Yuri Worlds
[24] Drive
Yasha wandered away from the group, in pursuit of this goal. Misaki was perfectly fine with that. Yuka gave her a faint shoulder bump and a smile before contributing, “It’s nearing the end of the school day for me. And Maharu. We have to go help clean up, and I have some club stuff to take care of as well. But it was fun. All this was fun. And I hope we can do it again soon.”
She tipped her head down without doing a full bow to the group and got up from the floor. Chika chirped up, wondering if they could come along to visit the local high school. Her question petered out at the point of trying to explain why they wanted to come. Namiko backed her up: “We can help with cleaning.”
Yuka frowned and arched an eyebrow. “We should be fine. It’s just what we need to do. Whatever help is always appreciated but wouldn’t you three prefer to enjoy your vacation back at the house?”
Chika looked around at the others and resolved, “We came here to see as many things as possible. Plus, it’s exercise. Not that your moms and their house aren’t a delight. But we’re gonna be back there most of the time for this trip. This is an opportunity. And I don’t think any girl should let an opportunity get away.” She flashed a little eyebrow wiggle at Misaki and only her. If Yuka noticed, she didn’t give any sign of it. However, she did flash a smile at Misaki before agreeing and heading off to find one of the shrine administrators who had a truck. Maharu eventually left as well, without saying where she was going.
Haruka’s subdued presence regularly escaped the three of them. With her eyes shut, it seemed like she was quietly meditating by herself. Before the three of them got back to filling in gaps about their respective treks around the area, Misaki sat up and recounted the sliver of information from Miss Okura that she wouldn’t mind her sharing. The company contact who arranged the details of their visit was Miss Yasuda Mari. Chika diligently added a note in her phone about this.
“Excuse me,” Haruka softly spoke. “But she’s over there. In the yellow and black. If you wish to communicate anything. My apologies for being…forward, if that isn’t the case.” She pointed out a woman across the room, gesturing in the same fashion as earlier without directly pointing. The woman in question turned in their direction and raised a cheerful hand without approaching or saying anything.
She didn’t really stand out to Misaki. Her hair color was remarkably close to Franklin’s. Not that that was a trait she should’ve held against her. This woman’s hair sprawled with ordered fullness over her shoulder. Her eyes also had virtually the same color quality as her other self, though they were much larger according to the style of this reality. The similarities stopped there, as her nose was anime pleasant compared to Franklin’s cruel peak. She had on a pair of strappy black heels with very comfortable-looking soles. The hem of her sleeveless, ribbed yellow sweater top settled around the waist of her slim black skirt with ease. It was the kind of outfit that Misaki could easily imagine being worn by a version of Franklin born as Francine.
Kicking her mind off this peculiar track, Misaki approached the woman and encouraged Chika and Namiko to join her. The lady appeared surprised that they came over. She wore a lingering deer-in-the-headlights expression, as though her mind was on a particular track, and she was struggling to divert it. It took a few moments, but she eventually snapped out of it and profusely apologized for being so “spacey”.
“Did you receive what you needed? I sent over everything the company gave me for the Sasakis. They had a whole itinerary lined up, and I know the younger Miss Takano does a lot of web media. And all sorts of promotional content. I talked several things over with your hosts, and the consensus was that they didn’t want to hit you with a lot of information as soon as you arrived. We don’t want to waste your time either. But I included options for hiking tours, historical day trips, and gaming hot spots. I included documentation on everything for your hosts, so all that’s taken care of. Personal note, but if I never have to deal with Travel Anywhere ever again, then I’ll be quite happy with that.”
Misaki seized on this last point and hoped that the company hadn’t been giving her trouble. She also threw in a swift, emphatic thanks and did her best to make it not sound like she was coerced by Miss Okura.
The woman waved her hand in the air and assured them, “We have a long, unfortunate history. That’s all. I used to work with them in a different… capacity. Being essentially a freelancer is preferable. They know what I think about them. But I love helping people detour around their… inherent nature.” Misaki could understand that, even though it really seemed like the lady was blunting her criticisms as though their wristbands were listening. That actually made sense, and she couldn’t discount the distinct possibility that the wristbands were actually listening all the time, especially with all the censorship.
Segueing from that point, Mari knew Yuka asked for a ride over to the local high school. One of the other administrators of the shrine had a spacious gray truck they volunteered for that task. She was going to bring it around and take them along the back route.
Before they made their way out to rendezvous with the truck, Mari added one last thing: “Be careful. The pathway is especially slick and slippery after it rains. Take it slow."
Misaki turned to leave, but something nagged at her, even though she couldn’t quite place what it was. Namiko furrowed her brow as well but didn’t say anything. Chika took a deep breath and carefully asked, “Did you attempt to contact me earlier, around noontime? The company put all sorts of junk on my phone, and I think it may have affected the calls. I got one earlier.”
Mari broadened her smile politely and said a flat and definitive, “No.”
“You sure?”
“Sure. I can give you a call later or tomorrow if you need to follow up on anything. Unfortunately, I have a meeting I need to get to in just a few minutes. Happy to help in any way; please have a lovely stay in our community and reality.” And she briskly stepped away.
Chika sighed through her nose and folded her arms. She said to Namiko and Misaki, “That was her voice. On the phone earlier. Be careful. I am certain beyond any doubt. Why…?”
Be careful. Those were the words. The voice on the phone warned them like that and freaked out the entire group, especially Yasha. But the information about the call and anything resembling a recording were lost.
Even though it nagged her that the way those two words said by Mari sounded much like what came through the speaker, she couldn’t claim that with absolute certainty. The phone distorted it, and she barely heard it once. But why would she say that exact same phrase to them again? Was she trying to signal something? They couldn’t follow her; she was already away behind closed doors. She outright denounced any possibility of being connected to this mysterious phone call.
For a couple moments, Chika speculated over whether all this was set up by the company as some puzzle game for a video. That triggered a memory for Namiko and Misaki about a weird contest out in the desert with a fake supernatural supermarket. That one was entertaining and heavily lampshaded as fake. This situation felt quite different from that. Amidst a multitude of things she really couldn’t elaborate on and was still processing, Misaki heavily suggested that this was all to be taken at face value. Chika clutched her forehead and used a finger to rub her massive brown eyes.
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Everything felt awkwardly balanced on the precipice of tumbling into a ravine from which there was no recovery. Glancing around, Misaki noticed that Haruka somehow vanished during their chat with Mari. Before she could say anything about this to the others, Haruka reappeared, drifting right beside Chika and holding something in her hands. The girl somehow didn’t make a single sound, and it clearly freaked out Chika. She tensed up and gave a sharp jerk of her leg, as though she just barely resisted launching into the air.
“This should help,” Haruka explained, holding out a warm compress. Chika quickly cleared her throat and eagerly accepted the offering. She bent back with a wobble and let the briskly warm, slightly moist item settle across her eyes. Releasing a long sigh of contentment, Haruka asked Namiko and Misaki if they wanted anything before they left. The prospect of warm compresses sounded appealing to the both of them: Misaki because some measure of the storm stayed with her, and Namiko because the walk and especially the steps up had left their mark on her muscles. In short order, Haruka produced a pair of fresh, practically steaming pads for them.
“I’m used to helping,” she simply explained. “Is that… cool? Even though it’s very warm?” Haruka wore the faintest crease of a smile on her lips. The trio confirmed that they were great. The elder sister recognized signs of their discomfort during the board game and acted accordingly. Unfortunately, being under the influence of the soothing pads brought back Misaki‘s tiredness. This girl kept putting her to sleep, although she doubted it was intentional.
Not too long after that, a lady with a boxy gray large pick-up truck came for them. Yuka was there, along with Maharu, and even Haruka tagged along. All their stuff, dry and still drying, including strawberries and leftovers, came with them. It was cramped, especially with several boxes of supplies in the back to be dropped off around the village, but each of them buckled up. Namiko required the most finagling to get a comfortable split with the belt.
None of the three had any idea how their driver was going to get around the verticality of the hill. Misaki assumed that somewhere along the side had a shallower drop. This was not the case. A dirt road was minimally cut into the side of the cliff. And their driver went for it.
The amount of air the cozy truck got without any clear sense of what was below them made Misaki feel like her little anime girl heart was about to erupt out of her ears. Namiko yanked her belt till it was practically flush with her breastbone. Chika muttered what Misaki was sure was a quick prayer, muddled to the point that none of the other girls would be able to tell what exactly she said, to avoid more confusion. Maharu whooped it up, as though egging the driver to launch even further at the next bump. Yuka appeared vaguely queasy and iron-faced while Misaki noticed her older sister had once again settled into a nap, with her hand protecting her face from the window. Closing her eyes did seem like the best idea to Misaki.
All the commentary that the driver provided was, “Hang on for a little bit, girls; that rain made things wild.” She didn’t go to the realm of the Dukes of Hazzard, as Misaki briefly feared, but it felt for several seconds like they were cascading out of control down every stretch of mud. It didn’t take more than a minute for the path to level out, but that was still a minor eternity.
“Easy peasy,” their driver announced with delight. What Misaki could see of the forest lightly pulsed in time with her racing heart. She feared that if this is what the woman considered easy, then she didn’t want to get anywhere close to hard. Unfortunately, the tension in their trek didn’t abate, as rumbling over the uneven ground rolled them like cast-offs from a belligerent washing machine. The engine revved insistently like, a crazed maniac trying to work up the courage to leap through the hood and throttle its passengers. Amazingly, this vicious assault didn’t slam Namiko‘s chest around like a set of paddle ball toys.
Despite being so close to the ground, they still managed to get quite a bit of air. Haruka kept her eyes closed, but now Misaki could tell by the artful lines around them that they were being squeezed shut. When they finally made it to even pavement, a singular audible breath released amongst the passengers. Unfortunately, the noises didn’t stop. The truck still had plenty left to say, creaking and groaning, shifting and squeaking, and summoning rattling whispers from the undercarriage as if they had caught a consortium of anguished souls from the underworld. Every minute turn of the steering wheel made a clicking and ticking noise, as though an invisible countdown to an explosive end were underway.
Exhaustion set in by the time she merged onto the main traffic circle and swung around back towards the Sasaki house. Haruka didn’t need to be asked if she wanted to step out when they arrived. She climbed out quickly on legs that behaved as though they’d been at sea for weeks. She collected the freshly picked strawberries and several other things the group didn’t need to bring with them to the high school. Haruka gave thanks to the driver and a flicker of sympathy to everyone else. Misaki seriously considered proposing that they just leg the two kilometers to the high school instead of risking whatever peril might ensue. But the lady was off before she could give voice to this notion.
It genuinely felt like she hopped the curb several times while sailing away. Maharu’s delight didn’t abate for a moment as she pointed out random sights she named herself. A tree that looked lonely because the skirt fringe of her canopy was drooping down. She also shared the notion of an older house that resembled a classical castle, and she was thoroughly convinced that a princess resided in the highest part of the tower, even though she knew everyone who lived there. This was a secret princess behind a secret door.
She delved into even more fanciful landmarks. A certain number of paces into the dip of the valley, by an old oak tree, before you got to a marsh, she shared the truth of an inconspicuous patch of grass that provided better comfort than even the finest silken feather bed. And just beyond that, even though it bordered a cold stretch in the foothills, she knew a place where whoever laid down there would miraculously be healed, their pain would pass, and the “light of joy” would walk hand-in-hand with them every day of their lives. She qualified that this was a place she’d only encountered once and never found again.
The others didn’t have much of a reaction, but Misaki had to tighten her jaw against the feeling of tears. She knew just a frail sliver of the pain that Maharu surely felt. How could she smile so radiantly? How could a heart shine so brightly against the darkest suffering?