As the night progressed and eventually ended, activity throughout Shikkun City wound down, the great engine of cosmopolitan life resting at a grumbling idle for a few hours. The honest folk were almost entirely asleep in their homes, the minimal activity left in the city reduced to its party-goers returning home from their clubs and the less-than-legal enterprises who operate at all hours of the day, particularly those as underpopulated as the early morning.
Pristine and suburban Everlone Drive remained hushed as the sun's finger-like rays stretched along the cozy street. Though, as the sky lifted from a deep navy to a brilliant clash of gold, red and eventually cyan, the birds nesting in almost every manicured tree in the neighborhood soon awoke and began to sing. Instead of a peaceful and coherent tune, the vast quantity and variety of birds all sang different melodies, the opposing species and keys overlapping in a mindlessly chaotic symphony of warbles, tweets and squawks.
The first to awake in the Nanako home was Rodney, crawling out of Haruka's bed -and stepping on him in the process- to hop to the windowsill to view the feverish avian performance. While the mildly hungover teenager accompanying the cat first failed to awake, the paws pressing against his face and chest with the faint cacophony outside roused him to a state of groggy wakefulness.
Yukimura shambled to the bathroom in relative silence and promptly raided its medicine cabinet for a bottle of over-the-counter pain pills and poured himself a glass of water, taking both back to his room. He shook five pills into his hand, slightly more than the standard adult dose, and downed them with a chase of water. A quick glance to the alarm clock by his bed, however, quickly chopped down any semblance of relaxation he had.
"I have work today. Shit."
As he hissed the statement to himself, his head throbbed in response. He couldn't go in like this, he needed to be cheery and bubbly for work, or at least presentable.
A sideways glance at the telephone on the nightstand gave him an idea. He picked up the receiver and punched in a number he wrote down from the previous day.
"Hello? Ms. Kerbs? It's Haruka."
"I had a bit of a rough night last night, and I don't think I can come in to work today. I need some time to sorta pull myself together, I guess."
"Yes, I understand it's my second day. I just don't want to waste your time and half-ass my work, pardon my language."
"Really? You will?"
"Thank you so much, I'll be in tomorrow for sure."
He gingerly placed the receiver back on its stand and let out a sigh of relief. A few moments passed with him sitting in silence, but he eventually pulled himself over towards his suitcase of clothing and plucked out a simple outfit from his newly bought wardrobe. One quick shower later, he toweled off and donned the fresh clothes.
On the way out the door, he could hear what must have been an ambulance and several police vehicles. He paid little mind to it, and continued towards downtown Shikkun. His destination was a mall he visited occasionally in his homeless days, the Westcross. The products were much cheaper than the newer malls, without proving too trashy for his tastes.
Much farther into the city, activity largely resumed as normal even at late hours, from the 24-hour convenience stores to check forwarding and cash loan buildings to the occasional intoxicated person, likely kicked out of their home by a spouse or family member. In one of several run down apartments lay a sleeping Yuudai Ito, who seemingly was the only person in the entire complex that grasped the concept of being silent at night. While the other tenants appeared hellbent on causing noise at all hours of the day, a lifetime of dealing with such crowds left him a heavier sleeper.
That is, aside from the ring of his cellphone, at which his hand shot out from under the covers to grab and retrieve to his ear.
"Y'ello?"
"What?"
"So the firm had to cut our contract with Albertsons? Why?"
"That's some bullshit and you know it. Did they give the job to Crawford? I bet those fucks greased some palms."
"Goddammit. We gotta be careful man, if we keep letting this happen none of us will be able to pay rent."
"Catch you later, man."
His thumb clicked the end button, and he laid the cellphone back down. With his work schedule now unexpectedly wiped, that left plenty of time to, well, do nothing. He yawned and flopped out of bed, stuffing himself into the first clean clothes he finds. Finally he slipped his wallet and cellphone into their respective pockets in his jeans, when the sharp crack of gunfire echoed through the streets. He dove to the floor, but no followup shots were fired. After waiting a few minutes, Ito peeked out one of his apartment windows which faced the street, and saw the scene.
Across the street, a heavily tattooed man in a tank top and athletic shorts lay clutching his abdomen in a small puddle of blood. Just from the circumstances alone, he could guess what happened: the man was likely either a gangbanger or dealer, and he must have been causing trouble on someone else's turf, and paid a terrible price for it. Off in the distance, several police cars had activated their sirens, and the sound of an ambulance followed.
Yuu shuddered and exited his apartment, making sure to lock it behind him as he left and walked away from his neighborhood. Sticking around was likely a dangerous prospect, at least for a few hours. He briefly stopped in a gas station to pick up a cup of cheap coffee and a pack of cigarettes, and quickly continued with cup in hand and the pack in a coat pocket. His destination, he decided, was a slightly blighted mall nearby, the Westcross. He hadn't visited the place in a while and could stand to waste time there.
