Notes from Nayru:
Eek! I'm so sorry I haven't updated this fic in so long!! I guess I've really neglected this one for awhile. Well, here it is, the second chapter. Finally, eh? Read on.
"I'M HOME!" Umi called as her high voice filled the house. Umi dropped her bags. She took off her jacket and walked over to a chair and put her coat against the back of it. She walked back to the door and picked up her many purchases from the mall.
She chuckled at how many more shopping bags she'd accumulated compared to Hikaru and Fuu. Fuu had bought five new books, and Hikaru had bought a stuffed-dog from Hallmark. Umi's multiple purchases had mostly consisted of clothing.
Umi grabbed all her bags in her hands and trudged up the stairs with them. As she reached upstairs, she looked around. It appeared that her parents weren't home. It was probably for the better, since they weren't going to be thrilled when they found out how much Umi had spent on shopping today.
She strolled into her room, humming the song she'd had in her head all day. She dropped her bags onto the floor and immediately her arms felt rejuvenated. Her arms had been killing her carrying all those bags.
She walked over to her computer and checked her inbox for new mail. It was empty. Most of her mail came from Fuu because Hikaru still couldn't seem to figure out computers, and her friends from school rarely sent her email.
She plopped down on her bed and pulled out her diary from a drawer. She flipped through the pages for entries from past visits to Cephiro. She found one from a couple of months ago.
"Hikaru and Lantis were at it again with the flirting again. Sometimes I just wish they would admit their feelings for each other because it's silly watching them flirt like children."
Umi laughed at a paragraph she'd written from their trip a couple of months ago. She flipped through the pages to look for entries from last time. She couldn't seem to find any. Confusion spread across her face and she desperately searched.
"Nothing…" she mumbled quietly. She was in shock. Not even on later pages did she mention their trip. It was almost as if they didn't go.
"Well, that's silly," Umi thought out loud, "I'll just have to write in what I remember." She uncapped a pen on the dresser next to her. But as she put the pen to the page to write, she found that nothing came.
Her mind was blank.
Umi began to feel the sweat building on her forehead as she desperately tried to recall something, anything, from their last trip to Cephiro. Why wasn't anything coming to her?
Her hand began to press her pen into the paper, harder and harder, as it went through the current page.
Nothing. Nothing at all. Where did it all go?
Finally her muscles relaxed and the pen and diary fell to the floor.
Umi grounded herself to her bed. Why couldn't she remember anything?
She hated feeling defeated so she grabbed the phone next to her bed, and immediately dialed a number. She had to talk to someone. Anyone. She just needed words to fill the dead silence.
"Hello?" a familiar voice came through the phone. "Hououji residence."
"FUU!" Umi hollered into the phone "WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Umi screamed, panting.
"Miss Umi?" Fuu said timidly into the phone. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing! I remember nothing!" Umi said, incensed.
"Umi! Calm down!" Fuu tried to reason. Fuu was shocked. Umi had a bit of a bad temper, but she hadn't known Umi to be unstable and spastic. "Slow down, and tell me what's wrong."
Fuu's voice helped her to relax. "I don't… remember anything from the last time we went to Cephiro. Not a single detail." Umi said, sighing. She probably sounded nuts to Fuu.
"You don't?" Fuu said, curiously.
"Apparently. Do you remember anything at all?" Umi said, uneasily.
"Of course—" Fuu began, but stopped abruptly as the horrifying feeling hit her. "N-no." Fuu said shakily "I-I don't."
Umi sank to the floor. Her body and mind felt frozen motion.
"How is this possible?" Umi said, feebly, "Maybe its more possible that we have some kind of mind frame that we went to Cephiro and we really didn't?"
"Why would we not go to Cephiro? We always plan ahead of time, and that I remember. And I don't remember deciding not to go either." Fuu added.
"Fuuuuu…" Umi mumbled, "Reality hurts, okay?"
Fuu laughed a little, as much as they were going to laugh at this point. "Sorry."
"Do you think we should call Hikaru?" Umi asked, uneasily.
"I don't think so… I think it might make her worry too much. It's probably best that we continue on like nothing happened. I suppose we'll find out what really happened when we get to Cephiro, no?" Fuu said, her voice becoming more firm and optimistic.
"Yeah." Umi said smiling. She was really glad she called Fuu. It made her feel a lot better. "Thanks so much Fuu. You really helped me, although I probably burdened you."
"No, not at all. I would've eventually realized the absence."
Umi was feeling more relieved by the moment.
"And Umi?" Fuu asked.
"Yeah?" Umi responded quickly, jumping out of a daze.
"I've got to go." Fuu said. "I'll talk to you later, alright?"
"Yep. No problem. Ja ne, Fuu-chan!"
"Ja ne Umi-sama!" Fuu responded.
Umi pressed the phone to the receiever and she heard a click as the connection was broken.
Umi, doing her best to pretend nothing was wrong, walked casually down stairs to greet her parents as they arrived home.
"Hi honey!" her mother called from downstairs.
"Konnichiwa." Umi greeted as she rushed down to embrace her parents.
"How did your shopping trip with your friends go?" her father asked.
"It went great. We had a really good time." Umi answered, smiling.
"That's good." Her mother said. "I'm going to fix up dinner, alright? Umi, you should start your homework."
Umi groaned as she stumbled over to her backpack and pulled out her homework. She started back upstairs to work in her room.
Fuu's right, she thought, We shouldn't worry Hikaru with the whole situation. She worries too much anyway. In fact, it probably hasn't occurred to her yet anyway, so we should just tell her on Wednesday.
But, really, what is going on? It doesn't make sense at all. Surely, we'll come to an explanation soon enough… But I still just don't get it…
Umi tried to forget about her thoughts and concentrated on doing her homework, which kept her mind off the whole situation for awhile. She also had dinner to look forward to where she could talk to her parents about normal things.
Well, who was to judge what normal was?
To be continued…
Notes from Nayru:
Yay! Second chapter is done! I realize its kind of short, which is unusual for me, but how did it turn out otherwise? I know the story is a lil bit weird so far, but it'll make more sense later on. Review and tell me what you think!