The Journey
"Wake up Kasumii, you have to go pack." said a familiar voice from beside the sleeping girl in a sweet and gentle voice.
Kasumii's sister Kuichi was standing over her trying to wake her up. It was time for her to get ready. Tomorrow was their first day and Kasumii still wasn't packed.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You don't have to keep telling me I was just about to get up." Replied Kasumii, with her eyes still sealed shut.
With a loud yawn, She opened her eyes and stood up to see that her sister was all packed up and ready to leave, her suitcases and bags sitting at the foot of the stairs, ready to be loaded into the back the back of their grandfather's 1975 Ford pick-up truck. Kuichi was very eager to get going and Kasumii could tell, although her sister was the kind of person to keep things to herself and listen to others while being silent herself, the thought of finally being able to go somewhere that would help her with her 'abilities' made her overjoyed.
"Aren't you ready to get out of here, or what?" said Kasumii jokingly, knowing she could easily embarrass her little sister.
"Be quiet, you know as much as I do that the only reason why we are going there is because we need help with our 'abilities'." She replied embarrassingly, trying to hide her anger with Kasumii. "I love Sofu Keiji and Sobo Hana as much as you do, I just…"
"I was only joking with you," interrupted Kasumii, "Sheesh sis; you need to learn how to take a joke."
"I know." She answered, but was too late because Kasumii had already run up the stairs before she could give a reply.
Upstairs, Kasumii unzipped her blue suitcase and started putting in clothes. The last time she had used this suitcase was when her sister and her were forced to move to their grandparent's house after both of their parents died five years ago in the… accident. She didn't mind living with her grandparent's but she is eighteen now, she wants to move away to the big city, get married, raise a family and be normal. But she can't, she has to take care of her now seventeen year old sister and her aging grandparents. Besides, she could never be normal.
Stuffing everything into her one suitcase, everything from her shirts and jeans, to her dress her mother made her and her other prized possessions, including her trusty Doggy, she hardly even realized that her sister had come into her room.
"Don't you know how to knock?" asked Kasumii, fitting the last little doodads into her bag before zipping it up tight.
"I did, but you didn't answer." replied Kuichi.
"Yeah, I mean to where people can actually hear it?" stated Kasumii. "What do you want?"
"Did you finish packing yet? It's almost time for dinner." said Kuichi.
"Yeah, I just put the last thing my bag while you were sneaking in here." she quickly answered.
"Did you make sure you remembered everything? Did you put in underwear and your toothbrush? Did you remember Doggy?" asked Kuichi, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Yup, got everything." she answered. "Hey Kuichi, do you really think that this place will really be able to help us?"
"Uh, I'm not sure, if it's anything like what I've heard about it should…" Not being able to answer completely before she was interrupted once again, this time by their grandmother.
"Girls, dinner is ready." Hana called from downstairs.
They raced down stairs so they could enjoy their last home-cooked meal for possibly a long while. Who knows what kind of food they would have at that place. Keeping this in mind, Hana remembered to make all of their favorites and lots of them, since they most likely wouldn't be eating very much on the trip tomorrow.
"Oh wow!" exclaimed Kasumii. "You made all of our favorites! Thank you so much Sobo!"
"It all looks so delicious, thank you Sobo." Kuichi quietly added in.
"Oh you're welcome dears," Hana said in a sweet voice. "I just thought, 'Who knows when the next time they will be able to have a good home-cooked meal' so I made all of you favorites, that way you are not as likely to have cravings for them while you're gone."
They enjoyed the rest of their delicious meal, laughing and talking about the big day tomorrow, finishing off the night with a scrumptious double chocolate cake.
That night, Kasumii lie in bed, unable to sleep, whether it be from anticipation, excitement about tomorrow, fear, or perhaps from all of the sugar from the cake. Which ever, if not all, of those reasons, was keeping her awake, thinking, imagining, questioning. So many questions were running through her head: 'What will it be like?' 'Will there be other people like me there?' 'What kind of food will they have?' 'Will there be cute boys?' These questions and more she asked herself, only to be answered tomorrow upon their arrival at that place, the place that is supposed to help them.
6:30, too early… time to get up thought. As Kasumii's alarm clock rang in her ear, she only wished that she had actually gotten some sleep that night. Slowly she got up, yawning wide, taking her bag and opening her door, she walked into the hallway quietly, unsure if anyone else was awake, to be greeted by the smell of homemade pancakes. She walked down the stairs, leaving her bag at the bottom, near her sister's and started toward the kitchen. She sneaked her head in to see if anyone was in there and to her surprise, everyone else was awake.
"Well good morning sleepy head." greeted Kuichi.
"It's only 6:30 in the morning," answered Kasumii in a tiered voice, as she was still half awake. "This is way too early for me to be awake."
"I know" replied Kuichi in a half laugh. "You need to learn how to take a joke!"
"Well eat up girls, you have a long day ahead of you and I don't want you to get hungry." said Hana, "I also packed you a lunch, too, just in case you are still traveling during that time and you haven't eaten yet. It's just a sandwich, a salad, a little bag of chips, and a little something sweet for afterwards."
"Thank you Sobo! You think of everything." Both girls replied.
"Alright girls, hurry up now. We need to leave in a five minutes if we want to hope on getting to the station on time." Keiji stated.
"I'm done!" Kasumii said, swallowing done her last bit of orange juice.
"I am as well." Kuichi chimed in.
The two sisters walked out of the kitchen together, chatting about this and that and headed to the front door. They grabbed their bags and left the house in wait for their grandfather. They were ready to leave. Keiji walked out of the house and they said there farewells to their beloved Sobo, who had to stay behind because the truck only sat three and besides, Hana didn't do well on long drives.
"Good bye girls. Have fun!" She called from the front door, a tear rolling down her cheek as her granddaughters drove away to their future.
The drive to the coast usually took five or so hours, but due to the weather forecast calling for heavy rain, it would take at least an hour longer. The rain started about an hour after they departed.
BANG! There was a loud exploding sound as the truck shook and stopped moving. The two wheels on the left side had burst open from the impact of driving through a pot hole, hidden by the rain water. Luckily they had a spare, unfortunately that only covered one of the tires, they still needed one more.
"What are we going to do now? We're going to miss our chance to get there." Kuichi said half crying.
"It just had to be TWO tires didn't it! That's just our luck, isn't it?" A very disappointed sounding Kasumii said.
Just as she was finishing, a black vehicle drove up behind them. Two mysterious looking men with black hooded robes on got out of the vehicle and just stood in front of their truck, as if waiting for something to happen. The man the got out of the driver's seat was large and muscular and had very tanned skin, the other was thinner and had a red swirl shaped tattoo below his left eye
"So they're here?" Keiji whispered low enough that the girls wouldn't here.
"Who are they? What do they want?" asked Kasumii.
"I need to go see." answered Keiji.
"Don't go Sofu, they seem like trouble." replied Kuichi who sounded genuinely worried.
"You don't need to worry about me!" Keiji said with a grin on his face while he opened the door and stepped out of the truck.
He slammed the door shut with a squeal and slowly walked toward the two men. Keiji and the one with the tattoo started to have a conversation together as if they were old friends or something. Then Keiji turned around laughing and headed back to the truck. He got back in, soaking wet and still laughing, and closed the door to prevent any rain from getting in.
"Sofu, who were those people, did you know them? What was so funny?" asked Kasumii who was surprised and very confused.
"Don't worry about that. It's alright, their going to help us." He answered quickly.
All of a sudden the whole left side of the truck lifted off of the ground. To the surprise of the two girls, the larger man was picking them up, while the one with the tattoo changed their tire! Then they felt the truck slowly being placed back on the ground. The two men waved as they walked beck to their own vehicle and drove away. Keiji eventually started his truck and followed suit.
"Who were those guys?" Kasumii asked.
"Like I said, you don't need to worry about that." He again answered her question.
They arrived at their destination just a few minutes later than they hoped to, but were still rather early. Their destination was rather, strange. Strange being an understatement. They were staring directly at an old, abandoned baby crib factory.
"Um, Sofu, I think you got the wrong address." Kasumii said in disbelief.
"No, this is the place," He said while taking his seat belt off and turning the truck off. "Well come on girls, they're not going to wait for you forever."
They proceed to get out the truck and grab their bags. Keiji walked ahead of the girls as the two of them slowly headed in the direction of the strange and ominous looking building. As they reached the door, a large glass door, or at least what used to be glass as most of it was broken from time and vandals, they could see clearly inside of the large, empty building. It was very dark and very abandoned. The two girls looked at each other with dismay.
"This is definitely the wrong place, Sofu must have lost It." whispered Kasumii to Kuichi.
"Hey! I heard that!" snapped Keiji as he opened the door, "Now stop messing around and come already, they're not going to wait for much longer."
The three of them walked into the building and as soon as they walked through the door, as strange feeling spread over them as the room warped and twisted into a beautiful boat station. The walls were adorned with intricate designs in what looked like real gold. Bright red and blue banners hung from the ceiling and a large, Victorian style train station clock stood in the center of the large room. They walked across to the opposite side of the room where a ticket booth was. A short, funny looking man with pointed ears and a large wart covered nose greeted them.
"Hello Keiji, it's been a long time hasn't it, bringing some new students in? They must be your grandkids I've been hearing so much about." he said in a low, raspy voice.
"Shh! They don't know anything about me going there before, so keep it like you don't know me alright!" Keiji quickly replied in a whisper. Luckily for him, the girls did not hear anything as they were still taking in the whole transformation of an abandoned crib factory, into a whole station.
"Right got you." He whispered back. "Alright girls, I need to see your tickets to let you on board."
"Tickets!?" exclaimed Kasumii, completely unaware of the situation.
"We need a ticket?" Kuichi said in distraught.
"Don't worry girls, I have your tickets right here." Keiji said reassuringly, pulling two silver tickets that seemed to emit there own light out of his pocket. "There you go Grimace, I mean sir."
"Thank you very much. Why don't girls follow me, and I'll show you to the ship." said Grimace. "Oh yes, and welcome, my name is Grimace. It's very nice to meet you girls."
"It's very nice to meet you Grimace!" Kasumii shouted, "My name is Kasumii and this is my sister Kuichi. You don't mind if we say goodbye to our Sofuuu… I mean grandfather, do you?"
"No, of course not, go right ahead. Just make sure to not take to long, we have a schedule to fallow after you know." Answered Grimace with a large grin on his face.
"Goodbye Sofu," the girls said in unison.
"Goodbye girls." He said back to them, with a somewhat sad look on his face. "No that was wrong. I shouldn't be calling you girls anymore, you are all grown up and now that you are going to that place, I know that you two will become the women your parents wanted you to become. And always remember…"
"Mugen no sora ni dakarete bokura wa ikiteirunda." The three of them said together.
They both gave him a hug and said goodbye one more time and that they loved him and walked away. Away from their only family, away from their past. Too start anew and to grow up.
They followed Grimace down a long hallway. On either side of the hallway, pictures were lined up, each one with a portrait or photograph of some long gone person who were never seen and never met. They kept walking. They reached the end of the hallway and it appeared to be dead end.
"What do we do now?" asked Kasumii.
"Just hold on a second, I have it with me somewhere." Grimace said, searching the many pockets on his red blazer and trousers.
"Ah here it is!" Grimace said while pulling something round and gold colored out of one of his pockets.
The item he pulled out was rather small, it faintly shined in the light of the hallway and it looked as if it had been used a lot. There was also a thin piece of metal sticking out of the back of it, the same color as the ball. He stuck it in a small hole in the center of the wall and turned it. It was a doorknob, and as he turned it, the whole wall opened in front of them and to the girl's surprise it revealed the outside! They walked out and realized, as the wall in back of them closed, that it was a dock. And at the end of the dock was their ship, the S.S. Tsomasa.
They boarded the ship, a fairly large schooner that looked like it would be out of a pirate movie, and as they reached the top step, they saw that they weren't the only people aboard. There were about ten other people on the ship most of them looked around the same age as them, and about half of them were asleep on the deck. There were numerous seats on board so they sat down near a nice looking girl. She had long, straight, black hair and was wearing a dark purple dress that covered her feat.
"Hello, I'm Kasumii Yoshigawa, and this is my sister Kuichi, it's very nice to meet you." Kasumii said in a friendly voice.
"Hi. I'm Jadwiga Vasilissa." The girl said firmly.
"So why are you here, do you have a special ability?" asked Kasumii.
"What do you think?" She abruptly answered. "Now if you don't mind I am very tired from traveling and I would like to take a nap."
"SORRY." Kasumii replied, appearing a bit agitated. "I didn't mean to offend you. Come on Kuichi lets go somewhere else."
"Uh, Ok." Kuichi said as her sister stood up in anger.
They moved over to another area on the opposite side of the ship, being cautious not sit next to someone else, especially someone who was sleeping, in case they were all as rude as Jadwiga.
"Don't let her get to you." said a cheery voice to the two of them.
They looked up and another girl was there, a shorter, blonde haired girl with a wide smile and was wearing a T-shirt with a pink skirt.
"Hi I'm Jenny Sunshine; it is very nice to meet you two. Did I hear you say your names were Kisumy and Koichi Yoshiwaga?" She said in the same cheerful voice as before.
"Actually, it's Kasumi and Kuichi Yoshigawa. But you were very close." corrected Kasumi. "It's very nice to meet you too, Jenny."
As they set sail a fog surrounded the ship, but the sky was still visible, as if a wall of mist had encased them for protection.
They talked with Jenny for a while, just chattering away. They talked about the boys on the boat, comparing them with each other. The talked about their abilities and guessed at what the others' abilities were. About Jadwiga's rudeness (they guessed that she killed people with her death stare) and about what lies in wait for them when they get to their destination.
"So what do you think it will be like there?" pondered Kasumii.
"I'm not really sure, but I heard about it a little bit from my father. He went there when he was around my age." said Jenny, "I just hope it's pretty and has lots of cute boys!"
"Yeah!" Kasumii shouted in excitement.
"Are you talking about me?" a voiced butted in.
"No we're not talking about you Bradley." said Jenny "You are a little to young for all of us."
"Hello girls, it is I, Bradley Worm!" said the young boy, "I hope I haven't made you all fall swoon with me dashing good looks!"
"Oh hello there, aren't you cute little boy!" exclaimed Kasumii with a giggle.
"I'm not a boy, I'm a man." Bradley tried defending himself. "I might be small in stature, but what I lack in height and muscle; I make up for with my intelligence. I am a thirteen year old super genius!"
"Sure, sure. Now why don't you run along little b…" Kasumii started.
"Alright everybody wake up!" called out Grimace. "It's lunch time and there is someone I would like you all to meet."
A beautiful woman, in her early forties with tan skin and long flowing brown hair walked out of the hull of the ship. She had a beauty mark on her left cheek and was holding a giant ladle.
"This is Isadora Benevolencia , continued Grimace. "She is the cook and will be serving you today."
"Hello children." She said with a Spanish accent. "It is very nice to meet you all. I am Isadora, but you may call me by my Moniker, Cozinheiro."
She continued to introduce herself before, to the surprise of the children, twenty or so Isadoras walked through the door carrying silver platters and dispensing amongst the hungry passengers. Her ability was, Multiplication.
They enjoyed a delicious meal of handmade sandwiches (different according to each person) and a salad. Kasumii received a cheese and lettuce sandwich on white bread, while Kuichi enjoyed a tasty peanut butter and jelly on toasted rye. This was followed by a slice of chocolate cake. After lunch, most of the others went back to sleep, including Kuichi, leaving Kasumii and Jenny amongst each other until they too drifted off to sleep. They slept soundly for a few hours until they were once again awakened for dinner, consisting of steamed rice, tamales and another slice of the delicious chocolate cake from lunch.
Now that everyone was well rested and fed people started introducing themselves to each other. They were able to meet three more students, Beau and Josie (Jo for short) Sturmich, and Soyokaze Tsubasa. They all seemed like very nice people. Beau and Jo were twins, they had light brown hair and spoke with a German accent, and they were very loud and fun. Soyokaze, was much quieter then the twins. She had Dark brown hair and beautiful green eyes. She was Japanese, but spoke English fairly well. Another boy, was about to come over to introduce himself, a handsome tall boy with black hair that shined in the moonlight, but as he was stating to get up and walk over to them, Grimace again called out to the passengers, "Alright children, we're almost there, just a few more minutes until we arrive, so get your bags ready."
The anticipation was building amongst the students as they waited the last minutes while they got their things in order. The time was near. The fog slowly started to dissipate and as it did, lights in the distance could be seen not to far from the boat; slowly they crept closer to the ship and within a few moments, which seemed like forever, they had arrived. A huge castle atop a mountain surrounded by a small town greeted them. It was a truly magnificent sight to behold. They had arrived.
T.S.O.M.A.S.A., The School of Magic and Special Abilities.
Welcome.
