Gou woke up bright and early on a beautiful Sunday morning. He stretched and did some light exercise enthusiastically, readying himself for another great day; jumping jacks and a light self-administered leg massage left blood coursing through his veins in a way that was invigorating. He even managed to make his bed, a task which he wanted to accomplish daily but really only got around to every four days or so.

His doorbell rang, and so he eagerly opened it, awaiting his guest. "Oh, thank God you're awake. I would've hated to disrupt your sleep," Tozen sighed in relief, even leaning against the doorframe a little.

"No worries! I've been up for like half an hour already!" Gou flexed with pride, making Tozen chuckle fondly. "So! What can I do you for today?"

"I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me cook breakfast. I'm trying to pull off something sort of complicated. It involves a lot of multitasking if I want to get it done at a reasonable time, so I could really benefit from an extra pair of hands."

"No problem! You can count on me! As long as you give me instructions, Sous Chef Gou can handle anything!"

"You're even more chipper than usual today! It's energizing. Thank you, I really appreciate this."

"I gotcha, Toz. Besides, it's a rare opportunity where you ASK for help instead of us having to offer. Of course I'm gonna pitch in!"

Tozen gave a bashful chuckle and a bit of a hand wave, as if dismissing the thought. The wto worked in tandem with the utmost efficiency– in fact, Gou felt as though they hadn't been so in-sync in ages– and breakfast was served. It was both on-time and tasty, earning the two of them much praise that made Tozen hide a flattered blush and fueled Gou even further.

...

His doorbell rang again about an hour later.

"I need help," Hachi declared flatly, scooting past Gou to sit on his bed, laptop in hand. He snickered a bit at how she came in without technically being invited inside.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"I'm trying to make self-insert characters for our friends to make a Hustle Cat AU."

"What is 'Hustle Cat,' exactly?" He hadn't heard of an anime called that, so he was a bit taken off-guard. She pulled it up on her search engine and displayed it without so much as a second thought.

"Hachi... a dating sim? That doesn't sound like you at all!" he noted, bewildered.

She set the laptop down and gave him an intense stare, which only further perplexed him because she rarely made eye contact with anyone. "Witches, Gou. Cat cafes and witches."

"Ah, I see."

"I clicked past most of the CGs where kissing happened. But I had to know why the mysterious boss cursed his employees to shapeshift into cats as soon as they left the cafe each day. And then I had to know who the creepy guy who kept watching us was. And then I had to know what each suitor's magic was. And now I need to make an AU with our friends as employees of A Cat's Paw, and so I need to figure out what breed of cat everyone would be and what magic they would have. Mine would involve plants, of course. But like... what about someone like Yuu? Or Tozen? And the thing that I would've given to Sayuri is already taken by a canon character."

"Okay, okay, I get it. I can help. I'm not the most inventive person in the world, but two heads are better than one."

It was taxing on his brain. He wasn't made for things like this, not really. Gou was always better at things that were tangible, things he could use his body for. But it got done. All sixteen of them (there were only six main characters in Hustle Cat, and yet she needed sixteen!) were given cat breeds and powers as she sprinkled lore to him in bite-sized chunks. She rewarded him with a rare smile, and it made his heart warm, even if his mind was a bit spent.

...

He was sought out about half an hour later as he was trying to meditate like Azumi always did.

"Gou, need you," Keiji remarked.

Gou stifled a sigh as he opened one eye. "Whatcha got?"

"Tons of crates of books just came in. You don't have to help me sort them or anything like that, but I need you to hoist them up to the third floor and into the library. I'd have bothered someone else, but Fujiko has abducted Azumi to try out new makeup looks and Kana won't let me borrow Monterio. They're practicing. As for Wakumi..."

"Yeah. She's Wakumi."

"Pretty sure she'd have tried to literally throw me out this damn building if it weren't for Joanie. Anyway, this is pure muscle work."

"Alright. Doesn't sound super bad."

"If you don't want to lift all of them, you can do a couple and I can snag one of the others later."

"Nah, it's all good. I can handle them all myself. It'll definitely take me a couple of trips if they're the REALLY big boxes–"

"They are."

"but I don't see any problem with giving you a hand. Or I guess more like two arms."

"Cool, thanks. If you need anything brainy done anytime soon, just ask and I'll repay the favor."

"I'll definitely be taking advantage of that sometime soon."

Keiji quirked his head in curiosity, and then something seemed to dawn on him. "Oh yeah, you look spent. You sure you're up for this?"

"Positive."

This mission took considerably less time than the last, but it left him feeling annoyingly tired. This stuff was what he was good at, so to be sore and achy was a frustration.

...

As he attempted to take a nap, the doorbell rang again. Great, just fantastic. He rolled out of bed and then immediately felt guilty for his internal snarkiness.

"Gou! Hihihi!" Haruto cheered.

"Hello," he greeted in return, with a tone that betrayed him by coming out ever so slightly weary.

"Uh-oh! You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. No worries."

"Hmm... now I feel bad about asking. Nevermind, I'll go find someone else."

"Bisque, no, it's fine. I swear, I'm doing great."

"Wait, you were sleeping weren't you? Oh God, oh no, oh no, oh God, I'm really, really, really super duper sorry, go back to bed!" He blustered, grimacing sharply.

"Bisque, tell me what to do," he insisted.

"U-Um... Chimon and I were gonna try some racing. We figured we'd ask you if you wanted to be our referee in case of any close calls. We were gonna let you race against us, too, if you wanted..."

"I can ref. It's not a problem. I probably won't race though, if that's okay. I just climbed up two flights of stairs carrying like thirty pounds multiple times."

"O-Oh. Now I feel really bad." He says this in a low volume and with his head turned away, as though hoping Gou won't hear.

"Don't! Being a referee isn't a big ask. I'd be happy to help."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

It was easier than the other challenges he'd had to face before, by a long shot. But he couldn't help but nearly nod off for a second or two here and there.

...

He managed to squeak out a proper nap at last. Afterwards, he stared listlessly at the ceiling, watching his ceiling fan whirl and whirl. It never runs out of energy, he thought to himself, almost a little jealous.

For the last time that day, the doorbell rang. He felt almost like screaming into his pillow, or maybe like crying, and he definitely wanted to ignore the door. But he didn't. He dragged himself out of bed and opened up.

"Aye. How're ye, matey?"

"I'm really tired," he admitted to her.

"Ahhh, I getcha. No rest fer the weary, eh?" She elbowed past him to flop onto his bed, a slightly ruder version of what Hachi had done a while ago. "So. I got something ta ask ye."

"Yup."

"Can ye loan me two thousand yen?" She propped her feet up onto his pillow.

"Why?"

"Found this real nice set o' parchment ta draw maps on."

"Yeah, sure."

"Nice! N' can ye also loan me ano'er five thousand fer a game I wanted ta get? E'eryone can use it, o' course."

"Yeah. I can do that."

"Maybe, while ye're at it, ye could help me cure some meats tonight? Fer a few hours? Need a lot o' it fer later."

"Okay."

Her expression turned into a harsh stare. "Blimey. Laddie, this is the part where ye're supposed ta say 'No.' Me demands are hogwash and ye know it."

"I just... I don't like saying no. I care about you all, so I want to help you whenever I possibly can, and besides... saying no makes me feel guilty."

"Ye know what? Sometimes, the best thing ye can do ta help us is ta let us sort out our own messes, ye picaroon. 'M surprised ye ha'en't gone off the deep end n' flogged any o' these bilge-suckers yet. They rely on ye too damn much. N' trust me, I know responsibility. First mate, after all. Second only ta me ol' salt."

"Hmmm. I guess I never really saw it that way."

"Practice. Gou, can ye loan me seven thousand yen?"

"N-No. That's a lot of money all at once, and I don't have much to spare right now."

"Ah, I catch yer drift. Well, can ye help me cure meats fer a couple o' hours?"

"I, um... no. That's a lot of time, and I need some rest."

"Ye're a natural."

"Thanks, Wakumi. But here's the stupid part. I'm not entirely sure I can do that for real, when someone ACTUALLY needs something from me. You flat-out said you didn't really want me to do any of that."

"Well, if ye can't say no, there's still ano'er choice."

...

Gou spent time by himself in his bedroom all the way until dinner, watching funny videos on his phone and unwinding. A note was affixed to his door. "Unavailable for help. Taking a break."