[Please, Nyan~, Don’t Forget About Me] by EKimbrooooo & Bluesman - The Dazzling Lads

The time? 7:00 AM, on a breezy Monday morning.

It’s said that the optimal time to roll out of bed is either during or shortly after sunrise. In the first five minutes, it’s best to look towards sunlight, or at least warm light to replicate the effect. Experts say to watch the sky or enjoy the outdoors for five minutes if it’s a clear day, ten minutes if it’s partially cloudy, and thirty if it’s overcast.

This man, a working citizen on his 9-5 grind to retirement, follows this methodology every single day. It helps develop something called cortisol, a stress (and in this case, eustress) hormone that keeps you awake for long durations of time.

Of course, a cup of coffee helps too, or even multiple if you’re willing to have gastrointestinal problems throughout the day. But it’s smart to brush your teeth beforehand, or the coffee could stain your teeth. Unfortunately, this man had learned the hard way, and it took him forever to correct course. Coffee had become a powerful alternative to drinking Sprite, a previous addiction of this man.

By 7:45, the man was in his gym clothes. He snuck into his daughter’s room and gave her a kiss. He may have been humble, but, damn, was he proud to have such a stellar family. The days may have been unending, with constantly aggressive work testing his constitution. But he had a strong reason to continue, the same reason any father in their right mind would continue.

Five minutes later, he was out the door on his early morning jog. The streets were crowded as he headed deeper into the city, as figures pranced around from all angles heading to and fro to prepare for their work activities. Some sipped from their coffee as they went- the man chuckled at them, thinking of himself as only slightly superior for drinking his coffee before his walk.

They say that the same routine becomes monotonous. The brain adapts, and views concurrent situations as a blur. The brain can identify any oddity that stands out that way, without overworking itself.

So when the father passed by a lone teenage girl with duct tape over her mouth, holding up a strange sign, he instinctively looked her way. She stood in contrast to the drastic world around her. Black coats, ties, pants and other dressings of sophisticated working men and women didn’t even compare to this. Her clothes were ragged and worn from overuse. She huddled herself in a thin sweater that was unable to beat back the cold.

And she had cat ears.

Now this was the real world, but from the angle he was viewing from, the man couldn’t see anything fake about them. Before he was caught awkwardly staring at the freezing girl, he ran off to the gym.

The father’s time at the gym was plenty uneventful.

Despite the situation having happened hours ago, the only thing he could think about was that girl.

Who on earth was she? The cat ears reminded him of a time in his childhood- a childhood he wasn’t keen on reenacting any time soon. Thinking about his old self and cringing physically, he thought about how far he had come as a man, as a husband and as a member of society. This gave him the power to push above his usual limit at the gym and rep out a few more squats.

You see, this man was at one time not respected by anyone but his old family dog. He was once a NEET through and through.

His need to escape life, to escape the monotonous cycle of work. It seemed petty now, but back then, it was all he could hold onto.

He remembered Lilian, his cat girl waifu. Certainly not a fan favorite, but she was perfect, ideal for a NEET like him. A loving, caring girl that blushed in a variety of different ways, as the artist behind her was so keen on amping up that aspect of her in her storylines.

And then just like that, the gacha game went offline.

He set the weights he was using down.

Every night back then, as he went to sleep, he had hoped he’d just wake up in a fantasy realm, just like the boys a bit younger than him in all those stories. It was an escapist fantasy. The man knew this now.

If one his age still wished for such a thing, they’d be fighting against the way of life itself. Life goes on. Life isn’t a story. It is a living, breathing thing.

And with that, the father exited the gym in his work attire, knowing he was his best living, breathing self.

He wandered the street again, this time his eyes tracking the alleyways and dark corners alongside the tall buildings. Maybe he’d see that strange girl again? He wanted to have an opportunity to talk with her.

Staring up above, at the corner of a sidewalk, was his work, a towering skyscraper covered in lovely animated advertisements. He worked on the 12th floor for a small insurance group that covered people who suffered from accidents in the Tokyo area.

Didn’t that old gacha game company own the floor beneath him? It was only a spare office space now, but the card for their floor still remained at the front desk.

Dash Valley Studios

-Evicted-

Saldy, the company was so gacha-reliant, they couldn’t even pay for their own offices.

He checked his watch. It was 8:40 AM, and work began at 9:00 AM. He’d had a perfect attendance since his start there, and he didn’t want to fail it now.

And that’s when he saw her.

At the foot of the skyscraper was a revolving glass door. The cat girl from earlier walked along inside one of the sections of the door so as to not block the doors. She wore the same outfit, duct tape over her mouth and everything. She vibrated as she walked, bare knees bumping against each other from the cold.

She held up a sign with frozen fingers that read:

Please, nyan~, don’t forget about me.

The father’s eyes opened wide as he stood there, staring at her.

That quote was written in the one on one visual novel scene with Lilian, from the game the man had played as a child. The idea was to promise Lilian to never forget her, but it was a fictional character. The father, no longer in his NEET days, didn’t desire to interact with her since.

It was even stranger, then, the fact that this girl looked eerily- no, exactly like Lilian.

It looked as if she was protesting, but it didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Unfortunately the father had no time for questions.

His watch read 8:52 AM.

Beginning to speed walk, the man did his best to avoid the girl’s attention and make it through the entrance. He hunched over, moving his facemask slightly up and hunching over inside his long, black coat.

But the girl stepped out in front of him, stopping him. She looked up at him with pleading eyes, holding up her sign for him to see. She didn’t speak, she just blinked.

The man stumbled back a bit. But the girl kept up the pressure, keeping close and shoving her face towards his.

It was as if they recognized one another.

The father opened his mouth to speak.

But it was already 8:54 AM.

His eyes flicked down at his watch, then back up to the building.

The skyscraper leaned over him. He’d never been afraid of the concept of heights, but he was terrified now.
In that instant he was a different person. He was out of place, out of his beloved monotony.

The girl’s eyes were filled with assertion, but it was a futile effort. The man had to go- he had to leave to work. With a deep breath, and leaving the girl speechless, the man bumped past her, trudging into the building in silence.

She stood there for a moment, dropping the sign from one of her arms as she stared up at the building. The man walked inside, trying to escape her presence, but she followed after him, breaking into a mad dash.

The man saw this and sprinted towards the elevator. His greatest worry wasn’t the girl chasing him, but the idea of clocking in late. A man wearing a business suit quickly glanced at him, then at the girl in his pursuit. He shrugged, pretending to have seen this exact scenario before. Typical of the man’s most annoying coworker. Jeremy Swift was, unfortunately, a working man. He always believed himself to be better than everyone else, which the man hated.

The man would rather Jeremy be late than himself. After all, what did Jeremy do for the company?

The man slid into the elevator, which opened at the perfect time. His coat got a little dusty, but it was nothing that a quick pat-off couldn’t fix. He quickly stood up and spammed the Close Door button. He’d never been great at spamming, despite once being a NEET, but he did just enough to get the door to close before the girl (or God forbid, Jeremy) could get inside.

He would make it to work on time. Monotony would hold true, thank goodness. But something still felt off.

Lilian’s eyes opened wide in shock as she felt something bump into her. She had gone back outside, defeated, but didn’t expect anyone to still be out here past 9:00 AM. Giving the individual a quick look, her cat ears drooped as she noticed it was the man who had run away from her.

Her sulking frame was perfect for the man to wrap the coat around her shoulders before dashing off.

Now freezing, the man waved at her before running inside the building once again.

She stood there quietly, then draped the coat over herself. Warmth finally coursed through her veins. And as she kneeled in the middle of the sidewalk, shivering less, her eyes closed as she let the scent of the coat fill her nose.

The man, after closing Jeremy out of the elevator a second time, arrived at the 12th floor, checking his watch as he briskly walked to his desk.

9:01 AM.

The man remembered very little of that day, other than that he had checked in late. He would never see that girl again, as much as he searched for her on his daily walks. Jeremy Swift certainly made no mention of him blocking the elevator, though that could very well have been the case because of his fragile ego. The man made no mention of the girl to anyone, if not to spare himself the embarrassment of bringing up his NEET days. It could have been a dream, but one object proved the entire sequence of Kai events had occurred.

Or rather, the absence of an object.

His coat was still missing. Maybe he had just misplaced it and forgotten about it? It was possible. But he liked to think that he truly met with that girl, even if it was a dream.