The Chapter Where The Unthinkable Happens

The amusement park was by far the most crowded floor of The Snowflake. Of course, Liane knew the crowd was just for show. From the queues waiting in line to the families getting their picture taken to the kids playing in the grass, they were all ghosts. It was a facade designed to give the park a good energy, so human visitors, like herself and Claire, could better enjoy it.

Though Liane didn’t like crowds, she had to admit, there was a certain level of infectious excitement in the air. The moment she and Claire passed through the park gates, she felt her heart start beating faster and had to restrain her urge to dash to the nearest shiny object. With zero restraint, Claire squealed and bolted to a shell dressed like a giant mouse, handing out pamphlets.

“Liane, look at this map! It’s actual paper. Look: tap, scroll, swipe. It doesn’t react at all. What a novelty! I’m keeping this as a souvenir.” Claire carefully stored the paper map in her bag before bolting to the next attraction.

Liane took a map for herself. On the front of the pamphlet was a prominent graphic she was certain Claire had seen. It displayed the park’s special theme for today, Father Daughter Day. All around them, the park was filled with ghosts playing out the theme. Father and daughter couples, young and old, were enjoying the day together. Now it was Liane’s turn.

From up ahead, Claire called to Liane, “Hurry up! Come on! Let’s go!”

She smiled and hurried after Claire. It was time for their own father daughter date to begin.

The park was large and had an abundance of attractions, but since the crowd was made up of ghosts, they were never forced to wait around. Lines simply vanished as they approached an attraction and reappeared after they left. This let them move through the park quickly, trying whatever attraction they pleased and riding rides as many times as they liked.

Claire became enamored with the Superhero Brawl attraction. After donning a skin tight suit that granted her ice powers, she defeated a dozen shells in a row and claimed the high score. With significant effort, she managed to coerce Liane into trying it. She only accepted, thinking she would be fighting a shell too, but was shocked and dismayed when Claire entered the arena instead. Her loss was quick and thorough, and though her own suit protected her from physical injuries, it didn’t prevent the mental and emotional damage from the battle or from cosplaying in a skin tight superhero suit.

The attraction Liane liked best was the fun house. Seamlessly moving from walking on the floor to the wall to the ceiling was a novelty that never got old in her opinion. Claire quickly got lost inside, but Liane managed to make her way not only to the goal, but also to the secret secondary goal hidden within the multistory maze. The achievement earned her a special souvenir pin, and her name was added to a plaque alongside others who had also found the goal, of which there were only four.

After rescuing Claire from the fun house, they continued enjoying the rest of the rides, games, and specially themed treats the park had to offer. Until the unthinkable happened. A certain ride pushed Liane’s stomach too far, and she vomited all over herself. Luckily, she was wearing her delivery uniform beneath, so could change out of the soiled clothes easily. However, Claire insisted Liane could not go on until she got a new set of casual clothes to wear over her uniform. Instead of purchasing something from the souvenir shops, Claire dragged her down to a clothing shop on the second floor.

The quick trip to purchase a new outfit rapidly devolved into a game of dress up with Liane as the doll. The shop worked by letting her try on clothes holographically which meant she could try on as many outfits as she liked quickly and easily. The catch was that she had to strip down to her underwear for it to work. Trying on the girls’ clothes that Claire picked out and being exposed in her underwear proved far more embarrassing than Liane expected. And here she thought she had acclimated to seeing her own body, apparently that didn’t mean she had acclimated to others seeing it.

When Claire’s choice in outfits for Liane to try on started into swimsuits, she could bear no more. She used lunchtime as an excuse to end it. Reluctantly, Claire agreed. It seemed to Liane Claire enjoyed dressing her up more than she enjoyed the amusement park.

Since it was especially crowded inside the park, they opted for a first floor restaurant instead. In the open space provided by the mall’s main thorough way, they found an Italian themed café to eat at. As they waited for their food, Liane recognized this was a good chance to implement her and Aurelia’s plan.

Liane cleared her throat. “You know, I’ve been thinking recently that maybe you’re right.”

“Hmm? What about?” Claire asked.

“About how the System operates. Maybe it shouldn’t keep humans separate from each other.

Claire slammed her hands down and extended her whole body across the table toward Liane. “You really agree? Really?”

Liane was forced to tilt her chair back to avoid touching noses with Claire. “Yeah, I agree.”

Claire leaned forward even further till Liane couldn’t tilt back anymore without falling. “I’ve been trying to convince you of that since we first met! What made you change your mind?”

“Actually, I think it was your dad,” Liane said.

Claire’s brow crinkled. She climbed off their table and returned to her seat. “What do you mean?”

“Did you notice it was Father Daughter Day at the park?” Liane asked.

“It was hard to miss.”

“Well, all the father daughter couples made me think about you and your dad. It could have been him at the park with you for Father Daughter Day instead of me, if the System hadn’t been keeping you apart, that is.”

“The System wasn’t keeping us apart. We were allowed to see each other because he raised me.”

“So why didn’t you?” Liane asked. Claire fixed her eyes on the table, so Liane continued. “It just seems odd to me. You want to meet and be around other humans, and you could have been around your dad, but you chose not to. You and I have had arguments, but we’ve always made up. I think you could have made up with your dad too. Why didn’t you?”

Claire shrugged. “I just couldn’t bring myself to go to him. I always thought that one day he would come to me, but he never did. I guess we both wanted the other person to make the first move.”

Liane tactically softened her expression. “So you really don’t know.”

“Know what?”

“That your dad wanted to come see you, but he couldn’t. Or it would be more accurate to say, he wasn’t allowed to by the System.”

“What are you… The System wouldn’t do that. It works to make people happy. That’s its whole purpose. It wouldn’t prevent my dad from coming to see me. It would have known that seeing me made him happy.”

All according to plan. A little further, and she would have Claire right where she wanted her.