Mistaken Promised Day

Anon pulled the blankets around himself tighter as his alarm went off. The sweet, soft warmth of his bed seemed especially enticing today, what with his sleep addled mind making him feel like someone was sharing the bed with him. He could almost feel a pair of slender arms around his chest as he nestled deeper into the pillow, and a soft head of hair on his shoulder as he started to drift back to sleep, confident that his backup alarm would wake him up in time for work. He didn't know what had prompted this sleepy sensation of cuddling in his brain, but he wasn't about to give it up so easily. The sound of a feminine voice grumbling into his shoulder was a bit much though. Had he really started dreaming again so quickly? As he felt a pajama clad leg wrap around one of his own, Anon shook off the sensation of sleep and realized that someone was actually in his bed. As he opened his eyes to look down at the unexpected intruder, he was met with sleepy pink eyes looking into his own.

There was a moment of silence as the two just stared at each other. The girl in his bed, pink hair to match her eyes, slowly began to look more and more confused and frightened. Anon couldn't help himself from feeling the same, his mind racing with how this could have happened before both of them flung themselves out of the bed in opposite directions.

“Who the fuck are you?!” She shouted, scrabbling her way to the dresser and pressing her back against it.

“Fuck you that's who! Why are you in my bed? How did you get in here? I'm on the third fucking floor!” Anon managed to untangle himself from his violently twisted sheets, dashing for the light switch and slapping his palm on it to get a clear view of the intruder. The lights revealed a downright tiny girl dressed in pink flannel pajamas decorated with little white bunnies. Her pale skin was flushed a deep crimson as she stood herself up, her little hands balled into fists as if she were ready to charge. “You're a little young to be breaking and entering aren't you?”

“What's that supposed to mean? You're the one who kidnapped me! I didn't do anything!” She started looking around for something, anything to grab to defend herself with, before settling on a bedside lamp. Holding the lamp up as menacingly as she could, she began to stalk towards Anon with a vicious glare and bared teeth.

“Yeah, nah. I'm not in the business of kidnapping thirteen year old girls. Also put that down before you trip on the cord.” The girl stopped in her tracks, growing absolutely livid before stomping and holding the lamp over her head to swing. With a mighty battle cry of “I'm eighteen!”, she charged at Anon only for the lamp's cord to get caught on the bedside table, promptly yanking her back and causing her to fall on her butt. Sighing, Anon briskly walked over and hefted the small girl over his shoulder. Her surprise immediately gave way to rage as she began to flail her arms and legs, desperately trying to break free.

“Pervert! Freak! Sicko! Kidnapper! Psycho! Let me down! Let me down right now! You filth! Human garb-wah!” Her tirade cut short by being unceremoniously dumped outside an apartment door, Anon looked down at the girl as he shook his head.

“I don't know who you are, why you broke in, or what your deal is, but I'm not letting you be my problem. Get lost.” Before she could reply Anon shut the door in her face and locked it. Sighing and turning around to walk back into his bedroom, he heard his backup alarm go off. “Well shit.” Grumbling about his bizarre morning, Anon set about the task of getting ready for work.

* * *

Stepping out of his door to find the very pink girl hugging her knees while sitting on the floor in the hallway, Anon couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. Making a small show of locking his door, he stood with his hands on his hips looking down on her.

“Why are you still here?” He said, tapping his foot impatiently as the girl grumbled into her knees.

“My kidnapper threw me out into an unfamiliar place in my pajamas! Where am I supposed to go?” Her reply caught Anon off guard for a moment before anger took hold.

“Kidnapper? Seriously are you high? I haven't kidnapped anybody, you're the one who broke into my home to crawl into my bed! You know thinking on it you've got some real gall calling me the pervert earlier!”Anon started to raise his voice, all but growling as he spoke.

“You are a pervert and you are a kidnapper! And you're a liar too! You put me in your bed after knocking me out somehow! It's the only thing that makes sense!” The girl raised her own voice to match Anon's, her cheeks tinging red as she grew more and more indignant. Anon grew louder still, leaning forward as a vein started to throb in his forehead.

“I have never seen you before in my life! I went to work, I came home, I went to bed! I don't have time to kidnap anyone and I don't have time to indulge in whatever stoned fantasies you come up with! Leave!”

“I'm not high, and you should be the one to take me home since you kidnapped me!”

“Find your own way home, or wherever you crawled out of, and stay away from me! Go be a burden somewhere else!” The girl flinched a little at the heat in Anon's voice and opened her mouth to turn the argument into a full-on screaming match when another door in the hallway opened up.

“Could you keep it down please? We're trying to sleep.” A stunned silence followed the request, and seemingly pleased with this outcome the interrupter stepped back into their apartment.

“That...was not my neighbor. Did she open the door with her foot?” Mused Anon, his confusion only mounting as the morning wore on.

“She didn't have arms. Why didn't she have arms?” Muttered the pink girl, looking at her own feet and pondering them as if she intended to make use of them the way the armless girl had earlier. Anon shook himself free of his own thoughts and went back to frowning down at the small pink home invader he'd been dealing with.

“Alright look, I'm not risking going to work and leaving you here to break into my place again. You can bugger off through that stairwell there,” Anon made a vague gesture to his right, indicating that the stairwell in question was perhaps nearby in that direction, “or you can force my hand and I can call the police, and they'll help you leave.” Faced with such a threat, the girl hesitated only briefly before tearfully shooting up to her feet and rigidly walking away in the direction Anon had pointed. Anon waited, listening closely for the sound of the stairwell door opening, closing, and subsequently locking before breathing a sigh of relief and walking the opposite way down the hallway. “Goddamn the day hasn't even started and I'm ready for it to end.”

* * *

Anon was having a hard time coping. As if his morning wasn't already difficult enough, his walk to work had been highlighted by: an obese man trying to jog after a legless girl, a line up of identical ponytailed girls outside of a coffee shop, an absolute behemoth of a man striking awkward poses for a growing crowd of awestruck women, and a gaggle of blue-haired women who sang and danced their way down the street in unison. Things had gone from being strange to to downright surreal as Anon picked up his pace, keeping his eyes downcast and just focusing on getting to work on time. However...

“What the fuck is happening?!” Stepping into work, Anon was met with an overwhelming burst of what he could only describe as concentrated anime. Maids, school uniforms, tight fitting body suits, not a natural hair colour to be seen, men and women he had never met before sporting truly astonishing body proportions, and at least one honest to god robot. Standing dumbstruck, Anon's gaze couldn't help but automatically follow one of his co-workers as they started going about their day with a goofy smile on their face and a half-snake woman happily hanging off of their shoulders. Stiffly walking up to the front counter. “John what is going on and why is our building filled with-wit-what is that? John what is that?!” Anon leaned over the counter, pointing accusingly at an eye searingly pink horse by John's hip. John smiled up at Anon dumbly, caught up in stroking his sausage fingers through the horse's mane.

“Her name is-” John was promptly silenced by Anon holding his palm out and making a strange, almost panicked noise from somewhere in his diaphragm.

“That's not what I asked. I did not ask what it's name was, I asked you what it is.” This time Anon was answered with an indignant “humph!” from the horse itself, causing Anon's already strained expression to worsen.

“I'm right here you know.”

Anon took a moment to take a deep, slow breath through his nose as he processed a talking pink horse. Closing his eyes and resting both of his palms on the counter, he spoke again. “Okay, I retract my question, I have a feeling I don't actually want to know. John what is going on and where did all of these people and...THAT, come from?

“Anon it's wonderful! I don't know what to call it, but all of our dreams have come true man! Our waifus are real! They're finally with us and we can be together now!” John couldn't hide his giddiness, doing a happy little shake in his chair as Anon just stayed still and kept his eyes closed.

“John the only reason I'm buying that for even a moment is because I have had the weirdest morning ever, but I don't have a waifu.” John's solemn gasp grated on Anon's already frayed nerves.

“Oh man I'm so sorry! To think you missed on such a chance at happiness I just, I feel for you man I really do.” John's misplaced sympathy only served to get Anon to open his eyes again, an action that he immediately regretted as he grimaced at the sight of a grown man pouting in tandem with a horse.

“No you don't understand, I mean that-you know what? Nevermind. Just give me my assignment for today, I don't want to think about this anymore.”

“Alright man, but more bad news for you I guess. Almost everyone called in sick today because of what's happening, so I have to ask if you're okay with working over your twelve hour spread? We need the manpower wherever we can get it.”

“Am I at least getting time and a half if I say yes?”

“Man I'll even squeeze in an extra two hours on your slip so you get double time.” Anon pondered briefly before nodding his head. The extra money could go a long way.

“Deal.”

* * *

One fourteen hour long workday later, Anon trudged towards his apartment building. He was used to a certain lack of self awareness with the general public, but the very sudden population surge had him answering questions he never thought he'd have to answer for the better part of the day. Worse still were the questions that he actually couldn't answer because never in his life did he think he'd have to think about them.

“Our toilets were never meant for biology like that, how am I supposed to know what you do in that situation? Ah shit.” As Anon approached his building he remembered his morning with the pink girl. Looking at his usual entrance, he paused and hesitated. He had no way of knowing what was really going on that morning. He thought she was just another junkie that actually managed to break in. How could anyone really blame him for acting like he did? At the same time, now he knew she had probably been dumped into this reality with no warning or reason, and he had thrown her to the wolves. After a small battle with himself, Anon muttered excuses under his breath as he started to walk the long way around his building to the other stairwell.

“There's no way she's still here.” Anon turned his key in the stairwell door, stepping inside. “Anyone in her position would've probably tried to find a cop or something.” He began making his way up the first flight of stairs. “She thought she was kidnapped, that wouldn't be unreasonable. I don't know why I'm checking.” Anon had taken the second flight of stairs two at a time, and on rounding the corner for the third flight of stairs: “Holy shit you're still here.”

Bloodshot pink eyes glared at him from over pajama clad knees. She was hunkered down a few steps, hugging herself and rubbing her nose on her sleeve. Groaning at Anon's arrival, she lowered her head and sniffled a bit.

“Had to make sure I actually left huh? Even I thought you wouldn't be a petty enough jerk to do that.” Anon's shoulders slumped a bit, but all the same he went up the stairs and sat next to the dejected pink ball that had just grumbled at him. He thought about trying to comfort her, but unsure of how to do so just awkwardly sat with his hand hovering over her shuddering shoulders.

“You're right, I was a dick this morning.” She looked up at him incredulously, not expecting Anon to agree with her perception of him. “I thought you were a junkie that had broken in and freaked out, but can you really blame me? It's not exactly a common thing for me to wake up with a stranger in my bed.” Anon watched the girl look away from him and huff, causing one of her canine teeth to poke out over her lip. After flicking her eyes back and forth between Anon and the wall, she finally let out an aggravated sigh.

“Fine, I'm sorry I called you a kidnapper and stuff. It was kind of the same thing for me, waking up in a strange place with a stranger where my pillow was supposed to be. At least now I know what really happened.” Anon perked up a little at this, curious about how this girl had ended up in his room. “The Promised Day happened and it screwed up! Everyone else gets to be with who they want but I get stuck with you instead of my Heartbeat! This is bullshit!” The girl kicked out her legs in frustration while Anon remained just as confused as he was before.

“Right. So I have no idea what you're on about but it sounds to me like you're pretty hooped unless I help you, and against all of my better judgment I can't just ignore that. What do you say we start over? I'm Anon.” Anon held out his hand and was met with a steely glare.

“I thought you said your name was Fuck You?”She said, shifting away from Anon slightly.

“You've lost me again.”

“This morning, when I asked who the fuck you were you were all 'Fuck You that's who' while being a big jerk.”Anon stared blankly at her for what seemed like ages, his tired brain desperately trying to figure out if she was serious or not. Finally her facade cracked and she gave him a wry grin and a giggle.

“Goddamn lady, it's been way too long of a day for you to mess with me like that. Also that is absolutely not what I sound like!”

“It is too! You sound all goofy like that all the time! Anyways Mister Anon, I don't think I need your help. I can get by just fine by myself thank you very much!” The girl actually managed to hold her head up haughtily, thrusting her chest out and placing her hands on her hips. What little effect there was immediately vanished as the sound of her stomach growling echoed through the stairwell and a deep red began to creep up her neck to her face. Yet another awkward silence as the girl froze in her pose, clearly trying to think of a way to salvage her statement as Anon stood up.

“Did you want to come back in? I'm making pasta tonight.”

“Y-yes please...I mean, fine! If you insist!” Anon opened the door to his floor and let her go through, leading her back to his apartment. “My name is Natsuki, by the way. You're supposed to ask after introducing yourself you jerk.”

“Well I'd say it's nice to meet you Natsuki but we both know that hasn't been completely true. Also what the heck is the Promised Day, and what were you going on about your heartbeat for?”

“Eugh, can I answer questions after we eat?”

“Yeah, fine.”