Day 5: Friendship

Ryan wasn't able to bother with sleep that night. He had spent the night logging his feelings on his computer as a way to vent. Even though he started to befriend the different people who stopped by the KFP and even considered opening up to his boss a little bit, but trust came hard for Ryan. After he finished journaling, he decided to spend the rest of the night gaming and watching YouTube. After a few hours, he checked his phone. 4:45 am. Kiara usually called him at 5 am, so he decided to leave early. As he got ready to leave, he thought back on Kiara's calling habit. She called him at 5 am, every day. Almost like clockwork, and yesterday's call proved that she wasn't using an automated bot to call him. He sighed, dismissing Kiara's antics as just that as he made another right turn. As he turned, he jumped back, almost running into a tall woman with long, orange hair.

"Woah!" She jumped back as well, her eyes meeting Ryan's. After a couple seconds of silence, a smile on her face. "Good morning Motherf**er!"

"Uhh," Ryan wanted to tell her off but was too passive to do so. "Morning?"

"Name's Kiryu Coco," The woman smiled, holding out her hand.

"Ryan Shade," Ryan shook her hand.

"Oh! I have something to do!" Coco's eyes widened as a lightbulb went off in her head. She dug in her back pocket and pulled out an energy drink, handing it to Ryan. "Please take this!"

Ryan looked at the can. "Asacoco Energy Drink," he read aloud. He really didn't want to accept it, but again, was too passive to turn it down. "Thank you."

"No problem!" She turned around and ran off.

"Huh," he shrugged. "That was a weird experience."

-

Ryan had been sitting by the entrance of his place of work, staring at the energy drink. He was debating whether or not to drink it when Kiara came over with her phone out.

"Oh!" She smiled as she saw Ryan. "You're here early!"

"Couldn't sleep," Ryan held the energy drink up, looking at the nutrition facts. "Decided to come here early."

"Wait," As Kiara saw the logo on the energy drink, she audibly gasped. "Where did you get your hands on Asacoco? That's a very dangerous drug, you know?"

"Oh, some woman named Kiryu Coco gave it to me," Ryan answered casually. After dealing with yandere necromancers and space-time finger-removing magic, getting handed contraband for free wasn't too surprising anymore. "Wait, this energy drink is a drug?"

"You ran into Kaichou?" Kiara asked, again completely shocked. "She's currently the head of the yakuza, you know."

"What," Ryan looked up to meet Kiara's eyes. Now that was shocking. Good thing he didn't cuss her out.

"I'm sure you'll see her around here soon," Kiara smiled softly at her employee, moving over to unlock the door.

"Why am I not even surprised anymore?" Ryan grumbled as he tossed the drink in the trash, following Kiara in the store. "Anyways, let's get to work."

-

Ryan looked at his phone as he finished buttoning up his vest. The color didn't really match his hair well. "I need to ask Tenchou for a cap sooner or later," he said to himself as he cracked his back.

He stepped out to see a fox (cat?) girl already sitting on the counter. Her white hair was tied in a braid on her left side and didn't go lower than her upper back. She wore what looked to be a navy-blue uniform with a black and blue katana sheathed securely on her hip. At this point, he's seen enough weapons in this establishment to stop questioning things anymore. "Welcome to KFP," Ryan walked over to the counter. Kiara seemed to be in the back grilling something, so he might as well talk to the customer. "My name is Ryan Shade. How may I help you?"

"Hi friend!" The fox-cat hybrid chirped happily. "I'm Skirakami Fubuki! Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you too," Ryan smiled at the girl. "I'm sorry to ask, but are you a fox or a cat? I don't want to offend anyone."

"I'm a fox!" Fubuki's smile instantly turned into an adorable pout. "I'm not a cat!"

"She's a cat!" Ryan could hear Kiara's voice from the back room.

"I'll take your word for it, Shirakami-san," Ryan said.

"Call me Fubuki," Fubuki said, her heart-melting smile returning. Ryan wanted to give her pats, but his experience with Korone sufficiently deterred him from trying that.

At that point, Kiara returned with five hamburgers. "Here's your order, Fubuki-senpai."

"Thank you, Kiara-chan!" Fubuki took one of the burgers and started to wolf (fox?) it down.

"Hey, Tenchou," Ryan's eyes flicked over to his employer. "Why do you keep calling everyone senpai? Just curious."

Fubuki said something, but Ryan wasn't able to determine what she was saying through the burgers, in which she had already finished her second one. "I want to wait and see how long it'll take for you to find out," Kiara winked at Ryan.

"So it's a secret," Ryan grumbled.

"Nope!" Kiara chirped, ever so cheery. "It's easy to find. I just want to see how long it'll take for you to find out."

As Ryan opened his mouth to talk, footsteps could be heard approaching, along with a girl's voice. "Fubuki, Fubuki, Fubuki, FUBUKI!" A girl with brown hair, aquamarine eyes, and the derpiest expression on her face barged into the establishment, making a b-line towards Fubuki. As the girl jumped to tackle Fubuki, the fox girl expertly dodged her by changing seats one to her right. Kiara grabbed the badge on her belt and let her shield open up just in time for the girl's face to collide with it with a sickening thud.

"Nice of you to join us, Matsuri-senpai!" Kiara exclaimed as if she didn't just shield bash the person she was addressing.

"Oh!" Matsuri took a seat, her derpy, slack jawed expression unchanging as if nothing happened. "Hi, Kiara-chan! Who's this?"

Ryan awkwardly waved as the girl's attention shifted to him. "Name's Ryan Shade. I work here, apparently, though I feel like I deserve a raise for getting my fingers stolen."

"I see you've met Korone-chan already," Matsuri nodded knowingly. "My name is Natsuiro Matsuri! By any chance, do you know any lolis?"

"Sorry, I'm not a creep," Ryan said without a second thought. "Something tells me Tenchou here knows where you can find some, though."

"Hey!" Kiara puffed her cheeks out at Ryan. "He's not wrong though…"

"I know that!" Matsuri exclaimed before turning to Fubuki. "Do you know any lolis?"

"Matsuri-san, we know the same people," Fubuki deadpanned, which somehow still came out as adorable.

"Ah," Matsuri's expression became immediately blank. "You're right."

Ryan couldn't help but snicker at this. "What would you like to eat, Natsuiro-san?"

"Anything sweet!" Matsuri exclaimed cheerily.

Ryan looked at his boss. "There's doughnuts in the back," Kiara said. "Can you bring them out?"

"Doughnuts!" Matsuri squealed.

"There were doughnuts, and you didn't tell me?" Ryan looked visibly hurt.

"I ordered them for Matsuri-senpai, not you," Kiara said simply. "If you wanted some, you could have asked."

Ryan sighed. At least she wasn't playing favorites as apparently Matsuri had asked for doughnuts beforehand. He trudged along to the back where he saw two boxes of doughnuts sitting there. He gulped down some saliva, forcing his desire to commit petty theft down with it as he grabbed the doughnuts and walked back out, placing the boxes in front of Matsuri. "Here's your doughnuts."

"Yay!" Matsuri eagerly opened one of the boxes and started to dig in.

"More burgers!" Fubuki smiled cutely as she extended the empty plate out towards Ryan.

"I guess I'll make them this time since you made them last time, Tenchou," Ryan took the plate before smiling at Fubuki. "How many would you like, Fubuki-san?"

"Ten!" Fubuki chirped, her smile only widening.

"TEN?!" Ryan exclaimed. This was going to be a long day.

-

"You should really join me at Fox Burger King," Fubuki managed as she scarfed down her sixth burger.

"Are you trying to steal my employees, Fubuki-senpai?!" Kiara cried, visibly taken aback.

"Don't worry," Ryan chuckled a bit into his hand. "I'm loyal to you, Tenchou."

"Ryan…" Kiara's eyes sparkled as she attempted to tackle Ryan into a hug. Already expecting this, he dodged her assault, leaving her to crash onto the floor.

At that moment, a familiar shark girl decided to kick the doors open. "OOCHA!" She exclaimed as the doors flew open. "What's up, chumbuckets!"

"Ah, good…" Ryan looked at his phone. Damn, it was only 8 am? Well, he had already been there for three hours. "Morning, Gura-san."

"Hi Fubuki-senpai! Matsuri-senpai! Kiara! Ryan!" Gura took a seat beside Matsuri. "How have your mornings been?"

"Tiring," Ryan said out of instinct.

"Fun!" Fubuki chirped.

"Good!" Kiara smiled at her friend.

"LOLI!" Matsuri practically screamed. She tried to hug Gura, but the shark girl was quicker. She quickly pivoted to the side before chomping down on Matsuri's arm.

"Fighting is okay, but we're not having any assault cases like last time," Kiara said as Matsuri screamed in pain. Fubuki had taken it upon herself to heal her friend's wounds, using a sort of white fire to cover the wounds as they started to close in an accelerated rate.

"I don't even want to know what last time you're referring to," Ryan said, his palm already on his face as he shook his head disapprovingly.

"I'm sure you don't," Kiara nudged Ryan with her elbow.

"BANANA!" Korone burst through the doors randomly. Ryan, not wanting to invoke the wrath of the yubi-stealing dog, instantly darted to the back and got a small bunch of bananas before putting it on the counter, which Korone appeared in front of faster than anyone can react, swiping the bananas. As soon as she grabbed the fruits, a bright flash enveloped the room, causing everyone to avert their eyes. By the time everyone was able to open their eyes again, the puppy was gone.

"Excuse me," Ryan held up his hands in confusion, "but what the hell just happened?"

"Don't ask," all of the girls said simultaneously. Even Fubuki in her cheery self was able to pull off a completely blank expression.

"What's up, gamers!" Amelia opened the doors and plopped right next to Gura. "I've been looking for you, Gura!"

"Well, ya found me!" Gura shot Amelia a playful look. "What are you gonna do now?"

"I'm going to…" Amelia at that time decided to tackle Gura. "Tickle you!"

"No! Wait!" Gura tried to struggle, but it was too late. Amelia had already found all her ticklish spots. She started laughing hysterically as Amelia started to tickle her, causing everyone to laugh.

Ryan smiled softly at the scene. Ever since he got this job here, things have been going great. It was completely different from America. He had found a home, a job, and most importantly, he found friends.

-

Ryan sat on his bed, smiling fondly as the day flashed through his mind. It had been a good day, no denying that. He decided to call up Sabrina again. He was almost certain that she wouldn't pick up, but he was in a good mood.

"Hello?" He said as soon as the tone rang, letting Ryan know he could start his voicemail. "Hey, Sabrina. I miss you. You probably blocked my number awhile ago, but I'm still gonna call every day anyways. It's kind of therapeutic for me, you know? Anyways, I had a good day today. Work doesn't seem as much like work anymore instead of just a hangout with friends. I'm getting better at talking to people and my anxiety is getting better. I don't know, but I think taking this job was really good for me. I really do hope you pick up, though. Even though I met all these new people and experienced all these new things, I still miss you. So please, call back."

As he hung up the phone, he collapsed onto the bed. The call didn't really kill his mood or anything, but he was still extremely exhausted. He hadn't slept in almost 48 hours. He closed his eyes as sleep overtook him. He was thankful that he was able to fall asleep easily tonight. Maybe he could sleep soundly.

-

Meanwhile, a brown-haired girl sat on her bed, listening to a voice message on her phone. When she started to listen, a smile instantly formed itself, but as the voicemail continued, her smile started to turn sad. As the voicemail finished, she took off her earphones and sighed wistfully.

"I miss you too," she said, a sad smile on her face as she looked up at the bulbs lighting up her room.