Chapter 3

Author's Notes: I know it's too short, but I have no time for writing. :( The "real" chapter is in progress.

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To be honest, I'd never ever thought that getting into a library could be so difficult. A front desk guy asked me to provide some ID before going inside. I don't really know what eventually made him change his mind. That was either my sincere smile while I was telling him I wasn't going to take any books away from the library, or the fact that because of the heat I unbuttoned my blouse as much as possible. Anyway, I got my temporary pass and went in. That library was unlike any I'd been in before. Here there were actual books on shelves, hundreds of them, and if you need to look for a book you have to first look in a catalogue, then find it on a shelf, and after that spend hours reading it. Back at home our libraries are totally different. Everything is recorded in special crystals, and you can get all the information you need by simply touching a crystal. Everything goes directly into your head. Of course, we do have books, but those are mostly for pleasure and for killing time.

So, after a long search I eventually found two books about California. One of them was useless as it was some economical research, but the second one turned to be a guide book for tourists. I spent almost two hours reading it, writing down anything that might be useful and remembering maps. Getting to Los Angeles from Japan wasn't difficult if you had money, and I hoped Mara would be able to get some. Getting to the letters might well turn into something challenging as the surrounding area was closed for visitors. So, we had to sneak in again. I bet Mara will love it.

Mara met me at the library entrance, and, looking at her smug grin, I could guess she'd gotten everything we needed. We headed to the nearest coffee shop, choose a table in the furthest corner and ordered Irish coffee. When our waitress left us alone, Mara put a simple white envelope in front of me. Inside there was a passport and some other documents, all with my photo on them.

"Ursula Talman." I read.
"Yup." Mara nodded lazily.
"But why Sweden?"
"Neither of us looks very Japanese." She yawned. "So I just closed my eyes and pointed at the map of Europe. There was Sweden under my finger."
"How could it be that easy to forge the documents? It only took few hours." I looked at the passport refusing to believe it was "real".
"I told you, I have some connections."
"Come on..."
"Ok, ok. It was made by one guy who is not a human. A Neutral."
"But..."
"He lives, luckily for us, here in Tokyo. I used his services several times in the past, and he never asked any questions."
"I never knew it's possible for them to live here..." I scratched my temple.
"It's possible for you, it's possible for me, so why should it be impossible for them?"
"I don't know..."

At that moment the waitress brought our coffee, and we fell silent, distracted by its strong aroma. Irish coffee is one of those things I really love but rarely have, and it seemed that Mara shared my feelings. So we drunk it in silence, looking at each other. I was still not used to her calm face and somehow dreamy expressions, even though she didn't hide it from me any more. It was so different from Mara I had known for my entire life. Now she was sipping her coffee and looking at me with a self-satisfied yet peaceful smile.

"So, what's your name then?" I felt I had to break that silence.
"Mara Krosby," She grinned.
"Why do you keep your own name while I have to be Ursula?" I almost jumped from my chair.
"Because my name, unlike yours, sounds normal!"
"One day... One day I'll kill you!" It took a lot of effort not to do it right at that very second.
"Nah, you won't..." She sipped her coffee again. "Your life without me will be heavenly boring."
"I'm not sure if it's worse than amusing like Hell life with you!"
"Oh, I bet it is.

With those new passports we went to a travel agency just to find out that our "booked" tickets to America had been waiting for us already. They also booked us a room in an "amazingly beautiful" hotel in Los Angeles. Everything was just too easy to be true. As a bonus they sold me a guide book for tourists. According to it we had to buy a huge suitcase to keep our belongings, a camera and a hat. After discussing this matter we came to a conclusion, that we didn't need a suitcase and a hat, but taking pictures might be interesting.

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The next day was absolutely totally insane. Somehow we thought that Narita International Airport was inside of the Tokyo borders. It obviously wasn't, and only the professional skills of the taxi driver who agreed to take us there for a ridiculously huge amount of money saved us from missing our plane. The flight itself was horribly long and boring, until I discovered there was a small TV screen in the back of the seat in front of me. They had a nice collection of movies I hadn't seen previously, so at last I had something to kill time. Mara spent hours polishing her English speaking skills by talking to some American couple and convincing them that investing their money into a casino business was a fantastic idea. By the end of the flight they were so impressed that I had to tell them Mara was just kidding. The look of their faces was worth seeing.

Los Angeles met us with a bright sun and a fresh breeze. We took a taxi and got downtown pretty quickly. It was different from any place I had visited before. Here and there appeared buildings I'd seen in movies, but now they were real. Amazed, I looked at everything with an idiotic smile. Mara seemed to be amused by my behaviour, but I didn't care at that moment. Who would care about such small things when there was the Kodak Theatre in front of them?

"I'm starved..." Mara announced as soon as we entered our hotel room.
"Room service or a restaurant?" I asked, taking off my shoes and falling down to the bed.
"I choose option one..." She jumped on me and bit my neck.
"Hey! Stop it!" I pushed her away.
"Yummm." She whispered with her eyes closed.
"You could catch a goodness virus!" I giggled, looking at her instantly changed expression.
"Bleh! No way!" She shook her head. - Hey, it's impossible to catch anything like that from you! You may call yourself a goddess, but you actually are...

I didn't let her finish the sentence.