Work Text:
This serves as an introduction to the Non-Missions substories of the Missions series. So the gist is that UF Non-Mission Stories is still part of the UF Missions substories, except Non-Missions is what the name says it all: it focuses on a fic that is from a slice-of-life work, so villain conflicts are practically non-existent here.
~~~0-0-0~~~
Presenting…
~~~0-0-0~~~
[U.F. Academy, U.F. Earth]
Sorawo Kamikoshi, Toriko Nishina, and Himelda Kozakura were there on the way to Harmony Tower on their own mission to retrieve a ship marooned in the middle of the space.
At the academy grounds were Son Goku, Gon Freeccs, Danny Phantom, Claudine Saijou, Mahiru Tsuyuzaki, Snow Blood, Kilik Lunge, Kazusa Touma, Rukia Kuchiki, Hayato Gokudera, Majime Yamashita, Shijima Tsukishima, Kurapika, Killua Zoldyck, Sonic, Blade, Robin, Kaori Miyazono, Io Otonashi, Tsumiki Miniwa, Hayate Ayasaki, Kanta Mizuno, Nagi Sanzenin, Taichi Yagami, Remon Yamano, Natsu Dragneel, Nagisa Shiota, Saitama, Homer Simpson, Yuu Kanda, Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Saitama, Karen Aijo, Hikari Kagura, Junna Hoshimi, Nana Daiba, Futaba Isurugi, Kaoruko Hanayagi, Umbrella Renoir, Parasoul Renoir, Peacock, Red Harlow, Lincoln Clay, Touma Kamijou, Yuko Yoshida, Knuckles, Momo Chiyoda, Tetsuya Kuroko, Ryota Kise, and the Straw Hats as well as various others. It is packed for the day.
However, Kozakura was far less happy with the situation around her. After being forced to open up to Kokoro Tsurumaki of all people, thanks to Kyou, that said event had ironically haunted her for real, as she was forced to stay with her for the night and had to deal with the girl's hyperactive personality that she failed miserably in keeping up her stoic personality.
"No more Kokoro-san… No more… I don't want to be dressed up as a doll again… Make it stop…" Kozakura said as she hesitantly drank her Red Bull. "It was scary… She was scary for a damn teenager…"
Kanta passed by with a mischievous smirk, as he was with Nagi and Hayate.
"Nice one with the all dolled up moment!" Kanta said with a thumbs-up.
"I never knew you had a side of it!" Hayate remarked with a thumbs-up.
"You bastards! Leave me alone!" Kozakura seethed, before looking at the group.
"You are lookin' that cute!" Majime added as she passed by.
"NO!" Kozakura bellowed.
[Harmony Tower, U.F. Academy]
As they were reaching the foyer of the Harmony Tower, Kozakura could not believe it as some had seen a photo from Kokoro of her dressed up like a doll. This was a humiliation beyond what she had experienced, and it now evolved into unwanted compliments for her.
"You okay there, Kozakura?" Sorawo asked.
"You idiots were at fault for this!" Kozakura argued as she gestured angrily to the girls. "Bringing Kyou was the worst idea I have ever heard. Now there's my other cousin wanting to visit my house!"
"Wait, you have another one?" Toriko questioned.
"Her name's Charlotte. She's quarter-Japanese and is from France." Kozakura revealed. "And while she's not as crazy as Kokoro, I'm now dealing with a mess I don't want to be a part of." She added with a dismissive tone.
"You really have a family, Kozakura." Sorawo noted.
"I'd rather be cooped up in my mansion and go to Otherside." Kozakura bluntly said as she took out her vape. "Family visits is ridiculous for me, because my mansion is not a hotel for people to freeload."
"About that, why are we exactly going to your vacation house in this Deneb world?" Toriko questioned.
"I mean we're going through this ship for just a girl? Sounds even crazier than us rescuing Kasumi last time who was stranded in the Otherside." Sorawo asked.
"Or basically saving you and Sorawo from Runa's cult." Toriko added.
"You will see." Kozakura simply answered.
As the trio reached the elevator that leads them to 135th Floor, the group then headed into the Multiverse Portal Room where the Engineer is.
"Going somewhere else?" The Engineer asked.
"We're going to Deneb." Kozakura stated, before reaching to the terminal as she typed the coordinates. The machine then whirred to life as it showed a projection of another world in front of them, with the trio entering it.
~~~0-0-0~~~
[Deneb]
Deneb. A world that has a harsh, snowy terrain around it to the point that countless domed cities, supported by extremely strong pillars on its bottom, exist due to the extreme cold outside. The grey, sunny skies from the outside were enough to give it a contrasting feel with its maudlin atmosphere.
The group then ended up in one of the domes across the planet, where they entered the Portal Room, similar to the ones seen in Glitch City back in Future Earth, as well as others.
The streets across the dome, however, contained completely different alien species with little to no humans to be seen. Houses were futuristic and uniformed, but still mixed with modern buildings reminiscent of the 21st Century.
"Holy… This is actually Deneb?" Sorawo asked Kozakura.
"And it's populated with aliens as well?" Toriko asked.
"Yes. We're pretty much in an alien world." Kozakura remarked as the trio left the portal room, where the city's alien nature greeted the newcomers right off the bat.
"I'm feeling a little weirded out by how they behave here." Sorawo said in nervousness as she looked at the aliens' bizarre biology and mannerisms too alien (no pun intended) for her as an Earthling. "So, you said you have a house, right?"
"It's over there." Kozakura pointed at a small, meager house next to other buildings. "Hey, where's Toriko-chan?" She asked as Toriko was missing right next to them.
Toriko was seen at a food stand, out of impulse, buying some strange food native to this world to curb her hunger. However, she instantly regretted it as soon as she took a bite on it, causing her to vomit into a garbage can.
"Nope! That was gross!" Toriko said as she drank water she strangely had in her pocket. "What do they even eat in here?"
Sorawo only chuckled.
"Jesus, you really acted like a guinea pig for that?" Kozakura noted with a dismaying tone. "Like I don't trust their food here, so take it as a grain of salt."
After the banter, the group then headed into Kozakura's vacation house. The interior itself was modest yet spacious, complete with futuristic technology such as computers and such, as well as some old-school décor that was furnished there. The heater inside the room provided the rest some comfort.
"You really have a taste, eh?" Toriko asked.
"Don't remind me of it." Kozakura chuckled as she took out a remote where it then opened a small room underneath it. She then took out a box of Monster, whom she purchased back home, before leading the trio into a garage space.
The garage, despite being strangely empty, contained things like toolboxes as well as some alien technology like nuclear-powered engines, which were salvaged not by her but by others, with her purchasing it for the premium.
What stood out however was a red sports car in the middle of it, with spaceship parts Frankensteined into it. Its chassis is also heavily plated, enough to withstand the vacuum of space. Sorawo and Toriko's eyes widened at how crazy this even sounded for the two. On top of it is a vent, whom she used it as means to draw out smoke when smoking or vaping.
"Holy crap!" Sorawo exclaimed in surprise as she touched the car. "So this is the thing we're going to use just to visit that ship?" She asked with a surprised expression.
"Don't be fooled by its looks." Kozakura answered with a steady tone before opening the door inside.
From there revealed the most futuristic side of this vehicle. Buttons after buttons, as well as hologram interfaces surrounded the interior as if the car was straight out of a spy movie.
"Where did you even get this thing?" Toriko asked with a chuckle.
"That's my late father's old car brought here." Kozakura stated.
"So you even used your father's car for it?" Toriko teased.
"Oh, shut it." Kozakura said dismissively as she entered inside the driver's seat. "It's one man's trash that is my treasure now."
Kozakura then revved the vehicle, causing it to whir into life.
"Anyways, since we're visiting this ship, what's our first thing to do?" Sorawo asked.
"We get to the ship and maybe try to examine it." Kozakura suggested before turning on the heater. "Shit, we gotta go immediately. Snowstorms in Deneb can be a real pain in the ass." She said as she glanced at the snow outside of the dome.
Kozakura then looked at the screen and changed it to the weather system.
"Temperature?" Kozakura asked.
"Temperature in Deneb is at -45.3 degrees Celsius." The voice at her car said. "There is a 70% chance of snow storms happening at around 3:00 P.M."
"Jesus, this place is really cold!" Sorawo exclaimed. "How did you even call this place your vacation home?"
"Just to spend Christmas on my own." Kozakura replied as the car then left the garage. She then pressed the green button, causing the exhaust to turn into nuclear-powered thrusters, wings to appear on the sides, as well as anti-zero gravity mechanisms on it.
With the car leaving Deneb, the snowstorm grew more intense.
~~~0-0-0~~~
[Outer Space]
[OST: Leslie Fish - Hope Eyrie]
As the group left the planet through Kozakura's Frankenstein car, the trio flew through the vast, empty space, setting their course at the mystery ship southwards. To add the creepiness further, no space vehicles or any living being were seen passing by.
Kozakura then turned the radio on as the calming strumming of Leslie Fish's Hope Eyrie provided some comforting noise in the middle of the barren, empty expanse.
"And here I thought the Otherside was creepy enough." Sorawo remarked as she looked outside the window. "You know the type."
"Emptiness and the unknown are obviously much scarier, Sorawo-chan." Kozakura answered.
"Has anybody even visited this part of space before?" Toriko asked.
"Unlikely." Kozakura answered as she smoked from her vape before driving southwest. "At least for normal people, that is. Some higher-ups or the daredevil chart these areas like it's no one's business, given how remote this area is."
Toriko's eyes then darted to a distant planet millions of miles westward. Despite it being so distant to be seen by the naked eye, the blondette managed to make out some few things in it: a gigantic tall tower piercing through space. For her, that would be so out of place.
"What the heck is that building? I've seen things like the Tower of Babel, but a tower that tall?" Toriko asked with a curious tone.
"Heard that there's a civilisation there and a gigantic one, but that world is not part of where we are lately." Kozakura explained.
"What do you mean by it?" Sorawo asked.
"That's in a different part of the universe not of this one. It's not part of the Unity Force." Kozakura explained.
"Can we go there?" Toriko asked in curiosity.
"No thanks." Kozakura refused. "I barely even know what that world is in full and I'm not risking it all." She added with a scoff.
As the two then continued their journey into the vast unknown, an hour or two later, the group then arrived at the vicinity of the ship. As expected, the ship was still at its operational state despite being marooned in the middle of nowhere for the past six to seven years.
Kozakura was slightly apprehensive at the idea, given that this was the first time she was dealing with a mission in the middle of the space. Sorawo and Toriko, being the adventurerers they are, were curious at what they could find inside of it.
"So with what Tennyson-sensei had said, is it true that there's a person within it? I can't imagine having a person there being alive in that thing." Sorawo questioned. "A survivor from some world that was destroyed. It's basically sad to hear it."
"If that's the case, then that ship must have had a life support on it." Kozakura noted. "No way someone would just create this thing."
"And the how?" Toriko asked. "How can we go to it? For sure we're not bringing that thing back home."
"Obviously, but we need to get the person that is in there, Toriko-chan." Kozakura answered before glancing at Toriko. "Get my things while I'm turning the force field mechanism on and connect it into the ship. That we can visit that ship freely without dealing with vacuum's extreme pressure."
"Where is it?" Toriko asked.
"Underneath your seat!" Kozakura muttered loudly. "Remember, look for a black toolbox."
Toriko then stood up as she tightly turned her figure around the small area of the car before opening a hidden compartment. Taking the toolbox, Kozakura then took it. Looking around the millions of buttons within the driver's seat, the petite researcher then pressed a button within it, causing a large force field to appear around the car and the ship. The trunk then transformed into a mini glass tunnel that connects into what looked like the ship's front side. Even at a distance, the trio saw a figure from within it.
"Did you see that?" Sorawo asked as she saw the person inside of it.
"So this is the person?" Toriko said with a saddened tone. "She has cords and anything else around her. What is going on?"
Kozakura only glanced at the girl, who appeared to be surrounded by cords, as well as being nude with no clothing around her. Right next to the girl is a teddy bear.
"She's essentially in deep sleep for the past six years or so." Kozakura examined before looking at her toolbox, where she took a glass cutter. "Comatose, perhaps, but she's not even dead." She added before cutting the glass with the cutter, piercing through the thick glass as she tossed the glass aside.
"How can you be certain that she isn't dead?" Toriko questioned at Kozakura's uncertain logic. "Unless if that thing doesn't fail on her."
"Perhaps this is suspended animation by the looks of it." Kozakura concluded as the trio entered inside the hatch. "Heard tales of people using these in long-term space explorations."
"I'm more concerned of why she's nude!" Sorawo suddenly exclaimed in surprise as she saw the mystery girl's unclothed body, with her face blushing.
"Jeez, Sorawo. You're that surprised over it?" Toriko said with a teasing tone.
"Ugh…" Kozakura mouthed before accidentally touching over a strange button on it, revealing what looked like a bunch of screens around the trio. "What the heck!?"
"You have to see it to believe it…" Toriko eyed at the videos. "Videos? Does that mean she was a survivor of this catastrophe?" She asked.
In one of the videos was a newsreel that showed this world where a large, planetary-sized object was slowly falling down on Earth.
"That's the same object that was mentioned by Hohenheim." Kozakura stated. "Of course this world had no chance of surviving from it."
Kozakura then scoured through the toolbox and she saw what looked like virtual reality glasses of the special kind.
"Thank Doraemon and the guys for this." Kozakura uttered, mentioning a certain robot-cat as well as others.
"Come to think of it, he was a victim of Mahito before right?" Toriko asked.
"Yeah. He's recovered fully." Kozakura answered, before connecting the virtual reality glasses around the machine.
"And what are we exactly doing with this?" Sorawo asked out of curiosity.
"From what was said here, she's in this virtual world." Kozakura explained solemnly as she combed through the files. "Her name's Rin and she's 17. She lives in this simulation by herself. Can create things through her drawing tablet like some reality warper. But to really do it, you need to put this thing in your head."
"Eh? You mean we're visiting in this virtual world of hers!?" Sorawo asked in surprise as if the concept was all too unfamiliar for her. "I get virtual reality games exist, but us literally visiting a virtual reality world in the flesh is absurd!"
Toriko only burst out in laughter.
"Oh, Sorawo. You're still inexperienced with it, I see." Toriko added with a chuckle as she nudged her girlfriend.
"Shut up, Toriko!" Sorawo exclaimed annoyingly.
Kozakura only sighed.
"Okay, ready yourselves, because we have a long journey ahead." Kozakura uttered nervously. "Even I'm scared shitless of this, I admit."
With that, Sorawo, Kozakura, and Toriko then entered into the virtual world of this mystery person in front of them.
~~~0-0-0~~~
[Virtual World]
[OST: Peter Robinsion and Madeon - Shelter]
Sorawo, Toriko, and Kozakura entered this virtual reality world with mixed reactions on their faces. Sorawo was the most surprised, while Toriko was happy, and with Kozakura being neutral.
In contrast to the empty, barren expanses of space they just visited moments earlier, this world is much more colourful and vibrant right in front of them. The three see a girl right in front of them. She is a young girl of teenage years who has long red hair, as well as now wearing a pink dress underneath a white overcoat and a bow. This is Rin.
"Hey, is this the girl we're looking for?" Sorawo asked quietly.
"By the looks of it." Kozakura simply answered. "At least we're out of that place for the moment."
The trio came in to a squared bedroom, where it was adorned with numerous colourful pillows, as well as stuffed animals on the floor, a dresser and clothes hanging on the wall, as well as windows draped with white curtain.
[Rin's POV]
I was seen lying on my bedroom, pondering to myself. I woke up and stared at the same room for who knows when. Sighing, I asked to myself as what will become of me from now on. Waking up again, I took my tablet underneath the pink pillow and checked the messages. I clicked the message app, thinking I would get a message out of it. But to my surprise, the only thing that came out was:
"No messages in 2539 days."
No messages, nothing. I sighed at it while smiling to myself. I'm never alone and nothing will change for me. I had told myself that I'm not alone. Never once, and never will.
Staring at the tablet, the holographic pen materialised as I pressed the button. Thinking of what to draw first as I lay on my bed, I started it as soon as possible. Pixels soon replaced the walls around my square bedroom with black borders. As I drawed further, the scenery around me changed to a vast greenery around me. Mountains, forests, green grass, flowers and a lake wae seen there, giving it an idyllic feel as I gave this world life.
Leaving through my own room, I was greeted by a large green field and the very scenery I just created. Running with joy, I ran and ran through the field before creating rock pillars to lift me up as I jumped higher before landing down the soft grass.
My eyes then darted to a swing that was tied to a branch at a large tree that I just recently added moments ago. As soon as I approached the swing and touched, I felt a familiar feeling rushing through me as I glanced at it. I saw flashes of my childhood riding a swing with my father watching on me. It was rather sad but also happy at the same time. A cherished memory of a bygone time. I kept this thought that I'm never lonely.
But then, as if fate's walls had closed in on me, I suddenly saw three people as I was about to go back to my square bedroom. My world went overdrive upon seeing people in this world. For days I kept saying to myself that I'm not lonely and never alone day after day, doing the same thing over and over again…
What is going on?
For years, I'm the only human in this world of my own. But this changed everything. Would this mean I'm not alone any longer?
Those were the same questions I asked now that I see people for the first time in a long time. The three women from a distance eyed at me. As I looked, they are all definitely adult, from the looks of it, except for one who is shorter than the three and is standing in the middle.
The first woman has a black hair and heterochromic blue and brown eyes. The second woman has white hair. The third woman has blonde hair with a glove on her left hand. That surprised me. At the same time, I'm scared to reach them. But I took a small step before taking larger ones as panic bubbling through me. I firstly talked to the blonde-haired woman, who is much more open to talk to me. The blonde-haired woman was kind of beautiful beyond words. I touched her face and she only smiled.
"Hello there." The blonde-haired woman greeted with a sunny tone to me. "So you're Rin?"
I was shocked as I just simply nodded. How did they know me?
The white-haired woman, who seemed to be the leader of the trio at least, then explained to me. She was quite the short one, but her posture showed the fact that she's the leader as she knew anything about this.
"We came here millions of miles just to find your little craft." The white-haired woman explained candidly. She was more upright with her tone yet she was understanding. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you here."
"You won't…?" I asked.
"We won't." The black-haired woman repeated. "In fact we are here to bring you back to the real world. We heard some stuff about your world… It was heartbreaking."
I was stunned at the admission as I went through with it after my father sent me to space while my world was destroyed. I never forgot him as he was the one who gave me happiness the most.
According to the white-haired woman, she and the rest of her group were from this Unity Force. The black-haired woman then explained to me everything, including the existence of the multiverse and other worlds, as well as stopping any form of threat that comes into in the form of invaders. The trio then introduced themselves as Sorawo Kamikoshi, Toriko Nishina, and Himelda Kozakura.
My ears could not believe it all. Not only this Unity Force has people of all flavours, it dawned on me that I'm no longer alone. My words that have been echoing for days have become a reality.
"Welcome, Rin. We'll bring you somewhere safe." Toriko only told me as I only embraced the blonde-haired woman.
~~~0-0-0~~~
[Outer Space]
After the trio rescued Rin from the ship, the group delicately removed the cords around Rin before Sorawo removed her red hoodie as she put it on Rin's naked torso, with her and Toriko lifting her to safety and into Kozakura's car. The group then removed the virtual reality glasses around their head as they placed it in Kozakura's toolbox. Toriko then took out Rin's teddy bear as she put it on top of Rin's lap.
"That was something else!" Sorawo commented. "Now I've seen too much of that world."
"You're such a baby, Sorawo-chan. I swear you won't last in Deneb." Kozakura snickered with an insult before she deactivated the force field and tunnel mechanism. Sorawo only pouted at Kozakura's direct words.
"So, what we plan on doing with her?" Toriko questioned as she looked at Rin.
"We're going to the academy and give her some new life." Kozakura stated as she ate some peanut butter crackers. "Obviously, she's in that ship for nearly a decade."
"Hmmmm… I'm thinking of a better person to adopt her." Sorawo pondered.
"Please don't tell me I'm doing it." Kozakura said with a refusal. "I have to deal with annoying cousins already, which is bad enough."
"Then who?" Sorawo questioned.
"That's something we discuss once we come back." Kozakura answered.
Rin's eyes opened for the first time in seven years as she saw the trio. With the tubes out of her body, comfort streamed at the newly-awakened girl as she looked at the Otherside trio. A light then shone above Rin where her tablet was seen then dropping underneath her lap.
"Eh!?" Toriko exclaimed.
"Hold on, is that her tablet?" Sorawo questioned as she grabbed Rin's tablet. "Thought this was only on her virtual world."
"I'm supposing that the moment we retrieved her in that ship, I'm thinking that whatever we did back in that virtual reality world of hers had led to her tablet appearing as an actual item rather than it being stuck in a world." Kozakura explained.
"H… Hello…" Rin called in as she looked at the trio. "Where are we?" She added as she glanced at the window.
"Don't worry, you will be in your new home." Toriko said with a smiling face. "Also, this is your thing?" She asked as Rin soon grabbed the tablet, where she instantly recognised it.
"Yes… But how?" Rin asked as she held the electronic device. It was a massive wave of nostalgia as she touched it. Kozakura only explained to her that after their journey back in her virtual reality world, her abilities became a reality as soon as possible, thus allowing her to even use it without being confined to the virtual world.
The words only gave Rin a soft smile. She had said to herself once again that she's no longer alone with new people alongside her.
With that, Kozakura plotted their course back to the U.F. Academy instead of going directly to Deneb in order to avoid the worsening snow storm there lately.
Kozakura then called in Max Tennyson.
"Mission accomplished." Kozakura answered.
"Excellent work, Ms. Kozakura." Max answered on the other line with a confident tone. "Visit back to the academy to brief in about it." He ended the call afterwards..
~~~0-0-0~~~
The characters that appear in this chapter (in order):
Rin from Shelter
~~~0-0-0~~~
Back to…
~~~0-0-0~~~
A/N: This story is inspired by the ideas of Tamama900. Back to U.F. Stories.
And with that, have a nice day!