I sit up, resting my head against the bed board; submersed by multiple layers of blankets pulled up to my chin. I look out my bedroom window as Sun begins to peer his way through my curtains.

“I love mornings like this…” I whisper to myself with a satisfied grin, peeking across the bed to my mirror. My butterfly style socks poke out from the end of my blankets, their eyes, or, antennas peer back at me. Sometimes I wish I could just be a caterpillar, to be honest. Not because caterpillars are cute or anything, cause I really can’t stand bugs. It’s simple, really; wrapping yourself up in a cocoon for months, then magically turning into a whole other creature with beautiful wings that can fly away. I take a big gulp of my almond cream coffee, spilling a little onto the top layer of my blankets.

“For fu-” I am cut off by series of knocks at my door, causing my body to jerk; now spilling coffee all over my chest. Great.

“Goodmorning, Yuriko, It’s Kiyoko! Are ya up?”

Why on earth is Kiyoko here? I lunge out of bed and check my clock. It’s only eight? Something must be horribly wrong if she wants to see me during the sacred hours of the morning…

“Yes, be right there!” I shout back. I quickly turn to my mirror, where I was naively unprepared for seeing the manifest of my coffee-stained pajamas. I turn to my dresser, but then I hear another call from my door.

“C'mon, Yurikoooo!” exclaims Kiyoko once more, likely waking up all of my neighbors. Something must be wrong… I must sacrifice my own embarrassment in the name of Kiyoko’s well-being! I scurry my way to my front door, turn the nob and swing it open.

“Kiyoko! Is everything alright?!” I ask, standing wide in the doorway. However, I am soon to step back once I see Kiyoko; her head tilted to the left with a faint expression of surprise on her face.

“Hmm, is there something wrong with coming to share a coffee with my dear friend Yuriko?” she asks with a giggle, presenting me with a Him Torton’s coffee, my name is written beautifully on the lid; she must’ve done it herself. I take the coffee with surprise and relax my posture with a slight chuckle

“Uhmm, no not at all! I just wish I could have...” my voice trails off as I notice Kiyoko’s eyes glancing up and down my body. My face grows super hot. I quickly cover up my coffee stained shirt, to which Kiyoko waves her hands at me as if to dismiss my reaction.

“Ahh, I’m sorry if I woke you! I can come back another time if you want, I know it’s early. I have to remember that not everybody is a crazy morning person like me,” she purposes with a slight blush, imparting another one of her pearl white grins. As she speaks, I catch myself admiring her; how on earth can somebody be up at this hour and appear as if they spent hours getting ready? Maybe she made a deal with some evil spirit for constantly good looks in exchange for her soul! Oh, poor Kiyoko!

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

She wears a black t-shirt, with a checkered button-up shirt wrapped around her waist. Her legs snug into her faded blue ripped jeans too; I glance down at my butterfly socks, then back up at her.

“No no, come on in!” I reply, gesturing her into my apartment. There’s no way I could just send her back on her way, especially after bringing me some more holy water (coffee, of course). Kiyoko smiles once more and walks through my doorway. I follow soon after, the antennas on my socks wobbling as I move.

“I apologize for my appearance, by the way, if I knew you were coming I’d have made myself look a little more presentable…” I say to Kiyoko with a faint laugh, looking down at my white fluffy pants and stained pajama top. The two of us sit at my coffee table, each with a coffee in hand.

“Yuriko!” Kiyoko replies, “you know you don’t have to worry about that! It’s just-” She cuts herself off, then bobs her head side to side before continuing, twirling her thumbs. Is Kiyoko… nervous? How could this be? This must be something important. Suddenly, she lets out a quick breath and continues.

“I didn’t sleep at all last night, and I’ve concluded that I have a problem only you can solve…” Kiyoko suddenly rises up from her seat and leans across the table towards me. My table is relatively small, so in a few fleeting seconds, her face is only about thirty centimeters from mine. Her cobalt blue eyes gaze into mine expectantly, with her soft lips slightly parted and expressionless. I think I am going to pass out. What could this mean?! Could this be what Kiyoko came over for? Surely not! No way! She’s not that kind of person, right? As I debate myself in my head, my words leap up before a second thought.

‘A-anything you need, Kiyoko” I replied, flustered. My face feels like it’s been submerged in lava. Suddenly she reclines back and points directly at me with her index finger.

“Good! Because Yuriko, I have completely... forgotten how to write people...” she says with an apprehensive laugh of clear embarrassment.

“You forgot to… write people?” I reply, my body temperature dropping a billion degrees. That's enough excitement for today.

“Yes. I was up all night working, and couldn’t get a word down about the protagonist and his six main love interests!" She shrugs her shoulders, "so, I quickly ended up redoing a bunch of stuff that was better before I went back on it. Now the characters just make no sense" she explains, taking a small sip of her coffee, then getting right back to her story. “So, I spotted your novel on my desk, and decided to look through it for inspiration, and that’s when I realized that you’re a hecking genius, Yuriko.”

“A hecking genius?” I ask, taking a gulp of my own coffee as I peer over to her. Could Kiyoko be coming to me for writing advice?

"A hecking genius" She replies, leaning forward into her seat and plopping a pen and notebook onto the table. "Please Yuriko, teach me your ways; teach me the ways of writing romance!"

I feel Vaughn pop-up from the top of my head.