Kasumi shuffles in her bed hearing the alarm go off. The room is tinged blue by the little sunlight that peered through the curtains. She reaches under her pillow searching for the phone sitting on the table next to the bed. “Where is it?” She pulls the hand out and then sends both her hands under the pillow. “Where is that damn phone-”

The phone continues ringing as she hears her door creak open.

“Huh?” She sees Isamu’s silhouette, pulling up his sleeves. She says in her sleepy voice as she squints at the light outside the room, “Who’s…”

Isamu walks in, trying to find the switchboard. “Time to wake-” He stops seeing her already having fallen asleep again.

Kasumi pulls the blanket over her head as he turns the lights on. “No!” She mumbles angrily, “You won’t get me today!”

“Haha…I don’t think you’re being chased, though,” Isamu says as he turns off the alarm.

“Mmm…” She turns over and shuffles into a fetal position. “Go away!”

“Don’t you have to go early today? Or are you going to become a shut-in?”

“Mmmm…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He slides open the curtains. “It’s almost 7! You need to get up now!”

“Why do I need to play in that tournament so early in the morning? Let me sleep!”

“Yeah, nobody’s going to be around to play a multiplayer game at 7, right?” He laughs. “But you’ve got to get to school early today, resident game freak!”

“S-school!” She springs up. “What time is it?”

Isamu says, clapping, “Oh! Well done! I thought I’d have a harder time waking you up today! Sounds like that blew your sleep away… saves me a world of pain.”

“Shut up!” She stretches her arms over her head and lets them fall on the bed. “…Didn’t even answer the question! What a help you are!”

“Do I need to help more? Brush your teeth for you too, maybe?” Isamu says, chuckling.

“Just go…I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

He walks to the door. As he closes the door, he says, “And it’s 5:45 now.”

“LIAR!” She shouts before whimpering, “I wanted to sleep more…”

…………………………………………………………………..

Kasumi enters the dining room yawning, trying to fix her bed hair; her eyes barely open. She sees Isamu behind the kitchen counter pouring oil into a pan. She sits down at the table and arches over, resting her head on her hands. “When did you learn to cook edible food?”

“Excuse you! I can cook pretty decent food if I do say so myself!” He turns the stove on.

“You are saying that yourself…”

“Yeah, yeah…what do you want to eat? I’m making toast and-”

“Nothing you’re planning to cook…”

“Hey! Aren’t you being way too stingy for a sleepy idiot?” He cracks an egg into the oil. “Oop- salt…salt… can’t forget the salt this time!”

She turns her face towards him. “I’m being stingy because I’m sleepy! You liar! You said it was almost 7! I don’t want to go to school today! Cleaning duty and first thing in the morning…what could be worse?” She bangs her fist on the table.

“You’re going to wake mom up!”

“Uh-”

“Besides, in the grand scheme of the day,” he says, sprinkling a pinch of salt on the frying egg, “an hour and fifteen minutes isn’t really that much time, right?”

“Uwah…you started that again-”

“Started…what?”

“He doesn’t even notice...He’s hopeless!“ “Stop trying to act smart and poetic!”

He flips the egg. Grabbing a plate, he says, “Smart, I am! But not poetic…”

“You’re neither! Bet you ripped that off from the internet too!”

“You, little sister, need some coffee! And besides…aren’t you supposed to do your homework before you go play that stupid game?”

“Don’t call it stupid!”

“Yes, yes! At least you’ve woken up a bit…Here’s your breakfast, Kasumi-sama!” He places the plate next to her. “You really do lose it when you’re hungry!” He says as he pats her head.

She lifts her head. “Idiot! You know I’m not up for your peasant breakfast menu!" She pulls the plate towards her. "What is this toast and scrambled egg? Get me my coffee!”

“You’re not going to remember this conversation, are you? I’m going to savor the heck out of your reaction later when I remind you of this!”

“Seriously! Coffee’s the only thing you can make right!” She says, chewing.

“Thank you for that…” Isamu says blankly.

…………………………………………………………………………

Passing a crowd of students on the stairs, Isamu sighs, reaching the top. “Seriously…Why is there a crowd everywhere?” “Can’t let a guy get his peace-”

“Cursing the crowd already, I see…” Mareo says as he sneaks up from behind him. “Yo, Isamu! Looking good, finally! How long has it been since you’ve looked this good? A month?”

“Yeah…I finally got enough sleep…” Isamu pulls the earphones out of his ears and turns off the application on his phone as they begin walking through the slightly less crowded hallway. “…After that ‘demolition’ you did to my head, I thought I’d totally get a concussion! I still have a bump and it’s been a whole week!”

“Tch…he didn’t get one!” Mareo says under his breath.

Isamu clenches his hand into a fist in front of Mareo’s face with a devilish smile on his face. “You just said ‘Tch’, didn’t you?”

“I’m joking! Joking! Haha…hahaha…”

Isamu says, lowering his hand, “Anyway, what did I miss this week?”

“You know I’m not in your class, right?” He says as they enter a half-empty classroom.

“Oh yeah…” Isamu says as he walks to his desk and places his backpack on it.

Mareo pulls the chair from the desk in front and sits down. “Or did you lose some brain cells from the-”

“You really are craving that punch, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m good. Thanks for the offer.”

With a sigh, Isamu sits on his desk, his feet wrapped around the legs of it. “I guess we’re both early today, huh?”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got to check up on Hanae, so I’ll hang around till class starts.”

“Huh...was Hanae in this class?”

“Dude, you’ve totally lost some brain cells!”