Statues

Inori, still tired from the night before, decided to go get a coffee before her scheduled time at the flower shop. She found a quaint, normal looking coffee shop along the way, ordered a caffe latte with an extra shot of espresso, and sat at a table in the corner while she awaited her order. It didn't take long for her coffee to be made, despite how incredibly busy the store was during that time of day. The shop was quite nice. There was seating inside and out. Tables to accommodate groups of two or four. A small television mounted on the wall, and everything was made with an older wooden rustic style. Inori sat sipping on her latte considering this semi mysterious new member of the group.

"I'm sure it won't be long before we can get him back into the swing of things!" she gleefully said to herself. "I wonder if Yuki is attracted to him. He sure is cute. I wonder what they're doing right now. Yuki is probably showing him through the city and bringing him to all of her favorite places while he just trudges along just like any normal boy would."

She chuckled to herself.

"I suppose I'll find out at the meeting tonight. It really is advantageous that he lives so close to me! Hopefully, I can use that to spend more time with him. We can walk home together from the meetings, have breakfast together. He seems pretty quiet, I bet he's a good listener, which is good because I can just go on and on. Also, what they were saying about him being rich! He's starting to seem more and more like a 10/10 kind of guy...OH" she interrupted her own train of thought. "I wonder if he likes plants and nature walks! Gosh, he would be perfect. Ah, a girl can dream can't she? Maybe I should stop by my apartment before the meeting and dress up a little for him, or maybe not. That might make me seem too pushy. Also, there might be a hint of jealousy coming my way. I might save that for another time."

About then, Inori noticed a news report on the television.

"Two more people in the last week have died from what doctors are calling Statue Syndrome, with the second being found just this morning. It is my duty to inform you that the following may be graphic in nature." the news report continued.

The video changed to an on-the-scene picture of a police scene. A person was simply standing on the sidewalk, muscles locked into place as if they were a statue. Their eyes had gone completely black. An emergency medical team wearing full hazmat gear was struggling to load them into the ambulance.

The reporter on the video continued, "The forty six year old man, by all accounts, was on his way to work this morning when he was afflicted with the fatal disease. It is still unclear as to the cause of Statue Syndrome, but it appears to have an absolute mortality rate."

Inori scoffed at the news report, "What? It's not unclear at all." she said to herself. "It's just that you don't want to accept what happened to us as a real thing."

"For now, medical personnel recommend that if you encounter someone suffering from Statue Syndrome, stay far away and report it to the emergency services immediately." the news report concluded.

"I feel bad for them." Inori uttered. "I hope they had a decent time in their isekai, but, since they didn't make it back, I doubt they did."

Inori sat in quiet contemplation, a rarity for her, while she finished her coffee.

"I know when we go, it's just our spirit that goes. I know when we complete our task, our spirit gets to come back with all our memories. I just wish that if you failed your task over there that you'd get to come back too." she vented to herself. "I remember when I got to my world. I almost died a dozen times in the first minutes of being there, but I guess if I would have died there, then there wouldn't have been a spirit to send back."

She paused for just a moment before continuing, "I could have been one of the statues."

Sighing softly to herself, she pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Asuka about the news. Then, she stood, returned the coffee mug and saucer to the workers, and left the coffee shop to go to work. The flower shop wasn't far, and after a short bus ride, she had arrived at work for the day while slightly trepidatious of the news report.

"I'm sure we'll talk more about it at the meeting tonight" she said to herself in an attempt to calm down. "Hopefully, working in the greenhouse will help clear my head for a bit."