I must be dreaming.
It was ten o'clock Saturday morning, the day of graduation. Hitomi stood in front of her mirror, gazing back at her reflection. She hadn't stopped thinking about the vision she had the night before.
Why, after all this time, had she not thought about the dragons? They seemed so important at one time…
But that wasn't now. She had come home and planned to stay here, away from Gaea and away from…
"Oh, Van," Hitomi sighed, letting the hands that were fidgeting with her robe fall limp to her sides. She knew, even then, that she had fallen in love with Van when she left Gaea so many years ago. But there was nothing she could do, since her place was here, with her family, her best friend Yukari, and all the people she cared for.
But it was no lie that she would leave at a moment's notice to return to that Fanelian King and jump into his widespread arms.
~
"Stop fidgeting."
Yukari stared at Hitomi's hands that were twisting at the small program. She sat next to her friend in the cool, steel chairs that were set up in the commons.
The setting was beautiful, with flowers of the purest white displayed in every empty space. There were small red flower petals scattered across the tables to the sides of the students, and blue ones scattered across the head table, where diplomas sat in a pyramid, waiting for their seals to be broken.
"Kanzaki Hitomi!"
Applause echoed off the walls as Hitomi rose and walked to the front of the room, shook hands with the director of her college, took her diploma and walked back to her seat. A wide grin had plastered on her face as she sat next to Yukari and embraced her. An 'I-made-it' look twinkled in her eyes and she relaxed, finally able to move on and do things with her life.
After Yukari received hers, after the long and monotonous speech, and after everyone threw up their hats in celebration, the two girls grabbed their robes and ran back to Hitomi's house to change and go back to school for the day long party to celebrate the day.
~
Hitomi looked in the mirror at herself once again, this time with Yukari directly behind her, looking over her shoulder.
"Ya look great, Kanzaki."
"Oh, I know that," Hitomi played, a great smile on her face. She looked down at the clothing she wore, and the grin became a smug look. She was wearing a dark blue skirt with a cherry blossom pattern, a soft pink shirt to match, a pair of dangling pink rock earrings, and the pendant.
The colors brightened her spirit and also made her feel a bit less self-conscious about herself than usual. Normally she would have still been changing and re-changing, not being able to find the outfit she could wear. But this one she simply pulled from the back of her closet, slipped into it, and stood proudly in front of her friends – the mirror and Yukari.
She smiled smugly and turned, grabbing her small pocket purse. It dawned on her: she wanted to go running this afternoon at her old high school.
She threw the purse into the bottom of a packed box and grabbed her old teal and purple duffle bag out of the box and opened it, stuffing in a pair of running shorts, jeans, sneakers, a t-shirt and her muscle shirt. She was ready to go.
"Let's go party."
~