この番組はメディアファクトリーとご覧のスポンサーの提供でお送りいします!
Disclaimer: Sakurako Kimino, the creator of Strawberry Panic and Media Factory, the company that sponsors its anime, own all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include such as characters, events, et cetera.
The rest of it is mine... ALL MINE! BWAHAHAHHA! *thunder crackles in the background* ... So no stealing! =p Well, unless you ask me nicely. ^.^;;;
Author's Note: The question, "What must I be thinking?", seems to be emanating from you, my good readers. I said long ago that I meant for this story to end with Yaya and Tsubomi and then I go and have them leave each other like that? O_O;;; Never fear, there is a rhyme and reason to everything. Though, I might drive some of you mad before then. xD *spies the torches and pitchforks*
This chapter will be mending most, if not all, of the wounds created during this dramatic tale and set the stage for the finale. While not much will be happening in this chapter, I found it much easier to get the ideas out this time around. The lot of it flowed quite nicely and I hope you'll enjoy it, as well. ^_^
~Strawberry Panic: The Second Year~
Light and graceful steps drift across the hall, accompanied by a pair of anxious and quick-paced ones trying to keep up. Ever since they were collected, Amane and Kaname have been trading looks, beads of sweat forming over their brow. Though the motive they both serve centers about the one they follow, neither of them can let go of the issue that stood unresolved upon their exit. Concern over that has led them to further concern over where they're being led now. Time has also had the unwelcome effect of dragging on and producing the illusion of traveling for longer than they actually have.
Shizuka is aware of their discomfort as she glides forward, leading the two of them to her intended destination. There is a part of her that desires to prolong this feeling in them. She hypothesises many virtues in it that might enlighten her counterparts about the dangers of meddling. She smiles at the thought. She herself has been meddling in the affair of others now, something she'd never placed much interest in in the past. How life changes a person. It truly is a mystery. Of course, the meddling she'd affected has been so as a direct counteraction to the meddling of those others, intended to smooth the various transitions they cause. Perhaps that's where the desire to impart lessons in virtue arose. The thought elicits a slight giggle in the girl as she plays with it, inadvertently elevating the stress in her companions.
"After all, the waves of change are immutable." She thinks to herself, "No mortal hands may alter their flow for long, try as they might. What is must be, what isn't never will."
As the three of them continue, she considers those words and elabourates onward, "Intervention into their course need only be a soothing agent, aiding in the acceptance of nature's order."
At last, she arrives before a set of double doors. Stopping herself before she can reach the distance to open them, she turns her head enough to see the two from the corner of her eye, further adding, "Those who try, who build up machinations to control it soon find their constructs washed away in the tide, revealing them to be pointless all along."
The seconds start to tick on once more with none of the three making a move. Shizuka's continued stares are unsettling for both Amane and Kaname, but that doesn't seem to be the point of them. Kaname's ever-growing sense of dread soon lures her to the doors before which Shizuka is stood. She approaches with caution, her mind scanning across an infinite number of possible horrors that might lie beyond them. As she draws near, so does Shizuka, stopping to lean a bit on one of them. Taking her hand to the knob of the door opposite, Kaname begins pulling, though her eyes never leave Shizuka who has taken to idling in wait.
"Oh!" Amane's surprise beckons Kaname's attention back towards the room behind the now open door.
"Makoto?"
A head of silver turns to greet her unexpected guests, though the flustered expression she bears was not brought about by them. The true cause is still obstructed by the other door that remains closed.
Puzzle Pieces
"No, I won't surrender." Makoto exclaims, standing up in defiance of her previous hopelessness.
Prior to being greeted by Spica's President and the Etoile, Makoto had developed a bit of depression over her defeats at the unintentional hands of Fushimi Asuka. After a period of self-loathing, she forces a rekindling of her determination, reminding herself of her mentor and the passion she admires in her. To that end, she resolves to have an intervention for Yaya and Tsubomi.
"It hasn't worked for Kaname, but maybe the forceful antagonist approach will work for me." She says, looking back over the papers she'd scattered over the floor.
With a sigh, she goes to her desk to sit and admits, "Even if it won't, it isn't as if I have another choice…"
The whole of this time, she has ignored the small girl watching her eroding calm, cerulean eyes unusually strained by a concerned expression. The girl trembles a bit where she is stood, having remained in the same place she'd gotten herself when Makoto was felled. Her distress continues to intensify each time the girl speaks on this new mad plan of hers. As it does, her ability to hold onto Percival in her arms likewise weakens.
"We hereby announce our candidacy as representatives of Miator in the Etoile-sen!"
Chihaya and Noriko have declared their entry at last. Though the anticipation is that the couple will rival against a formidable Spica duo, there is only so much time remaining for them to make their own announcement and there's nary a word from the opposing school. Beside the two, Nagisa and Tamao stand by, though they exchange troubled glances. If Spica is unable to promote a pair into the Etoile-sen, Chihaya and Noriko will win by default. It would then, obviously, benefit them if Spica didn't or couldn't, however, neither takes pleasure in it. They have friends in the school and two of those friends are meant to be the chosen candidates. To see how far they are from being ready hurts them more than Miator's assured victory can comfort.
"What does Tamao-chan think might be going on over there? Why haven't they made their announcement for Yaya-chan and Tsubomi-chan?" Nagisa asks her roommate once the crowd has dispersed and they are left to their own devices.
Tamao's brow furrows at the question she'd been trying not to ask herself, but takes a breath before answering, "I'm not sure, Nagisa-chan. We've been so occupied with getting Chihaya-chan and Mizushima-san ready that we've really lost track of what's been happening there."
"Didn't Chikaru-sama say she would look into it for us?" Nagisa recalls, her eyes wandering in the general direction of the corresponding school.
"No, it wasn't Chikaru-sama." Tamao thinks back, "I remember it was Shizuka-san that suggested for her to do so."
"Do you think Chikaru-sama forgot?"
"That's very unlikely." Tamao replies, now suspicious over the event.
"Well, if Chikaru-sama is on it, I'm sure everything will work out for the best." Nagisa suggests, lifting up a clipboard with a few notes scribbled on it, "We've still got a few things to get ready for Chihaya-chan and Mizushima-san."
"Huh? Oh, yes, I suppose we do." Tamao stammers, brought out of her train of thought.
They travel together to Chikaru's Henshin clubroom. The Lulim President had offered to help with any of the preparations should they need it. Knowing how much she'd already done for them, Nagisa and Tamao decided to only ask for the basest of essentials, which for this time meant fabrics from her club. Their candidates would need awe-inspiring wardrobes to gain them the public attention to be elected. Until the deadline has passed, they will operate as though their formidable foes in Spica, their friends, are to participate. Furthermore, though Chikaru has a well-renowned craft for design work, hers is mostly a skill used in costume creation and therefore, at least as an excuse, they will not request election dress from her. Additionally, they have decided against simply purchasing the couple's attire as they had their gowns for the Senkou Dance as a more personalised touch is deemed more alluring, which could mean the difference of a few votes.
Of course, there is an underlying reason for this, as well. While each of the shared reasons is no less valid, Tamao has started to notice a change in her roommate, one she might nurture. It seems since her reunion with the former Etoile over the summer, Nagisa has grown a new focus, no longer suffering from the separation anxiety that plagued her at the start of the year. Instead, she'd been a key partner that has helped Tamao with preparing their candidates. She'd aided in each phase of it and provided a cushion of optimism should Chihaya or Noriko become overwhelmed. In addition, though unaccredited, she had quite a bit of input into the design of their costumes for the play, hoping certain adornments would draw more attention to their characters and, by extension, them. Those alterations actually did produce a great effect, as Tamao would discover through a survey she'd secretly run afterward. Apparently, with her head always in the clouds, Nagisa has a good eye for designing.
Makoto paces back and forth within the confines of the room. There is a reality she doesn't want to accept, predicating her motivation for this late-term intervention. After all, if she is to accept it, it would mean…
"Doubts are merely distractions. Listening wastes one's time." She recites, thinking on the many lessons her mentor had imparted on her.
Toumori Shion, the previous President of Spica, gave her all to ensure a Spica Etoile. Though there were many setbacks, as she'd relayed to Makoto during the previous year, it was clear to all gracing Astraea that she'd succeeded. The current Etoile were of Spica and, not only that, but one of the two was none other than its prince. Makoto could not allow that to come to an end on her watch. Shion had graduated, no longer capable of guiding her student body to their potential, but Makoto still remains.
"Results by any means necessary. Motivation, manipulation, machination, misinformation, whatever it takes." She continues, slamming the papers in her hand down onto the desk nearby.
It isn't enough. "There's not enough time."
She crumples the sheets into a ball and angrily tosses it against the far wall, sinking against the desk in a huff, "They have to announce their entry by tomorrow and, so far, I've had more practice with its requirements than the two of them put together. They'll surely lose to Miator as they are now and that's only if I could even get them to enter in the first place."
"I can't lose this…" She whimpers, her nails digging into the edge of the desk, "Spica can't be without an entry."
"I had a dream to realise." Makoto hears the familiar words and turns to them.
Kagome continues to speak them, "But the only thing I ended up doing was pushing that dream onto her."
"What are you…"
"In the end, I was helpless to do anything for her, sat where I was desperate and terrified."
"Stop." Makoto groans, "I don't want to hear that weakness."
"Kusanagi-san…"
"I know where that came from, what Shion-senpai told me." Makoto explains, "She was lost, as lost as I am now. What she said was in despair. Pathetic admissions of one believing she'd failed."
"Then came the dawn and when she rode in so did a revelation." Kagome goes on regardless, "Destiny cannot be forced. Those fated to rise will, those who aren't will never. We need only have faith."
"Faith?" Makoto asks, revealing she'd never read to the end of Shion's words.
"Toumori-sama thought it was important to tell you." Kagome notes.
"I didn't want to read the rest. Is that how it ended? Is that how Amane-sama rose to become Etoile?"
"Love is in a similar vein. Difficult though the road may be, no one can stop traveling down its path."
Yaya has found her way to the comforting atmosphere of the church once again. She takes herself to the same spot she'd always gone, to the same wall, and presses her back against it. She looks to the bright skies above, the darkness in her eyes strongly clashing with it. She has accepted what's happened and deems to move on from it. As a fourth year, there are only two years remaining before she can graduate. A new start might be best and, during such time, she knows Ootori Amane will have graduated already. As much as it pains her to think too much on it, her precious roommate will probably need help to cope with the prince's absence. Yaya would still like to be there for Hikari and it might be the best distraction against dealing with her grief.
"And so, we can treat it the way we might an adventure. To reach the peak, sometimes we need to be brave and plunge into the darkness. Progress may be slow, it may be arduous, but in the end, each journey we take bears fruit. We need but continue until that point, reminding ourselves of it when it seems furthest away."
At the same time as she goes over her next course of action, someone else has arrived. The girl's pink hair blows in the wind as she watches her Yaya leaning against the church wall, a sharp pain stinging her heart upon seeing her suffering in solitude. Their relationship has strained recently and she is unsure of what she can do as a result. Doing nothing had been equally destructive then, but all thoughts of other actions evoke more awkwardness as she slowly approaches.
"Isn't that how we grow?"
"And so on and so on. Life and love; the journey is the same, though life lasts just a bit longer. So, if I'm to compare it to a journey, I must ask myself, have I been making much progress? I say to be brave and press onward, but have I?"
In one of the many clubrooms presided over by Lulim's President, Chikaru ushers several of the school's students to one of many destinations. Kizuna, Remon, Kaede, and Misato aid her, preparing elabourate maps and manuals to better explain the circumstances. The bustling activity as of late is a direct result of Shizuka's plans, coordinating the movements of each player trying to manipulate Yaya and Tsubomi, misdirecting Kaname and Amane as the two try to close in on her, supporting Chihaya and Noriko's growth with their friends in Miator, and one more plan that is close to fruition.
"What is my true desire?"
On the first day of the school year, she'd arrived at her dorm room. Once she'd settled she'd sat herself on her bed and taken her hazel eyes to the door. It opened as soon as she did and she had risen from her seat as Chikaru entered from outside, turning on the light, and going immediately to her desk. She passed her by to begin shuffling through some papers, finding a few sketches of samples she'd been working on. Placing a finger to her lips, she chose several of these samples to look over before settling on them. She began to take a step away, but stopped herself, thinking for a moment as her caramel eyes scanned the ones left behind. Brushing away a few stray strands of raven and making sure the move did not disturb the large red bow clipped to them, she had decided to take one more sample before turning to make her way back toward the door. Smiling, she had turned quickly to place a tender kiss on her roommate's cheek before taking her leave.
On another day when she was absentmindedly scribbling in her notebook, her mind going over several of the incidents she'd encountered this year, Chikaru had returned from her shower and was drawn in by her indecision. However, she hadn't wanted to reveal that doubt and Chikaru didn't push the subject. She was always grateful for the easygoing and supportive aspect to her roommate, something she felt was the reason she engaged in that side of her personality much more extensively than the competitive side others wanted to promote.
Following the Senkou Dance, she'd attempted to intervene only to be rewarded with some of the night spent unconscious in a ditch and a bump on her head as a souvenir. Chikaru had been there to tend to her wounds as the two mused over circumstances. The Senkou Dance had been more interesting than either of them could have predicted. As predicted, there were many plots afoot. A graduated student made her reappearance, old rivals united to rouse a star, and the anticipated pair met with disastrous consequences for the actions of others. However, every tigress makes mistakes for the sake of her cubs and so, these ones could be forgiven for theirs. Once the discussion came to a close and it was about time to head off for Summer School, Chikaru had decided to close the door to their room instead. They remained inside for quite some time.
"What is my true purpose?"
There was a knock at her door. She lifted the book in her hands higher so that she could see it. She hadn't been expecting anyone that night and Chikaru certainly would have had her key. Another knock sounds and she put down the book, making her way to open it. However, as her hand reached the knob, there was a loud bang followed by lots of whispering voices. Curious about it, she paused for a moment, but shook her mind of it and opened the door. As soon as she had, Chikaru fell into her arms followed by an army of Lulim's new students. They were all screaming with excitement, their words jumbling together into a meaningless soup of syllables. After making an amusing quip at the President's expense, she'd gone to sit, but as she did so, the girls had figured out who she was. Akin to Chikaru's distinction amongst the student body, Shizuka possessed an illustrious standing with them that rivaled the likes of Spica's President and even the Etoile herself. The screams released by their discovery had been deafening and the crowd pushed all the way into the room, some still surrounding Chikaru, but a number had collect before her, as well.
That was the day she became acquainted with Tsuya Misato, an incoming student at Miator. She'd been a lost newcomer on the first day of school this year. She had guided the girl onto campus upon hearing her pleas. What did that make her? There were those who wanted to raise her up to a leading role amongst the student body. There was the President of Spica. The girl had been tireless in her attempts, doing everything she could to inspire her, as well as, one other. It finally worked on the prince, the present Etoile, but even for someone who wanted to stay away from the spotlight, too, the girl agreed with the President about pushing her. And there was another, an elegant beauty of silver who'd indulged in her lofty position and inspired simply with her presence. Who was she to them?
"And how much damage will need to be repaired before they are finished?"
Yaya froze in her step. Shock flowed through her form as she watched the Eiko kiss Tsubomi. In that single second, everything she thought reversed. She's left to be swallowed by the shadows once more.
Makoto stumbled about the grassy rim around the lake at the heart of Astraea Hill lost in thought. The Spica Student Council representative lost herself to grief following the events of the Senkou Dance. There had been a time when sparks were alight within her, fueling a decisive nature and unwavering cleverness. However, after that dance, Makoto could find no more. All that was left was reflection, each misstep made that Makoto denied continuously. She abhorred the failure and that was all her reflections would show her.
Tsubomi's Lady Macbeth had left none unmoved, least of all one specific attendee with hair of bistre. Her amber eyes watched the acts playing out intensely, so much so that she had to remind herself time and time again that it was fiction before her eyes and not reality. Though a part of her did marvel at the young girl's uncanny capabilities, she was haunted by it, as well. She couldn't help but imagine Tsubomi's lines as truth and it plagued her mind.
Asuka watched from behind the shade of the brush, her lips curling into a grin. Her blitzkrieg tactic had made the situation awkward for both Tsubomi and Eiko, but she could see the seeds of lust had been planted in Eiko. A bit of nurturing was all that was needed and then Asuka could proceed with the next and hopefully final stage of her plan, isolate and encroach.
"However, for every mistake made, there will always remain a way to make amends."
She remained silent as led Amane and Kaname to a specific room of the class building. Yaya and Tsubomi had already met and started down the correcting road of their journey. It was now time to reveal to Spica's most prominent a solution to the problems they'd created.
"Makoto!" Kaname gasps as she and the Etoile witness what has unfurled before their eyes.
Shizuka lifts herself from her spot against the other door and opens it to reveal what had been hidden behind it. Kagome stands beside the silver-maned fifth year, having taken the girl's hand in both of hers and placed it over her heart. Percival, her toy bear that never left her side now lies on the floor. With a knowing smile to the little one, Shizuka turns and begins to leave, believing that, at least for Amane and Kaname, what's happened should be clear. As for Makoto, well, the bewildered expression she keeps to her features is evidence enough that she hasn't quite grasped it. However, for the moment, she's content in the warmth of Kagome's heart, her true feelings for her fully shown. With a tear building in her eye, Makoto embraces the girl as her onlookers admire the scene.
Author's Note: There it is! Not that everything's all better now, but it is more or less there. Miator's candidates have already announced themselves and their competition will soon join them. Yes, that means the next chapter will be the last and will feature the Etoile-sen! Additionally, I'm hoping every question you might have will be answered. xD *slowly backs away from the frustrated readers*
*a safe distance away* This chapter was quite Shizuka-centric, I must say, but I feel she was the only person to give voice to the lot of it. Besides, she was deeply involved with it all.
次回予告
Shizuka: And so it is.
Momomi: But there's just a bit more to do, isn't there?
Chikaru: Check and check. Is something still left unresolved?
Shizuka: Can't have that now can we?
Asuka: Yaya-senpai, please don't leave it like this.
Next time on Strawberry Panic, Full Circle!
Makoto: We'll take it from here.
この番組はメディアファクトリーとご覧のスポンサーの提供でお送りいしました!
次回をお楽しみに