“Yawn!”
My day starts in a fluffy bed. After getting up, I sneak a peek at the tail attached to my dinosaur pajamas.
Wiggling my hips left and right, the tail on my butt swayed along. With a satisfied smile, I opened the curtains.
Sunlight poured into the room as I opened the curtains. The last bit of drowsiness completely vanished. It felt like my energy was recharging, just like a battery in the sunlight.
After soaking up some sun, I moved on to my next destination.
*Thud thud*
Wearing slippers, I walked down the middle of the hallway. There was a bulletin board with photos of me and other employees. Next to it, a board had various notices printed on paper, almost like a military bulletin.
I carefully checked the most important thing: today’s menu. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were more important than anything else. Today’s menu looked delicious. With a satisfied smile, I quietly tiptoed to the office.
Before heading to the office, I checked my outfit. My dinosaur pajamas were perfectly in sync with my body. Satisfied, I ninja-stuck to the wall and peeked into the office. Only Bora was inside.
We took turns on night duty once a week. I could only meet Haru and Bora twice a week. The other five days, other employees were on duty. I wasn’t particularly close to them, so I hesitated to approach them. But lately, I’ve been making an effort to eat with them.
Anyway, since it was Bora today, it was okay to go into the office. I crouched like a cat and entered. My small size allowed me to sneak into the partitioned office unnoticed. Bora was typing away on her keyboard.
She seemed so engrossed in her work that she didn’t notice me coming in.
*Grin*
A plan to surprise Bora flashed through my mind. I positioned myself behind her and approached as quietly as possible.
“Rawr!”
I shouted loudly to startle her, but Bora wasn’t fazed. Instead, she turned her chair around and hugged me.
“Hana, you’re up?”
“Did… did I scare you, Bora?”
“Of course~”
Despite her words, she didn’t look scared at all. I puffed out my cheeks in frustration. Seeing this, Bora laughed and patted my head.
“There’s a way to know when Hana’s coming~”
“Really?”
I wondered how she could tell—did I have a GPS on me? But Bora just smiled and didn’t explain. Did I smell weird or something? I got curious, but there was something more important right now.
“Bora, let’s go eat!”
“Sure, sure.”
Bora stood up from her chair, still holding me. Her long legs made me envious. I’d need to grow about 40cm to have legs like hers. My legs were short and stubby. Even if they were proportional, my overall height was lacking. So, long legs or not, they were still short.
“Today, they have jjolmyeon, your favorite!”
Bora said while looking at the menu.
“Yeah! I’m gonna eat a lot of jjolmyeon!”
I planned to devour the jjolmyeon today. The cafeteria’s quality kept improving. It was on par with a famous chef’s restaurant. The biggest change in the six months I’d been at the research institute was the food. Good food made life so much more satisfying.
Good food really does make everything better.
Still in my dinosaur pajamas, I took the elevator down to the first floor. Being carried by Bora was a bonus. Lately, being carried was much more comfortable than walking.
On the first floor, the front desk employees were busily preparing for the day. Seeing them work hard from the morning made me think I should follow their example. Of course, it stayed just a thought.
“Good morning!”
“Oh, Hana’s up?”
The front desk employees greeted me warmly. Sometimes they even patted my head. Getting on their good side might come in handy someday.
Entering the cafeteria, I loaded my tray with jjolmyeon. Bora had doenjang jjigae and rice. I didn’t forget to steal some of her side dishes. Eating just jjolmyeon would make my mouth feel bored.
Back in my room, I flopped onto the bed. They say you shouldn’t lie down after eating, but I couldn’t resist the bed’s temptation.
However, my actions were inevitably stopped by Bora, who followed me.
“You should brush your teeth, Hana.”
“Eek!”
Brushing teeth after eating was a must. I buried my face in the bed, not wanting to go, but Bora saw this and tickled my side.
“Hee-hyuk!”
I couldn’t help but let out an unidentified scream from the tickling. Bora picked me up and headed to the bathroom. She then put me down, grabbed a toothbrush, squeezed out some toothpaste, and handed it to me.
I took the toothbrush from Bora and started brushing. Seeing my teeth with two already missing made me depressed. There were still a mountain of baby teeth to pull out. I didn’t know how many I’d have to pull, but probably a few.
*Chika chika*
Anyway, I shook off my thoughts and started brushing diligently while looking in the mirror. Maybe because it was chocolate-flavored toothpaste, a sweet chocolate scent spread through my mouth as I brushed. I successfully resisted the urge to swallow the toothpaste foam and kept brushing.
If it were me in the past, I might have swallowed a bit. It was proof that I had grown up. After finishing brushing, I came out to find Bora preparing to leave work.
“Are you leaving work?”
“Yeah. When the employees come, I have to leave.”
I wanted to stay with Bora longer, but since she had pulled an all-nighter on duty today, she needed to go home and sleep. It would be more of a nuisance to keep her. I sat blankly on the bed and turned on the TV. The news was on.
I wanted to watch the Little Magician Lumi, but it wasn’t on at this time. As an adult, it was proper to watch the news in the morning.
While watching the boring news, I gradually heard people coming to work in the hallway. About a dozen people worked in the office.
There were more women than men. Maybe because I’m a girl? That’s why I felt less burdened when visiting the office. But I didn’t really know what they did. Every time I went, they were typing on keyboards and having meetings, so I wanted to ask later.
I heard they collaborated with Starlight Food and other places, so maybe they worked in that area. I slipped out into the hallway. Waving at the employees coming to work in dinosaur pajamas, I greeted them.
“Hi!”
“Did you sleep well, Hana?”
We had become close enough to exchange greetings comfortably. Watching the employees come to work, I grinned. I was in a playful mood. Seeing people working made me inexplicably happy. It was unavoidable.
It was like a jobless person watching office workers go to work early in the morning. Of course, unlike the jobless, I was legally resting because I made a ton of money.
Today was a day off from school, so I had free time all day. Now that I didn’t go to school, there were no classes. Of course, homework remained, but elementary school homework didn’t take much time to finish.
While watching the news in my room, Haru came in.
“Haru!”
“Did you sleep well, Hana?”
Taking off her shoes, Haru, neatly dressed in office attire, picked me up. She buried her head in my neck and took a deep breath.
“Hana, your smell is so nice~”
With her head buried in my neck like that, she looked like a criminal. I told Haru exactly what I felt.
“Haru, you look like a criminal.”
Haru seemed hurt by my words and pouted.
“Hana, you’re so mean!”
But Haru still didn’t let me go. Dangling in Haru’s arms, I stayed still. Haru’s embrace was as soft and comfortable as Bora’s. The secret was in her chest size, of course.
Of course, I would never let a man hold me. A man holding another man in his arms! It was an outrageous act. So, I was desperately trying not to let men hold me. Although, I didn’t have many chances to meet adult men anyway.
