Maybe if he were his former self, maybe Sakaki would have been an hour or two early for work. Nowadays, he was usually fashionably late, though never more than 15-minutes tops. The morning was crisp, and he had been awoken by the sound of the wind blowing outside. The sharp whistling slicing through his shallow dreams, and spilling out his consciousness back into the world of the waking. Awakening…to a minor headache. A slight hangover. He’d brought and drank most of his share of wine and brandy last night…oh god, there were minors taking a sip or two, if he recalled correctly. And if he recalled further, nothing bad happened when he had been in…but something might've happened after he left. Maybe going in early would be the nice thing to do…?

Pushing the covers off, scratching his stomach before reaching up and scratching his hair, he sat up on the king sized bad and set his feet on the wood floors. Some, no, most people craved a warm and filling breakfast in the morning…but not him. Sakaki only had one thing in mind, and that was a sweet and cool, moist cake. Of course, if he lived his life only eating cake, he’d live a shorter life…and that wouldn’t do. He had to live long enough to fully enough cake in a more healthy manner, this he was certain. And so, a more normal ‘western style’ breakfast was made.

Two sunny-side up eggs, four strips of bacon, a small portion of ‘breakfast rice’, and a glass or orange juice. Taking his time, and flipping through his usual baking magazine…[i]’Hmmm…that looks good, but the amount of sugar used in this recipe means that it’d be overly sweet. Surely less of a sophisticated taste, but likeable and even popular to young children.’[/i] Musing to himself and he ate on, soon everything on his plate was finished. Shoving his plate into the empty sink, he returned to his bedroom to sort of his outfit for today. Undershirt, black jeans, a white dress shirt…tie and a certain jacket would be over doing it. Running shoes, and a coat for the cold will do nicely. Setting his clothing onto his bed, he left to take a quick shower before drying off and getting dressed fully.

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Continuing his walk through the snow, he made his way to the store front. He could see a that some light was on through the window, so someone was definitely home. Pushing the door open, and stepping in from the cold air and crunchy snow…? “…?!” Before him was Kiku, one of his young high school age coworkers…and Madame Lilacflour, covered in red and white sauces and chunks, and shiny pieces. Of course, any normal person would have assumed something terrible had happened. But, before his eyes had time to process, his nose had stepped in...his sense of smell tapping his sense of sight on the back to prevent such a mistake.

“Is that strawberry I smell?”

Striding over with little to no hesitation, even a little bit confidently, he reached forward with his finger pointed…! Taking a swipe at the substance with a single finger as quick as lightning (and almost as audibly powerful as thunder), he took the little bit of it into his mouth…before shutting his eyes and smiling widely, “Oh? Is this a new variation I taste in the usual strawberry sauce, Lila-chan?"