Yuri Worlds

[80] Home

Cerberus or Ceri, as they had both essentially settled on, scoped out the angles of the hill along with the lineup of lights that afforded them clear landmarks to the Sasaki house. She had trekked across this general route before, but not with anything like all this on the line. The shifting waves of warning lights also confused her sense of geography. Ceri rubbed her immense brown eyes and struggled to piece together as many crucial clues as possible.

Misaki knew she couldn’t be much help, but she vigorously questioned Ceri about her assumptions and certainties about what she was seeing. A long, luminous but not starkly bright stretch had to be this particular farm that provided the boundary for the business center. Ayame‘s clinic had a specific pattern of lights flanking the low part of its roof and concentrated on the parking lot, like a spiral constellation. She struggled with the spatial visualization and rotation from this angle but gradually narrowed down different sections of light when bouts of twinkling peace finally settled over them.

At the other edge of their vista, Ceri traced the precise boundary of the train station back to the city, along with a distant hint of her high school. Home had to be somewhere in the middle of what lay before them, but it was a vast, dark, and uncertain middle to pinpoint. She stared long and carefully until she resolved the old hotel. Unfortunately, that section of the neighborhood was especially enveloped in lights and activity. Not surprising, but desperately frustrating.

Managing their descent required careful checking of where they planted their feet to avoid getting tangled up in gnarled roots and illusive mounds of moss that cratered whenever they attempted to plant a foot. Persistent but slow shuffling was the way.

The wild lights slowly circulated through each branch of the neighborhood. Suspiciously, they started to move away from the region of the Sasaki house, clearing enough space for them to proceed without apparent danger.

Settling at ground level felt like terminating a flight, with the full gravity of the world around them tugging exponentially harder. They lingered off to the side and checked the houses at the end of the street for habitation. No one was around, although they only rang the bell once before proceeding. While it sounded, they retreated to what nearby trees and bushes could afford them protection.

The bell really wasn’t that loud, but it broke the relative silence, like screaming in front of their enemies. Once it was finished, calm returned throughout the quiet, rural neighborhood. Misaki‘s stomach took this time to gurgle with a petulant series of demands and expectations. She tried to explain to it that was not happening, but it can be difficult to reason with biology.

Misaki grumbled to herself that whatever folded strands of dark entity stuff were stuck inside her couldn’t fix the inconvenient result of her earlier snacks. You can’t just take a restroom break while an entire multiverse-spanning evil corporation is trying to kill you or worse! Despite obstacles near and evident as well as distant and intangible, they made it to the Sasaki home.

The street was unnaturally empty, with the lights blazing and signs that neighbors should’ve popped out to say hello. But everyone was gone, as though this world had never been inhabited. They hustled towards the front door and carefully coordinated to ease it silently open and shut. Misaki relied on Ceri to catch any changes or traps.

They stayed low in the front area and resisted the polite, natural urge to trade their shoes for slippers before proceeding further. Cerberus cautiously experimented with chucking whatever she had within arm's reach through the threshold into the main living area.

The lights were off, as expected. Nothing and no one reacted to a stray, decorative plush launched through the air. It didn’t conclusively prove anything, but they briefly allowed themselves to breathe before an angry series of tormented gurgles issued from Misaki‘s tummy.

Ceri attempted to soothe it, as though speaking one wild beast to another. But they didn’t speak the same language. Cerberus wasn’t upset with her. She looked a little sweaty and uncomfortable herself. But they lightly bumped heads and tried to impress a warning on their physical underpinnings that this was not the time. Still not getting through.

Well, shoot. There was no way around it, but at least the first-floor bathroom was mere feet away. Reaching it required a rigorous series of tight balances between keeping low, keeping their digestive systems happy, and sticking together. The best method for Misaki involved creating a little undercurrent of pain from squeezing her hands together too tight, clutching her thigh flesh as though she wished to rip it off, and holding her breath ever harder. All that only got her so far.

Mercifully, they managed to creep rush over to the bathroom, where they’d had a handful of now oddly nostalgic encounters with one another. Their first real chats. Breaking so much ice. And quiet little embarrassments. Misaki didn’t have time to dwell on every little fragment as she did her own desperate rocket launch towards the seat. Only in the moments after could she truly lament how much noise she was making.

Cerberus grabbed the cozy wooden bench across the room and carefully repositioned it, so it was almost as though she were sitting with her. The mortified embarrassment ebbed away as Misaki finished what she desperately needed to do and waited through the remnants. It was enough to make her want to laugh at the fact that this moment existed. Tears also flowed, but quietly.

She wanted to bond more with Kei over the dozen beautiful inspirations she desperately desired to learn and share. Take some time to help her tidy up the old hotel in a more organized manner, with the windows cracked to release the dust and sadness sealed within. Provide true blessings to the quiet shrine off to the side, and free the place of pain Maharu kept upstairs. Maharu would orchestrate that herself.

The girl’s first inkling would be to blast quiet, sad objects through a multi-stage launch out the nearest window into the wilderness, briskly waving to them as they departed. She’d pummel every ounce of dust, mold, and grime as she dispelled the past and twirled through the renewed halls. They would conduct a proper ceremony of peace and love to celebrate the lives of her moms. And let them know that justice was done.

Kosame was sure to level up her tentative justice assertions and bring to bear, against the cruelty of the company, all the maiden love determination to break entire worlds with righteousness. Word would spread amongst the group of the first official, big date between her and Naoko after their restored second chance at romance. Misaki knew she would throw out the pairing concept of Ko-ko, even though she had no idea if it would translate into anything coherent.

The group would fashion a scheme to make sure they kept tabs on how the date went. Shenanigans would probably and inevitably follow. She could foresee another soliloquy by Kosame, bursting into a speech about the virtues of love and how desperately she wanted to make Naoko happy. They would eventually let the couple figure it out on their own, leaving the details to their own, varied imaginations. Maharu would have the most bewildering conclusions as she shared snuggling with her mommy and the mommy who loved mommy, making Misaki blush even harder than she already was.

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Fuyuki would sit them down with thoughtful conclusions and begin a lengthy, anecdote-laden account of the moments that guided her life and led her to Kei. Her wife would pop in to clarify and elaborate where she felt was most appropriate between the languid scenes. Mari would make a random appearance, first listening carefully and then bridging the gap with her own stories.

Cerberus would listen with rapt attention as Mari admitted that she was once a tired, older office guy in the company on the other side. She’d convey that the two versions of her looked similar, but she would still struggle with the details, plopping down all the uncomfortable bits for a group of women who could barely imagine what a man was supposed to be. Misaki would flash a sympathetic look at her. So many sordid, heartbreaking details about the actions of the company would sneak through the margins of her account. Everyone would make sure she knew they stood with her.

Later in the evening, after all the fumbling and awkward details had passed, Miss Okura would make an appearance. The weight and tiredness she carried behind her eyes would be cleared. A pair of copies of her help out with dinner and keep an eye on the young ladies. Ayame soon follows, spilling a cornucopia of curious sayings blooming with fire from her heart as she speaks freely. Haruka would truly smile and talk everyone’s ear off about her new college plans.

Bianka settles on a form of chic blended with her own style of geek as she critiques the rambling theories of her favorite new podcast before she joins the others in a game.

Then, Chika and Namiko. Her little sister is still dizzy and wobbly about her liberated, monolithic tatas gifted from the goddesses for asking one too many times. Nami has a load off, respectively, but still launches into service with a smile for anyone who asks. A hint of curious bondage situations leaks through her language and allusions. None of them try to judge her, but eyebrows still wiggle, hers most of all.

Chika fawns over her and refuses to let the details of the upcoming Fowler/Sasaki wedding be a whimper fading into mediocrity. Her big sister deserved the very best, along with her awesome sister-in-law-to-be. It’s at this crescendo of a once quiet but rapturously chaotic evening that Chika presents the results of her elaborate thank-you meal. It’s beyond anything the Sasaki moms could’ve imagined receiving from her.

Chika is her own worst critic, as ever and always, while the moms celebrate every single aspect of what she has created. Chika dares to imagine so many sweet possibilities that once seemed so foreign to her. She has a hand to hold her, which won’t shy away, joined by so many others linking one to another, a network of true friends and loving family.

Misaki‘s fresh wave of tears from all these imaginings was impossible to restrain. Why couldn’t it be like that? Why couldn’t it at least be a sliver of that bright hopefulness she could see in her heart? She wasn’t demanding much. It felt like such a frail future—the bare minimum of possibilities. Ceri gently embraced her and rubbed her back as she blubbered out vague explanations of the complicated castles glimmering in her imagination. Misaki released her dreams and finished up, then let Cerberus have a turn at relief from festival foods.

They lingered a few minutes more in the bathroom without anything to do or say before they gathered their breath and ventured back into a world of uncertainty. The little cellar didn’t appear as if it had been opened recently, and popping open the cover to get a glance didn’t reveal any unexpected discoveries. Just pickled food, a little bit of wine and cheese, and other tasty amenities. Leaving it for the moment, Cerberus focused on the stairs leading up, intending a full examination of the house to see what they were working with.

The first landing was clear, but peeking around the blind turn gave Cerberus a shocking and retina-burning blast of brilliant blue light right in the face. She had to sit for a second and blink to recover as furious klaxons overwhelmed all thought. Ceri flailed with her dark self, really wanting to smash the alarm trigger.

But she resisted the urge and moved with Misaki to find somewhere in the house they could hide. Her archaic recollections of playing hide and seek with her older sister were not much use since she inevitably tracked her down and Haruka always managed to evade discovery. Misaki had to privately wonder if the girl had had help back then.

Returning to the mini-cellar with their ears shielded but not blocked, wild sounds roared beyond the walls. They had to do something. Cerberus focused her breath and examined the small space below the floor. It could only fit one of them. She knew what to do.

She begged Misaki to climb down and get inside. There wouldn’t be a lot of air, but she could leave the latch cracked. She swore she would hold them off as long as humanly possible and try to take down as many of the bastards before they got her. She spoke this with determination, but the artistic shading around her eyes and the way she wobbled on her feet told Misaki that the girl she loved was desperately exhausted and only barely standing. She couldn’t let her face that alone. They promised. Together.

Cerberus released a softly exasperated sigh with a morbid smile as Misaki checked the cellar space again to see if it offered any other options. Not a lot of space, but they hadn’t even considered getting rid of what was down there to make a little more room. It wouldn’t be much, but it could be enough. Cerberus wondered if they would even be able to breathe. Still, she swiftly coordinated with Misaki to empty the space and hide the contents behind the counter.

It practically felt like an army was about to pound on the front door when they finally squeezed through the opening not intended for the two of them and yanked the cover flat. Deep, consuming darkness surrounded everything as they were compressed into a painfully tight package. The magnetic lure again pulled at Misaki as she held in all her fresh aches.

Rumbles of boots blended with the ear-piercing alarm. As their eyes adjusted, Misaki noticed that the back half of the mini cellar actually had a faint spill of pale, bluish light leaking through. She didn’t dare hope that it might be a way out, but she silently communicated its presence to Cerberus, and they twisted around to get leverage against that wall.

Just a light application of force parted the seam, like opening a buried cabinet. They dropped down into a space far larger. It looked like an underground access tunnel, with stark bluish-white lights lining the walls and shiny concrete continuing out of sight. This tunnel couldn’t possibly exist beneath the house, yet it refused to vanish or resolve into something more sensible.

There was no way to know where it would take them, but they gripped each other’s hands, closed the opening behind them, and started walking.