(4 April 2017, Austin, Texas, USA)

Joy tapped their hands idly on the steering wheel in the rhythm of the Rosanna shuffle, sitting at the light where Airport Boulevard was diverging from southbound Lamar Boulevard. The train signal jangled as the two-car Metrorail danced across the rail crossing, nearly devoid of passengers as it departed Crestview Station. Joy chuckled, "Man, that train is so freaking quaint. Nothing like Japan, huh?"

Kylie leaned back into her seat, brushing some of her blonde bangs out the way, and laughed. "Yeah, it's no shinkansen. I miss those!"

Joy grinned at the memory. Last year's trip to Japan had been so amazing, with their deer misadventures in Nara, the leaf-peeping in Nikko, and all those hot springs. Finally, one life adventure they'd managed together, even if they'd had to scrimp and save to do it. "Oh the shinkansen was freaking cool, but you know what I miss? Onsen."

Kylie nodded. "And we had them all to ourselves."

Joy chuckled. "And why do you think I miss them so much? The apartment life sucks!" It was true - no privacy with thin walls. Those nights with their own hot springs were a luxury they'd rarely been able to experience.

"At least we're here in Austin where no one gives a damn about us being together. Not like the rest of this ridiculous state." Kylie pouted, which made her look like a teenager and not the forty-something she really was.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want to imagine trying to get married in, some town like San Angelo, or ... el-dorayyyyy-do, or la-meeeeeee-suh". Joy jokingly drawled out the local pronunciations of mangled Spanish placenames and Kylie laughed.

"Honey, don't forget re-FURY-oh!" Kylie giggled.

"Oh, re-FURY-oh fills me with such righteous! Furyyyyyy!" Joy and Kylie busted out laughing as the light turned, but then Kylie started coughing, and Joy stopped themself. "Hey, you okay hon?" Joy's brow furrowed with concern as tehy peeked back over at Kylie.

Kylie stopped coughing and nodded weakly back at Joy. "Yeah, my throat feels weird. It's probably nothing."

Joy's "traffic gaze" gave away to a more worried look as they turned off Lamar, and into the parking lot for Austin Karaoke. "Hey, look, this is probably not a great time for karaoke with our friends if your throat hurts, and there's also been those weird-ass stomach pains you've been having."

"No, sweetpea, it's okay, Beth and Steph are here already, and I just got a text from Jamie and she's got Jamal and Huy with her. I'm fine, and I'm supposed to see Dr. Chaudhry on Friday. Maybe it's just lymph nodes or something."

Joy pulled their car into a conveniently open spot, popped the gear into park, and shut off the car in a couple of deft motions, then took off their seatbelt and bent over to give Kyrie a swift kiss on the forehead. "Well, don't stress yourself out. It's Carrie Okie night, and Carrie Underwood is depending on you!"

Kylie laughed. "Oh, that guy won't see what's coming to his .."

And they sang in unison, "Pretty little souped up four wheel driive, carved my name into his leather seeeeeeeats~~"

These were the moments Joy wished could last forever, but now were lost in time, only preserved in their heart.

Oh Kylie. I love you so much. I love you so much forever.

... Shitamachi "Downtown Station! Shitamachi Downtown Station! Please disembark here for Yoshio-shitamachi Downtown Austin!"

And just like that, Joy was snapped out of their reverie back into the new reality they found themselves in. Joy was never going to get used to that weird real-time Yamato speech rewrite. It was so strange.

At the same time, Yoshiko used her hands to wipe away the tears streaming away from her face, in a vain attempt to hide that she'd felt the entire memory as if it had been her own.