Day 231

[from StarLight]

Upon arriving back at her house, Sanae tossed the Emblem onto her bedside table and then gratefully flopped down onto her bed. "Finally," she groaned, "I can get some sleep."

Not a moment later, Sanae was jolted awake by a terrible crashing sound coming from outside. "Another monster attack!" she cried out. "I'll take care of this!" Snatching up the White Star Emblem, Sanae transformed into White Star for the second time that night and threw open her window ready to fly out, only to realize that the crashing sound wasn't coming from a monster, but from a set of roadworks right next to her house. She couldn't remember the roadworks being there before; maybe she'd just been so tired during her first excursion that she just hadn't noticed them.

Quietly putting down the White Star Emblem and powering down, Sanae leaned out of the window and shouted, "Hey! Would you mind keeping it down? Some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Sorry," called out one of the workers in response, shutting off his jackhammer. "This is the only time we can work without causing any major travel disruption."

"You're causing some major sleep disruption!" retorted Sanae.

"Sorry," said the man, "but we're not stopping work just for one person."

Sanae pouted angrily. "Well, fine!" she shouted, slamming her window shut. "Have fun escaping from the next monster attack, because I won't be helping you!"

As Sanae stormed back to her bed, the crashing sounds started anew. Kousen felt that she should probably try and calm her master down. "Sanae-" she began.

"Not now, Kousen," said Sanae, before flopping back down onto her bed. "Ugh… I'm sure if I get tired enough, I'll fall asleep no matter how loud it is…"

***

Sadly for Sanae, this did not transpire, and the sound of the roadworks kept her up all night long. By the time the infernal crashing sound finally ceased, it was morning, and sunlight was streaming in through her curtains. The exhausted girl had bags under her bloodshot eyes, and her hair lay in disarray. As the glorious silence washed over her, she let out a weary sigh.

"At least they've finally stopped working," she groaned, closing her eyes. "Now maybe I can get a short nap in before my-"

A shrill beeping noise interrupted Sanae as her alarm clock went off. Jerking upright, Sanae shot a tired glare at her alarm clock and then slammed her hand down on the Snooze button. "Stupid monster," she snarled. "If it hadn't showed up last night, I could've slept through those roadworks and gotten a decent night's sleep! But nooooo, it had to show up at two in the morning! Now I gotta go through the whole day on just two hours of sleep! Sure, maybe I shouldn't have stayed up so late playing Medal Gear Salad V, but-"

"Uhh, Sanae?" interrupted Kousen.

"What?!" barked Sanae. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of an angry monologue here?"

"My apologies for interrupting you," said Kousen, "but shouldn't you be getting ready for school?"

Sanae let out a grunt of discontent and slipped out of bed. "Today is not going to be a fun day," she said.

***

Sanae managed to get ready for school as normal, and met up with Amaya at their usual spot. Amaya seemed shocked to see her friend in such a state. "Damn, you look terrible," she remarked. "Were you up all night playing Medal Gear Salad V?"

"No," said Sanae. "Well… I was up late playing it, but then I got kept up by roadworks for the rest of the night."

"Wow, that sucks," said Amaya. "Well, remember a couple of episodes ago when I was super-tired and had to sleep in class? You should just do that!"

"Yeah, I guess I should," said Sanae. "Say, that reminds me. Wouldn't your mother have been playing Medal Gear Salad all night as well?"

"Nah, she already completed it somehow," said Amaya. "I think she must have played it for about three days straight without sleeping. I dunno how she does it."

"Me neither," said Sanae bitterly. "I'd love to be able to go one day without sleep, let alone three."

"Trust me," said Amaya, "no you don't. It's not worth it."

Sanae nodded lazily. "So… sleep through class, eat lunch, sleep through lunch, go home, sleep some more… sounds like a good day to me."

"Yeah," said Amaya. "Sounds good to me too. I just hope we don't get a-"

***

"Pop quiz!"

The whole class groaned as Inaba-sensei started to hand out the surprise test papers, and Sanae groaned loudest of all. While this would mean fifty minutes of peace and quiet for her, it would also mean she'd have to be awake for the whole lesson in order to fill in the paper, and she was not very pleased about being kept awake yet again.

Actually, she thought to herself suddenly, I don't have to stay awake for the whole lesson! I just have to stay awake for as long as it takes me to complete the test! In other words, if I just fill in whatever answers I want without looking, I'll get it done in five minutes tops and I can sleep in silence until second period starts! Sanae, you're a genius!

With a flourish, Sanae put her plan into action. Her pen danced across the answer sheet with unwarranted gusto as she scribbled whatever nonsense came into her head into each answer box in turn. [AUTHOR NOTE: imagine Light writing in the Death Note, but every word is "cabbage" or "tissue paper". That's what I'm going for here] In a matter of minutes, the paper was complete. It's done!, Sanae thought triumphantly. Now I can rest… Without a second thought, Sanae folded her arms across the desk, rested her head upon them, and fell fast asleep, certain that when she woke up, she would be feeling refreshed and ready to face the day.

***

"Ugghh…"

This, suffice it to say, was not what transpired. Instead, when Sanae woke from her nap at the start of second period, she felt even worse than she had done beforehand. She now felt groggy, thirsty, and had a throbbing headache, and her exhaustion felt like it had merely intensified. How could this happen…? she thought to herself. How could sleeping actually make me feel worse? What kind of hellish nightmare am I trapped in…?!