chapter seventeen: HONEY LEMON TEA

The stress was getting to her. It felt like weight was pouring on to her shoulders yet it was already decided. It couldn't be helped; the workload kept her busy and gave her something to do after all. It was just so much.

Miruka typed away at her laptop, switching tabs and multitasking her work. It went from reading about animal shelters to managing the volleyball club's budget and finances, which wasn't so bad. Then there was the pet shop where it was bustling with people, as it was the middle of summer and people had free time.

Currently, she sat in front of the cash register, scanning items and occasionally glancing to an article on a dog shelter with furrowed eyebrows. She said thanks to her customer and saw them off, shifting to greet the next one immediately.

It was getting harder by the minute.

There were plenty of animal shelters willing to help them out with the festival and luckily, both of them being favoured and responsible students, Hotaru and herself managed to get the principal's approval.

Hotaru was a reliable guy and she was happy to work with him. He was taking care of the advertising, as well as the planning of their stall in general while she gathered the materials for him to work with. The class was getting involved quickly, enthusiastic about the animals joining them.

Except for Kozume Kenma.

She had noticed his dislike for animals immediately and his lack of participation when she mentioned it, so most of her attention went to him.

As her thoughts drifted to the boy, Miruka instantly remembered their designs for the cosplay at Comiket. She decided to scrap the idea and find another cosplay since he noticed his disinterest, keeping up a positive attitude. Opening up another tab, she searched up for more ideas.

"Miruka-chan," called out her sister in-law, Akira. "Switch with me and help Kagerou-kun with the shipments. Poor guy's never been good without his glasses — I think he's half blind."

The girl nodded and stifled a laugh when she made eye contact with her brother's best friend squinting at her. It seemed he could barely see Miruka, seeing as he definitely didn't notice her eyes crossed and fingers pulling around the corners of her mouth into a silly face. Sure she wore glasses herself, but they were never that strong.

"Hey, gamer girl," he snapped, irritable without his spectacles. "You better not make me trip over a kid or something. I don't want my leg to be broken too."

The 'gamer girl' smiled at him sympathetically and grabbed the sides of the box he was holding, guiding him to where they needed to be put. "Who's the culprit?"

"The college basketball team," he snarled, blowing away a piece of his hair. "They need to keep their balls or they'll get shoved up their — "

"Innocent impressionable teenage girls present!"

"Like you're so innocent."

"True."

They worked together in silence, occasionally talking about the direction they were going. Being an overworked college student, Miruka never bothered him much unless it was about a level she wanted him to clear or vice versa. He was the youngest out of Satsuki's group of friends, so they conversed easily.

Once they were done, she returned to her post, finding Akira had completely finished scanning all the customer's products, let them pay and sent them away, the store empty. She was a workaholic and a good one. Miruka found her reading her work.

"You've got a lot to work on don't you?" she muttered, scrolling downwards and not letting her eyes off the page. "I made you some honey lemon tea I've placed on the desk since it soothes you and calms. I suggest taking it easy and have a break once in a while. You haven't touched your console in days which is saying something."

That was unfortunately true. Miruka had been itching to let her fingers mash on to the controller's buttons and the large screen that displayed her game in high definition. But alas, she had more important things to do.

Somehow more important than video games.

She took the tea in her hands and gulped it down, the sweet taste at the perfect temperature. Akira harrumphed in satisfaction and continued to browse through the laptop.

"Hey, you might want to see this," the older woman chirped, her grey eyes blinking at the screen. "What do you think of this cat shelter? They fill out all the requirements and judging from all these amazing reviews, it looks good,"

Miruka squealed with joy, edging closer. Reading the text on their homepage, the cat shelter was available to bring some adoptable kittens and older cats to some occasions.

"I've also just had a thought, isn't there neko in Nekoma? It would also be perfect for attracting people and it sets the theme well,"

The student gasped and nodded. "We can have cat-themed things and advertise for them to be adopted too! They're situated nearby so the cats won't have to travel far and I already have the experience in handling animals,"

"It'll be hard work, Miruka-chan. Are you sure you'll be able to do this? I mean animals have love at first sight when they meet you, except for Piccolo so there's no problem. Although will one person with experience be enough?"

A flash of pudding hair echoed in Miruka's mind.

"I think I've got just the guy."

• • •

One down, a million more things to go, Miruka thought, sighing as she dried the last part of her hair. You can do this, maybe.

Already in her pyjamas, she fell on to her bed with a flop. These days she was always tired and she could have played games till Satsuki came at four in the morning complaining, but there was no energy to spare.

Everything was getting out of order.

Her eyelids closed and sleep took over her immediately, her blanket wrapping around her body tightly. She succumbed to the warmth and let her consciousness slip.

The dream began.

• • •

She was back in middle school, cowering away in her desk as the teacher kept talking about Japanese history.

Tears pricked at her eyes as she stared at the words carved into her paper in black ink.

'You're unwanted!'

The girl knew exactly where and who it came from and did not say a word.

The older version of the girl watched, stuck in one place, viewing the memory like a video. At times it felt distant, other times it could breathe down her neck. She knew exactly what she was doing and had no clue what it was.

Dreams were never realistic.

The girl in the desk did not speak and she wasn't allowed to anyway.

Dream-girl wondered what would happen if she screamed and yelled and spoke the truth and punched and kicked them all. So did the onlooker.

The view shifted to after school, where dream-girl was walking home in the rain and had her hands quivering as she clutched on to an umbrella. The rain was there in sight and sound, but it couldn't be felt.

The bullies approached her, yelling nonsensical things and insults at dream-girl. The onlooker wanted to defend her.

Dream-girl wished somebody would.

"A girl who likes girls should suffer!"

'No she shouldn't,' thought the onlooker. 'No girl in the same position ever should.' If there were tears in the onlooker's eyes, they were ever present.

"She even likes guys too! What a s—!"

The word sounded like static to the onlooker's ears while it seemed like the world was falling apart once it came out of the bully's mouth for dream-girl.

It felt so horrifying watching from afar and still feeling exactly what dream-girl was feeling. Her body shifted from onlooker to dream-girl so constantly, she wanted to scream. Nausea corrupted them both and one puked while the other only saw.

Cackling that blared like sirens filled the air and there was so much violence the onlooker wanted to tear out her eyes.

There was no way of preventing this.

It had already happened.

The onlooker and dream-girl blacked out, flashes of pure light and darkness changing intensely.

They woke up.

• • •

Miruka woke up with a start, sweat trickling down her back. Her breathing was fast and deep as her shoulders heaved up and down.

Nightmares like this had never been around lately, yet it seemed that they were becoming constant. The stress was getting to her and it just made it even worse. If only she could call her friends and it would be fine. She couldn't though.

She would be such a bother.

Miruka squinted at the clock, blind without her glasses or contact lenses. She could make out the small hand resting on the number six, indicating she could just get ready.

Already back to work she made up a to do list in her head, mumbling bits of info to herself as she skidded to the kitchen. Nobody was there yet and she was at peace.

Getting ready felt tedious yet abnormally fast this particular morning, Miruka finished eating a small breakfast and zipping up her bag.

Build exhibits, choose cats, set jobs for day, complete schedule, hand in papers for Nekoma-sensei . . .

The list increased as she stepped outside of the pet shop's door, not flipping the open sign. They'd be up in a while and she left a note so nobody would be worried.

Akira and Satsuki were both reliable and responsible so it would be fine. The former a doting mother and the latter a comedic father.

Her real parents were somewhere out in the next few countries, travelling and speaking at seminars like they usually do. The saddest thing was not that they were never around — she didn't mind that — it was the fact Miruka couldn't remember the last time they spoke to her.

Wow. That's actually really sad.

She unlocked her bike and paused for a moment, staring at a part where it was chipped. Shaking her head, she bit her lip and mounted it, spinning the pedals with her right foot then moved.

The days were moving too fast for her and she couldn't keep up.

• • •

Hello people! How are you all doing? Well I hope everyone's doing okay and am very happy to be here once more in the authors notes.

If you don't already read The Caffeine Chronicles you may have seen that I've been stressed out which is funnily at the same time as Miruka up here.

Due to this, I am taking a hiatus for one and a half weeks.

Okay, this is either really long or really short for you but I hope you understand that this is seriously needed. I will update Milk Pudding every now and again during this hiatus, but I won't be able to reply to comments as fast.

Right now, Wattpad seems more like a job or mandatory thing instead of a place where I can chill and write for fun even though it always is.

Also, we reached over 6K reads and 700 votes which is a miracle to someone like me. There have been so many wonderful comments that make me motivated to write and I can bust out around 500 words just reading a few.

You guys are amazing and my motivation and I haven't lost track of that I'm not doing this for the votes. I want to share my stories with you all and am very very glad that I can with so many people.

Thank you so much and see you next chapter!

— michaela