Chapter 2: Past Step First Memory

Miho walked along briskly as usual after school. Though it was a necessity during her dual-lifestyle as Shinohara Miho and Fancy Lala, lately it was nothing more than a habit. But for today—today she was happy!

After fretting about it for so long before the due date, she had practically poured the entirety of her heart into her 'What I want to be in the future' essay... and scored full marks! It was such a great feeling!

Since today was a great day, she wanted to do something to polish it off... but trying to decide what was the tricky part. Aaaahh—what to do, what to do.

There was her family... but would they share the excitement or simply downplay it as usual? Her sister certainly sounded like someone who might not find it nearly special enough, but then there was her mother and father... but even they—so who would it be?

"Miiiihooo!"

AH! Miho thought suddenly. Akiru it is!

Surely, if it was her best friend then she may share in the excitement, since she usually did fairly well in her essay work as well. Not to mention that she already seemed in good spirits from the start of the day... so she would be the best? Definitely. That... that and Yoshida Taro was already off somewhere else, on a family trip or something... so he wasn't at school to begin with.

Perfect—it was turning into a perfect opportunity to—

Miho froze mentally.

Opportunity? Why did the word strike her so suddenly as something that bore such prospects of both excitement and danger all at once? Surely it wasn't in her mind—but it was in her mind—had been since a long time ago. That and she 'had' promised her best friend... but was it okay now? True that the rumors and tabloids had taken a rest and such... and Lala herself had been gone for enough time that people had already started to forget her existence. So was this time safe?

"Hi Miho!"

Miho thought about it. She did promise. But an explanation about the whole thing would be difficult. That—that and keeping it secret for so long—were her lips already sealed to the point that thought of unsealing was taboo?

"Um, Miho?"

Ahhh—it was no good. She put her hands to her head in a hope to push her thoughts in the right direction. After all... she could but what would happen then? Would she be accepted, rejected, worried about? Would there be positive emotions or consequences of jealousy? Akiru was the one who had always dreamt of getting a supporting if not a main role on TV, and if she discovered that her friend had beaten her and in a way that wasn't even a natural or logical way, would she be angry?

"Miho!"

Oh—What to do, what to do, what to do, what to—

"MIHO!!!"

"Yikes! —ara?" Miho started and switched over as she suddenly realigned with the present moment of reality. "A-Akiru, were you calling all this time? I'm sorry."

"Geez Miho..." Akiru said worriedly. "I thought you were having a good day and such but you were simply drifting off into your own little world again."

"Actually!" Miho started with such enthusiasm that Akiru began to shy away. "Er—actually..." Miho restarted with a much more subdued tone. "It's not so much of my own world but this one. And it's a complicated one."

Akiru eyed her scattered-brain friend cautiously before speaking again. "How so?"

"Hmm... do you have some time right now?"

"Um, sure. Actually there's no one at my house today so I have more time than usual."

Miho smiled. "Great! Then let's go to your house then!"

"Ok..." she said uncertainly. "Did you have anything you wanted to share?"

"Heheh... so you saw that far ahead..." Miho stated embarrassed by her friend's keen instinct. "I'll tell you—but not here."

"Sure."


After abandoning her street shoes at the door and following Akiru into the greater part of her residence, gathering the essential make-up of an after school snack, returning to the living room and watching her friend descend upon a seat as though she had just returned from a hiking trip, Miho finally found that the time was upon her—this was it! The time to tell everything—or at least the overview of everything... leaving out a good deal of the details—was now or never again. It was a thought that prevented her from taking a seat and left her remaining standing in the middle of the room.

"What's wrong Miho?" Her best friend asked offhand. "You can sit if you want, its not like you need the permission in the first place..." she trailed off as she flipped through the pages of an opened magazine.

Miho swallowed nervously despite herself. Even though she knew the house was empty now, it was almost too open to allow her comfort. Though much more confined and out of the way, she much preferred the closed confines of Akiru's room. Though to suddenly ask to go there was simply too strange and abnormal when common thought was to take advantage of a free household when having it.

"Hey Miho..." Akiru started resigned to her friend's strange behavior. "You can sit down and wander into your mind just as well... though I—"

"Sorry!" Miho cried out so loudly that it nearly caused Akiru to fall off the couch from surprise. Accompanied with the apology was a sudden and low bow.

"Eh-uh-ah... huh?" Akiru stumbled as she tried to understand Miho's sudden behavior.

"I'd like to apologize to you," Miho lifted her body from the bow and addressed Akiru once more. "...For going ahead of you I guess."

"Ahead of me? In what way...? Apologize?"

Miho smiled and crossed the floor to the nearest window, resting her hand upon the glass and closed her eyes to the light that flooded her face.

"Akiru, do you believe in magic?"

"Magic?" Akiru asked even more confused with the sudden change of topic.

"Not fake magic either. Not cards, tricks, or illusion, but real magic?"

Akiru was blank for a moment as she honestly tried to figure out what her friend was going on about. Though she had agreed to talk about anything with her, she seemed really, really strange lately. But if all she wanted was an honest reply, then she could at least give that.

"I guess I could. Anything is possible really..."

Miho opened her eyes slowly as she turned from the light of the window to face her friend again. Though it wasn't clearly discernable, it looked as though there were tears that threatened her eyes despite her smile.

"I'm glad." Miho said simply as she searched for the right words. "Otherwise what I have to say would be that much harder. The fact that I know what others have been searching for these past weeks. The truth of Fancy Lala."

Akiru looked at her friend in a perplexed manner. "Truth?"

"The truth that I..." Miho put a hand to her chest. "The truth is that I am Fancy Lala!"

"What?"