It was a normal day… or at least, that’s how it started off.
“Esther?” came Dietrich’s voice from the other side of the door, “are we getting boba or what? Everyone’s waiting for you.”
“One sec!” Esther exclaimed, grabbing her phone, “okay I’m coming!” She opened the door to reveal Dietrich, who was impatiently tapping his foot along with Scarlett and William.
“Took you long enough.”
“Sorry…” Esther laughed sheepishly, “should we go now?”
To this, Dietrich offered no response, instead he simply started to walk off with the others following.
“Wait up!” Esther exclaimed, chasing after Dietrich, “slow down!”
“You need to get longer legs,” Scarlett commented.
“Well unfortunately, the people who make prosthetic limbs haven’t made limb extensions yet, so I can’t.”
“Thats no excuse for being short,” William said, grinning as he joined in on teasing Esther.
“Wh- it’s not my fault that I got genes that made me short!” Esther exclaimed indignantly, “and people not having made limb extensions is totally an excuse! Excuses aren’t bad despite society’s outlook on them, the dictionary definition is “to seek to defend or justify your actions. Saying excuses are bad is like saying trying to defend yourself in court is bad.”
Dietrich sighed, “Whatever.”
“Ha!” Esther cheered as she threw her arms up in the air in triumph.
Dietrich rolled his eyes as he opened the door to the boba tea shop, the four of them having arrived. They stepped into the shop, the familiar tingle of the bell at the front door announcing their entrance.
“Welcome back! It’s always good to see you two,” said Maria, one of the workers at the shop, “what can I get for you guys today?”
“A…” Esther glanced up at the menu, “passion fruit green tea with lychee jelly and crystal boba. 50% sweetness and no ice please.
“Strawberry milk tea with strawberry popping boba for me!” William said cheerfully.
“I’ll take the same thing as him,” Scarlett said, gesturing to William.
“Grapefruit jasmine tea at 75% sweetness and less ice,” Dietrich said, not even bothering to look at the menu.
“No boba? Or jelly?” Maria asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Nope, not today,” Dietrich said, as he offered no explanation while pulling out his credit card.
“If you say so…” Maria hit a couple buttons on her computer, “that will be $31.29, including tax.”
Dietrich nodded, swiping his card.
“And… you’re all set!” Maria grabbed the receipt from the receipt printer, “we’ll have the drinks out for you in a bit. Would you like your receipt or should I throw it out like usual?”
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Dietrich waved his hand dismissively, “No it’s fine, just toss it. Thanks, Maria.”
“No problem, it’s what I’m paid to do,” Maria said simply, turning around to get started on making the drinks.
“So why didn’t you get any boba?” Esther asked, sitting down at one of the tables.”
Dietrich shrugged, “I just wanted some regular tea.”
William theatrically gasped, “How could you even dare imply that regular tea could ever be better than boba tea at any point? Boba tea is obviously superior to regular tea in every way.”
Dietrich rolled his eyes, “Like I said, it was just what I was in the mood for.”
Scarlett scoffed, “How could regular tea ever be better than boba tea? That’s absurd.”
“Well-“
“Your drinks are ready!” Maria called out as she set the drinks on the counter, “one passion fruit green tea with lychee jelly and crystal boba and one grapefruit jasmine–”
Esther didn’t get to hear the rest of Maria’s sentence as the world went black and a voice spoke into her head.
[Initiating Integration of the 100th Universe…]
[Welcome to the Multiverse.]
____________________________________________________
Yuno yawned, slowly blinking his eyes. Is it morning already? Rays of sunlight lit the room as he pushed the curtains to the side. So it is the next day. How wonderful. He plucked his phone off the night stand and started to head down the stairs of the house he knew practically as well as his own.
“Welcome back to the world of the living, sleepyhead,” Noah stood at the bottom of the stairs, a plate with a tower of pancakes stacked high in his hand.
“I’m not much of a morning person,” Yuno sat down and took a sip of the iced tea that Noah had prepared for him along with breakfast, “you know that.”
“I know everything about you.”
“That sounds like a line straight out of a BL romance novel,” Yuno laughed, “no doubt, you would be the protagonist.”
“Why?” Noah cocked his head.
“Well…” Yuno glanced up at the person sitting across from him. Noah was basically what one would consider the Heavens’ masterpiece. He was good-looking, with short, jet-black hair, as well as a defined handsome face, piercing blue eyes that gleamed like gemstones from the depths of the ocean, and a tall, lean, but muscular build that would make any ordinary person jealous. Obviously though, that barely even began to list the rest of his amazing features. He was also athletic, had straight A’s, and a myriad of other positive traits. Essentially, he was just prime protagonist material. “You just give off lots of ‘main character’ vibes.” Though, Noah had never been one for romance, no matter how many girls went after him.
Noah raised a brow, “Has Esther been infecting you with her love of webnovels or something?”
“You could say that.”
“I guess if anyone would be able to get you into something like that, it would be Esther,” Noah muttered.
“Speaking of which, we’re meeting her and the rest of our friends in an hour.”
“Did you think that I forgot or something?”
“No, but–”
A glowing blue screen flashed into existence. Messages started to appear on it.
[Initiating Integration of the 100th Universe…]
[Welcome to the Multiverse.]
Yuno’s eyes went wide, is this– his thought was abruptly cut short by the world starting to crumble around him.
“Yuno!” Noah reached out as Yuno started to fall into an abyss that had opened up around them.
Yuno reached out, his fingertips brushing Noah’s, but then he fell into the void and darkness swallowed him.
