Otoriphobia

1: Yuuna Otori is a Hikikomori.

"...."

Yuuna Otori opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling with blank, lifeless eyes.

"Why did I wake up today....? I wanted to sleep longer."

The boy was barely able to pull himself up in his bed, and he stared over at the alarm clock which lay in silence on his nightstand.

"...7 in the evening. I guess that's a new best."

Yuuna stripped his bedsheets off and went to the door, slowly and carefully opening it as he looked down at the floor.

Before his door, his dinner was placed neatly as always- today it was a simple bowl of soup with pork dumplings in it. As a kid, it had been his favorite meal, but now it was nothing more than a supplement to him, something he had to eat to survive. It felt like he'd spent so much time in his room that he'd lost his tastes.

Slowly, and with trembling hands, he took the bowl from the floor and shut the door behind him as he carried his dinner to his bed. As always, it had gotten cold- his older brother Korekiyo usually left his dinner by the door around 5:30, so it had been over an hour since it'd been left sitting there.

But Yuuna couldn't care less about whether it was cold. He'd been accustomed to eating cold food. He couldn't remember the last warm meal he'd had, but that... was probably in December. The last time he'd seen his brother Korekiyo and his parents... was December. The last time they'd had a meal as a family.

It was also the last time he'd seen his sister Mamiko.

"..."

Yuuna tried to push it out of his mind.

"You've got your favorite dinner, Yuuna... Your favorite meal. Don't let it get to you now."

Yuuna sat down on his bed and reached for the flimsy pair of wooden chopsticks on his nightstand- the same pair he'd been using to eat every meal since he'd began living this way in December.

He couldn't even remember how much time had passed, or what day it was.

"...Well, it's March now, so.. what's that... 4 months? 3? I dunno..."

Yuuna halfheartedly picked a dumpling out of the cold broth with his chopsticks and bit down into it.

...

It tasted bland.

But he still chewed it up and swallowed it.

It was his only meal of the day. He had to savor it any way he could.

Another dumpling.

And another.

And after a few minutes, dumpling after dumpling, Yuuna was left staring into an endless abyss of cold pork broth.

"..."

Yuuna grabbed the sides of the bowl and tipped it, letting the pork broth drain into his mouth.

"Hm.... wasn't that bad. Hopefully I wake up early enough to eat it while it's still hot next time..."

Yuuna placed the empty bowl on his nightstand with the chopsticks beside it, then looked back at the alarm clock.

"Hm.... it's only been a half-hour. Guess I should hit the hay again."

Yuuna lazily flopped back into bed, pulling the covers up over himself and staring at the ceiling.

...

Another day.

Another bleak, boring and tasteless day without any sunshine.