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Hailey was sitting in her room, thinking about how she would get closer to Scott. Even though she had admitted her romantic attraction and a kiss was the one item on the list, which she had hidden, she hadn't made any progress since then. What she didn't know was Scott's secret. Scott had begun to established gender that Hailey thought she knew. Scott even had started to explore the possibility of being non-binary. Hailey would learn all about that at some point.
Her thoughts dissipated quickly when at that very moment, her bedroom door was pushed aside with a loud bang. Becker came in with a huge grin on her face. Hailey wasn't sure what she was up to. Why was she there?
"Do you have...Munchymoll?," Becker asked. Hailey shook her head. What even was that service? She knew of the big ones, like Nulu, Tutflix, Misney+, and NimeVideo, but she had never heard of that one. Of course, with the awful merger that the regime wanted, between Maramount and SNBO Max, it would be even worse. Lots of people would lose their jobs. What was Munchymoll? No one had ever mentioned that in her school, at least as far as she could recall.
Becker laughed. She whipped out a flash drive and placed it in her hand. "I was half-expecting you might have it...Hailey...I also thought you might not have it...that is why I bought this thing." She continued. She started to become even more enthusiastic. She loved talking with people about her interests. "I have a show you should watch, no you must watch. It's my favorite series...and my girlfriend, Kennedy, loves it too."
Hailey stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Unlike in the past, Becker would constantly mention Kennedy in conversation, just to make it evident that she was gay. While Hailey could feel that sometimes it was too much, she was glad that Becker was more open. In a certain way, that outweighed how flamboyant she was now, even though she still was pretty socially awkward at times. You could say it balanced out. "Okay...what's the name of it?"
This made Becker even happier. Hailey was actually interested? She almost expressed surprise. At the same time, she saw this as a way to pull her in. "Oh, it's called I'm in Love with the Villainess or I Favor the Villainess...it's a...Japanese animation...you know...also called Wataoshi...it might be up your alley." She went a little further. "You like romcoms, right?...This is that, but between girls."
Hailey was intrigued. Although she hadn't watched Japanese animation before... she knew that Japanese animation was called anime. She'd never had time to watch any anime series. Her friends had recommended some. However, they were kind of old... nothing that new. She and Becker hadn't watched a series together ever before. Perhaps this would be okay. Without thinking about it much, she blurted out, "I'd love to watch that series with you. Just not with Scott...because well...you know why." Becker understood what she meant. She knew that Scott and Hailey had something going on between them, some lingering feelings. She found it a bit weird, but she tolerated it.
"Okay," she shouted back. She quickly grabbed Hailey's laptop and plugged in the flash drive into the USB port. She didn't have much time to think before Becker opened the video with the first episode. They ended up sitting next to each other on her bed. She was fine with that, even though she knew full well that Becker probably still had a crush on her. They could be nice friends. And that was fine. She wasn't aware that Becker was a big fan of yuri.
As they began their nearly five hours of anime watching, Hailey was drawn to the characters and the storyline. Sure, she had never read the multiple light novels, nor had she read the manga, which was by a Japanese woman, who had a partner and was likely trans, named Inori. That didn't dampen her enjoyment. Maybe people were right in saying that the animation was not the best. She didn't care about stuff like that. Animation was a marvel to her, as someone who couldn't create animation like that herself. As such, she respected their work. Some would grumble about motion smears or errors, making whole videos about it, but she cared little about that.
When Hailey looked outside, she saw it was pitch black. She had been so engrossed in the series that she hadn't even noticed. Becker waved her goodbye. She lamented that she couldn't stay the night because Kennedy was coming over for a sleepover. Little did Hailey know, but her leaving that would be significant in what was about to happen. Hailey was tired from everything she had done that day. In no time at all, she fell asleep. She drifted off and thinking about what she had seen, even imagining herself in the anime's environment. She didn't know why Becker had showed her the series, though. Despite that, she was glad that Becker was being friendly despite undoubtedly having a crush on her.
At one point during the night, she opened her eyes for a second. The bright light from her laptop screen woke her up. She couldn't see as well without her glasses. However, she could tell that two shapes had stepped out. What in the world was happening? Who were these people? She rubbed her eyes and grabbed her glasses from the bedside table. The two shapes were... women... they were Rae Taylor and Claire Francois! Why were they here? And in her bedroom!?
"Oh my word, that journey was most disturbing. Rae, you must do better in making sure no rapscallions follow us next time," Claire declared, followed by a "hrmph!" Rae respected Claire from the depths of her heart. She had even been reincarnated in the otome game world she now lived in, a game she had thoroughly enjoyed more than anything in her previous life. She had fallen in deeply love with Claire, even writing fanfics of her which continued to stand the test of time, and become big in the fan community, even running a raeisthebest subreddit, and chattering with people about it on Tumblr, doing her best to share her devotion with other fans of the game.
"Yes, Miss Claire. I will do as you desire," Rae began, and bowed. She was going to say more before electric light filled the room and illuminated them both. Hailey, holding a flashlight in her hand and clearly nervous, stood there in near terror. She didn't know why they were there. She feared for her own safety. Who wouldn't be when people magically appear in your bedroom? She had to do something about this. Perhaps she could contact Becker. She'd know what to do.
She whipped out her phone. Using the videocall feature, she called Becker, who answered her phone immediately while yawning when she responded. She didn't know why Hailey seemed so panicked. That is until Hailey turned the video feature which showed two unannounced guests standing in her bedroom. They seemed familiar to Becker somehow although she couldn't immediately place it, not until her friend mentioned the names of these guests-of-sorts.
"Becker, you have to help me! These two people came out of my computer...I don't know what to do! They call themselves 'Miss Claire' and 'Rae'...Can you please...come back here?"
Before she could respond, Claire groused. She didn't like being referred to that way. It was demeaning to her, as a noble. People had to refer to her in the right way. That's just how it was.
"It's Miss Claire Francois. You can't forget that. You peasants, you don't know how to talk about me, within your strange glowing contraption, psh!" Claire grabbed the phone out of Hailey's hand when she said this, putting her face close to the screen, catching Becker off guard. She hadn't expected that. The phone soon fell to the ground. Hailey snatched it up before it was stepped upon by Claire's foot, preventing it from being cracked. She didn't want that.
Rae clapped and smiled. She loved when Claire acted like this. It was one of the reasons she deeply loved her, all the way to the core of her being. As she blushed, she realized that something about where they were, right now, was different. The place felt... off. The fact that this person had a phone in her hand, and the electric light clued her in. Was she back on Earth? How and why?
Hailey was annoyed at how arrogant Claire was being and for Rae being so happy for it. About to grab an item as a weapon to fend them off, Becker came busting through the door. "I'm here, Hailey! And I brought Kennedy with me!"
As Becker held Kennedy's hand tightly, she blushed profusely. The video call had not been an illusion: Claire and Rae were standing in front of them. Becker was amazed even more than Kennedy, although the latter was a big yuri fan too.
"Rae Taylor! Claire Francois!, you are here in the real! I never imagined it would happen. You are both so amazing! Can you please sign my arm? I can't contain my excitement! You are such rockstars!"
Sounding like an overjoyed anime fangirl, which she was, Rae and Claire were taken aback. How in the world did this girl, no this young woman, know their names? Where in the world were they? Who were these people?
Deciding to take a stand, Rae stepped out in front of Claire, preparing to defend her from this woman, to make sure she didn't harm her precious Claire. She had her wand at the ready, even though she wasn't sure of magic worked her. No one, other than her, could ever have Claire. She already went through all of that with Manaria. She vowed that no one would ever get between their love again. She had fought hard for it and would not let her go.
"Miss, I cannot allow you to do that, Miss Claire is mine. I won't let anyone else have her! If I want to ravage her, that's my business, no one else's!" she loudly boomed. It was a miracle that her voice didn't rouse Hailey's mom and dad. Perhaps it was because they were watching an SNL re-run by some washed up actor and paying attention to that rather than anything around them. They hadn't even noticed that Becker had left and came back.
Claire was unsure what to make of Rae's statement. Her face began to get hot. How could she even possibly respond to it? Did Rae want to do that thing with her? How could she respond to it, in front of these people? People she didn't even know! What insolence! She'd never seen strange things like light which turned on with a switch, the strange glowing box, or any of the other weird contraptions in the room. Was it some form of... magic?
As she wondered how she would respond, Kennedy stepped forward and boldly grabbed Rae's hand, shaking it vigorously. With a big smile across her face, she suddenly declared, "You and Miss Claire are so cute together! You are the superstars of my favorite yuri series ever! The anime is great, but the manga and light novels are even better!"
Confused by what Kennedy was saying, Claire responded with worry. "Ana-may? mang-guh? yur-eee? light...novels? What are you talking about?...and what are these infernal lights? Is it some kind of special spell?"
This was where Rae stepped in. She knew what Kennedy meant. She had been a super nerd in her previous life, so she could directly respond, and put Miss Claire at ease at the same time. That's what she needed to, since it seemed they had returned to Earth for some reason. She wasn't sure why, but they could get through it, together. They would get back to their world. It would be okay.
"Miss Claire, anime is a production with moving images...manga is like an illustrated picture book...light novels are literature produced in the land I'm from...an island nation...and yuri are stories about girls or women in love...lesbians...these lights are powered by electricity."
Rae's words made her feel a bit better. She knew what a lesbian was from when Rae admitted she was one all that time ago. Even so, she still didn't understand why, or even how, she knew about all of this. Becker began to say something, but Kennedy covered her month, stopping her from revealing the truth. She did not want to burst their bubble. They could never ever tell them that they were characters in a series which began as a novel online, then later adapted in various light novel, manga, and novel series, and even a twelve-episode anime. That would disorient them beyond belief, which could very very bad.
Hailey said something to break the tension and to move the conversation to a different subject. She wasn't thinking about it much when she said it. She was so glad that Scott and Beta weren't there.
"Why don't we all have a sleepover! We can...uh...deal with everything in the morning!" Surprisingly, Rae and Claire were okay with this. Kennedy and Becker were overjoyed. In no time at all, Claire, Rae, and Hailey were asleep, while Becker and Kennedy chattered away, even taking photos of sleeping Rae and Claire that they saved on their phones. No one was sure why Rae or Claire had appeared on Earth, but Becker and Kennedy were overjoyed to see them in the real. Perhaps they partially realized that Rae and Claire wouldn't be there forever. As Hailey began to sleep, her bracelet beeped. Her list item (meet a real-life villainess from an otome game in real-life) had been fulfilled.
What happened the next day would be up to Becker, Kennedy, Rae, Claire, and Hailey. As Becker and Kennedy finally went to sleep, one leg began to come out of the glowing laptop screen, from a young woman from the Kingdom of Sousse. The arrival of this person was bound to upend everything planned and cause undoubted problems for all those present...
