The Day Reaches Its End

Long slender legs, short curly hair, and large green eyes. The beauty in front of me made me completely forget the fact that I was still on the floor.

“I-I’m sorry!” the girl quickly said as she stood up. “I was in such a hurry that I wasn’t paying attention!” For some reason, she looked to be on the brink of tears.

I shook my head to clear my mind, “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t paying attention either.”

As I stood up, I quickly realized something—She was damn tall. To be fair, I was never known for my height. I was average at best. This girl, however, still stood an entire head above me. I had never been so attracted and intimidated to a person before.

“Are you alright?” I asked, still curious as to why she was tearing up.

“Y-Yeah…” she let out. Her body shook gently as she stood there looking at the floor.

For as much as I would’ve loved to stay there talking to her, I hadn’t forgotten she said she was in a hurry.

“Um, weren’t you in a hurry?”

“Oh!” her eyes snapped open. “T-That’s right!” she maneuvered around me, leaving my sight with a loud, “Sorry again!”

Beautiful and cute. Those were the best descriptors I could think of. Sadly, I probably wasn’t going to see her again any time soon.

I let out a sigh as I entered the apartment building.

The moment I opened the door to my apartment room, a small toy mouse hit my chest. Suddenly, I saw Nisa rush at me then jump, knocking me down on my back.

Although she was small, the speeds she reached when locked on target were staggering. It was more than enough to knock the wind out of my lungs.

“Hi, Nisa,” I barely managed to squeak out.

Nisa, completely enthralled with the mouse, didn’t pay attention to my pained self. Instead, she picked up the mouse, that had miraculously landed on my chest again, with her mouth. A fruity smell wafted into my nostrils as her head got closer to my face.

“Did you take a shower?” I asked Nisa with the mouse tightly in her mouth.

She nodded.

Only then did I realize that her clothes were different too. Instead of the dress from before, she was now wearing an oversized white shirt and joggers. All in all, really cute, but where had she gotten those clothes from?

“Yep, we used your shower. I hope you don’t mind,” I heard Ritsue say from the distance.

“I don’t really care if you mind,” my sister snickered as she crossed her arms.

I looked past Nisa and saw both my sister and Ritsue standing there with the same outfit as Nisa.

“Did the three of you take a shower together?” I asked. I couldn’t see how they could’ve showered that quickly otherwise. I did take some time, but there was no way I took that long.

“Why do you ask, you pervert?”

“I’m just curious,” I answered my sister.

Either way, it didn’t seem like I was going to get an answer out of them. And Nisa didn’t seem to want to get off of me any time soon, so all I could do was lay there on the floor.

“Is it good?” Ritsue asked.

The sparkles in Nisa’s eyes should’ve been enough of an answer, but she quickly nodded as she chewed her burger.

“Hey, Bob,” I called out for the little Robot.

“Yes, Nick?”

“When you said that Nisa’s favorite food was apples, was it because that’s all she was fed?”

“…Maybe.”

“Thought so.”

I still knew nothing about where Nisa was before arriving at my apartment, but the longer I spent with her the more I wanted to know. I would probably get nowhere asking Bob, but maybe I might get something through Nisa.

We sat around the coffee table like it was a kotatsu, but it was nowhere near as nice or comfortable.

“By the way, where will you be sleeping?” Ritsue asked me between bites.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Delia, Nisa, and I are sleeping in your room, right?”

“You are?”

I hadn’t gotten the memo about that. I didn’t see why any of them had to stay, not only in my apartment but in my room at that.

“Of course, do you really expect us to sleep on that one couch?” she pointed at the couch.

“I expect you to go back to your apartment.” I pointed at Ritsue. “For you to go back home.” I pointed at my sister. “And for you—” I pointed at Nisa. Her ears perked up at being suddenly called out. “You can stay wherever you want.”

She gave one nod before biting into the burger again.

“You would really make a lady walk alone all the way back to her apartment?” Ritsue said, dramatically holding her hand to her chest and looking away.

“Your apartment is next door.”

“So you are?!”

“Yes.”

At least I could kind of get it for my sister. She probably took the train here so it wouldn’t be safe for her to go back home this late at night. I could get behind that, but Ritsue literally lived next door.

“Right,” Ritsue started. “Everyone voting to veto Nick’s decision say ‘I’.”

Three hands rose to the air, and a small robot claw, followed by a few voices of agreement.

I had apparently been betrayed and overthrown by everyone, even Nisa.

“That doesn’t sound fair,” I commented before finishing my burger.

After a few hours, it was finally time for us to go to sleep. Seeing as it was a Friday, none of us had classes the next day.

“So they’re really making me stay in the living room.”

“Did you think they were joking?”

“No, I just thought they’d see the error in their ways.”

I sighed as I dropped to the sofa. Now I had no one but Bob with me, which oddly felt weirder than just being alone.

“Are you just going to watch me sleep?”

“Do you wish for me to?”

“Can’t say I do.”

Bob rolled side to side as he thought up something. Finally, the triangular light on his face blinked brightly.

“I got an idea!” Bob said as he rolled towards me.

---

Inside Nick’s bedroom, the three girls prepared to go to sleep. The only bed in the room was relatively big for a single person, but it didn’t seem big enough to fit three people. However, seeing as both Delia and Nisa were pretty small, that didn’t turn out to be a problem.

They laid down, Ritsue and Delia being at the ends and Nisa between them.

Ritsue felt like a mom with her two children.

“By the way,” Delia started, “How many outfits do you have?”

Her question was an understandable one. Ritsue had been able to get three pairs of similar clothing for herself, Delia, and Nisa from her room. It was like she had planned on that happening.

“Hm…I couldn’t say. A hell of a lot more than most people, I can tell you that much.”

Although she was first and foremost fascinated with teaching, she also loved the world of clothing. She never went too over the top, but she did have an abundance of outfits. From regular street clothes to cosplays, she tried getting as much as she could get her hands on.

Being a big anime fan, she had gotten really into cosplays from going to conventions. Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t had the time recently to go to one due to college. As for any other outfits, she just liked exploring different things to wear.

“How about you?” Ritsue asked. “Do you like clothes and stuff?”

Delia shook her head, “I only buy clothes if I need to. Sometimes I find something cute, but that rarely happens.”

“Well, if you ever want to try something on, don’t hesitate to ask.”

The two girls smiled at each other before they noticed the soft breaths coming from between them. At some point during their conversation, Nisa had fallen asleep.

---

A white room.

A mirror wall.

And an ever-changing set of white furniture.

That was all that Nisa knew for the first years of her life. Every day, she would wake up and go to sleep in this white room. She would be fed every few hours and her showers came in the form of water drizzling from the high ceiling.

A person wearing an all-white hazmat suit would come and visit her every few days. There, she would be asked questions. Simple questions about how she felt and what she wanted. The answers she gave were meaningless since nothing would change regardless, but she always answered truthfully.

Oddly enough, Nisa couldn’t remember anything from before being in that white room. To her, one day she simply woke up, and there she was.

In that white room.

At some point, they had introduced a robot named Bob. Of course, being something she had never seen before, and that constantly annoyed her, she grew to hate him. Especially since she didn’t feel safe with him watching over her at all times.

Although monotone, all of this was easy for her to handle, however…

“Running test in three…two…one…”

Nisa, being mysteriously restrained on the floor by seemingly nothing, tried to scream but her mouth wouldn’t open. It was like her entire body had been paralyzed and now she was simply a shell with consciousness. But most of all, still able to feel pain.

It was like every corner of her body was being jammed with sharp needles slowly reaching deeper into her.

“Test complete. Returning to idle.”

As those words passed through the speaker near the ceiling, Nisa was finally able to move.

This “test” was conducted on her twice every week. With every test, she could feel the pain less and less. Although she didn’t realize it fully, she was growing resistant to the pain.

But there was one time when a test had been conducted that she would never forget.

It was the last test before she was taken out of that room. It had been like every other day, she was bracing herself for the test again when suddenly—

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“Nisa! Nisa!” Ritsue yelled.

She held Nisa's small body as she trembled and shook her head. She was still asleep, but tears were running down her face and her soft voice repeated the same words over and over again.

“Stop. Stop. Stop...it hurts…”

Delia woke up from all the movement, but her attention was quickly taken by Nisa who was now repeating:

“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.”

Her voice strained like she was being suffocated. Her breathing became shallow as more tears cascaded down her cheeks.