The next episode. :D
“This place is…amazing.” Sakura murmured as she walked alongside Kurui through the hospital parking lot. Her eyes sparkled brilliantly as they trailed along the shimmering city. It somehow felt newer. Like the buildings were polished daily.
Kurui shrugged absently. “It’s alright. But I guess that’s coming from a resident. You wanna see fancy? Go to Hiratices. They have some class.”
Sakura tilted her head. “Hiratices? Is that another city?”
“Another country, actually…”
“C-country!?” Sakura choked. ‘Where the hell am I?’ She thought frantically.
Kurui laughed lightly. “Calm down. We’ll find out where you came from and get this all sorted out.” She assured. She led the younger girl to a silver compact car close to the entrance. Sakura waited for the doors to be unlocked, then climbed in and fastened her seat belt.
“Right now we’re going to see Mistress Chouko. She’s in charge of the entire country of Aossin.” Kurui explained as she focused on fishing her keys out of her purse.
“And that’s…where we are now?”
Kurui nodded and started the car. “She’ll explain it all once we get there, believe me.” She shifted into gear and began to pull out of the parking lot. Sakura absently looked out the window as the car pulled to the drive leading to the highway…
…and suddenly dug her fingernails into her seat and let out a blood-curdling scream.
“What!? What’s wrong!?” Kurui yelped, forcing her eyes to stay on the road.
Sakura looked at Kurui in disbelief. “You’re going too fast! KYA! LOOK OUT FOR THAT CAR!!!”
Kurui jerked the steering wheel to the side at the last possible second. “I can see it! Calm down! I’m just going a tad quicker than usual!”
Scanning a speed limit sign that went by, Sakura realized she was going more than a tad quicker. She was going 20 miles over the speed limit. As the car dove between cars, screeched around sharp turns, and blatantly breezed through stop signs, Sakura swore she felt her heart stop.
-----------------------------
“Well, here we are~!” Kurui announced, cheerfully stepping out of the car. Sakura stepped out as well, her eyes wide and her face pale.
They were parked in a secure lot next to a very large government building. The building was at least 25 stories high, its lobby easily seen due to the front being composed mostly of glass. The upper stories were brick, much of the building covered by a large flag that was suspended from a metal rod just below a half-moon shaped window.
“This is Master Hall. It’s the main government building in all of Aossin.” Kurui informed Sakura as she led her down the sidewalk.
“So the Mistress lives here?” Sakura asked.
Kurui nodded. “Along with the members of one of her…um…‘projects‘.”
Sakura didn’t bother to ask what that meant. She was sure that all she would get as an answer would be to wait until Chouko explained everything.
When they entered the lobby, Sakura couldn’t suppress a gasp. The lobby didn’t have a ceiling. It instead took up the first 10 floors, the rooms on the other floors visible on balconies that ran around the lobby like rings. Against the wall opposite the entrance were two receptionist desks facing each other. Between them was a single elevator made of glass.
“Only one elevator?” Sakura questioned as Kurui led her toward the desks.
“This is just the one that goes to the upper floors. Obviously you can’t see them because they have to do with the government.” The older woman answered. She fished an ID out of her pocket, showed it to the receptionists, then guided Sakura to board the elevator. No one else boarded with them.
Kurui pressed a button marked with a star. “All the way to the top~!”
As the elevator began its ascent, Sakura pressed against the glass and watched the lobby shrink. A soft giggle escaped her lips.
Suddenly, the light leaking into the cart vanished, plunging the two into total darkness. Sakura gasped and scrambled over to Kurui, who laughed and patted the younger girl’s head. “Don’t worry. We’ve hit the upper floors--the ones that aren’t seen. Elevator shafts don’t normally contain light, you know.” Sakura sighed and nodded. She glanced at the lighted floor indicator just as it moved up to their destination.
The doors opened to reveal a long, barren hallway. Rows of security guards were pressed against the walls. Kurui began her trek down the hall, Sakura following quickly behind. At the far end, a pair of large doors was blocked by two large bouncer-type guards. Again, Kurui flashed her ID. The two guards moved aside and opened the doors for her.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
With a nod, Sakura followed her into a very upscale office. A oak desk sat in front of a half-moon shaped window, and two couches were placed on either side of it. Bookcases lined the two sidewalls.
A woman sat behind the desk, idly typing something on a computer. When the two entered, she turned and rested her elbows on the desk in front of her, her fingers interlocked in front of her face. “Kurui. Who’s this?”
“This is…ah…” Kurui trailed off awkwardly, realizing that Sakura had never told her her name.
“S-Sakura Kankura, ma’am.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “The one who fell from the sky.”
“That sounds really weird, but yeah. That one.” Sakura mumbled. She fidgeted nervously, the woman’s cold golden gaze unnerving her to no end.
“Well she’s…” The woman began, slowly standing up. Sakura whimpered slightly and retreated a step.
“She’s so cute~!” The woman cried, sprinting over and huggling Sakura tightly.
“…wha…?” Sakura murmured, muffled through the woman’s chest.
Kurui sighed and pried them apart. “Sakura, this is Mistress Chouko. She’s…a bit…eccentric when it comes to kids.”
Chouko blushed and patted Sakura’s head. “I can’t help it! She’s adorable!” She paused and winked at Sakura. “Alright, sweetie. I may be the Mistress, but I’m not even 30 yet! You can just call me Chou-chan if you want. And I’ll call you Saki-chan! Alright~?”
Sakura blinked slowly and turned to Kurui for help. Kurui merely sighed and shrugged. “Perhaps we can put aside this…obsessive cute infatuation for a while? Long enough to tell the poor girl what’s going on?”
Chouko pouted slightly. “Fine. I’ll be ’serious’.” She muttered, turning back to her desk. “So…the girl who fell from the sky. You’re all over the news now, you know. People think you’re some kind of alien from a different world.”
After a long pause, Sakura whispered, “I think I am from a different world. Nothing here is familiar.”
Chouko watched the sky outside her window thoughtfully. “Well this is strange, indeed. What could have pulled you here? Why were you chosen? Or maybe it was a fluke…”
“It was definitely a fluke.”
“Or was it?” Chouko turned back to Sakura and Kurui, her golden eyes glimmering. “Sakura, nothing happens without a reason. Fate wanted you to be here with us. There’s a destiny you need to fulfill.”
The teenager sighed and looked at the ground. “Well I’m glad you can see this from such a philosophical point of view, but what could I possibly do here? I’m just a regular girl who decided she could play detective.” Sakura paused and tilted her head thoughtfully. Suddenly, her eyes slowly widened.
“Kito-kun…maybe he’s here, too! Maybe this is what I had to do to find him!”
Kurui glanced at Sakura. “A friend of yours? You were looking for him when you wound up here?”
“Saki…you realize that you’re on a different continent, right? How do you expect to find one person? Especially when you can’t even leave this country?” Chouko asked quietly, sitting in her chair once again.
Sakura’s eyes blazed. “He’s my friend! I’ll search as long as I have to for him!” She cried.
A sudden silence filled the room.
Until Chouko and Kurui burst out laughing.
Sakura’s cheeks glowed pink. “Wh-what’s so funny?” She stammered, looking between them.
“Ah…Kurui-chan…you remember when we were that determined?” Chouko gasped between laughs.
“It brings back memories, that’s for sure. Where did it all go?” Kurui agreed.
Chouko waved at Sakura. “Forgive us. It’s just…we used to feel that same way. I guess the magnitude of what we had to do crashed down on us and all our hope washed away with it.” She looked up, her eyes suddenly serious. “I hope that doesn’t happen to you. Sakura, you seem like such a positive girl. So…if you believe you can find him, we believe it as well.”
A slow smile crossed Sakura’s face and she bowed deeply. “Thank you so much. I’ll do my best and do it quickly so I can get back home!”
Chouko and Kurui exchanged a hesitant glance. “Um…Sakura…the thing is…you might not get back home.”
Sakura blinked slowly. “Wh-what? Why not?”
“Well we certainly don’t know how to send you back. We don’t even understand how you got here in the first place. Believe us, interworld travel has been a top research priority lately, but no one has figured out anything yet.” Chouko explained.
“So I’m…stuck here?” Sakura murmured. Tears pricked at her eyes. “But…that’s not fair. I need to be home!”
Sakura and Kurui yelped and flinched when a glass on Chouko’s desk exploded, sending shattered glass everywhere. Chouko merely blinked in surprise and turned her head to avoid the flying glass.
“What was that!?” Kurui cried, looking around the room as if she might find a hidden attacker.
Chouko put her finger to her lips, signaling silence, then nodded at the shattered remains of the glass. Crackles of blue energy flitted about, then died away.
Sakura and Kurui inched closer and inspected it curiously. “That…looks like…” Kurui murmured.
“It is. That is pure, concentrated spiritual energy.” Chouko answered, sounding as if she said the same statement every day. Her gaze flickered to Sakura. “That was an outburst of untrained Ketsutaken.”
