Chapter Fifteen

Just one…

….more…

…step.

Yume freezes. She feels restricted without her birds-eye view of the red and black world. What should be the backstreets from her apartment is a crumbling ruin of concrete. There is a sense of dread she can't shake as she hesitantly moves one step forward.

She officially stands ground-floor in Yongen-Jaya.

…Now what?

Yume tugs at her black backpack, fingers itching for her phone. It's in the middle of her supplies, wrapped in bubble wrap, and no good way to get it. Against her better judgement, the girl moves quietly towards the direction of her ballet studio. Seeing Ryuji's father named on the list really is the kick in the teeth she needs. The motivation to help the boy who may have stalked her every Sunday – who cares enough to see her – is stronger than her fear of the unknown. It's stronger than her fear of the monsters hiding in the dark.

"Not again, ho."

Yume full-body freezes on the spot. Then she lunges for the nearest wall, barely breathing as she hears something shift around the corner.

"Why is it always Japan, ho?" the almost-grating, male voice scoffs. It's like the person's cackled one too many times and ruined their voice. "I would just like it to actually-hee work away from hee-here once, ho."

Yume clenches her fists and slowly inches towards the corner. She has to pass this way in order to get the ballet studio. If she can sneak by, then all will be fine. She won't have to meet whoever is around the corner. Whoever this English speaker with a verbal tick is, they sound like their back is to her. There is a clinking sound and Yume knows she can't delay anymore. Slowly, the girl holds her breath and peeks around to make sure the person isn't looking.

They are looking right at her.

And they aren't human.

"Huh?" the floating monster with a pumpkin for a head looks as shocked as she feels. "Who-ho are-"

Yume dead sprints out of there.

"Wait, ho!" the monster shouts. Yume risks a glance over her shoulder when she turns onto the next street. The monster is chasing her. "Little critter, stop!"

Yume keeps running. She's seen enough horror movies in her last life to know stopping for a body-less creature with a lantern is probably a bad idea. The fact it can't float very fast is a plus. She makes it in record time to the studio block. The border where the block turns into Madam Himura's dungeon shimmers all through the air and concrete. It hurts to look at this close; the border flickering at the edges like transparent red water.

"No!" the monster screams so panicky that Yume stumbles. She risks another head turn. The hand with the lantern is reached out as far as can go; the monster seeming fearful. "Don't!"

Yume cracks her head towards the boundary and keeps running. She hears another frightened shout for her to stop, but it's too late even if she wanted to halt. Her arms go up to protect her face as she leaps into the border.

For a moment, it's like moving through molasses. The world slows and separates like waves. Yume can see everything change; only this doesn't hurt. It is more like magic, watching the waves separate between black and red. Then the red fades into a parking lot. And finally, she is spat out of the border. Yume tucks and rolls, then springs to her feet and jogs the last of the momentum to a halt.

Dungeons are much more expansive up close. What had been the border behind her are now rows of filled parking. Further behind the parking, it just looks like a normal urban city. In front of Yume, what should be the ballet studio is an opera house. People are flocking to the doors, and the line to get in wraps around the courtyard at least three times.

Yume goes to take a step forward, and then stops. She risks a glance towards where the border should be. The monster chasing her isn't through there. They probably won't come, if their reaction to her jumping headfirst was any indication. A person walks unseeingly towards her, and Yume automatically shifts, eyes still on thin air.

She shivers, unable to miss how the person walks through her instead of around her. Unsure, Yume walks towards another group. They pass through her too.

"This is so surreal," Yume mutters, moving to stand in front of another person.

This one walks around her, their sleeves brush, and they give her a dirty look as they go.

"What's so special about you?" Yume muses, carefully following the person to the edge of the parking lot. She hides behind a car and watches them cut past the line. Security checks their clipboard and then waves the person through. V.I.P.s are solid. Good to know.

Yume shrugs off her backpack instead of continuing forward like she really wants to. She is afraid – still shaking – and running on adrenaline, but she had one goal and swore she wouldn't press her luck. Going any further would risk getting caught, and she already outran one monster today. The girl refuses to make that a common thing. So, Yume unwraps her cellphone and shoves the bubble wrap into her backpack. She'll do better when she starts combing dungeons for items. Sneakier. Like a scout or ninja.

Yume's eyebrows rise at the sight of a message on her phone. She hesitantly clicks it, and then barks a laugh. It isn't a message, so much an alert that she has found the first safe room to 'Himura's Palace'. The safe room is nothing more than an 'Entrance' label.

"Objective complete," Yume rolls her eyes and scrolls down the list. "Find Himura's dungeon. Check."

Just thinking about unlocking the other safe rooms is addictive. Yume swallows back the completionist itch threatening to spread and gets ready to press on the error safe room. "Quick-travel, go."

She barely blinks before she's standing inside her living room. Yume sags out her breath and collapses on to all fours. Until she can reign in the emotions – fear, excitement, I did it, whathaveIdone – she keeps her eyes closed and breathes. Then she quits out of the Metaverse, not entirely satisfied with her one-item achievement list.

She compromises that tomorrow she'll go back and actually work out a way inside the flashy opera house. There's still a month left until the recital. She's in no hurry.

;;;

"Thanks for doing this, Tae," the man says, shutting the creaky apartment door with a firm shove. "He's in the room on the left."

The teenager waves lackadaisically over her shoulder, heels clicking. She pops her gum and knocks. "Hey, kiddo, it's your favourite doctor."

The man behind her sighs. "He's awake. You might as well go on in. I don't think he slept at all last night."

The blue haired teen hums, lips pursing in thought. Still, she opens the door with a small smile aimed towards the two year old. "Well, Kaoru, you've really worried your old man again."

The kid coughs and lets out a broken sentence. "'m sorry dad."

"I'm joking," Tae says, smiling a little more at the glare the young man burns into her back. "It's good you're sitting up. Now, we'll go through this step by, okay? Make sure we don't miss anything."

After going over the symptoms and doing a few checks, Tae tells the kid and young man just what the child needs. An eighth of a teaspoon of Tae's special sleep aid and a warm glass of Devil Fruit tea later, the kid is asleep and the father is a lot more relaxed. "Will you be able to make it to school on time?"

"Of course not," Tae says blandly, packing her things. Her eyebrow flicks up at the hint of guilt on the gruff, young man's face. "Munehisa, you should be more worried about payment then if I need to get to school."

Munehisa grunts and gives her a droll look. "You're aiming for the top medical school in the country. You can't afford to miss anything."

"Tetsuya is covering for me," the wannabe doctor says with a shrug. She closes her bag with a sharp snap and looks expectantly. "OK, that'll be one million yen for today."

The deadpan look she gets is amazing. "Ha. Ha. Ha, Takemi."

"Alright," the teenager sighs. She drops a lollipop on the table and gathers her things. "Just this once, 'cause your kid is polite." It's what she always says. She pauses at the doorway this time, though. "You know, Tetsuya doesn't care that you take part of the profit." She lets out a huff and sends the stiff man a look over her shoulder. "But I'm expecting a discount next time I go into your shop."

"You already have the best I can get," Munehisa grounds out unhappily. "Fake or not, I won't get the better stuff until the store gets trustworthy in the community."

"You could always come with us," she offers, pretending not to see his flinch. "The Metaverse has a variety of parts you would like. For free, even."

"No thanks," Munehisa says with a look towards his adopted son's door. "Once was enough for me."

The lady sighs and goes for the door again. "Keep me posted on how your son is. We'll be over in a few days with more metals to sell."

"I'll be expecting you."

;;;

"It feels strange not having Mako around," Haru says, scuffing her shoe on the ground. "Is it weird that I miss her?"

If she were an adult, Yume would have said yes. Now, the smaller girl feels how the older one does. Just waving and saying hello to Makoto doesn't feel like enough. They look forward to these corner-street conversations. Neither girl wants to be distancing from the cop's daughter. Or worse, forgotten.

"I miss her too," Yume admits, sneaking further into Haru's side hug. "How has your new activity search gone?"

"Not well," Haru says rather sadly. "Father will not give me a list, and has refused me from asking for it anymore."

"Give him a list," Yume says thoughtfully. "Maybe circle the ones you would like best. It gives him a place to start."

Haru frowns thoughtfully. "Would that really work?"

"It shouldn't hurt to try," Yume says quietly. "If you're really worried, give it to someone you trust. See if they can give it to your father."

The glint appears in Haru's eyes, and the older girl gives one more squeeze before stepping back and letting go. The limo slowly pulls up right on time. "I will see you tomorrow, Yume."

"Bye, Haru," Yume waves until the limo's gone. Then she starts on her walk home. Her mind swirls round and round until she's almost reluctant to do her chores instead of heading directly to the Metaverse. She's had her first taste of gameplay, and fear doesn't stop her from wanting more.

"Hello, little Ms. Yume," Mr. Enomoto says pleasantly when she slips into his quiet café for dinner that evening. "Are you meeting anyone here tonight, or do I get your company to myself?"

Yume smiles with brightness she doesn't feel. "Hello, Mr. Enomoto. It's just me tonight."

"Let me help you up there," he says, coming around the counter. Once she's situated on a barstool, he goes back around to take her order.

"Has it been a quiet day?" Yume asks, watching him cook.

"Very," Mr. Enomoto says with a laugh that Yume takes to mean she's missing an inside joke. "I'm actually cleaning out the attic above here in between customers. A couple old colleagues of mine are coming to visit this weekend, and we don't have enough room in my home for them."

"Oh?" Yume tilts her head, interested. It's not every day a shop owner lets people stay above the workplace. Especially since she knows Mr. Enomoto lives a couple blocks away. Even Sojiro lives closer than the café owner. She lives closer than him, and she wouldn't let people live in the same area as her business if she could help it. "How many are coming?"

"Well, there's Misa and her husband; Caro, his wife, and their two kids; Nori, his wife, and their son; and… Benjy, his wife, and their daughter."

"Wow," Yume breathes, tallying the number in her head. "That's a lot of friends."

He laughs and gives her dinner. "Yah, we were all friends back in the day. Sojiro knows Caro and Benjy, and I'm dragging him over this weekend to meet the other two. They all work in government, you see? It's all connected."

Yume nods. "Ee!"

"Nori and Benjy's kids are about your age," Mr. Enomoto says in thought. "You should stop by and meet them. Maybe show them around the neighborhood a bit. One of the families will end up above in the attic, so you can play with their kid all you'd like."

Yume nods again, making an affirmative noise around her meal. By the end of the night, the information is put out of her mind in favour of scanning through information of Metaverse dungeon owners and sowing together the holes in her exploring tights. So far, nothing in common with the high-leveled users that she can see. In fact, most seem to be very different people. Some are obsessive, some are aggressive, and some are creepily kind. That may be her automatic suspicion of these people, though. Obsessive could be getting proper results. Aggressive could be standing for people's rights. Creepily kind could just be the tooth-rotting niceness of a full-time volunteer.

Yume sighs when she holds up her black tights to the light. It's one awful looking stitch right across the knee. It ripped when she tumbled through the border, but she only noticed it when she changed into her every-day clothes. "It will work for tomorrow."

Because, monsters or not, she is showing up in the Metaverse tomorrow. Quick-travel to the entrance of a dungeon needs to be figured out. Also, checking to see what's twisted the ballet studio beyond repair. This may be her last chance to see the Metaverse this week, as she tries to limit what she does in the other world.

No reason to get addicted now. She is four years old. Lots to do, and there is time to do it.

Figure out the Metaverse first, and then stop Ryuji's and Haru's fathers.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Thank you, Anar Bael, for your review! Glad you're enjoying it! This chapter touches a bit more on her opinion of the Metaverse, so I hope it answered some questions. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again for reviewing!

Thank you, Harukawa Ayame, for your review! Yah, these children really need some love, and some fluffy-happy times. I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it! Thank you again for your review, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Thank you, Avatar . NIX, for your review! The character will work themselves out, hopefully, and I'm glad you like the Kid Thieves! Thank you so much for reviewing, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!