How?! Why?! HOW DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN?! 

The questions ran through Haruki's mind as she stared at her arm. She had received a rude awakening this morning when she looked at her arm and saw that there was a tattoo there. The tattoo resembled a seed and from that seed was one vine that was connected to a black flower. If her boss saw her with this, he would fire her! Not to mention what her parents would do if they saw her with this...! She shuddered at the thought of how they would react. She had scrubbed at the offending marks that marred her arm, but they never came off. 

After that, she had decided to keep her jacket on in the workplace, so that the tattoo would be effectively hidden. On the way there, she had heard of the breaking news about the strange tears in space, and the other anomalies that occurred along with the investigations. The spaces around these tears were quarantined, which to Haruki's chagrin, caused her to take detours to her job, and she arrived late.

"HARUKI! THERE YOU ARE! WHERE WERE YOU?!"

The shrill voice of her boss echoed throughout the building, causing Haruki to flinch as she felt as though her eardrums were about to burst. She answered, "I'm sorry I'm late, Sir. I had to take a detour to get here..." Her boss huffed "Yes, yes, don't let that happen again! Now! I need you to go and get coffee for me and my guests! Here is the list. Now, when you bring our coffees, don't you dare say a peep or even bring attention to yourself in ANY WAY! Got it?!" 

Haruki accepted the list and she nodded answering, "Yes Sir!" before he waved her off and she took the cue to leave. She would have loved to retort sarcastically, or punch him, anything! But nope. She wanted a future, so she had to keep herself quiet. Besides...she probably wouldn't have come up with a witty comeback even if she tried anyways...

She exited the building and ran for the nearby cafe, knowing full well how testy her boss can be if he didn't get his coffee in a certain amount of time. 
She soon entered, and she went up to the cash register, thankful that the line was short and requested the variety of coffees that was on the list. It was the usual coffees and as always, she ended up paying for them.  

As she waited, she heard the nearby waitress speak to one of the customers, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes. Pessimistic much? Haruki didn't think that this would be the end of the world. If anything, this is probably a new scientific breakthrough, and Steven Hawking and the other physicists are probably hard at work trying to figure out what the tears are and why they are appearing. If she was wrong and it was...well, no skin off her bones.

She blinked at the customer's sigh. She felt somewhat bad for him, but she remained silent. She really wasn't much of a social butterfly. She couldn't help but think that he would think that she was weird if she suddenly approached him and started talking to him, for no reason. She noticed that his arm seemed to have similar markings to hers, but she didn't stare or make any indication of it. Considering his words, Haruki figured that he must have been having a rough time as well, so she requested a coffee for him, paying for it herself. What harm could an anonymous act of kindness do? ...Other than to her budget.

She waited for the coffees and as she did, she watched the silent TVs with subtitles, as the news continued talking about the tears.