Visions of the Mystic Moon
by Kiki Smith
Prologue
"Amano-senpai?" asked a nervous voice from behind him. He knew who it belonged to, but even if he wanted to turn around he couldn't. He was too shell-shocked to even move.
"Yeah?"
"Did you... I mean, I'm just asking so I can be sure that I haven't lost my mind, but did you just see Hitomi disappear with a guy flying on a large dragon?"
These words were like a healing balm on his nerves. He'd just been wondering the exact same thing.
"Yeah, I did all right."
"Phew!" Uchida said mock-cheerfully, coming to stand next to him. "And here I thought that I was in a desperate need of an emergency visit to a psychiatrist."
Susumu chuckled appreciatively, although the comment didn't really explain anything of what's just happened in front of them. He turned to fully regard the younger girl next to him.
"What are we supposed to do now?" she asked, not looking at him. She appeared to be a bit flushed, watching the sky intently, as if trying to will it to give Kanzaki back. He wondered briefly if that was exactly what she was doing, but he shook that thought away quickly.
"I have no idea" he answered. "I mean, that's not a thing you do every evening, is it?"
It was her turn to laugh. "No, I guess not."
A long silence enveloped them and Susumu shifted from one foot to the other, staring at the stars. His mind was devoid of thoughts apart from one: what the hell has just happened? When Hitomi Kanzaki, a first year and a fellow track runner had asked him to measure her time in an one hundred meters run with her pendant earlier in the evening, it didn't even cross his mind that she would disappear in a column of light with a strange guy on a flying aircraft in the form of a dragon. And when she was only in the middle of the run, at that! If he really wanted to be exactly honest with himself, the fact that she had hugged the strange boy before they disappeared unnerved him a bit. But then again, who wouldn't be annoyed if the girl they wanted to ask out was snatched from them in such a spectacular manner?
The weight of the situation didn't hit him until he heard Uchida's next whispered question.
"My God, what are we going to tell her parents?"
He tried to say something, but nothing smart came to him.
"Do – Do you know where she lives?" he asked eventually, feeling helpless.
"Yeah, I know..." she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want to do? Barge into the house and tell everybody that she's been kidnapped by aliens?" she joked quietly, but he could see how pale she'd become and he also noticed the panic-stricken expression on her face.
"I don't think that would be a brilliant idea" he said, averting his eyes. "But we have to do something. We can't just stand here. What if she's not coming back?"
Uchida stared at him as if that thought had never crossed her mind. It probably hadn't, seeing as her eyes widened even more and her skin turned from pale to deathly gray.
"You can't be serious" she squicked. Susumu drew in a breath, watching her intently. "I mean, she'd never do that" she said confidently after a long, stretched moment. "She'd never leave her parents. Or me, for that matter."
He cleared his throat. "I have no doubt of that. But the fact remains that we have to tell someone about it. Her parents seem like the reasonable idea."
"What about the police?" she asked suddenly and immediately flushed, "Sorry, that's a silly question. They'd just laugh at us."
"Yeah, the police are out of the question" he agreed. "Her parents are our only option. I don't fancy them being worried out of their skulls if Kanzaki were not to return home."
"But" Uchida interrupted, "But...as you said, she might not return home for a while. What's the point of informing her parents?"
Susumu sighed. "Listen, put yourself in their shoes for a moment. If you were a mother whose daughter was not returning home in the evening, what would you prefer: imagining all the possible reasons why she wasn't there, including the fact that she could be lying somewhere beat up, or, you know, raped or, Heaven forbid, even dead? Or would you prefer knowing that she was somewhere with someone she obviously knew and trusted and she seemed happy?"
Uchida grimaced when he reached the part about rape, and the grimace turned into a full-fledged scowl by the time he was finished. She nodded reluctantly.
"Okay, you won. Let's go then" she peeked at her wrist-watch. "The train leaves in ten minutes."
They turned around and headed off to the railway station. But before they even reached the end of the track, Susumu heard the unmistakable sound of running.
And then a familiar voice yelled after them.
Her feet touched the ground and the light around her disappeared in a blink of an eye. The tight knot in her chest clenched further still, making her breaths even shorter and more erratic than they'd been moments before.
'My God' she thought bleakly, 'I think this is the most devastating feeling I've ever had in my entire life.'
There was no way back. The pendant stayed with Van and she could go and have a walk on her eyelashes and she still would be unable to see him ever again. The small glimmer of hope he'd gave her back on Gaea died a painful death when she felt the familiar smells of a big city. She was completely cut off that strange world, she knew that. She could feel it. This certainity that it was all over and that Van had been wrong and she would never ever see him again made her want to lie down and weep.
Just as she was sinking into her breakdown, she heard voices. Her eyes snapped open and she was schocked to find herself between several Barberry bushes in what appeared to be a very small garden right next to the stands in Kamakita high school. Frowning, she pulled herself up from her knees, absentmindely brushing the dirt off her uniform skirt.
The voices intensified. Hitomi peeked from behind the stands and was surprised to see Yukari and Amano-senpai standing some thirty feet away, arguing.
She stared.
'What on earth are they doing here?' she thought. 'And what am I doing here anyway? I thought I would wake up in the hospital bed with Amano-senpai by my side...'
And then it hit her. If it was dark and both Yukari and Amano were standing in the middle of the track with her school bag on Yukari's shoulder it could only mean that...
'...they just saw me disappear on Escaflowne, clunging to Van.'
She stopped breathing in panic.
A moment passed, but her mind was too empty to create some half plausible plan of action. She stared, her heart beating wildly in her chest. Another second ticked away on her wrist-watch and she snapped out of her trance, gasping for air. Her brain started to work properly again.
Putting together a very short-legged lie she broke into a run.
"Hey guys! Wait up!"
The first thing Yukari felt when she heard Hitomi's voice was major relief. Then came extreme disbelief, followed closely by panic. Was she seeing things? Had someone put some slow-acting drugs into her bento when she wasn't looking?
Hitomi finally reached them and immediately bent down to catch her breath. Her sandy brown hair gleamed in the lamp-light.
"I'm really sorry!" she moaned, straightening herself. "I know you're angry with me, I know, I'm an awful friend and irresponsible too! I was just moronic enough to lose my watch and then went and got myself caught up in world history juku and stupid Mr Ito!"
The moment prolonged. Yukari exhaled and willed her features into an angry expression.
"Let's hope it never happens again!" she mock-scolded, gave her friend the evil eye and tapped her foot on the ground. Hitomi grimaced.
"I said I was sorry, Yu-ka-ri!"
"Oh, all right, all right. Go on, get your little baby butt into those sweaty bloomers of yours! We're not going to stay here all night, are we, Amano-senpai?"
She sent him what she thought was a meaningful look and watched as his features changed from oblivious to knowing. He nodded fervently at Hitomi, who followed the exchange in puzzlement. Yukari would have hid her face in her hands in embarrassment if she could. The guy had no acting skills! 'Good thing that Hitomi is too airheaded to even notice' she thought gloomly.
The airhead in question took her bag from Yukari, turned on her heel and headed off to find a private place to change.
Amano and Yukari stood in silence for a long moment. It was him who spoke up first.
"She's trying to cover up that whatever happened has just happened" he said confidently.
"You're getting mixed up in your grammar" Yukari dryly observed.
"It's not my fault I've lived half of my life in England."
"I guess not. But you're right. Something's up. Today's Tuesday and she has her world history juku on Wednesdays."
"You know each other well, don't you?" Amano asked, watching Hitomi disappear behind the stands.
"Yeah" Yukari nodded. "We've been best friends since middle school."
"She's never said anything about...you know, dragons and stuff?"
"Only when she was reading another sappy paperback romance" Yukari snickered. "But otherwise no, she's never mentioned anything."
"Well, she wouldn't, would she?" he reasoned. "I doubt anyone would believe her if she did."
He looked at her oddly for a moment.
"What is it?" she prompted, frowning.
"You know... Remember when she fainted yesterday? When she woke up she told me something about a strange world from where you could see the Earth and the Moon... I dismissed it as a dream, but now I'm not so sure anymore."
This revelation startled her. And then it struck her that she also saw something different about Hitomi the day before.
"Well, she did behave oddly after that" she said thoughtfully. "I mean, she was so distanced and...I don't know. Sad, maybe. Daydreaming. Oh, you get the drift."
"Yeah... I mean, I haven't seen her since she woke up, but then in the nurse's room she seemed so unlike herself. You know what I mean. She's always laughing about things. And then she... just was't."
Yukari nodded, knowing what he meant. "So what do you think it means? D'you have a theory or something?"
"I...guess I have one, but I'm not so sure" he said, glancing sideways at her, his brows furrowed. "I think the most logical would be to assume that she somehow transported to that world in her dream... and then the dream became reality, I guess. Although that's a bit farfetched."
"Well, you're way ahead of me" Yukari said, sounding bitter. "I have no bloody idea what this could be about. But I intend to find out."
They fell silent, waiting for Hitomi to come back. When a minute passed and she still wasn't back, Yukari decided to start a conversation.
"Hey, Amano-senpai... Is it true that you're leaving?"
He looked at her with a sad smile."Yeah, unfortunately. My dad and I are going back to England to my mum."
"Your mum lives in England? I never knew that."
"She's English, actually. That's why I'm so good at speaking English."
"It must be wonderful to live somewhere outside of good ol' Japan, away from all this plastic and workaholic complex" Yukari commented.
Amano laughed out loud. "Yeah, it's like a refreshing cold shower. I mean, no more manga!"
Yukari chuckled, but she felt a bit weird inside.
"Where do you like to live best? Here or in England?"
"I dunno, actually. The girls are a bit more stuck up there than here, if you know what I mean."
She saw him smirk and the weirdness increased.
Thankfully, Hitomi chose that moment to reappear.
"Okay! I'm almost ready" she announced happily. "I just need to have a small chat with Yukari here, if you don't mind, Amano-senpai?"
"Nah, go ahead."
Given permission, she proceeded to physically drag Yukari away. When they finally found themselves far enough from Amano so he wouldn't hear what they were saying, Hitomi looked Yukari in the eye.
"Listen. You are a wonderful friend. I think that you're even more than any other girl could hope to be."
"But what - ?"
"Wait, please, just wait. Let me do the bossy part at least once, okay?" Hitomi smiled and it was then when Yukari saw that there were dried smudges on her cheeks and her eyes were red. She instantly became worried.
"I'm going to run now" Hitomi continued. "If I run under thirteen seconds, you're going to tell Amano-senpai how you feel about him."
Yukari's heart did a large flip. "What!" she screeched.
"What I said" Hitomi sniggered. "I know you fancy him. It took me a while to notice it, but I came around, I'm not that stupid after all!"
Yukari was too speechless to even feel the blush that started to rise in her cheeks.
"Come on. We need to go home soon."
Just when she thought that she had handled the situation well, the problems started anew. She was handing the stopper to Amano, certain that Yukari was too busy with being embarrassed to notice a thing. She was wrong.
"Hitomi? Weren't you going to use your pendant?"
Hitomi froze and she felt tears sting her eyes. "I must have left it somewhere. I have no idea where it can be..."
This couldn't be more untrue, but she hoped that her lie wasn't going to fall flat. But by Yukari's suspicious look she supposed that it was extremely close.
The run itself was rather uneventful. She missed the thirteen seconds limit by twenty seven hundredths, just as she suspected. She was simply out of practice and she was still too preoccupied with the fact that only ten minutes ago she'd been saying goodbye to Van, probably for the rest of her life. She felt unreal and out of place and couldn't wait to find herself back at home, in her room and alone with her problems.
Hitomi changed back to her uniform and they quickly – rather too quickly, Hitomi thought – waved goodbye to Amano and went on their way to the railway station. They walked in silence for a long time before Yukari dared to say anything.
"How did you know?" she pleaded. "I did everything so you wouldn't find out!"
Hitomi smiled secretely. "That's a very long story."
"But... Does that mean that you don't like him anymore?" Yukari asked, perplexed. Hitomi bit her lip.
"Well...I hope you don't mind... But I kind of saw right through him."
"What do you mean?"
"Erm...I mean" she stammered. "I don't think he's what he appears to be."
'Well, if that wasn't general, then Merle isn't an annoying pussy-cat' Hitomi thought dryly.
Yukari was quiet for a long moment. But what she said when she spoke up again was very surprising.
"You know... I don't think it would work out between me and him."
They reached the station and went straight to the platform. Hitomi looked at her friend and saw that she was troubling her lower lip absentmindely – something she wasn't doing very often.
"Why do you think so?"
"Well, think about it" Yukari said, sounding determined. "I've only known him through you and only because I'm your 'track manager' or whatever and I've only talked to him when you were present. Today was the first time when I really had a chance to have a conversation with him...And I think it was just a silly crush. I mean, he's still handsome - " here she flushed rosy pink, " - but that doesn't change the fact that even if we somehow got together it would be a long-distance relationship and you know how those usually go..."
Hitomi felt as if someone had just twisted her heart into an unnatural angle.
"Besides" Yukari giggled. "I have this sneaky feeling that he's a bit of a flirt."
'Ring any bells?' Hitomi thought fondly about Allen before turning serious again. "You know, it only means that you're way smarter than me. It took me a lot more time than that to see that."
"I certainly hope so, you silly airheaded romance reader!"
The silence enveloped the two girls once again, but this time it was a comfortable one. Hitomi looked forward at the humming sea and the wet rocks sticking out of the water and gleaming in the moonlight. She watched the waves hit the brick stone and thought back on her short stay in the city of Palas, about the time when she ran all the way from the market to that small sunny bridge where Dilandau's metal claw was about to cut right through Van's body. She could still remember how it felt to push him out of harm's way and then fall down right onto him and look into those eyes...
She peeked up at the moon and stiffled a gasp with difficulty. The moon wasn't as alone as she'd thought. There was a large blueish orb right behind the moon and it looked remarkably like Earth.
'It can't be' Hitomi's mind whispered, but she was too mesmerized to notice. After a long while she looked back at the rocks and almost fell over.
The image was blurred, but there could be no mistakes.
It was Van, with his wings spread, looking angelic and devilishly handsome. He wore his trade-mark red sleeveless shirt and the fabric fluttered in the wind, just like his hair did. Her heart soared.
'So he was right!' she thought happily. 'We really will see each other every time we want to!'
The phantom Van smiled at her and she felt her love for him overwhelm her. This was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. And they haven't even kissed! Yet she felt as if she could conquer the whole world and then some. She felt powerful.
"Hitomi?"
She turned sharply to see Yukari wave at her to hurry up. The train had just arrived. She quickly hopped in after her friend and dared a glance at the rocks. Van had disappeared.
Yukari peeked suspiciously at the girl sitting beside her. She'd just turned from rather gloomy into ecstatic in the matter of seconds! This was unnatural even for Hitomi. After about a minute of scrutinising the redhead decided that it was high time for an explanation.
"I hope you had enough time to come up with a good excuse, because I'm not going to let go until I believe you."
Hitomi jumped in her seat. "I- I" she stammered. "I don't know what you mean, Yu-ka-ri!"
"Oh, I think you know all right" Yukari drawled. "I want to know how in the name of all that's girly did you manage to disappear in a column of light, hugging this dark-haired hunk and flying off on his dragon and then come back several minutes later claiming that you weren't even there in the first place?"
Hitomi swallowed loudly. "I...I mean..."
Yukari's eyes narrowed. "Well?"
A moment passed with Hitomi looking at Yukari with pleading eyes, but the redhead was true to her word. She wasn't going to let it go. "Cut it out, Hitomi! At least tell me that I'm not on high or something! Tell me if it was real or not!"
"I...Yes, it was real, Yukari" she relented, exhaling. "But please don't ask me any questions. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, anyway."
Yukari regarded the short haired girl with furrowed brows. "Okay. I won't ask any questions. I only want to know if it has something to do with your pendant. Or rather the lack of it."
Hitomi looked at her entwined fingers. "Yes, it does. I...I gave it to someone."
"Oh" said Yukari, feeling stupid. She didn't broach the topic anymore.
The train sped away and Gaea twinkled merrily up from the cloudy sky.
And...life moved on. Amano went to England and stayed there the whole autumn term. Neither Hitomi nor Yukari really missed him, although Yukari sometimes daydreamed about him during Maths or Science, without really noticing what she was doing. Hitomi never told Yukari what really happened on Gaea, even though Yukari did everything she could imagine to find out. She could see how distraught her friend was, but she could do nothing about it and it literally ate her away bit by bit.
Hitomi refused to use her Tarot cards, which came as a total surprise to their homeroom. The girls couldn't comprehend why she would stop reading them so suddenly and they wanted an explanation. Unfortunately, Hitomi was really tight lipped about the whole issue and Yukari had nothing to add, as she didn't know anything about it herself. The boys, on the other hand, quickly noticed that Hitomi somehow stopped being interested in any of them. She didn't blush, she didn't have crushes, she didn't sigh at photos or posters of handsome singers or actors. It was horribly disconcerting at first, but their classmates quickly got used to it and only Yukari remained, glancing at her best friend with concern every now and then.
The only thing that didn't change about Hitomi was her track performance and the melodrama complex she'd had since she left her mother's womb. But even that was altered. Instead of crying at romance novels she laughed and everytime someone mentioned to her a Prince Charming or a Knight in Shining Armor she had this odd little smirk on her lips and no one seemed to know what to think of it.
And then the winter term came and Amano came back to Japan in all of his handsome glory. Yukari, before she even noticed it, forgot all about what happened before he left and fell head over heels with him all over again. And then the unthinkable happened – Hitomi cornered her and told her to do something about her feelings before it was too late and Amano graduated high school. And she did. Soon she and Amano became a couple and at first she felt happy, but then everything about Amano and her crush on him she found out back during the autumn term came crashing down and she broke up with him, to her classmates' greatest surprise. It was when the girls started pestering her about it she only understood what Hitomi must have felt when she and the others wanted to know what caused her to change. It just wasn't their business and they had no right to butt into her private life. But even though she understood that she still felt a bit hurt that Hitomi thought that something that important to her wasn't Yukari's business. She felt cheated.
The winter term ended and a new year began. And when it finished another one came by and Yukari and Hitomi became senpais. After the crisis their friendship somehow mended and then grew even stronger. And since the times when Hitomi suddenly spaced out and stared off somewhere with a weird expression abtruptly ended and the sandy brown haired girl broke down in front of Yukari, no word was mentioned about Hitomi's otherworldly experience. The topic was closed, although neither of them knew how quickly it would have to return to their lives.
A/N: Please forgive me any spelling or grammar mistakes. Writing in a foreign language is very difficult without a beta.