NICO

Nico pushed into the creme brulee with her spoon, cracking open the thick sugar-crust. The ruptures spread into a fractal, rhythmic in its destruction. Across from her, Mari raised a well-shaped eyebrow.

"You're looking contemplative this evening."

Nico frowned and splintered the remainder of the crust. "What the hell did Eli mean, 'odd scientific phenomena'?" Nico asked Mari, for the fifth time that evening.

She had been trying not to talk about it- really, Mari had taken her to a rooftop restaurant for their friday evening date, but - "And why the hell did we have to leave the country?" (Nico had asked Eli these questions, of course, but Eli hadn't responded since dropping that text landmine into Nico's lap.)

Mari closed her eyes. "I… I don't know, DARLING. Eli is a mysterious woman. You have seen visions, you are not hallucinating, and it is connected to a strange scientific phenomena. But we aren't taking our CHANCES, are we?"

Nico looked around the rooftop patio, bursting with vines and roses and votive candles. The table was alit with a large glass dahlia, holding a ring of tea lights in its petals, sending flickers of yellow warmth onto the bottle of champagne, the olive oil plate, the high fluted glasses of water. Mari wore a sequined white dress with a leather jacket with her golden curls loose and shining. She was a part of the nature scene as much as Mari was emphasized by it. Beyond her, the Tuscan landscape rolled into sunset-dappled hills. Eli had told them to get out of the country, and Italy was pretty damn far. "No, we're not taking our chances."

"That's why I brought Ruby along with us, you know. Her sister Dia asked me to keep an eye on her."

Somewhere, Ruby was wandering the Florence streets eating ice cream and running away from pomeranians.

Nico dug into her dessert. So sweet. So good. "Who is Dia again? I mean. Other than Ruby's sister."

"Dia is a SECRET AGENT. She used to come to our Mermaid Malady shows back in the day for Ruby. I kept asking her to join, but Dia was always a little too old for that sort of thing. She must be… 28, now?"

Nico dipped her bread into olive oil. She let those sentences drift over her mind. "...your group name was Mermaid Malady?"

Mari smiled. "Our full name was MERMAID MALADY: PIGI PIGI. I'll show you later the videos. Nico." She took a sip of her water, and looked into the distance. "...So have your friends answered you on the 'game night'?" Mari made little finger quotes.

"Just Rin and Hanayo. I'm… a little worried. I haven't heard from most of them in weeks. Especially with Nozomi. Nozomi never passes up a chance to say something confusing to me. Instead, she just said she was busy. And Kotori said she was coming back to Japan but didn't have time because her life was falling apart."

"Kotori's life was falling apart?"

"Yeah, I asked about that, believe me, but Kotori just cried a lot and said she couldn't tell me. So I just tried to say something nice, Kotori kept crying, I sort of got out of her that she's travelling alone, so what I'm guess is…"

Mari leaned forward. There was an eager, if at least marginally concerned gleam in her eyes. "...That something happened with Umi?"

"Yeah! And you know, Honoka used to travel with them too. But then something happened. And then Honoka went to college with my ex girlfriend, of all people."

"How STRANGE." Mari nibbled at an edible flower. "And at least some of muse are having weird dreams, no? So most of you must be in some kind of danger."

"That's right. And to make matters worse, everyone else blew me off entirely!" Nico chewed her lip. "Do you think it's related to whatever is happening with Eli and our weird… memories?" Nico remembered the image of her in a crowd with Hanayo and Rin in full idol regalia, ready to go again. The memory made her heart hurt.

"Probably." Mari pushed her flower-strewn salad into her chicken parmesan. The deep red sauce looked like blood. "This is all… not what I expected to happen. No one expected this, but…"

"But?"

"I dreamed something, too. A while ago. Just something little." Mari took a small bite of her chicken. "I was with you. In a hotel. But someone else was there too. We were talking about marketing for an upcoming single." She laughed. "BORING, right?"

Nico smiled. "Do you remember the single?"

"Ah… something about rabbits. And space." Mari motioned for Nico's hand, which Nico gave, their fingers intertwining. "What do you think that means in my deepest UNCONSCIOUS?" Her voice was deep, faux-serious. "What is my DREAM self trying to tell me?"

"Hmmm." Nico rubbed her fingers on Mari's nails. The nails were the press-on kind with real rose quartz coating - Nico had snowflake obsidian ones. "What do rabbits mean to you? And space?"

Mari put her other hand to her chin, as if in deep contemplation. "RABBITS. I think they're adorable, and precious, and they make me think of Ruby. I want to protect them! As for space… unlimited possibilities! Outward and onward!"

"So clearly…" Nico clutched at the silliest thing she could come up with. "Clearly, you feel the need to protect me and my friends, because we're so cute, but also you see opportunities in our idol group."

"YES! EXACTLY."

The girls laughed, and ordered more dessert and champagne, because they didn't know what else to do, or how else to interpret the strange moments that had slipped through their minds.

The mirror did not show Nico another set of red eyes when she stumbled into Mari's downstairs mansion bathroom. The reflection only showed Nico in her pink ribbon crop top and leather skirt. Only her own face watched her as she washed her hands, fixed her eyeliner, studied the golden botanical carvings along the vanity.

Nico knew her visions wouldn't happen again, at least not in Italy. The dreams had stopped, as the dreams had the first time she'd left the country with Mari. Nico had felt like… herself again. Like somehow, whatever was happening was physical on some level, and her proximity to Japan was related to it. But still, a part of Nico wanted to see her other self again, see what was on the other side of the mirror. As much as the THIRD EYE night scared her, Other Nico had everything she'd ever wanted: a practicing idol group, fame, friends, love.

I already have love, Nico told herself, I already have friends. I had fame, and I could be an idol tomorrow if I asked Mari.

"Nico?" A little voice said.

Nico jumped. It was Ruby, all ready for bed in her pastel shorts and hoodie.

"Hey, kiddo. How was Florence?"

"It was okay." The girl blushed a little. "It's… weird being on my own like this. I've never been away from home for this long before."

Nico tried not to scoff. The girl seemed so sheltered. Had they all been like that when they were eighteen? "Mari keeps telling me travel is good for the soul."

Ruby made a cynical face, strange to see on such an adorable girl. "My sister says Mari is just running away from her duties. Although I think Dia is running away from hers, too."

Nico thought that sounded familiar. For her and another wealthy girl she knew. "Mari's running away from what?"

Ruby looked away. Her little pigtails bobbed as she twisted her neck.

"Ruby? What's Mari running away from?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you, but… Mari's mother keeps threatening her with an arranged marriage. To some super rich guy. Mari doesn't want to, of course! She likes you a lot!"

Nico blinked. "An arranged marriage to a man? Mari is like - I've never even seen Mari talk to a man."

"I know! That's why she's running away."

Nico thought of Mari: her opulence, her irreverence, her casual-yet-insistent absurdism. What had Mari told her the night they'd done THIRD EYE shots? That life was meaningless chaos, that nothing matters, and no one would ever know how or why or when?

"Fuck." Nico gripped the marbled sink.

Ruby sighed. "Yeah. Don't tell her I told you."

Mari was setting out crystals in a spiral chart when Nico and Ruby returned to the living room, with candles all around her. Mari's face lit up as she saw Nico.

"Nico! I'm making a CRYSTAL GRID for our LOVE." Mari set down a pink crystal at the end of the spiral arm. Clear quartz and seashells and flowers were placed between the bright pink stones.

Nico raised her eyebrow but smiled back at her girlfriend. "For me?"

"YES. LOOK. I put ROSES at the center. Purple and pink. For our idol colors."

Ruby made a soft squeal.

"It's... really romantic, Mari." Nico said, with blood rising up into her cheeks as she said it. Mari was beautiful, Nico thought. Not for her appearance, or her wealth, but for her warmth, her earnest love, whatever this was. And she was supposed to get married to… some guy? "Should, uh, I put something in, too?"

"YES. ANYTHING."

Her face was farm. Nico tugged at a ribbon from her crop top and tied it into a dainty bow. She knelt over the grid. Where to put it? With careful fingers she placed it beside the purple seashell. "Here."

Mari beamed. "Let's go upstairs."

Nico made her calls again, the next day, when Mari had gone shopping with Ruby. She went out to the veranda, staring out into the countryside. Sloping hills. Red-roofed buildings tucked away behind bushes and gardens. The sun was so close in Florence.

Nico tried to call Umi first. When a recording said that the number was disconnected, Nico sent Umi an email, somewhat terse, asking where she was and if she was okay and what was she doing. She sent the same to Maki and Honoka - Nico hadn't heard from either in a long time, especially Maki, who was usually sending Nico some amount of emotional labor for Nico to process.

Nozomi was last on the list, as she was neither in apparent danger nor was she having the same level of upheaval as the other girls. But Nozomi was surely involved somehow - after all, Nozomi's girlfriend had warned Nico of the strange psychoactive "temporal" danger they all seemed to be in. Nico stared at Nozomi's contact profile for a long time before hitting "call". Nozomi's profile picture was of her and Eli in New York, holding coffee mugs and sticking their tongues out at the camera. They'd been disgusting in their affection, Nico had thought at the time. Always holding hands and whispering to each other and sharing gentle private moments. (Unlike anything Nico had experienced at the time.) Nico had taken the picture, calling them "obnoxious lovebirds" and told Nozomi and Eli to get a room.

Now, Nico would have done anything to get those moments back. Before this darkness had gripped their lives. She paced the deck as the phone rang.

"Hello, Nico. Before you ask, yes I am still busy, no, I do not have time to play Sushi Go on your girlfriend's private jet." Nozomi said, sighing. "What's up with you, Niccochi?"

Nico huffed. She was trying to help everyone without scaring them! She just decided on Sushi Go because she didn't trust Rin (or herself) to sit through a long game. But Nico took a deep breath and collected herself. "Not much is up. I mean… I'm in Florence with my beautiful lady friend. But enough about me...did you know Kotori is coming back to Japan?"

"Hmm. I had a feeling. Kotori's card showed up in my readings. It doesn't matter, of course. The final card is always the tower..."

Nozomi seemed preoccupied with this "Tower" card. Nico would have to google it after she got off the phone. She tapped her fingers on the railing, looking at some ruined chapel next door, grasping at something to say. "Uh. What's Kotori's card?"

"The Queen of Pentacles."

Nico had no idea what that meant but a queen sounded cool. "What's my card?"

"Are you sure you want to know that?" Nozomi said, with a whisper of her old teasing lilt. "You might be The Devil, you know."

"I better be the Devil."

Nozomi laughed. "You might enjoy it, I suppose. But no, you're the Knight of Wands."

Nico also had no idea what that was. "Is that good?"

"You are passionate and straightforward. You get things done."

"Why aren't I the Queen, then?"

Nozomi laughed again. "So. Kotori has returned then. With Umi?"

"Actually, she's coming back without Umi."

"Oh!" That seemed to perk Nozomi's interest. "Did something happen?"

"I don't know! But everyone is being weird. Including you." Nico bit into her too-chapped lips. Should she tell Nozomi what Eli had said?

Nozomi spoke before Nico could follow up. "I've always been weird, Nico. That's nothing new."

"That's for sure…" Nico's words trailed off. So Nozomi… she imagined herself saying, Your girlfriend said we were all in danger… especially if we were in Japan. Do you know anything about that? Is this related to The Tower? Are you guys still getting engaged? What does this have to do with game night? "So what are you up to, Nozomi? Why can you not make it to board game night?"

"I'm doing some fortune-teller stuff."

"Oh?"

"It's complicated." Nico didn't say anything for a few seconds, if only because she was grasping at threads of normal conversation. Nozomi spoke again: "I need to… journey elsewhere. Although I am worried, with everything going on, that it will be more difficult than normal…" The sun beat brighter. Light and shadow glared with urgent vividness. "I've never done this before. I'm waiting for the right alignment of the planets. It's in a few days. Hopefully… there will be time."

Nico felt a swoon in her. The autumn afternoon was sweltering. The shade of the building was so close, and yet Nico didn't move. "Nozomi… so... Eli messaged me a little bit ago and told me that we were all in danger. Something about having weird dreams. Is this…. Somehow related?"

There was a long pause. "Yes. Eli told you that?"

"Yeah. It's why Mari and I went to Italy. I haven't had any weird dreams since. And that is why I invited you to board game night, by the way. Because I"m a good friend."

"You had weird dreams, too, Nicochi?"

"Yeah. It's all a jumble. Just… flashes and memories of a different life. I'm on a stage with Rin and Hanayo. People throw roses. I sing. It's just… it's just wish fulfillment." Nico knew what she saw wasn't wish fulfillment, Eli had told her these dreams were dangerous, but all the same, she felt ridiculous.

"Tell me more."

"Uh. I have short hair. I think I'm some kind of influencer. We make a video for Cutie Panther. Look, it's not that big of a deal-"

"No, this is great. These are… guideposts, for me. It will be easier to confirm the truth of my travels. Tell me everything."

The Tower, according to the internet, was an image of a lightening-struck tower with people leaping out. It foretold disaster, upheaval, chaos, sudden change. The destabilization of society. Revolution.

Sorry about your Towers, Nico texted Nozomi.

Author's Notes:

Good News: I handwrite a lot and I have a lot of rough drafts/scenes stashed away in notebooks, some of them quite old at this point. Bad News: I have an entire milkcrate full of handwritten notebooks and I kept zero organization system for this.

This and the last chapter were written in primarily written in 2020. I cut a very bad action sequence from the last chapter tonight. (My physical writing situation was Not Good for much of 2020/2021 - I temporarily lived in a basement and also have developed some wrist & neck pain from working at a computer full time.)

I would really like to finish this. I'm doing my best to avoid any more rewrites at this stage. This is the longest thing I've ever written and it's sort of my baby - I want to turn it into a real novel someday, the story means a lot to me.