Forum: Tokyo City
Type: Advanced

Plot Summary: Millennia ago, Orihime and Hikoboshi, a princess and prince from rivaling kingdoms, fell in love with each other. Due to political unrest that escalated to war, a barrier was erected between their kingdoms, forbidding them to meet except for one day each year. Their love story ended tragically when Hikoboshi was assassinated and Orihime died of heartbreak. In 21st century Japan, the two are reincarnated as Seika Hoshino and Hikaru Saito. So far, fate - or so they thought - had kept them apart, but at last they are about to meet on one Tanabata day. However, this won't be the happy end of their story. In fact, it would just be the beginning of the challenges they have to face in the present day.

Seika, who has awakened a year earlier as Sailor Vega, is aware of who she is, but Hikaru does not yet know about his past life. Neither of them know that there is one person behind the constant obstacles they faced both in their past lives and in their current one, preventing them from being together. That person - an agent of Chaos - was Kaiyo Yamada, the reincarnation of Hikoboshi's half-sister, an illegitimate child of his father, the king. Having harbored bitterness and jealousy toward him all her life because she was the older sibling who could never inherit the throne, even in this life, Kaiyo plans to keep the two lovers apart and kill them to complete her revenge once and for all. Even now she is plotting against them on every turn. Could these two lovers stand against all the odds and finally achieve their happy ending?

Details on any necessary information: Based on the legend of Tanabata involving the tales of the constellations Vega and Altair. More details about the storyline can be found on each character's respective profiles linked below.

Restrictions: Only for the characters listed below. Everyone else will be NPCed.

Characters:
- Seika Hoshino / Princess Orihime / Sailor Vega ~ Sailor Mercury
- Hikaru Saito / Prince Hikoboshi / Knight Altair ~ PoetofMercury
- Kaiyo Yamada / Priestess Sahiye / Kimera ~ Joint profile

It was Tanabata… again.

It had been one full year since Seika became Sailor Vega and remembered her past, and she still hadn’t found Hikoboshi’s reincarnation.

She was starting to feel like a failure about it, especially because she had no clue how she was supposed to find him in this big, big world. How would she even know if he’d been reincarnated to the right lifetime? Maybe he’d been born and died before her. Maybe he wouldn’t be born until another hundred years.

Nevertheless, this day, as always, gave her hope. She always liked to think if she would ever find him again, it would be on this day. After all, it was their destiny. They were always kept apart for every day but one. So maybe…

But if she did find him today, did that mean she would have to say goodbye to him when midnight came?

All these thoughts preoccupied her mind as she strolled through the streets of the festival with her friends, dressed in a red kimono and her fiery hair up in a neat bun. At the very least she hoped there wouldn’t be another monster disturbance this year. Thanks to Lucida’s help and training, she had gotten much better at fighting and much more confident in using her powers, but this was her birthday and favorite day all year. She would prefer if it remained peaceful.

At least it didn’t rain today. She chose to take it as a good omen, since summer in Japan was notorious for its abundant rain.

Maybe this meant she would find what she was looking for.

Hikaru stepped off the bus at the subway station and could barely suppress a smile. So far so good, the bus hadn't broken down, a water main hadn't sprung a leak, blocking the road. It looked like his luck might just hold this time. An old friend of his from the orphanage had told him about the big Tanabata festival. He'd never been to one in a city before. After realizing that he had been in Kyoto for the last three months without really sight-seeing, he decided it was long past time. He patted his pocket to ensure that its contents were intact after boarding the train. Inside was a crane made of paper for the health of his friend's adopted mother, and a strip of paper for each of them with wishes of academic success for the school year. This was a big year for him, being in a new school in his final year and enrolled in the veterinary program, plus working side jobs to pay for rent. If he needed some help in the academics department ever in his life it would be this year. 

Just as he had begun to feel hopeful that this trip might be immune to the cloud of bad luck that hung over him, the train came to a whispery halt. The electric connection had been severed, which left him five miles away from the festival with no way to get there. It had seemed his hopes of reaching the festival were dashed, had it not been for a fortuitous encounter with a co-worker on a motor scooter. And so, feeling rather uncertain about this day, he found himself in the midst of festivities. 

To say it was colorful was an understatement. Bamboo stalks were everywhere flying brilliant streams of paper. It was a little overwhelming as he looked for a place to hang his own. He could almost feel it in the air though, the joy of a festival coupled with the expectant pause of waiting for a treasured wish to come true. Some wished for health, others for skills, but their fervency was all the same. 

Of course Hikaru knew of the story behind Tanabata, every child learned it. But to see such a festival in such a big place really brought the story to life. He stood aside, watching the careening crowd to see what they did, looking for a place to hang his strips and hoping he didn't look altogether too confused.

Seika stood in front of the many bamboo trees crowded with papers hanging from it, papers where everyone’s heartfelt wishes had been written down in the hopes that they would come true. She had come with her own, her piece of paper in hand, sporting her neat handwriting. ‘I wish to find my soul mate’ had been written carefully upon it, and for a moment she stifled a laugh.

Was it stupid to make a wish to honor herself? Was this going to cancel each other out because this entire legend was based on her past?

Not that it mattered. She was going to try everything to find him. There was nothing to lose, only something to gain.

She reached up to hang her paper on an empty spot, smiled hopefully, and prayed fervently in her heart so that the gods might bring Hikoboshi back to her.

She stepped back and immediately bumped into another person as she attempted to get out from the crowded circle around the tree. “Oh! Excuse me…” she apologized quickly to the person, who seemed to be a boy around her age.

When she caught sight of his face, the world seemed to slow and the sounds evaporated. Her heart felt like the times she went on a roller-coaster and experienced a plummeting drop—squeezing almost painfully. He didn’t look familiar, not really. But it wasn’t the outer appearance that mattered. It was something within him.

Seika swayed on her feet, for a moment appearing as if she might faint.

Hikaru smiled briefly as a child ran past, nearly bumping him as he dragged his mother along behind, unstoppable in his exuberance. It was perhaps the sign he needed. He took a pencil from his pocket and, in a dash of bravery, added to the bottom of his academic wish, "And please help me find my family." The reason he hadn't written it before was that he thought it might be flying in the face of the gods to ask for two things at once. One oughtn't be greedy after all. But seeing as this day was turning out not to be so terribly unlucky, he thought he might press his luck. Not that he put a lot of stock in this. It was merely a pretty story with a strong side of superstition, it was, however, invigorating to hope.

Hikaru was just about to step in and pin his wishes and those of his friend when someone bumped into him hard enough to knock the papers from his hands. The girl, with red hair that seemed to reflect the sun, stammered an apology and suddenly swayed on her feet. Papers forgotten he grasped her gently by her upper arms, lending her stability with his hands firmly yet not roughly. Alarm was clear on his face and widened green eyes. Was she about to faint on him?

"H-hey! Are you alright?" As he held her steady his papers cascaded silently to fall at their feet and dance in the gentle breeze.

The stranger caught her, and his touch sent a jolt throughout her body. Something was wrong… or very right? The strange feeling of aching familiarity assaulted her again, and Seika blinked in disbelief. Was he…? She didn’t even dare to think it. Was it possible? To wish for something and have it granted not five seconds later?

Seika steadied herself and looked into the boy’s eyes, her heart beating hard in her ears. Memories of her past life came to the forefront unbidden and she subconsciously grasped his arms in return, as if clinging for dear life.

“Hikoboshi?” she whispered, a question more directed at herself than to the boy.

Hikaru's expression changed from concern to one of confusion. Her intense gaze met his, and it seemed as if she were trying to look right through into his soul. Why are you looking at me like that? he wondered. It wasn't that it was uncomfortable, but there seemed to be such an intense emotion in her eyes, not that he could exactly put his finger on it. He couldn't look away.

The sounds of the festival around them dimmed in his ears as she gripped his arms, sending a bit of a tingle through his body. His eyebrows knitted in confusion. What exactly was going on here? He did not let go, for fear she might fall. She spoke, a strange sounding word, or maybe it was a name. That made a bit more sense. Perhaps she was supposed to meet someone here and became confused or overheated.

"Hiko...who?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but I think you may have mistaken me for someone else. My name is Hikaru. Um, do you want to sit down somewhere? You look a bit shaken."




Kaiyo stood behind the podium at the front of the auditorium scanning the crowd with her eyes. She had been well paid to come as a guest speaker to the gathering of parapsychology enthusiast. As her eyes momentarily scanned the crowd she could  she could envision a myriad of reasons for these people's passion for ghosts. Some came because they had lost someone they loved, and were looking for hope. Others because they had experienced something unexplainable. And then there were the nutjobs. Parapsychology had a lot of them, the ones who were so unrooted in reality, and had such bizarre theories that it even made her shake her head. Precious few things did. Kaiyo had seen just about everything. For such a motley crew, they certainly were unified in listening to her every word.

"Why do ghosts haunt, you may ask? Why do they not all pass on to whatever next life awaits us all? Emotions." She said the word succinctly, almost sharply, her fingers gripping the laser pointer tightly.

"Emotions fuel them, love, anger, betrayal, they are like gasoline. But they are also a prison. Spirits become lost in them, devoured by them, burned by their own fire in a damnation filled with heartache and rage." Ah, and what an enthralling world it is too she thought as discussion of emotions, of rage, began to bring forth her own, experiencing a thrill at the rush of feelings that flowed through her veins, and reveling in the knowledge that none of these people even had a clue what it was to truly feel.

Seika was almost certain it was him. And yet… all she received back was confusion. The spell broke the moment he posed his question, and Seika’s heart plummeted in disappointment. Was she wrong after all? But she was so sure. Her soul had responded to his—she would recognize it anywhere. It had to be him, but why didn’t he remember her?

“I… uh… maybe. You look… really familiar.” She shook her head as if to shake the phantom image of her lover, her prince, the one she could barely remember from long ago. Everything had felt so right and perfect a moment ago. What just happened?

“I’m sorry if I freaked you out. I was really… it’s kind of hot in here. Maybe it’s making me seeing things,” she said lamely, offering an uncertain laugh. “I’m okay… I think. Anyway, I’m Seika. Seika Hoshino,” she offered her hand to him.

Lucida would probably be able to confirm for her… but she didn’t know if she wanted it to be him or not. She didn’t know what was worse; failing yet again to find him, or finding him only to find out that he didn’t remember or recognize her at all.