Bonus Short Stories
Side: Yurika
Yurika was just as bad at waking up in the morning as Koutarou was. In Koutarou’s case, he had the advantage of sleeping out in the open of the inner room—someone coming into the apartment would always wake him up one way or the other. Not so for Yurika. As she slept in the closed wardrobe, she could sleep through all kinds of commotion—and she often did when she forgot to set her alarm.
“Zzz, zzz... I win thish one...”
“She’s sound asleep, ho.”
“She sure is, ho.”
“She must’ve forgotten to set her alarm again, ho.”
It was Koutarou and the haniwas’ responsibility to wake Yurika up in the morning. There had never been a formal agreement to decide this, but they were the ones that ended up taking on the job. Koutarou had a penchant for looking after people, and the haniwas loved a good challenge.
“Thish is why you can’t bheat me... Zzz, zzz...”
“Big Brother, how should we wake her up this time, ho?”
“That’s the problem. Shaking doesn’t work, and she gets angry if I set the alarm off right next to her ear...”
“What a selfish sleepyhead, ho.”
“You can say that again.”
The three of them struggled to come up with a good way to wake Yurika. Doing it suddenly would result in Yurika complaining about how rough and violent they were. And it was a lot of trouble thinking up a way that wouldn’t make her angry.
“That mhakes ten winsh in a rhow... Zzz, zzz...”
“I was thinking maybe we should try throwing her a curveball today.”
“Ho? A curveball?”
“Let’s see what you’ve got, ho!”
Koutarou approached Yurika and leaned in close towards her ear.
“Shatomi-shan, I’ll share my pointsh whith you... I whouldn’t whant you to hit zhero pointsh...”
“Yurika, I want you to keep calm and listen to me. Winning ten times in a row is too good to be true—it’s never going to happen.”
Koutarou’s “curveball” was whispering to Yurika in her sleep. He knew sleeping people could still hear what was going on in the real, waking world. How much they listened, exactly, depended on the person and the situation, but he was sure he could make it work.
“That’sh not thrue... I jhust bhagged a landshlide victorhy...”
“You’re only dreaming, Yurika. Wake up and smell the coffee.”
“Lhiar... you’re alwaysh so mean...”
“Reality is calling, Yurika. This is just a sad dream.”
“I’m nhot dhreaming... I’m jhust that ghood...”
“Think about it, Yurika. Anytime you start winning, you end up faceplanting into failure.”
“Hrrrngh...”
Yurika’s expression began to twist in response to Koutarou’s whispering. Whatever cards she drew were trash, any enemies she faced easily defeated her, her money began slipping through her fingers. Before she knew it, her dream had become a nightmare—or was that just reality? Whichever it was, it was Yurika’s nature to run away from painful things, so she was already showing signs of waking.
“That’s Big Brother for you! Always there with an ace up his sleeve when it counts, ho!”
“We should try this too, ho! For future reference!”
“Be my guest. Give it a shot.”
“Yurika-chan, something’s approaching you from behind, ho!”
“It’s a zombie, ho! A zombie is coming for you!”
“Kyaaaaah! Nooooo!”
And so Koutarou and the haniwas managed to wake Yurika up in a nonviolent manner, although they would still get an earful from her about their chosen method.
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