Standing Down

The air was as heavy as it was tense—whether that was from my sudden outburst or the lingering effects of Yuu’s ability, I wasn’t quite sure yet. Despite this, I took advantage of the small moment of silence, grabbed my arm, and dragged myself over to the two who had been fighting until just a moment ago.

Both of their eyes were on me once I approached but their expressions told two different stories.

On one side was the Apparition. She stared with wide teary eyes and a slight shake of her body. She kept looking back and forth between me and my hairpin. Was I really that unrecognizable to her that this dumb accessory was needed to jog her memory?

Sure, I looked a little different from back then. With the haircut and different clothing, that was undeniable. I could also admit that no one stays exactly the same from childhood to their teenage years as well. But even with those changes, it wasn’t like I was completely different. For better or worse, I was still me. At least, nothing felt different with age.

On the other side was Yuu, easily the most confused out of the three of us. Her lip twitched as she frantically switched between looking me up and down in disbelief to staring down at the kneeling Apparition.

“Did you hit your head, dear?”

She looked back at me, then at her. To me, to her. To me, to her, before her gaze hardened on her former opponent. But judging by how she proceeded to grab her by the collar, I couldn't help but wonder if the word "former" may have been an understatement.

“Did you hit her head?” Yuu asked again, giving the Apparition a quick shake.

“What is your problem, you brat?!” she fired back. “Unhand me right now!”

I put my good hand in between the two.

”Stop it, Yuu,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Surely, I’m missing something here. Do you know her?”

“I-I don’t.” I flicked my gaze over to her. “Not personally, I guess. It’s complicated- Let’s just try and figure things out first”

Yuu huffed. She dropped the Apparition before putting both hands up in the air. Sitting down and crossing both legs together, Yuu rested her head on her hand. “Goodness, I must have hit my head then.”

With Yuu temporarily standing down, the silence that followed only grew more awkward. The Apparition stared with bated breath, seemingly waiting for me to say something. I kneeled and joined the makeshift circle.

Where to even begin? The assumption that Yuu and I took Granny’s necklace and my worthless hairpin? Or maybe, the fact that she had trapped us with effectively no way out aside from meeting her Condition or death.

I hadn’t even completely grasped that last thought, truth be told.

Still, just by looking at the Apparition, it was clear that she was still shaken up by what had happened so far. It was as if she had seen a ghost. Part of me knew that if I started with the obvious heavy hitters, it was very much a possibility that she might completely shut down.

But, another part also knew that it was more than just that.

I scratched at the marble flooring as my face felt hot. “S-So…looks like I found the culprit after all these years. You know, the actual cheater…for me and Aya-senpai’s games.”

“Is now truly the time to be worrying about that, kid—oh, just forget it.” She rubbed her eyes with her sleeves. She sniffled, bringing her knees to her chest, and smiling. “With how poor your hiding spots were, it’s like you were begging me to help Aya out. It would be a travesty just to sit around and do nothing, so why not have her ask her other Grandma?”

I felt beyond stupid for even mentioning that out loud, especially in a moment like this. But it seemed to improve her mood, that was all that I could ask for.

“Rude.” I clicked my tongue, pressing my finger back into the flooring.”I would have won too if I had help from an adult.”

“Hey, I would have loved to do the same for you. You just weren’t around as often, I think I only came across you first a handful of times in the Labyrinth. Not that you were the most approachable kid! With that in your eye, like a dead fish in the market! My god,” The Apparition leaned forward and cupped my face, “just look at you now. Judging by how you carry yourself, I would have never once imagined it was you standing right in front of me.”

It was as if she realized her own actions all at once. Her breath hitched. With slight hesitation, the Apparition pulled her hands away. “Sorry,” she whispered, keeping them close to her as she played with one of her braids. “You don’t know me like that. I shouldn’t have—“

“It’s alright. Granny did the same earlier anyways.”

“Eli did, huh?” She exhaled sharply. “Sounds like her. Say, Shiro, do you still want to be a baker when you grow up?”

There was that question again. Surprisingly enough, Granny was also excited to see my progress toward that same goal. Ever since visiting this place again for the first time in ages, nothing was like what it seemed. The actual Labyrinth itself, or the people who were inside with me. Not to mention the mimic creature bringing me back to reality about the whole cafe idea. With my own judgment coming into question, surely I couldn’t be blamed for being a little skeptical about my answer.

I pulled on my bangs avoiding her eyes. “Honestly, I don’t know what I want anymore.”

Looking back up, the Apparition had wrinkles around the edge of her narrowed eyes. She scowled as she said, “I must have been mistaken then. No matter the appearance, you’re still very much the same.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?!” I shot back. Earlier, I would have agreed with that sentiment. But there was something about the way she was saying it. An almost condescending disappointment leaked through with every word spoken. Who gave her the right to act like that?

“I’m glad to see you, Shiro, I really am. However, I said what I said—”

Yuu clapped her hands, keeping her fingers tightly interwoven together as she stole our attention away. “Alright, I’ve waited long enough I suppose! Shiro dear, Apparition, I truly hate to interrupt…whatever this is, but you mustn’t keep me in the dark. What’s the meaning of all this?”

“Quit calling me Apparition. I have a name, you know! How would you feel if I just called you “Seraph,” you brat.” She pointed to the D belt buckle with a sigh. “You two can call me Dee.”

“Well ‘Dee,’ explain yourself then,” Yuu said without missing a beat. “Apparition is such a stupidly vague term in Heaven, with whatever is causing a distortion being coined as one. Even if this is her Labyrinth, you are not Aya’s Grandmother.”

“Wow, thanks for the observation. I wasn’t aware!” Dee seethed.

“Haha, how very funny,” Yuu said in a deadpan tone. “Any more brilliant jokes?” Her expression dropped as she glared in her direction. Dee looked away.

“None comes to mind at the moment.”

“Great!” she beamed. “Because of the massive pool of magical energy needed to keep all the moving parts of the Labyrinth moving along with all the magic you were using during our battle, I was under the assumption that you were just a nasty demon. I mean, a demon infiltrating someone else’s mind in their time of distress? That’s nothing out of the ordinary! But, if what you said about the Condition you created was true then that simply isn’t possible.”

She mentioned demons so casually that, while it made sense considering she was an angel, I couldn’t help but be taken aback.

“Can they not use magic?” I asked.

“They can. A little too well. However, demons can’t use Conditions due to how potent their magic already is. If they trade something in exchange for even more power, they risk completely destroying their body.” Yuu leaned closer to Dee. “All that being the case, you’re no human and you’re definitely no demon. Clear as day, however, what I see in front of me is an Apparition— the one behind all this. My only question is this: what exactly are you, Dee?”

Dee narrowed her eyes again. She grabbed her sleeve and turned away from us.

“Everything,” she whispered. “I don’t remember much before I gained this body but once we met, I knew that I wanted to be everything to her.” Dee blushed as a weak, pensive smile found its way onto her lips. “When we were younger, Eli had full control of this place and I was nothing more than a lonely child’s imaginary friend. The Labyrinth itself was no larger than the two rooms this house originally had back in the day. It was a copy of it through and through.”

“I’ve never heard of a non-magical being taking over a Labyrinth,” Yuu said.

“That’s because it wasn’t a takeover,” she snapped back. “As Eli grew older and confided in me less and less as the years went by, her insecurities only began to snowball. Eventually, in an attempt to rid herself of her problems at the root, she gave me control and rejected the existence of both the Labyrinth and myself. “

“That can’t be true,” I muttered. “That doesn’t sound like Granny.”

Not the one I was used to at the very least.

Dee rubbed her arm. “She…doesn’t want anything to do with me. But that’s fine. Even then, her emotions still fester and give this place power, expanding it far beyond the size it was meant to be.”

Yuu raised an eyebrow. “And you allowed children to roam free without supervision? They could have gotten hurt or even killed. Do you understand how severe things could have gotten? ”

“It was never that bad. Do you think I just sat around idly and did nothing?” Dee slammed her hands on the ground. I flinched. “I’ve said this over and over already: I’ve done nothing except help where I can! I’ve been suppressing the Labyrinth’s power so that it wouldn’t spill out into the real world and hurt other people. That’s why I made it as safe as possible for the people she loved— so that one day we could sit down and talk just like we used to! Those girls weren’t in any danger.”

Dee was out of breath and held a hand to her chest as she glared at her. Yuu fell back on her hands, mouth agape and at a loss for words. It looked like she didn’t believe a word she was saying. Or…Maybe she didn’t want to believe.

“This…entire time, for decades now?”

“Even if it falls on deaf ears, I want nothing more than to guide her through life. In a way, that’s not too unlike you guys, huh Little Miss Number One? You know, assuming that angels are meant to help rather than just hit hard.”

“I’ll have you know that we do help, actually!” Yuu’s lips pursed into a straight line as she sat up. Hanging her head, her hair covered her eyes. “I deeply apologize, Dee. And thank you for carrying out such a duty despite not being an angel. You know, I wasn’t lying when I said that you were impressive during our fight.”

“I appreciate the apology but you don’t have to flatter me. That’s not what I’m doing this for—”

“I mean it.” Her words were short and to the point, they caught Dee off guard. She raised an eyebrow but Yuu wouldn’t budge. “Learning how to do all this despite having nothing to go off of is a feat in itself and I truly commend you for it. Magic is a precious thing in this world, but that doesn’t mean it comes easy to everyone.”

Dee played with her braids as she laughed. “I said you didn’t have to, god. …Guess it is impressive when you say it like that, though.”

“Credit where credit’s due. That being said, while the phrase ‘cardinal sin’ is fresh on your tongue, what you’ve done could very easily be considered the worst of the worst…in terms of magic at least.”

Dee deflated all at once. “There it is…”

“I’ll extend Shiro’s first magic lesson to you too, Dee. Conditions shouldn’t be used if they can’t be met or deactivated.” Yuu put a finger up and waved it at her. “If I hadn’t been present, this same mistake would have pointlessly cost someone their lives. You have Shiro to thank as well.” She huffed in a self-satisfied manner as Dee nodded. “Now, what was this about a stolen necklace?”

“It was a few days before Eli had arrived back home. While packing her bags, she noticed that her golden necklace had disappeared. Usually, this is something I would never allow under my care. But even with my watchful eye, it was like it vanished into thin air. It was getting late- so in the end, she assumed that it had just dropped into one of her suitcases without her noticing.”

“I can see why you thought it was stolen, I guess. Especially if it seemed expensive. Can’t say that I would jump to that right away though,” I said. “Why’d you even think we took it?”

“That’s because I was told.” Dee began to rub and pick at her hands as she swallowed hard. “That same night, another person had found its way into this Labyrinth. I thought that my years of hard work had finally paid off but looking back at it now, I think even calling this thing a person might have been wrong. This was anyone but her.”

Her expression shifted to a pained grimace.

“It was a humanoid figure, maybe a bit on the older side since it was hunched over. It could have been that its limbs were slightly too long, or the way its body parts cracked, popped, or twitched as it spoke from underneath that black robe, never once standing still. Maybe it's because I couldn’t get a good look at the face. Something just felt off.”

Yuu wrinkled her nose. “And you listened to this creature?”

“I was desperate after being disappointed like that, alright? For the first time in years, someone wanted to have a conversation with me,” she sneered, her tone softening shortly after. “Besides, the information it gave me…it was valuable at the time. It told me that two cretins had taken the necklace right from under my nose. One blond girl with a mole under her eye, and a black-haired girl with a star pin that didn’t belong to her. I was to retrieve the pin. Once I did, it told me that the location would reveal itself. I remembered Shiro having that pin all the time when she came over to play with Aya, so I just assumed the worst coming from a thief.”

“I mean, aside from my stupid pin not belonging to me, I can’t say that it's an inaccurate description,” I said with a huff. “But no matter how you spin it, it’s also really vague…”

“And if you were going to use a Condition, you should have been sure of your target. It was as simple as that,” Yuu added, crossing her arms. The way she was acting was very reminiscent of Maeda trying to scold Aya and I in middle school. There was something about her tone. Any frustration that she had was overshadowed by disappointment that we would try something so stupid in the first place.

Dee shut her eyes, leaning forward and bowing. “I’m really sorry for bringing you two into this mess… but I will get you out. I promise. ”

“As you’re now aware, I take promises more seriously than most. There’s no need to bow your head. Please, not in front of me.” Dee slowly but surely looked up as Yuu stood to her feet and dusted herself off. With a flick of her wrist, she brushed the hair out of her eyes. “If it's just a lost item that we have to find, then so be it. Think of it as an angel’s infinite kindness on display, just for you.”

Yuu’s guard was still very much up, but it was nice to see her trying to give her a chance. Dee looked at me skeptically. With a shrug, I said, “Happy to help as well?”

“Pride is still a sin, Miss Angel,” she said through her teeth, directing her attention away from me. However, Dee stopped almost immediately all of a sudden as a wry smile curved onto her lips. Using large, exaggerated motions, she poked her cheek and made a humming noise. “Of course, if we are going to work together, I would love to know who we’re working with! Let’s see here…Shiro introduced herself rather abruptly…thankfully. I could have sworn I also said my name too, who are we missing here?”

She rolled her eyes before mumbling. “Yuu Tsubasa, it is a pleasure.“

“Would ‘Tsu’ work?”

“Not at all. No one’s allowed to call me that, actually!” She smiled although the twitching on the upper corner of her lip told a different story. Huffing in annoyance before reaching a hand out to Dee, Yuu said, “I do hope that we can properly mend things.”

“Honestly, that should be easy as long as you keep your hands to yourself.”

“I said I was sorry already. Goodness, quit being so smug!”

When Dee was pulled to her feet, she was grinning ear to ear and laughing as Yuu continued to scold her. It was a step up from being at each other’s throats at the very least. The bar that was set may have been covered in dirt at this point, but I’d rather have petty arguments than full-blown fights any day.

“Ah, before I forget,” Dee said, opening and closing her hand a few times before holding it out. “Sorry to ask again, but I’m gonna need your hairpin.”

Instinctively, I rushed to grab it but froze once my fingertips brushed against my hair. “Right…no need to apologize. Just make sure I get the dumb thing back in the end.”

“I’m no hypocrite. I would never take something from a kid, thank you very much.”

”Just making sure. It’s worthless, don’t get me wrong, but it is still mine.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Ripping the star pin out of my hair, inky black strands covering one of my eyes once more, I tossed it to Dee. Once it made contact with her palm and her fingers curled around the cheap yellow plastic, the lone tick of a clock sounded. A sickening squelch came from underneath. Gross. My heart sank as I was so ankle-deep in that paper-like texture that I could no longer see my boots. Within the blink of an eye, every surface within the area had become a beautiful canvas.

Why the hell was it wet?

Multiple red lines appeared not too far away. The slow and tedious process of copying something new that Yuu had explained to me had seemingly sped up tenfold. Making mistakes, erasing, trying again— all these repeated at breakneck speeds never seen before. The lines continued to interweave together until a lone red door stood before us.

All that followed was its pained whine as it creaked open. A soft yet powerful piano melody played through the pitch-black opening, backed by the graceful cry of a violin.

Judging by Dee’s speechless reaction and stiff stumble forward, it seemed like she was as confused as we were. Well, at least I was. This time Yuu didn’t react at all. She only stared with crossed arms as if she had seen this sort of thing 1000 times before. Maybe it was because of her newfound understanding of how things operate. I mean, the Apparition was here. She was the one who was in control, the one who made everything here so far.

So then how come Dee seemed so surprised?

“There’s no way,” she muttered. “You’re joking, I haven’t heard this in years…”

“What, what do you see?” I asked but to no avail.

Before the question had time to sit for long, she had already pushed past us and through the door, engulfing herself in shadow. Even if everything was under control, I wouldn’t feel right leaving her in the dark by herself. If it were me, I’d at least wait until the people I was working together with were ready to go but it seemed everyone who wasn’t human was doing their own thing today. That didn’t mean that it was any less worrying.

I needed to make sure she was alright.

Only one foot was in the door before something grabbed my bad arm from behind. Hissing in pain, I froze momentarily. It was Yuu. Upon meeting her gaze, my heart skipped a beat. Brows peaked and mouth slightly ajar, she looked around as if she was trying to find the right words to say.

“Please,” Yuu whispered. Loosening her grasp, she slid down my arm and caressed the tips of my fingers before letting go altogether. “Don’t rush ahead too far, not after I just found you.”

She sounded exhausted yet so scared. I would have loved to say that it was unlike her but after her fight, I still wasn’t sure if I was allowed to.

I swallowed hard. With one thing happening after another, I hadn’t given enough time to make sure that she was fine. On a second look, the gash had long since dried up but her clothes didn’t come out unscathed. The thick fabric of her sleeves was frayed, thin strings spreading out in each direction on the sweater cuff. Dark scratches marked her from head to toe. Judging by her expression alone, you would have never guessed that she was the undeniable winner. Maybe she wasn’t bluffing when she said that she had nothing to be proud of.

Had I really worried her that much?

“I’m…sorry, ” I muttered.

I tried to look down but she wouldn’t let me escape. Yuu’s eyes followed and before I knew it, we were right back to gazing at each other.

“You’re safe. I suppose that’s all that matters, ” she said, crossing her arms. “All that I ask now is that you answer my question.”

“Huh?”

“As I was destroying everything I could to find my way back to you…right before I crashed through the ceiling, I saw that a monstrous burst of magical energy seemingly swallowed the room whole. However, it faded away as fast as it appeared,” her eyes narrowed, brows arched, “Would you happen to know anything about that?”

I couldn’t see a thing while I was getting thrown around like a rag doll, but only one person who could use magic was there. “You might be asking the wrong person, but my guess is Dee.”

“Couldn’t have been. I used the tiny bit of my magic in you as a tracker. In my head, it was more like there was another me beside her the entire time. Both auras were so distinct but in that instant, neither Dee’s presence nor my own could compare to what I saw.” Yuu shivered before she tensed up. “If you don’t know then it's alright, just…be wary from here on out. That creature she was talking about might still be lurking and if it is, it’s very much a possibility that they work together and— ”

“I don’t think she would do that.”

There she was, putting that guard up again. I sighed.

“You say this like you’re so sure. This is new territory for you as well. What do you think you’re trying to accomplish here, dear?”

“All I’m doing is giving the helping hand I said I would. Nothing deeper than that.”

"Look, I admit that I misjudged her a little but let me make this abundantly clear: Dee is not Aya’s Grandmother. She may be a creation of her Labyrinth and share some traits that you may be fond of, but she’s still an Apparition.”

“And so am I.”

She inhaled sharply. “Don’t be like that, Shiro. There are layers to this. What’s happening now is more of an exception rather than a rule. If she wasn’t connected to that woman, would you still go along so willingly?“

The question certainly came as a surprise but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t asked myself the same thing. Yuu continued.

“There are more dangerous Labyrinths out there, you know? The people in them won’t hesitate to kill. Someone too caught up in their delusions, whatever creations they manage to think up, or demons looking to gain some extra power through deception and lies, those are all very real problems! What happens when you encounter that?”

When they were fighting tooth and nail, I couldn’t help but notice that almost every second word out of Dee’s mouth was about Granny. Even now, she talked about their past with nothing but love laced in her voice. Upon realizing who Dee was talking about, obviously I was a little swayed. After all, she was talking about someone I cared about too. But it was more than that.

Seeing Dee in tears was what got me to move in the first place.

I’d rather stay trapped in this place and die a thousand times over than say something so embarrassing out loud. With my cheeks hotter than ever, I couldn’t meet her gaze any more. “I-If it ever gets to that, I’ll decide then. All that I know now is that I’m helping out because I’d want someone to do the same for me. That’s all, alright? ”

“That kindness of yours,“ Yuu tapped me with the back of her hand. “It’s starting to look a lot more like stubbornness. Well, if that helping hand of yours is injured, I can’t say it would be of much use to anyone anyway.”

“Ah, well…It’s not like I was trying to hide it or anything.”

“Hold it out and make a fist.” When I stared at her like she was insane, she only repeated herself. “Make a fist, dear. I’d like to see something.”

Eventually, I listened and winced, holding my bad hand up to her. Her brows furrowed not too long after.

“My goodness, you’re lucky you didn’t break the thing!” She pulled my thumb out of my fist and placed it between my index and middle finger. “Try not to throw a punch if you don’t have to but if you find that there’s no choice, do it like this. That way you don’t hurt yourself.”

“Does it look like I get into enough fights to know that?”

“Not at all, that’s the problem.”

Yuu put her hand over mine and a white light emitted from her palm. It was as if the dull, aching pain I had since my first encounter with Dee hadn’t been there to begin with. Feeling lighter than ever, I made large circles with it. At least, I was until Yuu gestured for me to stop.

“Don’t move it all about like nothing’s wrong,” she scolded, “I can’t heal people, only temporarily numb the pain. Luckily it’s only a sprain, so let's not push ourselves too much.”

“R-Right, thanks.”

“Anytime. Oh, and one more thing dear? ”

Once again, Yuu paused as she gathered her thoughts. She broke eye contact. It seemed like her gaze drifted somewhere new with every passing second. Down at her feet. At the door behind me. Off to the side. To say she seemed skittish would have been putting it lightly. Even though she opened her mouth, not a single word left her lips.

“What is it?” I asked, wondering what was choking her up.

Upon hearing my voice, she perked up and focused. Ever since we found out we weren’t alone in the Labyrinth, Yuu had been acting kind of strange. Her words seemed carefully picked out. Almost like she wasn’t trying to rock the boat in any way.

My hand twitched. I wanted to say that it reached out to her. That it was firmly placed on her shoulder as I told her that she could share anything with me. In reality, it never once left my side. With her saving me and worrying about my injury, I figured that I gave her enough trouble today.

Eventually with a sharp inhale and pursed lips, Yuu closed her eyes altogether and said, “Forget about it. If there is anything that feels off, even in the slightest, tell me right away. And above all else—please stay calm. We don’t need another Labyrinth appearing.”

She brushed past me and toward the door but stopped short of walking in. At first, I thought it was something horrific that stopped her in her tracks. It wasn’t until 30 awkward seconds had passed that I realized that she probably didn’t want me to lag behind her either. A bit of communication would have helped though.

“Alright, alright,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck as I approached. “I’m coming too.”