Reality Can Wait

"Mira, can you wipe off the table?"

"Got it!"

The rabbit girl, now properly clothed in her dress, takes the spray from the lower cabinet and cleans off the table after dinner.

The sun has set on the rather tumultuous day that began with Mira's sudden transformation. All it took was a girl effectively falling from the sky in front of me and my entire day was steered off course from my normal leisures. The mental exhaustion I faced today was easily more than what I would experience in an entire month. If days continue like this, I can see myself kicking the bucket before I hit my thirties. However, that doesn't seem to be a problem.

The one thing I can't complain about is Mira's rapid adaptation to this entirely new environment. After watching me only a single time, Mira is already capable of cleaning the dining table on her own. That may not sound particularly impressive, but this is a girl that only half a day earlier was eating the couch. The situations with the mud and her clothing caused me a lot of grief, but straightening out the details once seems to be enough for her to learn how things work. She truly is fascinating to watch.

After completing her task, Mira bounces up behind me as I finish dishes.

"Noa, what's for lunch tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. We used up most of our rice and pasta today, so we'll probably have to pull something out of the freezer."

We've been together for only one day, yet we both make plans under the assumption that we're both here. Almost like it's a matter of course that we'll be sharing a meal tomorrow and the day after as well.

It's strange. Today brought out so many emotions that I didn't even remember having. In the monotonous grind, I never really felt anything other than the stress of completing one assignment after another. Things like anger were always limited to late nights and cursing my teachers, but none of that rage had any real goal. I don't get embarrassed often, I'm not around enough people for that to really come up. I completely forgot that my chest had a heart beating inside of it before Mira showed up and threw it into chaos.

"Hahaha…"

"What's wrong?"

Mira peers at my face as we stand in front of the fridge.

"Nothing really. I just started wondering what my life was up until now."

"Hm?"

Of course my rambling wouldn't make much sense to a girl that effectively just started life. I'm only 16 and I feel like everything in the past is a blur. What was I doing the day before yesterday? Probably the same thing I was doing the day before, and the day before that. I don't even want to know how grey the world will become when I work nine to five at a company until the day I die.

"Let's see what we have…left…"

I open up the fridge to find a nearly barren landscape. Under normal circumstances, the shelves would be populated by two or three days worth of leftovers to pick at. To my dismay, the residents have been ravaged after the number of mouths to feed doubled. The freezer still has some of my long term items, but I don't see them lasting much longer either.

"Do you really store food in here? It looks pretty empty."

Mira looks at me as if I were a child that was irresponsible with my allowance. I don't know which part annoys me more, that judgemental frown or the hands resting on her hips.

"It's important to always have plenty of food available."

"You…!"

I reach forward and grip her soft, squishy cheeks between my fingers.

"Owowowow!"

"Who's fault do you think it is that we're so short on food! You just show up and eat like a pig!"

"I'm not a pig, I'm a rabbit!"

"Then eat like one! A rabbit wouldn't go back for a second helping of rice!"

After another minute of tussling, I finally released the rabbit girl. Mira rubs her now red cheeks as I take inventory.

"We'll need to go shopping either tomorrow or after school on Monday."

I wince as I check my wallet. My parents provide me cash to pay for my daily expenses, but that operates on a frugal one man budget. I've never actually hit the ceiling on my allowance, so I have quite a bit saved up. But even those savings might not be enough to keep both of us healthy. I obviously can't ask for more cash, that would involve revealing my new cohabitant. I guess we'll just have to make do with a 10 kg sack of rice and whatever else we can buy in bulk for cheap.

"We'll make it work somehow…"

"Hey, Noa…"

As I close the fridge and start walking back to my desk, I feel a tug on my shirt. Mira is staring up at me with her large blue eyes.

"W-What's the matter?"

"Is it really okay if I stay?"

"Of cour—"

I stop myself from spitting out the automated response.

It actually scares me how naturally those words came out. If I actually stop to think about things, there is no way that I can support Mira on my own. The costs of food, clothing, and toiletries are just one part of the equation. I'm just a student. What will Mira do while I'm in class for most of the day? Even if she's okay with camping here for the whole day, that won't help her in surviving in human society. I also can't keep her hidden from my family forever.

All of that makes sense. It makes perfect sense, but what is my other option? As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Mira doesn't exist. She has nowhere to go.

No, I can't pretend to be doing this for some noble cause. I personally don't want this girl to leave. In just one day, my world was filled with colour. This girl whose inexperience causes me all kinds of trouble, this girl who tilts her head in confusion at everything I say, this girl that finds any kind of value in my presence, only a fool would send her away without even trying to make things work. That's right, none of these issues mattered to me. From the moment I picked Mira up from the storm drain, I had intended to take care of her. The idea of adopting a pet rabbit was already bold of me, this is just an extra step up from that.

I place my hand on Mira's head and ruffle her soft hair.

"You're just now worried about being a bother?"

"Am I being a bother?"

"Oh, you're absolutely a bother! But I expected as much."

I turn and head towards the closet, Mira right on my tail.

"Hey, what do you mean by that!?"

"You just have the face of someone that would cause trouble."

"I never cause troubl—PFFF!"

I push a spare pillow into the face of the protesting rabbit.

"My notebook would disagree!"

I don't think I'm even angry about the notebook anymore, it's just surprisingly fun to give her a hard time. As I set up a spare blanket on the sofa, I catch a glimpse of my reflection on the TV screen. Do I usually smile like this? When was the last time I smiled?

It really feels like I've been stuck inside of a dream. Obviously there was the supernatural occurrence that I'm not sure anybody can explain. Even more surprising than the magic itself is how smoothly the fallout has been going. We've gotten through the first day with limited casualties. The fantasy the two of us have found ourselves in is surviving, let's just hope reality doesn't come for us too quickly.

"Time for bed, Mira. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted."

"Are you sure?"

Mira tilts her head as she hands me the pillow. I don't think I can ever get used to that gesture.

"Got a problem?"

"No…but I thought you had important homework to do?"

"Urk!"

I had completely forgotten about the project that has been plaguing me for the past several weeks. Okay, that's a lie. I actually remembered and decided that sleep was more important right now.

"Don't worry about it! I have everything under control!"

"If you say so…"

When did this girl come to doubt me so? I've done nothing but succeed in not failing terribly at everything since her arrival.

"Trust me! Come on, we need to get washed up!"

I avoid her skeptical gaze by diving into the bathroom. After changing clothes into pyjamas, I begin brushing my teeth.

"What's that strange smell?"

I see Mira's reflection appear in the mirror beside me. She is stuck standing and waiting until I finish.

"It's toothpaste. It cleans your teeth."

"So it's like chewing a twig?"

"Huh? Twig?"

Mira pulls out a small twig from who knows where and holds it up to me.

"Chewing these until they're gone will keep your teeth in perfect condition! Look!"

The rabbit girl attempts to nibble on the stick of wood before I hastily swipe it from her hands.

"Hey! You'll damage your teeth like that! Here, use…use…"

The only toothbrush I have is the one currently in my hands. We have to buy several items for her tomorrow anyways, but it feels wrong to leave her with teeth that haven't been brushed ever in her life. I may be dealing with a rabbit here, but I'm also dealing with a girl. If I made the offer to share a toothbrush with a regular girl, or any sane person for that matter, I would receive a palm straight to the side of my face. That may be the case, but what other options do I have?

"Here, use mine…"

I walk Mira through the process of brushing teeth. My stomach physically turns as I watch the toothbrush I use everyday enter her little mouth. I don't know if I'll be able to use that again tomorrow morning, my heart won't survive.

With my toothbrush fully rendered unusable and the cross contamination completed, we return to the main room. Mira dives head first into the bed, crawling around under the sheets until eventually resurfacing with her head at the pillow.

"You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch."

"We can't sleep together like last night?"

It might feel like a harmless question to her, but this is a matter of life or death for me.

"It's a bit too tight for both of us."

"We fit just fine last time."

"Not even close. Look, just stay over there."

I head to turn off the lights without listening to any of her protests. The last remaining light in the tiny apartment goes out, leaving just the dim light from the window remaining. It would be a nice atmosphere being illuminated only by the moon itself, but we're instead stuck with the street lights from below.

I hear Mira shifting around in the bed before supposedly settling on a spot. As I pull myself under the sheets on the couch, I see the rabbit girl staring at me.

"Good night, Noa."

My heart jumps at the simple words. I've said and heard all of those words plenty of times, but they felt different when she said them. Her soft utterance of her words plays on repeat in my head. Her smiling face illuminated by the pale light is all my eyes care to see. My body faces a fight between two urges, one that wants to move towards her and one that thinks moving towards her is a bad idea. Regardless, both urges want to. What they plan to do when they get there is unknown, they haven't thought that far ahead.

I managed to remove her from my vision by laying down, but my heart doesn't beat any slower. Mustering the last of my strength, I give her a response.

"Good night, Mira."

My heart wants to explode out of my chest. All of these emotions I've never felt in the past, that I've never felt even possible, they all threaten to keep me awake to watch this young girl only a few steps away. They won't be quenched tonight, but who knows what lays in store for the two of us in the future. Reality will inevitably come to shine light on the impossibility of our relationship, but we'll dodge that day for as long as possible.