There she sat, right on the couch in her apartment. Boxes of microwavable food surrounded her as she played her favorite video game. There came a knock on the door, which was expected, as she ordered some Chinese food for dinner. Again. When she answered the door, she made sure to hurry the interaction between her and the delivery girl. She hated being around people, despite her crippling loneliness. After getting her food, she went over to her desk to eat, but she soon spotted something on the table. Money? She suddenly realized that she had not given the delivery girl her tip! She grabbed the five dollar bill and rushed to her door to try and see if she was still there.
When she opened her door, she was met with a surprising and horrific sight. Some man was laying on the floor, facedown, covered in cuts, bruises, and blood. He didn’t look too hurt, but she was too stunned to tell. She stood there, frozen in fear, only for a second. To her it seemed like hours. She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what she COULD do. Stress filled her mind, building and building until she collapsed on her knees with a soft whimper, calling for help. But when she looked at the unconscious man closer, she saw he was still breathing, and she calmed down enough to call 911.
Soon after emergency services arrived, the situation became one question after another. “Who is he? How did he get there? Did you do this?”. Despite the stress this all brought, she was thankful the man was taken to the hospital. And despite her crippling anxiety, she chose to go with him. She didn’t know why, it wasn’t because she wanted anything from him, not because she wanted appreciation from his family, all she knew is that she wanted to stay with this man until she could tell that he was okay.
His name was Baisho, at least that’s what his ID said. He had short brown hair, with blue eyes, pale skin, a fairly skinny frame, and a relatively tall build, five foot ten inches to be exact. To many women, he wouldn’t look all that appealing, but she thought he looked pretty cute, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself. However, he did have one big oddity, his ID seemed fake. It didn’t match the style of any IDs in the area, and both the city and state labeled weren’t real places. The worst part was that Baisho had fallen into a coma, so he couldn’t answer any of the questions people had about him. The Police scratched their heads at the mysterious man, not having a clue about him. But she didn’t care. She wanted to stay by his side. Day after day, she visited the hospital he stayed at, until after two weeks, he saw her for the first time.
When he woke up, Baisho had no idea where he was. He scanned the room around him, diligently gauging his surroundings. His vision was trapped by a girl sitting in a chair across the room. She was playing on her phone, and hadn’t noticed he had woken up yet. Pretty didn’t seem like the right word, more like beautiful. Her pale face was captivating, her skin untouched by makeup, yet still perfectly smooth. The silkiness of her long Jet black hair was balanced by it’s slight mess. Her physique wasn’t necessarily the hour glass figure society would see as “the perfect body”, but she wasn’t fat or even chubby, it was a perfect medium, and it definitely worked to her favor.
She looked around the room, as she felt like someone was watching her. When she did, she immediately realized that Baisho had woken up. She nearly dropped her phone in surprise, looking at him and studded “Oh, uh, hi! A-are you okay?”. Baisho gave a little nod, then asked “Who are you, and where am I?”. “I’m- I mean, my name is Alina, and you’re in the hospital” she replied, forgetting the lines she rehearsed in her head all those times.
After the staff were alerted of the patient’s recovery, they rushed to ask Baisho questions, but every answer seemed to just bring more and more questions. Every city name he gave them didn’t exist, he insisted that the hospital equipment was outdated, despite it being state of the art, and strangest of all, his recollection of notable events across history was completely different than what everyone else remembered. They thought he was crazy, but he didn’t seem to have any mental problems; well, except his insistence that he shouldn’t stay in bed because he wanted to avoid “Poor work ethic”.
Once everyone calmed down and questions were asked, Baisho realized a huge problem. He was in a foreign land, with no money, no job, and no family. He sat there thinking of a plan, but was completely stumped. Hearing what Baisho had been grumbling about, Alina walked up and muttered “Uh, Hi Baisho, umm, maybe you could, I mean you don’t have to, but maybe you’d want to, stay at my place?”. She had thought of the perfect way to ask him, but she was momentarily distracted by the fact that Baisho had seemed shorter than what his ID said. His ID read five foot ten, but he was clearly only two or three inches taller than her, and she was only 5’1! “Really? You’d do that?” beamed Baisho, which snapped Alina out of her thoughts. “I’d appreciate that very much! Oh, and once I get a job I’ll make sure you’re financially compensated of course”. “y-yeah, thank you” Alina mumbled.
After signing some paperwork and acquiring a bunch of medical debt, Baisho and Alina finally went to Alina’s apartment. Upon opening the door of the apartment, Baisho was met with a complete mess. Boxes of pizza scattered across the floor, a sink overflowing with dishes, and clutter just about everywhere! “O-oh I’m sorry for the mess! I've been meaning to pick it up, I swear!” Alina said, embarrassed that she forgot about such a huge detail. Baisho sighed, this wasn’t ideal, but he was still grateful to have a roof over his head.
Baisho wanted to clean, however his injuries demanded he rest. ‘Why don’t they have simple nano-tech around?’ He pondered, grumpy from his injuries. His thoughts were interrupted by Alina. “hey, you’ve been through a lot, why don’t we watch a movie together?” she said, beckoning him to sit next to her on her couch. Baisho reluctantly agreed, accepting that it would be rude to refuse the offer, especially since she agreed to house him. They proceed to watch one of Alina’s favorite anime movies, “I've Been Shrunk To The Size Of A Doll And My Clingy Girlfriend Won’t Leave Me Alone!”. ‘The titles of these things just get longer and longer’ Alina thought. After dozens of minutes, Baisho began struggling to relax. He hated the feeling of doing nothing. Seeing the mess around him, (both figuratively and literally) he wanted so desperately to just, DO something.
Alina was struggling as well, she wanted to talk to him, but her anxiety kept telling her that she’d just make it award. She stared intently at Baisho, trying to push herself to do something. ‘Ok Alina, you’ve never connected to anyone you weren't related to before, but you need to nail it RIGHT NOW’ she thought, hoping her mental pep talk could help her overcome her anxiety. She slowly moved her hand closer to Baisho’s, fueled by pure emotion. Alina wrapped her pinky around Baisho’s pinky. Regret. ‘WHAT AM I DOING I'M MESSING EVERYTHING UP WHY DID I THINK I COULD DO THIS IM SUCH AN IDIOT-’ Is all she could think. Baisho looked at Alina and appreciated her gesture. Not many people try so openly to befriend a shut-in like him. He smiled, and tightened his pinky around Alina’s, as her face proceeded to get redder and redder by the second.
After another 30 minutes, the movie ended, and Baisho was now free to move around and do whatever he pleased. “That was a nice break, but I should really get to work,” he said, stretching his arm, accidentally hurting himself in the process and clutching his side. “Wait, you’re working already? You just got back from the hospital, y-you're still hurt! Don’t you want to take the day off?” Alina questioned. “Breaks are nice, but the world doesn’t stop spinning just because you’re tired,” he said, already gathering a box of trash bags. Horrified by the idea of her guest cleaning up after her mess, Alina yelled “Wait! I’ll help!”, picking up a trash bag herself and beginning to clean.
After an hour, the trash was all but gone. There were still messes in the form of dishes and the layer of filth covering almost every surface, but the three room apartment looked much better than it previously had. Alina looked at her home in wonder, she couldn’t remember the last time it looked this good. A sense of accomplishment filled her as she thought, ‘Is this what it’s like to be my sister?’. “It’s getting late.” Baisho said abruptly “You’d probably be asleep by now if it wasn't for me, sorry.” Alina glanced at the microwave clock, it was only 10:30! But she felt like it would be too embarrassing to admit that it still seemed early for her. However he did have a point, she has the morning shift at her retail job tomorrow. “Hehe, yeah. I should probably head to bed” she shyly laughed. “OH! You need a blanket and pillows! O-one second, let me grab you some!” She said, dashing to her bedroom closet, grabbing a spare blanket and two pillows for Baisho. “Oh, before you go to bed, is it okay if I use your computer?” Baisho asked, pointing to Alina’s old desk top. “Oh, yeah. J-just give me one second,” she said, dropping the blanket on the couch and rushing over to her computer to close her tabs and delete her internet history. “There you go! If you need anything else, just let me know,” she sighed, happy that Baisho wouldn’t see what was on her computer. “Thanks Alina. Goodnight”. “Goodnight” Alina replied, going into her bedroom.
After a brief change into pajamas, Alina went to bed. Well, she laid in her bed, but she didn’t sleep. She put on her headphones and partook in her nightly ritual of watching anime until she passed out. After a couple hours had passed, she looked at her phone clock. It was 2AM, and it was probably time to get some shut-eye. She put her phone down and pulled her blanket over her head, but one thing stopped her from falling asleep. She could hear Baisho talking to someone. Curious, she peeked her head out of her room door to see who could possibly be talking to him at such an hour.
When she opened her room door, she almost didn’t believe the state of her apartment; it looked brand new! Not one dirty dish, not one speck of dust, no mess at all! And across the room, Baisho was on a video call on Alina’s computer, saying his goodbyes and hanging up. The second he hung up, he opened a new tab and furiously typed what seemed like lines of code. “Hey Baisho,” Alina muttered, stepping closer to her new roommate “it’s getting late, you should probably stop working and get some sleep”. Baisho looked over for a second, but quickly went back to working, and said “The world won’t stop spinning just because I’m tired”. Alina was worried about him; she didn’t want to be a hypocrite, but she also knew that he needed sleep. She stepped closer to him, even if she didn’t have a plan. She stood right behind him, feeling guilt was over her as she saw Baisho diligently work himself to death. She had no idea how to help him, but she had instinct.
She knew it was a bad idea, she could barely handle holding his pinky, much less this. But she had to. Her guilt wasn’t giving her any choice. She lifted up her arms and gently placed them around Baisho, then pulled him into a hug from behind. Alina then leaned next to his ear, and whispered “It’s okay to relax, you need your rest. Please, just get some sleep. I’m worried about you.” She was letting pure emotion drive her, allowing feelings of compassion and love to fill her every word. Baisho froze, not uttering a word, not moving one muscle, nothing. “okay” Baisho whimpered, nearly letting tears fall from his eyes. Hearing his defeated voice broke Alina’s heart. What kind of stress was he under? When was the last time someone gave this poor boy a hug? She sat there, not wanting to let go of him. She wanted to give him that relief, but she knew they both needed sleep.
She released her hug, and walked around to meet Baisho face to face. He was clearly holding back tears. She wanted to comfort him more, she wanted to hold him tight and never let go, but she didn’t want to damage his pride more than she already had. She took Baisho’s hand and wordlessly led him to the couch. The entire time, he didn’t even have the energy to speak, all he could do was follow Alina. Alina helped him get settled in on the couch and under his blanket, and didn’t stop until she could see Baisho close his eyes. “Goodnight,” she whispered. However, Baisho didn’t reply. Alina pondered for a moment, ‘Is he already asleep? How tired was he?’ Her work done, Alina sleepy went back to her room, laid in her bed, and fell asleep, her mind filled with thoughts of Baisho.
To be continued