Yuri Worlds
[62] Chirality
All this talk of love made Misaki wish that Yuka was in easy reach, just a quick embrace away. They hadn’t been apart for long, but she still craved her presence. She should’ve texted her after the initial message of victory that she was going to wash up. But the urge just randomly came over her, and she started without thinking about anything else. Strange. Picking at that region of thought felt like clawing at an ancient, invisible wart remnant that her nails slid over without gaining purchase.
Was something still affecting her despite the removal of the wristband? They had synchronization devices, but not on them since they just provided the time variations between home and here, and departure wasn’t close enough to worry about yet. Otherwise, money cards and papers. If those projected a controlling signal they needed to protect themselves from, then nothing was safe. She resisted the urge to make a private quip about Bianka. The poor girl was more than a single silly trait, and being paranoid was coming into style as a necessity. It might be worthwhile to pick her brain for ideas and possibilities to explain what was going on.
A lot of poking and prodding seemed advisable. She wanted to know what Ayame could see in her now, press Grandma Okura about Mari and so many other things, and maybe check in to see if Naoko and Kosame were working on a happy ending. Not to forget informing Yuka’s moms about their intentions and seeing if Yasha heard back from the company. There was so much she could do and so little left for this weekend excursion. She figured she might as well go for the hardest task first and face Grandma. Interrupting her soak wasn’t particularly fun, but she promised her body and soul she would continue when reunited with Yuka.
Grandma Okura had her own private suite on an upper story of the inn. Checking at the front desk, she saw that Maharu would be pleased that not only was the little candy chick well taken care of, but it also had its own custom hammock made from some netting that looked like it was typically used to bag citrus. They were able to direct her to where Okura Shinobu was staying.
About halfway there, Misaki received a follow-up text of relief from Yuka about the wristbands that also pointed out Kosame came charging into the room with a heartfelt declaration of love for Naoko, totally unlike her "usual approach", which was incredibly touching. Yuka hinted that it reminded her of Misaki and that she desperately wanted to snuggle her again soon.
She had an automatic response in mind, promising that she would see her soon after she took care of something. About halfway through composing the specifics, she poked her own mind and remembered that she wasn’t going to go it alone anymore, as far as she could avoid it.
Grandma sure seemed preoccupied with separating her from others, and she wasn’t going to have it. Misaki’s message to Yuka contained all the love that she could fill, with a few sparse words, but also the request that she help her with at least one more thing if she was available. Considering the romantic confession was going well, she had a prime moment to remove herself and let love do the rest.
Yuka giggled gleefully as she rushed through a fervent celebration of what she witnessed. The energy inspired her to wrap Misaki up in her arms, hold her around the waist in a dance pose, and slowly, carefully spin and dip her. It didn’t literally detach Misaki from her physical form, but she felt as if she were floating on a cloud.
When Misaki explained her intention to bring up some questions to Grandma Okura, Yuka urgently grasped her lady love and refused to let her go alone. Misaki nervously admitted that was why she called her, which brought relief from Yuka. She was supportive and wary, noting that the old lady was scary and not to be visited alone. Yuka cracked her fingers and her neck, relaying that she was ready.
Yuka zoomed up the stairs but also clung to her partner as they closed in on the grandmother’s room. When they arrived at the door, Yuka stopped short of restraining Misaki‘s hands from knocking. She diligently perked her ears up to listen for a reply.
“Yes? Who is it?"
Misaki wanted to let the moment linger and let the old woman wonder, but Yuka chirped up and said they needed to talk with her. Calmly, though not quite cordially, she invited them in.
While the interior was sparse, like each of their suites, a reserved, precise quality infused the space with the few decorations Madame Okura appeared to have brought with her. That included a basic tea serving set, pillows, and some modest scrolls. Misaki noticed that Yuka appeared visibly surprised at the decorations.
"You’ve made yourself at home here," Misaki commented on that. Miss Okura tilted her head with a curious expression, as though she didn’t expect that from Misaki. A little flair of amusement crossed her features as she responded, "Oh, it’s really not much. Just a few modest comforts. These are the Okura family scrolls. They chronicle my ancestors' lives back to long before the Warring Goddesses times. Everything is drawn by hand; some of the calligraphy took decades of painstaking work. And I would burn it to ashes if it meant I could get my daughter back. But an act of destruction never negates another. What did you want to see me about? Come, you two, make yourselves comfortable."
Misaki braced herself and tensed up more than she would’ve preferred. Yuka clung close to her. They grabbed some of the scattered pillows and made their own space, not too far from or too close to the old woman. Misaki knew what she wanted to say, but looking across at the stoic, subdued challenge of the old woman’s expression threatened to bring back the uncertain swells she usually inhabited. Yuka gave her a little bump on the shoulder to remind her she was there. Misaki took a deep breath.
"I thanked Miss Yasuda, as you requested. But I also learned something about her from your granddaughter. She told me that she’s not of this world. She came from somewhere else and took up residence here. She used to work for the company, the same travel company we used to get here. Miss Yasuda also contacted our group with a simple warning to watch out. What do you know about her?" Some of that was a surprise to Yuka, who watched Misaki speak with her mouth line dipping wider and wider. Miss Okura listened intently with her head aimed forward and her green eyebrows knitted close. When Misaki was done, she persisted in that quiet lull without sound or implication before asking, "Would either of you like some tea? I don’t have anything fresh, but I can warm up a bit of what I have left over. Or, if you prefer, I can call down to the main desk for something fresher."
Misaki and Yuka shook their heads, one after the other. The old woman brushed the lower section of her kimono and cleared her throat. “That’s a most interesting question you have, but it doesn’t really seem like a question for me. Seems more like one you should put to Miss Yasuda herself. I can attempt to answer it. I have known Yasuda Mari for many years. She’s a good friend and has done her best for our community, especially in dark and trying times. I can’t speak to my granddaughter’s words. She means well but is often caught up in sweet flights of fancy. She envisions stories overlaid on reality. It can be challenging to interpret the full truth from her stories.”
Misaki thought back to the other day and considered the way that Maharu phrased her reveal about Mari—her exact wording. Having a recording really would’ve been a peak lawyer moment, but she only had the fallibility of her own memory. Deeply connected with the company… From another world. One of their representatives. In charge of maintaining a good relationship… With this world. Every little snippet she remembered had a glaring amount of ambiguity. Just because it was a company from another world doesn’t mean she was brought in or hired from somewhere else. Shit. And that didn’t take into account quirks in translation.
She didn’t want to backpedal but also recognized that she’d overstepped what she could confidently claim from that conversation. Maharu hadn’t really said that Mari was from somewhere else and had taken up residence here. But she found it interesting that the grandmother didn’t summarily denounce her claim, as she would’ve if it were blatantly false.
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“When did you first meet Miss Yasuda? You are so well acquainted with history, Madame, that I am confident you would know that about such a dear, close friend.”
The grandmother‘s eyes visibly narrowed, and she drew in a breath. Misaki suspected that was a good sign. The old woman adjusted her position and reflected on the question before relaying, “Many, many years. Such a long time. Alas, you have me fighting against my admittedly nebulous memory. That’s why it’s far better to write things down, as with histories. My apologies. Will all your questions pursue such peculiar notions about our beloved community leader, the kind lady who took so many hours to precisely plan a vacation for you and your fellow travelers?"
It was dawning on Misaki that whatever toehold she had on the subject was slipping away. Yuka wasn’t yet ready to give up though, as she pressed, "We’re just asking reasonable questions. Wouldn’t you? I may be young, but I know I have the respect of my community to ask questions where it’s appropriate. If Miss Yasuda knows anything about this company, that’s not a word against her; it’s us together against them. Because there are mind-controlling monsters inside the things they gave our guests as identification, and that deserves an explanation." To bolster her claims, Yuka had her phone at the ready. Miss Okura frowned and accepted Yuka’s phone to look at the evidence she had documented. She also added that if she wanted a live demonstration, they could oblige.
Miss Okura took several long seconds to look through what Yuka had saved. She squinted slightly and didn’t say anything. A long breath flowed out through her nose. She passed the phone back to Yuka with thanks. The two of them waited for her to say something, but she kept quiet for a long stretch before finally asking, “Do you know what this means?”
Misaki sat up. “The interior is marked DE and RB.“
"Dark Entities and Radiant Beings. Some parlance the company employs for the spirits they use. Yes, Mari was once an employee of a company not based in this world. But that doesn’t necessarily mean she came from somewhere else. You do realize there are existential obstacles to someone permanently relocating to another universe. You would know it as Melting. But there’s more, from what I’ve gleaned in passing. It’s also known as chirality or handedness."
This grandma had thrown some big concepts at her last time: quantum curvature and universal mass. Misaki could already tell this would be in the same category. Yuka crunched forward with her hands clasped as though holding on to some invisible creature she worried would hop away if she relented.
Miss Okura tipped her head up in thought before nodding and beginning, "Structures of reality, physics, and biology have a preference towards one direction or the other. Their spin, folding, composition, and structure. They are not mirror images but have a certain preference in the same way a girl has a dominant hand. This universe has a left-handed bias in physics. Life is left-handed in its amino acids and right-handed in its sugars. And this extends to other distinctions. Now, I don’t expect you to know this specific scientific detail, but I learned from Mari that the universe you come from is the opposite. Right-handed particles, left-handed sugar, and right-handed amino acids. More preference for the right than the left. There are consequences for this mirroring. Your biology needs what we would refer to as indigestible sugars. And the particles of your world have subtly different properties. You wouldn’t be able to eat anything here without a different biology, and likewise for us in your world. Do you understand?"
All that was a lot. And honestly, she didn’t understand much beyond the basic principle. The implication was clear. Melting wasn’t just a bogeyman story. They were incompatible when it came to fundamental physical and biological forces. Misaki slumped back and sighed. Yuka looked around with panicked, wide eyes. It took her a little bit longer, before it clicked. She responded by slamming the tatami with her fists as hard as possible.
"Bullshit!" She hissed. Miss Okura bowed her head with a genuine expression of sympathy. Misaki realized it was also stone-solid proof that she misinterpreted Maharu’s words. Mari could only be a native because the fundamental forces and the food of this world would have been destructive and toxic to her. And the company could only arrest all that temporarily. Unless they were lying to Mari and Miss Okura. If only she had a better grasp of physics and biology, then she could confirm or call bullshit herself.
Yuka shook her head. "No no no no… I refuse to accept that. If there are forces out there trying to keep us apart, then I’ll fight them. I’ll overcome them. We’ll find a way to cross the boundaries and be together. Even if it takes a thousand years. We promised that. We’re going to be married. We’re in love. And no matter what, we will be together!" Yuka seemed as though she was prepared to physically fight Okura on this point. A rising flush filled her cheeks, and the blackness that swarmed across her hair in the bathroom flickered darkly. Miss Okura put on a stern expression.
"You can deny it. Please, feel free. This is only what I’ve heard secondhand. But it makes sense to me. There are so many differences between all the worlds in existence. It’s apparently a minor miracle that any of them are inhabitable at all. Consider the disposition of the cosmos. For all we know, there is only our planet. And the immense collection of atoms that represent it is some immense number followed by about fifty zeros. It’s at least eighty zeros across the entire universe. A hospitable drop against the oceans of everywhere else."
Yuka hardened her expression. "I don’t care about everything else out there. All I care about is her. And him. The boy who ventured out on a vacation into the unknown, to a world with half as much as his home, who found me, and I found him. I don’t care what the odds are, and I refuse to give up the soul that I love." She pulled Misaki close, and she couldn’t help but blush and smile softly. Replenished by her determination, Misaki leaped off of this thought.
"You mentioned left- and right-handedness and how my world is supposedly more right-handed than left. But ever since I was a kid, the world felt turned the wrong way. Yuka reminded my heart of who I was in a left-handed way. Left left left. That has to mean something. Maybe my world is broken… As you said yourself, it’s missing something in the quantum curvature. Maybe what’s missing is the correct direction." It was an absurd shot in the dark, but one made of hope and love. She aimed the sharpest end of her expression at Grandma Okura. Let us have this; if nothing else, let us have this.
The message seemed to be received as the old woman released a soft sigh and remarked, “It’s possible. I can’t tell you what to do about it, but you’ll probably figure it out. And my sincere congratulations to the both of you for finding one another. I would only ask that my granddaughter remain under your watchful eyes. She means the world to me and more. Please, watch out for her.”
Instantly and adamantly, Yuka affirmed that she would watch out for Maharu, relaying that Misaki did her best to cheer her up and that she heard that the two of them helped a lot with the current situation. The old woman focused on Yuka and asked, “You have no grief with her?” Yuka shook her head and said she was just waiting. Any conflict or disagreement was over in her mind.
The old woman frowned and pointed out, “If you wait, you may wait until it’s too late. Take it from an old fool who did the wrong thing too many times to count by waiting. Don’t let your opportunities slip away.”
Yuka bristled at that phrasing, barely holding her thoughts inside, as she politely thanked her elder for that advice.