Preparations
Hitomi Kanzaki looked down at the report card in
her hand. 88% was written across the top beside the word "math." 'You're
too good in math, Hitomi!' fussed her friend who was walking beside her,
Yukari.
'C'mon Yukari,' Hitomi smiled at her friend. 'You're better
in Japanese than me.'
'But still, I didn't get 88% in it...'
The two girls walked down the street towards their homes. Yukari
stopped in front of her house, turning toward her friend. 'We've gotta
do something really special to mark the end of the school year.'
'Sure,' replied Hitomi. 'I'll call you tonight?'
'Nah, I'll call you.'
'Okay, see ya, then.'
Hitomi walked the rest of the way to her house by herself. This
year is finally over, she thought, 'cause this was a very frustrating end
term. She turned into a driveway and up the lane. 'Hello, Hitomi,' called
her mother.
'Hi,' came the reply.
'Enjoy your last school day before the holidays?'
'Yeah, although I've got tons of homework still.'
Mrs Kanzaki poked her head into the hallway Hitomi had entered
into and smiled at her daughter. 'You'll do good, you always do.'
'Thanks, mom.'
Hitomi lugged her heavy kitbag up to her room and got dressed
out of her school uniform, which was all right the rest of the year except
the end, when the heat was usually too overwhelming. She changed into shorts
and a tank top. Outside, the temperature was reaching almost forty degrees
Celsius. Hitomi looked at herself in her bedside mirror. I need a haircut,
she thought to herself. The last time I had one was four months ago, the
week before I first went to Gaea...
Thinking of Gaea so suddenly caused Hitomi to stop and sit down.
She usually didn't get this emotional, she tried to freeze her emotions
so that she wouldn't have to sort through them. She thought she had been
doing so well but now it seemed every day that Gaea suddenly popped
into her thoughts. Hitomi was always thinking of Van Finale who was King
of Finalia, which was a country on Gaea. He was also the one who brought
Hitomi to Gaea after killing a land dragon as part of the rite to become
a king of his country, while he was in Hitomi's own world.
'Oh, Van...' Hitomi blinked back sudden tears and tried not
to think about that place. After all, when she had gone there for the first
time, Finalia was caught up in "The War to End all Wars" that a man by
the name of Emperor Dornkirk tried to put into action. Hitomi, along with
Allen Shazar, Van, Merle and some of the other people of Gaea who were
fighting against the Ziabock Empire, helped restore peace and many lives.
Although it was at peace now, it brought back too many awful
memories of war to her. It also brought back the pain similar to homesickness.
Sometimes she thought that Gaea was her true home because that's where
all her friends were even if it wasn't her own family.
Just then, Hitomi heard the phone ring downstairs and her mother
answer it. A few seconds later, her mother called to Hitomi saying it was
for her.
'Sure mom, thanks!'
Hitomi picked up the receiver from its cradle and spoke into
the phone. 'Hello?'
'Hey, Hitomi!' it was Yukari. 'Summer holidays going okay?'
'They just started,' was the reply. 'What are you doing?'
'Nothing now, but one of the girls on the track meet telephoned
me. She told me a couple of the track girls were planning a party or something
and decided they were going to hold a dance at a cottage next week for
all the members and their friends. Wanna come?'
'Where is it?' Hitomi asked.
'Naoko Mahei's parents' cottage. It's by a lake.'
'The tall skinny one with dark hair?'
'Yeah.'
Hitomi thought for a second. A party would take her mind off
Van and Gaea since there was no school work to do to block the longing.
'Sure,' Hitomi said finally. 'What date then?'
'Next Saturday starting at six-thirty,' Yukari sounded happy.
'Naoko asked me to invite all the track members since I was in charge of
all you guys.' She added in proudly.
'Well, you can count on me being there!' Hitomi smiled.
'Great!' Yukari said. 'I'll invite all the other girls, we can
talk about clothes and where it is and stuff later, 'kay? Talk to ya later?'
'Sure. Bye.'
'G'bye.'
Hitomi put the phone back and stretched onto her bed. She smiled
up at the ceiling and started to hum to herself. That phone call sure had
perked up her spirits. She hadn't gone to any parties or dances since before
she ended up in Gaea. So Hitomi lay there, thinking about what next Saturday
night could hold for her and her friend. This will be fun... she thought
to herself.
So all week long, Hitomi and Yukari prepared for the up-coming
dance. Alone and desolate, their summer homework lay forgotten. Once Hitomi
had brought it up but Yukari laughed and told her to lighten up, it was
summer. Hitomi agreed, promising not to start any of it until after the
dance.
They bought dresses and thought about the style they would put
their hair into. Hitomi decided to put it in a small clip, pinned out of
her face. Yukari spent forever deciding what shoes would best match her
dress and as soon as she got that all settled, she had trouble with something
else.
'Do these earrings look good, or are they too fancy?'
'Yukari, relax,' Hitomi had told her, smiling at her friend's
sudden interest in her looks. She was naturally like that, unlike Hitomi,
but she was worrying a little more than usual. 'Why are you going to through
all the extra trouble? What's up?' But Yukari wouldn't say, which made
Hitomi a little suspicious of what she really knew about this whole party.
Soon though, all the little wrinkles were ironed out and they
had nothing to do, and they wouldn't even think of touching their homework,
not yet. So, the days seemed to stretch after Wednesday as they were all
ready, so they started lazing around and going to all the tourist attractions
that were already in full swing.
Not doing anything for a change brought great pleasure and relaxation
to the two girls. Hitomi even stopped worrying about Gaea and whether she
would see anyone ever again. It just didn't seem to matter, like everything
else. She knew that it would come up again, like everything else in her
life usually does, but she tried not to let that bother her for the time
being.
So as they sat on Hitomi's bed one day, they got really
silly and laughed at everything from Yukari's first date with Amano to
the fact that the girl's bathroom was painted bright pink with roses all
over it. So when Yukari suddenly turned serious and asked of Hitomi to
do something she hadn't in a long while, chills shot up her spine and she
stopped laughing almost abruptly.
'You want me to do a Tarot Card reading?' Hitomi asked.
Yukari nodded. 'About the dance... I have a weird feeling about
it.'
Hitomi was suddenly struck with panic. Her lips went dry and
she licked them absently. Seeing the look of fright on her friend's face,
Yukari quickly added, 'I-I don't mean bad, I...' she stopped, thinking
about how to say it. 'I just have a feeling that- oh, it's silly...'
'What?' Hitomi was starting to break out in a cold, clammy sweat.
Yukari blushed furiously and answered, 'I think Amano will be
there...'
'Amano?' Hitomi blinked, her fear turning into confusion. 'But
he's in England!'
'I know, he left almost four months ago, but....'
Hitomi stared at her friend, suddenly relieved, she smiled.
'Sure, I wanna know, too. I hope it will be a good reading, I want to have
fun.'
Yukari blushed crimson, yet she smiled back.
Amano and Yukari had been writing to each other since he left
and once she had mentioned to Hitomi that he might come visit for awhile
in the summer. So Hitomi walked over and dug her Tarot Cards out from behind
her closet door for her friend. She had only done a couple of readings
since coming back from Gaea, and since Yukari knew nothing about anything
that had happened, she had never understood why her friend suddenly changed.
She went on thinking Hitomi had just had an anemic attack on the track
and was out for awhile, forgetting all about seeing her friend being beamed
to another planet with Amano gazing into the sky beside her.
It was really strange. Hitomi tried to understand why
but when her mother told her a story about her grandmother, she sort of
pieced it together. Her theory was that when her grandmother came back,
she told stories of it, never forgetting the event, but that was all it
was to Hitomi's mother, a story. When it had happened to Hitomi as well,
her mother thought that it was like the same story but when Hitomi came
back again, everyone sort of forgot all about what had happened. For some
reason, Hitomi thought it had something to do with the fact that she left
the pendant on Gaea with Van.
Heading to the bed again, Hitomi sat down in front of Yukari,
and started to place the cards in the right pattern, as if she were merely
playing solitaire. It had been so long, yet she still knew how to read
them. Closing her eyes tightly, Hitomi slowly turned over the first card.
Yukari leaned forward for a better look. 'The two of angels. You will be
re-united with someone you love.'
Yukari practically beamed. 'I kinda thought...' she whispered.
Hitomi flipped the next card over. 'Hmm...'
'What?'
'We will meet someone with very dark energy. This could be bad.'
'And then what?'
Hitomi flipped over another card. She stood, translating it
for awhile. Yukari looked from the cards, meaningless to her, to her friend,
concentration etched on her face. After a long pause, Yukari asked, 'Well?'
'I don't know... but I think it may be something of the past
is to repeat itself.'
'Really? I wonder what...'
'Well, that's it. Are you satisfied with the reading?'
'Yes! I can't wait to see Amano again,' Yukari's face went pink
at her outburst. 'Although, i-it could be someone else... You know...'
Hitomi nodded and put the cards away, back behind the closet
door. She sat down on her bed again and thought about what had happened.
Yukari glanced down at her watch and almost fell to the floor. 'Gee, I
was supposed to get home twenty minutes ago. My grandparents will be very
upset, so I gotta go. See ya tomorrow at four thirty to get ready for the
"big dance"?' 'Yeah, can't wait.' Hitomi smiled for her friend,
trying not to show her that anything was wrong.
Yukari picked up her purse and grabbed her sweater. With one
quick wave of her hand, she was gone, leaving Hitomi alone with her very
upsetting thoughts.
The next day, Yukari walked up to Hitomi's
house at a quarter after four, to find Hitomi napping on her bed. 'Well?'
asked Yukari, shaking Hitomi slightly, 'Up and at 'em!'
Hitomi shot up. 'Yukari! I wasn't expecting you yet!'
'Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.'
'You always say that.'
'That's 'cause it's the truth.'
Hitomi got up and started laughing. 'Getting ready is going
to be so fun!' Yukari smiled, and put a big bag on Hitomi's dresser. 'And
it's time so be prepared!...'
'Oh no!' Hitomi laughed. 'Knowing you, we'll be here forever!'
She threw her pillow at her, missing completely. They spent
the next hour laughing and carrying on while getting ready. They showed
off their dresses and did each other's faces up, at Yukari's request of
course.
'You're so pretty, Hitomi.'
'Ah Yukari, you know you're prettier.'
'But you have such darling green eyes. They light up your face.'
Hitomi blushed. Van had said that once to her but she had been
mad at him and had ignored him. She thought it was just him trying to cheer
her up and get her to stop being angry with him, but she knew he wasn't
like that, so she regretted telling him to "stuff it". Sometimes she missed
him so much, her heart ached.
'Hitomi?'
Hitomi looked up. 'Yeah?'
'Nothing. Just thought you didn't hear.'
Hitomi smiled and let Yukari finish up, and then they switched
places. They didn't talk much after that, for both were just starting to
get nervous, because now they weren't sure what to expect after the Tarot
Card reading the day before. So, in silence they sat, Hitomi finishing
up Yukari's make-up. Then the clock struck a quarter to six and they finished
up what they were doing. Hitomi wrote a quick note to her mother, to remind
her that she had left. Yukari, although pleased with the work Hitomi had
done to her face, touched up a bit and put her not-too-fancy earrings in
before the two girls headed out for the bus stop.
Sitting side by side on the bus, trying to look ordinary, but
obviously dressed up for a special occasion, Hitomi and Yukari glanced
up at each other, returning a very nervous, yet very happy smile. Hitomi
now thought her heart would burst with happiness. She just wished the Tarot
Card reading would stop nagging at the back of her mind.