The touch of steaming hot ramen leeched through the thin disposable bowl it came in, searing into the delicate skin of Jiyu's hands. She let out a series of hushed curses as she walked the small distance from the cook station to the row of chairs overlooking the street the convenience store sat on. In a residential neighborhood at this hour—nearly midnight—there was no one sitting in the rickety plastic chairs just outside the window to obstruct her view, giving her an nearly-unrestricted look at the occasional passersby. Pesky ad posters and flyers took up a lot of the window real estate, but still, she could people watch in peace.
No parents, no school, no studies—just the bright fluorescent store lights; the scent of stale coffee and fresh ramen; the occasional sound from customers and the bored-looking part-timer who flipped through a magazine; and the constant hum of the fridges lining the far wall, harmonizing with whatever top 100 music was playing lowly over the speakers. It all put her at rare ease, and she made sure to visit to the corner store at the end of every day before completing the trek home.
"I'll eat well~" she says just above a whisper, hands pressed firmly together around her chopsticks. Whilst splitting the disposable utensils and rubbing them together to get rid of stray splints of wood, fleeting concerns of how she'd wake up bloated in the morning crossed Jiyu's mind. Deciding it to be worth it, she scooped up a sizable amount of ramen, blew on in, and guided it into her mouth. A happy hum soon followed.
