The clock struck 1 pm, but it felt as if time had played a trick on everyone in the office. The bustling crowd of office folks hurriedly made their way out, driven by the intense hunger that had settled in their bellies.
Their mission: to locate a nearby store that could satiate their cravings and provide a brief respite from the workday grind.
Amidst the flurry of activity, a curious office boy turned to his friend and asked, "Hey Rui, what do you feel like eating today?" Rui pondered for a moment and replied,
"I'm not sure, I'm confused too. How about some Ramen, Keisuke?"
"Ugh, I'm tired of having ramen all the time. Let's go for something different, anything but ramen!"
"Well, if you don't like my choice, then what do you want to eat?"
"Let's go for something refreshing instead. It feels quite hot today!"
"You always feel hot because you wear so many layers of clothes, you idiot!" Rui pointed at Keisuke's four layers of clothing before he covered it with his office shirt. Keisuke shrugged and admitted, "Fair enough."
The office was so quiet, but Keisuke noticed that there was still someone with the same pink hair in the office, who seemed to be busy working. Keisuke whispered to Rui, "Hey, Itadori-san is still here, huh? I wonder why he's not having lunch with everyone else. Any idea what he's up to?"
"Well, you know how the boss always dumps his work on Itadori-san? Rumour has it that the boss does it so he can spend time with his mistress during the day and still go home on time without his wife suspecting anything."
"What a fucking pig! Poor Itadori-san. I wonder if he even gets paid extra for doing the boss's work all the time." Rui shook his head and said, "Nah, I don't think so." Keisuke sighed,
"Man, the boss is the one being sneaky, but his actions are affecting his subordinates too. HEY, ITADORI-SAN!" Suddenly, Keisuke shouted, causing Itadori to stop working and look at them.
"WANNA GRAB SOME LUNCH WITH US? OR SHOULD WE ORDER SOMETHING FOR YOU?" Keisuke shouted loud enough for Itadori to hear from a distance. Itadori smiled and replied,
"NO WORRIES, I BROUGHT MY OWN LUNCH! YOU GUYS GO AHEAD WITHOUT ME." Keisuke grinned and said,
"ALRIGHT, WE'LL GO GRAB SOME FOOD THEN, ITADORI-SAN! BYE!" He then pulled Rui out of the office to find something to eat before getting back to work.
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Jin couldn't help but grin at his two co-workers. Despite being slightly younger than him, Keisuke and Rui were already way more skilled and clever at their jobs.
They've only been with the company for a year, but they're giving the senior workers a run for their money. They're quick on their feet and don't get caught up in office gossip like some of the others.
Those folks just can't stop blabbering about the boss's affair with his new mistress. They even place bets on how long she'll stick around or when the boss's wife will find out.
Not that Jin really cares about those rumours, except for the fact that the boss's wife seems like a decent person. Jin got that impression when he delivered some files to the boss's house and bumped into his wife at the front door.
She was super friendly and even made him some tea before calling the boss to come meet Jin. As usual, the boss was conveniently "busy" all day, leaving Jin to handle his job as the VP of Human Resources at the Sendai branch office, even though Jin's actual title is just HRIS (Human Resource Information Specialist).
It's totally unfair, but what can you do?
The boss calls the shots. Especially with Yuuji and Sukuna in the picture. Jin was really feeling the pressure to make more money for his family and keep his job, but he was determined to make it home on time today and spend some quality time with his family.
KROOOCKK
Suddenly, his stomach let out a loud growl. He could feel his cheeks turning red as he realized just how loud it was. Luckily, there was no one else in the office except for him. If there had been, he would have been so embarrassed.
KROOOCKK
Jin's stomach growled again as if his body was rebelling against him today. It was unusual for him to feel hungry during the day. He often skipped or delayed lunch altogether and his stomach never made loud noises like this.
'Should I eat lunch or not?' he pondered.
In the end, Jin decided to eat his lunch rather than risk his empty stomach making embarrassing noises when the office was full of coworkers.
He opened his lunch box and checked out what was inside. There was white rice with karage (fried chicken) and tempura as side dishes, along with a bottle of hot tea.
'Wow, Dad must have really gone all out with this lunch,' Jin thought, remembering that his father usually just made rice and fried eggs. He picked up a piece of tempura and took a bite. His eyes widened in delight.
"Umai...."
Jin wasted no time and dove into his lunch with absolute greed. Little did he know, in just a blink of an eye, that his entire meal vanished into thin air within a mere 10 minutes.
It was a record-breaking feat, the quickest lunchtime devouring session ever witnessed in the office. The flavours that flooded Jin's taste buds were nothing short of a culinary explosion.
The karage chicken, Oh My, it was flawlessly tender right down to the bone. And let's not forget about the tempura, with its perfect balance of saltiness that danced on his tongue, never too overwhelming or bland.
A sip of warm tea water to cleanse the palate added an extra touch of satisfaction, leaving his stomach content and happy.
The deliciousness of today's lunch was beyond words. It worked like magic, instantly banishing any hint of drowsiness and reigniting Jin's energy levels. He wasted no time and swiftly packed up his lunch, ready to conquer the rest of the workday.
Confidence surged through his veins as he believed he could conquer his assignments and still make it home in time to enjoy precious moments with his beloved family. With determination in his voice, he whispered to himself,
"Alright, let's do this!"
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Today is a happy day for her.
Back when she still in high school, she didn't have any close friends. You could say she was a bit of a shy girl. The last time she hung out with her peers was when one of the popular girls in her class invited her to go shopping for makeup and clothes at the mall.
But honestly, it wasn't all that great. She ended up getting ditched after just 30 minutes, with the popular girls not really interacting with her much, except for asking about homework and wanting to copy her answers.
After graduating from high school and getting hitched to her husband, Yuna found herself with zero friends to invite to their simple wedding, except for the caretaker from the orphanage where she grew up, her husband's friend? Coworker? and a few friendly neighbours from their apartment building.
But today, everything changed when she met Kushina. For some reason, Yuna felt an incredible happiness in her heart. She was so excited that she couldn't help but do little jumps with every step on her way back to the apartment.
Her body felt more energized than ever, and even carrying the groceries didn't feel as heavy as usual.
Maybe this is the kind of joy and warmth that every teenage girl feels when they're with their close friends. It's that feeling of happiness that just radiates between them. According to her, Kushina was really kind.
Even though she came from a village, she was super smart and quick to understand things. Yuna only had to explain something once, and Kushina would remember it without needing any further explanations. Yuna chuckled to herself, remembering their trip to the supermarket.
Kushina looked totally confused and panicked when they heard the announcement blaring through the store.
'What was that, Dattebane? Where is the sound coming from?!'
It was clear that Kushina wasn't exactly tech-savvy. Yuna also realized that Kushina couldn't read Romanji or the regular alphabet like ABC. She would get all puzzled by the signs on the streets. But hey, at least Kushina could read and understand kanji and hiragana.
Despite Kushina's quirks, Yuna was really grateful to have met her. At first, Yuna thought Kushina would be just like those popular girls from her high school days—beautiful but mean to everyone.
But boy, was she wrong!
Yuna never expected to meet such a gorgeous girl with long red hair and an amazing heart. Kushina made Yuna's ordinary day feel so fun and exciting. They had a blast talking and joking around together. They were so engrossed in their conversation that Yuna didn't even realize how late it had gotten.
Today was truly a blessed day for Yuna, and before she knew it, she found herself standing right in front of her apartment door.
Yuna quietly opened the door to her apartment and exclaimed, "Tadaima!" But something seemed off. It was unusually quiet.
'Normally, Toji-kun would be glued to the TV at this time. Did he step out for a bit?' Yuna wondered, glancing at the shoe rack where his sandals were still neatly arranged.
She tiptoed her way towards the living room, her heart starting to pound as she caught a whiff of a woman's perfume. Cue the negative thoughts flooding her brain. As Yuna reached the living room, her eyes widened in disbelief.
There sat her tall and muscular husband, Toji, in the chair, feeding their baby, Megumi, with a bottle of milk. But that wasn't the only thing that caught Yuna's attention.
Her husband's face look fabulous.
Toji had taken desperate measures to calm the little rascal. His face was smeared with messy purple eyeshadow and bright red lipstick. And to top it off, he had even put on a pink ribbon headband, the kind she usually wore at home.
Yuna had to bite her lip so hard to stifle the laughter threatening to burst out and wake up poor Megumi from his nap.
"Oh, you think you're hilarious, don't you, sweetheart?" Toji sarcastically remarked to his wife, who was now sprawled on the floor, desperately trying to contain her giggles.
Unable to hold back her curiosity, Yuna asked, "Why on earth are you wearing my makeup, Toji-kun?" Toji sighed and replied,
"The brat just wouldn't stop crying after you left. I tried everything, and this was my last resort." Yuna couldn't help but chuckle.
"But what about the pink ribbon headband?" she asked.
Toji's cheeks turned red with embarrassment as he admitted, "...It kept the brat from yanking my precious hair."
Yuna burst into soft laughter, appreciating her husband's creative problem-solving skills, even if it did make him look like he had been in a hilarious brawl with a makeup kit. Changing the subject, Toji asked,
"By the way, why did it take you so long to buy groceries?"
With a gentle smile, Yuna replied, "I made a new friend,"
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"Ah, how intriguing," exclaimed Kurama, his keen senses attuned to the events unfolding as the Uzumaki girl ventured into town. With each passing moment, Kurama couldn't help but sense an air of peculiarity enveloping this world.
It went beyond the mere existence of supernatural creatures, hidden from the prying eyes of ordinary individuals amidst the bustling streets of big cities. No, there was something more, an ethereal dark energy that danced and weaved through the fabric of this realm.
It seemed to converge and swirl in abundance within the heart of the bustling metropolis, akin to a dark cloud brimming with a sensation reminiscent of yin chakra, though not entirely yin chakra itself.
Kurama couldn't shake the feeling that this cloud had the potential to birth something even more grotesque if it were to grow larger, an ominous notion indeed. As if to add to the mystery, these dark clouds seemed to emanate from the human bodies even the civilians one, EXCEPT the Uzumaki Girl.
But that wasn't all that caught Kurama's discerning eye. Apart from the absence of individuals in this world possessing a chakra path and instead emitting a peculiar black energy from their bodies, he noticed another captivating phenomenon.
When the Uzumaki girl came within a distance of approximately one meter from another person, her unconscious chakra would gradually seep out and subtly influence those in her vicinity.
It was a fascinating sight to behold, as the people around her, especially the old man, his son, the twin babies, and the newly acquainted girl she had met in the city, slowly succumbed to the subtle possession of her chakra. Kurama's meticulous observations revealed that Kushina's chakra had a remarkable tendency to intertwine itself with that of other humans, particularly through prolonged physical contact.
Curiously, the Uzumaki girl herself seemed blissfully unaware of this intriguing aspect of her chakra. Her energy seemed to act autonomously, engaging with unsuspecting individuals she encountered. Kurama pondered the potential consequences of this unintentional interaction between her chakra and that of the humans she met.
What would transpire if her chakra continued to affect those she interacted with? The thought left Kurama filled with anticipation, as he could discern her chakra subtly displacing the unsettling dark energy within people's bodies when they stood in close proximity or made physical contact with her.
The unfolding future promised even more captivating revelations, and Kurama eagerly awaited what lay ahead.
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