A Shift Between Dimensions

Tokyo - City of Wonders

The three women were in awe as they left the airport behind and stepped out into the city.  It was bustling with people and there was no doubt they were in another land.  Klaudia and Melissa both gaped as a couple of good looking men walked past and gave them a once over.  Klaudia put her hand over her chest, "Oh my.  I'm in heaven."

"Oh we are sooooo going to go out into the night life," Melissa said in agreement.

Sarah grinned as she listened to them.  She was certain she wouldn't gather much attention and after what had just happened with her husband, she was okay with that.  They consulted the map they had bought in the airport before deciding to walk the short distance to the apartment they had rented for the week.  It had been a great deal for each night because it wasn't in the heart of the city and they would have to learn the transit system to navigate into the areas they most wanted to visit.

The apartment was very small with two small beds and a couch.  Sarah glanced towards the couch and tossed her bag on it.  "I'll take the couch."

"Oh you don't have to do that," Klaudia said.

Sarah smiled slightly, "I don't mind."

"So you gonna tell us?" Melissa said after dropping down on one of the beds.

She raised her brows at her, "Tell you what?"

"How you got that nasty little bruise on your cheek?"

Sarah flinched and sat down on the couch.  "I'd rather not ruin our time."

"Spill it," Melissa responded, "or I will kick your ass."

Sarah blinked then started laughing, "You would too."  She gave a sigh, "Stephen flipped out and slapped me."

"I'm going to kill that son of a bitch," Melissa growled.

"Oh Sarah, that's awful," Klaudia then said.  "I knew he wasn't happy about the trip but that's extreme."

"I'm done with him," Sarah spoke softly.  "That was it for me.  I have endured his bull shit all these years but I won't tolerate violence."

"Good for you!" Klaudia stated with a firm nod of her head.

Sarah shifted her glance towards the open window, "What do you say girls?  Should we go exploring and get some food?  I don't know about y'all but I'm starving."

It was the best time for all three women as they learned how to navigate the train system to get to the center of Tokyo.  As they walked along the Sumida river and Sarah looked down at the ring on her finger.  She had half a mind to chunk the ring in the river and started to do that when Melissa stopped her.

"No, sell the damn thing!"

Sarah laughed at the words, "I'd rather chunk it into the river."

"Trust me, you'll be glad you waited to sell it.  That's one hell of a rock on there."

Sarah glared at the ring then sighed, "You're probably right.  I am taking it off of here though."  She switched it to her right ring finger.  "I'm officially single in my book.  Done. Kaput."

Melissa wrapped an arm across her shoulder and laughed, "Good.  Now we are three single gals in the land of the hotties.  Let's go find a bar."

Three hours later, they were all well past intoxicated.  Plowed would be a better word.  Sarah was laughing and shaking her head as the other two were all cozied up with a couple of "hotties" as they all sat around drinking.  She tilted another drink of hot sake to her lips, enjoying watching her friends.  As she thought, she had gone completely unnoticed.  She signed inwardly, she didn't want anyone hitting her up anyways.  Her ex had left a bad taste in her mouth.

Klaudia was in hog heaven as she leaned against the guy next to her.  He was so handsome she thought she would just about burst from the attention he was giving her.  There was just something about Asian guys that hit different.  She was seriously considering leaving with him when the building suddenly started shaking.

Melissa had been kissing on her guy when the building started shaking violently.  "Whoa what the hell?"

Glass shattered as the building shook and screams filled the air.  The lights flickered on and off.  Sarah was giggling as she bounced around in her seat, finding the whole thing a bit fun like some kind of ride.  Of course, she was a bit drunk and not at all worried about getting harmed by the sudden earthquake.  The glares she got from the two men once the building stopped shaking only made her laugh harder.  Both men got up and left as they headed towards the exit with the other patrons.

Melissa pouted as she looked at her, "Thanks for running our guys off, Sarah."

"Sorry," Sarah said with a laugh, "but that was hellaciously fun!  I couldn't help myself."

Klaudia picked up her drink which survived the shaking and raised it, "Well I do say we call it a night.  We got places to see and I think we all will be exhausted by morning.  To our adventures!"

"Here, here," Sarah and Melissa chorused as they clinked their glasses to hers.

The next morning, all three of them were hung over but in good spirits as they dressed for the day.  Melissa was wearing her Fruit Basket t-shirt, Klaudia a Jujutsu Kaisen t-shirt, and Sarah a Full Metal Alchemist t-shirt as they walked out the door.  They were all giddy to hit Akihabara and do some shopping for Anime merch.  It was getting to be late day as they sat down at a small Ramen shop.

The three women were quiet as they thought about all the things they had done in the first day.  Sarah leaned back in her seat as she stared at her phone, looking at the map.  "So, it looks like the village is ten hours from here by train."  She was looking at the route and slowly started to grin.  "Hey Mt. Fuji is along the way.  We should stop in there, I mean who comes to Japan and not see Mt. Fuji?"

Melissa narrowed her eyes on her, "Now why all of a sudden are you interested in Mt. Fuji?"

"No reason," Sarah responded with a twitch to her lips.

"No," Melissa said while raising a finger.  "Don't you even think about it."

Klaudia looked between the two of them with wide eyes, "Don't think about what?"

"This fool has been saying for months now that she wants to go to that haunted forest at the base of Mt. Fuji."

"Oh, you mean Aokigahara!  That does sound like fun.  You know I can sometimes talk to the spirits, it might be fun!" Klaudia said with a wide grin.

Melissa looked horrified as she realized she was suddenly outnumbered.  They both were crazy!  "No, no, no.... that place has got some bad mojo!  We'll end up getting cursed or something!"

"Ah, come on Melissa, imagine being able to tell people you went to Aokigahara and survived," Sarah taunted her, poking at her pride.

Melissa covered her face with her hand, peering at her two friends through her fingers.  She was not going to win this battle but just thinking about the place gave her a chill.  She was sensitive to bad vibes and that place had always gave her the heebie jeebies when she would watch documentaries about the weird things that happened there.

"If I get cursed, I'll never forgive either of you!"

Sarah and Klaudia laughed then cheered, quickly talking about their plans.  Instead of heading straight to the village, they would spend a chunk of the day there and at Mt. Fuji and find a hostel or something like that to crash before jumping the train to get to the village.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Melissa moaned.