This morning didn't start off weird, but that didn't last.

I woke up pretty normally. A sort of slow, gradual build up to full consciousness. I just kept my eyes closed, barely aware of anything as I savored the sensation of being in bed.

Time passes all sorts of funny when you're doing that. It feels like nothing, even though you could just lie there for hours.

The hunger for stimulation comes eventually, though. I reached my hand over to the side of the bed where I normally kept my phone.

And, uh, it wasn't there.

So I made the mistake of opening my eyes.

I was actually worried that I had gone blind, until I realized it was just my hair.

Then I got a very strange feeling of j'amais vu because no way in hell is my hair that long, and it isn't even *black*.

It only got worse as I parted my hair and finally saw... well, everything.

So, it wasn't my room. That's one thing. But what really got my goat was...

I... I don't quite know how to explain this. It was anime.

Not like I woke up in some weeb's room. I mean... it was literally *anime*. I was... oh god, am I in an *anime*?

I even did that dumb thing where you rub your eyes to try and restore some normalcy to reality. Nope. Still anime.

My heart was thumping, but I barely even noticed it. I held my hands up and looked at them: they were nothing like any normal person's hands. They were freakin' cel-shaded!

Fuck fuck... don't look in the mirror, don't look in the mirror...

I looked in the mirror.

Lying atop the bed, staring out the mirror in complete bewilderment, was a goddamn anime girl. With a little mouth, big brightly colored eyes, the barest hint of a nose, and... fuck me, is that an ahoge?

I reached up to my head, the reflection following the same. Yep, I have an ahoge. One of those dumb swirly hair strands that anime characters sometimes have. The one with the little swirls going around the middle.

I'm not sure why, but I started giggling hysterically. There was something so surreal about it all. Like waking up after a crazy dream or hallucination, except... there was nothing else. No dreams. No hallucinations. Just me looking at myself in the mirror. And laughing.

After a few minutes, I stopped laughing. My breathing slowed down.

Okay, now I was freaking out. What the hell was happening here?! Was I dreaming? Had I lost my mind? How come my phone wasn't here? Where was here? Why was I in an anime world?

"This can't be real," I muttered to myself. "It has to be a dream."

But it felt too real. Too much like I'd been living in this world for years. Not days, weeks, months... YEARS.

What if this was my life now? I wondered. If this is all I ever get to see and feel, then maybe it doesn't matter whether I wake up tomorrow or ten years from now. Maybe I should just enjoy it while it lasts.

...ah fuck no, I can't do that! I can already feel the existential dread bubbling up my spinal cord.

I do the classic 'Home Alone' pose where you slap your hands to either side of your face.

And I screamed with the high pitched voice of an anime girl.

The sound echoed through the room and reverberated off the walls and ceiling.

Holy shit!

I froze.

I couldn't move. I couldn't think.

Then the door swung open as another anime girl strode through.

"Mae-chan! I heard screaming! Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?" she asked, concern evident in her tone.

She was wearing a short pink skirt and a white blouse with ruffles along the sleeves and collar.

Now, I could probably do what every isekai does and just blow past the fact that *my entire life has been uprooted and transplanted into another world completely unlike my own*.

But... I'm not really an anime girl, I'm just in the body of one. So I don't stick to those kind of conventions.

"I'm not Mae-chan!" I shouted.

The girl looked at me confusedly in silence for a moment. Then she just went, "...eh?"

I shook my head and started to cry.

It was so hard to keep the tears back. I was terrified. But I knew I had to.

I needed someone. Anyone.

I felt something soft surround me, another person's arms supporting my heaving form. It was comforting.

"Mae-chan, it's okay. There there, it's okay..." said the anime girl. She sounded so calm and collected. But I could hear a little quiver in her voice.

"Where are we? What happened to my room?" I sobbed.

"What do you mean, Mae-chan? This is... this is your room..."

I was speechless. I didn't know how to respond. The girl wrapped me in a hug, and I felt her warm breath against my neck.

I looked up at her face. It was cute, of course. She was an anime girl, how could she not be cute? It was soft, and stylized, all cel-shading and pastel colors. Her eyes were big and bright like the ones in anime, but there was a bit of uncertainty behind them.

I started crying again.

I was scared. I didn't want to lose myself. I was still me, but everything around me was so different.

I felt another weight add itself to the mattress. The girl must have sat down next to me.

"Mae-chan, it's okay. Just tell me what's the matter."

I looked up at her, eyes leaking. "I-I-I... I'm not... I'm just not 'Mae-chan', okay? This is not me. This is not my room. And you're not..." I sniffled and wiped my eyes on my blanket, "U-uh, I don't know who you are... I don't know what or where any of this is..."

She looked more worried than before. How could she not, when her best-friend has apparently forgotten... everything? Even her?

"M-Mae-chan, it's me... remember? Tsu? Onee-sama?"

That last phrase rung a bell. It wasn't a name though, was it?

She continued, "Mae... it's me, your big sister. Please tell me you remember that..."

Oh shit, of all the people to see me like this... it's the big sister of the girl whose body I'm inhabiting.

I looked at my hands. They were still shaking, and I couldn't stop.

The girl gently took one of my hands in hers.

"Tsu..." I began, a bit firmer than before, "Believe me, you have to believe me... I'm not Mae. I'm... this is her body, but I'm *not* Mae."

"W-what do you... mean?"

I started crying again. I was terrified. I had no idea why I was here, and even if I did, I couldn't begin to explain it.

"I'm not even from this world! It... nothing looks how it should! I-I-I-I just woke up in it! In this body..."

The girl just stared at me. I couldn't read her expression.

It was so hard for me to look away. I wanted someone, anyone, to understand what I was going through.

"I... I believe you Mae- I mean, whoever you are." She said, and I could hear the tears in her voice.

"You do?" I asked, and she nodded. "But how can I trust you? You don't know anything about me!"

"I know you're not Mae-chan because of all those little things... those things you have none of. And... you're terrified. You aren't faking this. I think..."

I was still crying, and now the girl was too. She wrapped her arms around me. It felt so good to be held by someone.

"It's okay. I'm scared too. My sister is..."

I nodded "...she must be in my world."

"Mae-chan... you don't have to worry. I'll help you find her. I promise. We're gonna get out of this place and back home. Okay?"

I sniffled, and looked up at my anime big sister. She was beautiful, and comforting. I trusted her.

She patted my head and gave me a gentle smile.

"We'll get my sister back... together."

. . .

A few minutes later, in the kitchen...

. . .

I was lost in thought, staring at a cup of tea I'd brewed earlier. The little bit of milk and sugar I added was a nice touch.

It wasn't like tea from *my* world, of course. It was anime tea.

That made me a bit hesitant to drink it. I mean... it's simply wrong looking to my brain.

Tsu was sitting across from me, watching me stare at my cup of tea.

"So... what should I call you? Since you're not really Mae-chan..."

I looked up, "