As the morning sun comes out. I lay there with my eyes still shut, curled up in Koemi’s cramp closest, I couldn’t quite shake the disbelief of how last night unfolded. The events from last night, the emotional revelation, and the way we both saw each other kept replaying in my mind. I was supposed to be at my house, but instead, I had spent the entire night in Koemi’s apartment as the storm prevented me from leaving the restaurant. This usual morning routine of an alarm clock waking me up is now replaced with the sound of Koemi’s voice piercing through the closet door, her familiar call brings me back to today.

“Kazuki, wake up!”

A loud knock on the closet door shocked me from sleep. I begin to slowly open my eyes’, realizing Koemi is calling me.

“It’s time for work!” Koemi shouts, as her voice becomes impatient.

I rub my eyes, trying to shake off the sleepiness. “Don’t we have school today?” I mumble, still disoriented.

“It’s the weekend…” Koemi’s voice softens with a hint of amusement. “I’ve decided to open the restaurant early.” 

After hearing that today is a free day. I begin to lift Tetsu off my lap and jump up. “Well then, I’m going to make breakfast!” I declare, getting ready to start the day. 

As I walk down the stairs, Koemi stops me, grabbing the back of my shirt gently. Her face turns slightly red, as she starts scrambling with her fingers on her phone, struggling to keep her eyes on me. 

“Do you have a Line by any chance?” she nervously asks me.

I look at her in surprise as I begin to nod. “I do…”

Koemi’s fingers move clumsily over her phone as she tries to open the app. She keeps glancing at me with shyness. “I— I’d like to stay in touch, you know… Since you’re going back home today…” She stammers, her cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink.

I smile at her awkwardness, finding her expression being adorable. “Sure, I’ll give it to you.”

After we exchanged contacts, we headed downstairs together, ready to begin the morning shift. Tetsu also follows along, his tail wagging, as he just woke up and is already expecting something new on his day.

~~~

It is the beginning of the morning shift, as I’m cooking breakfast with the aroma filling up the air. While cooking, my phone buzzes with an incoming call from my parents. As I sigh, I answer, knowing this wouldn’t be good.

“Kazuki!” my mom’s voice came through. “You didn’t come home after school yesterday.”

“Where were you?”

“I’m at Shokudo Furusato,” I reply, trying to keep my voice steady. “It’s a long story, please. It is too confusing to tell you. Please forgive me!”

As she begins to speak, my attention drifts. I see Koemi with Tetsu, in the dining area, moving to the rhythm of “Daten” by Creepy Nuts, a popular rap duo here in Japan. We compiled this playlist this morning, and it is now playing on her Bluetooth speaker. 

Koemi’s movements are fluid and carefree, her body animates like the one for the anime opening that goes with this track. As I stared mindlessly at her, she caught my eyes and began to smile, mouthing, “I didn’t know you had good taste in music, Kazuki!” 

I blush, momentarily forgetting about the phone call. “Thanks,” I responded back, feeling the warmth of her cheeks. Her compliment to me is a bright spot in what is shaping up to already be a difficult morning. 

“Are you even listening, Kazuki?!” Her shouts snap me back to reality.

“Uhm, yeah. Sorry…” I stammer, trying to refocus on the conversation. 

“So. This restaurant… Did you get the job?” my mom asks me, being surprised. 

“I did,” I confirm, as I feel some pride. Although I know this isn’t enough to prepare for what’s coming next…

“That’s amazing, Kazuki!” she said, her tone warming. “We’re glad, but…”

Her tone shifts, and I could sense her becoming serious. “Your father and I have been discussing. Since you’re about to turn 18, we’ve decided it’s time for you to start fending for yourself. It’s not like we don’t want to deal with you anymore. We’re just concerned with your future. You might become a shut-in…”

“We’ve called a moving truck to deliver all your stuff to your location as you start to find-”

Hearing it punch me in the guts. “What?” I interrupted her from finishing, feeling the shock wash over me. “You’re kicking me out?”

Koemi, who’s been dancing, froze mid-dance. Her eyes became concerned as she took in the gravity of this situation.

“It’s time, Kazuki,” my mom tells me, her voice softer now but still firm. “You have to learn how to stand on your two feet.”

“Kazuki,” my dad adds, his tone warming. “I think this is a good opportunity for you.”

I sigh, frustration washes over me. “Yeah, maybe…”

“Please, take care of yourself. You're a lucky person.” my dad tells me. “Please remember that son…”

As my dad finishes, the call ends. I stood there, phone in hand, feeling the weight of their decision. Koemi and Tetsu approach with concern clear in their eyes.

“Kazuki, are you okay?” Koemi asks me softly, with her hand resting on my shoulder

I force a smile, not wanting to worry them more. “It’s okay. Life happens… We just must move on…”

“We’re here for you, don't worry.” she tells me, with determination. 

I smile, grateful that I’m here today. “We should start to focus on this morning shift.”

As we turn back to our tasks, “Nosbishiro” by Creepy Nuts is playing in the background, with the sound of a moving truck approaching the front entrance of the restaurant. This song is a good reminder that, despite what happened, we should always be grateful that it happens.

~~~

I place the last box that holds all my belongings into Koemi's room, with the boxes taking up most of the space in the room. She stood in the doorway, her arms crossed and a frown in her face.

“Out of all the places, you’ve decided to move in here?” she asks me, her voice with irritation.

As I set the box down and wipe the sweat from my forehead. “C'mon Koemi! Don’t blame me… This wouldn’t happen if my parent-”

“But this is my space!” she interrupts me, her cheeks flushing with anger. “I wasn’t even prepared to find out my own parents told me I was going to run this restaurant too!”

I sigh, looking at Koemi, keeping my cool. “Koemi, isn’t this what Grandpa Takeshi wants from us…”

With the mention of him, Koemi’s expression softened, forgetting about scolding me. “Fine, but don’t go through my stuff. Please!” she tells me as she exits the room.

As I begin to unpack, I finally get to look at the details of her room. The posters of her favorite J-Rock band covered the walls, and seeing her figurines line up in the shelves again. I began to figure out how to make space for my stuff without disrupting her setup too much.

“This is about to be challenging…”

Later, Koemi returns, still upset over my decision. “Listen, this room. There’s no way we can make space for your belongings…”

“We’ll figure it out,” I said, sounding reassuring. “We just need to make some adjustments.”

Koemi huffs as she begins moving some of her things around, while I help her by doing the same thing. While we’re doing that, we just end up bumping into each other several times, adding to the tension.

“Woah, watch it!” she snaps as our elbows collide.

“Maybe if you don’t hog up all that space-” I complain, but she cuts me off.

“You’re the one trying to move in here!”

We continue arguing, our voice increasing each time until Tetsu, sensing us. Let out a sharp bark, like a toddler watching his parents argue. His bark causes both of us to stop as we look at him, then at each other.

“Yeah, let’s take a break,” I suggest, trying to calm the situation.

Koemi sighs as she nods. “Sure…”

As we sat there thinking about what we said to each other, a box suddenly toppled and hit me on the shoulder. I took a glance at the label: “Cosplay.”

I look at Koemi, asking her with surprise, “You’re a cosplayer too?”

Her cheeks turn red, “I do… But I have never been sharing any of them, yet… I’m just too nervous from people finding out that I’m an otaku.”

“May I see them?” I politely ask.

She pulls out her phone and shows me a phone, a photo of one of her cosplays. “I was thinking of starting a Twitter account for my cosplay. You think it’s a good idea?” she nervously asks me.

“That’s an amazing idea,” I told her excitedly. “I would be happy to help out!”

Koemi continues to blush as she smiles. “Thanks… I feel more comfortable now after showing you it…”

While Koemi is watching me unpack more boxes, I open a box holding all my manga collection. As she glances at it, she notices how similar we both share our taste in manga.

“Isn’t this all the volumes of Chainsaw Man?” She asked, as her eyes widened with excitement.

“Yeah, I managed to collect all of them…” I told her, smiling. “I’ve had lots of free time, which helps boost my enjoyment in manga.”

“Aw man… I have only collected the first three volumes,” Koemi admits. “But I read most of it online… And it’s one of my favorites.”

“It’s really an amazing series,” agreeing. “The main character is insane, but I can’t stop rooting for him.”

Koemi nods enthusiastically. “I know right…”

“Hey, I have an idea,” I tell her, looking at how much space she has on her shelves. “Why not combine our collections? That way, we can have all the volumes together!”

Koemi’s eye sparkles with excitement. “That will be amazing!”

As I start to complete her collection with my Mangas, we continue talking about our favorite anime, discovering each other even more. The tension between us seems to melt away and is now replaced with this new sense of companionship.

Just as we are enjoying ourselves through our new shared interest, a loud voice echoes from downstairs.

“Is anyone even here? I just want to order!”

We both jump, realizing that we still must go through the morning shift of this restaurant. “Ah, shoot. We need to get back to work.” Koemi tells me, with disappointment.

“Let’s go,” I agree, as we hurry downstairs. Tetsu is following behind us.

As we reached the kitchen, we found a grumpy-looking man, on the counter, tapping his foot impatiently.

“Finally! I was starting to believe this place is haunted.”

“Ah, sorry…” Koemi apologizes, her professional demeanor sleeping back into place. “What can we get today?”

As she took the man’s order and began working, I couldn’t help but feel grateful. This morning was rough, but also felt like a new beginning in my life. Koemi and I are learning to navigate this together. As I watch Koemi’s cooking. I feel that maybe Grandpa Takeshi is right about the both of us…