Learning To Fly: A Saki Enomoto Pseudo-Route

Ignition :: Supersonic Speed

AN: Chapter song below!

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Another dawn, another day ensuring pharmaceutical futures.

Thankfully, the morning ritual has become routine. Pick a bottle up from one side of the desk. Open it. Dump anywhere from one to three pills into my hand. Swallow them with a gulp of water. Close the bottle and move it to the other side of the desk so I don't accidentally take a double dose.

Rinse. Repeat.

At least I seem to be drinking a lot more water than I used to, even if it's only because I need it to take my medication. I've learned to keep a case of bottles in the closet so I'm not encumbered when I make my pilgrimage to the bathroom.

Stomach filled with the first course of breakfast, I stretch and lightly slap my cheeks to finish waking up. A few steps across the room and I can open the closet. Just like with my medication, I pick a shirt from one side of the closet, and slide the empty hanger over to the other so I can put it away later in preparation for laundry. Normally I would be going to the pool, but after how late we got back last night from karaoke and with how tiring the whole outing was, Saki and I made a tacit agreement to get an extra hour or so of sleep.

The scent of detergent tickles my nose as I look down to focus on the buttons.

Karaoke was quite fun. I'm normally not much of a singer. I'm perfectly content to just watch others sing, only pitching in to keep it from being socially awkward. Last night wasn't much of an exception to that, but seeing how much everyone was enjoying themselves made it that much more of a good time. The room was a little crowded with myself, the three girls, and Mrs. Sakamoto, but nobody seemed to mind. It was a good excuse for how Saki gradually kept snuggling into me as the night progressed. She didn't seem to care that Mrs. Sakamoto was there, and for that matter, neither did Mrs. Sakamoto herself.

Noriko surprised me. While it was clear that she was excited, she definitely has a reason: the girl can sing – at least, better than the rest of us could. It was fascinating to watch – not so much that it had the same effect on me that Saki or Chisato have when they play, but it's just one more facet of the sheer contrast between seeing her when she's out and about compared to seeing her at Yamaku. She threw herself into it wholeheartedly, and the rest of us were quick to either skip a turn so she could sing again, or ask her to be backup.

Even Mrs. Sakamoto ended up singing a song or two, and the night ended with all three girls singing a few songs at once.

Finishing my ensemble for the day by slipping a tie loosely over my head and sliding the knot up, I attend to the last part of my morning ritual before heading out to class – feeding the fish.

He's grown a bit the last few weeks, although I've probably hurt more than helped with how liberal I've been with the amount of food I give him every morning. As if on cue, he seems to know that his breakfast is coming. He emerges from behind the pirate skull he likes to hide behind and starts energetically swimming near the top of the bowl.

"At least one of us is putting on weight," I say to him, grabbing the bright yellow container of flakes next to his home. As soon as my hand touches it, I realize I had completely forgotten something important.

I totally forgot to pick up more food while we were in the city yesterday. I had made a mental note of it, but in all the excitement, it slipped my mind. In fact, we never even made it to the store at all.

I pop the top off the container and stare down into it. I think I have enough for another day or two, but definitely not enough to last until I get back to the city. I shake the can a bit, but it doesn't seem to make any more food magically appear.

Grabbing a few pinches, I sprinkle it over the surface and watch him go to work. He darts up to the surface and greedily gobbles up a few flakes, then seems to lose interest in what's in front of him and dives towards the bottom of the bowl, snatching the first morsels that become waterlogged enough to drift down. Then back up to the surface.

Rinse. Repeat.

Looks like we're both becoming creatures of habit.

Still, that doesn't solve the problem at hand. I'm mentally kicking myself, but just as I'm anguishing over being so stupid, I snap my fingers when an idea comes to me. Saki. She was the one that hooked me up with everything I needed for the fish in the first place, so I'm sure she'd let me borrow some more food for him if I asked.

I take my phone off the charger, and quickly flip it open and hit the button for Saki's number, praising the miracle of speed dial. After two rings, I hear her pick up.

"Hey Hisao!"

"Hey Saki. Sleep well?"

"Like a baby. You miss seeing me so much at the pool this morning you had to call before class?"

"Heh, something like that. I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

I briefly lay out my current predicament. She laughs.

"No problem, I have plenty here. Let's meet up after class. I have to swing back here to the dorm anyway after classes to change before I go to therapy."

"All right. I'll pick you up from your classroom after we get out today."

"It's a date! And...Hisao?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for calling. Nice to know I was the first thing on your mind when you woke up," she teases. I can just imagine the look on her face.

"To be fair, I did think about the fish first."

"I might have to do something about that, then."

"You know, nothing stops you from giving me a call in the morning."

"If I'm going to wake you up, I can think of a better way to do it," she says, most likely guessing the look on my face from that comment. She's probably not wrong.

"See you after class, Saki."

-~*~-~*~-~*~-~*~-

The ending bell can't come quick enough.

Not only am I looking forward to seeing Saki, but even without that motivation, the clock has just dragged on far too long today. It's bad enough for a Monday, but I had to check my watch more than once today just to convince myself that the batteries in the wall clock were still working.

It was one of those mornings that even sucked the fun out of the lunch break. Instead of looking forward to the start of the momentary freedom it brings, you're already dreading it before it even starts because you're going to be right back inside the classroom after it.

Even Mutou seemed to share everyone's apathy this morning. He gave his usual speech about what was coming up the next week, and for the first time, actually mentioned preparing for exams. Everyone was doing their best to ignore that black cloud overhead until Mutou reminded us that it might be a good idea to make sure we had our umbrellas ready, so to speak.

With only a few minutes left in the class, and our teacher completely checked out for the day mentally, the classroom comes alive with chatter between students. I'm idly staring at the braids in Kapur's hair when I sense Misha turn towards me to try and get my attention. I turn to look at her and am greeted by her ever present grin.

"Hiichan! How was your weekend?" Misha asks me, for once keeping the volume of her voice down to a whisper. A stage whisper, but progress is progress.

"Pretty tiring. Ended up having fun though last night."

"Yeah? What did you do?"

"Yeah. Ended up going to a karaoke place in the city."

"So you were on a date with your girlfriend?" Misha clarifies, not just for me, but damn near everyone on my side of the room. Thanks, Misha.

"I was, actually. Plus a few more friends. Why, what did you do?"

"Nothing too exciting," she pouts. "Shiichan was mean and made me study for our English test later this week."

I've definitely heard enough English peppered into Misha's normal speech to the level that she surprises me with that statement. "I thought your English was fine?"

"Wahaha~! Nah, not really. I never remember that stuff. I think it looks cool on shirts, though!" she finishes, flashing her smile again.