It had arrived.
All that would be left for it now was to observe.
Soon, child.
Soon.
-o-
Madotsuki felt herself surrounded by darkness. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was inky blackness.
"What do I do now?" She thought aloud.
She floated through this, eventually feeling herself fading from consciousness. She didn't care. So long as the dream was different from her last one, she didn't mind where she ended up.
Eventually, she felt herself become heavy once again. Opening her eyes and letting her eyes take focus, she saw that she was resting upon a wooden surface. Rousing herself, Tsuki realized she was lying on her desk. Had she woken up once again?
Sitting up, and pushing herself off of her chair, she stood up, and carefully looked over her room. There appeared to be nothing out of place. Her room was still the same quiet sanctuary it had always been.
Glancing over everything one last time, Tsuki decided that since she was awake, that perhaps she could pass the time until she felt tired again by playing some games.
Walking over to her TV, she made sure that her favorite game NASU was inserted. She had other games but, for some reason, the repetitive gameplay of NASU seemed to take her mind off of everything.
Only when she switched the TV on did she realize that she was not awake. A great eyeball was staring back at her, blinking every now and again.
Tsuki took a couple of steps back, a pang of fear making her heart flutter.
The initial shock wearing off, Tsuki walked up to the TV, and attempted to change the channels. On each one, the eye continued to stare back.
"Perhaps I am still dreaming..." Tsuki reached over to switch the TV off, when suddenly the eye disappeared from the screen, and a new image showed up.
It was Tsuki, 6 years old, sitting alone under a tree amid a playground full of other kids.
"I remember this. This is from my old grade school..."
The screen soon began to shift from still image, into motion.
-0-
Madotsuki was eating alone, sitting out away from the other kids on the playground. Most of the kids had already eaten, and were now running about, playing on the playground equipment, or otherwise playing games of a sort. Madotsuki, age 6, found them to be too noisy, too foreign. She felt too different from the other kids, who were always so energetic, always so happy...
She wondered if the other kids still had their parents, if they led happy lives, as well as wondering if she still had her own parents, what could have been...
Before her thoughts could spread further, she heard a voice behind her: "H-hey there. Mind if I sit beside you?"
Snapping out of her thoughts, and catching her off guard, Madotsuki said the only thing that popped into her mind: "Yeah, sure."
"Thank you."
Glancing over at the newcomer, Madotsuki noticed the blonde hair, and briefly remembered her introduction to the class this morning. However, she couldn't quite remember her name.
"Sorry to interrupt you like that, but I noticed you sitting here by yourself, and I wondered if you were okay."
Not really knowing what to say, Madotsuki muttered "Um...I-I'm fine..."
Still staring intently at Madotsuki, the blonde girl briefly considered trying to probe further, but uncertainty of upsetting the girl won out.
Instead, she said "Well, if you say so. My name's Poniko. What's yours?"
Still unsure what to say or do, Madotsuki kept her eyes on the ground, and kept quiet, wondering what the girl would do next.
"Hey, there's no reason to be afraid. I'm not going to do anything to you. Can you at least look away from the ground?"
Still staring at the ground, Madotsuki shook her head from side to side.
Looking over at the swings, and noticing two empty spots, Poniko reached over to Madotsuki's hand and said, "Come on, let's go play on the swings. There's plenty room for both of us!"
Without giving Madotsuki a chance, the strange blonde girl had grabbed her hand and was now dragging her into the playground. "W-wait! What if we get hurt on the swings?"
Madotsuki certainly wasn't afraid of getting hurt, but being dragged along by this strange girl she had met no more than 5 minutes ago was certainly too much to take in at once. She could feel herself wanting to shrink away from all the noise and commotion.
"Don't worry; I'll look out for you. It'll be fun! Now come on, let's go already!"
Unable to think of any other excuses to try and get away from the strange girl, Madotsuki gave in, and allowed herself to be dragged over to the swings.
"You know how to push yourself, right?"
"N-not really."
"Haven't you ever gotten on a swing before?"
"My mother always pushed me. I never learned how to...um... keep myself swinging." She couldn't help but be embarrassed at her quiet voice.
"Ah, alright. That's no problem. I'll push you to start you off, then just watch me, okay?"
She gave a small nod. Madotsuki took her seat on the end swing and soon, with Poniko's help, she was airborne.
Moments later, Poniko had already scrambled to her own swing, calling out from a high arc in the air. "Hey! Kick your legs like this!"
Madotsuki watched as Poniko drifted back and forth through the air and swung her feet.
"Try and time it to the swing's momentum to keep going, aright?"
All Tsuki could do was nod with a smile. Poniko was right, this was fun.
Soon, all Madotsuki could think of was the rush of the wind as she moved up and down.
Soon, the bell rang, and both she and Poniko had to get off the swings.
"H-hey. You were right. That was actually fun."
"See? I told you so. So what were you so gloomy about anyways?"
"Um, if it's alright, I don't really want to talk about it..."
"Well, alright then."
The two were quiet for a moment, when Madotsuki suddenly said
""M-Madotsuki..."
"Huh? What?"
"M-my name's...Madotsuki..."
"Oh! I think I'll call you Tsuki." The ponytailed girl gave off a bright smile.
"Um...sure." Why was she being so familiar?
Once again, silence fell between the two.
"…If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing in Japan?"
"Huh? Oh, right, the blonde hair. My folks actually moved here before I was born. My mother visited this place when she was a kid, and it left a big impression on her. My dad wasn't too sure about moving here, but apparently my mother can be pretty persuasive."
"Ah, I-I see."
Madotsuki and Poniko continued to quietly converse in this manner, at least until class started.
-0-
"I-I remember now...after that, we started to hang out together...but...why show me this now...?"
Tsuki could already feel the tears in her eyes.
"Why? Why did I need to be reminded of this? Poniko..."
Madotsuki sank to her knees.
-o-
It looked on, watching the girl sobbing.
It understood.
It was ready.
=0=
Author's Notes: Greetings everyone. I decided to hammer out yet another chapter, as I didn't feel that the first chapter wasn't quite...meaty enough. Now, in an attempt to possibly explain why Tsuki only had NASU as her only game, I'm using some of my own personal experience with deep depression here. For the most part, some people with depression tend to do certain things repetitively, as a sort of coping mechanism. For me, back during the bad times, I used to play nothing but Super Smash Bros Melee against the AI ad nauseum. Part of why I did it was a way of turning my mind off, and getting away from the gloom and doom. Not too good of an explanation, but keep in mind I'm using my own experience with that, and I hope it doesn't bother you guys too much. As always, please leave any comments, thoughts, and criticisms in the reviews, and thanks to those who have already done so. I would also like to give my friend Kyro (AKA Yuber Trice) a huge thanks for help with this chapter. Thanks again for the quick work, good buddy. Anyhoo, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and as always, thanks for taking the time to read it!
