Messed Up World

A Familiar Encounter

"Finally.."

Touka placed her pencil on her desk softly. Letting out a long, relieved sigh as she pressed her forehead against her desk. She felt the weight of getting her studying day for today lift from her shoulders. "I feel so good now." She murmured. She really did, she felt wonderful. Finally she got it done, for today. That made her frown. "It doesn't stop here does it?" She grumbled as she remembered she still had to continue studying. "But I really don't want to continue.." She complained, pushing the chair away from her desk with her foot. Either she finishes a few more worksheets or she could have a break right now. Closing her eyes she thought about it for a second.

"Fuck it, I'll do them tomorrow." Touka decided, getting off her chair and leaving her notebook and other studying supplies behind. Widening her mouth as she let out a yawn, Touka stretched her arms above her head. Only to drop down on her bed and sigh. She laid in silence for a few seconds before she grumbled loudly. "What do I do now then?" Touka raised her head for a minute as the thought of teasing Kaneki entered her mind, but then sighed once she remembered he wasn't here. Sadness crept into her mind as she remembered that, her hands gripped at her blankets tightly. Really, she was getting sick of this. Whenever she remembered he wasn't here just ruined her day completely. Bringing her back to her negative, gloomy mood. Just..do something...to get him off your mind. She thought to herself and sat up.

As she thought about what to do, she caught sight of her Anteiku uniform which was hanging neatly on the knob of her door. She blinked at it, soon realizing that she could go back to work. Do I want to really?  She frowned, remembering her fighting with Nishiki. But she then found herself chuckling softly. I'll just go. Standing up, she walked over to her door and picked up her uniform. It felt weird as she slid her hand down it. Weird because she hadn't felt its texture before in quite a long time. Studying had literally made her forget that she worked at Anteiku. She shrugged that thought off and took off her clothes, replacing them with her uniform instead. "Welp. Let's go." She opened the door and closed it behind her.

"Are you working again?"

Hinami's voice made her jump in surprise. "Gosh, Hinami!" She hissed. She didn't even feel the girl's presence. "I scared you?" Hinami blinked at her. Her eyes flashing with surprise before she let out a snort of laughter and smirked. "I'm good at scaring people, am I?" Touka shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. And yes, I am working." Touka mumbled. Hinami placed a finger on her lips. "You never get to work anymore because of your studying-" She then tilted her head. "Right?" Touka let out a sigh and nodded. "Well, have fun. But I don't think you'll do as much work as last time." Hinami mumbled. Touka was about to say something before she shut her mouth close and raised a brow. "What do you mean by that?" She asked her with a suspicious tone. Hinami shrugged and smiled it off. "Have fun!" Touka saw the girl skip to her room. Shaking her head, she pushed her curiosity aside and walked down the stairs. Being stopped in her way by Nishiki. She frowned at him and he returned the frown. "Can I help you?" Nishiki raised a brow as he hissed at her. "No. I'm just going to work." Touka hissed back. "Oh, now? Should I tell Roma?" Nishiki's tone became bored and plain. "No. She can keep on working." Touka huffed a piece of her hair off her eye. "Wow, mean much?" Nishiki mumbled. "Can I get to work?" Touka asked, trying to keep her cool.

"Yeah, yeah." Nishiki rolled his eyes, getting out of Touka's way and headed up the stairs. Sighing she scratched her head. "I'm starting to regret this." She mumbled, but decided to go anyway.

To her surprise, when she stepped into the main room of the coffee shop, it was awfully quiet than it usually is. Last time she worked here it was crowded and busy, chatter and chatter was all she heard. But now, there weren't many people in the shop. Are we running out business?  She blinked. Shaking her head, she decided to just get on with it. Walking behind the counter, she looked at Kaya. "What's going on? There's not many people here." She asked her. Kaya turned off the tab and turned to look at Touka, drying her hands with a towel. "I really don't know. You should ask some customers once they call you." She told her. Moving her gaze away from Touka as Roma came over with the order. "O-Oh! T-Touka, you're working again?" Roma asked. "Just for today. You can keep on going though." Roma blinked. "O-Oh, okay.." Roma's eyes flashed with a mix of relief and disappointment. Before jumping up in surprise as someone called her.