“Hey, Chii-chan, come take a picture of me with the gate in the back!”

Posing for a picture, Yuuri stood in front of the large Nandaimon gate leading up to the wooden Todaiji Temple. For most of the day, Chito followed her around with a camera consistently on standby to take photographs of her. It was a fine humid summer day in mid-July at Nara Park, crowds of tourists, families, and students roamed the grounds checking out the beautiful surroundings and the large temple. The sound of the chirping cicadas and the happy laughter and hubbub of people filled the comfortable atmosphere of the park.

“Alright - say, cheese!” pointing with her camera, she snapped a picture of Yuuri smiling with the gate in the back of the frame. Yuuri wearing a floral tank top with a summer skirt, keeping her long blond hair tidy with hair clips let out a smile.

“Ooooh, Chii-chan let me see!” She rushed over to Chito to peek at the little screen of the camera. “I love this one too!”

“Yuu-chan, It will be nightfall until I take every picture of every spot here with you!” Chito responded with mild annoyance, she’s been following her like a paparazzi all day with the camera.

“Sorry, I can’t help it. It’s such an amazing place, I am so happy that we came here too." She smiled and hugged Chito from the back. "If you gave someone the camera they can take a picture of us too, but you won't."

”Well, of course, I won’t. It’s an eighty thousand yen DSLR camera Yuu-chan, I won’t even let you use it - “

“I know, I know... Anyway selfie time!” Yuuri pulled out her phone and snapped another picture of themselves. It was blurry with her wide smile in the back, and Chito was in the front still with an annoyed expression. The gate was barely even visible in the frame.

“Yuu-chan stop it with the selfies already! This has been going on for 2 hours now! That one deer nibbled my handbag and almost bit my camera because you wanted to feed it while I was taking a picture. Please, let’s go inside the temple before my clothes turn into food!”

After they checked in at their hotel, they went wandering around the famous park petting and feeding the adorable deer, however, Chito never knew that if you buy a whole packet of deer food, a herd usually went rushing after you trying to devour everything. It was nothing new as she had a glutenous girlfriend to feed almost every day. Besides Yuuri, Chito was also suspicious of all the deer in the park, she was worried that by the end of the day the rest of her clothes would have turned into food.

“One-second Chii-chan." Yuuri seemed to be typing something on her phone and sending pictures, as Chito grumbled softly with annoyance. "Akari wanted me to send her some pictures of us today. She wanted to come here with her fiance next month, but it looks like they are too busy planning their wedding in Nagoya for September.”

“You can do that in the hotel Yuu-chan, she can wait you know...” even though her girlfriend was a bit of a mild annoyance, she was always happy seeing Yuuri enjoying herself.

They were both busy through most of the year with part-time jobs, along with their studies at the university. Yuuri was constantly stressed out from continually flunking her Russian language test and kept trying with difficulty to pass some of the subjects at her university. During their summer vacations, every chance they had they spent on planning to travel. Once they could save enough money, their plan was a trip to Europe. It was their dream to rent a motorbike and visit the beautiful picturesque cities in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, and the rest of Europe. They’ve heard from their colleagues at the university that Europe was beautiful in summer.

For now, all they could afford was to see the beautiful sights their homeland had to offer. They both had managed to save some money to go on a small trip around Japan. With a student discount, it was even easier to plan the trip, and they started in Hakone to see the beautiful view of Mount Fuji. After that their stops were in Nagoya, Kyoto and finally they were here in Nara Park, before going further on their journey to Osaka and Hiroshima. Chito and Yuuri were beyond excited to see Nara Park and it had been on their plans for a long time now. The idea of petting and feeding friendly cute deer in a beautiful park was pretty much what brought them here, before realizing the horrors of buying deer food.

“Ok... done... - let’s go see what's inside the gate.” Happily, Yuuri announced.

Hand in hand they walked towards the gate, moving carefully through the crowd. Tourists from around the world came to the famous park to see the deer, the huge wooden temple in the middle of the park, and gasp in awe at the huge statue of Buddha that humans a long time ago sculpted with their own bare hands. However, to reach the huge temple, you had to first walk through the stunning Great Southern Gate where the two big statues of terrifying muscular guardians stood frozen in time guarding the temple.

Once inside Chito paused to check out the statues, Yuuri standing behind her.

“Wow… they are so big and scary Chii-chan!" Yuuri exclaimed. "Let’s take a picture with them as well!”

“Do you think they like their pictures taken every day, Yuu-chan? They might get annoyed and eventually kidnap you.” Chito grinned as she raised her camera pointing it towards Yuuri, who was already posing in front with one of the guardians.

“Chii-chan - then you have to come to my rescue again!”

“Just like when I was rescuing you from the barrel incident? I mean where else would you get your leg stuck but in a barrel Yuu-chan? How on earth did you manage that?” Chito asked and waited for a moment to snap another picture of an annoyed Yuuri from the mention of the barrel incident.

“Yessssss… I am going to print this out in hundreds of copies!” she kept chuckling as Yuuri pulled out her tongue at her. "That's what you get for making me take 300 pictures of you."

“Oh shush Chii-chan, it wasn’t that funny!”

“It wasn’t funny Yuu-chan. It was hilarious!” Chito kept laughing even harder, holding to her sides.

“Yeah right! You ran to the shed to get a hacksaw, chasing me around with it saying you will hack my leg off - then you buttered my whole leg up to pull out the barrel. We didn’t have enough butter for crêpes night Chii-chaaaan. Imagine the horror!”

Trying to contain herself from laughing Chito replied. ”Well, you should have just scrapped the butter off from your leg, and we would have had crepes to feed the whole neighborhood.”

“Or a very hungry Yuuri!” Yuuri replied as she gently rubbed her stomach, all this crêpes talk made them both feel peckish.

“I’ll feed you later tonight to make up for me chasing you with a hacksaw!” Chito suggested. "There's bound to be a good crêpes place around here."

“Mmmmmmmm sure, but first - I want to try tempura udon at Nara as well, Chii-chan.” Yuuri mumbled “Let’s have some later… you are buying the Udon too, to make up for chasing me with a hacksaw.” she smiled checking out the surroundings of the gate and looking back at the two statues that stood guard at the entrance.

“Sooo Chii-chan, what do you think these statues are of?”

“Well as I remember in the guidebook, the statue with the open mouth is of Agyo, he is the one that represents the start of the universe. And the statue I took your picture with is called Ugyo. He represents the end of the universe. They both served as the protectors of Buddha and most importantly they ward off evil spirits from the temple.” Chito recalled as she looked up at the silent protectors, who were standing frozen guarding the temple in eternity.

“Wow... do you think he is the one we see before the universe ends Chii-chan?” Yuuri asked her as she gazed up at the large terrifying statue of Ugyo.

“Maybe, but I don’t think we will ever know in our lifetime. Perhaps our ancestors and the dead know if he will ever appear at the very end of our time. But we will never know as long as we are alive, and the dead will never give us an answer no matter how much we keep asking them.”

“Chii-chan, do you think the universe eventually will end one day?” Yuuri asked.

“Nobody will ever know Yuu-chan, the concept of time and the universe is so inconceivable to us. When you look at it in a way of grand scale, no one will ever be able to find an answer to our reality. People throughout history have made their versions of why we exist, and it made its way to all kinds of religions and beliefs in our world. So far to the point that people would give up their own lives for these tales and their deities up in the sky. But maybe if our universe and time end one day, there might be countless other realities and plausible existences that might still live on, maybe even the past and the future still lives on. I think our world is just a small cell structure in an infinite universe, Yuu-chan. Maybe after we are gone from this reality, we will live in another one, and who knows... maybe we might be able to meet again further on?”

Chito loved to contemplate existentialism and the life of the universe. Even in her philosophical studies at her university, most of her essays and research papers were about the subjects of existentialism, beliefs, and quantum physics always examining them in a semi-skeptical way. She was so obsessed with the topic that she could almost read all kinds of different books and make up wild theories even of existence itself. She seemed to be inspired by recent vivid dreams she had of her and Yuuri where they lived in a post-apocalyptic world.

At some point, since they met together at a party 5 years ago, she always feared that Yuuri would get bored of her and leave her because she always tended to get lost in books and random thoughts, but Yuuri always stood by and listened carefully to her train of thoughts with conspicuous fascination. She was always patient when Chito was lost in her books for hours at times reading her books. Maybe because in a way they were opposites, they loved each other so much.

“So, Chii-chan… Do you think in one of these realities I can eat all the food without getting fat?” Yuuri asked as she carresed her belly.

“I swear in one of these realities you can eat mountains of delicious food without getting fat Yuu-chan. And one plausible reality is that you are a cheetah and I am just a puny gazelle running for her life! Oh noooo… Yuu-chan is going to eat me again!” Chito chuckled again holding Yuuri's hand as they strolled towards the temple.

“But Chii-chan, wouldn’t you be the cheetah? Your name is so closer to a cheetah.”

“Ooooh right… I’ll be a Chito Chita. I’ll roar at you with my small fangs and scratch you if you try to eat me!” she chuckled again as they reached the inner entrance of the temple.

“Anyway, let's hurry up and check out the temple now, you are only making me hungry from all this food talk.”

“Sure but… it's SELFIE TIME AGAIN!” Yuuri pulled out her phone and snapped yet another of countless blurry photos with an annoyed Chito barely even in the frame.

The rest of the afternoon they spent checking out the beautiful wooden temple that was originally built centuries ago that housed a huge statue of Buddha inside. After a few more incidents with deer in the park later, Chito gave an option to Yuuri to either go find an udon restaurant or hunt for venison. Lacking the proper equipment and the probability they could be facing up to six months in prison from all that tasty venison meat galloping around in the park, they instead went for the udon restaurant option.

° ° °

“Itadakimasu!”

Famished from the long hike, both of them jumped right into the healthy portion of food they ordered earlier. Yuuri couldn't help but mumble with pleasure as her taste buds were enjoying every bit of the tasty tempura udon in front of her, slurping the contents like a vacuum cleaner.

“Mmm… tasttyyyyyyyy!” she kept slurping the contents of the bowl on as she glanced at Chito. She was yet lost in her thoughts once again as she stopped eating. “Do you like the food Chii-chan?”

“Mmm... Oh! Right - sure…” holding her chopsticks she played softly with her food. The bowl full of tempura and udon noodles was still steaming from the warm broth. She seemed to have recalled something and it was only now coming back to her mind.

“Whaff’s wwong Shii-shan?" Yuuri asked her with a full mouth, as Chito sighted looking blankly into her bowl. "Iffs it foo worrm?"

“No, no - the food is perfectly fine. But I just remembered something from last night. Yuu-chan, do you remember those vivid occurring dreams I’ve been telling you about?” Chito asked.

“Mmmpphh…. sure Chii-chan. Was it the one you had of the two of us in some kind of a post-apocalyptic world, riding a motorcycle? Something called a ketten-”

“Yes, that one with the 'kettenkrad’!” Chito replied as she glanced back down at the bowl. “I’ve been having them more vividly almost twice a month before tonight, but last night it almost escaped my mind. This one was so faint, we reached some wall with a glowing blue light and we just fell asleep. But in the dream, I felt that we were in grave danger. We were starving and freezing, and the world was completely covered in snow. However, instead of a scary dream, it felt… kind of calm. Don’t you find it curious that all of those dreams before this one were vivid, but the one from last night I completely forgot about?”

“Chii-chan, it’s only a dream, you shouldn’t give it too much though. I think you read too many of those books by Isaac Asimov and those Strugatsky brothers, your dreams are directing a strange movie with the two of us.” Yuuri replied as she finished the tempura in her bowl.

“I’ve been thinking about it for some time Yuu-chan. Do you think in a way we are connected to our different realities or futures? I find it odd that in my dream I could make up this strange German vehicle from World War 2 era called a ‘kettenkrad’, even though I’ve never even heard about it before. I kept trying to find information about this vehicle and I found it weird that it exists. Maybe I’ve read about it somewhere in my books and it just decides to appear in my subconsciousness, but I can’t recall ever seeing that vehicle anywhere before the dreams, not even on the internet. Yet in my dreams, it appears to have some similarity to the photographs I found in a World War 2 book.” Chito replied while taking a small bite of tempura from her bowl.

“Mmm… as you said Chii-chan, there could be infinite realities. Maybe you are somehow bound with the Chito in the other reality and you can see her in your dreams. Maybe even experience her life somehow when you are sleeping?”

“I am worried about them Yuu-chan. Do you think they might have died from the cold weather or hunger? I guess after those dreams, I kinda started reading into alternate realities and maybe they are in grave danger, but there is nothing I can do.” Chito said with sadness in her eyes “I kinda feel bad sitting here in this restaurant in the comfort of the air conditioning and eating udon, while they are out there starving and freezing to death.”

“Well, Chii-chan maybe you can write their story and come up with a happy ending? The way you’ve been telling me about their adventure you can base a whole book or movie on their life. And don’t worry, they are strong. Just like us!” Yuuri replied, leaving her empty bowl on the side with her chopsticks. “They’ve been through too much to just give up on each other.”

“Yeah, you might be right Yuu-chan. Maybe I could write my dreams sometimes as a book about their life and finish their story in a good light. I swear we are such a cute couple and people would hate me if we kill each other off in the end!” Chito grinned finishing her food before Yuuri decides to eat her bowl as well.

“Mmmmmm… you were right this is sooo tasty!”

“Told ya, tempura udon is the best thing ever. I keep telling you that if I open a restaurant one day with my sister, I’ll try to perfect my family recipe and serve udon all day!” Yuuri replied as she took a sip of her beer. “AAAAAAHHHH.... and a cold Asahi on this warm day is the best thing ever!”

“Well… you know I’m such a lightweight with alcohol Yuu-chan, and in this humid and hot weather, you’ll probably have to carry me back to the hotel.” Chito replied.

“So… we still have time left. Let’s pay for the food and check out the city."

“Don’t forget, you are paying and I’m forgetting about the ‘hacksaw incident’.” Yuuri smiled as they got up from their stool, and left the restaurant before paying.

"And later we eat CREPES CHII-CHAAAN!"

° ° °

As the evening was nearing, the girls continued on their stroll through the city of Nara. To relax before bed they decided to visit one of the many onsens in the city. Passing through the female section, they took off their clothes and entered the bath. The warm air of the onsen felt comfortable and nice to their skin and after taking a shower they got into one of the warm pools that weren't as crowded.

“Aaaahhhhh… I can sit inside here forever! I needed this after our long hike.” Yuuri said as she sat close to Chito, the onsens were a bit crowded with tourists in summer but that didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy their time together in one of the pools.

“Ohh Yuu-chan... please remind me to check out the bookstores in Osaka tomorrow, I was looking to buy some in English to practice my reading."

“Ooooh right… it’s like we need more books in my already crowded flat Chii-chan." Yuuri responded and chuckled. "We will get trampled by them one day."

"Oh shush... you know my one weakness is reading books, Yuu-chan." she chuckled as well stretching her arms, enjoying the warmth of the pool. "Don't worry, I will probably donate some before we get trampled."

"I hope you do that soon, or we need to find a new flat. With a room where we can put all your books."

"It's nice to have a private library Yuuri," Chito suggested. "Maybe that's a good idea if ever move somewhere else."

"If we ever go traveling in Europe you are bringing your ebook reader or there might not be enough space to put our clothes!" Yuuri suggested and let out a chuckle. “Anyway, I enjoyed our day at Nara - I am super excited that we are going to Osaka Castle tomorrow.”

"Me too Yuu..." Chito smiled and snuggled next to Yuuri in the warm pool.

“But hey… Chii-chan. I wanted to ask you, did you tell your mom yet that you are going to be moving in with me before the semester starts?”

“... well... not yet, I am sorry… you know how she was when she found out about us, I think after dad passed away, she always wanted me to settle down, get a ‘respectable’ job, and find a husband. But I am glad she learned to be more welcome of our relationship. I am happy that she saw how much I love you. Your parents are so cool about it though, I mean I’d rather move in with you and plan something crazy for our future and maybe even go on a journey around the world than settle down with kids and a ‘respectable’ job whatever that means by their standard.” Chito replied as she snuggled closer to Yuuri, the gentle sound of the warm flowing water could easily put her to sleep. “But yeah, eventually I will worry about that next week when we are back in Tokyo… let’s enjoy our vacation for now Yuu.”

With a smile Chito closed her eyes, she felt comfortable sitting next to Yuuri in the warm pool. For her, it was such a delightful day to spend in Nara with the one she loves, and she was hoping to visit so many other places in Japan or the World once they settled in. After all, she felt that Yuuri was the right person to have in her life as a partner, and one day if she decided to propose she hoped that she would say yes. For now they just wanted to enjoy their life as it was and Chito had to finish her university studies as well. She felt that the future comes in its own time, no matter how short life is.

° ° °

Completely exhausted Chito must have fallen asleep in the pool because when she opened her eyes she was unable to breathe. It seemed like she was drowning in an endless pool, falling deeper and deeper into a vacuum of black space. Unable to call out to Yuuri, she looked around trying to find her or anyone else. She was nowhere to be seen. She was not in Nara anymore and in the hot spring, she enjoyed with Yuuri earlier. Slipping between different realities, Chito was opening another set of eyes belonging to a different version of herself.

In this one, she was tied to a bed in a white room, with a shining bright light on the ceiling. Stuck to a machine that continuously beeped an unsteady rhythm, tubes stuck in her mouth and attached to her body. Her left hand was immobilized in a tight bandage, again she could feel the familiar pulsating pain running through her left hand.

Chito wanted to scream, as loudly and as much as she could, but the tube down her throat obstructed her voice. Too weak to even move and break her chains, she kept trying to scream and scream, but she could only mumble and cry from fear. The beeping machine went haywire as she entered into a state of panic. Chito felt like she would suffocate, her chest was in continuous pain and her breathing was difficult. Some moments passed before she could hear the voice of a young girl who came running through the door of the room where Chito was in.

“Oh my goodness…” At the corner of her eye, Chito could see the concerned look of a girl about her age with short brown hair running inside the room.

Coming closer to the bed, the girl spoke “...Ummm - please calm down little girl, you are having a panic attack…” she was trying to calm Chito as she kept trying to scream.

Chito looked like an exhausted and wounded caged animal who has just woken up in a state of panic after fleeing for her life.

“You went through too much, but you are safe - Please calm down. I will pull the tube out of your mouth so we can talk.” she pressed a red button on top of her bed before pulling the endotracheal tube out of Chito’s mouth.

Chito could suddenly breathe in on her own, taking a large gasp of air she continued crying and struggling to escape. She could only let out a single shriek, fearing for her life. The young girl took a syringe and injected something through one of the tubes.

“It’s just something to help you calm down.” the girl said as she stared down at Chito who was beginning to calm down. From the desk nearby, she took a sponge and wiped Chito’s sweaty face as she continued crying in a terrified state.

“Who - who are you? What is happening?” she kept asking “Where am I?”

“Please try to calm down, we will explain everything. I am not here to hurt you - I’ll take out the straps when you have calmed down because you will hurt yourself.” she continued wiping Chito's forehead with the sponge carefully. “What is your name little girl? Do you remember how we brought you here?” the girl asked her.

“Umm… no… I don’t remember anything… just the snow… my … my name is Chito.” she said shivering from fear. The young girl’s expression changed at the mention of that name, she dropped the sponge on the ground looking in disbelief at the girl that had just woken up from what seemed to have been a long sleep.

Coming to herself, Chito realized someone was missing in the room lying next to her. She looked around but she couldn’t see Yuuri anywhere.

“Wait… Yuuri?” suddenly fearing the worst as she was unsure where her partner is, she started weeping again “Noo… Yuuri! Where is she? YUURI?!”

“Please calm down - Don’t worry... but…” the girl in a panicked mode, ran to the door again calling out for someone out there.

“DAD! Please hurry up!”

A man in his 40's ran through the door. He was wearing a white doctor's robe trying to catch his breath.

“What happened Mieko?” he asked. His eyes suddenly fixated on the crying young girl that had just woken up.

Chito looked back at him perplexed - she could swear that she had seen this person, but she couldn’t place when or where that was. The person standing in front of her oddly resembled someone she knew but he looked younger.

With what little energy she had she spoke
“What - Grandpa? How? Is that you?”

With a perplexed look on his face, he also looked back at Chito. He looked like he has seen a ghost from his past. "Oh my goodness - it's her Mieko! It's her - the dark-haired girl from Itsuki's letters - but - we kept searching he wasn't out there - in the blizzard... That means he is still out there!"

With a puzzled expression on her face, Chito frantically kept staring at the girl and the man standing in front of them. “Wait how? How do you know that name?” Chito asked. “How do you know grandpa?”

The man in the white robe answered.

“Itsuki… he is my father.”

 

 

(Continued in Chapter 5)
(Latest revision 2nd December 2022)

(Author note - to make the story easier to read, Itsuki is a non-canon name I gave for Chito and Yuuri's grandpa.)