Chapter Text
“So, what do you think we’re going to do after graduation?”
A pair of young ladies were sitting at a sidewalk cafe on an unseasonably warm November afternoon. The one posing the question had a small notebook open, as if she planned on writing down the reply for future reference, just in case she forgot it.
“Isn’t it a little early for that sort of question?”
Her companion, with her coffee untouched, was fiddling with a ribbon on her hat.
“Well, I just thought it would be a good idea to have a plan, you know? For if we graduate and go our separate paths, or get separated some other way. Though somehow I can’t imagine you going and getting a stable office job…”
“What kind of employability do you think I have!?”
Maribel Hearn gave up on the ribbon as a lost cause and sighed.
“But it’s true that we only have a few months left together with the Sealing Club as an actual university club, I suppose.” She took a sip of coffee, then grimaced at the taste. “Though, are we actually officially recognized as one in the first place? Being a circle on our own wouldn’t be too different from how we are now, although maybe we’d have to meet on weekends more.”
“Don’t we meet on weekends most of the time, anyway? Officially, that is. I don’t think you stumbling into my desk out of your dreams at two in the morning counts as a club meeting, no matter how often you do it.”
“And whose fault is it that that desk keeps moving?” Merry drank her now-cold coffee quickly. “But besides that, I don’t think that the Sealing Club has any reason to end just because our university careers will. We’ll still be occult investigators, even if you’re off working some dreadfully boring job in energy production and I’m optimizing some office’s productivity.”
“I still really can’t imagine you with a job like that…” Usami Renko had shut her notebook without writing anything in it, seemingly forgetting she intended to write anything at all.
“Well, the circus freak show business has been drying up horrendously these past few centuries, you know.” Merry gave a dismissive little shrug.
“But never mind that, Merry, weren’t you going to demonstrate something over lunch?” Renko opened up her notebook again. “You seemed excited about it, so that’s why I brought this.” She held up the notebook, showing a list of “Merry’s Abilities” in scratchy, bold handwriting.
“Well, I was going to, but then we got distracted, didn’t we? Besides, a sidewalk cafe is hardly the sort of place for an occult demonstration in the first place. We can set something up when I get to my class, but for now I have to get going.” Merry picked up Renko’s hat from the back of her chair and twirled it around her finger before tossing it over. “See you tonight!”
“Ah, alright. See you!”
Renko looked after her retreating figure with a sense of bemusement. Then she packed up her (still, for the day, as of yet unwritten in) notebook and headed off to class on her own. As soon as she felt comfortable in her knowledge that she’d already read everything relevant to this day’s lecture and was thus safe to slack off, she picked up her phone to message Merry about the night’s plans.
[usamimi @ 4:36 PM] So, what was that thing you wanted to show off anyway? Or what sort of thing was it, at least.
[usamimi @ 4:48 PM] merryyyy answer your messages the professor’s waxing nostalgic about the discovery of the higgs boson again. i’ll die of boredom here
[merryberry @ 4:49 PM] Can’t you just skip out and go to the park like you always do?
[merryberry @ 4:49 PM] But anyway, it’s just the usual sort of thing in making dreams reality and reality dreamlike. It’s more interesting this time for other people rather than myself, though, I think?
[merryberry @ 4:50 PM] I remember ages ago when you thought that it was impossible to do anything but see boundaries, naturally at least. You were so weird three years ago, Renko.
[usamimi @ 4:51 PM] As usual, your explanations make no sense… Also, what was I supposed to do, unequivocally believe in the existence of things that shouldn’t be physically possible just because you said so?
[usamimi @ 4:51 PM] Don’t answer that with an “obviously.”
[usamimi @ 4:52 PM] And I can’t skip out because I’ll inevitably miss something that the old guy decides to put on the exam.
[usamimi @ 4:54 PM] What were you thinking for the place for the demonstration tonight, anyway? Since you said the cafe wasn’t the sort of place for an occult demonstration.
[merryberry @ 5:03 PM] I told you, just leave and go to the park! I’ll meet you there later. I have to drop some stuff off and pick some stuff up at the apartment. I should be there at something like 8ish?
[usamimi @ 5:17 PM] I’m not waiting in a park for three hours, though…
[merryberry @ 5:17 PM] Well, I’ll be there at something like 8 no matter what you do. Unless I get out of History of Mass Delusions earlier.
[usamimi @ 5:17 PM] The classes they make your major take really are strange, aren’t they.
[merryberry @ 5:18 PM] Fitting for someone just as strange, isn’t it? Anyway, I’ll see you then, whether you come early or not. I have to actually pay attention to this endocrinological chart now.
[usamimi @ 5:18 PM] See you then, and I’m not leaving early.
[merryberry @ 5:18 PM] I’ll expect you at 8:45 in that case!
Renko half sighed half laughed. Merry could be such a handful sometimes. She shut off her phone, thinking excitedly about the events of the evening, and dozed off for the next hour and a half. When she woke up, she looked out the window and saw heavy clouds gathering in the distance.
“I should’ve brought my umbrella today after all, shouldn’t I?” She headed out the doors and started off towards the park regardless.
[usamimi @ 6:55 PM] Hey, Merry, can you bring me my umbrella too when you stop by the apartment? It’s getting really cloudy out here so if we’re going to be out later that might be a good idea.
[merryberry @ 6:58 PM] Of course I can. We could share mine, but I think you’d probably want to be a good radius away from me when I’m doing something experimental like this?
[usamimi @ 6:59 PM] Well, it was fine at the Old Adam Bar, but since you said something about it being “more interesting for other people” I think I’d probably want to keep a safe distance, yes.
[merryberry @ 7:01 PM] How mean! But I’ll bring you your umbrella anyway. See you in a bit!
[usamimi @ 7:02 PM] Weren’t you the one who suggested the safe distance anyway?
Merry was an unusual sort of person, with an even less usual sort of ability. When Renko had met her, she’d had the ability to see boundaries to other worlds, and the small contradictions in the reality of this one, with her unsettling eyes, just as she had since she was a child. Along with Renko, she’d used that ability to find where the entrances to other worlds were hidden within this world, and to peer across them together. Those were the daily activities of the Sealing Club.
Over the past few years, though, Merry had been crossing over to and bringing things back from those other worlds in her dreams, and more recently, in her day to day life. At first, this had terrified her. She’d never had any control of it, so it seemed to her like she was being thrust into dangerous situations one after another, with no warning. Recently, though…
Renko shivered a little bit. It wasn’t just her eyes that were creepy. Nowadays, she could show anyone those boundaries to other realities, whenever she wanted. Renko had liked it when she’d first been able to see it, with Merry putting her hands over her eyes to show her that wavering vision of the Izanagi Objects. But other people seeing those visions too… Merry being able to even reach out and touch those other worlds whenever she felt the whim, now…
Maybe Renko was a little jealous, but when she watched Merry doing that sort of thing, it almost made her feel like she was seeing something that wasn’t quite human.
Her phone buzzed, snapping her out of her self-pitying internal monologue. She looked up to see that she’d gotten to the park in one piece.
[merryberry @ 7:28 PM] Your umbrella’s missing. Did you leave it somewhere again?
[usamimi @ 7:28 PM] I don’t think so? It should be in the umbrella stand next to the kitchen, I think. Unless you went and dropped it on one of your otherworldly excursions?
[merryberry @ 7:29 PM] Wouldn’t I have picked up my own umbrella if I sleepwalked out of this world with one of them? Besides, it hasn’t rained in any of my dreams in weeks. Why would I bring it in that sort of situation?
[usamimi @ 7:29 PM] Insurance purposes? I don’t know.
[merryberry @ 7:32 PM] Found it. You stored our futon on top of it, for whatever reason. You also stored it on top of one of my spare spools of ribbon. Actually, why do we store the futons on that shelf, anyway?
[usamimi @ 7:32 PM] Insurance purposes, again? From centipedes.
[merryberry @ 7:32 PM] Do centipedes like to come to upstairs floors?? Actually, they probably do, don’t they. Oh, that’s the worst.
[usamimi @ 7:33 PM] Just being honest!
[usamimi @ 7:33 PM] Although I haven’t seen any around, either way. It’s probably too cold.
[merryberry @ 7:33 PM] Probably.
[merryberry @ 7:33 PM] Do you want me to pick up anything else? I’m going to go by the convenience store on my way there. I’m weirdly hungry, somehow.
[usamimi @ 7:34 PM] Canned coffee?
[merryberry @ 7:34 PM] Of course! Both that you’d want that and that I can do that for you.
[merryberry @ 7:34 PM] I’m going now, but I’ll talk to you once I get to the store. I should be at the park by 8, just like I expected.
[usamimi @ 7:35 PM] Huh? But isn’t it kind of far? It’s okay if you’re late, you know.
[merryberry @ 7:35 PM] Don’t worry about it! You’ll see. I’ll see you in a few minutes!
[usamimi @ 7:35 PM] Well, as long as you’re sure. Don’t strain yourself or anything, you know?
Renko looked up to see the clouds roll across the sky. The moon wasn’t yet obscured by them, but it was only a matter of time. For now, though, it was attempting (and failing) to reflect peacefully in the pond before her.
The moon’s glow in the sky reminded her of the time she and Merry had talked about going on a tour to it by this very same pond. The wind was picking up, and causing little waves to splash against the shore, muddling the moon’s reflection more than the little ripples the fountain created.
Before it could become unrecognizably blurred, though, a bank of clouds blew in front of it, obscuring it from view.
Suddenly, Renko realized that she’d been reminiscing for a little long. Shouldn’t Merry be here by now?
She pulled out her phone, and checked her messages. Nothing new.
[usamimi @ 8:03 PM] Merry? It’s been a while, are you on your way? The wind’s picking up.
A raindrop splashed down on her screen, and she looked up. The sky looked like it was about to open up.
“I really should’ve brought my umbrella after all, shouldn’t I?”
[usamimi @ 8:12 PM] Merry, this isn’t funny any more.
The raindrops were coming down faster than before. Renko’s hat was already suffering their assault, but soon enough she’d probably be drenched herself. Maybe Merry was back at the apartment and she’d just forgotten to text Renko about it, and silenced her phone?
[usamimi @ 8:27 PM] Alright, I’m going to head home. It’s starting to rain really hard, so I’ll see you there? I hope you’re not out getting soaked, but with two umbrellas you’re probably not.
[usamimi @ 8:27 PM] I have to be honest, though, if you’re home and I’m worrying about nothing, I will be a little angry.
The wind whipped Renko’s wet hair into her face. She couldn’t stop thinking about Merry. Something must have happened, to make her just stop answering all of a sudden.
Something echoed back in Renko’s head, like a mockery of her. “Or if we get separated some other way…”
She couldn’t shake the feeling of dread that was clutching at her chest.
What was it that Merry was trying to demonstrate, again?
Renko broke into a run. Something, somehow, had gone terribly wrong. Somehow, Merry’s control had slipped, or something from an otherworld had interfered with her, or…
She slid past the apartment door on the rainy sidewalk. When she got back to it, her hands shook while trying to unlock the (still manual) lock. She shoved it open, mentally apologizing to the landlady the whole time. Somehow, she hoped even now that Merry was there, ready to giggle at her for being so worried, with some coffee brewing to warm her up from the rain.