Ayaka and
Haru Hirota sit across from each other at the small, black dining table of their little 2 bedroom apartment. Set neatly next to a pushed aside vase of sunflowers sat a stack of envelopes. Under the table, the family's corgi, Kawaii, was happily cleaning up the remains of their
toddler's stubborn- and half successful- attempt to feed herself her chicken stir fry dinner. The pair seemed to silently looking between the envelopes and the ground, avoiding the topic at hand. Ayaka took a sip of the contents of her mug, a herbal tea she swears calms her in the evenings. The small family were able to live comfortably off of the dual income of the pair and after Ayaka's maternity leave had run dry Haru's plumbing job was more than enough to keep the family going without having to delve too deep into their savings. After his accident injuring his back, the worker's comp alongside Ayaka's receptionist income was also more than enough to keep them afloat but now a year was to pass the worker's comp was starting to run dry and although the family had enough saving to help for a while it was obvious that if they were living off Ayaka's income alone they would have to live more tightly.
"I could pick up overtime?" Ayaka offers gently, pursing her lips.
"That's not fair on you," Haru replies almost instantly, as if he knew this would be the conclusion his wife would draw, "Not to mention, unfair for Kasumi, she needs her mother around,"
Ayaka sighs in reply, he was right.
"I should find a job. We can enrol Kasumi in daycare? You were going to go back to work when she was around this age anyway,"
"You can't go back to plumbing, Haru, it could destroy your back,""No, no, I'll find an office job or something," This idea caused a small chuckle to escape Ayaka, it was hard to imagine her husband with all his pent up energy to sit in a small cubicle taping at a keyboard all day but it might be their best chance, "Maybe I'll study computers or something as well, get a really good job- you wouldn't have to work a day in your life if you don't want to,"
""How about for now I'll pick up a little overtime, just enough to not have to delve deep into savings while you look for a job and we'll go from there," Ayaka reasons softly. Haru gives a small nod, getting up to massage Ayaka's shoulder's and she was sure all would be okay.
The next day
Childish giggles came from the Hirota residence as Ayaka planted fast paced kisses around little Kasumi's face. "Stop, stop!" the 2 year old jestingly giggled. Ayaka eventually pulls back.
"Fine, fine," Ayaka chuckles, ruffling her daughter's hair and standing up.
"No, no, again mummy!" Kasumi complains, gripping onto her leg and pouting. Ayaka knew what she was doing, her leaving often turned into Kasumi's game to try and make her stay and that truly hurt Ayaka in the soul.
"Sorry, baby, mum has to go to work," Ayaka says gently, freeing her leg from Kasumi's grasp.
"But you be good for daddy, ok?" she instructs before farewelling her husband with a kiss on the cheek and leaving the pair to their own devices.
Ayaka arrived to work with a good 20 minutes to spare, trains were unpredictable so she always left home with time to spare just in case. She gave a sigh, letting the worries of her home life fade as her smile grew and she stepped into the break room where her coworkers were awaiting the start of their day.
"Good morning everyone!" she greets her team cheerily, placing her lunch bag into the employee fridge. She turns on her heel to see the tray of coffee sitting on the table.
"Thank you whoever brought coffee!" she calls out with a smile, grabbing one. She gave it a sip, the stale tasting liquid hitting her tongue. Her face scrunched for only a moment but partially out of politeness and respect for her generous coworker and partially out of
I've tasted worse things she took her coffee with her as she retreats to the edge of the room to catch up with a work friend, a young woman in sales.
"Everyone to the conference room in ten minutes. We have a special announcement we'd like to share with you all." came the voice of her boss, Mr Hanazawa, over the intercom. Ayaka freezes as a wave on anxiety hit her. What could he possibly want? He scarcely reported directly to the lower class team. What if he was going to fire them all? Cut their pay? She very much doubt this was good new call, he wasn't a generous enough man for such.
"Are you okay. Ayaka?" Emi, the saleswoman Ayaka was talking to asks, concerned. It was in that moment Ayaka realized she was sweating slightly and turning pale. She wipes the beads of sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Of course!" Ayaka replies, giving an unconvincing smile,
"Come on, let's see what the big man wants," 
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