MY NAME IS CHIAKI


"Hello! My name is Chiaki Ono, and today we welcome you to the Sun Fes – bleh! That's not right."

I ran my fingers through my hair and groaned in frustration, spinning around on my heel as I paced the little apartment room. Damn it! Speeches are too hard for me, I thought as I kicked away my books and jeans that I left on the floor. It was then I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror hanging on the back of my door: overall, a very disgruntled woman with her dark eyebrows furrowed, black hair splayed about down to her shoulders, thin lips pursed. However, behind me, I saw the star chart hanging on my wall above my bed, and I found the motivation to try again. I stand ramrod straight for a moment, heaving a huge sigh before starting my introduction again.

"Hello! My name is Chiaki Ono, and today we welcome you to the Star Festival." I squeezed my eyes and mouthed a silent "Yes!" before continuing on. "Ever since the very beginning, humanity has always looked to the stars – with questions, with hopes, with dreams. They were our guides on the land and on the sea. We aspired to shine bright as they still are and, with all our advances in technology, we are finally reaching out to them." I pause, adlibbing the final bit, the part I feel strongly about.

"But even now, in a world of science, we still feel the innate connection between us and the stars, and still cannot help but wish upon them and feel that they are watching over us – and that's why we are all here."

I sucked in a deep breath and burst into song, "Sekai de ichiban ohime sama!" I danced about the room in victory, punching away all my self-doubt. There was a warm glow in my heart just then, my chest swelling with pride. Ha, it seemed like an easy job, just to talk to people like this, but it isn't – not for me, anyway. As much as a friendly person as I am and love people, I get rather tongue-tied when I have to speak in front of others. Unfortunately, that makes my job as a guide at the planetarium infinitely harder, but it was still a job and probably the closest thing I can get to my dream career as an astronomer.

An astronomer fascinated with astrology, my contemporaries would sniff. Yes, it is true and it's my guilty pleasure. Horoscopes, princes of constellations looking down on the world – these are things I know I believe in, no matter how tenuous that belief is. In the past, I used to try and spark conversations about it, too, but as I got older, less and less people would listen. Only Hiyori, my colleague and good friend, actually entertains herself in horoscopes, and even then it is just for fun.

"It's cute, but when you think about it, the rotation of the Earth has slowed since the whole idea of the zodiac was formulated," Hiyori had said. "So, technically, the sun wasn't even in my supposed sign when I was born."

I know that to be true, but still…

I sighed, finally stopping to sit on the edge of my twin-sized bed, turning on my nightlight and flipping off the lights. Suddenly, the ceiling of the room was lit with speckles of light like the night sky, complete with all the major constellations. I had this light ever since I was very little because the only way I could fall asleep was if I could see all the stars in the sky. It wasn't a problem when we lived out in the country, where the skies are clear, but when my father got a job in the city, I would cry and cry without my stars. So, my parents got me this nightlight so I could fall asleep under the stars, even if they weren't real. It was a strange habit I never really grew out of, so I kept it with me even after I got my own apartment.

I leaned back onto my pillows, my hands tucked behind my head and eyes staring up at the lit ceiling. Tomorrow will be the Star Festival, and it will be the one day in the year to let out my childish fascinations. Every year, I would wait for this day and, when it came, I would run around with the kids, talking about myths, writing wishes to the gods and hoping one of them would come true…

"I just hope it won't be cloudy," I thought aloud to myself before turning over in my bed and checking my phone for the horoscope. My eyes flick through all the signs... And there it was. I smirked to myself as I read "It is your lucky day tomorrow! You're destined to meet the person of your dreams, so be sure to look nice and be yourself." Yeahright. I laughed, letting my phone go back to sleep. It's such a cheesy thing, that little horoscope app. But still, it wouldn't hurt to believe, right? Maybe the stars would be on my side tomorrow.

Slowly, but surely, my eyes closed.

§§§

That night, like some nights, I dreamed I was a divine goddess. Sounds crazy, but I would look at my hands and they would glow brightly with celestial light, and I could do all sorts of things like fly and snap my fingers to make things happen. Where I was and what I was doing varied from dream to dream, though; at times, I was walking through an endless field of flowers in the bright light. Other times, I would be watching forests burn under a dark and frightening sky.

Tonight was the latter kind of dreams. I looked around me, surrounded by a barren land with cracked earth and a desolate, fading sky above. I stepped forward and my stomach jumped – before me was a yawning chasm, stretching to either side of me. Around me, dark clouds began to roll in and encircle the rocky cliff I was standing on. My heart pounded with fear.

Along with the whistling wind came a laugh that made my skin shiver and my gut feel sick. I turned around, looking for the source of it, finally making eye contact with a tall, slender man with dark red eyes and pale skin. He grinned a smile that was bigger than it should be, the skin around his lips cracking. I grimaced and looked away.

"You have nowhere to go. Give it up, goddess," he drawled, calmly slinking over towards me. "The King is not here to save you."

I breathed deeply, watching him draw closer. Instincts forced me to raise my hands and summon my energy within them. A golden light glowed between my palms, but it was weak and soon began to flicker. Panicking, I held it between the man and me. The man, however, was clearly not impressed – in fact, he seemed more amused, for he began to laugh again.

"How the mighty fall!" He sneered, putting his hands behind his back and inspecting me as one would inspect meat in the refrigerated display. That's what I must be to him – dead meat. I bit my lip, trying not to appear afraid, only to make him laugh more.

"I know you fear me, and I'm glad. It… Invigorates me." He chuckled in a way that made me shudder. He peered at me, narrowing his red eyes. "However, you could join me. Just imagine: no more work designing branches of fate!" At this, something made me glare at him coldly.

"Never," I spat. "The King will be here in no time." The man blinks, hesitating for the slightest moment before he shook his head.

"He will not. With your energy, I will be unstoppable." And with that, he raised his hand. Immediately, there was a sensation began with a prickling of my skin, then an excruciating burn. I screamed in pain, reeling back – but it was no use. I watched as the light emanating from my skin fade, flying from me in a wispy line into the man's laughing mouth. I gasped for breath as I struggled, staggering backwards until my foot touched the edge of the cliff. Behind me, pieces of the cliff broke off and fell down, down into the darkness without a sound. I winced.

"The realm of the dead, yes," the man said, speaking what was on my mind. No one can return from it, not even a goddess. I looked to the man, and then behind me again. I felt my energy drain as seconds ticked on and I cried out in pain again as it violently left my body. If I stay like this, this man take my power and thus will become stronger, strong enough to defeat the King…

I knew what I had to do, but before I could say anything, the man before me began to beep loudly. BEEP! BEEP!

Excuse me? What?

BEEP! BEEP!

And suddenly, my eyes opened again. I rolled over and actually smiled at my beeping alarm clock. I patted it before turning the alarm off.

"Thanks for saving me from that nightmare, you stupid thing," I chuckled to myself before stretching.

Today was my day, I thought happily to myself. The sun was shining through my window, and there was nothing in the world that could ruin today.