Yuri Worlds

[104] Offer

Yuka immediately summoned a long, piercing black blade that reached around Silvia and shot straight for the blue-haired girl. She didn't waver or attempt to move out of its path. Right before contact, a glowing blue and yellow charged field surrounded the tip and pushed it back in a manner reminiscent of magnetic braking.

Through yelping pain, Yuka continued to push harder until Carrie reached for her shoulder and squeezed it gently. Finally, Yuka relented and drew back her attack.

Maharu adjusted the same priestly robe as she wore in their last encounter. Her body, coloration, and overall animation leaned more towards the other world than this one, but not so hard that she tilted towards the uncanny. Still, there was something clearly off about her compared to everything else around her. After a moment, she remarked, "I would prefer it if you didn't do that again. I don't have any other spares of her available at the moment."

Silvia smashed a fist into the wall, and Fiona clutched the door to the point where it was quivering. Yuka answered, "No more hiding behind innocents. Bring your real face to talk."

Maharu snorted at first before breaking out another wave of practically crazed giggles. "My real face. Of course, you would like that. How long would I last? You would rather kill me than talk. Such a shame. Such a sad sad thing. May I come in?"

Silvia huffed. "Are you like some vampire or undead that needs permission to enter?"

She tipped her head and shrugged before stepping her foot on the tile hallway before withdrawing it. "Of course not. See? Just common courtesy on my part. Well? May I enter?"

"What if we say no?" Fiona pressed.

Maharu turned up her hands. "Your prerogative. It's your property, not mine. I still have business to discuss, so then I would have to ask that you all step outside and if I may use the front porch bench for the next few minutes. It's already a lovely spring day, and it would be quite a nice location to discuss important matters."

Silvia couldn't hold back. "You killed. Your...friend brutally murdered the face you wear. You locked us away like property. You took over our minds. And worse. So much worse. You sucked the life out of our world. Why shouldn't we torture you until you bleed and scream? Why shouldn't we kill you?"

The company girl took a quick breath. "I must apologize that your vacation didn't quite go the way you expected or intended, and uncomfortable realities were revealed. But I killed no one. I must confess to a small temper and apologize for our last communication concluding with hostility. I accept full responsibility. As for why no harm should be done to me? You can't do any harm to me. My pain receptors in this host body just don't work. Allow me to demonstrate."

She immediately grabbed her right arm and wrested it out of its shoulder joint with an audible pop. The dislocated shoulder dangled disturbingly without even a flinch of discomfort on the girl's face. Twisting around, she swiftly popped it back into place.

"So, it is a waste of time to try to hurt me. I'm just here to talk and offer an amicable deal that will preserve everything all of you and all of us want. And we can discuss it wherever you prefer."

Fiona twisted her cheeks around as though trying to grind down one last morsel of breakfast in her mouth. Despite the freshness of the air and the feeling around like after a recent rain still clinging to and nourishing the earth, a nagging dustiness, carried by a harsh wind probed her nostrils. Silvia squeezed her hands together until they hurt with every trembling muscle. They looked to Carrie and Yuka to decide. Carrie relished the idea of pretending to welcome the false goddess inside and then slamming the door in their face a few times, even if it was pointless.

They agreed to talk inside and walked over to the living area. Maharu naturally chose the biggest, tallest couch. Everyone else sat together on one of the long couches, with Yuka the closest to this opponent and Carrie right behind her, Fiona in front of Silvia, and Silvia pouting at, as she quietly commented, being treated like a fragile princess. Maharu waited until she had perfect silence to lay out her proposal.

"All we want is Cerberus. Yuka. Whatever she desires to call herself, we're inclusive and understanding when it comes to the recognition of names and gender identities. We want you to agree willingly to come to our labs and allow us to test and examine your threefold, amazing quantum immortality so that we can enrich the lives of our loved ones and the lives of our constituents."

Yuka firmly shook her head and responded, "Don't lie to me. You don't have any loved ones. You can't love, and no one loves you. You want immortality, but that precious, alluring fruit will turn to ashes in your mouth."

Maharu shifted slightly, as though bracing herself against discomfort, even though she claimed no pain could be transmitted to this body. "You make too many assumptions. But that's fine. You're young. Lessons and wisdom will come to you in time. If you agree to let us research and harvest your developing powers...harvest doesn't mean sucking your brain out or dissecting you. You will easily survive our examinations with a minimum of discomfort. But, if you agree, this world will suffer no consequence, and we will make no attempt to recover what was released last night. The events in the world you consider your home, such as the violent insurrection that took the lives of many of our friends and coworkers, will be forgotten and forgiven. Any consequences for the actions of those you care about in that world will also be wiped clean."

Yuka turned and gestured to the others. "And everyone here? Will they be left alone?"

The young girl's eyes flicked across each of them before she responded, "I will leave them alone. Everyone here, their pets, their grandmothers, and so forth, will not be harmed by my hand." She raised her hand to show.

Carrie narrowed her eyes and thought that still left plenty of wiggle room for sneaking out of a verbal contract. She pressed her point, emphasizing the need to check on whether they held up their end of the deal. The other world needed to be guaranteed safety, so that the girls there were not controlled, not to be used like products, their minds erased, and their bodies wielded for communication. Carrie spilled out every sickening detail and pushed it in the company's face.

The entity inhabiting Maharu's body fussed and shifted, as though a pin had been placed on the seat and they were wiggling to get off of it. "...Of course... there are so many worlds out there. We can be gracious and permit… We'll let all those in the system, from those wristband...girls who were so frustrating to recontain to everyone that you just tossed back out into the world without explanation, be permitted amnesty. It's anarchy at the moment to see countless people just popping back into existence after being missing for several days. We could've taken care of it much more quietly. But they shall be free to choose whatever untamed society they prefer. I promise you that."

That sounded good to Carrie, but she was still careful. "You will protect me and everyone else here when traveling, so we're safe out there and can return home safely."

A raspy breath that sounded older than her face and body rattled past Maharu's lips.

"I promise you safe passage through our transit gates, as much as I can promise any technology will work. But the trip will be as safe as your last journey and comparable to any trip you take on transportation in your world. In our care and custody, I swear that you and anyone else who wishes to travel from this house. Or from the places that you have made...friends and family... will have everything, especially memories, kept as safe as I or anyone else with the company would want to be kept in the same circumstances. I promise."

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All that went on for quite a bit, and Carrie again wondered if there were any loopholes or distinctions that she missed. It sounded fine, but she knew to be very careful with this most human of monsters.

"What about my mothers and their memories of me? Can you restore them?" Yuka chimed in.

"No. Their memory loss was an unfortunate consequence of their temporary storage process. It's like data loss on any device. Perhaps they might remember with enough prompting and connection to other parts of their brain, but there's nothing I or anyone else with the company can do to restore those lost memories."

The others wanted to call that out as bullshit and protest, but Yuka bowed her head and slowly sighed. "Fine. I wouldn't want any of you to do anything to force them to remember anyway. You'd just cause more pain and suffering. Just leave them alone and let them remember the truth. What about Carrie and whatever she has inside that blocks you out?"

The company girl leaned back in the chair with her feet carefully planted on the carpet and her attention focused solely on Yuka. "I know you would know I was lying if I said I had no interest in what she was able to do. I really want to know what happened. That's why we paired the two of you up. To learn what happens. My apologies if that touches a nerve, but that's all it means to us. An experiment I would like to get results on. I know it means love and a heartfelt connection for the two of you. That's nice. But I don't care. Our key goal is quantum immortality through Cerberus. If we have to wait for results from Miss Fowler some decades from now, with her natural passing, then so be it. As I said, you have patience."

Fiona briefly squeezed her hands into fists before pointing at their guest with a clenched jaw and telling them, "Even though I know you won't feel it… I really wanna punch you right now." Silvia echoed that sentiment and cracked a couple fingers on her hand. Maharu narrowed her eyes and leaned forward.

"If it would make you feel better, you may punch me. I can also behave as though it actually hurt, even though it won't." The company girl presented her bare cheek with a hint of a smile. Carrie cradled the same sentiment close to her heart. And clearly, Yuka fostered a similar rage within but wasn't going to allow the company the satisfaction of wielding it. None of their group seriously thought that Fiona would lash out, but she held her hands up for quite a while before bringing them to rest.

Silence and uncertainty wafted through the room when the words stopped. The silence was finally broken by Yuka taking a breath and announcing, "I'll do it. I will do it. I'll turn myself in. But I have demands that are not negotiable."

The blue-haired girl moistened her lips and inquired, "And those are?"

Yuka raised both hands with a forest of fingers to count off her points. She reiterated everything that had been brought up with regard to protections, and she especially emphasized concerning Carrie, "You will not touch her or any of my friends. Furthermore, everyone gets free, guaranteed safe travel anywhere in your transit network for life. No exceptions and no complaints. You're going to take care of them. My mothers will not ever have a problem or ever have anything to worry about. And you're going to help them refurbish the old hotel. Naoko will get a free ride to any science university she wishes. And you will provide complete archives of any lost media or programs that don't exist in our world, which she is curious about. Kosame can freely get into whatever law university she wants. She can also travel and visit any romantic location she names. And for Bianka, whatever technical university. And she has complete access to any and all government records from our world that she requests. You may be seeing a pattern."

Maharu rubbed her eyebrow and, with dripping annoyance, responded, "I see it. What else?" Yuka laid out that there would be a special fund set up in Maharu's name for victims of violence and protections for animal hybrid girls in her world. Miss Okura would also be taken care of. Even her older sister would be treated respectfully. They would provide whatever expenses and assistance the local shrine required, along with a special memorial for where Maharu was taken from them. There would also be a memorial for Mari and abundant compensation for her family and anyone else related to her.

At this point, the blue-haired girl chimed in that the company already intended to provide in that way in the aftermath of her unfortunate loss. Yuka retorted, "Good. Then whatever you were going to do, double it."

Maharu sighed and cleared her throat as she asked if that was all. Yuka had one more big thing.

"You'll give us a week. You owe us a week. All of us. Their vacation was cut short by your bullshit. They deserve at least a week back in my world or anywhere else they want to go, with every luxury and accommodation. And I want a week with the girl I intend to marry. And that's it."

Here, the girl on the couch gritted her teeth and tensed up. "I expected you would come with us promptly. A week is a big ask. Yes, their vacation was to be two weeks… But no matter what someone is promised, we aren't guaranteed anything. That's just how it is..." Carrie noticed that the tone of that last sentiment carried a different weight than everything else they had said to them. She wondered about that but had no intention to pry.

Yuka held firm. "Promised or guaranteed doesn't matter; these are my requirements; these are my demands. Accept them or..."

She jumped in and said, "I accept. The company accepts your proposal. In addition, we will provide pleasant accommodations for you during the required time that we must study and attempt to harvest your abilities. We'll even provide you with direct communication with your friends and family near and far, but you will be considered in the employ of the company until we learn what we need to learn. This will all be in writing, and you can sign it after you read through it and verify, of course. Is it a deal?"

Carrie wanted to shout out that this felt like the worst kind of deal with the devil, and there had to be some hidden loophole or problem that would bite them all in the ass. But she couldn't find it at the moment.

Stretching up from the chair, Yuka puffed out a long breath, looked down at her hand, and then back at Carrie. She had just one thought about what to say.

"You'll be alone."

Maharu chirped up about keeping things social, scientists making sure of her psychological welfare, keeping communication channels open, and so much more. Yuka didn't dwell on any of that; she kept her focus on Carrie.

"You'll be with me. In my heart and my thoughts always. Forever, no matter what. A thousand years. I'll never be alone. I can do this. Let them have their silly eternity. We'll have more. I agree. I'll sign whatever."

They walked towards one another with Yuka's hand extended and Maharu's reaching out casually. They shook on it, with the company girl bowing her head and smiling.

"Pleasure doing business with you. And now I must be off. Do enjoy your week. I'll be back at this time Monday morning to collect."

Like a whisper of luminous smoke caught in a sudden breeze, Maharu disappeared.