One Second Counts: Year Two - Kajuu's Turn to Shine

"School year almost over..." Kajuu thought out loud to herself as she walked out of the school building. It had been almost a year since her defeat at the Angelic Layer Official Tournament. She had become friends with Misaki, Tamayo, and Kotarou, since they all went to the same school and were in the same class. The year had given her time to practice with Sakuraryu, and come up with new techniques to use in the Layer. This year, she was prepared to fight her enemy, and friend, Haiiro Kazan.

Registration was starting, and Kajuu had already added her name to the roster permanently. Kajuu had called her mom and informed her that she was heading towards Piffle Princess. Kajuu had made new clothes for Sakuraryu from the cloth that Maria had bought her. She had a blue coat with a high collar. The coat had tails that went down to the back of her knees. On the front of the coat where the two pieces of the collar joined was a small brooch with two white wings coming out of a golden circle. The coat had long sleeves, and she wore wrist length gloves.

The trimming of the coat was gold, and the cuffs on the sleeves were white. The coat went down to about her waist where it split into two parts. The parts then came down to a point, where they went up towards the back to for the coat tails. She wore a white pleated skirt, and gold, ankle-length boots. She wore her hair up in two pigtails at the top of her head. The ponytail holders were white. Think-marching band uniform!

As Kajuu walked towards the Piffle Princess, she looked around her. The streets were busy and the smell of fast food was in the air. Kajuu never really looked at the world without reference to Angelic Layer. And even though Piffle Princess wasn't just an Angelic Layer store, she always thought of it as that. She chuckled to herself as she walked into the doors of the Piffle Princess.

'I really have no life outside Angelic Layer and school, huh, Sakuraryu?' She smiled at her Angel as she walked up to the desk. She got a Layer to practice on, and went to it. She sat down and put the visor on. She extended the wings, and gently tossed her Angel into the Layer. 'We'll be ready for you this year, Kazan.' With that, she began her practice.

Even though Kajuu had her own practice Layer at home, she only used that when she had a ton of homework. She began to hum to herself as she prepared her Angel. Her humming got louder as Sakuraryu began to move around in the Layer. She did a few basic dance steps. She always started her practice with dancing. Sakuraryu leapt into the air and spun around. She landed, and followed through with a few hand motions.

"Get ready, Sakura. Here comes the real practice." Kajuu had been taping all of Fujisaki Madoka's fights since her second year of Angelic Layer. Madoka was and inspiration to Kajuu, and she was the reason Kajuu started Angelic Layer. Kajuu admired all of Mao's smooth, graceful moves. She wanted her and her Angel to be like Madoka and Mao.

Sakuraryu stood in a ready stance as Kajuu turned on the simulation mode. Ten balls of red light surrounded Sakura. On Kajuu's visor, the word 'Ready' appeared. Kajuu nodded her head to herself, and the words changed to 'Fight'. The balls flew away, and Kajuu focused on the Layer in front of her, not noticing anything else. The first ball flew at Sakura. She took a step towards it, and threw out her fist. The next two balls came from behind her and she turned and stuck her leg out hitting the first one and then followed through with her second leg, hitting the other one.

Kajuu's eyebrows narrowed as she concentrated even harder. The next ones came at Sakura, and she leapt into the air, causing four of them to crash into each other. The next two followed her into the air, so she spread her arms out and spun, hitting both of them. She hit the ground as the last one came from the front. She threw herself towards it, rearing back her fist, and as they got closer, she threw it out, causing the ball to shatter into tiny red particles of light.

She heaved a sigh of relief, and looked at the number that appeared in her visor.

100%

She finally snapped back to the world, only to hear clapping right behind her. She whirled around to see her idol standing there.

"Fujisaki M-Madoka?" She stammered in surprise. Madoka smiled.

"Hello. Are you Kiriyou Kajuu?"

"Y-yes!" Kajuu managed again.

"Someone told me you have all of my fights on tape. You like Mao?"

"Y-yes! I think she's probably the best Angel!"

"Too bad she doesn't have a better Deus..." Madoka looked down at the ground.

"Not true!" Kajuu said. Madoka looked up in surprise. "You're my favorite Deus! You're the reason I started Angelic Layer! I think you're the best! You're my idol!" This caught Madoka off guard.

"Wow...you really like me that much?" Kajuu nodded.

"Did you bring Mao?" Kajuu asked in excitement.

"Yeah." Madoka pulled her hand from behind her back, and showed Kajuu.

"May I hold her?" Kajuu had totally forgotten about Sakuraryu, who now was laying on the surface of the Layer.

"Only if I can see Sakuraryu." Another voice came from beside Kajuu. It belonged to Arisu, Madoka's sister.

"Ah! Mao's creator wants to see my Angel?! This is too much! Go ahead!" Kajuu turned the practice Layer off, and removed her headset. She carefully took Mao from Madoka's hand, and looked at her. Arisu picked Sakuraryu up, and looked at her.

"She's wearing different clothes..." Arisu observed. Kajuu blushed.

"Yeah...it's a thing of mine to change her outfit for each tournament." She went back to looking at Mao. She let out a small "wow" every now and then.

"I love Sakuraryu. She's cute." Arisu smiled handing the Angel back to her Deus.

"Y-you really think so?" Kajuu was bright red by now. Arisu just smiled. "Thank you so much for letting me see Mao, Fu-"

"-Ah!" Madoka cut in. "It's Madoka. Got that?" The raven-haired Dues winked at Kajuu.

"Sorry." Kajuu let out a small chuckle, and handed Mao back to Madoka. "It was great meeting you two. You don't know how much this meant to me!" Kajuu squealed.

"We hope to see you again!" Arisu waved as the two sisters walked off to a practice of their own.

Kajuu's day was complete. A 100% hit rating, meeting her idols, and actually holding the Angel of her most beloved Deus. She was ready to take the world on at that moment. She felt like nothing could stop her. The tournament was only a few weeks away, and Kajuu had perfected all her moves. She was ready to show Kazan what she could do.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm back everyone! With the new year started, I'm ready for...stuff! And yes, Madoka and Mao are my favorite Deus and Angel. I don't know why...but I just loved her from the very beginning! *squeal* This time around, I'm going to dedicate chapters! I dedicate this one to *drum roll* Chrissie-chan!!! I bet you saw that coming didn't you? From a mile away...but you've been so helpful, and I'm glad I know I'll always have one review for this story...^.^;;;;; hope I'm not embarrassing you...I get carried away sometimes...that's all for now! Until next time, here are words of wisdom: Everything tastes like chicken.