The alarm went off next to Yuuji Tanaka’s bed, blaring into his ear like a screaming rooster. His arm swung at the clock once, then twice before finally hitting the snooze on the third try. He raised his head from his pillow, rubbing his sleep filled eyes. He stretched gently taking in the day’s morning. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, there was a strange girl at the end of his bed staring at him-
“Wait, what?” he thought, training his attention squarely on the girl. Indeed, there was a young girl sitting on the end of his bed. Long messy black hair split into a wide array of pointed bangs covering her fair-skinned face, just barely dodging around a pair of heterochromatic eyes, one Blue one Green. She wore an oversized slate gray shirt that covered her entire body, leaving just her extremities visible.
“Uhh…” Tanaka thought to himself. He was trying to find the words to tell himself what to do next. Considering he’d never seen the girl before, asking “Who are you?” would be a good start, “How’d you get in here?” would be a good follow up. But in the end, Tanaka couldn’t bring himself to actually comment on the situation. Instead, the first words out of his mouth were a nonchalant, “Good morning.”
The girl didn’t respond back—but with that said, Tanaka got out of bed and proceeded to walk out of the room.
At the bathroom sink, Tanaka splashed water over his face, somehow remaining calm. He watched the water from the tap drain into the depths and breathed in a very controlled manner. He then looked up into the bathroom mirror. Past the reflection of his worn out face, the girl was standing a ways behind.
This time, his body tensed up slightly. He looked away, refusing to make eye contact with the sleep paralysis demon he was being haunted by. He grabbed the toothpaste and spread some on his toothbrush. As he looked up into the mirror again, he realized the girl had gotten closer. He looked down, beginning to brush his teeth. Either curiosity or anxiety got the better of him because he checked the mirror once more. The girl was even closer now.
Tanaka finished brushing his teeth, leaning into the sink to spit and wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist. When he looked up at his reflection, the girl was standing beside him, staring up at his pained expression. It was hopeless, there was no denying the girl was actually there. He slowly turned to her, looking down at her small round face. “Uhh… Hi?” he said, giving a small wave and awkward forced smile. Surprisingly enough, after a second or two she slowly raised her hand to do the same as if trying to copy him. “Umm… Who are you?” The girl didn’t respond, giving her trademark stare. “Are… are you one of the neighbor’s kids?” Another blank stare led to Tanaka sighing. “Alright, guess you’re not going to be much of a talker…”
He propped a hand under his stubble covered chin and thought for a moment. “Okay, let’s think back for a moment. How long has this girl been here? Come to think of it… what happened last night?”
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Tanaka’s mind wandered back in time to the previous night, recalling the events as they happened. “I remember… I fell asleep on the train… I think I ended up missing my stop by… a lot…” He flashed back to waking up on the train, finding himself at the final stop in the middle of some rural area. Forced off the train and with nowhere else to go, he proceeded to head back in the direction of his apartment. The calm night sky and chirping crickets soothed his spirits, but didn’t help how sore his brain felt from trying to process how royally screwed he was.
“Maaan,” he thought. “What am I going to do?! I mean, I figured old man Himura would bust my ass for falling asleep on my keyboard, but I didn’t think he’d go so far as to throw me out!” he said, thinking of the abrupt end of his career at the hands of his section chief. His walking became staggered, agitation overtaking him. “All because I had to stay late the past few nights! I’m dead tired, and they just didn’t care! All the time I spent slaving away! And for what?!” he cried, throwing his fist through the air. “NEARLY FORTY YEARS OLD, AND I STILL CAN’T CATCH A BREAK!” He breathed haughtily for a moment, then found himself simmering down. His posture slumped, knowing there was nothing he actually COULD do—four years of college had earned him a useless degree and the company had been gracious enough to overlook that.
Tanaka craned his neck, staring up into the star filled sky. While his eyes, at first, weren’t focusing on any one light—he eventually settled on one. “God… if you’re there, I need help…” he quietly said. “I can’t take it anymore. I’ve gone my whole life wondering what good I’d bring the world. Now I’m just wasting away… So… I need you to show me a sign…”
To his surprise, the star he was staring at, proceeded to fly through the black void. “A shooting star?!” he thought. “… Alright then, fine…” He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath. “I… wish… I wish there was a real purpose in my life…”
Tanaka opened his eyes, looking up at the star. That’s when he noticed something was off. The star was… changing directions, and quite rapidly too. “What the?” Tanaka muttered to himself in disbelief, a feeling that only heightened once he realized the star was getting closer, and fast.
Tanaka’s eyes went wide, as the star entered the atmosphere, a blazing fireball screeching through the air. He watched it fly over head… and then, watched it crash into the woods with an enormous boom.
The ground shook, causing Tanaka to stagger. As he regained his footing, he looked off in the direction of the fireball, seeing a pale glow through the trees. He stood there for a moment, just in awe of what had happened. But then, he began running in the direction of the crash.
When he finally arrived in the middle of the woods, Tanaka could see the enormous crater left behind. There were splinters of flaming trees left over surrounding the hole, which he took care to avoid as he slid down the side and into the interior.
He could barely see over the smoke and embers, but there was visibly something there in the center, something about the size of a car. It was hot and metallic; spherical in shape. “What was it?” he asked himself. But when he finally came close enough, it all became clear.
An escape pod.
Just like in the movies, an alien ship had ejected its passenger, and they had escaped to Earth. Tanaka had to admit, his eyes were glowing with excitement at the thought of real life extraterrestrials. And meeting an alien might just be the coolest thing that could happen to anyone!
He walked up to the metal ball, examining it carefully. No windows, there was no way of telling what was inside. But suddenly something made a loud click inside. A series of what sounded like latches on the inside of the pod popped, and a cloud of steam blasted out of the sides of the vehicle. The outline of a door appeared, and then, part of the sphere’s wall slowly lowered to the ground.
Tanaka had to brace himself against the rush of air as the door opened. But when he finally opened his eyes, he was shocked by what he found… or rather, didn’t. “W-WHAT?!” he cried, realizing there was nothing inside. “IT’S EMPTY?!” He stuck his head in, taking a look at the interior: Some seats bolted to the walls and floor, restraints to hold passengers in with, but no life to be found. “You’ve got to be kidding me! AWW!” Tanaka moaned, holding his head in disbelief. “After all that? Nothing? No aliens?!”
That’s when he felt something drip on his head from the ceiling of the pod. He grazed his fingers through his hair, picking up whatever it was and examining it. It was some sort of black goo.
Tanaka turned his head to look up. The entire top was covered in this black slime. Getting a better look, it seemed to have flecks of blue and green on the surface. But what REALLY got his attention, was that it was writhing about as if alive. “What the…” he began, before going quiet. The slime began to condense on the ceiling, coalescing together. The next thing he knew, it dropped down in one big lump right in front of him.
“Uhh…” Tanaka muttered. That’s when the slime stretched out and raised up an extremity. Tanaka assumed it was a head of sorts, because it was looking right at him with those blue and green spots.
“U… U-uh…” Tanaka began, unable to figure out how he was supposed to react. Instincts took over, and his body wanted to get as far away from that slime as possible. He took a step back, ready to turn and run.
And that’s when the slime leapt up and onto his face.
Whatever happened after that, a mystery.
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“Hmm…” Tanaka muttered out loud thinking over his recounting of the past. He was deep in thought, brow furrowed, but eventually a casual smile appeared on his face. “NAH!” he exclaimed, waving the whole thing away. “No way that actually happened! I mean, how would that even work anyways? I got from there to here in one night, and I don’t even remember?!” He laughed it off, completely reassured. “Man! I have got to get more sleep!”
Tanaka looked down however, and found the girl still there, still staring. “Ah… right…” he said. “Still have to figure out what to do with you…” He thought about it for a moment: Forty year old man plus a young girl he’s never met, usually equals jail, and that wasn’t something he’d really like to experience. “Alright!” he declared, striking his palm with his fist gently. “It’s time for you to go!”
He got behind the girl and began gently pushing her along the floor. By the time he reached the living room of the apartment, she had skidded quite the distance. Tanaka walked over to the front door, opening it for the girl and gesturing with his hand. “Here you go! Thanks for visiting, but uh, don’t ever again!”
The girl didn’t respond, or budge for that matter, leading Tanaka to just stand there until he got upset. “Kid, seriously, you need to leave!” Still no movement from the girl. After another moment, Tanaka had had enough. Closing the door, he marched over to her and gently took her by the arm. “I said, you need to leave!” he shouted, tugging on her.
And that’s when he ripped her arm off.
It took a moment for Tanaka to process what had just happened. He didn’t pull all that hard. And yet, there it was… a severed arm… in his hand…
He began to shake, slowly raising his head to look at the girl. She wasn’t scared, or angry, or even in pain. She just stared at him quietly, while black slime oozed out of the stump left by her arm being taken off.
“aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Tanaka screamed, throwing the arm into the air and stumbling backwards. From the ground, he watched the arm land on the floor—sputter in place for a moment—then turn into more black slime and stretch its way back to the girl, where it reattached itself to her body and reformed her arm.
“I-YOU-AND YOU WERE-IT WASN’T-” Tanaka sputtered, unable to control himself. He suddenly turned and lunged for the door lever, just barely able to graze it with his fingers before the girl shot slime out of her arm and cut him off from his escape route.
With nowhere else to run—Tanaka braced himself for whatever came next, pulling his body in tightly, placing his arms over his head and shutting his eyes. In the darkness of his eyelids, he’d never have to see what the alien girl would do to him, that’s what he thought. But after a moment, he wasn’t sure she was doing anything. Slowly he gave in to curiosity, and opened his eyes. The girl knelt in front of him, head tilted to the side as if she didn’t understand why he was reacting so strangely.
“Y… You’re not going to attack me?” Tanaka whimpered. The girl silently blinked at him, seemingly harmless. “And… you’re the alien… from last night-” Suddenly he grew upset again, pointing at her. “HEY! Why’d you attack me last night then?! Are you harmless, or not?!” The girl, of course, didn’t respond. “You… don’t speak any languages… do you-You know what? Forget it!” Tanaka said, throwing his hands up. “I can’t. I just can’t with you.”
He got up forcefully and walked away and into the bedroom, where he began to grumble to himself. “Thought I’d get a cool alien friend or something, but NOOOOOO, it’s just some slime girl… and not the good kind…” He began undressing, getting ready for the day. Without turning around, he could feel the girl’s eyes piercing him. He walked over to the door and shut it in her face.
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Eggs fried sunny side up on the pan, as two slices of white browned in the toaster. Tanaka was too busy to be bothered by his supernatural visitor. While he now had plenty of time to start his day, he expected to use every minute of it on himself. Starting with a good breakfast. Unfortunately, not even a good meal was going to help take his thoughts off of his current situation.
“I can’t ACTUALLY get rid of her now, can I?” Tanaka thought to himself. “If the government finds out I’ve been harboring an alien, they’ll make me disappear! Just like in all the stories!” He looked down at the saucer shaped eggs, prodding them with his spatula. “Besides, who knows what else she might do if I try to kick her out? I’m lucky she’s letting me live!”
Suddenly, he heard footsteps against the cheap vinyl floor. He turned his head to see the girl there. “Maybe if I just ignore her for the most part, she’ll go away on her own…” Tanaka thought. “It’s for the best, I mean why would an alien like her want to hang around someone as boring as me, anyway?”
The toast popped out of the toaster, it was time to eat. Tanaka carefully moved the toast to a plate, placing an egg each on top. He sat himself down at his table, taking one of the egg covered toast slices and biting off a piece. That’s when he glanced to his side, finding the girl next to him. She was staring again, but strangely enough not at him this time. Rather, she was staring at the food. Tanaka stopped chewing, seemingly picking up on her thoughts. “Did… did you… want some?” he asked. The girl looked up at him. “Uh… H-here…” Tanaka said, handing her the other slice of toast.
He went back to eating, taking his time to savor the taste, until he noticed she hadn’t eaten it. She was just staring at it again, as if she didn’t know what to do. “Uh, you DO know how to eat, right?” he asked the girl, who looked up at him again. Tanaka held up his slice, “Like this,” he said, demonstrating by taking a bite again.
The girl watched carefully. She looked down at the food, then back up at him, then down again. She took the toast with both hands, and slowly pushed it close to her stomach where it proceeded to sink through her shirt and into her body with a goopy splort sound. She pulled her hands back out, the toast was now gone. “… I’ll… pretend I wasn’t horrified by that…” Tanaka said.
Tanaka wandered into the living room and turned on the television. The screen clicked onto a newscaster, going over the morning stories already in progress.
“-Thankfully, no one was injured,” the woman on the screen began. “In unrelated news, citizens of the Central Shinkansen area have been reporting strange phenomena in the sky as of last night. Some even claiming there was a star that was ‘moving’.”
Tanaka shook his head and walked away.
“The government has dismissed the majority of the reports as baseless rumors, though many have doubts about this behavior… In local news, it appears the rail line between Nagoya and Yokohama is experiencing delays due to maintenance.”
Tanaka ran back in front of the TV. “WHAT?!” he cried, grabbing hold of the screen. “YOU CAN’T JUST SHUT THAT DOWN!”
He ran about like a chicken with its head cut off, sheer panic on his face. “NO NO NO! THE NEW SQUADRON NO. 1 FIGURE COMES OUT TODAY! I’VE BEEN SAVING FOR MONTHS! I-huh?” Tanaka said, suddenly snapping back to reality when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to find the girl clinging to him. “Oh, what do you want?” he said in an annoyed tone. “Can’t you see I’m having a crisis?”
The girl waved her hand, as if asking him to kneel down. “What?” Tanaka asked, doing just that. “What do you want?”
She placed her hand on his chest, “Uhh…” and then proceeded to turn to slime and leap onto him, completely enveloping his body. Tanaka struggled and flailed, trying to pry the alien off of him. But he suddenly felt as if he had no control, as if the girl was piloting him. She managed to get him out the front door and into the sunlight, where she moved herself enough to reveal his face from beneath the black slime. Tanaka gasped for air, terror in his eyes. But before he had a chance to say anything further, his legs crouched down and then caused him to leap off of the side of the apartment complex.
Tanaka screamed, watching the ground approach him. But as he landed, he found himself unharmed. Unharmed, and taking off like a rocket down the street.
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A train rolled through the countryside, traveling at high speed. Inside, the passengers sat comfortably in rows, letting the world fly by. One young boy was sitting in front of a window, excitedly watching the blur of grass and trees outside, when he spotted something strange. What looked like a man covered in black was running alongside the train.
Tanaka’s cheeks flapped from the force of the air pushing past his face, tears streaming from his eyes. His arms were slung behind him; his top-half slumped backwards while his bottom ran at a breakneck pace.
The boy tugged on his mother’s sleeve, pointing out the window. “Mama! Mama! There’s a man running with the train!”
“Oh you!” his mother replied calmly, not bothering to check. “You’ve got such an imagination!”
The tracks banked into a turn, leading the train away, while Tanaka continued towards the city. As he approached the outskirts, he ended up on the streets—running past cars and people who reacted far too slowly to realize he was there. However, soon came the traffic light, and about ten cars waiting in line. Seemingly reacting to this, the girl made Tanaka speed up. He rocketed towards the vehicles, close to collision, when suddenly his legs sprang up and launched him into the air. He screamed, flying towards a building he couldn’t see behind his tears, when miraculously he landed on its roof. Of course, the girl wasn’t done with him yet, and his legs sent him straight off the roof once more and onto the side of the building where he made a sharp left turn. Now running sideways along the row of buildings, The girl’s slime kept Tanaka firmly planted to the surface.
“WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?!” Tanaka cried, unable to control his movements. The girl took him around the corner, and back up to the top of the tallest building she could find. She paused for just a moment, letting Tanaka catch his breath. Glancing at the skyline, he found something was familiar. “H-hey… this-this is where the shop is! I-” He stopped, realizing she still wasn’t letting go of him. “What are you doing?” he asked, praying she wasn’t going to try what he thought she’d might. “Stop…” Her slime pulsated vigorously. “No!” His legs began speeding towards the edge of the building. “NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO!” he screamed, as he leapt off the edge, threading the needle between that building and another.
He shut his eyes, unable to bear to see what would happen next. His feet touched the ground, and the air flying past his face stopped. Finally working up the courage to look, he found himself in the alleyway between his building and its neighbor.
“OH GOD!” Tanaka yelped, as the girl finally separated from him. “OH MY GOD!” He was on the verge of tears from his scary adventure. He watched the girl reform her body right in front of him, which set him off. “NEVER AGAIN!” He shouted. “NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!”
The girl stared at him with the same lack of emotion as before, as if not understanding what she did wrong. Tanaka took deep breaths, desperate to slow his rapidly beating heart. Against all odds, he didn’t feel tired, as if the girl did all the running herself. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to dry heave.
“Is… Was that how you got me home last night?” he asked the girl. “How’d you know where to…” His shoulders sagged, unable to keep up the line of questioning. “Oh never mind…” he said, pulling out his cellphone from his pocket. He checked the time on the screen. “Woah… ten minutes before the shop opens!” he said with raised eyebrows. “You got me here in time!” The girl stared back at him, while he put his phone away. “I… uh…” he began. “… Thanks… I owe you one,” he said oddly sincerely.
Tanaka peeked out of the alleyway, spotting the line outside the shop. He took a step out, when he realized something. He turned to the girl. “Hey, uh… How do you plan on getting back?” he asked. The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion. “Don’t look at me like that! You can’t hang out here all day waiting for me!” She seemed to contemplate that, deep in thought. Suddenly there was a cooing sound behind her. They both looked to find a pigeon pecking at the ground. The girl stared at the bird for a moment, as if studying it. Then she raised her hand and shot a thick stream of black slime into it. Before the bird could even react, she reeled it in and absorbed it into her body. Tanaka wanted to protest, but instead he just watched as the girl’s body convulsed shortly, stretching and compressing. In the next instant, her body spat the bird back out, which appeared unfazed and flew away.
“…Okay?” Tanaka finally said. “What did that do?” That’s when he watched the girl transform into a puddle of slime, and from there into a human child-sized pigeon. “WHAT THE?!” he said, in absolute shock. The girl flapped her newly formed wings and launched herself out of the top of the alleyway, flying off into the distance.
“… Friggin’ aliens man…” Tanaka muttered to himself, eyelids lowering. “…Whatever, let’s just get this over with…” he said, walking out of the alley and getting in line.
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Morning turned to night, and Tanaka’s day of waiting in line ended. His apartment was still lit up when he opened the door, seemingly untouched since he left. He poked his head in, scanning the room. “Uh… little alien girl?” he quietly called out. “You there?” A lack of response prompted him to walk in further. “Hello?”
He half expected the girl to come running up to him when he came home, probably just to stare at him some more, but still. He wouldn’t admit to it, but the look of disappointment on his face gave away his thoughts. “Maybe she found someone else to hang around?” he said to himself. “Yeah… probably for the best, really…” He placed his bagged figurine on the couch and headed down the hall with a slump.
The bathroom felt cold and lifeless, despite being filled to the brim with hot steam. The water in the tub splashed as Tanaka climbed in. His body slid down, sinking until only his head was visible. He let out a tired sigh—despite how soothing the bath felt, his mind was exhausted. Shutting his eyes, he pondered out loud, “Well… now what?”
The spigot began shaking, breaking his concentration. “What the?” he muttered, leaning in to have a look. Suddenly, the shaking stopped. Tanaka waited with baited breath, until a familiar black goo began leaking out into the tub. His eyes strained, face twisted in pain and horror. As the girl’s head raised out of the water in a particularly compromising position, Tanaka let out an agonizing cry of fear.
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“She was in the pipes…” Tanaka sputtered, breathing heavily. “She was IN the goddamn pipes…” Having run out of the bathroom, he immediately threw on some nighttime clothes before the girl had a chance to see anything. With a towel around his neck he stood in the hall, sweat pouring down his face as he tried to come to terms with his ‘close call’. “Why? Why was she in the pipes? WHY?!” he said, seemingly choking back tears of anguish. “Aliens! Friggin aliens!”
He took a few deep breaths, eventually dropping his blood pressure enough to think. “Back to square one… You’ve got an alien slime girl living with you, that you have no idea how to take care of…”
Tanaka glanced over to the girl, who was staring intently at the boxed figure he had bought. “Well… at least she’s… kind of cute-HEY! NO! This is not the time to be thinking that! For all I know she could still be dangerous! I mean, sure, she’s not doing anything NOW… but—that doesn’t mean she won’t in the future!”
He gave the girl another look, this time she had the box in her hands, holding it up to her face. “… And… I-I mean… There’s still so much I don’t understand about her… She knew how to get me home last night… She knew where the shop was in the city…Come to think of it… How’d she even know how to disguise herself as a human? It’s like she read my mind or some-”
Tanaka’s eyes darted back to the girl, who was now attempting to pull the figurine out of the box. “NO! Nonononono!” He cried dashing over and snatching the box away. “This is NOT for opening, alright?! This is NEVER to be opened!”
The girl stared at him, stumps for arms. He looked at the box, finding her hands and the rest still glued to it. “… Uh… s… sorry…” he said, placing the box on the ground so the arms could return to the girl. “I… I’m not used to living with someone else…” The girl didn’t seem to mind, as usual, leaving Tanaka to quietly take a seat on the couch. “Well… I guess that’s going to be something I get used to as long as you’re here, huh? Uh…” he trailed off. “Y…You…” He smacked his palm against his forehead. “No… This isn’t going to work out if I have nothing to call you…” he said, eyes shutting. “You’ll need a name… let’s see… Umm… You’re… kind of a child… and… you don’t talk… So… maybe… Shizu-ko?” Tanaka opened his eyes, exchanging quiet stares. “You’re right, too on the nose,” he bluntly stated. “Alright, well, I’ll think on it some more later,” he said, patting the seat on the couch next to him. “C’mon, let’s see what’s on TV.”
The girl quietly walked over and pulled herself up onto the couch next to Tanaka, while he grabbed the remote and flipped the screen on to the news.
“And in tonight’s news an update on the mysterious object that landed in Central Shinkansen,” the man in a suit said. “Government forces have quarantined a large area in the woods surrounding what many believe to be the impact site. While the government originally stated the object in question was ‘simply a meteorite’, residents of the area aren’t buying it. A representative of the JSDF is currently holding a press conference to alleviate fears of what some have been calling ‘an encounter with alien life’.”
The feed cut to the press conference where a man in a medal-adorned uniform stood behind a podium. “Good evening,” the man began. “At around 22:00 last night, an object of unknown origin landed in the woods south of the Central Shinkansen area. After careful analysis, we’ve concluded the object is not in fact a meteorite as previously thought.” Confused murmurs came from the watching crowd, as reporters talked over each other trying to ask questions. “Rather, we have determined the object in question was likely a surveillance device lost by one of our neighboring nations in a fly-over. Rest assured, the item in question is inactive, and we’ve taken it back to our facilities for further investigation.”
A reporter stood up in front of the crowd, pointing her microphone at the man. “And how do we know this ‘object’ was not, in fact, something from space?” she asked.
“Please, let’s not jump to irrational conclusions. While we can’t reveal any real details yet—the device, currently operating under the codename: NINA, is considered of utmost priority to the JSDF—and we WILL have an answer for the public in due time-”
Tanaka paused the TV, letting the picture hang. “Nina, eh?” He turned to the girl. “That you?” She stared back at him. “Alright… Well… Nina? You’re welcome to stay here. Y’know not like I have a choice in the matter, but… still.” She continued to give him a blank stare. “Anyway, I’ll get dinner started. We’ll figure out how we’re going to pull this off tomorrow.”
Tanaka got up and left. The girl watched him walk to the kitchen. When he disappeared around the corner, she got off the couch and walked to the window. She stared out the window at the night sky, the moon reflecting in her eyes. “Hey Nina!,” Tanaka called out. “You coming?” The girl turned, and walked to the kitchen, leaving the view of the moon in the window.