Chapter Text
"Oh my, and here I was thinking you were still fast asleep."
Out of the corner of your cloudy vision, a mirage of pinks, whites, and reds flashes with an air of elegance and self-possession. It's her again: Yae Miko, the head shrine maiden of the Narukami Shrine, a mysterious woman known for her cunning trickery mixed with her bountiful laughter, and most important of all, your closest and dearest companion. To this day, you've never once managed to comprehend her seeming attachment to you. Perhaps it's a mere curiosity on her part, or maybe it's just the same old guilt that seems to shackle down every single person cursed with the weighted task of taking care of you.
"...Hm..." Your voice feebly buzzes in the air, exhaustion sticking to you like a jar of honey poured directly onto your skin. Somehow, your previous slumber only made it cling harder. Funny how that works.
"What, not even a proper greeting?" She adjusts herself by your bedside with an eternally charming smile. "You know, if it were anyone else treating me this way, I'd have half the mind to pack up my things right away and never come back."
Her words sway in the air as she winks at you playfully. For her sake, you wish she had meant it. She coughs a little at your silence before continuing to speak, a hint of somberness beginning to etch itself into her expression.
"Hm... not very talkative today, it seems. That's alright. In that case, I hope you don't mind me being the one to fill up this empty space? I'll have you know I brought quite the selection with me today."
She reaches inside her tote bag and swiftly ushers out an unfamiliar novel, the cover of which contains a dazzling city landscape coated with blaring neon lights and an array of unknown attractions. A wave of pride beams from her upturned lips as you inch closer.
"Penacony? What's that?" Your eyes trace back and forth across the title.
"Oh? Looks like this one's right up your alley. Of course, that doesn't surprise me. You've always shown favoritism towards these sorts of stories about fantastical worlds. A real shame that you can't appreciate the one you're actually living in." Her voice grew softer as her final words of banter left her mouth, a wry smile following closely after.
It wasn't long before the two of you settled into your signature positions, with her lingering by your side and vocalizing the countless strings of letters into a beautiful, dreamy harmony of her making. You, on the other hand, snuggle deeper and deeper into the fluffy bedsheets that blanketed your feeble form. As each sentence exits her mouth and enters your drowsy ears, it's as if they've lifted you up into the clouds and cascaded you into another world. One where beautiful lights and bubbly cheers echoed all around you, where the world itself would bend to your every whim. One where you could stand on your own two legs, unconcerned about the possibility of falling to the ground or being chained to a caretaker just to be able to get to your next destination.
And, of course, the most tantalizing dream of all, the one your heart aches for every waking moment of your broken life: a world in which you weren't destined to die before you could see the sun next rise, leaving the only person who loved you despite gaining nothing in return to watch it all alone.
"Hey, don't fall asleep on me now." Her hand gingerly nudges into you, pulling you back down to reality.
"I'm not. It just... sounds so nice. To live in a dream world and not have to deal with any of... this." Your hands aimlessly flick upwards. Whatever you were motioning at, you couldn't tell; you only know it to be far grander than any simple phrase could encompass.
"Would you want to?"
"What...?" Your eyes interlock with hers. Her smile, which you had long since grown accustomed to being eternally plastered on her face, is nowhere to be found. In its place stands a taut, thin line without even the slightest hint of its usual vivacity. You swallow hard.
"I mean... yeah. Of course I would. Anything would be better than rotting here all day, just waiting for this all to end. But..." Your lips gently tug upwards as you muster a warm, fragile smile. "It wouldn't be nearly as fun if you weren't there by my side, so only if you came along too."
She returns your affection with a grin of her own.
"Very well, then."
Her body inches closer and closer until it fully drapes itself on top of yours, drenching every one of your nerve endings with the doting pressure of her affection. Each breath that erupts out of your lungs is mirrored by her own. Even your twin heartbeats thump in tandem with one another, and with a heavy shiver, you realize: the woman before you is just as terrified of the cursed fate you've been cruelly doomed by this universe to execute.
"If that's what you want, then who am I to argue?"
"Wh—"
Your confusion is harshly interrupted by the force of her lips pressing into yours. Countless strings of words race through your mind, all of which bounce around uselessly as you futilely scramble to assort them into some sort of meaningful arrangement. Out of all of them though, only one lone thought manages to rack itself through your system, shaking you to the core.
Yae Miko likes you.
And yet, she shouldn't. You of all people would know that, would know just how unattractive and unappealing any sane person should find you as a romantic prospect. Images flash in your mind of all the horrendously embarrassing moments you two have endured together—greasy hair that you hadn't the energy to clean, stupid remarks from when brain fog seemingly washed away your intelligence, and every single second of shame you've endured from knowing that you'll never match up to the beautiful, witty woman currently on top of you.
Truly, you could never comprehend what has possessed her to bestow upon you this unearned affection. Maybe you never will.
A foreign, cold sensation overwhelms your senses, dragging your attention away from your previous thoughts and back to the precarious situation you've found yourself in. Her lips morph into a smirk as they snake down and alongside the width of your neck. A shiver runs down your spine when you feel a puff of hot air hit it, accompanied by a teasing chuckle.
"Hold on tight, darling."
"Hm? What do you mea—"
All at once, the perpetual presence of gravity bearing down on you suddenly didn't seem so long-lasting. Your body proceeds to flail and sink down into what felt like a giant, empty pit; or perhaps it was rising? Either way, a violent scream—one you hardly recognize at first, before realizing it is your own—echoes into the vast space of simultaneous nothingness and everything. Wind screeches across your ears, as if mocking reality itself for ever daring to try and enforce any of its laws of physics upon it. The only lingering strand of normalcy you still have to hold on to in this realm of nonsense and chaos is Yae's familiar form.
And, of course, her laughter.
"Aw, are you scared? Poor thing." Her words sound kind, yet you sense a suspiciously teasing undertone lingering under the surface.
"Of course I am! What the hell's even happening? What did you do?!" Yet as hard as you push for answers, Yae's lips merely curl upwards at you and her eyes bat up and down with a faux innocence.
"Oh my... I put in all of this effort into granting your wish, and this is how you treat me in response? Really, you ought to learn some manners. After all, you're going to be interacting with far more people than you ever did in that little run-down home of yours back in Inazuma."
"Huh?" As each vibration of her vocal cords drums through your poor, overwhelmed noggin, yet another onset of foreign sensations racks through you. It takes a couple of seconds for you to process where you even are—or more accurately, where you aren't, seeing as your body no longer is stuck free-falling aimlessly inside of that absurd lapse of reality's judgment. Rather, as you gaze around at your new surroundings, you find yourself in some sort of room. Red couches and chairs litter the floor on which you and Yae seemed to have landed, not a single one looking even the least bit familiar.
"I see." Your companion looks around without even a hint of the bewilderment any normal person should feel in such a bizarre situation. "This must be one of those hotel rooms I heard so much about in my research. How intriguing."
"Wait, wait, wait. You know what this place is?" You squint at her.
"Well, of course. How else would I have managed to get us all the way over here?"
Before you get the chance to exchange any further banter with her, you feel one of her index fingers press faintly into your mouth. Her eyes meet yours and swirl with an odd combination of warmth and reticence.
"Welcome to Penacony, dear."