The Night Shift of [redacted]

Average Days

        Early in the morning, just as the sun was starting to peek itself over the horizon in Japan, students and adults were just making their rise from their beds. Particularly in a small little corner of the town, a small second year slapped his alarm off. Hopping out of bed, bright, brown eyes turned on his nightstand lamp, his eyes squinting, trying to adjust to the sudden flash of brightness. Nishinoya rubbed his eyes, taking a moment to let himself adjust, then stood and turned on his main lights, then flicked his lamp off. It was pretty early in the morning, around 5am or so, he liked getting up early to stretch a bit, go for a run to loosen his body up from the previous day's affairs. So, the small teenager was quick to run a cool shower, then quickly changed into shorts and a t-shirt. Then he grabbed a quick piece of toast as a small boost, then hurried out after lacing up his sneakers. He ran a few miles, going around the block a few times before heading to a small 24hr convenience store for a bottle of water. Yuu sat on a bench outside, watching the sunrise, taking a moment of quiet to gather himself, to let everything process as he watched his surroundings be illuminated by the rising sun.

        As his alarm, which he put on his phone to make sure he wouldn't be late, went off, Nishinoya got up, threw out his bottle, and started back. He turned his alarm off before starting his run back home, this time for the sake of speed rather the exercise. Once home, he took a brief shower to rinse himself off from the sweat, and then finally slipped into his uniform, grabbed his bag, and went downstairs. "Morning mom!" he called from atop the staircase, before hurrying downstairs, smelling the sweet scent of breakfast filling the air. His nose guided him to the kitchen as he tossed his stuff down, thanking his mom with a small nod of the head as he was handed his food.

        "Sleep well?" his mother wasn't as much of a morning person as her son, but she had learned to adjust to her son's morning movements. His mother wasn't aware of his job, at least, not the specifics of it. She had pushed him to get a job somewhere so he could begin saving up so he could support himself in the future. She never asked for specifics, only knowing that it was a night shift and it held quite the generous salary, though Noya never shared a specific value of such.

        "Good" despite never getting a ton of sleep, the young man never seemed to run out. Noya grabbed a mug of coffee and downed it after finishing his breakfast, just to give himself a boost of energy for the day. He then slipped a small pill without drawing attention, while it wasn't necessarily needed, he took them for the sake of his focus. No, he didn't have ADHD, no mental problems, rather it was so his mind wouldn't drag him into the adventures of the night shift. It was for the sake of swallowing the memories and living his life, for the sake of having restful sleeps and avoiding the terrors that would have awaited him otherwise. Of course, he still had his moments of remembrance, the effects of such moments were muffled. He had found the bottle at work, with nothing but the note explaining itself, written in neat, loopy writing:

         Long lasting Mortal,

For those sorts of nights. 2 after your shift to block the dreams, 1 in the morning to block the effects during the day. Good luck.

- Your personal J.S, Jimmy"

        Despite finding his official-unofficial title amusing, the note had no other instruction or context. The bottle had no name, no other information other than his name, who it was left by, and the instructions. As foolhardy as it had been, he had accepted the pills and hid them. That same night, Noya took the 2 pills as instructed, and found that, instead of night terrors, he had the best sleep he ever had since starting this job. So, since that day, about 9 months ago, he's been taking these given bottles each time they appear... though he always wondered one thing: how did this guy, "Jimmy" know when he was out? It was always when he had taken the final one in the morning, it appeared that night's shift.