In Reverie
She looked down at the business card, the neat typeface, the eggshell white card stock, and then up again at the older woman, the tan trench coat, her long hair swept back over her shoulders.
Tilting her head to one side, Sudo Mei smiled with vague amusement.
"It seems we're getting a lot of curious visitors lately."
The other woman's posture seemed to stiffen slightly, her expression serious.
"Other visitors?"
Mei smiled.
"Nothing bad," she said quickly. "Absent friends, I guess."
The other's expression softened.
"Oh. Yes. I have a few of them myself."
Mei turned her attention once more to the card, reading the name for the second time: Meiou Setsuna. She lifted her head again.
"And you're a school nurse, you say?"
The other woman nodded.
"I recently graduated from university, yes. I work now at Azabu-Juban Public Middle School."
Mei could sense that there was something off about their exchange, that somehow, this school nurse hadn't turned up at her office because she was interested in one of their authors, or, indeed, in the publishing industry as a whole; no, she was clearly fishing around for something, and that in itself was enough to make Mei suspicious.
She narrowed her eyes, regarding the woman, several years her junior.
"And how can we help you today?" she asked, phrasing the question cautiously.
In her heart, she felt the pull of the Pleroma once more. Since she had unwittingly taken over Sophia's duties—since they had given her a new name, Zoe—she found it increasingly more challenging to remain away from the Northern Base without becoming exhausted, her strength slowly fading the longer she resisted. There is a bond now, Daishinji had tried to tell her, you are a guardian now, but each time he tried to explain what was happening, she hastened to shut him down.
She didn't want to be a guardian; she didn't want to be tied to the Northern Base—she just wanted to be a normal woman.
Across from her, the other woman looked as troubled as she felt.
"I-I saw your Instagram account, mei-cake, I believe it was called. I asked around at the school, some of the students said it belonged to you."
She said the name of the account as if she was announced something exotic, something unheard of. In fact, she said the word Instagram as if it was equally foreign to her, as if the concept was difficult for her to grasp.
Hastily, Mei offered her a smile, deciding it would be best to play the fool in such a situation.
"Oh, really? Imagine me being that famous."
The other woman, Meiou Setsuna, did not smile.
"I wanted to ask you about the creatures in your photographs."
Mei was unable to maintain her smile. Still, however, she tried to laugh it all off.
"I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
All of that seemed so long ago now, the abrupt and final defeat of the Megiddo by forces unknown leaving only the dangerously corrupt Order as a threat to the world.
The other woman's expression was deadly serious.
"You were in the wrong place quite frequently, Ms Sudo," she observed.
She said nothing, weighing her options, feeling the dangerous pull of the Northern Base calling her home, almost as if it sensed the jeopardy she was in.
Reluctantly, the other woman's expression softened slightly, and she looked away.
"I don't know if I should tell you this, but I believe that we are in danger, I believe our universe has become ensnared, if you will, trapped in a prison; that we have been cut off from reality."
Mei felt a chill run down her spine, and yet still she tried to laugh it off.
"Oh, I wouldn't know anything about that."
"I think you do," Setsuna said firmly, yet did not meet her gaze.
There was silence briefly between them, and then the school nurse sighed.
"If you happen to remember anything about the creatures you photographed, please contact me at the school."
Mei looked down at the card in her hand again.
"Wait, don't you have a cell phone?"
The older woman reached into the pocket of her coat, drawing out an old flip phone, pink and white, a silver heart decorating the cover.
"I have a communicator," she answered.
Mei frowned.
"That's pretty old fashioned looking. Can you really use Insta on that?"
Setsuna's face filled with a warm blush.
"Some students showed on your account on their… devices."
Despite herself, Mei laughed.
"Devices? Who calls a phone a device? Where are you from?"
The blush on Setsuna's face deepened.
"I have to go," she said hastily, "if you recall anything, please contact me."
Without further comment, she turned and quickly made her exit, leaving Mei standing puzzled, the business card in her hand.