Simone's Song
By Laura Schiller
Series: Shugo Chara
Copyright: Peach Pit
Author's Note: When I told my mother about this anime, she found the idea of the Shugo Charas interesting. "Mine would probably be an artistic soul," she said dreamily. "A musician or a singer." She wanted to be a singer when she was my age, but she was never confident enough. This gave me the idea for the story I'm about to write.
A pale, skinny, frizzy-haired twelve-year-old stared back at Simone Veit in the school bathroom mirror. She wore a green dress that was a hand-me-down from her cousin and she looked absolutely terrified.
"I can't do it," she whispered.
Performing in the school talent show? With everybody watching? What on Earth had she been thinking to ever consider herself good enough for that? Not to mention that everyone would be staring at her homely appearance and that tacky dress. At least she wasn't the only one looking tacky; this was East Germany after all. Still, her stage fright practically made her sick.
She remembered why she had auditioned, and how the teacher had quietly placed her on the performance list. No loud praise, no wild applause, but still.
All she wanted was to sing. She loved it as she had never loved anything else. Music made her feel beautiful – not like the antisocial girl at the back of the class, nor the annoying little sister of the beautiful Gudrun Veit, nor the product of her pareents' now failing relationship, but a unique and confident young woman.
That was why she wanted to sing...and that was why she was in this scrape.
Suddenly she heard a whisper in the room. Don't be afraid.
"Wha - ? Who's there?" She looked around the bathroom, but nobody was there.
You can do it, Simone. Believe in yourself.
A curious, comforting warmth began to grow inside her; she held out her hands and a sunbeam shot into them, solidifying until it took on the shape of an egg.
An egg?
She should have been utterly stunned, but she wasn't. This egg was warm and solid and familiar, as if she had been carrying it all her life.
A tiny crack ran through the egg; it shivered. Simone held her breath and watched. This was like nothing she had ever experienced before...it was like a dream.
The egg neatly split in two, revealing a tiny little person no taller than ten centimetres. She had Simone's own dark brown curls and blue-grey eyes and she wore a long black dress with a slit up the side. In her hand was a minuscule, hand-held microphone.
"Hello, Simone," she chirped. "My name is Nina. I am your would-be self. It's wonderful to meet you at last."
Simone was speechless.
"I'll explain everything later," said Nina. "For now, it's your turn to take the stage. Chara-change!"
A star hairclip covered in white rhinestones appeared in Simone's hair and, still feeling as if the whole thing were a dream, she left the bathroom and made her way to the auditorium.
The crowd was huge, but it didn't frighten her anymore. She didn't even notice how her parents and sister were cheering in the third row. She wrapped her hands around the microphone stand in the middle of the stage and, as soon as her teacher's hands touched the piano keys, she began to sing.
