(DISCLAIMER: A-KO and all related characters are copyrighted by Soeishinsha/Final-Nishijima and Central Park Media and are not used with permission. All original material is copyright 1997, 1998 by John Orton. Permission is granted to browse and redistribute this material, but not to modify it.)
(AUTHOR’S NOTES: "Redemption" is based directly after the conclusion of PROJECT A-KO, PART IV: FINAL, where C-ko arrives back home to Earth unbeknownst to B-ko. She makes A-ko promise to never fight again.)
(To contact the author for any reason the address is [email protected].)
A light summer breeze flushed across the river running through Graviton City. Small ripples appeared in the water that moved in twisted and random patterns growing deeper and wider as they picked up speed. As the breeze shifted, the ripples gradually swirled in its direction and splashed helplessly into a battered metallic structure. The structure: a large, gargantuan ship; a space ship. A ship that had once invaded Earth and caused its entire defence force to crumble. A ship that had unleashed a vast destructive power onto all who had opposed it. A ship that acted as the show case for an incredible alien technology, an undeniable reminder of extra terrestrial life. A ship that was now at the mercy of nature, being gradually eroded by the water surrounding it. Water and time.
Although the spaceship was now worn by Graviton city as a medallion of victory, a warning to others who might dare to challenge the Earth defence force, it was not the government, the defence force or even Earth’s powerful technology that had defeated it. All had proved useless: ineffective against their astounding might. It had taken two girls, two girls who were more powerful than both the Earth defence force and the alien invaders put together.
The breeze, its momentum increasing, once again shifted direction. Leaving the river, crossing over the high school and past the twisting pathways, it curled towards the Daitokuji Estate.
B-ko Daitokuji, the brilliant daughter of billionaire industrialist Hikaru Daitokuji sat comfortably on a fragile but vastly expensive chair nestled on the balcony of the mansion. She had sat there all night, ever since ... C-ko had left her. A gust of wind shook the chair, but she didn’t care.
C-ko had been B-ko’s inspiration. Everything about her had been subject to desire, her eyes, her laugh, her sense of fun, everything. But now, after a lost battle to get her back from a trip with an alien race she had consented to, she was no longer a part of her life. She was now only a fast fading memory in her past. A memory she wouldn’t dare to forget because forsaking her memory would be worse than losing her. It was all she had left.
Raising to her feet, B-ko suddenly realised how cold it was. Sitting up all night in a daze was not something she usually did. She was used to being on top of everything, her school work, her designs, even her friends. She had a powerful reputation among her fellow students, few people dared to oppose her. It was only A-ko who had ever stood up to her. Of all the nerve!
B-ko looked towards the starry sky. She squinted in dissatisfaction. To think she had allied with A-ko on two separate occasions. The first time was when D and the Captain had invaded Earth and come to take C-ko back. A-ko had only got in the way that time. She didn’t help at all. The second time had been yesterday. She had grabbed A-ko and whisked the two of them up into the sky after the ship that had taken C-ko. A-ko had once again failed her altogether. She had just been excess baggage on an already impossible flight mission. Must she do everything herself? It was all A-ko’s fault. B-ko leant back and folded her arms behind her head, giving a long inward sigh. ‘So many commitments.’
A-ko stood outside the Daitokuji Mansion, the light breeze playing with her strong red hair. C-ko stood beside her, her large green eyes blinking as she stared in awe at the building.
‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’, A-ko complained as she walked towards the intercom on the mansions grand door.
‘You’ll have to call for her if we’re all going to be friends’, giggled C-ko, adding a cute smile that forced A-ko’s finger to the intercom. She held it down, ready to speak, and then let go, agitated that she was now going to try and make friends with someone who had tried to kill her so many times.
‘Come on’, insisted C-ko, now beginning to jump up and down in delight.
‘Oh all right then’, moaned A-ko. There was a long pause, and then A-ko put on a brave face. She pressed the button, and spoke. ‘Ugh, hello’ She started, ‘I’m calling for B-ko, can she come to the door’.
‘I can’t believe I’m doing this, if C-ko wasn’t here I’d be outta here in a flash.’
A deep, male voice answered on the other end in perfect clarity, ‘Please hold, who is calling?’
A-ko pondered. If she said her real name would B-ko ignore her, was all of this worth it? There was only one way to find out, if they were going to be friends then she would have to be honest from the very start. ‘Tell her that it’s A-ko Magami’.
There was a long pause. ‘Well that’s blown it’, A-ko commented. A-ko looked at her watch. Ten past seven. They still had plenty of time to get to school... amazing. Suddenly there was a loud metallic thud. A-ko span round to face the sound. Nothing was there. The thud resumed again, this time on her left, then on her right. ‘What’s going on’, shouted A-ko, as a strange metal arm flew down from the sky and wrapped itself around her like a tentacle.
‘A-ko!’ cried C-ko innocently as she watched her friend being whisked off the ground and thrown into the top window of the Daitokuji Mansion.
A-ko knelt on the floor. The metal arm that had abducted her had disappeared again now. A-ko shook her head free of the glass fragments from the window she had just gone through. Precariously she stood up and looked around the splendid room she now found herself in. At that point, the door on the far wall opened delicately. B-ko, in her traditional school uniform stood there. She looked more tired than usual, deeply saddened. Her expression of drowsiness quickly turned into that of anger. ‘I can’t believe it’, she yelled, ‘I thought it was a joke when the door man told me it was you’. B-ko sniggered and gave a superior grin to A-ko, ‘Have you come to apologise?’.
A-ko ignored B-ko’s ‘oh so superior’ remarks. ‘What are you doing B-ko, don’t you know how to open the front door’ she began. Noticing the apparent lack of interest on B-ko’s face she continued ‘Only you could be so despicable as to whisk someone away like that.’
B-ko laughed in a subtle but injuring tone. ‘I thought you might come to my house one day, so I prepared for it.’ She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a mini transmitter. With her left hand she pulled up a small aerial and then raised the device closer to her lips.
‘Prepare for operation Toraiyama’
A-ko realised that she would have to act now if there was to be any hope of them being friends. ‘I don’t want to fight you!’ she shouted, ‘I came here so we might be friends!’
‘Friends?’ B-ko laughed, ‘First you ruin my friendship with C-ko, then you destroy my robot inventions and then you completely fail me in the rescue attempts. Friendship! Ha!. C-ko’s gone because of you, you’ll pay for this one A-ko’.
A-ko realised. B-ko would have had no idea that C-ko had come back. That would be why she’s so upset. ‘Ugh, B-ko... C-ko came back this morning’, muttered A-ko.
‘What!?’ shouted B-ko in an unbelievably patronising tone. ‘So now you
want to lie to me as well’
‘But if you just look out the window you’ll see her, I brought her with me’, started A-ko, beginning to raise her voice now.
‘HOW DARE YOU’, snapped B-ko, ‘All that I have left of C-ko is a memory, an unhappy one thanks to you. Now you’re trying to corrupt that memory. I won’t forsake it for anything’.
‘BUT B-KO, SHE’S STANDING RIGHT THERE !’ screamed A-ko, staring and pointing at her from the window.
B-ko had her suspicions. Was she telling the truth? She would look once she had annihilated A-ko. Raising the transmitter to her lips she spoke again, ‘Initiate phase 1’.
The whole room began to shake. A-ko span around, scanning the area for the cause of the disruption. The wall behind her burst into pieces as the fury of a large mecha in the shape of a panther pounced through it. It stood there in wait of B-ko’s orders and of course, introduction. As it waited, it looked almost alive, as if it was ... breathing?.
‘I want you to meet my Stealth Toraiyama 62.’ She crossed her arms in pose and laughed lightly, ‘this is THE ultimate in mecha’s.’ The mecha slowly walked towards her and hunched itself next to her. ‘I’ve ingeniously analysed exactly how you managed to defeat my other mechas A-ko.’
‘It wasn’t hard B-ko, just one kick and they usually explode’
‘SHUT UP’, shouted B-ko. She didn’t want A-ko to spoil the moment. ‘This one has twin ion cannons, a radioactive hyper tone, a resonance blaster that is keyed in to your atomic structure and, of course.... it has invisibility.’ B-ko stared at the robot, ‘Asa, that was your que, go invisible.’ In response, the mecha slowly distorted from view until nothing could be seen. ‘This one’s perfect, she said proudly, ‘I even gave it realistic breathing motions.’
A-ko blinked in amazement, this was too much. This was what she got for trying to be friends!?
‘You can’t fight what you can’t see’, boasted B-ko, prolonging her moment of satisfaction. Turning roughly towards the robots last known location B-ko crossed her arms. ‘And now Asa, destroy A-ko!’
A-ko stood her ground as mechanical sounds slowly circled her like a hunter stalking its prey. She raised her fists momentarily and then remembered her promise to C-ko. ‘I won’t fight you’, she said, turning towards B-ko. ‘I’ve made a promise to C-ko’.
‘Then you’ll die’, grinned B-ko, ‘Your lies are poison to C-ko’s memory, you’ll deserve everything you get.’
A-ko looked at her watch. 7:45. Perhaps she would get to school early today. A-ko turned towards the remains of the window and ran straight for it, taking out most of the wall with her. Upon landing back outside of the mansion she circled her run around and then towards C-ko, grabbing her hand. She then ran forward out of the estate and towards the school with C-ko trailing behind her, following in mid air.
‘Cowardly bitch’, muttered B-ko, as she stared from her wrecked room at the dust cloud disappearing in the distance. The Toraiyama panther materialised behind her, its eyes now glowing red. ‘You can’t shrug me off that easily.’
Miss Ayumi sat infront of her class at 2 E. Her mouth dropped a little as she realised that everyone was there on time.
B-ko, sitting comfortably with her study work spread out neatly infront of her couldn’t help but stare at C-ko. A-ko had told the truth about her, she was back! Everything could go back to normal again. She could torment A-ko until C-ko was her friend once again. She smiled to herself and let out a quiet laugh of pleasure.
‘What’s B-ko chuckling about’, scowled A-ko as her concentration was broken by the little interrupt.
B-ko straightened herself back up and resumed her work, still smiling to herself about her thoughts. She glanced back at C-ko. She was drawing bunny rabbits over her work. B-ko leant over a little more to see what else she was doing. She screwed up her face a little as she saw a childish picture of A-ko. ‘Yuk, she’s even drawing her’, muttered B-ko, unintentionally speaking out loud.
‘What!?’, snapped A-ko, lifting her head from her work. ‘Don’t you have ANY shame?, don’t you EVER stop complaining?’
‘Well at least I don’t run away from our battles!’, snarled B-ko, genuinely upset that A-ko had fled.
‘You don’t run away because you always start them.’, grinned A-ko, getting the upper-hand. ‘I must have been a fool to think we could ever be friends.’
‘I agree’, smiled B-ko, ‘You are a fool.’ She arched her back in a pose of superiority. ‘You must have been seriously demented to even consider there ever being a bond between us, I’ve tried to kill you so many times... don’t you get the message?’
‘Now, now girls’, intruded Miss Ayumi. Realising that a problem was occurring between her two most dangerous students. ‘Simmer down a bit wont you?’
A-ko, ignoring miss Ayumi continued her argument. She couldn’t let B-ko have the last word. ‘I could have trashed any of your stupid robots if I wanted, I only ran because I made a promise to C-ko.’
‘Well aren’t you a charm,’ smirked B-ko. You RAN because you realised your inferiority to my Toraiyama. It could have killed you in a blink and you got scared.’ She raised her head a little and laughed. ‘Fool!’
‘That does it’, snapped A-ko, now turning towards C-ko. ‘You can’t say I didn’t try... but she is sooo impossible! How could I ever be friends with such a evil BITCH!.’
‘How DARE you’, snarled B-ko. Raising from her seat. ‘You’ll pay A-ko’.
Miss Ayumi, realising what was happening and knowing full well that there was no chance of stopping them now, ran for her life out of the class room. The other students, also accustomed to the procedure turned up their desks and hid behind them for cover. B-ko, ripping off her school uniform to reveal her Akagiyama battle suit aimed her missile launcher at A-ko.
A-ko let out a scream as the missile explosion catapulted her through the classroom wall and into the corridor. She felt a splintering pain as blood trickled down from her fore head. She picked herself off of the floor, feeling shaky from the blast. Shaky, but also furious, she ran towards B-ko and pummelled into the side of her, throwing her over her head and into a nearby wall.
B-ko ducked as A-ko attempted to throw a large chunk of the broken wall at her. It smashed behind her sending debris across the corridor. B-ko reached for her transmitter and quickly pressed a silver button on it.
In response, the large panther mecha smashed through the window next to her. Asa, running towards them from out of the classroom climbed through its open mouth and into the control room inside it. Almost immediately the Toraiyama 62 vanished into thin air as its stealth mechanism was activated.
A-ko shivered as the sound of the mechas footsteps slowly came towards her. It snarled an inhuman shriek that echoed throughout the corridor, causing cracks to appear in all of the visible windows. Each step it made caused small parts of the floor to turn up and rupture. It snarled again and then, its steps were silent.
A-ko flew across the room as the Toraiyama pounced at her. She landed on her back and felt the hard press of its foot resting on her, pinning her down. The jaws of the beast opened and picked her up between them.
The panther threw her into the air and down to B-ko’s feet. ‘The tables have turned haven’t they!’, laughed B-ko.
A-ko, realising her predicament jumped to her feet and then somersaulted back. ‘You won’t get away that easily’, smirked B-ko. ‘AKAGIYAMA MISSILE’, she shouted as a stream of circling missiles swirled their way towards A-ko. A-ko leapt forward to avoid them, shaping her legs to form a kick in the direction of B-ko’s face.
Upon connection, B-ko fell to the floor, being allowed to arise in just enough time to see her Akagiyama missile’s connect with her own Toraiyama 62 mecha.
With a large explosion, the Stealth Toraiyama 62 reappeared into vision. It made 2 involuntary steps forward and then fell to the floor in a cripple. As if by prompt, it exploded.
B-ko buried her face in her hand. ‘Beaten again. Beaten by A-ko. Typical.’
A-ko sat with C-ko in the field. It was lunch time. A-ko was desperate to eat something, but she was sure that C-ko would give her a lunch she had previously prepared if she mentioned it. So instead, A-ko suffered in hunger, silently.
Surprisingly, C-ko was unusually quiet. Most of the time A-ko could never get her to shut up, but now, it was the opposite. A-ko had to know what was wrong. ‘C-ko, why are you so quiet’, she asked. There was no reply. Instead C-ko stared blankly into space, blinking every now and then.
‘What’s wrong’, questioned A-ko again, concerned about her friend.
‘I’m ignoring you’, voiced C-ko. ‘Oh no, now you’ve made me speak!!!’
‘Why are you ignoring me.’ Said A-ko, hurt at C-ko’s bluntness.
C-ko began to cry. ‘You made a promise to me A-ko. You said that you would never fight again!!!’ Tears streamed from her eyes and her mouth fell agape as a roar of sadness threw itself out in a continuous whine.
‘Oh come on C-ko, I’m sorry, I didn’t have much choice.’
C-Ko hugged A-ko. Her message of disapproval and sadness clearly portrayed. ‘I’m... so... sorry, I really am C-ko.’ A-ko began to feel sad herself. She attempted to redeem herself. ‘Give me one more chance C-ko, that’s all I ask.’
Immediately C-ko stopped crying and her tears vanished. ‘OK’ she smiled, perking up into her normal happy mood. ‘Now that we’re friends again I want you to have something, I made it just for you, it’s really great... LUNCH!!!’
‘Oh no’ Ako thought. ‘Well actually C-ko, I’ve already eaten. Yeah that’s it!’
‘But it’ll go to waist, I made it during chemistry class... its amazing what you can find in the lab!’
A-ko, smothered in a blanket of sleep curled herself up into a ball of cosiness. She wrapped her bed sheets around her as her dream world blocked out all of life’s commitments.
Like a dagger penetrating flesh, the doorbell intruded her happiness and forced her into a state of awakened daze. C-ko’s voice further penetrated her dream land. ‘A-ko hey, it’s morning and we’re gonna be late again!’
A-ko gripped her clock as if it were some sort of sinful object. 8:25 it read. ‘This tops it’, screamed A-ko in panic as she grabbed her clothes and began to simultaneously undress and dress as she roared down the stairs towards the front door.
Throwing the front door open A-ko grabbed C-ko’s hand and pulled her along in her wake as she hurled herself towards the school.
‘Sorry to make us late again’, called A-ko, ‘We’ll have to take the short cut.’
A-ko jumped upwards and onto the roof of a nearby house. Continuing her run, and without any loss of speed A-ko jumped over and through a trail of houses across a disjointed pathway towards the school.
As the school grew closer, a woman’s figure also grew clearer. B-ko was waiting outside the school. Her arms were crossed and on her face was engraved a cunning smile. A-ko stopped just in time to avoid hitting her.
‘So you’re here’ patronised B-ko. ‘You sure did take your time today.
A-ko remained silent. She stood in bemusement and listened impatiently to B-ko’s usual morning sarcasm.
‘Time for your morning treat’, smiled B-ko as she revealed her Akagiyama battle suit.
C-ko stared at A-ko with her large green eyes... ‘remember’ she whined.
A-ko rolled her eyes. This was not going to easy. She stepped towards B-ko until they were about only a metre away. ‘Hi B-ko! How are you?, she began.
‘What?’ snapped B-ko, startled by A-ko’s gesture of friendship.
‘I said how are you? I see you have that battle suit on again... it really shows off your body!’, continued A-ko.
‘You... think so?’ asked B-ko, still in shock.
‘Yeah, it’s great. Have you done the homework for Miss Ayumi’s English class, I spent all last night trying to find out what a quixotic
undertone is’
‘Of course I did, you only need use a dictionary.’ B-ko stepped backwards, ‘what’s with you’
‘Nothing’s up, I just think it’s time I let you know how great you are.’ A-ko began to sweat, this was really hard to do. After years of aggression she was now sucking up to little miss Rich Bitch.
B-ko was stuck for words. What on Earth was happening. She had trained herself for a morning fight, and now she was faced with, THIS!
‘Let’s go to class’, voiced A-ko, ‘You can tell me some hair tips on the way there.’
‘W-wait a minute.’ Paused B-ko. ‘I get it... unluckily for you I can see right through your disguises... you got scared after your close defeat last time and now you’re pleading for mercy... in your own kindergarten type of way.’
‘No, no, no, NO, it’s just that I’ve realised how good friends we could be if we only tried!’
B-Ko laughed out loud. ‘Oh I get it. You’re pulling all that friendship stuff on me again’
‘Exactly!, you are a smart one B-ko!’
B-ko rolled her eyes in disgust. ‘I don’t have time for this!’. She then turned around and walked towards the school.
A-ko turned to C-ko and smiled. ‘Wow, I don’t believe it.. this really could be the start of something... She backed down!’
Miss Ayumi waited patiently for A-ko, B-ko and C-ko to sit down. She gave the three of them a disapproving stare which was soon followed by a curious look. They weren’t battered or bleeding today! She then began to talk about their recent History assignments and how the class had done in them.
B-ko attempted to look interested on the class’s assignment results but secretly ignored all that she was being said. She knew that she would have done the best in the class and would completely outshine everyone else.
A-ko, tapped her fingers on her desk, trying to make a rhythm from the dead wood. She had tried very hard on the recent assignment but was quite worried because she had failed every assignment so far.
C-ko attempted to blow bubbles from the saliva in her mouth. She opened her mouth and blew until they either popped or dribbled down her mouth. She had no idea what Miss Ayumi was talking about.
Miss Ayumi walked over to B-ko. ‘Well done B-ko, 24 out of 25... a new class record.’
She then walked towards Asa. B-ko intruded... ‘Miss, I’ll give those out if you want’ she offered. She didn’t offer just to suck up to the teacher, it was so that she could secretly see everyone else’s results before they saw them themselves.
‘All right then B-ko, thank you.’ Answered Miss Ayumi. Surprised by B-ko’s sudden willingness to help.
B-ko glanced towards A-ko, noticing that she looked worried. ‘I’ll give hers out last’, she decided, ‘best make her stew a while’. Slowly she walked around the room until all but A-ko’s had been given out. She glanced down at A-ko’s result... 17 out of 25... it was a B!!!
B-ko was shocked, that was the best she’d done all year. Quickly and discreetly B-ko flicked out a pen from her jacket pocket and doctored the 17 into a very clever 10 with a triangular 0. B-ko smiled to herself in amusement... that was an E.
B-ko handed the assignment back to A-ko... ‘Oh dear’ she laughed, hiding her full amusement... ‘You’re not to good are you!’
A-ko sunk into her chair... another failure, she would have to confront her parents and explain her poor results. She clenched the paper as if to choke it and covered her result with her fingers so that no one else could see it.
A-ko walked slowly towards her house. Her parents were bound to be home and they would no doubt query about the assignment. She casually walked towards the door and let herself in. Glancing to her right she saw her mother and father sitting down together in the living room.
‘Hi dear’, said her father, beckoning for her to join them.
‘Ugh... hello dad’, moaned A-ko, ‘You know, I’m not feeling to well, I’m going off to bed’. With that A-ko ran up the stairs. Once at the top she let out a cough to insinuate that she was telling the truth.
She lay on her bed, sprawled across it like a beaten rug. She listened as the footsteps of her father slowly came up the stairs and towards her room. There was then a knock at the door. She remained silent, attempting to fool him that she was asleep.
Outside of the door, Clarke lowered his spectacles and used his x-ray vision to look into his daughters room. He watched as she lay, fully clothed and eyes wide open across her bed. He lifted his spectacles back on again. ‘Listen dear, I know you’re awake,’ he persisted.
A-ko, moaned to herself, ‘How come that never works on him!’, she sat up and prepared herself, ‘Ok dad come on in’.
The door opened and he calmly walked into her room. ‘I’m sorry to hear that you feel ill’, he said. A-ko screwed up her face. She hated lying to her parents. ‘But I just couldn’t let you go to sleep’, he continued, ‘without congratulating you on your results.’
A-ko stared at him in astonishment. ‘Your mother and I went to see Miss Ayumi this evening to talk about your progress.’ He smiled at her, ‘She says you’re making big improvements... you just need to stop getting distracted by your friends.’ A-ko, blinked in amazement. He continued, ‘17 out of 25, not bad at all, next time you can go for an A, I know you can do it.’
A-ko watched as her father walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. She sat up and smiled. The results must have been a mistake, I got a B! She jumped to her feet and leapt over to her window, smiling all the way. A thought suddenly occurred to her. ‘Maybe the results weren’t a mistake, maybe... B-ko!’
Instantly filling with rage A-ko vowed to herself to wreck havoc upon her nemesis. ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow will be the day’, she snarled to herself.’
The morning breeze gently tugged at the tall trees on the winding pathway of Graviton City. The winds hand gently swayed the branches. Several of the leaves, although healthy and green were forced to fall helplessly to the ground as the wind urged forward and gained velocity. Causing a current of wind to surge across the ground, the scattered leaves were lifted once again and thrown into the air at the mercy of nature. Nature and time.
A single leaf, straying from the rest curled towards the direction of Graviton High School. It flipped and reverted its form until the wind finally loosened is grip and sent it back to the ground. The ground where B-ko Daitokuji was standing.
B-ko with her arms folded and her eyes on a consistent prowl for A-ko awaited her arrival. She glared at her watch, 8:30, the bell would ring any moment now. A small smile forced itself onto her stern, beautiful but scathing face as a small dust cloud began to approach her. ‘Just wait until you see what I’ve got for you today’, she said to herself, winking at Mari hiding in the trees.
B-ko’s eyes widened as the dust cloud grew closer, instead of slowing down, it sped up. Her face expressed with cunning, intelligence and maliciousness quickly transformed into that of shock and horror as A-ko rammed into her like a bullet.
In a semi-tackle, semi-barge A-ko grabbed B-ko by her hair and threw her into the school gates. B-ko clambered to her feet... startled by A-ko’s sudden aggression and complete change of heart. A-ko lunged forward once again. B-ko jumped out of the way in just enough time to miss a lethal death blow.
‘Now Mari!’, shouted B-ko, beckoning forth a giant mecha in the shape of a large, yellow, bald, fat man. B-ko laughed, I want you to meet my...’
Before she could finish her prepared speech A-ko had leapt into the air and taken the robot’s head off with a single kick. The head rolled across the floor like a tin cap. After stopping and letting out a final ‘DOH!’ the head exploded.
A-ko turned towards B-ko. ‘And don’t mess up my grades again.’ She screamed.
C-ko who had taken cover in the nearby bushes ran towards the two of them ‘A-ko, B-ko... you’re fighting again.’
A-ko span around to face her. ‘I honestly tried C-ko, but she’s trying to mess up my academic life as well as my personal life now. I couldn’t just sit there and let it happen.’
C-ko’s nose twitched as tears flooded into her eyes. She let out a howl of disapproval. Obviously, she didn’t understand. ‘When I came back I thought there was a chance to salvage our friendship. The three of us could have been such wonderful friends.’
‘What!?’, uttered B-ko, startled by C-ko genuineness.’ She watched as C-ko pulled out a small metallic flower from her ruck sack.
C-ko, with tears swelling and rolling down her cheeks continued, ‘A-ko, you’ve lied to me twice now. You had a chance to make things up, and you failed.’
B-ko laughed out loud. Another person who thought A-ko was a failure.
C-ko’s a match made in heaven that’s for sure.
‘And you’re just as bad.’ Whined C-ko, glaring at B-ko with her entrancing eyes. ‘You had the chance to be friends with us and you turned it down... you pretend to care for me but you acted with violence against our offer.’
B-ko stepped back. Tears swelling in her own eyes as she realised her mistake. She cursed herself. She had made a mistake, how could she do something that wrong.
C-ko, with two fingers, pressed the middle of the metallic yellow flower. In response, the alien mother ship materialised above her. Its cloaking mechanism turned off. A bright beam of light crawled its way towards her and lifted her into the ship. A single tear rolled down her cheek and splashed helplessly onto the floor beside B-ko’s foot.
B-ko collapsed to her knees and stared up at the now departing spaceship. She considered going after it in her battle suit but she already knew... C-ko wasn’t going to come back. She didn’t want to.
A-ko lay on her bed, still in her school uniform. Her television, displaying only static, cast chaotic patterns on her torn and tattered clothing. Her hands were drawn to her face as if to protect her from a horrible nightmare.
The doorbell rang. A-ko ignored it. Her only friend C-ko, had left her. She had gone back to have a life as a princess. To live with her real mother. Perhaps she would find happiness in her new existence as royalty.
The doorbell rang again. A-ko forced herself up onto her feet. She strode down the stairs slowly, not caring that the person behind the door was still waiting. Upon arriving at the door, A-ko bent forwards and peered through the key hole. She saw someone’s feet, in black shoes. Her eyes, gradually moving upwards patrolled up the legs, waist and breasts of the unknown individual. Her eyes finally arrived on the persons hair... Lavender.
A-ko swung open the door. ‘B-ko!’ she said... unsure what else to say.
B-ko smiled to her. ‘Sorry to call so early, we might arrive on time today... do you want a lift?’ She pointed towards her white limousine.
A-ko eyes widened in delight. Not at the car, but at the new friendship she had just received. The two, holding hands together, walked towards the car. The war was over.
Anime Images Drawn by Charlotte Noble.