The Story of the Seven

CHAPTER 18 - Wakey Wakey

I wake up to a familiar warmth beside me. When I rub my sleepy eyes awake, I find that Amane is sleeping next to me. By this point, I've been interacting with her at school as a trusted friend for quite a while, so I began to regard her simply as a best buddy rather than a member of the opposite sex.

I take a glance at the clock. The needles of the clock glance back at me, projecting the time. 7:30. In other words, 30 minutes till our stay at the hotel expires and they kick us out.

"Hey, Amane, wake up."

I said gently, rubbing her head.

"Zzzzzz....."

When she sleeps, she sleeps like a rock. Probably needs to conserve all that energy to maintain her high-tension attitude through the rest of the day.

"Wake up, come on, Amane."

I shake her while lightly slapping her face.

"Muh, wuh, abuse?"

"Why the heck are you talking about abuse as soon as you wake up?"

"Me. Getting domestically abused. You. Right? Sense?"

"Okay, wake up sleepyhead. Here's a warm towel. We have 20 minutes till we need to leave this place. And by the way, you got a bird's nest."

"Thankkks."

Staggering around as if suffering from a hangover, Amane wipes her face as she hastily packs her belongings – although there's not much to pack, frankly. She's always been weak to the morning.

As I wait for her to get dressed, I grab her and my bag, and make it to the lobby. A few minutes later, Amane arrives, fully energized.

"You good, princess?"

"Did you take advantage of the fact I'm weak to mornings?"

"No?"

"Why am I suspicious about that, then? And why are you trying to act so innocently?"

"Ugh, come on, we gotta go if we're going to catch that train."

"Alright, I'll cut you some slack today. Let's go."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and yeah, let's go."

We walked past a compact shopping district as we made our way to the train station.

"Have you watched Sailor Fuku to Kikanjyuu, by the way?" (Amane)

"What's up with that all the sudden?"

"Just curious."

"I've watched the newer one that came out in 2016, but not the original."

"Not the original?"

"Yeah, that one's old so they don't play it in movie theaters."

"I thought you said you family's too poor to afford tickets to the movie theater."

"I won a lottery to watch that movie when I was grocery shopping at 7-11."

"Wait, you go grocery shopping where?"

"7-11. The best we can afford."

"I pity you."

"Thank you very much for your sympathy. And so, what were you trying to ask me?"

"You remember that Medaka Café that was located in a shopping district like this?"

"Oh yeah, the Café the main girl was operating? With the former members of Medakagumi being the servers?"