PREVIOUSLY
"But she was corrupted for so long-jubi… How can she… jubi…?"
"Why?!" Hope felt tears in her eyes as well.
"Because you're my first friend! You taught me to be truthful with my feelings… I don't want to see your smile disappear!" Suzue sobbed. She turned to Dusk and Ink, tears still streaming down her face. "Stop… Stop…! STOP HURTING MY FRIEND!"
And then, Jubilee's gem burst into a blinding orange light.
NOW
Everyone on the field recoiled at the light, squeezing their eyes shut to block out its brightness. Dusk and Ink forced their eyes open, stumbling forward.
"Get her! Before she can't be turned back!" Dusk roared. The light contracted around Suzue, who was now staring into a beautiful, orange heart-shaped gem. The other Cures knew exactly what that was. Another Everheart. Ink launched himself forward, only to be stopped by Spirit pointing her sword to his throat.
"We won't let you torture her any more!" she growled. Azami was in a fistfight with Dusk, just barely dodging his punches as he advanced towards the light. She was trying her best to keep him from Suzue as long as possible so she could transform.
"Suzue-jubi! Your desire to save Cure Hope awakened the ability to become a Precure-jubi! Just take this Everheart and call out your change-jubi! Be who you really want to be-jubi!" Jubilee cried. Suzue nodded and held the gem tightly. She gave it a gentle kiss, and a wave of orange light washed over her. It was warm and soothing, much like standing out in the sun. Her hair grew much longer, down to her knees, and twisted itself into 2 high-strung ponytails that had corkscrew curls at the end. Her bangs parted on her right, a small ahoge sticking up from it. A white vest draped down over her, with the hem of it pointing down like an arrow, with orange trim on the bottom and top. A large, poofy bow appeared over it, with an orange, heart-shaped pouf above it and the Everheart resting atop it. Then, a perfectly pleated orange skirt swirled around her hips, accompanied by darker orange, skin-tight shorts underneath. She did a little twirl, and the orange light appeared around her arms and legs. On her arms, white wraps extended from her wrists to her upper arms, with orange trim on the top and bottoms. Then, finally, white, high-heeled boots with the tops of them folded down below the knee, revealing orange inside. The boots also had little orange hearts on the tops of the feet.
"I… I really transformed…" Suzue whispered. "I'm… I'm who I wanted to be…!"
"Yes-jubi! Now tell us who you are-jubi! Make it official-jubi!" Jubilee said excitedly. She nodded, and thought for a second before she knew exactly who she was.
"The Light of True Justice! Cure Honest!" She landed on her feet softly, looking over herself in awe. Dusk and Ink cursed on the sidelines.
"Damn you Cures! You have no idea what you've done! Prince Shadow is going to be royally pissed!" Dusk spat. Honest looked him dead in the eyes, an intense aura radiating from her. She was ready to fight and save her friends, whatever it took. First, she needed to get the others out of the ooze and the Shaoris to stop attacking long enough for her to do so. She focused her energy to her hands, feeling that same warmth. Her power felt like it came from the earth itself. She turned the orange glow her hands gave off into vine-like whips, and hurled them at the monsters.
"Honest Whip!" and with that, the vines wrapped around the Shaori's legs. "And now…!"
She focused her energy into her hands and put them to the ground. "Honest Bud!" she called, and the energy travelled through the ground and out to the Cures who were trapped. They became enveloped in what looked like glowing orange flower buds, which bloomed and dissipated to reveal the ooze had been washed away. Now, with all of the Cures free, they could really gang up on the Dark Land generals and take back the offensive.
"Honest!" Cure Hope ran up to her and gave her a giant bear hug. Of course, Hope being who she was, this was the first thing she would choose to do after being freed in the middle of a fight. "Let's do this!"
"BUBBLEGUM BRAT!" Dusk roared, launching forward. He was stopped by Honest, who had stepped in front of Hope. With an expression of justified anger on her face, his face met her fist. He flew back and tumbled to the ground.
"That's for telling me I wasn't pretty all the time! And this is for hurting my first friend!" She summoned another whip and wrapped it around him, flinging him to the other side of the field. Muddied, dirty, and pissed off at losing, Dusk simply gave up.
"I hate you stupid cures! I'll be back soon enough!" He yelled, disappearing into a portal. Ink, though, stayed behind to command the Shaoris. Jubilee poofed back into his fairy form and flew across the field to Cure Honest.
"Now's your chance-jubi… Summon your weapon and take down those Shaoris-jubi!" He explained. "Pour all of your feelings into your Everheart-jubi!"
"Right… My weapon!" she took a deep breath and focused hard. Her Everheart began to glow brightly. "Everheart! Become my weapon!"
The orange heart shone, and from it, a single arrow appeared. Then, glowing brightly, a bow materialized in her hand. She put the arrow in it and lined up the shot so it would run through both Shaoris. She took a deep breath and thought about all the pain she'd been through. She could barely remember her childhood, but it didn't seem pleasant. Then, what she did remember was mostly others berating her, or putting her down. And Prince Shadow's cold, iron grip on her heart… It still stung to think she had given in to his coercion. But now… she was free. She was Suzue Tanaka again. She could be herself. She had Jun, Emika, Yuki, Ryoko, Azami, and Matsuko, all fighting for her sake. She had become a Cure. Her whole life had led to this.
"Truth in Justice and Emotion! Precure…" she drew back the bow string, steadying herself. "HONEST BLOOM!"
The arrow flew forward and pierced both Shaoris, and from the arrow, millions of flowers blossomed and sprouted, smothering the monsters in the floral downpour. Then, the flowers glowed brighter and brighter, until they were almost blinding - and then, they exploded in a flurry of petals. The black ooze was now orange, and it settled into the two bottles they had come from. Ink roared in anger and grabbed the bottles before disappearing like his partner had done earlier. Honest let go of a breath she didn't even realize she was holding, and then suddenly she de-transformed and collapsed, unconscious. Hope rushed over to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Wh-What happened?!" Cure Hope yelled. Kind, who was de-transforming herself, put a hand on Hope's shoulder.
"It's alright. I'm sure she's just exhausted. Remember, she did just go from being purified to becoming a Cure in a short amount of time. Let's take her to my house, and then… well, I suppose we'd better get to school. First period is almost over already."
Yuki's grandmother, who was away at work and had to be called on the phone, agreed to let the girl stay there until they got home and could take her to a hospital. Of course, Yuki spared the details about her being a previous Dark Land general or them being Cures, or… Well, most of the details, to be honest. But Yuki was a trustworthy person, and her grandmother knew that, which is why she allowed it at least until they got out of school that day.
When they finally did, all of the Cures rushed straight to Yuki's house. They'd gotten a reprimand for missing first period, but since they had exemplary records otherwise, they'd all gotten off with a warning. Except Ryoko, of course, since their reputation was what it was, who was forced to have Saturday detention that weekend. They all rushed into the house to see Yuki's grandmother tending to Suzue, who was sound asleep in a guest bedroom, right where they'd left her. They quietly left the room to let her sleep, and then Grandma Konoko looked them in the eyes.
"Now, I'd like a full explanation. You didn't tell me much on the phone, Yuki." she said seriously. "Who is this girl? Where are her parents?"
"We… don't know. We… found her. She said her name was Suzue, and that she didn't remember anything else." Yuki lied. She hated lying like this, but if it was to protect Suzue, then she'd do it. No way was she letting her just go into the world alone.
"Anything else? What about a surname? Perhaps we could look up her records. The law firm has influence with lots of people, dear." Grandma Konoko suggested.
"Oh, that actually might be a good idea. I'll do it, Grandma. I bothered to bring her in the house, the least I can do is take care of her." Yuki offered. Her grandma sighed, but allowed it anyways.
"Alright. But you'd better tell me what you find. The truth, Yuki. I know when you're lying to me, but I know you, so I'm sure you have a reason for it. I'll trust this to you." she murmured. Yuki nodded, albeit with a look of shame on her face. She hated, hated, hated lying to her grandmother, nor was she any good at it, it seemed. "Good. I'll look after her for now. You had better go before it gets dark, her parents must already be worried sick about her."
"Prince Shadow. They've failed. Again. Why don't you rid yourself of them already?!" Ebony complained, sitting beside the statue of the man. On the opposite side, Gloom sat with her, nodding silently. Prince Shadow only scoffed.
"Why do you think? Despite the fact that they can't seem to take orders, I can't simply let them go. Imagine if we were to let three generals go? How could I corrupt more in this accursed state? Damn that Queen Mirai… if it weren't for her, I'd have all the Negative Energy I could consume and I'd be sitting on that blinding throne…" he growled. "... But it's no use looking back on things. We should look to the future. Go collect the two we still have left. I want you two to teach them a lesson. Don't kill them, but… make sure they don't dare disobey me again."
"Of course, Prince Shadow." they both bowed.
"Prince Shadow…" Gloom suddenly spoke up. She wasn't one for words, so Ebony seemed surprised, as did their leader.
"Yes?"
"What do you mean 'blinding throne'?" she asked, voice soft and meek, almost like a child's. Prince Shadow sighed.
"I forget that you two weren't there during the attack on the castle. You were keeping watch here. Well… the Everlast Kingdom is made of light. The Queen's throne… it radiates it. It's blinding. If I were to sit on it, I could smother that light and control the whole kingdom… But she turned me to stone and awakened those Precure… Well, she shattered her own soul to do it, now didn't she? Serves her right. We'll have to play the long game. Now, you two, go get those failures for me."
Yuki and the others had arrived at the Otonashi public library shortly after. They planned to look for anything here, first, since the library did contain some public records. After, Yuki had said they'd go through her grandmother's law firm and obtain sealed records, if necessary. For now, some of the group - Jun, Emika, Ryoko and Azami - sat around a table leafing through old documents and newspapers. Yuki and Matsuko were looking at a microfilm machine, which let them look at old newspapers on film that no longer had physical copies. Jubilee had said it was a long time ago that Prince Shadow had corrupted the Generals, but he didn't remember the exact year it was.
"This is so boring," Azami groaned. Yuki gave her a look.
"If you'd been missing for a long time with no memory, Azami, wouldn't you want somebody to tell you who you were? Or where you came from? And her family… Who knows the grief they've felt with their daughter being gone for so long?" She looked away, obviously feeling a lot of empathy for the reformed Dark Land General.
"I… You're right." Azami pursed her lips. She felt bad for making it trivial like that, and decided to dive back in to looking for things to make up for it. Matsuko suddenly piped up.
"I believe I've found something. You should come take a look." She sounded apprehensive. The others set down what they were looking into and crowded around the microfilm machine, looking at what she was viewing. A smaller article on the third page of a newspaper. It had Suzue's picture, it looked identical, only in black and white. Then, they read the headline. Everyone blanched.
Child from Orphanage Missing.
"Oh my god…" Ryoko murmured.
On August 6th, 16-year-old Suzue Tanaka went missing from the Saito Orphanage in Kumihama City. Police are currently investigating, and the current belief is that she ran away. If you have any information, contact…
"What… What's the date?" Yuki managed to get out after stomaching the entire article. Matsuko rolled the reel back to the beginning, and zoomed in on the date at the top. Everyone was shocked at the date.
August 10th, 1965.
"I-I-It's been… 50 y-years…!" Emika spoke up.
"How is she still so young? Did Prince Shadow's corruption do this to her? And if she's been missing so long… who knows about the others!" Azami gritted her teeth. "How could he do this to them…?!"
"Either way… We know where she's from, now. Kumihama City. That's only an hour away by train. We can't go tonight, but this weekend, I'll have my grandmother arrange something. We can take her there, see if she remembers anything." Yuki suggested.
"Yes. I want Suzue back to normal… But where will she stay?" Jun asked. "If she lived in an orphanage, she has no family. And then… it's been fifty years. Nobody would believe us if we say we've found her and then she shows up looking the same as when she left. What are we going to do?"
"She… She can stay with me." Yuki offered. "But I can't lie to my grandmother. She won't allow it otherwise. I'll have to tell her about Precure."
"What? That would be endangering our identities and her, Yuki." Matsuko murmured. Yuki nodded, fully aware of what would happen.
"Yes, but what choice do we have? She couldn't stay with you, Jun, since your house already has enough people in it. I don't know about the others' living situation, but you've seen my house. We have plenty of room for her and the means to support her." Yuki explained. "I want to help her just as much as you do."
"You're right… I suppose we have no choice. Jubilee, you've been listening from in there," Matsuko looked inside her bag, "How do you feel about all this?"
"Well-jubi…" he kept his voice low so as not to be heard, "I think it's better to trust just one person-jubi. All of you have more than one person living in their house-jubi. Yuki just has her grandma-jubi. So if we are forced to come clean about Precure for Suzue's sake-jubi… then I'd rather it be limited to just one person-jubi."
"Oh… Th-That actually makes a lot of sense… A-At my house, I have my parents and two o-older brothers…" Emika explained. Ryoko thought for a moment.
"Yeah, I live with my ma and pa." They grumbled. Matsuko nodded.
"Same here. And living with my family would only cause Suzue undue conflict." Matsuko sighed, rolling her eyes. She knew the way others treated her mom just because of who she'd married, and was absolutely appalled by it. She didn't want Suzue to go through that either, she had enough to deal with already.
"If it's the only choice, then I'll allow it-jubi. For Suzue's sake-jubi."
Later that evening, the others had gone home, and Yuki went back to talk to her grandmother. She decided to take Jubilee with her just in case she needed convincing. She knew her grandmother would believe her, but it didn't hurt to have some proof just in case.
"Hello, Yuki, dear. Did you find what you were looking for at the library?" Grandma Konoko asked as soon as the blonde girl walked in the door. Yuki, surprised by her grandma, nearly jumped out of her skin, but settled down and nodded.
"Yes, I did. But you may or may not like it, grandma. I have to talk with you." she spoke seriously. Her grandmother patted her back and led her to the backyard, a massive garden with a patio section, decorated to the nines. They sat round it, and Yuki prepared herself to explain what had been going on in her life for the last month or so.
Yukari Konoko was Yuki's grandmother - where her name came from, actually - and she was a very serious but kind woman. She was short, and her hair was grey with age, but her face held wisdom that could only come from time. She wore nice business clothes the majority of the time, and had her grey hair pinned up in a bun at the back of her head. As the sole owner and partner of the Konoko law firm, she took her job seriously. Her husband, Yuki's grandfather, was her partner at the firm several years ago, but he had passed on when Yuki was 12. When she took over the firm, she became serious and dedicated to her work like never before.
"Now, what did you want to talk about, dear? I'm going to assume it has something to do with Suzue in there." her grandmother gave her a look. Yuki nodded.
"Yes. We know who she is. Her name is Suzue Tanaka. But in order to explain her circumstances, I have to tell you something first." Yuki looked away. This was more difficult than she'd expected it to be.
"You can tell me anything, dear." She said softly, giving her a reassuring smile.
"Jun, Emika, Ryoko, Azami, Matsuko and I… We're Precure. I'm… I'm Cure Kind." she admitted. When she did, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her chest and she could finally breathe again. She wasn't lying to her grandma any more.
"... I see." her grandmother pursed her lips. Yuki had expected her to freak out, but somehow, this cold reaction was more unnerving. "I had seen the news of the Red Hero appearing around the school, and those monsters did seem to appear there more often…"
"... Yes. I admit, I… am a little surprised you're so calm about it, grandma." she spoke, adjusting herself nervously in her seat. Yukari Konoko looked up, and Yuki could see the hurt in her eyes.
"Calm? I'm the furthest thing from it, Yuki. You and your friends have been putting yourself in danger multiple times, getting severely injured in the process. Knowing it was you, my baby, on that screen, how can I be calm now? And you couldn't even tell me about it?"
"Grandma, I… It was for your safety. If people knew, our identities could get out one way or another, and then you'd be in trouble from the media, not to mention the villains would go after you to teach us an example. I couldn't put you through that." Yuki explained.
"I… I suppose that makes sense. But I still can't stand to know you're getting hurt." she urged, putting her hand on top of Yuki's gently.
"It may hurt at the time, but when we de-transform, our injuries don't carry over. It's like resetting. But… aside from all of this -" Yuki was interrupted.
"I have to ask one question before you go on. Why? Why do you feel the need to fight like this? Couldn't you have left the job to somebody else?" her grandmother asked. "Ever since your parents left you to me, I've been wary of you getting hurt and involving yourself with things like this. What could drive you to put yourself in danger despite all I've taught you?"
"My friends. Mom and dad were not… not nice. You know that. After they left, it was hard for me to find friends. I didn't trust anybody. But they… they make me remember what you taught me, to be kind above all else. It's why I chose that name. Cure Kind. And Suzue… she's in a lot of pain. I want to be kind to her, too. And because Jubilee…" she pulled the owl fairy out of her school bag, "he's my friend too, and his entire world was destroyed."
"Yes-jubi." he hopped to the ground next to Yuki, and in a cloud of smoke he reappeared as a human. "Yuki is my friend. With the Precure's help, I can see my home and my baby sister again-jubi. I promise I won't let anything bad happen to her-jubi."
"You are… Whoever gave them these powers, I presume?" Yukari asked. Jubilee nodded and took a seat. She sighed. "I see. Well… go on, then. What does all this have to do with Tanaka-san?"
"Do you know the people who have been attacking the town?" Yuki asked. This time, her grandma nodded. "Well, they were once human. Their leader, his name is Prince Shadow. He corrupted three people a long time ago. Suzue… she was one of those people. She had been in his grasp this whole time… She was hurting, in pain, under his control. But we freed her. When we went to the library, we learned that she was in an orphanage and went missing when he corrupted her. And then we looked at the date, and… Grandma, she's been missing since 1965. She's been gone 50 years. She can't return there any more. There's no way anybody would believe us or her."
"Oh my… 50 years she was living as one of those monsters… I can't imagine the pain she was going through. I was young then… Oh, you're right, yes. I don't know how she could stay anywhere without causing a big issue…" her grandmother thought about it for a second. "... I see. You want her to stay here with us. Yuki… thank you for being honest with me. She can stay. I'll see if I can figure out how to get her some proper legal documentation."
"Honest… haha." Yuki gave a wry laugh, thinking about how she had become Cure Honest because of her truthfulness to herself about her feelings. "You know… I think Suzue's made us all a lot more honest."
That Thursday, Suzue woke up from nearly 3 days straight of being asleep. Yukari had decided to take her vacation that week to watch over her and help her get used to the world around her as she woke up. She had been alive when Suzue was, after all, and felt like it would be easier for her to relate to somebody who knew what it was like back then versus now.
Suzue awoke with a groan and her eyes fluttered open.
"Hnng… My head…" she murmured. As her eyes adjusted to the light around her, she realized she was in a bed, in a room painted a soft beige color. The bed had a lacy canopy over it, and sunlight filtered in through the curtains on a large, arch window. It gave the room a gentle, ethereal feel, and she almost felt like she could go back to sleep since it was so comforting. However, she then remembered why she was there. She had broken free of Prince Shadow's corruption. Cure Hope had purified her.
"B-But where…" suddenly, the sense of comfort she felt turned into one of panic. She didn't know where she was specifically, nor was anybody around. "H-Hello?"
"Oh, you're awake!" A gentle voice called through the door as it opened. Yukari walked in, a glass of water in one hand and some crackers in another. "I brought you some water. Some crackers, too, in case you were hungry but your stomach wasn't well."
"Y-You look like… Like Kind… H-How long have I been asleep…?!" She cried. Yukari tried not to laugh and set the things down on her bedside. She patted Suzue's hand, who flinched away and cringed. It seems she didn't like to be touched quite yet, now that she was in a low-stress environment without the pressure of the Generals trying to kidnap her again.
"You… You were only asleep for a few days, dear. I'm Yuki's grandmother, and they told me all about Precure. No need to worry. Whenever you're ready, the others would love to see you, but only when you're ready. I don't want you to stress too much. Slows down the healing process, after all." she smiled gently.
"O-Oh… I see… her grandmother…" Suzue seemed to be taking it all in, trying not to panic. "And… What day is it? I know it's been a while since I left Ms. Sachiko's care, but everything is still a little blurry. I don't remember a lot of the time I spent with Prince Shadow a while back..."
"Sweetheart…" Yukari sat on the foot of the bed, trying to think of a good way to tell her she'd been gone a lot longer than she thought. "When you left, it was 1965, yes?"
"Yes… oh, have I been gone a year?! Ms. Sachiko must be worried sick!" Suzue felt like crying, and Yukari realized there was no easy way to tell her. "Oh, I've made everyone worry…"
"Dear… it's been longer than a year. I was 20 in 1965. It's been 50 years since you left."
"I…" Suzue's breath caught in her throat. Her mouth felt dry, and she couldn't swallow. Getting words out was just as hard. She felt like she was going to pass out again. "F-Fif… Fifty… Fifty y-years..."
"From what they told me, you stayed the same because of what that evil man did to you. But Jun used her powers on you, and you turned back. You should go back to normal, now. But we looked up the place you used to live… it's shut down, but we found the owner. Saito-san."
"Ms. Sachiko… P-Please… I n-need to see her…"
After that, Suzue had started to feel better, at least physically. By Saturday, she was almost back to her old self. She had little to no recollection of her past aside from part of her time as Sable and what she remembered with Jun, but she was grateful to Yukari and Yuki for taking her in. Sunday, the group - even Jubilee, in human form - got together and prepared to take her to Kumihama City to see if she could remember anything. They'd found out the orphanage was shut down many years ago, but the woman who owned and ran it while Suzue stayed there - Sachiko Saito - was still alive, albeit much older. She lived in a retirement home not far from the original location of the Saito Orphanage, so they were going to take Suzue to see her. On the train ride there, all of them were quiet. They had no idea how it was going to go, but Suzue was adamant about seeing her. Suzue, trying her best to not worry and accomodate to her new life, was fascinated by how technology had evolved since she had been gone from her home.
"Oh! What is that, Matsuko?" she asked as the younger girl pulled out her cell phone. Matsuko turned to show her.
"It's a cell phone. It's like a landline, but you can take it with you. You can do all sorts of things with it nowadays. There's even a thing called 'texting'..." Jun zoned out as she watched Matsuko show Suzue the cell phone. Yuki's grandmother now knew about Jubilee and the Precure, as well as Sable. She felt horrible keeping secrets as well, and desperately wanted to tell Ume, who they had to skirt around when talking about Suzue and where they were going. Ume was suspicious, of course, and very upset that Jun was obviously not telling her everything. Jun apologized and promised to tell her more when she could, but she had no idea when that would be, or even if she ever could.
"... Jubilee?" Suzue spoke up suddenly. Jun was torn away from her thoughts and focused on the conversation at hand. The freckled boy raised his head and blinked.
"Yes-jubi?" he asked, curious. Suzue seemed a little upset, like she was trying not to cry.
"I'm… sorry…" she murmured. Jubilee looked concerned, now, as did the others.
"Uh… why-jubi? You haven't done anything-jubi." He replied, worried for her more than anything. She shook her head firmly.
"I have. I… When I was Sable, I… I hurt your kingdom. Your Queen. The… the people in it. I helped cause… their suffering…" Suzue broke into tears, now. Jubilee put a hand on her shoulder, a serious expression on his face. She sniffled and tried to calm herself the best she could so others wouldn't stare at her while she cried.
"That wasn't you-jubi. That was Sable-jubi. They are two different people-jubi. Prince Shadow turned you into that, he corrupted you with Negative Energy-jubi. So don't think it's your fault, because it wasn't-jubi… It was Prince Shadow's-jubi." he explained. Suzue sniffled and nodded, trying to take what he said to heart. The other Cures, however, looked between themselves nervously. If this was how the train ride there was going, they were in for an interesting time meeting Ms. Sachiko.
One train ride later, and the seven Cures departed the train and ended up in Kumihama City. Yuki used her cell phone's GPS to lead them to the retirement home where Ms. Sachiko Saito lived. It was, quite literally, down the street from the orphanage. When they passed the derelict building, the sign decaying and windows boarded, Suzue froze. She had a glassy look in her eyes, like she was remembering something unpleasant.
"Suzue, sweetheart, why do you keep staring out of the window? What's wrong?" A kind woman asked. This Suzue was younger, only about 11. She was sniffling and crying.
"Ms. Sachiko… the kids at school… they said you're not my real mom..." She asked, her voice cracking as she tried not to break into a sob. The woman gave her a sad kind of look.
"Oh, sweetheart… You see, I'm not your mom by blood, but I take care of you just the same. I'm your mom by relationship. You can call me mom if you want!" The woman expressed kindly, enveloping Suzue in a tight hug. "I love all of the kids I care for like you were my very own."
Suzue seemed to remember a bit of her childhood just looking at the building. The others waited for her, giving her time to process. She said nothing, only lowering her head.
"Suzue… Are you okay? Did you remember something?" Matsuko asked gently. She nodded.
"Yes… Ms. Sachiko… she was like my mom. She took care of all the kids, but treated us like her own… I love her very much. I'm only afraid she won't remember me after all this time." Suzue was quiet, almost unheard. Yuki's face steeled, and she put a hand on her friend's shoulder in a sympathetic gesture.
"No parent who loves their child forgets them. It doesn't matter how long it's been. If you still remember her, she'll remember you." she said seriously. Suzue smiled wearily.
"Thank you." She said softly. Then, without another word, she kept walking. The others went with her. When they reached the retirement home, the attendant inside told them only two visitors at a time were allowed in. Suzue asked Yuki to come with her, who agreed right away. Yuki approached the attendant again, with the rest of the group waiting in the lobby.
"We're here to see Sachiko Saito." She explained. The woman gave her an incredulous look.
"Ms. Saito hasn't had visitors in years. Are you family, or…?" She asked, clearly skeptical. Yuki sighed.
"Please tell her Suzue Tanaka is here to see her. She'll know who she is." Yuki explained, and the attendant pursed her lips a second before leaving to check. Five minutes later, she came rushing in.
"I don't know who you are, but you've seriously upset her. She wants to see you right now." The attendant grumbled. Yuki and Suzue followed the attendant to a room marked 307. An angry woman's voice could be heard.
"Now you listen here! My baby Suzue has been gone a long time! It's not funny to say things like that!" She yelled, and another attendant left the room.
"Wow, she's mad. I've never seen her like this before." The nurse sounded annoyed as he passed by them. Suzue, however, looked shell-shocked.
"She remembers me…" she murmured. Yuki put a hand on her shoulder in concern.
"Listen. Go slowly. She won't be expecting you to be the same. Just… be prepared." Yuki advised. Suzue nodded and took a breath. She stepped into the room quietly.
"Ms… Ms. Sachiko… it's me…" she murmured. When she saw an elderly lady in a chair, she almost broke down in tears. Seeing the technology was one thing, but seeing the woman who she had called mom become elderly essentially overnight… it was sobering and made her realize just how long she had been gone. She looked exactly like who she called "mom," but older. She had crows feet and laugh lines and her face sagged slightly like she'd cried one too many times in her life. Her hands shook when she reached for things, and her hair and eyes were the same cloudy silver color.
"S… Suzue… you…" the woman choked out. "Oh my god… how…"
"Somebody… somebody bad took me, Ms. Sachiko… like the bad people on the news… and somehow I stayed the same. I don't know. It's all so confusing…" Suzue's voice cracked like she was trying not to cry. Sachiko waved her over and enveloped her into a hug, a kind Suzue hadn't felt in years. Fifty years, to be exact.
"It's okay sweetheart… You're safe now… Mom's got you."
