"Good work today," Towa says without any feeling.

Taku snorts. "Wish I could say the same for you."

"Hey, I worked hard."

"If you want me to believe that you're going to need to try waking up on time for once." He reaches into his coat pocket then underhands Towa a can of coffee. "Here."

He catches it and looks up at Taku. "Not fresh today?"

"Buddy, you don't deserve fresh."

The door to the exam room opens and a bubbly voice comes out. "Placed the orders, finished the cleaning, and I'm all done!"

"Great, thanks a ton!"

"Yeah, no prob!"

"Good work today," Towa repeats, in the same emotionless tone of voice.

Upon hearing that and seeing Towa, the other part-timer storms over to him. "Excuse you! You overslept again, didn't you? Poor Arimura-kun had to pick up your slack!"

"Just for a little bit..."

"A little bit my ass, late is late," he replies, hands on his hips. His bright-yellow Smoke isn't swaying, though, so clearly he's not actually angry.

"Hear, hear," Taku says, clicking his own can of coffee open. "But, where's Arimura-kun? Did he already leave?"

"Yeah, a while ago."

"Ah... Well, thank you for staying longer than your usual shift, Rei. You were a big help."

"You're very welcome! Thank me later by buying me something sweet."

"I'll get you a parfait at the diner."

"Excellent!"

As Towa watches the two of them without saying anything, his gaze snatches on Taku for some reason. He thinks that...

"You look tired."

"—hm?"

"Your face. You look tired."

"Oh." He touches his cheek and sighs.

"What's wrong? Not getting enough sleep?"

"Yeah, kind of, but mostly I'm just... mentally drained."