Futaba Sukura...has never been great at keeping a "sleep schedule". In fact, it was only a few months ago that she had heard the term for the first time! Just like her father, Sojiro Sakura, had explained to her friends many months ago, Futaba tended to to stay up all day and night for 3 to 4 days at a time, taking power naps throughout that stretch of time. For the last 3 or so years, it was a system that has worked for her, even if it was unhealthy.
But some big changes were occurring in Futaba's life, the kind that aren't suited for the "3 days with no sleep" kind of schedule. These changes started about 3 months ago, when Futaba had finally begun her 1st year at Shujin Academy. She was nervous, but also excited. Excited she had friends to support her during her 1st year here...sure, they were just Ryuji, Ann and Yusuke, that Mishima guy was here too, if you counted him. But having lame friends to help her was better than having no friends at all! And boy, was she going to need the help...
Futaba seemed genuinely overwhelmed in this new school...not with any of the school work, she handled that just find. Except for English...she hated English. No, it was the hundreds of different new faces that she had to grow accustomed to. She had to memorize dozens of new faces and names per day in her first week alone, it was horrible!
And yet, somehow worse than the forced social interactions was what she began to face about 2 months into her school year...EXAMS.
Futaba had remembered taking exams and doing just fine with them...but this was back when she was in middle school. High School exams were a completely other world compared to Middle School Exams. These were exams Futaba had to actively study for! And study she did...or, study she would, if it weren't for her sleep schedule...or lack thereof.
And there in laid the problem Futaba was facing...if she wanted to do well on her exams, in an effort to do succeed in school and impress her new classmates, potentially making new friends...she had to completely adjust her day-to-day actions during the Evening. Futaba was spending most of it studying, getting no time to hop on her computer to play her wide assortment of games! Sojiro was even enforcing a bed time! "I'm 16, damn it!", Futaba angrily thought one night, head on her pillow, "I'm too old to have a bed time!..Stupid Sojiro.."
Though, despite her protests, Futaba was adapting well to the sleep schedule thrust upon her..she just wished she'd have time to play her games. It was around a week later that Futaba had overheard something on the way to school. She heard two 2nd Years boys talking about a new Soda Shop in Akihabara...Futaba's mouth started watering upon hearing this...but it got better. The Shop specialized in selling Futaba's favorite brand of Soda, Dr. Salt!
Futaba, against all her logic and better judgement, lunged into the conversation of the two boys, literally wedging her head between the two. Like a rabid animal, she breathed down the neck of one of them, getting uncomfortably close to the boy and snarled "What...time...does...that...Soda Shop...OPEN!?"
The boy, supremely creeped out by the proximity of the younger girl, said "Um...I-I think it opens around 11 AM? It closes pretty late too, so just go to it after school...ok, so could you please get off me now!?" Futaba obliged his request, exiting the train car. She was lucky that those boys don't go to Shujin...didn't need anyone thinking she's even more of a weirdo.
But what Futaba did need was SODA! That day, after school, she didn't go directly home nor did she head to the Underground Walkway to hang out with Ryuji, Ann and stupid Inari...she headed straight from Akibi and made a bee-line to the fabled Soda Shop. Futaba gazed upon the modest sized Soda Emporium like a conquistador discovering El Dorado...it was beautiful.
Futaba rushed in, and was again amazed by the place...every flavor of Dr. Salt ever released, some flavors were even exclusive to this shop! After circling the Isles for about 20 minutes, she was snapped back to reality by the clerk at the front desk. "Hey kid, are you going to buy somethin' or what?"
Futaba, though flustered at this interjection, had indeed decided on what she wanted to buy. After all that time in the isles, she went back to the section with her desired product.
Futaba approached the front desk, barely managing to see over it with her small stature, and placed upon it a case 6 pack case of ice cold...
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