The premise of breaking up in Tokyo

At 4:30 a.m., Mikoto woke up as usual.

It's been like this for three years in a row, so I don't need an alarm clock anymore.

Outside the window, the night sky was ablaze with blue-purple neon lights, while inside the room, it remained pitch black.

Katsuhiko's steady breathing was right next to Mikoto's ear. She listened quietly for a while, feeling somewhat dazed, as if this was the most relaxing time of her life.

I wanted to sleep a little longer, but I couldn't fall asleep no matter what I did. I was worried that my pounding heartbeat would wake Shengyan up. I gently moved his hand away from my chest, then carefully climbed off the mattress, grabbed the pajamas that were lying on the floor, and put them on.

She turned on the living room light switch, and the soft yellow light spread out. She sat barefoot on the sofa, lifted her slightly flushed cheeks, smiled, and then drifted off into a daze.

The second hand of the wall clock ticked away, and after about ten minutes, she snapped out of her daze. Glancing at the messy living room, she couldn't help but blink, giving a look that said, "I just realized how messy the living room is," before starting to tidy up.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the sun was shining brightly.

Mikoto has prepared breakfast.

Chinatsu was still asleep in her crib when Mikoto tiptoed out of the room, gently closed the door, went into the kitchen, brought out two glasses of milk, and quietly entered the bedroom.

Katsuhiko was also asleep, sprawled out on his back. The sheet that had been covering him had been thrown to the floor, where it was still hanging...

Mikoto bit her lip, glancing at him again and again, wanting to laugh but worried about waking him. Then she slowly knelt down beside the mattress, placed two glasses of milk on the bedside table, bent down to pick up the sheet, and gently covered Katsuhiko with it.

The sheets continued to rise and fall, and Mikoto held back her laughter, glancing at the sheets, tilting her head and frowning, then glancing again, covering her mouth and laughing so hard her shoulders trembled slightly.

Once the sheet covering Katsuhiko was finally smooth, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the milk glass from the bedside table, gently placed it to her lips, and took a sip.

Katsuhiko, who was fast asleep, suddenly became serious, sat up abruptly, turned his head, blinked, and said, "Good morning."

Mikoto paused for a moment, then picked up another glass of milk and handed it to Katsuhiko, asking softly, "What's wrong? You seem to be having a nightmare."

"It wasn't a nightmare, just a bit of a surprise," Sheng Yan frowned, took the milk glass, took a big gulp, and said with a melancholy look, "I just dreamt that my girlfriend was spying on me, and she even rushed in and pulled off our blankets."

"Is that so..." Mikoto's right hand, holding the milk glass, trembled slightly. She turned to face the window, pretending to be nonchalant, took another sip of milk, and said softly, "It's just a dream, there shouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"

Mikoto was also somewhat prepared. She didn't care who Katsuhiko's girlfriend was, or even if he was married, since she didn't know him and had no intention of competing with him for his affections.

"No, I have a feeling she'll definitely expose me," Katsuhiko frowned, looking quite certain. Then, as if talking to himself, he speculated, "I'm her first love, and she's a hopeless romantic. The three of us see each other every day. It won't be a secret for long. After all, Sayuri isn't stupid..."

"Pfft!!" Mikoto froze, spitting a mouthful of milk onto Katsuhiko's face. She hurriedly grabbed a sheet to wipe her face and asked, "Who did you say?!"

Katsuhiko took the sheet, wiped his face, finished his milk, handed the empty glass to Mikoto, and asked, "Why do you look so surprised?"

"Wait a minute..." Mikoto was stunned for a moment. Of course, she had heard him clearly, but she still couldn't quite believe it. She took the cup, placed it on the bedside table, and asked:

"You and Sayuri-chan... you only met for the first time the night before last, right? And she's already your girlfriend?"

At this moment, Mikoto also remembered that when she returned to the convenience store yesterday evening, Sayuri looked so immersed in the joy of love, full of anticipation, and she even gave her three days off to go on dates with her boyfriend!

Is it difficult to define a relationship?

"My mind's a bit muddled," Mikoto subconsciously scratched her hair, then tilted her head back and gulped down the milk in her glass, milk spilling from the corner of her mouth. She let out a long breath, then turned to look at Katsuhiko, her eyes wide, and asked, "It's just shift change time, we can't really say much, and it's our first time meeting..."

Mikoto wanted to struggle a little longer.

"Didn't we just meet for the first time yesterday morning?"

Katsuhiko's nonchalant attitude amused and annoyed Mikoto. "How can I, a single old woman with a four-year-old child, be compared to a little girl who's never been in a relationship?"

However, she didn't say it aloud. Instead, she lowered her head, closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, and then turned to look at Sheng Yan, saying, "Should we... pretend nothing happened?"

"Don't even think about it." Katsuhiko refused outright, tossing aside the sheet, wrapping one arm around Mikoto's waist, and rolling her over to pull her back onto the mattress. "You're not scared, are you?"

Mikoto felt a strange, overwhelming joy welling up inside her, and suddenly the world spun around her. When she came to her senses, she was lying flat on the mattress, her hands pressed down on either side of her head by Katsuhiko. She instinctively turned her head and said, "Aren't you worried that Sayuri might really pull off the covers?"

"Then we'll see who has the thickest skin."

"I'm going crazy..."

"Morning is the time to go crazy," Katsuhiko said, gently lifting the strap of her nightgown with his teeth. "You were pretty tired last night, so I'll take over today."

From the children's room next door came Chika's shout, which sounded like she was stretching, a secret signal used only by children.

"No~ Chinatsu-chan's awake!" Mikoto, her face flushed, tumbled off the mattress as if fleeing for her life, pulled up her camisole, turned and hurriedly left the bedroom, then turned back, smiling, and said, "Time for breakfast..."

The convenience store uniform he'd stuffed into the washing machine last night was dry, and Katsuhiko, dressed neatly, walked out of the bedroom.

Mikoto happened to be leading Chinatsu out of the children's room.

Chinatsu immediately opened her arms and raised her hands high towards Katsuhiko, asking him to hug her.

Mikoto shrugged helplessly, turned and walked towards the kitchen, saying, "You guys go wash your hands, I'll serve the rice."

Katsuhiko bent over, lifted Chika above his head, then turned her small body sideways so that her head faced the bathroom, and "whoosh~" they "flew" in together.

Mikoto set the food on the table, and the two of them were still playfully fighting in the bathroom.

Katsuhiko, with a stern face, pressed his head against Chika's forehead and said, "Call me Daddy...call me Daddy..."

Chika giggled and slapped Katsuhiko's thick face with her little hand.

Mikoto stared blankly at the bathroom for a moment, only snapping back to reality when the chopsticks in her hand fell onto the dining table. With trembling hands, she set the chopsticks aside and said with her head down, "Come and eat."

Katsuhiko sat at the dining table with Chinatsu in his arms, staring at the table full of dishes, and asked in surprise, "Is this breakfast?"

The table was laden with food: halibut, tuna, abalone sashimi, crab meat with cucumber, a mixed stew of wild vegetables, pan-fried scallops, sea cucumber soup...

"I got up early, so I just made something quick," Mikoto said, her eyes lowered. She picked up an abalone and placed it on Katsuhiko's plate, then rested her chin on her hand, staring blankly at Katsuhiko. "Try it and see if it suits your taste."

Katsuhiko took a bite, then put some on Chika's plate. He then started eating heartily, nodding and saying, "Delicious, this is good, and this one too, this one is delicious too..."

"I want to eat too~" Chika said with a grin, picking up a prawn with her chopsticks.

Shengyan immediately picked up the plate, lowered his head and said, "Call me Dad and I'll give it to you."

Chika's eyes darted around, and she pouted without saying a word.

"She's never called me 'Dad' before, and she doesn't remember what I look like."

As Mikoto spoke, she picked up a bit of crab meat with her chopsticks, put it in her lips, glanced down at Katsuhiko, and whispered, "If you ask her like that, she'll take it seriously."