Chapter 5 ( A Switch of Roles )
Disclaimer: You
should know this by now.
Time: This story is occurring in the winter of 2041.
Warnings: This is not
an AU. It is a post Galaxia
fanfiction about what I now call The One Hundred Year Sleep. This might very well turn into a series under
the name I've used to dub the period of time this, and later stories, occur
within. I'm treating this time of "sleep" to metaphorically describe a
time period where the Senshi are trying to get
themselves together (in this story, only one person is even close to being
labeled as in a sleeping status, maybe). The reality of it is that Rome was not built within a day (and that was
not even close to being labeled as a Utopia).
The period may not even be exactly one hundred years; it too is used as
a metaphor for this time period.
Summary: Kumada Akina has just lost her Father, Kumada Yuuichiro, to disease and
age. However, on his death bed he
requested to not be buried with his prestigious ancestors but to have his ashes
placed at a Tokyo
shrine. From there on out, a trip to Tokyo for the family from Kobe will force Akina
to face a few flaws in her character and discover a city of ghosts. There, through the memory of others, Akina will learn the bonds of friendship and family, one
that she had forsaken long ago in her silent anger at a father she loved and
hated above all others.
Things
That Change
by Blue Jeans
“It's
a do or die world out
there.
Eventually everything
and everyone will have to
change... Now, isn't that a bit
predictable?”
Chapter 5
A Switch
of Roles
Aino
Minako ushered the girls into the shed and searched
around for the light bulb.
"Wow!" Akina wondered around the room, looking into the dark
corners. "I didn't know such a
place existed outside the old horror films, but this place is truly an
antique!" She ran over to under the
light bulb and pointed it out to her sister. "Look, this thing must be
decades old!"
"Forty-one years
to be exact," Minako answered smoothly. For once, the expression in the eyes of the
blonde was very serious and her actions were very subdued.
"You're kidding
me!" Akina
put her hands defiantly on her hips.
"It lasted all this time? I
didn't know the old stuff was so enduring."
"Usually, it
doesn't endure for more than a year at best." Aino Minako's smile was rueful and her eyes sparkled with ironic
humor. "However, everything in Tokyo that has not been
replaced with new technology is at least 41 years of age. No one has yet figured out what it is that's
keeping these things alive, but very little change seems to occur here. The people here included, don't want
change."
Meiou
Setsuna brought out a silver folder-like case from
her bag. "Like this one," the
olive-skinned woman laughed, "very forbidden in such a city." The woman joked, but Minako
ended up being the only one who laughed along before an awkward silence soon
followed. It just didn't seem to be too
funny to either Akina or Nami
since neither knew how much truth were in those words or if there were any
double meaning underlying the things spoken with such lightheartedness between
the two women before them.
"Oh my..."
their blonde hostess blinked when she heard Setsuna
click it open. "You're actually
going to show them?" Minako asked, surprised.
"There are many
memories to chose from," Setsuna assured the
other. The two women shared a look and
silence fell over the room, creating a tense atmosphere. Akina shivered a
bit more in the gold light provided overhead and wondered what to say to break
the tension.
Smiling uneasily, Minako nodded a reluctant consent in the end. "Alright," their blonde hostess
sighed. "Let's show them a memory
of our own."
Setsuna
looked down at the case on her lap, hiding her own sad smile. "Let's," the woman agreed. Without much prompting, the silver case
opened.
- - - - -
"Hey, hey look
over here!" Dark hair flew into
view as a beautiful Japanese woman glanced over to the speaker. "Rei Chan,
you're supposed to be smiling in these things."
Hino Rei only raised a brow at this. "Pictures are bad enough. These live recordings are the
worst!" The dark-haired beauty put
a hand to her hip and gave her audience a very annoyed look. "Mina Chan, why are we doing this
anyway? This is not at all natural, way
too awkward a thing to keep as a memento."
"It's not a
recording, it's a memory download!
Anyway, you got used to cameras, why not this?" Aino Minako demanded.
"Come on, for your bestest friend!"
"Some
friend—" Rei muttered, deciding it best not to
inform the blonde that “bestest”
was not even a word.
Laughing at her grump, Minako threw her arms around the reluctant Rei, cutting off whatever protests Rei
might have had. "Say Chee-se!" Minako flashed a V-sign at the viewer.
"Chee-su!"
Rei winked and blew an unexpected kiss.
Giggling over their own
antics as the moment passed, the two friends walked over and picked up the
object that was recording the entire thing.
"Who'd have thought?" Rei looked thoughtful as the view changed to her holding a
small black ball in her hands. "A memory reader?"
Minako
grinned as she held out her hand.
"I'm so glad we have the cash for these types of latest
deals."
Rei
glared at her friend. "You mean
using the coupons I was given, Minako Chan?"
The green grass swayed
under an unseen breeze, the cherry trees bare of blossoms but still green with
life. "Summers
used to be for vacations only," Rei sighed as
she pulled at her t-shirt with a grimace.
"I love
summers!" Minako
grinned. "I can wear all kinds of
pretty dresses at auditions now!"
"Mm," Rei rested her head on her hands, "how are those
things going for you?"
Minako
twirled about on the sidewalk, arms extended and making zooming noises, the she
paused as she looked back at the pensive Rei. "I've gotten into that
commercial!" The blonde announced,
grinning. "And, I got myself a new
agent for my wonderful future as a SU-PA star!"
Rei
smiled ruefully as she leaned back and looked at the blue skies overhead. "Nothing's really changed in all this
time, has it?" Minako
went zooming off again, flying back and forth.
"Ever since she left, everything seems to have stood still. Sometimes I wonder if—" Minako jumped onto the ledge that Rei
was sitting on and flew off again in another direction, hopping gracefully over
her friend. "Hey, stop that! What the hell are you doing?" Rei demanded
angrily.
"Eh?" Minako glanced
behind her shoulder over at her angry friend.
"I'm doing an airplane commercial," the blonde explained as
she hopped down and rummaged into her large bag. "I'm supposed to be flying around like
an airplane, and then be a stewardess.
After that—" Minako pulled out their
picnic basket and got out an apple "—give the viewer the general idea that
it's a very homey but elegant type of place that’s on sale for everyone to fly
on."
Rei
looked amused at this as Minako took a large bite out
of her apple and began to chew vigorously.
"I don't think that random flying is what they're looking
for." The dark-haired woman smiled
at Minako's antics.
"Do you know what type of music they're using?"
Minako
nodded but was somewhat distracted as she took another bite of her apple. "Well..." Rei rolled her eyes
at her friend. "I'll help you
out!"
Minako
paused and looked over at Rei. "Help me out?" the blonde asked,
surprised. "Help me out with what? I'm just flying around as an
airplane." Now, Minako
seemed a little peeved at the idea.
Rei
smiled. "To be a success, you must
grasp every opportunity." Speaking
in a low, conspiratorial voice, Rei threw an arm
around Minako’s neck and began to whisper into the
blonde's ear.
Minako
blinked in surprise and looked over at the grinning Rei. "Really?" Minako asked excitedly.
"I thought it was
a great idea." Rei
grinned arrogantly and tapped the blonde on the head with a knuckle. "Trust me, it'll be fun!" And with that, the two began to laugh over it
all over again.
- - - - -
Honestly, Akina never saw such a happy expression on her hostess'
face until that moment. In truth, Akina would never have imagined that such a similar expression
was possible on the composed Hino Rei she had met but
a few months before.
"A
memory box?" Nami inquired with total
fascination at the silver case sitting closed on Meiou
Setsuna’s lap.
Aino
Minako smiled.
"Oh, something that came and went," the blonde explained
vaguely. "The idea was a great one
though. Everyone inputs their memories
into this little bulb and the machine constructs the memory that everyone gives
it into a flowing picture show. It's a
really sophisticated idea, but as you can see, it was a bit lacking."
Akina
and Nami both nodded their heads a bit dumbly, not
really quite sure what Minako meant. "Was that?" Akina
hesitated for once. "Was that
before Mars Reiko, um, I mean Hino Rei San, got
famous?"
Minako
gave a pained smile, "Yes," she answered as she smoothed an imaginary
wrinkle. "That was when I was still
trying to make it in the world of idols and such," the blonde said,
looking down at her hands. "It was
a very different time then. We had very
different dreams and aspirations from what we have now."
"Mm."
Setsuna leaned on her hands. "I wonder how much of that is
true." The woman smiled, not really
looking at anyone.
"Very little has
changed in all this time, hasn't it?"
Akina asked.
"It just seems to me that you all just switched roles, but no one
really fit into the role they gave themselves.
Back then, the two of you were smiling so honestly. Even if there had been no real change in the
relationship between you two, there had been truth and feeling in what you did
back then as opposed to the lie you live with now."
Minako
and Setsuna both looked a bit startled by this. "Change is needed," the blonde
finally said after a bit of silence. Her
words seemed a bit dead, lacking conviction but very well practiced. It sounded like an important line in a play
that the main actor didn’t believe in very much. Only now did Nami
and Akina truly take note of the fact that their
hostess and her friend didn't seem very convinced of all the things they said
either. "Without change, there's
stagnation and then the inevitable death.
Even if it's just a small bit of difference, it's still needed."
Nami
blinked in surprise at their hostess, sensing the subtle change in the
atmosphere around them. "A small bit?" Nami inquired. "Is that why there are gh-ghosts around?
Like everything here, something’s holding everything in Tokyo back?
As if, time stopped or went slower here, but everyone, in their own way,
is trying to move on from it but at the same time, fearing about letting go of
the past and who they used to be?
Changes on the outside don’t mean anything without the changes on the
inside to reflect it. Such physical
changes just become shallow and meaningless without real backings."
"Even you have
noticed?" The olive-skinned woman
seemed more pleased at this than surprised.
"Everyone's
dialect and speech patterns seem older than Kobe,
and Kobe's been
trying to keep to the older ways these last few decades to attract
tourists," Nami explained as she patted an old
box to check its security before sitting on it carefully. Akina shivered a
bit again from her place on the floor, but it wasn't really because of the cold
anymore. "When we got a room at the
hotel it wasn't just the place that seemed out of the time we've grown up in,
but the manager as well. Most of the
guests you can immediately tell were not Tokyo
residents a little too easily, even those of Japanese descent that lived near Tokyo. Just the airs around those natives here are
strange, and not even you, Meiou Setsuna
San – as urbane and traveled as you are – use even the most conventional of
slang words that have popped up in the last fifty years." Nami closed her
eyes in recollection. "And this
place makes one want to reminisce... I've noticed." Nami smiled
slowly. "It's as if all of Tokyo is filled... with a
nostalgic joy and an equal sadness."
Their blonde hostess
blinked in surprise, but it was Setsuna who
spoke. "Mm, I never really would
have described it that way, but those words fit very well with this city. Once, it was a metropolis of Japan, a very
first in everything. But time and events
took that away from Tokyo,
along with many other things. Now, it is
just a place that has stilled in time, one that lingers and clings to a near
past, never really living beyond the memories of its own creations."
"However," Minako cut in, "there are still people who walk away
from this place." She bowed her
head down and touched the sleeve of her robe thoughtfully, a gesture not lost
to Setsuna but meaningless to her other guests. "Others change the roles they
play." Minako
smiled sadly at this. "It is just
difficult to decide which is harder though.
But in the end, even a little change is necessary."
"Mm," Meiou Setsuna agreed as she
studied the blonde for a moment longer.
"It sounds to me
like you're just fooling yourselves."
Akina crossed her arms over her chest with a
determined look on her face.
"Living like this isn't living at all. If it's all a lie, nobody will be happy in
the end."
Minako
looked angry now. "Who are you to
judge?" the blonde demanded, "People aren't living day by day just
for the sole reason to be happy."
"Aren't
they?" Akina
asked softly. "Isn't that what we
all want? Even if it's selfish, even if
it's hard, as long as we're living for something we truly desire with every
cell of our body and every ounce of our being, it's not so bad, is it? Misery is there only when we give up hope or
we live lives that we tell ourselves are the ones we want. But in our hearts, in everyone's hearts, we
know it's just the excuses we give ourselves while living up to other people's
expectations. In the end, everyone's sad
and everyone suffers because no one wants to admit the truth."
Minako
was silent and so was Setsuna. The silence was heavy, but at least everyone
was thinking over the words Akina had spoken. "The truth hurts, though." Nami finally broke
the silence. "Living the truth can
be very painful. Sometimes, you dream of
something impossible to have and you live each day to make it possible, hoping
an opportunity would one day arise and fearing to leave because of that
possibility – no matter how small.
Because we are humans, we fear regret...
But, in the end, it's not hard to realize that you really weren't suited
for some of the things you really thought you wanted or needed. Sometimes, one needs to admit defeat and
throw in the towel, try something fearsomely new."
"There'll still be
doubt," Akina argued.
"There's always
doubt, little sister." Nami smiled. "That
is also a part of life. Sometimes,
sadness and failures are needed. All
people strive for happiness, but not every road we choose is the one that is
meant for us. Sometimes, we need to
switch the road we're on to truly find happiness, to try things we never knew
existed and pick up opportunities that we would not have dreamt of taking
before pushed to certain extremes."
Nami
laced her fingers together and there was a glow about her that Akina never realized.
It was very soft and not very visible, but Nami
had an aura of peace and satisfaction on her, a silent, inner joy that Akina never before seen.
It made Nami, perhaps the plainest in looks
and mannerisms of all of the Kumada children, seem more beautiful than anyone Akina had ever met.
Now, Akina could see how even the devilishly
charismatic Hidekai Kiyoshi would be drawn to her
older sister.
"Happiness is not
what roles we play in life, or the road we're on, it depends on the person who
walks such paths that they have chosen.
Some people never find happiness because the person inside would not be
able to hold onto happiness even if they were given it freely. Some people find happiness wherever they go
because the well of happiness within them will never run dry. It is in each of us to obtain the happiness
we desire, but most of the time it isn't what we envisioned that would bring us
to such a state in our lives. That which
would bring such happiness to us is hardly ever what we thought we would want
but it always turns out to be what we truly need. Only when such a gift is accepted with open
arms can such an emotion flow freely within us.
Akina Chan, to be truthful to oneself is also to admit defeat sometimes. As human beings, we are not always
right. In fact, you may discover that we
are hardly ever right. We make mistakes
in life. But it's alright, because if
we're truthful to ourselves, we can very easily correct such mistakes."
Akina
reluctantly nodded. At this moment, she
wondered if her father giving up on Hino Rei and
going to Mother was not so bad of a choice on his part. Maybe, all this time that she had alienated
herself from her father because of her own suspicions were based on the false
feelings of her own insecurities.
Lately, Akina found herself reminiscing a
lot. "A city of
memories, huh?" Akina thought out loud.
"If this city is living a memory," Akina
pondered, suddenly looking up startled in realization, "whose memory is
everyone living in?"
Both Minako and Setsuna turned their
gazes sharply onto her. Nami though touched her bottom lip in thought, a habit that
she had not used since she was a young child, "I wonder," Nami agreed in thought.
Their hostess and her
friend shared a look, but the blonde was the first to break into a smile. "My, I can't believe we didn't think of
it sooner!" Minako exclaimed with a giant grin.
Even Setsuna's smile seemed a bit more genuine than before. "All this time," the woman agreed.
Nami
and Akina looked from one to the other in
confusion. "Was it something I
said?" Akina
pointed to herself, slightly annoyed at having been suddenly left out of the
loop.
"Oh!" Minako grasped Akina's shoulder
happily. "Who'd have thought an
annoying brat like you could really bring so much change to our
situation!"
"H-hey!" Akina protested
against the insult.
Laughing, their blonde
hostess waved away Akina's reaction with another
brilliant smile. For once, Akina realized that Minako hadn't
really been smiling genuinely at them either, just like Setsuna,
who had yet to stop smiling. Neither of
the strange, older women had been smiling with too much emotion, not until this
very moment. Akina
realized that she wouldn't have known that if she hadn't saw the memories play
out in front of them, but now she saw it very clearly. These women wore very similar masks, but the
emotions inside weren't as clear or as true as what the masks portrayed. "Thank you," the blonde said,
grasping Akina's cold hands in her own cool
ones. "Thank you for
everything."
Speechless, Akina could only nod dumbly in reply, not at all sure what
this woman meant. Exchanging a look with
Nami, the two silently decided that perhaps, it was
time to leave Tokyo. Both women thought they'd had more than
enough of an adventure to last them a lifetime.
Surely, it would be much better to return to the known routines of home,
without any more of this drama that seemed to have always been at the core of
their father's old life.
How these Tokyo women lived it, Akina just didn't know.
To be continued...
- The person that Aino Minako and Hino Rei were
discussing, who left is Tsukino Usagi. The reason for her disappearance is not
elaborated on, but in previous chapters it is hinted that a great battle or
confrontation took place and everyone suffered for it. [This battle was after Galaxia.] sTsukino
Usagi just happened to have not returned from that
battle and disappeared for whatever reason.
Because that had happened 41 years ago, the entire city of Tokyo has stood still
since, as a testament of the powers that was once displayed that day, 41 years
ago. Whatever had happened, the Senshi were never the same again and have disbanded. No one has attacked since and nothing "seemed to change" in Tokyo, time moving neither
forwards or backwards. However, the
event is not something everyone is aware of – think of D-Day in the anime, at
the end of the first season – everything returned to normal right away after
the fighting... no evidence to prove any major fighting went on. There were evidences though; for example: the
ghosts.
- The airplane flying
scene was brought on by the nostalgic music of "Leaving On
a Jet Plane" by Mammas and Pappas (at least that’s what it says on my
mp3). It is not because Minako or the author has gone insane. Try listening to it and you'll see what I
mean =)
- What Minako is so excited about is that
because everyone's minds have been warped in a way so that no one can really
"change" willingly, not one of the Senshi
had been able to figure out the phenomenon, too close to it most likely, in all
this time. They either tried to forget
whatever had happened or tried to move on.
Akina suggested the theory that they were
living in someone's memories, that's why it is so hard for them to change. We can all
guess who's memories Aino Minako and Meiou Setsuna are thinking everyone is living, right?
- I thought Akina learned enough about her own misgivings; since up to
now, everyone’s been ganging up on her.
So, I thought there were things Nami and she
could teach the Senshi as well, since they are
outsiders looking in. The nature of the
two sisters also play off of each other well enough to bring about such a
conversation, filling in the gaps between optimism and wisdom that have been
missing in the lives of all the Senshi after Usagi’s disappearance.
(So, one point each for the Kumada girls!)
Special
Thanks To:
My editor, Yumeko
San! She had to wade through my horrible
grammar to help me polish this baby to perfection! Thank you so much Yumeko
San! I would be so lost without you! [Dabs away tears of gratitude]
