ねつきは大丈夫

Okay~! Back at it starting today♪ Let’s GO!

To-do list, to-do list… alright, first item is——

…

…

…You’ve been stuck on line one for a while now, nya.

Huh!? No I haven’t — Netsuki is totally making progress!

…What does it say, nya.

Ummm… “reply to emails.”

…Earlier you said “pick images,” nya.

…

I-I’m just… reorganizing. That’s all.

Oh, I’m gonna brew another coffee——

…Netsuki.

Hm?

…You’re still holding your mug, nya.

…Oh.

Wait… what cup is this even.

…Third. This morning, nya.

…

My brain just won’t wake up. Why isn’t caffeine doing ANYTHING.

…You’ve got it backwards, nya.

Backwards?

…Coffee helps a rested brain wake up. It doesn’t rescue a sleep-deprived one. More caffeine on a foggy brain just makes the fog thicker, nya.

But I slept PROPERLY — every day till noon for four whole days!

…That’s the worst thing you could have done, nya.

WHAT?! Sleep is important!

…It’s not the amount. It’s the rhythm, nya. Your body runs best when you sleep and wake at the same time every day, nya.

…For four days, you slept at a different time and woke at a different time every single day, nya.

…Yeah, okay. That’s true.

…Your body clock is out of sync with the actual clock. Same state as someone who just got back from an overseas trip, nya.

…I didn’t GO anywhere. I have JET LAG?!

…Social jet lag, nya. When your body’s rhythm falls out of sync with society’s schedule. Happens to people all over the world after long holidays, nya.

…Come to think of it——

Gogatsu-byou — May sickness — became a buzzword in 1968.

…Do you need that trivia right now, nya?

Netsuki is fine! The trivia’s coming out PROPERLY (ﾟ∀ﾟ)

…Trivia coming out and your body working are two different things, nya.

So it started as a college thing. Students who’d survived the university entrance grind — they’d finally make it in, hit the Golden Week break in May, and just… completely lose all motivation. Psychologists coined the term in the late 1950s, and it spread as a buzzword in 1968.

…A college student thing, nya.

And “Golden Week” itself? Way newer than you’d think. A movie studio’s marketing department invented it in 1951 — literally ad copy. They riffed off “Golden Time” from radio to get people into cinemas during the holiday stretch.

…The holiday’s name is a movie company’s sales pitch, nya.

Right. So — the holiday gets named in 1951. Then seventeen years later, in 1968, the thing that happens after the holiday finally gets its own name too.

The name came first. The symptom came along and claimed it.

…Name first, symptom after, nya.

…And right now, Netsuki is claiming the name “vacation brain” for her own condition, nya.

…Huh?

…When there’s a name for it, the symptom finds a place to settle, nya.

…

So I’m… blaming the name?

…The name helps, nya. Knowing everyone goes through this — that it’s not just you — that’s real comfort, nya.

…But a name isn’t medicine, nya.

…Fox-san.

Hm?

…Your tail isn’t moving-dess.

What?

…It usually sways when you talk. Not once since earlier-dess.

…No way. My tail totally moves. Look——

…

…It won’t move.

…The body doesn’t lie, nya.

…My mouth says I’m fine, though.

…Your ears are asleep too-dess.

Luna-chan, you’re not holding back at ALL…

…Rabbits can tell by their ears-dess.

Are your ears up right now, Luna-chan?

…I’m a lop-eared rabbit-dess.

Oh.

…They don’t go up. Ever-dess.

…So who can tell how you’re doing?

…No one can-dess.

…But you just said rabbits know by their ears!

…That’s rabbits in general-dess.

…Luna-chan, you’re just exempt from your own rule.

…I don’t get vacation brain fog-dess.

That’s SO unfair!

…I spent the holidays the same as weekdays-dess.

…You never broke your rhythm.

…Luna is correct, nya.

…Three things, nya.

Okay.

…Get morning sunlight. Best thing for resetting the body clock, nya.

…Move a little. A walk, some cleaning — anything counts, nya.

…Caffeine before noon only. Drink it in the afternoon and it’s still in your brain at bedtime, nya.

…That’s literally the opposite of everything I did today.

…Nya.

…Opening the curtains, nya.

…So bright.

…But, something, in the back of my head, just a little——

…Your tail moved-dess.

Oh!

…Just a little.

…Nya.

…Okay. Starting right now — I’ll wake up properly in the morning. Tomorrow I’ll sleep at a normal time. Promise.

…You’ll say that again tomorrow-dess.

L-Luna-chan, that’s brutal!!

…When there’s a name for it, it’s easier to say again tomorrow-dess.

…Luna is the sharpest one today, nya.

…I’m not brewing the fourth coffee.

…Nya.