"WAKE!"
"UP!"

With every word, she jumped on me once.
My vision was blurry, and my senses a little numb,
but there is only one person, that would jump on me every single morning,
to get me out of my beautiful sleep.

However she noticed my veague presence,
And started shaking me like I was some kind of christmas present,
wanting to know what is inside,
breaking it.

"Wake up alreadyyyyyyyyy!"

"I am awake" I responded and yawned "Quit being so rough on me."

"Finally. I have waited about an hour for you. Why are you always so late?"

"I am a heavy sleeper. And killing me won't fix that."

I pointed to the ground.

"If you may?"

"Hmpf!" 

To make the situation clear, as my vision adjusts, that small brown haired girl over there is my little, very annoying, sister Satama. We have been living together for a while now, so she has adapted to my habits. I wasn't lying earlier, I am a very heavy sleeper. But who can blame me. Just now I was a legendary HERO. Of course I wanted to stay in that fantasy for a while. It is one of many dreams in that direction. Fantasies, dreams, stories. All places I can retreat into, separating me from my miserable reality.

"Will you stand up already? I am huuuungry. Make me some Food!"

Ah, here we go again

Same question and same situation as every day. Hungry little goblin, running around in her pink white sleeping-outfit. She could eat the entirety of man kind if she just wanted to. Yet she comes here, to me, her food lord in this world. What about instant noodles, we got those in the fridge and they look much more heroic than I do, with my tired eyes and short thin blanket. Instant noodles have a good taste, charm and are very hot if used correctly. She can take those, she is tall enough, even if she is only 7 years old. And let's not forget the fact that she is eating like a vacuum cleaner, even if she is only sucking my wallet dry.

I got a little higher from my position, almost sitting in my bed, leaning on the wall, still half-covered by my blanket.

"You know: I am pretty sure that by now, you should be able to do that yourself."

"But I am too small, I can't cook. I wouldn't even be able to use the frying pan."

I looked at her, confused, to make her understand how worthless of an argument that is to me, even though it is partially true.

"Size doesn't matter." I said.

"Then I am just too young to learn it."

My Head faced straight forward, with a serious look on my face, my right hand went in front of my face, near to my chin. I shaped it like I was holding an audio recorder.

"Day 69: I seem to be trapped with a little girl, forced to listen to her same excuses every day. Next time her guard is down, I might as well take the window. I must escape."

I transformed a smile to a grin. The irony was atmospheric.

"Geez Onii-Chan, stop being so dramatic about it. It doesn't look like you have anything else to do anyways. Look at you! Dead like a rat"

"Hey. Rats have feelings too, you know."

"But you're the only Rat who makes me food."

Not very polite.

"I am giving you five more minutes. I'll wait at the table."

I can't believe I'm letting her treat me like that every time. Fine. I'll let it pass once more, but we will have to work on such behavior.

"Fine." I agreed "Get out. I'll be there."

She stomped the ground once, pouted, and left.
"5 Minutes!" She yelled out of the corridor.

"Our neighbors must hate us" I mumbled to myself.

I looked up at the lightbulb, which was coloring my room in a light yellow.

So that must have been the light I saw.

I got out of bed, stretching my body. A tiny crack from my back.

Ah! My back. I really should stop my sister from waking me up like this.

I went to the window, barely a foot away from me. I don't have a big room.
I opened the curtains, to catch some outside light, my hand rushed above my head, shadowing my eyes.

It's pretty bright outside, it must be around 11 am.

I walked up to my phone on the table next to me, which also holds my computer, filled with games and files I would rather leave out of this. I also use my computer for my school or buying stuff from the internet. Nonetheless I did not use it for school lately, since it was winter holidays so far.

Yep, 11:13 am. Tomorrow school starts again, I don't even know how I passed the exams for this last grade. Who cares, I'll be done soon anyways.

I left my phone and walked to my closet to get some clothes. As I saw myself in the mirror, the dream from that night fell into my memory again. Such a thrilling experience. I looked a little different, but still the same, if one does not think of the armor and the cape. I continued to compare myself to my dream self for a while.

My name is Tamashi Ken, another useless person having a life.

I'm your normal neighborhood otaku, spending most of his free time with anime and manga. I mostly play games on my phone and PC, spending my money on gachas. I watch Idols as well, indeed, who could resist.

My room is like my very own home. I got everything I need, except for privacy.
A Poster here, a collection there, figurines of many series, a shelf filled with the latest fantasy novels and Mangas.
And finally, I have my precious, my holy grail, my all and everything:

A signature on a picture.
Fair, it might not look like a lot, yet it is worth far more than I could ever spend on anime girls.

About 6 years ago, just before my Sister was born, my father brought me to his job at his company, dedicated to 2D animation.

I never liked anime before. Not only because I showed a lack of interest, rather because of the relationship between me and my father. It was my mothers decision that he should show me around at his work. I did not want to, neither did he. Yet my mother, as beautiful and nice as she was, could always be the devil on earth.

Do not underestimate that fact.
If you DARED to interrupt her, or decline her wish, while she was in her final Phase, critical Damage wouldn't be enough to describe what would follow.

In the end however, it opened my love to anime. My father wasn't the reason, but that particular day, there was a woman strolling around the company: Takana Ria, a very famous Voice Actress. She was a guest, looking at her own work, as well as being good friends with my father. She noticed that I was there that day.

She was beautiful and elegant, an explosion of charm that I felt for her as a young child.
As she walked towards me, I got nervous, but she treated me very well. She even gave me headpats.
On that day with her however, she handed me a picture of herself with her signature. And to this day I adore her and all of the characters she voices.

I regret having showered the day after.

Today, however, my parents are no longer among the living. They died in a car accident 3 years ago. My sister barely remembers the news that were brought to us, and I did not care. In my teenage years I lost my connection to them, went out on my own, the usual rebellion. When they died, our grandparents cared for us, they are financially pretty well set and even pay for this apartment and most of our food.
And as long as they handle that, I am fine with it.
If they die as well, we will get all the money and can live for another while.

The only thing I can do, that is not related to beautifully drawn 2D anime girls, is cooking. Satama knows, she knows all about me, so she uses me to her advantage.

A stupid life.

I don't care about it.

Furthermore, I could say I want to lose it.
I don't want to kill myself. I am not suicidal after all.
Anime is the only thing keeping me here, everything else is so plane and idiotic.
People, my age or not, never interested me. Either they search for attention or they try to teach you. And mostly they are just annoying, staying in their little groups.

Why make social connections, I thought. why make progress in life? It leads to nothing.
It is why I retreat into my fantasy, my world. My dreams, that I get rudely awakened from. In those I can have a better life, be the protagonist of my own story, be the hero, without much effort. I do not have to build up any relationships, care for what I could do or not do. 

I stood there for a while, looking into the mirror, reflecting onto myself, but not doubting, that I was right with what I believed and thought.

If there was a way out of my life, to go somewhere more interesting, even if I had to give up everything, I would take that chance. I would take  it no matter what. I thought, as I looked upon me. I'd rather be slaying dragons, using magic, than staying here, living to die. I want to be somewhere else. I wish to b-

"Onii-chaaaan! Five minutes are already over. Come here already or else."

There was never a point where she would not disturb me.

"Be patient! To be honest, what do you even have against me?" I asked, testing her.

There is nothing that she has against me. Unless of course...

"Well I found that book under your bed and-"

"I AM ON MY WAY!"

And so, quicker than a second, I got my clothes, put them on, and was on my way to the corridor when I suddenly stopped at the door. I turned around, letting my gaze wander around my room, searching, even though I did not need anything. I observed the shelf, the table and finally my bed. That particular dream tonight. I had multiple like them usually, but this one felt very... weird. It was unlike what I ever dreamed before. Waking up was different from my natural mornings. Significantly different. But I could not make up my mind about what the difference was.

Confused, yet knowing Satama would scream again, I went away to the kitchen. leaving the light on.