The lights were flickering as little feet shuffled across the cold, solid floor of the empty halls of Verone High School. All he could hear was his heavy breathing and his heart running marathons in his chest. Cold sweat dotted his forehead and his lungs were screaming at him to take a break, even if just for a second. But he knew he couldn't stop. If he did, they'd catch him.
He was about to turn down a hall when he was blocked by a set of long legs. He turned around, determined to escape another way but was blocked by another set of long legs.
Sweating profusely, he leaned against the wall, hoping he could mold through. The ones who were blocking him placed their hands on their hips and smirked.
"Finally caught you, Taro," one of them, Momo, said, crouching down to his level.
The other one, Akari, moved a piece of her hair behind her ear. "Don't put up a fight. It's not worth it."
He, Taro the lavender-colored fairy with royal purple baby bull ears, gave them a careful smile. "I-I was just having fun...you know-roro?"
"Yes, and now it's time for us to have fun," Akari said as Momo cracked her knuckles with a diabolical smile on her face.
Taro dropped his smile and screamed. If anybody gave a fuck, they would have heard his scream from Pluto.
v: a precure's guide to babysitting.
Before the girls hunted Taro down:
When Cure Sun opened her eyes, she no longer found herself in Kumiko's mind. She was standing back in the gym, except there wasn't a gaping hole in the ceiling. Nobody was in the gym except for Cure Moon who was standing and looking around. Moon's confused eyes met Sun's equally confused ones.
"What just happened?" Moon asked as some students began to fill into the gym.
"I don't know but I'm more concerned about how to get out of this whole get up. I'd rather shoot myself than let someone catch me looking like this," Sun answered, referring to her Precure form.
Suddenly, their transformations wore off like dust particles flying away. Cure Sun was back to Irisawa Akari and Cure Moon was back to Fujimura Momo.
"Oh, thank god!" Akari let out a breath of relief.
Momo pointed up at the ceiling. "Wasn't there just a hole?" She dropped her hand and her eyes grew wide. "Hold on!"
"What?" Akari asked as Momo ran out of the gym.
There was nothing out of the ordinary happening outside of the gym. Since it was the end of the school day, students were talking amongst each other as they left for the day. Those who had to stay behind for extracurricular activities were making their way to their various destinations.
"Nobody looks dazed or panicked or anything." Momo pulled out her phone and texted Takeru.
Momo: you at practice rn, right?
Momo: but it hasn't started yet, right?
Momo: answer this question real quick!
Momo: who is the most important woman in your life right now?
Keru the Frog: irisawa akari and it will always be irisawa akari
Momo: not kumiko?
Keru the Frog: kumiko?
Keru the Frog: as in kamiyama kumiko?
Keru the Frog: you know how much i don't like her
Keru the Frog: i only tolerate her cuz she's daiki's sister
Keru the Frog: actually, i don't even talk to her
Keru the Frog: and i avoid eye contact with her if we happen to be in the same room
Keru the Frog: yo once i made myself stop breathing for a sec so i wouldn't have to breathe the same air as her
Keru the Frog: if i were stuck on an island with her, i'd drown her in the ocean and sacrifice her to the gods so the gods can receive my sacrifice and save me and if it doesn't work, at least i won't have to deal with her annoying bitchy ass
Momo: damn.
Scratching her head, Momo shoved her phone back into her pockets. "Takeru doesn't seem to remember simping over Kumiko."
"Because once a Bugaboo has been purified, everything is reversed-lulu. Nobody but you and Akari will remember there being a Bugaboo and Kumiko-san's little mind control stunt-lulu," Momo heard Lilu explain.
She turned around and saw Akari approaching her with Lilu in phone form in her hands.
"Will Kumiko remember?" Akari asked. "I need her to remember so I can know that all of that hard work I went through to drill facts into her head wasn't all for nothing."
"Everything will be a dream for her-lulu. What she does from now on depends on whether she wants to interpret her dream as a lesson or not-lulu," Lilu answered.
"That sort of doesn't make me feel better, but I am glad that nobody else will remember anything," Akari said.
"Oh yeah! The fairy!" Momo suddenly exclaimed.
"I sensed the fairy who gave Kumiko power when Akari purified the Bugaboo-lulu. Because of the purification, I can temporarily tell where he is, but it will soon wear off so I suggest you two go hunt him down now before he finds a way to get out of the school-lulu," Lilu said.
"Huh!?" Momo and Akari broke into a clean sprint towards the school building.
Currently:
"Ahhhhhh freeeeee meeeeee-roro!" Taro screamed as he flew threw the sky.
He was trapped in a cocoon made out of bodega-bought duct tape and only his head was free. He spun as he flew and tears spilled out of his eyes. Against his will, he had been captured by Momo and Akari and was currently being thrown around like a football at the park.
"I got it! I got it!" Momo yelled, running back to catch Taro.
Taro flew past her hands and hit a nearby tree head first like a bullet.
"Owwwwww that hurt-roro!" Taro whined, falling to the ground with a couple of leaves from the branches joining him.
Akari, who was standing a couple of feet away, sighed. "Momo! That was an easy catch!"
"Bruh! I can't catch for shit!" Momo yelled.
"Fine! Throw it back!" Akari yelled.
Ah. She still thinks that eventually, I'll learn how to throw. She's gotta give up that hope, Momo thought, walking over to grab Taro.
"Please-roro! Stop this torture-roro! I promise I'll be good from now on-roro!" Taro begged.
Momo laughed and grabbed the wailing Taro. Then, posing as if she were the pitcher in a baseball game, she threw Taro at Akari.
"Hey, Casi? Lilu? What do we do now that we've found Taro?" Momo asked. Meanwhile, Taro hit Akari smack in the face and Akari fell back.
Nearby, Casi and Lilu were hard at work making a sandcastle in the nearby sandbox. Momo walked over to their area.
"Simple-lulu. He'll stay with one of you-lulu," Lilu answered without looking away from his work.
"Momo! All you are doing is throwing and catching! Why do you suck at both!?" Akari yelled as she stomped towards Momo and the fairies.
"Can Akari take him?" Momo asked, ignoring Akari and continuing her conversation with Lilu.
"Ask her-lulu," Lilu responded.
Akari joined them and harshly threw Taro to the ground. The impact caused Taro to bounce up from the ground like a bouncy ball. "Ask me what?" Akari asked.
"You're taking Taro," Momo said, sitting on the wooded barrier outlining the sandbox.
"Um, no I'm not. Why should I?" Akari asked.
"Because you were the one who did the purifying move. So it makes sense that you who did basically the biggest thing should take him," Momo answered.
Akari squinted her eyes. "What kind of-you just admitted that I did the most. You did the least so you should take him."
"But I don't want to."
"I don't want to either."
"So we should just leave him out here and let him turn another person into a Bugaboo?"
"Of course not. Take him."
"I'm not taking him! How about we do this by birthday? The oldest takes Taro. My birthday is in July. When's yours?"
"Mine's in August."
"Gahdammit!" Momo kicked Casi and Lilu's sandcastle-in-progress and Casi began to cry.
Akari smirked. "Heh. Your rules. Follow them."
If Momo were a dog, her ears would be droopy. Pouting, Momo looked over at Taro and caught him attempting to roll away. "Nuh uh!" She quickly caught up to him and placed her foot over him.
Taro squealed. "Okay okay-roro! I'll stop-roro! I've seen the error in my ways-roro!"
Momo slowly cracked her front door open and peeped her head through. The foyer of the house had a shoe rack against the wall for the Fujimuras and their guests to place their shoes. Her mother bought the rack after tripping one too many times over shoes.
Please don't let anyone be home right now...! Momo prayed, looking at the shoes. Then, she frowned. There wasn't just one set of shoes in the house. There were multiple plus two more extra pairs. The house was full. The laughter coming from down the hall only confirmed her suspicions.
"Taro. You'll have to be quiet. I'm dead serious," Momo warned in a low voice.
The girls had duct tape Taro's mouth and shoved him into a grocery bag. But even though he couldn't talk, he could still make noises.
After receiving a grunting sound from Taro, Momo fully entered the house.
"Peachy!? Is that you!?" Momo's mother, Fujimura Nagisa, called out from the kitchen.
"I'm back!" Momo announced as she took off her shoes.
"That's great! Come and greet auntie! She's home early from work for once!" Nagisa cried.
"Damn damn damn," Momo grumbled, placing her slippers onto her feet. "Coming!"
Nagisa was sitting at the dining table with their neighbor and Takeru's mother, Matsuoka Ruka. A couple cans of beer were on the table with them and based on the way they were slumped in their chairs, they had been talking for a minute. They still had their work clothes on.
"Evening, mom." Momo faced Ruka. "Evening, auntie." Even though Ruka wasn't related to them by blood, Momo still called her auntie out of respect.
Ruka was a beautiful woman with skin as white as snow and hair as black as night but years of working long shifts had made her unable to keep up with her appearance. These days, her hair was always in a tired ponytail and she didn't bother to wear jewelry or highlight any of her features. "Did my devil incarnate son Takeru cause trouble at school today?"
"Eh...not really," Momo admitted.
Ruka let out a breath of relief. "Good." Then, she frowned. "Actually, that doesn't make me feel at ease."
Nagisa laughed and held out her beer can towards Ruka. "Relax, Ruka! You got off of work early so enjoy this rare free time! I never get to see you in the daylight anymore!"
Ruka sighed and did cheers with Nagisa. "I guess."
"Koko! How far with the curry!?" Nagisa called out.
In the kitchen, Nagisa's eldest daughter and Momo's older sister who's a 3rd year in high school, Fujimura Miyako, was busy cooking.
"Mom, you're rushing me!" Miyako called back.
"Well, your auntie and I are starving!" Nagisa cried.
Miyako stomped out of the kitchen with the ladle in her hands. "You two can starve to death for all I care! I'm not done yet!" Miyako had her father's mocha brown hair and usually it was left down but it was up in a ponytail to prevent any hair from getting into the pot she was cooking out of. She still had her school uniform on and the glasses that she only wore at home. "I literally just got back from my student council meeting! Give me a minute!" Out of Nagisa's children, Miyako argued with Nagisa the most.
"Sis! Make the curry extra spicy!" Another voice called out, this time from the living room.
Nagisa's youngest daughter and Momo's little sister who's a 2nd year in junior high, Fujimura Mariko, was watching TV in the living room. Her best friend, Amina Vermilion, was sitting with her and they had their textbooks open on the coffee table. They were also still in their school uniforms and snacks littered the area. It was safe to say that their homework was untouched and they'd been watching TV since they got out of school.
"You know how much I love spicy curry!" Mariko cried. Out of Nagisa's three daughters, Mariko bore the strongest resemblance to her. She also had her mother's ginger hair that she'd put into high pigtails to give off the image that she was innocent. If she kept her hair down and cut it, she'd look like Nagisa's carbon copy..
Amina glanced down at her phone. "Mari-chan, I have to go. My mom is calling."
"Awwww, Mina-chan no! I want you to stay!" Mariko whined, hugging Amina.
"I wanna stay too!" Amina whined, hugging Mariko back.
In the background, Nagisa's youngest child and second son who's an elementary school student, Fujimura Hiroto, was busy filling out a coloring book. With his mocha brown hair unkept on his head, he laid on his stomach and kicked his little feet, more focused on his coloring. He laid next to a stand which had turned into a little shrine in honor of Nagisa's eldest child and first son, Fujimura Hayato.
Hayato didn't live in the house because he was overseas in the US attending MIT. Being a straight A student and graduating at the top of his class, Nagisa had made a little shrine to display all of Hayato's achievements and show off that out of all of her children, Hayato was the one who turned out right. Nagisa would find herself caressing his picture whenever she missed him, which was often. But if the light ginger haired Hayato was home right now, he'd be bumming around the house. You wouldn't think that he was a genius.
Other than Takeru who would usually chill at the Fujimura house but was away at basketball practice that usually took hours, the only one not home was Nagisa's husband and Momo's father, Fujimura Shougo, but it was common for him to not be home when everyone was. He usually worked long hours at the office.
"Peachy?" Nagisa asked, calling Momo by the nickname she especially had for her. "What in the world is happening with your bag?"
Momo looked down and saw that the bag that had Taro in it was shaking vigorously. "Oh!" Momo harshly shook the bag in retaliation. "My phone that I put in it is ringing! It must be Kazuha calling or something!"
Nagisa watched as her middle child ran out of the dining room, down the hall, and up the stairs.
Momo stomped over to her bedroom on the second floor and slammed her door shut. Then, she dumped Taro out and ripped the duct tape off of his mouth. "What did I tell you!?"
"You told me to be quiet-roro. You never said that the bag had to be quiet too-roro," Taro responded slyly.
Momo glared at him. "You little..."
Casi transformed into a fairy and landed in between Taro and Momo. "Hello, Taro-sisi! We haven't really met each other properly-sisi!"
"I thought y'all knew each other already?" Momo asked, pulling her bowtie off of the collar of her uniform.
"In this life, technically we don't-sisi," Casi explained.
Momo tilted her head with a blank expression.
Casi sighed. "It's complicated-sisi."
"Ah. Got it. Both of you, turn around. I'm changing," Momo said.
Casi saluted and manually turned Taro around so they faced the head of Momo's bed. Multiple Squishmellows were sitting against the pillows and headboard. Taro squinted his eyes at them. "They look like fairies...but they're not-roro."
"Momo-chan calls them her babies-sisi," Casi responded. "Alright-sisi. Here are the rules of this room-sisi."
"We have to follow rules-roro?" Taro asked.
"Of course," Momo said as she unbuttoned her shirt. "Especially you."
Fuck the rules-roro! I'm gonna do whatever the fuck I want-roro! Taro thought to himself from his place underneath Momo's bed. Momo could add Taro to her phone but she didn't want him to "contaminate" it. And so she had banished him to underneath her bed where a couple of items she'd lost over the years hid.
He crawled out and looked at Momo who was drooling as she pranced around in dreamland. You and your little friend will pay for the way I was tossed around earlier-roro!
In phone form, Casi woke up from her slumber and transformed into a fairy. Sniffling with a tear hanging from her eye, she hopped onto Momo's bed and tapped her awake.
"...mmm...what...?" Momo grumbled in her half awake state.
"I had a nightmare again-sisi," Casi said, sniffling.
Momo's eyes were still closed but she raised her blanket, allowing Casi to slip in and snuggle against Momo. "You always get nightmares..." Momo placed her blanket back down and threw her arms around Casi like she was a plush toy.
Casi was beginning to drift off when she heard shuffling in the background. She turned a bit in Momo's arms and opened her eyes to see Taro jumping up and down in front of Momo's door. Casi sat up and tilted her head. "What are you doing-sisi?"
"What does it look like I'm doing-roro? I'm escaping-roro!" Taro whisper-yelled.
"But why-sisi?" Casi asked without lowering her voice.
"Because I don't want to be here-roro!" Taro stopped jumping. "That human treats me like shit so I will make her regret it by finding another human to turn into a Bugaboo-roro! Good thing that there are other humans in this compound-roro!"
"No-sisi! Don't do that-sisi!" Casi yelled.
Taro grabbed one of Momo's slippers that were laying around, spun around, and released the slipper. The slipper smacked Casi on the face and Casi fell back. "Sisi!"
Now that Casi was distracted, Taro jumped up and grabbed the handle. "Finally-roro!" He hoisted himself up and messed around with the door handle until he managed to open the door.
"Taro-sisi! That wasn't nice-sisi! That hurt-sisi!" Casi yelled, tears streaming down her face.
"Shhhh, you're too loud-roro!" Taro hissed. Then, he turned around and ran down the hallway.
"Taro, no-sisi!" Casi cried, jumping out of the bed and running after him.
Upstairs, the Fujimura house had the master bedroom that had its own bathroom, three bedrooms, and 1 bathroom that the inhabitants of the three bedrooms shared. When all five children were home, Hayato had his own room. Miyako and Momo shared a room and Mariko and Hiroto, who they all called Hiro, shared another room. When Hayato moved out, Miyako was given his room and Momo was able to have her own room. Lately, however, Nagisa has been talking about Momo and Mariko sharing a room and Hiro getting the room to himself since Hiro is a growing boy. But Momo and Mariko managed to get Nagisa to put the idea on hold since Miyako would graduate soon and probably move out. If or when she does move out, Momo will get to keep her own room and Mariko will get Miyako's room. As a result, Momo and Mariko were currently in the process of getting Miyako to choose a college far from home.
Taro entered the room across from Momo's room, which was Miyako's room. Even though it was the middle of the night, Miyako was still up. She was hunched over her desk as she completed some homework assignments. A couple of other textbooks were wide open on her bed and a dry erase white board that hung on the wall had a bunch of folded papers and little notes on the board held by magnets. Her airpods were in her ears and playing music at full volume so she didn't hear Taro come in.
"Ah...so she's a very studious student-roro. She's definitely got some inner demons and dark thoughts eating at her-roro," Taro said with a smirk.
Casi, who had run after Taro, entered the room. "Taro-sisi!" She jumped on top of him. "Don't do it-sisi!"
"Get off of me-roro!" Taro cried.
He and Casi wrestled each other, rolling around on the ground and letting out little squeaks. Meanwhile, Miyako was stumped on a math problem and was scratching her head with the back of her pencil.
Taro and Casi ended up rolling out into the hallway. Once they were out, Casi quickly got off of thim and closed Miyako's door.
Miyako jumped at the sound of her door slamming shut and took out her airpods. "Hello?" She called out, scanning her room. There were no signs of anyone having entered her room. Shrugging, she put her airpods back in and continued her work.
On the other side of her door, Casi was chasing Taro around the hallway.
"Get back here-sisi!" Casi whisper-yelled.
Taro only laughed in response. "I'm about to choose my next target and you will never stop me-roro!"
Suddenly, the bedroom door of the room right next to Momo's room swung open. Taro turned towards the room but Casi tackled him to the floor and slapped a stubby hand over Taro's mouth.
The one who had opened the door, Mariko, was yawning loudly and dragging her feet across the floor. She glanced at Miyako's bedroom door, then down the hallway at the master bedroom's door, then turned around and made her way down the stairs.
Taro pushed Casi off of him and smirked. "My next target-roro!"
"Stop it-sisi!" Casi wailed with tears in her eyes as Taro followed after Mariko.
Mariko was on the 4th step when her half-awake self slipped and tumbled down the stairs. Every time her body hit a step, a loud "boom" sound would echo in the house. Almost simultaneously, all of the bedroom doors of the house swung open.
Momo's door was the first one to open. She stepped out and was rubbing her eyes when she saw Casi and Taro in the middle of the hallway. As the master bedroom's door opened, Momo dropped to the floor and slid across it on her stomach as if she were a penguin and grabbed Casi and Taro.
"What's going on!?" Nagisa yelled as Miyako's door opened next. Nagisa had a sheet mask on her face and based on the sleepiness in her eyes and her messy hair, she fell asleep with the mask on.
Little Hiro was rubbing his eyes as he walked out of the room he shared with Mariko and Miyako looked down at Momo who was still on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Miyako asked.
"Um..." Momo stood up with Taro and Casi in her arms. "I'm so sleepy...yeah." She faked a yawn.
Miyako glanced at Casi and Taro. "When did you buy those two plushies?"
"My business," Momo responded quickly, earning an annoyed glare from Miyako.
"Owwwwwww! I fell!" Mariko wailed from the foot of the stairs on the bottom floor.
"Mariko!?" Nagisa ran down the stairs with Miyako and Hiro. "How did you get down there!?"
Momo used this opportunity to run back into her room and close her door. Once the door was locked, she dropped Casi and Taro onto her bed. "What were you two doing outside of my room!? Rule number one is to never, ever leave my room when I'm sleeping!"
"Taro was trying to turn your family into Bugaboos-sisi!" Casi snitched.
"No loyalty among fairies it seems-roro," Taro grumbled.
Momo ran her fingers through her hair. "Bruh, are you being serious right now?"
"Who am I to let a human tell me what to do-roro!?" Taro cried.
Noticing the slipper that had hit Casi earlier was lodged in between two Squishmellows on her bed, Momo grabbed the slipper. "That's it! Get your ass over here!"
"Ahhh, you're crazy-roro!" Taro yelled as Momo chased him around the room with the slipper.
The next day, Kumiko entered Class 1-C and sat in front of Akari's desk. Akari, who was scrolling through Instagram on her phone, didn't bother to look up at Kumiko who had turned to face her.
Kumiko knocked on Akari's desk. Rolling her eyes, Akari looked up from her phone and gave Kumiko her attention. "Yes?"
"I forgive you," Kumiko answered.
"Forgive me? Thanks, but for what?" Akari asked.
"When you arrived, you took everything away from me. So now, I've found it deep in my heart to forgive you," Kumiko explained.
Akari squinted her eyes. "When did I take anything from you?"
Kumiko ignored her question. "But that doesn't mean I'll go easy on you! I'll never let you beat me and that's a fact!"
Akari stared at Kumiko as Kumiko got up and strutted her way out of the classroom. What the fuck just happened?
She decided to brush it off and scan the classroom. Harumi was busy deleting the Tik Toks that she had made in honor of Kumiko. "When did I even make these?" She wondered to herself.
Kazuha, who was sitting next to Harumi and was tapping on her phone, sighed. "I dunno, and I also don't know how I entered a Kamiyama Kumiko-sama Lovers Association group chat. A lot of people are leaving it so I guess they're wondering the same thing."
Hanako was writing on the board information about an upcoming trip for 1st years. Some students walked to her to ask her about the details. She smiled and answered their questions.
The shrine that Takeru had made for Kumiko was still sitting in the back of the classroom. Daiki was standing in front of it with his arms crossed and head tilted. "Takeru...made a shrine...for Kumiko? Not Irisawa-sama?"
When Akari closed her eyes and listened to everyone's thoughts, she didn't hear the Kumiko worshipping and mob mentality. In a twisted way, she was actually happy that she could hear everyone's individual thoughts.
"Damn...I'll never be good enough."
And just as fast as it came, the happiness has now been ruined, Akari thought with a sigh as the dark thoughts of the students filled her ears.
Akari looked down and saw that she had gotten a text from Momo.
WusErName: lets meet on the roof asap
She's here early? That's the second time in a row this week, Akari thought, standing up.
When Akari arrived on the roof, Momo was leaning against the railing with a black backpack covered in duct tape on her back.
"What's up with the backpack?" Akari asked.
Momo quickly turned around. "Good! You're here!" She slipped off the backpack and pushed it into Akari's hands. "It's your turn! Take custody!"
"Wait!" Akari said as Momo ran off. "What's in the bag!?"
She was left alone on the roof.
"Ah. Now I know what was in the bag," Akari said hours later.
Since she didn't have any extracurricular activities and didn't have any friends, she had gone straight home. The old traditional Japanese-styled house that had been in the family for generations still had cardboard moving boxes and luggages all over the place. Only basic necessities had been unpacked but they were just thrown anywhere. In her family, it was just her and her parents. She had no siblings. She hadn't seen her parents in days, though. Both of them were always working. The times they'd be home, it would be late at night and she would be asleep. But she didn't mind it. Back in the US, there would be periods of time that they wouldn't be home at all because they were abroad for work. All in all, they were busy people and she never felt lonely or neglected because that's simply how her world worked. Besides, she liked quiet places.
But now, she had a disturbance in her world.
Taro hung from a rope by one of his stubby feet in the doorway between the backyard and Akari's undecorated bedroom.
"Get me down from here-roro!" Taro wailed as he hung.
Lilu was sitting a few feet away from him, watching Taro dangle around. "Um, Akari-lulu? Don't you think this punishment is too harsh-lulu? All he did was run around the place-lulu."
"Nah. I feel that the punishment isn't harsh enough," Akari said, laying on her stomach as she completed workbook problems.
She was squinting her eyes as she read the Japanese writing. She could speak Japanese and understand it as long as it wasn't slang or any specific dialect but reading and writing in Japanese? That was her real weakness. The Japanese she knew was the Japanese that she spoke at home with her parents growing up. She was never taught how to read or write it.
"I promise that I will be good-roro! I promise-roro! Just get me down from here-roro!" Taro begged.
Lilu faced Akari. "You'll kill him at this rate-lulu!"
Akari slammed her pencil down and sat up. "Fine! I'll do something about him!"
She stood up and unhook the rope Taro was hanging from off the doorway. Then, she wrapped the rope around him and shoved him into the backpack that Momo had given him to her in. "Momo will take him back."
Lilu blinked. "Really-lulu."
"Pull up Momo's location. We're going straight to her place," Akari ordered as she zipped up the bag.
The streets of Tokyo were bustling in the evening time. It was rush hour and everyone was rapidly trying to get to their destinations now that the work day was over. At the same time, those who had the night shift were also trying to get to their workplaces on time.
Am I lost or something? Akari wondered as she wandered the streets with the backpack on her back.
Momo's supposed location was on her phone and she was following it like a GPS but there were so many paths that she could take. She took the fastest path and that led to her turning down many alleyways.
She had just turned down her 5th alleyway when she accidentally brushed shoulders with a stranger.
"I'm gonna fucking kill myself…" Akari sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in annoyance. I need to get to Momo's house fast so I can escape hearing all of these dark thoughts!
A man sipping lean in a styrofoam cup was crouched down against the wall. A group of possible yakuza members were huddled together near the entrance of a back alley shop, talking to one another as they made clouds. A skinny stray cat ran away from a couple of bruised children.
They weren't talking loudly and were talking about different topics. But as she stood there, the dark thoughts grew louder and louder.
"I lost my family to the drugs…and I'm losing myself to the drugs too!"
"I murdered someone! What do I do!?"
"I've wasted my life away!"
"I should just…die…"
"I'll never make it!"
"I can't take it anymore!"
Akari immediately stopped walking.
"Are you okay-lulu?" Lilu asked.
"Yeah. Just need a minute." She held onto the door handle of a back-alley shop and crouched down. Her eyes squeezed closed as the thoughts of the people of the city echoed loudly in her ears.
Akari, calm down. They're just dark thoughts. Tune them out, she told herself, breathing heavily.
She dropped her phone and not caring about the chance of being discovered by any of the city folk, Lilu transformed into a fairy. "Akari-lulu!"
Her clammy hands were clutching onto the door handle for dear life and she began to shake as her breathing grew uneven. It felt like someone had taken a hammer and was pounding her head with every thought she heard. She hid her face in her arm and sweat dotted her forehead.
She couldn't hear Lilu calling her name and trying to get her attention. All she could hear were everyone's thoughts all bunched up together. But even though they were bunched together, she could hear each and every one clearly. And they won't go away...!
Suddenly, someone behind her placed their hand on her shoulder and the thoughts immediately went away. She jumped and turned to face the person.
It was a man with messy blond hair that covered his eyes. He took out the cigarette in his mouth and let out a puff, prompting Akari to cough and fan the smoke away.
"Ah." The man spoke. "So you're Kiriya's kid."
Random Fact: Originally, Momo was the athletic one while Akari was the unathletic one
Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush! I wanted this chapter to show their at-home dynamics, so tada! Anyways, don't forget to leave some reviews or PM me! Later!