The first thing she heard while sleeping is sound of an alarm clock.
She opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of a grimy ceiling.
When she sat up, she found herself in what looked like an abandoned motel room that hadn't had a visitor—probably because of all the cockroaches and weak woodwork—in years. Judging from the dim sunlight shining through the broken glass, it was probably early morning. The bed and the duvet she rested on, seemed to be the only thing that wouldn't fall to pieces at first touch.
She soon realized that this was not the hospital room where she spent her final moments.
If she was dead, then wasn't this supposed to be heaven? Shouldn't everyone she cared about in her whole life be here? And why the hell was her old alarm clock—
She immediately grabbed it to get a better look. This was the same clock her father had given to her before she went to Ox Elementary School...
Suddenly, everything in this room started to look very, very familiar.
But what nearly made her scream, was the fact that her skin was definitely not looking like its usual self — it didn't have that fine creased silk feeling to it.
"What the hell!?"
She looked down at her whole body. She was wearing nothing but blue-striped underwear. Her skin had no wrinkles or blemishes. And her voice was no longer tired nor weak, but strong and full of energy.
She flung herself off the bed—but not without turning off her alarm clock and leaving it on the bed (seriously a constant beeping is annoying)—and charged into the bathroom.
As soon as she come close enough to a dusty mirror, she rubbed the filth off to see—
Her own pair of blazing blue eyes, full of shock and confusion. Hair that was no longer grey, but black along with the ever present red streak of hair on her fringe, which was gently swept to the left side of her face. She lifted a hand to feel her soft face, completely clean of any signs of old age.
"Holy shit. I-I'm young again." The girl had seen crazier things in her life (should it be a previous life now?) but something like this was a first. "H-How is this..?"
A small black haired girl with a red streak rested comfortably under the duvet.
"Daddy? Can you pwease read me a bedtime story?"
Her father smiled as he gently stroked her hair, he knew it was going to be the last time he ever did.
"Of course kiddo."
科学者
Scientist
一心まとい
Isshin Matoi
Isshin opened a small book —the last one he would ever read to her—with a golden silhouetted dragon on its cover. He cleared his throat a little before he began to read.
"Once upon a time... there lived a dragon without scales. One with a fierce spirit, she was called Kasai."
"She didn't live with other dragons because they didn't think she was one. Many dragons believed that a dragon without scales, is not a dragon at all!"
"But despite that, Kasai's desire to be accepted among others burned so bright, you could almost see it. So one day she challenged another dragon to a fight."
"She thought that she could beat him, but as soon as the fight began, she was scorched in fire, from head to toe!"
"Kasai was defeated because she had no scales to protect her from her opponent's flames."
"Filled with sadness, she wandered away into a cave to hide away from the world."
"Deep within the cave, Kasai found strange navy-blue scales. When she touched them, they suddenly latched themselves onto her and healed her burnt skin."
"Then, Kasai heard the scales speak to her, they told her that they were the spirit of a powerful dragon that lived long ago. He was called Blut."
"Kasai was surprised by the kindness of the spirit. She then asked Blut to be her scales, and he gladly accepted."
"Blut shared his power with Kasai and together they challenged the same dragon once again, and won. Soon many other dragons came to challenge them, for whatever reason. But they were all defeated by Kasai and Blut."
"The both of them fought as one, never giving up, never surrendering, never losing their way."
"However the power they used came at a price. Kasai's own body could not hope to manage the strain of such power, so if it was squandered at least once, she would be wiped away from existence."
"As time went on, the bond between them grew each passing day. Eventually, it became something not so easy to describe."
"Then one day, The Shroud came." "The Shroud was an evil monster that wanted to cover the whole wide world with its immense body. It hated how the world showed its beauty without shame, and wanted nothing more than to end it."
"Kasai and Blut stood against The Shroud. However Kasai's own arrogance made her forget the price of abusing power that the sprit shared with her."
"Blut tried to warn her, but it was too late."
"Kasai used all that power in a single all-powerful blast, utterly destroying The Shroud."
"Then, Kasai felt her body slowly starting to disappear."
"But Blut refused to let Kasai die, so he gave the last of his strength to Kasai. When he did, he faded away from existence."
"Realizing the consequences of her mistake, Kasai cried, cried, and cried until she was out of tears for her lost beloved."
"Awww, that was the worst bed time story ever!"
"Hang on my daughter, I'm not yet finished."
"Huh?"
"The next day, Kasai woke up to find navy-blue scales on her skin."
"At that moment, she realized that Blut—"
"—was alive..."
One way or another, Kasai had somehow gone back in time, a day before The Shroud arrived.
She didn't remember all the details, but her father's story ended with Kasai telling her feelings for Blut, defeating The Shroud thing together, and living happily ever after. Just like any other fairy tale.
Life was no fairy tale, she learnt that the hard way. Time travel was impossible, she learnt that the boring way. But right now, she was in the same abandoned motel she stayed in before she left for Honnouji Academy!
But was being here right now actually happening? Or was this all just a cruel dream?
She needed more proof.
She rushed back into the bedroom and pulled out her metal guitar case underneath the bed, always in the last place anybody smart would look. When she opened it, her mind was cleared of any doubts.
Inside was one half of her red Scissor Blade—the other in the hands of a certain unbearable couturier—just as she remembered it. Along with that was her old teenage clothes and her white trainers.
After staring at her old weapon for what seemed like hours, she slowly slumped on the crummy carpet.
It was all going to happen again. The most outright incomprehensible experience of her life was going to repeat itself.
What started out as a search for her father's killer, turned into an grand epic battle for the fate of humanity and the entire world. She would gain friends, a family, and a sister she didn't know existed. She would learn about the Life Fibers, COVERS, and that they wanted nothing more than to turn the whole planet into one big Life Fiber. Hell, every inch of her body was infused with the damn things.
And at the very start of that journey she met a certain Kamui that she would ultimately fall in love with. But before she could express her feelings for the sailor uniform—What the hell is wrong with having feelings for a piece of clothing?—he sacrificed himself to protect her one last time. The only thing she could do then, was to wear whatever she saw as 'cute' in a effort to make the outfit jealous in whatever afterlife he was in. The mere thought of him was enough to make the girl reach for her heart, like she had done so many times before.
She was going to watch him burn up aga—
No.
Even if she tried to douse the flames, he would disappear and leave her all alo—
No!
"You're not gonna die..." She whispered.
The 17-year-old's eyes now burned with something old but familiar. The hand over her heart clenched tightly. Within her, a spark made from hope was lit. An ember that once belonged to a great inferno that went out long ago, re-ignited.
Her fire was reborn.
"You're not gonna to die!" The girl repeated— no, shouted with more certainty than before.
She stood up, dressed herself, put on her trainers, slung the guitar case over her back, and marched out the room. With her goal set, she journeyed to where it all began and ended.
"Not until I tell you how I feel!"
転校生
Transfer Student
まといりゅうこ
Ryuko Matoi