hobbled over to the checkout.

Angel finished ringing up an old lady who, for some reason, was more interested in buying 50 of the plain paper bags used to pack sanitary items than anything else, when he caught sight of him . Normally, Angel doesn’t give two shits about any of the customers that enter the store. They all blended in together, and he felt as though he didn’t get paid well enough to go above and beyond and memorize any of the regulars. But this one guy stood out to him the most. It was the same man with a top-knot, always wearing a suit and tie and, at least lately, a probably-too-thin-for-this-weather jacket, who came to the store about twice a week. Every week, he always bought the same. Fucking. Thing. And sure enough, as the man placed the heavy basket on the counter, Angel saw it. Five gallons of… milk. Four gallons of regular and one gallon of chocolate, to be exact.

Huh. He’s stocking up this time. Usually it’s just two gallons (one regular and one chocolate, to be exact.)

The man pointed at the shelf behind Angel. “Could you also throw in a pack of Menthol Light cigarettes while you’re at it, please?”

“Sure.”

After observing the man’s unusual buying habits for well over a month, Angel  was convinced that the man must have some sort of freaky fetish, or dietary issues. Who in their right mind would buy that much fucking milk, especially at this frequency?

He finished bagging the items [in addition to the five gallons of milk], and handed the man his receipt. “Thank you for your purchase. Please come again soon.”, he says, devoid of any emotion.

“Thank you.”, the man replies, grabbing his bags and milk. He made his way to the door and stepped into the night. Angel stood watching as the man’s figure faded into the crowd outside. It wouldn’t be long before the man came back. Angel looks up at the CCTV screen above him, watching the now empty store with half-lidded eyes. Well, nearly empty aside for a few other employees.

“Yo. Mitaka.”

The girl with the pigtails looks up from the onigiri display she was carefully organizing at the sound of her name. “Hm?”

“Who’s that guy that’s always buying all that milk?” Angel asks, still dully observing the screen.

His co-worker shrugs. “I don’t know, but he does show up pretty often, at least on some of the days I work- Ah! Irasshaimasé!” She greets the next customer that enters the store and immediately resumes her work restocking the Tuna Mayo flavored onigiri. Those were always the top sellers.

Angel watched her from the counter. “Do you think he has some sort of milk fetish? If that’s a thing?”

Mitaka pauses, clearly aghast at what he just said. “I-“, she sputters, “I don't think that’s our business… besides he could just be a cafe owner or something… less freaky.” She resumed shelving the onigiri with more haste, wanting to get away from this conversation. Angel glanced back blankly at the CCTV screen.

I should ask him next time.”

Aki balanced the grocery bags in one hand as he fumbled for his keys, cursing under his breath as he struggled to locate them in the vastness of his work bag. As he struggled to open the door he felt the bags slipping from his grasp. The violent jangling of the keys echoes through the hallway. He pushes the door open with his shoulder with all his might, one of the bags falling right out of his hands and onto the floor of the apartment with a loud bang.

He hisses, “Goddamnit-“

“Fuck you, Power! You fucking cheater!”

“I did not cheat! Have you considered that you simply suck!”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you!”

Aki groaned as he heard another thud on the floor and yelling coming from the two of them. He swore to god, getting them that gaming console was a mistake. He winced as he heard more objects falling to the ground as the struggle continued. He quickly shuts the door behind him before anyone outside could think that there was a violent murder occurring, scooping all the bags into his arms.

“I’m home!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. He could hear them immediately stopping their banter, scrambling to get up off the floor. He placed all the groceries on the counter and peered over at the teens in the living room. Denji and Power stood there, arms behind their backs and grinning “innocently” at him. The glow of the game’s loading screen on the T.V.  illuminated their figures in the dark room.

Aki flipped on the light.

“Hey Aki!”

“Hello.”

They chimed in unison.

He could clearly see the giant mess they made behind them. Cans of soda and chip bags littered the floor, not to mention the knocked over dirty glasses on the table. He sighed, pinching his nose bridge.

“I’m not even going to ask what happened. Have you guys started preparing dinner yet, at least?”

They stared at him blankly. Power pointed accusingly at Denji.

“I told him to start making dinner earlier, but he refused. And now we’re starving.”

“HUH?! NO YOU FUCKING DIDN’T! Stop lying, you liar!”

“I’m not lying, you’re the LIAR!

“HUH?!-“

“Ok just stop it! Please, you guys.” Aki groaned. “Did you at least do some homework?”

They stared back at him blankly, false smiles still remaining. Power tilted her head to the side. “We had homework?”

Aki felt like screaming. He took a deep breath before resuming. “Look you guys, I know you two want to have fun and take a break from school and everything, but you have to remember that you also have responsibilities to attend to.”

He pointed at them, preparing his usual responsible adult speech. “We have to work together to make the best of this situation. I want you guys to not rely on me forever, you all got to start facing the responsibilities that being adults bring. And that includes finishing your assignments, doing well in school, and remembering to eat actual meals instead of junk food!”

Power and Denji looked off to the side, pouting. They’ve heard this speech probably close to a million times, but it always seems to go one ear out the other. It only works for a few minutes before they relapse and return to their usual habits.

“You always complain that I always treat you guys like kids, but that’s because you act like kids. You’re 16, not 6. So if you want me to start treating you like your age-“

“We gotta start being responsible.” They droned in unison, rolling their eyes.

“Right”, Aki nodded, “So turn off your video game and start getting ready for dinner. Power,” he pointed at her, “You’re going to grab a trash bag and cleaning supplies from the closet and you’re going to start cleaning the living room.” He enunciated every word clearly, emphasizing his point. “And Denji,” he gestured to the other blonde, “You’re going to start putting the groceries away while I start cooking dinner. After you’re done, go help Power clean up. Understood?”

The  twins saluted their legal guardian, “Yes sir.”, and began their assigned tasks. As Denji made his way into the kitchen to unload the groceries, he looked at the plastic bags on the counter up and down.

“Yo, bro. Did you get the good kush? We ran out again.”

Aki shook his head, “Yes, I did. I don’t get how you guys manage to go through those gallons of milk in only a few days.”

Power called out from the storage closet. “We’re growing children! I need strong bones to succeed in my plans for world domination!”

Well, Aki guessed he couldn’t argue with that. At least they were getting their nutrients somehow.

Midnight.

It was time for Angel to clock out. His manager was always on his ass about keeping his locker tidy, especially since he shared it with another co-worker whom he had never even met since they worked the day shift. But honestly, at this point, all he really wanted was just to go back to his shitty apartment and fall asleep. So who cared if he didn’t neatly fold his uniform and made it all wrinkly, or what his locker buddy thought of him. All he cared about was getting his lousy paycheck and sleeping off the stress. He slammed his locker shut.

“Bye, Kobeni. See ya later.”, he waved to his other coworker who had taken over the registers for him.

Angel didn’t mind working the night shift. In fact, something about the night comforted him in a weird way. The way the nearly empty streets made his footsteps echo, the fluorescent lights of the street lamps lighting his path, the bright lights of Tokyo’s nightlife acting like beacons in the dark: it was magical. He never felt more alive. He guessed that’s why he came to the city, to make something of himself. Yet here he was, stuck in a shitty convenience store job with no means of escape anywhere in sight. The more time he spent at that store, the more his dreams began to slip out from his grasp. C’est la vie, he supposed.

As he sat with his head against the window of the train, he began to mull over the day’s events. Especially the milk guy. Angel didn’t know why he was thinking about that dude in the first place. He’s had weirder customers, especially on the night shift, but something stood out about this guy. Yeah, he had to admit, he was pretty good looking, but with how much milk he was inexplicably buying… that guy was for sure a major weirdo. Oh well, what a shame.

But he still wanted to know why he bought so much milk.

Chapter Text

Aki stood in silence as he allowed the running water to pour over him, the steam building up clouds around him, simultaneously drenching him in sweat, yet, still refreshing. He didn’t know how long he had been in there, but his skin was beginning to prune. He figured it was about time to get out anyway. 

He had always been an early riser. Even before he had a stable job and took on the overbearing responsibility of taking in Denji and Power, he had always found himself the first to be up, often spending the mornings of his youth staring out the window as the world began to wake. And today he found himself, like always, watching the lights of the Tokyo skyline fade as the sun rose over the horizon. He took a long sip of his instant coffee, mulling over today’s headline as he sat on the terrace. He took a glance at his watch: 6:45. It was time to wake them up. 

“Akiiiiiiiii.” 

“We ran out of the milk again!” 

Not this shit again. 

Aki groaned as walked back to the kitchen from the balcony, newspaper and cup of coffee in hand. He saw Denji and Power in front of the fridge, passing the jug of chocolate milk between them. Denji tipped the end of the gallon into his mouth, finishing the last few drops. He let out a satisfied sigh as he smiled back at Aki, drops of chocolate milk trickled from the corners of his mouth. Aki stood there, blankly staring at the pair as he processed this information. He pulled open the door to the fridge. Yup. That was the last one…

“Really?! I just bought five gallons three days ago, how did you finish that much already?!” 

“Well looks like you’re gonna have to up it to six gallons now!” Power scowled, hands on her hips. Aki cupped his face in his hands. At this rate he’s going to blow his whole paycheck on fucking milk.

“Denji drank most of it, though.”

“I did not.”

“Did to.”

“Did not-“

Aki pinched his nose bridge and sighed, slamming the fridge door closed. “Listen, we’re only sticking to 5 gallons, ok?”, he turns to face them,, “So you guys are going to have to cut back on how much you drink in a day. I’m not mad-” 

“Just disappointed?” Power rolled her eyes. 

“No not that either. Sort of. Just promise me you two can start rationing the milk, will you? No more chugging straight from the gallon, ok? You WILL pour yourselves a reasonable portion in the glasses we have. Got it?”

Denji and Power groaned, “Sure.”

Situation diffused. Aki was getting better at this whole parenting thing. At least, he hoped he was.

“I’ll go buy some more after work. But we’re sticking to five. Now get ready for school, you're going to be late.” 

They knew better than to pick another fight with him, but they still grumbled their protests as they shuffled away to continue their respective routines. Aki grasped the empty carton in his hands. He tossed it into the bin, shaking his head. Back to the convenience store. 

Aki was tense. Piles of paper stacked haphazardly like the Leaning Tower of Pisa laid on his desk, making the already cramped cubicle even harder to breathe in. The second he punched in his time card he was immediately bombarded with several consecutive meetings and stacks of reports he had to read and keep track of until 7 p.m. On a usual work day, he would make it a point to meticulously organize his work desk, color coding each report by sense of urgency, deadlines, and subject matter, placing them neatly in their assigned shelf on the paper tray. Unfortunately for him, this was not the usual slow work week.

He pushed himself out of his seat and grabbed the pack of Menthol Lights from his suit pocket. Cold weather be damned.

He needed a smoke.

Good god, if he didn’t have the twins to look after, Aki might’ve thrown himself off the roof by now. Public safety didn’t pay enough for this shit. He rested his hand on the cool metal railing, letting the smoke blow out from the lit cigarette.

“Mind if I take a smoke with you?”

Aki turned his head to see his coworker, Himeno, leaning against the doorway of the rooftop stairwell.

He held his lighter out, gesturing for her to take it. “Knock yourself out.”

She grabbed the lighter from his outstretched hand, lighting the cigarette already dangling from her lips. “Thanks.”, she said, placing the lighter in his shirt pocket. They took synchronized drags of their respective vices, the cool April breeze whipping their hair around as they listened to the bustling streets of Shibuya. Himeno was the first to break the silence.

“A bunch of us are going out tonight.”

“Oh, really?”

“You should come! It’s been awhile since you’ve gone out drinking with us. It’ll be fun, I promise!”

“Himeno, you know I can’t. I have responsibilities.”

“You mean Denji and Power? Akiiiiii! They’re 16 already, they can be left on their own!”

“Clearly you’ve never seen what they’ve capable of.”

“Aki pleaseeeee. You have to come, I mean, Arai’s coming, along with Tendo, Kurose, y’know the usual. I even managed to get Kobeni to come since she’s not working her other job tonight! You can’t let us downnnnn!” She clasped her hands together and pouted her lips, giving Aki a puppy dog stare. He turned his head away from her, taking a deep sigh as he continued to puff on his cigarette.

“I know how stressful things have been these past few years with you taking the kids in and whatever, but, y’know they’re getting older, and for once instead of thinking about them, you should think about yourself… and go drinking with us. I’ll even pay for whatever property damage they cause.”, she teased.

Aki paused, considering Himeno’s offer.

“I’ll think about it.”, he decided.

Himeno’s grin widened. She pumped her fist cheering. “Great! I’ll let everyone know you’re going!”

Aki whipped his head around. “Hey! I said I was going to think about it. Not that I was for sure going.”

But his rebuttal went unheard. Himeno had already run off back into the office, leaving nothing but a smoldering cigarette butt on the cold concrete.

Well. It seemed like the milk was going to have to wait another day.

“Kanpaii!”

The group of public servants cheered as they clinked their beer mugs together. Aki took a sip of the bitter alcohol. The group had decided to dine at the nearest izakaya from the office, opting to share large platters of fried chicken to complement their drinks. Even after work hours, some of his co-workers discussed amongst themselves about the current goings-on in the workplace, from reports, to projects, and especially office gossip. From Himeno’s initial description, Aki had presumed that it would only be a small group of people. He, apparently, underestimated Himeno’s social abilities, as there were about a little over twenty suited office workers packed like sardines in the little tatami covered private room. Aki didn’t even know half of those people even worked with him. He was cramped between Kobeni and Arai, with Himeno sitting directly across from him. She was already trying to challenge a younger intern, Sakamoto was probably his name, to a drinking competition. Apparently some things never changed, he humored himself.

He remembered his first outings with Himeno, his then superior, when he was only a young man of twenty. She would constantly taunt and tease her way into him getting drunk and smoking with her. If he ever got some sort of form of lung or liver cancer, she would be to blame.

But then Denji and Power came into his life, and suddenly, at the age of twenty-three, he found himself essentially a single father (could he even call himself that?). He had to grow up fast. Well, he was already quite serious for his age. But making sure those two were given a better home (or, rather, preventing them from being further menaces to society) made it so he had to put them first for awhile. But, after three years of watching over them, he felt that they had become a somewhat functional family unit. He trusted that Power and Denji were capable of being on their own for the night.

But just in case he should make a call.

Denji laid sprawled on the living room floor. Power’s arm hung limply off the couch, her hair cascading behind her. Meowy was curled up on her stomach. Power gently scratched the cat’s head, eyes still glued to the program on the television. It was a rerun of some Neon Genesis Evangelion episodes. Denji wasn’t paying much attention to the show. His brain hurt. He had spent almost two hours trying to figure out what the actual fuck was his math homework. He wasn’t very good at this whole school thing, and Aki had decided to abandon them to go party, so he couldn’t bribe him into helping with (doing) his homework. Obviously, Power wasn’t much help either. She never even did any of her assignments. Denji tried scouring every corner of his class notebook hoping to find some hint or formula or some other miracle that could help him get this thing done and over with, but, alas, his search was futile, as he only found random numbers scribbled in the margins and most of the pages ripped out in his futile attempts at passing notes to the girls in his class, especially to his ultimate crush of all time:

Makima.

What a beautiful name. What a perfect body, too. She was completely enchanting to him. The way her bright pink hair, always meticulously styled into a long braid, glistened under the sickly yellow fluorescent lights. Or the way she smiled back whenever his chicken scratch notes would reach her desk, directly two seats in front of him. Or her sugary sweet voice. Her boobs. Oh! And the way you could kinda see through her skirt when the sun hit just right-

“THE PHONE’S RINGING!”

Denji’s daydream was rudely interrupted by Power’s screeching. Great.

“Why don’t ya get that?”, he snapped back.

“‘Cause Meowy’s napping on me! Can’t get up, duh.”, she gestured toward the cat using her stomach as a pillow.

“Fine.” Denji groaned as he got up. Stretching and yawning, Denji tip-toed over empty chip bags and ramen cups to the phone mounted to the kitchen wall. All that ringing was making his headache worse.

“Yellow.”

“Hey Denj.”

“What’s up Aki.”

“How’s everything going with you guys? All’s good?”

“Eh. We’re chilling. Power’s watching T.V. right now.”

“Ok, Good… good. Um, nothing’s broken or anything, right?”

“Nah, everything’s good. Ya really think we’d be THAT bad.”

“No, I just felt like asking. Well, just page me if you guys need anything.”

“Kay. Wait! Before ya go, can ya bring some more cup noodles when you get the milk later.”

Denji could hear a long sigh come from the other side of the receiver. “Sure. I’ll see what I can do, bud.”

“ M’kay, thanks. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Denji heard the receiver click. He stuck the phone back on the hook. He walked into the living room and flopped back onto the floor next to the couch.

“Who was it?”

“Aki. He wanted to know if we fucked the place up.”

Power scoffed. “Can’t believe he has such little faith in us.”

“I think he has to worry more ‘bout you.”

“Fuck you.”

“I also told him to get more ramen when he gets the milk too.”

“Cool, thanks bro.”

“Uh huh.”

Denji draped his arm over his eyes. His head was still pounding thinking about his math worksheets. Fuck it. He’ll just write down some random numbers and call it a day, at least ONE of them had to be right. And so, he resumed his daydreaming about what kind of flowery shampoo Makima uses.

Ok. Good. They’re good.

Aki kept reassuring himself as he walked back to the private room. He couldn’t ignore the fact that he did indeed have to make a stop for errands at the convenience store. The employees there must think he’s insane for buying so much milk at such a high frequency. But, on the bright side, that gave him an early out before Himeno could drag him into another drinking game. The last one they played a few minutes ago was already leaving him teetering on the edge of tipsyness and drunkenness.

Aki slid open the door to the room and peeked inside. “Hey, everyone, I think I’m going to head out-“

“AKIIIIIIIIIIIIIII,” Himeno slurred, “You’re backkkkkkkkkkk! I missed youuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

Ah, great, she’s already drunk.

“Himeno, I think I’m-“

“Sit! Sit!” Himeno motioned him over, “Kobeni-channn, don’t you wanna play another game with usssssss.”

Kobeni sat in her spot shaking and clasping onto her empty beer mug for dear life. “I-I, um, er-I um…”

“Himeno, you’re drunk. You should stop drinking for the night.” Arai scolded.

“Boooo, you’re no fun. Akiiiiiiiii, tell the waitress to bring more drinks!”

“No, Himeno. You’re done. I’ll ask for water.”

“BOOOOOOOO you’re all such bores.” Himeno grabbed another worker’s full glass, mistaking it for hers, and began chugging. Aki cringed. As it was, everyone’s faces were already flushed from the three hours of non-stop drinking. It was probably time to start wrapping things up.

“I’ll get the check.” Arai volunteered, “You guys can pay me back later.”

Everyone muttered their appreciation as they all stood up and gathered their belongings. Aki kneeled next to Himeno, grabbing her from under her armpits as he helped her up.

“Akiiiiiii I don’t wanna leavvvve.”

“C’mon I’ll walk you home.”

“Fineeeeee.”

“By the way, you don’t mind if we make a quick stop on the way.”

“Hmmmmmmmm.” Himeno muttered.

He’ll take that as a yes.

Whoever decided that convenience stores needed to be open 24/7 needs to burn in hell.

Normally Angel wouldn’t be coming in this late, but Kobeni had called him last minute to cover her 10 pm to 5 am shift tonight. Something came up with her day job. Rent was due next week, and Angel could use some extra cash to ease his already tiny budget. Extremely tiny. At this point the convenience store onigiri and iced coffees were the only things sustaining him. Angel checked his appearance in the tiny mirror hung on the wall in the employee locker room. Man, he looked like shit. The dim fluorescent lighting made his eye bags darker, his long red hair greasier, the wrinkles in his oversized work shirt even deeper. He sighed, fixing the name tag on his apron. Usually he had Fridays off. He could be watching some Evangelion reruns right now. But instead he was stuck at this fuckass job. At least he could sleep in tomorrow. Hopefully. 

He shoved his shit back into his locker and rushed out of the locker room, passing by one of his other co-workers clocking out for the night. He waved and wished them goodnight as he stood in front of the time clock, counting down his last few seconds of freedom. Ten, nine, eight, hopefully this shift goes by fast, seven, six, five, hmmmmm maybe a tuna mayo onigiri would be good for lunch… or would it be more like breakfast, four, three, two, I need coffee, one- 

One hour into his shift and Angel already wanted to kill himself. Not that the shift was bad or anything, on the contrary, it was painfully boring. There had been maybe two or three customers in the past hour, but other than that, Angel was left sitting behind the register, skimming through some tabloid magazine he found on the rack next to the counter. His manager went home early for the night, and Sawatari went on her hour lunch break. The other night manager and workers wouldn’t be in for another hour. Meaning, until midnight, Angel was left to run the store by himself. His spell of boredom was broken when the bell chimed, signaling customers.

“Irrashaimase!” Angel’s eyes widened when he saw who walked in. The milk guy was back! But this time he was way later than usual, and wrapped in his arms was a - woman?! Milk man had a girlfriend?! So, was that who he was buying the milk for? Angel felt a pang of disappointment in his stomach. I mean, of course a handsome guy like milk man would have a girlfriend (not that he cared). His girlfriend was pretty nice looking too, with her dark green bob and eyepatch (how did she get that?). She was wearing a similar black suit and tie to him. They probably worked at an office together. And judging from how red her face was and her slurred speech (along with the fact that milk man was basically holding her up) she was very, very drunk.  

He watched with amusement as they headed straight to the aisle where they stocked the Ukon no Chikara, the hangover cure. It was honestly kind of funny watching milk man balance the shopping basket in one hand and dragging his drunk girlfriend along in the other. After grabbing two of those, Angel watched the pair stumble over to the dairy section where, as usual, milk man grabbed six gallons of chocolate and whole milk. No surprise there. Finally he saw them grab some bottles of water and instant ramen cups before staggering back to the registers. Angel jumped straight up, knocking over the stool he was sitting on.

“Ah! Did you find everything today?”

“Um, yes I did.”

Angel noticed that milk man was slurring some of his words as well. But he was definitely not as far gone as the woman propped up against him, who was giggling nonstop. Angel’s hands shook as he scanned the items. Why was he so nervous? He locked eyes with the man.

“Would you like a bag today, sir?”

“Yes please.”

Angel calculated the total and began bagging the gallons of milk. The eyepatch woman leaned in to her partner, cupping her hand around her mouth to whisper into his ear.

“AKIIIIIIII!!” Angel and milk man winced as she decided to yell instead. “I forgot somethingggggg! Can I go get it really quick?”

Aki, huh? Like the season, fall. So that was milk man’s real name. Aki. That’s a nice name.

Milk man, or rather, Aki, sighed. “Sure. I’ll wait here.”

Aki’s “girlfriend” shuffled off to who knows where, leaving him and Angel awkwardly standing in front of each other. Angel shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he waited in agonizing silence.

“Hey,” Aki spoke, “Can I also get a pack of Menthol Lights while I’m at it?”

“Sure.” Angel reached behind him to grab the cigarettes from the shelf behind him. “You like these cigarettes? I always see you get them.”

Nice going, Angel. He’s going to think you’re stalking him.

Aki looked at him, eyebrows raised. “You remember the cigarettes I buy?”

“Yeah. You come in a lot.” Angel slid the pack towards him. Aki reached for the pack, fingers accidentally brushing against Angel’s.

Aki scoffed. “Yeah. I spend most of my paycheck here.” He handed Angel exact change.

“Yeah, I can tell.” Angel opened the register, organizing the change. “You sure do buy a lot of milk. Why’s that.”

“Oh.” Aki rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s kind of a long story.”

“Is it like…” Angel leaned in and whispered, “like a kink thing?”

“Ex-excuse me?!”

Angel put his hands out defensively. “I mean, I’m not trying to shame you or anything like that if it is a kink or diet or skincare thing, I’ve heard of stuff like that. Like, I just see you buying a lot of milk, so I just wanted to know-“

Aki’s face flushed red from embarrassment. “I-it’s none of your business!” he sputtered.

Shit. Angel fucked up. His curiosity about the absurd amount of milk he purchases got the best of him, and now milk man- Aki- was pissed.

“Shit, sorry, you’re right, it’s none of my business.” Angel reached for another pack of Aki’s favorite cigarettes behind the counter. “Here, have another pack, on me. My apologies.” Angel pleaded with the other man.

“AKIIIIIIII!” Oh no. Eyepatch girlfriend was back. “I got us some more beer! You like Asahi righhttttt.” She ungraciously slammed the beer bottles onto the counter.

Aki went from pissed to slightly even more pissed. “Himeno, put those back, you need to stop drinking tonight!”

“Shut upppp you’re no fun!”, she slurred. She pointed her finger at Angel, smiling. “Heyyy, cutie, how about you tell this one over here to take a chill pill.” She leaned in closer, loudly whispering “If you convince him to get the beer I’ll give you a big ol’ kisssssssssss.” She puckered her lips. Angel cringed, she reeked of alcohol! And how dare she offer to kiss another man in front of her boyfriend? Has she no shame?!

Aki yanked Himeno back from the collar of her suit jacket. “Ok, you’ve had enough beer, start drinking the Ukon instead. Let’s go.”, he scolded, pulling on her arm. “I’m so sorry about her.”, he bowed his head in apology at Angel.

“No worries. I’ll put the beers back.”

Aki reached for the bags left on the counter, when he and Angel simultaneously noticed Himeno’s red face rapidly draining of all color, leaving her sickly green. She gagged, clasping a hand to her mouth.

“Shit!” Aki cursed, quickly dropping his bags to usher Himeno out the door. But it was too late. Angel and Aki watched in horror as Himeno violently retched the chunky contents of her fried chicken dinner from her mouth onto the linoleum floor, splashing everywhere.

Angel started debating whether or not to go grab the cleaning supplies, or let Sawatari handle the mess when she comes back from lunch in 30 minutes. 

Chapter Text

Denji would rather be anywhere but here.

Aki was always on his and Power’s asses about being on top of their studies, frustrated about their grades and their constant trips to Principal Fujimoto’s office. With each new school year, Aki had a hope that things would get better. Those expectations would be quickly dashed by the time the first exams were graded… or the first trip to the office… whichever came first. It’s not like he expected them to attend university or anything, and made it a point to remind them that college isn’t for everyone and they could pursue any respectable path they chose without that extra education. He AT LEAST needed them to get a high school diploma, though. Easy for golden child Aki Hayakawa to say, he has no idea the torturous pain Denji feels everyday attending dreadfully boring classes at Tokyo East High School＃4. It’s like the textbooks were written as shittily as possible on purpose.

Denji shifted uncomfortably in his hard desk chair, the plastic squeaking with each movement. He was stuck in that awful liminal space between Mr. Isayama’s biology class and lunch break. His stomach grumbled at the thought of the convenience store bento box stored in his lunch bag, courtesy of Aki. There was still another 40 minutes until the bell. Fuck. He might as well starve to death. Or die of boredom. Whichever took him out first. He considered asking Mr. Isayama to let him use the bathroom pass and maybe fuck around and sit on the rooftop for 20 minutes or so, but he doubted that would happen. The Hayakawas had a reputation, and they were already on thin ice since the last incident when they pulled the fire alarm to get out of gym class. They barely got done with their four day after school detention sentence last week. If the teachers could avoid the chance of him and Power running into each other between classes, they would take every precaution. With that hope dashed, Denji settled for taking a nap, and nestled his head between his arms.

“So”, Mr. Isayama paused his writing on the chalkboard, turning to face his students, “Who can tell me the phylum starfish fall under?”

Silence. Only a single student in the opposite back corner from Denji raised their hand.

“Erm, thank you, Mitaka, for volunteering to answer… again… but how about we have someone else answer, this time?”

The student lowered her arm, blushing in embarrassment as students turned their heads in her direction.

“Anyone?”

Silence. The teacher sighed through his fake, plastered smile.

“How about I call on someone who we haven’t heard from yet! How about…” he paused to read from the class roster, “Hayakawa!”

Denji bolted upright when he realized who the teacher was calling on. Shit! He had completely zoned out. What chapter were they on again?

“Um… can ya repeat the question, teach?”

A few girls seated in front of him snickered.

“Can you tell us what phylum starfish are a part of?”, the old man repeated, carefully enunciating his every word. Denji started frantically scanning the open pages of his textbook. Mitochondria, nucleus, cells, chromosomes- where are the starfish??? What the fuck is a phylum?!!! Wait… he was on the wrong chapter… shit.

“Um… they’re considered a type of fish? Duh.” Denji smiled cheekily. He could easily charm his teachers with his humor, or at least he thought. In reality, they rarely found his antics amusing, judging by how many times he was sent to the principals office.

The class erupted in a fit of giggles. Mr. Isayama sighed.

“No, that’s not right, Hayakawa. Can anyone else tell me the CORRECT answer?”

Mitaka’s hand shot up again. The teacher’s smile fell from his face, defeated.

“Fine. Mitaka?”

“Starfish are echinoderms, NOT relatives of fish,” Mitaka stated matter-of-factly, side-eyeing Denji with an unimpressed look, “but, instead, the sea urchin. There are as many as 2,000 starfish species around the world. Not all of them are star-shaped either. There’s even a species with 30 arms, and when they -“

“Thank you, Mitaka,” the teacher interrupted her rant, “I believe I’m supposed to be teaching this class.”

The girl’s face turned bright red and she once again shrunk into her seat.

“Anyways, jumping off from what Miss Mitaka said-“

“You’re lucky that you get to take earth science instead. You dunno how much ‘d rather look at cool rocks and shit instead of starfish.”

“At least you get to dissect shit in biology. All we do is just stare at rocks and plants in the shitty textbook. It makes me want to kill myself.” Power grumbled in between bites of her ham sandwich.

“We haven’t dissected shit in my class. I heard one of the other classes gotta dissect a frog last week. Meanwhile, I gotta sit there listening to crap about starfishes! Why the fuck are they called starfish if they’re not actually fish!”

“Whoever came up with that name is fucking stupid.” Power muttered in agreement.

Denji and Power crouched together in the single shady spot on the school rooftop, eating their respective lunches. They found the empty school rooftop to be the ideal escape. No teachers, no idiot students, the single spot where they can eat their lunch and scheme their way out of classes together. The sight of their bleached blond hair and disheveled uniforms didn’t help them blend in much anyways, making them an easy target for staff to pick on. When they first started attending the school last year, the teachers would be on their asses constantly about Denji’s open jacket showing off his graphic t-shirts underneath and Power’s “missing” bow tie (she threw out the ribbon once she picked up her uniform, it made her feel like she was choking. And despite her protests the school has yet to approve her request of wearing pants instead of the juvenile pinafores they make the girls wear. Such bullshit). The staff ended up realizing that the dress code was the least of the problems concerning the siblings, and have since given up on lecturing them.

As for the students' opinions? Well to them the Hayakawas were freaks.

Power (not her actual birth name, but nobody’s bothered to try and call her by anything else ever since she got into an argument with a teacher about respecting her chosen name. She ended up biting him. Mr. Tanaka is still traumatized.) was absolutely frightening if you got on her bad side, as she had an extremely short temper and was prone to lashing out at anyone that would talk down to her. Most students chose to avoid eye contact with her out of fear she would beat them up like she did one time to the class president. Power broke the other girl’s nose with the swinging force of her book bag. She deserved it, though, she was being a bitch and tripped Power in the hallway on purpose. It took a lot of begging and a miracle on Aki’s part to not get her expelled.

Denji could lose his temper sometimes, but, for the most part, tried his best to be decent, even if he knew that nobody liked him. Although he wasn’t sure why. He was especially nice to the girls in his classes, he groomed himself, he was funny. And yet everyone treated him like dirt. It was probably because of his association with Power, he figured. He loved his sister more than anything, but she was pretty off-putting to a lot of people (especially after she broke the class president’s nose last fall. That was pretty gnarly). Denji already made peace with the fact that nobody wanted to be friends with them. But he would very much like a girlfriend, so Power better not continue to fuck up his opportunities with the ladies.

“Should we ditch?” Power cuts the silence between them.

“If we get caught again ditchin’ Aki will get pissed. Plus we pulled the fire alarm last week, the teachers are watching our asses even more.”

“Since when were you such a goody-two-shoes?”

”I’m not! But I got math class with Makima next period and I made sure to borrow some of Aki’s cologne. It's gonna impress her for sure!” he boasted, puffing out his chest. Power rolled her eyes and gagged. 

“God, what’s with you and Makima! She’s so annoying, the way she swears she’s the shit and has everyone in this fuckass school swooning over her. I don’t get the hype.” She took an aggressive bite of her sandwich. “Why do you like her, anyways?”

” ’cause she’s hot. And nice too. She must like me back if she keeps accepting my notes.”

”She probably can’t even read what they say.” 

“She can! She smiles and laughs when she reads them!”

“Out of pity.”

Just then the melodic chime signaling the end of meal time rang, filling Power with a sense of dread. World history was next. Fuck.

”Pleeeaseee, Denj, let’s just go to the convenience store at the corner! We’ll be in and out by next period before they notice! Don’t make me go to Ms. Yamada’s.”

Denji shrugged, grabbing his book bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “Sorry, Powwy, I gotta go. But hey! You could go on your own. If ya do, bring me a bag of chips.”, he clicked his tongue, throwing a finger gun in her direction. 

“As if ”, Power crossed her arms over her chest, scowling, “Fuck it, I’ll go to class.” She snatched her bag and pushed past her brother, storming off to Ms. Yamada’s. Maybe she could sneak out during the next passing period. She was not going to bring back a bag of chips for Denji, though. He can starve. 

Power instantly regretted not ditching. Ms. Yamada droned on and on in her usual monotone voice about some sort of conflict between one country and another country that Power couldn’t bother to remember. Power loathed world history. Well, she hated all her classes equally. All the teachers sucked, too. She tapped her foot rapidly on the floor, pencil rhythmically bouncing on her notebook. That asshole next to her, Ken-whatever-his-name-is, was giving her the side-eye. Whatever. She tapped her foot faster. Sitting still for a whole hour was making her antsy. 

“Some argue that the New Deal saved the capitalist system. There’s evidence that the Roosevelt administration was trying to avoid excessive government power, rather than implant socialism, and his first act as president-“

Power could probably make a better president than that loser old guy.

She flipped to a fresh sheet of paper in her notebook, flipping her pencil around. One of Power’s many creative outlets was drawing abstract artistic interpretations of her teachers. She gleefully snickered as she doodled away. How about making her buck teeth longer? Or her boobs so pointy they can poke an eye out? Hmm, something’s missing… ah yes her three strands of hair, and her huge shoulder pads-

“And what do we have here?”

Power froze, raising her eyes to meet Ms. Yamada’s.

Ms. Yamada towered over Power, shoulder pads blocking out the sun behind her. She gripped the stack of worksheets she was passing out, knuckles turning white, biting her lip.

”Give me that.” She snatched Power’s notebook away, raising it to her face. She looked up and down around the page. Her beady eyes narrowed, glaring at Power. “Do you think this is funny, Miss Hayakawa?”

Power smirked. “Yeah. Why?” 

“Miss Hayakawa, this obscene portraiture of me-“

”How do we know it’s a picture of you? For all we know, it could be a drawing of Ken over here.” She gestured to her seat neighbor. Ken glared back at her, unimpressed.  

Ms. Yamada fumed. Everyone in the class was staring now. Great.  A few students began laughing. 

“Miss Hayakawa, your behavior today is absolutely deplorable. Don’t make me give you the water buckets to hold while standing outside of class, again.”

”Oooo water buckets, so scarryyyyy.” Power rolled her eyes, kicking her feet up on the desk. Let the fight begin.

”That’s it. I give up!” Ms. Yamada pointed her finger towards the door, “I do not accept this attitude in class, and if you can’t act appropriately I must ask you to leave.”

Victory. Now Power had the opportunity to ditch and go to the convenience store. She reached                                                               down to grab her bag, calmly exiting her seat.

”Fine. Ms. Yamada, you win.” Power grinned at the older woman who remained unimpressed. Just before she could walk away, she overheard Ken-whatever-his-name-is whispering to another one of his friends sitting in front of him.                                                                                                  

“Yeah she’s fucking psycho, man. And she’s just as retarted as her brother.“

Oh. Power stopped in her tracks, clenching her fists. Listen, it was one thing to call her names, she was quite used to it and could put up a good fight, too, but to say those cruel things about Denji as well? Well that won’t do. If Ms. Yamada won’t put a stop to that kind of behavior, then she would have to handle this herself. 

Before anyone could react, Power swiftly picked up the textbook laying on a nearby desk, swinging with all her might at Ken’s head, sending him flying out of his chair. He landed on the tiled  floor, crying out in pain. Ms. Yamada shrieked at the top of her lungs. Power launched herself over the desk, tackling him before he could get back up again. At this point, everything was a blur, just a bunch of kicking and punching and yelling and biting. Even when hands were grabbing at her to pull her off of the boy, Power just kept kicking and screaming until there was nothing left to hit. 

Aki was fuming. It didn’t help that the cigarette he was smoking made him look like he was puffing out smoke like one of those pissed off cartoon characters. He immediately rushed over from work once he got the call from the principal’s office. Not only did he have to miss half a workday to come pick Denji and Power up from school, but he also had to grovel on his hands and knees for the principal and the other kid’s parents to not expel Power. They settled for a two-week suspension instead, and would consider having her switch classrooms as well. 

“You know, they wanted to expel you, again. But you are so fucking lucky I managed to get you to stay. You two heard Mr. Fujimoto, either one of you pulls some shit like this again and it’s strike three. You’re out.”

Denji squirmed uncomfortably in the backseat of Aki’s car. Power sat next to him, arms crossed and scowling. She avoided Aki’s gaze in the rear view mirror, opting instead to stare out the window at the passing scenery. Well, her wish to ditch her classes came true in a weird kind of way. Honestly, this two week suspension was a much needed vacation in her eyes. She rubbed the red, sore skin of her knuckles. That Ken kid had a harder head than she thought. She would probably need to ice them when they arrived home. 

“I dunno why I’m also getting told off. I wasn’t the one who kicked that guy’s ass.”

”You’re no saint either, Denji.” 

Denji was quite annoyed with Power at the moment. Not because she started a fight, again, but because of her he had to get pulled out of math class early to go home, meaning he couldn’t ask Makima her thoughts on “his” new cologne after class. Now his opportunity to impress her with his impeccable hygiene was dashed all because Power couldn’t control her temper for just one day. If he had a nickel for every time his sister broke someone’s nose, he’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. 

The three Hayakawas spent the rest of the car trip in silence. 

Chapter Text

Angel stared up at the ceiling, dreading the thought of going to work. 

He lay splayed out on his bedsheets, sweat drenched PJs clinging to his skin. His apartment was dirt cheap, but that meant sacrificing an AC unit, making the tiny studio unbearably hot during warmer weather. Now that it was mid May, the muggy humid weather of Japan’s summer season was starting to creep in. Angel made a mental note to switch out his bedsheets for something lighter.

In the background, the T.V broadcasted the unfortunate news of the day. Apparently, the famous bubblegum pop idol Koma Komagawa had been caught having an affair with an already married baseball player, who then left his wife to marry Komagawa. Every single news channel Angel flipped to seemed to be discussing it. Geez, those super fans of hers that were being interviewed sure were scary. Her music wasn’t even that good enough to be contemplating suicide over such a meaningless scandal. 

Angel dragged himself out of the thin futon, shuffling over to the kitchen to make himself a piece of toast. His fridge was pathetic, barely anything in it but a container of butter and a half-empty gallon of milk.

Milk… 

It's been about a month since milk man, or rather Aki, last came to the store. Angel would always look at the door expectantly between 7:30-8:00 pm. 

He never came back. 

Not that Angel could blame him. Imagine being asked about your unusual haul of milk by a total stranger, then having your girlfriend throw up all over the store in front of said stranger? Angel would probably want to crawl into a hole and die, and that’s probably exactly what milk man did. 

Angel chose to eat the half empty container of vanilla ice cream he had stored in the freezer compartment, grabbing a clean looking spoon from the sink to eat out of the cardboard tub. 

Rest in peace milk man, you will be missed. 

“What do you mean you don’t have them? Last time I came here you guys did!”

“Ma’am… what you are looking for is a Lawson exclusive coffee… this is a Family Mart.” 

“So?! Shouldn’t you guys have the same thing?” 

Angel sighed, “We do have coffee, but not the caramel flavor. That’s only available at Lawson.” 

The older lady standing across from him narrowed her eyes. “Well last time I came you guys had it!”

“Ma’am, in the two years I’ve worked here, we’ve never had the caramel flavor.”

“I don’t appreciate your attitude, young lady!” 

Angel exhaled again.

Angel never had thought of  a “dream job” before. Why would he ever dream of labor? He never really thought he would’ve made it this far into his twenties, and figured that if he did make it this far maybe at some point something would just click and he would finally understand his true purpose in life. He jumped around jobs. He moved to a completely different city on the other side of the country. He changed his appearances, and tried various apartment layouts. Yet nothing had clicked. The convenience store had been his longest time spent employed at any place. Was he fated to stay a convenience store employee until the day he died? The idea of spending his remaining days wasting away in this little sickly yellow fluorescent box bowing to the whims of every customer and demand from his manager, having no thoughts of his own, repeating the same few lines like a soulless machine - well that sounded like his own personal hell.

The convenience store was only meant to be a temporary stop along the path of life while you waited for something greater. Angel was afraid his day of departure would never arrive.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. 

“Angel, it’s time for your fifteen, I can take over if you want.” 

Sawatari appeared behind him, heralding his sweet release from this conversation before his urge to throat punch the old lady took over. 

“Yeah, sure, thanks.” 

Angel walked as fast as he could away from the register. 

“Excuse me miss, do you have caramel flavored coffee?”

Sawatari sighed, “No, ma’am, we don’t…”

Angel leaned up against the wall of the back alley of the convenience store. Not a glamorous spot, smelling of sour sewage and smog of passing cars, but it was enough for fifteen minutes of “quiet”. He never particularly liked the break room, as you could still hear the goings on inside the store, and far too often coworkers tried starting conversations with him. He couldn’t care less about whatever-their-name-is’s plans for the weekend, could a guy eat his sandwich in peace! He had enough socializing with customers for the day anyway. 

He lazily chewed on his ham sandwich, observing the crowds of people passing through the main street. There were groups of kids walking back home from school, laughing with their friends, elderly people going for their daily afternoon walks, others walking their dogs or running late for work, shoving through the crowd. He could overhear two elderly women walking their matching Pomeranians discussing how the grocery store is having a sale on tomatoes. That guy right there with the pathetic looking top knot and bag of five gallons of milk-

Oh. 

Angel had to do a double take as he looked past the sea of people to the man passing by. 

He could never forget that stupid top knot.

That same black suit, same face, same bag of milk. It was definitely him. Aki was clearly struggling to carry the bags of milk and assorted groceries in one hand and fishing for his car keys in the other. Beside him walked two teenagers in their school uniforms. It looked like they were arguing with each other over something he couldn’t hear, swinging their arms full of other plastic grocery bags as they went.

The man in the suit abruptly stopped in his tracks, feeling around his pockets. He looked up, making direct eye contact with Angel. His eyes widened in recognition. It felt like time stopped as they awkwardly stared at each other from across the street. Angel felt his heart jump into his throat, stomach filling with dread. God, he hoped that man wouldn’t say anything to him. 

Aki broke his stare once the two teens came running back to him after realizing their third companion had stayed behind. Angel couldn’t make out what they were saying to him, but Aki had pulled out his wallet, handing it to the boy and pointing in the direction of Angel’s convenience store. The two kids pumped their fists, clearly buying into the bribe of snacks. The girl turned to look at Angel for a brief second, before turning back to the boy, whispering in his ear. They both laughed before scurrying away.

Aki walked towards him. 

Angel froze on the spot. His brain was telling him to run back inside, finish his sandwich in the break room, but his feet stayed glued to the tar stained concrete. He braced for the confrontation, maybe a punch or slap to the face, maybe some yelling about embarrassing the poor guy and insinuating that he was a freak. He shut his eyes, preparing for the worst.

Nothing. 

“Hey.” 

Angel slowly opened his eyes. The man in front of him gradually came into focus. He came face to, well, chest he supposed, since the other man was considerably taller than him. He raised his head, finally locking eyes with the office worker. 

”Hi?”

Aki cleared his throat, shifting his eyes to the side, avoiding eye contact. 

“Sorry for interrupting your break, I’m assuming.”

”Nah, it’s… fine.”

More awkward silence. Aki cleared his throat again.

”Since you’re here, I just wanted to apologize again for, well, my co-worker for her… accident? Last month. I don’t think I properly apologized for that. I had to get her home quickly.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “I’m so sorry for all the trouble we caused you.”

Angel took a bite of his sandwich. “Domf worfy abouf id.” He swallowed before continuing. “It was a pain in the ass to clean, though. Your girlfriend threw up a lot. It was disgusting. What the fuck did you guys eat before that mess?”

Aki smiled. “It was fried chicken and beer, at a work party. Himeno is not my girlfriend though, just a work friend.”

Oh?

“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself, by the way. My name is Hayakawa. Hayakawa Aki.”

Angel nodded. “My name is Angel. Just Angel.” 

“Well, it’s good to know your name now, just Angel.” Aki bowed his head. 

“By the way,” Angel started, “I should apologize too, for, y’know, prying into your business about the whole, milk thing.” He gestured to the bags Aki was carrying with his foot. “I kinda offended you by, like, implying you were a freak, so, sorry.”

”Ah, yeah that. It’s fine. Do you always assume the worst about your customers?”

”Yeah, I do that a lot.”

”I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the actual explanation is more mundane than you think.”

”Soaf, hwhy thu you buf soaf muchf milkf.” Angel chewed. 

Aki let out a sound between a laugh and a sigh. “It’s for the kids I take care of.”

”You have kids? How old are they? 5, 6?” Surely the kids he was talking about were completely unrelated to the two blond teens. Maybe they were, like, a friend’s kids or something. 

”Sixteen. Almost seventeen.” 

Angel nearly spit out his sandwich. “Jesus, how old were you when you had them?”

”They’re not my biological kids! Just relatives I decided to take in. I shouldn’t bore you with the details, though.”

Angel nodded in understanding. As much as he wanted to pry into this guy’s interesting predicament of raising his relatives of some sorts, he figured he already had done enough snooping and should leave it at that before he accidentally offends Aki again. At least he got his questions about his unusual buying habits answered. 

He was now concerned about the kids’ diets, though. 

“Well, I guess I should let you enjoy your break.” Aki continued, “I don’t want you to go back late.”

”Yeah, I guess.”

”Well, I’ll see you around.” Aki nodded, turning away from Angel.

”Wait.”

Aki turned back to face him.

”Don’t worry about coming back to the store, if you’re still embarrassed about last time. I know the grocery stores price their milk higher. I’ll give you a discount.” Angel knew that giving him a discount was more than likely prohibited by his manager, and could probably get him canned. But at the same time he kind of fucking hated this job, so if he got fired for helping a poor, overworked guy trying to provide for his “kids” then maybe it was worth it. Kind of like charity. But then there’s rent. Ah, maybe he shouldn’t have offered- 

“Thanks, I’ll think about it.” 

Aki’s form disappeared into the bustling street, out of Angel’s sight. 

He didn’t have the heart to tell Aki that he was already 20 minutes late coming back from his break. 

“Powy, hurry the fuck up need to piss!”

”Gimme five minutes!”

”I need to go NOW!” Denji banged on the bathroom door. 

Aki was very much not pleased with the fact that they blew most of the cash in his wallet on junk food and box hair dye at the convenience store. Denji had argued that his roots were starting to show and he needed to re-dye his hair because the girls would think he looked stupid, and that they might as well stock up just in case, since ‘it would be cheaper to buy in bulk over time’. In Aki’s opinion, he couldn’t see shit, but the money was already spent he supposed. Power had also used all the points on his point card for their purchase without asking. 

To be fair, he honestly forgot he even had that card anyway. 

Aki still needed to discuss the whole two week suspension situation with her.

He knew that she was often prone to violent outbursts if provoked (as proven from plenty of personal experience). It was apparent that the other boy involved must have said something that got her worked up, she wouldn’t attack someone out of nowhere. Given Denji and Power’s track record with the administration however, they were very unlikely to try and reason with either teen. Yeah, they could be little shits sometimes, but they weren’t violent psychopaths. Aki had tried his best to compromise with both Principal Fujimoto and the boy’s mother (along with Power’s world history teacher Ms. Yamada, who was in hysterics the whole meeting), essentially groveling on his hands and knees for an in-school suspension or detention in lieu of the suspension. Maybe he was grateful that their principal was kind enough to not consider expulsion at the moment (despite Ms. Yamada’s tearful pleas). He still needed to discipline her, though, because in Power’s eyes this suspension was her vacation from having to attend her classes. 

She can’t always break people’s noses whenever they upset her. 

“Fuckin’ christ, did you need to take a fat shit or what?” Denji complained the moment Power finally opened the bathroom door.

She pointed to the plastic bag wrapped around her head, haphazardly secured in place with scotch tape and bobby pins. “Does it look like I took a fat shit, dumbass.”

Apparently, Power also needed a hair touch up. 

“Ugh, it smells like shit in here now.” Denji grimaced as he slammed the door shut to the bathroom. 

Power marched her way over the T.V. set, flipping through channels until she paused on one. She stood with her hands on her hips, completely blocking the view of the screen from where Aki was sitting on the couch. 

“Whew! The entire Japanese population is still reeling from the shock of today’s news…” a sharply dressed man with glasses announced from the television screen, “of idol Koma Komagawa’s affair-turned-marriage!” 

“YO, DENJ!”, she called from behind her shoulder. 

“WHAT?!” Denji shouted back from behind the locked bathroom door.

”Y’KNOW THAT HOTTIE IDOL YOU GOT THAT SWIMSUIT PIC OF IN YOUR ROOM?” 

“WHICH ONE?” 

Aki silently prayed to whatever god was out there that their neighbors couldn’t hear this conversation through the paper thin walls of their apartment.

”THE ONE IN THE BLUE BIKINI!”

”HUH? OH YEAH! WHATTA ‘BOUT HER?”

”SHE’S A HOMEWRECKER!”

”HUH? NO WAY!”

”YEAH! SHE’S WITH SOME MARRIED BASEBALL PLAYER NOW!”

“DAMN! SHOULD’A BEEN ME!” 

Power rolled her eyes. 

“Let’s move on to our special guest-“ 

The T.V. man’s sentence was interrupted by Power switching channels again. It was time for the newest episode of her favorite television series of all time: Solved! Detective Magician - Secret Tricks and Just Plain Secrets! Denji had often made fun of her for liking a ‘kiddy’ show, but it was because ‘he just had no taste in good television’. They always fought over the remote every Tuesday night, because Detective Magician aired at the same time as the Channel Thirteen news, which Denji enjoyed watching every evening. Not because he actually cared about the news they reported on, but because of ’that one hot anchor woman’ who bore a striking resemblance to Makima, whoever that Makima person was. It was stupid, and yet he had the audacity to call Detective Magician stupid, Power would often complain.

Aki had lost count of the amount of times he had to break up fights between them over who got to control the remote. 

Power plopped herself down onto the floor in front of the T.V. set, face nearly pressed up against the glass screen. Her pose reminded Aki of the movie poster for Poltergeist. Meowy had curled up into her lap, purring satisfactorily at the chin scratches Power gave her while fixated on the episode in a trance. 

“Power?”

Aki went ignored. 

“Power.” he stated more firmly. 

“What?” 

Aki could hear the annoyance in her voice. 

“Can we talk about what happened at school today?” 

There was a long pause. She fiddled with the hem of the oversized, dye stained t-shirt she was wearing. 

“No.” 

“Power, you can’t avoid this discussion forever.”

”I know. After Detective Magician.”, she waved him off.

Her eyes never left the T.V. screen. Aki wanted to press further, but he knew that would only cause her to lash out even further. They sat in tense silence for a few minutes, the only sounds coming from the television program. He could hear Denji shuffling around the kitchen, pouring himself a heaping bowl of cereal. Aki mulled over how to change the subject.

”You know I still have to ground you right?”

Power whipped her head around. ”Why? That Ken guy started it!”

“Yeah, but you broke his nose.” 

“And? That’s what he gets for having a weak nose. ‘S not fair.”

”Listen, I know he may have started it, but you escalated it. You can’t just resort to punching people who upset you. That would probably get you arrested one of these days.”

Power narrowed her eyes at Aki. She huffed, “What do ya want?”

”First,” Aki lifted his pointer finger to emphasize his first point, “you have to complete ALL of your assignments that Denji will bring you home from school, including your current missing assignments.”

”Fine.”

”Second-“

”There’s more?”, she groaned.

“Yes- ok second, you have to do all the chores on the list that I’ll leave you on the fridge before I go off to work.” 

“Make her do my laundry while you’re at it!” Denji added from where he stood in the kitchen.

”Wha- that’s gross, do it yourself!”

”I’ll think about it.” Aki continued, “And lastly, no wandering off while I’m out of the house. It’s one thing to get into trouble at school, but I don’t want you causing anything out in public while I’m at work. It’ll be a lot harder for me to bail you out.” 

”But I’m gonna go crazy stuck in here all day!” 

“You can go out with us on weekends, and after these two weeks you can go back out for school.”  

Power flopped on her back, limbs splayed out like a starfish. “This is child abuse, top knot.” 

“You’ll live.” 

Denji crunched down on the sugary corn flakes he had grabbed from the kitchen. “Yourf wathching thatdf stufpid show aghain?” 

“It’s not stupid! Shut up, they’re gonna reveal the killer.”

”Aki, can you change it to Channel Thirteen, the news is on.”

Power immediately snapped up. “Can you wait five fuckin’ minutes! You watch it every night!” 

“It’s better than Detective Magician!” 

“Aki!” They simultaneously whipped their heads around to stare at the poor, tired office worker that was just trying to enjoy his can of beer from where he lounged on the couch. They expectantly awaited his verdict. 

Aki shook his head, sighing. “Denj, just let her finish the episode, you can watch the news tomorrow.”  

Power threw her arms up in the air and cheered, turning back around to press her face against the screen once more. She won this time. Denji cursed under his breath, moping all the way back to his room, bowl of cereal in hand. 

As the episode’s end credits began rolling, Power shifted her position to face Aki. She tilted her head, “Sooooooo, who was that red head chick you were talking to earlier?” 

He raised his eyebrow. “Red head girl?” It took him a minute to process who Power could be referring to. “Oh. I’m pretty sure they’re a guy, though.”

”Wow Aki I didn’t know you swung that way.” 

“It’s not like that. He was just, an old acquaintance, I guess you could say. Himeno caused him some trouble last time, so I needed to apologize on her behalf.” 

Power nodded her head sarcastically. “Sureeeeee, whatever you sayyyy.” 

Aki rolled his eyes. “Can you stop? Detective Magician ended, give me the remote, it's my turn.”

”Ugh, fine.” She tossed the remote in his direction, missing her target and hitting the couch cushion next to him. “Imma go rinse my hair.” 

Aki picked it up and began flipping through channels, occasionally taking a sip from his drink. Koma Komagawa this, Koma Komagawa that. No matter the channel, her face was plastered everywhere. After several minutes he shut the T.V. off, opting to finish his beer and a cigarette out on the balcony. 

“I’ll think about it…”

Angel repeated that line over and over again in his head as he suffered though the rest of his shift. 

As he bagged Items.

 As he counted the registers.

As he shoved stock into the shelves, not even caring if he was putting the correct items in the correct place. 

That’s all that looped in the deep crevices of his brain. He was mostly worried that Aki would actually seriously take his offer on a discount. Was there even a way to apply a discount on the registers?

The head manager of the convenience store was a stingy old man, who always wore rectangular wired frame glasses and a fedora. He always sat menacingly in the back office, and was very particular about the money that came to and from the safe and the registers. If even one cent was off, he would definitely track down whoever made that discrepancy and would not hesitate in firing them. 

Why did he even offer that?

He supposed he just wanted to make amends, an offer that Aki couldn’t refuse that would tempt him into visiting Angel at the convenience store again. 

Maybe he should get out of the apartment more if he was becoming this desperate for human interaction. But going out and talking to others would waste too much of his precious energy.

Too lonely that he had to bribe some guy into visiting him at work, but too lazy to actually go outside and make connections. Angel just felt pathetic. 

“Now approaching the last stop: Kita-ayase. Last stop: Kita-ayase.”  The soft melodic voice of the pre-recorded announcement echoed through the nearly empty train car. His eyes widened in realization: he was supposed to get off two stops ago… he was so absorbed in his thoughts about Aki and stupid discounts on milk that he had completely zoned out. 

He checked his watch: 12:30 a.m. 

Most of the train lines would stop running by now, meaning that Angel would most likely have to walk all the way back in the opposite direction. God knows how long that would take. He slumped back into his seat, defeated. He sighed, considering his options. Couldn’t he just spend the night in the train car, or on one of the benches in the station? All the drunk salarymen did it all the time. But that would be uncomfortable, he supposed. His body felt heavy as he dragged himself out of the seat, shuffling along with the other exhausted passengers out of the car and into the green-tinted station. Voices and footsteps reverberated off the tiled walls. Using whatever little energy he had left in him, and the limited vision his heavy-lidded eyes allowed him, he made his way out the station exit. Even at midnight, the streets were still buzzing with people.

For such a big city, it was so lonely. 

Unlike the countryside, Tokyo was loud, dirty, and vulgar, with neon lights so bright they washed out the view of the stars in the dark night sky. The sounds of people and cars drowned out the songs of the birds and insects. The grass and trees were a duller shade of green, too. 

He looked down a darkened alleyway as he passed by it, noticing several rats scurrying about the trash bins. One locked its beady black eyes with his own. It squeaked as it dived behind a crushed can of soda. Angel looked back up at the washed out night sky. 

“Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a town mouse.”