The back of Nagia’s chair slammed against the wall. Her head hit one of the neon lights. She felt it break, the glass sprinkling down into her hair.

  ‘Why did you kill me?’ Brianna screamed. She was straddling Nagia, hands closing around her throat. ‘Why are you even here? After what happened, you should want to burn this place down, not come back to it. What is wrong with you?’

  ‘I didn’t mean it to happen like that.’ Nagia fought feebly. Brianna didn’t look strong, but she had enough anger to make up for those thin arms of hers. ‘And what about you? Why are you here?’

  ‘Why do you think?’ Brianna yelled as she shook Nagia. ‘I was meeting the so-called Keeper of Secrets or whatever her name was. Who turns out to be you!’

  ‘I guess that answers why I’m here,’ Nagia said with an awkward laugh. ‘I swear, Brianna. I had no idea you were Brianna. If I had, then I’d have-’ Her words were cut off as the other girl’s hands tightened around her throat. It was embarrassingly unexpected. Fresh fear pounded through her body as she found herself unable to breathe. It dawned on her that this was really happening. She wondered if this would be where she died, which would really give her mother a lot to think about.

  Then Brianna let go. Leaning back, the girl screamed a string of curses so loud her voice reverberated against the walls. It summoned the receptionist guy, who skidded to a halt when he saw them. He threatened to call security, which made Brianna get off of Nagia. Jabbing a finger at Nagia’s chest, she said, ‘Your flesh belongs to me,’ before storming away, past the receptionist guy, and around the corner.

  Nagia’s first instinct was to try to follow, but the receptionist stopped her. ‘Look, I don’t know what happened,’ he said, pointing to the broken light, ‘but you’ll have to pay for that.’

  By the time Nagia was outside, the sky had turned in on itself. Bruised clouds rolled over through the smog, slathering the air with the heavy scent of a downpour. Nagia looked around for Brianna, but there was no sign of the blonde-haired girl. She felt rotten. She imagined her own stomach churning with the same color as the putrid horizon. She made her way to Mr. Kobayashi’s shop. She still had half a day of work left before she could go home and forget everything that happened. She was glad of that, though, because it gave her an excuse to think. She probably needed to apologize, but what good would that do? It was common knowledge that the other world’s impact bled regularly into this one. When the first waves of people were introduced to Tera and the stars, many could not pull themselves back out. Lives were ruined because some people preferred one over the other, and minds were lost when the distinction was no longer clear. That would have happened to Nagia if her physical pain had not trumped her fictional one.

  There was no one in the store except for its owner. Mr. Kobayashi barely looked up from his magazine when Nagia came back. That was good. She wasn’t in the mood to talk about where she’d been or what had happened. She did not wait for his instructions and went straight to one of the racks of records. She started reorganizing them. It was the first time she had slowed down and really looked at what she was touching. They were indeed records, though unlike what she knew them to be.

  ‘They predate you by a bit,’ Mr. Kobayashi said when she brought one to him. ‘Something my granddad used to play.’

  ‘Relics, then,’ said Nagia.

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  ‘Hah. Not yet.’

  Nagia turned the disk around, feeling the grooves underneath its cardboard sheath. ‘What does it play?’

  ‘We’re in a music store, so you tell me,’ said Mr. Kobayashi.

  ‘Podcasts, then.’

  The shopkeeper put down his magazine, a look of incredulous dismay on his face.

  ‘I’m kidding,’ Nagia told him. ‘Can I take one home?’

  ‘You got a gramophone at home?’

  ‘Our town doesn’t get phone lines.’

  ‘That’s not what I mean.’ Mr. Kobayashi sighed. He told Nagia to follow and took her to the east side of the shop, to a section behind the piano. There was a table wedged against the corner, almost hidden from the windows. A strange contraption, kind of like a big tube, sat on a box in a knook inside the wall. Mr. Kobayashi held out his hand. Nagia handed him the record. He looked at it, scoffed a little, said she had good taste, and slid it out of the package.

  Nagia watched as the disk went on top of the box. A small arm was placed at the edge of the disk, and then a lever was turned.

  Noise erupted from the brass tube. Cymbals clashed. Drums battled with screaming guitars. Someone was howling, but the words were lost within a mixture of rage and metal. Nagia held her hands over her ears. The glass windows were shaking. She looked to Mr. Kobayashi, thinking this had to be some kind of mistake, but the man was rocking out to the tune, his head swinging to and fro in time with the burly drumbeats. He was completely lost, like some kind of fanatic. Nagia pulled at his sleeve and shouted at him to turn it off. He shouted something back that she couldn’t hear. Taking matters into her own hands, she reached over and lifted the needle from the spinning record disk, deciding that she had to take the risk of it breaking.

  The music stopped, so did Mr. Kobayashi, whatever possessed him vanishing with the music. He adjusted his collar and pushed his glasses back up his nose. ‘We were just getting to the good part,’ he said.

  ‘Are they all like this?’ Nagia asked.

  ‘Just the best ones. I’ll let you use the gramophone once you repay your debt,’ answered Mr. Kobayashi.’

  Nagia pocketed the thick disk back into its cover. ‘Speaking of debt, could I get an advancement?’ she asked, which made her boss laugh. ‘I broke a light in the internet cafe near the train station.’

  Mr. Kobayashi took the record back from her. ‘You’re just a bull in the world, aren’t you?’ he mused, but then stopped. ‘Is this the cafe near the train station?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Did you see a girl with blonde hair, colorful nail polish, and earrings shaped like the moon in there?’

  ‘Brianna?’

  The man nodded, looking surprised. ‘Are you friends?’

  More like enemies…

  ‘I only met her once,’ Nagia said. ‘Oh. Twice. Technically, a few more, but it’s complicated.’

  ‘Okay,’ said Mr. Kobayashi. ‘Is she still working there?’

  Nagia started to answer, but realized that she wasn’t sure what the answer was. What happened yesterday made it seem like Brianna had quit, but then she was there today. Of course, she was probably there as a customer and not a tech, but after what Nagia did to her, maybe that would make the girl second-guess her decision to stand up for the weak and crippled. She didn’t know what to tell Mr. Kobayashi, what it all meant, so Nagia just shrugged. ‘Is she someone you know, Sir?’

  For the first time, Nagia saw a small smile on Mr. Kobayashi’s face. ‘She’s my-’

  ‘Dad!’ A familiar voice burst in as the doors swung against their frame. ‘I need a job.’

  Nagia turned. She froze, and so did the girl who had just come in. Their eyes widened as they stared at each other. Neither seemed to hear what Mr. Kobayashi said next.

  ‘Good timing. I was just asking about you. This is Nagia Nakamura. She’s Ms. Nakamura’s kid. And Nagia, this is Brianna, my daughter.’