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When Kotori had woken up this morning, this hadn’t been what she’d expected at all. Naturally, she’d expected a perfectly average day at university, with boring lectures, annoying people asking to borrow her notes because they were too lazy to make their own, and worrying about Yuma just as much as she had over every day for the last six months.
How she had ended up running from living shop dummies with that one weird girl she’d seen around campus a lot, she wasn’t really sure. But she knew for certain that somehow, these dummies were alive and shooting at them, and that her current prime motivation was to stay alive. The girl – Kotori couldn’t quite manage to remember her name at the moment, blame the mortal peril – grabbed Kotori’s hand and tugged her along into an alleyway.
“This way!” the girl yelled, sounding way too cheerful and eager for someone who was in grave danger. Kotori almost stumbled over her own feet in her attempts to keep up.
“What... are those things?!” she gasped. The girl stopped in her tracks in front of Kotori, glancing over her shoulder to look at her. The girl, who Kotori finally remembered was called Rio Kamishiro, was grinning like a child on Christmas Eve.
“Autons”, she said cheerfully. “They’re basically living plastic. Pretty neat, isn’t it? If only they weren’t so murderous.”
“…What?!” Kotori blurted out. Just then, the shop dummies came around the corner, heading straight towards them, and Kotori screamed in terror. They were going to die. She was going to get killed by living shop dummies of all things.
“No worries”, Rio said, still grinning cheekily, leaping in front of Kotori to stand between her and the shop dummies. “It’s me they’re after. I can handle them.” She was holding something in her hand, Kotori now realised; it was a small, dark blue device that looked like a mix between a pen and a gun.
Rio pressed a small button on the device, and a white beam shot out from it, momentarily blinding Kotori and forcing her to look away. When she next looked up, the shop dummies were frozen in place. They’d gone completely still, and they seemed to be covered in a layer of frost. Kotori stared at them in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened, while Rio happily waltzed over to one of the dummies, tapping it in the chest. Immediately, it crumbled apart, until it was just a pile of snow and ice on the ground.
“Wow, it actually worked!” Rio said eagerly, moving on to the next dummy and doing the same thing again, seeming fascinated by it.
“What was that?!” Kotori asked, her voice coming out like a high-pitched squeak.
“This?” Rio spun the device in her hand. “This is my Sub-Zero Laser. It freezes things. I had it set to just a few degrees over absolute zero. Not a lot of things can handle that kind of cold.” She winked at Kotori. “It’s okay now, you’re safe.”
“Sub-Zero…? What…” Kotori took a deep breath, trying to comprehend what had just happened. “What were those things? Who are you?”
“Told you, they’re Autons”, Rio said simply, grabbing Kotori by the hand and leading her along down the alleyway. “They like trying to invade helpless planets like this one. It’s not my first run-in with them.”
“Planets…” Kotori gasped. “Wait, you mean they’re aliens?!” This couldn’t be real. This had to be some sort of really weird dream.
“You got it!” Rio said happily, not seeming to notice Kotori’s distress as she led them into a large junkyard at the end of the alleyway. “They’re a nasty bunch, but no need to worry! I’ve been dealing with this Auton infestation for a year now, and I’m pretty sure those were the last ones left!”
“There were… more of them?” Kotori stuttered.
“Naturally!” Rio said cheerfully. “There would have to be a lot of them, if they wanted to take over Earth.” She stopped in front of an old-fashioned closet and turned to look at Kotori. Suddenly she looked much more serious, with a strangely cold and calculating look in her eyes. “You’ve already seen something you weren’t supposed to see… Do you want to take it a step further?”
“Who are you?” Kotori asked, realising her question hadn’t been answered.
“Who indeed”, Rio murmured, fishing a small key out of her pocket. “Do you really want to know? If I tell you, your life won’t ever be the same again.”
“I just found out aliens are real! I doubt it’d ever be the same anyway!” Kotori countered.
“All right then! Awesome!” Rio instantly looked a whole lot more cheerful. She stuck the key into a keyhole on the closet… a keyhole that Kotori hadn’t even noticed. “Get ready for the surprise of your life!”
She opened the door and slipped inside. Kotori stepped forward to take a peek, and nearly forgot how to breathe. She stood still, staring into the closet for a long time, trying to come up with something to say. Finally, she spoke, her voice stuttering and full of confusion and shock.
“It’s… It’s bigger on the inside. W-what is this?!”
“Oh, this? This is a TARDIS. It’s bigger on the inside because it’s dimensionally transcendental”, Rio said proudly, as if that made total sense. “Come inside!” She sounded so excited that Kotori really couldn’t refuse. Hesitantly, she stepped over the threshold and gazed cautiously around the unnaturally big space. The floor and walls were pastel blue, and she could see several doors, seeming to lead deeper into whatever this place was supposed to be. Rio was standing in the middle of the room, leaning against a white hexagonal pedestal full of buttons and levers. She was giving Kotori a delighted look.
“I don’t understand”, Kotori said slowly, still trying to comprehend everything that had happened in the last few minutes.
“TARDIS!” Rio repeated. “It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space! Basically, it’s a ship that can travel through time and space. I use it to travel around the universe and have all sorts of wacky adventures! Want to come along?” She winked at Kotori.
“Travel… through time and space?” Kotori felt more and more lost every time Rio said something, which did nothing to make her feel better.
“Yup! Don’t worry, I know it’s a lot to take in”, Rio said and smiled warmly at her, thankfully not seeming offended by her confusion. “It’s not easy for a human brain to comprehend it just like that, I get it.”
Kotori stared at Rio. Rio, who Kotori had just viewed as that girl in her lectures who was popular with guys but paid them no attention, who occasionally said strange things which nobody else understood, who dressed in eccentric clothing… just a bit of an oddball, but certainly not… this.
“Are you an alien too?” Kotori asked hesitantly. “And… a time traveller as well?”
“You’ve got it!” Rio grinned. “Yeah, the whole thing about me being Rio Kamishiro, a normal twenty-year-old human, is a total lie, if it wasn’t obvious already. I should probably introduce myself properly.” She stepped forward and held out her hand for Kotori to shake. “I can’t tell you my real name, but you can call me the Priestess. And yes, I’m a time travelling alien. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
“I’m Kotori Mizuki”, Kotori said hesitantly and reached out to shake Rio’s, no, the Priestess’s hand. “We’re in the same lectures…”
“Thought you looked familiar!” the Priestess said eagerly. “Oh, it’s been such a long time since I revealed myself to a human! I’m so excited! I can take you on a trip somewhere, if you want! Anywhere at any time in the universe, you can choose! We can be back the same moment we left, so you don’t have to worry about missing a lecture!”
Anywhere, at any time. Kotori’s head was spinning, and only one thing came to mind. Of course, it was the same thing that had been constantly on her mind for six months.
“A… really good friend of mine went missing six months ago”, she said nervously. “Nobody knows where he went, and I’ve been so worried... His name is Yuma Tsukumo. Do you… Do you think you could help me find him?”
“A missing person? No problem!” the Priestess said, sounding incredibly enthusiastic. “Oh jeez, sorry, I must seem like a total jerk, acting all excited over something like that.” She placed a hand on Kotori’s shoulder, giving her an apologetic look. “I’ll help you find your friend. Don’t worry”, she said, sounding much calmer now. “Do you want us to go right now?”
Kotori thought about it for a second. This could very well be the biggest mistake of her life, and she honestly still wasn’t one hundred percent sure that this wasn’t just some elaborate prank. But then she thought of Yuma, and the thought of having even the smallest chance to find him was enough to convince her.
“Yeah”, she said. “Yeah, let’s go.”