🌸 CHAPTER 1 — The Day Everything Went Mildly, Softly, Disastrously Wrong
If there were a world record for “Most Slightly Chaotic Monday Morning,” Mizuki would win it with zero competition.
Not because anything terrible happened—no explosions, no alien invasions—just a perfectly curated collection of tiny disasters that somehow snowballed into one big, adorable mess.
It all started with her alarm clock.
It rang.
Loudly.
Mizuki, however… did not.
Her hand shot out to slap the snooze button—
and smacked straight into a glass of water.
The water spilled.
The water soaked her sketchbook.
The water drenched her bangs.
The water even dripped onto her cat-themed pajama shirt, turning the sleepy printed cat into a panicked, drowning cat.
“Whyyyyyy—!!” Mizuki wailed, leaping out of bed like a startled shrimp.
From beneath the blankets, her cat Mochi poked his head out.
He looked at her with that specific expression cats use when they believe their human has failed yet again.
“Don’t judge me,” Mizuki groaned. “It’s not my fault I stayed up watching anime—”
Correction: she stayed up watching all 24 episodes of an anime.
She stumbled into the bathroom, brushing her teeth while her eyes were still only 40% open. She tied her hair into a messy side ponytail, then opened the door—
BAM.
Right into the cabinet.
Mochi stared at her like a disappointed grandmother.
“Stop staring! I’m fragile in the mornings!”
Mizuki sprinted downstairs, pulling on her shoes while shoving half a sandwich into her mouth.
“I’m laaaaaate!”
She threw open the door dramatically. The morning breeze hit her hair and fluffed it upwards like she was the protagonist of a magical girl transformation sequence—
Except instead of transforming into a sparkly heroine, she transformed into… a stressed high school girl who was very, very late.
She dashed onto the front walkway—
And immediately met Small Disaster #1 of the day:
She tripped over the neighbor’s runaway robot vacuum.
“Wha—Waaaah!!”
She spun in three circles like a confused figure skater before landing on her butt with a soft thud.
The robot vacuum politely beeped, then started cleaning the exact spot where Mizuki had fallen, like it was tidying up her dignity.
“Don’t you dare clean around me like that…!”
Mizuki snapped, cheeks puffed.
“Sparky—go home!”
The robot replied, “Beep bop.”
“Don’t bop me!!”
After barely surviving the first two minutes outside her house, Mizuki finally reached the school gates… somehow.
She skidded to a stop, panting dramatically, just as the bell rang.
“I made it… I ACTUALLY—”
Her school bag slipped off her shoulder.
Then it flipped.
Then every single item inside flew out like fireworks.
Pencils.
Notebooks.
A half-eaten cookie.
A keychain plush of her favorite anime boy.
A mysterious crumpled paper she swore she didn’t pack today.
Everything rained across the ground.
And of course—OF COURSE—someone stepped into view.
A pair of clean white sneakers stopped right in front of her fallen items.
Mizuki froze.
Oh no.
No no no.
Not him.
Not the person she least wanted to see her being an entire natural disaster.
She slowly, very slowly, lifted her gaze—
Up long legs.
Up the neat uniform.
Up the headphones around his neck.
Until she met the calm, annoyingly handsome face of Kazuki Ren, the effortlessly cool boy everyone somehow knew about even if he barely spoke.
He looked at her scattered belongings.
He looked at her red face.
“…Rough morning?” he asked, deadpan.
Mizuki wanted to evaporate into the school courtyard.
“I—I—I’m fine!” she squeaked.
Then her half-eaten cookie rolled across his shoe like a guilty toddler trying to escape.
Kazuki blinked.
Mizuki died internally.
He bent down and picked up her keychain plush—the tiny, adorable chibi knight with a sparkly sword.
Kazuki held it between two fingers.
“…This guy?” he asked.
“DON’T LOOK AT HIM!” Mizuki yelped, snatching the plush back like it was top-secret classified material.
Kazuki raised a brow. “He looks… very shiny.”
Mizuki covered her face with both hands. “Please stop talking…”
Kazuki collected her scattered notebooks without comment and handed them to her.
She bowed deeply, nearly bonking her head into his chest.
“Th-thank you! Sorry! I didn’t mean to become a natural disaster in your personal space!”
He studied her for a moment, then—shockingly—smiled.
Just a tiny, barely there smile.
“It’s fine,” he said. “You’re… energetic.”
Energetic.
That meant chaotic.
She knew it. He knew it. Mochi definitely knew it.
Before she could recover, the second bell rang.
Kazuki slipped his hands into his pockets and turned toward the building.
“You coming?”
Mizuki nodded fiercely—too fiercely.
She hit her forehead on the doorframe.
Kazuki halted mid-step. “Are you okay?”
“FINE!” she squeaked, voice several octaves too high.
He laughed softly—quiet, low, warm.
Mizuki felt her knees wobble.
By lunchtime, rumors had already begun.
“Oh my gosh, did you see Kazuki pick up Mizuki’s stuff?”
“Were they talking?”
“Did he SMILE at her?”
“Impossible. The world must be ending.”
Mizuki sat at her desk, face in her arms, muffled screaming into her sleeves.
“I can’t believe this,” she groaned. “Why am I like this??”
Her best friend Airi patted her back sympathetically. “It’s okay. You do this every Monday.”
“EVERY Monday…?!”
“Every,” Airi repeated.
Mizuki rolled her head sideways to bang it softly on the desk.
“Maybe I should just hibernate until Friday…”
Airi grinned. “Nah. Then Kazuki wouldn’t see your cute disasters.”
“HE CALLED ME ENERGETIC, AIRI. Energetic. That’s not cute! That’s code for ‘danger to public safety’!”
“Mmhmm,” Airi hummed, sipping juice. “And yet he smiled.”
Mizuki’s soul left her body for a moment.
Maybe today wasn’t the worst day.
Maybe—maybe—someone found her chaos… endearing?
She buried her face again.
“…Nope. Impossible.”
But her heart beat just a little too fast for that to be true.
