Shuo was woken by the thoughts in his head. It hardly counted as waking naturally; it was more like being dragged forcibly out of sleep-at exactly six thirty, the thought "I have to watch the shop today" crashed in, setting Lightspeed Thinking running automatically. Room temperature, twenty degrees; humidity, sixty-three percent; the rice balls on the table were still warm. Even the frequency of the footsteps of the elderly people exercising outside was crammed into his head, annoying him enough to click his tongue.
He lay still, staring at the ceiling, dawdling for two minutes before reluctantly sitting up.
He turned his head. The opposite bed was perfectly tidy, and Sai was gone again. The paper bag on the table gave off a tempting smell; he hardly needed to think to know that guy had just bought it.
As he washed up, the dark circles in the mirror looked a little lighter again, but the corners of his mouth were curving up without his noticing. He pursed his lips and deliberately pressed down hard while wiping his face with the towel, pretending that little curve did not exist.
He had just finished wiping his face when the door opened. Sai came in carrying two paper bags, still wearing that dark gray jacket, its cuffs dusted with fine ash he had not quite cleaned off last night.
"You bought another two?"
Shuo raised an eyebrow, his tone languid and listless. "Can't you remember what I like?"
"I didn't know whether you'd want something different today."
Sai set down the paper bags, his tone flat but holding a trace of caution.
Shuo took one at random. Inside was a salmon rice ball. He bit into it; the saltiness was just right. He made no complaints, simply chewing slowly.
Sai sat opposite him,