[center][h1]~Pause For Dinner~[/h1][/center]

[color=#68BCDD]“Alright, we’ll talk later!”[/color] I waved Totsumi goodbye while grinning. It would have been nice if we could have just kept playing, but one can’t just do it on an empty stomach! Perhaps I should go grab a snack myself while I waited? They might still take a bit. I reached a hand out in front and opened the menu again. [color=#68BCDD]“Hmm… It’s a little early, but this seems like a good time to pick her up, now that I think about it. I’ll just have to pray I don’t get stuck in traffic or anything...Damn just saying it out loud is making me worry more. Should I send some preemptive apologies? No, that would just seem like I was trying to ditch her. Argh, this is hard! I’ll just do it!”[/color]

I pressed the button to log out as well. There was nothing but black in my vision for a moment as the machine disconnected from my brain and gradually my sensory input was my own body’s again. I blinked as I stared at the ceiling and its decaying paint job and that old lamp corked inside the bowl-shaped hole at the center. The rather neutral scent of my room was mixed with ashen one from the neighbours in the apartment above ours, and my lips felt dry due to how long I had been immersed in the game. Osmosis-based-nutrition might keep one alive, after all, but it sure didn’t signal to the body that you didn’t need to eat or drink, or rather not enough to correct little symptoms like dry lips.

I felt something ruffling my left arm, and groggily turned my head towards it, head still ‘attached’ to the pillow: I spotted a number of papers, from simple sheets to post-its, reading “remember!”, others with a time written on them. I blinked a little more, and looked around the room, spotting even more of those messages spread around or sticking to a wall, and I couldn’t help chuckling.

[color=#68BCDD]“I guess maybe I went too far.”[/color] I commented as I left the machine and slowly stood up proper again. [color=#68BCDD]“Heck, I even ended up being earl-”[/color]

Outside that room, I heard the sound of a key turning the door lock. I nearly stumbled and fell as I rushed out of the room, then nearly hit my foot on that small wooden table and ended up skipping a bit going around it, before making it out of the living and onto the corridor with the front door. My daughter was just over the threshold, one arm leaning on it while she adjusted her shoe. Her black sailor uniform was a little loose, partly due to being a little bigger than maybe it should, and partially because she just didn’t care to adjust it, unlike the dark brown hair she kept pulling back behind her ear, not far from the pony tail.


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[color=#68BCDD]“H-hey… you’re a bit early.”[/color] I forced a little nervous smile.

[color=#ED8E35]“Uh?”[/color] Her greyish blue eyes glanced for a moment, then her attention returned to her shoe. [color=#ED8E35]“Oh, yeah.”[/color]

Silence fell between us. I wasn’t quite sure what to say, until she eventually graced me with another brief glance when she was done with her shoe, and sighed.

[color=#ED8E35]“I just didn’t have as many classes today.”[/color]

[color=#68BCDD]“Ah, is that so? They kind of seem to change every time..:”[/color] I let out a skittish chuckle while she closed the door behind her.

[color=#ED8E35]“Yeah, well, that’s how things are and all. School. Now, mind if I pass? Just walked all the way here, I’d like to get my things down at least.”[/color] She advanced towards me, so I just moved out of the way, pressing my back against the corridor wall while she passed under the doorless frame. if she walked all the way from school, it was normal for her to be tired and just want to get rid of the weight those school bags had to be, even if she never seemed to carry all of the books for the day. I found myself looking down at my feet. I guess picking her up would not be necessary after all. Honestly it was a little disappointing. There were days when she came home so much later, and then there were days like this. Well, at the very least, if she was already home we could have dinner together, no?

I headed over to her room and knocked on the door, then opened it ever so slightly, and slowly.

[color=#68BCDD]“Heeeey dear, what would you like for dinner?”[/color]

She fiddled with her phone a little more, alone in that dark except for the little creak escaping from the open door and the light of the device, before sighing again and looking at me.

[color=#ED8E35]“I’ll just heat something up.”[/color]

[color=#68BCDD]“W-well, I was hoping we could maybe have dinner together. It’s been a while, and-”[/color] I was interrupted by a phone ringing. It wasn’t hers.

[color=#ED8E35]“See? I’ll just heat something up.”[/color]

When she turned back to her phone I knew the conversation was over, and slowly closed the door, then picked up the phone. It was my boss, as expected. I better head to my room, it was best if she didn’t hear it even by accident. Plus, she was probably hungry. I didn’t want to make her wait too much before she could sneak out of her room to heat her dinner while I was on my phonecall.

[color=#68BCDD]“Hope you had a good day at school… Lily.”[/color] I whispered, before walking away from the door. I pressed the green button and brought the phone to my ear.

[color=#68BCDD]“Hello? Yes. Yes, I’m sorry. I’m very sorry Sir…”[/color]

[center]---------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

By the time I re-logged into DSO, Totsurugi was already back inside. I hoped she hadn’t been waiting too long. Damn it, why the heck did I have to get a scolding over Josh being a lazy… No, no, forget about that. Besides, the scolding I could handle, but why did he have to sick extra work on me at that hour…

I shook my head. Relax, relax. Just get your head into the silver lining. You’ll be fine.

Hopefully.

[color=#68BCDD]“Oi Totsu!”[/color] I waved at her again, with a big bright grin on my face. [color=#68BCDD]“Sorry to keep you waiting! Woosh, I see you’ve been making a skeleton collection over here.”[/color]

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