Okay, here's my first try at UY fic (besides a poem I wrote); it'll be eight chapters and it's called "Urusei Yatsura: Return to Me." It might gets kind of strange sometimes, especially with some of the transitions, like at the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next, but just go with it! LOL! It will all make (mostly, anyway) some sense by the end! I haven't seen all of UY (I mean, there's over two hundred eps, for crying outloud!), but I hope I did an all right job with the characterization and such; it's just so hard because all the characters are so quirky, but I tried my best. I guess this story is more serious then comedic, but serious in a light-hearted sort of way and not an overly-dramatic sort of way (I mean, this story has a PG rating, so it's nothing too devastating or anything!). It's sort of like Beautiful Dreamer was or Lum the Forever or even the Final Chapter or one of the more serious episodes of the TV series. I can't really explain it...well, I guess you'll see!

Anyway, the main focus of the story is Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, and Mendou and they're the only characters from the series who appear in this first chapter/episode. Others will appear briefly later on, but most won't play major roles or even really be playing themselves (although Megane gets a soliloquy in chapter 5 which has already been written out; and Ryuunosuke gets a highlighted scene in chapter 3). I'd figure I'd warn you, just in case for some reason you hate Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, and Mendou and like one of the other characters so that you don't start reading this hoping that everyone else is going to show up and be in it a lot.

Also, chapters 5 and 6 are supposed to be a more light-hearted version of the last two episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion (I have meticulously planned out all eight chapters of this story already...sad, isn't it?), just so you all know, but I'll remind you again once I get around to writing and posting them...The main objective of the story is really to show four high school kids growing up and the four I chose happen to be Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, and Mendou (he's referred to by his first name, Shutaro, in the narration, which was kind of weird to do because I'm so used to calling him Mendou, but I always use first names in narration) Anyway, here's what you need to know for this episode:

Urusei Yatsura: Return To Me

Episode 1: The Final Curtain Call

Subtitle: (Truth, Part One: The Problem with Not Knowing)

Feauturing:

-A Selection from Ataru's Overture

-The Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part One (The First Step Towards…)

-The Tomobiki Carnival, Part Two (The Fortune Teller, By Trade)

-A Remake of the Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part Three

With that, here we go!

A Selection From Ataru's Overture

Ataru stood at the edge of the cliff, a dark gray sky hanging over him and cold black rocks resting far beneath him. His feet stood at the edge, the tips of his sneakers dangling off as a few miniscule pebbles broke off from the cliff and fell to the jagged abyss below. Ataru's eyes watched as far as they could as the pebbles dropped down, although in a short moment they were gone from sight, overwhelmed by the darkness with their tiny size. He thought he heard them patter, though, as they hit the rocks, but then he thought again about it, and figured it was probably just his imagination - or maybe just the wind.
"Darling!" a voice cooed and Ataru, with desperate hope in his eyes looked up from his dark fate toward the gray sky. There was a light there - a light amongst the cold ash that plagued the sky - a light that had taken the shape of a smiling Lum.
"Lum!" Ataru called back and reached a hand out to the brilliant white shadow of the blue-haired alien that floated a few yards above and away from him. A few more pebbles tumbled from under his sneakers and his body froze as the figure's light danced in his eyes. But although the light danced, there was nothing but darkness in Ataru's forlorn eyes as he dropped his hand to his side, knowing full well that the girl or light or whatever it exactly was that stood before him was not Lum. Lum did not exist; she was just a figment of his imagination, just like everything else. And if she did exist, the glowing shadow before him certainly wasn't her. That's right - it was a shadow, a beautiful shadow, but a shadow nonetheless; a shadow of a memory of something that may or may not have been real. But that certainly wasn't Lum.
And what if she was a memory of something that had been real, rather than the other more frightening possibility? Ataru had been toying with that question for some time now as he stood upon the cliff. There was no reason to trust what had been told to him, after all; Lum could very well exist and it could simply be his imagination telling him she didn't.
Ataru frowned and looked back down the cliff to the jagged rocks. There was little left to do now, except to do the only thing he could do; it would be the only way he could find out the truth about Lum, he knew. And if he were to discover she wasn't real, death was a much brighter fate than living a life not only without Lum, but living a life knowing that all the memories he ever had of Lum were really just illusions. Besides, it was the only way Ataru could think of.
Raising his head again, Ataru glanced back up at the illustrious shadow above before shaking his head resolutely and dropping his eyes from the image so his gaze was set straight ahead. Then, he took a step back, took a deep breath, and, with fear clawing in his stomach and a running start, jumped off the edge of the cliff.

Urusei Yatsura: Return to Me

Episode 1: The Final Curtain Call Subtitle: (Truth, Part One: The Problem with Not Knowing)

The Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part One (The First Step Towards...)

"Come on, Darling!" Lum called out to Ataru as Ataru yawned, trailing a few yards behind at the annual Tomobiki Summer Carnival. Lum, excited grin on her face and the early morning sunlight shining brightly on her cheeks, quickly flew to him and took his arm, tugging at it gently. "Darling!"
"I'm going as fast as I can," Ataru muttered and then asked, "Do you have to tug on my arm like that?"
Lum frowned slightly as her feet touched the ground, although she still kept her arm around his. "Darling, aren't you happy at all? This is supposed to be fun!"
"Yeah, yeah..." Ataru trailed off with little enthusiasm. "But that doesn't mean you have to hang on to me all the time..."
"But this is supposed to be a date, Darling!" Lum insisted, smiling again and pulling his arm close to her.
"Date?!" Ataru questioned in panic as he tried to pull his arm away from her. "Who said anything about a date?! This is just a friendly outing!"
With a glint of fury in her eyes, she exclaimed loudly, "Darling!" as a few small sparks surged from her, causing the people in the crowded path to stare over at the squabbling couple with some worry.
Luckily for Ataru, before he had the chance to say anything too stupid that would have caused Lum to shock him, Shinobu and Shutaro arrived, Shutaro carrying a tray with three very large cherry snow cones. Lum immediately grinned and released Ataru, flying over to the colorful snow cones with bright, child-like eyes, and Ataru reluctantly followed her. He frowned, however, in puzzlement, as he looked down at the tray and counted the snow cones. "Hey, Mendou, there's only three here. Didn't you want any?"
Shutaro narrowed his eyes and gave Ataru a vicious glare before abruptly jolting the tray away from Ataru's grasp. "Who said I was getting YOU anything?" Ataru's mouth dropped before Lum quietly offered, "Don't worry, Darling; you can have some of mine." Ataru, however, ignored her, having already begun sneering at Shutaro and went to protest, but Shutaro was already addressing the two girls with a flashing grin. "Here, Miss Lum," he offered first. "Take your pick."
A blood vessel began popping on the side of Shinobu's forehead and she gritted her teeth as she watched Lum giggle and take her snow cone from the tray with a sweet and energetic "thank you," annoyed that her date had chosen to give Lum the first choice rather than herself. However, as soon as Shutaro turned to her with his handsome smile and a polite, "Miss Shinobu," Shinobu's anger quickly subsided as she gave him her brightest smile, which she suddenly worried didn't come anywhere near as bright as Lum's palest smile, causing her own smile to diminish slightly.
"Thank you, Shutaro," Shinobu replied with pink cheeks.
Shutaro, still with his usual handsome grin, said, "You're welcome, Miss - Hey!" Shutaro was cut off by Ataru, who had swiftly snatched the final snow cone from his tray and took a large bite out of it with a few devious snickers. A low growl escaped Shutaro's lips as he threw the tray to the ground and clenched one fist, tightly wrapping the other one around the handle of his kantana, although he kept the sword in it's sheath, and shouted, "Moroboshi!"
"Jeez, Mendou, don't get so anal about everything," Ataru remarked casually, taking another bite from the snow cone. "It's not like you can't buy another one, anyway."
Shutaro's eyes flared with rage. "Anal?!" he questioned, appalled by this insult, and went to pull his kantana from it's sheath. He half had it out when Lum excitedly cried out:
"Let's go on that!"
All three humans turned to where the Oni was pointing; a large carousel with colorful unicorns, light, bouncy music, and children playfully laughing as the ride spun gently about and the unicorns went up and down. As soon as all three saw it, however, they frowned.
"Don't you think we're a little too old to go on the merry-go-round?" Shinobu inquired and Shutaro looked like he agreed, although he didn't dare say anything against Lum's proposal.
"We are?" Lum asked innocently and she looked to Ataru. "Darling?"
"Can't we go on one of the fast rides that spin around and stuff?" Ataru replied with a question.
"Well, this one spins..." Lum trailed off as she watched the carousel, listening to the music box melody coming from it with a melancholy smile.
"Not like that one, though," Ataru rebutted with a sly grin, pointing over to a fast spinning ride a few yards away from the golden carousel.
"Oh, no; not that one," Shinobu protested, crossing her arms. "You know that ride's just designed to make you sick."
"Miss Shinobu's absolutely right," Shutaro agreed, although he then frowned and added, "Although I think that's the case with most of these rides..."
"Aw, come on!" Ataru exclaimed. He then snickered and raised an eyebrow. "You're not scared, are you, Mendou?"
Shutaro scowled, his pride being mocked, and exclaimed in outrage, "Absolutely not!" Grabbing Shinobu's hand, he ordered the other three, "Come on!" and started heading toward the spinning ride ahead.
"Hey, wait a second! I'm not going on that!" Shinobu argued in vain, Shutaro already so dead-set on going on the ride that he scarcely heard her protests, as Ataru began to snicker some more.
Ataru then looked to Lum and then said, "Come on, Lum. Let's get going," before following the other two toward the ride.
Lum frowned a bit, her eyes still set longingly on the carousel. "But...the carousel..." she said quietly, no one around to hear her for Ataru had already started on ahead. Still frowning, she let out a sigh and then reluctantly raised her feet from the ground and flew to catch up with them.
Once the ride was over, the four somehow managed to stumble out of their seats with some nauseous groans, as did most of the others who were getting off the ride. Ataru's face was a pale green as he staggered out the exit and rested his back against the railing, muttering, "I feel sick," before placing his hand over his mouth as to keep from throwing up. Shutaro, with a hand over his stomach, forced himself to walk straight, although he wobbled a bit after a few steps, and then, with his free hand, grabbed onto the railing that Ataru leaned against to keep his balance. Shinobu, with both hands over her stomach and her face looking deathly pale, plopped down on the bench near the ride's exit, scolding, "I told you that the ride was just going to make us sick..." Even Lum looked dazed and dizzy as she woozily floated out the exit, hunched over slightly with one hand over her stomach and one to her forehead. "Why we ever listened to Moroboshi is beyond me," Shutaro added bitterly to Shinobu's scolding.
With a grimace towards Shutaro, Ataru began, "Hey! You were the one who - " Ataru stopped, however, his face turning greener and he slammed both his hands over his mouth. However, this was not enough, and he immediately gulped and turned about, throwing up over the side of the railing. Shutaro, who stood beside him, immediately jumped away in disgust and stumbled over to where Shinobu was, taking a seat beside her while a cringing Shinobu grew even paler at the sound of Ataru vomitting.
"Darling! Are you all right?" Lum asked, worriedly flying over to him, no longer seeming to be sick now that she noticed her darling was very ill.
Meanwhile, Shinobu complained, "I can't believe this. We've been here for less that an hour and already we're too sick to do anything! It's not even eleven o'clock yet!" Shutaro frowned, but said nothing.
Finally, Ataru pushed away from the railing, with the help of Lum, and then regained his balance, his normal color returning to his skin. He then grinned and exclaimed, "Well, I feel better! You guys want to get something to eat?" Both Shutaro and Shinobu groaned loudly in disgust and even Lum turned a bit pale again at the thought. Ataru chuckled and added, "Or maybe there's one of those haunted houses here..."
"We are NOT going in a haunted house," Shutaro said, resolutely raising his chin and sternly crossing his arms. Both girls frowned a bit, but thought better than to argue with the delicate issue. Ataru, however, did not.
"But haunted houses are fun, Mendou," Ataru persisted with a sly smirk. "So they're a little bit dark - "
"Moroboshi," Mendou interrupted with a fierce and frustrated growl as he stood up, already losing his temper.
"How about that?" Shinobu then asked and pointed to a big stand a few yards in front of them, the sign reading "Madame Wazuka Nozomi Suzambo III, Fortune Teller, By Trade."
"You mean...get our fortunes read?" Shutaro asked with some doubt as he suspiciously eyed the stand.
"Sure; why not?" Shinobu asked. "I think it might be fun." And Lum nodded in agreement.
"It'll probably be bogus, though," Ataru remarked, however, and by the doubt in Shutaro's eyes, he seemed to agree. "Not that I'd be the one paying for it..." And Lum and Shinobu's pleading eyes went to Shutaro's doubtful ones.
Shutaro, knowing that both girls were hopefully looking to him, folded his arms and let out a sigh. "Well...I guess we can see how much it costs first..."
And both Lum and Shinobu grinned exitedly.

The Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part Two (The Fortune Teller, By Trade)

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Lum was the first to call out when the four reached the vacant stand with curious frowns.
"Maybe Madame Suzambo stepped out?" Shinobu suggested.
"Maybe," Shutaro said curtly, his eyes growing more suspicious of the validity of the supposed "Fortune Teller, By Trade."
"Is someone there?" a female voice spoke suddenly as a woman suddenly popped up from behind the stand, having been crouching on the ground, doing something or another; the four weren't exactly sure. They were, however, all startled, by the sudden appearance of the woman with her frizzy, bushy, tawny hair, big round glasses, long drab gray robe, and a puzzled, frazzled expression on her face. Upon noticing the four, the woman, who seemed only a year or two older than the others, grinned and exclaimed, "Oh! Customers!" She then frowned as she began talking to herself. "Damn it; I should have seen that one coming. Something must be off today. Some IDIOT probably screwed with SOMETHING; that must be it! Maybe it's the stars? Hmm...no, they seem all right. It certainly isn't the crystal ball; we all know that's a cheap gimmick." She let out a laugh at the thought. "Maybe it's - "
"Um, excuse me?" Shinobu interrupted meekly.
"Huh?" the woman looked back to the four. She then clapped her hands together and said, "Oh, that's right! I nearly forgot!" She let out a chuckling a bit nervously as the four exchanged some looks of doubt. "Well, do come in!" She gestured them into her booth where a round table sat with five chairs and a crystal ball on top. The four warily followed her in. "Allow me to introduce myself," she then began as she took her seat behind the crystal ball, "I am Wazuka Nozomi Suzambo the Third, Fortune Teller - by trade."
"So...there were two others that came before you?" Ataru asked, taking a step toward the table.
"Technically," Wazuka answered. "One was a teacher; the other was a stewardess. I'm the only fortune teller of the family, though, I'd have to say."
"That's nice," Lum replied with an awkward smile, not exactly sure what else to say.
"Well, what can I say? It's a gift!" Wazuka chuckled to herself as the others continued frowning. "Sit down! Sit down!" she then exclaimed. "Make yourselves comfortable!"
"She seems a little off, if you ask me," Shutaro whispered to Shinobu as they sat.
"Just try and be nice, I guess..." Shinobu whispered back.
"Too bad she's so weird looking," Ataru muttered, taking his seat as well.
"Darling!" Lum scolded him quietly, sitting last.
"Now, then," Wazuka began, the wicked flicker of greed flashing in her eyes as she smirked, clasping her hands together. "Let us first discuss the matter of payment. I'll warn you, though, the balance of things is sort of a little...eh...this morning - some idiot must have screwed around with something - so the reading might be slightly...er...fragmented."
"Fragmented?" Lum asked, but Wazuka shook her head.
"Don't worry. I'm sure it's not that important...I mean, I KNOW it's not that important...well...sort of. Actually, that doesn't look too good now that I think about it...and what on earth is that doing over there?"
"Just tell me how much it is," Shutaro interrupted impatiently.
"5,500 yen. Each."
"WHAT?" Shutaro questioned in outrage. "That's ridiculous!"
"Well, I AM telling you your FUTURE," Wazuka argued.
"Yeah - a fragmented one!"
Wazuka let out a frustrated sigh, but gave in anyway. "FINE. Since you four seem to be on a 'double date' of sorts, and you both look like cute couples, I'll say...give me 11,000 yen all together. That's half off, you know."
Shutaro, still not seeming very satisfied, muttered, "It's still a rip off, but..." He then reluctantly handed Wazuka the yen.
"What can I say? The future is pricey," Wazuka remarked snidely as she collected her yen and pocketed it. She then gave him a smirk. "Besides, what are you complaining for. You are Shutaro Mendou, aren't you? Son of the richest man in all of Japan, am I right?"
"I - " Shutaro stopped himself and narrowed his eyes. "How did you know that?"
"Well, I AM a fortune teller; I'd hope I know something as simple as THAT."
"See?" Shinobu whispered. "Maybe this really will be worth it."
"Speaking of names, I suppose I should introduce the rest of you," Wazuka then said. "Let's see...Shinobu Miyake, Ataru Moroboshi, and...hmm...Lum,? The different planet thing is a bit tricky, especially with these current fortune telling conditions, but I'm pretty sure it's Lum."
Lum nodded with a smile. "That's right."
Wazuka sighed in relief. "Oh, good. Now then, let me gaze into my crystal ball..."
"I thought you said the crystal ball thing was just a gimmick," Ataru commented with a smirk and Wazuka gave him a sneer.
"You're INTERRUPTING!" she shouted at him and all four were silent. "Good!" Exhaling, she pushed her hand through her hair and said, "Now, as I was SAYING before being RUDELY cut off, I see that the four of you are on a double-date - unofficially, that is. It seems that half of you thinks it's a date and the other half doesn't..."
"Well, it's obvious who the half that DOESN'T is," Shinobu muttered staring at the two boys in some disgust as did Lum.
"Silence!" Wazuka snapped and Shinobu withdrew into her seat. Calming down, Wazuka continued, "Anyway, for our purposes, we'll just call it a double date. So...you four are all good friends, or so it seems...Lum's an alien, and you three are all students at Tomobiki High School...which Lum now attends in order to stay close to her 'darling' which is that idiot over there - no, not the rich idiot, the other idiot, just to clarify, although I'm guessing you already knew that."
Shutaro, with an insulted expression on his face, questioned, "What do you mean the - "
"I said SILENCE!" Wazuka shouted. "This is difficult enough as it is without you INTERRUPTING all the time!" There was a long pause of quiet before Wazuka took a deep breath and chose to speak again. "Anyway...yadda, yadda, yadda...okay, now the good stuff! You!" She pointed a finger to Shinobu and Shinobu nearly jumped out of her seat, cheeks turning pink.
"Yes..?" she asked warily.
"You are...very strong...physically. Mentally...mentally...you are...not so strong?" Wazuka asked herself aloud. "Yes! That's it! You're not so strong!" It seemed that Wazuka had to strain to come to this conclusion and Shinobu frowned, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Wazuka, with a sheepish smile, then added, "I'd...er...be more specific, but...uh...things are a bit blurry right now..."
"That's all right...I guess..." Shinobu answered, trying to smile, but somehow frowning instead.
"And you!" She now pointed to Lum. "You...um...there's something there...I just have to...wait! I think I got something! Try not to...dance...too much."
"Dance too much?" Lum asked and then crossed her arms in some annoyance. "What kind of fortune is that?"
"Hey, don't blame me for your crappy fortune; I'm not the one who picks them, you know."
"Crappy?!" Lum exclaimed, slamming her hand against the table.
"I'm just telling it like it is," Wazuka insisted. "And your fortune says something about not dancing too much. That it'll get in the way of...something else...that something else is kind of missing right now, though...but it's an important something else...I think..." Wazuka let out a frustrated sigh then and sneered, "Anyway, the point is not to dance too much, all right?"
Lum let out a sigh herself as she leaned back in her seat, placing a pensive finger to her chin. "I suppose it could maybe be a metaphor for something else...what do you think, Darling?"
Ataru shrugged. "I think this whole thing is bogus," and Shutaro just folded his arms with a scoff, vexed by the idea that he had probably been ripped off by a fraud.
"It is NOT bogus!" Wazuka defended herself with raging eyes. "I already told you that it was FRAGMENTED!" The four cringed at the sound of the very frightening voice of the angry Wazuka. "YOU!" She now pointed to Ataru, still seething with animosity and with eyes narrowed behind her glasses. "I see many, many trials...MANY! And...a fish! I see...a...fish." She frowned slightly and Ataru crossed his arms with a scowl.
"A fish?"
"Yes."
"That's just stupid."
"Well, I can't help it if you have a stupid fortune, all right?!" Wazuka snapped furiously. She inhaled deeply then and, after holding the air in for a long moment, exhaled loudly. "And as for you!" Her eyes now shot toward Shutaro. "You are an idiot!"
"Excuse me?" Shutaro questioned in shock, obviously insulted as Ataru began to snicker. Shutaro glared at him and snapped, "Shut up, Moroboshi!" just causing Ataru to laugh harder.
"You heard me!" Wazuka then exclaimed. "Fool! Idiot! Stupid! Moron! Need I go on?"
"NO!" Shutaro exclaimed in his outrage, but Wazuka ignored him and continued anyway.
"Imbecile! Ignoramus! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
With narrowed eyes, Shutaro rose to his feet and slammed his hands on the table.
"How dare you – "
"Insult a member of the oh-so-prestigious Mendou Family? Yes, we already established who you are! But that doesn't change the fact that you're a pathetic fool! Pathetic and stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
"Well, why am I so stupid then, hmm?" Shutaro crossly questioned.
"I..." Wazuka held the "I" for a very long time. And then: "...do not know." Shutaro sighed in frustration and slumped back into his seat. "The whole story's a bit fuzzy there, too...but wait!" Wazuka then grew excited as she shut her eyes tightly and put a hand to her forehead. Lum, Ataru, Shinobu, and Shutaro eagerly leaned forward, anxious to hear what the fortune tell had to tell them.
"Beware of...men." The four frowned as did Wazuka.
"Of men?" Shinobu questioned. "All of them?"
"Uh..." Wazuka hesitated.
"That's ridiculous!" Shutaro declared. "We'd have to avoid half of the population including myself!" Then, noticing Ataru, he added in a mutter, "Oh, and Moroboshi..."
"Well...usually these predictions come with more details like...blond men or...men with big scars across their foreheads...or, well, something. But, alas, there is a piece missing to each premonition as there is a piece missing from the balance."
"Hmm?" Lum inquired.
"Oh...I don't really know the whole story myself. I WOULD, you see, but then I guess there wouldn't be a story to begin with!" Wazuka laughed then, a loud, forced laugh, as Shinobu frowned, Lum scrunched her eyebrows, Shutaro folded his arms, still somewhat cross, and Ataru rolled his eyes. "You SEE," Wazuka continued, leaning forward with an imperative look in her eye, "some IDIOT decided to mess with SOMETHING in the balance...at least, I think it's the balance. Maybe it's fate...or, well, I don't really know exactly for certain. I'm just kind of guessing, now, considering everything's kind of off today. Anyway, because this IDIOT, whoever he or she is, decided to screw around with fortune, I'M stuck getting only fragmented pieces of the future... Hmm...I wonder where the other pieces are going..." She then eyes Shutaro suspiciously. "YOU wouldn't know anything about this, now would you?"
"Me? Why on earth would I know?" Shutaro snapped.
"Well, your reading said that YOU'RE stupid and messing with the balance of fate and time IS pretty stupid..."
"I didn't do it!" Shutaro defensively shouted.
"No, Shutaro would never do that," Shinobu spoke up. "He wouldn't know how to. Besides, you said that fortune's a bit fuzzy right now...maybe it's wrong."
"Wrong?" Wazuka was shocked by the word. "WRONG?! How can FORTUNE be wrong? That's like saying the STARS are wrong which they NEVER are! So some pieces may be missing; but the pieces that are there ARE right! I swear by it!"
"This is ridiculous!" Shutaro decided as he rose to his feet and took Shinobu's hand. "We're leaving!"
"But, Shutaro – " Shinobu went to protest, but was pulled up from her seat.
"Fine! Fine!" Wazuka cried in exasperation. "He wouldn't have the capability to meddle with something as vast and as powerful!" Shutaro just growled fiercely as he gave a tug on Shinobu's arm and began dragging her toward the exit of the booth.
"Maybe we should go, too, Darling," Lum whispered to him, worriedly looking up at the enraged Wazuka. Ataru gave a nod as the two rose and headed for the exit, as well, both Shutaro and Shinobu having already left. "Uh...goodbye, Miss Wazuka, m'am!" Lum called back to Wazuka as they left. "It was nice meeting you...I guess..."
When Lum and Ataru stepped outside, they could already hear Shutaro heatedly complaining to Shinobu, both standing a few yards away from the booth and couldn't help but frown because of it. "What a waste of time and money!"
"She wasn't too bad," Shinobu reasoned.
"I say she was nuts," Shutaro flatly remarked.
"Well...she was nice enough, I guess," Shinobu replied. "Except when she was calling you an idiot; that wasn't very nice."
"Hmmph!" Shutaro crossed his arms in a huff, obviously still insulted by the memory. "She was a complete fool – changing fortune..."
"Well, there are stranger things that have happened in Tomobiki," Lum chimed in as she and Ataru reached the two.
"Oh, Miss Lum; I didn't see you there," Shutaro said upon noticing her. "But I suppose you're right; there have been stranger."
"Unfortunately," Shinobu muttered bitterly. "Let's just hope that we can get through today normally..."
"Hmm," Ataru casually changed the subject with a shiver. "It sure is cold all of a sudden."

A Remake of the Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part Three

The snow fell gently down on the summer carnival, having piled four inches up on the ground thus four. "I just love summer snow showers!" Lum declared excitedly with a giggle as she flew a few feet up in the air and twirled about once, the snowflakes circling around her like diamond dust.
"I must say, they are my favorite, Miss Lum," Shutaro agreed, smiling himself as he looked up at the snow.
Shinobu nodded, giggling herself as she watched the snow fall. "The ones in July are always the best." A snowball then hit her from behind. "Ow!" she cried, rubbing the back of her shoulder.
One then flew at Shutaro, hitting the back of his head, and the sound of Ataru's laughter rose loudly over the music of the carnival. Shutaro spun around with a scowl on his face. "Moroboshi!" he shouted at the snickering Ataru, who fell onto his knees in his laughter. With a growl, Shutaro quickly scooped up a pile of snow in his bare hands, the snow not seeming cold to him at all, and, aftering patting it into a snowball, narrowed his eyes and threw it at Ataru.
"Hey!" Ataru exclaimed as the snowball hit his forehead. Narrowing his eyes himself, Ataru then began a snowball war with Shutaro.
Shinobu sighed, shaking her head as the two hurled snowballs at each other, muttering, "Why must boys always be so immature...? The least they could do is not do it in public..." She then watched as others at the carnival run past her, laughing and throwing snowballs at each other as well, and sighed again. "Well, at least they're having fun..." she commented, eyeing Ataru and Shutaro who had somehow already built six foot tall ice forts from the snow and who's snowball fight was more like the last battle of the Crusades than an actual game.
"Look! Over there!" Lum called out from the sky, pointing towards the right. "They have unicorn rides!" She then looked down to Shinobu, considering Ataru and Shutaro were to preoccupied with their war to care.
Shinobu scrunched her eyebrows with a frown. "Don't you think we're a little bit too old for unicorns now, Lum?" she asked. "They don't run nearly as fast as fish do."
"Fish?" Ataru overheard, as he popped his head out from the side of his fort to look over to Shinobu with hopeful curiosity. "There are fish rides here?"
"No; but sometimes they have them at the winter carnival," Shinobu replied.
"Oh," Ataru said glumly. "That's too bad. I always wanted to ride one." He then returned to his war with Shutaro.
"But, Darling, don't you want to ride one of the unicorns?" Lum then inquired, desperation in her eyes as she clasped her hands together. "They're so pretty and they even have horns, just like I do."
"Aw, Lum, but unicorns are so boring...besides, can't you see I'm in the middle of something!" Ataru then proceeded to duck behind his fort for one of Shutaro's oncoming snowballs and then heaved one of his own back.
"Men!" Shinobu exclaimed in a huff as she watched the two boys, crossing her arms and glaring away.
Meanwhile, Lum frowned. "But, Darling!" She frowned, biting her lower lip, and the looked down at Shutaro. "Shutaro, do you want to ride on one of the unicorns?"
"I'll be with you in just a moment, Miss Lum..." Shutaro quickly told her, too engulfed in his snowball war to have really heard what she had asked.
"Hey, look, they're selling crystal balls over there," Shinobu pointed out suddenly, and both boys quickly jumped to their feet excitedly, their war abruptly ceasing.
"Really? Where?" Ataru anxiously asked.
"Right there," Shinobu repeated herself as she pointed toward the stand which held the crystal balls.
"Ooh!" Lum cheered happily as she floated down to the three, forgetting about the unicorns for the moment, and placed her feet on the snow. "I've heard that if you plant a crystal ball in the snow, something grows out of it. Darling, do you remember what grows from it?"
Ataru shook his head. "I can't remember."
"Neither can I."
"Well, there's only one way to find out," Shutaro resolutely declared as he marched over to the stand. "I'd like to buy a crystal ball, please."
"That will be ten thousand yen," the man at the stand told him. Shutaro nodded, picked up a pile of snow and plopped it on the counter. "No, no, good sir! That's much to generous of you!"
"I insist you take it all," Shutaro replied with a smile before taking the crystal ball from the man and heading back to Ataru, Lum, and Shinobu.
"You really shouldn't have spent so much, Shutaro," Shinobu said with a guilty frown, but Shutaro just gave her a grin.
"It's really nothing when compared to the price of you and Miss Lum's happiness," he repliedbefore dropping the crystal ball in the snow. "Now, let's see..."
All four crouched down and Shutaro patted snow over the crystal ball until it was hidden. Then they all knelt there, waiting anxiously to see what would come out. After a few moments, the snow shook and a large cherry tree burst from the ground, about three feet tall. However, the four fell back into the snow with disappointed frowns.
"Is that all?" a disenchanted Lum asked.
"Cherry trees are so common..." Shutaro added, equally let down.
"Maybe it wasn't real crystal," Shinobu suggested. "I've heard the fake ones sometimes make cherry trees."
"Really?" Lum asked and Shinobu nodded. "Too bad we didn't know it was fake."
"Well, we don't know for certain it really was," Shinobu told her, her frown widening.
"But what do real crystal balls grow, then?" Ataru pondered and they all lowered their dejected eyes, none of them knowing the answer.

What's Next:

Episode 2: The Magic Show

Subtitle: (Truth, Part Two: The Problem with Knowing)

Featuring:

-The Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part Three (The Original Version)

-Question Number One: Is it all about the Medulla Oblongata?

-The Tomobiki Summer Carnival, Part Four (The Sky that Goes as High as the Ferris Wheel)

-A Tribute to the Late Talking Goldfish with Wings

Hope you enjoyed! If you have any questions about anything (like with all the titles and why they were chosen, for example, although chapter one's titles are pretty easy to understand as opposed to some of the later ones...I take much pride in these titles, subtitles, and selection titles I came up with for all eight chapters, as I spent a whole day coming up with them...), feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer them without giving anything away!