Star Spangled Justice
A sudden movement from the side captured Kira, Luna and Tenya's attention, even though Bianca was technically still in the process of being woken up. A hushed gasping sound could be heard as the person scurried away in fright.
"She's probably back because of the sketchbook she left behind." Tenya shifted her gaze away from Bianca and towards the person who departed in haste. Knowing fully well from Kira's comment it, Kira was speaking of Sophie. Part of her thought about asking,
' Shall I follow in pursuit? ' However, Tenya refrained from making such a remark. At least until she knew of a date when, to approach Sophie and return her lost sketchbook.
Kira looked back at Bianca, who was still gathering her memories from Luna. Kira spoke up to 'Tenya' - or rather
Star Healer - confirming what she had been thinking, as if she had read her mind while Luna was kept busy.
"You can return the sketchbook to Sophie. You'll most likely meet Yuki that way..." she said, giving away the most obvious answer to
all this.
"If you do meet Yuki, you could try reasoning with her about joining us, because we need her. She's as much a part of this as Liara is."
Frowning, Kira added,
"I feel bad for Sophie... that we're using her to get to Yuki... but I think she'd forgive a visit from Yaten."Kira tried to smile, offering some sort of
positive light in all this.
Meanwhile, Sophie had walked far enough for her to stop at her usual art supplies shop. Entering inside, she was met with an old lady at the counter, she smiled and seemed to recognize the girl.
"Sophie, dear, back already? I only saw you last week! Have you been drawing lots lately?"Sophie closed the shop door behind and turned back.
"Mm... I've been more than usual." Sophie replied, she didn't seem her usual
chirpy self. Sophie scanned the shop with her eyes, it's
quiet, for midday. The brunette didn't think much of it and shrugged it off while walking to the counter towards the lady.
"I um... I think I lost my sketchbook so I'd like to buy a replacement please."The lady smiled, and spoke up.
"Oh, Sophie dear, you have been coming to this shop for how long now?? Here, this one came in the stock delivery... I'll give it to you for free since you are such a loyal customer!" The lady beamed, handing her this odd-looking sketchbook.
"Huh? Free? A-Are you sure...?" Sophie asked carefully.
The woman pushed it further into Sophie's hands.
"Yes, yes! I insist!"Sophie could feel the force in the lady's push, unexpected for an old lady but she must be super keen to help out such a troubled young lady.
"Um, thanks..." Sophie tried to smile, and gave a bow.
"I'll see you hopefully in another few weeks I guess!""I hope so~ ...Don't lose this one!" She added, jokingly but there was a hint of seriousness in her tone.
Sophie being the naĆÆve girl she is made her leave and exited.
The brunette tugged the book in both hands towards her chest, hugged it tightly as she thought about what she saw back at the archery grounds moments earlier.
Sophie had
no magic presence, so it would be harder to find her. While Sophie made it back to her dorm, it was a small apartment made for two students. As she finally walked all the way home, still tugging the book close to her chest, Sophie took a deep breath, and a small defeated sigh slipped out as she pushed open the door and walked in, bracing herself.
"Hm?" A voice was heard, as the Yuki looked up from the other side of the door from where Sophie was.
As Sophie entered the main living room, Yuki was there, sitting at the table and what looked like her studying on her laptop with her social studies book open.
"Y-Yuki... I wasn't expecting you home so soon."Sophie's tone expressed surprise, she knew Yuki was busy today.
Yuki didn't want to alarm Sophie that she was waiting for her, after having the magical presence she had encountered from someone else made her more wary than she should be.
"I finished early...what's that you have there?" Squinting a little bit at the book she saw Sophie hugging so tightly. Seeing Sophie's expression change to a warmer one.
"This? I...kinda misplaced my other one and I went to get another from the art supplies shop, pretty cool huh? The stone thingy in the middle looks really mesmerising!"
Yuki kept her stare fixated on the book, she couldn't really sense anything of it, nothing
immediately alarmed her of any danger
yet. She looked back up at Sophie and questioned
"So...what happened to the other one? Weren't you close to finishing that?" "Uh... y-yeah but...it's okay. They were just doodles!"Frowning, Yuki eyes shifted to her text books for a moment until Sophie spoke up, as she got closer to the table and placed the book down on the opposite side of the table from Yuki.
"That reminds me..." Sophie said, putting her hand in her pocket.
"This... belongs to you--" Sophie took out a familiar object, and handed to Yuki.
"I'm so glad Tenya was able to turn it off, that was really random, I didn't press anything so I'm not sure why it went off like that." The brunette commented.
Yuki just starred at the Star Change and listened to her finish her sentence, then reached out to take it.
"Tenya?" Yuki looked back at her text book, taking a pen and writing her name out. Yuki was looking at the name, then sighed and sat back in her seat, then looked at Sophie.
"I hope you don't see 'Tenya', or those other people again..." That comment made Sophie tilt her head in question.
"What do you mean?"Yuki didn't really realise she had said that out loud.
"Nothing, never mind."Perplexed, Sophie was a bit unsure what Yuki meant. Yuki says a lot of
weird things but Sophie usually just laughs it off, after all, Yuki was Sophie's
only friend and dormmate, both of them
had to get along.
"Wait, Yuki, can you do me a BIG favor please?! You know Kira! Kira is connected to the Three Lights, do you think you could talk to Kira for me? I kinda didn't get the chance to earlier...""Three Lights? This again? Sophie, I don't think you know what your--""Please, Yuki, I have to find someone important, Kira is the only person that may know where Liara is!"A bit surprised, Yuki raised an eyebrow
"Liara? Why...are you suddenly wanting to find her for?" A little slip up on Yuki's part, mentioning
'her' 'implying' she
knew who Sophie was talking about, however, Sophie wasn't exactly the most
smartest person, and the mention of Liara made Sophie's eyes
light up.
"Liara ...saved me a few months ago..." Sophie frowned and thought back to what Bianca said to her, for Sophie to open up to Yuki about
everything.Yuki was frowning, and narrowed her gaze at Sophie, waiting for her to continue.
"Iā¦ I've never really talked about this properly to you," Sophie said quietly.
"Three months ago, things got really bad. I was bullied. Not just the usual stuffāreally badly."She took a breath, steadying herself.
"You remember my grandmotherā¦ and the pencil she gave to me on my eighteenth birthday. I used to believe it was magical." A small, sad smile tugged at her lips.
"It wasnāt. But everything she touched with it felt like it mattered. She always said, 'Draw your dreams, because they will never fade away.'"Yuki stared at Sophie, not a blink or expression change in her face, she was serious. Sophie's voice wavered as she continued.
"As you know, she passed away the next morning. Peacefully. After that, I used the pencil every single day. It felt like the only way I could keep her close."Sophie shifted her weight, staring at a spot on the floor.
"I couldn't afford a place on my own, so, I sold the house and put the money toward college and this dorm. That's where it started. There were three girls in my classes. They decided I was an easy target. They'd knock over my water bottle, pull my chair out when I went to sit down, trip me in the halls by kicking my shins. They'd whisper things about my art as they walked past."Her shoulders tensed.
"You know I work at the cafƩ near campus. They started waiting for me after my night shifts. Shoving me into walls. Punching me when no one was around. I tried changing my routes home, but it didn't matter. They always caught up."Yuki could feel herself getting more and more angry, the more she heard about these events.
Sophie's voice trembled.
"One night, they cornered me in the alley behind the cafƩ. They dumped my art bag onto the ground, kicked my supplies away like they were nothing. Then they grabbed my sketchbook and tore it apart. Page by page. Everything I'd worked on. Everything I loved."Yuki's expression started to change more and more, you could see there was a spark of anger, the more Sophie went into detail, making herself more obvious.
Sophieās breath hitched.
"They couldn't find my pencil at first. That made them angry. They pinned me against the wall, searched my bag, my pockets. I fought back, but I wasn't strong enough. When they found itā¦" She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back ay tears.
"I begged them. I didn't care what else they did to me. Just not that. But they snatched it anyway. Right in front of me."She dragged a hand across her face.
"I couldn't move. I just watched it fall apart at my feet."Her hand went to the ends of her hair.
"Then they held me down again. One of them grabbed my hair and hacked away at it. They laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. And then they left me there. On the ground. Surrounded by pieces of my life I couldn't put back together."Hearing this part, Yuki pressed her nails into the wood of the table,
trying to maintain her anger
even more.There was a long pause before she continued, her voice barely above a whisper.
"I don't know how long I sat there. But that's when someone showed up. Liara."Sophie lifted her gaze.
"She stepped in like she wasn't afraid of them at all. Told them to back off. One of them threw my scissors at her, and she caught them like it was nothing. After that, they ran."Her voice softened.
"She helped me up. Walked me home. She didn't say anything but let me guide her outside the building as far as she could go, but when she looked at me before we partedā¦ I saw pain in her eyes. The same kind I felt. Being near her made everything hurt less."Sophie wrapped her arms around herself.
"After that night, those girls stopped. They won't even look at me anymore. It's like I don't exist to them. I don't know what she did or said to themā¦ but they left me alone. The next day, after workā¦ it was already night. It was raining." Sophie paused, her voice quieter now.
"I was about to leave when I noticed my damaged sketchbook sitting on top of my bag. It was battered, just like I remembered. I don't know how it got there."She swallowed.
"When I opened itā¦ I felt this warmth. Like someone wrapping their arms around me." Her fingers curled slightly.
"I don't know if it was Liara, or my grandmother, butā¦ every single drawing had been put back together. Carefully. Like they mattered, someone had spent a lot of their time making sure it was perfect, despite the rips it had, the scars."A small, broken smile touched her lips.
"..On the last page, there was a note. It said, 'Draw your dreams, because they will never fade away.' But it wasn't my grandmotherās handwriting."She let out a shaky breath.
"I think it was Liara's."Sophie wiped at her eyes.
"I cried when I read it. I couldn't stop." She hesitated.
"But that wasn't all. When I went out the back door of the cafƩ, something hit me on the head-- a small box, thrown from somewhere above. When I opened it, I found my grandmother's pencil inside." Her voice wavered.
"I didn't understand how it got there. I looked around, trying to see if anyone was watchingā¦until I looked up, and that's when I saw her. I couldn't see her clearly-- she was standing on a building, looking down at me." 
"She told me 'the bullies wouldn't bother me anymore'. And before I could thank herā¦ before I could say anything at allā¦ she was gone. She vanished in a burst of red light, shooting away like a shooting star. I haven't seen her since."Sophie glanced at the TV again.
"Liaraā¦ she looked just like them. I'm sure it was her. When I saw the Three Lights in some weird Celestial Vanguard outfit on TV earlier today, that's when I knew."Yuki narrowed her gaze at Sophie, thinking back to this morning's conversation.
Quote:
"!!!!!!"Sophie pressed her pencil down too hard,
snapping the lead. Her head whipped toward the screen.
"What?!"The footage flickered to life, showing a
burst of light engulfing the stage as the Three Lights changed before the audienceās eyes. The transformation had been caught on cameraāundeniable,
raw proof that they were Sailor Senshi. Sophie fumbled for her glasses, shoving them onto her face as she squinted at the screen. In the background, other Senshi rushed to the scene while terrified civilians fled. No sign of the Starlight she was searching for in the back of her mind though.
Without thinking, Sophie bolted upright, sending her sketchbook sliding across the table. Her heart pounded as she hastily packed up her art supplies and reached for her bag, then collected her artbook.
Yuki looked at Sophie, narrowing her eyes.
"Soppphhh... what are you doing...?" She asked, in a tone that hinted
'I know you're about to do something stupid' with a sigh.
"It's them! The Sailor Senshi! I have to get closer, this is my chance to talk to them and find her! I'll start with the Three Lights, they are the clue that can take me to her!""Wait, what? Whoa, slow downā'her'? Whoās 'her'?" Yuki reached out in an attempt to stop her, but Sophie was already halfway to the door.
"Someone I met, she... saved me a few months back, she looked like them! Red hair! Gotta go!" Sophie quickly shouted over her shoulder as she dashed out.
Yuki thought,
now the dots were connecting from this morning's conversation.
She hesitated, her voice lowering.
"There's... something that's stayed with meā¦ something that's been bothering me since that night."Her voice softened further.
"Butā¦ her green eyesā¦" Sophie shook her head.
"She looked so sad. Like she was the one who needed saving."Her eyes finally met Yukiās.
"I was scared to open up about it. But I didnāt want to carry it alone anymore."A quiet pause.
"That's what happened," she said softly.
"That's why I can't stop thinking about her. And why I need to find her."There was a long pause. Yuki broke eye contact, her gaze dropping to her Star Change as her fingers curled around it. .
"...I should have known. The bruises, the scratchesā¦ they were never just from 'dishes' at the cafĆ©." Her voice faltered.
"And your hairā¦ you said you just wanted to 'change your look.' I knew something was wrong, Sophie. I did. I just didn't realize it was this."Her hands trembled as she clenched them, rising abruptly to her feet.
"Why didn't you tell me?!" The words weren't angry anymore. They were
breaking. Yuki brought her fists down on the table once, and on impact, a brief flare of golden-orange light spilled from her fists,
hard enough to make Sophie flinch.
"Y-Yukiā¦ I'm sorry, I just didnāt know how--"Before Sophie could finish, Yuki was there, crossing the space between them and pulling her into a tight embrace. Sophie's breath hitched, and the tears she had been holding back spilled over all at once.
"You're so stupid," Yuki whispered, her voice thick as she pressed her forehead to Sophie's hair. There was
no cruelty in it - only hurt.
"Did you really think I'd ever think less of you? That I wouldn't want to protect you too?"She held her tighter.
"You were hurting this whole timeā¦ and you carried it alone with a brave face.""I'm sorry!!" Sophie sobbed.
"Today was the first time I told anyone. Bianca said I should talk to you. I didn't know why I kept it in for so longā¦ I was scared. I didn't know how to deal with the trauma. I didn't want to cause trouble. I didn't want anyone else to get hurt!""Bianca?" Yuki thought to herself, her expression changed a little bit, narrowing her gaze for a few seconds before speaking again.
Yuki's hand moved gently through Sophie's hair, slow and careful, like she was afraid Sophie might disappear if she stopped.
"You don't ever have to be strong by yourself," she murmured.
"Not with me."Sophie's voice fell to a sobbing whisper.
"If... Liara hadn't been there--ā¦" The thought made her chest ache. She
couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.
Yuki tightened her hold instead, as if that alone could rewrite the past.
Reply
