POV: Rai Shinsei
Jolting me awake was once again another nightmare as I awoke drenched in cold sweat, my mind scrambled from being unable to discern reality as I scoured the area until I realized I was inside of my dorm, bringing me relief as I looked to my left to find Arthur, who seemed to relish his slumber as he bore an idiotic ear-to-ear smile amidst cuddling with one of his pillows.
A day has passed since my mission as I noticed it was very early in the day due to the faint light peeking through the blinds of our dorm, prompting me to check the time on my phone as it was nearly five o'clock in the morning.
With barely four hours of sleep, any normal person would choose to go back to bed, but with a horrific nightmare lingering within my mind, I didn't dare as I preferred to not experience hell again, at least not as of now as instead, I decided to start my day with my usual morning routine.
~
After I finished washing my face, I felt my stomach rumble as I headed inside of our kitchen and opened the refrigerator in hopes of finding something to cook, but depressingly, it was empty as there wasn't even a speck of dust within it.
Arthur, you've got to be kidding me.
Closing the fridge, I decided to walk towards our pantry, praying that there was anything edible within it as I opened the door to find absolutely nothing, the barren shelves provoking my anger as I nearly lost my composure until I eventually let out a sigh of defeat.
I guess I'll just go to the store.
Leaving the kitchen, I headed towards my drawer and began dressing myself in a rather casual outfit, consisting of a black sweater, loose gray joggers and black sneakers as I left my dorm and headed towards the academy's supermarket, which was located within the middle of the food court.
After getting dressed, my attention was directed towards Arthur, who began talking in his sleep as he seemed to be having a wonderful dream amidst his slumber, causing me to find myself envious of him as for only a moment, I thought about punching him out of spite for being the reason that I have to go and buy food, but with a deep breath, I maintained my composure and left my dorm.
I'll buy him some more apples.
Traversing down the corridor of my dormitory, moaning and groaning was heard as well as screaming, despite the current time of day as I found myself questioning if this was truly a prestigious hero academy or your standard private school.
Exiting the building, I was welcomed with a pleasant breeze as my hair followed along the tune of the wind with many cherry blossom petals brushing across my face during my stroll to the supermarket, but as I approached it, I noticed a familiar face as I peered towards them to find out it was none other than Aria, who seemed to be alone as she headed towards the supermarket.
What a coincidence.
Refraining from entering her peripheral vision, I debated among myself whether I should interact with her or ignore her as after realizing that she was the sister of Iris, I found it far too awkward to socialize with her unless it was necessary.
No, I shouldn't be interacting with her at all as the guilt gnawing at my heart will only continue to grow and truth be told…
I'm too tired to be dealing with any problematic emotions.
Choosing to avoid her, I waited patiently until she entered the store before finding elsewhere to shop, but whether it was a coincidence or fate itself, Aria somehow noticed my presence as her eyes widened from discovering me.
I'm caught.
"Rai?" Aria called out, her voice somewhat muffled as she pulled her burgundy scarf away from her mouth while I approached her.
"I'm surprised you're up this early." Aria said, shivering in the midst as she quickly placed her hand back inside the pocket of her black insulated jacket while I began walking alongside her.
"I didn't sleep well last night. What about yourself?" I asked as we approached the entrance of the supermarket.
"Neither did I. After our mission yesterday, I was pretty tired and I knocked out after plopping onto my bed, but I guess since I overslept, I could barely catch a wink of sleep as I was restless the entire night." Aria chortled lightly as we entered inside the supermarket, which appeared to have just opened as there was only a single employee within the store.
"Were you also on your way to the supermarket or were you going somewhere else?" Aria asked as I nodded while we headed towards the produce section.
"I was also heading to the supermarket. I was originally just going to cook, but I forgot that I'm now living with the manifestation of gluttony itself as our kitchen is void of any food." I replied as Aria giggled at my predicament, but upon approaching the batch of vegetables, I noticed that the quality of produce was awfully high, inspiring me to check some of the fruits as I was surprised to find out that they were handled with extreme care.
How is there not a single bruise on any of these fruits?
Those years that I spent in the mountains, it was rare to find even one fruit that wasn't bruised and yet, every fruit before me is in perfect condition.
Is this what it feels like to live a life among the wealthy?
"Is there something wrong, Rai?" Aria asked with concern as she placed a few vegetables within her basket.
"No… it's nothing." I replied, skeptical of the produce as I was unable to find a single bruised fruit among the mass, which raised many questions within my mind until I wrote them off as paranoia.
~
After an hour had passed, Aria finally finished her shopping from within the supermarket as her indecisiveness was questionable.
Within the span of an entire hour, she came to the conclusion of buying a few vegetables and a carton of eggs, which should only take at most five minutes and yet, it was an insufferable experience as I watched her pace back and forth throughout the store, unable to decide if she wanted breakfast or lunch as I chose to buy myself the ingredients to make blueberry pancakes.
"You know, I think I actually want lunch now." Aria voiced as I felt something snap inside of me, but despite her frustrating indecisiveness, I was able to restrain myself as I had to deal with her very own sister who bore the same tendencies for nearly an entire year.
"I recommend that you eat a light breakfast as if you were to eat lunch now, you would upset your stomach since you practically pulled an all-nighter." I suggested as we headed towards our dormitory, praying that she would listen as I refused to watch her pace back and forth for another hour over a single item.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I would prefer not to have a stomach ache anyways." Aria replied with a lighthearted giggle as I sighed with relief.
Thank god.
As we approached the dormitories, I said my goodbyes to Aria, who waved me off with a bright smile, but as my attention was elsewhere, someone accidentally bumped into my shoulder as I shifted my focus onto them.
"Ah, sorry-"
"Know your place, you vermin." The boy said harshly, glaring directly into my eyes as if my mere existence truly disgusted him.
What a kindhearted soul.
The boy stood relatively the same height as myself with short, yet wavy dyed blond hair that was parted in the middle as his bangs rested across his forehead.
As for his complexion, it was pale as his eyes were a honey brown hue while he wore a distinctive cross earring on his left ear, which gave him your stereotypical playboy look as the aesthetic of his attire was streetwear.
Following behind him was none other than Jacob and Jordan, who didn't even bother glancing towards my direction as they obediently followed the boy.
"Rai! I accidentally grabbed your blueberries!" Aria shouted ebulliently as she headed towards me while the ill-mannered boy who bumped into my shoulder turned around, his body twitching at the utterance of my name as upon locking eyes, I felt unease at the sight of a malicious grin that took birth across his face.
Tired, hungry and annoyed, I sighed as I knew that my once peaceful day was soon going to be an unnecessarily long one.
It's too early for this.