Home should be where the heart rests. But a tan, young woman with long, brown hair dreaded her return to the little apartment that she shared with her brother. Sera's dark-pink business dress over a white-collared dress shirt and skirt worked for business meetings at KaibaCorp, and her clothes also carried an appropriate tone for a frank discussion with her sibling about the future.
Sera unlocked the door, and after holding the knob a moment longer than normal, opened it to a dark room. She sighed and turned on the lights. A glance at her smartphone told her that Diva should arrive home from work within minutes, so she turned on the oven and took a seat on a cushioned, ornate wooden chair. Sera tapped her fingers on the soft, ruffle linen tablecloth as she played out the possibilities of their upcoming conversation, until she froze at the sound of the doorknob turning.
"Welcome home, Diva."
His mouth opened for a second, then he smiled. The young man with spiky, dark teal hair also dressed professionally: a black suit and cube-patterned tie. "Good evening, Sera. Is everything okay? Or did your boss ask for the unreasonable again?"
She returned his smile. No matter what painful twist their conversation took, Sera never forgot that life blessed her with a loving older brother. "He's improving. But I wanted to talk."
"He's 'improving', huh." Diva took a seat across from her. His warm, smooth hand covered one of hers with a firm grip. "But you're worried. Did Mokuba finally demand too much overtime?"
"So much that I might not be home for a while." Sera took a deep breath. "He needs me to accompany him across dimensions to retrieve his brother."
"Across dimensions?" He blinked, and his grip on her hand tightened. "Sera, you can't be serious. Even if that technology is finally ready, and he intends to embark on a crazy, quixotic journey, that doesn't mean you have to risk your neck. And for Seto Kaiba, of all people? Whatever compensation that Mokuba is offering, I guarantee it's fool's gold."
"Mokuba can't launch this mission without my help."
"Why?"
"Only a few individuals in the world have the brainwave capacity to operate the technology necessary to stabilize our travel, and I'm the only one he trusts with that quality to not abandon him midway."
"As a dimensional researcher myself, I'm skeptical of his dimension-hopper's safety."
Her next sentence was supposed to remain a company secret, but Sera puffed her chest. "I've already piloted his hopper."
His eyes widened. "You what!?"
"I'm confident that Mokuba's hopper is safe. This isn't Seto's rushed prototype."
Diva smiled and gazed at his hand as it gripped hers. A dozen seconds after Sera's assertion, Diva's smile faded. "I'm proud of you for accomplishing something phenomenal. But there's a difference between a test-drive and traveling to the afterlife. Back when we tried to kill Seto, you pointed him in that direction for a reason. This isn't something you can undertake on a whim."
"But I have to try."
"I don't understand. How does Mokuba's problem become your problem?"
What would happen if she gave an honest answer?
"I'm trying to comprehend your motivation. This isn't a job that regular people accept."
Sera withdrew her hand. "Are you saying I'm abnormal?"
"Why do you think accepting a journey with high odds of a fatality is normal? I know that KaibaCorp runs on a cult of personality to retain its employees. But I can't differentiate your line of thinking from that of an actual cultist."
She clenched her hand as her face burned. "I'm not someone who can be manipulated into something foolish."
Diva grimaced. "Yes, so please share your good reason for taking such a massive risk."
Sera opened her mouth, but her throat tightened. She shook her head, stood up, drew a glass of water from the sink, and forced herself to take a gulp. "I'm sorry."
"This is a difficult conversation for both of us. Take your time."
The secret that Sera imagined herself leisurely telling Diva one day, now at such a heated moment…sweat formed. After she finished the glass, Sera rinsed the perspiration off her hands. "Would you also like a glass?"
"Please."
She filled another glass for him and returned to the table.
"Thank you." However, his focus remained on Sera.
Her face reddened. "I fell in love with Mokuba. When he talked about rescuing Seto - his older brother - I thought of you."
Diva took a few gulps from his glass. "I now understand why you did so much 'overtime'."
Sera waved her hands. "It really was work-related! …In the beginning, at least."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you're not being blackmailed. When did this happen, and how long ago?"
"We spent so much time working together that it just happened." A friendly comment here, an earnest question about Diva's well-being there, some flirting that became bolder and bolder when she entertained it, and that incident… "A bunch of small and big moments."
Diva tapped his glass. "Why is this a relationship that you can't drop? I'm sure many others can keep you happy without asking you to undertake a dangerous mission."
"But he's the one who can best appreciate and utilize my talents." Sera grinned. "Besides, I'm having fun as a 'dimensionaut'. I can't be one outside KaibaCorp, and I don't want to remain in that company if I have a messy breakup with him."
"I don't know as much about Mokuba as you do. But I like to think that I at least know something about Seto, and that Mokuba always looked up to him. Wasn't Seto the type of person who did whatever it took to succeed? How can you be sure that Mokuba doesn't just see you as another tool for his ambition?"
"I fully trust Mokuba." She stared at and pinched a ruffle on the tablecloth. "I'm sorry. That probably doesn't sound like much of an answer."
"It's good to be self-aware. You should take time off to reflect upon my question."
Sera lifted her head as she pondered Diva's challenge. "But maybe I already answered that question long ago. I did volunteer to be the first pilot of his hopper. And he worked closely to calm and guide me when the hopper malfunctioned while I was in another dimension. To me, this journey is just another calculated step on a charted course."
"I see." Diva finished his glass, then knocked the bottom against the tablecloth and whispered, "I see."
Neither said anything for the next quarter-minute. Hope rose in Sera's chest.
Diva folded his hands on the table. "I still don't approve of this, but I don't have any more counterarguments to stop you. However, I do have one last objection. The most important one."
Her heart pounded.
"Losing you would devastate me."
Sera held his hands.
"You're my precious sister. If Seto headed to the same place you're going but never returned after a decade, how do I know that you won't share the same fate?"
She thought of how Mokuba said Seto never equipped his prototype with the intention of returning to this dimension. And a journey to the afterlife still carried the significant, obvious risk of permanently joining the deceased. If she died, what would happen to Diva? How would he cope? Would he think she decided to abandon him? Sera also feared the thought of never seeing her brother again. Maybe surrendering her dimensionaut dreams and disappointing Mokuba was for the best.
"Please stay."
A thought dawned on Sera. Her grip on Diva's hands tightened, and she kept a firm focus on his eyes. "I promise, as your sister, that I will return."
"How can you be so certain?"
"Because Mokuba felt the same pain that we're feeling. That pain underlies his goals and ambitions; he accomplished all of this out of love and concern for his brother. Just like how you're worried about me, Mokuba channeled his feelings into his life's work. He surpassed Seto's one-way ticket prototype."
Diva sighed, then stood up and nodded. Sera stood up, and they hugged each other. "I wish you'd stay. But do what you feel is right and just."
"No gap between dimensions will prevent me from returning. You're my precious brother."