I, Fujioka Chihiro, Am Signing Off... For Now

I was met with someone I clearly recognize in the mirror—me. I bring my face closer to the faucet and splash warm water on my face before refocusing on myself in the bathroom mirror. A lot of people have a weird issue I cannot fathom where as they get older they recognize themselves less and less. Eventually seeing some strange adult as their reflection.

Me though?

Ha. Impossible. I have meticulously crafted my appearance and the trajectory of my life for at least the next twenty years. When I look in the mirror I see the person I have crafted with my very own will.

I had the four bottles of creams and oils that made up my face-care routine layed out in front of me. I began with the one on the far left, a natural, handcrafted exfoliator from Southern France. It’s not worth going on about it as you’ll never have the money to afford it.

My point though is I have my commissions, appearance, meals, outfits, everything—everything planned out. Except one thing. One sneaky little blacked-haired boy and his antics I seem to have no control over.

I realistically didn’t have time in my work-schedule to fit in a new side project with Makoto… I finished applying the last dabs of my, again imported, eye cream. 

Haa— However, after that little video and speech he gave me, how could I say no? He “promised” it’d be different this time, so obviously there’s no reason to mistrust him.

The bubble-bath I had begun running at the beginning of my skin-care routine had finished drawing. In one step, I crossed the tile floor of my bathroom and shut off the faucet. Ahem— Ah— I cleared my throat in an admittedly gross way. Have I caught a cold? I really have no time for that… With upcoming deadlines for summer releases and Makoto’s stupid project, getting ill would cost me too greatly.

Ack— Ahem— This is no good… It’d be nice to chalk up my coughing to the absurd amount of steam in the bathroom… maybe an unintelligent person would do that, like Kaoru, but I know what comes in the following days.

I curled my fingers around the hem of my white T-shirt and pulled it over my head, causing a flurry of black hair to cascade over my face. I took a short moment to straighten it and reached my hands around to my back, where in one fluid movement I unhooked my bra and neatly placed it with my T-shirt. I sighed, as it’s always nice to have such a weight off my shoulders. I undid the fly of my dress pants and slid them, along with the black-lace I wore, down to my ankles—stepping out of them and neatly placing the set with my other clothes.

I pray this bath will prevent my sickness before it even has a chance. I glanced down at my watch, 9:57PM. One hour and three minutes, then it’s work time. I stepped into the tub and slowly slid down—water spilled over the edge as I took its place and was enveloped by the bubbles.

Thinking back on it, dinner with Kaoru wasn’t terrible, I had no clue why I thought she’d be embarrassed to be with someone like me out in public. It was nice chatting with her though, she’s surprisingly a genuine girl. Yet, I always forget who she really is when she’s away from her classmates… If anything, I was embarrassed to eat dinner with her.

That girl ate three burgers and suckered me into paying for them! That wasn’t a date! Why’d I pay!? The only real thing that dinner made me realize is how much Makoto’s bank account has been suffering!

Speaking of Makoto and his ensemble of idiots, how do I wrangle them in? It’s clear I can’t do anything absurd such as forbidding them to come see Makoto… no matter how much I’d like to for a certain one… It’s probably better to work with the assumption that they’ll continue to be around.

…

…

…

“I’ve got it.”

…

“I’ve got it—! Ah— Ack—!”

“What’d you get!? Big-sis!?” A voice matching my excitement came muffled through the bathroom door.

Ah, right, you can hear everyone from everywhere in this apartment… “N-nothing Tomoya, don’t worry about it.”

“Aww—” He sounded more than disappointed that I wouldn't share with him. “Can you hurry up though? I need to take bath tooo~”

“Yes-yes… Just give me a bit.”

One fact I’ve always failed to grasp is how someone of such excellence was born into a family of such… mediocrity. Of course this is no diss to any of them, it’s simply the objective truth. They make up the average Japanese family, while I am on track to incredible heights.

Still… I used my hands to scoop up a small pool of water. I love my little brother, he’s adorable.