Sincerity to the Cherry Blossom 2
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Neither characters included are mine.
AN: I forgot to mention that I've only seen most of the English dubbed episodes of Card Captor Sakura so I've had to go to various sites to learn more.
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The minute Rei slid her shrine doors open a charging force went straight at her sleepy figure. She didn't have time to yawn when the visitor came inside and immediately sat by the low table in the living room. Ami and Minako were already sitting by the table since they too received an urgent call from a wide-awake Makoto this morning. They didn't have a chance to even yawn properly at all and didn't want to show their sleepiness around their curious friend.
"Is all this from your dream?" Rei asked in puzzlement after Makoto babbled her entire dream in a very fast speed at five minutes. Ami and Minako had the same expression as their Shinto friend as they glanced at Makoto.
"Oh you bet it is!" She banged her fists on the table as if she had caused a tiny earthquake barely detectable on the Richter scale. The cups sitting quietly in front of her friends vibrated and nearly lost their balance. The other three hadn't seen Makoto act this excited before. Sure she was tough and aggressive but this morning showed she desperately wanted to get a message across to her friends. Makoto quickly apologized and slapped her hands to punish herself.
"Like I said," She went on slowly, "This dream gives me the creeps you know. Don't you just hate 'falling' dreams? One minute I was running along this path in pitch-blackness then the next minute I'm falling into another place at top speed. I'm in a place, which claims to be Tomoeda. A-and I see this girl who has magical powers and controlling these cards. Plus I see she has two beasts by her side. Something tells me this is no ordinary dream. I'm telling you the books I read haven't been influencing my dreams like it usually would."
"Did you see who this girl was?" Ami questioned.
Makoto shook her head uncertainly, "I told you, I couldn't see her face. I know she's young. Maybe twelve years old at least. It looked like she was dressed up for a birthday party. It was weirder than our Sailor fukus." She ascended from her seat, "Look I really want to know what this dream means. It's driving me mad! I'd like to know who these people are. I'm sure they're real."
"Well Tomoeda is an existing town. I've seen it on the local map of Tokyo," Minako added, "But why does Tomoeda appear in your dream, Mako-chan? Why not Osaka or somewhere else in Japan?" What was it that intrigued Makoto about Tomoeda? Surely there was something. It wasn't like a ghost town, was it? The vision she had in the dream showed it looked just as normal as Juuban. Could the public be giving her a message? What was with the three figures appearing? Were they supposed to be there or was it her imagination?
No! How could it come from Makoto's imagination? She wasn't a professional writer. Her mind didn't possess obsessions with wizards, elves or dragons. She rarely read fantasy books. A little voice told her that this girl might be special. Special in what? Who was this young girl? I have to find out who she is. I don't wanna be a stalker. Otherwise I'd be in deep trouble Makoto thought.
If she wanted to find out who this girl was, it would be best for her to start by visiting Tomoeda and staying there for a few days. It was likely that she lived there. The problem was how was Makoto going to make an excuse from school to head to this town? OK so her grades weren't at the top like Ami's but she was settling in at school and hadn't had too many fights with boys. Perhaps immaturity had left everyone when they reached the age of sixteen or seventeen. Thank goodness. It meant a chance for Makoto to totally brush up her cooking ability and study peacefully without fights.
How long could this go on for? Would it all come back once she reached the age of college entry? Makoto wouldn't know. She couldn't see the future. She wasn't even psychic. Makoto told herself she shouldn't be concerned about the future. She had to work on this dream mystery before thinking about college. What bugged her was how was she going to skip lessons and catch up later?
The conversation about Makoto's dream continued as the four Inner Senshi made their way to school together. Rei's school appeared first and she made her way inside, turning around to say bye to her friends before running into the main building.
As the remaining three walked, Makoto was trying to think of holiday destinations as her excuse to skip at least a whole week of school. She thought about dreamy places like Tenerife or somewhere huge like America. Thinking about skipping school for a silly reason made Minako excited and she wouldn't stop saying how it would be great to visit the Eiffel Tower in Paris and stand at the top to see the whole of France.
"You're going to miss out on lots of learning, Mako-chan. Especially when we've nearly finished high school," Ami warned her, interrupting the excitement in Minako. "What will the teachers say? You can't just say you want to go on holiday. That won't be believable."
"I have a feeling someone is waiting for me in Tomoeda and this girl has something to do with that. My mind is in too much curiosity," Makoto explained honestly, "What if the dream has a connection to my Sailor Senshi past?" This brought everyone's attention in place and they stopped walking as they stood a few feet away from the school gate. It took them a while to finally say those two words. Makoto had those words in her mind but didn't want to jump straight to the fact there could be connections to her past. That was a good possibility though.
"I know we've moved on in our lives and don't remember our past well but…this may be the only chance I'll ever get to understand who I really was when we all served Princess Serenity. You see where I'm coming, right?" Makoto inhaled with relief when she saw her friends nod understandably. These girls weren't friends pointlessly now, were they? "OK I've just got to find a way to get to Tomoeda without too much trouble. I'll give myself a week to solve everything. That should be enough. Damn I sound like a criminal planning her escape from prison."
"Hee-hee, school *is* like a prison," Minako joked. Everyone laughed altogether. "Don't worry, Mako we'll cover you up for the rest of the week. Just go to Tomoeda when you have to. I'll see you around." She ran past the tennis courts, leaving Ami and Makoto to walk together towards the science block.
"I've got biology now so I'll talk to you at break, ok?" Ami added and scampered away.
Makoto didn't have science lessons today. Instead she had history. She sighed and walked up the stairs to the back door leading to the history department of the school. This dream, whatever it was supposed to convey, just wouldn't leave her mind at all. At least there wasn't much mystery after she spoke to her friends about this. They made her feel at ease when they discussed something that screamed out of this world.
Well some things were bound to be like that, particularly as they were the Sailor Senshi. Even though there were no Youmas on the loose, they had to be extra cautious when they were on patrol among Juuban. They still had to be protective no matter what the consequences. What if the dream was telling Makoto that a new evil would challenge her? Should she be afraid? Why should she? *Most* of the time Makoto was beyond fearless.
She could handle ten Youmas if she was confident enough. Her aggressive mind halted when she looked at the large notice on the wall. She tiptoed silently towards the cream colored poster and read the capital fonts. This was totally weird - as well as interesting. The main heading said, "VISIT TOMOEDA TOWN TO TRAIN & WORK IN THE BEST FAST FOOD RESTAURANT FOR FREE. STUDENTS TAKING HOME ECONOMICS WILL BE ALLOWED ON THIS TRAINING COURSE. PLEASE SPEAK TO HIKARU-SENSEI FOR MORE DETAILS."
Could her imagination be fooling her or was this for real? The poster was saying people could work in this restaurant and earn money. There was no mention of fees, which could certainly be a catch, right? Makoto ran to the staff room as fast as she could, knowing she was ten minutes late for history. Hopefully there will still be more spaces left. This was the perfect opportunity for her to go to this town and investigate her dream by herself. Nobody would care. All she had to do was work and sight see.
This was the school's arrangement. Hence it would mean she was under school supervision and wouldn't be in any trouble for missing lessons because she would have a good excuse. She could keep up with everything if Ami was willing to send her the latest notes. Makoto knocked on the staff room door loudly; praying that Hikaru-sensei was in. Please be in, she kept saying. Her feet tapped nervously on the slippery floor.
As the door opened, Makoto said, "I need to speak to Hikaru-sensei now. It's about the trip to Tomoeda." The female teacher, who looked like a pointy nosed witch in her forties, nodded solemnly and went inside to fetch Hikaru-sensei. Oh dear god she was really late for history. People might think she was purposely skipping the class to do something stupid. Well…she was, wasn't she?
Hikaru-sensei was a young female in her late thirties. Pretty much a similar twin to Haruna-Sensei, who was usually angry about Usagi's appalling grades in arithmetic tests. Makoto slapped her hands together in a begging motion and began to ask about the poster she saw.
"Sorry, Makoto but there are no more spaces left. The maximum number we allow is twenty," Hikaru-Sensei said. Makoto quietly swore under her breath and lifted her head up to face the Home Economics teacher sadly. What other reason could she give to go to Tomoeda? Here she was, begging like crazy to go to this town…because of what she saw from her dream. Her teacher would think this girl was stupid if Makoto told her the reason to go to Tomoeda.
"Makoto I know you're one of the top students in my class but it surprises me that you tell me in the last minute. I thought you would be one of the first people to apply but it's too late unfortunately," Hikaru-sensei stated disappointingly. Wow most of the Home Economics teacher were all saying Makoto was their favorite student. So this was what it was like to be a Teacher's Pet. Makoto did love cooking and it must have boosted her grades in this subject.
She had the feeling she let her teacher down for not informing her immediately about this great trip. She had no idea when the poster came out in the first place. Oh of course. There was a reason for that. Makoto was with her friends all week after school, having fun together and forgetting about the inconvenience school gave to everybody. The fun must have made her forget about any events happening in school, which included the likely trip to Tomoeda.
She must have seen the poster already but like most people, she completely ignored it and went straight to her lessons without taking a proper read at it.
"OK I was busy last week. I had no idea the poster was on there," Makoto admitted.
"I thought you saw the poster last Friday. I saw you walk straight past it and assumed you weren't interested. Quite unlike you to do that when it involves cooking. You'd probably earn the most out of the twenty applicants," Hikaru-sensei smiled. Damn so I did see the poster. Stupid! Makoto thought and grabbed Hikaru-sensei's arms.
"Please let me go. I wasn't myself last week. I had tons of work to do and I was trying to work out a homework timetable and breezed my eyes off the poster without realizing. I was in a deep studying trance," She didn't care if she sounded stupid. She wanted to go on this trip. For two reasons. The dream and to experience working. "PLEASE!!!" Her eyes gleamed in desperation. Hikaru-sensei frowned at her student. Makoto loosened her grip when she saw she was digging into her teacher's arms deeply. Steady on, karate maniac.
"Well…you're the last person to ask me," Hikaru-sensei pondered, "And since you're one of my students I don't see why you shouldn't go. You'll blow away the manager with your high speed cooking skills." She moved back in a startled manner when Makoto banged her fists together victoriously. "I'll inform your teachers about your absence. You'll still be studying at the local school in Tomoeda as visiting students so there shouldn't be a worry about being behind in lessons. The school over there has the same syllabus as we do. I'll put your name down right away."
Smiling in the last minute at Makoto, Hikaru-sensei closed the door to the staff room. Thank you so much, Sensei! Makoto honorably bowed at the quiet doorway. Whoever wanted to see her in Tomoeda wasn't going to wait for long. Because Makoto was coming very soon. Actually…she was going tomorrow. That was when the trip was about to begin. Oh she couldn't wait.
TBC.