Yuri Worlds

[109] Beach

An old bookstore and a barbecue place rounded out the evening with a jaunt along Main Street. Yuka browsed the menu cautiously, but Fiona and Silvia guided her towards the safest things for her recovering digestion. The local modern art plaza was nothing compared to other options in the area, but Yuka still delighted in the experience, especially with Carrie holding her hand.

When they arrived back at the house, they kept going with everything they touched upon earlier, except what colors to paint the figures and art. A Silvia test stream session hinted that her altered role still encapsulated the same broad details of being an entertainer.

As tiredness wrapped around them again, Yuka actually fashioned an area in the shower to sit. It was awkward and not as organized as the one back at the Sasaki house, but it worked. In bed, the two of them leaned back with just a sliver of pillow, watching the ceiling as though it were invisible and the twinkling stars above were revealed.

One of their reflections before sleep involved the rural area Yuka knew so well compared to the dense cities all around her that she could visit on the train. Here, everything was packed together, with travelers regularly traversing it in cars. Her world had plenty of cars, some driven by shrine administrators who had no idea how to safely handle a steering wheel. They giggled.

But here, cars were a vital link. Silvia had regaled her about the local transit system, but it clearly wasn't the primary method of navigation. She indulged in videos of the dizzying proliferation of cloverleaves and bridges intersecting the land to the south.

"For me, the city brings people together. I suppose it's reminiscent of Shimei. A coordinated chain of linked girls. Live together and share together. Here, it's like ten thousand islands safe in bubbles. It's not bad, and Akechi had separation too, but the distance was a reminder of the need for connection and community. We always got together, and it wasn't just for festivals. We checked on each other. Even in the city, that is important. Again, not bad, just very different." Carrie acknowledged that but also felt like this world was still the weaker one, despite the boost. Yuka eventually fell asleep with one of the books from the shelf practically squeezed against her face while Carrie held her. Fortunately, sometime in the night, Carrie put the book away for her, and that corrected their terrible bedtime posture.

The morning brought a slow, careful waking but also the melancholic realization that one of the days was now gone forever. Breakfast was a much better occasion this time around, and thoughts soon turned to one of the lower items on Silvia's list, which promised adventure and possibilities. They had to get swimsuits for the beach.

The three of them had options from their inherited lives, but the sentiment leaned toward getting something by choice. A handful of not-terribly glamorous but nicely discounted clothing locations clustered along the main drag. Silvia quipped about how she might need titanium to hold up her load, but she did actually find viable outfits with metal support. Unsurprisingly, she gravitated towards her preferred tones of pink. The problem was the style choice in the one-pieces.

Some options terrified her, especially those with a narrow fabric strip binding her chest like slim bars in a prison that the mounds could just slam through if she turned the wrong way. Others got rejected because they felt more like waterproof nighties than what she was going for. The one with a single tie around her neck looked pretty, especially when gazing at the mirror from over her shoulder, but it had no hope of sustained structural integrity. The final candidate did drift towards boob hammocks, but putting them through their paces made her feel comfortable and safe from wardrobe malfunctions.

Carrie awkwardly tried everything she was offered. She was uncertain about the cut window across her hips and the way that her crotch presented. Certain possibilities felt like half-hearted fusions of black, shiny, sliced-up scuba wet suits melded with snug t-shirts. Putting on a slick fashion show for Yuka occupied her thoughts more than any outfit destination.

The sleeveless one with slices of red like a jet-black fish exposing its gills across her body was the only one that Carrie actually felt happy with. Fiona had no drama or fuss with selecting a lovely, traditional, simple blue one-piece with little gray ornamentations. Yuka opted for one that reminded Carrie of Olympic swimmers with its full-coverage front, dense neck area, and glossy shine.

She pulled on the front several times, but what she had wasn't making more than a subtle dent in the material. Carrie assured her that if it were possible to share that aspect she had been bountifully blessed with, she gladly would've abundantly gifted as much as possible to the girl she loved. Yuka assured her it was fine.

Once everything was ready, they headed south towards their version of the big city. Dipping and diving through the hills caught Yuka's attention as she realized they were over half a mile above sea level. She had to wonder if that accounted for some of her drowsy spells.

The swell and crush of humanity, infused with boundless energy, flowed from the swarm of vehicles like busy insects renewed in their work. The spirals and spins of roads joining the mighty cataracts urged her to look away and huddle close to Carrie. This world, her world, and so many others had spiraling complexity hidden under the veil of simplicity. So many places to go that could never even be glimpsed in a week unfurled on the menu of upcoming exits. The worst part of the journey was the slowing, chaotic traffic swarming early on a Tuesday.

Naoko had gotten back with wide-eyed fascination and praise for the videos Yuka provided and was staying up late to enjoy the feed. Kosame even made a brief appearance, shuffling carefully and regaling the transformed trio with warm and creative praise for their preciously beautiful forms.

The beachfront was so close, yet it was an aching journey along sneaking concrete cathedrals. Like in days past, the endless mass of people, not even a daunting gathering compared to other places on this earth, put the fear of smallness back in Carrie's heart. But it was okay to be small, she urged herself. It was okay to be the 'little one', a part of something greater.

Their eventual arrival at the oceanfront, after a veritable eternity of routes and detours through blissfully rural excursions with fruit stands and small towns, was a monumental relief. The water felt painfully out of reach, but the artistically rippling waves called to them.

They stopped at a cozy patch of beach that looked well-tended to but was not overrun with crazed girls fumbling with their first-ever bathing suits. Once they parked, Yuka took a long moment to not only breathe but also admire her friends and linger with her lady love.

Right before the pavement transitioned to sand, she stopped and checked on Carrie with a concerned glance, trying to resolve something that she had only seen out of the corner of her eye. Looking full-on, she couldn't discern it. What she witnessed didn't feel like a bad thing, but it still felt like an important thing that she should've figured out.

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Continued scrutiny didn't resolve the secret, so she shrugged, and they continued onto the sand. Carrie had no idea what Yuka was looking for, but she did sense a strange warmth concentrated in her abdomen, despite the sun not shining on it. She wasn't sure what it was, but she felt a random urge to smile.

The beach was full of discarded trash, pockmarking the otherwise pristine sand. This section of the landscape wasn't that busy, but the fallout of past swarming crowds remained. Fortunately, at a market nearby, they purchased oversized trash bags to throw away some of the more manageable junk.

Yuka made it her duty to take the lead since she jokingly noted that it was impossible to kill her with toxic trash. She was soon nervously, blushingly pinwheeling her arms and emphasizing the fact she was just joking; she wasn't actually going to put her life in danger to clean up things. They understood, but Fiona sure as hell wasn't going to let her be stuck doing it all alone.

They combed the beach and actually inspired newcomers and those walking along to contribute, even if it was simply throwing away empty cans, especially preemptively. Yuka noticed a lot of the eating and walking habits that came up with Yasha, and Carrie confirmed that they were surprisingly common.

Also common were girls slowing down to practically gawk at the four of them. There were girls in shades, their hair in awkward tangles, their forms blotted out with windbreakers and oversized pants, along with many who proudly showcased what they had. Attention from them fell first and most obviously on the mountainous splendor barely secured by Silvia's swimsuit. She did have, and wear when she was out of the water, a small glossy jacket. It clearly did nothing to safeguard against the possibility of a jiggling thunder avalanche.

Fiona got looks for quite different reasons, her muscles rippling rigidly but with a feminine cut across her dense, toned swimmer's physique, encouraging obvious blushes from onlookers. More than that, she soon collected an entourage of meek and dainty ladies awkwardly dressed as works in progress concerning fashion. Carrie half wondered if marriage proposals were that far off. For all the rough edges, disappointments, and shortcomings of their world compared with the other Yuri World, some moments fostered familiar cuteness.

The question of who looked like what several days ago lingered in the air, but there were no bold volunteers willing to out themselves or moments that called for that question to be spoken. They lived in the now of adorable possibility. What happened before could be set aside as unimportant.

When Carrie presented this notion as a hint to Yuka, she smiled and agreed that no matter what past of deprivation and uncertainty had existed for this world, it deserved a future free of those constraints. Her tune changed, however, when Carrie hinted that the same should be true for poor black goo entities forced into certain roles, no matter what they were before.

She squirmed, wriggled, and reached for a contrarian take on her situation. Carrie put on a metaphorical defense attorney's hat to defend a client who didn't want to be defended from themselves.

Her knowledge of courtroom procedure and rhetoric was as tenuous as half-remembered black-and-white films, reruns of Matlock, and the occasional Law and Order episode, but that included awareness of My Cousin Vinny to cover some of the holes. Carrie felt the tickling temptation to throw on an accent for the sake of humor, as she knew some of the same cultural touchstones existed in the other world, especially from television cartoons. She resisted it, though, instead focusing on an earnest delineation of responsibility.

The company created a hostile realm; they sucked so many dry and blew around the essence of human nature, playing goddess with countless lives. Even if a forgotten form of Yuka was a predatory creature, a wild beast, or even a monster, there was no way to tell if that wasn't another creation of these greater monsters wearing and wielding the worst of human nature while blending their kin up into a slurry made of pain to consume for power.

Yuka was smiling, but that smile slowly faded from her face as she thought about Carrie's argument and its ramifications. "No matter what I ask from them, what I can provide them is exactly what they want. I shouldn't have given up. It'll only mean deferred suffering for everyone I love. I should've died, been wiped from existence by the flood. Take me back to whatever I started as. I would miss you, but knowing you're alright would bring me peace."

Carrie vigorously shook her head. "You don't deserve to die; they do. Kill them—I mean, overcome them. Work against them from the inside. Make them think they've succeeded, but then turn it around on them."

Yuka sighed. "Might not be possible. I'm letting myself be thrown right into their mouths."

"Then bite them in the mouth!" Yuka snorted and noted that she was belaboring the analogy. But she appreciated the thought. Carrie wasn't letting it stop there. She heaped appreciation and love on her partner, with the others double- and triple-teaming the warm sentiment. Random passersby may not have noticed how beautiful Yuka was in her cute swimsuit, but they were going to announce it to the whole world.

The precious girl squeaked when words failed her, and her limbs twisted together. She appreciated their kind words, even though she was at a loss for how to respond to them. She attempted to mount a futile counteroffensive, reminding the three of them of how beautiful they were and how tempted she was in the swimsuit shop to pattern herself after one of them, or at least make herself a little prettier. Trying that out in public seemed like a good way to get people staring at her for all the wrong reasons, but she was still tempted to try it at the next convenient moment.

While Carrie focused on the attention that her friends got from other girls on the beach and the hope that they would realize Yuka's radiant beauty, she totally missed the fact that an assortment of nervous girls gave her starry-eyed looks too, feet wiggling in the sand, eyes turned away, and their arms scrambling for stability. One looked like she could be Yuka's sibling, with a puffy ponytail of black hair and brown eyes with a hint of bright rust. She adjusted practically every inch of her green one-piece outfit with translucent silver segments above her chest and around her waist. The girl seemed so lost, and Silvia decided to snag her.

Miraculously, she didn't collapse. Despite a hurricane of fear across her face, she was able to hold it together and convey that her name was Yumeko. At least, that was her name now. It used to be Yuto. The first name rang an old bell for Yuka, not only for sounding similar to her own name, but she also recalled that Naoko mentioned there was a prominent character that featured in a long-running series of shows some seventeen years ago, before either of them were born. Unfortunately, that was all she could remember about it.