I Didn't Sign Up for a Girl!

My eyes open. There isn't any kind of gradual transition from deep sleep to a groggy start in the morning. I'm simply asleep one moment, and awake the next. The light from the window next to the bed is blinding as I stare blankly at the ceiling.

I don't even need to check the clock or my phone for the time. It's 8:59 am, just like usual on the weekends. My body always knows to wake up one minute before the alarm, not that I set it last night. I was too tired dealing with—

"Huh?"

My body feels heavier than usual, specifically my left side. As I turn my head to the side, I find myself looking at a face I've never seen before.

It's a girl. Correction, a very cute girl.

She has a small, rounded face and her long eyelashes lay in front of her closed eyes. Some of her long blue hair has fallen onto her sleeping face, including a portion by her right eye that is strangely dyed white. Two strangely thick clumps of hair with white tips cover her ears. It's difficult to tell from this position, but the girl appears to be wearing a frilly white sundress. A pale purple bow wraps a set of frills around her neck.

The mysterious visitor is pressed against my shoulder with one arm laying across my chest. There is also something like a soft cushion against my arm. It's not very large, but it's certainly there. The soft breaths against my ear tell me that whatever this is, it's sound asleep.

"I must be really tired…"

I ignore the obvious figment of my imagination and get up from the bed.

After brushing my teeth and washing my face extra hard, I return to the main room of the apartment. The girl has shifted slightly to rest her head on my pillow. I must be worse off than I thought.

"Maybe some fresh air will fix it…"

I change clothes and head down from my apartment.

The morning air was just as cold as yesterday's, but at least the sun is out. I avoided all of the puddles that had formed overnight and walked on the road to school. If I'm still hallucinating after this, I probably need to pay the dirty lake water a visit personally.

The road is quiet. No school is keeping the cars from driving down the road. Since the sun is properly out, there won't even be any encounters with the local mafia. It's just me and the combination of nature and civilization. I eventually arrive at the bridge and simply stare out into the distance. There isn't exactly water as far as the eye can see, the opposite end is actually pretty close, but it's something to look at as I wake up properly.

I stand for an hour on the edge of the road before finally deciding to head back.

"That should be enough. Seriously! There is no way I just happened to wake up with a girl sleeping next to me!"

I had already checked the date, so I know that I'm not 20 years in the future after some mental time skip. I've been staying up every night to work on homework, but I didn't think that I was quite this sleep deprived.

It doesn't take long to get back to the apartment. Three flights of stairs later, I'm at my door with a key in hand. As I place the key into the slot, I notice the sound of some kind of movement behind the door.

"It's probably just Mira…I did leave it up here the whole time…hahaha…"

My now sweating hand turns the knob and pushes the door open.

"M-Mira, I'm back…huh?"

What is immediately visible is the girl that should have been no more than a hallucination. Her hair still seems to have some amount of bedhead, but the two clumps of hair over her ears hang unbothered beside her face. For whatever reason, she is on all fours by my desk.

The strange girl is munching away at the pages of a familiar notebook before recognising my presence. We make eye contact, very obvious human eye contact. She stares at me with the pages of my notes stuffed in her mouth, I stare back with my hands stuffed in the pockets of my pants. After probably just a few seconds, I finally break out of my trance.

"Hey, stop eating my notebook! That has a whole semester's worth of notes in there!"

"Mmmphmmph!"

The girl backs away from me whilst continuing to chew away at the precious pages. I run up and grab the notebook, but this girl isn't so quick to give up.

"Let go! You're going to tear it!"

"Grrrr!"

"What are you!? Some kind of animal!?"

I happen to catch a glimpse of the rest of the room as our tug-of-war rages on. It wasn't just my notes that received a fate worse than death.

"Wait, there are holes in the sheets! What happened to the bottom half of the curtains! Why the heck is there cushion fluff all over the couch!"

After a bit more pulling, my notebook shrieks with its last breath as the cover and pages both are torn into two.

"M-My notes…my lifeline…"

I'm ready to rip every last hair out of my head as I watch the pages collapse to the ground into a pile of lost knowledge. The girl spits the damp remains in her mouth to the side before glaring at me. My body is shaking from grief and anger.

"Why…why have you done this!?"

"It's because Noa didn't have any food for me!"

Now I'm the one taking a step back as the girl leaps forward. She lands directly in front of me and stands on her toes such that her face is only centimetres away from mine. I have a very clear view of her deep blue eyes as well as her squishy cheeks expanded into an angry pout.

"I woke up hungry and you were gone! What else was I supposed to eat!?"

"Eh…ah…uhm…"

My language is lost when I hear her sweet voice. I'm not sure what to be surprised about first. Some random cute girl transitioned from sleeping in my bed to chewing everything sight to being angry at me over hunger. Then there is the whole situation of her knowing my name and feeling some obligation to the contents of my fridge. I still haven't been able to find my companion from the night before.

"Wait…"

She is completely in my face now, but that doesn't stop me from remembering the accessory wrapped around her neck. Now that I actually stop to think about it, her hair is also too strange for it to be a coincidence.

"You're…Mira?"

"Of course I'm Mira! We met yesterday and you already forgot about me!"

"H-Hold on, what happened to the rabbit!?"

I find myself taking more steps back at every inconsistency that appears in my head. Mira steps forward each time and maintains my lack of personal space.

"What do you mean? I'm right here!"

"No…you're obviously not a rabbit anymore…"

"What part of me isn't a rabbit!?"

I feel like I'm talking to some child that has convinced themself to be an alien. I shouldn't need to explain the massive difference between us homo sapiens and the various species of rabbits. All that remains of her prior appearance are the markings in her hair and the bits of hair that look pretty similar to floppy rabbit ears.

I'm now backed all the way to the wall.

"Look at you! Just yesterday I could fit you in my arms!"

"That's because—!"

Mira prepares to say a comeback before a look of confusion washes over her face. She looks away to think, glares at me, looks away again, glares at me again, all to no avail.

"I don't know how! I just grew bigger!"

"That literally doesn't make sense!"

I can only place a palm to my forehead at the absurdity of this situation. My brain still can't seem to kick into gear, not that I think my brain can figure out what in the world is happening here.

"Okay fine! You're a rabbit! Just tell me why you look human now!"

"I don't know!"

"Can you go back to being normal sized?"

"I don't know!"

"What in the world do you know!"

Our argument is abruptly interrupted by a growl resounding from the stomach of the 'rabbit' in front of me.

"I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Haaaahh…"

The clock on the wall shows that the time is now well past ten o'clock. I guess it has been a while since we last ate anything. We probably won't get much useful discussion while hungry.

"Sit down at the table and I'll prepare something."

Mira's large eyes immediately light up.

"Really?"

"Yes. So just sit there and don't tear anything else up."

"Yay!"