The first half of the day was spent with the girls finishing up last-minute preparations for the party. They decided on ordering four pizzas, three baskets of fries, and two large bottles of Dr. Pepper. Poptart had whined about the amount, saying it was far too much, but Rose managed to calm her down by reminding her a bunch of people were expected to attend that night.
"And besides, there is no shame in having leftovers."
"I doubt that! With how much some of our folks eat?" Suzuha grinned. She had also managed to borrow a silver speaker system from one of Yuki's cosplay friends; a system that had surround-sound and could play anything if it were hooked up to one's iPod. The pseudo-sisters all drew straws and went in order of the lengths they drew; all girls would have a chance to play their music that night though. Kiyomi ironically was going to go first.
Afterwards, the girls all said their goodbyes and headed back home to get ready for the party, all wanting to dress nicely. The cleaning and organization had taken a majority of the afternoon, so they only had a few hours to get dressed in something pleasant and presentable.
Rose was the first one to arrive back, wearing a low-cut black dress with a sheer matching cardigan placed on top and heels, her hair down and her usual ribbon being worn around her wrist. She ordered the food as specified and peeked through the window, wrinkling her nose at the dark and heavy clouds hanging lowly in the sky.
"Tutturu! Here we are!" Mayuri announced her presence, carrying a large ribboned box. She was wearing a teal off-shoulder ruffled top and matching ankle-long skirt with a white ribbon tying her hair back, tiny teal bows on her heels. Okabe came in behind her, wearing a matching polo shirt and tan slacks and black shoes, having also shaved for the occasion.
"No twins with you?" Rose asked in surprise.
"No...Mayushii thinks they went someplace else to get ready," She set the box down on the table.
"What's in that?"
"A surprise!"
Kurisu and Andrew were next, Kurisu wearing a tight business dress in a bright shade of sea-form with a white lab coat over it and pearls in her ears, white tights and heels underneath. Andrew wore a simple caramel-coloured suit with a white tie, almost looking like a cake.
"Oh wow..." Kurisu gasped a bit when seeing Rose. "In this light, dressed like that, you look...so much like me,"
Rose blushed and awkwardly hugged herself, wondering if she was dressed too formally for the occasion. Kiryuu was the next one to arrive with her own husband, Seishirou Yamada, their two children and the twins in tow as well. Kiryuu had teased her hair and wore a V-neck red dress while Mr. Yamada wore a matching suit with a white tie.
"I'm surprised it's not raining with clouds like that," Mamoru whistled, glancing out the window. He was wearing a white polo shirt and dressy pants with a belt.
Kiyomi was the most outlandish-looking, being decked out in a white sailor dress with blue trim and all the fixings, even including anchor-shaped earrings. Her pigtails were uneven and lopsided.
"She wanted to do her hair herself, I'm so proud of her," Mr. Yamada explained. Kiyomi awkwardly tried to fold into herself, taking a picture of the room.
"We dressed her up like that!" Kanako announced, wearing a French maid outfit with a set of cat ears and tail. "Doesn't she look so cute?!"
"That explains it," Rose shook her head, suppressing a laugh.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Hanako gasped, dressed the same as her sister. She pounced on Okabe and gave him a giant hug.
Kiyomi hurried over to the speaker system and placed her iPod in front of it, using the wireless connection to turn it on. After a few seconds, soft and gentle love ballads filled the room.
Awww, she gets her sense of musical taste from her mama! ^.^ Kiryuu texted to everyone.
The food arrived at the same time Faris and her children did, Faris herself decked out in what one could only accurately describe as being a cosplay of Princess Peach that badly clashed with her hair.
"Evening!" She smiled. Fenris spotted Mamoru and went over to talk with him, wearing a neat brown suit made from tweed, while Poptart wore a white leotard and tights and opera gloves with a sheer pink tulle dress thrown over it all.
"At least the food's here so we won't be waiting long," She huffed.
Rose widened her eyes and looked around the room, spotting Kurisu listening to Mayuri go on about her colour scheme. She walked over to the two women and waited there silently, speaking up when Kurisu looked over at her.
"Mom...uh, this is probably another weird question, but...yesterday, Poptart-san told me that our grandfathers were good friends in university. Do you know anything about that?" She asked curiously.
"Yes, they were partners and close friends," Kurisu said. "I actually forgot about that...me and Faris-san were a bit close growing up, but nothing special. We both took different paths in life, I suppose," She finally shrugged.
It had started drizzling when Luka and Kaede arrived with their children in tow; they miraculously had remained dry.
"Poor Yuki-chan...I hope they aren't caught up in this," Kaede gasped, a hand at her mouth. She wore a small violet bow in her hair and wore an elegant turtlenecked sweater dress that hugged her curves with black tights and the purple-bowed kitten heels. Luka wore his hair tied up again with a purple T-shirt on underneath a long magenta sweater-dress with jeans underneath and matching purple sneakers.
"Love ballads?" Mari assessed in surprise. "I suppose it is a very good thing that I am up next," She was dressed in a frilly and short kimono-dress that was purple with blue trim; long flowing sleeves and a giant bow in the back. She wore her usual fishnet combination with violet flats and her normal purple skull barrette and black choker. Hikari was dressed in a formal grey school uniform with black trim and caramel tights, her hair curled into little ringlets, while Satoshi wore a pale blue yukata patterned with green vines and matching green zori.
Hikari spotted Rose and walked over to her, smiling. "Hello," She greeted in English.
"Hello yourself," Rose said back in English. Despite never having lived in England or the United States, only visited once or twice, she had been told her English was quite good despite the awkward accent. Both of her parents were bilingual and she assumed that having an American father, even in a world where he wasn't hers biologically, helped in that regard.
"Can you believe we'll be attending the same high-school?" Hikari continued. "It will be my first year and I'm very nervous,"
"Don't be. Yes, foreigners are everywhere there, but there's lots of Japanese people too," She reassured her. "But yes, we are expected to speak English in a few classes. The teachers speak nothing but it in those classes so we're expected to do the same,"
"I just wish I could've gone to Mother's old high-school. She was telling me the other night that they had a really amazing choir program and I was hoping to take part in that,"
Rose widened her eyes. "You sing?"
"Yes, but it is just a hobby of mine. Mother likes to think she raised a very musical family...I sing, Mari-oneechan knows a little bit of koto, and Satoshi wants to learn the guitar because Fenris-kun is taking lessons." She got a thoughtful expression on her features. "I wonder if Father ever feels left out of things like this,"
The last trio finally arrived, just a bit damp from the rain outside. Yuki was wearing a lacy peach blouse and pleated white skirt with a matching headband, the peach bows on her heels sparkling. Daru was beside her in a matching polo shirt and white shorts, a big sunhat on his head. Suzuha still wore her hair in the usual braid-bun she always did, this time wearing a giant pink bow in it and a matching pink frilly blouse under a wide magenta dress patterned with strawberries, matching strawberries on her Mary-Janes.
"Yay! Everyone is here now!" Mayuri cheered.
"You didn't get caught in the rain, did you?" Kurisu asked curiously, noticing their damp clothing.
"Only just a bit," Yuki chuckled a bit. "Itaru-kun had the forethought to get us all bus tickets ahead of time. Before we planned to ride our bikes,"
"Let's get this party started!" Suzuha cheered eagerly. Mamoru spotted her and clasped his hands together.
"Finally! You want a rematch of our arm-wrestling contest from last time?" He was already holding his hand out. Suzuha smirked.
"Do I ever!" They stood in front of the desk and grabbed each other's hands, getting down to it.
"Someone should tell them they'll probably need a referee," Rose pointed out.
The rain came down harder and harder outside, the wind blowing fast against the windows and pounding on them. The rain was joined by lighting and thunder.
Satoshi trembled a bit and hurried away from the window. "Is the building going to fall down?" He asked nervously.
"This place is very sturdy!" Daru gasped.
"Come over here next to me," Kaede held out her arms and Satoshi hurried over to her.
The last song on Kiyomi's iPod finished playing and Mari instantly hooked hers up, blasting out heavy metal. Suzuha grinned triumphantly as she bested Mamoru again. Mayuri shooed the twins away from the ribboned box.
A particularly loud clap of thunder ran out, accompanied by a bright flash of lighting, then the whole room was plunged into darkness.
Rose tensed up, pressing herself against the wall. She could still hear the storm outside and the windows strain against the wind's beating. Every so often white lighting flashed into the room, elongating their shadows.
Okabe stood up and quickly started taking control of the situation. "Daru, Suzuha! You two go look around for an emergency generator and try to hook it up. The rest of the guys and I will talk to Mr. Tennouji downstairs to see if this is just us or a citywide issue. The women will stay here," He directed.
Why? I'm sure some of us could be helpful, :( Kiryuu texted.
"It has nothing to do with your helpfulness. I just assumed a few of you would be better off helping with the kids,"
But they're all adults! Meanie, .
Okabe chose to ignore that and gathered up Andrew, Seishirou, and Luka, who started to run off before Satoshi tugged on his sleeve.
"I don't want you to go, Father," He cried, and Luka nodded and sat back down on the couch in defeat. Him and Kaede gently leaned their heads on each other, tightly hugging Satoshi.
"I wonder what made the power go out so suddenly. Even in the worst summer storms, the power here never went out," Kurisu blinked. "Even in the winter blizzards didn't make it go out,"
"Maybe it's just a fluke?" Yuki suggested. "Every company has their off-days,"
I'm pretty sure they fixed random brownouts five years ago...Seishirou-kun told me allllll about it! ^.^ So yeah, this random outage is totes strange, Kiryuu's face was still blank as she stared down at her phone.
"You guys don't think there could be a tornado or something, right?" Kaede suddenly spoke up. "I mean, it's possible..."
"I don't want there to be one! Please don't make a tornado happen!" Satoshi cried.
"Oooh, since we said the word, now a tornado's going to come! Ooooh, it's going to sweep you up and away!" Poptart tiptoed over to Satoshi with her arms up, fingers curled, and tightly grabbed his shoulders. "Got you!"
He loudly screamed and started crying. "You're so mean, Poptart-oneesan..."
Luka gently rubbed his hair, trying to soothe him. "Um, that wasn't very nice..."
"So? Any doofus knows tornadoes don't happen in big cities," Poptart huffed.
"Actually, that's a rumor. Tornadoes are actually very common in big cities. Tokyo has had quite a few over the years since they're common on this side of the nation," Kurisu said.
"Mayushii's worried about Okarin and Daru...they should be back by now," Mayuri pouted.
"Can we open the box now, Mommy?" Hanako asked.
"Nope, it's still a surprise!"
Rose looked out the window, noticing the city itself was dark. So it was a citywide thing, or at least in this neighborhood. She wondered if her headache would come back.
"Everyone is so gloomy, nya..." Faris sighed before perking herself up. "Let's play a game!"
Everyone perked up at that and eagerly glanced over at Faris, already knowing what sort of game she was referring to.
"These are very dark, trying, troubling times indeed! The brave Kyouma-san has gone off to an enemy base owned by the Organization, trying to restore the electricity they stole from the innocent townspeople. But he cannot do it alone. Luckily, he has us, the bravest warriors and scientists ever known to history! And our children, born from the wombs of destruction and the seeds of evil purely to bring chaos upon this great land! They will follow on our footsteps after we retire,"
Rose subtly rolled her eyes. It was good that she was trying to comfort everyone, but did she really have to be so obnoxious about it?
"That's why he left me in charge. He trusts me and I need to keep you all in line!" Kurisu nodded, slipping her hands into her coat pocket. "Now I'm glad i had the forethought to wear this, just like a true mad scientist!"
"Kaede-chan and I will tidy the place up for their return!" Yuki smiled and the two women mimed picking things up, dancing around. "It's my job as a maid after all!"
Rose glanced over at the sound of fancy shoes clacking on the hard wood over to her and squinted to try and pick out the shadow.
"Hey, um..could you please walk me to the bathroom? It's too dark to see anything," Hikari's voice, now speaking in Japanese, reached her, and Rose quickly nodded and then answered in the affirmative.
"Yes. Just follow me," She motioned to Hikari and then led her down the hallway, pointing out the toilet room to her. "It's pretty cramped but..."
Hikari squirmed a bit awkwardly and looked away. "May I please borrow your phone? Just for light,"
"Sure," Rose pulled the red phone out and carefully tossed it to Hikari, who caught it and turned it on.
"It's password-protected, so the light won't remain on for long, you have to keep turning it on. But I don't think that's an issue," Rose told her. She then leaned against the wall and sighed a bit after Hikari went inside.
"You need to come with me. Right now," A new voice reached her and Rose was suddenly aware of someone grabbing her arm and pulling it behind her back, making her gasp. She squirmed around and tried to ram herself into the person's chest, only freezing when she felt the familiar coat wrap around her.
"Un-Dad?!"
"I've already gathered the others. We need to go to Daru's place right now," Okabe hadn't even seemed to have heard her, only carefully dragged her along. Her pseudo-sisters were missing, but their siblings and parents were staring at Okabe with confused wide eyes.
"Where are we going?" She asked as they rushed down the stairs and into the rain. He paused near a bench.
"The time machine. There was...something threatening sent in the mail to Daru. He hurriedly finished it and now you seven need to hide in it. Just for a day or two," His eyes seemed trained on something in the distance.
"We can't live in a time machine, Dad," She remained hidden under a Verdana, not wanting her dress to get wet. "It's not a house,"
"He's going to explain everything,"
"But our parents and-" Something white entered her field of vision and she caught it, staring down at his lab coat.
"No sense in you catching a cold," Okabe stared at her and Rose felt her face beating up as she slowly pulled the coat on over her back and shoulders like a hoodie, covering her face.
"I look stupid, Dad,"
"This is no time for complaints! We are on a mission to save the world!" He grabbed her hand and soon they were running again, Rose panting after only a few streets due to the pace and the slippery roads.
Once they reached Daru's house, Rose tore the coat off and suppressed a gasp at the small cylinder huddled into the corner of the yard. Well, it was technically a giant cylinder, made from some sort of shiny metal, almost like a satellite. She curiously walked over to it. A bright flash of lighting flashed nearby.
"Big Sister!" The twins ran over to her and both hugged her on either side, sounding close to tears. Rose gently patted their heads. Even Mari and Poptart looked distressed, and Kiyomi's camera was nowhere in sight.
"I'm sorry, but I had to rush the time machine," Daru explained lowly. Suzuha was behind him, a large white backpack on her shoulders, still wearing her clothes from the party. "As a result, the furthest it can go back or forward is only twenty years. So you could go twenty years into the future, or twenty years into the past, but no more. It also has no cloaking technology, so make sure you land it someplace secretive."
"You're hiding us away in 2010, aren't you?" Rose asked levelly. "That's very dangerous. What if we run into one of your younger selves?"/
"I mean, we don't gotta hide in 2010. We could go even further to 2050," Suzuha smiled a bit.
"It'll just be for a few days. After that, the threat will be gone. After all, they can't search for something that doesn't exist!" Daru pressed a few buttons and small double-doors on the cylinder opened up, revealing a control center with seven seats organized in a circle. "Truthfully, I don't know what timeline this will make us end up in. It's a risk we're going to have to take though,"
"And you're not even going to let us say bye to our parents?! That sucks!" Poptart fussed, her hands on her hips.
"Suzu-chan, you're going to be in charge from here on out. Take care of your pseudo-sisters and the time machine," Daru said to Suzuha, who nodded. "If something goes wrong with it, I know you can fix it,"
"Okie-dokie, Dad," They both hugged before Suzuha climbed in, taking the seat closest to the controls. Rose filed in next, the twins seated on either side of her. Kiyomi and Mari sat next to each other, and finally Poptart sat near the back.
"It is a tad cramped," Mari pouted.
Daru and Okabe stood solemnly outside the machine as the doors closed up, and almost instantly afterwards Suzuha started to type in coordinates.
"This is risky," Rose sighed. Hiding out in a foreign time for a few days with advanced technology that evidently someone was out to get? With their parents' younger selves running around? It sounded like a paradox waiting to happen.
"What's in the backpack?" Kiyomi pointed.
"Supplies. We might need to get a bit more once we arrive, but Dad booked us up with some staples," She smirked. "Figured it out. Now, 2010, here we come!"
She pressed a button and tightened her grip on the wheel, and Rose closed her eyes as the next sensation in her body for several long seconds was the feeling of getting twirled into spaghetti.
###
When Rose opened her eyes, she realized the previous sensation was gone and had been replaced with the one of her flying. She widened her eyes and in the next second, groaned as she suddenly hit the ground hard, the grass flattening under her. She groaned again and tried to lift her head up to scope the scene.
Several trees had been knocked over or just bent, and the otherworldly culprit was lying tilted in the ground, the doors wide open. A few of the girls were still inside, but Rose and Kiyomi had been thrown out by the looks of it.
"Are you alright?" Mari stared down at them, gracefully jumping out herself. Suzuha followed and grimaced.
"I hope nothing's broken," She gently helped the two up. "I guess I got the landing just a teensy bit off..."
Rose gingerly rubbed the stains off her dress, wincing at how the green showed up against the black.
"It's...okay...first time," Kiyomi reassured her, taking a quick picture of the landscape.
"Alright, we need people to stay here and monitor the time machine and people to scout around. Look for more supplies," Rose directed.
"I should stay here. If this thing is busted, we can't get back home and I'm the only one with the expertise to fix it," Suzuha said, slipping the backpack off.
"I shall stay here too. Seeing a younger version of my father is enough to turn my stomach," Mari hid her mouth with her sleeve and tittered.
"Same here...I mean...I don't think I'll be much help anywhere else..." Kiyomi trembled.
"In that case...Hanako-chan, please stay here," Rose ordered, making the twin in question tense up.
"W-Why? Booga floods? I don't want to be apart from my sister!"
"I know," Rose placed a gentle hand on her younger half-sister's shoulder. "But what if we run into Aunt Mayuri or Dad? Seeing two Mayuris...or a big Mayuri and two little Mayuris would confuse them,"
Hanako giggled a bit. "It sounds a little silly..." She looked over at Kanako. "We've never been apart before..."
"But you won't even be apart. We're just going on a scouting mission, you know? Because..." Rose swallowed a bit. "Because we're mad scientists and it's what we do,"
"Yeah! Big Sister is the best mad scientist ever!" Kanako grinned, and Hanako nodded.
"Alright,"
Rose patted her on the back. "Thatta girl,"
Suzuha handed the backpack to Rose, who stood with Poptart and Kanako. The remaining four girls waved to their pseudo-sisters, and the three waved back, continuing to do so until they left the forest.
It was a hot and sunny day, the kind that was making Rose regret wearing black. The backpack was already starting to chaff on her shoulders.
2010, huh? It wasn't all that different from her current year, just a bit less advanced. The city still seemed to look mostly the same.
First things first, locate their parents as teenagers. And then secondly, avoid them at all costs. And thirdly, get back on the time machine and head back to their own time as if nothing had ever happened.
Easy?
Rose hoped so.
Though something in her gut was telling her everything had suddenly just become a whole lot complicated.