The More They Stay the Same

Nishiki woke up early once again to a rather dim day. It was no surprise that he got out of bed when the sun had yet to peek out from the horizon. After all, it was early February, when spring was only just around the corner, but only just so.

He left his room to check on Tenha, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch as she always did. Rubbing his eyes, the man could see her doing what she always did during the morning. It was a shame, but even on weekdays she slept in rather late. So he would be out for work well before she got up from her slumber. A shame, he though, seeing as that meant a breakfast cooked by her was out of the question.

As he brushed his teeth and got dressed for the day, he had to wonder about their living arrangement. At this point, he had gotten more than used to their situation. Though it seemed they were more tolerant about the other, she still kept up that lazy attitude. It was almost as if despite everything that had happened, very little had changed at the same time.

Before the girl awoke, he was already out the door and heading to his place of work. His walk there was the same as it always was, not that there was anything wrong with it. Just there was not much he could do to change up this routine that he had done well before even meeting his fox spirit caretaker.

Once he reached his destination, Nishiki clocked in and soon was in his office getting some paperwork to do. It was easy work for someone as experienced as him, so the man went through things rather quickly, yet also thoroughly. After he signed some of the pages, someone came up to ask him a question.

"You've been looking a lot more upbeat lately." It was Teiji, his boss checking up on him. "I don't think I've seen you this energetic before."

"Are you just here to strike up some small talk?" He replied, disregarding the compliment. While it was nice to hear, that didn't stop this man from being his supervisor. Usually whenever he talked to someone unprompted, it meant he needed them to do something. Either that, or to scold them to do their job. But this was Teiji, him doing that was more akin to some guy trying to make some friends.

"Um… Yes?" His kinder demeanor also allowed many of those working under him to speak in a rather informal manner. One could almost take it as a sign of disrespect for someone who was supposed to be a superior. Especially since they could get away with it. "I'm just saying you're looking pretty good lately."

"Thanks…" He still held some suspicions on his intentions on this conversation, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere.

"You know boss." Hinae spoke up as the person who sat besides Nishiki and had the honor of listening into this meaningless conversation. "It's easier to get work done when there aren't people talking in your ear."

"Ah, sorry about that." Teiji apologized and left the pair of office workers alone.

"Thanks, but don't you think that was a bit too far?" Now that they were alone, the pair were more free to do whatever they wanted.

"He's always trying to be too buddy-buddy with all of us." She responded. "You know that better than me, or did that one trip to the bar already change you?" While Nishiki wouldn't say he had a miserable time with everyone having some drinks. Though it really wasn't a habit he wished to make either.

"I wish he would leave us alone more too, but it's not like I hate the guy." He replied. "I was just worried he wanted me to do something for him."

"That's a shock coming from you." She gave one good laugh to the thought. "That sounds like it'd be right up your alley." His workaholic self might've felt more at home with it. Though even with throwing himself with more paperwork than assigned it wasn't like Nishiki wanted to go around doing favors for the boss.

"Anyway, I'm going to grab some coffee." He had finished up his work for now. So Nishiki decided his life would be better of not spent more with a conversation with a woman who didn't like him all that much. "Have fun."

"I'll make sure I don't." She gave him a not so fair farewell and he was off to the break room. Funny enough despite being the one who needed more breaks than anyone else, he rarely entered this spot other than to do as he said and grab some coffee. There was little reason to hang out there for him, so he would normally take his drink to his desk.

Today was a little different though as he poured a cup for himself. The only reason being Fusa's presence in the room.

"Bit early for you to be taking a break, isn't it?" He asked. While it might sound odd coming from a man who was also taking a break. That was only because Nishiki was done with all his stuff by now. This girl was still a bit green when it came to performing her job at peak efficiency. So basically he knew she was nowhere finished with her work at all.

"Sorry, I know." She had a hand on her head as she sat at the table with a cup of water. "My head just hurts a little bit right now."

"You're feeling unwell?" He certainly had memories of that happening when he was still new at the job. That was years ago, and he also recalled the lack of other people his senior caring. "If you want, you can leave early and I can take care of your stuff. I'm mostly done with my own work, so-"

"That would be unfair to you." She cut him off, standing up as if to defy him. "Besides, I can't be relying on my higher ups all the time."

"I wish I did more of that back in the day." His manner in handling any short term illness was the same then as it was now. Just work through the pain since eventually he'll feel better. Though doing all that easily aged him more than he wished it did. "Maybe I shouldn't say it like that, I'm not that old at all."

"But it's still my work to do. You're always offering to help out, but isn't it a good thing you get finished early?" Fusa couldn't understand his need to spend his time working all the time. Sure, he was at work so it was the expectation, but at the same time he would take in the surplus that others hadn't gotten around to. "Shouldn't you want to take care of yourself too?"

"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do." He couldn't argue with her, but wasn't fully on board either. "Anyway, you're still young. So there's no reason to push so hard now." Nishiki gave up rather easily on attempting to lend his aid towards her work. "By the way, there's aspirin in the cupboard here if the pain's really that bad."

"Ah, uh… Thanks." She went to grab the medicine right where he told her it would be. Meanwhile, he left and returned to his desk. The rest of the day went on as about uneventfully as it normally did. He had no desire to join the others on a short trip to the bar, so it was right to home for Nishiki.

When he got back, the man was greeted with the same view of Tenha kicking it back on the couch while watching some television. While it made sense in the idea of her being a rather lazy person. He didn't think that fox spirits would be so interested human entertainment. Then again, she was the same person who really enjoyed that movie they watched for all the wrong reasons. So maybe they weren't so different after all.

"I see you haven't started cooking yet." He commented. The room was near spotless, which included the kitchen. "Well, I'm back so I guess now's the time to get to work for you."

"Looks like it." She begrudgingly got off the couch. It seemed their transition to this arrangement had reached the normalcy phase. While it was nice to not have to feel awkward about this girl living in his house. Nishiki felt the disappointment of their experience no longer feeling special. Worse of all, she had gotten a bit too comfortable living here that her natural self had emerged even stronger than before.

At least on the bright side, she did her job well enough for him not to want to complain. "You know." She said as the fox girl grabbed out all the ingredients and utensils for creating their meal. "Your house is super boring!"