A Fleeting Utopia

Chapter 10

Tsumi spent all night crying into her pillow. Why did nothing she did ever work? By now the pillow had soaked up so many tears she couldn't even tell if she was still crying, or if it was just the wetness of her pillow hitting her face. Nova hadn't been back for hours, but Tsumi didn't care.
She felt her body go rigid and she heard the door open. Under her eyelids, she felt the warmth of the light. Nova was finally back. It was probably no earlier than 1 am. Tsumi tried to slow her breathing and pretend to sleep.
She heard steps and shuffling in her direction. A funny smell hit Tsumi's nose, even while it was still buried in her pillow. Tobacco. What had Nova been doing?
"I know you're not asleep."
Well, obviously! Tsumi didn't even know why she tried to pretend. Why couldn't Nova just leave her alone?
Tsumi stuck her head up from her pillow. "Go away. I'm serious."
Tsumi expected Nova to say something infuriating, but she just heard a rustling sound and felt a cool, cucumber scented wipe hitting her face as Nova wiped the tears from her face.
"I said go away. Have you been smoking?" Tsumi turned her face away.
"I don't regularly do it. I just wanted to try something new. I swear, I don't have an addiction or anything."
Tsumi didn't have the energy to lecture her, even if she wanted to. "Fine, do whatever you want. I don't care. Just get away from me."
Nova didn't reply. The light shut back off again, and a few moments later, Tsumi heard the sound of the shower.
Tsumi tried to roll over and sleep, but soon she heard the shower turn off and felt taps on her shoulder. She rolled back over to see Nova, wearing a black bathrobe. The foul scent was gone.
"This better?" Nova asked, a tinge of hopefulness in her voice. Tsumi knew how stubborn she was being, but she didn't care.
"I think you've missed the point. The smoking isn't even the problem-though it would become one if you keep coming back smelling like that." Tsumi muttered.
"I don't understand why you're the one who's mad. Juno told me what you did, you know. Is there something wrong?"
Tsumi squeezed her eyes shut, once again turning her back. She waited until she couldn't feel Nova's presence next to her, then tried to fall asleep. Tomorrow, she would unlock Ikuu's memory. And tomorrow, after she forced herself to come along with the others to mindlessly fight more robots, she would give this her last shot.
She couldn't even begin to think about what would happen if she failed.

Tsumi shivered as she climbed out of the warm water, which probably had a higher temperature than the air itself. Ikuu grinned as he stepped onto the diving board. The two were in a small pool area, with a mini waterfall connecting to a hot tub above.
"I'm actually glad both Nova and Juno were busy today. I feel like I never get to spend time with just you. And I also never thought I'd be able to dive. It isn't as hard or terrifying as I used to think it would be." With those words, Ikuu made a clean dive into the pool. As he swam to the side to meet Tsumi, he had frowned a bit. "But after this, we really need to work on our project for chemistry. Did you bring everything we need?"
"Yes, yes," Tsumi laughed as she let the light of the sun warm her skin. "But let's just relax for now."
Tsumi frowned as her eyes opened. The memory had felt like something she hadn't really ever experienced since she had figured out what was going on here-relaxation. But this was going to be a tough one to recreate. The memory was very obviously in summer, and spring had just started here. Not to mention she had no idea where that pool was. But this was her last chance, and she wasn't going to wait any longer.
Minutes later, Tsumi was knocking on Ikuu's door. She hoped her face wasn't too red from last night. She hadn't even washed it this morning, nor did she have any kind of makeup project to hide the swelling.
"Yes? Oh..." Ikuu opened the door, but his face fell at Tsumi's appearance. Luckily, Ikuu's roommate wasn't present.
"Did you want to do something together? We've already finished fighting the Aloi for today."
"Uhh...I haven't seen you in a while, Tsumi. What were you thinking of doing? I hope it's quick, though, because finals are coming up for online school."
Tsumi wondered if her friends even remembered about her being from another universe. Even if they didn't know the full story, why didn't they mention it more often.
But what could they do about it? Even if Tsumi managed to convince her friends, what could they do about any of this? Maybe it would have been easier to just live in ignorance.
"I thought we could do some swimming? Is there an indoor pool nearby?" Tsumi knew the pool she was at in the memory was outdoor, but that one seemed to be in someone's yard, and she didn't think Ikuu would be too happy about breaking into someone's backyard.
Ikuu made a face. "I think I'll pass...I'm not really the best swimmer, and that sounds like it'll take a long time."
"It'll only take a few minutes. I'll play for admission!" Tsumi added in desperation.
"Really? But you only recently asked to be paid for helping fend off Aloi, and it isn't a large amount."
"I'm sure."
"Okay, fine. I'll drive you there in one of the rental cars this building owns. My time
limit is 30 minutes, by the way. And I'm counting driving time. "
Why hadn't Tsumi known about these rental cars before? Nevermind that, it
wasn't like she knew how to drive anyways.
"Thank you! Make sure to bring your swimsuit."
"Wait, I have to get in? I thought you just wanted me to watch you swim, for some odd reason, maybe just for the company? And do you even have a swimsuit of your own? What's really going on here?"
Tsumi had feared this would happen. Ikuu wasn't going to agree to this as easily as Juno did. Juno. Tsumi hoped she didn't hate her now. If this worked, maybe once Ikuu and herself explained things, Juno would forgive her.
"It'll all make sense when we get there," Tsumi said, getting an unsettling sense of deja vu from when she was trying to recreate Juno's memory.
"No, it won't. Don't think just because I haven't mentioned it that I don't know what you did to Juno. I'm texting both Nova and Juno now, and we're all going to have a little chat. I don't know what's up with you lately, but I do know that it's a pain."
Tsumi couldn't move or speak. She was so sure this was going to be the one! She was so close to getting out, all she needed to do was...
Tsumi started crying again. She buried her head in the hem of her shirt. She didn't care what anyone thought about her, she just wanted to help herself and her friends, and look at what she'd done.
Ikuu awkwardly patted her back as he led her onto his bed. "It's alright. Juno and Nova will be here soon, and we can do what we can to figure things out."
None of this was fair. Her friends probably thought she was crazy, or had some sort of issues!
The truth was, Tsumi wasn't completely sure that she didn't have issues. She had no idea how long she had even been in this place, and she had to admit she felt very off lately, especially since what she had to go through to get the memories.
A wave of rage overcame Tsumi when she realized she had probably wasted her time with the whole memory thing.
Why had she even been trying so hard to find ways to convince her friends? She was so sure that something would prevent her from telling her friends the truth, but she never really tested it out.
How stupid could she be?
Soon, Tsumi heard Nova and Juno enter the room. The three stood awkwardly in front of Tsumi as she sat on the bed, unmoving.
"Uh...how do we start this again? There wasn't exactly a script so..." Juno said, shuffling her feet on the floor.
Nova whipped around. "Okay, I'm not going to just stand around uncomfortably. Let's just sit on the floor near Ikuu's desk. And I call the beanbag!"
"How can you call something that isn't yours? Did you buy it?"
Tsumi walked over to the area the others were getting settled in, sulking.
Ikuu's face fell serious as he saw Tsumi joining them. "Okay." Ikuu took a deep breath. "To put it simply, all three of us have noticed that you're acting strange lately, and we're worried about you. In addition to that, some of the things you're doing are weird and kind of annoying, no offense."
Tsumi clenched her hands together.
"So could you please tell us what's going on? We all considered it having to do with your whole alternate universe thing, but I honestly think life here is pretty great." Juno added.
"Why wouldn't you help me then? What if I wanted to go back to where I came from?"
Ikuu exchanged glances with the others. "Well, we don't really even know how to start with helping you with something like that. Unless you wanted to call that Roka again..."
"Also, I don't think the reason you've been acting this way is just because you're from another universe. There's something you're leaving out, and it has to do with us, doesn't it?" Nova said, her face looking more serious than Tsumi had ever seen it.
Tsumi felt a shiver go down her spine. Nova was so close to figuring things out. Maybe if Tsumi just told them what was going on now, it would be enough.
But Ikuu's and Juno's attention was focused on Nova. "Hey, what do you mean by that? Did Tsumi tell you something she didn't tell us?" Juno asked, her eyes slightly narrowed.
"She did show me something."
"Hey, that wasn't meant for you! I only happened to run into you at the beach, and you helped me get the boat by–by..." Tsumi didn't care to finish her sentence.
Nova raised an eyebrow. "By pretending that we were dating? Honestly, I'm still proud of that plan."
Ikuu rested his head in his hand. "It's obvious the two of us are missing something here, because I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Dating? Boat? The beach?"
"It's kind of a long story..." Nova said sheepishly.
"But you know what else is a long story? The real reason I've been acting the way I have." Tsumi said with a sigh. "So I'd better get started."