Future Diary – After Story
File One:
Divinity is Surprisingly Mundane
After meticulously searching the pantry, Yuno closed the door to hide the unintentional disaster.
"Yukki, I think I may have just eaten then last of your mom's instant noodles."
The boy in question just grinned.
"You know the rules, Yuno-chan," his mother said, coming up behind her son's girlfriend, "You kill it, you fill it."
"Oh no… that's the second time this week…" she moaned.
Yukiteru turned off the anime that he was watching and stood up from his place on the couch, heading into the kitchen. Something seemed wrong about the pantry, but he decided he wouldn't worry about it until later. Based on past experience, Yuno had probably turned it upside down looking for her favorite ramen.
"Come on, Yuno, we can walk over to the supermarket together."
"Okay," she said, not even trying to resist the urge to pout.
"Be sure to lock the door behind you," Yukki's mother called after them.
Yukiteru knew that Yuno would have much rather warped over to the store, or even just conjured up something to eat, but while he had originally agreed to that way of thinking, he had discovered that his life was getting increasingly boring. After ten thousand years of literally doing nothing and then being exposed to the world again, he found that boredom was almost intolerable.
"I hope we don't run into Mao-san on her own again like last time," Yuno mumbled as they crossed the street overpass.
"Huh," Yukki asked.
"Well, you remember, she dropped her cell phone and we saw that her background was a photo if Hinata's—"
"Okay, you can stop, I remember."
"In a way, I'm kind of jealous though."
Yukki's jaw nearly fell to the pavement.
"I'm talking about Hinata's measurements," she added, prompting a huge sigh of relief from her boyfriend.
Ever since she had the memories of her past selves implanted into her mind in the Third World, Yuno had gone back to being the sweet girl she had been before the first Survival Game had started. In many ways, she felt that it was a huge relief that she no longer had the urge to kill people, but she also found that she would occasionally get nightmares of finding herself covered in blood and surrounded by the grotesquely mutilated corpses of her friends. That was why she had gone to live with Yuuki and his mother for a while. Her parents had enough stress without having to find out that their daughter had once been a homicidal maniac. She was able to talk to Yuuki about her problems though, and this way her parents even got to take a break from having to take care of her, for a while at least; she wasn't going to leave them before she was out of school. She was startled out of her thoughts by a friendly, if not somewhat harsh voice.
"Well, if it isn't the two troublemakers."
"Hey, we managed to fix things, didn't we?" Yukiteru insisted.
"Well, no, not really, it was mostly—" Minene caught herself and smacked her left hand over her face, "Look this is the seventh time we've had this conversation, so I'm cutting it short here. Anyway, how're the two of you holding up lately?"
"Not too bad," Yukki replied, "School's going fine for both of us and we've made plans for a trip to Okinawa in the spring with some of our friends. Not the most creative plans for a trip, but I think it should be fun."
They were in their third year of high school and so far, the year had been going by smoothly. He had transferred to his new school along with Yuno and was surprised to find that Tsubaki was actually in his homeroom class. Yuno had transferred into his class from the class ahead of him. He'd heard that her mother was upset that she was setting herself back, but she insisted that she wanted to stay with the person most important to her more than anything. As for Tsubaki, she seemed like a completely different person from the diabolical cultist they had met in the second world. With her parents still heading their personal religious community, she had the time to live the life of a normal teenager. That said, she still had extremely poor vision and had been worried about getting around the school until Hinata and Mao struck up a conversation with her and welcomed her into their little clique. Kosaka was still going to his old school, so the only other boy in the group was Akise. Unsurprisingly, he was mostly hanging around to find out how the two girls had gone from a pair to a full five people in such a short period of time. Not particularly suspicious, but without serious issues to start investigating, it was the most he could find. A part of Yukki went out to his friend, though Yuno was intent on keeping them separated. Honsetly, Yukki couldn't bring himself to blame her. He had no idea what had possessed Akise into kissing him, but he suspected that it had something to do with his bizarre situation.
Yuno grinned slyly, "How're the two flying kids?"
"I should never had told you about that!" the former terrorist hissed venomously. She groaned, resigning herself to the fact that they already knew and there was no going back, "They need constant supervision. You couldn't imagine the kind of childproofing the flat we live in needs. I shouldn't have agreed to have another."
She stared at her very pregnant figure with mixed feelings.
"C-can I—"
"Hell no! Sheesh, I'm stressing so much I'm going to look like I'm ninety before I turn thirty-two," she said glumly.
"Er, Y-you don't have to worry, I-I'm sure you'll do fine," Yukki assured her.
"Besides," Yuno added cheerfully, "you've got the best skin care professionals in the world living in the next district."
Minene cringed.
"Yeah, about that; I'm not trying that again for a long time. Last time you tried fixing my right arm, I had alligator scales up to my elbow for a week before you figured out how to just reverse your mistake."
"I said I was sorry!" Yuno cried.
"Bull!"
Yukki could practically see a four-hour long debate starting so he decided to do the responsible thing: Change the subject.
"So, who's babysitting?" he asked, sounding genuinely curious.
"Oh, Hinata came over with a friend," Minene frowned, "You know, it's kind of irritating knowing that almost half the people I can tell about these things are teenagers."
"Well, we needed to fill them in on what they'd missed," Yukki argued, "Not to mention that Akise had already noticed that we were acting differently. He would have started investigating, and he would have come to the right conclusion eventually."
"Something about that kid is just seriously wrong."
"Well, it'd probably be more accurate to say that something about him was far too right," Yuno pointed out with a giggle, "You know, because he's never come to the wrong conclusion about anything ever?"
"Heh, you have a point, though honestly, that joke was groanworthy," Minene agreed. "How the hell did he manage to figure out that there was a previous incarnation of the world? I mean all he had to go on was a skeleton with your exact DNA and the fact that you opened a safe."
"Exactly," Yuno agreed, though the reference did unnerve her. She had suppressed the memories of killing her other incarnation in the deepest recesses of her mind, and intended to leave them there.
"Sherlock Holmes said that once you rule out the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. I think Akise was just taking it to the extreme," Yukki suggested.
"Well, I certainly wouldn't put that above him," said Yuno. Something that Minene had said stuck a chord with her at that moment. "Hold on, you said that Hinata came over with a friend, right?"
"Yeah, that Mao girl, if memory serves."
"You invited her in, and you left her alone with Hinata…" she groaned.
Yukki gulped, realizing exactly the multitude of problems that Minene's apparent obliviousness could lead to.
"Come on, I know you've met them before. Doesn't she seem just a bit too reverent of her besty?"
"Please tell me you're not getting at what I think getting at," Minene said, growing more uncomfortable by the second.
"Look, it shouldn't concern you too much," Yukiteru said carefully, "but you'll want to check your bath closet for a hidden waterproof camera."
"You're kidding right?"
"She's desperately in love with her straight best friend."
"Why didn't you tell me this!?" Minene roared venomously.
"Well, we didn't know the two of them were watching your kids," Yukiteru emphasized, "In her defense, she's a wonderful person in all other respects and I'm sure she's doing a great job of keeping an eye on them."
"If I find a camera anywhere in my house, she's not the only one who's going to taste the unmitigated wrath of a former terrorist," Minene hissed, "Do you understand me?"
"Crystal clear, ma'am," Yuno squeaked.
"Ma'am?!" Minene sneered dangerously, "Do I look like a ma'am to you?"
"No, ma'am! I mean sir—? I mean—" Yuno stammered. Suddenly a thought came to her. "Just wondering, I heard that Nishijima's been promoted to the office of chief of police. Is that true?"
"While I don't know where you'd have heard that from…yes, it is. It's only temporary though. Kurusou's taken a temporary leave of absence to take care of his son. He's still recovering, and he wants to be there in case his son's disease takes a turn for the worse. He'll be out until his son's fully recovered, so Nishijima was temp—"
She was interrupted by the sound of a massive explosion from downtown Sakurami.
"Shit!" she snarled furiously.
"What? Do you know what's happening?" Yuno asked.
"I can't be sure, but I can make a good guess," Minene groaned. She started walking at a brisk pace back the way she came from. The two teenaged deities hurried to catch up with her.
"So, what do you think is happening?" Yukiteru asked as a trio of fire trucks wailed past them.
"I think I just blew up a building."
"You mean…the you from this world?"
"Got it in one. Now I have to hightail it back home without drawing any attention."
"Can we help?"
Minene thought for a moment.
"No, but don't worry about it. I'm due in a few weeks. Nishijima hasn't been able to catch me yet, and he's been the head of the project for months, so I've been thinking that maybe it was time I stepped in."
"You think you can catch yourself?"
"Give me some credit. I don't think, I know. Pardon the repetitive use of vocabulary, but I know how I think. My personality hasn't really changed that much since I went domestic. I just don't have a chip on my shoulder anymore. And honestly, without the survival game, I'm pretty sure that this world's Uryuu Minene has no hope of finding peace," she smiled grimly. "She'll be scared out of her mind though. I know that I still have hallucinations."
"Seriously? You?"
"I developed a terrorist's mindset because of my traumatic childhood. Once in a while, I'll look up and see a terrified little girl holding a loaf of bread running from a man with a hunting rifle. I escaped, but I always see myself being shot before I can reach her in these tricks my mind plays on me." She looked up at the billowing clouds of smoke, "Why the hell am I even telling you about this? I've got more important things to worry about."
Yukki saw her pull her cell phone out of her jacket pocket and press a number on speed dial. It rang for a few moments before she began talking.
"Nishi—" she began, before being interrupted, "…Yes, I know you're busy!" she snapped, "I just blew up a frikking building, there must be chaos in your office right now! …Because I need to know where the other Minene set off that bomb! It's not on my way home, but I need to know if she'll be heading my direction. You know full well that I can't let myself see me… The southwestern Quad Tower? All right then. She'd be heading upwind of the smoke, probably heading for the subway. I'll have to take a couple side streets, but nothing too serious. Thanks for the update. I'll see you in a few hours." she ended her call and looked at Yukiteru and Yuno.
"Head back home or to wherever you were going before you ran into me. It'd be best if I didn't draw too much attention."
"Uh, sure," Yukiteru said complicity, "Be careful."
"Who do you think you're talking to," she said with a wicked grin, "You don't need to waste time worrying about me."
"So, to the supermarket, I guess?"
"Yeah," Yuno agreed. Before they could even get going, her stomach made a loud groan and she clutched it with her arm. "Maybe we could get a bite to eat first? I'm starving."
"Well, they say you're not supposed to cook when you're hungry, so sure, let's see what's still open after all this commotion."
"You know that just means that you're supposed to cook before you get hungry right?" Yuno prompted, continuing down the road toward a fast food restaurant that she knew was a few blocks away.
"Naturally," Yukki agreed, following close behind, "But it still applies. I mean it'd be bad if you couldn't finish making something because you needed to go sit down. It'd be a waste of perfectly good food."
"I collapse at the stove, and you'd worry about the food?!" Yuno wailed dramatically.
"Sure, money doesn't grow on trees."
"Maybe not in Europe or Canada, but we're still using paper money here in Japan! So yes, technically it does grow on trees!"
"That's not the point… uh, besides, it's not like I'd just leave you lying on the floor next to a powered stove."
"Wouldn't you, Yukki? Wouldn't you?"
Yukiteru grinned in such a way that Yuno couldn't tell whether it was sincere or mischievous.
"Well…maybe if it was lobster," he said, failing to stifle a giggle.
"Yukki! Stop kidding around! Not to mention we can't really afford lobster on our own budget. Have you ever even had it before?"
"Actually no. Not that I can remember anyway."
Yuno gasped. "Really? That's no good at all." She put a finger to her lip in thought, "Maybe when things have settled down a bit at home I'll ask my mom and dad if we can invite you and your mom over for dinner. They can probably get lobster any day of the week. As long as it's not every day."
He nodded, deciding that the idea sounded good enough to try making a plan out of.
They were getting close to the restaurant and their thoughts began to drift toward what they were planning on having.
"If you put a weird fake straw in our drink, I'm going to be super-annoyed," Yukki pointed out.
"You say it as though I do that often."
Lunch was a surprisingly quick affair, but when they finally left the grocery store, the two co-deities found the sun hanging low in the sky.
"How long were we in the supermarket for?" Yuno asked. Shifting one of the shopping bags so that it rested on her wrist.
"I don't know, I forgot my watch, and my phone is low on batteries so I don't want to open it right now."
"Well, my arms hurt from carrying so much stuff, so I'm assuming it's been a while."
There was a faint buzzing noise and Yuno reached into her pocket to retrieve her phone, opening it up before her ringtone had even begun doling out Still Alive. Yukki noted that it was 6:03, as her phone flipped open. As for why Yuno used the credits music from an American video game that neither of them had even played, he still had no idea.
"Hello, Yuno Gasai speaking?" she greeted, pressing the phone to her ear.
"Yuno, honey, is that you?" asked Mrs. Amano, sounding like she was on the verge of panicking, "I couldn't reach Yukiteru and I just saw the news! Are you both alright?"
"Oh, don't worry, we're both fine!" Yuno said, pressing her hand against the receiver for a moment to whisper, "It's your mom," to Yukki.
"Thank goodness. I'm surprised that I didn't see the smoke sooner."
"I don't think you can see the Quad-Towers from your house, so it's not that surprising."
"But I should have noticed the smoke! I'm so sorry for not noticing, Yuno! Yukiteru, honey? Are you there? Is everything alright?"
"I'm fine mom, we're both alright. You don't have anything to worry about," Yukki said into the phone.
"Oh, thank goodness… Do you want me to come pick you up?"
"No, it's alright, we can get home on our own."
"If you're sure…just get home as soon as you can."
"We're already on our way, so we'll see you soon Mrs. Amano."
"Okay, see you soon."
Yuno hung up, turning to smile at Yukki.
"So, we should probably hurry back to your place," she said.
"Probably a good idea. Mom sounds like she's already having a panic attack."
They hurried to the train station. Unfortunately, due to certain unavoidable circumstances, likely involving explosions near the Quad-Tower station a few stops down the line, the trains were experiencing signal problems. It was a good half hour before they even reached his front door where they were both swept up in a hug from his mother.
"What took so long? I was nearly in conniptions!"
"The train was late, but we're alright! We promise!" Yukki said placatingly.
"You'd better be telling the truth mister…" Mrs. Amano sighed, though she was clearly relieved to see them both alright.
"So, can we come in?" Yuno asked, "We've been carrying these groceries for a while now."
"Of course, of course, come inside."
"Oh thank goodness. I can finally put these down," she carefully lowered the full plastic bags to the floor. Which is when she noticed her mistake.
"Uh, Yukki," she half-whispered, trying to hide her embarrassed blush with her bangs, "I forgot the ramen…"
Author's Note: There aren't nearly enough Yuki/Yuno stories on this site. And there are exactly zero direct continuation-fics in existence. While this is just a one-shot as things currently stand, I'm glad to know that I've made a worthwhile contribution to the Future Diary fan community. Thank you for reading, and if you enjoyed reading it half as much as I enjoyed writing it, I will have enjoyed it twice as much as you. See you all later!