Invisible Boundary Lines

“Could we go through the plan again?” Ukiyo asked for the second time as they hurried down the street towards the neuroscience lab.

“Ugh, I’ve explained it plenty! We go in, you pretend to be my dad and we get our ticket inside. Got that?” Maho grumbled, marching ahead. She wore an identical lab coat to Ukiyo’s except that the sleeves were rolled up so they didn’t fall over her hands.

“Right, why exactly?” Ukiyo asked. The scenario itself was silly enough, but there had to be a reason that was probably just as crazy.

“Now you’re just being nasty!” Maho whined, but eventually told him.

It came out like this: The day before the new receptionist took over, she dropped her ID card into the sewers. When she showed up at the lab, she wasn’t allowed in because the halfwitted receptionist thought she was a middle schooler who was just messing with her.

“So, uh…” she looked down at her feet in embarrassment, “I was forced to climb in through the window or use the back door when no one was around. All because I dropped my ID.”
“And now I’m your dad because you can’t prove to them that you’re eighteen and work there? Why didn’t you get one of the other lab members to help you?” Ukiyo inquired.

“Thing is, I didn’t really want to tell them,” she murmured, tapping her index fingers together. “They’d think I’m a joke.”

“We’ll clear this up, I promise.”

“Oh, shut up.”

The laboratory was a large white building lit with glowstones. It had wide windows stretching across two walls of each floor, and a large sign that read, ‘Central Neuroscience Institute’.

Maho and Ukiyo passed through transparent sliding doors into the lobby. The reception was five paces in front of them, and a lady with blonde hair in a tight ponytail sat behind the desk, shifting through a pile of papers.

“What can I do for you?” she asked without looking up.

“Ahem,” Ukiyo cleared his throat, speaking in a deeper tone than his usual, “I am the revered, uh, Andrew Openheimer, the descendant of the famous scientist who invented psychoanalysis!”

“Idiot! Openheimer made the atomic bomb!” Maho hissed, already regretting the plan. She should have given him a script.

“Sigmund Freud was the father of psychoanalysis, Mr. Takahashi,” the woman pointed out, sighing in exasperation.

“Correct!” Ukiyo yelled in the unfazed voice of a show host, “I was simply testing your knowledge! Now, my daughter Maho here brought it to my attention that she lost her ID card and you would not let her inside. Why is that, miss?”

“Mr. Takahashi, please don’t waste my time.”

How does she know my last name? What? Ukiyo was stunned into silence.

“You’re fired!” Maho shouted, leaning over the receptionist desk, “As soon as I talk to the boss, you’re fired, you hear me?!”

“Maho, stay in character,” Ukiyo warned from the corner of his mouth.

“Urgh,” she rolled her eyes, then said out loud, “I mean my daddy has an important conference here and you need to let us in!”

The woman burst out laughing. Maho and Ukiyo blinked angrily. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she said, “This is a new low, Maho! Since when is your father an - admittedly cute - pizza delivery man?”

“You’re what?” Maho turned to Ukiyo, stormclouds gathering in her eyes.

“I'm what?” Ukiyo asked at the same time as her.

“He delivers my pizza,” the woman continued, smirking, “Say, Takahashi, have you invited that girl out for dinner yet? Kirigi?”

“N-no,” Ukiyo answered, the confusion in his eyes appeasing Maho. He didn’t know Kirigi and probably wasn’t a pizza delivery guy. Good.

“Alright, well, I’ve got to get back to work now, so you two better scurry off before I call the security detail.”

“Well, that was terrible,” Ukiyo stated the obvious once they were back outside.

Maho was trying to climb through a window on the bottom floor, away from where the security cameras were pointing.

“You seriously don’t know who Openheimer is?” Maho asked in fascination.

“Apparently not- oof,” he grunted as Maho’s foot kicked him in the face.

She was dangling over the windowsill, laying on her stomach with hands reaching inside the room and feet kicking in an attempt to propel herself over the frame.

“Stay still and I’ll help you!”

Maho relaxed her feet and Ukiyo pushed her up so she was sitting on the windowsill.

“Are you a pizza delivery man in the Alpha Worldline?” she asked.

“No! I’m a student!” Ukiyo replied with a degree of indignance.

Maho nodded, placing a finger to her lips. “I suspected as much. It’s more than probable that there’s a Beta Worldline Ukiyo somewhere around here.”

“Woah, you mean I actually have a life in this world too? Can I meet my double?”

“I guess you can, though it’s probably not advised to disrupt the worldlines too much.”

Maho hopped off the windowsill into the room and Ukiyo climbed in after her.

“This feels like we’re breaking and entering,” he said, keeping his voice low.

“Just entering,” said Maho lightly, “I really hate that woman. I swear she knows I work here and still acts like that.”

“Do you know who Kirigi is?” Ukiyo asked as they headed up a staircase to the second floor.

“Haven’t the slightest. You should check the database so you know about your supposed girlfriend. Dunno why anyone would be crazy enough to be into you though.”

“Hey! But good idea, I’ll look into my double too.”

Maho’s office - Ukiyo had a hard time imagining it as an office - was cluttered with all sorts of scientific equipment and papers. Boxes and all sorts of odds and ends littered the floor, and the desk was practically lost in the sea around it. There was a recycling basket spilling paper balls onto the floor and several empty mugs balanced on shelves or boxes.

If he didn’t know Maho’s habits he would have thought a bomb had gone off and he was looking at the wreckage.

“Don’t stare,” Maho retorted, stepping over boxes to get to the desk, “I never really managed to unpack all the equipment brought in.”

Never felt like unpacking was a more accurate description. The shelves in the room were practically bare, while the floor had to bear the brunt of everything.

Ukiyo slipped on a mislaid pen, landing on his backside.

“Ow…” he grumbled, picking up the assailant and glaring at it. It was a black pen with some silver swirls going up the sides and some sort of engraving: E.G.

Picking himself up off the ground, he asked at last, “What are we doing here?”

“Research,” Maho replied, taking the pen from him, “We’re going to find out what this place has on wordlines and travel between dimensions. We also need to figure out all we can about who ‘Beta you’ is, or else someone might get suspicious. We don’t want you to meet yourself accidentally since that could create all sorts of paradoxes.”

“How do you know all this?” Ukiyo asked, with a degree of astonishment on his face, “I mean about worldines and paradoxes and…yeah.”

“I guess I just find it interesting. Most of our work in the institution is focused on this sort of thing. A while back I wrote a paper on downloading consciousness and converting everything to terabytes so it could be uploaded on a computer or something like that. But I don’t know how your body could be transported along with your mind,” said Maho, picking up a pile of paper and handing it to Ukiyo, “Still, the unthinkable did just happen, so who am I to say it’s impossible?”

“In my world you did that too,” he said, reading the headline.

Her eyes went wide, “Really?”

“Seems like our worlds are not so far removed.”

“The worldlines must be really near each other or else this shift never could have occurred. Something must have spurred the event into action. Is there anything in your world that could have done it?” Maho asked, curiously.

“Like a particle accelerator? I don’t think so. I was standing under a tree where I used to hang out with my friends during the summer. Then I just felt like my consciousness was being separated from my being and I woke up here,” he said, trying to relive the feeling of dissociation. Shivers ran up his spine.

“What happened to your body in the other world?” Maho asked.

Ukiyo shrugged. That was something he wanted to know too.

Maho settled on the ground with her laptop and sifted through the files on the institute’s database.

Meanwhile, Ukiyo used one of the two computers in the room to try and find anything about Beta Ukiyo and Kirigi that he could. It turned out Kirigi was actually the daughter of a rich businessman and she ran a cafe near the main square.

She’s pretty cute, Ukiyo thought, scrolling through the pictures. There was one of Kirigi in a maid’s outfit, complete with headdress and all, holding out an ice-cream cone to an excited child. ‘Kirin’s Fabulous Coffee & Cake’ the sign on the storefront behind her read. There was another picture of Kirigi smiling and holding large metal scissors. She was positioned to cut through a red ribbon. ‘Opening of Kirin’s Fabulous C&C’ the magazine headline indicated.

Krigi could well have been a model with her slim, mature form, large eyes, and rosy lips. Her hair was dyed pastel pink and tied in a loose ponytail with a golden scrunchie.

“Hey,” said Maho from above him, and Ukiyo yelped in surprise. He hadn’t realized Maho had stood up. “Who’re you ogling?” she asked, peering at his screen.

“I’m not! Just, uh…getting familiar with my girlfriend,” he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. He really shouldn’t be embarrassed, this cute girl was meant to be his love interest!

“Beta-you must be a whole lot more glamorous than you will ever be. How did Kirin end up with a pizza delivery man?” she tapped a finger at the screen.

“Relax, I don’t even know her! She’s really pretty but that doesn’t mean she’s nice,” Ukiyo waved his hands vehemently.

Maho didn’t hear him. She was pacing the room. “This is a real shame. You’re Kirin’s boyfriend? She told me she thought a guy had a crush on her but- ew!”

Ukiyo found that a little offending, especially since he wasn’t Beta Ukiyo. So what if I have a cute girlfriend who runs a cafe? If I have to deliver pizza then I deserve that at least!

“You know Kirigi?” he asked instead, closing the tab and turning to Maho.

“Yes. I guess I can take you to the cafe to drool on the table. But we need to find the other you first,” she stopped her pacing and crossed her arms.

“What’s up with you today?” Ukiyo asked, “You’re oddly grumpy.”

Maho didn’t answer, instead they both went back to their research.

Having nothing better to do, Ukiyo cleaned up Maho’s office while she skimmed research papers and websites for more information. It was a pretty futile attempt, but she said she did find something but she had yet to confirm it. To Ukiyo’s frustration, she wouldn’t tell just yet.

At noon, Maho called a disappointed Zero and told her that she should have lunch without them because this was taking longer than expected. By the time they finished, it was already well past the lunch hour.

Ukiyo stretched his arms above his head, cracking his joints. He had eventually found the website of the pizza place he worked at, and the employees’ pictures. He knew he would find himself there too, but when his identical face appeared staring back at him in a uniform he had never worn, he felt vaguely uncomfortable. His mouse hovered over the description underneath the image and he read the bio over and over, head reeling, until Maho placed a hand on his shoulder and told him it was time to go.

The streets were nearly empty, with everyone either at work or having lunch in one of the restaurants. The air was still, not a breeze blowing. The green sun flared, but it was only light and not heat. Cicadas chirped. Strange that it’s not winter here, thought Ukiyo.

Although the previous day his eyes had opened up in wonder at all the strange colors and new stimuli, he was quickly learning that everything in this world seemed artificial and unreal. Everything was static, like on a stage set. The water fountain flowed in a perfect rhythm, not a drop spraying where it was not wanted. Cicadas chirped in harmony.

“Ukiyo,” Maho said, pinching his arm.

“Huh?”

“I’ve said your name five times! Come, let’s take a little detour. I wanted to show you something,” she grabbed his wrist and pulled him after her, down a narrow street branching out of the main street.

“Wait! Where are we going?” Ukiyo nearly tripped over his own feet as he stumbled after Maho.
The memories came at him with no warning.

Maho pulling him down the streets and then up the snow-blanketed hill to stand under the shade of their childhood tree.

Cicadas chirping in the summer heat as they chase each other through hundreds of dandelions, laughing.

Their course led them through a winding path of side-streets and alleys, but Ukiyo could sense that they were almost there. A bright light appeared at the end of a street, and Maho broke into a run. They ran faster and faster, until the street gave way to a shoreline. There they stopped, panting.

The sea licked at the white, crystalline sand gently, and the sun’s rays created gleaming turquoise bridges along the surface of the water. Ukiyo looked into the distance, and spotted land in the distance. It was near enough to observe gleaming dots of light in the haze, and a flickering storm signal in a port somewhere.

“We’ve reached the invisible boundary lines!” Maho exclaimed, the ghost of a smile on her lips, “Can you believe it?”

“Are these the boundary lines you were talking about before?” Ukiyo asked, sitting down next to her on a bench looking towards the sea. He hadn’t been to the seaside since last summer, and that had been a long time ago. Here, the colors were all wrong. Blame it on the sun.

“The very same,” she replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. “It’s impossible to cross, and no one bothers to try. Beyond the water, the desert stretches far and wide, and you get lost in an hour along with all hope of return. Then there’s no way back and you no longer belong to this world.”

“That sounds pretty grim. But still…it looks so pretty,” Ukiyo whispered.

“Somewhere over there is the dandelion garden as well. It is said to be the Eden of this world, where those who live have everything they’ve ever dreamed of. But because of the desert, you can’t get there without a guide. Therefore you might as well forget about ever seeing it! Only those who do great things ever get there. Someday I’d like to get there,” she sighed.

They sat in silence, and Ukiyo stared across the gleaming ocean in a daze. The smooth waves lulled him into a trance, and slowly his mind started wandering.

Heat scorching his skin as he sat on the beach, shoving around piles of sand with his hands.

“I brought some more water!” said Maho, arriving with an overflowing bucket dripping cool water onto his back. “Where do I spill it?”

The water was poured in a moat that curled around the castle, murky water swirling as it made its way around the cavity.

“Oh come on, the sand is sucking it all in!” Maho exclaimed, plopping down on the ground and wiping sand from her brows.

“Is everything alright?” Maho asked, and Ukiyo blinked. He was back under the green sun, which seemed unable to provide any warmth to his chilled body.

He didn’t reply, just watched her pale face bathed in sunlight. Her hair was as messy as ever, spilling over her shoulders and sticking up in all directions. The innocent gray light in her eyes shone, but behind it there was something deeper that Ukiyo hadn’t seen in the other Maho’s eyes.

He swallowed, finding that his throat was dry. There was something he had been meaning to tell her, and had been thinking about it this whole time. His hands were clammy, and his heart pounded in his chest, making him light headed. Say it. Now.

“Maho, I- I like you! I mean, I…like like you!” Ukiyo cried out, clenching his eyes shut.

Finally, finally, he had said it. He opened his eyes and waited for a reaction.

Maho’s eyes went wide, and then Ukiyo’s heart clenched as he realized they were filling with tears. She was mouthing something, but no sound came out.

He didn’t move, but his heart was pattering in his chest in fearful anticipation.

Maho wiped her eyes furiously, muttering: “This isn’t fair! You’re not being fair, Ukiyo!”

Panic gripped him as he realized how stupid he had been. What he said next was not at all what he meant to say, but it kind of just came out.

“I was trying to ignore the feeling but whenever I look at you I can’t think of anything else!” he blurted out.

Maho dug the heels of her palms into her eyes and stammered blindly, “Ukiyo, you might know me from the other worldline, but I-I don’t know you! I don’t know how I’m supposed to…feel about you…” She removed her hands from her face and peered at him with a pained expression.

“Y-yeah, that’s fine! I shouldn’t have sprang this upon you…I’m sorry, ahaha, that was very silly of me! Let’s just forget this ever happened,” he grinned awkwardly, then stood up to walk away.

“No!” Maho shouted, voice ringing through the air with clarity.

Ukiyo stopped but didn’t face her. He waited, clenching his teeth together in something like anguish. He felt like he was on the brink of tears, but he didn’t want Maho to see. It would just hurt her more, and she would probably feel like she was obliged to apologize. But she had done nothing! It was Ukiyo who had confessed; much less to someone who wasn’t even the girl he knew! What had he been thinking?

He heard Maho get to her feet and felt her grip on his wrist. He stiffened against her touch. “Y-you can’t bury your head in the sand. Feelings don’t just go away like that-” she started.

Ukiyo interrupted, angrily.

“So you reject me and now what? Why don’t you hold my hand instead of my wrist?” It had sounded colder than he had intended, but he didn’t want her to be confused. Not knowing was worse than knowing she was not interested.

“N-n-n-I don’t know! Argh, what am I-I- I don’t know what I’m trying to say, okay!” she gasped out, letting go of his arm guiltily.

Ukiyo knew how she felt better than anyone. He had been trying to work up to this moment for a while, but he was never confident enough. He didn’t even know what he wanted. They were already friends, so that should have been enough. Now he had sprang this upon Maho and expected her to make some sort of a decision? Stupid.

“Hey, it’s fine,” he said eventually, although his face was hot and he felt like he was lying. She couldn’t meet his eyes. “C’mon, I’m serious. Friends?” Ukiyo offered a hand.

“Okay…” she murmured, touching his hand tentatively. Her fingers curled around his fingers like a child’s.

They sat like that for a while, under the green sun. He knew this was not resolved, but just sitting there felt nice. Yes. It was nice.

A loud growling broke him out of his stupor.

“Ah!” Maho exclaimed, face turning red as they both realized it was her stomach.

Ukiyo laughed lightly. “We haven’t eaten all day,” he said, “Want to go and buy something?”

To his surprise, Maho shook her head.

“I want to stay here for another minute. I feel like this is the first quiet moment I’ve had in a while,” she said. “If I get up now, the world will just continue rushing by at breakneck speed again. I would turn around and around, and then eventually, when I get really dizzy…I’d fall.”

“Fine by me,” he shrugged.

Although it was still early afternoon, the moon was becoming visible in the sky. It appeared in the shape of a thin crescent, dimly lit by the sun.

Maho’s stomach growled again, and this time Ukiyo’s joined in. They laughed together, and the tranquil mood was officially broken.

Ukiyo stood up, stretching his legs. Maho stood next to him, still gripping his hand. He tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let his hand go. He blushed, but surrendered. They went to the supermarket like that, then Maho eventually let go for the sake of getting some actual shopping done. She insisted on holding the shopping basket, so Ukiyo tagged along behind her, hands in his pockets.

“What do you want for lunch?” he asked, surveying the products down the aisles. There was nothing different about them, though he didn’t really recognize the brands and the pricing was really strange. Two dandelions for joghurt, five dandelions for salmon… Some things were measured in daisies or tulips though. Tulips in the Netherlands were a big deal, he remembered.

“Let’s just get instant ramen and maybe some snacks,” Maho started placing items in the basket haphazardly.

“Woah, stop!” Ukiyo hurried over to her, “Is that really all you eat? I’ll make some curry if you show me where the ingredients are.”

“Curry?” Maho asked, tilting her head at him.

“Sure! We just need some meat, rice, vegetables, and spices…” Ukiyo said, placing some items back on the shelves.

Their hunt turned out successful, and now they had everything for a delicious curry.

“You really can cook?” Maho asked tentatively.

“I love cooking!” he replied, “Which is good I guess, since my mom is often too busy to cook for us and the responsibility is passed onto me as the only kid.”

Maho didn’t ask about his dad, which was just as well. He hadn’t seen him for a long time.

“Ukiyo, look!” Maho called to him from the next aisle, “They have tiramisu!”

“So?” he asked, “You want some?”
“Uh-huh!”

Ukiyo reached up and took it from the shelf, placing it in the basket. They made their way to the checkout, Maho pulling out a handful of fresh dandelions from a wallet. She had explained previously that everyone was given dandelions weekly and they could use them for anything they wanted. If someone wanted to buy a house, they would have to notify the banks not to ship them dandelions and instead keep them for later. They also had cards to make things easier.

“Let’s go back to your flat. Zero must be really impatient by now,” Ukiyo said once their items were safely packed in a bag.

Maho didn’t move. Her head was down, dark hair falling into her face. She clutched the empty shopping basket with both hands.

Eventually, she spoke quietly. “I’m not ready to go back,” she mumbled, “because then things will return to normalcy again and it will be like this never really happened.”

Ukiyo contemplated for a moment before he spoke. A woman wheeled a rattling cart by him, her toddler wailing in the seat. She shushed him and handed him a lollipop.

“Is normalcy really so bad?” he said finally, “ In the Alpha Worldline, I always wished for something interesting to happen. But when I woke up in this world and realized it was not a dream, I was gripped by unimaginable fear. Would I ever get back to my old life? Would this nightmare end?”

Maho raised her head. “I had no idea you felt like that,” she said.

Ukiyo reached into his pocket and held the dandelion marble in his palm. “Well, I did at first. But I would always just hold on to this marble that my friend gave me. I would squeeze it really hard and remember the last words she said to me before I came here. It helped ground me and I felt normal again,” he said, holding it out so Maho could see it better.

“But doesn’t that chain you to the past?” she wondered.

“As long as I don’t forget where I am, it’s okay. Here, you take it,” he plopped it into her outstretched hand.

“But-” she protested.

“I’ll take it back later, so don’t grow too attached,” Ukiyo laughed.

“But your friend gave it to you! How will you remember?” Maho protested, a worried look on her face.

“Trust me, there’s no way I could forget. And besides, she would want you to have it.”

Hesitantly, Maho dropped her arm to her side, holding the marble tightly in her fist.

If only she knew… thought Ukiyo, hiding an amused smile.

“Thanks. I’m ready to go home now,” she said, purposefully.

Maho’s back, Ukiyo noted with satisfaction. It took some work, and it wasn’t all fair that he had to comfort her when it was she who rejected him, but it was better like this. Things were All Right again.

“Ukiyo, I found it! It was buried really, really deep, but I found it!”