𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 ~ 𝓲𝔃𝓾𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓪

Sensitive

The end of the semester was finally here, and Mina could not seem to get out of bed.

Periodically, she would get camera roll notifications from her first year. She stopped looking at them a while ago; it ached her heart to see the person she used to be, especially when that person didn't exist anymore. This particular one was from an outing with Kirishima and his friends. They snuck out after dark with some upperclassmen and drove to the beach. She swiped through the memories of the gang splashing in the water. If she remembers correctly, Sero and Kaminari almost fought because Kaminari dropped Sero's phone in the ocean. It was stressful then, but looking back on it now felt bittersweet.

You couldn't see the floor of her room due to trash covering it- specifically, empty pink Monster drinks and wrappers of instant meals from the convenience store. Her laundry basket had overflowed, which was weird since she'd been wearing the same pajamas for two weeks straight. Her braids had grown out, and her face was peeling. Mina had plans to try to get out of this mess. She didn't intend to live like this until the rest of the semester. However, the days would pass, and she would spend another day in her dorm, and nothing would change.

She rolled out of bed, splashed water on her face, and reapplied her deodorant. The stock in her mini-fridge was running low. Usually, she would ask Kyoka to swing by and drop groceries off at her door, but the ear jack user had gone home for a break early.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem. All the people she was avoiding seeing should have left campus already. It was a quick grocery run at the convenience store; nothing awful would happen. Leaving her dorm for fresh air would make her feel better, like in the inspirational videos on the internet she watched while she wallowed in self-pity at 2 a.m. Getting out of the darkness plaguing her mind wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

It was a quick trip—just to the store and back. However, when she returned, an unsettling feeling started in the pit of her stomach as she saw the opened door. Kyoka Jirou sat in the middle of her room, stunned at the surrounding mess. Her eyes widened when she saw her horned friend.

Fuck.

"I can explain." Mina managed to say. She took a small breath and steeled herself for the story she was about to tell.

---

"I scheduled the new hire for your shift today, Mina." Her mother sat her breakfast, tamogoyaki, with a bowl of day-old white rice, before her. She stared at it blankly, processing her mother's words.

"Please tell me I'm not training them." She groaned as she pulled the bowl close to her. As much as Mina hated how stubborn her mother could be, she could put it aside for her cooking. She immediately dug in, careful not to show her excitement. She wouldn't let her mother get the satisfaction of knowing it was that good.

"Would that be so bad?" A glass of water appeared next to her, and her mother finally took her seat.

The only thing Mina and her mother seemed to have in common was their frame—short, stubby women. Natsumi Ashido was an uptight woman, and her appearance exhibited that part of her character. If Natsumi Ashido didn't pull her long black hair into a tight bun, it reached about mid-back. You could see the gray hairs more clearly that way. Mina liked it when her hair was done. She seemed more relaxed and not so pale and sickly.

She spoke little to Mina; their conversations were about work, school, and household chores. Mina didn't mind too much, though. Her mom needed her space; she could respect that. It made trying to communicate with her about anything else nearly impossible, but it was fine! At least, that is what she always told herself after getting nowhere with her mom for another night in a row.