Life is Beautiful
When worlds collide… and create utter chaos.

Chapter One: World Apart

Yukari sighed as she spun her teaspoon lazily in her cup. Though the room was filled with giddy, idle chatter, she felt very isolated. It was approaching closing time at the café, and already the janitors had come flocking out from wherever they had been lurking since the store opened and had begun sweeping creepily close to the customers, nonverbally telling them to leave. Yukari didn't really want to go back to the dorm; things had been somewhat tense ever since Junpei fell down the stairs and broke Akihiko's foot by crash landing into him and Minato, so lingering at the café as long as possible was her main plan. As she gazed around at the patrons all leaving, her mind began to wander. What, exactly, was the purpose of that random space in the back of the mall? It was just a dead-end; did people hang out there or something? Minato sure seemed to go there often…

"Excuse me, miss?" came a shrill little voice. Yukari looked up to find herself face-to-face with a worker with huge, innocent-looking eyes.

"We're closing now, miss. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Oh. Yeah, sure," said Yukari as she abandoned her already-cold tea and got to her feet, "Umm… can I just use the bathroom first?" The worker nodded silently and Yukari quickly excused herself to the washroom. While in the restroom, Yukari took a look at her face in the mirror. There were faint sag lines under her eyes, the result of trying to push through Tziah the previous night. She sighed and began to leave when she caught sight of something strange in the reflection…

***

Naoto sighed as she spun her teaspoon lazily in her paper cup. Though Junes was busy with people bustling from one end of the store to the other, she felt very alone. Naoto thought about heading home; she had a lot of homework to do, the price for having very little the previous week. The sky above her was growing dark and gloomy, threatening to burst into a torrent of rain at any moment; the forecast had mentioned heavy rain, but with Adachi behind bars, Naoto had little reason to care much about the subsequent fog anymore. As she gazed lethargically at the passing crowds, Naoto's mind began to wander. Why did Souji sometimes refuse to open certain treasure chests? It wasn't like they weren't worth it or anything; an extra Rancid Gravy could be really useful. Sometime's he'd just walk away without opening a chest with the strangest look of horror on his face…

Naoto felt a drop of rain hit her square in the nose, which signaled her departure. She stood up and was about to throw her trash away when the rainclouds finally came through with their threat; rain began to fall in heavy sheets, causing pandemonium among the unsuspecting shoppers. Naoto sighed and hastily threw away her wrappings before briskly finding shelter in the electronics department. Naoto looked around at the nearly-vacant department and began to wander aimlessly before finding the TV she had come to recognize. She sighed and smiled slightly at its black, reflective surface, knowing no one would really know what it meant. Naoto saw her reflection and quickly righted her hat, which had tilted significantly. However, while doing so, Naoto noticed something peculiar…

***

Yukari's eyes were gray. There weren't really, of course; they were brown, and they had been for as long as Yukari could remember. But in the mirror, Yukari saw her eyes as a dark blue-gray color that she had never seen before. She rubbed her eyes, attributing what she saw simply to being tired, but the color of her eyes didn't seem to change even then.

***

Naoto knew her eyes to be gray. In the reflection she saw in the TV's surface, however, they were clearly a rich chocolate brown. At first she thought it was something about the TV that made her eyes look the way they did. But looking closer, Naoto found that they were most definitely brown, and most likely would be on any mirror. Naoto touched the TV screen to be sure, and as expected, the tip of her finger dipped ever-so-slightly into the screen's depths. However, the feeling Naoto got was different than usual. Before she could even register it, Naoto's entire hand was almost willingly slipping into the screen.

***

Yukari reached out and wiped the mirror with her finger, as if to brush away anything that might be causing the discoloration. Upon touching the surface of the mirror, however, she found that her finger didn't hit the cold surface, but instead glided right through it, like it were water. Yukari gasped as her entire hand involuntarily fell into the mirror, followed by her am…

There was what seemed like an eternity and a sinking feeling in the pit of the stomach that made it feel like a bridge had been formed between two entirely separate worlds. Yukari Takeba and Naoto Shirogane zoomed past each other, barely catching a glimpse of one another before they were tossed through a hallway of darkness that was followed by a brilliant burst of pure white light.

***

Naoto hit the ground hard flat on her back and quickly sat up. She was in an unfamiliar bathroom, and she had no idea what just happened. Naoto ran out of the bathroom, sprinting past the confused janitors and bursting out the doors of the café she was in. She found herself in a completely unfamiliar mall.

***

Yukari hit the ground hard flat on her stomach and slowly rose to her knees. She was in what appeared to be the electronics section of a department store. Yukari quickly stood up and almost ran outside, but noticed the torrential rain and stayed indoors. However, it was clear to Yukari that she was somewhere completely new.

***

"What on Earth…?" Naoto muttered aloud.

***

"What the hell…?" Yukari moaned aloud.

***

…so that's about it. Really, it's just something I'm writing for fun, so please, feel free to criticize it if you want. On that note, rate and review! Really; even though it's just for fun, I like hearing your opinions.