Dragged Into The Dark

My fears were foundless in the end.

                                                                                                                                                                When Matsumoto came the next day, she was perplexed, but after hearing my explanation that someone had snuck in and done it while I was cleaning, she just sighed and didn't ask any more questions.

I wondered if I shouldn't have explained more but quickly decided it wasn't worth thinking about.
                                                                                                                                                                          I went home and fell asleep straight away. I didn't awake again until noon, when my hunger forced me awake.

Even then, I lay down on my bed and stared at the ceiling for half an hour, trying to will myself to sleep again.

                                                                                                                                                                      No luck.

The day had begun.

I rummage around my miniscule kitchen, even though I knew it was useless. I didn't have any food in stock.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I just didn't want to go outside.

I looked out my window, trying to work up my motivation.

There was nothing out there but nothing, the damned sun and some more nothing.

I sat by my window and stared outside till I fell asleep and woke up much later.

                                                                                                                                                                        The sun was sinking leisurely below the horizon as though it didn't know it was responsible for the end of civilization. 

I could feel my energy returning as it fell.

My shift at the hotel started in an hour and I was still hungry.

It was time for a little walk.

Before the announcement, the nearest convenience store to my apartment was a two minute walk.

Now, it was a fifteen minute trek.

The old shop was still there and it's shelves were stocked but only with the most useless items even the scavengers hadn't been able to find a use for. 

                                                                                                                                                                Walking through the desolate streets, I felt a distinct, taboo sense of peace. One I never would have experienced back during the days before the announcement. 

I was grateful for the end of the sun and the end of our world. 

Just as I thought this, I passed by an abandoned house with the words Sun Kablooie!!! sprayed on.

Not as grateful as those guys though, I thought.

I recalled the strange woman from last night. She was trouble, there was no other way to put it.

                                                                                                                                                                          I said a silent prayer for her not to show up this night, then I entered the convenience store.

It was completely empty save for the cashier at the checkout counter.

I nodded at him, he nodded back.

I felt a strange sense of camaraderie with him. We were both workers of the night, people who understood and accepted the night. 

While others slept, we pondered and mused.

Hang in there my friend, I thought.

Oblivious to my cheers, he yawned.

I picked out some onigiri, in anticipation of the day I would be unable to do so.

It was nothing less than a miracle that they still actually stocked fresh food. Most factories had shut down pretty early into the announcement.

It wasn't just factories. Most businesses too. There wasn't much point in working if you were just going to perish a year later.

People like me and the cashier were a dying breed.

I dropped some money on the checkout counter. The cashier didn't even look at it before stuffing it in the register.

I headed to the pier. It was a bit of a detour and I was already late but I didn't care.

It was deserted. Just how I liked it. I sat down and pulled out my onigiri, watching the waning moon as I ate.

The waves lapping against the pier were even stronger than usual. I wondered if it had anything to do with the impending death of the sun.

Once I was done I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the moon. It came out poorly, not for my lack of trying.

In the end there was just no substitute for the real thing.

Dragging my feet, I went to the hotel.

All the way from outside, I could hear the sounds of inane chatter. I groaned. 

My coworker Tomoki had his back turned to me as I entered. He had been in the middle of sweeping some non-existent particles off the floor, but had paused to turn his attention to his prized radio on the desk, tuned in to the only channel that still seemed to work in these parts. 

I forget the name (a small miracle considering how I hear it every day) but it was just one woman who felt it was her life's mission to ensure that we heard the same news a thousand times in a thousand different ways. 

“—and in today's national address by the prime minister, he urges citizens to make the most of these last days but to also remember moderation in their actions. The —”

Tomoki grunted and, turning round to continue sweeping, finally noticed me. 

“You're late,” he greeted. 

And fuck you too.  “Sorry, I overslept,” I said.

He grunted, annoyed. “Whatever. It's not like there's anyone around. No one's shown up all day.”

“Eeehh.” I tried my best to keep my joy from showing. It wasn't very good. Then why are you sweeping? “That sucks.”

Tomoki gave me a look. “Don't even. I know you don't actually care.”

Gee, that obvious?

He sighed. “Why do you even come here if you don't actually care about this job. And of course it's during your shift we get something like this.” He gestured at the reception desk and it's new paint job. “I remember back in the good ol days before the announcement, when we had actual proper customers, not the crazies who come in nowadays, such a thing could never have happened. Why, I —”

                                                                                                                                                                          I completely blanked out at that moment. Not because I didn't care about anything he was saying (though that was true) but because of the 'crazies' that had just walked in the lobby.

The man was unknown to me but the woman, well, I clearly wasn't going to be forgetting about her anytime soon.

They came up to the reception and Tomoki jumped to meet them, smiling his perfect customer service smile. It always made me gag.

It was technically my shift but I wasn't complaining. I never did understand why he was so gung-ho about this place.

These days even Matsumoto didn't put in as much effort as he did. 

The man didn't smile back. “We need a room.”

“Of course. How long will you be staying?” Tomoki asked, much too peppy. Gross.

“Two hours.”

“That will be ¥5000. Please keep in mind that no smoking is allowed —”

I stopped listening to the conversation at that point. My attention was focused solely on the cultist woman from last night.

She hadn't noticed me and was just looking around the lobby, bored. Her expression was a stark contrast to last night, passive and uninterested.

For the first time, I wondered what she was doing here. I had always thought of her as nothing more than a regular night worker but last night had me questioning that assumption.

But then again, it wasn't like both sides of her were contradictory. She could be a crazy night worker cultist. Actually that made a lot of sense. People in her situation were probably the first ones to—

What the heck am I doing? Whatever she is, it's none of my business.

Just as I thought this, her eyes caught mine. All too suddenly, her detached persona changed, becoming more gleeful.

                                                                                                                                                                          She winked at me.

I looked away as fast as possible.

Standing behind her male companion, he didn't notice but Tomoki did and he gave me a quick puzzled glance.

After they left, having received the keys, he asked, “Friend of yours?”

“Hardly.”

“Hmm. But—”

“Shouldn't you be getting home? There's cultists round these parts nowadays.” I said, shutting him down before he could continue.

He grunted and, after giving me a suspicious look, left.

I settled in at the reception and prayed for no one else to show up. I opened up 6ch on my phone.

User3498: You guys won't believe what I heard today.
                                                                                                                                                                   User3499: what's this about?

                                                                                                                                                                        User3500: Just tell us or shut the f up. I swear to God, this thread is full of (read more...)

User3501: Apparently, the government has a spaceship, they're gonna use it to take all the politicians and officials to space

                                                                                                                                                      User3502:........wut?

User3503: oh yeah, I heard about that

                                                                                                                                                                   User3504: me too!!! hey, did you also hear that you're full of shit, idiot 😊

User3505: is this true?

                                                                                                                                                                     User3506: not just Japan, I heard America has been secretly selecting all the people with the best genes and gathering them to start a new civilization on Mars

User3507:......has this thread been hacked?

                                                                                                                                                                       User3508: that doesn't even make any sense. The sun is dying. Unless they're going to a separate solar system, there's no point.

User3509: I have superior genes! Why haven't I been selected?

                                                                                                                                                              User3510: you're all retarded

User3511: That's not fair! Why should only those fat old men get to go? Isn't it their fault we're in this mess in the first place?

                                                                                                                                                                  User3512: I have a spaceship too. Any girls interested in restarting civilization with my superior genes, hit me up 😉

User3513: Actually I heard this too. My friend works in the government and he told me. If anyone wants me to put in a word for them, slide into my DMs                                                                                                                                                                  User3514: Sun Kablooie!!!

                                                                                                                                                                      User3515: As if this thread couldn't get any worse *facepalm*

User3516: Sun Kablooie!!!                                                                                                                                                                       User3517: Sun Kablooie!!!                                                                                                                                                                        User3518: Sun Kablooie!!!
                                                                                                                                                                     User3519: Sun Kablooie!!!
                                                                                                                                                                     User3520: Sun Kablooie!!!
                                                                                                                                                                          User3521: Wait. What if the government is letting the sun die… on purpose?

The sound of keys hitting the desk snapped me out of my scrolling. I looked up into the eyes of the woman smiling down at me.

                                                                                                                                                                          Done so soon? I looked at my phone and realized three hours had passed.

What the hell? Did I fall asleep? Actually, before that, these guys stayed an extra hour! Tomoki would definitely charge for that.

I looked at the woman. She smiled at me.

Not worth it.

Her companion stood off to the side, a forgettable presence in an oversized shirt, tapping his phone, completely uninterested in me. 

If only she would do the same. But she clearly had more to say, continuing from last night. 

The best thing to do in this situation was shut her down as firmly and quickly as possible.

                                                                                                                                                                        It had been a long time so I had forgotten but people like this existed.

People unable to respect other's personal space, always trying to talk to you for some reason when they had no real reason to, for no other reason than amusing themselves.

Irritated now, I glared at her.

“Did you need something else, ma'am?” I said coolly.

“Oh, my bad. Was I interrupting something?” she said.

“Yes. If it wasn't clear already, I'm rather busy.”

Her gaze circled the empty lobby before coming back to me. “Clearly,” she smirked.

I clicked my tongue. “Yeah, well, it's picking up.”

She laughed. “You're funny. You should quit.”

“From comedy?”

“No. From this.” She gestured around the lobby. “Trust me, I have it on good authority. No one's coming. Who are you keeping the lights on for?”

“My boss pays me to exist here.”

“And existing here makes you happy?”

Her companion, uninterested in our conversation saw himself out. Why couldn't she do the same?

“Nothing does.” Except for the moon. 

She beamed like I had just passed some secret evaluation of hers.

 “Perfect. Let's get out of here.”

I squinted at her. Was she deaf or just retarded?

“Do you really think I'm going to follow you anywhere?”

“I know you will. The world is ending. How often does that ever happen? You really want to spend the rest of your time in a place like this?”

“I —”

“You don't,” she answered.

“That doesn't mean I want to spend it with your cult either.”

She laughed. “Aw, we don't bite. Besides, we're the only ones actually living in this dead world. Trust me, you're not going to find a better place to celebrate the last days.”

I grimaced. She really was insane. How could anyone say something so cringe with a straight face?

She tapped her fingers on the desk, watching, waiting patiently. I sighed. The shift was dead, Tomoki and Matsumoto weren't here to supervise me.

But even more than that, despite my common sense, despite the fact that everything sensible told me not to follow such a strange person, I was a little intrigued.

And even more than that, I knew she wasn't going to leave until she got her way.

It was for precisely that reason I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

“No.”

“What?” Her smile faltered.

“No,” I repeated louder. “I'm not interested in whatever you're selling. And I have a job to do, so unless you'd like another room, I'll have to ask you to leave the premises.”

For a long, silent second, her confident air seemed to crumble. 

“Wow. If you feel so strongly about it, I guess I can’t actually force you.” She sighed, tapping her fingers on the desk, looking down like she was finally giving up. 

For the first time, she looked almost… normal. I felt an odd sense of victory.

Take that! I'm not going to be jerked around for your amusement.

I sat back and folded my arms triumphantly. 

Big mistake.

“But I can do this.” In the next heartbeat, her eyes flashed with mischief again. 

Without warning, her hand darted across the desk and snatched my phone from where it lay. 
                                                                                                                                                                   “You wouldn't da—”

                                                                                                                                                                    She blew a raspberry at me and took off.

Before I could recover, she bolted out the door. Stunned into silence, I stared after her. Then the realization hit, and a surge of anger replaced my shock. “That bitch!” I growled. 
I took off after her.