A weary hand ran through some rather grungy red hair. Reiji looked at his hand, now slick with sweat, with an expression of both disgust and exasperation. Based on the obnoxiously bright sun beating down on him, he could tell that it had to be close to noon already. An exhausted sigh escaped him and his slouch got worse. A long night was turning into an unbelievably long morning, which was leaving the former musician in a rather foul mood. And considering that on a good day he was already rather unapproachable, the massive waves of negative energy seeping out of him combined with his shabby appearance was making some people cross the street rather than walk past him. 

The red head barely even registered the concerned and scared looks people shot his way. The only thing that he had on his mind was finding his way back to his rundown apartment, washing off the shit show that had been the night before, and collapsing into what served as a bed, even though that was a bit too generous of a term for it. Truth be told, Reiji should have been back home and asleep hours ago, incubating what was sure to become the mother of all hangovers, but it had been of [i]those[/i] nights. You know, the kind where Murphy’s Law showed up, took the wheel, crashed the figurative car that is your life, and then left with the keys. Yeah, the glare he put on for the world had been well earned this time.

It had started out innocent enough. Well, as innocent as getting stinking drunk before 10:00 PM can be, but he liked to believe that was beside the point.  The rest of the night was hazy, but more and more of it had been coming back to him as he made his long trek home. The memories came in short flashes, with each one visibly causing the man to scrunch his face up a bit, reliving the moment all to painfully well. So far, he knew that there had been a great deal of drinking (obviously), a fight or two (as evidenced by the new tears in his already ratty clothes), and hopping from one party to another, effectively taking a tour of the entire city. But the sweet cherry on top was when he awoke at dawn, in a small puddle of sweat and regret, in a small kids’ playground in a part of the city he did not recognize with no money for transport and with his janky phone that didn’t have GPS. Hell, he didn’t even know what had happened to his pack of smokes. It was not the worst situation he had woken up to by far, but it was still enough to make what little patience he had disappear like the Dodo. 

And here he was, what must have been five hours later, just now approaching the Promised Land that was his crappy one room apartment. Being the stubborn ass that he was, Reiji had refused at every point and turn to ask anybody for directions. Deep down he knew it was an unbelievably stupid, but he had spent the first two hours convincing himself that he knew exactly where he had to go, even as hours three and four ticked by. Had things been different, such as his feet not feeling like they were about to shatter or had he not been drenched in sweat, the guy would have really appreciated the beautiful way the city woke up and came to life. But it wasn’t that kind of day, so instead he simply cursed the place under his breath at length. 

The exhausted punk caught a whiff of something familiar. Having moved to the city not too long ago, much of the city was alien to him, but the smell of fluffy and buttery baked goods told him that he was only a few blocks away from his apartment. Summoning what little will he had left and ignoring the protests from his body, Reiji picked up his pace, well past ready to be out of this miserably nice weather. It did not take long for the dilapidated building he called home to come into view, at which point he broke into a dead sprint. The sight of a frazzled, sweaty, scruffy punk tearing down the street was enough to make people clear out of his way. 

His face was one of pure determination as he took the steps two at a time, nearly knocking over one of his neighbors on the way. “Watch it!” they moaned, but it sounded so far away that he barely noticed. The key to his apartment slid home and the door was unlocked not a second too soon as he shouldered it open with much more force than was necessary. Relief washed through him, as the longest night had finally come to an end. As the door slammed shut, the schmuck had to resist the urge to sink to his knees from exhaustion and instead make a beeline to the little closet his landlord had the audacity to call a bathroom. It took a lot more effort than he cared to admit to not just get in the shower then and there, with his smelly clothes on and all, but the wait was worth it when the ice cold water hit his skin and washed away the night before in an all too literal sense. 

Reiji got out of the bathroom with just a tired smile and towel on. Sure, the little apartment wasn’t much, with the only real furniture being his futon and a small table, but it had working lights, a stove, and warm water every now and then. And for him, that was enough. It may not have felt like home to the guy just yet, but he was confident that he just needed more time. His thoughts turned to the city he had left behind as he collapsed on his futon, wondering about people he was unlikely to see again. Thankfully, sleep was quick to take him before his thoughts could turn to things he’d rather not bother with.

As the darkness took over his consciousness, he couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something important. [color=red][i]’Shit…’[/i][/color] he sleepily realized, [color=red][i]’You have work in a few hours…’[/i][/color] Reiji passed out before he could give it a second thought.