I feel like the Tomo/Haru isn't loved enough, it's too neglected. Then again, I feel Tomochika isn't loved enough even though she's a better character than Haruka.
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Disclaimer- I wished I owned UtaPri, but sadly for me, all the members of Starish, Heavens, and Quarter Night belong to their respective owners.
Milky Twilight
There is a place, beyond any of the wildest dreams that could ever be dreamt. In this foreign and unknown land, where the moon hangs high in the dark sky, there are said to be the most beautiful balls and parties that one could ever imagine. To be invited to one such party is the greatest honor to be bestowed upon anyone. But it is also said that once one is invited, or much rather kidnapped, to one of these twilight parties that their lives will forever changed. And once a person has been to the party, their heart drops knowing that they many never be invited back again, for this is a once in a lifetime event.
But some have said that after going to this mythical place they could see the red thread of fate showing them the way to the only person ever meant for them. A beautiful dance where one can find their soul mate. Such mystical and wondrous things, Haruka Nanami didn't believe in. There was no love at first sight. No stupid red-string of destiny. There was fact and logic. A paradise that hangs above the clouds on a magical island didn't exist. It was impossible and completely childish to believe in such utter nonsense.
That was until she was invited.
"This is bullshit." Haruka growled to her friend Ren.
The strawberry blonde haired boy looked over at her with those dreamy blue eyes every girl wished they had. The smirk that was always present on his perfectly tanned face did little to call the short female's nerves. He was a flirty boy, with a silver tongue that helped him to get whatever or whoever he wanted. Maybe that's why they were such good friends. Haruka always spoke her mind and Ren was honest about what he wanted and when he wanted it. They both weren't afraid to voice whatever they had on their minds.
"I know, little lamb." He cooed, calling her by the nickname that he knew that she hated. His voice was seductive as always, and Haruka swore that she saw him wink at the girl across the isle from them. And from the squeal behind her, she was pretty sure she had seen right. "I mean how dare traffic be bad on a day when we have a field trip and you have to work afterwords. Damn them all to hell."
She gasped, feigning shock as she flicked a hand up to her mouth. "So you do understand!"
'Of course." He purred.
She couldn't help but to laugh. "Could you not flirt with the girls behind me and pretend to listen to me. One or the other."
"Then you should have let me have the isle side seat. I can make more use of it than you can."
"Like hell!" She scoffed, crossing her legs and letting her arm drop down to her lap to intertwine with her other hand. "You'd let all the ladies off before getting out. I hate being stuck behind you."
He flinched back, pretending to be hurt by her words. "It's called being a gentleman."
"Player."
"It's not my fault that all the lovely little doves love me. I just know how to treat a woman right."
"Women?"
He flashed her a secretive grin. "I know how to treat whoever wants to love me right."
"That's what I thought."
"I would treat you right too, you know." He leaned back, throwing his arm over her shoulder. It was like he was trying to trap her. And it wasn't hard. If she moved even an inch away she might have fallen out of her seat.
"Ha!" She laughed. "If I want to be loved for a month and ditched, I'll give you a call."
"You know my number." He winked.
"Did you happen to see Cecil?" She asked, getting away from the topic of her dating Ren (Which was never going to happen. Not in a million years!).
"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't." He flirted.
"Oh really?" She placed one of her hands on his chest, turning slightly towards him in the seat. Her knees bumped his. "Cause that ass is my ride to work. Unless you want to drop me off."
He gave a little cough. "Sorry little lamb. I have a date today and can't cart your ass across town and back."
"So, does that mean you haven't see him?"
"Not since last night."
Finally a straight answer from the playboy. "Okay, I'll give him a call when we get back to school."
To say Haruka was mad would have been the understatement of the year. Not only had she been late to work (all thanks to her step-brother Cecil, who couldn't be bother to pick up his phone) but she had to get al of her homework done after that. She hadn't even been able to rest her head for a minute before something else popped up. All work and no rest made Haruka the most pissed off seventeen year old on the planet earth. She really just wanted to scream her lungs out.
But, at the moment, she was surrounded by strangers with no exits in sight. In fact the only thing she could see beyond the wave of people was another brick wall like the one she had pressed herself against. There were no windows but the room pulsed with a certain purple light. Even the ceiling was light with color.
At first she thought it was some lame prank done by her older brother Otoya, but even the virtual reality gaming system he was working on wasn't this real. Heck, it wasn't even in the testing stages. And she was pretty sure he stopped bringing his work home after their mother passed away. So the question wasn't if it was real. It was more of a 'how in the world did this happen?' kind of thing.
Because there she stood, decked out in a pretty pink and yellow cocktail dress, with matching pink platform shows, in the middle of what seemed to be the most lively party ever. She had tried looking around the ever-growing crowd to see if anyone she might recognize stood out, but the faces were just a blur of features she had never seen before. There were some people with fair skin, some with dark. Among the mix of people their were children as young as, if Haruka had to guess, ten and people who could easily be in their late sixties to early seventies. It seemed as if most of the people didn't even speak the same language. But, then again, words were a lost sound to the deafening music and the hundreds of people trying to shout, in their own languages, over it.
Her face cracked a smile, even though she felt like punching the next person she saw. Her fists tightened in the cutesy pink frills at the ends of her short dress. "Where the hell am I?"
Unfortunately for her, there was no one around to answer her.
She didn't have long to be upset before something happened though. The roof opened up to show the night sky. It was so bright it seemed like every star in the universe could be found just above her head. That was the moment she decided that everything that was happening had to be a dream. Nothing this beautiful could be real. Where she was from, the stars barely showed themselves among the city's lights at night.
The music slowed, the lights dimmed and Haruka found herself to be one of the only people not dancing. But with people splitting into pairs or small groups it made it easier to maneuver through her dream world.
Slowly making her way around she couldn't help but to think aloud. "This place is so strange."
What she didn't expect was for someone to answer her. "Isn't it?"
She jumped. Looking around she saw someone, a very beautiful someone, wave to her with a smile on her cheerful looking place. That was when Haruka realized that she had made it to the other wall. She had managed to dodge and weave her way around the vast sea of face. And the only thing that seemed to be waiting on the other side was a busty twenty year old, with long somewhat curly red hair, in a lovely red Chinese dress that split at both thighs.
"Lovely night, isn't it?" The red dressing wearing lady said to her.
"I guess." Haruka said. "I just wish that my imagination would have dressed me in something darker."
The lady gave a hearty laugh. "You're imagination? That's rich."
"What do you mean?" Haruka stared into the woman's red eyes with her own golden orbs.
"Nothing, nothing." She threw her hands up in defeat at the slightest bit of attitude from the teen. "But you do look mighty cute in pink. I think it might be your color."
Haruka frowned. "I'd say you should get something to make your hair stand out, not fade into your dress."
"Oh, so you do know fashion." The twenty-something year old looked at her. "Well I guess you'd have too, you are a girl after all."
"Not all girls have a sense of fashion."Haruka said with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't as if girls had a sixth sense for being able to pick out cute clothes.
"I suppose not." The other frowned. "By the way, what is you're name?"
Haruka looked at her skeptically. It wasn't like it would hurt her to give her name to a person in her dream. "Haruka." She decided that her given name would be good enough."
"Tomochika." The woman extended a hand to her. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise." It took everything she had to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.
"Well Haru,, I'd hate to be the only person not dancing." She smiled holding out her arm. "May I have this dance?"
Haruka frowned at her. She didn't like that the older woman had shortened her name. She didn't like the thought of dancing with a stranger, even if it was only a dream. And she definitely didn't like that the stranger asking her to dance was a female. So she retorted. "Isn't this the middle of the song?"
"So?" Tomo looked at her with a tilted head. "If you don't want to just say so."
"No." Haruka blushed. "It's not like it matters anyways."
"If you insist." Tomochika grabbed her hand leading her away to the dance floor.
For a moment, beneath the stars they didn't talk. They didn't need to. They swayed to the slow rhythm of the song, their steps matching perfectly. Haruka, not knowing where to put her hands (the only kind of dances she went to weren't the kind where a slow dance would or even could happen), had placed them around Tomochika's neck. Tomo had giggled at her and placed her on Haruka's hips.
"I guess you've never dance with a girl before."
"I've never danced like this." She admitted.
"No big fancy parties for you, I see." The older one closed her eyes. "Too bad. I was hoping one day I might see you again at one."
"Oh, because you go to stuff like this all the time." The teen snorted.
"I do." Tomochika confirmed. "Balls and parties. Trips to France and Spain might as well be biweekly events for me."
Then the song ended. Tomochika was the first to pull away.
"Y-you know." Haruka stumbled over her words, her face burning with embarrassment. "I-I wouldn't mind if you wanted to dance to the next slow song."
Tomo gave her forehead a small flick. "If you insist."
Luckily for Haruka, the next song was also a slow paced one. Haruka placed her hands on Tomo's hips, much like the older female had done to her. And with a giggle Tomo placed hers around Haruka's neck, brushing away the red hair that rested at the nap of her neck.
"This time is beautiful, isn't it?" Tomo's eyes looked up at the sky as she lead Haruka in their swirling rotation. "It's like all the stars gathered here for a single moment to watch over us."
"Yeah." Haruka asnwered her without looking at the sky. Her eyes stayed dead ahead, watching only the beautiful person in front of her. She couldn't understand it. Everything felt to warm, so right. But it was a dream...
This dream would end with the first rays of the rising sun. It couldn't last forever. All good things eventually ended, after all. But she wondered if she would ever be able to see Tomochika again. She had hear, or read, somewhere that people you see in your dreams are people you've seen before in real life, even if only for a split second. She wondered if this would be their last dance.
She shivered at the thought of letting the slender waist, which she held so delicately without even realizing, against her own body go. She didn't want that. At first the idea of dancing with the redhead had appauled her, but now. Now was different. Haruka didn't ever want their dance to end. Was that so wrong?
"What's wrong?" Tomochika had looked back at her.
"I like dancing with you."
"Then we'll have to do it again so day."
The music stopped. The dark blue sky began to melt into the creamy sunrise. The orange and pink rays licking at the the roofless room.
"If I told you to, would you look for me?" Tomo asked, her gentle red eyes gazed into the very depths of Haruka's soul.
"Of course." Haruka said, watching the people behind Tomo, who had been dancing together disappear.
"Shibuya." The lady yelled, her voice sounded distant. Her grip on Haruka's hand seemed to be pried apart by some invisible force. "Tomochika Shibuya. Fine me in the real world, Haru! I'll be waiting."
Her fingers slipped through Haruka's. And just like that she was gone.
Haruka jolted from her bed. She forced herself to find the nearest paper and scribbled down the name she swore to never forget. Then as quickly as she could, she opened the browser on her phone and search; A place with night sky view and a party to remember. Not knowing what else to put, she did the best her groggy mind could.
Twilight's Palace.
She clicked on the link.
A mythical place to dance the night away with your one true love.