( XXI )

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[ NOTE ; buckle up buddies we gotta 15k word count chap. ]

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THE BREAK ROOM became your favorite place after school to spend a few minutes with Hizashi, Nemuri, and sometimes Shouta too.

Although the last-mentioned tended to be so caught up in work, he claimed to be 'too busy' to even consider giving himself a break. Other times, the fatigued man could be found staying in his classroom to take a nap. He preferred the comfort of staying there and avoiding any unnecessary interactions anyway.

For you, it had become a habit to stop by the break room and grab a complimentary snack after class hours. Nemuri eventually caught notice and started doing the same to check up on how you were doing, then Hizashi joined too, and thus an unofficial routine was born. You had even gotten used to the mind-numbing fluorescent lighting along with the scent of burnt coffee and printer paper stained in the stale air.

Occasionally, other staff members would drop in and either avoid or get involved in whatever antics were going on with the group of you. Usually, they just stopped for a coffee and gave a quick, but friendly, wave to be polite.

A certain cement hero decided to be brave and stick around this time.

"You've gotta be hiding something man, you seem so put together but that can't be all there is," Hizashi prodded. "You've gotta dirty secret and Mic is gonna be the first to find out!" he stood up from his chair and pointed at himself firmly with a thumb.

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Cementoss pursed his lips and closed his eyes to meditate on his choice to stay.

The long-haired blonde groaned and sat back down. "See! Totally suspicious! If Midnight was here she would agree with me."

It was only the three of you sat at the round table. The cement hero looked stone-faced as ever–that was what Hizashi said, Cementoss did not seem amused by his pun so it was probably karma coming around when the blonde started to get frustrated with whatever had come up on his phone.

"What is it?" you asked.

He flipped his sunglasses up to rest on his head, squinting his eyes at the screen. "I hate when it does the whole 'Are you a real person' thing and then asks me to pick out all the buses. Tell me that doesn't look like a damn table," the blonde shoved his phone in your face.

It was one of those captchas that showed up at random with sixteen squares of pictures to identify. It was really grinding Hizashi's gears this time around but you held back your amused smile at his simple frustration.

𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐓 | 𝐬. 𝐚𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐰𝐚Where stories live. Discover now