.
.
"Tw-twenty million USD? How much yen is that?" Tomoko said. The appraiser pushed up his glasses.
"That would be roughly about 2.7 billion yen."
Tomoko started coughing. Beside her, Audulie tilted her head.
"Is that quite a lot?" Audulie asked. Tomoko kept coughing, thumping her chest.
"P-princess. I'm pretty sure you could buy a small island for that."
"Really?" Audulie raised her eyebrows. "That small brooch there is worth that much?"
"This is one of the most exquisitely cut precious gems I've ever had the privilege of inspecting," the appraiser said. He leaned forward. "And you said you have more?"
"Oh. An entire pouch," Audulie said.
They walked out into the street, striding out from the building. Around them, the city was bustling; crowds of Tokyo citizens were walking in dark suits and briefcases, Audulie and Tomoko looking as cosmopolitan and composed as any one of them. "To think my little pouch of jewels would be so fruitful," Audulie said.
"Well, it's good we sold those pieces off, now at least you don't have to worry about paying rent."
"As I understand it, I have quite the surplus." Audulie studied her. "I shall give you half," Audulie said. Tomoko whipped around.
"Half?! Do you realize how much that is?! Don't be crazy! I'm just happy to help."
"Well let me give you one of the smaller ones, then. Are you partial to diamonds?"
"Wow."
Like Mebuki in Audulie's world, Audulie had woken up disoriented, clutching her pouch. It was the only thing that somehow managed to come with her when she came here.
"I think I should like to move somewhere else," Audulie said, studying Mebuki's apartment. Her fiddle leaf fig and potted hibiscus, which received adequate enough care under Mebuki, somehow doubled in size and yielded twice as many leaves and flowers once Audulie started taking care of them. "Lady Tomoko. How do I go about purchasing a penthouse?"
They purchased a penthouse; one for Tomoko to use and one for Audulie. "I should like to have you close by; I hope you will accept this," Audulie said.
"Princess, are you serious?" Tomoko said. Audulie smiled and signed the documents, putting the penthouse in Tomoko's name.
"So you needn't be worried about losing ownership," Audulie said. She signed the documents with a flourish. "And please don't think I'm being overly generous. In my world, the nobility often provided for their live-in servants."
"Am I a servant, Princess?"
"Well of course. I consider you to be my personal maid and assistant."
She gifted Tomoko a baseball-sized diamond.
xXx
.
"Lady Tomoko. I should like to invest my wealth in this so-called 'stock market.'"
"Yes of course," Tomoko said. "You're crazy rich now. Of course you gotta buy some stocks."
"And I should like to procure that company you work for. How do I go about buying it?"
"Um. I...I think you buy a controlling share of their stocks?"
"Ah. Marvelous." Audulie pulled out a pair of sunglasses, striding out into the crosswalk.
xXx
.
"How do I go about meeting the King of this nation?" Audulie asked. She and Tomoko were making dumplings in Tomoko's apartment.
"Oh. Um, we have an emperor here, but it's just a ceremonial position. You'd want to talk to the Prime Minister."
She went over the Japanese government, explaining elections and the voting process. "How droll," Audulie said.
xXx
.
"I wish I could change the name of these documents," Audulie said.
Tomoko looked over. She was looking at Mebuki's passport and her driver's license. "I mean, technically you could. You could change your name and apply to update your documents."
"Oh, I wouldn't want to do that." Audulie smiled, letting her fingers trace the rim of her glass. "If ever Lady Mayumi and I get our bodies back, I should like to leave her with as much financial independence as possible. A sort of thanks for letting me get a glimpse of this wonderful future."
"Princess." Tomoko looked up, hushed. Audulie smiled at her.
"I should like to learn about electricity," Audulie said. She opened her purse. "If I am to return to my kingdom, I should like to invest in our infrastructure and work to replicate your nation's grid."
"Yes, Princess. Of course."
"I have much to learn and to study," Audulie said. She smiled. "I was never one to stay simply idle."
xXx
.
"What the fuck are they doing?" Mebuki said.
She was standing at the very top of the highest tower of the castle, holding up her phone. If she held her arms straight up, she could somehow get a full bar of signal. But if she leaned forward over the ledge, she could get almost two bars. Her phone pinged; more photos started syncing from the cloud.
Pictures of Audulie and Tomoko on a yacht. The two of them jetsetting. Audulie sitting with Tomoko holding up the peace sign, in front of parliament. Audulie posing in full regal splendor in front of a case of diamonds.
"C'mon, c'mon, fuck, fuck, fuck." Mebuki held out her arms, opening Tomoko's contact info and pressing the CALL button.
The phone started ringing.
"Oh shit, oh shit, it's working!" Mebuki said, and then she stumbled. "No! FUCK!"
The phone tumbled off the highest tower of the castle.
xXx
.
Mebuki was on her knees, sobbing. Her big black phone case, the one that was like a fucking brick and was touted to withstand a fall from ten storeys up, shattered, the glass cracked and the phone smashed into pieces.
Jacob hugged her.
"I almost called her!" Mebuki sobbed. "I could have talked to her! I could have figured out a way back home!"
She spent the night sobbing against Jacob, then the day curled up in her room with the curtains drawn. The maids whispered among themselves, concerned. "The Princess is ill," Jacob said, shutting them up.
Everything hurt. Mebuki lay on her side, looking out at the orangey light filtering through the drawn curtains. Her eyes were puffy and crusted from crying. Pieces of stringy hair stuck to her forehead.
"You must eat something," Jacob said. He sat beside her and stroked her hair. "Please. Everyone is worried." Mebuki started crying again.
Time passed. The days bled into each other. Mebuki was only dimly aware of the changing hours by Jacob's comings and goings. He'd spoon her tight at night, and in the mornings when he left, he'd bend over to kiss her. "I shall check on you soon," he said.
She was lying on her side, drifting between sleep and tearful wakefulness, when she heard the soft clatter of plates on a tray as someone walked from the door.
"Um. I made you a 'sandwich,'" Jacob said, sitting next to her. Mebuki pushed herself up. Jacob smiled. "I wasn't sure what to put in it, but I hope you like it."
Mebuki leaned forward.
"What the fuck?" She started laughing. In between two pieces of bread, Jacob had slapped together a filet of raw ass fish.
"You said you liked sushi," Jacob said earnestly. "It's a ten-day carriage ride from the nearest fishing port, but I sent a messenger on horseback to procure this for you."
"Oh my god, it's rancid." Mebuki said, laughing. Jacob's face fell.
"Do you not like it? Should I have put in more raw fish?"
"You are so stupid," Mebuki said, smiling. She tapped her forehead against his shoulder, leaning against him.
xXx
.
"Can we not get one of the glass artisans?" Gautier asked.
He and Jacob had carefully picked up the pieces, placing the parts reverently on the table. The glass they could understand, but the shell of the tablet, the black "case" as Mayumi had called it, had a thickness and firmness unlike any material they'd ever seen. "Perhaps if we glue it?" Jacob said.
Jacob personally took the phone to one of the glass blowers, watching with a pinched expression on his face as the artisan tried to fit the thin sliver of glass onto the wafer-like pieces. "Your Highness, I'm not sure I can get this to fit," the glass blower said.
"Try," Jacob said. His hand rested on his sword. The glass blower swallowed, then nodded.
xXx
.
They managed to reconstruct the phone thanks to the efforts of the palace jeweler, a meticulous man who bent over the pieces wearing a pair of eye loupes. He put together the pieces with tweezers, roughly where they would fit.
"And what of the 'battery'?" Gautier said. Jacob shook his head.
It didn't turn on. The delicate components were irreparably broken.
"Oh, you didn't have to," Mebuki said. She had started slowly venturing out into the gardens again, still weak as she shuffled along the garden path. "Thank you for trying, though. I love you."
Jacob took a breath. Mebuki smiled, but there was a sadness to her eyes that made his chest tight.
"I do not like seeing you like this," he said, and he pulled her to his chest. "Tell me what it is you need and I shall do it."
"You don't need to do anything. I'm fine. I was just upset."
They turned into Audulie's garden. The pathetic bushes were finally dead.
"Oh, shit," Mebuki said. Jacob shook his head.
xXx
.
Gautier was finishing a meeting with his ministers when his father walked up toward him.
"My son. What is wrong with Audrey? Why has she been crying?" he asked. Gautier took a breath.
"She was upset because the roses died in her garden," Gautier lied. Her father shook his head.
The next morning, the maids came in and exhorted Mebuki to come outside. "The king has something for you," they said.
Roses. Thousands upon thousands of roses. Blooms of different colors dotted the landscape. The gardeners must have spent all night digging up the dead bushes and replacing them.
"Father? You did this?" Mebuki turned. The king smiled.
"My darling child," her father said. He rested a withered hand on her shoulder. "All I wish is for your happiness." She looked up and saw Gautier standing behind him.
There were people here who loved her. Mebuki blinked, a warm wetness filling her eyes, before she took a breath and nodded.
"So you're stuck here," Gautier said, after their father left them. He gave Mebuki a wan smile. "So long as you keep that malcontent Jacob occupied, I suppose you'll always have a place here."
Mebuki hugged him. Gautier's eyes widened as he staggered back.
"H-hey!"
"Thank you for accepting me," Mebuki said. Gautier blushed and glared.
"It is fine. You make things more lively here."