Chapter Text
Kafka was 18 when Mina asked to move in with him.
"Please let me move in! There's been some issues-"
"Hey it's okay Mina, don't worry you can stay as long as you need."
It's been a year since that conversation and while at first their situation had some problems (the last time Kafka lived with someone was 4 years ago. His parents had long since left, leaving him having to complete odd jobs in order to survive.) They eventually got over it and grew closer than ever.
Mina even took up a job herself to pay for her share of rent ("I don't care what you say, I'm not going to leech off of you Kafka!") She helped around the house with chores. (She did not do any of the cooking. All it took was setting the stove on fire once. Never again.)
Their living situation brought up some intrusive questions from the neighbors.
"So when are you two getting married, you'd be so cute together!" No. Just no. Mina doesn't even bother with the neighbors at this point. Sure she loves Kafka but definitely not like that...ew.
They've both worked so hard to achieve their goal of joining the Kaiju Defense Force. They even have their own home gym to help stay in shape and textbooks full of information on Kaiju. She pretends to not see the notes and drawings on Kafka's desk. His extensive diagrams full of anatomical notes he picked up from his time in Kaiju clean up are impressive. Anytime she asks he waves her off embarrassingly.
Recently Kafka's been pushing too much work on himself. (She's pretty sure he's been taking up more jobs to help pay for their preparations to join the force. She's almost the legal age to try out. Idiot trying to focus on her and not taking care of himself.) He came home, his eye's rimmed red and heavy with bags. When she asked he said didn't want to talk about it and continued on with his strained smile.
Dinner that night was awkward. Despite not being able to cook Mina still tried to prepare food. (Anything to help Kafka, he already works too hard.) Kafka thanked her for the inedible mush and ate it anyways.
"Sorry it's not the best." He deserves better.
"It's alright, sides I don't think I'd be able to stomach anything else." He half heartedly jokes.
"Let me guess, work?" It's not really a question, Kafka has some really gross jobs.
"Hehe yeah, it was really gross. Just thinking about it makes me wanna hurl." He gets a devious smirk on his face. "Oh yeah it was sooo gross... like we had to-"
"Ew no! Don't talk like that at the dinner table!" She laughs, leaning backwards in her chair.
Her smile makes him relax.
...
...
"Sooo... are you alright?" She's never been good with emotional confrontation. "Hm?" Kafka had a dazed expression before straightening. "Oh, uh yeah. All good." "Yeah?" "Yeah." She hates when he lies like that. He may be two years her elder but she's still there to support him. They ate in silence, the tv droning on with some cheery anime theme song. (They both have a soft spot for magical girls. They even sit together and watch various animes together.)
"I'm going to bed."
"Oh, alright. Goodnight."
"Night."
Suddenly she doesn't feel like watching the cute magical girls on tv anymore.
That night she pretended to not hear Kafka's tossing and turning. Mina knows he's been having trouble sleeping lately. (He's pushing himself too thin.)
Maybe if she checked on him sooner Kafka would have been alright. Because when she goes to check on him his room is a mess with an unknown Kaiju standing in the middle of the wreckage.
"K-KAIJU!"
Hibino Kafka was nowhere to be seen.
Hibino Kafka was having a horrible day. It started at his first shift where his boss was just being a dick to him. (If he could he'd just stick to clean up and quit all these damn jobs.) Menial task after menial task, every process more tedious than the last.
Then his boss approached him "Hibino, I need to talk to ya."
Oh god not the dreaded words.
"Yes sir?" Please don't say it. He's heard rumors and if this is about what he thinks this is about he is screwed.
"Recently the company has been facing some hard financial times-" no. Don't say it. "We believe that it's in the company's best interest if we-"
He doesn't need to hear the rest.
"My apologies Mr. Hibino, but we are goin to have to let ya go."
There it goes. There's no room for argument.
Kafka says nothing and walks out the door.
At least his next (and only job now) is cleanup. The Third Division has a reputation for being messy, widely known for their sheer destructiveness when it comes to killing kaiju, body parts and viscera spread about the city. Buildings coated in acidic blood. His least favorite division was definitely the third.
The worst part was with how inefficient the subjugation was that there wasn't any semblance of real anatomy. One of the reasons Kafka chose to join the cleaners was to learn from real kaiju specimens. So far he's gotten extensive knowledge on core placement on dozens of species, he's even learned things that weren't in his textbooks.
Cleaning is also hard work, his muscles were not for show. Sure, he has some pudge on his body and he sure as hell doesn't have a six pack. But he has the body of a working man, something that will definitely help him when he joins the force.
At least.. if he joins the force. He sure as hell wasn't gonna give up. He's gonna be by Mina's side no matter if it kills him. But.. as he stands there, pressure washer in hand, he wonders if this was all he was gonna be. Just Hibino Kafka, kaiju cleaner. There're no questions about Mina, despite being two years younger she's ten times better than him at everything. (At least except for cooking.)
The rest of the day went by in a blur and before he knew it he was clocking out to go home. His back ached as he walked home. (God he felt old, he wasn't even 20, the hell was this stress doing to him.) He iched for a cigarette, he wouldn't, he hadn't in a long time. He gave up smoking after Mina moved in. (He'll destroy his lungs but he'll be damned if he destroyed hers.)
He hadn't noticed but he was crying while walking. When reached home he sat outside the door for a second to regain his composure (he will not bring Mina into his problems.) He knows she suspects something but is thankful when she doesn't press.
He goes upstairs to change out of his work clothes (the ones he kept in his locker, kaiju gore was a pain to clean out of cloth.)
When Kafka came down he was met with an awful smell. Oh, she made food. the thought made him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Although thinking about it, it might have the nausea at the horrid stench. Either way he still eats it.
Dinner started off pretty well, nothing much just small talk. Mina eventually apologized for her bad cooking. (Again, he doesn't care. He's just happy with how much thought she put into it.) He makes some off handed remarks about work and jokes around with her.
Her smile is worth it.
Halfway through the episode of the magical girl anime they were watching (Mina picked this one out, apparently there's also movie of it that's coming out that she wanted to see.) She asks him how he is. He doesn't want to lie to her but does so anyways. He's too uncomfortable with the conversation and tells her he's going to bed.
Kafka sits there tossing and turning for a bit but eventually succumbs to sleep. He dreams of drowning, choking unable to breathe. At one point he dreams of waking up to a gross bug kaiju. "found you." It told him, he chokes on it too. He wakes up shaking, sweating, and gasping for air. His skin felt too tight, his clothes did too. The room was bright with morning light.
He stands up to stretch but something gets knocked over, he turns to pick it up but more gets knocked over. He grabs the dresser for support but it crumbles under his grasp. The door opens and Mina walks in. He turns to look at her but is surprised when his eyes meet hers that are filled with nothing but sheer terror.
Even more surprising were the next words she spoke.
"K-KAIJU!"
Her finger was pointed in his direction.