Lucid

Leila choked on a piece of breakfast sausage. “You want me to what?”

Amber lowered her fork, her sunny-side eggs sitting neglected on her chipped plate. “I want you to come with us to the capital for the festival.”

“Why? Don’t you know what it’ll be like for me if I go there?”

Amber clenched her butterknife tightly. “You’re my friend, and I want people to know that. I promise I won’t let anyone mistreat you.”

“I’d like you to come along too, Ren,” Mistu chimed in. “It’ll give us more time to catch up.” And I won’t have to worry about you disappearing again. He tried to make his request light-hearted to the ear, but it was a far more earnest plea than he was willing to let on.

Ren gestured to his face. “Ask me that question again when you don’t have syrup dribbling down your face.”

Mitsu furiously wiped his face with a cloth napkin before letting it pound against the table with a dull thud. “Come with us to the festival, you prick. It’ll be fun.”

Amber looked exasperated as she asked, “Why do you have to make it sound like a threat?”

“He used to be a little troublemaker, that’s why,” Ren answered.

She placed her chin in her hand, her lips almost pouty. “He never talks to me like that though.”

Ren’s bicep rippled as he scratched the back of his head. “Of course he doesn’t. Who threatens their girl like that?”

“You do,” Leila said pointedly. “Ya bullied me out of bed, ya meanie.”

“You’re the one who asked me to wake you up ‘absolutely no matter what’,” he said. “It’s not my fault you hibernate like a bear.”

Mitsu pointed at them and turned his head toward Amber. “Do you really want me to talk to you that way?”

Amber waved her hand so furiously it looked like a hand clapper. Her face went red like strawberry jam.

“No no no, please don’t. Sweet Mitsu is best Mitsu.”

He laughed as he lowered his hand. “I’m glad you think so.”

Leila and Ren glanced at each other. “Anyways,” Leila continued, “if ya want us to come to the festival with ya, then…I guess I don’ mind. Truth is, I haven’t been to the capital in years.”

“I’d also like to see it,” Ren commented idly. “I haven’t seen much of Ferris beyond this town; I wouldn’t mind some thrills.”

Amber's eyes brightened, and she clapped her hands together. “Then it’s settled! We’ll set out for the capital at noon!”

----------------------------------

It took them three days on the road to arrive at the capital, and the journey made Mitsu feel more like himself than he had in a long time.

The track had been an enormous part of his life in Japan; he missed it. But it wasn't the need for speed, the random prizes, or even the scattered audience attention that meant the most to him.

It was his friends, who raised him on their bony shoulders and shouted and cheered at his silly accomplishments. It was the fancy prize meat they all shared crammed into Sakura and Mitsu’s apartment. It was Sakura’s coffee-tinted kiss as she congratulated him, whether it was a win or not.

That was him.

The more they traveled together, the more he realized that even being in another world couldn’t change that. When Amber and Leila hunted for food while Mitsu and Ren scratched their beautiful booties fishing at a nearby stream. When they swapped spooky stories from their respective worlds over a dead fire. When he laid in a patch of grass with Amber and admired the stars, their arms brushing against each other.

It was still him.

And yet, the significance of arriving in the forested city of Lucid was almost enough for him to consider abandoning himself altogether.

Sakura was so close. Just a trek through the trees, a hike up the polished castle steps, and he would finally catch a glimpse of her—or, more accurately—the bees.

It was a desperate, dialed-up need in his very tissues. It felt impossible to ignore, much less suppress. It wasn’t an unfamiliar urge, either. No, not at all. And yet, as Amber nudged his shoulder, her expression alight with excitement as she pulled him into the city of Lucid, he decided he could endure a little longer.

There was a pleasant hum in the air as they walked down the main street of Lucid. Bees zoomed daringly close to their faces as they sped to and fro to receive any manner of treats offered by the stall owners, and the children stumbled after them, drunk off laughter and delight.

The trees were lined up lean and tall on either side of the road. They'd been trimmed back dutifully, yet he wouldn’t go as far as to call them manicured. It was still a neatly maintained forest path more than anything.

The same firefly lights he’d noticed at the Reverb Inn dotted the trees; their little light show was slated for later in the evening. A cheerful festival organizer had given them pamphlets and a map to navigate the festival in the city, and Mitsu found himself almost overwhelmed by choice.

“A meet-and-greet with Wallace’s bees…a beeswax sculpture competition…a beeswax balm stall? Any of these sounding interesting to you guys?”

Leila pulled her cloak around herself a little tighter. She’d insisted on hiding her ears while they were here, and though Amber wasn’t thrilled she felt the need to do that, she didn’t push nearly as much as she could have. Her patience with people was a part of her that Mitsu loved.

“I don’t care where we go,” Leila answered, clearly on edge. “Let’s just get this over with quickly, ya?”

“I actually have something I need to go take care of,” Amber said apologetically. “Will you three be alright on your own?”

“We’ll be fine,” Ren answered. “Go do what you need to do.” It was a bit of a surprise to see how much closer Amber and Ren had become in just a few days. Maybe they’d talked when Mitsu wasn’t there, maybe they hadn’t. Either way, it made him happy to see them get along.

She smiled at Ren before brushing her fingers against Mitsu’s. “I’ll meet up with you again as soon as I’m done.”

His fingers tingled from her touch long after he’d lost her in the crowd.

“Alright, space cadet,” Ren said, snatching the map from him. “Bees, balm, and sculptures, right? Let’s go see them all.”

Leila’s ear twitched underneath her hood as she wrapped herself around Ren’s arm. “Fine. Does that sound good to ya, Mitsu?”

Ren hadn’t been outside of Lovey since arriving in Ferris, so Mitsu had no problem letting him decide. He figured Leila felt the same way. Mitsu smiled. “No complaints here. Let’s go!”