Chapter 4: Nara

"Hey, Chii-chan… take a picture of me with the gate in the back!"

Yuuri posed for a picture in front of the huge Nandaimon gate leading up to the big wooden Todaiji Temple. Chito was in the back, ready with her camera to take pictures of Yuuri pretty much most of the day. It was a fine humid summer day in mid-July at Nara Park, crowds of tourists, families and high school 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 her camera, she snapped a picture of Yuuri smiling with the gate in the back of the frame. Yuuri was wearing a floral tank top with a summer skirt, keeping her long blond hair tidy with hair clips. Her cheeks flushed with life and happiness. "Ooooh... Chii-chan let me see." Yuuri rushed over to Chito to look at the little screen of the camera, softly she giggled at her picture with the large gate in the back. "Oooh… I love this one."

"Yuu-chan… It will be nightfall until I take every picture of every spot here with you in the frame…" Chito said with annoyance in her face, she's been following her with the camera all day like a paparazzi.

"Chii-chan, I can't help it. It's such an amazing place, totally worth every photo opportunity. And you won't give your camera to someone to take a picture of us." She smiled hugging Chito from the back."Well, of course, I won't. It's an eighty thousand yen DSLR camera Yuu-chan, I won't even let you use it..."

"Selfie time!" Yuuri pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of themselves. It was sort of blurry with her wide smile in the back, Chito was in the front with an annoyed face. The gate in the back was barely even visible in the frame.

"Yuu-chan, this has been going on for 2 hours now! That one deer nibbled my handbag and almost ate my camera because you wanted to feed it while I was taking a picture. Let's go inside the temple before my clothes turn into food." Earlier in the day after they checked in their hotel, they went walking around the famous park petting and feeding the cute deer, however, Chito never knew that if you buy a whole packet of deer food, a herd usually went rushing after you trying to eat everything. It was really nothing new as she had a glutenous girlfriend to feed almost every day Chito always wondered how Yuuri hasn't eaten her whole yet. For now, she was suspicious of all the deer in the park, she was worried that by the end of the day her clothes would have turned into deer food.

"One-second Chii-chan... Mieko-chan 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." Yuuri was typing on her phone and sending pictures of themselves, as Chito grumbled softly with annoyance. "You can do that in the Hotel Yuu-chan… she can wait you know..." even though the mild annoyance her girlfriend sometimes was, she was always happy seeing Yuuri enjoying herself.

They were both busy through most of the year juggling a job, along with their studies at the university. Yuuri was stressed out from flunking some of her tests and kept trying her hardest to pass some of the subjects at her university. During their summer vacations, every chance they could they planned to travel around the sights of their homeland. Once they could save enough money for plane tickets, on their plan was their 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 and warm 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 vacation days from work and money to go on a small trip around Japan. With a student discount, it was even easier to plan the trip, and they started off 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 super excited to see Nara Park and it had been in their plans for a long time now. The idea of petting and feeding friendly cute deer in a beautiful park was pretty much what bought them, before realizing the horrors of buying deer food at the park.

"Sooo Yuu-chan… let's see inside the gate." 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 of 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 spectacular Great Southern Gate where the two big statues of terrifying muscular guardians stood frozen in time guarding the temple.

Once inside Chito paused to look up at the statues, with Yuuri standing right behind her. "Wow… they are so big and scary Chii-chan." gasping in awe Yuuri stared at the marvelous statues of the two guardians. "Let's take a picture with them as well."

"Do you think they like their pictures are taken every day, Yuu-chan? They might get annoyed and finally kidnap you." Chito smiled as she raised her camera pointing it towards Yuuri, who was posing with one of the guardians just in front of the net. "Chii-chan… then you have to come to my rescue again. Just like that time I stuck my leg in a barrel." Chito snapped another picture of her, with the statue of the guardian with the mouth closed.

"Where else would you get your leg stuck but in a barrel Yuu-chan? I mean how on earth did you manage that?" Chito laughed and waited for her moment by snapping another picture of a softly annoyed Yuuri from the mention of the barrel incident. "Yessssss… I am going to print this out in hundreds of copies!" Chito giggled as Yuuri pulled out her tongue at her. "Oh shush Chii-chan, it wasn't that funny."

"It wasn't funny Yuu-chan. It was hilarious." Chito laughed, even more, holding 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 Crepes 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 Yuu-chan!" Yuuri said back at her smiling as she started feeling peckish. "I'll feed you crepes later Yuu-chan to make up for me chasing you with a hacksaw." Chito smiled looking back at Yuuri.

"Mmmmmm… naaah… I want tempura udon today, Chii-chan." Yuuri mumbled feeling peckish from all that food talk "Let's have some later… you are buying to make up for chasing me with a hacksaw." she smiled checking out the surroundings of the gate 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 guide book, the statue with the open mouth is of Agyo, he is the one that represents the start of the universe itself. And the statute I took your picture with is called Ugyo. He represents the end of the universe and that is why he has his mouth closed. 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 almost as if like time has completely stopped for them.

"Wow… do you think he is the one we see before the universe ends Chii-chan?" Yuuri asked her as she looked up at Ugyo.

"Maybe Yuu-chan, 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." Chito looked back at Yuuri and held out to her hand as they started walking forwards to the next gate inside the grounds of the temple.

"Chii-chan, do you think the universe eventually will end one day?" Yuuri asked as they continued walking hand in hand.

"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 the grand scale, no one will ever be able to find an answer to our reality. People have made their own versions of why we exist, and it made it's ways to all kinds of religions and beliefs in our world. So far to the point that people would give up their own life's for these tales and their deities up in the sky. But maybe if our universe and time end one day, there might be countless of 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 endless universe, Yuu-chan. Maybe after we are gone from this reality, we will live in another one, and maybe we might be able to meet again."

Chito loved to contemplate about existentialism and the life of the universe. Even at her philosophical studies at her university, most of her essays and research papers were about existentialism, believes and quantum physics always looking in a semi-skeptical way. She was so obsessed with the thoughts that she could almost read all books about these subjects and make up wild theories of existence itself. She was inspired a lot by recent dreams she had of themselves 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 had the tendency 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 that they were the polar 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 said with a smile on her face, as they kept looking around the temple grounds.

"Yes! I swear in one of these realities you can eat mountains of delicious food without getting fat Yuu-chan. And one plausible reality is where 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 laughed again looking at her silly girlfriend.

"But Chii-chan, wouldn't you be the cheetah? Your name is so closer to a cheetah." Yuuri exclaimed as they reached near the inner gate of the temple. "Ooooh right… I'll be a Chito Chita (small cheetah). I'll roar at you with my small fangs and scratch you if you try to eat me!" she laughed looking up at the inner gate. "So, Yuu-chan lets hurry up and check out the temple now, you are only making me hungry from this food talk."

"Sure but… SELFIE TIME!" Yuuri pulled out her phone again and snapped another blurry photo 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 walking around, they instead went for the Udon restaurant option.


"Itadakimasu!" both of them jumped hungry right into the food they ordered earlier. Yuuri couldn't help but mumble with pleasure as her taste buds were enjoying the tasty tempura udon bowl in front of her, slurping the contents almost like a vacuum cleaner.

"Mmm… tasttyyyyyyyy!" she exclaimed looking at Chito who was looking down in her bowl with confusion in her eyes. She was yet lost in her thoughts once again. "Do you like yours Chii-chan?"

"Mmm… oh… right… sure…" holding her chopsticks she played softly with her food. The warm bowl still steaming from the broth, full of tempura and udon noodles. She seemed to have recalled a weird dream she had last night and it was only now coming back to her mind.

"What's wrong Chii-chan? Too warm?" Yuuri asked with a full mouth as Chito sighted.

"No, no the food is perfectly fine. But I just remembered something from last night. Yuu-chan, do you remember the vivid occurring dreams I've been telling you about?" Chito asked looking at Yuuri, who was still slurping on some tasty Udon.

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

"Yes, that one with the Kettenkrad," Chito said as she looked back down in the bowl. "I've been having them more vividly before almost twice a month before tonight, but last night it almost escaped my mind. This one was so faint, we reached some kind of a wall with a burning 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 just 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 really 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 its own movie with the two of us." Yuuri said as she continued eating from 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? I find it odd that in my dream I could make up a German vehicle from World War 2 era called a Kettenkrad, even though I've never even heard about it before. I kept reading into this vehicle and I found it weird that it actually 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 the same as the photographs I found in a World War 2 book." Chito said 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?" Yuuri said as she almost finished her bowl.

"I am worried about them Yuu-chan. Do you think they might have died from the cold 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 really do." Chito said with sadness in her eyes, eating a bit of the bowl "I kinda feel bad sitting here in this restaurant in 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 an 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 like us." Yuuri smiled, 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 I kill them off in the end." Chito smiled taking a sip before Yuuri decides to eat her bowl as well. "Mmm… you were right this is sooo tasty…"

"Told ya, tempura udon is the best thing ever. I swear if I open a restaurant one day I'll try to perfect my family recipe and serve Udon all day." Yuuri said taking a sip of her beer. "And a cold 'Asahi' on this warm day is the best thing ever!"

"Mm… you know I'm such a lightweight with alcohol Yuu-chan, and in this weather, you'll probably have to carry me back to the hotel." Chito smiled as she finished her bowl as well. "So… we still have time left. Let's pay 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.


Walking around the city of Nara, as evening was nearing the girls managed to find a nice hot spring where you could walk in and have a nice warm dip. Passing through the female section, they took out their clothes and in the nude entered the bath. The warm air of the spring felt so 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 a long day." Yuuri said sitting close to Chito, the hot springs 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 record stores in Osaka tomorrow, I wanted to buy that 'Asobi Seksu' vinyl from one of the record stores. I swear I will tattoo the lyrics of 'New Years' on my body one day… I loooooveee that song." Chito said relaxing in the pool. "I forgot to check today in Nara if there are any record stores."

"Ooooh right… it's that dream-pop band you love with the cute girl on the vocals." Yuuri said smiling as she relaxed in the tub, she could almost fall asleep from the nice warm water and the tasty udon she ate earlier. "I liked that 'Mai Chimamire Barentine' band we saw last year at Sonicmania, the vacuum cleaner music."

"It's 'My Bloody Valentine' and no it's not music made by vacuum cleaners you silly girl… just tons of pedals and guitars…" she couldn't help but laugh at the mention of vacuum cleaners, it was such an obscure reference that made her wonder how Yuuri knew about. "That band was AWESOME, I swear my ears still ring. And seeing Boris last year was amazing as well. But hey, you finally liked something I listen to Yuu-chan, you only listen to J-Pop bands"

"You know I love those silly J-Pop singers… but I enjoy listening to your weird music as well." Yuuri smiled "I enjoy going to these festivals together with you Chii-chan." Yuuri said as she held Chito'sr hand underneath the warm water.

"We can go to more festivals this year Yuu-chan." Chito said smiling and closing her eyes enjoying the serenity of the warm pool.

"Sooo. I really enjoyed our day at Nara Chii-chan... I am super excited that we are going to Osaka Castle tomorrow." Yuuri said relaxed from the pool "But hey… Chii-chan. I forgot to ask you, did you tell your mom yet that you are going to be moving in with me before the semester starts?"

"Not yet Yuu-chan I am sorry… you know how she was when she found out about us, I think after otoosan died, 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 for our future and go on a journey around the world than settle down with kids and a 'respectable' job whatever that means in this day and age." Chito said as she held Yuuri's hand underneath the water, the gentle sound of the flowing water could easily put you to sleep if you are not careful. "But yeah, eventually I will tell her next week… let's enjoy our vacation for now Yuu-chan."

Chito smiled closing her eyes, feeling comfortable sitting next to her in the warm pool. Today for them it was such a nice day at Nara, and they were hoping to visit so many other places in Japan or the world. Hopefully, go on endless journeys together once they settled in. After all, she felt that Yuuri was the right person to have in her life as a partner, one day if she decided to propose she could hope that she would say yes, but for now they just wanted to enjoy their life as it was and Chito had her university studies in her mind as well.

She felt that the future comes in its own time, no matter how short life is.


Some time passed as Chito must have fallen asleep in the pool because when she suddenly woke up she was unable to breathe. She felt like she was drowning in an endless pool, falling deeper and deeper in the vacuum of black space. Unable to call out to Yuuri, she looked around trying to find her, she was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she was not at Nara anymore and the hot spring they enjoyed earlier. Slipping between a different kind of consciousness, Chito was opening another set of eyes belonging to a different kind of "reality".

In this one, she was tied to a bed in a white room, with shining bright light on the ceiling. Stuck to a machine that continuously beeped an unsteady rhythm, with a tube running out her mouth and another tube stuck to her veins. Her hands were wrapped in bandages, and slowly she could feel the familiar pulsating pain running through her left hand again.

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, she could only mumble and cry. The beeping machine went haywire as she entered into a state of panic. Chito felt like she would die, her chest was in constant pain and her breathing was heavy. 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 the eye, Chito could see the concerned look of a girl about her age with short brown hair running inside the room.

Coming closer to her bed the girl said "Don't be alarmed, sweetie. Please, you are having a panic attack…" the girl in a state of panic was trying to calm Chito down as she continued 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 its life. "You went through too much, but you are safe… Please calm down. I will pull the tube out of your mouth." she pressed a red button on top of her bed before pulling the endotracheal tube 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 scream, fearing for her life. The young girl took a needle and injected her with something through the IV.

"It's just chlordiazepoxide sweetie, to help you relax." the girl said looking down at Chito who was beginning to calm down. 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 sweetie try to calm down, we will explain everything. I'll take out the straps when you have calmed down." she continued wiping her forehead with the sponge. "What is your name sweetie? Do you remember how we brought you here?" the girl asked Chito who was beginning to compose herself.

"Umm… no… I don't remember anything… just the snow… my … my name is Chito." she said shivering from fear as she lay back down on the bed. The young girl's expression suddenly changed a the mention of that name, she dropped the sponge on the ground looking in disbelief at the girl that just woke 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 lover is, she started weeping again "Noo… Yuuri! Where is she? Yuuri?!"

"Sweetie, Chito-san, please calm down. Don't worry, she is safe... but…" the girl in a panicked mode, faced the door again calling out for someone out there "OTOSAN! Please hurry up!"

Wearing a white doctor's robe, a man in his 40's breathing heavily ran through the door. "What happened Mieko-chan?" he asked looking at them both. His eyes were fixed on the crying young girl that just woke up. Chito's expression changed as she looked back at him… she could swear that she saw this person briefly in some flashes of consciousness but she couldn't place when or where that was. The person standing in front of her resembled someone she knew dearly but he looked younger. Crying she looked at him and said "What? Ojii-chan? Is that you?"

The man's face suddenly changed expression with a bewildered look on his face. Facing Chito, he looked like he has seen a ghost "Oh my goodness... it's really her Mieko-chan!" he said looking back at his daughter. "It's her... the dark-haired girl from Itsuki-san's letter... but... we kept searching he wasn't out there... in the blizzard. That means he is still out there!"

Chito with a puzzled expression on her face kept looking at the girl and the man standing in front of them, trying to compose herself she asked them "Wait how? How do you know that name?"

"How do you know Ojii-chan?"

Composing himself, the man in the white robe answered.
"Chito-san. Itsuki… he is my father."