Cutscene: A Cold Comfort

After the seminar and just before the blizzard makes travel impossible, Noriko comes home. Her father is working late. Of course he is, he always is. When she comes into their apartment, as the first order of business, she looks at the thermostat. It's freezing and yet it's saying it's working hard. She's guessing something broke.

She sets it higher, but she already knows it's unlikely to have a meaningful effect. She sighs and goes to the kitchen, pulling open a precooked ramen package that she just needs to warm up to eat. It's neither very healthy nor very tasty, but it'll have to do. She shoves it into a pan and then goes to grab a blanket.

When it's done, she takes her bowl of ramen and sits down, covering herself in the blanket as she turns on the TV. Her favourite anime is on tonight. As it starts, she's eating her ramen. It soons turns out the filler episodes have ended. At least one thing is going well tonight.

It barely manages to improve her mood, if at all, but at least it'll waste a bit of time.