Eventually
my stop comes up and I walk home, saying good-bye to Trace and Blue
as I get off the bus. I just walk, hearing the sounds of playing
children, barking dogs and other ambient sounds of the neighborhood.
I live away from all that. I live in a small house on a hill, by myself, closer to the woods nearby. Sometimes I get lonely, as it's just me and Flèche here, but sometimes Trace comes to visit, so it's pretty nice.
Now, what to do with the rest of my day?
I live away from all that. I live in a small house on a hill, by myself, closer to the woods nearby. Sometimes I get lonely, as it's just me and Flèche here, but sometimes Trace comes to visit, so it's pretty nice.
Now, what to do with the rest of my day?
I
wasn't given any homework to do... it is only the second day of
school, after all. Maybe it'd be a good idea to just relax for now. I
turn on the TV. The news is on. They're talking about a crater and
some strange lights seen in town. Where is that? I think Blue lives
around there. They say it happened last night, so he must be okay.
Eh... other stuff... I don't care much for the news. I know, it's
important, but nothing else is really happening.
Click. Click.
Click.
There's nothing on... I turn the TV off. Might as well
work on getting dinner done.
Let's
see... I had spaghetti yesterday, and that was okay, but I think I'll
try something else tonight... I think some beef and vegetable soup
will be good. It's only 3:45 pm, so I can take my time. Actually,
since I'm home, I might as well take these contacts out, and get all
this make-up off me...
...
I
look into the mirror. I look at the pale, white haired, red eyed
girl, who stares back at me...
“Cleo,
is something wrong?” Flèche “says”, into my mind.
“It's
nothing.” A lie. She can tell.
“Oh...
forget about it. It's alright. We don't have to talk about it if you
don't want to...”
“You
can just look into my thoughts, if you want.”
Oops. She
doesn't like it when I say that...
“I
already talked to you about this. There's a reason people have
secrets. Some things are better left unknown. You've got secrets that
you don't wanna talk about, and so do I. It's fine.”
Silence...
“It's
not much of a secret if someone already knows.” Flèche seems
confused. “Listen, Flèche... I think Blue knows. Trace already
knows... I wouldn't be surprised if Blue can see it, too...”
“Well,
I say worry about that when the time comes. Getting stressed out like
this is bad for you. Come on, let's go on with our day.”
I
nod. “Okay.”
I
think I might as well get to cooking dinner. I get everything ready,
prepare my tools and ingredients, and start cooking. My mind starts
to wander...
Did I give Blue my phone number? Did I get his? I don't
think so... Maybe Trace has it. I'll call her about it in a second.
Tomorrow is Saturday, so it would be nice if Trace, Blue, and I could
go hang out somewhere. Maybe we'll go see a movie? I heard that
Precious Blue Child got a sequel. Maybe we could go see that. I
haven't read or watched the first one, but maybe I could still follow
this one. I just hope Trace doesn't know that it's based on a book...
If I told her about it, she'd refuse to see it until she's read the
book, then go see the movie, pick it apart, and call it crap, ruining
what could be a perfectly acceptable film for me. She did that with
Outsider, too.
Ah,
it's no big deal. I'll just call her and make plans to see it.
Just... please don't let her know about the books... If she has
Blue's number, we could invite him along, too. For the longest time,
it's just been me, Trace, and our Magic Knight's Forces. It'll be fun
to add a new person to our group, especially if it's Blue. At least
I'm pretty sure Blue won't complain about a movie being a bad
adaption of a book that almost nobody our age even really read.
And now, dinner's
done. I must admit that I feel kind of funny, just sitting here and
eating by myself. It just sort of seems like I should eat with other
people. Ah, it doesn't matter. Bon appetit!
...
The next morning. As I wake up, I hear someone outside, ringing the doorbell. I quickly throw something on and I go to the door.
The next morning. As I wake up, I hear someone outside, ringing the doorbell. I quickly throw something on and I go to the door.
“...hey!”
It's the Shade Phoenix Knight! What is he doing here!?
“Whoa
whoa whoa! One second!” What does he want? “I'm not here to
hurt you. See? I don't even have my Force with me.” He seems
to be unarmed, and I don't sense his Magic Knight Force.
“Okay,
what do you want?”
“Listen.
I was just supposed to bring you this...”
He
hands me a piece of paper, which I cautiously take. It reads:
Magic
Knight, I see you have great power. I'd like to ask you to come help
me with something that may be of assistance to you. Can you come to
this address tomorrow morning? I'll be waiting. Strife.
“...what
does this mean--”
When I look up, he is already gone. I don't see anything
suspicious about the paper aside from the message on it... Is this
some sort of joke?
I decide to call Trace about it.
I decide to call Trace about it.
“...Oh, so you
got that message, too?”
“Are
you kidding me? I called Blue, and he got that, too!”
So they did exchange numbers at some point... but seriously. What's
going on? “What in the world? Who sent this? Who's this Strife
person? Ugh...” This is going to turn into a big pain in the
butt... I can already feel it...
“I
wouldn't think too hard about it. Come on, let's just go to the
address tomorrow, Cleo.”
“What!?
This could be some kinda trap!”
“I
know that,” Trace replies, as if there's not a thing in the world
to worry about. “I just... I think it might be okay. Look, on
Thursday, that guy showed up at Blue's house and tried to kill him,
but when Blue's Magic Knight Force made contact, he backed off. I
think he was doing a job for someone, at least that's what he
said...”
“Trace,
I don't like this...”
“I
know, I know... but listen. This Strife person must know where we
live, otherwise that guy wouldn't have found us.” I'm getting
worried... “Cleo? You still there? Look, we're gonna figure out
what's going on if we just go there. Just keep your guard up. We'll
be okay.”
“Okay...”
“Well,
see you.”
“Wait,
Trace! I, uh... You wanna go see a movie today? We could get tickets
for the new Precious Blue Child.”
“Huh!? Uh...” She seems to be thinking about it. I did bring it up out of
nowhere, so I can't blame her. “...ah, whatever. I'm cool with
that. We can go see it. I'll call Blue up and he can come, too." I I can feel her silly grin through the phone... "You'd
like that, right?”
I
hesitate. “Uh-huh.”
“Hehehe...
Of course you would. Ha ha ha—”
“Oh,
shut up, Trace! Quit it!” Why does she have to embarrass and tease
me like this?
“Aw,
what's the matter, Cleo? Don't you want Blue to be close to you?
Don't you want Blue inside of you--”
I hang up. Sheesh... Yeah,
Trace and I are friends, but sometimes she just acts like a goofy kid
and I can't stand it. I guess it's okay, since she's only messing
around, though. Welp, let's get ready to go to the theater...
So
I throw something on and walk down the hill towards the bus stop.
...
After about 10 minutes, it comes. Trace and Blue are already there when I get on.
...
After about 10 minutes, it comes. Trace and Blue are already there when I get on.
“Hey,
girl!” Trace waves to me, and us three sit together in pretty much
the same place as last time.
“What's
up Cleo?” Blue asks.
“Nothing
much. There's that weird message we all got, but I'll worry about
that tomorrow.”
“Yeah,
Cleo's right. Right now let's enjoy ourselves. We're gonna see...
what again?”
I
face Blue, and say: “We're going to see the sequel to Precious Blue
Child. What's it called, Trace?”
She
shrugs. “I don't know, I'm just coming to see it with you two. I
don't know anything about it aside from the whole sequel thing.” So
she doesn't know... That's good.
“Oh,
it is Abandoned Blue Child,” Blue says eventually. “I should
know—hey, wait... Cleo, what's up with your hair... and your skin?”
Whoops!
I forgot to dye my hair today and it's still white! Skin's still pale
as a ghost's, too. This is not good. “Wha—I, uh... I was just
trying something different... You don't like it?”
Blue
just sort of stares. “It's nice, just... kinda different. You
usually go for something really colorful, it seems, so white hair
makes you seem sick, or... 'dead'...” Why did he have to notice
it? at least it doesn't seem like he knows this is the real color
of my hair.
So
we rode the bus, arrived at the theater, and got our seats. Abandoned
Blue Child was a really good movie. It was about a world where the
gods decided they could leave the humans to live as they wished after
a hero proved that humanity would be fine without them, but centuries
later, something happens and the conflict of the plot becomes if the
humans can save their world without the gods' help... After the
movie, we all talked about it.
“That
was some good stuff, huh, Trace?”
“Uh...”
Oh boy. “Well, I liked it... but what was up with the ending? I
mean, the gods came out and solved everything... what a lazy and
obvious goddamn cop out.”
Blue
jumps in. “That was the whole point. The gods are spending the
whole time debating if they should help or not. You'd see that
some of the gods were dead at the end, if you watched closely. There
was a whole big fight over if they should interfere, and how.”
Oh,
crap! I shoot Blue a threatening look, but he either doesn't see it
or is ignoring me...
“There
was nothing in the movie like that!” Trace blurts out. Blue starts
to speak again... I put my fingers to my lips, to tell Blue that he
needs to shut up, but he still isn't paying attention! Oh, whatever
gods and deities there might be out there, make him stop!
“I
know, Trace. They had to cut it due to time constraints.”
“Blue,
stop! Don't say it!”
“It
would have been cool to see that scene on the big screen. I really
liked that part when I read the no—oof!!!”
The
only thing that I could have done to stop him was to quickly reach
over and punch him in the stomach, and I did just that.
“Aaaah! Why did you hit me!?”
“Aaaah! Why did you hit me!?”
“Why
didn't you listen to me?!” Blue makes this puzzled face. He really
doesn't get it... “Darn it, Blue! Trace hasn't read the novel yet!”
Trace
looks up at both of us. “So... there was a novel... for this
movie...?”
We both nod.
“And... NEITHER OF YOU TOLD ME.”
Silence...
“...FU—
...
As we ride the bus away from the crowd gathering around us, Blue and Trace are still arguing...
“Oh, come on, Trace, don't make such a big deal out of
it... it's nothing--”
“It's
not nothing!” Trace hasn't been this angry in a while. She's
impossible to talk to when she's like this. “Blue, I missed a whole
half of the goddamn plot! You said that! That's not freaking
nothing!” People are starting to stare at us...
I
turn back towards the two. “Sssssh!!! You two are drawing
attention! Calm down!”
Trace
just gets louder. Somehow. “Don't give me that! You're just as
guilty as he Blue is! You knew about the book, just like he did!”
“Uh...
if it makes you feel better... I didn't actually read the book, Trace...”
She
ignores my saying that... “Aaaaaaaargh!” Trace points at Blue. “I am
never going to see a movie with you again!”
“...well...
Fine!” Blue gets up, and sits next to me. “My God! How was I
supposed to know she took it so freaking seriously!?”
Oh
great, he's gonna start complaining about it... “C-calm down Blue,
she'll be her normal self tomorrow.”
Today's outing didn't go as
planned... We all go home tired and irritated...
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