Miriam Chitose

Miriam “Miri” Chitose woke up the same way she had for the past two weeks, angry and depressed. Sitting up, she saw the pair of digital picture frames she had moved to be in front of her bed. One of them cycled between photos of herself and Katie, the other going through pictures with her high school cheer squad. This, too, shall pass. Unwilling to let herself stew, Miri began to clean up her apartment. She had two hours until registration opened up at the convention, and she could walk there. This was always a nice spot; Katie would just stay over when there was a convention.

The only thing that was left to be done was packing up clothes; unfortunately, that meant that the unemployed writer also had to sort through what was her best friend's and what was hers. I know Katie is going to try to do this weekend, and I don’t know why I'm so uncomfortable with it. The writer thought as she was sorting through which clothes belonged to her and which belonged to her best friend. The process took about an hour; by the time it was completed, two stacks were visible in the room, one dwarfing the other. Why the fuck does she have more clothes here than I do? Instead of dealing with the implications of this discovery, Miri decided to continue her reread of her favorite novel, Inherent Vice. Her podcast somehow managed to get a live show at the convention this weekend, so she wanted to give herself a refresher before the actual show. The writer sighed. She couldn’t believe that Katie managed to get a panel slot for a relatively unknown literature podcast, but she was amazing as a producer.

After finishing her reading, she made her way towards the convention center, trading in an oversized Miku t-shirt for jean short shorts and a crop top. It was a sunny summer day, so there was no need for anything heavier. That was when the writer received a text message in the podcast group chat. Katie had already gotten in and had found something to do. Clicking the link revealed an entry form for a space-themed dating game. Not having any other immediate plans, the writer went ahead and signed up for it. As soon as she clicked submit, Miri was gone in a pink light.

Miri found herself in an empty hallway, the sole source of lighting came from the direction she was facing. Not willing to risk what was in the other direction, she ran towards the light. The brisk walk led her to an amphitheater, where she could see two people at least, and she headed down to the lowest level. The writer was greeted with a juxtaposition of familiar and foreign sights. Katie was topless, getting a message from a nude orange woman while sitting in front of another orange woman. If nothing else, knowing her best friend was safe put the writer's mind at ease.

“You get **** by aliens and your first thought is to take your shirt off?” Miri called out to her friend.

Katie snapped out of the well of thought she was digging as soon as she heard her best friend's voice. The bespectacled woman leaped up from the woman-shaped bench she was seated on and leaped into a hug in Miri's arms. “I'm so sorry,” Katie replied, laughing nervously at the scenario she got them into.

“For what exactly?“

“This is the dating show that the form I sent you was for. Apparently, aliens are now recruiting from conventions.”

“How many times have I gotten us into trouble? You found fucking aliens. I think you're in the clear,” the writer confided in her friend. Miri then turned her eyes to the orange nudist on a throne. “I won't have to worry about paying rent on this show, will I?”

ELEECE looked at the writer. “I will explain more when we have all the contestants, but you have my word, something as mundane as rent will never cross your mind again once we are done here. But while we are talking, why don't you introduce yourself to the audience? Please give your name, age, occupation, cup size, and last sexual encounter?”

Miri ended the hug she was giving and turned in a direction that faced no one in particular and responded, “Miriam Chitose, call me Miri. 28 years old, unemployed but part of a podcast, B-cup and two weeks ago masturbating on Katie's couch while she was making us dinner.“ the writer's cheeks flushed red once she had realized what she had said. Her best friend's cheeks were bulging as she stifled laughter. “Shut up, that couch you have is very comfortable. It's not like you haven't done the same thing at my place before.“ Flustered, she sat down on the bench, making her best attempts not to examine the form and how it resembles the host seated directly in front of her.

With a practiced ease, the bespectacled woman placed herself firmly in the writer's lap and wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist. There was a moment where the two stared into each other's eyes before the writer broke the silence with some questions for their host. “I figure you aren’t going to say too much without the rest of the contestants, but can we get an idea of how many people are going to be involved?”

“Six contestants are going to be involved initially. Anything more than that, I could not tell you, because then the game will be active.” ELEECE replied, never once changing the soft smile on her face. “I would not worry about things like that before we even get started. Especially since our next contestant is just about to join us.”