The woman motioned with her arms towards the door inviting them into the shop. Her straightforward response to Saki’s question was almost jarring. It felt like it said nothing, but implied too much. She admitted it made her curious, if not concerned.

Teenage boys being boys, Saki recognized the glazed look in Hiroshi and his friends eyes. She quickly bonked them all immediately. It stunned Tatsuya and Kazuhiro, but had little effect on Hiroshi (who had developed some resistance). Saki then remembered Yuki who faded into fantasy as well. She snapped him out of it.

Hiroshi rubbed his head a little from the strike. “What was that for, Saki?!”

She stepped into a lean against Hiroshi as he leaned backwards. “Because I know what thoughts were going through your head!” No matter how much he tried to worm out of it with innocent looks, she stared back.

Yuki rubbed his head walking over near Saki, oblivious to what she was doing. “Why’d you hit me, Saki?”

“Because I know what you’re thinking!” He already made his own fantasies without help. Ayumi didn’t need the extra work.

Chapter 47 – The Fantasy You Want

“We aren’t going in there! I can’t believe you thought this was a smart idea.” Saki grabbed Hiroshi by the collar. “You’ve taken this joke too far! What did you tell Yuki to get him to go along with this?”

“S-Saki! It-it-it’s not what you’re thinking!” An intense eye came from her. “Well…it sort of is, but that’s not the plan! It was just a little joke, Yuki said you were down recently. We just wanted to do something fun for you.” She released her hold on him. As more of the picture came into view, she sighed. “Sorry, let my mischief run a little. But seriously, it’s nothing bad.”

“You could’ve led with that!”

“He wanted it to be a surprise.”

Ayumi tapped her on the shoulder. “Saki! Yuki’s gone into the building along with Jun and Ken.”

“What?! Yuki…” A scan of the alley revealed the brother had disappeared. The kimono-clad employee pointed to the open door. “I trust you enough to not have brought a couple of kids to a shady place. Let’s grab the three of them and then you can explain things clearly.”

Everyone walked into the shop. The employee continued to almost look uninvolved with the whole situation. A simple hand invited them.

Inside the Mi Hana Shop, Saki looked around the front desk reception area for Yuki. The interior of the building presented far more normal and easy on the eyes than its exterior. There was a large wood counter with a stack of brochures advertising their product. Behind the count stood a middle aged woman dressed in a more subtle kimono of dark green. She pleasantly smiled, allowing Saki her moment to frantically search around the room.

Once Saki, exhausted, came to a stop and walked over to the counter, giving into the failure. The woman looked over at her speaking in an even tone that held an old fashioned and refined accent that threw Saki off. “Greetings young child. You appear to be seeking something.”

Saki pulled back trying to work with the old Japanese and stiffly nodded. ‘I can’t believe anyone still talks like that…’ The woman waited patiently for Saki’s answer, but silence grew in pressure until it was a weight on Saki demanding her to act. “W-Wel-Um…” There drew out another long pause as Saki stumbled over words needed to speak. “…Have you seen a high school boy come through with two younger boys?”

“Yes, he said he had brought friends. I had my younger sister show him the rooms available. How many are in your party?” The woman looked down at the counter pulling something out from under the surface. “Is this the rest of your party?”

Saki tried to wave her hand to decline the woman. “We’re still deciding.“

Hiroshi decided it was time to give up the secret. “It’s an augmented reality café. At least that’s how the ads sell it. Basically, you can order different preset environments and feel like you’re somewhere else. If it helps, think of it like a karaoke café without the singing.”

“Do we offer karaoke!”

“Or not, apparently.”

Yumi leaned over to the counter pulling up one of the pamphlets. A picture of Mount Fuji, an old temple and scuba diving all appeared on the front with happy anime-styled teens in each. She handed it over to Saki. “S-sounds like fun…”

Nodding, the paper seemed genuine. Flipping through the couple of pages confirmed everything Hiroshi said. Saki glared back at him again. “I’ll say again, you could’ve led with this.”

“You’re fun to tease.”

“I guess that’s on me for not remembering the sort of guy you are.”

“Forgiven?”

“Probation.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“It’s a start.”

“Hey, guys! I found a room for us!” Yuki appeared back with his brothers and a little girl wearing a bright light green kimono. The light girl had a mature look about her wearing the kimono. Though different from the woman behind the counter, the child had a glowing warm smile.

“I thought you said your younger sister was with Yuki.”

The woman nodded, pleased to see that she remembered so well. “Yes, you are correct.”

“Ugh! This girl’s creepy lookin’ and weird! I don’t like her eyes!”

Saki nearly fell back with the shift in tone. She checked with the adult who remained the model of manners. Yet the kid lost every piece of composure. If she didn’t know better, she’d almost felt like the child was channeling a street punk.

“Quiet! They haven’t paid yet,” the woman said carefully under her voice.

“What?!” the girl yelped before choking on it as she looked around towards the potential (keyword) customers. She just as quickly turned back into the kind looking girl with a sweet voice. “You have a very pretty face, Miss!” The stunned silence infected everyone.

“So will you be staying?”

Yuki jumped to his feet and raised his arms into the air. “Yes!”

That quickly pulled most of the group back to attention. A group discussion followed before an agreement was reached. Their hosts waited politely for them to sort out the financial situation. A high school allowance only went so far. But it earned them a room for two hours.

“Thank you! My name is Hanabira,” the middle aged woman said, completing the purchase.

At that moment the young woman and little girl were bowing politely thanking them as well. The little girl stood back up first. “This is my younger older sister, Hana!” She pointed cheerfully to the young woman. She then returned the finger to point at herself. “I’m Ha! I’m only eight years old!” The cute adorable expression of pride glowed across her face as she started to turn around to guide them to their room.

Saki couldn’t let things go and stopped them. “Are you saying you’re all sisters? That’s impossible! There’s at least a thirty year gap in your ages!” She pointed over to Hanabira accusingly.

Ha turned her body half way, getting her head around most of the way. “Thirty-four actually… Got a problem with that?” The look in her eyes changed so quickly it left Saki stunned in surprise for a second. “Come this way please.” The sweet voice from her lips jerked back into the previous personality.

A little buyer's remorse began to leak in for Saki. She looked around to the rest, who smartly stayed out of it. They moved through the hall directed by the child and the young woman towards a booth near the end. Hana ushered them into the room and slid the door closed once everyone was in.

Inside the room, there was enough space for everyone to fit surprisingly comfortably. There were several couches placed around the walls and a couple tables as well. Behind them at the entrance was a computer panel built into the wall with a full keyboard and touch screen, as Katsumi found out from her curiosity.

Upon her finger contacting the screen, it turned on presenting a greeting in Japanese and English. Above them a voice of a woman, that was not one of the three they had met, greeted them. “Welcome guests to the Mi Hana Shop! The screen you have just touched is the computer where you can input any dream you wish to have fulfilled. Note: The Mi Hana Shop is a family friendly environment and as such there are restrictions. Please keep that in mind when you are making a request. Enjoy your stay!”

The group divided out into the room. Everyone took a moment to absorb everything. Even with the information, they still had questions. Only pictures from the pamphlet pretended to explain what sort of experience the business offered. No one could picture what it meant.

Jun and Ken jumped off the couch. They ran over to Katsumi by the screen looking eager to have some fun. They both tugged on her uniform to draw down her attention. Katsumi bent her legs to reach their level, becoming quickly enamored by them once more. “You want to give it a try?” Jun nodded eagerly with Ken jumping up and down unable to keep his excitement under control.

Yuki stepped over to join his brothers. He had a surprisingly serious face contrary to his display earlier. “We should test it out first. We don’t even know if it works or what to expect. So let’s do something normal as a test and then go from there.”

Rational thinking from Yuki made everyone come to a halt. Hiroshi exchanged stares with Tatsuya and Saki, getting very similar feelings. “I’ve seen everything now. Yuki being serious and reasonable.” Everyone nodded in agreement, including his brothers.

“Hey! I can be serious when I want!”

Tatsuya smiled a little, shaking his head slightly. “No, but that’s what makes you fun!”

“Guys…”

Saki lowered her hand from her face after she had finished laughing. “But in all seriousness, Yuki does have a point. We should probably test it with something safe. We don’t know what it is anyway.”

“But it’s a game!” Ken said, trying to get them to skip safety. However, when he saw that Saki was gaining the support of everyone else he lowered his head in disappointment. Jun patted his shoulder to try to console him a little.

“What should it be then?” Hiroshi scanned the others for answers.

“…I don’t know…” said Saki.

There was a long silence as everyone thought of something safe and normal to test. “…A meadow…” Yumi said softly thinking that her voice went ignored, but in the silence it carried well. Everyone pulled their faces up looking over at her, making her embarrassed.

“That’s perfect, Yumi!” Yuki looked over at Katsumi, letting her input the request.

It ended up taking more than just the two words to get what they wanted out of it. Katsumi had to answer several questions about time, appearance and weather, but after a few minutes of stumbling through the form it accepted their request.

When the computer beeped the entire room went into pitch blackness as though the power had failed. Everyone started to chime up with questions and confusion trying to understand what was going wrong. Katsumi tried to go for the door, but found that it had disappeared. Slowly building over the panicked voices was a hum that encompassed them bringing everyone to a pause of anticipation.

Like a drawn out breath, the hum ceased followed by a new light appearing above everyone. They weren't able to look at it in time before suddenly the black void wiped away. It revealed a lightly clouded blue sky with a large meadow of ankle tall grass overlooking the expansive fields of rolling hills as far as the eye could see.

The vista left everyone in awe unable to speak for a minute. Ken was the first to run out from where they were willing to give into the illusion. Yuki tried to stop him thinking that he would run into the wall of the room. He failed, but watched Ken shrink away.

“It’s unbelievable…,” Kaede said as she began walking out away from the group.

A gentle breeze swept by everyone dragging along their hair. “Even the wind feels real…” said Yumi pulling her hair out of her face.

“It goes on forever it seems,” Kazuhiro said, watching Ken get further away with Jun chasing after him.

“Yeah, I could easily relax and do nothing here for two hours…” Tatsuya said, sitting down in the grass.

Saki knelt down towards the grass grabbing it by her hand pulling it free. “It’s pretty realistic for an augmented reality.”

Yuki stared up at the clouds. “This isn’t augmented reality. It’s more like virtual reality, but even this isn’t possible. This is sci-fi, not reality…” He looked over to Ayumi who still seemed to be enjoying the sights. A glance that lasted only a moment between them showed a change in her eyes that seemed to give him the same unsettled feeling. ‘…could this be an Illusion Field?’