DISCLAIMER: Ojamajo Doremi © Toei Animation in 1999-2004. I don't get any commercial benefit from this fic.

The Future Story 2

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Chapter 16 – The Memories of the Old Clothes

At Night…

When she took her dinner with her family at home, Izumi noticed that there was something wrong with her grandmother. It seemed like, she deeply thought about something serious.

"Obaachan, are you thinking about something?" she finally asked her grandmother in the living room when her parents already walked into the main bedroom, "Is there something wrong between you and ojiichan? Does he break your heart and make you sad?"

"Uh… no, Izumi-chan. I did think about something, but it isn't about your grandfather. I just… think about something else," replied Pop.

"What is it? Is it about your teammates again?" Izumi curiously asked, "Or else, is it about my nightmare last night?"

"Well, it's better for me to say that it relates with your nightmare," Pop reluctantly explained, "Majoroseline came here today, when I talked about your nightmare with Hana-chan, and… she came here with my teammates' successors, who probably were those four girls in your nightmare."

"Eh? Really? So they came here when I wasn't at home?!" Izumi widened her eyes and stared at her grandmother in disbelief, "Then, can you explain about them? At least, can you tell me their names?"

"I don't think so," Pop shook of her head slowly, "They introduced themselves, but… I just more concerned with what they said about my teammates."

"What did they say? Obaachan, what happened with your teammates?" asked Izumi worriedly, "Were they…"

"They're all dead, Izumi-chan. All of them are dead," Pop started to cry, "Those girls said that all of their families had tried to inform me about their funeral, but… I've never got any mail about that anywhere."

"Obaachan…" Izumi hugged her grandmother, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay, Izumi-chan. I just… still feel shocked to know about it from those girls, as they hate me and assume that I didn't care about their grandmothers anymore," replied Pop as she stroked Izumi's hair, "I just don't know what to do to make them understand that I kept trying to contact their grandmothers, but I just couldn't contact them until the end."

"I understand," finally, Izumi broke her hug, "Then, it's my duty to explain it to all of them."

"Izumi-chan…"

"With the others' help, I'll persuade them so they won't ever blame you anymore," said Izumi certainly, "and I promise to you that someday, they'll come and apologize to you."

"I'm not sure," Pop swept her own tears, "It seems like, Majoroseline influence them. One of them even threw a shuriken into Hana-chan's bedroom last night."

"Don't worry, obaachan. I know we can do it," Izumi nodded, full of confidence and determination, "They'll know the truth someday."

"I hope so," said Pop with a weak smile, "Just make sure that all of you won't ever hurt them so they can completely trust you all, okay?"

"Okay, I promise," replied Izumi, surely, "We'll approach them in a friendly way."

.O.

On the next day…

Izumi informed the others about her conversation with her grandmother, when all of them had another meeting at the school rooftop.

"So, Majoroseline came to your house and provoked those four girls to blame Granny Poppu for what happened with their grandmothers yesterday, and it proves that our guess is right," Fami sighed, "Did they introduce themselves to Granny Poppu and Auntie Hana? We need to know their names."

"Well, obaachan said that they did introduce themselves, but… she didn't pay enough attention with their names, as they said something that hurt her so much," replied Izumi, "Poor obaachan. I think we need to do something to cheer her up."

"But what should we do to cheer her up?" asked Rizuko, "Izumi-chan, do you have any ideas?"

"I… don't have idea," Izumi shook of her head, "That's why I want to discuss it with you all here today."

"Hmm… Granny Poppu, huh?" Fami started to think, "What can we do…"

"Should we wait until obaachan come into your dream again and tell you the solution?" asked Nozomi to her older cousin, "Or maybe, we can try to do something like what you did with ojiichan when he was still down because of… you know…"

"I don't think it will work this time, Non-chan. We can't just keep hoping that obaachan will keep coming into my dream to solve our problem. We have to figure it out for ourselves," Fami disagreed, "At least, we need to try to think about the solution first, but if we really don't have any idea at all, then it's time for us to give up."

"I can't believe that you can think about something like that, Nozomi-nee," Rizuko sighed, "I really don't know that you can be this childish."

"Well, I'm still a child, so it couldn't help. All of us are still children," replied Nozomi, "This problem is just tougher than the Math Exam which I took yesterday with Fami-chan and Shiro-chan."

"By the way, Izumi-chan, what happened with your clothes? Looks like it isn't the clothes you usually wear," asked Molly as she noticed something different with the youngest witch apprentice in front of her, "Is it a new clothes?"

"No, Molly-nee. This isn't a new clothes. My mother used to wear this clothes when she was still studying at this school," Izumi explained, "She gave it to me a few days ago, and now I wear it so I can easily change my clothes for the gym class today."

"Wow, so it's an old clothes, eh? But it really seems like a new clothes for me," commented Molly, who then unexpectedly flicked her fingers and exclaimed, "I have an idea!"

Molly then whispered her idea to her fellow witch apprentices before the bell rang.

.O.

Right after school, the six witch apprentices told their own grandparents about Molly's idea (except Izumi who told her mother instead), then borrowed some sets of their grandmothers' (and Kotake's) old clothes and brought all of those clothes to Maho-dou. Each of them then chose a set of clothes right after they renewed all of those with their magic, as they had a plan to wear those clothes to cheer Pop up.

"Mou, what a tough choice…" sighed Nozomi as she looked at three sets of clothes in front of her, "Can I just wear the same set as Fami-chan's?"

"No, Nozomi-chan, you can't," Molly shook of her head, "All of us should wear different set of clothes."

"Well, I don't mind if you want to wear this one though…"

"It's okay, Fami-chan. That one suits you better anyway," Nozomi cut what Fami said, "I'm just confused about choosing one of these three sets."

"Then, just wear obaasan's purple dress, Nozomi-nee," Rizuko suggested, "Let's wear her old clothes together."

"But I don't really like dresses and skirts. I'm just not that feminine," the brunette sighed again, "I just prefer shorts and jeans more."

"How about the other two sets? Those are obaachan's and ojiichan's," asked Fami, "I mean, I think it's understandable for you to assume that wearing ojiichan's old clothes is a bad idea as you aren't a boy, but how about the one which obaachan used to wear before she wore this one?"

"Well, I'm not really sure… The colors are similar with yours, but… I don't really like the style," Nozomi opined, "What should I do now?"

"Is it that difficult for you to choose the set of clothes which you will wear tonight?" asked Molly in disbelief, but then she thought for a few minutes before she added while giving another set of clothes to Nozomi, "Alright then, I think it's better for you to wear this one. You can borrow this."

"Eh? But…"

"Green is your favorite color, right? I think Grandma Ai won't ever mind if I lend her old clothes to you," Molly smiled, "Moreover, I want to wear Grandma Momo's old clothes tonight, as she was disappointed to know that my apprentice costume is turquoise."

"Molly-chan…" Nozomi finally smiled back, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Nozomi-chan," replied Molly, "It's my idea to wear our grandmothers' old clothes tonight, so I should be responsible with my own idea."

"Alright then, so each of us will wear our own Grandmothers' old clothes, except Nozomi-nee who will wear Grandma Aiko's old clothes…" Rizuko concluded, "I hope this idea will work."

All of them then changed their clothes with the selected old clothes, right before five old people walked into Maho-dou.

"Wow, you look great in that clothes, Fami," praised Kotake, "You're really my prettiest granddaughter."

"Thank you, ojiichan," replied Fami who then asked, "Should I tie my hair like what obaachan used to do?"

"I don't think so. You just need to be yourself," the old man shook of his head, "You already look so beautiful."

"Uhm, excuse me, ojiichan. Don't you remember that you have two granddaughters here?" Nozomi protested, "How about me? Why do you just praise Fami-chan?"

"Okay, Nozomi, you also look great, but why don't you wear my old clothes?" asked Kotake back.

"Simply, because I don't really like your belt," replied Nozomi calmly, "not to mention that your shirt is just too tight. I feel uncomfortable even before I wear it, so I decide to not wear it at all."

"Hey, so you wear mine, eh?" Aiko realized, "Molly-chan purposely brought my old clothes here, in case there's one of you who need to wear it…"

"Well, I can borrow your old clothes today, can't I?"

"Of course you can, Nozomi-chan. I don't mind at all," Aiko smiled, "That clothes are perfect for you."

"Thank you, Grandma Ai," Nozomi smiled back, "I promise to you that I'll keep this clothes clean."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Alright then, should we pick Poppu-chan up now?" asked Hazuki.

"Let me pick her up, then," Hana offered, "All of you just need to wait for us here."

"Okay, Auntie Hana. We'll wait for you both here," said Fami, "Then we cheer Granny Poppu up."

"Oh, if only there was one of you who wanted to wear my old clothes…" sighed Hana, "Well, it's fine, though… I go now. See you later!"

"See you later!"

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An hour later, Hana came back with Pop, and the new witch apprentices didn't waste their time to give their surprise.

"Izumi-chan, you… do you wear my old clothes?" asked Pop with tears on her eyes. She smiled, "That light blue shirt and magenta skirt…"

"I asked mom to bring all of these here, so I can wear it to cheer you up," replied Izumi, "because I just care about you so much."

"Izumi-chan…" Pop hugged her granddaughter, "Thank you."

"Don't forget about us, Granny Poppu," said Fami, "Can you notice all of these clothes which we wear?"

"Fami-chan, that's…" Pop immediately broke her hug and turned her attention to the pink haired girl, "Your grandmother used to wear it in her last two years in Elementary School."

The youngest old woman in Maho-dou then looked at the rest of the girls, "So all of you also wear your grandmothers' old clothes…"

"Well, I wear Grandma Ai's old clothes, though…" Nozomi scratched her head, "However, we wear these clothes to cheer you up."

"In short, they wanted to cheer you up, so Molly-chan had an idea to wear these clothes for you," Hana concluded, "They don't want to see you sad, Poppu."

"Thanks for your concern, everyone. It's so nostalgic to see you all wear those clothes…"

"By the way, is it okay for me to be the only one who wear the clothes which obaasan used to wear in third and fourth grade?" asked Rizuko. "The other clothes are from 2001 to 2003."

"It's okay, Rizu-chan. You look so cute in that outfit," replied Pop, "You don't need to change your clothes."

"Huh, now if only I have a grandson…" Kotake suddenly sighed, "They also brought my old clothes here, but none of them want to wear it."

"Alright then, ojiichan, I'll wear it next time," Nozomi finally decided, "or let's just hope that I'll have a younger brother soon, so he can wear it for you."

"Fortunately, Molly-chan wear mine, so Nozomi-chan can wear yours, Ai-chan," said Momoko, "If Molly-chan wore yours, Nozomi-chan definitely wouldn't want to wear mine, as she doesn't really like skirts."

"You're right, Momo-chan," Aiko agreed, "Now that I think about it… my old clothes is really perfect for Nozomi-chan."

"What do you mean with that, Ai-chan?"

"Well, before you moved here and joined with us, Doremi-chan had ever disguised into myself twice, but she never disguised into myself at all after you moved here and I wore that clothes."

"Oh, I see," Momoko smiled, "Now I understand why you can say that."

"Uh, Grandma Ai, Grandma Momo, what are you talking about? Can you share it with us?" asked Nozomi.

"Sure, Nozomi-chan," replied Aiko before she shared what she said to Momoko a few minutes ago to everyone at the Maho-dou.