Dangerous Souls

Just a Little Green

Chapter 1-Tomatoes

April Day 1, 5:15 A.M.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

Mai groaned as she rolled over to silence her alarm. It was unusually chilly this morning and she wanted nothing more than to roll back over and sleep the day away. Still, she forced herself to sit up and rubbed her eyes. Tsubame was probably almost ready to go and here Mai was, slacking.

"I might have to convince her to have give me an extra day off," she muttered to herself as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, sucking in a breath as her feet his the cold floor. It was late April, but it seemed that a cold spell had fallen upon Tokyo making it about ten degrees colder than normal that morning. "This will be a fun run."

About twenty minutes later, she was slipping on an extra layer and grabbing her house key and phone before heading to the door. She really wanted to crawl back into bed, but she had things to do.

Mai was getting more sleep in a single night than she had in six months, but despite the consistency she still had a hard time getting up in the morning. I guess I really am almost back to my old self, she mused to herself as she and Tsubame started their run.

Despite her sluggishness, she was grateful for the morning runs she took. They woke her up and were actually helping her fall asleep faster at night. Secretly, she liked feeling of freedom she got with the wind blowing on her face and through her hair. The extra push she gave to get ahead of Tusbame for even just a moment, it made her feeling like she was improving. After months of only getting worse, the feeling was exhilarating. She pushed herself a little harder.

"You might need to find a new running buddy," Tsubame teased as they were jogging back to their apartment building. "If you want to improve our time, let me know so I can keep up."

"Sorry," Mai shrugged sheepishly. They slowed down to a walk as they reached their building and headed for the steps. "Something just made me want to go."

Tsubame threw her head back with a laugh. "I know what you mean, caught a bit of runner's high. Nothing serious, maybe on Sunday we can test it out and see how far we can actually go."

"Maybe, but I have a case starting today, so I'm not sure I'll be available on Sunday," the girl replied as they reached their floor and parted for their respective apartments.

"I get it, gotta get that check," the woman teased with a wink. "Still, we should try it sometime, especially with the weather getting warmer, well, aside from today."

"I'd like that, I'll see you later, Tsubame." With that Mai walked into her home, slipping off her sneakers and shrugging off her jacket. She walked into her tiny kitchen and grabbed a small apple off of the counter and bit into it. She padded over to the fridge to see what she could make herself for breakfast.

She frowned as she gazed inside it. "Looks like I'll need to go shopping, maybe Naru will let me out early tonight to do that," she sighed, then smirked at her afterthought. "'You had plenty of time between your shift yesterday and today to have gotten that done. It's called time management, something you need to work on.'" She mimicked his condescending tone as she spoke.

She grinned as she walked into her bathroom to take a shower. "But would he mean a word of it? Maybe only half." She turned on the water and tested it before she stepped in. "Then he would smirk at whatever outburst or glare I give him and let me go early."

She was shampooing her hair when her stomach grumbled. "At least, I hope he'll let me go early."

***

"Mai, is this right? I can figure out English to Japanese but the other way around still messes me up," Keiko asked, pushing her notebook to her friend.