Awaki

Dad.

The word stung Awaki, like a sudden zap of static electricity. She faltered for a moment, trying to sort through the unexpected turmoil of emotions. She didn't know how to organize it. The dark-haired younger girl felt frozen in the moment, although the others around her wouldn't even notice a thing. She forced herself to keep going, trying to maintain the positive atmosphere of their lunch together.

"Wow, that's really awesome!" she replied, her voice just as enthusiastic as before, but now blinking too rapidly. "He's really talented!"

This was nothing new. People talked about their fathers all the time. So why... why did she feel so strange. There were families of all types out there in this wide world. Some of her classmates lived with aunts or uncles, their own mothers and fathers no longer willing or able to parent them. She was lucky to have her mother, who had always been loving and caring. Awaki had never actually wished for anything to change.

She wasn't even the only one among this group with a family that didn't include a mother and father at home. But the other girls... they all had active fatherly involvement. That's because no one wants to be your dad. Why would they? Even your mother avoids you. She shook her head, the long braids swishing around. Of course that wasn't it. It wasn't anything she could have done. She knew that.

But sometimes it just didn't feel that way.

 Raito

Hikari wanted to...see her paintings?! Raito had never shown anyone outside of the art teacher and her very immediate family, mostly because she didn't want rumors about her hobby to spread. If everyone knew that she painted, they'd start having expectations for her work, and then it would no longer be a calming escape for her.

"Uh...maybe later..." she answered. Late enough for Hikari to forget the paintings ever existed.

It was interesting to hear Hikari's dreams though. Getting into the Olympics was a difficult goal to aim for, but Hikari seemed like the kind of person determined enough to accomplish it. Raito had far smaller dreams than that, so she couldn't fathom doing anything of that magnitude. Well, until she became Sailor Jupiter, anyway.

She had no idea that Atsuiko's father cooked at all, and she wondered what his food tasted like compared to her mother's. Raito wanted to ask more about it, but she wast sure Atsuiko would want her to pry into it... In an attempt to keep their conversation going (she might not be the most talkative, but she did want to try and make friends) , Raito fished for another topic.

"Do...do you think we'll actually have to fight anytime soon?" she asked. It was directed at no one in particular, and it was a genuine worry in the back of her head. What if something bad happened to their parents and the Sailor Quartet, and their little group of Senshi-in-training was all Crystal Tokyo had left? It had been a long time since a major attack on the city, but she'd heard all the stories of what had happened in the past. 

OOC:

 Awaki 

Raito's question was not really one that Awaki wanted to think about. She nervously fiddled with her glasses, pushing and tugging the frames up and down the bridge of her nose, and tugged at the ends of her braided pigtails, fingers curling in the black hair. It was one thing to enjoy using her powers in training. That was exactly the kind of game that she liked. But she couldn't feel 100% enthusiasm about an actual enemy. Although she did feel some enthusiasm, to be honest. If they had a real enemy, she could really show just how willing she was to be a new sailor soldier!


Instead, she shrugged as a reply to the question, nibbling on more of her convenience-store lunch. She wondered what the others would think. Would Hikari be excited for it? Atsuiko didn't seem like she'd be all that happy about fighting. Clearly Raito wasn't looking forward to it, either. Well, she decided, taking a sip of her beverage, then she'd just have to protect them! After all, Awaki had a lot more experience. (With video games...)

Hikari

Hikari was watching each of her new friends intently, though not obviously. Atsuiko seemed shy to admit that it was her father who made her lunches, though Hikari had no idea why. Nothing wrong with a man who could cook. On the other hand, Awaki suddenly seemed just… a tad too cheerful. Hikari wondered if something else was going through her mind as she complimented Atsuiko’s father.

Her thought flew toward Awaki’s own lack of father. Why had Ami not tell her? To be honest, Hikari believed that Ami knew exactly who Awaki’s father was. And why hide it? It couldn’t be a bad person. It was Aunt Ami—she would never be that intimate with a bad person. Didn’t Awaki have the right to know who her father was?

For a moment she felt indignation on behalf of her friend.

Then Raito asked if they might actually have to fight soon. Awaki seemed nervous but did not say more. Hikari thought about it for a moment. “Realistically, unless something really drastic happens—something extremely unlikely—we wouldn’t. We’re still too young. Of course, we’re close to the ages our mothers were once awakened, but I’d say we still have a good few years before we fully become real senshi. Even the princess had to spend a lot of years training before she became one.”

She had to admit a part of her was excited to be a full-fledged senshi. It was her dream after all, to be that dependable soldier that she always saw her mother was. She wanted to lead, to protect the world, and to fight evil. The sense of accomplishment it promised buoyed her.

But she knew the others were more reluctant, so she chose not to share the enthusiasm that would probably just be out of place.

About one hour after the end of lunch break, a piercing shriek erupted from the second floor of Crystal Juuban Middle School. Though it was only heard in one room, the scream could be felt from any point within the educational institution - it washed over the building and left a cold, clammy sensation of dread in its wake.

Wilbur stood at the epicenter of the wail, a classroom which was filled with a number of young students who, like Rio Yamada, had devoted so much delicious mental energy to passing their tests. Their teacher had graded each of their tests and distributed the results. When Rio had received her grade, she had fallen just a point shy of the 90s.

In particular, Wilbur knew that Rio's parents had been paying more attention to her grades than to Rio herself. He had seized upon that buried resentment, twisting it into a metaphorical time bomb. Upon receiving her test score, Rio had exploded- nay, evolved into something greater.

Wilbur smiled in smug approval while observing the spirit that now looked around itself in confusion and bewilderment. It had torn itself free from Rio's unconscious body, draining her vital energy and that of every other person within the room - except for Wilbur, of course. Her image resembled that of an older Rio with long, wildly unkempt locks of hair and sharpened fingernails. The eyes of the female phantom were bluish white motes of furious confusion, still reeling from the bizarre awakening.

With that transformation, Rio had passed the test. Not the one given by her mathematics teacher, but his test. She was a great candidate for a coming harvest, and Wilbur was eager to put her newly altered spirit to great use.

The fat adolescent took a few steps towards his newly formed minion, extending his hands towards the ghost as if she was a beloved friend. "Come, my dear! I have a task for you, and it shall be more satisfying than this insipid devotion to textbook study."

Awaki

The dark-haired girl startled suddenly, feeling... something. Something weird! She couldn't quite place it. She didn't hear anything strange—her teacher was still lecturing the class on historical dates and events. Most of the students' heads were bent low, copying important information into their notebooks. This was all going to be on the exam, of course. But still...

Awaki couldn't stop herself from looking around the classroom, seeking out whatever that strange sensation had been. Thankfully this was interpreted as no more than the child's typical fidgeting; something her classmates had been practicing ignoring for a long time. They seem to spend a lot of time ignoring me, in general, she thought to herself. Maybe they just don't want me to be here anyway. The middle schooler pushed her glasses up and took a deep breath. No, no—none of that! That was just her confusion talking, of course! She was friends with everyone here.

A sudden and strange light caught her eye. Her book bag hung neatly from the hook on her desk, and she had tucked those weird googles into it. They were... glowing?! Strange colours seemed to be bubbling up from somewhere inside the translucent blue eye-wear, illuminating the inside of her book bag. That... that definitely looked weird. Maybe something was going on!

Hikari

Hikari was deep in concentration in her class, following along her teacher’s explanation, when suddenly she felt that chill that made her spine suddenly straighten up, like a cat that had noticed danger. She didn’t like that feeling. She’d never felt it before, but she knew it was bad.

She sat still for a moment, thinking about her options in lightning speed. What could it be? An enemy? Some kind of dark forces? A threat to the school? Either way, it needed checking out. How should she go about doing it? Communicators. She could contact the others. But not here. How to get out of the class?

Her hand shot up before the question even finished forming. “Sensei, may I be excused? I need to go to the bathroom.”

The teacher turned toward her and nodded. Hikari thanked her, slipped her communicator smoothly into her pocket, and exited the class.

As soon as she was on the hallway, she pulled out the communicator and began trying to reach Awaki, Raito, and Atsuiko.

Atsuiko


There was very little in a class that could keep Atsuiko's attention. Most of the time she had already learned the material on her own, spending a good amount of her free time studying and reading. The reasons her grades were so poor was because she tended to space out during tests, rarely completing them in the allotted time, her attention more on the spirit world than her own. 

A feeling of dread began to creep over her as class went on. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. From her bag, she heard her communicator chime, making the pale girl become even paler. If someone was trying to contact her at school...something was definitely wrong. 

"Sensei," she said, standing up after fishing her communicator out of her bag. Realizing she had loudly interrupted the lesson, she blushed and bowed. "I need to go to the bathroom, may I be excused." 

Her teacher, shocked that she had spoken up in class and loudly at that, stood there dumbfounded, nodding consent. Bowing again, Atsuiko quickly exited the classroom, her face burning in shame and embarrassment. 

"Hikari-san, what is it?" she asked as soon as she was clear of the classroom.

Awaki

Now her communicator had joined the strange goggles. It was blinking, and she was pretty sure that meant someone was trying to call her. Could this be related to the weird feeling she felt? The black-haired girl shoved her large glasses back up her nose and raised her hand.

"Teacher, I'm not feeling well. May I please go to the nurse's office?"

There was no reason for her request to be denied, although someone might have raised an eyebrow to see that she took some strange stuff with her in her hands, even though she left her bookbag in the classroom. Awaki ducked into a nearby empty corridor, keeping an eye out for any other students, and fumbled to turn the communicator on.

"Awaki here! What's up?" the younger girl broadcast.

Raito

Raito was copying a diagram in her science class when a wave of dread hit her. She shivered and dropped her pencil, and a few kids were whispering about the AC kicking in. In her gut, she knew it wasn't the temperature changing. This was something different, and when her communicator flashed in her bag, her fears were confirmed. Something bad had just happened.

She gulped and stuffed the device into her skirt pocket. Her sensei didn't like people interrupting his lecture, so he just left the hall pass by the door and told them to leave quietly. Raito slipped into the hallway with minimal attention placed on her, and answered the call.

"Did everyone else just feel something go wrong?" she asked, nervous on her end.

Hikari

“Yes! I felt it too!” she answered Raito’s voice, glad that they all had answered. “I don’t know exactly what it is, but I feel a dark presence of some sort. Atsuiko, do you feel anything? Can you pinpoint where it came from?” she asked, wondering if the most sensitive of them all could impart more knowledge. She was trying hard to do the same, but they hadn’t covered this during training yet, and she was terrified of how catastrophically she would fail.

What if whoever needed their help right now didn’t have much time?! She looked around frantically, trying to figure out what to do. She was the leader; she should know this!

Awaki

The dark-haired girl fidgeted from foot to foot, waiting to hear Atsuiko's response. At least Hikari sounded official, with her voice coming through the communicator. No wonder she was the leader.

As she stood there in the hallway, eyes alert for any other students that might be passing by, Awaki's hands toyed with the goggles. Their lights still softly glowed a variety of colours, constantly shifting. She still didn't know what to make of this strange object... But even just holding it like this felt... nice, somehow. It was almost slightly calming. Of course, that wasn't enough to override the uneasy feeling in her stomach.

Wilbur's smile twisted itself into a unwholesome grin as the warped spirit of Rio answered his overture with a low, mournful wail. She now shared a part of his bottomless appetite for energy, and would be driven to seek appropriate substenance from this institution. After a few moments to admire his handywork, the portly youth trundled towards the classroom door and opened it with a flourishing gesture. 

"The fountain is just down the hall. Go on; get yourself a drink."

The banshee obliged her creator, levitating towards the door without regard to the fact she was no longer constrained by physical boundaries. The shimmering outline of her legs crossed through chairs and desks as if they were merely air or holograms. At the open door, the creature hesitated.. and then suddenly plunged through the classroom wall.

Soon afterward, a chorus of screams filled Wilbur's ears. He skipped out into the hallway, eager to watch his minion reap another exquisite harvest of energy.

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