Last Revised: Never
"I can't believe I was late! AGAIN! Why can I never
seem to get up in time for school." Lily growled as she slammed the door
to her room shut.
"Well maybe if you hadn't have thrown your clock across the room last week
you could have gotten up in time. OR, if you got off your butt this
weekend to get a new clock."
"Who asked you Didimus??! Arg! Lexi's going to kill me when she finds
out I was late again. Last week was supposed to be her last warning. I
wonder what my punishment will be? Can't be anything bad!"
"Or really?" Didimus asked as he hopped off Lily's bed and went over
to the door. "She can do more things than you think she can. She's almost
like your mother, you know?"
"She can never be my mom. She can't do anything to me."
Just then, a familiar voice from downstairs rang like church bells,
"LILY??!! GET DOWN HERE NOW!!"
* * *
"I told you last week was the last time you were going
to be late!" Lexi paced back and forth across the room glaring at Lily.
"So, I've decided I'm going to transfer you to Suishou. It's a private
school and it's a lot closer than the public school."
"WHAT?! Do you know who goes to that school?? I'm 100% positive that
this girl I know who goes there probably already has 20 ways she wants to
kill her teacher with a toothpick!" Lily screamed in protest.
"Well, good. Maybe she can teach you some manners!"
* * *
Oh god. I'm going to die. Everyone's probably going to think I'm a
stupid new girl and I'll probably be friendless and know no one and remain
here for the rest of my life alone and... Lily was in a fit of
nervousness and eagerness. And I bet there won't be one cute guy and
I'll also remain single because... As Lily walked into what room was
to forever be her torture, the first thing that caught her eye was a
beautiful guy with long, silver hair. Oh whoa... that's the most
gorgeous man I've ever seen in my entire...
"Class! I'd like to introduce you all to our new student Lily!"
The class looked up from their books at Lily with varying degrees of
curiosity.
Now this is awkward. Yorukai looked back and forth from Lily
and the class. But I know just the person that'll make her feel
welcome!
"Lily-san, why don't you take the seat next to Amefuri?"
Lily's eyes widened. Amefuri? AMEFURI??!! Oh this is just perfect!
Now she's probably going to find 20 more ways to kill ME with a toothpick!
Lily groaned slightly and glanced over at the crazy loon who was doing
this to her.
"Don't worry! Ame's perfectly harmless!" Yorukai smiled reassuringly
and turned back to the board.
Amefuri gave Lily a poisonous glare as the moment she sat down. It was
easy to see that she was NOT happy with this arrangement. Lily paled and
inched her desk away muttering something about psycho girls with
toothpicks. Meanwhile, Yorukai clapped his hands with a cheerful grin,
drawing attention back to the front of the room.
"Class! I'm sure that you'll love this next project! We're going to
study some international plays!" He grinned at the unenthusiastic
expressions of the class.
"...Well, I'm sure the next part will get some reaction out of you."
Yorukai paused with a demonic grin. "You're all going to perform a scene
in front of the class!"
A loud groan of despair rose from the class.
"Since everyone has already chosen groups, Lily, you can join
Ame-chan's group!"
Yorukai handed out the assignments with a bright, oblivious smile. He
didn't seem to notice the look of death Amefuri was shooting in his
direction. Fortunately, the pale-haired boy behind Amefuri did and
managed to react fast enough to keep her from killing Yorukai as he passed
their desks.
The silver-haired man sitting beside the struggling pair sighed and
shook his head. "Well, Miss Lily, I'll introduce you to the group. I am
Akuma, the violent one is Amefuri, the one trying to restrain her is
Shinzui, and the one that's going to get killed is our teacher, Yorukai."
"Let. Me. GO!" Amefuri almost elbowed Shinzui's face in her attempt to
escape.
Noticing Lily's nervous expression, Shinzui turned to give her a
reassuring smile. "Saa... don't worry about Ame-san. She's not that
scary," He faltered as Amefuri almost managed to grab Yorukai's jacket.
"Geh!" Yorukai jumped out of arm's reach and flashed Lily a nervous
smile.
"When you get used to her that is."
"Oh! There's the bell! Class dismissed!" Yorukai grinned as the class
scrambled to leave. "See you all tomorrow!"
"Hey." Lily poked at Akuma's shoulder "You're Akuma, right?"
"Yes I am," Akuma said as he smiled at her.
"For our project, when are we going to meet?" Lily asked, casting a
slight glance in Amefuri's direction. "I'm only free after school, because
I have to work for my sister."
"Tomorrow after school is fine with me," He replied.
"Alright then," Lily said as she watched Akuma walk off and smiled.
~*~After school the next day~*~
Amefuri crossed her arms and glared at Akuma. She
probably wouldn't have come at all if it weren't for him. Somehow, Akuma
managed to talk Shinzui into going with Yorukai to make sure that she
would actually come to the meeting. Of course, with Shinzui along, she
couldn't just throw Chikawa off the mountain. There'd be a lot of
explanation and frightened looks to endure from Shinzui if she did.
"Oi, Ame-chan! Why are you sitting so far away?" Yorukai grinned at
her, "We're supposed to be working together!"
Amefuri moved farther away.
"Yes, Ame-chan." Akuma grinned at Amefuri's glare. "Why don't
you join the group?"
"I can hear you from here."
"But this is supposed to be a group effort!" Yorukai protested. "And
Lily-san will be here soon!"
She didn't really know how to view the situation. Chikawa was supposed
to be their teacher, so why was he in a group with them? Of course, she
already knew the answer. Chikawa was only a student teacher and had to
work with her group because no one else would. Also, the project would be
graded by their real teacher, Mrs. Machiko, so there wouldn't be an unfair
bias. Amefuri held out a second longer before deciding that it wasn't
worth the effort.
"Fine. Let's just get this over with."
* * *
"Oh great! This is my first group project at this
school, and I'm late!" Lily groaned as her sister took her sweet time
driving to the park.
"Why again am I coming?" Skye asked from the backseat.
"Because I will NOT tolerate having to baby-sit my sisters friends,"
Lexi replied as she parked her car across the street from the park. "Now
get out! I'll be back in a couple hours, so if you finish early, stay here
or get your own ride!"
Lily and Skye got out of the car and walked over to the park. They
walked around for a bit, then decided they were lost.
"Is this the right park?" Lily asked as she looked around at the
unfamiliar surroundings.
"Duh. Maybe they're on the opposite end?" Skye suggested.
They ended up walking around for a while, but eventually found the
little group.
"Ohayo! Sorry we're late, we got lost on the way here." Lily said
sheepishly and laughed. "So, have you guys started on anything yet?"
Skye tugged pitifully on Lily's sleeve, "Lilyyyy~!" She whined, "I
don't wanna be here! Everyone's older than me and I've had enough of
school." She pouted.
"Oh, now don't you worry about us!" Yorukai grinned widely and Skye
backed behind Lily, sweatdropping. "We don't bite! You can go sit next to
Ame-chan and fill in the gap!"
Amefuri glared murderously at... everyone somehow.
"A- anou... that's okay!" Lily said quickly shaking off Skye and
dropping down next to Akuma.
Skye blinked at everyone staring at her expectantly, "I'll just sit
next to..." She glanced at the group of people. Certainly not Yorukai, the
spot next to Akuma was taken, Amefuri was casting "omae o korosu" looks at
her way.
"I'll sit next to him!" She pounced on Shinzui, he was the least
frightening one out of all of them. Unlike that Yorukai person. She
clapped her hands, "Okay! What do I get to do?"
Lily whapped her, "Nothing! You're only here 'cos Lexi didn't feel
like babysitting you."
"Oh yeah..." Skye faltered, "But- but I'll be bored then! Really,
really bored! Who's going to play games with me?" She whimpered, "I dun
wanna sit around watching you guys do college work and stuff!"
"I can play a game with you!" Yorukai volunteered cheerfully. "I
guarantee that no limbs will be lost either!"
Skye sweatdropped, "Actually, I'm not that bored after all. Th- thanks
for offering though."
"Aww...c'mon!" Yorukai smiled brightly. "I promise that nothing will
explode, either!"
Skye moved farther away from Yorukai.
"I promise!"
"CHIKAWA!" Amefuri snarled at Yorukai. "We're TRYING to get work done!
You're not even supposed to be here!"
"But Ame-chan!" Yorukai protested pitifully. "I'm supposed to keep you
out of trouble!"
"...And we all know how much work that is." Akuma smirked at Amefuri.
Shinzui lunged across the circle and blocked Amefuri before she could
successfully strangle Akuma. Lily and Skye looked at each other and
discreetly scooted away a little more.
Yorukai sweated nervously. "Aha. Aku-san, isn't it a good time to
start working on the project?"
Lily quietly sat next to Akuma, not really caring what else was going
on around her, other than the fact that she was in the middle of a battle
zone.
"So... Who's going to do what part in what play? The only play I know
of is Romeo and Juliet, and I don't remember any scenes where there are
two guys and two girls. Well, any of the more famous scenes, that is,"
Lily said as she finally decided to say something.
* * *
"Did you hear that?" Lily asked as she turned around
from the group and looked off into the park.
"Hear what?" Skye asked, as she looked in the direction Lily was
looking.
Something isn't right, Amefuri narrowed her eyes, unable to
pinpoint the source. It irritated her to no end that Lily had noticed
before her. After all, Lily was just a civilian. How could she sense
trouble first?
"I heard something!" Lily exclaimed as she got off and took off into
the park. The rest of the group stared blankly at the swiftly departing
Lily.
"Did I miss something?" Yorukai asked innocently.
"What do YOU think?" Amefuri snarled.
"But I didn't hear anything." Shinzui offered meekly.
"That doesn't matter! I'm going to find out what's happening!" Amefuri
snapped.
"We had better follow her in case she runs into something she may not
like," Akuma suggested as he started to get up.
"Good idea." Shinzui nodded, "Let's go before anyone gets hurt."
The group quickly caught up to Lily, since she had run into Noriko and
Aurora at the source of the noise. There was a small glowing beam coming
from the ground no higher than one's knee.
Amefuri faltered as the source of the disturbance became visible.
Whatever it was, it wasn't giving any kind of negative impression. As far
as her senses were concerned, that beam of light did not exist. A wide
range of emotions played across the faces of the people assembled.
Is this what she heard? If it is, then why could she hear it and
the others not? Amefuri frowned slightly in confusion and looked over
at the other girls. Did they feel something strange about this light as
well?
Taken away by her curiosity, Lily leaned forward and tried to touch
the glowing beam. At first, it did nothing, but after a while it started
reacting to Lily's touch. It began to grow in height and width, and the
glowing became more radiant.
"Watch out!"
Aurora and Skye called out warnings as they ran towards Lily to
prevent anything from happening to her. Amefuri and Noriko unknowingly
stepped forward, ready to pull the younger girls back as the light became
blinding. The five of them began to glow and disappeared in the blink of
an eye.
* * *
The girls suddenly appeared in a very different place,
hovering five feet above the ground. They landed with a loud thump.
"Owww! That hurt!" Skye complained as got up and rubbed her sore butt.
"Are you all okay?" Lily asked as she looked around at their
surrounding. She received various moans and grunts. "Where in the world
are we?"
"For starters, you're not in your normal world." A strange but
familiar sounding voice replied. "You're in a thing called a Dreamscape."
Everyone turned to see, to their surprise, a small silver dog staring
straight at them.
"D-D-Did you just talk?" Lily asked the dog, still rather surprised.
"There have been other talking animals spotted around Tokyo." Aurora
pointed out quietly.
Amefuri narrowed her eyes. That dog looked disturbingly familiar.
"Yes, and now that you all have finally managed to find you're way
here, I will tell you what you were destined to do."
They stared blankly at him, not really knowing what to say. The once
small, innocent puppy they used to think was just an ordinary puppy was
staring at them, and speaking none the less. Well, more like complaining
actually.
"As I said, you five are destined to save the Dreamscapes from the
terrors that just recently came to be here. There's a strange man named--"
"You chose a group of girls that have never met before to save your
world?" Amefuri frowned, "Isn't assuming that we'll work together a little
presumptuous?"
The dog ignored Amefuri's rude interruption and continued on. "--named
Sheridan Mallory. He has been causing major disruptions in the
Dreamscapes, and you have been chosen to rid them of this problem."
"How are we gonna do that when we don't know anything about this guy
and this place?" Aurora asked, still staring at him. "And first of all, we
don't even know your name or why you're talking to us."
"I think my presence is rather obvious." The dog cleared his throat.
"I'm here to keep the five of you from getting lost in here. The
dreamscapes are like unbelievably large and maze-like, you know."
Amefuri frowned. The dog Yorukai burdened me with a
couple of days ago, wasn't that one silver too? I think he said the name
was......
"Then what is your name?"
"My name is--"
"KOINU!" Amefuri pointed at the dog with an accusing glare. "I knew
it! Yorukai sent you to spy on me!"
"Hello to you too, Amefuri." Koinu said dryly. "Now, I'm sure you all
have already met, haven't you?"
"Not all of us." Lily said, looking over at Noriko.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves then?"
"I am Amefuri, age 18. I attend Suishou Private High School."
Lily smiled and jumped up to her feet. "I'm Lily! I'm 17 and I go to
Suishou High too."
"The little black haired girl there is my sister, well. not really,
but oh well. Her name is Skye. She's 14 and goes to Crossroads. By the
looks of it, you've already met 'Rora."
"Yes I have, briefly. I am Noriko, and I go to Crossroads with
Aurora."
Skye beamed and waved merrily at Noriko, still rubbing her sore
bottom, "Hiya!" She said before leaping up and pouncing on Aurora, "'Rora-chan!
It's been so long!"
Aurora flailed her arms and toppled over, "Ack! Skye! What're you
talking about? I saw you at school just yesterday!"
Koinu frowned at Skye, "Did you hear a word I said?" When she nodded
he frowned some more in disbelief, "Well? What do you think about it?"
"But- but I have enough to do with out this dreamscape thingy!" She
whined. Aurora had produced a crowbar out of seemingly nowhere and was
trying to pry Skye off her.
Amefuri snorted derisively, "Oh? Like what?" She said.
Lily laughed, "You don't do anything but eat and sleep at my house.
Not to mention tripping over everything and making a racket there," She
agreed. Skye mumbled something and sulked.
"Now that introductions are over, we should get going." Koinu walked
away from them.
The girls looked at each other. Wandering around aimlessly in a place
they've never heard of for who knows how long wasn't a very. appealing
option.
"Come ON! We're already late!"
