The same as the day before and the day before that, but not the day prior as that had been a Sunday, Noriko found herself stopping into a convenience store on her way home. Though it was closer to the public high school than to her own, it lay on the way back to her current apartment and therefore made it an ideal stop for buying something to eat. After a few disastrous weeks of trying to prepare any food herself in her first year, Noriko had opted to just buy [i]anything[/i] edible on her way home for the day.

She felt even more out of place if she came by at the right time to coincide with those leaving from the closer school. The close-fitting blazer favoured by her own school stood out next to the white sailor uniforms and all but drew attention to her attendance of the fancier institution. Noriko's persisting discomfort with western-styled attire only made it more uncomfortable. Still, doing something every day made it easy for her to ignore the feeling that someone was going to make a big deal out of it.

Today, there seemed to be a distinct lack of food available... so surely there would be more put on the shelves soon. Where were all the employees, though? There wasn't even anyone staffing the cash registers...